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	lord_n	3,568	5	3.9247	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85549	A true reformation and perfect restitution, argued by Silvanus and Hymeneus; where in the true Church of Christ is briefly discovered here in this life in her estate of regeneration, as also her persecution in the life to come, as it hath been foretold by all the holy prophets and Apostles, which have been since the world began. / By J.G. a friend to the truth and Church of God.	Graunt, John, of Bucklersbury.	1643 (1643)	Wing G1595; Thomason E55_10; ESTC R212817	46,091	47

Who is weak and I am not weak who is offended and I burne not remember them that are in bounds as bound with them and them that suffer adversity as being our selves also in the body So saith Saint Iames the wisdom that is from above that is the children of wisdom of whom Ierusalem from above is Mother to all is first pure then peaceable gentle and easy to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits and Saint Paul saith their fruit is love joy peace long suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith c. They are filled with peace and joy in believeing and it is given unto them not only to believe but to suffer for his sake that is for the sake of their beloved Lord and Redeemer I might be large in all these excellencies but I know you can inlarge them in your minde Friend Hymeneus Hym. How can this excellent Church be miserable Silv. The Apostle answereth in these words If in this life only we had hope we were of all men the most miserable so that the misery hath only respect to this life Hym. How can that be Silv. Paul and Barnabas makes it clear saying we must through much tribulation 〈…〉 the Kingdom of God this suffering and tribulation was it that was the cause why our Lord in these words comforts his Church Feare not little flock it is your Fathers pleasure to give you the Kingdom for none shall raigne with Christ in the world to come but he that suffers with him in this life Now as it was in Abraham's Family between Ishmael and Isaack so is it now between the outward and false Christian and the inward and true for then as he that was borne after the flesh persecuted him that was borne by promise so is it now saith the Apostle the Christians in name onely which are overcast with a profession of Religion cleane in skin and not in heart like the Pharisees lay claime to be the true Church and call her that is so indeed barren forsaken and desolate and cast her out with termes let God be glorified and such like when notwithstanding with hatred they beate her so the Church cryes out in one place My Mothers Children were angry with me when they were no more the true Mothers Children then Ishmaels which was not Sarahs but the bond-womans neither were the Pharisees the children of the promise though Abraham's after the flesh nor righteous although they justified themselves This Jerusalem that is from below the common Christians I call them so because they are not capable but of common gifts of which they may partake and perish and except they repent so it wi●l be with them yet notwithstanding these fi●l the world with voices of the Church of God the cause of Christ bragge and boast of their righteousnesse duties and performances when notwithstanding they never yet knew what it is that is the true worship of God the acceptable sacrifice they bragge of their prayers their fasts and their charity and yet know nothing at all of either as they are the offerings and sacrifice of the truly faithfull but as the fat cattle the Prophet speaks of push gore and oppresse the leane so do these whole hearted faire rich fat and full seeming comfortable Christians contemne and despise the humble the low and emotie although notwithstanding the Lord filleth the emptie with good things and sendeth the rich emptie away I could inlarge my self in this exceedingly having felt their cruelty and oppression as being slighted by them dayly and made as the dirt in the street under their feet by treading dayly upon me but as they are men for and of this world so we will leave them to it and proceed to shew you how miserable the Saints are here in this life in regard of their own corruptions the flesh lusteth against the spirit and many times so captivates it that they cry out Oh wretched Men that we are who shall deliver us from this body of death what is worse then a dead body amongst the living and yet so and worse are the corruptions of Gods people to their pure mindes vexed and grieved by them dayly as Righteous Lot in Sodom inclosed by them in a Citie whose buildings are transgressions whose streets are wayes of error whose bul warks are the strength of death whose gates do lead to hell which makes them to dye dayly to be tormented dayly and cry dayly to be delivered from sin and from the body thereof Lastly the misery of Gods people is aggravated by the devill for so saith the Apostle he goth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devoure And so it is said The Devill shall cast many of you