Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	beauty_n	heart_n	see_v	2,957	5	3.2630	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64984	The death of ministers improved. Or, an exhortation to the inhabitants of Horsley on Glocester-shire, and others, on the much lamented death of that reverend and faithful minister of the Gospel, Mr. Henry Stubbs By Tho. Vincent, John Turner, Rob. Perrott, M. Pemberton. To which is added a sermon upon that occasion, by Richard Baxter.	Vincent, Thomas, 1634-1678.; Turner, Robert, b. 1649 or 50, 4aut.; R. P. (Robert Perrot) aut.; Pemberton, Matthew, d. 1691. aut.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1678 (1678)	Wing V430; ESTC R221906	43,418	108

the blindness of the minds of the ungodly If the Seekers or other Hereticks do but cry down Ministers and Universities you justly rise up against them as enemies to Christianity and the Church And yet you your selves destroy their Ministry as to your selves and would have but the name and garb and image He that would have the tenth part of all mens revenues to be setled to maintain Physicians in the land and yet would not have men be healed by them is a foolisher and worse enemy to the Country than he that would have none at all Fourthly And as you are lovers of mankind you should not deny us so reasonable a joy as your own Salvation especially to such as for the hope of this renounce the pleasures and honours of the world If you could do well enough without instructors Christ would not have appointed them nor if there had been any better way for your Salvation And for our parts we could have found out work and callings that would better have served us for worldly ends and we could live idle and seek preferment and flatter and please you and neglect your Souls in this calling that we are in But then wo to us as well as you O remember who hath said Obey them that have the rule over you for they watch for your Souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you Heb. 13.17 He is not worthy to be called a man that will deny any joy or good to his neighbour which doth no hurt to himself or others But consider whether he be not herein worse than a Devil that will deny another the comfort of seeing him happy and freely doing him the greatest good Do you not see now how much you are concerned that you further our joyful finishing of our course I beseech you let Conscience judg you before God judg you speak as before God Have you been turned by them from darkness to light and from unbelief to a lively faith and from a fleshly to a spiritual life and from worldly love and hopes to the love of God and the hope of endless joys in Heaven Are you at a point with the flattering world and fleshly lusts and have you heartily taken God and Heaven for your portion and Christ for your Saviour and the holy Spirit for your Sanctifier and comforter and the word of God for your Law and Charter and the servants of God for your pleasantest company and the service and praises of God for your best and pleasantest work and sin for your worst and greatest enemy If this be so bless God that made the word so effectual to you But if it be not you have wronged your Teachers in robbing them of the joy which was their due This is it that we studyed prayed and Preached for This is it that we live and labour for This was to have been the chief part of our reward from you It is not your Tythes and Mony without this that will satisfie any but an hireling Many old Canons of the Church forbad Ministers to receive any offerings or gifts from unbelievers and wicked men As if they had said keep your mony to your selves and think not to stop our mouths with gifts Give up your selves to Christ or you give u● nothing I tell you it is you that are our great afflicters and you shall answer for it It i● much more to us to lose the Joy of your Salvations than to lose our estates or liberties o● worldly Honour and Reputation And you can never be saved if you will not be Sanctified nor happy if you will not be holy Oyet look back and remember what Counsel● God sent you by his Ministers and what importunities they used with you and if you have denyed them yet their joy O pity your selves if you regard not them and deny not your selves still the present joy of a holy life and the everlasting joy of heavenly glory which yet you may attain II. And have not you also a course that should be finished with joy as well as we O Sirs time is precious short and hasty This race is for all eternity and is to be run but once Heaven will be quickly won or lost for ever Can any one hear and believe this that hath the heart of a man and not be awakened presently to make hast Dare you die in an unholy unpardoned state Dare you go out of the World more foolishly than the unjust steward out of his stewardship before you have provided another habitation Dare you appear before God without his Spirit and image and without the wedding garment of sincere holiness and so without a part in Christ O Sirs no heart can now conceive what a dreadful appearing that will be Alas Sirs we are dying we are all dying one to day and another to morrow and we are all quickly gone And do you take no care whither you shall go next when God bids you care in a manner for nothing else Your course will soon be finished shall it be with joy or the beginning of everlasting misery O resolve now resolve this day as you would speed for ever Gods grace must save you but it lieth more on your present choice and resolution than careless sinners will well consider of Quest. But how should I finish my course with Ioy. Answ. You may gather it from what is said already Are you willing if I tell you to do your part Asking Questions will not serve instead of work I. Will you see that you perish not through your own meer carelesness and wilful neglect of what you can do for your Soul If you will not do what you can what good will directions do you If men will live as if they had not reason and self-love and knew not that they must die or care not what becomes of them for ever what can one do for the safety of such men As men cannot dispute that agree not in some granted principles so we cannot lead you to Christ by the Gospel if you agree not in some principles of humanity and self preservation A sottis● carelesness is the undoing of the most II. Set your selves to study the Gospel o● Christ till you understand what Salvation is and what is the way to it and know the nature of true Religion And then you will see in it so much truth so much necessity so much amiable beauty and fitness to make you wise good and happy that it will win your hearts to love and pleasure in it III. Study throughly the true meaning o● your Baptismal Covenant and solemnly before God consent to it with tongue and heart and live as under the Obligation of it all your days And also live in the belief of all the promises of it and expectation of all the benefits promised The sum of all your Religion for duty and comfort is comprized in your Baptismal Covenant

