Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	holy_a	scripture_n	speak_v	14,888	5	5.2608	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01344	Ioseph's partie-colored coat containing, a comment on part of the 11. chapter of the 1. epistle of S. Paul to the Corinthians : together with severall sermons, namely, [brace] 1. Growth in grace, 2. How farre examples may be followed, 3. An ill match well broken off, 4. Good from bad friends, 5. A glasse for gluttons, 6. How farre grace may be entayled, 7. A christning sermon, 8. Faction confuted / by T.F.	Fuller, Thomas, 1608-1661.	1640 (1640)	STC 11466.3; ESTC S4310	83,852	200

their set number how many there be of them but still reckon them up with an Et Caetera leave still a Plus ultra to place more in if need require And as the Athenians for feare they should omit any Deity erected an Altar to the unknowne God So the Papists in summing up their Traditions will not compleat their number but are carefull to leave Blankes and void places for a Refuge and Retreating Place that in case they be prest in Disputation and cannot prove their point by places of Scripture they may still plead it is a Tradition 4. Whereas the word Tradition is taken in severall senses and there be many kinds of them Papists jumble and confound them together As Cheaters use to cast their counterfeit coyne amongst good gold hoping so to passe it away currant and undiscovered So they shuffle false and true Traditions together in one heape that the bad may goe off under the countenance and protection of the good Wee will marre their Mart by sorting them into these severall Rankes 1. Traditions in a generall sense are taken for things delivered though in Scripture by Christ and his Apostles thus Saint Basil cals Baptising In the name of the F S. and H G. a Tradition 2. For such matters of Faith which are not found in Scripture totidem verbis in the words and sound but yet in the same sense and substance or at least may by faithfull consequence bee thence deduced as the Trinity of Persons two wils in Christ his Consubstantiality with God the Father Thus Lindan a Papist cals Originall sinne a Tradition 3. For such opinions against which nothing appeares in Scripture and the Church in all times and ages have maintained them condemning the Opposers for erroneous As that the Mother of Christ was ever a Virgin 4. For such Rites and Ceremonies of the Church no matters of Faith which therein have beene used from great Antiquity and therefore probably might have their Original from the Apostles As Fasting in Lent though the manner time and continuance in keeping it was very different in severall Churches Take Traditions in the first and second acception wee account them to have equal force and authority with the Written Word In the third sense wee honour and embrace them as true In the last Acception wee approve and practise them as decent and ancient provided alwayes they be not obtruded as things necessary to salvation but indifferent in their nature But all this makes nothing for the blacke Guard of Romish Traditions which lag still behind some of them frivolous As this Apostolical Tradition That a Priest if against their wils they receive any money from wicked men they must in no case expend it on meat but to buy wood coals Some impious and blasphemous worshipping of Images prayers to Saints the Sacrifice of the Masse Purgatory c. having nothing for them much against them in Gods written Word To draw to a conclusion Scriptures besides many others have two most principall priviledges above Traditions First their Infallibilitie as being inspired by the Spirit of God 2 Pet. 1.20 So that yee first know this that no prophecie of the Scripture is of any private Interpretation vers. 21. For the Prophecie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost As for the authors of Traditions they might both falli and fallere be deceived themselves and deceive others They might be deceived themselves either by mis-understanding the Traditions delivered unto them or by mis-remembring or by mis-relating them againe They might deceive others either unwillingly by these forenamed slips and infirmities or else willingly and wittingly by venting those things as received from the Apostles which they had not received from them And by usurpation intitling the fancies of your owne heads to bee Apostolicall Precepts 2. The Providence of God plainely appeares in his preserving of the Scriptures against all oppositions Many a time from my youth up may the Scriptures