Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	dead_a	life_n	live_v	2,561	5	5.4411	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43141	Tvvo sermons preached in the parish church of St. Giles in the fields, by way of preparative upon the Articles of the Creed by VVilliam Haywood ...	Haywood, William, 1599 or 1600-1663.	1642 (1642)	Wing H1241; ESTC R5536	37,177	43

their number they are three Secondly their continuance they abide Thirdly the extent of their continuance how long they abide and that is nunc during the state of this present life Now they abide Faith Hope and Charitie these three These three first that points to their number and it gives us to note first saith Cajetane that they are not all one and the same vertue and therefore would not rashly be confounded Some upon the former words of the Apostle at the seventh verse of this Chapter Charitie beleeveth all things hopeth all things endureth all things are ready to conclude that these three vertues grow at last into one and all shut up in Charitie for as much as beleeving is the act of faith and yet the Apostle saith Charitie beleeveth all things and expecting the act of Hope and yet hee saith Charitie hopeth all things It should seeme therefore if charitie execute the acts of faith and hope that faith and hope are at length confounded with charitie But it is not so the Apostle tels us they are three still and they remaine three though charitie at length get the pr●hemin●nc● and command the acts of both the other Three they are then and only three as no lesse so no more no more vertues truly called Theologicall or Divine but these that is vertues which fix upon God as their immediate object No why is there not the Feare of God and Pietic and Zeale and Invocation and Confession And what is the immediate object of these but God Right saith Aquinas Other vertues may fix upon God too but it is mediantibus●stis by the mediation of these All other divine vertues doe but manifest our Faith Hope and Charity or put them in execution Only Faith Hope and Charity joyne us immediately to God other graces joyne us to him by the meanes of these As for example What is Invocation and Prayer to God but an effect of our Faith and therefore unites us to the Almightie because it is made in faith so faith comes between prayer and God What is the feare of God if it be a chaste and filiall feare but the fruit of our love Wee cannot love God dearly but wee must needs feare to lose his favour And if it be only a servile fear then it is the fruit of our faith wee feare the power and vengeance of God because we beleeve him to be Almighty What else are Zeale and Piety but fruits of our Charity likewise Wee obey God we are zealous for him Why but because wee love him so love comes between zeale God Patience long suffering what are they but effects of our hope Therfore we are patient because we wait hope for Gods help so hope comes between patience and God These 3 then only these 3 Faith Hope Charitie are called vertues Theological or truly divine because they fix immediately wholly upon God all other vertues but in through these God is the measure saith Cajetane the Formalis ratio the enti●e object of saith sith what ever truth we beleeve by faith we beleeve only for Gods sake because wee beleeve God hath revealed it What ever blessings we embrace by divine hope it is for Gods cause too who hath made us promises in his word to build our hope upon who himselfe is hoped for as the true fountaine of our blisse What ever good we fix upon by our Charitie it is for Gods sake also God is the thing we love above all all things else but for under God So that these three none but these are the three vertues properly and immediately divine subordinate to no other But are they not also subordinate among themselves Yes that they are And that makes such a cōnexion between them that where one abides they abide all together that abiding is the next point of our division next after their number their continuance Now abide these three Abide how why united and joyned together as I told you so that where one of them is there must needs be the other And abide that is uninterruptedly continually as long as wee abide Christians wee cannot bee in the favour of God without all of them First united they abide where one is there is the other Where Charitie is there must needs bee Hope for Hope is the ground of love we cannot love unlesse wee hope to partake some good by what we love And where Hope is there must needs bee Faith expect any blessing we cannot unlesse wee first beleeve the goodnesse of that we hope for a blessing from So that Charitie infers the rest yea and so doth faith also For though it bee true there is Fides historica a bare historicall Faith such an one as the Devils beleeve and tremble by as St. Iames hath it a Faith without Love yet that is not the lively and justifying faith true saving faith can be no more without love than the body can be without life it is a dead faith that lives not by charitie and if saving faith include charitie it must needs draw in hope too For no charitie can be unlesse it be founded in hope as yee have heard already so that take one of these and take all where one abide all abide where one is wanting all are wanting No marvell therefore the Apostle saith now abide these three that is these three altogether Take any one away and the other fall to the ground And as they are thus necessarie one to another so they are assistant and helpfull each to the other Faith assistant to Hope and Hope to Charitie and Charitie to both and everie of them to one another For he that beleeves in God saith Haymo hopes also for those things which he finds promised from God and the more he hopes the stronger he beleeves and beleeving and hoping things so excellent he cannot choose but love The more hee hopes the more he delights in his hope the more hee delights the more hee must needs love for delight cherisheth love as love still begets more delight Hence is it that faith it selfe cannot stand unlesse the delight of hope strengthen it and support it that it may not bee wearie of beleeving Nor can hope it selfe subsist unlesse it bee grounded in faith as it were an anchor upon a rock nor can the rock long hold the anchor nor the anchor cleave to the rock unlesse Charitie like a strong cable fasten and pull both together so that each of these help one another to abide and abide any one or two cannot well if the third be wanting Thus you see their 〈◊〉 nexion in abiding Next there followes their continuance in abiding and that yee may observe in the Adverb Nunc the next point of our division Now they abide that is during the state of our Christianitie or if yee will of our mortalitie During the state of our Christianitie they are so necessarie that none can bee a moment without them and abide in Gods

