Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	heart_n	life_n	sin_n	4,868	5	4.2787	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23663	A discourse of the nature, ends, and difference of the two covenants evincing in special, that faith as justifying, is not opposed to works of evangelical obedience : with an appendix of the nature and difference of saving and ineffectual faith, and the	Allen, William, d. 1686.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.	1673 (1673)	Wing A1061; ESTC R5298	108,111	235

exercised about these things And hence comes that change which is made in the Hearts and Lives of true Believers who walk by Faith and not by Sight that is they govern their Lives by the belief of invisible and not sensible things 2 Cor. 5. 7. This in general But more particularly the Faith of Ass●nt in the Understanding works the Faith of Consent in the Will by its operation upon those three Passions or Affections of the Will Hope Fear and Love 1. As a firm asse●ting to the Truth of God's Promise through Christ of pardon of Sin and Eternal Life upon Condition of Repentance and new Obedience together with his Faith gives a man hope and confidence of obtaining these great benefits upon the terms on which they were promised The hope of this happiness causeth a Man to be willing to comply with the Condition upon which it is promised in order to the obtaining the happiness it self There is a Principle of self love planted by God in the nature of every Man by which he doth naturally desire and aspire after the happiness of his own being And that will put a man upon the use of such means and the performance of such a Condition without which he believes and is verily perswaded he cannot be happy Now every Man in whom there is the Faith of assent unto the Truth of God's Testimony in the Gospel firmly fixed being verily perswaded that everlasting happiness is not attainable without Repentance Regeneration and sincere Obedience because God hath declared this as plainly as he hath done any thing And it is the nature of Faith to acquiesce in his Testimony The love of the end which is Mans own happiness makes him in love with the means such as is Repenting Mortifying and Obeying work without which he cannot attain his end in being happy This Principle of self-Self-love under the conduct of a Mans Understanding and Reason enlightned and regulated by a Declaration of the Divine Will and influenced by a firm belief of it will work in a Man new apprehensions of and new Affections to both Sin and Duty and will cause him to abandon the little pleasures of sin which are but for a season that he may come to the fruition of that fulness of joy and those Rivers of pleasure which are in the presence of God and at his right hand for evermore when once he knows and firmly believes that they cannot otherwise be obtained Thus by Faith is the victory over the world obtained in all its temptations from Honours Profits and Pleasures 1 Ioh. 5. 4. For by such a Faith a Man well perceives that the World offers him to his unspeakable loss though it should offer him all of these that it is able to confer upon him if it be upon condition of doing or omitting to do that by which he shall certainly deprive himself of that Glory Honour and Immortality which he is well assured of through Faith in God's Promise if he overcome We see Men are so commonly governed by a Principle of Self-love in parting with a lesser good or conveniency for a greater even in the things of this life that they are worthi●y an ● deservedly counted fools that do the co●trary And therefore those are guilty of so muc● the greater folly and madness who deprive themselves of the happiness of Heaven by a sinful seeking or possessing of the Honors Profits or Pleasures of this life as the happiness of Heaven exceeds the enjoyments of this World in kind and height of satisfaction and in continuance and duration so rational a thing it is to live and walk by Faith of unseen things and unreasonable and unmanly to be governed by the sense of present things in opposition thereunto 2 Th●ss 3. 2. 2. The Faith of Assent in the Understanding worketh a Consent in the Will to the Condition of the Promise as the passion of fear is awakened by believing God's threatnings against such as do not observe and fulfil that Condition There is a Principle of self-preservation planted by God in every Man's nature by which he fears and abhors that which he knows and verily believes tends to the infelicity and misery of his being and which puts him upon the avoiding of that which he believes hath such a tendency in order to the declyning the misery or destruction it self When a Man receives such sayings into his Understanding as threaten that if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye that except ye repent ye shall all perish That without holiness no Man shall see the Lord and the like and doth assent unto them as the true sayings of God which assent is his Faith the fear of the misery threatned and the Principle of self-preservation work in him a desire and endeavour to have his sinful inclinations and appetites mortified and a care to avoid the outward acts of sin as really and truly as he desires to escape Eternal Destruction it self as believing and knowing they tend thereto and that he cannot