now say yea many a time have they fought against me from my youth but they could not prevaile against me Neither Antiochus before Christ nor Iulian the Apostate since him nor the force of Tyrants nor the fraud of Heretikes though the world of late hath scarce yeelded a wicked sharpe wit that hath not given the Scriptures a gash could ever suppresse them Their treading on this Cammimell made it grow the better and their snuffing of this candle made it burne the brighter Whereas on the other side the Records of Traditions are lost and those bookes wherein they where compiled and composed Aut in curia hominum aut injuria temporis or by some other sinister accident are wholly miscarried and no where appeare Papias is reported by * Eusebius in five bookes to have contained all the Apostolicall Traditions which they call the Word not written by Bellarmine himselfe confessed that these are lost Likewise Clemens Alexandrinus as the same Eusebius storieth it wrote in a booke those Traditions which hee received from the Elders and they from the Apostles which booke the Papists themselves at this day cannot produce I will conclude all with Gamaliels words Act. 5.39 But if it be of God yee cannot destroy it Had these bookes beene inspired by Gods Spirit no doubt the same Providence would have watched to preserve them which hath protected the Scripture Let us therefore leaving uncertaine Traditions stick to the Scriptures alone trust no Doctrine on its single band which brings not Gods word for its security Let that Plate be beaten in peeces which hath not this Tower-stampe upon it That the Lord Iesus the same night wherein he was betrayed Christ bestowed the greatest courtesie on mankind when hee foresaw that hee should receive the greatest cruelty from them O that wee were like minded with our Saviour to move fastest in Piety when wee draw neerest the Center of Death and then chiefly to study to fasten favours on our Enemies Why did Christ institute it then and not before Because dying men bequeath not their Legacies till they make their wils nor departing friends bestow their tokens till they take their farewell 2. Because till then the Passeover a Sacrament in the same kind did continue in full force and the Lords Supper was not to bee lighted til the Passover was first fairly put out Seeing Christ appoynted it a Supper how comes it now to be a Dinner God hath instrusted the discretion of his Church on just occasion to alter some circumstances in the Sacrament True it is such circumstances as are Sacramental not only of the Commission at large but also of the Quorum nomina whose absence or alteration maims and mangles the Sacrament are unchangeable But Common and ordinary circumstances such as is the Time Place Kind of Bread and Wine the Church hath power to alter by vertue of a Warrant left

present and foreseeing no future errours about the Sacraments were too transcendent and hyperbolicall in their expressions about the reall presence of Christ in the Sacrament Thus as oftentimes Lascivia calami the dashes and florishes of a Scrivener over-active with his pen have afterwards beene mistaken to bee Letters really intended So the witty extravagancies and Rhetoricall phrases of these Fathers were afterward interpreted to be their distilled doctrinall positions so dangerous it is for any to wanton it with their wits in mysteries of Religion But Transubstantiation was never made an Article of faith till the Councell of Lateran no penalty imposed on the Maintainers of the contrary till the Councell of Trent But let us heare some of their Arguments The Text saith this is my body and therefore it is so plainely to bee understood For Scripture admits of a figurative sense as its Refuge not as its Choyce onely se defendo to shield and shelter it selfe from non-sense and contradictions otherwise the literall sense is to bee embraced And therefore the Holy Spirit is so here to be understood this is truly my body From the literall understanding of these words flow many absurdities and therefore wee are forced to fly to a figurative meaning Philosophy brings in an Army of Impossibilities as that the same body at the same time should bee in severall places that accidents should subsist without a substance c. To wave these the Antiquity of faith excepts against it it destroyes the nature of a Sacrament the same thing cannot bee the signe and seale of Christs body and the very body in substance 2. Wee are not to measure Gods Arme by our eye his power by our understanding VVherefore non