Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
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A32726
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A treatise of divine providence I. In general, II. In particular, as relating to the church of God in the world / by ... Mr. Steph. Charnocke ...
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Charnock, Stephen, 1628-1680.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing C3712; ESTC R13224
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166,401
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418
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his as long as the World lasts How can Christ be with them and that to the end of the world if all the parts of his providential government were not ordered to serve this end the good of the Church For the Church is the fulness of him that fills all in all Eph. 1.23 that fills all in all places all in all actions and motions for the good of his Church which is his body Thirdly 3. God in the Church discovers the glory of all his attributes 'T is in a mans house where his riches and state is seen 'T is in the Church God makes himself known in his excellency more then in all the world besides Psal 76.1 In Judah is God known his name is great in Israel in Salem also is his Tabernacle and his dwelling place in Sion 'T is in his Church he doth manifest his power 'T is called therefore a glorious high Throne Jer. 17.12 a glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our Sanctuary Kings use to display all their Glory and Majesty upon their Thrones in this sense Heaven is called Gods Throne Isa 60.1 because the prospect of the Heavens affords us discoveries of the wisdom and power of God more then in any other visible thing both in their essence magnitude and motion So is there a greater discovery of Gods attributes in the Church which is also styled Heaven in Scripture then in the whole World besides There it is that the Angels look to learn more of the Wisdom of God then they understood before * Eph. 3.10 'T is there the day of his power dawns Psal 110.3 'T is there his Saints see his power and his glory Psal 63.2 the Sanctuary is called the firmament of his power Psal 150.1 The glory of Gods attributes is centered in Christ in a higher manner then in the creation and in that work did excel themselves in what they had done in the framing of the world and the Church being the glory of Christ all those attributes which are glorifyed in Christ do in and through him shine forth more clearly upon the Church then upon any other part of the world He styles himself their Creator as much as the Creator of the whole frame of Heaven and Earth Isa 43.15 I am the Lord your holy one the Creator of Israel your King As though all the attributes of God his power in Creation his holiness in redemption were designed for none else but them And indeed by virtue of the Covenant they are to be so for if God be their God then all of God is theirs What wisdom power sufficiency grace and kindness he hath is principally for them If God be their God it is in their concerns he will glorify himself as a God in the manifestation of all his perfections This cannot be without the ordering all providences for their advantage Fourthly 4. There is a peculiar relation of God and Christ to the Church upon which account this Doctrine must needs be true God is set out in all relations to manifest his great care of his people He is a Father to provide for them * Isa 68.5 A Mother to suckle them * Isa 49.15 Christ is a Husband to love and protect them * Eph. 5.29 A Brother to counsel them * John 20.17 And when all these Relations meet in one and the same person the result of it must be very strong Any one relation where there is affection is a great security but here all the relations are twisted together with the highest affections of them in God to the Church A Father will order all for the good of his child a Mother for her Infant a Husband for his Wife and one kind Brother for another So doth God for his People and whatsoever those Relations bind Men to on Earth in respect of Care Love and Faithfulness that is God to his Church The Church hath that Relation to God which none in the World have besides They are his Jewels therefore he will keep them they are his Children therefore he will spare them * Mal. 3.17 They shall have protection from him as they are his Jewels and Compassion from him as they are his Sons The Church is Christs Flesh as dear to him as our flesh is to us as much his as our flesh is ours Eph. 5 29. No man hates his own flesh but nourisheth it as Christ doth his Church No man can have a higher value for his own flesh then Christ hath for his Church The Church as Tertullian speaks is nothing else but Christus explicatus * Câ—â—ist unfolded and as considered in Union with Christ is called Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 'T is the Apple of his eye Zach. 2.8 A tender and beloved part The Church is Christs Spouse the contract is made the Espousals shall be at the last Day The Members are pick'd out one by one to be presented to the Lamb at last as a Glorious Bride for him Rev. 21.2 And all Gods dealings with them in the World are but preparations of them for that State Upon the making of the Match God promises a communion of Goods Hos 2.20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness which is a fruit of Marriage the Wife being invested in her Husbands Estate When God hath given the blood of his Son for the Church he will not deny her the service of the Creatures but Joynture her in that as one part of her Dowry In that day will I hear the heavens c. ver 21. In what day in the day of betrothing in the day of the Evangelical Administration when the contract shall be made between me and my Church Heavens Earth Corn Wine and Oil the voice and motions of all Creatures are for Jezreel which signifies the seed of God This great Prince he hath a care of all his subjects so more peculiarly of his Spouse and Princess which is his seed too and all Creatures shall be her Servants This Fatherly Relation and Affection is strong and pure not as the love which acts an ambitious man to Ambition or a covetous man to Wealth which respects nothing but the grasping and possessing the Objects they dote upon and have nothing of love for the Objects themselves therefore deserves not the name of Love But it is the love of a Father whose love is pure towards his children He seeks their good as his own Consider these two things 1. God hath a peculiar love to this very Relation and often mentions it with delight as if he loved to hear the sound of it in his own Lips Cant. 8.12 My vineyard which is mine is before me Me My Mine The Church is alwayes under his Eye seated in his Affection and God is pleased with his propriety in them God never calls the World My World though he created it sometimes he saith the Earth is mine but it is either to check the presumptions of Men who ascribe
