Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
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A56700
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A sermon preached in the chappel of St. James's before His Highness the Prince of Orange, the 20th of January, 1688 by Symon Patrick ...
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Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing P846; ESTC R23233
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16,187
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39
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a bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax i. e. dishearten or utterly deject those of whom there was any hope tho for the present they were his Enemies and sought to destroy him But he persuaded all in the most gracious manner to become new Creatures and sent his Apostles abroad also upon this errand with peace in their mouths unto every House into which they entred And if you would know what kind of Creatures he intended to make them you may learn that even from the names he commonly bestows upon his Disciples whom he calls his Sheep and his Lambs and little Children the very terms wherein the Prophet here speaks unto whom he gave this new Commandment That they should love one another even as he had loved them that is with the most ardent love and sincerest affection Which his beloved Apostle repeats so often and in the very same language calling those to whom he writes My little Cheldren as if he thought this was the whole business of Christianity That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us commandment 1 John III. 23. But I 'll spend no more time in this nor stay to give an account of one place in the Gospel which seems to contradict it Mat. X. 34. 35. because whatsoever the Event was by accident in the attempt of so great a Change as our Saviour came to make the Nature and Genius of the Religion which he taught is such that as he could have no other design so it is apt in it self to make Men the most peaceable Creatures though never so disagreeing in their Natural Tempers and Dispositions That 's the next thing to be considered in this matter II. Which will be evident to every ones Satisfaction who will seriously weigh these three Things First The Principles of his Religion or the Doctrines he taught Men to believe together with the way and means whereby these Principles were established in Mens Minds Secondly The Precepts of his Religion or the Things he taught them to practise Thirdly The Obligations he laid upon Men to receive these Principles and observe these Precepts All of which are very powerful to make Men of a loving gracious Disposition and perfectly to reconcile them one to another First As to the Principles of his Religion and the Means he used to settle them in Mens Minds He 1. Taught them first of all that there is but one God. The Disbelief of which as it had set the World at such enmities one with another as they confessed was among their Deities so the planting this Faith in Mens Hearts any one may discern at the first sight must needs be an apt means to breed such Love among Men as is between the Children of one and the same common Parent of them all 2. And that 's very considerable as he declared one God to Men so he revealed him as his and their Father full of Kindness and Goodwill to all his Children having a tender and affectionate Care of their Immortal Happiness Which St. Paul thought a Bond so strong and a Motive so very efficacious that it concludes the great heap of Arguments whereby he perswades Christians to Unity of Spirit and Peace Ephes iv 6. There is one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all that is is the Supream Lord of us all diffusing his careful and paternal Providence through the whole Body of this vast Empire and more particularly resides among Christian People 3. Who are taught which is the next thing to worship this one God by one Mediator alone which is both another Bond of Union as the Apostle there teaches when he saith there is one Lord V. 4. and likewise gives very great assurance of God's tender Love to all Mankind as he discourses in another Epistle 1 Tim. ii 4 5. where he proves that God would have all Men to be saved and to come to the knowledg of the Truth from this Principle for there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all 4. Which appears by this further care he hath taken of us all that he sent his Apostles to baptize all Nations into one simple Faith for next to one Lord the Apostle mentions one Faith and one Baptism which is this That there is one God the Creator of all who is to be worshipped and served by one Mediator his only begotten Son Jesus Christ who offered one Sacrifice that is himself for the Sins of the whole World rose again from the Dead ascended into Heaven and from thence sent the Holy Ghost to testify that he is Lord of all and will come again in Glory to judg the Quick and the Dead This was easily and quickly learn'd and this they taught every where that Christians might be perfectly joyned together in the same Mind and in the same Judgment 1 Cor. 1. 10. 5. In order to which they further declared the whole World should be govern'd and judged by one common Law and that not the Law of Moses but the plain Rules of Righteousness Sobriety and Godliness For our Blessed Saviour being made Lord of all abolished by his Authority the Ordinances of Moses and thereby took away the Distinction which had continued for a great many Ages between the Gentiles and the Jews whose Law was in the very Intention of it a Law of Division and Separation whereby God design'd to sever them from the familiar Society and Conversation of the rest of the Nations in the World Who while that Law remained in force were kept at a distance from the Jews but by the removal of it were no longer Strangers and Foreigners but fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God Ephes ii 19. Upon which account the Apostle tells the Ephesians a little before v. 14. that Christ was their Peace who had made both one by breaking down the middle Wall of Partition which was between them and the Jews that is as he explains himself in the next Verse The Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances i. e. the Ritual Constitutions of Moses which he calls the Enmity because they had been the cause of Enmity and Hatred between Jews and Gentiles and were therefore abolished by the Death of Christ for to make in himself of twain one new Man so making Peace That they he means who had stood divided by vastly different nay opposite Rites of Worship and other Customs might meet and joyn together in his Religion and so becoming one new Body or Society under the Government of his Laws there might be an happy Accord and Agreement between them as Members of one and the same holy Catholick Church the Jews no longer looking upon the Gentiles as prophane nor the Gentiles looking upon the Jews as an unsociable People 6. Now for the settling this Belief in Mens Minds that they were all