obstante all pretended impossibility God doth turne the bread into his sonnes body for nothing is impossible unto him VVere it expressed in Scripture that it were Gods will to turne the Bread into Christs flesh wee would worke our selves to beleeve it and make Reason strike sayle to Faith So it is not Gods power wee question but his will and pleasure But he saith totidem verbis this is my body and dying men use to speake most plainely with them figures are out of date the flowers of Rhetoricke fade especially they write without welt or Guard in their wils and Testaments A familiar Trope or Figure is as plain as no figure Even a child in age is man enough to understand Coole the Pot drinke off that Cup Yea many speake figures who know not what figures meane Besides Christ at his death spake no other language then what his tongue and his Disciples eares were used too in his life time I am the Vine I am the Way I am the Doore Hee who is so sottish as to conceive that Christ was a materiall Doore sheweth himselfe to be a Post indeed Which is broken for you The flesh of Christ was afterwards on the Crosse literally broken there was solutio continui with the nayles in his hands and feet As for his bones Iohn 19.36 Not a bone of him was broken in the literall sense But vertually and eminently in the same meaning wherein it is said a Broken Heart all his bones were broken that is contrited and grinded with griefe and sorrow Doe this In Latine hoc facite which the Papists expound sacrifice this according to Virgils verse Cum faciam vitula pro frugibus ipse venito So much is the Church of Rome beholding to this Poet both for the sacrifice of the Masse out of his Eclogs and Limbus Patrum out of the first booke of his Aeneads But seeing this action Doe this is injoyned as wel to the people as the Priest and seeing none but the Priest could offer Proprij nominis sacrificium it plainely appeares this cannot here be a proper sacrifice In Remembrance Wherein this Doctrine is intimated Men are prone to forget Gods favours unto them except they be minded of them The Israelites had not this great goodnesse in remembrance But were disobedient at the Sea even at the Red-sea Psalme 106.7 Who would have thought that the deliverance at the Red-sea would so soon have beene drowned in a deeper Sea of Oblivion Reasons of our Forgetfulnesse 1. The Devils malice who whilst we sleep in Idlenesse and negligence stealeth into the memory the Muniment house of the soule and embezileth and purloyneth from thence the Records of most moment and importance 2. But not to play the Devill with the Devill not to accuse him falsely hee is not the principall cause of our forgetfulnesse which floweth chiefly from the corruption of our nature which like a Bolter lets all the floore passe and keeps only the bean behind But here wee must not understand the bare naked and empty Remembrance of Christs death the calling to mind the History of his passion which the Devils can doe and the worst of men thus to remember Christ were but to forget him But a remembrance cum effectu the relying on his death with a lively faith and applying his merits to our soules VVhereof more largely hereafter Of mee Incarnated of me borne of me circumcised of me baptized of me tempted of me scourged but especially of me crucified and also of me ascended and now glorified VERSE 25. After the same manner also hee tooke the Cup when hee had supped saying this Cup is the new Testament in my blood this doe yee as oft as yee drinke it in remembrance of me FOlloweth now the other part of the Sacrament instituted in the Wine He doubleth the elements to shew that in Christ is not only necessary and sufficient but also plentifull and abundant with assured Redemption Too too blame then the Church of Rome whose Levites are guilty of that fault whereof Benjamin was taxed they have stolne away the Cup If to steale the Chalice be the phrase whereby men expresse the highest sin what sacriledge is it to steale the Wine of the Chalice from whom it belongeth But it is a wonder if old Theeves be taken without an excuse let us heare what these Romanists plead for themselves Nature hath so put flesh and blood in a joynt Patent that they goe alwayes together VVhere there is one there are both and where not both neither It is superfluous therefore to give the Laity the blood the second time who by concomitancie had received it before Indeed flesh and blood like loving Play-mates were together in Christs body till torments forced them to part asunder Now we are to receive Christs blood Shed not as it was at home housed in heavinesse but as payne banished it abroad and powred it out VVherfore what God hath put asunder to bee taken severally and distinctly let no man joyne together But there be many Inconveniences yea mischiefes attend the Layeties receiving of the VVine as its sticking in their beards spilling of it c. Non debemus esse sapientiores legibus

