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	let_v	lord_n	2,593	5	3.6756	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28821	A mirrour of Christianity and a miracle of charity, or, A true and exact narrative of the life and death of the most virtuous Lady Alice, Dutchess Duddeley published after the sermon in the Church of St. Giles in the Fields / by R.B., D.D., rector of the said church, on Sunday the 14th of March, MDCLXIX.	R. B. (Robert Boreman), d. 1675.	1669 (1669)	Wing B3758; ESTC R11208	27,802	56

is the Son of God will not murmure at any dispensation of his Providence should I lead your Meditations through all the Stages of her sufferings in the late bloody Rebellious times truly I might tire yours though they did not overcome Her Patience But she with a most Heroick Christianlike Courage and Spirit bore up against all the batteries and storms of plundering Persecutours of railing Shimei's and backbiting Rabshakes against whom her Innocency was no fence to keep of their approaches And as those lesser lights of Heaven shine brightest in the dark Winter nights and fire burns hottest in the cold frost so the Star of her profession shind most gloriously the fire of her Zeal to the Truth glowed with a greater heat under the rage of those who did persecute her with their hands robbing her of her goods because she would not be as they were bad rebels against the King and Church and blasting her reputation with their black Tongues not dreading to report she was a Papist or as one said before a Committee something like one and why Because she was loyal to her Soveraign a lover and Patroness of Orthodox Divines and abounded in good works If it were only Charity that did constitute a Papist I would not refuse or dislike to be so called but her soundness in her opinion and practice of the true Religion manifested to the World that she was a rare Christian a Christian indeed and not only in name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ign. One of a most exact conversation and fit to be proposed to this loose and sinful Age as a pattern of good living and as St. Augustine referr'd those that desired to profit in Virtue to the life and conversation of S. Paulinus Vade in Campaniam disce Paulinum Go to Campania and study Paulinus so would I say to any person that should desire to attain to some degree of perfection in Grace Goodness and Piety Vade ad Sancti Aegidii oppidum Disce Ducissam Dudleyam Have recourse to St. Giles's and enquire after the Life and manners of Dutchess Dudley conform your Life to Her Religious Conversation who hath left behind her there many Ladies much like unto her so may you prove a good proficient in Religion Her Patience likewise discovered it self highly all the time of her sickness which was long and tedious and in the midst of all her pains which were sharp and grievous her Soul was drowned in the Contemplation of that great Ocean of bliss in Heaven to which she was sailing through the narrow channel of this life She never complained with murmuring or bitter Lamentation as too many do in their sickness nor saying as Rebekah did Gen. 25.22 when the twins strugled in her womb If it be so why am I thus No she knew that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the gate is strait which leadeth into the City of bliss and that through many tribulations we must enter into heaven which she had learned out of Acts 13.22 and therefore embraced her Cross with cheerfulness and why should a living man complain a man for the punishment of his Sin Lam. 3.39 She in effect oft said what St. Hierome suggested to Paula concerning the death of Blaesilla Bonus est Dominus quodcunq ●ecerit bonus Deus non potest non esse bo●… The Lord is good and whatsoever a good God doth cannot be bad To conclude this particular She look'd upon her troubles as the Lot of God's Children the Physick of the Soul the Pledge of Divine Love the Badge of her profession as a Christian the Incentive of her Devotion and a mark of her Conformity with Christ her Head and the Captain of our Salvation and therefore following him she bore all with Patience To whom that she might by a closer Union be joyned Now that her Soul was drawing towards Heaven having spent all the time of her sickness in Prayer and Repentance and heavenly Conferences of which I could give a large account She as she had done oft-times before desired to receive her last Viaticum that heavenly food which might as it did strengthen her Spirit in it's last conflict with Death and in it's long journey to eternity or everlasting life I mean that which is a Sacrament as of a thankful Commemoration of Christ crucified so of a blessed Confirmation for that it confirms our Faith that Christ is and will be in all respects to our Souls I had rather say to our Persons what the Bread and Wine is to our Bodies Had you been then present and seen with what flaming devotion with what burning affection and lowly Reverence upon her Knees when she could hardly stand upon her feeble legs she received that heavenly Food that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Ign. calls it which Physicks the Soul for Eternity the seal of her pardon and token of her Communion with Christ had you then beheld her devout deportment and heard the Divine expressions which immediatly fell from her gracious lips you would hence have concluded that she was a rare Saint Having thus got a firmer hold of Christ by Faith in the Merits of his Death and Passion and grasping her Saviour in the Arms of Her Love and Thankfulness She ever after chaunted out old Simeons Song Luke 2.29 Domine nunc dimittis c. