A10944:69
Samuel's encounter with Saul. I Sam. chap. 15 from ver. 13 to ver. 30.…Samuels encounter with Saul. I Sam. chap. 15 from ver. 13 to ver. 30.…
Samuel's encounter with Saul. I Sam. chap. 15 from ver. 13 to ver. 30. Preached and penned, by that worthy servant of God, Mr. Richard Rogers, late preacher of Wetherfield, in Essex. And published word for word, according to this own copy, finished before his deathSamuels encounter with Saul. I Sam. chap. 15 from ver. 13 to ver. 30. Preached and penned, by that worthy seruant of God, Mr. Richard Rogers, late preacher of Wetherfield, in Essex. And published word for word, according to this owne coppy, finished before his death
London: printed by Edw. Griffin for Samuel Man, 1620London: printed by Edw. Grifin for Samuel Man, 1620
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
And to begin with them,1 who of all other should be furthest off from this sin,2 I mean the Ministers, how many of them, since the light of knowledge did begin to shine in their hearts: (so that either they were become teachers of others, being as yet scholars in the universities, or at least old enough to teach and govern themselves) have said it, and fully purposed, that if they might be thought meet to be employed in the service of the Church, and to enjoy living to maintain themselves and theirs, how many I say have said it, that they would bestow their talent diligently, teaching the Lords flock, & living among them kindly & Christianly, and painfully ⟨p. 60⟩and unoffensively, among whom they should be placed, and with contentation in their estate and condition: only they have thought themselves unmeet for so hie a calling, and have said that they were unworthy to reap the fruits of a small people and congregation. I am sure I speak the truth in many, whom my self have known, and of others I have heard the same, by men of good credit: who yet when they began to rise to credit, degrees, favour with their betters, and God had given them more living then they could desire or hope for, they have little considered what they had said before; but with their livings and promotions, their hearts ⟨p. 61⟩have risen, till they seeing what liberties the time would afford them, and how they might have elbow room, and to rule over others, as the creeping Ivy, which overgrows and masters the strongest oak, rather then to be called to their account by others, they by little and little, became utterly changed, as if they had never been the men, which before they seemed to be: leaving wholly the care of their flocks, and gave themselves to live at ease, and to seek after more living: neither seeking the lost, nor strengthening the weak, they neither healed the sick, nor bound up the broken, yet clothing themselves with the wool: and some of them (forgetting their covenant ⟨p. 62⟩sometime made to the Lord) lived unkindly with the people, and with cruelty and rigour, and ruling and domineering over them: and attended not to reading, exhortation and doctrine, as they knew they ought to have done?