Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A10921
|
A treatise of love. Written by Iohn Rogers, ministers of Gods word in Dedham in Essex
|
Rogers, John, 1572?-1636.
|
1629
(1629)
|
STC 21191; ESTC S105965
|
73,128
|
253
|
promised to send more And as hee that rose out of his warme bed to lend his neighbour loaues As they that gaue out of their maine stocke or sold their lands to relieue the necessities of the Church Acts 2. 44. Aboue and beyond all comparison ten thousand times was the feruency of the loue of God the Father when hee parted with his owne and onely Sonne out of his bosome for our Redemption and of our Lord Iesus Christ who forsooke the glory of Heauen and laide downe his life here vpon earth to saue vs miserable siuners and his vtter enemies Oh how doth this condemne the cold yea frozen loue of the world And where there is a sparke yet it is so weake as the least drop of water will quench it We will not speake a word in defence of neuer so good a man or cause if it will hinder our selues neuer so little or procure vs but a frowne How worthily on the contrary did Ionathan who spake for Dauid to Saul his father to the danger of his owne life 1 Sam. 20. 33. So Ester endangered her life to speake for the Church I will goe to the King If I perish I perish Hest. 4. 16. 6 Lastly our Loue must bee constant not easily broken off but continuing to the end Heb. 13. 1. Ephes. 4. 3. Thus is Gods loue to his Iohn 13. 1. which wee must imitate The Deuill will seeke to breake it off and our selues being men are fraile and many occasions will be ready to be offered therfore wee had need with all diligence to striue to hold and maintaine it aliue in our hearts How doth this rebuke the inconstancy of many men that are wonne as we say with an apple and lost with a nut that will vpon euery sleight occasion breake friendship If God should so deale with vs what should become of vs But his loue is constant to his notwithstanding their daily prouocations Yea hee loues them in aduersity and their low estate yea best then and is nearest them with his comforts So it ought to bee with vs for then our neighbour hath most need of vs and then our loue will shew it selfe to bee most free and not mercenary But how contrary is this euery where While they be in prosperity they haue many friends which in their affliction goe aloofe off as Dauid oft complaineth and Iob to whose very wife his breath was strange in the day of his affliction Ruth did quite contrary very commendably who vowed to her mother-in-law Naomi that nothing but death should separate between them CHAP. 7. Whom we must loue NOw followeth to speake of the persons whom wee ought to loue and they are all men vpon the face of the earth good and bad without or within the Pale of the Church our loue must stretch it selfe to any of them they are our neighbour whom wee are bidden to loue as our selues as wee may see in the Parable of the Samaritan these we ought to doe good to if they need and wee be able and for these we must pray Yea wee ought to pray for euery particular person that wee know or can see because wee know not whatsoeuer hee bee now but he may belong to God Wee must therefore loue all our enemies and all men whatsoeuer they be but especially the Saints and People of God And of these I will speake seuerally and in order And first of the loue of our enemies That wee must loue our enemies is required inclusiuely in these words of 1. Ioh. 3. 23. that ye loue one another and in those words that be the summe of the two Tables Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe as may appeare by comparing Exod. 23. 4 5. with Deut. 22. 1 2. He that is called in one place thine enemy is called in the other thy brother or neighbour More plainely its required Pro. 25. 21. Matth. 5. 44. But ere we proceed to the proofe of this point let vs see who are the enemies wee must loue by shewing the kindes of enemies that there be and withall cleere some Scriptures that seeme to countenance hatred of our enemies Enemies bee publicke or priuate Gods enemies or ours Publike be such as oppose hate the Religion and truth of God and persecute it in the professors thereof or are enemies to anie good courses and godly proceedings and so to vs for the same These againe bee eyther curable or incurable for the curable such as Saul was who afterward became a Paul we must hate their sinnes pray against their deuices but loue their persons The incurable we must hate their sinnes directly and their persons indirectly Thus we hate the person of the Divell though he be Gods creature yet because hee hath sinned against the holy Ghost and is Gods desperate finall and incurable aduersarie therefore wee are bound to hate him So might nay ought we to doe if we knew anie man or men to be such as S. Paul did who 2. Tim. 4. prayed against Alexander that God would reward him according c. and the Primitiue Church against Iulian the Apostate Of these Dauid meant Psal. 139. 22. Doe not I hate them O Lord that hate thee yea I hate c. and Psal. 109. 69 22. to the 29. and in many Psalmes hee prayes for the finall and vtter destruction of his enemies which is a signe of vtter hatred But this was not because they were his enemies but Gods as well and not that only but desperate and irrecouerable ones which he saw by the spirit of God being extraordinarily and infallibly informed thereof whose prayers were but prophecies of the finall destruction of these men as Psal. 63. 9. 54. 5. But for vs because wee haue not the like measure or gift of the spirit wee haue no such warrant to hate or pray directly against anie mans person Of these also are meant such places where wee are bidden to reioyce at wicked mens destruction Psal. 52. also Psal. 58. 10. We also though we know not mens finall estate yet if wee see anie notorious enemies of the Church and Gospell and good men taken away may giue God thankes and in some sense reioyce namely that God hath shewed himselfe carefull of his Church and hath prouided for his glory the comfort of his people and passage of goodnesse and for the terrour of other bad ones but not to reioice as it s their destruction but as wee should pray for them while they liue so pitie them being cut off that they haue brought miserie vpon themselues Obiect But an obiection or two may be made Our Sauiour Christ tells vs wee must hate father and mother wife and childe c. for his Names sake Answ. True when they stand in opposition against Christ and would pull vs from him we must then say Get thee behinde mee Sathan and tread vpon them if they stand in our way to hinder vs from following Christ. We must hate their counsell
