Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	fear_n	john_n	perfect_a	5,796	5	8.9279	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49258	A treatise of effectual calling and election In XVI. sermons, on 2 Peter 1.10. Wherein a Christian may discern, whether yet he be effectually called and elected. And what course he ought to take that he may attain the assurance thereof. Preached by that faithfull servant of Christ, Mr. Christopher Love, late minister of Laurence Jury, London.	Love, Christopher, 1618-1651.; Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1655 (1655)	Wing L3179; ESTC R217684	182,116	237

that thi●keth he stands take heed lest he fall As much as if he should say you have here seen some men fall into sinne you have heard some men murmur so●e men tempt Christ this sho●●● make you afraid lest you fall into sinne and suffer the punishment they did But what is this ●o the denying of assurance that m●n cannot be assured of their Election Another place th●y urge also is Phil. 2.12 Work out your salvation with fear and trembling Now say they if a man must work out and ca●ry on the business of his salvation with fear and trembling then ●urely a man can never be assured in this life of his election To which I answer That fear a●d trembling ●here spoken of is not a fear and trembling in opposition to the assurance of our election but in opposition to that carnal security and sinfull dependance upon our own strength This is apparent in the next words For it is God that worketh in you the will and the deed And therefore because you have no strength of your own and no power of your own to doe any thing therefore fear and tremble in that regard Secondly fear and trembling may very well be consistent with this grace of assurance for we read Psal 2.11 Rejoyce in the Lord with trembling You may fear and yet rejoyce also So Psal 5.7 As for me I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies and in thy fear I will worship towards thine holy Temple Here is fear and confidence in the mercies of God joyned together to shew that feare and assurance may very well be consistent each with other But then they object how can this be for John saith perfect love casteth out feare I answer that though Iohn saith perfect love casteth out fear yet John doth not say that imperfect love casteth out feare Now in this life our love is imperfect and therefore mixt with feare but in Heaven our love is perfect and so casts out all feare So that still this mak●s nothing against us but that ● man may have a grounded assurance of his eternal Election Another place they object is Rom. 11.20 Be not high minded but fear To this I answer These words are not spoken of fea●ing our Election that we should fear whether we are elected or no. But serves to beat down any opinion of our own ●ighteousness as if we were therefore accepted of God and to ke●p us from insulting over the rejected Jewes now that we are taken in in their room One Scripture more which indeed is the main Pillar they rest upon is Rom. 11 34. Who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his Counsellour Here say the Papists the Scripture challengeth any man in the world to come forth and say that he knows Gods mind by Gods mind is meant Gods decree And here Paul challengeth all that no man knows the decree of God from eternity Therefore if no man knowes the minde of God then certainly none know their own Election for that is Gods minde and Gods decree this they hold an undeniable Argument And here to satisfie you in this Scripture I shall lay down ●hree things First When it is said No man knows the minde of God nor no man is his Counsellour this doth hold true that no man knows the minde or decree of the Lord touching other mens Election The Apostle doth not speak this as if no man knew Gods minde about his own but about other mens Election who are elected and who are not for that is the scope of the place The Gentiles they thought all the Iewes were damned men and they censured and vaunted over them Now saith Paul None knows Gods minde concerning others whether ●hey shall be saved or damned while they are in this world Secondly no man knows the mind of the Lord in this sense that is so as to give a reason of Gods decree why God did decree this and decree that why God did chuse Peter and not elect Iudas no man knows the reason of Gods decree and of his wayes Thirdly No man knows the mind of the Lord that is no man knows Gods decree by looking upon it alone but by bringing down Gods secret will to his revealed will and so we may know his decree I may make use of that place Rom. 10.8 Let no man say I will ascend up to heaven to fetch Christ thence but what saith the word the word is is nigh thee even in thy mouth Trust to that As if he should say Let no man think to know Gods decrees by going into heaven and there searching into Gods decrees for that he cannot doe but look upon the word and there he shall finde whom God hath elected and decreed to save 1 Cor. 2.16 No man can know by looking barely upon the decree but if we compare Gods decree with his word and from the word look upon them that are elected we may easily know whether we are elected or no. Which puts me upon the third head premised How a man may be assured in his own soule that he is elected to life and salvation by God the Father SERMON XIII 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren Give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure IN the prosecution of this subject you may remember the last Doctrine I drew forth was this That Christians should put forth a great deal of diligence to make this sure to their souls that they are eternally elected by God the Father In the handling of which I have shewn you 1. What Election is 2. That the people of God may make sure their owne Election though done from all eternity I come now to shew you how the people of God may be assured in their owne hearts that they are eternally elected And h●r● to compasse this knowledge or assurance of our Election I doe not onely carry it so farre as the Papists doe that say you may have a perswasion which they call Fides conjecturalis a conjectural faith or hope you may be sav●d but will not come up so farre as the words of my Text to be sure of it Now should a man use no more then the words of the Text in that it is pressed as a command it is an argument it may be made sure to a mans own self For no man is bound to an impossible thing and in that it is a thing required to be assured of our election the Scripture would never oblige our obedience to that which is impossible in it selfe I doe not drive so far onely but further What should an elect man doe to be certainly perswaded that he is eternally elected by God to obtain life and salvation I am now handing a doctrine to be trembled at while you are attending to it And in the resolving this quere you must take this rule that you cannot get assurance by ascending into Gods decree but by descending into your own hearts searching

