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	world_n	2,548	5	4.5059	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70803	A decad of caveats to the people of England of general use in all times, but most seasonable in these, as having a tendency to the satisfying such as are not content with the present government as it is by law establish'd, an aptitude to the setling the minds of such as are but seekers and erraticks in religion an aim at the uniting of our Protestant-dissenters in church and state : whereby the worst of all conspiracies lately rais'd against both, may be the greatest blessing, which could have happen'd to either of them : to which is added an appendix in order to the conviction of those three enemies to the deity, the atheist, the infidel and the setter up of science to the prejudice of religion / by Thomas Pierce ...	Pierce, Thomas, 1622-1691.	1679 (1679)	Wing P2176; Wing P2196; ESTC R18054	221,635	492

as He could not hope for a great Posterity in regard of His Age and Sarah's Barrenness which yet he could not but hope for in regard of God's Promise which could not fail so what we cannot believe exactly in regard of its being above the Reach of our Reason and common Vsages of Nature we cannot chuse but believe in regard that God says it who cannot lie The Worthiness of our Faith does stand in This chiefly that though 't is many times Wavering like the tremulous Needle in the Mariner's Compass yet being touch'd by God's Grace as That Needle by the Loadstone its prevalent motion is towards its Pole and from That its Trepidations can never wrest it Insomuch that we may say as once S. Paul in another case we are troubled on every side yet not in Distress perplex'd we are often but not in Despair Persecuted by Satan but by God not forsaken cast down indeed but not destroy'd Tremble we may like Aristippus in a shipwrack but like Him we are not guilty of yielding up our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is worded by Aulus Gellius We do not basely consent to our Perturbations which arise not from our Spirits but from our Flesh The Law in our Members do what we can will still be warring but the Law in our Minds does ever worst it We still believe with our Wills Lord help the Vnbelief of our Vnderstandings Our Hearts are steady Lord fix our Heads too In spite of our very Vnbelief in point of doubt or haesitation or now and then a dark interval We will believe so as to love the Incarnate Deity whom we admire and so love as to obey him and obey him to such a point as to lay down our lives for the love we bear him And so will prove by all three that we do really Believe what we cannot fathom God manifest in the Flesh because without our Believing we can do neither Neither Love nor Obey nor lay down our Lives in obedience to him Let our Doubtings or Disbelievings in some Degree and by Fits be what they can or let them seem to be what they will yet we are certain of our Faith whilst we are certain of our Fear to offend our Maker and of our Love to his Goodness and of our Obedience to his Commands Without this last 't is very true we cannot speak Peace to our selves or others For as S. John says expresly By This we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments so 't is the keeping of his Commandments by which we know that we love and obey him truly § 24. Now having arrived at a full knowledge of God's Existence and his good-pleasure expressed to us in his Precepts or of his Verity and his Will revealed to us in his Word and also ingraven in our own Nature as a Law written in our Hearts and farther yet having attained unto a knowledge also in part of his Glorious Essence as that he is a Spirit Existing of Himself from all Eternity an omnipresent and an omniscient and a necessary Being from whom and by whom is every Good Thing that is and that he is a Rewarder of Them that diligently seek him c. Having I say the satisfaction of knowing That which our Apostle does call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which may be known of God which is as much as is needfull and as much as is enough we must not disquiet our Minds in vain by seeking out things which are too hard for us or by searching after Secrets above our strength or by being over-curious in unnecessary matters as the excellent Son of Sirach has very judiciously forewarn'd us The Trinity of Persons in the Vnity of the Godhead is the chiefest of Those Insearchables which are indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 past finding out more impossible to be traced than all his most mysterious ways which our Apostle thought worthy of That Expression Such a mystery it is as the most pious and the most learned and most acute of all Writers were never well able to give account of The most profound Divine Here is in the condition of Simonides when demanded by Hiero a definition of the Deity The more he looks into This Mystery by so much the obscurer it seems to be The longer he considers the less he is able to apprehend it S. John says expresly and I believe him There are Three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word the Holy Ghost and These Three are