escape the one without a sincere desire and endeavour to destroy and avoid the other And in this way Faith is a Believers Victory by which he also overcomes the World when it tempts him to sin by threatning him with disgrace loss of Estate or Liberty or with enduring of corporal punishment or death it self For he believes the punishments in the other world to be of such a nature and duration as that the worst things which Man can inflict are altogether inconsiderable in comparison of them By which belief he is so far guided that he chuses to suffer the less when his faithfulness to God and his own best interest doth expose him to it rather than to expose himself by unfaithfulnes to infinitely the greater to avoid the less And thus Faith purifies the heart of all inordinate affection to Riches Honour Ease and Pleasures Acts 15. 9. 3. The Faith of Assent or Credence in the Understanding touching the exceeding greatness of God's love to mankind in the gift of Christ for their Redemption and in his great and precious Promises made in him upon a very gracious Condition works in the Will a love to God and so a love to please him in doing those things which he hath made the Condition of his Promise When once the Understanding represents it to the Will as a certain Truth upon clear evidence that notwithstanding Mens Apostacy from God and Rebellion against him and the Condemnation they are under thereby yet God is reconcileable to them yea willing and so desirous to reconcile them to himself that as an evidence and proof of it he hath given his own Son Christ Jesus to become a Rans●me for them and that he hath made a new Covenant declaring that upon account of his Son 's undertaking for them he is not only abundantly willing to pardon all such as shall unfeig●●dly repent of their disloyalty and sincerely return to their duty but that he will also bountifully reward

A DISCOURSE of the Nature Ends and Difference OF THE Two Covenants Evincing in special That FAITH as Justifying is not opposed to WORKS of Evangelical Obedience WITH An APPENDIX of the Nature and Difference of saving and ineffectual Faith and the reason of that difference To which is prefixed a PREFACE by Mr. Rich. Baxter 2 Pet. 1. 5. Add to your Faith Virtue Jam. 2. 22. And by Works was Faith made perfect LONDON Printed by I. Darby for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church-yard 1673. TO THE READER Reader THeology is the Doctrine of the Kingdom of God A Kingdom is a State of Government Government is by Laws He therefore that will understand any thing in Divinity must understand the Laws of God And though there be many inferiour Particles distinguished from the weighty things of the Law which few do clearly understand yet is it necessary that we know in general what kind of Law it is that we are under and also that we know the most important parts If we understand not the Law of Tything Mint and Cummin we must not be ignorant of Iudgment Mercy and Faith Matth. 23. 23. They that tell us we are now under no Laws do tell us thereby that we are under no Goverment and consequently that God and out Redeemer Jesus Christ is not the Governour of Believers And he that knoweth that the Name GOD doth signifie the Divine Relation to Man as well as the Divine Nature will know that this is to deny a God and to deny Iesus Christ and rather to be called Atheism and Infidelity than Antinomianism Even they that had not the written Law of Moses had a Law of Nature partly written out upon their hearts And Christians have both the Law of Nature Extrinsick and the written Law of Christ and both acccording to the various measures of Grace written out upon their hearts that is received by knowledge Faith Love and readiness to obey But they that know that we are under a Law as those in Heaven even Angels are yet do not all well understand what Law it is and on what terms the World or the Church are governed and must be judged That the first Law of Natural Innocency as alone or as to the Promissory part or as to threatning without mercies or remedy is it that any part of the Earth is now governed by or under is an intolerable Errour God promiseth not sinners everlasting life on condition they be no sinners That Promise ceased by a Cessation of the Subjects capacity without any more ado or possibility of reviving it Nor doth God deal with any people according to the sole threatning of that Law without mercy dispensation or remedy The Law of Grace was as truly made with all men in Adam Gen. 3. 15. as the Law of Innocency was Though the Serpents Seed be mentioned in it that intimateth not that any were such as then in the Loins of lapsed Adam but as consequently they would become such by rejecting and abusing Grace and so contracting a further Malignity If Man as in Adam's loyns then was the Serpents Seed then all God's Elect should be such and so be bruised and not saved by Jesus Christ For all then were really alike in Adam And to say that God's meer Election and Reprobation without any real inherent difference existent or foreseen is the reason of denominating some the Seed of the Woman and some the Seed of the Serpent is an unproved fancy and irrational corrupting the Word of God All men therefore in lapsed Adam were at once under the guilt of Sin and also under a remedying Law of Grace so