Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	word_n	workman_n	write_v	23	3	4.4600	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61215	The mutual duties of elders and people Delivered in a discourse at Beckles in Suffolk, Octob. 13. 1697. At the setting apart of Mr. John Killinghal, to the office of an elder, over a Church of Christ there. By John Stackhouse, elder of a Church of Christ in Norwich.	Stackhouse, John, dissenting minister.	1698 (1698)	Wing S5104; ESTC R220764	32,438	41

the first thing they must labour II. This is labour to do this is labour Beloved even unto weariness As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greek word signifieth The same word is translated being weary John 4. 16. Thus sate Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weary on the Well We have toiled all night and caught nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 5. 5. The work of the Ministry my Beloved is a go●d work and it is a work that may be desired 1 Tim. 3. 1. But it may not be desired for Honours sake nor for Maintenance sake but for Works sake But as it is a good and desirable Work so it is a painful and laborious Work it is hard toilsom Labour so that they need to give themselves wholly to it 1. There is the labour of the Brain there is a giving attendance to Reading Meditation and Prayer which is commanded them that so they may faithfully discharge the Duty of their Office 1 Tim. 4. 13. Till I come give attendance to Reading to Exhortation to Doctrine And Verse 15. Meditate on these things give thy self wholly to them 2 Tim. 2. 15. Study to shew thy self approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of Truth There needs continual Study Reading and Meditation which is hard Labour and doth greatly exhaust the strength of their natural Spirits The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words and that which was written was upright even the words of truth Ecccles 12. 15. 2. Their Work is Heart labour in their Work they must labour hard with their own Hearts and with the Hearts of those that God hath set them over They labour with their own Hearts for in their Hearts are like Passions as other Men have they have many times unbelief vexing them despondency casting them down without are fightings and within are fears as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 7. 4. They are to serve God with their spirits in the Gospel of Christ sincerely and heartily Rom. 1. 9. But their Spirits are sometimes discomposed and disquieted and cast down and at other times their Spirit is willing and their Flesh is weak They labour with their own Hearts for they must be careful of their own Souls 1 Cor. 9. 27. If they be keepers of others Vineyard and do not keep their own Vineyard if they do not take heed to themselves that they may save themselves as well as others they shall be found Fools in the Issue of their Labours And as they have hard labour with their own Hearts so they have also hard labour with the Hearts of those whom they teach and if God doth not help them to work on the Hearts of them whom they teach they can do nothing Thus the Apostle expresseth his Labour Coloss 1. 28 29. Whom we preach warning every Man and teaching every Man in all Wisdom that we may present every Man perfect in Christ Jesus whereunto I also labour striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily If that the Spirit work with us mightily then our Labour is pleasant tho' 't is hard But if we be put to lament who hath believ'd our report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed It even breaks our hearts with grief 3. It is Labour for which they many times have little thanks given them Thus the Apostle tells the Corinthians 2 Cor. 12. 15. I will very gladly spend and be spent for you tho' the more abundantly I love you the less I be loved So great an Apostle met with so mean a requital from those whom he had by his preaching Converted and other Elders do many times meet with a discouraging requital the more abundantly they love them the less they are beloved by them they are many times counted enemies because they tell the people the truth as the Galatians did account Paul whereof he complains Gal. 4. 16. 4. It 's hard Labour wherein many times they have little success They are made Fishers of Men Mat. 4. 19. and they are put many times to complain unto the Lord as Luke 5. 5 Master we have toiled all Night and have caught nothing Many times they see no fruit of their labours before they are called home and they that come after them reap the harvest of the seed which they did sow So our Lord told his Disciples Jo. 4. v. 38. Other Men laboured and ye are entred into their labours 5. It is a toilsome Work which is usually attended with great Sufferings whilst they do faithfully discharge their Ministry Wicked Men hate them because they cannot speak good to them in a way of sin and the frowardness of their Brethren doth many times occasion great trouble to them The Apostle frequently makes mention of his Sufferings 2 Tim. 1. 12. For the which cause I also suffer these things nevertheless I am not ashamed for I know in whom I have believed So also 2 Tim. 2. v. 9 10. and 2 Cor. 11. 23. 27 v. They that are called to this Work must endure hardness as good Soldiers of Jesus Christ So we are commanded 2 Tim. 2. 3. And we must not be moved by any sufferings and troubles whatsoever so as to leave our Ministry because of Sufferings Acts 20. 24. None of these things move me neither count I my life dear to me so I may finish my course with joy and fulfil my Ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus It is then you see hard Labour labour of the Brains labour with the Heart labour that they have little thanks for labour that they have often little success in labour in which they many times suffer great and hard things Yet thus we must Work and thus we must Labour a necessity is laid upon us 1 Cor. 4. 9. and woe to us if we preach not the Gospel Thus must we take heed to save our own Souls and those that hear 1 Tim. 4. 16. us and we must take heed that we be faithful that the blood of none be required at our hands I call you saith the Apostle to witness that I am free from the blood of all Men Acts 20. 26. If the blood of any to whom we preach should be required at our Hands how shall we answer it to our Lord By way of Application 1. The good Lord pardon all the Failings and Miscarriages of us who minister the Word and Doctrine all our coming short in so great a Work It was a great thing the Apostle said I know nothing by myself I know nothing wherein I have failed in the work of my Ministry to you yet am I not hereby justified for Christ knoweth my Work more perfectly than Man doth 1 Cor. 4. 4. But as for us poor sinners we dare not say that we know no thing by our selves we have many Miscarriages that we are guilty of but we hope and believe that we shall be saved by the Blood of Christ even as ye 2.

