Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	john_n	love_v	true_a	4,911	5	5.7716	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09984	Mount Ebal, or A heavenly treatise of divine love Shewing the equity and necessity of his being accursed that loves not the Lord Iesus Christ. Together with the motives meanes markes of our love towards him. By that late faithfull and worthy divine, John Preston, Doctor in Divinitie, chaplaine in ordinary to his Majestie, master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.	1638 (1638)	STC 20238; ESTC S115085	27,130	53

debt for thee when thou wast ready to goe to prison for it so that now the Lord begins to grow angry with thee if thou wilt not yet love him for all this and yet this is not all and therefore Thirdly consider also that he loves thee now as fire begets fire so doth love beget love therefore saith Saint Iohn we love him because he loved us first that is his love to us should make us love him againe but especially we cannot but love him if we consider in the last place Fourthly what his love is for its unspeakeable and passing knowledge we can never conceive the height and length c. All which what should it teach us but these two things First that if we will not love the Lord he will shew his wrath and make his power knowne upon us that we are but vessells of wrath fitted for destruction as it is said Againe Secondly it should exhort us to love the Lord Iesus Christ and therefore to provoke us thereunto we should often consider and thinke in these things what right and title he hath to us how much he hath done for us and how greatly he loves yea and more then all this wee shall thereby also have these and these things wee shall by this meanes reape these and these benefits First we shall have his spirit the spirit of truth the Comforter which shall leade us into all truth and enable us to fullfill his Commandements and with facility and ease whereas else they would be grievous unto us as for example Saint Paul would soone have beene weary of preaching and suffering so much as he did if he had not had this love in him and why doe parents thinke nothing too much for their children but because they love them therefore it is that though they bee froward and untoward yet still they beare with them if then we cannot finde in our hearts to be quiet untill they looke to the Lord like as the needle of a compasse which is toucht with a Loadstone will never stand still till it comes to the North-pole then may this be a testimony unto us that may distinguish us from Hypocrites and witnesse to our soules that we love the Lord Iesus Christ for they keepe the Commandements of God in some sort and abstaine from some one kinde of sinne but not out of love to him nor in any obedience and conscience of his word but in love to themselves Secondly this is a marke of thy Resurrection from the death of sinne to the life of righteousnesse hereby shall yee knew that yee are translated from death to life because yee love the brethren now yee cannot love them but you must love the Father that begot them Thirdly thou shalt get by this thy love to him for when thou givest him thy heart he will give it thee againe he will onely alter the object but let thee keepe the affection still onely it shall be better then it was before he will purifie it from all its corruptions and cleanse it from all its sins Nor shall this be any thing out of thy way it shall be as much for thy profit as ever it was before for when thy heart is set to keepe his Commandements when it inclines to his statutes as so hee will incline it then whatsoever thou dost it shall prosper so that as it s said of the Sabbath that it was made for man that is for mans good so may we say the same of all the rest of the Commandements that it is made for man that is for his good and benefit and therefore the promise of life and happinesse is made to all alike And here by the way take this difference along with thee to distinguish thy love from selfe love for that is all for it selfe but this is all for him whom thou lovest if then thou love the Lord for thine owne good it is selfe love but if thou love him for himselfe simply without any respect to the recompence of reward then is it true love indeede Fourthly wee shall receive much comfort by loving the Lord now what is that keepes us from loving of him but our pleasures we are loath to part with them and yet alas we shall receive much more and they farre more substantiall sollider and sounder comfort by loving of him then ever we should by loving of the world or the things of the world Now doe but thinke how good a thing it is to love one that is but like thee much rather shouldst thou love one that died for thee wherefore if thou wouldst have thy heart filled with joy and comfort love him for so thou shalt have joy unspeakeable and glorious And last of all if thou wouldst indeede unfainedly love the Lord Iesus Christ consider Fiftly that it makes thee a more excellent man then thou wast before for every man is better or worse according to his love as it is set on things better or worse now Christ is the Summum bonum the chiefest good and if thou love him thou art united unto him and to his God-head for love is of a uniting nature Thou wilt say these are indeede good motives to make us to love him but how shall I come by this love or by what meanes shall I get this love into my heart For answer whereunto I tell thee first of all that if thou canst but unfeinedly desire to love him thou hast halfe done this worke already and that thou mayst have such a desire meditate often upon those motives before This is the answer Christ himselfe gave to his Disciples when they asked him how they should get faith why saith he if you have faith but as a graine of mustard feed you should say to this mountaine be thou removed and be thou throwne into the midst of the Sea c. thereby shewing them the excellency of it that so he might the more enamour them with the love of it and make them desire it above all that they could imagine and thinke of besides in comparison thereof but if thou wouldst as thou sayst thou desirest to love the Lord Iesus Christ indeede with all thy heart with all thy soule and with c. I answer and add againe thou canst not use a better meanes to attaine thereunto and get the love of him into thy heart then these First pray unto God for it for all graces are his gifts they are meere Donatives and hee hath promised to heare them that aske in his Sonnes name and to give the spirit to them that aske it that is to give the gifts and graces thereof unto them nor is he any niggard for he giveth liberally and obraideth not But thou wilt say how doth prayer beget love I answer it begets it two wayes First by prevailing with God Secondly by familiarity with him First I say by prevailing with God so did Iaacob and the woman of Canaan for considering that

