Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	apostle_n	church_n	paul_n	2,210	5	6.2789	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77508	The sacred ordinance of ordination, by imposition of the hands of the presbytery. As it was lately held forth in a sermon preached at the solemn ordination of ministers in the city of Norwich June 11. 1656. / By John Brinsley minister of the Gospel at Great Yarmouth. VVhereunto is also affixed the word of exhortation given to the persons then and there ordained, being usefull to all others of the same tribe. By Nic. Ganning, B.D. minister of the Gospel at Barnham-Broom.	Brinsley, John, 1660-1665.; Ganning, Nicholas, d. 1687.	1656 (1656)	Wing B4726; Thomason E1601_3; ESTC R208903	43,850	99

among you I exhort feed the flock of God which is among you c. And when the cheif Shepheard shall appear yee shall receive a Crown of glory that fadeth not away Here is the faithful Pastors Aureola if they will needs have it so called To which I will adde but one notable saying more of that famous Father St. Austin in his Epistle to Valcrius Nihil difficilius laboriosius periculosius Episcopi aut Presbyteri aut Diaconi officio sed apud Deum nihil beatius si eo modo milit etur quo noster imperator jubet There is nothing more hard nothing more laborious nothing more dangerous than the ministerial office and yet with God there is nothing more happy says hee nothing more rewarded in heaven if it bee faithfully executed as it ought And thus yee have the third and last general head laid forth unto you the great reward which shall certainly bee conferred upon every faithful Minister of the Gospel And now Brethren out of all these three main considerations which I have here mentioned unto you that it is so high and weighty a Calling that wee runne so great a hazzard in the negligent performance of it and that on the contrary so great a reward remains for every one that faithfully dischargeth it let both you that are this day newly initiated into it by Ordination and all of us also whosoever else are of the same ministerial function let us all bee stirred up to set our selves the more strenuously about it and with all carefulnesse and watchfulness for to manage it That shall be my closing speech Labour to put in ure both the precept and the practice of the great Apostle St. Paul his Precept unto Archippus Col. 4.17 And say to Archippus take heed to the Ministery which thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfil it let that bee the utmost both of your and our indeavour to fulfil the Ministery which we have received And labour as well to follow the practical example of the same great Apostle as a most renowned pattern and president for all Ministers while the world shall stand it is Act. 20.24 But none of these things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self so that I might finish my course with Joy and the ministery which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the Gospel of the grace of God Hee says that no affliction whatsoever neither bonds and imprisonment nor martyrdome it self should withhold him from fulfilling his Ministery and so finishing his course with joy agreeable to that Swannes song of his which hee uttered when hee was ready to bee offered up in sacrifice for the faith of the Gospel 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for mee a crown of righteousness c. And therefore this saying of his in the Acts hee spake unto all the Elders of Ephesus whom hee had sent for unto him propounding his own example before them whereby they might learn how to fulfil their Ministery which is that which both ye and all other Ministers ought to bee alwayes learning how to perform Which that ye may the better do give me leave for a conclusion of all to lay you down briefly some helps and furtherances thereunto I will first remove the hindrances and then give you the helps 1 Take heed of an ambitious and proud Spirit of an high and domineering spirit such as would not onely Lord it over Gods heritage as St. Peter speaks but also over your fellow brethren in the Ministery for this is just Diotrephes his spirit of whom St. John complains that hee was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One that loved to have the preeminence and to be leader of all 3 Joh. 9. I Wrote unto the Church but Diotrephes who loved to have the preeminence among them receiveth us not And indeed it was this that first brought in the typhus papalis in the Church First They laboured for the primacy and that by degrees ushered in the Supremacy for the Bishop of Rome had at first but primam sedem afore the rest of the four Patriarchs of the Christian Church it was this same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which made him at length affect to be Episcopus Oecumenicus And though now Bishops bee put down yet must every Minister among us beware of any risings of a domineering spirit within him for if as Luther was wont sententiously to speak that every man had a Pope in his belly then surely much more did hee mean it of Clergy men who have been ever too much addicted to this fin Beginne then to lay a low and deep foundation in humility especially the better gifted any of you bee or have the better parts as the more dangerous inlet unto pride according to that of the Apostle knowledge puffeth up 1 Cor. 8.1 And remember that qualification which among the rest the same Apostle requires in those which are to bee made Ministers 1 Tim. 3.6 Not a novice least being lifted up with pride hee fall into the condemnation of the Devil he was very careful least any Minister should bee tainted with that Devillish and Luciferian sinne of Pride by which the Devils got so great a fall How art thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer sonne of the morning Isa 14.12 which though it bee litterally understood of the great King of Babylons fall yet mystically of the Devils fall in the judgement of Interpreters who was once a good Angel and a bright shining star 2 Take heed of a covetous spirit of a lingring desire after preferments and gainful places for nothing will sooner Wyer-draw a Minister from a careful and faithful discharge of his office nothing will sooner make him turn a Balaam who loved the wages of unrighteousnesse as St. Peter speaks 2 Pet. 2.15 and nothing if need bee will sooner make him turn from the truth than that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that being given to filthy lucre which both the great Apostles do so much inveigh against 1 Tim. 3.3 1 Pet 5.2 And that it often makes men swarve from the Truth not onely experience in all ages of the Church hath made it manifest but St. Paul tells us plainly so 1 Tim. 6.10 The love of mony is the root of all evil which while some have coveted after they have erred from the faith sayes he which is meant of fides quae creditur and not of fides quâ creditur of the faith which wee do beleeve and not of that by which wee beleeve Do none of you then turn secular Priests in the truest sense according to that of the Apostle to Timothy 2 Tim. 2.4 No man that warreth intangleth himself with the affairs of this life after hee had said unto him in the verse before Endure thou hardness as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ And according to his