into prison The righteous man Iob had miserable experience of this adversary Misery in regard of the destruction of his wealth misery in the losse of his health and misery to his mind in regard of his wife and his childrens death besides the many temptations against his soul and this the Apostle knew well which moves him to exhort the Corinthians on this wise For I am jealous over you with Godly jealousie for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a choyse Virgin to Christ for I feare lest by any meanes as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Hym. You have clearly proved the miserable sufferings of the Church in all these particulars you promised but is your meaning that the Church shall never be free in this life I meane from misery and sufferings by mens persecution and Sathans their sworn enemies Silv. So long as there is any enemy that is so long as death and sin raigne so long shall Gods people suffer and undergo misery Hym. Then your meaning is to the end of the world Silv. You understand me truly Hym. How answer you this Scripture And Sathan was bound for a thousand years and the Saints lived and raigned with Christ a thousand years this is the first resurrection Silv. This error of the Millenaries is ancient and as groundlesse in the text you alleadge as many more new mistakes are which were all forged in the Devils work-house of lyes and that they may all be answered if truth will do it by their turns they shall be tried and condemned Hym. The Millenaries first alleadge the words of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians The dead in Christ shall arise first that is say they there shall be a generall Resurrection of all the Martyrs and righteous people a thousand years before the generall Resurrection and they shall have great plentie and riches abounding in worldly felicilic and greatnesse injoying Christs bodily presence in this corruptible earth grounding their opinion on the twentyeth chapter of the Revelation as I said before where it is said Sathan shall be bound for a thousand years and they lived and raigned with Christ a thousand years this is the fi●st

by his penitent confession with ardency of affection in these words I will say unto my Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Sonne Every word declaring the true and reall sensiblenesse of his own guiltynesse confessing with detestation in the strength of his request like the penitent Publicain smiting his wofull breast with his guilty hand in a ruefull manner as a man lost and undone in the fourth and last place see his unsatisfied desire of pardon and forgivenesse of mercy peace and reconciliation Make me as one of thy hired servants which words for the matter and manner found of nothing but violence and admit of no answer no satisfaction in the world but of grace and favour to be admitted and received though into the least the lowest office of all even into the office of a servant Thus all the Prophets and Apostles as doth their Lord also describe repentance and the penitent by the poor the broken hearted the lost the sinners the unrighteous because these only are so truly in their own eyes and in the gift or work of God called repentance or the preparation of God happy man is he that heareth and obeyeth for God hath sworn he shall not perish Hym I must now confesse you have both described and defined repentance but yet me thinks you ascribe too much to it to say whosoever repents shall not perish Silv. I tell you the truth as it is written Ezechiel 18. 28. because he that considereth and returneth away from all his transgressions he shall surely live he shall not dye And so saith our Lord Except you repent you shall all likewise perish Hym. I pray let me heare you declare the other Metaphoricall terme which setteth forth the second part of regeneration as you said Silv. The second part of our new birth before called remission of sins hath divers termes and expressions in Scripture sometimes it is said to be the Baptisme of fire the Baptisme of the holy Ghost the blood of Christ shed abroad in our hearts sometimes called the blessing the life the voice or promise of God the ministery of the Lord of Iohn the Baptist whose shooe latchet the servant said he was not worthy to untie this Lord of the prepared way in working this ●econd and more speciall work of the holy Ghost preached that is giveth remission of sins to the penitent sanctifieth those which John had prepared bound up that which he had broken healed that which he had bruised perfecting the smoak into a light flame fulfilling what was written of him being anointed for that purpose namely to preach glad tydings unto the poor to bind up the broken hearted to proclaime liberty to the Captives and to inlarge such as were bounden to proclaime the acceptable yeare of the Lord and to comfort all that mourne to appoint unto them that mourne in Syon to give unto them beauty for ashes oyle of joy for sorrowing the garment of praise for the spirit of heavynesse that they may be called Trees of righteousnesse