obedience in the habit and obedience in his purposes and resolutions always attending him Secondly you find in Scripture that the strongest and ablest Christians who have done most for God have sometimes been very defective in the Actings of obedience that they could not do what they would do for God And therfore Paul complaines Rom. 7. The good that we would do we cannot do Paul himself that was a pillar in Gods house yet he tels you he could not go out in those Actings of obedience which in his heart he would do therefore if you would willingly do more then you do God accepts of the little you do Thirdly Though you can not put forth many Actings of obedience to God where there is readinesse of mind and heart God accepts the p●rposes of the mind for the Action it self 2. Cor. 8.12 Where there is a willing mind it is accepted of God as if the deed were done And thus much be spoken to the second case of conscience why men effectually called do so much doubt of their own call Thirdly Seeing Christians must put forth diligence in making their calling sure therefore now whereabouts must this diligence of ours be conversant or in what Channel must our diligence run that we might be sure of our effectual calling This is a very mate●ial question and in resolving of it I shall answer it in these two generals First if you would get assurance of your effectual calling you must put forth diligence to remove those things that will hinder you in making sure your calling And Secondly use diligence to set upon the practice of those duties that may further you in making this sure that you are effectually called First You must remove those things which do much hinder you from being assured and those hinderance that are to be removed I shall comprize under six heads As First you must use diligence to remove Melancholy from your Thoughts This i● a natural hinderance of assurance Melancholy is a temper in man arising from a black blood running about the body that doth naturaly occasion distrust and fear in mens mindes this temper being in the body doth work much upon the disposition of the ●oul Now if your temper Melancholy and so dispose you to distrust and fear this will be a great stop to your having of the joyes and comforts of the Lord in your hearts in assurance of his love It is a note Perkins hath upon Nebuchadnezzar when he ate grasse like a beast he writing upon that place thinks that Nebuchadnezzar was in a deep Melancholy and that did so poss●sse him that he could not tell whether he was a man or a beast though saith he he did not eat grasse but his deep perplexity seazing upon him did make him think that he was from a man turned into a Beast Beloved Melancholy in a Christian it will make him think himself an Hypocrite when he is a Saint and therefore take heed of a Melancholy lumpish and sad temper it is a very great hinderance to this grace of assurance This I lay down only as a Natural remedy Secondly A mind filled with worldly cares and running into incumbring imployments in the world this is a great hindrance of assurance The cares of this life Mat. 13.15 are compared to thorns Now thornes they choake the seed by drawing the juyce that is in the seed to themselves and so the Corn doth not grow where thorns spring The cares of this life they are like thorns in this they are of an attractive power to suck and draw the juyce of your spirits and comforts to themselves so that you cannot have the juyce of your spirits in gathering your evidences for heaven the more incumbred you are in the world the lesse clear you will be touching the evidence of your elerlasting condition The cares of this life they peirce the soul through with many sorrowes Now when a man is pierced through with many sorrows he is in a very unfit temper to be raised up in spiritual joy the more you incumber your selves in the employments of this world the lesse you will be in the comforts of heaven I remember it was the speech of a Pope when he lay a dying When I was a painful preaching Minister then I had hopes of my salvation when I came to be a Cardinal I doubted of it but when I came to be a Pope I despaired of it I was so entangled in the Aff●irs of this life Beloved so I may say to you When you were but ordinarie Christians in the world you were in a way to get assurance of your salvation but since you have been taken up with the affairs of the world it doth so distract your minde that y●u may ●● in no compos●d temper to have any setlednesse of heart about your everlasting estate It is the observation of Philosophers that the Sun is eclipsed by the interposition of the Moon the Moon coming between the Sun and our sight Beloved the Sun of your comforts comes to be eclipsed by the Moon which is made an Emblem of the world Rev. 12.9 Now if the Moon of the world comes between your comforts and you it will miserably darken and eclipse your comforts to you Nothing in the world doth so much impede your comfort in assurance as incumbring and carking cares about the things of this world Thirdly Take heed you do not harbour the guilt of any one known sin upon your conscience Keeping of sin upon the conscience is a great impediment to your inward comforts You will never be assured while you do thus and therefore if ever you would have assurance remove this It is an observation of Mr. Hildersham upon Psal 51.12 14. What doth David do when he prayes for assurance saying Restore to me the joyes of thy salvation establish me with thy free Spirit Restore my comforts and my evidences to me And what course doth he take Read verse 14. Deliver me from blood-guiltinesse O Lord As much as if he should say All the while that sin lay upon conscience unrepented of as it did for nine monthes together all that while David lost the joyes of the Spirit and lost the comforts of Heaven And therefore when he comes to renew his comforts and restore his assurance he doth with begging of God for assurance beg of God also to deliver him from blood-guiltinesse as knowing that if this sin should be upon conscience unrepented of and unpardoned he should never have the joyes of Gods Spirit restored Beloved you will never have assurance of your effectual calling till your consciences are freed from having sin upon them with approbation It is an observation that Aristotle hath about earth-quakes that they are occasioned by winde got into the Caverns and hollow places of the earth which having no place for vent again it makes rupturs and overturns houses and mountains and all before it Sin upon the conscience unrepented of is like winde in the earth