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	jesus_n	love_v	2,543	5	6.2190	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62632	Several discourses viz. Of the great duties of natural religion. Instituted religion not intended to undermine natural. Christianity not destructive; but perfective of the law of Moses. The nature and necessity of regeneration. The danger of all known sin. Knowledge and practice necessary in religion. The sins of men not chargeable on God. By the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late lord arch-bishop of Canterbury. Being the fourth volume; published from the originals, by Ralph Barker, D.D. chaplain to his Grace.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708.; White, Robert, 1600-1690, engraver.	1697 (1697)	Wing T1261A; ESTC R221745	169,748	495

the Gospel by Reason of this mighty advantage is call'd a state of Adoption and Liberty ver 15. for ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage but the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father and 2 Cor. 3. 17. where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty And to this very thing St. Paul appeals as that whereby Men might judge whether the Law or the Gospel were the more excellent and powerful Dispensation Gal. 3. 2. This only would I learn of you received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith As if he had said let this one thing determine that whole Matter were ye made Pertakers of this great Priviledge and Blessing of the Spirit while ye were of the Jewish Religion or since ye became Christians And ver 14. he calls it the blessing of Abraham that is the blessing promised to all Nations by Abraham's Seed namely the M●ssias that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ● that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith And then for the supporting us under afflictions the Gospel promise●h an extraordinary assistance of God●s holy Spirit to us 1 Pet. 4. 14. if ye be reproached for the Name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God res●eth upon you But were the●e no good Men unde● the dispensation of the Law Yes certainly there were and they were so by the grace and assistance of God's Holy Spirit but ●hen this was an effect of the Divine goodness but not of any special Promise contained in that Covenant of Divine grace and assistance to be conferred on all those that were admitted into it But thus it is in the New Covenant of the Gospel and therefore the Law is call●d a dead letter the oldness of the letter and the ministration of the letter in opposition to the Gosp●l which is call'd the Ministration of the Spirit And this the Apostle lays special weight upon as a main difference between these two Covenants that the first gave an external Law but the new Covenant offers inward grace and assistance to enable Men to Obedience and hath an inward and powerful efficacy upon the Minds of Men accompanying the Ministration of it Heb. 8. 7 8 9 10. For if that first Covenant had been faultless then should no place have been sought for the second For finding fault with them he saith behold the days come saith the Lord when I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah not according to the Covenant which I made with their Fathers c. For this is the Covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their minds and write them in their hearts And of this inward Grace and assistance we are further secured by the powerful and prevalent and perpetual intercession of our High-Priest for Sinners at the right hand of God not like the intercession of the Priests under the Law who being Sinners themselves were less fit to intercede for others but we have an High-Priest that is holy harmless undefiled and seperate from Sinners who by the Eternal Spirit offer'd himself without spot to God to purchase for us those Blessings which he intercedes for The Priests under the Law were Intercessors upon Earth but Christ is entered into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us Heb. 9. 24. The Priests under the Law were removed from this Office by Death but Christ because he continues for ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood and is an everlasting Advocate and Intercessor for us in the virtue of his most meritorious Sacrifice continually presented to his Father where he is always at the right hand of God to present our Prayers to him and to obtain pardon of our Sins and grace to help in time of need and by his intercession in Heaven to procure all those Blessings to be actually con●er'd upon us which he purchased for us by his blood upon Earth wherefore he is able to save to the utmost all those that come to God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them as the same Apostle speaks Heb. 7. 25. And thus I have as briefly as well I could shewed how the Christian Religion doth supply all the weaknesses and defects and imperfections of the Jewish Religion and consequently does in no wise contradict or interfeer with the great Design of the Law and the Prophets but hath perfected and made up whatever was weak or wanting in that Institution to make Men truly good or as the Expression is in the Prophet Daniel to bring in everlasting Righteousness that is to clear and confirm those Laws of Holiness and Righteousness which are of indispensible and eternal obligation And if this be the great Design of our Saviour's coming and the Christian Doctrine be every way fitted to advance Righteousness and true Holiness and to make us as excellently good as this imperfect state of Mortality will admit since it hath many advantages incomparably beyond any Religion or Institution that ever was in the World both in respect of the perfection of its Laws and the force of its Motives and Arguments to Repentance and a Holy Life and in respect of the Encouragements which it gives and the Examples which it sets before us and the powerful assistance which it offers to us to enable us to clean●e our selves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God What a shame is this to us who are under the power of this excellent Institution if the temper of our Minds and the tenour of our Conversation be not in some measure answerable to the Gospel of Christ The greater helps and advantages we have of being good the greater things may justly be expected from us for to whomsoever much is given of him much shall be required Christianity is the fulfilling of the Righteousness of the Law by walking not after the Flesh but after the Spirit by mortifying the deeds of the Flesh and by bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit which are Love Joy Peace Long-Suffering Gentleness Goodness Fidelity Meekness and Temperance The Righteousness of Faith doth not consist in a barren and ineffectual belief of the Gospel in a meer embracing of the Promises of it and relying upon Christ for Salvation in a Faith without works which is dead but in a Faith which worketh by Love in becoming new Creatures and in keeping the Commandments of God The Righteousness of Faith speaketh on this wise This is his Commandment that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us Commandment 1 John 3. 23. and this Commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his Brother also 1 John 4. 21. That we approve the things that are