One. 1 Joh. 5 7. The Antient Fathers and Councils to stop the Mouths of several Hereticks of Two especially Arius first and then Sabellius and to preserve the Christian Church from the Plague of Schism found it necessary to add This Form of Words though not in a positive but in an exclusive sense A Trinity of Persons in an unity of the Godhead But if 't is asked what is meant by a Trinity of Persons S. Austin says we want words to express it by Dictum est tamen Tres Personae non ut illud diceretur sed ne taceretur quomodo Tres sint c. For who can speak fitly of what is Infinite and whilst he makes use of Terms belonging onely to finite Things yet This must be done if we speak at all Il en fault parler en language humain puisque le divin nous est incogneu Onely let us not forget the wise Advertisement of Anselm whensoe're we so speak that if we speak concerning God in Words which are Common to other Natures our sense and meaning must not be Common but peculiar to God alone § 25. Nor is This All. For we want understanding to apprehend the Blessed Trinity as well as words to express it by Anselm's excellent Understanding was utterly lost in This Labyrinth The Understanding of Boetius was also drown'd in This Ocean Good S. Bernard's Understanding was swallow'd up in This Abyss From whence I easily conclude because I do it with humility and due submission that the Trinity in Vnity onely can be fathomed by it self And that to speak of Three Persons in any acception of the word Persons which is in use amongst Men when at any time they speak of created Beings were to commit a grosser Haeresie than that of the Antitrinitarians § 26. This does prompt me to go out of this long Discourse at the very same Door at which I enter'd A Door of Hope and Consolation which seems to hang on These three Hinges First that I know whom I have believed by Knowledge properly so call'd Next that I believe what I cannot know as far as 't is affirmed in God's own word Lastly that I contradict not what 't is most difficult to believe because not written in God's own word as far as I find it is agreed on by All my Teachers especially met together in General Councils as an Act of Vniformity or as an Article of

say That such a Subject as will no longer allow the Laws than the Laws allow him in his being Lawless or no longer than they are pleasing and usefull to him as when they avenge him upon his Enemies defend him in his Liberty and assert him in his Estate deserves not those Benefits of Propriety and Safety the Laws afford him The Laws I say not onely under which but by which he lives 'T is very plain that such Laws deserve but ill from all others if they do not deserve from Him an uniformity in his Obedience Where human Laws command That which God does no where forbid and vice versâ where they forbid what God does no where command Nothing is plainer in all the Scriptures than that The Ordinances of Men are also the Ordinances of God and to submit our selves to Them not of necessity but of choise not so much for fear of wrath as for Conscience sake is no small part of our Christian Liberty wherewith Christ has made us free Gal. 5. 1. § 15. Take we heed in the fourth place of such Deceivers as would beguile us into a faith apt to make us unfaithfull in all our ways a faith that all things coming to pass were antecedently unavoidable and that by consequence when we have sinn'd we have onely done That which we could never have prevented the doing of and this by the force of a most absolute irrespective irreversible Decree which did eternally so determin both the End and the Means as to necessitate our Impieties as well as Punishments So that if we are Elected all our Vices cannot hurt us and if we are not all our Vertues cannot avail us So again if we are Reprobates we cannot repent although we would and if we are not we must repent do what we can and by consequence as we were born so we may live without care Take we heed of being couzen'd by such false Logick as may help us either merrily or despairingly to Hell by making us careless of our Actions and neglectfull of our End By way of Antidote to the Venom lying hid in this Doctrin we must so think of God as becomes his Godhead We must think nothing of God which is dishonourable in Men. We must believe nothing of Him which we would not be very willing to have believed of our selves And we must so speak of God in the Ears of Men as to beget in them a love and a reverence of him And this we shall be sure to do if we speak of his Promises and his Threats as we find them in Scripture to be General and by consequence Conditional of his Soveraignty as Just and of his Mercy as extensive to all his Works of his Will as Wisedom sincere and uniform not repugnant to it self whether as signi or beneplaciti reveal'd or secret of his Decrees from all Aeternity in proportion to the Rule by which they are executed in Time exclusive of his being a Respecter of Persons and inclusive of his dealing with All according to their Deeds of Faith as dead without Works of Repentance as false without Amendment of Justification as in Time not as say the Antinomians from all Aeternity For hence 't is