He can see nothing amiable in them for what was first lovely they have defaced and blotted out but the Church hath Gods comliness put upon her Ezek. 16.14 it was perfect through my comliness which I had put upon thee saith the Lord God and he did not lay those glorious colours upon her to manage his government or any part of it against her to deface her Besides their loveliness which is conferred upon them by God they have a love to God and no man will act against those whom he thinks to be his friends God being purus actus there being nothing but purity and activity in God his love must be the purest and highest love the most vigorous and glowing As fire which sets all other Bodies so this all other powers in the World in motion for them God cannot love them but he must wish all good to them and do all good for them for his love is not a lazy love but hath its raptures and tenderness and his affection is twisted with his Almighty Power to work that good for them which in their present condition in the world they are capable of 〈◊〉 is certain God loves his Church 〈◊〉 1. He carries them in his hand * Deut. 33.3 and that not in a loose manner to be cast out but they are engraven upon the palms of his hands * Isa 49.16 that he cannot open his hand to bestow a blessing upon any person but the picture of his Church doth dart in his eye God alludes to the Rings wherein men engrave the image of those that are dear to them And the Jews did in their captivity engrave the Effigies of their City Jerusalem upon their Rings that they might not forget it * Sanctius in Isa 49.16 If his eye be alway upon the Church his thoughts can never be off it in all his works 2. He loves the very gates and outworks Psal 87.2 the Lord loveth the gates of Sion He loves a Cottage where a Church is more then the stately Palaces of Princes The gates were the places where they consulted together and gave judgment upon affairs God loved the assemblies of his Saints because of the truths revealed the ordinances administred the worship presented to him 3. Nay one Saint is more valued by him then the whole World of the wicked God is the God of all Creatures but peculiarly the God of Abraham and of his seed One Abraham is more deeply rooted in his heart then all the World and he doth more entitle himself the God of Abraham then the God of the whole World for in that style he speaks to Isaac Gen. 26.24 I am the God of Abraham thy Father much more the God of Israel The God of the whole Church of which Abraham was but a member though the Father of the faithful and a Feoffee of the Covenant God hath a greater value for one sincere Soul then for a whole City He saves a Lot and burns a Sodom Yea then for a whole World he drowns a World and reserves a Noah He secures his Jewels whilst he flings away the pebbles 4. He loves them so that he overlooks their crabbed and perverse misconstructions of his providence When the Israelites had Jealous thoughts of him and of Moses his instrument when they saw that mighty Egyptian Army just at their heels and themselves cooped up between Mountains Forts and Waters God doth not upon this provoking murmuring draw up his cloudy Pillar to Heaven but puts it in the rear of them when before it had marched in the van * Exod. 14.19 and wedgeth himself in between them and Pharaoh's enraged host to shew that they should as soon sheath their swords in his heart as in their bowels and if they could strike them it should be through his own deity which was the highest expression of his affection And though they often murmured against his providence after they were landed on the shore yet he left them not to shift for themselves but bore them all the way in his armes as a Father doth his Child * Deut. 1.31 and bare them like an Eagle upon his Wings * Deut. 32.11 And God loves them magnificently and royally Hos 14.4 I will love them freely * Hosea 14.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 without any doubting without any reluctancy I will love thee without any repugnancy in my heart to draw me back from thee for mine anger is turned away as the streams of a River quite another way Now all this considered can the Governour of the World the King of Saints act any thing against his own affections Yea will he not make all things subservient to them whom he loves 2. His Delight See what an inundation of sweetning joy there was in him for which he had not Terms of Expression to suit the narrow apprehensions of Men Zeph. 3 17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over thee with singing He seems in his expression to know no measure of his delight in the Church and no end of it I will rejoyce over thee with joy Joy sparkles up fresh after joy 'T is his rest where his Soul and all that is within him Centers it self with infinite contentment Joy over thee with singing A Joy that blossoms into Triumph Never had any such charming transports in the Company of any he most affected as God hath in his Church he doth so delight in the Graces of his People that he delights to mention them He twice mentions Enochs walking with him * Gen. â— 22.24 And certainly God cannot but delight in it more than in the World because it is a fruit of greater pains than the Creation of the World The World was created in the space of six daies by a Word the Erecting a Church hath cost God more Pains and Time Before the Church of the Jews could be settled he had both a contest with the Peevishness of his People and the Malice of their Enemies And his own son must bleed and dye before the Church of the Gentiles could be fixed Men delight in that which hath cost them much Pains and a great Price God hath been at too much Pains and Christ at too great a Price to have small delight in the Church will he then let wild Beasts break the Hedges and tread down the fruit of it shall not all things be ordered to the good of that which is the Object of his greatest delight in the World Seventhly 7. The presence of God in his Church will make all providence tend to the good of it It would be an idle useless Presence if it were not operative for their good The Lord is there is the very name of the Gospel Church * Esa 48. â—5 what would it signifie if it were a useless Presence Christ stands upon Mount