Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	good_a	great_a	will_n	4,822	5	5.8442	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63904	Charity recommended, in a sermon preached at the assizes held at Norwich, upon Thursday the 29th of July, 1686 by John Turner ...	Turner, John, b. 1649 or 50.	1686 (1686)	Wing T3304; ESTC R5344	20,642	37

it the Badg and Character of his Disciples who were tied and linked more closely to one another by supernatural assistances of Divine grace by the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace By this shall all Men know saith he that ye are my Disciples if ye have Love one to another In my Discourse upon which words I shall do these Three things First I shall shew upon what Reasons or Principles the Obligation to mutual Charity and good Will is Founded Secondly In what Instances and to what Degrees it is to exert it self And Thirdly What are the great and glorious Advantages that may be reaped from it I begin with the First of these Upon what Reasons or Principles the Obligation to mutual Charity and good Will is Founded and they are these Three First The Love Imitation and Fear of God Secondly The Example and Command of Christ our Saviour And Thirdly The undoubted Interest and Advantage of any humane Society whatsoever First The Love Imitation and Fear of God That God is a Being infinitely Lovely he being the Source and Fountain of all Created perfection which in himself is contained in an infinitely more Eminent and Transcendent manner hath been already represented and this loveliness of his for the great Excellence and Perfection of his Nature is that which is the proper food of a reasonable mind to Meditate and Exercise it self upon there being nothing else that will afford it either so suitable or so lasting entertainment and it is likewise undoubtedly the noblest object for its Imitation so far as humane frailty is capable of aspiring to the Glory and Excellence of so Illustrious and bright a Pattern The Nature of God after whose Image and Resemblance the Soul of Man was Created is that which if it were not for the Cloggs and Impediments of the Corporeal part if we were not dazled by the Pomps and Gaieties carried away Captive by the false enticements and blinded by the steams of sense through which our finer part is weakned and refracted to which we should always naturally desire to be more closely and intimately united it is that in the study and contemplation of which when our minds are once fitted and prepared for so sublime an Employment we find the most perfect joy and satisfaction and it is impossible for us to think him as we always do when our thoughts are at leisure from prejudice and passion and have emerged out of the sink of Bodily entertainments to be so very excellent a Being to love him according to that loveliness with which he then displaies and manifests his Nature to us but at the same time we must be studying to be like him and to Copy out every day more and more exactly those Beauties in our selves which we Contemplate and Adore in him But if the Love of God will not perswade us to endeavour to be like him if the Excellence of his Nature will not entice and Charme us into an humble Imitation of it let his Terrours engage us let his Vengeance affright us let the consideration of his Omnipotence compel and force us let our Flesh tremble for fear of him and let us be afraid of his judgments who expects and requires from us that as he hath been so Gracious and Merciful towards us so we should be Kind and Charitable and Helpful to each other For God is not only the Maker but he is also the great Guardian and Protector of the World he is the King of the Vniverse and it his peace that is broken or in a way of tendency towards a breach and rupture by all uncharitable habits and dispositions of Mind and therefore it belongs to his Government it is included in the notion of his Providence and is a part of that great task and business which he hath imposed perpetually upon himself for the preserving by his Goodness the effects of his Power and for the Good more especially of the rational and intellectual Creation which is more peculiarly the object of his care not to suffer ill tempers and mischievous inclinations morose contentious and uncharitable Spirits so far as we Indulge and Cherish them in our selves to go unpunish'd either in this World or the other unless by a timely and sincere Repentance we return to the Love of God and of our Neighbour But Secondly The second Reason or Principle upon which the Obligation to mutual Love is Founded is the Example and Command of Christ our Saviour which with us who pretend to embrace his holy Profession and to have listed our selves as true and faithful Soldiers under his Spiritual Banner ought certainly to have very great Authority and Weight For his Example there is nothing more clear than that his whole Life was nothing else but one continued course of Patience Humility Meekness Condescention Charity Constancy and Equability of Mind of doing Good to others and of forgiving Injuries done to himself and for his Doctrin what a mighty stress he laid upon these excellent Virtues will appear undeniably by these Four particulars First That he sums up the whole Duty of Man under these Two general Heads the Love of God and our Neighbour Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind this is the First and Great Commandment and the Second is like unto it Thou shalt love thy Neigbour as thy self on these Two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets Secondly In summing up the Duties of the Second Table he reduces them all under this single Aphorism Whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you do ye even so to them For this is the Law and the Prophets And under this general Precept there is no question to be made but all the instances of Charity and good Will are comprised for there is no Man certainly by his own consent that would be Injur'd or Defam'd that would be Kill'd or Murther'd Wounded or Beaten that would be Censur'd too severely Watch'd too narrowly Interpreted too hardly Punisht with a rigour altogether disproportion'd to the guilt and heinousness of his Crime there is no Man if it were at all times perfectly at his own Choice but he would be well thought of well spoken of kindly courteously and favourably entreated and therefore this Precept obliges us not only not to do any injustice but in all cases whatsoever to shew as much Mercy as the thing will bear to shew the same Friendship Gentleness and good Nature in all the particular instances that can happen which we our selves in such circumstances should reasonably expect or should be glad to receive and to interpret all Men not by particular Prejudices and Passions of our own but with an universal Justice Ingenuity and Candour Thirdly he gives it us in charge in his Holy Gospel not only in general terms to approve our selves as Men of Candid Courteous and Merciful Dispositions but to be so towards our very