logically inferr'd by some of Eminence in the world who would not be thought to be Antinomians that their Sins were forgiven before committed and that Repentance does not praecede but follow Pardon A Doctrin as dangerous as any other that can be nam'd and which does not adorn but disgrace the Gospel as far as Some at least are thought to be Preachers of it which S. Peter on the contrary thought good to preach in This Order Repent and be Converted that your Sins may be blotted out Clearly intimating unto us that a blotting out of Sins can never follow unless Repentance and Conversion do go before They that teach otherwise are apt to beget a Disbelief or which is worse an ill Opinion of the Almighty Take we heed therefore that we be not deceived by such as These § 16. Again take we heed of those Idol-Shepherds to use the phrase of the Prophet Zechary whose left Eye at least is sharp enough sighted but onely their right Eye is full of darkness They have human Learning enough enough and too much of worldly Wisedom but have no Divine light whereby to guide it Such are they of whom I spake in the later part of my Last Discourse who call their Confidence or Caprice by the name of Conscience and teach the people under their charge as 't were to regulate their Lives by that crooked Rule I do the rather speak twice of this grand Fallacy because I take it to be That of which we can never be told enough For till men are catechiz'd in the point of Conscience made to know its true nature and the signification of its Name if I may speak mine own judgment with due submission to my Superiours they will not onely go securely but even greedily to Destruction Be their Sins never so many and in weight never so great yet if they can get themselves to think that they are conscionably committed as Clement did and Ravilliac and many more nearer Home they will reckon upon a Saintship from nothing else but the absence of lesser Sins than they delight in and doat upon They will imagin they have made their Election sure or rather that they have made themselves sure of their Election as they love to mistake the Text even by such a kind of partial and painted innocence as being seriously consider'd is common to them with the Devil who is not a Swearer or a Drunkard or a Committer of Adultery and yet he is not the less a Devil But such Professors not considering that Spiritual Pride with her two Daughters Sacrilege and Rebellion are Sins more antient than Hell itself make no doubt but Those things will not onely accompany but as the Angels did Lazarus will carry them up into Abraham's Bosom If we consider by what Impieties some Bigots have expected to merit Bliss and what others have understood by their following Providence and Conscience and by their being over-acted to do the Work of the Lord for so they cant it we cannot but say the greatest Mercy which can be shewn to such Criminals is to make them less nocent if not innocent unavoidably Which being not to be effected by congruous Grace because it is not irresistible should by consequence be effected by that which is that if they will not choose the Glory they may be mercifully compell'd to injoy the benefit of their Obedience and that however they may perish by other Crimes they may yet be disenabl'd to damn themselves by their Rebellions § 17. Lastly take we the greatest heed of being led into The Errour that 't is impossible for us to Erre whilst we believe as we are bid by the Church of Rome which deceives the most incurably by getting her Children to believe she

defend or avenge them All. The second is taken from the End of the divine Constitution of Human Authorities in the World To wit an equal Distribution both of Punishments and Rewards Those to Evil-Doers and These to Them that do well v. 14. By which Distribution of which two things is procured the Peace and Quiet and by consequence the Happiness of human life The Third and special Argument touching us meerly as we are Christians is taken from the Credit of Jesus Christ and His Gospel which We who are Christians are highly obliged to assert And assert it we cannot by any one Argument so well as by submitting our selves impartially to every Ordinance of Man By making it appear to the Jews and Heathens that the Gospel or Law of Christ obliges its Subjects to live a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty That Christianity is a Religion either reviving or introducing love and loyalty and order and Tranquillity into the World That Obedience to the Authority of human Laws and Legislators is one of the Prime Characteristicks whereby a Christian is to be known That the best Christians are still the loyal'st That the more we love and fear the Lord Jesus Christ the more we submit for the Lord's sake to every Ordinance of Man And that They who do otherwise are but Titular Christians not at all Christians but in Profession none of Christ's Followers but in Repute And therefore Christianity must not be estimated by Them who are Rebels to the Gospel of Jesus Christ Nor must We who are The Lord's by submitting our selves for the Lord's sake be measur'd by Them who are none of Vs but Disorderly Walkers out of