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	word_n	3,306	5	4.1533	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65716	Three sermons preach'd at Salisbury the first, A.D. 1680, and again before the militia, at their going against the late Duke of Monmouth ... the second preach'd before the Right Reverend Father in God, Seth, Lord Bishop of Sarum, A.D. 1681 ... the third, preach'd A.D. 1683, at the election of the mayor ... / by Daniel Whitby.	Whitby, Daniel, 1638-1726.	1685 (1685)	Wing W1737; ESTC R28389	88,809	79

calls the Man who dealt thus with his Brother Mat. 18.32 34. a wicked Servant and doth pronounce him fit to be delivered up to the Tormentors Thou may'st not dare to murther thy offending Brother 1 Joh. 3.15 as the Hectors of our Age will do but thou may'st hate him in thy Heart which in St. John's Account is Murther Thou may'st not steal but yet thou may'st be coveting thy Neighbour's Goods and so may'st have a Will to rob him of them Thou may'st abstain from Fornication and Adultery and yet have the Adulterous Eye and a Heart full of Lustings after the forbidden Fruit Matt. 5.28 which saith our Saviour is Adultery If therefore we would be secure that we are truly good we must add inward Purity of Heart to our Conformity in outward Actions Thus have I finish'd my Discourse touching the Form of Godliness to which I think it needful to adjoyn this Caution Viz. Caution That no man take occasion from what hath been discoursed to slight these Practices because they only do contain a Form of Godliness for my Design is only to instruct you how far a man may go in the performance of good things and yet have something lacking to make him truly good that so we may not rest in these Performances but may go on unto Perfection Let therefore no man take occasion from what hath been difcoursed to neglect that Prayer or that Attendance on God's Ordinances which are the means by him appointed to make us truly pious but let him add to his Prayer Gal. 4.18 Practice and to his Hearing Doing To have a Zeal for God is doubtless very laudable provided we be zealous for good things and that impartially and regularly To bear a passionate Affection to the living Members of Christ's Body and love them fervently is a plain Christian Duty which he that doth not practise hath no true Love to God only we must be careful that this Love be general and not confined to that Sect or Party we affect that it express it self in Deeds not in Words only 2 Thes 3.6 It is our Duty to separate from every Brother that walks disorderly provided that on this Account we do not separate from the Assemblies of God's publick Worship and we may hate his Vices provided that we love his Person It doth become us to be fearful to offend even in lesser matters 1 Thes 5.22 and to alstain from all appearances of Evil provided that we do not swallow Camels whilst we strain at Gnats that we neglect not the more weighty matters of Love Peace Unity by reason of our stiffness in these things Rom. 12.17 We lastly are commanded to provide things honest in the sight of all Men Matt. 5.16 and let the Light of our good Works still shine before them provided that we be as careful that the inward Man be upright in the Sight of God and that we do these things not to be seen of Men or to obtain a Reputation from them but to approve our hearts to God so that you may perceive it is not less but more than such a Form of Godliness which is required These things you ought to do excepting only the Separations Scrupulosities and the Austerities foremention'd and not to leave the other undone Again I hope that none who hear me will be so profane as to make use of any thing now said to the discredit of Religion to the defaming of any pious Persons of what sort soever that none will take occasion hence to call them Pharisees or only formal Christians who pray much in their Families hear Sermons frequently and perform other pious Duties provided they do nothing repugnant to the Power of Godliness 'T is chiefly they who bear a Hatred to both the Power and the Form that do so and in their Language as well as in the jewish Talmud a Pharisee is a devout and pious Man a Hypocrite is any one who will not be profane and all must be Fanaticks who will not run with them into the same Excess of Riot That therefore they may have their Portion too 2. Hence we may learn the sad Estate of those who have not yet attained to a Form of Godliness If Men may pray and fast frequent all publick Ordinances be full of seeming Zeal for God and hatred to Profaneness if they may be exceeding scrupulous and fearful to offend in little matters if they may separate from the ungodly and exercise much self-denial and severity towards the Body and yet advance no further than a Form of Godliness what will become of them who make no Conscience of attending on these means of Grace who do not think themselves obliged to pray fast weep for their own or for the Nations Sins who are not in the least concerned for the Glory of God or troubled at those crying Sins by