Fact is committed our Conscience is strangely disquieted at the thoughts of it When a Man does but design to do a bad thing he is guilty to himself as if he had committed it Of this we have a considerable instance in the first violence that was offered to Nature Gen. 4. 6. The Lord said unto Cain why art thou wroth and why is thy countenance fallen The very thought of that Wickedness which he did but then design did disorder his Mind and make a change in his very Countenance Guilt is the natural Concomitant of heinous Crimes which so soon as ever a Man commits his Spirit receives a secret wound which causeth a great deal of smart and anguish For guilt is restless an● puts the Mind of Man into an unnatural working and fermentation never to be settled again but by Repentance The Wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest which plainly shews that the Mind of Man hath a kind of Natural sense of Good and Evil because when ever we offend against Nature our Consciences are touched to the quick and we receive a sting into our Soul which shoots and pains us when ever we reflect upon what we have done I appeal to that witness which every Man carries in his breast whether this be not true 2. Men are naturally full of hopes and fears according as they follow or go against these natural Dictates A good Conscience is apt to fill Men with confidence and good hopes It does not only give ease but security to the Mind of Man against the dread of Invisible Powers and the fearful apprehensions of a future Judgment Whereas guilt fills Men with dismal apprehensions of danger and continual misgivings concerning their own safety Thus it was with Cain after he had slain his Brother It shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall s●ay me Nay when a Man hath done a secret fault which none can accuse him of yet then is he haunted with the terrors of his own Mind and cannot be secure in his own apprehensions which plainly shews that Men are conscious to themselves when they do well and when they do amiss and that the same Natural Instinct which prompts Men to their Duty fills them with good hopes when they have done it and with secret fears and apprehensions of danger when they have done contrary to it Secondly God shews Men what is good by Natural Reason and that two ways By the convenience of things to our Nature and by their tendency to our Happiness and Interest First Reason shews us the convenience of things to our Nature and whatever is agreeable to the Primitive design and intention of Nature that we call good whatever is contrary thereto we call evil For Example to honour and love God It is natural to honour great power and perfection and to love goodness wherever it is So likewise gratitude is natural to acknowledge benefits received and to be ready to requite them and the contrary is monstrous and universally abhorred and there is no greater sign that any thing is contrary to Nature than if it be detested by the whole kind It is agreeable also to Nature to be just and to do to others as we would have them do to us for this is to make our own natural inclinations and desires the rule of our dealing with others and to be merciful for no Man that hath not devested himself of humanity can be cruel and hard-hearted to others without feeling a pain in himself Secondly Reason shews us the Tendency of these Things to our Happiness and Interest And indeed the notion of good and evil does commonly refer to the Consequences of things and we call that good which will bring some Benefit and Advantage to us and that evil which is likely to produce some Mischief and Inconvenience and by this rule Reason discovers to us that these Duties are good To begin with Piety towards God Nothing can more evidently tend to our Interest than to make him our Friend upon whose Favour our Happiness depends So likewise for Gratitude it is a Virtue to which if Nature did not prompt us our Interest would direct us for every Man is ready to place Benefits there where he may hope for a thankful Return Temperance does apparently conduce to our Health which next to a good Conscience is the most pleasant and valuable thing in the World whereas the intemperate Man is an open Enemy to himself and continually making Assaults upon his own Life Mercy and Pity are not more welcome to others than they are delightful and beneficial to our selves for we do not only gratifie our own Nature and Bowels by relieving those who are in misery but we provoke Mankind by our Example to the like Tenderness and do prudently bespeak the Commiseration of others towards us when it shall be our Turn to stand in need of it And if we be wise enough our Reason will likewise direct us to be just as the surest Art of thriving in this World It gives a Man a Reputation which is a powerful Advantage in all the Affairs of this World It is the shortest and easiest way of dispatching Business the plainest and least entangled and though it be not so sudden a way of growing rich as Fraud and Oppression yet it is much surer and more lasting and not liable to those terrible Back-blows and after-reckonings to which Estates got by Injustice are And natural Reason does not only shew us that these things are good but that the Lord requires them of us that is that they have the Force and Obligation of Laws For there needs nothing more to make any thing a Law than a sufficient declaration that it is the Will of God and this God hath sufficiently signified to Mankind by the very Frame of our Natures and of those principles and faculties which he hath endued us withall so that whenever we act contrary to these we plainly disobey the Will of him that made us and violate those Laws which he hath Enacted in our Natures and written upon our Hearts And this is all the Law that the greatest part of Mankind were under before the Revelation of the Gospel From Adam to Moses the World was almost solely governed by the Natural Law which seems to be the meaning of that hard Text Rom. 5. 13. For until the Law Sin was in the World that is before the Law of Moses was given Men were capable of offending against some other Law for otherwise Sin could not have been imputed to them for Sin is not imputed wh●re there is no Law And then it follows Nevertheless Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's Transgression that is during that space from Adam to Moses Men sinned against the natural Law and were liable to Death upon that account though they had not offended against an express Revelation from God as Adam had