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace She as St. Augstine says of Faith tore of Death's grim Vizard and beheld under it a comely smiling face so as whiles unto the enemies of God those that are not reconcil'd unto him by Faith in Christ and the amendment of their lives it is no other than a terrible executioner of Divine Vengeance it seemed to her an Herauld of Peace a messenger of Joy a plausible and sure Convoy unto Blessedness For this cause or upon these considerations she longed after her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 her dissolution even as the weary Traveller after he hath measured many tedious miles as she had years and passed many dangers both by Sea and Land and felt the harsh entertainments of a stranger rejoyces to draw near in his return to a pleasant and Rich habitation Thus she desired earnestly to be released from Her Prison the body is such and no more to the Soul She often wished to be dissolved and to be admitted into a nearer familiarity or Communion with Christ a few days after the Lord in Mercy made her partaker of her holy wish and desire gave her an happy Release by Death and Grace to utter these last words of the Protomartyr Saint Stephen Act. 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit and when she had said this she after ninety years current spent in God's service fell asleep Death was no more to this Illustrious Dutchess then a sleep Her body after many vexatious Toils Troubles and Disquiets in this World shall sleep or rest for a while in it's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it 's Dormitory the Grave But her soul

of Sir Thomas Leigh of Stoneley in Warwick-shire Knight and Baronet so Her Mother was Katharina a most Virtuous Lady Daughter to Sir John Spencer of Worme Leighton Knight and great Grandfather to the Right Honourable now Earl of Sunderland c. The foresaid Sir Thomas had by His Lady Katharina Issue John Leigh Knight who was the Father of the Lord Leigh Baron of Stoneley now living in the County of Warwick Philip. 3.20 Our Conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ THERE is in Love so strange a piece of of Magick as to transform a man into the object of it and to translate the Soul into a place far remote from the body of the affectionate Lover S. Paul whose Soul was fired with a burning flame of Seraphick love was of this Divine and Holy Temper after his vision when he was rap'd up into the third Heaven where he heard and saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words and things which were inexpressible and doubtless beheld the glorious face of our Lord Christ Jesus the beauty of Heaven and the mirrour of Angels ever after he was yet with submission to God's will whether for life or death weary of the world which he look'd upon as a Shop of vanities a Sink of uncleanness and a Dungeon of miseries and by an holy transmigration of Spirit converst daily hourly with his God in Heaven and knowing that the only way or means to arrive at that place of Bliss that Mansion of pure delights and sublimate Joys is to follow Christ to imitate H m whose life is the most perfect Idea of all virtues the most exact rule of Holy Living he therefore in his Epistle to the Ephes 5.1 Exhorts them and with them us in these words Be ye followers of God as dear Children again 1 Cor. 11.1 Be ye followers of me as I also am of Christ S. Paul who press'd this duty to the Ephesians and Corinthians did know full well the nature of man whom an Apish and Fond imitation turns into the nature of beasts so it may be said of some men as it is Psal 49. the last verse They being in honour i. e. endu'd with reason wherewith they are honour'd by God above other Creatures for want of a right use of it to a discreet ordering of their lives may be compared to the beasts that perish When men do follow the bad examples of others and walk in crooked and by-paths which tend to destruction they may be compared to the silly sheep who will follow their leaders even into deep waters and down steep Praecipicies Non quà eundum sed quà itur Senec. Not minding where they should but where the others go There have been and are those who did and do count a defect or deformity a piece of graceful honour if by it they may be like their Superior Thus a wry neck in Nero's court was the Mode and esteem'd a piece of Gallantry as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to lisp in Julians and to limp in anothers because these defects were