which the Name and Doctrine of our Lord is so exceedingly blasphemed who are so far from being fearful to offend in lesser matters that they do run into excess of Riot without Fear and rush into Iniquity as the Horse doth into the Battel who are so far from saying with the Royal Psalmist Depart from me ye Wicked that their continual Delight is in the Company of men of most debauched and vicious Lives and lastly who instead of laying a Restraint upon do make Provisions for the Flesh If scoffing at Religion and religious things if Atheistical Discourses if swearing cursing damning of themselves and others if scandalous Neglect and Profanation of God's Day and Ordinances if Drunkenness and revelling if Whoredom and Uncleanness can evidence that Men have lost even the Form of Godliness we need not light a Candle to find a Multitude of such who are concerned in this Reproof These are the Men who are so fierce against so ready to condemn all those who make a shew of Godliness whereas were they as bad as such profane ungodly Wretches represent them to the World God's Providence may more befriend them than Persons openly profane and void even of the form of Godliness since by this Form they bring some Glory to God by owning him as worthy of all the Homage they can pay unto him and by their great Concernment for the Honour of his Name his Day his Ordinances They by their outward Worship give God the Honour of his Sovereignty and of his Greatness they by their Prayers acknowledge his Omnipotence and his Ability to help us his kindness and his readiness to hear and give a gracious Answer to the Prayers of his humble Supplicants by their Addresses to him in their Streights and Exigencies they own his over-ruling Providence and by their publick Praises they acknowledge him to be their noble Benefactor and the sole Author of all the Mercies they enjoy they bring some credit to Religion by keeping up the Reputation and Profession of it and seeming so concerned to promote it whereas God and Religion are exceedingly dishonoured

I will not sit with the ungodly They likewise did pretend to greater Purity and to severer Discipline than could be shewed among the Catholicks declaring that they were the Church without all (l) Donatistae in nostra collatione dixerunt in ea se esse Ecclesia quae non habet maculam aut rugam August Ep. 50. ad Bonifacium Optat. l. 2. p. 55. Spot and Wrinkle Eph. 5.27 of which St. Paul makes mention in his Epistle to the Church of Ephesus and that they would permit no (m) Astruebant non esse malos tolerandos in Ecclesia propter contagium peccatorum Aug. Brevic. Collat. p. 575. wicked Men among them They falsly carped at the Catholicks as using superstitious Worship to something placed upon their (n) Dicebatur illo tempore venturos esse Paulum Macarium qui sacrificio interessent cum altaria aptarentur proferrent illi imaginem quam priun in altari ponerent sic sacrificium offerretur at nihil tale visum est ex eo quod fuerat mentita fama Optat. l. 3. p. 75. Altars and yet the Leaders of these Men were themselves (o) Traditionis reos principes vestros fuisse monstratum est Optat. l. 1. p. 39 40. August lib. 3. contra Crescon cap. 27. Traditors who had absolved one another from that Crime They were Men who spake evil of the (p) Convitia Constanti quanta potuit dixit Optat. l. 3. p. 67. Jam tunc meditabatur Donatus contrd praecepta Apostoli Pauli Potestatibus Regibus injuriam facere Ibid. p. 64. Emperour and opposed his Officers they denied the (q) Quid est Imperatori cum Ecclesia Optat. l. 1. p. 43. l. 3. p. 64. August l. 2. contra Petilian cap. 92. Authority of Civil Magistrates in sacred matters they were Contumaces legibus hostili modo repugnantes contumacious Resisters of the Laws after an hostile manner They had their (r) Cum Maxido Fasir ab ipsis insanientibus sanctorum Duces appellarentur nulli licuit securum esse in suis possessionibus terrebantur omnes literis eorum qui se sanctorum Duces fuisse jactabant Optat. l. 3. p. 68. Eece Ecclesia vestra Episcopis Ducibus cruentis morsibus pasta est l. 2. p. 55. Ducibus Clericis August Brevic. Collat. p. 579. Duces Sanctorum Captains of the Saints under whose Conduct they often did resist the Civil Magistrate and they were of the Clergy too they carried on their work per insanas querelas vana mendacia by furious Complaints and vain Lies they were Murtherers of Catholick (ſ) Venistis Rabidi membra laniantes Ecclesiae in caedibus immanes multi ex numero vestro per loca plurima cruentas operati sunt caedes Oprat l. 2. p. 54. Et cum altare defenderent Diaconi Catholici tegulis plurimi cruentati sunt duo occisi p. 55. De Episcopis vide August Epist 50. p. 220. de Presbyteris Ep. 148 149. Bishops Presbyters and Deacons August contra Donatist post Collat. cap. 35. yea they destroyed themselves by falling down from (t) Ex ultorum montium cacuminibus viles animas projicientes se praecipites dabant percussores sibi sub cupiditate falsi Martyrii in suam perniciem conducebant Optat. l. 3. p. 68. August p. 580. Brevic. Collat. Precipices or