the High way to Heaven from whom S. Paul bids us withdraw our selves and whom S. John bids us not receive into our Houses nor bid them God speed and that for the Credit of the Gospel which but for this Prophylactick They would bring into Disgrace § 3. This Third and last and special Argument of S. Peter drawn from the Credit of Christianity for the inforcing of our Submission to every Ordinance of Man thereby meaning our Obedience to human Laws and Legislators is of so great a value with him and so peculiar to us as Christians that He urges This Twice in a little room immediately before and immediately after my present Text. First our Loyalty and Obedience and all other honest Conversation must be made known unto The Gentiles that they who speak against us as Evil-doers may by our good works which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of Visitation v. 12. Next it is the will of God that with such our well-doing we may put to silence the ignorance of foolish Men. v. 15. This is an Argument which S. Paul does urge often whereby to make men afraid and asham'd of Vice Through you says He unto the Christians who dwelt at Rome the Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles For the unbelieving Gentiles do judge by your Practice of your Profession by the Blemishes of your lives who are called Christians they grow averse to Christianity and have no good opinion of Christ himself whom you worship because they guess that your Religion has so very ill an influence upon your Lives So again argues S. Paul to Timothy Let as many Servants as are under the Yoke either under Heathen Masters or amongst Heathen Men count their Masters worthy of all honour that the name of God and his Doctrine be not blasphemed For when Servants are refractory or Subjects rebellious although they are such to Heathen Masters or Magistrates they draw disgrace upon the Gospel and tempt the Infidels to believe that men are the worse for being Christians that the Doctrine of Christ is corruptive of Principles as well as Manners and Christian Liberty but a Cloak for rebellious Practice Now to antidote this Venom and to wipe off this Disparagement as well from the Doctrine as from the Name of Jesus Christ S. Paul commands Timothy to be earnest and often in preaching Obedience and Submission to all Superiours esteeming These the weightier things of the Christian Law And therefore These things Teach and Exhort says He to Timothy with an Emphasis as being Things most essential not onely to the saving of Christian's Souls but essential to the saving of Christianity it self and to the saving of our Saviour from being blasphemed among the Gentiles And for as much as no Obedience can be more naturally or politically or religiously due from one Mortal unto another than from Wives to their own Husbands S. Paul does therefore press Titus to preach up This also for This great End that the Word of God be not blasphemed That Christian Religion may not suffer by their Enemies taking notice of their unchristian disobedience to those above them That Jews or Gentiles may not suspect any ill Issues or Infusions of Christian Principles as if they were exclusive of moral Virtue and that Inferiours either were or that they might be the worse for their being Christians Lastly since Masters are a kind of Domestick Magistrates to whom Obedience also is due by the same divine Right and no sturdy Servant will ever make a good Subject Servants therefore must be urged to be Obedient to their own Masters and to please them well in all things not answering again for This Great Reason that they may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things and that he who is of the contrary part may be asham'd having no evil thing to say of them § 4. From All which ways of Argumentation put together I conceive my self qualified to make these profitable Conclusions That Obedience and Submission to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether Supreme or Subordinate by his Commission does make the most of all Duties for the Ornament and Honour of Christianity That Disobedience and Resistance do make the most for its Disgrace That the Doctrine of Obedience to publick Parents both Civil and Ecclesiastical is more authenticated and taught by Jesus Christ and his Apostles throughout the Gospel than by all other Systems Codes or Pandects by all other Bodies Collections or Constitutions of Religion or Philosophy throughout the World From all which things it seems to follow that they who call themselves Christians and yet are Authors or Fomenters of Schisms and Factions such industrious Embroilers of Church and State by sowing the Seeds of discontentment and of dissatisfaction in People's Minds as if they long'd to be fishing in Troubl'd Waters and to be licking up again those publick Spoils and Revenues which they were forced to disgorge in the Great Year of Restitution They I say who thus act and yet do call themselves Christians are the greatest Antichristians the greatest Adversaries of Christ and the greatest underminers of Christianity which He can possibly set on Work who was a Murtherer from the Beginning Can any Man wonder at the