Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	apostle_n	gospel_n	word_n	3,444	5	4.1556	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55553	A sermon at the funeral of the reverend Mr. Thomas Grey, late Vicar of Dedham in Essex preach'd in the parish-church of Dedham, Febr. the 2d. 1691/2, with a short account of his life / by Joseph Powell ...	Powell, Joseph, d. 1698.	1692 (1692)	Wing P3064; ESTC R3154	24,894	36

those who have raised themselves above a common Level I do not mean in amassing together a more than ordinary heap of Riches the Portion as commonly of Fools as of the Wise and at least equally reached by Good and Bad Men but in those Gifts of true Wisdom and real Goodness the greatest God has given to Men by which there seems to be as great a difference amongst Men as betwixt Man and the Beasts or as betwixt some Men of exalted Vertue and the Angels above For while some are raised up to a Divine Likeness others have almost quite defaced the Image of God in themselves and are sunk a vast way below the Dignity of Humane Nature into Ignorance Folly Immorality and downright Brutishness Such who have been thus distinguished from others in their Lives ought to be so in their Deaths too and not to go out of the World without a more than ordinary notice taken of them 'T is fit that their Wisdom and Vertue which rendered them so useful while they lived should be proposed to the World as an Example and for the imitation of such as survive them This has been the Practice of all Nations to have Orations of Praise at the Interment of such who lived usefully in their Generations The Scripture mentions it as an Act of Honour done to the Righteous at their Deaths and seems very plainly to recommend it in those Promises to the Good Man 2 Chron. 32.33 That his Name shall be had in remembrance and his Memory be blessed The Practice of the Christian Church in this Point is so well known that I shall not spend time needlesly to insist on it Supported by this Authority I will venture to draw a short Character of your Deceased Pastor He was a Man of a very large Understanding of a quick and ready Apprehension and had a very happy way of expressing himself which as far as these are meer Natural Endowments do by no means seem to be given by God to all Men alike and would tempt to believe that the difference in Men does not wholly arise from the Disposition of Bodily Organs or Education or any the like Causes but that there is really an inequality in their Original make These natural Endowments were cultivated by a happy Education and an early Acquaintance with all that School Learning which is so necessary a Foundation for rendring a Man useful in any considerable Post in Church or State He was called very early out to be a Labourer in God's Vineyard an Employment though some perhaps may imagine little of difficulty in it and that the Clergy of all other Men live most at ease that requires a mighty Pains to be able to discharge it wisely and usefully which perhaps the Apostle intimates when he calls it Labouring in the Word and Doctrine 1 Tim. 5.17 Our Deceased Brother was so apprehensive of this at his first coming among you where his constant Task was to preach three times a Week besides the Monthly Preparation Sermon for the Sacrament and many other occasional Sermons that to be able to give a good Account of his Ministry to God to his own Conscience and to Wise Men to approve himself a Workman that needed not to be ashamed 2 Tim. 2.15 rightly dividing the word of Truth and that as becomes the Man of God he might be perfect 2 Tim. 3.17 throughly furnished to every good work as the Apostle exhorts Timothy that is as a Teacher or Preacher of the Gospel by the Study of the Scripture be furnished for all turns and enabled to discharge his whole Duty towards the Souls of his Flock as Dr. Hammond has Paraphrased those Words he fell upon that excessive hard Study which broke an excellent Constitution of Body and so impaired his Health that he was never able to recover it and though he was in a while sensible of this and often admonished by his Friends to remit that Rigour yet his Circumstances partly necessitated him to continue it and besides by Use and Custom it was become so pleasant a Diversion that he seemed to think the Improvements hereby made to himself to be an abundant Recompense for the Infirmities it brought along with it and as Tully preferred the living one Day according to the Precepts of Philosophy to a vicious Immortality so our Deceased Brother had a far greater Inclination to improve his Knowledge and to live usefully though but a few years than to arrive at an extream old Age with no other Sign upon him that he had lived long but what might be discovered as Seneca speaks in Wrinkles and Grey Hairs This I have particular Reason to observe inasmuch as when I have been discoursing with him which was frequently of giving himself a little case and calling in one to his Assistance his constant Answer was to this Effect That his Life could not be better wasted than in a careful discharge of his Ministry and in doing all the Good he could and let his Great Master call him when he pleased Happy was that Servant whom his Lord when he should come found so doing In Consideration of this his hard Study was not barely to satisfie his Curiosity or to please himself with his own Notions though this is both an Innocent and a very delightful Piece of Epicurism but to render himself serviceable to others to discharge his Office with Credit to Religion and to profit those in trust committed to his Care he was a Constant Judicious and Profitable Preacher In all his Discourses he Studiously avoided according to the Apostle's Advice all useless Questions which minister only to strife and by which let the Preacher argue and defend either side of the Question none are made either the wiser or better Men. His chief Business was to prosecute Practical Subjects with the utmost force of Perswasion well knowing that most Men understand their Duty much better than they Practise it and that to stir up their Remembrance and over-rule their Wills was one great part of the Minister's Office His main Endeavour was to speak good Sense and to deliver the most useful Truths in plain and easie Expressions and was often wont to say That the Practical Doctrines of Christianity were so perfectly agreeable to natural Principles that if they were fairly represented no Man would be found to make the least opposition to them but that the same Doctrine might be so intangled with Controversie under the shew of clearing them that Mens Prejudices would still over-sway them and every Man would retain the Principles of his first Education and that such Discourses never turned to any Advantage of the Hearers but served either to Prejudice them against their Preachers or to drive them into Heats and Contentions among themselves to the bane of Christian Practice We are lately told of a Noble Design provided for in the Will of a very extraordinary Person Deceased that every year should be composed a few well