one sinne than for another and that sinne which hath cost us the slightest and shallowest Repentance is most likely to be the cause of our present sicknesse 6. Hearken chiefly to the Inditement of thy conscience for when wee hunt after that sin which causeth our disease and wee find our selves to be either at a losse or at a cold sent if once our conscience begin to spend her open mouth wee may certainely conclude that the game went that way and that that is the very sin for which at that time wee are punished Thus the Patriarks Gen. 42 21. Said one to another we have verely sinned against our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his soule where hee besought us and wee would not heare therefore is this evill fallen upon us Reuben did not impute it to the defiling of his Fathers bed nor Iudah to his Incest nor Simeon and Levi to their murthering of the Shechemites for these were but personall sinnes but all joyntly agreed that it was for their cruelty to their Brother a sin wherein all they were equally ingaged as they were equally inwrapt in the punishment If by these or any other meanes we attaine to the knowledge of that particular sinne for which wee are punished let us drown that sin in penitent teares and in the blood of our Saviour but if we cannot find it out let us imitate the example of Herod Mat. 2. Who that he might make sure work to kil our Saviour slew all the children in Bethelem and the countrey about it from two years old and under a plot probable to have taken effect if heaven had not beene too wise for hell In like manner let us indifferently and impartially repent for all our sins in generall if wee know not which was the Bee that stung us let us throw downe the whole Hive if wee know not which was the thorne that prickt us let us cut downe the whole hedge and so wee shall bee sure that sinne shall not escape which hath caused our present sicknesse Now whereas God might have tumbled the Corinthians down into hell-fire for their irreverent receiving of the Sacrament and yet was pleased to inflict on them bodily weakenesse and sicknesse and death we learn God oftentimes with his Saints commuteth eternall torments into temporall punishments Hee is therefore angry in this world that hee might not be angry in the world to come Et misericorditer adhibet temporalem paenam ne juste inferat aeternam ultionem If any object but why will God pardon talents and not tokens pounds but not pence and for Christs sake forgive and strike off eternall torment and yet not crosse the score of temporall punishment I answer 1. To make us take notice that wee have beene offenders 2. That by feeling the smart of what hee inflicteth on us wee may bee the more sensible of his favour how much paine he hath forgiven us 3. To make us more wary and watchfull in time to come But farre bee it from us to conceive that there is any satisfactory or expiatory power in the afflictions which wee suffer Satisfaction for sinne could not be but once and once was fully made when Christ offered himselfe upon the Crosse Let us therefore learne patience under Gods afflicting hand when hee layeth any sicknesse upon us Solomon said to Abiathar 1 King 2.26 Get thee to Anathoth to thine owne fields for thou art worthy of death but I will not at this time put thee to death because thou barest the Arke of my Lord God before David my Father Thus God dealeth with us when hee might justly deprive us of our life yea of our eternall life yet if wee have borne his Arke if wee can plead any true reference or relation to Christ our Saviour God will be graciously pleased not to take away our lives but onely to send us to our Anathoth to confine us to our beds to keepe us his close Prisoners and onely to deprive us of our health pleasure and delight Let us therefore patiently endure the aking of the teeth wee have all deserved the gnashing of the teeth Let us patiently endure a burning Fever for wee have all deserved Hell-fire Let us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bodily Consumption for wee have deserved to bee consumed and brought to nothing GROWTH IN GRACE 1 PET. 2.18 