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	love_v	soul_n	2,573	5	4.9851	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85388	The tyranny of Satan, discovered by the teares of a converted sinner, in a sermon preached in Paules Church, on the 28 of August, 1642. By Thomas Gage, formerly a Romish Priest, for the space of 38 yeares, and now truly reconciled to the Church of England.	Gage, Thomas, 1603?-1656.	1642 (1642)	Wing G116; Thomason E119_20; ESTC R3263	28,403	44

I will allure ●●r and bring her into the wildernesse and speak comfortably unto her She shall not thinke that her wickednesse can be greater than my mercies When she most flies from me then will I most allure her Behold here dearely Beloved the good nature of our good God who like unto a su●er and wooer when his mistris most disdaineth him wooeth her more allureth her with faire and courteous promises Even so doth God with a Soule when we follow most the vices of our heart the vanities of the world seeking to please our senses and bellies more than the Lord disdaining and contemning our God and Maker then doth he wooe our Soules then doth he allure them then doth he bring them into the wildernesse from all occasions of pride of self-selfe-love of vanities and pstimes There when he hath got them from the worldly pleasures doth he speak comfortably unto them O Soule saith he why dost thou follow any lovers but me there is none loveth thee better than my selfe I have bestowed more upon thee than any adulterous lover of thine The beauty of thy face which thou so much esteemest is my guift The dainties of fowle and fish which so voluptuously thou bestowest upon thy belly I first bestowed them upon thee The riches of pearles rubies rings and diamonds wherewith thou shewest thy selfe so faire an object to thy lovers eye are all my gifts The flowers of all sorts and best persumes wherewith thou delightest so much thy senses I gave them to thee Why then deare Soule dost thou turne from me Why dost thou shun me for other lovers They carry thee to perdition but I to blisse and happinesse They seek thy paines and torment I thy rest and glory They fall away like a flower which to day is and to morrow will not be but I shall remaine for ever Thus O dearly Beloved doth God speake comfortably to a Soulel thus doth he allure her thus doth he woo and entice her thus doth he when furthest she flys from him discover the riches of his mercies to her An ancient Doctor called John Raulinus Cluniacexsis saith what by experience we daily know Quanto magis srigus viget tanto magis videtur Coelum stellatum The greater the frost and cold is the m●re bright do the star's appeare and shew themselves in the darkenesse of the night Lauretus who borrowed his doctrine out of Thomas Aquinas and Austin saith also of the stars in a morall explication Stellae productae in Coelo designare possunt dona Spiritus Sanctir That they may be a symbole or figure of the favours and guifts of the Holy Ghost What then meaneth it that these stars which are symbols of Gods favours shine brightest when the frost and cold is greatest O it signifieth that when a heart is most cold and frozen most voyd of the heat of the love of God then doth the Lord strive to shine brightest into that heart than doth he most discover the glittering spangles of his mercy than doth he manifest the glorious stars of his Heavenly comforts for to teach us that none shall despaire though never so deeply plunged into sin though never so cruelly tyrannized by the Devill for God with his mercies can and often hath changed a wicked sinner to a holy life and of a persecut●r and e●emy hath made a holy Apostle I cannot here passe over with silence a witty observation of Chrysostome upon those words which the Angell of the Lord spoke to Joseph Mat. 2. 13. saying Arise and take the young childe and his mother and fly into Aegypt and be thou there untill I bring thee word for Herod will secke the young Childs to destroy him Vpon these words Chrysostome groundeth great admirations wondring that God would send his only begotten Son into Aegypt a Countrey that above all Countreys misused and kept under hard slavery Gods own chosen people not suffering them to go out till God hardned Pharaoh's heart and Moses after many wonders shewed with the hand of the Lord tooke them out of bondage Now then if this Countrey was first so rebellious against God himself and his Commands how commeth it to passe saith Chrysostome that God will trust his Deare and only Son Jesus Christ with so perfidious and disobedient a Nation Could not there be Order given that Christ might bee kept from the fury of Herod in any other Countrey and not in Aegypt so stubborne an enemy to God and his Elect People Chrysostome answereth O commutatio dextrae excelsi ut popului qui a tefuerat persecutor populi primogeniti postea sieret custos unigeniti● O wonderfull change and alteration of the right hand of the Lord saith Chrysostome that that people which before had been a persecutor and enemy of the first chosen People of God now should be trusted with Gods only Son and should be made keeper of him to desend him and protect him from the wicked plots of Herod What is this But to magnifie and set out the great mercies of God who so strangely worketh alterations in Nations and in particular soules making those his dearest friends which were his greatest enemies and persecutors This is the power of the mercy of God which can prevaile against all the strength of Satan who can deliver a soule possessed by the Devill and bring it to a