beheld in those Emperors But we Christians ought to be wise and prudent in our Imitations and by setting before our eyes the choicest patterns of goodness we should endeavour to heighten and advance our Souls to an evenness in Grace and virtue with the best Presidents amongst God's Saints To this end i. e. to raise their Souls to an high degree of Perfection S. Paul vers 17. of this Chap. exhorts the Philippians to propose him for a pattern to walk by Brethren be ye followers of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example To which exhortation he subjoyns a reason in the words of my Text. For our conversation is in Heaven c. The first word Conversation is in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the which admitting of divers Interpretations has caused a Variety of Constructions amongst Expositors They who with Tertullian and S. Hierome translate the same by Municipium which is the State or Condition of those who dwelling out of a City in some remote place or Country have yet the Priviledges of the same they being enfranchised belonging to them upon this account or for this reason they take this to be the meaning of the Words That although we be strangers and sojourners here on Earth however we are Municipes Freemen or Free-denyzens of Heaven and have the priviledge to be call'd and own'd by God as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Fellow-citizens of the Saints Ephes 2.17 With whom we shall at the great day of the world's Assizes Raign for ever in Heaven and partake of their Happiness But the word being of a larger acception or signication for that by it is understood many times in the Greek Fathers as Chrysostome Basil and others vitae ratio institutum a trade or manner of living which is agreeable Likewise to the Syriack Translation we may with Beza read the words thus Nos ut coelorum cives nosmet gerimus we behave our selves as Citizens of Heaven And this Paraphrastical gloss suits with that of Grotius who says that this clause Our conversation c. must borrow light for it's sense or meaning from the preceding words v. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who mind earthly things to which is oppos'd that which follows in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But our Conversation is in Heaven c. The words thus explain'd In them and those that follow are wrapt up these two General parts First Here is the Apostles protestation of his holiness in these words Our conversation is in Heaven c. Secondly His and all good Christians joyful hope or expectation From whence we expect the Lord Jesus Christ First For the Protestor S. Paul and his Protestation I remember that S. Chrysostome making mention of him says that he had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a large Soul a Soul as large as Heaven for that it was not shut up nor Imprison'd as the worldly mans is in his body nor chain'd in fetters of Earthly cares but dilated as ours should be in his love of Souls and spread in its ardent desires of Heaven or future happiness after which he panted as appears by his Cupio dissolvi Philip. 1.23 I desire to be dissolv'd and to be with Christ Thus his conversation or rather heart was in Heaven And this his Protestation in the Text of his Heavenly-mindedness did not proceed from Pride or a vain-glorious Ostentantion but only from an holy and earnest desire to draw our Souls upward by his Example to God that made them whilst we follow him in our practice by a Godly Imitation of his Virtues In the second Epistle to Tim. 3.10 The Apostle thus bespeaks him Thou hast fully known my doctrine manner of life purpose faith long-suffering charity patience to which we may add his Sobriety and Temperance of which we have a record 1 Cor. 9.27 As also his

through which at so great a distance it can look into Heaven and apprehend in some measure the glories which are there prepared and reserv'd for those that love and serve the Lord Jesus But if we raise our Souls oft upon the same wing of Meditation and look upon God in our elevated thoughts as filling Heaven and Earth with his unbounded presence so that nothing can escape the Eye of his knowledge again if we look up and behold him not only as omnipresent but also omnipotent a God likewise of supereminent Mercy and Truth who can do what he will do and will do what he hath promised This Act of Contemplation will first embolden our Faith in Prayer it will make us believe that what he hath promis'd he will grant unto us it will secondly beget in us an holy Fear and awful Reverence of his Majesty so as to do nothing that shall be displeasing in his sight or distastful to his goodness It will thirdly settle in us an attention or collectedness of Spirit and free us from wandring thoughts in our Prayers whilst our Souls are fix'd as the Prophet David's was Psal 57.8 upon God by a settled Meditation of his forenamed Attributes viz. His All-seeing Providence His Almighty Power His Mercy Truth and Justice which if we propose to the eye of our Souls and ground our Faith upon them when we