Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	apostle_n	faith_n	work_n	3,971	5	6.0202	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10740	A vvorkeman, that needeth not to be ashamed: or The faithfull steward of Gods house A sermon describing the duety of a godly minister, both in his doctrine and in his life. By Charles Richardson, preacher at S. Katharines, neere the Tower of London.	Richardson, Charles, fl. 1612-1617.	1616 (1616)	STC 21019; ESTC S115966	57,940	78

great care of Sabellicus Ennead 1. l. 3. It was one of their Pontificall lawes Det them come chastly to the gods let them vse pietie They that do otherwise God himselfe will reuenge it The Priests of Egypt euery third day did shaue their bodies lest any filthinesse appeare Plutarch in Quaest Centuriat Roman when they were offering their sacrifices And those Priests that were troubled with Byles and Botches were forbidden to study Diuination either because it becommeth not them to haue any vlcer in their mindes that apply themselues to heauenly things or else if they vse not a diseased beast for sacrifice nor diseased birds for Diuination much more must they auoid such things in themselues If these Heathen men had this care for the seruice of their false gods which were but stockes and stones the workes of their owne hands how much more ought wee to be carefull of all puritie and cleannesse in the worship of the true God Heb. 12.29 Leu. 10.3 who is a consuming fire against sinne and sinners and who will be sanctified in them that come neere him or else he will glorifie himselfe in their confusion It was forbidden in the Law Leu. 21.17 18 19 20 21. that whosoener had any blemishes should not prease to offer the bread of his God as if hee were blind or lame or had a flat nose or any misshapen member c. And howsoeuer this ceremonie be ceased and be no more in vse yet the equitie of it remaineth still namely that they that haue blemishes in their liues or are mis-shapen in their soules should not be admitted to serue the Lord in the ministerie of his Word Secondly a Minister must goe before his people in the example of a godly life It was the exhortation of our Sauiour Christ to his Disciples Matth. 5.6 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie your Father which is in heauen As in the Orbes and Circles of the Heauens the highest Spheare moueth all the rest and therefore is called the first Moouer So the Minister being highest in the Church should by his example moue and draw them that are vnder him vnto holinesse For the people in our times will say to vs as they said to our Sauiour Christ What doest thou worke that we may see it and beleeue thee Not what doest thou teach Iohn 6.30 And therefore as it is said of him that first he began to doe and then to teach Act. 1.1 that he was first mightie in deed and then in word according as Cyprian saith Serm. 5. de lapsis Luke 24.19 Christ was a Teacher in words and a performer in deeds teaching what ought to be done and doing whatsoeuer he taught And it is said of Ezra Ezra 7.10 that first he prepared his head to seeke the Law of the Lord and to doe it and then to teach the precepts and iudgements in Israel So must it bee with vs that wee may say with the Apostle PAVL Phil. 3.17 Brethren be followers of me and looke on them that walke so as ye haue vs for an example And Thinke of those things which ye haue both learned 4 8 9. and receiued 1. Tim. 4.12 and heard and seent in me And to this purpose the Apostle exhorteth TIMOTHEVS to be vnto them that beleeue an ensample in word in conuersation in loue in spirit Tit. 2.7 in faith and in purenesse And hee biddeth TITVS aboue all things to shew himselfe an example of good works c. And the Apostle Peter exhorteth all ministers 1. Pet. 5.3 so to carry themselues as they may bee ensamples to the flocks In all which places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word that is vsed doth signifie that the life of a Minister should be such a patterne of godlinesse as that it may set a stampe and an impression thereof as it were vpon his people Men wil sooner learne of their Ministers by their eyes then they will doe by their eares For they commonly beleeue their eyes Seneca epist 6. better then they doe their eares And it is a long course to teach by precepts but short and effectuall by examples When the people of Israel were to passe ouer Iorden into the land of promise the Priests that bare the Arke of the Coxenant went before them Iosh 3.15 16 17. So must the Ministers goe before their people in the iourney to the Kingdome of heauen And indeede Doctr. Chr. lib. 4. as Saint Augustine saith though they profit many by saying that which they doe not yet they would profit a great many more by doing that which they say It is said of Iohn Baptist that he was the voice of him that crieth in the wildernesse Iobn 1 23. Dominica 3. aduentus Whereupon Stapleton well obserueth that he had not onely a