Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
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A93756
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A sermon preached unto the inhabitants of the town of Thornbury, in Glocestershire [sic] on March 20, 1697/8
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Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing S5133; ESTC R42869
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30,618
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36
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A SERMON Preached unto the Inhabitants of the Town of Thornbury in Glocestershire on March 20. 1697 8. Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning for in thee do I trust Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk for I lift up my soul unto thee Psal clxiii 8. THE great Thought and Searching of Heart in Man the Reasonable Creature is God-ward or towards God And this again divides its self two ways that is to say whither God be angry or in favour with us and accordingly as we have a Fear Sence and Apprehension of One or the Other so we are either Troubled or else Contented We are troubled if we believe that the Invisible God over us hath Anger Wrath and Displeasure against us so on the other hand we are contented as we think that we have his Favour or Loving Kindness Although Solomon saith truly No man knoweth either love or hatred that is of God by all that is before him Yet it is an usual thing with Corrupt and Ignorant Man as he is Man a little tincture whereof even David the Servant of the Lord here had to judge of the Love or Hatred of God towards them according to the delightful or afflicting things which happen unto them in this World As sure as Scripture is true which is as certain as that the Word of God is true which again is as certain as that God himself is true This is a fallible yea it is a mistaken Rule to judge by For the Scripture saith expresly Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son which he receiveth Which same chastening for the present seemeth not joious but grievous Heb. xii 6 11. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Rev. iii. 19. And so again it is on the other hand The men of the world have their portion in this life and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure They are full of Children and leave the rest of their substance unto their Babes Psal xvii 14. Their eyes stand out with fatness they have more than heart could wish Psal 1xxiii 7. The Tabernacles of Robbers prosper and they that provoke God are secure into whose hand God bringeth abundantly Job xii 7. Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things Luke xvi 25. And yet all this while it is certain that they who receive their good things in this Life the prosperous Sinners had not the true Favour of God Again it is certain that such who did fear before him although they received their evil things here and were plagued all the day and chastened every morning Psal 1xxiii 14. Yet these had the favour and loving kindness of God who whom he loves he loves with an everlasting love resting upon them all the same while though perhaps they were not sensible thereof For such a thing is possible yea it is common that as many wicked sinful People who are hardened ignorant and unbelievers and under the Displeasure yea they have the wrath of God abiding on them John iii. 36. Although in this Life-time they are not sensible of as much for they do not know and feel it So again it is on the other hand there is amongst us many a Soul that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light Isa 1. 10. Although they are really and indeed beloved of God yet they have not at the same time a sence of his Love and Favour the want whereof makes them to mourn and to be in the Spirit of Heaviness But in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel the Mystery of God should be finished as he hath declared to his Servants the Prophets Rev. x. 7. for indeed the whole way and method of the Dispensation of his Kingdom towards us Men is all Mystery It is given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them it is not given Mat. xiii 11. Amongst other things which might be named and instanced in it is one part of this Mystery That his Servants and the Righteous should receive evil things from the hands of God and yet at the very same time God hath a Love towards them And so again the Sinners and Children of Disobedience receive good things from the hands of God and yet at the very same time the Lord is displeased with them God is angry with the Wicked every day although at the same time he sendeth Rain upon the just and unjust and is kind to the unthankful and to the evil This may even now be somewhat understood in the Sanctuary and from out of the Book of the Lord by those who are spiritually wise and discerning by such who believe and know the things of God but it will yet be more clearly seen at the end of Time when the Mystery of God shall be finished But in the mean while it is usual with the mixt Multitude and Common sort of People who judge by Appearance and not Righteous Judgment to esteem such stricken smitten of God and forsaken Isa 1iii 4. as if they were forsaken and hated also by the God who made the World because the World Frowns upon them and because they are in low Estate and seem outwardly miserable therein If I say I will speak thus behold I should offend against the Generation of thy Children No such matter for as the Friendship of this World is Enmity with God so when the World is cross and athwart and at Enmity with such an one it is rather a sign that God is a Friend unto him Said Jesus Christ the first Born amongst many Brethren the Son of God himself who was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not He came unto his own and his own received him not This same Jesus Christ said unto his Disciples and Followers and Servants of all Generations and Countries If the World hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you If ye were of the World the World would love his own but because ye are not of the World but I have chosen you out of the World therefore the World hateth you So that the Hatred of the World provided that we be all along followers and doers of the thing that good is is rather a sign and evidence of the Love of God towards us because herein we are more conformed and likened unto him who had this Voice from out of the Cloud Thou art my beloved Son this day have I begotten thee And yet this same Beloved Son of God for there was in him also somewhat which savours of Men to evince and demonstrate that he was really come in and made Flesh when he came to endure the Rage of the Wicked Men of World and was Crucified by them then also he betwrayed forth Human Infirmity and Weakness in taking up that saying My God