But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ 1 PHilosophers make a double growth One per aggregationem materiae by gayning of more matter Thus Rivers grow by the accession of tributary Brooks heaps of Corne waxe greater by the addition of more graine and thus stones grow as some would have it though this more properly bee termed an augmentation or increase then a growth The other per intro receptionem nutrimenti by receiving of nourishment within as plants beasts and men grow Of the latter growth wee understand the Apostle in the Text and will prosecute the Metaphor of the growth of vegetables as that which the Holy Spirit seemes most to favour and intend in these expressions 2. Here is one thing presupposed in the text laid down for a foundation namely that those to whom S. Peter writes were already rooted in grace goodness These must be an Vnit at least before any multiplication a Basis before any building upon it no doubt they were such as to whom S. Paul writes Eph. 3.18 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Being rooted and grounded in love such as the Colossians were Col. 2.7 Rooted in Christ and established in faith And such I trust you are to whom my discourse is directed or else it were in vaine for me or any to give you instructions for Growth in Grace 3. But why is it said in the Text first in Grace and then in Knowledge this seemes to be an {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Lanthorne is to go first Knowledge is to be the Vsher of Grace information in the understanding must goe before reformation in the will and affections I could answer the holy Spirit is no whit curious in marshalling these graces which he putteth first they need no herauld to shew their pedigree wch wil not fal out for precedency But to the point their is a two-fold knowledge one precedent grace as disposing one therto making capable therof the other subsequent is an effect therof a reward of it through Gods mercy These that have gracious hearts do daily better improve their knowledge in matters of salvatiō some herein arrive at a great heigth as David Psa. 119.99 I have more understanding than al my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditations 4 However see the Apostle puts grace Knowledge together What God hath joyned let no man put asunder We must grow according to both demensions both in heigth in knowledge in bredth in piety both in head and in heart both in speculation and practise we must not all run up in heigth like an Hop-pole

King 18. 16. For Senacharib no sooner received his money but hoc non obstante persisted in his former enmity and hostility against the Iewes and as it followeth in the very next verse sent up his Captaines to besiege Ierusalem 3. If there be no fault in the inchoation Examine hath there beene none in the continuance of your friendship hast thou not committed many sinnes to hold in with him If so then it is just with God hee should forsake thee Thus Tyrants often times cut off those staires by which they climbe up to their Throne Yea good Princes have often times justly sacrificed those their Favorites to the fury of the people who formerly have been the active Instruments to oppresse the people though to the enriching of their Princes Hast thou not flattered him in his faults or at least wise by thy silence consented to him If so God hath now opened thy friends eyes he sees thy false dealing with him and hath just cause to cast thee out of his favour When Amnon had defiled his sister Thamar the Text saith 2 Sam. 13.15 that the hatred wherewith hee hated her was greater than the love wherewith hee loved her Poore Lady shee was in no fault not the cause but onely the object and the occasion of her brothers sinne and that against her will by his violence Now to reason A minore ad majus If Amnon in cold blood viewing the hainousnesse of his offence so hated Thamar which onely concurred passively in his transgression how may our friends justly hate us if haply we have beene the Causers Movers and Procurers of their badnesse If wee have added fewell to the flame of their ryot played the Pandors to their lusts and spurred them on in the full speed of their wantonnesse deserve wee not when their eyes are opened to see what foes we have been unto them under pretended Friendship to bee spit in the face kik't out of their company and to bee used with all contumely and disgrace 4. Hast thou not idolatrized to thy friend hath he not totally monopolized thy soule so that thou hast solely depended on him without