MOVNT EBAL OR A HEAVENLY TREATISE OF DIVINE LOVE Shewing the Equity and Necessity of his being accursed that loves not the Lord Iesus Christ. Together with the Motives Meanes Markes of our love towards him By that late Faithfull and worthy Divine JOHN PRESTON Doctor in Divinitie Chaplaine in Ordinary to his Majestie Master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge and sometimes Preacher of Lincolnes Inne PSAL. 31. 26. Love the Lord O all yee his Saints c. PSAL. 145. 20. The Lord preserveth all them that love him and scattereth abroad all the ungodly LONDON Printed by M. P for Iohn Safford and are to be sold at his house in Black horse Alley in Fleet-street 1638. A HEAVENLY TREATISE OF Divine Love 1 CORINTH 16. 22. If any man love not the Lord Iesus Christ let him be accursed yea let him be had in execration even to the death or let him be Anathema Maranatha THESE words have little or no dependance on the words before going which are these The salutation of me Paul by mine owne hand and the reason why he thus writes is because there were many false Apostles and counterfeit Epistles went abroad in the world if not under his name but hereby saith he you shall know me from them all even by this my salutation and subscription as by mine owne hand for in all my Epistles so I write The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with you all Amen Wherefore to consider them in themselves St. Paul hating those as we use to doe who speake evill of them we love doth here pronounce a curse against them that love not the Lord Iesus Christ and the reason why he doth so is because he cannot endure to heare him evill spoken of by any blasphemous tongue So that this then is the scope and drift of the Apostle in this place namely to commend Love unto us and above all other the love of the Lord Iesus Christ and to exhort us by all meanes thereunto in which exhortation let me desire you to observe with me these two reasons why we should thus love him Whereof the first is taken from the Necessity of it he is accursed that loves him not second is taken from the Equity or object of his love the Lord Iesus Christ. If any man love not the Lord Iesus Christ let him be c. There is not much difficulty in the words yet fome there is for clearing whereof I will shew you what is meant by these two termes Anathema Maranatha and so proceede for the first Anathema it is a Greeke word and it is as much as elevari suspendi to be lift up or be hanged and it signifies accursed by way of allusion to that opprobrious and cursed kinde of death which was inflicted upon notorious and hainous Malefactors who for their offence were hanged up upon a tree gibbet or any such engine according as it is said cursed is every one that hangeth c. which place is againe alledged by this our Apostle St. Paul to prove that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is c. Secondly for the word Maranatha it is an Assyrian word taken from an Hebrew root which signifies execration or cursing and therefore I so rendered it in the reading of it unto you now in that the Apostle useth two words of diverse Languages for the fuller expression of this his so fearefull a malediction and curse as if one word were not enough or that out of his zealous affection he could not so content himselfe with it we may note that by how much the more the curse is greater by so much the more grievous is the duty omitted from which premisses we may make this conclusion or draw this point of Doctrine viz. That he is worthy to be curst yea to bee curst ●ith all execration that loves not the Lord Iesus ●●rist For the further unfolding and opening whereof consider with me these three things following to wit First what Love is in generall Secondly what love to the Lord Iesus Christ is Thirdly some reasons why he is worthy to be accursed that loves him not of each of these in their order and first of the first What Love is in generall and for that take this briefe description of it viz. Love is an inclination of the will whereby it inclines to some good thing agreable to it selfe First I say its an inclination of the will where we may take notice of two things both of the subject or seate which is not any inferior part or faculty of the soule but the will one of the most supreme and potentest of all the rest And what is the nature and property the quality and condition of it it is elicita non coacta not forced but free inclined not constrained for voluntas as say the Phylosophers est libera the will is of a most absolute and free power so that though a man may be compelled to doe something against his liking yet he can never be forced to doe any thing against his will at lest his will cannot be forced that like a Queene in her Throwne is alwayes free Secondly I say its an inclination of the will unto good aut verum aut apparens either for that it is so indeede or at least for the present appeare● and seemes so to be unto it according to 〈◊〉 trite and true axiome of the Schooles too bonum est objectum voluntatis the Adequate object of the will is onely good yet not every good neither but bonum sibi conveniens such a good as is agreeable to it selfe that onely is the object of love Now by this you conceive the second thing what love to the Lord Iesus Christ is and it is nothing else but an intensive bending of the mind unto Christ as the most necessary and suitablest thing for it that may be the Summum bonum the chiefest good of all that it can desire so that it desires and loves nothing like him Now the properties whereby we shall know whether our love to the Lord Iesus Christ be such or not are especially these three First it alwayes desires to have the thing it loves cannot be contented with any thing else but him as being the proper Center of the soule which is never at quiet so long as it is out of his place agreeable to that of a Father Fecistinos Domine ad te inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescit in te Thou hast made us O Lord and our heart is never at rest till it rest in thee it is his fruition that gives it satisfaction againe as it desires the fruition of him so it desires as much Secondly the conjunction and union with him to be one with him and he with us and therefore it hates whatsoever may hinder it and seekes whatsoever may helpe it therein and being thus once conjoyned and enjoying it it