state more happy than ever miserable it was in Satans power This the Prophet Micah prophecied in the 4 Chap. of his Prophecies and 10 ver. saying Be in pain and labour to bring forth O daughter of Sion like a woman in travell for vow shalt thou go forth out of the City and thou shalt dwell in the field th●u shalt go even to Babylon there shalt thou bee delivered there the Lord shall redeeme thee from the hand of thine enemies What greater confusion was there ever than in Babylon What greater blindnesse than there What greater or crueller slavery than there Yet saith Micah there shalt thou bee delivered there the Lord shall redeeme 〈◊〉 from thine enemies for to teach us that there is no sinner so deeply drowned into the depth of sin so bitterly beaten by Satan so hardly captivated and bound with the bonds and fetters of his iniquities but yet the mercy of the Lord is able to take him out Therefore O dearely beloved make use of this doctrin never despaire of Gods savours though as Christ said in my text to Peter Satan sift you as wheat separating you from the white flower of the elect and chosen p●ople though he separate you like chaffe from the corne from the sin●…full granes and members of the Church by beating you as Corne is beaten with the flaile by striking out your eyes that you may not see by making you dumb that you may not speake nor cry unto the Lord by making you deaf that you may not heare any goodnesse yet despaire not of his mercies for out of Babylon the place of greatest confusion

there shalt thou be delivered saith the Lord Let my Conversion be a President to you of this truth and strengthen you that you may not despaire of Gods mercies For if I who have sucked my first milk of the Whore of Babylon of the most erroneous Popish doctrin who have worshiped creatures and Saints instead of my Creator who have been disloyall and treacherous to my King and Countrey who have beleeved a damnable doctrine of Purgatory derogating thereby from the infinite merits of the satisfaction of Christs Passion who have superstitiously offered up a sacrifice of the Masse for the quick dead as if the Sacrifice which Christ himselfe offered of his own body upon the Crosse were not a sufficient Sacrifice for a whole world yea and many more worlds if I who erroneously have beleeved that by my own works I might merit de condigno the glory of heaven as if any human or naturall works may work a thing supernaturall and merit a glory which required the meanes and satisfaction of Christ not as man only but as God and man If I who have been almost 40 years thus blinded who have so many years persecuted the chosen elect and Protestant people of the Lord who have so many years been frozen and void of all heat of the love of God who have so many years been in Babylon in confusion and slavery there have been delivered there have found the mercies of God like stars in a winter night shining most confortably into my cold and frozen soule O let none despaire of the mercies of God nor willingly fall into sin by my example least their comming out of Babylon be as hard to them as my conversion hath been to me But how great soever your miseries be trust in the Lord that as he prayed for Peter that his Faith might not faile as he hath pleaded for me before his ●…ernall Father So he may also be an Advocate and only Mediator between God and you when deepest you are in sin and according to mans judgement hardest to be brought out of it The last Point which is plainly to be observed in my text is a precept and cōmand of our Saviour to Peter contained in those words And when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren This Peter did and this all they are bound to do who are truly converted from sin and from a wicked estate to the true knowledge of Gods Laws True it is Peter did fall and did most cowardly thrice deny his Master But after our Saviour looked upon him and with one look turned his heart then Peter went out and wept bitterly And he did not only weep and repent within himselfe but most zealously endeavoured to strengthen his Brethren as you may observe Acts 2. when having received the Holy Spirit himselfe he preached couragiously unto the Jews to convert them and strengthen them in the true Faith as you may read from the 14● to the 38 verse and forward where publickly he said unto them Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost O he was a true converted man and thought he must not be contented to be himselfe converted only but that he was bound to convert and strengthen others So did Saul who had been so great a Persecutor when he was truely converted presently he strived to do good to others as you may read Acts 9. 19 20. verses And when he had received meat he was strengthned Then was Saul certaine dayes with the Disciples that were at Damascus And strait way he preached Christ in the Synagogue that he is the Son of God And further in the 22 ver. But Saul increased the more in strength and confounded the Jews that dwelt at Damascus prouing that this is very Christ Behold how this converted Apostle is not satisfied with his own conversion but presently burneth with an inward zeale of communicating unto others that good which he had received from God by his Conversion Your Divines say that Bonum est diffusivum sui that which is truly good in it selfe is with a natu●all inclination to impart it selfe yea prodigally to pou●e it self out to others This doctrin also David teacheth us in his 51 Psal. where he repenteth himself for the Adultery which he had committed and having begged of God