far as that it is enacted and offered to save those that receive it It saved not Adam himself meerly by the making of it till by Faith he had received it And no doubt but as the Covenant of Grace to us extendeth to the faithful and their Seed so did the Covenant of Grace to Adam for it was the same as was made to all the faithful before Christ●s Incarnation The case of Infants being obscure clearer Truths are not to be reduced to it And whether Cain and Abel as they were both born in Original Sin so were both pardoned upon their Covenant-Dedication to God by their Parents and Cain after lost his Infant-state of Grace as Davenant Ward c. think Infant Grace may now be lost or whether Adam and Eve neglected that Dedication of Cain to God which was needful to his Sanctification or whether God past him by and denyed him Infant-Grace of his meer will I leave to Mens enquiry and various judgments The controversie concerneth Children now as well as then and the difficulties every way are not small But of these things I am past doubt 1. That Cain was not the Serpents Seed meerly for Original Sin and as born of Adam as Abel was also nor did God make him the Serpents Seed by Reprobation but that he made himself so by superadded Sin against the Redeemer and Law of Grace 2. That all Mankind are still under this Law of Grace further than they forfeit the benefits of it by sins against it 3. That most Writers if not most Christians do greatly darken the Sacred Doctrine by overlooking the Interest of Children in the actions of their meer Parents and think that they participate of no guilt and suffer for no Original Sin but Adams only and bring the Doctrine of Original Sin it self into doubt by laying all upon Covenant-Relation and denying or overlooking the Natural Proofs Doubtless through Scripture it is remarkable that God usually judgeth the posterity of new sinners to new punishments and promises and threatnings are made since the Covenant of Innocency ceased to the believers and unbelievers or wicked with their Seed For we may well say that the Seed of Cain Cham Nimrod Ishmael Esau Saul Ahab c. had more Original Sin than what they had from Adam And Matth. 23. 35. Expounds the matter It was not in vain that Ezra Daniel c. confessed their forefathers sin nor doth our Liturgie pray for the dead but the living when it saith Remember not Lord our offences nor the offences of our Forefathers neither take thou vengeance of our Sins The Author of this Treatise beginning at the Promise made to Abraham doth it to comport with the Apostle Paul who thought meet to call the Iews to no higher Observations than the Case in hand about the Non-obligation of Moses's Law to the Gentiles did require But this denyeth not but supposeth the same Law of Grace in the main to have been made to all men in Adam and Noah and to have been in force to all Mankind before it was renewed to Abraham saving that to him and his Seed there were many great priviledges added above the rest of Mankind upon his extraordinary obediential Faith Of how great importance it is to have a right understanding of the difference between the Law of

and what else pertained to his Mediatory Office because these are the things by which the Nations of the Earth became blessed in him which was the thing expresly promised That such things were implyed in the promise appears not only by the reason of the thing but also from St. Paul's testimony Acts 13. 32 33. We declare unto you glad tidings how that the Promise which was made unto the Fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their Children in that he hath raised up Iesus again I do not say that Abraham from a Promise that was but so generally expressed as that was could apprehend in particular what the Messias should both do and suffer though they were wrapt up in it He apprehended so much by it in general that God would send the Messias into the World and that he would send him upon such terms as that his coming should be matter of great benefit to the world Abraham had such a prospect of this though at that distance as made him rejoyce and be glad So saith our Saviour himself Iohn 8. 56. Your Father Abraham rojoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad And the promise to Abraham as it was a Promise of sending Christ to be the Saviour of the world was expressive of the greatest love For in this was the love of God manifested towards us because God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4. 9 10. A Propitiation for our sins That is one that by his Death hath procured favour having taken off that sore displeasure which God by his Law had declared against all the transgressors of it For the wise and just God did not think the righteousness of his Government and the honour and reputation of his Law would be sufficiently salved and his great hatred of sin sufficiently manifested without some considerable satisfaction given for the dishonour done to Him and his Law by Mans transgression And yet that this might not be exacted at the hands of the guilty in executing the curse of the Law on them themselves he was most graciously pleased to accept of the sufferings of his own dear Son instead of what the sinners themselves were to have undergone He hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. Christ suffered for sins the Iust for the unjust or in their stead 1 Pet. 3. 