looking higher or further Tu patronus si deseris tu perimus Thus too many wives anchor al their hopes for outward matters on their husbands and too many children leane all their weight on their Fathers shoulders so that it is just with God to suffer these their woodden Pillars to breake on whom they lay too much heft 5. Hast thou not undervalued thy friend and set too meane a rate and low an estimate on his love If so God hath now taught thee the worth of a Pearle by loosing it And this comes often to passe though not in our friends voluntary deserting us as Achitophel did David yet in their leaving us against their wils when God taketh them from us by death But here this question may be demanded whether is one ever againe to receive him for his friend and to restore him to the old state of his favour who once hath deceived and dealt falsely with him Many circumstances are herein well to bee weighed first did hee forsake thee out of frailty and infirmity or out of meer spight and maliciousnesse Secondly hath he since shewed any tokens and evidences of unfained sorrow hath hee humbled himselfe unto thee and beg Gods and thy pardon If hee hath offended mischievously and persists in it obstinately O let not the strength of thy supposed charity so betray thy judgement as to place confidence in him Samson was blind before hee was blind the lust of Dalilah deprived him of his eyes before the Philistims bored them out in that once and againe being deceived by Dalilah hee still relyed on her word But if hee hath shewed himselfe such a Penitent and thou art verely perswaded of his Repentance receive him againe into thy favour Thus dealt our Saviour with Saint Peter Marke 16.7 But goe your way tell his Disciples and Peter Peter especially Peter that had sinned and Peter that had sorrowed Peter that had denyed his Master but Peter that went out and wept bitterly 6. Sixthly and lastly it may bee God suffers thy friends to prove unfaithfull to thee to make thee sticke more closely to himselfe Excellent to this purpose is that place Mica 7.5 Trust yee not in a friend put yee no confidence in a Guide keepe the doers of thy mouth from her that lyeth in thy bosome For the Son dishonoureth the Father the Daughter riseth up against the Mother the Daughter in law against her Mother in law a mans enemies are the men of his own house But now marke what followes therefore will I looke unto the Lord I will wayte for the God of my salvation As if hee had said is the world at this bad hand is it come to this bad passe That one must bee farre from trusting their neerest friends it is well then I have one fast Friend on whom I may relye the God of Heaven I must confesse these words of the Prophet are principally meant of the time of Persecution and so are applyed by our Saviour Mat. 10.21 However they containe an eternall truth whereof good use may bee made at any time Let us therefore when our friends forsake us principally relye on God who hath these two excellent properties of a friend first he is neere to us so saith the Psalmist Thy name is neere and this doth thy excellent workes declare They have a speedy way of conveying Letters from Aleppo to Babylon sending them by a winged Messenger tyed to the legs of a Dove but wee have a shorter cut to send our prayers to God by sending our prayers by the wings of the Holy Spirit that heavenly Dove whereby they instantly arrive in Heaven As God is neere to us so hee is ever willing and able to helpe us On him therefore let us ever relye and when other Reeds bow or break or run into our hands let us make him to bee our staffe whereon wee may leane our selves A GLASSE FOR GLVTTONS ROM. 13.13 Not in Gluttony THese words are a parcell of that Scripture that converted Saint Augustine He as hee confesseth of himselfe at the first was both erroneous in his Tenets and vicious in his life when running on in full carreare in wickednesse God stopt him with his voyce from Heaven Tolle et lege take up thy Book and reade and the first place which God directed his eye to was these words in my Text and after this time being reclaymed hee proved a worthy Instrument of Gods glory and the Churches good Now as those receipts in Physicke are best which are confirmed under the Broad Seale of Experience and set forth with the priviledge of Probatum est so my Text may challenge a priority before other places of Scripture because upon Record it hath been the occasion to convert so famous a Christian Neither thinke that the vertue of these words are extracted by doing

