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	life_n	love_v	3,607	5	5.8693	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A87170	Topica sacra: spiritual logick: some brief hints and helps to faith, meditation, and prayer, comfort and holiness. / Communicated at Christ-Church, Dublin, in Ireland. By T.H. minister of the Gospel.	Harrison, Thomas, 1619-1682.	1658 (1658)	Wing H917; Thomason E1769_2; ESTC R202373	72,620	183

out by him Tenthly After the Father whose motion and project this was had wrought of the Son to undertake it did not he then engage to stand by him and to supply him with all necessaries a body to suffer in and a spirit to that body without measure and to bring those into him in time by retail whom he had given to him in the Lump before time was he doth more then invite as saith Arminius he doth effectually draw by an omnipotent sweetness Christ must not scruple to entertain the most Leprous loathsome sinner whom the Father is pleased to bring unto him Ay and the Father must help to keep them also whom he hath brought in Ioh. 10.28 29. a pretious Cordial in Apostatizing times and all this being done according to an antient complot and agreement Socinus cannot from these supplies or dependencies infer the Sons inferiority to the Father and the poor believing sinner may press him with all these engagements 11. Over and aboye all this Did he not put forth his paternal Authority and lay his Commands upon his Son to engage in this great service John 10.18 and 12.9 20. as Pharoah to express a Pleonasm of Love commands Joseph to be kind to his nearest and dearest Relations which one would think little needed Gen. 45.19 Go look God in the face and say as David doth Psal. 71.3 Thou hast given Commandment to save me And to whom To Man or Angels No to me says Christ This Commandment have I received of my Father If Christ fail there is not only breach of Articles but Disobedience too Thou canst not believe that Christ loves thee so well as to lay down his Life for thee But canst thou believe he loves the Father tha 's easie there 's no doubt of that Why says Christ when he was going to die that the world may know how I love the Father as the Father hath given me Commandment even so do I John 14.31 12. Yet again to make all sure least the humane nature of Christ upon its affumption should shrink at the approach of sufferings Doth not the Father engage to reward him plentifully to give him a Royal and an Everlasting Priesthood a name above every Name appoints unto him a Kingdom Luke 22.29 and above all assures him of the Salvation of those he died for according to this agrement Isa. 53. 11. without which nothing could ever have satisfied him so that as the assumption of the humane nature is the highest instance of free mercy so is the rewarding thereof in its state of exaltation the highest instance of remunerative Justice All this needed not to engage Christ to the work so much as to engage us to believe that the Father was first in willing as he is in subsisting the Son second to him therein but not in heartiness of good Will for therein they are both equal they must needs be one in Will who are so in Nature and Being but still the Father is first in Love Joh. 3.16 For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life and 1 John 4. 9 10. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him here in is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins and therefore love is laid at his door by the Apostle 2 Cor. ult. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all The Grace of christ makes way for our enjoying the love of God but we had never known the Grace of Christ had it not been first for the love of God who therefore is called our Saviour 1 Tim. 1.1 13. And as ifas all this were not enough Did not the Father seal his Son a Comission to give life to lost sinners John 6.27 and therefore Christ so often mentions the Father as sending him and furnishing him with miracles his letters Credential where ever he came 14. Nay more If suffering for our sakes be a sign of Love as who can deny or doubt it to speak after the manner of men Had not the Father his share of sufferings as well as the Son Was it nothing for him to part with his Son such a Son an only Son the delight of his heart and eyes and that not amongst friends but enemies Who would seek and suck his blood in this sense to spare him and yet in another not to spare him but to bruise him an take pleasure in so doing Is all this nothing He may seem indeed to have an easie part to sit in Heaven and receive satis faction but you see it cost him something too nay more He denies himself and disappears and gives up the immediate management of all affairs into the hands of his Son That part the Son took was sharper but shorter lasted not much above three and thirty years but