causing others to dispatch them that they might have the Honour of Martyrdom so far were they after their confident Pretences from being free from Sin A Form of Godliness of the same stamp is visible in many among us who call themselves Reformed Protestants consisting in a great Zeal for the Promotion of that Religion which they have espoused and a strong Out-cry against Antichrist and his Adherents and all that they are pleased to call a Rag of Popery in doing this they are so hot that they can venture their Estates and Lives in the espousal of this Quarrel and yet too many of them are so far from the Power of Godliness that they retain the very Spirit and the Marks of the great Antichrist whilst they declare so much against him walking in all deceivableness of Vnrighteousness 2 Thes 2.4 10. and lifting up themselves against the Lord's Vicegerents who are in Scripture called Gods being in this too like the Pharisees of old who stirred up the People saith Josephus against Hyrcanus the King Antiq. l. 13.18 cap. 23. l. 17. cap. 3. and afterwards against King Alexander and of whom that Historian who was one of them gives this Character 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pharisees are exceeding strong to oppose Kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and very forward to make open War and to do hurt Nor can we easily forget how much Religion was once placed in opposition to the malignant Party and siding with those Men who call'd themselves the Saints and the Reformers of Religion and how much still some think themselves obliged to shew their Piety by being greater Separatists than were the Pharisees of old for albeit they would not mix with the People of the Earth or the profane in civil Conversation yet as our Lord and his Apostles did not so neither did the Pharisees refuse to go to the same Temple with them this Separation being opposite to their own Rules Maimon in Tephillah per. 8. Bab. Berac fol. 30.1 That the Prayer of the Congregation is always heard though Sinners be among them and that whosoever prayeth should when he prayeth joyn with the Church But 't is not now my Business to shew how groundless are these Separations but only to conclude from these plain Instances of Hypocrites and profane Persons That these things are no certain marks of real Godliness And evident it is both to our Reason and Experience that this Affection to or Aversion from a Sect or Party may and too often doth proceed from an inferiour Principle Our Love to any Sect or our Concernment for them may be wholly owing to the Education we have had among them or to the Profit we get by them or to the outward shew of Piety they make to the good Words and the fair Speeches by which they do deceive the Hearts of the simple on which account the Pharisee and Scribe gain'd such a Reputation with the Jews that 't was proverbial with them That if two Persons only were to go to Heaven the one would be a Scribe the other a Pharisee And that Antipathy we bear to others may arise from those Invectives and odd Representations of them we have read in Characters and Pamphlets the Pests of Charity and the Inflamers of our Heats or else received from the Mouths of their back-friends the Injuries or Persecutions we have suffered from them the Fears and Jealousies we have within us that we may suffer in our Estates Lives or Religion by them or lastly from some hopes of Booty or Advantage to be got by opposition to them Now that which may arise

which is given him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Guide and Moderator of that Appetite viz. that Reason which the Wiseman stiles the Candle of the Lord. Prov. 20.27 When therefore we do act according to the Directions of this Guide when we permit the inward Principle to govern all our Appetites and Passions we must act regularly or in the Language of the Ancients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But when we follow the Inclinations of our blind Affections and ungovern'd Passions our Actions must be sinful and irregular and therefore Virtue is by the great Philosopher defin'd to be the observing of the mein in all our Passions according to the Rules of Prudence When therefore our Religion hath prevail'd over our irascible Passions and made us meek sedate and peaceable patient long-suffering and ready to forgive when it will not permit us to retain Envy and Malice Hatred and Anger in our Breasts or vent our Choler in reviling clamorous calumniating or bitter Words which are all fleshly Lusts or their Productions when it hath fill'd our Souls with Love Gal. 5.22 Kindness Goodness Bowels of Mercy and Compassion towards all Mankind which are the Fruits of the good Spirit when it hath so far moderated our concupiscible Passions that we love nothing but in subordination to God have no great zeal or hatred against any thing but as it tends to his Dishonour and our Souls Estrangement from him desire and hope for nothing in the World but with Submission to him and fear nothing so much as to offend him when we can readily