18. Upon account of which undertaking of Christ for us all the benefits of the Covenant do accrue to Man What ever is required of Man by way of condition of his acceptation with God becomes accepted to that end upon account of Christ's suffering And His Intercession in Heaven through which all our sincere though otherwise imperfect performances become acceptable to God and rewardable by him is made in the virtue of it For the whole Covenant it self is founded in the Blood of Christ which he shed for the remission of sins Therefore it is called the New Testament in his Blood Mat. 26. 28. And his blood the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant Hebr. 13. 20. 2. It contained a Promise of Iustification or remission of sin through Christ unto all that should so believe as thereupon to repent of their former folly and become sincerely obedient for the future For that is necessarily implyed in the Promise of blessed●ess to the Nations in Abrahams Seed it being impossible men should be blessed without Remission of sin which consisteth in removing the curse of the Law in remitting the penalty Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven and whose sin is covered Psal. 32. 1. St. Paul acquaints us that this blessing of the New Covenant was declared to Abraham in the Promise Gal. 3. 8. The Scripture foreseeeing that God would justifie the Heathen through Faith preached the Gospel before unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed 3. It contained in it tacitly a Promise of Divine assistance unto men in their endeavours to fulfil the condition of the Promise For God in promising blessedness to the Nations through Abrahams Seed therein promised all that was absolutely necessary for him to vouchsafe to make them blessed and without which they could not be blessed And if so then he therein implicitly promised to assist the endeavours of men to perform the condition of the Promise without the assistance of whose grace they cannot savingly believe repent and obey And so it should seem the Old Testament-Church understood Gods subduing of sin as well as his pardoning of sin to be comprized in the Promise to Abraham Mich. 7. 19 20. He will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea Thou wilt perform the truth to Iacob and the mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn to our Fathers from the days of old And Christ his turning men from their iniquities which he doth accomplish by appointing them means by assisting them in the use of them to that end is part of the blessing contained in the Promise made to Abraham and was so reckoned by St. Peter Acts 3. 25 26. Ye are the children of the Prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our Fathers saying unto Abraham And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Iesus Christ sent him to bless you in turning every one of you from his iniquities 4. It implicitly or somewhat obscurely contained in it a Promise of eternal Life I say implicitly For I do not find that eternal Life was expresly promised to Abraham But yet that was expresly promised him from which the hope of eternal Life might well be inferred As first Blessedness through his Seed the Messias And secondly That God would be a God to him and his Seed For blessedness is a happiness that runs parallel with the duration of Man's immortal Soul And God's Promise of being a God to Abraham carried in it a Promise of a happiness worthy of God to bestow such as everlasting Life or happiness is And therefore he was not ashamed to be called their God meaning Abraham Isaac and Iacob because he had prepared for them a City meaning that in so doing he had answered that title of relation of being their God and done like himsel Heb. 11. 16. And upon these and the like Revelatio●s of of God's mind to him Abraham looked for a City which hath foundations whose Builder and Maker is God and a heavenly Countrey Heb. 11. 10 16. If Abraham did but use his reason about these Promises as he did about reconciling God's Promise that in Isaac his Seed should be called with his command to sacrifice him Heb. 11. 17 18 19. he might discern eternal Life in them though but very obscurely in comparison of

hath said also Thou shalt not lust after a Woman in thy heart And he that said Thou shalt not steal hath said also Thou shalt not covet and the like And therefore they that think themselves to be obedient Children to God upon account of their abstaining from outward gross sin and of being outwardly righteous and do not truly endeavour and make a business of it to mortifie and subdue their Pride Covetousness love of the World Envy Hatred Malice thoughts of Revenge the unruliness of Passions and all immoderate Affections but indulge themselves in these or any of these or the like they deceive themselves whatever their External Conformity to Divine Precepts otherwise may be They are the pure in heart that shall see God And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts God observes more what Men are inwardly than what they are outwardly and judges of them accordingly He is not a Iew nor he a Christian who is one outwardly in the flesh but he who is so inwardly in heart whose praise is not of Men but of God Rom. 2. 