Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	dear_a	friend_n	lord_n	3,701	5	3.9423	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07537	Wisdome crying out to sinners to returne from their evill wayes contained in three pious and learned treatises, viz. I. Of Christs fervent love to bloudy Jerusalem. II. Of Gods just hardening of Pharaoh, when he had filled up the measure of his iniquity. III. Of mans timely remembering of his creator. Heretofore communicated to some friends in written copies: but now published for the generall good.; Sapientia clamitans, wisdome crying out to sinners to returne from their evill wayes	Jackson, Thomas, 1579-1640.; Donne, John, 1572-1631. aut; Milbourne, William, b. 1598 or 9.	1639 (1639)	STC 17919; ESTC S101127	68,892	346

snare wee are to consider a maine difference betweene the love of man or other creatures and the love of God to mankind Dumbe creatures alwayes effect what they most desire if it be in the precincts of their power because they have neither reason nor other internall law of right or wrong to controll or countersway their brutish appetites Man although indued with reason and naturall notions of right and wrong is notwithstanding oftentimes drawne by the strength or inordination of his tender affection to use such meanes as are contrary to the rules of reason equitie and religion for procuring their safety or impunity on whom hee dotes Howbeit among men wee may finde some which cannot be wrought by any promise or perswasion to use ●●ose unlawfull courses for the impunity of their children or dearest friends which the world commonly most approveth Not that their love towards their children friends or acquaintance is lesse but because their love to publike justice to truth and equity and respect to their owne integritie is greater than other mens are A fit instance wee have in Zaleucus King of Louis who having made a severe law that whosoever committed such an offence suppose adulterie should lose his eyes It shortly after came to passe that the Prince his sonne and heire apparent to the crowne trespassed against this sanction Could not the good King have granted pardon to his sonne Hee had power no doubt in his hands to have dispensed with this particular without any danger to his person And most Princes would have done as much as they could for the safety of their successour Nor could privileges or indulgences upon such speciall circumstances be held as breaches or violations of publike lawes because the prerogative of the person offending cannot be drawne into example But Zaleucus could not be brought to dispense with his law because he loved justice no lesse dearly than his Sonne whom he loved as dearly as himselfe And to manifest the equality of his love to all three hee caused one of his owne eyes and another of his sonnes to be put out that so the law might have her due though not wholly from his Sonne that had offended but in part from himselfe as it were by way of punishment for this partiality towards his Sonne It were possible no doubt for a King to reclaime many inferiours from theft from robbery or other ungracious courses so hee would vouchsafe to abate his owne expences to maintaine theirs or afford them the solaces of his Court make them his Peeres or otherwise allow them meanes to compasse their wonted pleasures But thus farre to descend to unthrifty subjects humors were ill beseeming that Majestie and gravity which should bee in Princes If one should give notice to a Prince how easie and possible it were to him by these meanes to save a number from the gallowes his replie would be Princeps id potest quod salva Majestate potest That onely is possible to a Prince which can stand with the safety of his Majestie but thus to feed the unsatiable appetites of greedy unthrifts though otherwise such as hee loves most dearly and whose welfare he wishes as heartily as they doe that speake for them is neither Princely nor majesticall For a King in this case to doe as much as by his authority or other meanes hee is able to doe were an act of weaknesse and impotencie not an act of Soveraigne power a great blot to his wisdome honour and dignity no true argument of royall love or Princely Clemencie In like manner we are to consider that God albeit in power infinite yet his infinite power is matched with goodnesse as truly infinite his infinite love as it were counterpoised with infinite Majestie And though his infinite mercy be as Soveraigne to his orher Attributes yet is it in a sort restrained by the tribunitiall power of his justice This equality of infinitenesse betwixt his attributes being considered the former difficulty is easily resolved If it be demanded whether God could not make a thousand worlds as good or better than this it were infidelity to deny it why Because this is an effect of meere power and might be done without any contradiction to his goodnesse to his Majestie to his mercy or justice all which it might serve to set forth And this is a Rule of faith that all effects of meere power though greater than wee can conceive as possible may be done of him with greater ease than we can breath His onely Word would suffice to make ten thousand worlds But