Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	believe_v	faith_n	heart_n	5,328	5	5.2153	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81131	The arraignment of unbelief, as the grand cause of our nationall non-establishment: cleared in a sermon to the Honourable House of Commons in Parliament, at Margarets Westminster, upon the 28th. of May, 1645. being the day of their publike fast. / By Joseph Caryl, late preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolnes-Inne, now pastor at Magnus neer the bridge, London.	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.; England and Wales. Parliament.	1645 (1645)	Wing C749; Thomason E286_5; ESTC R200075	31,767	54

This Kingdom shall be holden up for God is able to make it stand How so God hath received it Do yee perceive no breakings forth of the love of God to his people in this Kingdom Hath he done nothing which intimates he hath received this people Surely he hath therefore we may argue God is able to make us stand therefore we shall be holden up for God hath received us A third objection is thus raised You will have us beleeve that we shall be established but I pray shew us a word for our faith Can you give us any promise Isaiah here brought a promise immediatly from Heaven he told the people from the mouth of God that they should be established can you do so too Faith is a wise grace Faith loves not to build upon the sand much lesse to build castles in the ayr Faith must have a sure foundation and nothing will serve faiths turne but the word of God It will not build upon the bare word of all the Preachers in the world As the great Mathematician said Shew me a place where I shall set mine engine and I will shake all the earth so saith faith Give me but a sure word whereupon I may fix my foot I will carry any thing but where is that word to be found what 's the text chapter and verse that England shall be established or have you any extraordinary revelation that it shall 'T is granted We have no such revelations as Isaiah brought to Ahaz and his people but we have that which serves faiths turn sufficiently and so much as amounts to a particular promise I may say There is as much ground in Scripture for faith to build on for the present temporall salvation of this distressed Kingdom as any man at first hath or had in Scripture to beleeve his eternall salvation I clear it thus Suppose we comming to a man lying in the state of nature and under trouble of conscience for his sinne should offer him Christ and pardon and he should say Shew a promise which belongs to me What promise could we tender him could we bring one with his name literally in it doth any promise speak explicitely Thomas or John do thou beleeve and thou shalt be saved There is no such word for the salvation of any man There are promises of three sorts in Scripture First Promises of free grace that God will justifie the ungodly and pardon sinne for his own Names sake Secondly Promises of grace that God will give faith repentance love and a new heart c. Thirdly Promises unto grace that if we beleeve and repent we shall be saved Promises of these three sorts are all we have to build our faith upon for eternall salvation and these we or any other Nation that is under the same condition hath to build assurance upon for temporall salvation There are promises of free grace to Nations that God will deliver and save them for his own Names sake such a promise we have though the Name of England be not expressed in it Again there are promises of grace to Nations that God will poure out a spirit of repentance and humiliation upon them and cause them to return Lastly we have promises unto grace that if a people call upon God repent and turn from their evil waies they shall be delivered If my people which are called by my Name do humble themselves and seek my face and pray and turn unto me I will hear in Heaven and deliver c. 2 Chro. 7. 14. These promises were made not only to the people of Israel but to all people who are the Israel of God Say not then this stops your faith ye cannot beleeve establishment because ye want a promise of establishment these promises are ours as well as this was Jerusalems These objections and stumbling-blocks being thus I hope answered and removed out of the way of faith let your faith gird up her loynes and rejoyce like a giant to run her race Act faith for the Kingdom as you would for your own souls Is it not a duty to beleeve when you pray and seek God about temporals in their degree and kinde as well as when about spirituals and eternals in theirs Hath not God given his people sometimes as clear evidences as strong assurances that their prayers have been heard about temporals as about eternals What if we should not be under the influences of those promises which are made unto grace to a repenting reforming people yet faith hath footing enough in those which are made of grace to give give repentance and reformation to a people and in those of free-grace that God will save for his Name sake though a people are generally impenitent and unreformed A probability of prevailing is a sufficient ground both for praying and beleeving The Prophet Joel chap. 2. 14 perswades that afflicted people to fast and pray in that he perswaded them to beleeve upon this offer only Who knoweth if he will return and repent Nineve is carried up to beleeve by the same argument Jon. 3. 9. Who can tell if God will return A peradventure from God is better then an absolute promise from any creature So long as God hath not said hee will not though hee hath not said hee will let us venture God hath not yet forbidden prayer but rather bespoken it in the hearts of his people God hath not yet declared by any work of providence against England as he did against Judah by his word Jer. 15. 1 2. Though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my minde could not be towards this people cast them out of my sight and let them go forth such as for death to death c. No he hath rather declared his willingnesse if not his resolvednesse to deliver to save to settle to establish us His heart seems to work toward us let our faith work toward him yea let our faith have a perfect work and then I doubt not but God will perfect all our works If we beleeve surely we shall be established Lastly If a shaking Kingdom be established by beleeving then how precious are beleevers Are they not the bases and pillars of a state Job puts the question concerning wisedom chap. 28. 12. Where shall wisedom be found and where is the place of understanding The depth saith It is not in me and the sea saith It is not with me ver 14. Should I put such a quaerie about the point in hand Where shall the stability of the Nation be found and what is the place of its strength Your sea would say It is not in me and your ships would say It is not in us your Garisons in fortified Cities and your Armies in the open field your correspondencies abroad and your counsels at home would or must all bring in their disclaimers and say Strength is not in us in us establishment is not to be found Where is it then the text answers Faith is our strength establishing is