well-sounding voice but also he was a voice Whatsoeuer was in him namely his food his apparrell his habitation and his whole life was a voice that cried and proclaimed repentance mortification and holinesse His life first cried before his preaching The same order should a Preacher obserue that first he be a voice and then lift vp his voice They whose liues are not answerable to their doctrine haue a voice indeed but an emptie one like sounding brasse or a tinckling Cymball 1. Plutarch in Apotheg vulgar Lcc. num Cor. 13.1 but they are not a voice or at least a man may say of them as the Country fellow said of the Nightingale when hee had stripped her out of her feathers Thou art onely a voice and nothing else This was it that made Herod reuerence Iohn Baptist so much Marke 6 20. and heare him so gladly not that he was a good Preacher but chiefly that he was a iust man and an holy The Heathen Philosophers haue made three markes of a good Teacher first that he teach not sleightly and negligently but diligently and with due premeditation Secondly that he obserue a good order and methode in teaching that his hearers may vnderstand him And lastly that his life be answerable to his words and profession Whereunto agreeth that saying of Saint Augustine Confess lib. 10. It is to little purpose for a Minister to command his hearers in words if he doe not also goe before them in deeds De Consid lib. 4. And therefore Bernard willeth Eugenius to consider that it behooueth him to bee a forme of righteousnesse a mirrour of holinesse and a patterne of pietie So should it be with all the Ministers of the Word Cyp. lib. 3. epist 1. that they may exhort their people not by words only but by deeds not onely by the incitement of their speech and voice but chiefly bee the example of their faith and vertue And indeed if it be expedient for all men to liue orderly Cyr. lib 1. epi. 11 much more doth it stand with reason that

and a better stomack then the poore Minister that sitteth all the day in his study and doth nothing as they thinke but pore vpon a booke Let them therefore learne to relinquish this error of theirs and at the last acknowledge that the life of a conscionable Minister is painefull and a laborious life In deede there are a number of idle Drones that occupy the roomes of Ministers and they I confesse liue easily enough for many of them doe little else Exod. 32.6 but sit downe to eate and drinke and rise vp to play as it was said of the Israelites But a godly Minister that maketh a conscience of his calling hath labour and trauell sufficient in performing the seuerall duties of it Secondly it serueth for instruction And first it teacheth all them that want good Ministers what manner of Ministers they should desire namely such as bee workemen such as be painefull labourers not loyterers As our Sauiour Christ saith Mat. 9.38 1. Tim. 5.17 Pray the Lord of the Haruest that he would send forth labourers into his Haruest such as will labour diligently in the word and Doctrine But alas the most men do little regard this of all other things If their Minister be a quiet man and will vse them kindely for their Tithes if hee be a good fellow and will sit neighbourly with them and spend his penny as they doe theirs in the Ale-house if he read them faite seruice as they cal it and trouble them not with preaching too often or if he doe step now and then into the Pulpit if he meddle not too much with their sins but will prophesie vnto them of wine and strong drinke Mich. 2.11 as the Prophet saith and so please their humours they care for no more he is the best Minister for them that can be Againe for those to whom God in mercie hath giuen faithful Pastours Jer. 3.15 which are carefull to feede them with knowledge and vnderstanding they must learne from hence to be thankefull vnto them And first they must haue them in high estimation and imbrace them with all loue and kinde affection 1. Tim. 5.17 For they that labour in the Word and doctrine are worthie of double honour To this purpose is that exhortation of the Apostle 1. Thess 5 12 13 Now we beseech you brethren that ye know them which labour among you c. That yee haue them in singular loue for their workes sake And when he sent Epaphroditus a faithfull Minister and his companion in labour to the Philippians Phil. 2.25.29 hee bids them receiue them in the Lord with allgladnesse and make much of such And the Apostle testifieth of the Galatians that they esteemed so reuerently of him as that they receiued him as an Angell of God Gal. 4.14 Ecclus 38 1. yea as Christ Iesus If we must honour the bodily Phisician because of necessitie much more must we honour the Minister whom God hath made the Phifician of our soules And indeed the labour of a faithfull Minister can neuer be sufficiently recompenced with any dutie or seruice which they can performe For if Alexander the great thought himselfe to owe more dutie to Aristotle his Master that trained him vp in