the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified and this was the work of the Lord of the whole world who as he was greater than this servant his foregoer so his ministration exceeded and good reason for it was of a more higher and more excellent nature Even as healing exceeds breaking liberty captivity the spirit of Gladnesse that of heavinesse a rich and plenteous estate that which is low and miserable in the working and effecting hereof the holy Ghost applies the blood of Christ to that fore broken and bruised spirit which is the only healing plaister unto salvation and blessed life for this is the word so much spoken of in the Scripture which cures and heales the wounded spirit that neither herb nor plaister can possibly do the word speaking peace by Iesus Christ which began after the baptisme which Iohn preached thereby ingraving or writing in that Table of flesh the everlasting love and favour of God never againe to be razed or blotted out so purging purifying and sanctifying the prepared heart by the sprinckling of the bloud of Christ the heavenly fire of l●ve so refining it that it exceeds the purest triedst gold beyond all comparison And this effect of the holy Ghost the Scripture also calleth the spirit of his Sonne the spirit of adoption by which we call Abba Father And this is that new covenant which God made with Adam and Abraham and all his spirituall seed that life that Moses had and taught to others that everlasting Law and statute of grace and favor for ever as it is written whom he loveth once he loveth to the end that is everlastingly for his sure mercies and love are written even written in the prepared heart that God will be their God and they his people for ever more still testifying that this was he that was once dead but now liveth was lost but now is found from which work and testimony of the holy Ghost in the heart ariseth such an assurance to the man so sanctified that he is so sure his sins are forgien him and that Gods favour and love is given to him as he is su●e his Lord who wholly bought and freely gave his mercy to him was once dead than raised and now liveth for ever never to die againe this is the love of God shed abroad in his heart the Garment dipt in the bloud of the lambe the answere of a good conscience to his good and gracious God that as was his Father Abraham so is be fully perswaded and in truth of Faith with Saint Paul can say I am perswaded that neither death nor life principalities nor powers things present nor things to come nor height nor depth ●or any other creature whatsoever shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus my Lord And this is the birth and Baptisme of fire the blessing and accomplishment of the birth the life and generation of Gods children as that holy King singeth saying Blessed is the man whose sins are covered and whose God is the Lord Iehovah Hym. Surely this must be the description of true justifying Faith yet I pray make a definition of it Silv. This is the peculiar Faith the Faith of Abraham that which justifieth a sinner and by which the justified liveth as the Prophet speaketh and may be thus defined that it is a gift of Gods spirit whereby a concrite tender broken heart is given assuredly to believe that all his sins are forgiven him and that he is reconciled to God in everlasting love and favour through the precious bloud of Iesus Christ that hath bought and purchased it for him Which Faith is cleerly declared and fully proved in every part in the prodigalls acceptance when he was received from death to life the compassion of his Father was the only ground of the penitents forgivenesse and he assured him of his love and

favour by falling on his neck and kissing him such kisses of love as there is none to be compared to them as appears by the multiplyed following favors by clothing him with his own best robe by putting a ring on his hand and shoes on h●s feet ye● what is this all but to be clothed with the compleat and perfect righteousnesse of Iesus Christ and what more certain assurance then to eate Christs flesh and to drink his bloud this was the fatted calfe the lambe without spot who is the only food to eternall life and on whom whosoever eateth and believeth cannot but rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Hym. But is all justifying Faith an assurance Silv. Yes it is a full assurance for as much as it is witnessed to our spirits by Gods spirit and an assurance cannot be so true from any witnesse as from the spirit of God that beares witnesse with our spirits saith the Apostle that we are the Sonnes of God and so to the Hebrews he exhorteth in these words Let us draw neere with a true heart in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinckled from an evill conscience and our bodies washed with pure water That which makes the heart true or good is the breaking it by repentance and the purifying it by Faith which Faith ariseth from the bloud of Christ shed abroad in the heart expressed by sprinkling and the same Apostle beareth witnesse that Abraham believing the promise was fully perswaded Ro. 