Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	affection_n	heart_n	mind_n	2,955	5	5.1791	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19267	An admonition to the people of England vvherein are ansvvered, not onely the slaunderous vntruethes, reprochfully vttered by Martin the libeller, but also many other crimes by some of his broode, obiected generally against all bishops, and the chiefe of the cleargie, purposely to deface and discredite the present state of the Church. Seene and allowed by authoritie.	Cooper, Thomas, 1517?-1594.	1589 (1589)	STC 5682; ESTC S118522	145,211	254

In deed that cōtentation of mind they should haue whensoeuer God calleth them to that necessity yea whē they be in their wealthiest state that any cōdition of a christiā common weale doth giue them they ought not in those things to exceed but to keepe that moderation that godlines requireth whatsoeuer is aboue that they are bound in conscience to see godly and honestly bestowed or else they grieuously offende God and giue euil example to other This rule as I haue said pertaineth in like maner to all christians and therfore it can no more follow vpon this that the lands liuings of ministers must be taken from them because it bringeth superfluitie vnto them and more then the necessitie of nature requireth then you can conclude the same against all other Christians that haue more ample lands and liuings then will suffice them to the like purpose As I haue said before so say I now againe If our bishops other clergy men imploy the ouerplus of their large and plentifull liuings vnto euill and naughty vses neither I nor any other can therein defend them For the better vnderstanding of my aunswere to these places and of the imperfect manner of reasoning vsed by the aduersary it behoueth to consider that God in his worde layeth downe a perfect measure of his iustice and an absolute rule of that life that Christians shoulde leade As for example when he saith in the Law Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with al thy heart with all thy soule with all thy mind with all thy power and thy neighbour as thy selfe This commandemēt requireth that al the parts members of our soule inwardly and our bodie goods outwardly shoulde bee bent and giuen ouer to the setting foorth of the glory of God Our heart is the roote of our affections therefore we are commanded to loue or hate nothing to feare or hope for nothing to desire or shun nothing not to be sorie for any thing nor reioyce in any thing but onely in God his glory By our soule is meant al the course of our life our infancie our yong age our middle age our old age Wherfore in this it is required that the whole time of our life from the beginning of our birth to the houre of our death shoulde bee imployed to the seruice of God Our mind comprehendeth our reason and vnderstanding so that by that branch we are taught that our vnderstanding our reason all the cogitatiōs of our mind should be occupied in nothing but in the loue of God Our power noteth al the strength and sences of our body and the abilitie of worldly substance and outwarde gifts of God So that there is nothing apperteining to vs either inwardly or outwardly as I haue said but God wholly requireth the same to his seruice and if wee doe faile therein we offende his iustice and want of that perfect rule of life that is prescribed vnto vs Insomuch that if the mercie of God in Christ our Sauiour helpe not wee deserue for the same euerlasting damnation To the declaration of the latter part of this rule that wee shoulde loue our neighbour as our selfe appertaineth the doctrine of Christ Matth. 5. that wee should not so much as once be mooued with anger toward our neighbour that we should not looke vpon a woman to lust after her that wee shoulde not onely loue our neighbour as our selfe but that we should loue our enemies blesse them that curse vs doe good to them that hate vs pray for them that persecute vs c. As for our money lands goods and possessions we should haue our mindes so little giuen to them and our hearts so smally set vpon them that we nothing at all should care for them further then that they may be vnto vs either instruments of vertue or necessary helps of our fraile life Yea there is nothing so nigh nothing so deere vnto vs by Christes rule eyther eye or hande or foote or whatsoeuer it bee but we shoulde cut it off and cast it from vs if it be a let or hinderance vnto vs to enter into the kingdom of God Finally our bodies being here in this vale of miserie our minds and hearts and conuersations should be in heauen they that haue wiues as though they had none they that weepe as though they wept not they that reioyce as though they reioyced not they that buy as though they possessed not they that vse this world as though they vsed it not To this rule of christian perfection appertain all those sentences and exhortations of Christ of his apostles which before you haue heard alledged tēding all to this ende to pull away the hearts of men from the loue of riches and care of this worlde that they may set the same wholly vpon God This rule is laid down not only for ministers of the church as though they only were the seruants of God but also for al other faithful Christians whom it bindeth as straitly as it doth the ministers For it is a marke vnto which they both should direct their whole indeuours They therfore that wil apply this rule to some one state of men and not to other fall into like error as Monks Friers did dreaming a more straite order by God to be appointed to one thē to another The Minister so much as he lacketh of this perfection so much is he indebted and in danger vnto God And if he flie not to the mercie of God purchased by the merite of Christ to wash away that want imperfection vndoubtedly there resteth nothing but eternall damnation Now as I haue saide of the Minister so must I say of al christians beside Therfore out of this doctrine is no particular applicatiō to be made more to one state then to another but only this that ministers because of their calling should shew themselues to come neerer to this marke then other Where the error in resoning is you may now by this perceiue which consisteth in two points First that the branches of the rule of christian perfectiō generally giuē to all are applied only to ministers of the Church as speciall precepts to binde them And secondly that the perfourming of this rule is more imputed as the monks friers did to the outward refusing of Gods creatures then the brideling of the affections hūble contentation of the mind before God By this corrupt maner of reasoning in these days are framed sundry daungerous arguments against the state of the Ministery here now with vs in England As for example Our Bishops and Ministers are euill men they aunswere not the perfect rule that is prescribed vnto them by the word of God therefore they should be deposed their state altered and their Lands and Liuings taken into the Princes hands or be otherwise imployed as it shal be thought good The daunger of this argument will be easily perceiued if you apply the same to other states as

