Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	faith_n	fruit_n	good_a	4,774	5	4.3724	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07450	The Christian mans assuring house. And a sinners conuersion Two sermons; the former, preached, before the Prince his Highnesse at St. Iames: the other to his Maiesties houshold at White-hall, on Sunday the 6. of February by George Meriton Doctor of Diuinitie, and Deane of Peterborough.	Meriton, George, d. 1624.	1614 (1614)	STC 17837; ESTC S112663	30,464	58

to be called who any waies do answer their calling or yeeld obedience thereunto wherof some doe it in externall profession some in heart some in both yet is calling first of all and principally directed to such as are elect It pertaineth to others as mixed in their society And hence ariseth a distinction of calling Sometimes it is operatiue when God worketh his will as well as reueales it Sometimes only significatiue when God opens his mind vnto men but for iust causes best known to himselfe spareth to work it in them In the calling of God which is operatiue and effectuall there is a double act Inuitation and admission Inuitement is when God offereth eternall life outwardly by the preaching of the Gospell and inwardly by the inspiration of heauenly desires Admission is when we are actually remoued from nature to grace taken out of the first Adam and by faith ingrafted into Christ the second for hereby are we made the reall members of the kingdome of God And this is that calling which we are to make sure Election is a decree of God in which according to the good pleasure of his will he hath chosen some to euerlasting life in Christ their Sauiour First Isay it is Gods decree for there is nothing in the world which commeth to passe either in the whole or in the parts without the eternall and vnchangeable decree of God And therefore whereas some are actually saued others reiected it is not for that their lucke and fortune was better but because God before all worlds did purpose and ordaine the same Secondly this decree is according to the good pleasure of his will for the impulsiue cause which moued him thereunto was not the foresight of faith and good works for these are the fruits of Gods election He hath chosen vs that we might be holy Ephes 1.4 but his loue his will his good pleasure We are predestinate according to the good pleasure of God saith S. Paul Ephes 1.5 And where as man first chooseth then loueth according to that of the Poet. Primum quod amare velis reperire labora it is otherwise with God who first loueth then electeth He will haue mercy on whom he will haue mercie Rom. 8.18 First there is his will then followes mercie Thirdly his choice is but of some to euerlasting life The number of the elect in the iudgement of charitie is great euen all that are called for our Apostle speaking to all the Iewes which were called bids them make your election sure The number of the elect in the iudgement of verity is small Many are called but few are chosen Consider them in themselues and they are innumerable Mundum redemit de mundo saith S. Austin he hath redeemed a world out of the world consider them with others and they are but a handfull euen as gleanings after a haruest as the Prophet speaketh All men are by nature the children of wrath Iohn 15.19 Out of these hath God chosen some he that taketh all cannot be said to choose And therefore sauing grace is no vniuersall respect vnlesse we make the streame more large than the fountaine Fourthly his choice is in Christ our Sauiour Ephes 1.4 The foundation of Gods election is Christ Iesus alone We are chosen to saluation not for Christ but in Christ As he is God we are chosen of him as he is mediator we are chosen in him And this is our election which we must make sure We know the matter of our dutie let vs goe on to practise And for our better proceeding there are foure questions to be discussed Questions 1 Why 2 Whether 3 What 4 How Why. Why should we be diligent to make our Calling and Election sure Are they not sure of themselues Are not those who are indeed called and chosen without faile to attaine Euerlasting life Paul takes it for a Conclusion that the purpose of God according to Election must remaine sure Rom. 9.11 and that the Calling of God is without repentance Rom. 11.29 I am saith God Exod. 3. not will be For Nouitas initium testificatur I am not hath beene for Vetustas finem comminatur as Tertullian speaketh I am neither will be nor hath beene but as S. Austin sayth Aeterna veritas vera aternitas an eternall truth and a true eternity Now as the Nature of God is immutable so are his wils and counsels The strength of Israel is not as Man that hee should repent 1. Sam. 15. hee altreth not by Consent and who hath resisted his will sayth S. Paul Rom. 9.19 Hee changeth not by Constraint why should wee then make our Calling and Election sure Calling and Election haue a double consideration as they are in God as they are in Man In God they are sure In Man they must be made sure I know my Sheepe sayth