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A73023 M. Perkins, his Exhortation to repentance, out of Zephaniah preached in 2. sermons in Sturbridge Faire. Together with two treatises of the duties and dignitie of the ministrie: deliuered publiquely in the Vniuersitie of Cambridge. With a preface præfixed touching the publishing of all such workes of his as are to be expected: with a catalogue of all the perticulers [sic] of them, diligently perused and published, by a preacher of the word. Perkins, William, 1558-1602.; Crashaw, William, 1572-1626. 1605 (1605) STC 19706.5; ESTC S123485 128,687 352

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apply their Doctrine to their audience in such manner as the circumstances of place times or persons do require some Ministers come to an ignorant and vnhumbled people and teach them the Gospell which neuer knewe the lawe here the firy coale is vsed but the lips are not touched that is good doctrine taught but not well applyed for that the lawe should first be laid to their consciences others beate all vpon the Lawe when it may be their hearers are a people sufficiently cast downe and haue more need to be raised vp with the sweet comforts of the Gospell others vse to laye open the nakednes of the Court in the country and to reproue the faults of Princes and great magistrates before the cōmon people who haue more need of the Catechisme others bring the Catechisme or points of ordinarie instruction into the Court where the duties of Kings and councellors should be taught in all plainnesse and sinceritie others bring their new opinions or controuersall points vnto popular audiences which indeede are fit for the schools other busie themselues about ceremonies when the substance is in daunger to be lost All these haue it may be the Coale of fire but it is misapplyed and not applyed to the polluted lips Let all ministers therefore learne this point of wisdome of the Angell to apply the medicines of their doctrine to the times persons and places which are infected so shal they be sure not to take paines in vaine And thus much of the circumstances of his consolation It followeth in the text Loe thy iniquitie shall be taken away and thy sinnes shall be purged After the Circumstances followeth the ground and matter of his consolation and that is the forgiuenesse of his sinnes where first let vs marke how it and the instrument are annexed together Loe saith the Angel this Coale ha●h touched tay lippes and thy Iniquities shall bee forgiuen and thy sinnes purged as though hee had bene clensed by the Coale where we may note how greatly God magnifieth the meanes which himself ordaineth euen true remission and saluation to the right and holy vsing of them though it come not from them but from his own mercy and power of his ordinance It is therefore no maruell though God sanctifieth the childe by the Ministery of water in Baptisme and feede our soules in the Lords Supper by feeding our bodies with bread and wine and no maruell though the carelesse neglect of either of them be damnation to him that despiseth them seeing they are Gods instruments ordained by him to conuey his grace vnto vs And yet for all this wee are to knowe that remission or saluation is no more tyed to the very elements or the actions then here the Prophets forgiuenesse is to the Coale of fire But the maine point is that for the Prophets consolation the Angell tells him his iniquities shall bee taken away and his sinnes purged as thereby he had said thy sins were the cause of thy feare therefore that thy feare may be taken away thy sinnes shall be forgiuen Where we learne that as few comes by sinne so all true comfort comes from the forgiuenesse of sinnes this is that that onely pacifieth the conscience and satisfieth the soule when Dauid had sinned against the Lord in his two great sinnes and thereby prouoked Gods wrath against him and wounded his owne conscience if the Prophet had told him hee had made him King of 10 kingdomes more he had not so reioyced his heart as when he told him after his repentance thy sinnes are forgiuen thee thou shalt not dye So when this Prophet was extreamely affrighted at Gods presēce because of some sinnes and negligences in his calling it had bene no comfort to his poore soule to haue bene told thou shalt haue a more eloquent tongue and a more powerful speech thou shalt haue better accesse to the Court audience before the King all these and all such like would haue beene no better then guided poyson vnto him being in this case but the happy answere that refresheth his wearie soule more then all the world was this Loe thy iniquities are forgiuen and thy sinnes purged All faithfull Ministers must heere learne the true way of comforting troubled and distressed consciēces namely first to drawe him vnto a sight of some particular sinnes then to summon him into Gods presence and there to arraigne him for those sinnes vntill the view of the foulnesse of his sinnes and the glory of Gods iustice haue sufficiently humbled him and then to labour to perswade his conscience vppon good groundes of the pardon of those sinnes by Christ Iesus this is the way that God vsed and deuised this is the sure way that cannot faile Some thinke that all trouble of mind is nothing but melancholy and therefore thinke nothing needes but Physicke and outward comforts but he that considers in what case the Prophet heere was or Dauid when hee made the 6. the 32. or the 51. Psalmes will be of another mind and will finde that nothing can properly trouble the mind but sinne therefore as the wise Physitian in his cure first searcheth out the cause and then endeuours to take it away so the good Physitian of the soule must first of all search into the cause of his sicknesse that is his sins and must take them away which if they doe not then al their labour is lost for al the companie musicke recreation wine diet nay all worldly comforts delights if it were the aduancement to a kingdom cannot so much comfort the distressed soule of a sinner as this voice of a minister spoken from God vpon good grounds Thy sinnes are forgiuen thee Now to lay downe what bee those true and good groundes whereupon a Minister may safely and comfortably pronounce pardon of sins to a sinner belongs properly to another place In the next place Let vs heere obserue how the Lord afore he renued the Prophets commission or send him to preach to the people first humbles him for his sinnes and then vppon his repentance giues him pardon teaching vs that no Minister is well qualified to the holy duties of the Ministerie vnlesse hee haue truly repented of his sins and haue obtained pardon and mercie in the Messias Ministers labour for qualifications but the true Minister of God will labour for this qualification aboue all other for doubtlesse hee shall pronounce most powerfully the pardon of sinnes to others to whose conscience God hath pronounced pardon of his owne In the last place let vs obserue how the Prophet being to be comforted before hee goe this newe embassage the Lord is so carefull for him that rather then he be not comforted if there be no man to do it An Angel shal be sēt to be his comforter if ther be not another Prophet to doe it An Angell shall pronounce vnto him the pardon of his sins Let this be an