28 29. And therefore St. Iames counted them but Earthly Sensual and Devilish in their profession of Christianity how high soever they professed and such as did lye against the Truth that indulged bitter envying and strife though it were but in their hearts Jam. 3. 14 15. And if 〈◊〉 and passions within shall break out in an unbridled Tongue in slandering reviling backbiting evil-speaking rash and uncharitable censuring or the like how Religious soever such a man may otherwise seem to himself or others yet St. Iames hath plainly determined his case such an one hath deceived his own heart and his Religion is vain Jam. 1. 26. Mat. 5. 22. Men may go a great way in Religion yea so far as until they are not far from the Kingdom of God Yea many shall seek to enter in by doing many things in order thereto and yet shall not be able for want of striving to do all that is necessary thereto And for that very reason and because of the great danger of Christians falling short though they have gone far and done much are they so earnestly exhorted to work out or to work through their own Salvation with fear and trembling with a fear of falling short Phil. 2. 12. And not only so but to fear even a seeming to come short of the promised rest Heb. 4. 1. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it The matter is of that huge consequence that every wise Man that doth not despise his own Soul should be afraid to do or omit to do any thing that hath but the least ●eeming shew or appearance of putting his Salvation into any hazard And therefore all diligence is not too much for the wisest Man living to use to make his calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. Thus when Mens Understandings are bribed by their corrupt Wills they then take up with a partial Faith a partial Repentance and a partial Obedience instead of that which is Evangelically compleat and hope it is a fulfilling of the Condition of the Promise And when Men shut their own Eyes and stop their own Ears against the evidence of the word of Salvation that they may the more quietly enjoy the pleasures of any sin God many times in his righteous Judgment after much striving and long-suffering withdraws the assistances of his Grace and Spirit and leaves them to themselves and their own delusions and to be practised upon by the Devil for their farther hardening according to that dreadful Prophesie in Isa. 6. 9 10. mentioned no less than five or six times in the New Testament Mat. 13. 14. Mar. 4. 12. Luke 8. 10. Ioh. 12. 40. Acts 28. 26. Rom. 11. 8. Go tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and make their Ears heavy and shut their Eyes c. When Men will not receive the love of the Truth that they might be saved but have pleasure in unrighteousness God sometimes sends them strong delusions to believe a lye 2 Thes. 2. 10 11 12. Whereas on the contrary the good ground-hearers are described by the honesty of the heart into which they receive the Word They study no tricks or shifts nor use any shuffling upon the account of any dishonest interest to evade the plain Truth but are content that should take place and all other things give place to it They suffer that Word which was received and assented to in the Judgment before in order of Nature to sink down into their hearts by which the Will and Affections become changed IV. How and afer what manner Faith in the Vnderstanding works savingly upon the Will The Faith of Assent in the Understanding worketh a Consent in the Will unto the Condition of the Promise by its operative and affecting influence upon the passions of Hope Fear and Love the powerful Principles of Action in Man For though Faith in the Understanding is the first Principle of Action as Christian yet not that but the Will as it is affected with Hope Fear or Love is the next and immediate Principle of Action The Understanding when it rightly performs its Office doth not only assent unto the Truth of Divine Revelation upon competent evidence that it is from God but also considers and weighs as in a ballance the import of it and how a man is concerned in it as whether it betoken good or evil to him and how much and upon what terms whether absolutely or conditionally and what the Condition is All which when brought down to the subordinate Faculties of the Soul the Will and Affections is apt to affect them and work upon them more or less accoring as the things believed are expressed more or lesse to concern a Man And the things believed Eternal Life and Eternal Death in another World being invisible and absent things it is a mans Faith touching the reality of them that supplies the room or absence of sense For Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. We neither see nor feel the glorious things promised nor the dreadful things threatned in another World otherwise than by Faith which gives the Believer a prospect of them But a man by his Faith in that Gospel by which they are revealed hath a foresight of them as Abraham had of Christs day and that fills the Soul with hope and fear and a sence of God's love in giving such an hope And this hope fear love puts Men upon more or less care diligence and industry in doing what is necessary for the obtaining of the one and efcaping the other as they are more or less influenced by a Faith that is weaker or stronger or more or less active and