the knowledge of Philosohie then to Philip his Father that begate him how much more are men bound to their godly Ministers who are not onely their instructers to teach them the knowledge of Gods will but also their spirituall Fathers 1. Cor. 4 15. to beget them in Christ Iesus through the Gospell But God knoweth it fareth with many of vs 2. Cor. 12.15 as it did with the Apostle Paul that the more wee loue our people and the more wee endeuour to doe them good the lesse we are loued againe Let them therefore bee admonished to reforme themselues herein and to bee affected with their Pastours with that loue and kindnesse that is due vnto them And the rather because it will be most profitable to themselues For if they loue the person of the Minister they will a great deale more willingly imbrace his doctrine and so it will doe them more good There is nothing more pleasing to them that are sicke Sanec lib. 4. declam 5. then to be healed of whom they would Secondly they must be obedient to their doctrin as the Apostle exhorteth Heb. 13.17 Obey them that haue the ouersight of you and submit your selues c. And that for their owne good For I pray you what doe the Ministers gaine by your obedience A comfort I confesse it is to them to see so good fruite of their labours but all the profit and benefit will be yours in the end And againe otherwise they are more hardly taught and healed For as the shepheard cannot easily cure the sheepe that spurneth and kicketh with the heeles and as the patient that struggleth doth more hardly receiue a medicine so the soule of man cannot bee cured vnlesse it doe willingly and of the owne accord submit it selfe vnto discipline Thirdly they must communicate with them of their goods and allow them competent maintenance that so without worldly distractions they may more chearefully attend their studies And there is great reason for this of all other duties Luke 10.7 For as our Sauiour Christ saith The labourer is worthie of his wages And this is part of that double honour which the Apostle saith is due to the Minister and therefore he applieth that precept of the law to that purpose 1. Tim. 5.17 18. 1. Cor. 9.14 Thou shalt not mouzell the mouth of the oxe that treadeth out the corne And the Lord hath ordained that they that preach the Gospell should liue of the Gospell Gal. 6.6 And therefore the Apostle giueth commandement to all that are taught in the Word that they make him that hath taught them partaker of all their goods And in another place he saith There is no proportion betweene the maintenance which the Ministers receiue of the people and that which they afford them backe againe If we saith he 1. Cor. 9.11 haue sowne vnto you spirituall things is it a great matter if we reape your carnall things But our people are so farre from giuing vs maintenance of themselues as that they vse all meanes they can to with-hold that maintenance from vs which the Law hath appointed Luke 18.12 That proud Pharisee made his boast and it may bee truely that hee gaue tithes of all that euer hee possessed But our people in many places defraude vs by one deuice or other Eyther they haue some Popish custome to cut off our Tithes in kinde or they haue out-grounds in other Parishes and a thousand other trickes whereby they can defeat vs at their pleasure As it is strange to see how ingenious witty the diuel hath made euen the simplest of them to beguile their Minister But let them take heed that their crafty wit beguile not themselues

Thus did Moses pray earnestly to God for the people of Israel to pacifie his wrath which by their sinnes they had prouoked 1. Sam. 12.23 Thus did Samuel promise neuer to giue ouer this dutie for his people God forbid saith hee that I should sinne against the Lord and cease praying for you Where wee see that it is a grieuous sinne for a Minister to neglect this dutie And the Apostle PAVI in all his Epistles Ephes 1.6 3.14 Col. 1.9 c. maketh mention of his prayers which without ceasing hee conceiued in the behalfe of the people to whom hee writeth And great reason there is why a Minister should performe this worke For as the Husbandman desireth two things of the Lord one that hee may haue a seasonable time to sowe his seede another that when it is sowne it may bee watred with the Deaw and Shewres of Heauen that it may grow and increase so should a Minister before his preaching pray to God that first the Word of God may bee aptly conceiued and then rightly deliuered by him and well sowne in the hearts of his hearers And after his preaching hee must pray for a blessing vpon it that it may take roote downeward and beare fruite vpward Hee must as Luther saith well commend to God both his owne tongue and the hearts of his hearers The neglect of this dutie is the cause why many mens Ministerie is so vnprofitable For while they seeke to vent their owne gift onely and not to glorifie God they are both themselues more shallow in the vnderstanding of