by beleeving Beleevers are establishers And if they be so usefull let them be as acceptable It is but equall that they who do the publike so much good should receive good from the publike I am sure it is not safe to let them be discouraged by whom our safety is established much lesse is it safe to let them fall by whom in their capacity Kingdoms stand or to cast them down who by the rule of Divine politicks are state-upholders Stephen is described Act. 6. 8. A man full of faith and of power where saith is power is not farre off yet this man was stoned chap. 7. 59. How sad a spectacle was it to see a man stoned to death whose life was like a foundation or corner-stone establishment to the whole building Ob. But many pretend faith who have no conscience Ans I am no advocate for such for their faith is vain and they are yet in their sins And yet I conceive it is better for a supposed faiths sake to spare some who in the issue will be found to have no conscience then for conscience sake to afflict any who in the issue shall be found to have reall faith It is our Lords warning to all and it is a dreadfull one Mat. 18. 6. Who so shall offend one of these little ones that beleeve in me it were better for him that a mil-stone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea A little one beleeving or one beleeving though but a little I mean little in regard of the degree not of the object I say such a little one beleeving is a great one in the eye of Christ an offence given to such a scarce discernable beleever may bring very discernable wrath upon his offenders And if Christ take it thus ill when a little one beleeving in him is offended will he not take it worse when a great one an Abraham a Stephen a Paul in beleeving is offended Where there is greatest faith there 's greatest worth and tenderest endearments to Jesus Christ When we see faith budding out and flourishing in noble and generous fruits of holinesse when faith hath so purified the heart that it keeps hand and life pure and acts visibly surely a mil-stone is not heavy enough he shall have a mountain of mil-stones strung together for his neck who knowingly and willingly offends such a one Ob. But whatsoever their faith is they differ in opinion and will not meet us in the same practice Ans Holy love must and will bear much where it sees holy faith Charity saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. 7. beleeves all things I am sure it beleeves this That they who indeed beleeve in God cannot continue to be hurtfull to any society of men And though I nothing doubt but that a good man may do very ill and may very justly suffer for it too yet of how narrow a use are those excellent graces of love of meeknes of humility of patience of self-deniall if they are not among other uses to be laid out and bestowed in a brotherly hearty gracious amicable compliance with bearing of and condescention unto those who having obtained like precious faith with us do yet differ in some things which concerne order they maintaining order amongst themselves and peace with others I hope there is a good stock of charity yet among us none of which shall be lavisht out in symbolizing with the ignorant and profane or admitting them to a participation in speciall gospel-priviledges nor will it all I am perswaded be laid out though that is like to be costly to charity in admitting those of competent knowledge and unblameable carriage in their lives who yet evidence little if any thing of the life of faith But when the former charge is defrayed charity will have a faire remainder in banke for those to whom it is very due who are unquestionably eminent and active in faith though in some things they be found to differ in judgement or in practices thereon depending As to bear all differences would make charity blinde so not to bear some would make her more then lame I know Honourable Senatours your wisedom will easily finde and discerne the limit-stone between liberty and libertinisme between the humours of men and their consciences How desireable is it that all the Churches should have as one minde so one way that they should all minde and do the same thing How pleasant how blessed a sight were it to behold not only unity of spirit but uniformity of practice in all who call on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ both their Lord and ours But how wofull a sight will it be if ever it should be seen that with whom we agree in every doctrine of faith in the substance of worship and government and in many formes that from them we must irreconcileably break till we can be uniforme What a wofull dearth of Gospel-love will be found amongst us i● after all our former sufferings together our praying and fasting together we should upon these termes fall a vexing one another If after we have poured forth our cries our groanes our sighs our tears together in private chambers and solemn assemblies before the Lord if after we have poured out our bloud together in the high places of the field before the enemy if I say after all this we shall on these termes I say not cruelly poure out the bloud of one another but so much as unkindly move a cry a groan a sigh or draw a tear from one another what a wofull dearth of Gospel-love will be found amongst us Would it not also argue that there is some accursed thing some provocation amongst us if after the Lord hath given us such clear light to pull down the pillars of Babylon he should yet give us up to such thick darknesse that with our own hands we should upon such dissents pull down any who are pillars in Sion FINIS