Christ Ioh. 10.14 there is Calling and Election in respect of God Thus are they sure And I am knowen of mine Heere is Calling and Election in respect of Man thus are they made sure They must then be made sure not in Gods counsell but in mans conscience Whether But can this assuranre be made The indisposition of our Nature is such our hidden and and secret sins so many as a man would thinke there should euer remaine a scruple in the Soule Yet it is confessed at all hands The Church of Rome denieth it not but that assurance may be made It were in vaine for S. Peter to exhort vs to giue diligence to make them sure if they could not be assured Proue your selue sayth S. Paul 2. Cor. 13. whether you bee in the faith or not Hee takes it for granted that hee that hath faith may know he hath it and therefore by consequent that he may be assured of his Calling and Election because a sauing faith is an vndoubted marke of both Reioyce sayth Christ to his Disciples Luk 10.20 that your names are written in heauen To reioice in things vnknown we cannor to ioy our selues in things vncertaine is but an induction of griefe Doubtfull presumptions proue certaine confusions We may assure our selues then that they may be assured What. I but what kind of Assurance are we to seeke after heere stands the diffe●ence betwixt Rome and vs for howsoeuer we cannot looke for such a one but that which sometimes may bee ioyned with doubting especially when temptations shall lay hold vpon vs yet say they it is to be had by extraordinary Reuelation we by ordinary meanes They say that it can be but probable We that it may be infallible Theirs commeth from hope which maketh but Goniecture Ours from faith which giueth a Certainty They maintaine certitude in respect of obiect onely that is of the thing beleeued We in respect of Subiect also that is of the party beleeuing The one arising out of the Immutability of that which cannot be otherwise then it is the

complexa est saith the Orator hath such strong motiues to affect vs as Vlisses is reported in Homer to preferre the smoake of his country before the immortalitie of the gods Yf then our Apostle had said in plain termes Countrymen I exhort you euen by the name of Iewry our promised land where you haue once pleasantly liued and wherin our father Abraham and his posteritie lie buried by all the sweetnesse that our Country hath afforded you I exhort you to make your calling and election sure the strength of his motiue were already much increased Kindred is yet a further and faster bonde and so reputed both by the law of God and man the very name whereof possesseth many with so gratefull delight as that they are ready to claime it of those who are many degrees remoued Naturall Brotherhood goeth beyond the rest in so much as nothing is deemed more odious then that those who are conioyned in bloud should be disioyned in affection But if the names of Affinitie and consanguinitie haue abilitie and force to plead most of all Christianitie which bindeth men together in the straightest coniunction hauing one God for our Father one Church for our Mother one Christ for our elder Brother being all begotten by the same immortall seed washed by the lauar of one new birth conglutinate by the sinnowes of the same faith nourished by the milke of the same word hauing all the same hope of immortalitie in the world to come The name of this Brotherhood is saith S. Basil like a precious oyntment which sweetneth by a pleasing perfume the whole Church of God and by so much is it the more forcible by how much Grace is a stronger bonde then Nature That of Nature representeth the similitude of bodies but this of Grace the agreement of mindes And hence it commeth that there is no passionate louer will endure more for his best Beloued than one true Christian brother will aduenture for another A Louer as they say is tried by these three things First hee will vndergoe any labour for his loues good so did Hercules for the loue of Omphale Secondly he will susteine hard measure offred him for her cause so did Iacob for the loue of Rachel Thirdly hee will abide whatsoeuer shee please to impose vpon him so did Sampson for the loue of Dalilah And such are the affections of Christians one to another They are content to suffer pro fratribus à fratribus propter fratres They will endure for their good Beare for their sakes put vp at their hands And why will they doe this but because they are Brethren If then Nature be able to mooue much more grace If our Country much more our Religion If affinitie much more the fellowship of Gods spirit If the name of Brother in euery sense bee forceable then out of doubt in a Christian signification it is exceeding strong Heere is then the wisdome of our Apostle S. Peter who to perswade a matter of maine importance is not content to expresse his affection in a vulgar terme he calleth vpon the Iewes not by the name of Men of Kinsmen of Countrymen c. but as if such words had been but tokens of an estraunged minde he tells them of their adoption which