Gods will and also their Ministerie hath not that blessing which otherwise it might But I will not prosecute this point any further The last and greatest worke of a Minister consisteth in painefull and diligent preaching The Apostle PAVL imposeth this vpon Timotheus with a great and waightie charge I charge thee before God saith hee 2. Tim. 4.1.2 Gorran in locum illum and before the Lord Iesus Christ which shall iudge the quicke and dead at his appearing and in has Kingdome Preach the Word bee instant in season and out of season c. That is Preach instantly and diligently in season in respect of them that are pleased with the Word and out of season in regard of them that are displeased with it and to whom it is a burden And though in respect of them thou mayest seeme vnseasonable yet thou shalt deale seasonably Or as Caluin expoundeth it This importunitie may bee referred both to the Pastor and to the people To the Pastor that hee doe not onely at his owne houres as may be conuenient for himselfe apply the office of teaching but sparing no labour nor trouble he must euen enforce himselfe vnto it In respect of the people this diligence is vnseasonable whilest they that are dull and heauie are stirred vp and excited and they that are readie to goe out of the way are stayed by strong hand Or as Aretius obserueth Preach the Word at all times In season That is when occasion doth offer it selfe Out of season when in the iudgement of the flesh it may seeme inconuenient in respect of present danger This is the charge imposed vpon euerie Minister And as all professions and trades are knowne by their proper workes so the proper worke of a Minister is to preach the Word And therefore they are called Pastors and Teachers because by preaching Ephes 4.11 they should feede and teach the people And this they are bound to doe euen by the necessitie of their calling As the Apostle saith 1. Cor. 9.16 Necessitie is laid vpon me and woe is vnto me if I preach not the Gospell Yea they must giue account to God for all the people committed to their charge So saith the Apostle They watch for your soules as they that must giue account Heb. 13.17 And this the Lord told the Prophet EZECHIEL O sonne of man I haue made thee a watch-man to the house of Israel Ezech 33.7 8. c. When I shall say to the wicked O wicked man thou shalt die the death if thou doest not speake and admonish the wicked of his way that wicked man shall die for his iniquitie but his bloud will I require at thine hand If the case be thus that a Minister stand charged with euery soule that belongeth vnto him so as if any miscarry through his negligēce his life must goe for theirs then it standeth him in hand to look carefully to the discharge of his dutie Again the loue that we owe to Christ Iesus ought to moue vs hereunto And therfore when our Sauier restored Peter againe to his pastorall charge after his former deniall he vseth this as an argument to perswade him to diligence therein Which he repeateth three seuerall times John 21.15 16 17. SIMON the sonne of Iona lonest thou me more then these then feede my lambs feede my sheepe 2. Cor. 5.14 And the Apostle Paul professeth that the loue of Christ constrained him to take such paines as he did Last of al the loue of our people should preuaile with vs to vse al meanes possible to further their saluation As the Apostle hath giuen vs a notable example in his owne practice Rom. 10.1 Phil. 1.8 Brethren saith he mine hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saued And in another place God is my record how I long after you all from the very heart roote in Iesus Christ 2. Cor. 12.15 And againe I will most gladly bestow and will be bestowed for your soules And if this affection be in a man it will cause him to omit no dutie 11.2 that he may present his people a pure virgine to Christ And the rather because hee knoweth that Christ Iesus hath redeemed them with no lesse price then with his owne bloud Act. 20.28 And therefore as they are most deare and precious vnto Christ so should they also bee vnto the Minister of Christ This then is the maine dutie of a Minister wherein he is to be most frequent As that Reuerend Father Bishop Iewel doth earnestly vrge it in one of his Sermons This is our office In 1. Pet. 4.11 saith he this we take vpon vs this we professe and except we doe this we doe nothing It is not enough for vs to know I cannot tell whatlearning The Deuils peraduenture know more then any of vs all It belongeth to a Pastor not so much to haue learned many things as to haue taught much Let vs bee ashamed that euen the meanest and basest men as Coblers and Porters do that that belongeth to them and we that ought to giue light to al others are idle and doe nothing But it will be obiected Is not distinct and plaine reading of the Scriptures sufficient I answere that reading is very necessarie and of great vse both to acquaint the people with the phrase of the Scripture and course of