the appointing how they shall bee disposed and will call vs to account of our stewardship who hath appointed the poore a part therefore without this we can bring in no good bils of account Wee must not be like the Gyants den that haue all the footings comming to vs and none from vs. As that rich churle that comming ouer among his Tenants at the halfe yeare a poore body askt him a penny No hee told them hee came to receiue money and not to giue the contrary had beene better sense and reason a great deale Else how can we shew our selues thankfull to God that hath made vs able to giue that might haue made vs receiuers the tayle as well as the head it being in his hand to make poore or rich and there being nothing in vs to moue him to giue vs the better part It s a great honour to bee the Almners of the King of Heauen and Earth and that to those that bee not our owne flesh onely but may bee such as belong to the Kingdome of God as well as our selues If wee should see an Oxe or Asse in misery ready to famish or lying vnder the burden wee ought to pitie and helpe them how much more our Christian Brother It s honour enough that wee may bee giuers and lenders though wee keepe not all to our selues It s good manners for them that sit at the vpper end of the Table when they haue cut well to set downe some to them that sit below that all may goe away satisfied and praise the Master of the Feast 4 By our liberalitie and mercifull dealing wee shall bring much glory to God for we shall cause many thanks to bee giuen him from the poore 2 Cor. 8. and make them more to depend vpon God and to speake good of his dispensing of things that though hee hath appointed some to bee poore yet hath also commanded the rich to haue respect vnto them 5 Wee shall doe them a great deale of good whom we relieue First to their bodies feeding their hungry bellies clothing their naked loynes refreshing their bowels Or by lending we set them to their worke whereby they may get to liue of Next to their soules keeping them from murmuring impatience theft discontent if they haue no goodnesse in them it s the way to breake their hearts and to bring them to good or else to conuince them at least if they haue any good wee shall comfort their hearts strengthen their faith and make them serue God much the more cheerfully But especially we shall doe our selues a great deale of good First wee shall procure many prayers of the children of God for vs. which is no small benefit 2 Tim. 7. and the three last verses the third Epistle of St. Iohn the first and second verses St. Paul prayeth earnestly in the one place for Onesiphorus and St. Iohn in the other for Gaius his host and such prayers be not in vaine Besides wee bring vpon our selues a great many blessings God hauing made such promises of blessing to this Duty rightly performed Wee prouide well for our outward estate for he that soweth liberally shall reape liberally and with encrease God hath giuen his Word for requitall Pro. 19 17. So that we haue God in our Cupboard for it as wee may say with holy reuerence he is the Poores Suretie whose word is better than any mans bond Heauen and Earth must be empty ere hee will faile to pay He that findes seede to the sower will supply to such 2 Cor. 8. His righteousnesse shall endure for ouer Psal. 112. God will not put him out of his Farme that payes his Rent so well but blesse his stocke and store his crop and increase Deut. 15. 10. Eccles. 7. 1. Yea hee will blesse them not in their goods onely but in their names they shall haue loue and a good report which is better than a good ointment and than much siluer and gold Prou. 22. 1. How fresh and sweete is Maries name still for her ointment poured out and Gaius whose name is vsed when wee speake of a bountifull man to the people of God he is a Gaius we say Yea God will blesse such in their soules Prou. 11. 17. Isa. 58. from verse 8. on forward Matth. 5. the mercifull shall obtaine mercy As on the contrary God will not heare the prayer of the vnmercifull man Isa. 1. 15. Prou. 21. 13. Hee that stops his eare at the cry of the poore c. Nay God will not blesse the mercifull man in this world onely but at the resurrection of the Iust Luke 14. when they shall heare this comfortable and most sweet word Come ye blessed c. because he counts it as done to himselfe and will we not giue to God that giues all nor to Iesus Christ that spared not his life for vs If we say Yes to God or Christ wee will giue any thing else God forbid God takes it done to himselfe that is done to any of his Whereas the Lord will plague both here and hereafter the vnmercifull man here as Nabal whom he strucke that he dyed and the Foole Luke 12. that had all for himselfe neuer mentions any body else was strucke with sodaine death and hereafter as the rich glutton Luke 16. for no couetous or vnmercifull man shall euer come in the Kingdome of heauen but there shall bee iudgement without mercy to them that shew no mercy they that will not giue crumbs of bread on earth shall be denyed drops of water in hell Nay God wil not only blesse the liberall and mercifull man himselfe but his posterity after him Psalme 37. 26. The sonne of a Tennant that paid his rent duely shall not be put out his of Farme Whereas God will curse the posterity of vnmercifull men and plucke from them the poores portion which their wicked fathers vnconscionably hoarded vp among their owne God will let the extortioner catch him or giue him vp to a riotous wastefull course that shall consume all one way or other God will draw it out of his belly and he oft dyes in misery whose father had no mercy Therefore howsoeuer they haue a Prouerbe Happy is that son whose father goes to the Deuill yet it s most wicked and false for euen for outward happinesse they misse of it except it be some odde one that by Repentance breakes off and heales his fathers sinne by mercifulnesse to the poore So that euery way a mercifull man prouides well for himselfe furthers his reckoning and brings a great heape of blessings vpon himselfe and his But an vnmercifull cruell man is well called a miserable man for of all men a couetous man is most miserable in goods name soule and posterity here and hereafter Vse 1. This rebuketh a number of cruell and vnmercifull and hard hearted men of whom there are euery where some seen True the Gospell God bee thanked hath preuailed with many and they shew forth some good fruits