under the care of one and the same God and of the same Mediator and were become one Corporation by submitting to the same Laws They were all both Jews and Gentiles indifferently endued with one and the same Spirit This St. Paul frequently inculcates especially in the forenamed Epistle to the Ephesians where you read presently after the words now mentioned v. 18. that through Christ they both had access by one Spirit unto the Father And again v. 22. Ye also are built together in him for an Habitation of God through the Spirit The Holy Ghost that is falling down in great variety of wonderful Gifts upon the Gentiles as well as the Jews was an undoubted Testimony of the same Divine Favour towards them both alike an evident Token that the same Divine Presence was among the Gentiles which had been among his ancient People and was likewise the Bond of Union whereby they were knit together without any distinction between them unto one God in the same Religion of Jesus Christ So the Apostle tells them Chap. iv where he requires them v. 3 4. to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace because there is one Body and one Spirit They were all made Members that is of the same Society and one Spirit moved and wrought in them all which could not but dispose and incline them unto Love and Kindness unto Peaceableness and the stricctest Friendship imaginable Of this alone it would not be hard to make an entire Discourse and to show withal that by the Power of this Spirit only and not by armed Force and Violence his Religion was propagated and advanced in the World in a very quiet and peaceable manner But my design is meerly to represent what effectual means our Lord imployed had they been observed and pursued to bring about his end and to fulfil this Prophecy Which will further appear if you cast your Eyes a while upon his Precepts which is the second thing I propounded to be considered under this Head. I will briefly mention some of them for that will be sufficient to make you sensible of their Efficacy if they were heartily obeyed First Exact Justice all the Duties of which he hath comprised in so few but very forcible words that as in an instant they enter into our Minds and gain our Assent and recommend themselves to our best Affections so they are easily remembred and preserved in Mind For all things whatsoever ye would that Men should do unto you do ye even so to them Mat. vii 12. is a Rule so pregnant that it comprehends in it the Wisdom of all Laws and so equitable that it makes every Man's own Desires to be the measure of his Actions towards others and so powerful that this alone were it observed would turn the whole Earth into a Paradise in which the Lions should be as tame as Lambs and no body destroy or hurt or so much as molest others any more 2. For this Rule comprehends in it Mercy also which is another Lesson our Saviour hath taught us no less than Justice Which if Men would exercise as they desire it should be shown to them in their Necessities they would not merely cease to be hurtful to their Neighbours but become helpful and beneficial and that in an extraordinary measure for our Lord hath raised this Vertue to the sublimest pitch by requiring all his Disciples to be merciful as their Heavenly Father is merciful 3. But suppose some to be so far from doing Good that they do nothing but Mischief and continue to be as unruly as the Bears and as spiteful as the Asps of which the Prophet speaks in the next Verses In this Case our Lord hath taught us Meekness and Patience and would have us to suppress those angry and furious Motions which are apt on such Occasions to rise and boil up in our Hearts So that notwithstanding the brutish Nature of some if the rest were generally possessed with the Christian Spirit the World might see more happy Days than now it doth 4. For he requires us also not only to pass by and forgive those Wrongs and Affronts we receive from our Enemies but to bless them and to do them Good. Which hath a strange Power in it to charm and conquer even the most fierce and barbarous Natures and to reconcile them to the Love of that Vertue which makes Men requite Injuries with Courtesies even when it is in their Power to take a terrible Revenge 5. Nay further he would have us contented with such things as we have which evidently destroys that envy emulation and ambition from whence no small stirs and confusions arise in the World. 6. In questions also and disputes about matters of Liberty he charges those that are satisfied not to despise such as are not and those that are not satisfied he commands not to judge those that are Rom. XIV 3. 7. Nay in all manner of differences which are apt to arise among us he would have the peace of God rule in our hearts Coll. III. 16. so that this having the Umpire there and all being referred to its judgment we should rest in the determination of what will make most for peace 8. He instructs likewise our behaviour in our several Relations teaching Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants Pastors and People to demean themselves so to their mutual satisfaction as to take away the cause of all discord not only in Families and Parishes but in the larger Societies of Church and State. When the Flock for instance know those which labour among them as St. Paul discourses 1 Thess V. 12. that is have a great respect to their Spiritual Pastors and Instructors whose faithful discharge of their Office in labouring among their Flock presiding over them in the Lord and admonishing them procures a great regard to them and inclines the People to esteem them very highly in love for their works-sake they cannot well miss of that Blessing which there immediately follows to be at peace among themselves For from wise and faithful Instructions on the one hand and affectionate Regard to holy Counsels on the other there cannot but issue such an Accord as will make them no less happy than by their Divisions they make themselves unquiet and miserable For lastly the Root and Foundation of all these our Lord hath laid in much Humility and Charity which as they are the very Soul and Spirit of Christianity and utterly destroy that Selfishness which is the great Make-bate among men so they are of such a sweet and obliging Nature that did they universally prevail there would be an end of all Impatience and Wrath Jars and Contentions Injustice and Violence Cruelty and hard Dealing all Factions in the State and all Schisms in the Church would either be prevented or presently quasht and gently healed I need not distrust the evidence of these things so much as to add one word more about them Let me