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	love_v	sin_n	9,337	5	4.8347	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10030	Three sermons vpon the sacrament of the Lords Supper. By the late faithfull and vvorthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston, Dr. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Majestie, master of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolnes Inne	Preston, John, 1587-1628.	1631 (1631)	STC 20281; ESTC S115171	49,613	90

there is a faith required in the promises of God there is a faith required in the providence of God to thinke that every particular thing is ordered by it There is also a faith in all the threatnings of God Now for the manner of propounding when the Scripture comes to propound any thing it propounds it thus and no more as you see in Moses he writes nothing but In the beginning God made heaven and earth c. And so the Apostles write Such a thing was done Iesus Christ was borne of the Virgin Mary Thus and thus he did Now when the naked object is propounded other writers what they deliver or write is rationall They use Reasons and arguments to convince men of those things which they deliver But when the Scripture sets downe any propositions of faith it doth but barely propound them for there is the Majesty of God and authority of God in them to confirme them But now here you will demand the proposition being but nakedly laid downe in the Scriptures what will enable a man to beleeve it I answer that certainly there is a mighty power that goes out from God from Christ that enables thee to beleeve with this efficacy that where the obiect is set before thee there goes out a power from him to worke faith in thy heart whereby thou truly beleevest it and so it appeares in thy life we thinke we beleeve those things but our lives doe manifest the contrary namely That there is not a powerfull faith wrought in us for all the errours of our lives though we observe them not arise from hence that these Principles are not throughly beleeved if they were it could not bee that there should bee such inconveniences in the lives of men Therefore consider if this faith be wrought in thee whether such a power hath gone out to worke such a faith that hath changed thy whole course as it will doe if it bee once wrought in thee by the power of Christ So also consider whether there hath a vertue gone out from him to worke love in thy heart to the Lord for otherwise it is certaine that there is no man in the world that is able to love God or to come neere him for all love riseth from Similitude there must bee an agreement and similitude betweene those two that love Now every man by nature is as contrary to Gods pure nature as fire is to water and without an almighty power to change his nature and to worke a particular affection of love in him he can never be able to love God therefore it s the baptisme of the holy Ghost I will baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire that is with the holy Ghost which is fire I will multiply thy sorrowes and thy conceptions That is the sorrowes of thy conceptions Now love is as fire in the heart and one fire must beget another And therefore you have it in the common proverbe Love is a thing that cannot be bought with mountaines of gold and silver yet if thou bee in Christ there goes out a vertue from him that stampes upon thy heart this holy affection that breedes in thee this holy fire of love so that thy heart cleaves to him thou lovest him with as true with as genuine as naturall and as sensible love as thou lovest any friend as thou lovest any creature in the world Consider if this bee wrought in thee or no. And so for thy knowledge there is also a power in it consider whether any such vertue hath gone out from Christ to make the knowledge which thou hast powerfull You will say what is that That is to bring on these truths which thy heart assents unto to bring them with that evidence and fulnesse of demonstration that thou shalt yeeld unto them and practise them according to thy knowledge Beloved there is much knowledge among us but who practiseth according to his knowledge We know God but wee glorifie him not as God and the reason is because there hath not gone a power with that knowledge to make it lively and effectuall to passe through all the faculties of the soule and to overrule them for if there were such knowledge it would alwayes draw affection and practise with it So likewise consider whether there hath gone a power from him to mortifie thy lusts Whosoever is in Christ hath crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts not to lay them asleepe onely but to mortifie and subdue them See likewise whether there hath a power gone out from Christ to helpe thee to overcome the world The lusts of thine eyes the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life for whosoever is in Christ overcomes the world and all that is in the world The world hath many things to worke upon us and to resist and oppose us It hath persecutions it hath disgraces it hath slanders and reproches which it casts upon holy men and upon the holy wayes of God And the men that are actours in this are the divels factours though they thinke not so as the Apostle Iames expresseth it Their tongues are set on fire of hell to devise slanders and false reports and to fasten them upon holy men especially upon the Ministers of the Gospell and so upon all the wayes of God I say they are the divels factours though they thinke not so and those that beleeve them are the devils receivers the one hath the devill in his tongue the other in his eare But the Lord hath appointed this This is one thing whereby the world fights against the wayes of God to discourage men and to hinder them that they might be stumbling blockes to them So it was with Christ he was the falling of many in Israel by reason of this so was Paul as a deceiver and yet true c. Consider if thou hast this efficacy put into thy heart that thou art able to overcome this that thou art able to overcome all the offences and persecutions all the slaunders and reproaches that are cast upon the wayes of God and notwithstanding that to think well of them and to walke in them and practise them Likewise as it hath these things on the one hand so it hath pleasures preferments glory riches credit and all things of that nature on the other art thou able to overcome all these So to shut up this point prosecute it no further thus you shall know whether you be in Christ for that is the point We have assurance in him that if wee aske any thing wee shall be heard but first we must be in him now to know whether we be in him as you haue heard there must be an act of ours and secondly an act of his which is this power that goes out from him to change to take and comprehend us So much for the first thing Now for the second if a man will apply or

