Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	lord_n	time_n	word_n	2,444	5	3.7698	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45388	A good minister of Jesus Christ a funeral sermon for the Reverend Richard Steel, a faithful and useful minister of the Gospel, delivered Novemb. 27, 1692 / by George Hamond ...	Hamond, George, 1620-1705.; Steele, Richard, 1629-1692.	1693 (1693)	Wing H503; ESTC R13664	27,427	111

fervent in Spirit serving the Lord From hence we may conclude Of all Persons in the VVorld the good Ministers of Jesus Christ should not be idle or slothful but studious and industrious in their proper VVork and persist therein with Alacrity Activity and Constancy The Reasons that may prevail with them and engage them hereto are many and weighty e. gr 1st They should be furnished with a more than vulgar Measure of sacred Knowledg in the Doctrines and Mysteries of the Gospel that they may declare the whole Counsel to the Edification of his Church Moreover they are set for the Defence of the Gospel and should endeavour to be able by sound Doctrine to exhort and convince the Gain-sayers and to stop their Meuths Now most evident it is that they who desire to be meetly qualified for such Undertakings must give Attendance to Reading They must meditate on these things and give themselves wholly to them that their Profiting may appear to all It would be a great Reproach to Teachers of the Gospel to be like those Teachers of the Law whom the Apostle derides 1 Tim. 1. 7. Desiring to be Teachers of the Law yet understand neither what they say nor whereof they affirm What think ye then will become of the Lazy and Slothful when the most Studious and Industrious out of a deep Sense of their own Imperfections cry out And who is sufficient for these things 2. A good Minister of Jesus Christ will feel himself obliged to be studious and industrious when he reflects upon that blessed Work wherein his Employment lies The Conversion and Salvation of precious immortal Souls which ordinarily are much concerned in his Sedulity and Fidelity For though God doth confer his Grace according to his own Soveraign Will and Pleasure for it is not of him that willeth or of him that runneth but of God that sheweth Mercy and he may choose the foolish Things of the World to confound the Wise yet Ministers cannot in Faith expect that God should give the Increase unless on their part there be Planting and Watering and that not in a remiss or unconcerned Manner but according to the Apostle's Example Col. 1. 28 29. VVhom 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 VVorking which worketh in me mightily 3. The good Minister of Jesus Christ will see cause enough that he should be studious and industrious when his Heart is under due Impressions of that tremendous Account which he must give to Jesus Christ. For such a time will certainly come The Charge which the Apostle gives is terrible as a Clap of Thunder 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judg the Quick and the Dead at his Appearing and his Kingdom Preach the VVord be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all Long suffering and Doctrine The Negligent will then find that all Excuses and Evasions will be rejected and despised It will avail nothing to plead That their other Businesses or Diversions were so many that they had neither Time nor Inclination to study or preach the Gospel for no Pretensions could secure the unprofitable slothful Servant from falling under that dreadful Sentence Take the Talent from him Cast the unprofitable Servant into outer Darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth This may suffice to have been spoken touching the first Property of a good Minister of Jesus Christ. He is one that is studious and industrious that hastens to his Work with Alacrity and persists in it with Constancy 2dly The second Property of a good Minister of Jesus Christ is That he is one who chooseth and pursueth a right End both in his Undertaking and Acting He hath his Eye always upon the Mark and all his Studies and Endeavours have a direct and proper Tendency to it and that is That he may approve himself unto God What the Apostle prescribed to Timothy he practised himself 2 Cor 5. 9 10. Wherefore we labour or endeavour with an holy Ambition that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him For we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ. Two Things the good Minister doth reach after 1. That he may be approved 2. That God may ratify his Approbation 1. That he may obtain an Approbation and such an one as is given after Trial Jam. 1. 12. Blessed is the Man that endureth Temptation or Trial for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life Men are sometimes too rash and precipitate in passing their Judgment and so may take Brass for Gold But God searcheth the Heart and will never approve any Person whom he hath not thorowly tried When Jesse's Sons came before Samuel he looked upon Eliab and said Surely the Lord 's Anointed is before me But the Lord said unto Samuel Look not on his Countenance nor on the Height of his Stature because I have refused him for the Lord seeth not as Man seeth for Man looketh on the outward Appearance but the Lord looketh on the Heart Happy then are they who notwithstanding their many Defects and Infirmities can appeal to God for their Sincerity Psal. 17. 3. Thou hast proved my Heart and tried me in the Night and shalt find nothing i. e. nothing inconsistent with Uprightness or Sincerity 2. That God may ratify his Approbation for it is God who will pass the final and decisive Sentence It is not then he who commendeth himself or is commended by others that is approved but he whom the Lord commendeth Many are they who are ambitious to purchase the good Opinion and Praise of Men and love it more than the Praise of God But of all Persons in the World it looks worst in a Minister of Jesus Christ to be Animal gloriae to hunt after Applause and to feed upon the Breath of popular Acclamations What dismal Effects have sprung from the poisonous Root of affected Popularity Therefore the good Minister of Jesus Christ must fortify himself against the Insinuations of good Report as well as against the Vexations of evil Report and be content to pass through Honour or Dishonour evil and good Report and so support himself with the Approbation of God and the Testimony of a good Conscience This Clause study to approve thy self unto God is well paraphrased by the Syriac Let it be thy Care to present thy self before God with great Integrity Good Ministers are conscious to themselves of many Infirmities and bewail them before the Lord As their Unskilfulness in explicating the great Mysteries of the Gospel the Remissness of their Zeal their Entanglements Diversions Distractions and such like yet it may be a sweet Refreshment and Relief to them that they can say That they have sincerely desired to serve the Lord in the