favour If his Charitie be gone if he have lost his first love his life is gone Of such an one it may be said Thou hast a name that thou livest but thou art dead If his hope be gone he is wrapt in despaire The ship hath lost her anchor and who shall save her from rocks or sands if hee have lost his faith the verie foundation of all is gone then Hee is somewhat worse than an Infidell because hee denies what once hee acknowledged So that as long as well live these three vertues must live in us or towards God wee live not and if these things bee in us they will make us wee shall not bee barren nor unfruitfull as Saint Peter saith For these are the substance of all Religion the ground and foundation of true righteousnesse saith Musculus both in the Old and New Testament without these all Ceremonies all Sacraments all outward worship is but dead Sacraments may vary and Ceremonies may vary but these thorowout all parts of our life and thorowout all ages of the world abide the same There is but one Faith one Hope one Baptisme saith St. Paul Ephes 4. consequently but one Charitie as there is but one God the mai●e object of Charity Not only abide then these three vertues doe but they abide still the same And abide now that is in the soules of the faithfull during the state of mortality for this Now points to our state of mortality as appeares by the verse afore our Text Now wee see thorow a glasse darkly but then face to face Now that is in the time of this life Then that is in the time of the next So now abide Faith Hope and Charity that is all the while we live here so doe not miracles so do not tongues and prophesie and the gifts spoken of before For these are neither common to all the Elect saith Musculus nor remaine to the end of our lives nor yet necessarily include Hope and Charity not common to all the Elect for many good men want those miraculous gifts nor abide to the end of life for they that have them oftentimes are at a losse the Prophets alway prophesie not neither do the divinely-inspired alwayes speake with tongues but at set times as the Spirit moves them Neither doe these include Charity for we may understand all Prophecy and speake with the tongues of men and Angels yea and have the gifts of Miracles too to move mountaines and yet for lack of Charity come to nothing Charity therefore and Faith and Hope they abide to the last so as none of the other doe They continue the whole Nunc of our life out to the end and we cannot be a moment without them that is without the habite of them As for the act wee doe not perhaps alwaies actually beleeve actually hope or actually love our weake frailty will not permit it but yet we must alwaies have these Graces in habit that is stand ever prepared for the act as occasion serves And thus they abide all three of them necessarily and joyntly and uninterruptedly while wee abide in this world abide they doe all three but one of the three hath the advantage of them for it not onely abides in this world but in the next too Nunc in saecul● saeculori● That is Charity and that is the reason why it is preferred above the other The greatest of these is charity Which brings us to the second generall namely the comparative part wherein Charity carries the preheminence among the divine vertues themselves Major autem horum charitas c. For the proofe of which Proposition observe first how Charity beares the sway among the other It commands and moves and as it were enlivens the rest Our love stirres us up to beleeve more and more to hope more and more and the more we love the stronger wee beleeve the more earnestly we hope As it were the Soule over the members so Charity commands all other vertues All worke all doe their parts at Charities bidding so that very well by the Schoole-men she is termed the essentiall sorme of them all For take Faith without Charity and it is a cold and heartlesse thing no warmth no spirit in it we seele no joy in such a saith at all Take Hope without Charity and what is it but a withering ●erbe in cold of winter no sap no juyce in it there is neither delight nor feeling in either of them till Love breath upon them and give them a new life Then Faith is able to stand all encounters and Hope lifts up her head in the forest tryalls when Charity sweetens them all Charity therefore is the greatest and highest of all vertues so much better then Faith and Hope as the building is better then the foundation as the fruite is better than the stalke that beares it Nay Charity it is like the Sun among the lesser Plannets saith Lapide It gives light and vigour and soule to all other graces It is like the fire among the Elements like Gold among other metalls like the Empyraean Heaven above the lower O●b●s like the Seraphims among the lesser Angels For Charity is indeed the 〈◊〉 Celestiall fire that inflames the hearts of Gods chosen Charity the true Gold wherewith in a sort we purchase heavenly Merchandise Charity the true Empyraean Heaven wherein dwells God and his Angels that Heaven which enlightens inspires and regulates all the rest Charity is the Seraphicall vertue indeed which makes the Seraphims themselves ardently burning from whence they have their name The same that the Sunne is in the World the Magistrate in his City the Mariner in his Vessell is Charity in the heart of a Christian Without the Mariner the Vessell slotes at randome and perisheth Without her Magistrate the City falls to confusion without the Sun the whole World were darke and without Charity our very life it selfe hath scarce any life in it For Love is the life of life Love is the soule of the World so that God himselfe is called by the name of love 1 Iohn 4. Nor wonder at Saint Iohn for it for of all the vertues in the World none so nearely joynes and unites us to God as love doth Consequently Charity must bee the greatest of all divine vertues as Aquinas notes well For among morall Vertues that is the greatest which comes nearest to the rule of all vertue to wit Right reason That doth Prudence which toucheth the rule as neare as neare may be being it selfe nothing but the view of right reason Consequently prudence is the greatest morall Vertue because it is next the Rule And by the same reason is Charity the greatest of all divine vertues and morall too for the Rule of divine vertues is not reason but God that made reason who is the Rule of reason it selfe Consequently that vertue which toucheth nearest upon God the prime Rule of Rules must needs be the greatest vertue that may be imagined and