spirit of meekness don't use opprobrious terms railing angry accusations remembring that the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God and anger in your reproof is apt to beget anger in the parties reproved the effect of which is like to be excuse and extenuation of their faults a hardning of them in their sins recriminations and retorts on your selves whereas if you reprove them mildly in a spirit of meekness and they perceive your love therein and design of their good you may the more probably reach their Consciences and through Gods blessing imprint a conviction upon them and be instrumental for their restoring a soft Tongue breaketh a bone and a mild reproof may mollify a heart that is like a bone or like a stone in hardness And as you ought to watch over one another in reference to sin so also in reference to duty as you occasionally or purposely meet together watch to advise and counsel one another to quicken and encourage one another in your duties both to God and man read Mal. 3.16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkned and heard it and a Book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name Here you have 1. Your duty to speak often one to another and what it is you should speak The wicked speak often one to another but they speak vanity and sin as if their Tongues were their own and they had no Lord over them their discourse is froth and filth they have a Treasure of evil things in their hearts and thence they bring forth that which is evil but you who fear the Lord have a Treasure of good things in your hearts and thence you should bring forth that which is good your words should be like choice Silver to enrich one another your lips like a Tree of righteousness to feed one another your discourse should be alway with grace unto your mutual edification that you may excite one another in the ways and service of the Lord. 2. Here 's a motive to quicken unto the duty the Lord hearkneth taketh especial notice hereof records this on his Book in order to the reward he intends and hath prepared for such in the other World Look into another Scripture Heb. 10.24 25. Let us consider one another to provoke not to anger but unto love and good works not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching We have not room in this Letter to enlarge in exposition of this Scripture but must leave it with your selves to do it in your Meditations must also contract in the other particulars Secondly The second duty which God calleth you unto on the loss of your Minister is fruitfulness Your Minister was a spiritual sower and we hardly know any who hath sown so much seed of the word as he used to do in all places where he came none more frequent in Preaching on the Sabbath days on the week days on ordinary on extraordinary occasions publickly and from house to house he ceased not whilst he had a Tongue and Breath to Preach the word We need not tell you how much seed he hath sown amongst you and what it is that God doth look for after such a seed-time as you have had But that the harvest of your fruitfulness should be in some measure answerable hereunto that as you have had more seed scattered among you than others so you should bring sorth more fruit than others Take heed now your Minister is dead that his Sermons don't die with him and be forgotten by you as if they had never been Preached never been heard Take heed you be not found barren after such sowings that you be not found dry after such droppings that you be not like Pharaohs kine lean after such plenty of spiritual food and such abundant means of Spiritual nourishment as you have enjoyed The fruits which God doth look for are the fruits of Repentance humility meekness self-denyal patience contentment diligence righteousness filial fear of God faith in Christ love to God and one to another zeal for Gods honour lively hope of Heaven thankfulness for mercies God looks that you should be fruitful in good words and in good works let the seed your Minister hath sown spring up after his death in such fruits as these such things he hath often taught you and exhorted you unto in his Sermons and he hath gone before you in the practice of them in his life ye are witnesses and God also how holily and justly and unblamably he behaved himself among you and how he exhorted and charged you as a Father doth his Children and be ye followers of him who through faith and patience doth now inherit the promises Thirdly The third duty which God doth now call you especially unto is Prayer Your Minister whilst alive did pray much with you and he pray'd more for you he was one of the most Prayerful Ministers in England he gave himself as to the Ministry of the word so also unto Prayer but now his praying work on Earth is changed into praising work in Heaven you have lost a praying friend you have therefore now so much the more need to pray for your selves pray secretly pray frequently pray fervently Pray against sin and pray for larger effusions of the Spirit upon you Pray against sin do as Hos. 14.2 Take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously God hath taken away your Minister O beg of him that he would take away your iniquity the cause of this so great a loss Say Lord thou hast taken away him who was our glory O take away our sins which are our ignominy and shame thou hast taken away him who endeavoured to save us O take away our sins which if not taken away will destroy us Shall our Ministers go and our sins stay Shall our glory depart and our shame abide Our blessings go and our curse continue Our builders go and our destroyers remain God forbid Pray earnestly that God would take away the guilt of sin and deliver you from the power of sin not only the reign but also from the rage of it not only from its dominion but also from its Tyranny And pray also for larger effusions of the Spirit upon you for the teachings of the Spirit the witness of the Spirit more of the graces more of the comforts of the Spirit forget not Zion in your Prayers and the land of your nativity bear also your particular friends on your hearts when you are before God on your knees Fourthly The fourth duty we would mind you of is Family Instruction the Catechizing of Children and Servants and bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord And here we must not enlarge in motives and