from the time of Christs resurrection 'T is along aevum before that God come again to be all in all 1 Cor. 15.24 and 28. and he in a manner remains hid till the day of Judgement now Christ is all in all Col. 3.12 The Son transacts all by the Spirit till the last day and the Father worketh now only in and through the Son Thus you see the Father veiling and eclipsing his Glory to make it shine the more hereafter and in the mean time his love that shines forth herein gloriously 15. Hath not the Father as well as Christ an hand in sending the Holy Ghost to make a discovery and application of all these things yea he is called the Promise of the Father which Christ had often hinted to his Disciples as the best news he could bring them from heaven Act. 1.4 which saith he ye have heard of me 16. Lastly Was it not he that wrapt up all this in a glorious Covenant a Covenant of Grace Life and Peace of which I may say as John of the Commandment of Love 1 Ioh. 2.7 8. 'T is both the New and Old Covenant the first and last and everlasting Covenant cal'd a Promise lest the word Covenant should scare us and make us think there 's more required of us by way of restipulation then we can reach unto Tit. 1.2 1 Ioh. 2.25 Covenants of Promise Eph. 2.12 and while we are altogether strangers thereunto we are without Hope The other Covenant was contrived and given forth chiefly to make way and welcome for this and 't is this Covennant the precious things whereof are sealed up unto us in the Sacraments This is that secret of the Lord which is with them that fear him Psal. 25.13 to make them know the Covenant he is ever mindfull of it and therefore sent

he comes to get an inkling of it that he was then minded what me Lord Didst thou then think of me and dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one Iob. 14.3 Fourthyly Was it not He who then picked and chose out of Angels and men whom he would have confirmed amongst the Angels called called therefore the Elect Angels 1 Tim. 5.21 and though they were never out of favour yet they are said to be reconciled Col. 1.20 confirmation being that to them which Reconciliation is to us and they had it by renouncing their standing upon their own single bottom and running under the wing of Christ accepting and owning him as their Head Col. 2.10 God would not keep an Angel in Heaven that would not be beholding to his Son for it And amongst men he chose whom he would have recovered Rom. 9.11 13. Ask how thou mayest make thy calling and election sure and never turn this Grace into wantonness for to abuse this Doctrine is one of the blackest badges and saddest signs of Reprobation Iude v. 4. Fifthly Was it not He who ratified his choyse by a solemn Decree called the Purpose of God according to Election Rom. 9.11 The Mystery of his Will according to the good pleasure which he had purposed in himself Ephes. 1.9 the Eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord Eph. 3.11 And yet there is no unrighteousness with God which Paul foresaw some would charge him with Rom. 9. 14. No cruelty no Dissimulation no Tyranny and if the Lord hath purposed who shall dissanul its Isa. 14.24 ver. 27. Sixthly Was it not He who called for the Books and caused all the Resolves to be entered Heb. 10.5 even to the very names written in the Lambs Book of Life Rev. 13.8 21.27 with the Golden Letters of Love with indellible Characters in his blood we read of no black Book of Death and therefore I meddle not with it but hadst thou ever any help to read thy name written in Heaven this is matter of more joy then if thou coldst cast our Devils and work wonders Luke 10.20 if not yet all in good time go to the Father and he will help thee to spell thy name there by his Spirit of Adoption who was and is a member of this Councel and well acquainted with all that passed there Seventhly Was it not He who then ordered all other things in a way of subordination and subserviency to the Sanctification and Salvation of the Elect good works then received his Seal Ephes. 2.10 Evil ones by a just Analogy a Brand He then drew up the Ordinances of Heaven Passed a Decree for the Sea and for the Rain and for the opening of the Eye-lids of the morning to cause the day-spring to know its place and the Sun his going down unless forbidden as in the dayes of Joshua He then appointed natural Agents to act necessarily the Sun to shine the fire to burn the Sea to run in its course yet be set them not a going with such an irresistable swing but that be can stop them at his pleasure Free Agents to act freely the will of man to be alwayes free in all its acts if not Quoad speeificationem to do good or evil at his pleasure yet quoad exercitium he need never do evil unless he pleaseth so that he is lest without excuse And all other things were ordered as scaffolds to this building now who but a