Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A92016
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A warning to the inhabitants of Barbadoes
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Rous, John, d. 1695.
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1656
(1656)
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Wing R2045; ESTC R42609
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9,109
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8
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One of Israel the heathen seeing your abominations which have dwelt among you looking at you as to have more Knowledge have committed the like filthiness as you have done and you have been to them as patterns and examples of wickedness The Lords controversie is great with you O ye Inhabitants of Barbadoes you have exceeded the sins of Sodom the abominations of the Heathen are found among you and think you to escape the fury of the Lord if you still go on in wickedness O no do not deceive your selves for of the righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth who will not condemn the righteous nor acquit the wicked shall you receive a just reward even according to your abominations O consider betimes be not as the horse and mule who are without understanding let the love of God and the patience of God draw you to obedience you cannot escape the hand of the Lord if you still walk with hard hearts and stretched out necks Large hath the love of God been towards you that for all your abominations he hath not consumed you but hath given you a time to repent and hath sent his servants among you to declare his Truth among you and his will that you might be left without excuse and you have despitefully used them and have made a scoffe of what they have declared ye cannot long stand you cannot reign for ever though you be exalted among the Stars yet will the Lord bring you down even to the dust Take heed take heed repent repent ye sturdy Oaks and tall Cedars the Sword of the Lord is drawn which is for the slaughter of his Enemies and for hewing in pieces those that despise his love for the wickednesse of Sodome and Gomorrah did the Lord destroy them with fire and brimstone and the same wickedness is found among you and your sin is far greater in that you have despised the couniel of the Lord and have delighted in iniquity above measure that hath been declared among you O ye Inhabitants of Barbodoes which was not declared in Sodom nor Gomorral for if it had it would not have been resisted as it hath been among you Tremble before the Lord you wicked ones tremble before the Lord you oppressors of the poor tremble before the Lord ye Enemies of goodness whose delight is in doing wickedness and in acting that which is contrary to God Ye persecutors ye persecute Christ for your enmity is not against the creature but against the spirit by which the creature is guided and because you cannot reach that for it is out of your reach you seek by all means you can to cast lyes and false accusations upon the creature and if it lay in your power you seek to destroy it but blessed be the Lord who is the preserver of those that trust in him that keeps those that serve him for he it is that preserveth us out of the hands of unreasonable men Remember the portion of those that saw Christ naked and clothed him not saw him hungry and fed him not a stranger and took him not in and in Prison and visited him not their portion was Hell prepared for the devil and his angels and think you to fare better then them who live in the same wicked practices and you do exceed them for they were to depart into hell because they did not shew kindness unto Christ but you shew him all the unkindness that lieth in your power you will not only keep from visiting him in prison but you will seek to cast him into prison you do not only see him a stranger and not take him in but you will he being a stranger cast reproaches and false reports upon him that none may take him in O that you were tender to consider of your ungodly practices and seek for remedy while it may be had for truly the day will come when it will be too late to repent Shut not your eyes against the Light stop not your ears against the voice of Equity for if you do the time shall come when you shall cry and shall not be heard Wo is me for you ye are a sottish children a people that delight in rioting and uncleanness how often would the Lord have gathered you but ye would not Darkness hath been your delight to keep company with whores have you rejoyced in your love is gone after harlots there is no love in you towards the Lord from the highest to the lowest is covetousness loved yea pride and oppression is delighted in and by your wicked practices are the hearts of the righteous made sad the proud man among you is accounted blessed Will ye not yet consider O ye people How long will ye delight in vanity and rejoyce in setting your selves against the Lord Ye cannot prosper in your way your desires are to do lewdness wickedness and unrighteousness do ye delight in but justice and uprightnesse purity and holiness is made a laughing-stock among you the simple-hearted ye deride as a fool he that departs from iniquity ye look at as if some strange thing had happened unto him blood is found in the midst of you yea the blood of the innocent which cryes in the ears of the Lord and he is risen in much indignation against the ungodly VVherefore now take heed to your selves for you cannot flye from his presence you cannot hide your selves from his all-seeing eye ye who fight against the Lord shall be destroyed you have not only resisted man but ye have resisted the Lord of life your hearts are made fat you live at ease in the flesh but a day of sorrow a day of woe and misery will speedily come upon you ye earthly-minded ones who account gain godliness who glory in that which is your shame who are feeding your selves against the day of slaughter wo is me for your wilfulness you are a people who drink iniquity as an Ox drinks water and draw iniquity with the cords of vanity And this do I declare to you in plainness of speech for I cannot flatter you in your wickedness as your Teachers have done for many yeers but in plainness of speech do I declare against your wicked Practises From one who is a lover of your souls but an utter Enemy to your cursed practises known by the name Iohu Rous. Bardoes 10. d. of the 8. month 1656. TO you who are Rulers in Barbodoes am I moved to write see that you turn not the Sword which is put into your hands against those that do well but against those that do evil so will you be a terror to the evil doers and a praise to those that do well To the Light of Christ Jesus in all your consciences I speak by which you shall see if you abide in it who are those that do well and who are those that do evil he that is in Cains way in strife hatred envy and seeking after the reward of Balaam he doth evil and hath cast the Law of