4. Hym. But what say you of the Church of Christ which was our first discourse Silv. The regenerated man before declared is the matter of the true Church Of these precious living stones is built Gods spirituall house and of this heavenly nature is the whole building being all begotten from above of water and the holy Ghost As Saint Peter speaketh of these new born babes and calls them Stones and so he calls their Lord also to whom comming as to a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious use also saith he as lively Stones are built up a spirituall house a holy Priest-hood to offer spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God by Iesus Christ And this is the same Apostle which our Lord spoke to when he said thou art Peter or a Stone and upon this Rock will I build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it In which Scripture our Lord acknowledgeth himself confessed by Peter to be but the chief foundation and corner-stone and the whole building to consist of such spirituall living stones as Saint Peter was Hym. I pray expresse in manner how they do become a Church Silv. The power of God as I have shewed before doth by repentance cut these stones out of the Quarry of this world that is out of the estate of nature and thereby cuts squares and fits them for this building and the power of God by justification and acceptation layes on these stones on the lively building the spirit of God which proceeds from the Father and the Sonne Cements and soders all together by ingrafting or joynting them with the bloud of Christ the love of God poured out on them all and this is the holy Catholique Church the Communion of Saints as the Creed confesseth Agreeing with that of Saint Paul to the Corinthians The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the holy Ghost be with you as also to the Colossians The head from which all the body by joynts and bands having nourishment ministred knit together increaseth with the increase of God this is Christs body his spouse the lambs wife who though they be many Graines yet make but one loafe Hym. What authoritie and priviledge hath this Church Silv. Great authority and many priviledges in this present suffering estate of hers for of these our Lord saith if two of you shall agree in earth as touching any thing they shall aske it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven And also where two or three are gathered together saith our Lord in my name there am I in the middest of them where by name he meanes his spirit so that none can be so congregated but such as are led by the spirit of God these have the priviledge to be called the Sonnes of God even such as believe in his name which were borne not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God these onely are the house of the living God the ground and pillar of truth these are as it were Gods privy Counsell on earth the Scripture stiles them the keepers of his truth and his dwelling place as say the Prophets Though the heaven of heavens cannot containe me yet will I dwell with him that is of a contrite spirit God dwelling with them teacheth them and declareth his will his mind and purposes to them as he did to Noah Abraham and Moses to these doth the Lord that hath the key of David that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth give the power and authority of the keys of the Kingdom of heaven yea I say againe that great power and authoritie to bind and to loose to remit and to reteine sins by a decree intailed on them till time shall be no more in these words whose sins you 〈…〉 〈…〉 〈…〉 whose sins you do reteine they are reteined this is the commission of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings who by his own words hath bound himself thus to be with them to the end of the world Hym. I pray tell me how may a man know this Church Silv. None can truly know this Church but they that are of her for as they are spirituall themselves so they are spiritually discerned as the Apostle saith the spirituall men discerne all things even the deep things of God Yet I will briefly declare some of her excellencies and some of her miseries by which she is manifested for may a candle burne and not bewray her light may the Sunne shine and not shew his beauty can a City built upon a hill hide her face from the passer by or may a sacrifice salted convey his seasoning from the mouth of the taster and if these creatures could forget their natures yet cannot the true Saints in whose heart the eternall covenant of love is once ingraven forget to burne with like affection first towards God that first hath loved them with love of God as the sap puts forth this fruit as the Apostle saith We love him because he hath loved us first And none can love the Lord with all his heart with all his strength and with all his soule as Moses speaketh but such only whose booken heart the love of God hath comforted refreshed and healed So also loveth hee his neighbour as himselfe hee sorroweth rejoyceth lamenteth and is comforted wanteth and aboundeth with him as the Apostle saith