mad man would lay his bed on the scaffold and say that 's accommodation good enough and so take up with that no matter for the building beg that he would never leave thee to that mandness but lead thee to things spiritual and eternal by all externals and that all things may work together for thy good according to this ancient appointment Eighthly Was it not by an Agreement between his Son and him that he should sit as Creditor in heaven and the Son come down to be responsible to Justice otherwise there was love enough in his heart to have let the Son sit Creditor in Heaven and to have come down himself as Debtor and dyed for thee and therefore saith Christ though I should not pray for you the Father himself loveth you Iohn 16.27 Nay he loves you so well that he doth therefore love me because I lay down my life for you Iohn 10.17 what a strange expression of love is this Ninthly Did not He draw up all the Sons Articles and Instructions as 1. That he must begin his work in deepest humiliation and abasement 2. That he must pawn his Glory to go through-stich with it which he Redeems and Redemands upon his performance Ioh. 17.4 5. 3. That he must run the Gauntlop in that nature he would Redeem and be content that every one should have a fling at him 't is Hillaries allusion nature nostra contumelias transcurrit 4. That his Godhead must be eclipsed and vail'd and he made like unto his Brethren in their natural necessities sinless infirmities live by faith get every thing by prayer not do his own will but his that sent him and so fulfill all Righteousness and why was he thus conformed unto us but that we might be made conformable unto him Fifthly That he must in they days of his flesh orally and personally declare his Fathers Name and love unto his Brethren and afterwards depute and substitute some to do it to the end of the world and so long as his Leiger Embassadors reside in any place uncalled home not sent for away the Treaty of Peace holds and continues and their work is not only to declare Christ but the Father also and this was the sweetest promise that Christ could chear up his Disciples with Ioh. 16.25 The time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in Proverbs but I shall shew you plainly of the Father and that 's a most sweet and satisfying object Iohn 14.8 Lord shew us the Father and it sufficeth us Sixthly That he must dye a bloody painful shameful accuresed death to pay the debts of his people and then rise again from the dead and bring up his blood with him into the Holiest of Holies and there exercise and execute the office of his everlasting I riesthood if he would have his death which was of infinite value in it self to be of infinite vertue efficacy unto others and is not all this performed exactly and hath he not herein commended his love unto us with a witness Rom. 58 c. Seventhly That whatever was given him he must presently give of the same to his members to fit them for that glorious fellowship whereunto they are ordained what he receives with one hand he must give with the other and we see what David cals receiving Psalm 68.18 Paul cals Giving Eph. 4.12 as if these were one and the same thing with Christ and thou desirest no more of Christ then what the Father hath ordered

accursed thing unbelief a Jonah in the ship which will be raising new tempests and that is a fear lest God at last should turn his back upon thee and thou be found amongst those that are deceivers of their own souls being turned into hell when it seems their looks though nothing else were towards Heaven if ever this be thy case hye thee to God presently go fill thy mouth with Arguments 1. Complain against thine own heart so farre as there is any mixture of unbelief in this fear confess that as to God it is an unworthy jealousie and thou hast need with Gideon to cry him mercy to pray that his anger may not wax hot against thee for asking him so many signs considering how often the fleece hath been wet and the floor dry already to give thee satisfaction Yet when thou lookest downward there is misery enough and matter enough to justifie all thy fears and to move him to pardon yea to sanctifie them unto thee especially considering that thy All is at the stake and that it is Eternity Eternity Eternity that is before thee that vast gulf of eternity and if thou art mistaken in thy confidence thou art lost irrecoverably to all eternity this may move him to pity rather then to anger and to say to them that are of a fearfull heart be strong fear not behold your God will come and save you Isa. 35.4 2. For thy further establishment ask him if he have not made all as sure as grace can make it yea it is therefore all of grace that the promise might be sure to all the seed Rom. 4.16 as sure as infinite love infinite wisdome infinite power can make it and thou dreadest it as thou