body themselves as the Sun and Prince as the Moon and Stars abusing Tibi da●● claves and the disciple is not above his master to the mastering of Kings and States as their sheep and disciples a great part of the Church History had been unwritten or otherwise written than it is Secondly Yea far be it from any Minister of Christ to expect their joy from humane applause and the multitude of followers or disciples to be accounted a Learned or a holy man an excellent Preacher and so to have the respect and love of many A good name and love are not to be despised when they follow fidelity as its shadow and as they signifie the good of those that profit by the word The Galatians would once have even pulled out their eyes for Paul But alas what is the thought and breath of man that is hasting to the dust and to the impartial Judge How small a matter should it be to us to be judged of many that are so near the final Judgment And what a terrible sentence is it to the hypocrites Mat. 11.6 Verily they have their reward O poor and miserable reward And yet what age hath not seen that verified Act. 20.30 Of your own selves shall men arise that shall speak perverse things to draw away disciples after them And Rom. 16.17 Such still have been as have caused divisions and offences contrary to Apostolical Doctrine not serving the Lord Jesus but their own bellies being ever fleshly worldly men and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple And men that have had the form of Godliness or the lifeless Image but deny the power of it by wicked lives are those from whom we must turn away Thirdly Yea and far be it from any faithful Minister or Christian to take up his Ioy from a conceit that he hath commutatively merited of God by the excellency of his faith or labours Alas who is sufficient for these things And what have we that we have not received Or who hath given to God that it may be repaid him or what faithful Minister of Christ did ever come out of the Pulpit or from his private duty without grief and shame that his faith and love his skill and zeal have been so vastly unsuitable to such great and excellent things that he was about And yet the Conscience of simplicity and godly sincerity and Gods forgiveness assistance and acceptance may set our Ioy above that shame and grief Fourthly And now it is easie to see the reason why Paul accounted not his life dear nor was moved by the foresight of any sufferings so he might but finish his course with Ioy. For first he well knew that the end would pay for all and no man shall ever lose by God nor shall the most abundant labour be in vain 1 Cor. 15.48 Is there any Repentance in Heaven for their labours or sufferings for Christ on Earth Do they think that God is in their debt Faith ever reckoneth that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 For which cause we faeint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen which are temporal but at the unseen things which are eternal 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. Secondly And Paul well knew that he and all the World were in the hands of God and that he served such a Master as could easily perserve him as far as he saw meet from all his enemies and sufferings And that sufferings chosen for us by God are better than if w● had the Kingdoms of the World by the gif● of Satan Mat. 4. Balaaks words to Balaa●● methinks were words of Honour and Joy t●e Lord hath kept thee from Honour O● who would not be ambitious of being so kep● from Honour The poverty and shame tha● is by and for God is better than the Prefer●ment and Honour of men And the reproac● of Christ is greater Riches than the treasure● of Egypt And if God see it best he knowet● how to save the Righteous from trouble and if not to give them suffering strength and Joy And it is a wonder of providence how God preserveth their names and honour that despise Honour and life for him so that ever they that killed the present Prophets and jus● men yet build the Sepulchres of those that were killed by their Fathers and say if w● had lived in the days of our Fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets Mat. 23.27 28. The wonder of that Foreigner in H. 8's days Deus bon● quomodo hic vivunt gentes that saw men kill'd for being Protestants and for being Papists was not so contradictory a subject as the Papists usage of the Saints a stupendious instance of mans madness and Satans methods that at the same time can rack and burn and murder Saints and yet Honour the relicks names and memories of the dead that were before them That while they zealously cast away mens lives and treasure to recover the Holy Land where Saints had lived at the same time murdered those by thousands that did most nearly imitate them and to this day kill the living Saints under the name of Schismaticks or Heriticks for not obeying the King of Rome before God and keep holy days for the dead and reverence their shrines and relicks What contempt did poor St. Martin undergo from his neighbour Bishops as suspected of Priscilleanisme and as an unlearned Hypocrite that was for liberty for Hereticks so that he separated from their Synods and Communion And yet what a name hath he left behind him even in that Church whose Prelates thus dispised him Thirdly Moreover Paul had now tryed both the ways of being against Christ and being for him and was so fully convinced by experience and revelation of the evil of the one and the goodness of the other that he had great reason to be resolved and unmoved as knowing that no suffering can make the servants of Christ as miserable as his Enemies nor any preferment or prosperity make any one of the worldlings as happy as the poorest Saint Because he had rather be Lazarus than Dives hereafter and had rather stand on the right hand of Christ than on the left therefore he accordingly made his choice For he well knew how bad a bargain it would prove to win all the World and lose his Soul and to lay up a treasure on Earth so as also to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and to prepare for such an even-song as Luk. 12. Thou fool this night shall they require thy Soul and then whose are the things that thou hast provided Alas what gain is it to save