if it be questioned whether God could not have don more than he hath done for his Vineyard whether he cannot save such as dayly perish the case is altered and breeds a fallacy Ad plures interrogationes For mans salvation is no worke of meere power it necessarily requires a harmony of goodnesse of majesty of mercy and justice whereunto the infinite power is in a manner subservient Nor are we to consider his infinite power alone but as matched with infinite majesty nor his infinite mercy and goodnesse alone but as matched with infinite justice And in this case it is as true of God as man Deus id potest quod salva Majestate potest quod salva bonitate justitia potest God can doe that which is not prejudiciall to his Majestie to his goodnesse and justice And hee had done if wee may beleeve his oath as much for his vineyard as the concurrence of his infinite power and wisdome could effect without disparagement to the infinitie of his Majestie or that internall law or rule of infinite goodnesse whereby hee created man after his owne image and similitude God as he hath his being so hath he his goodnesse of himselfe and his goodnesse is his being as impossible therefore that he should not be good as not be Man as he had his life and being so had he his goodnesse wholly from his Creatour And as actuall existence is no part nor necessary consequence of his essence so neither is his goodnesse necessarie or essentiall to his existence As his existence so his goodnesse is mutable the one necessarily including a possibilitie of declination or decay the other an inclination of relapse or falling into evill As he was made after the similitude of God he was actually and inherently good Yet was not his goodnesse essentiall necessarie or immutable Nor did hee resemble his Creator in these essentiall attributes but rather in the exercise of them ad extra Now the exercise of them was not necessarie but free in the Creator For God might have continued for ever Most holy righteous and good in himselfe albeit hee had never created man nor other creature Wherefore hee made them good as hee was freely good And such is the goodnesse communicated to them in their creation not necessarie but free And if free as well including a possibilitie of falling into evill as an actuall state in goodnesse If then

WISDOME Crying out to Sinners to returne from their evill wayes CONTAINED IN THREE pious and learned Treatises Viz. I. Of CHRISTS fervent love to bloudy Ierusalem II. Of GODS just bardening of Pharaoh when he had filled up the measure of his iniquity III. Of MANS timely remembring of his Creator Heretofore communicated to some friends in written Copie but now published to the generall good EZEK 33. 11. Say unto them As I live 〈◊〉 t●e Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turne from his way and live turne ye turne ye from your evill wayes for why will ye dy● Oh house of Israel LONDON Printed by M. P. for I●hn Stafford dwelling in Black horse Alley neere ●●●●●street 1639. CHRISTS FERVENT LOVE TO BLOVDIE HIERVSALEM OR An Exposition delivered in a Sermon on MATT. 23. vers 37. MATT. 23. vers 37. Oh Hierusalem Hierusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together even as an ben gathereth her chickens under her wings and yes would not THe summe of my last meditations upon the former verses was That notwithstanding our Saviours predictions or threatnings of all those plagues shortly to befall Hierusalem there was even at this time a possibilitie left for this people to have continued a flourishing nation a possibilitie left for their rep●ntance that their repentance and prosperity was the end whereat the Lord himselfe did aime in sending Prophets and Wisemen and lastly his onely Sonne unto them The former of the two parts the possibility of their prosperity and repentance was proved from the perpetuall tenour of Gods covenant with his people first made with Moses afterwards renewed with David and Salomon and ratified by Ieremie and Ezechiel The tenour of the coven●nt as you then heard was a covenant not of death onely but of life and death of life if they continued faithfull in his covenant of death if they continued in disobedience The later part of the same viz. That this peoples repentance and prosperity wa● the end intended by God was proved from that declaration of his desire of their everla●ting prosperity Oh that there were such an heart in this people to feare me and to keepe my commandements alway that it might goe well with them and their posterity for ever And the like place Psal. 81. vers 13. to the end Esay 48. verse 18. Both places manifest Gods love and desire of this peoples safety But the abundance the strength with the unrelenting constancie and tendernesse of his love is in no place more fully manifested than in these words of my text The abundant fervencie wee may note in the very first words in that his mouth which never spake idle or superfluous words doth here ingeminate the appellation Oh Hierusalem Hierusalem This hee spake out of the abundance of his love But love is oft time● fervent or abundant for the present or whiles the object of ou● love remaines amiable yet no● so constant or perpetuall if the quality of