they had in Christ calls to their mindes that inviolable knot of loue wherewith all of them as members by the spirit of Loue were ioyned vnto Christ their head And the rather to preuaile he saluteth them by the name of Brethren in the sweetest that is in the Christian sense Wherefore my Brethren This is likewise the practise of S. Paul I beseech you Brethren Rom. 12.1 And in his Epistle to Philemon Brother refresh my bowels 2. vers Phile. Now these Apostles beloued me thinks prescribes a method vnto Ministers of a louing behauiour towards the flocke of Christ It is fit I confes sometimes to vse sharpe reprehension to fling firebrands to denounce iudgments where sinne is red and ranke Bonarges a sonne of Thunder is more requisite then Barnabas the son of consolation yet suspendite verbera producite vbera saith S. Bernard hearers may not be commonly gauled or goared It is a point of high skill to catch a soule by craft 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Paul Brethren if a man be ouertaken by any sinne restore him or as the word importeth put him into ioint Bones out of ioint must not be boisterouslie touched That Surgion deserueth praise who lightly presseth the wound and handleth it cleuerlie with the tops of his fingers not he that rudely thrusteth in his fist Manna is pleasant vnto many which cannot patiently abide the rod of Aaron Mildnesse hath bent where seuerity could not breake The horseleach by gentle sucking draweth more bloud then the Gnat doth by her fierce biting He that will cleanse a glasse must not rub it too hard least in laboring to cleanse it he breaketh it in pieces Such as seek to perswade by sharpnesse Quos volunt correctiores faciunt plerumque deteriores saith S. Austin they cleanse not but breake the glasse they pinche but they draw no bloud there actions without skill comes oftimes to ends without profit Away then with rough and boisterous cariage though thou wert as good and as great as S. Peter yet it best beseemeth thee to support with mildnesse to strengthen with gentlenesse to instruct with meeknesse to imitate S. Peter who carrieth Balme in his mouth sauoureth of the sweetest ointment and stricking out the teeth of his words least in biting the Iewes hee might chance to grieue them to expresse his loue and winne them to his purpose he calls them Brethren wherefore brethren thus much of the motiue now to the duty Giue diligence rather to make your Calling and Election sure Euerie dutie must be known and done First we must know it then doe it God willeth his people first to teach their children the law there is to know it and then to see them keep it there is to doe it These two words in my Text calling and Election stand for instruction to informe the other serue for action to reforme Deut. 4. Calling hath precedency not because it is first in Gods counsaile but for that it hath priority in mans conceiuing The former being indeed the execution of the latter And th●… order of standing in the Text prescribes vnto vs a rule of searching first to look to our calling then to our Election Calling to begin as the Text doth guide me is a worke of God in Christ by the Spirit whereby we are translated from darknesse to light from nature to grace from the kingdome of Sathan to the Church of God The absolute Lord of all creatures is God alone and therefore hath he power to call into his owne kingdome both when and whom he will It is God alone that calleth the things that are not as though they were as S. Paul speaketh Rom. 4.17 And albeit those are said

other from the meanes wherby it is perswaded vnto vs. They find it in some cōfortable feelings which are oftimes deceiptfull We hold it by way of pledge as an ernest in a bargain which putteth all out of question 2 Cor 1.22 They tell this vs is arrogācy we with S. Austin S. Austin de verbis D●…m serm 28. say this is faith they pride We deuotion And albeit this assurance be in some more euident in some more obscure according to the measure of the receit of that which giueth testimony yet are the sonnes of God sealed with au Eternall and inuiolable Character in the beholding whereof they haue an assurance of life Wee know saith S. Iohn 1. Ioh. 3.2.14 that he abideth in vs wee know that we are of the truth We know that when hee shall appeare we shall be like vnto him We know that we are of God Heere is then no morall supposition no variable conceipt of Man which begets anxi●ty and perplexity of minde 1. Ioh. 5.19 But Scientia a knowledge which giueth an entrance vnto the Thrane of Grace with boldnesse How Now our last Question and greatest is how this our assurance may be obtained The generality of the meanes saith my Text is Diligence Giue rather diligence we must not stand all the day idle in the market An put as dormitanti tibi Confecturos Deos Doth any man thinke it shall be thrust into his pocket There belongs more vnto it then hold and haue it The Kingdome of heauen comes not by obseruation Diligence that industrious workemaister must build our assurance ●or iustum est