God and have crucified the Lord of Life hearkning unto that which checks and reproves for swcaring and lying scoffing and scorning and speaking evil of the things you know not you will come to see that which leads out of it and leads into the way of God and that those who are out of the way of God have no right to the Promises that are made to the righteous and look not at those that are elder then you as examples to do wickedly but wherein that which is unclean and contrary to God is discovered and manifested unto you forsake it least you walking in the pathes of the wicked and forsaking the way of the just with the wicked be condemned do not do wickedly because your Elders do so but in the time of your youth seek after the Lord that you may be hid when he shall rent in pieces and destroy those that despise his commands and will none of his reproofs though you be young yet is there something that testifies against sin in you which doth condemn you when you act that which is unjust and do to others that which you would not be done to your selves living and abiding in this you shall be examples to thofe that be old and keeping to that which is just in moderation and sobriety you shall exceed those who have lived many yeers and have spent their time in vanity better is it to forsake the vanity and pleasures of your youth then spending your time in vanity to come to repent when it is too late O be not vain in your minds nelther be exalted in that which will not frand but seek after the Lord that in his will you may come to delight and in his presence you may come to rejoice And you whose Parents are great in the Earth and do seek to make you great in the Earth also take heed to your selves seek not the pleasures of this world for they will indure but for a time I have seen the pleasures of this world and I know what it is to rejoice in the world and what it is to delight in vanity and have seen the end of all this That it is but vanity and folly and madness for if one should enjoy what heart can defire yet an end of that would come and a time when that joy shall be left when the beauty of earthly things shall fade away then will sorrow and trouble take hold of all those that delight in earthly things and have not delighted in the Lord. I have delighted in vanity and set my heart upon folly but blessed be the Lord I have forsaken it and now do know I have a reward though not in the earth yet in that which will endure for ever if I had lived in pleasure and spent my time therein wo would have been the end of my pleasures and lamentation the end of my delight but now is my joy in the denial of that which formerly I delighted in and peace and joy and delight I finde in forsaking that which formerly I lived in which naturally all youth do eagerly desire after And so I desire That in the same in which I live ye also who are young may come to live that so no longer you may delight in the earth and earthly things but seek after the Lord and the things that belong to your peace seek not after riches in the earth for riches make them wings and flye away but lay up treasures in heaven which will never decay Seek not after the horror of the world for that honor must be laid in the dust but seek that honor which is of God which will endure for ever Glory not in any thing which is below for the Lord is coming to stain the glory of all flesh but seek ye the glory of God Delight not your selves in youthful pleasures but delight in walking in that which will lead you to uprightness and a godly couversation if you walk in it this will shew you what is contrary to God and will lead you to God who are faithful to it but will be your eternal condemnation who despise it And all you Enemies of God who have made your bands strong in wickedness who have made a Covenant with Hell and Death who because the Judgments of the Lord are not speedily executed have set your hearts to do wickednesse wo is me for you ye hard-hearted ones who have not hearkned to the Lord but have been as deaf Adders which have not heard though the charmer charmed never so wisely you have made a mock of the Servants of the Lord and have despised those that have been sent unto you but have rejoyced in your own corrupt Teachers whom ye have heaped up according to your own ungodly lusts your Teachers will not stand in the day of the Lord for they are in the steps of the false Prophets which the Lord ever sent his Prophets to cry against they are greedy dumb dogs who lye down and love to slumber who make a prey upon the people their desires are after the Earth they seek the fleece and not the good of the flock they are such as go in the way of Cain and their desires after the earth are large long have they been teaching among you and are you not still as wicked as ever you were They are not sent of the Lord therefore shall they not profit the people at all though they be drunkards and live in filthiness yet will you hold them 〈◊〉 the Lord abhors such Teachers for they strengthen you in your wickedness by crying peace unto you when destruction is neer at hand and when these Teachers are made manifest unto you by the children of the Light and they are moved in love to your souls to declare against your deceit that is held up by you under the pretence of worshipping God these you take hold of as Transgressors and as your Enemies though you have nothing to say against what they declare How can you stand before the Lord How will you stand in the day when he shall appear when his Wrath shall burn as an Oven Think you that God is not the same God against wickedness as ever he was ye cannot serve God and the Devil be not deceived God will be avenged of you who despise the day of your visitation and turn the grace of God into wantonness You that now laugh shall mourn and you that still go on in wickedness shall howl and lament when sorrow shall take hold on you and misery which shall have no end O that you were wise to consider O that you would consider and forsake your wicked actions that so in the day of the Lords wrath you may be hid for truly great is the abominations wherewith you have provoked the Lord to anger Ye have multiplied your iniquities beyond many Nations you have gone beyond the heathen who have not heard of God in your wicked cursed sinful practises have you provoked the holy