must touch his lippes that which in all reason would haue made him speake worse by Gods appointment and the power of his word shall make him speake better Out of which practise of God we learn many points First see how GOD magnifieth meanes hee can worke without them and so hee did in the Creation giuing light to the worlde diuers dayes before there was Sunne but since the order of nature was established hee generally vseth meanes not onely in his ordinary but euen in his miraculous actions and though he vse not alwayes the ordinary and direct meanes yet meanes he generally vseth though they seeme contrary as heere in this place and the same wil be found true in almost al the miracles both of the Old and New Testament This therefore commends vnto all men the vse of such good meanes as Gods prouidence hath ordained of any duties or effecting of any thing that doth belong vnto vs to doe and not to depend vpon immediate helpes from Heauen as many fonde and fantasticall men doe who are therfore oftentimes iustly forsaken of God and left destitute of all helpe and so exposed to shame and reproach Secondly see here the mighty power of Gods ordinance how it appeareth in weakenesse such are all his great workes In the Creation hee brought light out of darknesse In our Redemption hee brought vs life out of death In our conuersions he workes vpon vs by his word by it hee drawes vs to him which in al reason would driue vs from him and by it confounds the wisedome of the worlde which is starke foolishnesse to the wisedome of the world And so here hee cleanseth the Prophet by a Coale of fire which would rather defile him and seasoneth his mouth with it which in reason should haue burned him so great so admirable and so powerfull are the ordinances of God though they seeme so contrary or so weake in themselues or in their meanes Let this teach all men not to contemne the Sacraments though the outward Elements Bread Wine and Water be weake and common and dead creatures in themselues nor the Ministerie of the Word though it be exercised by a weake man mortall miserable as others are for that God which can season the Prophets mouth and clense his heart by a coale of fire no maruell though hee worke vppon the consciences of men by his word and Sacraments And againe when we see Grace and Holinesse conueyed into mens hearts by the Word and Sacraments let vs learne not to ascribe it to the dignitie either of the Minister or the Elements but to the supreme power of the mightie God who can purge the Prophet by a coale from the altar Neither is it altogether without Mysterie that God here sanctifieth the prophet by touching his lippes with a fierie coale for it signifieth that the apt sufficient teacher must haue a fierie tongue and to that same purpose the holy Ghost came downe vppon the Apostles in fierie toongs it may be that the one is a tipe of the other Certaine it is that they both teach vs thus much that all true and able Ministers must pray and endeuour to haue a tongue full of power and force euen like fire to eate vp the sinnes and corruptions of the worlde For though it be a worthy gift of God to speake mildly and moderately so that his speech shal fall like deawe vpon the grasse yet it is the firerie tongue that beates downe sinne and workes sound grace in the heart It may be there are some which neede the fierie tongue This shewes apparantly that those Ministers neuer had their lips touched with a coale frō Gods altar that is their soules with a coale from Gods altar that is their consciences neuer touched nor their soules seasoned with the sanctifying grace of Gods spirit which sit still and see great and grieuous staines in a Church and corruptions in a State and can bee content neuer to reproue them as though Ministers were perswaders onely and not reprouers But when this comes to be wayed in the ballance of a good conscience it will bee found that not the pleasing tongue but the fierie tongue is the principall grace of a good Minister But to goe further whence came this Coale Taken from the Altar This coale of fire was taken by the angel from the altar of God where was a fire which neuer went out and this fire was that that came from heauen sent downe by God at the dedication of the Temple by Salomon And this fire kindled by God neuer went out for no man could kindle the like but all other was counted strange fire As Nadab and Abihu tryed in wofull experience when they would needes offer with in Now the Prophet must be cleansed with the fire which came from Heauen teaching vs that the Minister must haue his fierie tongue frō the holy Ghost As the Apostles were said to bee baptized with the holy Ghost and with fire A fierie tongue is a speciall ornament of a Minister but that fire must come from heauen that is his zeale must be a godly and heauenly zeale but hee that hath a rayling lying a slanderous a malicious or a contentious tongue hee hath a fierie tongue indeed But this is kindled of the sire of hell as S. Iames saith The vnbridled tongue is a world of wickednes and defileth the whole body setteth on fire the whole course of nature and is set on fire in hell So then a spitefull and malicious tongue wee see is a fierie tongue but that fire is taken from hell and not from Gods altar And hee that stands vp to preach with this tongue God will neuer suffer any great worke to be done by him in his Church though his tongue be neuer so fierie and his speech neuer so powerfull As therefore Ministers must abhorre the flattering and pleasing tongue and must haue a fierie tongue so on the other side this fire must bee from Gods altar that is the fire of their zeale must bee kindled by Gods spirit and not by the spirit of discord and dissention Ambitious humors turbulent proud humours new opinions priuate quarrels all these nor none of these are for the pulpit These may make a man fierie tongued but this fire was neuer taken from Gods altar as the Prophets was this fierie tongue neuer came from heauen as the Apostles did It followeth And touched my lippes This fifth and last circumstance is the Application of the remedie The coale which is the medicine is applyed by this Angel to his lips that is to that part which was polluted and as he formerly complained of the pollution of his lips so the medicine is applyed to his lippes Here the Angell which in this case is made GODS minister doth teach all Gods Ministers a great point of wisedome in heauenly Diuinitie namely to