persons he Chastiseth us so lightly that it is plain he desires our amendment not our destruction but when the Punishment is never so severe yet still there is a gracious meaning and intention in it for the good of the Universe which is infinitely more precious to him than the safety of any single person whatsoever that other People warned by our Example may hear and fear and do no more so wickedly So that his Anger is indeed but an effect of his Love and that which we call his Wrath and his Iudignation is in truth nothing else but a particular and distinct branch of his infinite and incomprehensible Mercy Or Secondly when such things as these are spoken of him in Scripture they are to be referred to the purity of his Nature to which all sin hath the greatest incongruity that any two things can have to one another not that there ariseth any painful or tormenting sense to trouble or disquiet his enjoyment of himself but only according to an humane way of speaking the Holy Scripture in this case ascribes those passions to God which good Men upon the like occasion experience in themselves when they see his Divinity Blasphemed his Altars Profaned his Churches Sacrilegiously rob'd and spoil'd his Priesthood persecuted or neglected his Laws disappointed and frustrated by Enthusiasm or by open Wickedness affronted his Religion and his Honor trampled under foot either by Schism and Heresie on the one hand or by Licentiousness and Lewdness on the other And to this purpose there are two things very remarkable First That though the Scripture be sometimes very fierce in the Denunciation of Gods Anger against Sin yet it frequently dilutes and blends those sharp expressions with kind and gracious assurances of his Love and tells us plainly that it is this alone which is truly agreeable and suitable to his Nature but that the other that is his Anger or that which in the administration of his providence hath the outward semblance and appearance of it is a thing which is put upon him by the necessities of Justice and that he finds no other Complacency or satisfaction in the Punishments he inflicts but what arises from the inward sense and consciousness of those gracious ends for which those unwilling severities are designed Secondly It is to be observed that God in Scripture is not always represented as Angry and incensed at sin but sometimes as laughing at it and treating it with contempt and scorn and indeed both of these are ascribed together to him in that Prophetick rapture of David in the second Psalm Why do the Heathen rage And the people imagin a vain thing the Kings of the Earth set themselves and the Rulers take council together against the Lord and against his Anointed saying let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us he that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure not that these two passions are indeed consistent or competible together at one and the same time they being directly opposite and contrary to each other nor that God whose Nature is perfectly impassible is really capable of either of these habits or dispositions of mind But by the later of these was signified that just and condign Punishment that was in the fullness of time to overtake those Kings and Nations that were Enemies to the Gospel of Christ and opposed Christianity by bitter Persecutions notwithstanding all the innocence and the reason of its Principles and notwithstanding all that supernatural Evidence of Signs and Miracles and extraordinary Gifts by which it received its confirmation from above and by the First of them by Gods Laughing and Scorning at the vain designs of Men that reject the offers of his Grace and endeavor to no purpose to reverse his immutable Decrees is meant that his happiness cannot be injur'd or impair'd by any attempt of ours that he is not to be disappointed in his intentions or designs by any humane Policy or Strength that he despises disregards and perfectly sets at nought such vain imaginations of the Sons of Men that his Nature is impassible inaccessible irresistible that when he stretches out his mighty Arm it is not an Arm of Flesh that can oppose it and that he is no otherwise concerned at the wickedness of Men than only to punish and restrain it by his Providence and by the Eternal measures of his Power and Justice And thus I have shewn more largely than I intended what the Nature of God is that he is a Merciful and Gracious Being slow to Anger and of great Pity that he delights not in Punishment and that in the midst of Judgment he remembers Mercy that the Emanations of his Goodness are truly Natural and Congenerous to him but that his Judgments are only Secondary things things that are not inflicted for themselves but for ends of Mercy and Compassion for amendment and example for preserving the Government of the World from moldring into Anarchy and Confusion and keeping it from falling foul upon it self and this though it may be sufficient to have shewn by the plain Instances already produced yet there is a greater instance than all this yet behind and that is his sending his Son into the World to be a Propitiation and Attonement for us miserable Sinners who lay in darkness and in the shadow of death and he when he came to shew us that he was the true and genuin Offspring of so Gracious a Father the peculiar Character which is given of him in Scripture is that he went about doing Good and this was the general strain and drift of all his Miracles he did not spend his time in removing of Mountains or in calling the Sun out of its place or in any other thing that might create wonder without any real use but he healed Diseases and he cast out Devils he restored the Lame to their Feet the Blind to their Sight the Paralytick to their full Strength and Youthful Vigour his Miracles were exactly like his Doctrine useful and practical not vain puffy Ostentatious things performed to raise Wonder and Astonishment in the spectators without any real Benefit or Advantage and when he left the World he left his Spirit behind him with his Disciples which was not only a Spirit of Instruction to guide them into all necessary and saving Truth a Spirit of Courage to support them in and under Persecution a Spirit of Power to work Supernatural and extraordinary effects for the propagation and spreading of the Gospel but also a Spirit of Dilection and Love to unite them to one another and to him their Head and though this mutual Love and Helpfulness to one another in our frail condition of humanity be a thing that is tied upon us by reasons of Interest and by principles of Nature yet in a more peculiar and distinguishing manner he made