Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	heaven_n	love_v	soul_n	5,739	5	5.0400	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26309	Dying infants sav'd by grace proved and the blessd man with his blessedness described in a sermon preached near Namptwich in Cheshire at the burial of a deceased infant, July 25, 1695 / by S.A.	Acton, Samuel, d. 1740?	1699 (1699)	Wing A452; ESTC R28175	24,873	32

forfeit this Grace or to lose so desirable a Happiness as that of Heaven is Serious and devout Souls on Earth are or at least ought to be fearful of nothing more than of losing the Favour of God or that they receive not his Grace in vain O the Fears and Tears the Cares and Prayers the Watchings and Strivings of the truly pious all which speak forth the possbility of it as well as the many sad Instances we have upon Record to the end we may not lust as they lusted 1 Cor. 10.6 but avoid the Rocks on which they split But such is the state of the Godly in Heaven after Death that it renders their Abiding certain stable and unalterable There is no Evil there much less any Sin not a Temptation to incline the Will to offend no both Will and Power will be wanting in Heaven to make a forfeiture of it There is a Gulf fixed betwixt the saved and the damned which makes it impossible for them to change their Stations or to pass from one place to the other Luke 16.25 26. But Thirdly That which compleats the Blessedness of the Man to whom the Lord will not impute Sin after Death is the Happiness he shall actually and for ever enjoy in his Person in Heaven There he shall behold the Face of God and the Lamb there he shall partake of the Fulness of God's Glory be satisfied with the delights of his Presence and the Pleasures and Treasures that be at his right hand There the Righteous shall not only hear the Holy Quire of Blessed Angels and Saints triumphant warble forth the Praises of God but shall join with mouths full of Hallelujaths to God and the Lamb in a grateful memory of that kindness the Lord shewed them in not imputing Sin unto them There they shall be set upon stable and fixed Thrones their Heads crown'd with unfading Diadems and their Faces shine with rays of unconceivable Glory with greater luster and brightness than the Sun in the Firmament In a word it is a Blessedness too great to be expressed by the Tongue or to be conceiv'd by the Heart of man 1 Cor. 2.9 The most raised Imagination cannot reach it Thus we have shewed you that he and he alone is blessed whose Sin is not imputed If this be the assured Happiness of such unto whom the Lord will not impute Sin and more as is suggested it may be worth our inquiry how we may come to know certainly that we have obtained Impunity that this Act of Grace in the High Court of Heaven is past for us that our Names are there inrolled that we are the Men and Women to whom the Lord imputes no Sin and are consequently blessed Sirs 'T is certain there are Properties and Characters common to such as are thus privileged and among many I will name four which we shall find common to all on whom the Lord charges no Sin The First is sincere Love and Affection to God As it is the Fruit of Divine Love to be freed from the Imputation of Sin so 't is the property of every blest Soul to love the Lord. The Law of his Mouth is the Law of Love and Kindness his Soul is delighted in the contemplation of God's Love to him and accordingly goes forth with strong and hearty Love to him again A Man sensible of the greatness of that Wrath from which he is delivered and the greatness of that Happiness to which he is intitled cannot but express with hearty Affection the kind and respectful sentiment he hath of such Grace and Favour From hence it was that David ingages himself to love the Lord and declares his resolution therein Psal 116.1 I will says he love the Lord because he hath heard the Voice of my Supplication He hath now put me into the injoyment of that which I have long often and earnestly sued unto him for and which is in truth the answer of many Prayers therefore I will love him I cannot but love him his Love constrains me to love him because he loved me first 1 John 4.19 And this is further evident from what our Blessed Saviour says in the Parable to Simon the Pharisee telling us That Mary loved much because her Sins which were many were forgiven her Luke 7.47 God is in himself the only worthy Object of our Affection as he is perfectly amiable and altogether lovely were we not under an Obligation flowing from his Kindness in taking away our Sin but where a Soul is under this Obligation there will be a care to make some sutable return of Love and indeed our Love must be very great if it bears any proportion to the Love of God exprest in his not imputing Sin unto us But Secondly Obedience to his Commands without which 't is not possible to know our selves to be privileged Persons nor shall we ever be able to read our Names written in the Roll of Heaven There is no other way wherein we can express the truth and strength of our Love to God than by obedience to his Commands John 14.23 24. All love not so evidenced is nothing but dissimulation and mere pretence neither is there any Command that a Man will boggle at to whom the Lord imputes not Sin A sense of this Grace will wonderfully incline and quicken us to do his Will Isaiah's Lips were no sooner touched with a Coal from God's Altar importing the purging and taking away his Sin but it presently disposes him to God's Service When the Voice said Who shall go for us immediately the Prophet presents himself saying Here am I send me I am now ready for any Errand to ingage in any business for thy Glory Isa 6.7 8. If God is so kind to break our Fetters and to unloose the Cords that bound us and so set us at Liberty it is not that we should use our liberty as an occasion to the Flesh Gal. 5.13 and sin with a higher hand against God whose Grace abounds Rom. 6.1 2. but that we should love the Lord our God and serve him Deut. 10.12 which St. Paul did with all readiness not once conferring with Flesh and Blood He demur'd not nor was discouraged by those floods of Troubles Tumults Perils Distresses Afflictions and Persecutions that he might raise up against himself none of these things hindred him from a vigorous ingaging in the Work of God's Service but he was obedient to the Heavenly Vision Acts 26.19 And as it is thus evident that Obedience is the Property of such as are in truth thus privileged with the Grace of God so I doubt not but we who have some good ground to hope that we are blessed upon God's not imputing Sin unto us have oftentimes avowed our selves to be the Lord's Servants and to render him the Service he calls for at our hands Which is 1. Sincere Obedience Obedience without Sincerity is no more that which God calls for than a stinking Breath flowing from corrupt Lungs is naturally