abstain from any sensual Pleasure quit any outward Comforts without excess of Sorrow and be content to want or to enjoy all worldly things as seemeth best to Providence to give or to deny them then have we the true Power of Godliness That this was anciently esteemed the genuine effect of true Religion we learn from that Expression of Lactantius Da mihi virum qui sit iracundus c. l. 3. c. 26. Give me an angry fierce and foul-mouthed Person with a few Words of God he shall become as mild and gentle as a Lamb. Give me a covetous griping Person this Word will make him liberal and open handed 't will make him who once trembled at the Thoughts of Death and Pain to contemn both the Cross and Flames 't will make the lustful and adulterous Ruffian to become sober chaste and continent the cruel bloody Man be kind and merciful and the unjust to give every one his due Tanta divinae sapientiae vis est ut in hominis pectus infusa matrem delictorum stultitiam uno semel impetu expellat Of such a Power is this heavenly Wisdom that being once embraced it instantly expels that Folly which is the Mother of all Vice 2. The Power of Godliness consists in self-denial and the entire Subjection of our Wills unto the Will of God If any Man will come after me Mark 8.34 saith Christ he must deny himself take up his Cross and follow me i. e. If he would be indeed a Christian he must put on a stedfast Resolution to quit all the Enjoyments Honours and Pleasures of the World his dearest Relatives and even Life it self if it be needful for my sake he must take up his Cross submitting his own Will unto the Will of Providence and being ready patiently to suffer any fiery Tryals for the sake of Christ and he must follow me yielding Obedience to my Will of Precept The Weapons of our Warfare saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 10.4 5. are powerful to the pulling down of strong Holds removing all that opposition which is in our Hearts Wills and Affections to a holy Life and casting down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all pride of Soul which will not suffer it to yield all carnal Reasonings which Flesh and Blood suggest against Obedience to the Laws of God And what is all Impiety but the opposing of our Wills unto the Will of God and wherein doth consist the substance of Religion but in Obedience to and in Compliance with his Precepts which are the Indications of his Will What therefore can true Piety import but the surrendring up our Wills unto the Conduct of the Will of God What is that self-denial which the Scripture calls for as the great Duty of Christianity but the submission of our Wills unto our Master's Pleasure in those things which seem most grievous to Flesh and Blood and most to thwart our Pleasures and our worldly Appetites And what is it to mortifie our fleshly Lusts but to reduce all these Desires and Affections to a compliance with God's Will of Precept And this is in effect the same with placing Godliness in a prevailing Love to God which Love to God with all our Hearts and all our Souls Mat. 22.37 38. is saith our Lord the greatest and the first Commandment 'T is that from which all other Duties which we owe to God will naturally flow for what can be more natural than cheerfully to serve the Person whom we chiefly love and carefully avoid what we conceive displeasing to him If we love Pleasure more than God saith our Apostle here 2 Tim. 3.4 we only have the Form of Godliness and what he saith of Pleasures may with like reason be affirmed of Honours and Enjoyments Friends and Relatives or any other worldly thing we do but hypocritically profess to love God 1 John 2.15 if we love any of them more than him and therefore by the Rule of Contraries then must we have the Power of Godliness when our Affection to God is greater than our Love to any of these things Now when is Love to God so prevalent but when it doth effectually move us to part with our beloved Dalilahs to cut off Hands and pluck out Eyes i. e. to quit those Pleasures and Enjoyments for his sake which seem as useful and desirable as an Hand or Eye When therefore we so live that in the general Course or Tenor of our Lives we seek not our own Honour but the Honour of God we do not study how to please our selves in worldly matters but rather do endeavour to walk before God unto all well-pleasing when we engage as well in Duties which are prejudicial to our worldly Interests and full of Hazards as those which minister unto our Pleasure and Advantage and are entirely resolved whether it be good or whether it be bad easie or difficult pleasing or irksome unto Flesh and Blood we will obey the Voice of the Lord and act up to that Resolution then do we in our Lives express the Power of Godliness 3. As Godliness doth in the larger acceptation of the Word include Justice and Charity towards our Neighbours so where the Power of it doth reside it will express it self in conscientious performance of these Duties to him it will possess us with a fervent Love to all Mankind to Friend and Foe to those who hate as