5.10 for that was the place where the Prophets used to denounce woes Now it is the very office of the blessed Spirit in the mouths of his Ministers to reprove the world as Christ himself says of him John 6.8 When hee is come hee will reprove the Wir●● of s●r●e c. There is no zealous preacher that comes in the Spirit and Power of Elias as John Baptist did but hee hath the many neaded Hidra of sinne to conflict withall and the more zealous hee is against it the more doth the world hate him the more enemys doth he get amongst them Do yee not think that wee are like to have opposition enough on all hands when wee have both the opinions of men and the vices of men to speak against both errours in Doctrin and errours in life to deal withall There are ever and anon errours and heresies springing up in the Church but especially in these our days how many strange and prodigious opinions have been broached among us all which wee that are Ministers must oppose it is our duty to defend the Truth against all encroaching errour whatsoever wee above all others must earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints as St. Jude speaks for it is that which is committed to our keeping wee are betrusted with it by God according to that of the great Apostle unto his Timothy and it is the very farewell clause of his whole Epistle 1 Tim. 6.20 O Timothy Keep that which is committed to thy trust and that is the pretious treasure of truth as both the context shews it and Expositours interpret it Custodi Depositum id est deposi●um veritatis saith Beza And how many hornets then must the Minister needs have about his ears who stands out at the staves end against the errours of the times hee shall have a load of malice and a load of defamation and a load of undermining laid upon him from them that be contrary minded And do yet think hee can expect lesse when hee comes to reprove the sinnes of the time and to tell men of their faults O no! they cannot indure to have their beloved sinnes medled withal to have their bosome sinnes touched that is to touch the sore place men kick and fling when the Minister comes to that Herod was delighted with Johns preaching for a while hee heard him gladly Mark 6.20 but no sooner doth hee meddle with his Herodias his darling sinne but off goes his head Now every faithfull and zealous Minister knows hee cannot discharge a good Conscience unlesse hee boldly and impartially reprove sinne in men hee shall otherwise bee guilty of their bloud Ezek. 338. and therefore hee does his duty though hee procures himself never so many enemies by it and never so much danger follow upon it And thus ye have the first general head somewhat largely insisted upon to shew you what a weighty Calling it is to bee a Minister I shall be briefer in the other two The Second general Head which I propounded to you was the great perill and hazzard yee runne in the negligent performance and undue execution of this so high and weighty a function and that will appear in these two main branches First The Wrong which therein you do unto your selves And then the wrong ye do to others to those that are committed to your charge For the Wrong which hereby ye procurd to Your selves it is not small Ye become the unsavourest falt of the earth fit for nothing but the Dunghill which is our Saviours own expression Mat. 5.13 Ye are the salt of the earth but if the Salt hath lost his favour wherewith shall it be salted it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be troden under 〈◊〉 of men And when God begins to enquire into such unlavoury Salt hee doth not easily make an end as these dayes of ours are a sufficient evidence of it according as hee says by his Prophet Malachi of the Priests of those times Ma● 2.9 I have made you contemptible and buse before all the people according as yee have not kept my wayes c. Besides God doth use to take away the gifts of such Ministers and deprive them of those excellent endowments of mind with which hee had richly furnished them so that afterwards they become men of no esteem for their parts he takes away their talent from them which was wrapt up in a Napkin or hid in the earth as it is in the Gospel Mat. 25.28 Take therefore the talent from him for use limbs and have limbs as wee use to say so use gifts and have them use gifts and increase them Habe●●i dabitur to him that hath shall be given as it follows in the next vers But that which is the main of all such Ministers endanger theirown fouls and runne the hazzard of losing everlasting salvation and what a pittiful thing it is that any of us whose office it is to convert mens souls and to save the souls of others should fall short of saving our own souls that Judas who had once a place among the number of the twelve Apostles must yet at length go to his own place in hell as it is Act. 1.25 From which Judas by transgression fell that he might go to his own place For I will not enter into that needless question whether on unconverted Minister can convert souls or no though I know nothing against it in scripture And yet this is not all for such Ministers do not only endanger their own salvation but they shall have an heavier punishment of damnation than others being such men as knew their Masters Will more as our Saviour informs us Luk. 12.47 That servant which knew his Lords will and did not according to it shall bee beaten with many stripes for hee speaks there of that faithful and wise Steward whom his Lord shall make Ruler over his houshold as appears out of vers 42. and those Stewards are his Ministers in the judgement of the best Expositors And as yee shall thus wrong your selves if yee bee not faithful Ministers of the Gospel so in the second place shall yee also wrong others in no small measure even those that are under your charge and to whomsoever yee relate as Ministers For instead of converting souls ye will pervert them instead of indeavouring the salvation of others yee will as much as in you lie procure their damnation whether by starving their souls in a negligent feeding of them or by infecting their souls with unwholesome and corrupt food or else adificando in gehennam by building them up into hell through an evil example and vitious life when that is built up with one hand is pulled down with another And what a fearful sinne is it to bee guilty of the bloud of souls as God himself calls it by his Prophet Ezekiel His bloud will I require at thine hands Ezek. 33.8 and yet how many ways may a Minister