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	love_v	nature_n	2,758	5	5.1983	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55565	Quadriga salutis, or, The four general heads of Christian religion surveyed and explained ... with some few annotations annexed at the latter end.	Powell, Thomas, 1608-1660.	1657 (1657)	Wing P3073; ESTC R13515	58,465	158

holy as he is holy a royal priesthood and a holy nation Exod. 19.6 The Sacrifices of the Law were not only figures of that great Sacrifice that was to be offered once for all to put away sin but the slaying of beasts did also import the killing of our lusts the mortifying of our earthly members the offering up of our selves a holy and lively sacrifice Sacrifices of righteousness were the true sacrifices which God required Deut. 33.19 these should have been done and the other not left undone for both were under precept the omission and neglect of the one made the other unacceptable yea made them to stink before God And the true servants of God were not ignorant hereof and the Doctors of the Law were not wanting to teach it in the Schools Sacrificia laudis charitatis erant sacrificia primae intentionis saith one of the best Scholars of the Jewish Nation to wit R. Moses Ben Maymon of whom Cunaeus gives this testimony Maimonides primus solusque in illa gente fato quodam nascendi rectè intellexit quid hoc esset non ineptire De Rep Hebr Indeed the greatest part of the Jewish Nation through corruption of manners not any defect in the Law did rest in outward performances and some that sate in Moses his chair did gratifie the peoples humors with false glosses upon the Law and perswaded themselves first and the people nex● that they were righteous enough if they kept the Letter of the Law and had a varnish of sanctity enough to blind the eyes of men But Christ told his Disciples that except their righteousness exceeded that measure of Pharisaical sanctity they should come short of heaven and notwithstanding their frequent purifications and washings yet except they were pure in heart they should never see God and therefore in the first Sermon that ever he made he laid open the true and genuine sense and meaning of the Law to his present auditory and did wind up the strings of each precept to its right key and tun'd the * Decachord of the Commandments as it had been tun'd at first which in process of time had been disordered some strings being stretched too high and some being l●t fall too low Medium tenuêre Beati The learned Author of the Fundamentals speaks right herein That Christ did bind some parts of the yoke closer than they were before thought to be bound upon them Ex●ending the precepts farther than they were thought to extend and in raising them to more elevated degrees of perfection sinking them deeper than the outward actions even to the purity of the heart Some men perswaded themselves or were perswaded by others that if they had an outside sanctity they were well enough which conceit our Saviour Christ doth every where reprehend and beat down and pronounceth a wo to the Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites who made clean the outside of the platter and left the inside soul and nasty that seem'd lambs without but within were ravening wolves Introrsum turpes speci●fi pelle deco●● APHOR. 3. How the Law is possible to be performed NOa● Gen. 6.9 Jo● Job 1 1. Lo● 2 Pet. 2.8 are termed ●●ghteous persons by the Spirit of God that is such as had kept Gods Laws and fullfilled his Commandments But this is to be understood cum grano s●lis in a sense of favour and ●q●ity not precisely and categorically but either in comparison of others of their generation or in a benign and courteous interpretation they were esteemed righteous before God It is said of David that he kept Gods Commandments and followed him with all his he●rt to do that onely which was righteous in Gods sight and of good Iosiah that there was no King before him like unto him that turned unto the Lord with all his heart and all his soul and all his mind 2 Kin. 23.25 so of Asa 2 Chro. 15.15 These are high expressions and Elogies And yet we know that these men did bestow sometimes a piece of their heart that is of their affection upon the world and some carnal designes The magnet is not so constant to the North or Pole-star but it hath its variations and digressions from it And so the best of Gods servants do not so wholly fix their eyes upon their Master and Maker but they give an oeillad sometimes an amorous glance upon other objects Nevertheless because God hath the best share of their love and because they soon recall their hearts and do not suffer their affections to wander far nor to dwell long upon excentrical objects and desire to love God sincerely and with an upright heart non corde corde God accepts of their love and so they are said to love their Maker with all their hearts And moreover God is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} of a benign and gentle nature not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as Aristotle interprets the word not rigid or severe to mark what is done amiss or one that stands upon his points and power and strict terms of Law with his subjects {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} one apt to extenuate faults and give them a favourable gloss or construction and being rather unwilling to find faults where they are than to make some where there are none Gods Law is high and excellent pure and exact in it self worthy of that infinite wisdom and purity that did frame and enact it But in exacting the duties of it and in examining our obedience Mercy and Benignity fit in Commiss●●n with his Iustice so that he never stand● upon the rigor of his Laws and nice puntilios of obedience with humble and p●nitent sinners which he might do and do no man wrong but remembers whereof we are made that we are men not Angels and that the best of men are but men at the best Wherefore that the Law is abs●lutely possible or impossible are both false E●●●tiations if taken without l●mitation or distinction but with some restriction both are true and the Question may be stated either way with equal truth though not with equal conveniency or prudence For with submission to better judgements I conceive that it were more prudent to hold forth a possibility of fullfilling the Law than the contrary for this later damps all our indeavours weakens our hands dulls our edge and makes all our hopes faint and languid whereas a perswasion that Gods Law is feasible though not facil that it may be performed to such a degree and measure that may find acceptance with him who sets us on work makes us stretch and strein our faculties and keeps us in heart while we run the race that is set before us Non habeo vires Christus sed jussit habebo Cur me posse negem posse quod ill● putet Invalidas vires ipse excitat juvat idem Quijubet obsequium sufficit esse meum In the