us and laboureth Heb. 13. 17. Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves Obey their Teachings and submit to their Admonitions Reproofs and Government do not you do as the stubborn Israelite did when Moses came to part two that were quarrelling the faulty Person thrust him away and said Who made thee a Ruler and Judge over us Acts 7. 27. When your Elders would persuade you to Peace or Holiness don't fly in their Faces and say Who made you Rulers over us But yield gently to their guidance so far as they follow Christ 1 Cor. 11. 1. Be ye followers of us as we also are of Christ Jesus It is sad to consider how foolishly we are apt to run into Extreams some Elders are for taking all to themselves and they will be Absolute and Arbitrary and will allow the Church no Power Liberty nor Privilege and on the other side some People are for taking all to themselves and will have their Elders to be no more than Cyphers or Tools among them they will not understand how their Liberty can consist with obeying and submitting to them that are over them in the Lord. There are some that are apt to have a great opinion of their own Sufficiency Wisdom and Authority and that they have little need of their Elders But Christ will not bear it that his Messengers should be so slighted and they that are humble and wise and sincerely desire the publick good of the Church will submit themselves to them that are over them in the Lord and they will be afraid of following their own Will lest in so doing they should mislead others they will seek the Law of Christ from the Mouth of their Elders that all things may be done orderly according to the Word of God and that their Elders may be with them without fear and trouble of Spirit 3. You must believe and practise the sincere Word of God being preached unto you by them that are over you in the Lord The Apostle doth greatly commend the Thessalonians for this 1 Thess 1. 6. Ye became followers of us and of the Lord having received the Word with much affliction and with joy in the Holy Ghost And cap. 2. 13. When ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the Word of Man but as it is in truth the Word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe If that you do not believe and obey the Word that is preached to you as the Word of God if you accept Mens persons if you judge according to the Flesh as your Ear and as your fancy is pleased and your humour is gratified you do not shew that love to your Elder that God requireth of you Desire earnestly the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby let the Word of the Lord be precious unto you not only as the manner of some is when there is no open Vision but also when it is plentifully dispenced Let your growth be answerable to your feeding let not fatness breed loathing and nauseousness in you being glutted by the Word Do not despise the Stewards of Christ that minister it unto you do not grow weary of the Ordinances of Christ because you enjoy them peaceably come not under that reproof Mal. 1. 13. Ye have said also behold what a weariness is it and ye have snuffed at it saith the Lord of Hosts Oh be not you so guilty lest God should judge you and send leanness into your Souls and make you to wander from one Sea unto another seeking the Word of the Lord and ye shall not find it as he speaks Amos 8. 12. Be not all Ear do not content your selves with hearing many Sermons and talking of them that it is a good and a seasonable Word do not content your selves without practising them If you know these things happy are you if you do them Be ye the Epistle of Christ ministred by us written not on Stone or with Ink but in the fleshly Tables of your Hearts by the spirit of God 2 Cor. 3. 3. Surely Beloved if you profess never so much Honour and Reverence and Obedience to us in your outward Words and Actions yet if the Word of Christ which we preach doth not dwell richly in you if it be not by you highly valued and rightly improved and you do not bring forth the fruits of it in your conversation you do not what pleaseth Christ nor what satisfieth us it is not that love which we desire from you but you send us mourning to our God As the Lord tells Ezekiel cap. 33. 32. Loe thou art unto them as a very lovely Song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an Instrument for they hear thy words and will not do them So we too often find it and you make us weep bitterly and cry out because our Labours are successless Oh take heed that you do not turn your backs on the Rod of Christ's Power the Word of his Grace and take heed also that you do not hear with an unbroken and unaffected and unbelieving heart for if you do either of these you are guilty of casting off Christ 4. You must pray earnestly for your Elders Heb. 13. 18. Pray for us for we trust we have a good Conscience in all things willing to live honestly Pray that their stores of the gifts and graces of the Spirit may be encreased pray that they may be helped by the Holy Spirit in their great work as the Apostle calls upon the Ephesians cap. 6. 19. Pray for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth b●ldly to make known the Mystery of the Gospel do not you stop your Ministers mouth do not you say that he grows dull whilst you neglect praying for him that God would open his mouth So to the Colossians the Apostle saith cap. 4. 3. Withal praying for us that God would open a door of utterance to speak the Mystery of Christ and to the Thessalonians 1 Thes 3. 1. Finally Brethren pray for us that the Word of the Lord may run and be glorified even as it is with you Pray for us that we may have success in our work and pray that we may be delivered from wicked and unreasonable Men for all Men have not Faith as it follows in the next verse And in Rom. 15. 30. Now I beseech you Brethren for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and the Love of the Spirit that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me that I may be delivered from them that believe not in Judea and that my Service that I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the Saints Oh pray that their Labours may be acceptable for tho' their Work ought to be acceptable yet many times it is not Pray for them that all their afflictions dangers and troubles may be sanctified to them for the working out