turned into a frightful Visage by Death whether natural or violent as Absalom's was whose Beauty surpassed that of Women What is Wit but a Flash and tho it be excellent and deservedly coveted by all yet alas how soon is the sharpest Wit spoiled and confus'd by Melancholy or Phrensy And as of these so it may be concluded of all the rest of Nature's Endowments which loudly proclaim that true Blessedness is not in them Nor is it in the Goods of Fortune I confess Fortune may render you very prosperous in having the Advantage of her favourable and beneficial gales but the most she can do for you is to raise you by the wings of Fame exalt you to the highest pitch of Honour set upon your Heads a fading Diadem and waft you into the port of your wish'd for Possession Wealth enabling you to accommodate your selves with every thing desirable to the Heart and delightful in the Eyes of vain Man as in the case of Solomon But it 's not in Fortune to make you happy tho she would at once empty her self to fill you If Crowns or Kingdoms could make Men happy then Saul Ahab and Nebuchadnezzar had been blessed Neither can Honour or Wisdom else Haman and Ahitophel had been Blessed Nor can Riches and great Possessions if they could the young and rich Man in the Gospel had been blessed who from his increasing Goods thought himself a very happy Man he sang a Requiem to his Soul and caressed himself with a Come eat drink and be merry thou hast Goods laid up for many Years Luke 12.19 as if he had said Come Soul forbear to weary and perplex thy self with plodding contriving and projecting Means and Artifices for the gaining of more cease to weary thy self by toilsome Labour take thine ease thy fill of Pleasure eat drink and be merry thou hast Goods laid up for many Years But notwithstanding the great Advantage he had of other Men in appearance he was in truth no wiser than a Fool nor happier by his trusting in those things than one miserable beyond all Expression as is evident from the Lord 's own estimate of him and what he says to him in the 20th Verse And God said Thou Fool this Night shall thy Soul be required of thee then whose shall these things be which thou hast provided Neither can the highest attainments in Tongues and Languages make Men Blessed else Herod had been happy who in his Oration to the People delivered himself so exquisitely that they concluded it rather to be the Voice of a God than of a Man Acts 12.22 Also on this foot of Account the Learned Greeks had been Blessed whose attainments in the Learning of the Schools were such as raised them above the having any venerable esteem of the Wisdom of God accounting Christ in the ministration of the Gospel to be but Foolishness 1 Cor. 1.23 Now were it possible for Man to possess himself of most or all these good things at once he might notwithstanding be of all Men the most Miserable as may be concluded from that amazing and direful outcry to the weighty Hills and Mountains to fall upon them and crush them as it were into nothing so that they might be but hid from the Presence of God and the Wrath of the Lamb Rev. 6.16 But who were these that thus courted the Hills and Mountains to fall on them Were they any other than the silly shrubs of the Earth poor Men Men of a mean Figure in the World Yes for the 15th Verse tells you that they were Kings of the Earth that is such Kings only whose Sins the Lord had marked and imputed upon their living repugnant and walking in a course that ran counter to those Laws which the King of Heaven and Earth had given them and by the Conduct whereof they should have order'd all their Affairs in obedience to him their Rightful Lord and Soveraign With these also you find ranked great Men rich Men mighty Men and chief Captains which may serve as a Memorandum to the Rich and Mighty of this World that they do not crush the Poor nor hurt the Needy nor by their Power and Austerity unjustly force the Poor from their Right nor by the use of Violence and Oppression increase their Wealth insulting over the distressed like that Imperious Pope of whom I have read that trod upon the Emperor's Neck to help himself on Horseback For a day of Accounts will come when such will be convinced with great Horror and Dread that it is not in the power of Riches and Royalties to make Men Blessed And on the other hand there is no Distress so great nor Poverty so extreme nor Affliction so deep as to render that Man miserable whose Sin is not imputed Such a Man is taught to believe that his present Evils with respect to his Afflictions shall work for his good and turn to his Advantage by the disposition of God's good Providence which is ingaged for him Else the Royal Prophet had never proclaim'd it good for him that he was Afflicted Psal 119.71 Nay further by Faith in the Promises the Good whereof is that Man's Portion alone whose Sin is not imputed he is helped to peirce the Clouds of the thickest darkness and look into that delightsome Region of Heaven it self and there behold the smiles of a loving Father towards him the endeavours of a wise faithful and compassionate Advocate for him yielding him such a taste and sense of the sweetness of Divine Love as raises him above the sense and bitterness of Affliction It was this that made St. Peter and John rejoice that they were counted worthy to suffer Stripes for the Lord Jesus It was this that made St. Paul and Silas tho laden with heavy Shackles and their feet made fast in the Stocks to sing the Praises of God Acts 16. 'T is not the Evil Accidents or Indisposition that attends our Bodies or Interests in the World that can make the Man whose Sin is not imputed unhappy or miserable for the wise Man tells us That the Spirit of a Man sustains his Infirmities Prov. 18.14 A Man may have a sound Spirit in a weak and sickly Body a free and chearful Spirit in a Body closely confin'd and oblig'd to undergo the last Severities of Art and Physick as blistering blooding cupping and dismembring nay in a Body sinking by the power and prevalency of a Distemper into dissolution which of all things is most dreadful to humane nature But under such a Circumstance what matter of Joy would it be to a Man to have his weak and languishing Body restored to a sound and healthful frame and habit for which how are Physicians courted their assistance sollicited and some Men do let their Gold fly as if they had no regard unto it But to have Sin pardoned and be freed from the imputation of its guilt is much rather and more truly a ground of joy to the Soul tho dwelling in a Body