Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	friend_n	great_a	love_v	6,235	5	6.3276	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55395	A seasonable apology for religion being the subject of two sermons lately delivered in an auditory in London / by Matthew Pool, minister of the Gospel in London.	Poole, Matthew, 1624-1679.	1673 (1673)	Wing P2852; ESTC R36683	40,512	78

they now 'T is said of Noah that by t●●t eminent act of Faith the building of the Ark he condemned the unbeleiving world Heb. 11.7 This was the matter of Cain's contest with his Brother and the reason why he slew him Because his own deeds were evil and his Brothers righteous 1 Iohn 3.12 Abel's example condemned him and so doth the example of good men in all ages condemn the ungodly of their several generations Wicked men especially the ingenious part of them have many fine devices to paliate their sins with it is their nature or temper and that is immutable their temptations are invincible Flesh and Blood can never forbear in such circumstances or endure such severities Now when men talk at this extravagant rate as if the serious practice of godliness were absolutely impossible Behold say God and Conscience thy self confuted by these instances They do spend as much time and pains in the service of God as is necessary for thee to do they subdue those inclinations which thou pretendest to be invincible they actually overcome the temptations which thou sayst are irresistible and why canst not thou do so Ay this is the ground of the quarrel therefore these men must be reproached and Religion must be traduced that so Revenge may be satisfied Fourthly Self defence and the maintenance of their Lusts they love their Lusts and therefore dislike Religion because it makes oppos●tion against them As some fond Parents disgust those persons that tell them of their Childrens faults Sinners are passionately desirous and stiffly resolved to go on in sin without control or disturbance which they are most likely to meet with from Religion and Religious men These will be always reproving and warning them and that will be forbidding and threatning them So that in their own defence or rather in the defence of their Lusts they are driven to an enmity against them both They must disparage that yoke which they will not put on and condemn Religion that they may justifie themselves in their contempt and rejection of it They must hate and vilifie Religious persons as the Malefactor doth his Judge An eminent instance of this we have in Ahab 1 Kings 22.8 where being asked by Iehoshaphat If there was not there a Prophet of the Lord He answers There is one Micaiah the son of Imlah by whom we may enquire of the Lord he grants him to be a true Prophet of the Lord Iehovah and yet adds but I hate him for he doth not prophesie good concern-me but evil Micaiah would stop him in his career he would not have had him go ●o Ramoth-gilead to the slaughter He was indeed ● better friend to Ahab than Ahab was to himself and this was the reason of his hatred against him Fifthly Love to Calum●y The Athenian Orator being to defend himself from the accusation of his adversary premised that he was to speak to them with great disadvantage because men did generally love to hear accusations rather than apologies of which many accounts may be given Envy at the virtues of others pride to find others worse than themselves the patronage they gain thereby to their own errors by finding others as guilty as themselves and so they make an escape in the croud And all these considerations are more urgent against Religious men as those that shine with the greatest lustre and therefore calumnies against them must needs be most grateful Here is ground for an Apology for Religion notwithstanding all the miscarriages of pretenders to it or professors of it which it must be confessed and I think there are few truly good and ingenuous persons that will deny it have been in the late times grievous and scandalous and God grant us all and especially those that have been most culpable true repentance for them that they may remember that tremendous woe denounced by our Saviour against those by whom offences come I do not here plead for any of these things Blame Persons and condemn Facts as much as you please only for your own sakes take heed of condemning the Righteous with the Wicked But as for Religion what has that done this I affirm that Religion is not responsible for or chargeable with any of these things nor is there any reason why men should think or speak worse of Religion or truly Religious men upon this occasion It is held unjust and unreasonable to charge the faults of any particular person upon all the rest of his profession to charge the fraudulent and dilatory practices of one Lawyer upon all the persons of that Robe or the errors and follies of every impertinent Q●ack upon the whole Colledge of Physitians and why should Religion have harder measure than other professions have Nay on the contrary there 's great reason it should have better because of that reverence we all owe to God because of the sublimity and dif●iculty of thos●●hings wherein Religion is concerne● in which th●●●fore mistakes are more easie and because of 〈◊〉 g●●at importance of Religion w●●re mistakes and misapplications are more dangerous I do not now desire your favour but demand your justice for Religion and this I do again aver that the miscarriages of some yea many Religious men do not afford a solid argument against Religion and that for three reasons First Because all Religious men are not involved in the guilt of them There have been in all ages and so there were and are in this some Religious men that did and do sigh and mourn for those publick abominations which they cannot or could not help Now as you must take heed of justifying the wicked so must you also of condemning the righteous So then all Religious men are not liable to this charge and yet if they were Religion is not concerned in it and that because Secondly Religious men are subject to mistakes and corrupt inclinations as well as other men It was said of Elias that he was a man subject to like passions as other men were and by reason hereof a truly good man may sometimes turn aside to crooked paths but this is not to be imputed to Religion no more than ill manners are to be charged upon good Laws Nay indeed these are the effects of Irreligion or of the imperfect state of Religion in this life If a Physitian prescribes an excellent method of cure and the Patient observes some of the directions and neglect others and the cure be incomplete this is no blemish to the Physician or his Art but the blame intirely rests upon the Patients head Religion gives us excellent rules for the conduct of our lives unto perfection and happiness but if men do not walk according to these rules we may say with the Apostle Let God be true and every man a Lyar. Let every man whether Religious or Irreligious bear his own burthen but why should Religion suffer for mens extravagancies This is all that can be said Religion does not make Men Angels infallible in their