Duties namely those which are comprehended under those two great Commandments of the love of God and our Neighbour In the Christian Religion there is very little that is meerly Positive and Instituted besides the two Sacraments and praying to God in the Name and Mediation of Jesus Christ 2. The most prefect Revelation that ever God made to Mankind I mean that of the Christian Religion doth furnish us with the best helps and advantages for the performance of Moral Duties it discovers our Duty more clearly to us it offers us the greatest assistance to enable us to the performance of it it presents us with the most powerful Motives and Arguments to engage us thereto so that this Revelation of the Gospel is so far from weakning the obligation of natural Duties that it confirms and strengthens it and urgeth us more forcibly to the practice of them 3. The positive Rites and Institutions of Revealed Religion are so far from entrenching upon the Laws of Nature that they were always designed to be subordinate and subservient to them and when ever they come in competition it is the declared will of God that positive Institutions should give way to natural Duties and this I have shewn to be plainly the meaning of this Saying in the Text I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice If Circumstances be such that one part of Religion must give place God will have the Ritual and Instituted part to give way to that which is Natural and Moral It is very frequent in Scripture when the Duties of Natural Religion and Rites of Divine Institution come in competition to slight and disparage these in comparison of Moral Duties and to speak of them as things which God hath no pleasure in and which in comparison of the other he will hardly own that he hath commanded When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hands Isa 1. 12. Thou desirest not Sacrifice thou delightest not in Burnt-Offerings Psal 51. 16. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl He hath shewn thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy But God no where makes any comparison to the disadvantage of Natural Duties he never derogated from them in any Case he never said he would have such a thing and not mercy or that he had rather such a Rite of Religion should be performed than that men should do the greatest good and shew the greatest Charity to one another It is no where made a question will the Lord be pleased that we deal justly every Man with his Neighbour and speak the truth one to another that we be kind and tender-hearted and ready to forgive that we be willing to distribute and give Alms to those that are in need there is no such question as this put in Scripture nay it is positive in these Matters that with such Sacrifices God is well pleased I instance in this Vertue more especially of Kindness and Compassion because it is one of the prime instances of Moral Duties as Sacrifice is put for all the Ritual and Instituted part of Religion and this disposition of Mind our Saviour makes the root of all Moral Duties Love is the fulfilling of the Law and the Apostle speaks of it as the great End and Scope of the Gospel The end of the Commandment is Charity And this temper and disposition of Mind he advanceth above Knowledge and Faith and Hope The greatest of these is Charity and without this he will not allow a Man to be any thing in Christianity this he makes our highest perfection and attainment and that which abides and remains in the future state Charity never fails This our Saviour most effectually recommends to us both in his Doctrine and by his Example this he presseth as the peculiar Law of his Religion and the proper Mark and Character of a Disciple This he requires us to exercise towards those who practice the contrary towards us to love our Enemies and to do good to them that hate us And of this he hath given us the greatest Example that ever was when we were Enemies to him he loved us so as hardly ever any Man did his Friend so as to lay down his Life for us and he Instituted the Sacrament for a Memorial of his love to Mankind and to put us in mind how we ought to love one another And now the Application of what hath been said upon this Argument to the occasion of this Day is very obvious and there are two very natural Inferences from it First From what hath been said upon this Argument it plainly appears what place Natural and Moral Duties ought to have in the Christian Religion and of all Natural Duties Mercy and Goodness This is so primary a Duty of Humane Nature so great and considerable a part of Religion that all positive Institutions must give way to it and nothing of that kind can cancel the obligation of it nor justifie the violation of this great and Natural Law Our Blessed Saviour in his Religion hath declared nothing to the prejudice of it but on the contrary hath heightned our obligation to it as much as is possible by telling us that the Son of Man came not to destroy Mens lives but to save them So that they know not what manner of Spirit they are of who will kill Men to do God service and to advance his Cause and Religion in the World will break through all obligations of Nature and Civil Society and disturb the Peace and Happiness of Mankind Nor did our Saviour by any thing in his Religion design to release Men from the obligation of Natural and Civil Duties He had as one would imagine as much Power as the Pope but yet he deposed none of the Princes of this World nor did Absolve their Subjects from their Fidelity and Obedience to them for their opposition to his Religion he assumed no such Power to himself no not in Ordine ad Spiritualia nor that ever we read of did he give it to any other Whence then comes his pretended Vicar to have this Authority And yet the horrid attempt of this Day was first designed and afterwards carried on in prosecution of the Popes Bull of Excommunication and was not so much the effect of the despair and discontent of that Party here in England as the Natural Consequence of their Doctrines of Extirpating Hereticks and Deposing Kings and Absolving Subjects from their Allegiance to them No Zeal for any positive Institution in Religion can justifie the Violation of the natural Law the Precepts whereof are of primary and indispensable Obligation The Pope's Supremacy is not so clear as the Duty of Obedience to civil Government nor is Transubstantiation so plainly revealed in Scripture as it is both in Nature and Scripture that we should do no murder And yet how many thousands have been