receiue the Sacrament the very intention is increased but this is not all There is another thing in the Sacrament that much increaseth it and that is a thing I would have you chiefely to take notice of That is the very Sacrament it selfe the elements of bread and wine delivered to thee with the very words of the minister Take and eate this is my body that was broken for thee Take and drinke this is my blood that was shed c. For when these words are spoken to us if wee did consider well of them and thinke thus with our selves These words that the Lord him himselfe hath appointed the Minister to speake for therein is the force of them that they are of the Lords own institution therefore the strength of every Sacrament lies in the institution That is a rule in Dininity the Papists themselues who haue added fiue other Sacraments cannot deny but that every Sacrament must haue an immediate institution from Christ himselfe even from his owne mouth or else there is no strength in it so that even as it is with all things that are symbolls of other things as take markes in feilds that stand for the division of severall mens rights take counters that stand for Thousands and Hundreds the very essence of these things stands in the very institution of them So in the Sacrament except these words were from the Lords owne mouth that delivered it this very delivering of the bread and wine being a signe to you of the forgiuenes of your sinnes except the Lord had thus instituted it there had beene no force in it I say consider they are words that the Minister speakes not in an ordinary course but he is appointed by the Lord himselfe to speake them and now when these words make a new impression upon thy heart it addes an intention to thy faith and loue For example to make it a little more cleare to you that you may understand it distinctly The Lord hath said this he will forgive the sinnes of all those that come unto him hee will forgive them that forsake their sinnes and take Christ Iesus and love and feare him for the time to come The Lord might have suffered it to goe thus in generall that he hath delivered it unto you and no more But hee thought good to goe further and say thus to mankind It s true I have said it but I will not content my selfe with that but will adde certaine seales and symbolls certaine externall signes that thou shalt see and looke on and I say to thee this covenant haue I made with thee and when thou seest the bread and wine delivered by the Minister know this that the thing that thou seest is a witnesse betweene thee and me That as it was said by Laban and Iacob when they made a covenant This stone be witnesse betweene us And God said to Noah when I looke upon the rainebowe it shall bee a signe that I will destroy the earth no more after this manner when the Lord hath said it and hath appointed this outward Symboll that thine eyes looke upon I remember the covenant and this is a signe betweene us this shall bind mee to it and him likewise Now when this is done anew it may be every month this is a wondrous great mercy this is a marvellous great helpe if it be rightly understood to strengthen our faith Doth it not helpe us when we see the Rainebowe which the Lord hath appointed to put him in mind of his covenant I will remember my covenant when I looke on the Bowe in the Cloud it shall confirme me and I will not breake my covenant to destroy the world with a flood So this administration of the Sacrament when the Lord lookes upon it hee cannot but remember his promise and his covenant of pardoning our sinnes And when thou lookest on it thou art assured of it for hee hath said it it shall bee a signe and a witnesse betweene us Now I say that new impression that these words thus contrived and understood and delivered by the minister make upon the heart intends our faith and love as indeed it is a great matter to haue it spoken to us by a Minister of the Gospell sent from Christ from his owne mouth Take and eat this is my body that was broken for you and this is my blood that was shed for you and for many for the remission of sinnes This is the fourth qvalification that is reqvired that our faith and love bee intended and our union increased that the will resolution and purpose of taking Christ for our Lord receive more degrees that so we may be more fast and firmely united and knit to him which I say is done partly by the repetition on both sides for the very repetition doth it and partly by a new impression that these words take eat c make on the soule Now I adde the last thing which is required still remember the maine thing wee are upon that it is not enough for thee to be in Christ but if thou wilt bee a worthy receiver thou must haue these foure qualifications in thee that I have named already Thou must reconcile thy selfe anew thou must rub off the rust from thy soule which it hath gathered Thou must recover the distance that is growne betweene God and thee Thou must adde an intending and an increase Thou must adde more degrees to thy faith and love and after all these Fiftly and lastly this is also required which is much for our benefit and comfort namely to put up thy request when thou comest neere to the Lord in the Sacrament Now thou must not only do this but thou must also make some use of the covenant which the Lord hath made with thee for his part so that thou mayst thinke this with thy selfe When I come to receive the Sacrament I have but two workes to doe one is to recovenant with the Lord and to renew my repentance and to set all eaven and the other is to remember the Lords covenant You will say what is the Covenant It 's a Covenant that consists of these three things or points Iustification I will forgive thy sins Sanctification I will make you new hearts and new spirits and the third all things are ours that is I have made you heires of the world heires of all things you have all the promises belonging to you that belong to this life and that which is to come this is the Covenant which the Lord hath made Now thou art bound when thou comest to receive the Sacrament not onely to remember this Covenant Doe this saith hee in remembrance of Mee and not barely of mee and of my being crucified for thee and of all the love that I have shewed unto thee but also in remembrance of the Covenant and of those gracious promises which are the particulars of which that Covenant is the summe and therefore thus