Congregation It was the Boone Saul begg'd of Samuel Honour me before my people And surely it is but reason wee should seeke to grace the Shepherd in the presence of his Flock though perchance privately wee may reprove him disgrace him not publikely before those that are under him I am come now to neglected Ministers at whose Churches Solitudo ante ostium and within them too whilst others perchance lesse deserving are more frequented Let not such grieve in themselves or repine at their Brethren When Saint Iohn Baptists Disciples told him That all flock't to Iesus whom hee baptized beyond Iordan I must decrease answered hee and hee must increase Never fret thy selfe or vexe out thy soule if others bee preferred before thee they have their time they are Crescents in their waxing full Seas in their flowing Envie not at their Prosperity The Starres in their course did fight against Sisera thy course of credit may chance to bee next thy turne of Honour may chance to come after One told a Grecian Statist who had excellently deserved of the Citie hee lived in That the Citie had chosen foure and twenty Officers and yet left him out I am glad said hee the Citie affords twenty foure abler than my selfe So let Ministers triumph and rejoyce in this that the Church yeilds so many men better meriting then themselves and be farre from taking exception thereat And let us practise Saint Pauls Precept by Honour and Dishonour by good Report and Disreport Seven yeares have I served God in good esteeme and well respected by the time I have served God so long in disgrace and reproach perchance the Circulation of my credit may returne and with patience I may regaine the esteeme I have lost and if otherwise let him say with David Lord here I am doe with thy servant as thou pleasest By this time mee thinkes I heare the people saying unto mee as the Souldiers to Iohn Baptist but what shall wee doe Now the Counsell I commend to you is this First ever preserve a reverent esteeme of the Minister whom God hath placed over thee For if a Sparrow lighteth not on the ground without Gods especiall Providence surely no Minister is bestowed in any Parish without a more immediate and peculiar disposing of God and surely their owne Pastor is best acquainted with their diseases and therefore best knoweth to apply spirituall Physicke thereunto And as Gods Word hath a generall Blessing on every place so more particularly is it sanctified and blessed there to those Parishioners from the mouth of their lawfull Minister Let not therefore the Sermon of a stranger who perchance makes a Feast of set purpose to entertaine new Guests be preferred before the paines of thy owne Minister who keeps a constant house and a set Table each Lords day feeding his owne family Wherefore let all the Ephesians confine themselves to their Timothy Cretians to their Titus every Congregation to their proper Pastor And I hope Pastors considering the solemne oath they tooke at their Institution and the profit they receive from their people and how irrationall it is to take wages and doe no worke and the heavie account they must make at the day of Iudgement will provide Milke in their brests for those who must suck of them As for those whose necessary occasions doe command their absence from their Flocks let them be Curats of their Curats over-see such whom they appoynt to oversee their people Columella gives this counsell to Husband-men never keepe a horse to doe that worke which may be done by an Asse both because Asses are of a lower price and cheaper kept But God forbid Ministers should observe this Rule and so consult with their profit as to provide unworthy Substitutes to save charges Let them not make odious comparisons betwixt Ministers of eminent parts It is said of Hezechiah 2 King 18.5 That after him was none like him of all the Kings of Iudah neither any that were before him It is said also of King Iosiah 2 King 23.25 And like unto him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soule and with all his might neither after him rose up any like him The Holy Spirit prefers neither for better but concludes both for best and so amongst Ministers when each differs from others all may bee excellent in their kinds As in comparing severall handsome persons one surpasseth for the beauty of a naturally painted face A second for the feature of a well proportioned body A third for a grace of Gesture and Comelinesse of carriage so that Iustice it selfe may bee puzled and forced to suspend her Verdict not knowing where to adjudge the