doubt of their consciences which neuer doubted before Many strange Assertions either plainly false or as Paradoxes true in some rare and extraordinarie sense haue beene by sundry persons and some of them well learned vttered and taught to the troubling of many mens mindes and specially such as were not able to reach to the depth of them As for example that it is a grieuous offence to kneele at the receiuing of the Communion A gentleman of good countenaunce hath affirmed to my selfe that hee woulde rather hazard all the land hee had then bee drawen to kneele at the Communion An heauie burthen to lay vpon a mans conscience for an externall gesture The doctrine of the Lords Supper hath bene so slenderly taught by some that a number haue cōceiued with themselues that they receiue nothing but the externall elements in remembrance that Christ died for them And these their cogitatiōs haue they vttered to other to their great misliking Priuat baptism yea publike also if it be ministred by one that is no preacher hath bin so impugned as if it were no sacrament at all whereby questiōs haue bin raised by sundry persons what is become of them that were neuer baptized otherwise Or whether it were not necessary that all such persons as are certainly knovven not to haue receiued any other baptisme thē that was priuatly done ought not to bee baptised againe because the other is esteemed as no Sacrament The article of the common Creed touching Christes descension into hell contrary to the sense of all ancient writers hath bin strangely interpreted and by some with vnreuerent speeches flatly reiected These and a number of such other haue vndoubtedly bred great offence and wounded the hearts of an infinite number causing them partly to reuolt to Papistry partly to Atheisme and neglecting of all Religion as is seene by the liues of many to the exceeding griefe of all them that feare God and loue his trueth As I haue talked with many Recusants so did I neuer confer with any that would vse any speech but that he hath alleadged some of these offences to bee cause of his reuolting And some haue affirmed flatly vnto me that in seeking to presse thē to come to our Church and seruice we do against our owne consciences seeing our most zealous preachers as they be taken openly speake and vvrite that as well our seruice as the administration of the sacraments are contrary to the word of God I beseech Almightie God of his great mercie that he vvill open the eyes of them vvhich thus eagerly haue striuen against the present state of this Church to see vvhat hurt and hinderance hath come to the profession of the Gospell by these vncharitable and needelesse contentions And vndoubtedly if God moue not the heartes of the chiefe Rulers and Gouernours to seeke some ende of this Schisme and faction vvhich nowe renteth in pieces this Church of England it cannot bee but in short time for one Recusant that now is wee shall haue three if the increase of that number which I mention be not greater For I doe heare and see those things that it grieueth my heart to consider What hurt and trouble Satan hath at all times raised in the Church of God by occasion of dissention and discorde mooued not only by heretikes false teachers but also by them vvhich othervvise haue bene good and godly Christians the Ecclesiasticall Histories doe euidently declare What should I recite the Schisme between the East and West Churches for the obseruation of the feast of Easter vvhich continued a great number of yeeres and grevv to such bitternesse that the one excommunicated the other What shal I say of the Schismes and grieuous contentions in the East Church and especially at Antiochia and Alexandria betweene Paulinus and Flauianus Lucifer and Eusebius the Meletians and Eustathians all at the beginning good Christians and imbracing true doctrine And yet did they vvith great troubles eschevve one the others communion as you may reade in Epiphanius lib. 2. Theodor. lib. 1. cap 8. c. Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 23. Sozom lib. 2. cap. 18. for the space of 80. yeres and aboue I omit the great strife betweene Chrysost of the one part and Theophilus Cyrill and Epiphanius on the other for the burning of Origens bookes They vvere all good and learned bishops and vve doe worthily reuerence their memory yet fel this matter so foule among them that because Chrysost vvould not consent to the burning of Origens bookes Theophilus and Cyrill vvould scantly euer acknovvledge him to be a lavvfull Bishop I mention not a great number of other like factiōs vvhich grew in the same age to the trouble and hinderance of true Christianitie as many godly and learned men did then complaine And sundry graue authours vvhich haue written in this our time and before iudge that these wayward contentions in the East Church vvere the chiefe causes that brought vpon them afterward the heauie wrath of God that tooke his Gospel from them and cast them into the tyrannie of Saracens Turkes as we haue seene novv these many yeeres A notable example to vs good Christian Readers to take heede in time and earnestly to pray vnto God that he will so blesse vs with his holy Spirite that wee may be all like minded hauing the selfe same loue being of one minde and of one iudgement that nothing bee done among vs through strife and vaine glory but that in humblenesse of minde euery one will thinke of other better then of himselfe that vve may growe together in one heart and minde against the common aduersarie to the glory of God and the promoting of his Gospel the safetie of our gracious Prince naturall countrey Of such discord in the church S. Basile grieuously cōplaineth When I was growen saith he into mans age often going into strange Countries fel into troubles I obserued and found that in other Artes there was great concord agreement betweene them that were the chiefe of those Artes and Sciences Onely in the Church of God for which Christ died and vpon which he had plentifully powred downe his holy spirit I saw great vehement discord aswell among themselues particularly as in things contrarie to the holie Scriptures And that which is most horrible I sawe them that are the chiefe of the Church so drawen asunder in diuersitie and contrarietie of opinions that without all pitie they did most cruelly teare in pieces the flocke of Christ so that if euer nowe it is verified that the Apostle speaketh From among your selues shall rise men speaking peruerse things that they may drawe Disciples to followe them The third cause and the principall of all other is that the ramping roaring Lion that goeth about seeking whome he may deuoure and watching all occasions to doe mischiefe in the Church of God hath taken the opportunitie of this Schisme diuision among our selues And therefore euer since that began he