that he would create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him Then saith he in the 13 verse will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee Lo how David doth not only repent himselfe and manifest his conversion by words of sorrow and bitter compunction but promiseth God that he will strengthen others by teaching them the ways of God that also they may come to be converted In the first Chapter of the Canticles ver. 4. You shall find a few words easy in this sense but hard to be understood in any other where the Spouse speaking to her Beloved saith Draw me we will run after thee The King hath brought me into his Chamber we will be glad and rejoyce in thee we will remember thy love Me thinkes the Spouse should have said draw me I will run after thee The King hath brought me into his chamber I will be glad I will remember thy love If one be drawn why do many in the plurall number run If one be brought into the Kings chamber Why be many glad and rejoyce O dearely Beloved it is to teach us how we ought to be have our selves when we are truly converted The Spouso signifieth a soule wedded by Faith to God the true and heavenly Bridgroome The Chamber whereinto this foule is brought is the true Church Therfore if one Soule be drawn by God many must run after this one if one Soule be brought into the true Ancient and Apostolike Church many must be glad and rejoyce Why B●cause we must not be contented to be drawn alone from our iniquities we must not be contented to be brought alone into the Church we must also draw others we must make others also rejoyce by strengthning them by teaching them by converting them by our words works and good example This is the command and precept of our Saviour to Peter in the words of my text And when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren This cōmand of Christ I that am this day converted brought into the Heavenly Bridgrooms chamber into his true Church must also obey O I must not be contented to be drawn alone I must be the cause that many may run after me This dearely Beloved I have begun to performe already having brought one from the snares of Popery strengthned one soule in the true Protestant Apostolik Religiō of this Kingdom This by the Grace of God both by preaching writing and printing I will endeavour all my life to performe by discovering and laying open to the world those Rocks and quicke sands of Popish doctrin whereupon so many soules do run and are dayly cast away by the ignorance of foolish and unskilfull Pilots O dearely beloved never were you in greater danger than at these times for in Ireland you see how the Papists threaten us with their erroneous doctrines here at home they secretly plot to bring in their superstitions therefore let me warne you this day to hoyse up your sailes and top masts and with the gale of that heavenly Spirit of that Divine blast save your soules from being splinted upon these Rocks of Popish superstition from being swallowed up with the quick sands of Antichristian doctrin O beloved abhor all your lives the chief and principall point of all Popery which is that false authority that Supremacy which the Papists give to the Pope above all the Church O never admit this erroneous doctrin nor ever thinke that Christ left Peter or any other to be Supream head and only head over the Church but this authority was given equally to all the Apostles as ye may gather out of Matth. 28. 3 last ver. where our Saviour equally and with equall authority sent all his Apostles to preach and teach saying Go ye therefore and teach all Nations And further he saith And loe I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Behold how Christ sendeth not only Peter but all his Apostles to preach and teach And saith he will bee not only with Peter but with all his Apostles inspiring spiritually and instructing them all and not Peter alone to rule and governe feed with spirituall food his flock If this be so dearly Beloved never beleeve that the authority which the Pope challengeth to himself over all the Church is due unto him who usurpeth his authority seeketh by it to encroach upon Kings and Princes Crowns as I shall in some other occasion more largely declare Fly therefore deare soules from this chief and most dangerous Rock of all Popery and having once discovered the dangers of this false doctrin abhor then all other erroneous doctrins of Rome which come from him that usurpeth Christs own power and challengeth it to himselfe alone O let my conversion be your strength and comfort O beleeve an experienced and skilfull Pilot who hath travailed almost over all the world and hath by experience of almost 40 yeares discovered all those rocks and quick sands of Popish errors of Antichristian doctrines and superstitions which threaten the losse and utter overthrow of your soules O that this day I may performe what Iesus said to Peter And when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren O let my example dearely Beloued strengthen you all in the true Protestant Religion that so I may say with the spouse draw me and we will run that I being drawn this day unto the true Faith yee may all run more hastily and speedily to the same that I being brought this day into the Kings chamber that is into the true Church ye may all be glad and rejoyce finding in your soules a new greater strength to continue and dye in this ancient and Apostolike Church that so we may all meet and rejoyce together after this life in another chamber of our Heavenly Bridegroome in the triumphant Church of Heaven Amen FINIS