Victory So may it bee betwixt severall Pastors Ones Excellency may consist in the unsnarling of a knowne controversie an other in plaine expounding of Scripture to make it portable in the weakest memory One the best Boanarges an other the best Barnabas Our Iudgements may bee best informed by one our Affections moved by a second our lives reformed by a third I am perswaded there is no Minister in England for his Endowments like Saul Higher then his Brethren from the shoulders upwards But rathes some hundreds like the Pillars in Salomons House all of a height But grant some in parts farre inferiour to others was not Abishai a valiant and worthy Captaine though hee attayned not to the Honour of the first three And may not many bee serviceable in the Church though not to bee ranked in the first forme for their sufficiencie Let them entertaine this for a certaine truth That the Efficacy of Gods Word depends not on the parts of the Minister but on Gods blessing on his Ordinance Indeed there is a Generation of Preachers that come upon the Stage before ever they were in the Tyring-house whose backwardnesse in the Vniversity makes them so forward in the Countrey where what they lack in Learning they supply in boldnesse I could wish that as Gen. 21.19 When Hagars Bottle of water was spent God opened her eyes and shee went to the Fountaine againe So when these Novices have emptied their store of set Sermons they brought with them that their Parents would remit them backe to the Vniversity the Fountaine of Learning and Religion to furnish themselves with a better stocke of sufficiencie Such Ministers as these I account as none at all but as for those that have the Minimum ut sic the least degree of tolerability to enable them in some measure to discharge their Office God may bee and often is as effectuall in and by them as by Rabbies of farre greater parts To conclude let us with one mind and one mouth advance the Glory of God that thereby the Gospel may bee graced Wicked men amazed some of them converted the rest of them confounded weake Christians confirmed to the griefe of Devils Ioy of Angels Honour of God himselfe Amen FINIS Imprimatur THOMAS WYKES May 30. 1640. Observ. Caution Quest Answ. Doct Vse Quest Answ. Doct. Object * Cornel. ● l. ●● pide on the Text Answ. 1. * Thom. Morton in his comment upon the 1 Cor. 11. * Cal. 1 Cor. 11.2 Doct. Doct. Rea 1. 2 It confutes 1 2 * Libro de Haeresibus ad quod vult deum Quest Answ. * S. Ang. loco prius citato saith of him Haereses quidem ipse comnemorat sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haereses non videntur Quest Answ. * Epist. 118. ad Ianuar. cap. 5. Ipsam acceptionem Eucharistiae caen●m Dominicam vocat Doct Vse * Spondanus Annal. Eccles. in anno 903. * Loco prius citato Vse Observ. Quest Answ. Doct Vse Quest Answ. * Moral lib. 30. cap. 28 ante medium Vse Object Answ. Doct. Doct. Reasons Vse 1. Doct. Reasons Vse Object Answ. 1. 2. Observ. Doct. Vse * Fox Martyrol page 594. Observ. Vse Quest Answ. 4. Observeables concerning Traditions lib. 3. contra Eunomium Clemens Rom. lib. 40. cap. 10 Apost. Constit * Lib. 4. Hist. cap. 8. Lib. 6. Hist. cap. 11. Observ. Quest Answ. 1. 2. Quest Answ. Reasons of the charge 1. 2. Quest Answ. 1 2. Quest Answ. Doct Rea 1. 2 Object Answ. 1. 2. 3. T. C. needlesse cavill Argum. 1 Answ. Argum. 2. Answ. Argum. 3. Answ. Doct. Rea 1. 2. Object 1. Answ. 1. Object 2. Answ. 2 Object 3. Answ. 3. * Eusebius lib. 1. Demonst. Evan. cap. 10. * Lib. 5. de Sacramentis cap. 4. Object 1. Answ. 1. Object 2. Answ. 2 Object 3. Answ. 3. * Loco prius citato Quest Answ. Doct Vse Observ. Quest Answ. Three-fold worthinesse 1 2. 3. Object Answ. Reasons of the necessity 1. 2. 3. Doct Vse 1. Vse 2. Quest Answ. Answ. 2. Rea 1. 2. Object Answ. Cambd. Brit. in Northumberland Vse 1. First kind of examples Vse of them Abuse of them Second sort Vse of them Abuse of them Third sort Vse of them Abuse of them Fourth sort Vse Abuse of them Fifth sort Vse of them Abuse of them Sixth sort Vse of them Abuse of them Seventh sort Vse of them Abuse of them Eighth sort Vse of them Abuse of them Ninth sort Object Answ. Rules how to unlove the world 1. 2. * Look Lord Bacon in his life * Munsters Cosmog de Germ. l. 3. pag. 143. Observ. 1. Observ. 2. Vse Observ. 3. Quest Answ. Doct Rea. Rea. 2. * Lib. 30. Marat ca. 28. ante medium Rea. 3. Mot. 1. Mot. 2. Mot 3. Observ. 1. Obser. 2. Quest Answ. 1. Doct. Object Answ. 1. Observ. Observ. Vse Vse Doct. Object Answ. Tacitus Doct. Misch. 1. Misch. 2. Misch. 3. Misch. 4. Remedy 1. Remedy 2.