saith Gregorie vt illi consequantur stipendium qui suum commodare reperiuntur obsequium The Labourer is worthy of his hire And as Diligence our carefull endeauour is the meanes in generall so in particular must we carry this Item with vs that in our first setting out we mount not too high Qui nescit viam ad Mare Amnem sibi queras Comitem saith the Poet. The surest way to finde out the Sea is to be guided by a Riuer The beginning of our search must be in our selues and so must we goe vp as by Iacobs ladder to the counsell of our God For in our selues hath God set signes and testimonies of our Calling Election which will not deceiue vs. Heere therefore is our Diligence our trauaile our labour to be bestowed The tokens or testimonies which God hath giuen vs are three two within vs One without vs. Within vs wee haue first a testimonie of Gods Spirit Then another of our owne The Spirit of God saith S. Paul Rom. 8.16 beareth witnesse together ther with our Spirits that we are the sonnes of God Without vs is our new obedience Make your Election sure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by good workes so it is in the vulgar transtations And as this well agreeth with the scope of the Text so doth Master Beza confesse that hee sawe two Greeke mannscripts wherein these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were expressed One witnesse sayth Baldus is no witnesse vni testi ne Catoni quidem credendum est sayth S. Hierome In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall euery truth stand God therefore hath prouided for vs a threefolde that is a perfect euidence For as the number of three is compleate which is contained in a beginning in a middle in an ending So is this euidence funiculus triplex a perfect testimonie Begunne by Gods Spiritte Seconded with our owne and ended with good workes Our first euidence in Gods spirit Et vbi Spiritus testatur ambiguitas non relinquitur saith Chrisostome in his fourteenth Homely vpon the Romans And this testimonie of the Spirit is without exception neither Deceiuing nor deceiued not deceiung for it is the Spirit of truth Not deceiued for it searcheth all things euen the deepe things of God If an Angel should come from heauen vnto vs as he did to Marie and tell vs in the name of God that we were called elected would we stand in doubt Rather would we not esteeme him a Messenger of most ioyfull tidings But so much the more certaine is the testimony of Gods Spirit by how much hee is more acquainted with the minde of God then an Angel is and can lesse deceiue Yet howsoeuer as Paul witnesseth 1. Tim. 4. the Spirit speaketh euidentlie such for all that is our naturall presumption as many dreame they are Rich when in truth they are but poore boast of the Spirit and are well perswaded of their Calling and ●…ection when they are nothing lesse Yea dye in a gr●…t conceipt of saluation and yet are damned A g●…e the sleights of the Diuell are strong illusions He foisteth in many times another testimony than euer God gaue vnto vs especially working vpon the weake heart of man which being full of selfe loue is easily perswaded of any good to it selfe Two things then for our better security must be obserued First how the testimony of the spirit is framed in vs Secondly how it may be discerned by vs. It is not framed by extraordinary infusion or by Enthusiasme that is ordinary reuelation without the word It is no suddaine act in the soule or hasty conclusion without discourse but made by application of the promise of the Gospell in the forme of a practique silogisme The proposition whereof is this whosoeuer beleeueth in Christ is called is chosen to euerlasting life This is the word of promise which is opened and applied to the heart by the Ministers of the Gospell set apart for that purpose Now whilest a hearer of this word giues himselfe to meditate and consider of the same comes the spirit of God and enlightens his eies and opens his heart and giues him a double power One is a will to beleeue and the other to beleeue indeed and that in such a sort as a man with freedom of spirit shall be able to make the assumption and say But I beleeue in Christ I trust not to my selfe all my ioy and comfort is in him And hence ariseth the blessed conclusion which is the testimony of the spirit Therfore am I the child of God called and elected vnto euerlasting life This is the frame of it Now as the operation of an Angell of God may be discerned from the Spirit of God by the working for as S. Bernard speaketh Angelus suggerit spiritus ingerit So the way to discerne the Spirit of God from naturall presumption or sathanicall illusion is by effects Ex fructibus cognoscetis saith our Sauiour ye shall know it by the fruits The fruits to discouer it are especially two Couched together by S. Paul in one peece of a verse Rom. 8. It makes vs crie Ahba that is Father The first fruit is to crie to pray earnestly out of a touched heart with asence and feeling of sinne We are not able to pray of our selues saith the Apostle It is the spirit