what the Spirit saith in Eccles 8. 2. and against them that turn aside the stranger from his right Mal. 3. 5 Now the Stranger there meant was either an Heathen who also was an Idolater or a Proselyte of the Gate and here God speaks against turning him aside from his right in like manner it may be truly reason'd and apply'd against turning aside a Papist from his Right As the Prophet Malachy was no Heathen nor Stranger only because he did by the Spirit deliver and make known the Commandment of God to be on this wise so I am no Papist altho' I make known also and affirm the Will and Commandment of God to be on this wise as I have here receiv'd and learn'd it from his own Word of Truth I shall not here mention many more Particulars to illustrate and confirm the Truth of what I have written about these things But as it is written The foolishness of Man perverteth his way and his Heart fretteth against the Lord. So I would just observe That the Disobedience of many People because they have acted contrary thereunto yea of the Religious and Professors also have fretted against the Lord because he hath given such Declarations of his Will and such kind of Commandments as in Mal. 3. 5. afore-mention'd and these following To turn aside the Right of a Man before the Face of the most High to subvert a Man in his cause the Lord approveth not Lam. 3 35 36. From whence again it may be truly reason'd and inferr'd That the more like any Man is unto the Mind of God the supream and only Good thou art of purer Eyes then to behold Evil and canst not look on Iniquity the better that Man is so by Consequence we are the better Men and more like unto God and God doth better love and approve of us if we do not approve of such kind of Doings neither as the Lord approveth not for indeed it is according to the Law of God and the Laws of this Realm as also to Right Reason for this is necessarily tending unto the Welfare Peace and Order of all Communities and Societies of People living in a Nation or Countrey together that every one should have and enjoy his civil Right and respective Property both in his Lands or Goods of whatever Opinion Perswasion or way of Worship in Matters of Religion he or they be of Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose one from among thy Brethren shalt thou set King over thee thou mayst not set a Stranger over thee which is not thy Brother Deut. 17. 15. In all this we have not dealt falsly in thy Covenant neither have our Steps declin'd from thy way So it stands at this day I have at sundry Times in several Years preached the Word amongst ye and stretched forth my Hands unto a Disobedient and a Gainsaying People Ye know that I have kept back nothing that was profitable unto you but have shewed you and taught you publickly in this place and I would have done it from House to House but that my time was taken up in writing the Truths of God though herein again I have been guilty of many Omissions and Neglects for I might have more discoursed on that Subject as touching their not hearing the Word to those whom I have occasionally made Visits unto or been in Company with I have testified both to the Jews and also to the Greeks Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ I have preached both to the Godly and to the Ungodly to the Nominal and also to the real Christians Repentance from dead Works and that they should turn to God and bring forth fruits meet for Repentance I have also preached Faith in Jesus Christ as ye are my Witnesses And so ye are likewise That I have inculcated over and over the Doctrine of Universal Obedience That is To have respect unto all God's Statutes Psal 119. 6. And to have all his Judgments before us and not to put away his Statutes from us Psal 18. 22. nor yet any of them Yea I have more than once or twice set my Seal and in this place deliver'd my Testimony against Partial Obedience that is when either Priests or People are Partial in the Law which in Mal. 2. 9. God finds fault with and reproves them for and they keep some of the Commandments of God and neglect others as the manner of many is who call themselves Christians altho it is a dangerous and Soul-destroying Deceit Herein I have been peculiar and distinct from other Congregations for this same Doctrine of confirming all the Words of God's Law to do them Deut. 27. 26. Is not so much preached therein as it should be I am sure it is not so much practised by the Hearers and Members thereof as it ought to be And now behold I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem I mean to the chief City of this Nation not knowing the things that shall befal me there save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying that Bonds and Afflictions abide me I speak this by way of surmise because those things have heretofore befaln me in that place But none of these things move me neither count I my Life dear unto my self so that I might finish my Course with Joy and the Ministry which I have receiv'd of the Lord Jesus to testifie the Gospel of the Grace of God I must at length unavoidably taste of Death one way or another At first indeed I have a melancholy Prospect before me namely of Poverty and further Imprisonments for I believe this before the Scene will yet turn with me I believe God that it shall be even so as it was told me howbeit we must be cast upon a certain Island Acts 27. 25 26. I believe God that it shall be even so as hath been shew'd to me before-hand in my Mind how that it should be with me also as it was with his Servant Job and the latter end of my Life should be more than my beginning howbeit according to his Method and Workings of old I must undergo greater and sorer Troubles than I have as yet endured Before He doth quicken me again and bring me up again from the depths of the Earth Psal 71. 20. But I trust in the living God that he will proportion his Invisible Protection unto the Danger I may be subject unto and his Deliverance according to the Trouble and Suffering I may be involved in and his Relief suitable to what my Need shall be As old Hilarion did say when he was tempted to deny Christ These eighty six years I have served him and found no harm in him and shall I deny him now No I will not do it So for some Years last past I have trusted on God hitherto and it was then well enough with me blessed be his Name for it and shall I distrust him now No I