or pride or profit or what else thou wilt or canst name besides yea thou must love him above thy selfe and thine owne salvation so that if his glory and any or all of these come in competition together thou canst be content to be accursed for his sake to have thy name razed out of the booke of life and to be Anathema for Christ then is thy love such as God will accept of for this is that selfe-deniall which Christ himselfe speakes of and calls for of us But thou wilt say durus est hic sermo this is an hard saying how shall I be able to doe this to which I answer Thou shalt doe it the better by considering that he is better then all things and that the whole world is not to be compared with him I count that all the afflictions of this life are not worthy the glory that shall be revealed saith the Apostle and that made him endure such persecutions for the Gospell as he did with joy and patience and so if thou be once come to that passe as to know and be perswaded in thy conscience of the incomparable worth and excellency of Christ thou wilt make more reckoning of him then of all the world besides for as he himselfe said of himselfe He that will not deny himselfe and take up his crosse and follow mee is not worthy of mee so he that loves any thing else above or equall with Christ is not worthy of him no thou must be wholly his as he is as he is wholly thine and hath betroathed thee unto himselfe so that as a Virgin that hath betaken her selfe to an husband must forsake all other and cleave or keepe her constantly unto him so long as they both shall live so wee being married unto Christ must not play the Harlot and goe a whooring after other Gods but must be wholly his as he is wholly thine But thou wilt say he is not wholly mine for he is the Saints too To which I answer he is indivisible hee is not divided but is wholly thine as wel as theirs so then if thou wilt love the Lord Christ truely and purely as he would thou shouldst thou must love him so as that all that is within thee be set upon him But thou wilt say againe yet further what must wee love nothing else but him then to which I answer Yes that thou mayst so as it be with a subordinate and not with an adulterous love as a woman may love another man besides her husband but it must not be with such a love as she loves her husband withall she may not love his bed it must be onely with a neighbourly and civill but not with a conjugall or matrimoniall love and so thou mayst love thy lands thy life thy friends c. but so as thou art ready to part with all for love of Christ so that hereby shalt thou know whether thy love be an adulterous love or not if when he bids us follow the duties of our callings and we suffer our selves to be drawne away by vaine delights and doe not therein abide with God as the Apostle speakes that is use it not to the glory of God and the good of the Church and Common-wealth wherein we live and so for any other matter if we cannot be content it should give place to Christ then is our love unlawfull and adulterous yea if our lives lay upon it if we doe not yet preferre him before them wee are not worthy of him we love our selves more then him it is no true love of Christ. But thou wilt say this is impossible that a man should thus love God more then himselfe more then his soule I answer I deny not but that it may seeme so to flesh and blood but yet thou must know that to a man truely regenerate it is not so for as Saint Paul saith I am able to doe all things through Christ that strengthens me those things that to the eyes of carnall reason seeme hard and difficult to them that are spiritually enlightened are facile and easie to be done and so is this Thirdly If thou wouldst have thy love pleasing to God thou must have it grounded on him and that requires two things First It must be grounded on faith in his promises revealed unto thee in his word for without faith it is impossible to please God neither is it so much love as presumption that hath not this foundation Secondly it must be grounded on his person not on his prerogatives or priviledges which thou shalt get thereby for if we love him onely for his Kingdome and not for his person as we doe when we cannot be content to suffer temptation and persecution for his sake then he cares not for thy love because it is selfe love and not love of the Lord Iesus Christ for then if it were thou wouldst respect nothing else but him Fourthly thy love must be a diligent love ready to reforme any thing that is amisse in thee or which may dislike him which whether it be so or no thou mayst try it by these three markes or tokens following First it will cause thee to put on new apparrell a woman that loves her husband will attire her selfe according as she thinkes it will please him best and give him most content especially when shee is to be married unto him then she will have a wedding garment that may set her forth so as he may take the better liking in her so thou if thou hast put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceiveable lusts of the flesh and hast put on the new man which after God is created in knowledge righteousnesse and true holinesse if thou be cloathed with the wedding garment of Christs righteousnesse and givest diligence thereunto to make thy calling and election sure then mayst thou be sure thou lovest him and that he accepts of that thy love from thee Secondly It will open and enlarge thy heart towards him so as thou wilt dayly love him more and more so saith the Apostle Saint Paul my heart is enlarged towards you ô yee Corintheans it is not any scanty or niggardly kinde of love that hee will like of but a full free and liberall one so that if thou canst not be content to be at some cost and charges for the maintenance of the Gospell and the enjoyment of his love thou lovest him not or at least he regards not thy love whosoever thou art Thirdly it cleanseth thy heart what is said of hope is as true of love he that hath this love in him purifies himselfe as he is pure and of faith it purifies the heart and so doth love therefore saith the Apostle againe Ye were thus and thus but yee are washed but yee are sanctified but yee are justified c. so that if you would not lose your labour if you would have Christ