dost Hell it self to make the God of all Grace and Truth a Liar 1 Io. 5.10 to add to all thy other evils that grand abomination of unbelief which puts more affronts and scorn upon him then all other sins whatsoever 3. Ask if all the spirits of just men now made perfect will not confess the mercies of Christ to be sure mercies and that he as Boaz saith of Ruth shewed them more kindness in the latter end then at the beginning and that having loved his own which were in the world he loved them to the end and reserved the best wine for the last the last grapes especially in Chrifts vineyard yeild the sweetest wine David makes it obvious to any mans observation Psal. 37.37 Mark the perfect man and behold the upright he goes current for a perfect man for the end of that man is peace And even a Balaam is forced to acknowledg it and there is a desirableness in the death in the later end of the righous Numb. 23.10 Let me dye the death of the Righteous and let my later end be like his 4. If yet thou fearest as to thine own particular ask if the holy Ghost who makes it his trade to help infirmities and hath helped thee in thine all thy life long ask if he will not then help thee when thou art most infirm nothing but a lump of infirmity and weakness surely then in thy greatest need he will not fail thee Lastly Tell him he knows why thou wouldst so fain be with him in his Heaven not because thou fanciest it a Turkish Paradise or a Paganish Elisium abounding with carnal or corporal pleasures not only because thou wouldst escape everlasting burnings though he himself cannot blame thee for ayming at this seeing he commands thee by all means possible to endeavour it But thy soul longs incessantly to go to Heaven because Heaven is the Land of Hallelujahs and thou wouldst fain be thankfull really thankfull Heaven is the Land of Love and thou wouldst fain take thy fill of love in loving and being beloved in loving as thou art loved without intermission without interruption enternally and so be ever with Christ which is by much farre better Phil. 1.23 All these meet daily with a thousand hindrances and incumbrances which make thee sick of earth and sigh for Heaven groaning within thy self with that blessed Apostle who had once been there 2 Cor. 5.2 For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven Hinderances and Imcombrances which make a Hell above ground not to be endured by any honest heart and how much more intollerable then is the nethermost Hell for there is never a nooke never a corner in it where a poore sinner might weep eternally without blaspheming without hearing blasphemies without hating of God without sinning against him He knows how often thou hast told him if there were how much more quietly thou couldst accept of the punishment of thine iniquity there and there justifie him and there bewaile thy folly and madness and lament the loss of him for evermore But to lose him and all love to him and to be sinning agaist him eternally this cannot be consented to but by a Creature damned already though above ground nothing therefore short of Heaven can satisfie thee or ought so to do and if upon these terms thou canst not be admitted into his rest sure he will have but little who went thither to prepare a place for thee This hope then we have as an Anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the vaile whither the fore-runner is for us entred even Jesus made an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedee Heb. 6.19 20. thus building up your selves on your most holy faith and praying in the holy Ghost keep your selves in the Love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternall life , Jude 20 21. ver. But hast thou not a good mind before parting to speak a good word for others also this hath been constantly the way of the spirit of adoption when David came before the Lord upon the saddest occasion that ever his soul was acquainted with when he was most full of his own concernments and had most cause of fear that his appearing for others might do harm rather then good yet then he ventures to frop a word for Sion and remembers Jerusalem amidst his greatest grief as well as he prefers her before his chiefest joy do good in thy good pleasure unto Sion build thou the walls of Jeresalem What his sinnes had weakened and attempted to ruine he endeavours to strengthen and repair by his prayers and seldome do ye see him rise from of his knees before he had pleaded the Churches cause and oftentimes he makes that his only errand as you may find by severall Psalms pend for no other purpose Nay many times the best pleaders feel not their hearts warm in the work till they come out of the narrow circle of their own personall concernments and launch into the business of the body of Christ and then are their hearts fixed 06 by the spirit of grace and