commence our requests to God in the name of Christ he will deny us nothing that he knows to be good for us Seeing then that without Meditation we cannot attain to a collected Attention of our Spirits in our Prayers without which Attention these as a Rabby tells us are dead vain and fruitless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like a body without a Soul for this and in regard of other great benefits which we reap or receive by it Let your conversation be in Heaven by a frequent contemplation both of it and of the great God who is our Almighty and most merciful Father and Lord of it Thirdly let your conversation be in Heaven By your eager affection or love to the things that are above or in it For if our Contemplative Meditations of Heaven draw after them our affections to it we may be said to have our abode in it even whilst we live here and move upon the Stage of this Earth A man may be truly said to be where his mind is and his mind where his heart by love is fixed Ubi jam sum ibi non sum where I am there I am not so said that fond lover in the Comedian because his body was in one place and his heart in another Not unlike to this expression is that of Origen concerning Mary Magdalen when she came to the Sepulchre of our Lord Jesus John 20. and found not his body there Maria ibi non erat ubi erat quia tota ibi erat ubi Dominus erat where she was there she was not because her love was firmly fix'd on Christ her Lord she was only where he was the place she knew not but to his Person her heart was joyn'd thus was she in her Soul present with him though in her body she was absent from Him Anima est ubi amat The soul is there where it loves Whence it will follow by a necessary induction or consequence that if a man divides his soul from his body by a voluntary separation or by setting his affection of love upon the things which are above as the Apostle exhorts Col. 3.29 he may be at the same time Accola terrae and Incola Coeli abide in this world and dwell in Heaven Now if you desire to know what the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what those things be which are above which may challenge as they deserve the prime of our affections our love and delight and desires They are first that Purity Secondly That sweet harmony of peace and concord Thirdly That Love and Amity Fourthly That Piety that Assiduity in God's Worship All which are the Jewels of Heaven wherewith the blessed Angels and the separate Souls of Saints are adorned and beautified Now he that hath set his affections on these things and withall desires to be releas'd from the Prison of this World which is an Hospital of diseases a nest of Profaneness and a cage of Impurities and warring dissensions where too hatred and malice with all kind of wickedness raign among us and now more than ever to our great reproach and shame after so many and great obtained mercies He that desires to be out of this Sodom and to be in Heaven with Christ not so much to be out of trouble and to live at ease as to be in the Company of His Saviour to be freed from the slavery of sin and to joyn with the Saints in their continued praises of the blessed and glorious Trinity He whose Soul is enflamed with these holy desires and looks upon all things here below as Pictures drawn in Sand or Snow as fading empty vexing vanities not worthy of our least affections briefly he that is thus dead to the world and alive to Christ because his whole heart is set upon him by love and leads a Divine Coelestial Life such for kind though not for it's degree in Virtue as Christ with his Saints do live in Heaven a life that is pure and peaceable full of Charity and good works also holy and pious such a one may truly say with S. Paul in my Text My conversation is in Heaven From whence his Saviour will come at the last day and rejoyn his body to his Soul by an happy Re-union and that because his Soul in this life was sever'd from his body and fix'd upon Christ by Love Which affection if pure and sincere is ever attended with a desire of union and fruition so as to be joyn'd to and enjoy the Person that is beloved Thus he that loves the Lord Jesus and woe will be to him that does not will desire his beatifical Presence which cannot be obtain'd but by Death he therefore does not fear but wish and wait for it As a full possession of glory in Soul and Body is not to be expected till that great day of Jubile the day of Judgment Therefore God's Saints his Servants are delighted w th the thought and remembrance of it as was our blessed Apostle S. Paul who in the name of all his fellow Saints protested saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ c. This is the second General part of my Text which I term'd S. Paul's and all good Christians joyful hope or expectation we look for the Saviour c. In which words we have these three particulars to be discussed First Qui expectantes who be the expectants or those that look for Christ Secondly Qualis expectatio what kind or manner of expectation this is Thirdly Quis expectatus who it is that is looked