what wee love bee changed But herein appeares the constancie and strength of Gods love that it was thus fervently set upon Hierusalem not onely in her pure and virgin dayes or whiles shee continued as chaste and loyall as when shee was affianced unto the Lord by David a man after his owne heart but upon Hierusalem often drunken with the Cup of fornications upon her long stained and polluted with the bloud of his Saints upon her children who with the dogge returned unto their vomit or with the sow unto their wallowing in the mire or puddle of their Mothers dust whose sacrifices were mingled with righteous bloud upon Hierusalem and her Children after he had cleansed her infected habitations with fire and carried her Inhabitants beyond Babylon into the North-land as it had beene into a more fresh and purer aire not onely before the Babylonish Captivitie but after their returne thence and replantation in their owne land God would have gathered them even as the Hen doth her chickens ●nder her wings c. In which words besides the Tendernesse of Gods love towards th●se Cast-awayes is set out unto us the safety of his protection so they would have beene gathered For as there is no creature more kinde and tender than the hen unto her young ones so is there none that doth more carefully shroud and shelter them from the storme none that doth more closely hide them from the eye of the Destroyer Yet so would God have hidden Hierusalem under the shadow of his wings from all those stormes which afterwards over-whelmed her and from the Roman Eagle to whom this whole generation became a prey if so Hierusalem with her children after so many hundred yeeres experience of his fatherly love tender care had not remained more foolish than the new hatched brood of reasonlesse creatures if so they had not beene ignorant of his call that had often redeemed them from their enemies How often would I have gathered you and you would not Here were large matter for Rhetoricall digressions or mellifluous Encomions of divine love points wherein many learned Divines have in later times beene very copious yet still leaving the truth of that Love which they so magnifie very questionable It shall suffice mee at this time first to prove the undoubted truth and unfainednesse of Gods tender love even towards such Cast-awayes as these proved to whom he made this protestation Secondly to unfold as far as is fitting for us to enquire how it is possible they should not be gathered unto God nor saved by Christ whose gathering and whose safety Hee to whom nothing can be impossible had so earnestly so tenderly and so constantly longed after These are points of such use and consequence that if God shall enable mee soundly though plainly to unfold their truth you will I hope dispence with mee for want of artificiall exornations or words more choice than such as naturally spring out of the matters handled as willingly as the poore amongst you pardon good house-keepers for wearing nothing but home-spunne cloth For as it is hard for a man of ordinary meanes to bestow much on his owne back and feed many bellies so neither is it easie for mee and my present opportunities both to feed your soules with the truth and to cloath my discourse with choice words and flourishing phrases And I am perswaded many Preachers might in this argument often prove more Theologicall so they could be content to be lesse Rhetoricall Yet let not these premises prejudice the truth of the conclusion My purpose is not to dissent from any of the Reformed Churches but only in those particulars wherein they evidently dissent from themselves and from generall principles of truth acknowledged by all that beleeve God or his word Were I to speake in some Audience of this point it would be needfull to dip my pen in Nectar

answ●red Can a woman forget her sucking childe that shee should not have compassion on the sonne of her wombe yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee Behold I have engraven thee upon the palmes of my hands c. These and the like places of the Prophet compared with our Saviours speeches here in my text give us plainly to understand That whatsoever love any mother can beare to the fruit of her wombe unto whom her bowels of compassion are more tender than the Fathers can be or whatsoever affection any dumbe creature can afford to their tender brood the like but greater doth God beare unto his children Unto the Elect most will grant But is his love so tender towards such as perish Yes the Lord carried the whole host of Israel even the stubborne and most disobedient as an Eagle doth her young ones upon her wings Exod. 19. 