Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	death_n	great_a	sin_n	3,650	5	4.5067	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58802	The Christian life part III. Wherein the great duties of justice, mercy, and mortification are fully explained and inforced. Vol. IV. By John Scott D.D. late rector of St. Giles's in the Fields.; Christian life. Vol. 4.	Scott, John, 1639-1695.; White, Robert, 1645-1703, engraver.	1696 (1696)	Wing S2056; ESTC R218661	194,267	475

Inclination from them that their Nearness ceases to be a Temptation to us These are the Parts of that wise and prudent Discipline which we are to exercise upon our selves as a Mean and Instrument to mortifie our Lusts. V. ANOTHER Instrument of Mortification is frequent Receiving of the Sacrament And indeed I do not know any one more effectual Cause or more fatal Symptom of the Decay of Christian Piety among us than is the common and woful Neglect of this solemn Ordinance which were it but frequented with that wise and due Preparation that it ought to be would doubtless be highly instrumental to reform the World and to make Men good in good earnest For besides that those sacred Elements are by God's Institution become moral Conveyances of the Divine Grace whereby our good Resolutions are nourish'd and confirm'd there we have represented openly to our Senses one of the greatest Arguments against Sin in all our Religion viz. the Passion and Sacrifice of our blessed Saviour There he is represented to my Eyes in all his Wounds and Agonies bruised and broken for my Sin and bleeding to expiate my Transgressions And O my obdurate Soul canst thou behold this tragical Spectacle without Indignation against thy Sins which were the Cause of it Does not thy Heart rise against thy Sins whilst thou here beholdest him weltering in his Blood and hearest those gaping Wounds it issueth from proclaiming them his Assassines and Murderers But if thou hast not Ingenuity enough to prompt thee to revenge thy Saviour's quarrel upon these his mortal Enemies yet methinks self-Self-love would move thee not to be fond of thy Sins when thou here beholdest how much the Son of God endured to expiate them For how canst thou think of sinning without Trembling and Astonishment who hast here before thine Eyes such a dreadful Example of God's Severity against it Does it not strike thy Soul into an Agony to behold this bloody Tragedy wherein the all-merciful Father is represented so inexorably incensed against thy Sins that he that was the most innocent Person that ever was upon Earth and also the greatest Favourite that ever was in Heaven could not with all his Prayers and Tears obtain thy Pardon without undergoing for thee the bitter Agonies of a woful Death Sure if thou hast any one Spark of Love in thee either towards thy Saviour or thy self this solemn Commemoration of his Passion cannot but affect thee with Horror and Indignation against thy Sins But then as in this great Solemnity we do commemorate our Saviour's Passion so we do also renew the Vows of our Obedience to him which as I have shewed you is very instrumental in it self to the subduing of our sins but much more when it is done in so sacred a manner For as Feasting upon Sacrifices was always used as a federal Rite both among the Iews and Heathens whereby God and Men by eating together did mutually oblige themselves to one another so the Lords Supper being a Feast upon the Sacrifice of Christ's Body and Blood when we come thither we eat and drink of his Sacrifice and do thereby devote our selves in the most solemn manner to his Service We swear Allegiance to him upon his own Body and Blood and take the Sacrament upon it that we will be his faithful Votaries When we take the Consecrated Symbols into our hands we make this solemn Dedication of our selves to God Here we offer and present unto thee O Lord our selves our Souls and Bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively sacrifice unto thee and here we call to witness this sacred Blood that redeemed us and those vocal Wounds that interceded for us that from henceforth we oblige our selves never to start from thy service what Difficulties soever we may encounter in it and what Temptations soever we may have to forsake it Now what can be a greater Restraint to us when we are solicited to any Evil than such a solemn and sacred Obligation Methinks the Sense of that dreadful Vow that is upon us should so over-awe us that we should not be able to think of sinning without Horror For Lord how shall I dare to cheat and defraud my Neighbour when 't was but the other day that I vowed to be honest and took the Sacrament upon it with what Conscience can I now hate or design revenge against my Brother when I so lately swore unto God upon the Body and Blood of my Saviour that I would love and forgive all the world Surely if Men had any Sense of God any Dram of Religion in them they would not be able after such engagements to look upon any Temptation to sin without Trembling And whatsoever Pretences of Unworthiness Men may make to keep themselves from this Ordinance I doubt not but the great Reason of their Neglect is this that they love their Lusts and are resolved whatsoever comes of it they will not part with them and so they will not come to the Sacrament because they must be obliged to renounce their Lusts there which they are extreamly unwilling to do And if this be their Reason as I fear it is they are unworthy indeed the more Shame for them but it is such an Unworthiness as is so far from excusing their Neglect that it is a foul Aggravation of it For he that will not receive the Sacrament because he will not renounce his Lusts makes one Sin the Reason of another and so pleads that for his Excuse which will be the Cause of his Condemnation But if we are honestly resolved to part with all our Sins and can but willingly devote them as Sacrifices to the Altar we are sufficiently prepared for this great Solemnity and shall be welcome Guests to the Table of our Lord If we can sincerely pay our Vows at his Altar we may confidently take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. And having thus chained up our Lusts by the Vows of Obedience we have paid there it will be hard for them to shake off such mighty Fetters or ever to get loose again from so strict a Confinement especially if we take care to repeat this our Sacramental Vow as often as conveniently we can For as I have already shewed you the frequent Renewal of our holy Vows and Resolutions does mightily tend to strengthen and reinforce them And therefore it is worth observing how much care Christ hath taken in the very Constitution of his Religion to oblige us to a constant Repetition of our Vows and good Purposes For at our first Entrance into Covenant with him we are to be baptized in which Solemnity we do renounce the Devil and all his Works and religiously devote our selves to his Service But because we are apt to forget our Vows and the matter of it is continually to be performed and more than one World doth depend upon it therefore he hath thought fit not to trust to our first Engagement but so to methodize