4. Earthly parents will no● vouchsafe to wait perpetually upon their child●●n the Hen continueth not her call from morning untill night nor can shee endure to hold out her wings all day for a shelter to her young ones as they grow great and refuse to come shee gives over to invite them But saith the Lord by his Prophet I have spread out my hands all the day long unto a rebellious people which walked in a way that was not good after their owne thoughts A people that provoketh mee to anger continually to my face that sacrificeth in Gardens and burneth incense upon Altars of brick which remaine among the graves and lodge in the monuments which eat swines flesh and broth of abominable things is in their vessels which say adding Hypocrisie unto filthinesse and Idolatry Stand by thy self come not neere unto me● for I am holier than thou Such they were and so conceited of our Saviour with whom he● had in his life time oft to deale and for whose safety hee prayed with teares before his passion These and many like equivalent passages of Scripture are path●tically set forth by the Spirit to assure us that there is no desire like to the Almighties desire of sinfull mans repentance no longing to his longing after our salvation If Gods love to Iudah comne to the height of rebellion had beene lesse than mans or other creatures love to what they affect most dearely if the meanes he used to reclaime her had beene f●wer or lesse probable than any others had attempted for obtaining their most wished end his demand to which the Prophet thought no possible answer could be given might easily be put off by these incredulous Iewes unto whom he had not referred the judgement in their owne cause if they could have instanced in man or other creature more willingnesse to doe what possibly they could doe either for themselves or others than hee was to doe whatsoever was possible to be done for them And now Oh inhabitants of Ierusalem and men of Iudah judge I pray you betweene mee and my vineyard what could more be done to my vineyard that I have not done to it Wherefore when I looked i● should b●ing forth grapes brought it forth wilde grapes● Esay 5. 3 4. But the greater wee make the truth and extent of love● the more wee increase the difficulty of the second point proposed For amongst women many there be that would amongst dumbe creatures scare● any that would not redeem● their sucklings from death by dying themselves Yet what is it they can doe which they would not doe to save their owne lives And did not God so love the World that hee gave his onely begotten Sonne for it Yes for the World of the Elect. If there be Worlds of the Elect I see not why any should be excluded from the number ●ut to let that passe Gods desire of their repentance which perish is undoubtedly such as hath beene said Yet should wee say that he hath done all that could be done for them how chanceth all are not saved and was the vineyard more barren than Sarah the fruit of whose wombe he made like the starres of the skie or like as the sands b● the Sea shore innumerable was it a matter more hard to make an impenitent Iew bring forth fruits worthy of repentance than to make a virgin conceive and beare a Sonne If it were not how chanceth it the word of the Lord and that but a short one should bring the one to joyfull issue whiles the other the repentance of these Jewes and other ungodly men after so many exhortations and threatnings after so many promises of comfort and denuntiations of woes which the Prophets the Apostles and their Successors have used is not to this day nor ever shall be accomplished If repentance of men borne and brought up in sinne be a worke altogether impossible all of us should utterly perish none repent If possible to any shall it not be possible to the Almighty who alone can doe all things If possible in him why is not repentance wrought in all whose salvation he more earnestly desires than the most tender hearted mother doth the life and welfare of her darling infant Hence in probability some may conclude either Gods love unto such as perish is not so great as some mothers beare unto their children or else his power in respect of them is not infinite And against our doctrine perhaps it will be objected that by thus magnifying Gods love towards all we minish his power towards some From which to derogate ought is in some mens judgements the wo●st kind of blasphemie a point as dangerous in divinity to speake but doubtfully or suspiciou●ly of it as in matt●r of Sta●● to determine or limit the Pre●ogative Royall Howbeit if no other choice were left but a necessity were laid upon us of ●eaving either the infinite power or infinite goodnesse of our God questionable or unexpressed the offence were lesse not to speake of his power so much as most doe than to speake ought prejudiciall all to that conceit which even the Heathens by the light of nature had of his goodnesse This attribute is the chiefe object of our love and for which hee himselfe desires to be loved most And in this respect to derogate ought from it it must needs be most offensive But his curse be upon him that will not unfainedly acknowledge the absolute infinitenesse as well of his power as of his goodnesse Whoso●ver hee be that loves his goodnesse will unfainedly acknowledge hee is to be feared and reverenced as the Almighty Creator and Judge of men Unlesse he were in power infinite hee could not be infinitely good Howbeit hee that restraines his love and tender mercy only to such as are saved doth make his goodnesse lesse at least extensively than his power For there is no creature unto which his power reacheth not But so doth not his loving kindnesse extend to all unlesse hee desire the good and safety of those that perish For winding our selves out of the former