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
A65667	Energiea planēs, or, A brief discourse concerning man's natural proneness to, and tenaciousness of errour whereunto is added some arguments to prove, that that covenant entred with Abraham, Gen. 17.7 is the covenant of grace / J. Whiston ...	Whiston, Joseph, d. 1690.	1682 (1682)	Wing W1689; ESTC R39755	91,886	168

to glory in and boast of now that Errour did comply with that Lust connatural unto all Men and from hence it was that the Galatians did so readily fall in with it and embrace it 2. Let us see it in that Errour taken up and so tenaciously held by the Jews Theirs was an Errour that had a compliance with all Lust or with Lust in the general They supposing them selves as the Seed of Ahraham secure as to their Covenant-State and the enjoyment of the good of Promises can now indulge themselves in the fulfilling of their Lusts without controul And thus should we go over all manner of Errours we might easily discover a compliance they have in one respect or another with one Lust or another and from this Compliance that Errour hath with Lust and the Gratification that it receives therefrom it is that Men are so prone to entertain and having entertained are so tenacious of Errour And from the whole we may infer that as unregenerate Persons are more prone to Errour and having embraced it are more tenacious of it than the Regenerate so the less the Natures of any that are Regenerate or Sanctified the more Corruption prevails the more prone they are to embrace Errour and the more tenacious are they of it when once embraced by them Hence we shall find in Scriptures that as to especially the more gross and dangerous Errours or Heresies they usually have been taken up and embraced either by Men of corrupt Minds as the Apostle speaks or else by very weak Christians such as have little Grace but much Corruption abounding in them Hence as those Seducers mentioned in 2 Tim. 2.16 17 18. and again in Chap. 3.6 are implied to be such as have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power of it so the Persons by them seduced are peculiarly said to be silly Women laden with Lusts 2 Tim. 3.5 6 7. And hence our Lord Christ gives it as a Character of false Teachers that they bring forth evil Fruit they are Men of corrupt Hearts and their Actions are answerable Mat. 7.15 or else they are very weak tho sincere Christians so it was with the Galatians Hence the Apostle writes to them as little Children Tenuitatem fidei denotat Tho they seemed to be grown Christians yet they were but little Children weak in Grace but having their Corruptions strong in them But let that suffice for the first Cause of this two-fold Evil we have hitherto discoursed of that is found amongst Men. II. Man's proneness to and tenaciousness of Errour must be in part ascribed unto Satan Satan hath no little Interest in all the Errours Deceits and Falshoods found among Men. The Deception of the World by the Antichristian Errours and Deceits is eminently ascribed unto him Rev. 12.9 He is said there to deceive the Nations he invents Errours so to speak and then insuses them into the Minds of Men. Men sometimes applaud themselves when they have as they may possibly suppose found out any new Doctrine or Tenet any Notion that differs from the common Sentiments of Professours and they think they have discovered a Truth that was before hid from others hereupon they hug it as tho it were the Fruit of their own Sagacity piercing Understandings or peculiar Diligence and Industry when alas it 's only a Brat of Satan's begetting in their Fancies and subtilly conveyed to their Understandings Satan is the great Promoter of Errour among Men and he is not only the Promoter of it amongst Men of corrupt Minds who are the proper subjects of his own Kingdom but he is the great Promoter of it even amongst Saints themselves Hence the Apostle Paul was so jealous of the Corinthians 2 Cor. 11.3 I fear saith he lest as the Serpent that is Satan beguiled Eve so your Minds viz. through the same subtilty of this Serpent should be corrupted from the Simplicity that is in Christ And hence our Watch against Satan ought to be exercised with respect unto Errours as well as to any other Evils whatsoever he still endeavouring to corrupt the Minds of the Saints themselves from the Simplicity that is in Christ And not to insist upon the Power that Satan hath to deceive the Minds of Men I shall only intimate some few Reasons why Satan is so industrious to promote Errours among Men especially among Saints And 1. It is because of that Love he bears to and that Pleasure he takes in Errour as it is agreeable to his own degenerated and corrupted Nature Satan is the most degenerated and depraved of all Creatures there is nothing of Moral Good in him no Truth in his Understanding no Moral Vertue in his Will so our Lord Christ tells the Jews be hath no Truth in him John 8.44 And hence he bears the greatest Enmity unto and hath an irreconcileable Antipathy against Truth as well as against Moral Good and on the other hand hath a love unto and takes pleasure in Errour Deceit and Falshood As some Men are said to Love and to make a Lye Rev. 22.15 it seems to be meant principally of Errour Now if Men may degenerate so far as to love a Lye the like is true and that in a higher Degree of Satan he loves a Lye hence he is said to be the Father of a Lye in the place before mentioned whence he is still suggesting Errour and Deceit to the Minds of Men and that meerly from that Love he bears to and Pleasure he takes therein As it is said of God he is the Father of Mercy 2 Cor. 1.3 He sheweth Mercy from his own native Inclination and Propensity thereunto tho there be no other Motive but the Misery of the Creature so Satan is the Father of a Lye he promotes it among Men from his meer love to and pleasure in it 2. It is because he takes Pleasure and Delight in deceiving and deluding Men. And this Pleasure and Delight eminently ariseth from the Gratification of his own Luts thereby for Satan hath his Lusts as well as Men John 8.44 and these Lusts are gratified by his deceiving and deluding of Men As for Instance 1. In that Lust of Pride Satan is the proudest of all Creatures and he is eminently proud of his intellectual Endowments Hence he accounts it his Glory and prides himself in over-reaching and deluding Men and the wiser any are the more doth Satan endeavour to deceive them the more he prides himself in deceiving them And hence in some Sense it is a greater Pleasure and Delight to Satan to delude and deceive Saints then to deceive and delude others because they have a higher Degree of Wisdom than others have and consequently he accounts it a greater Glory to deceive them than others 2. There is his love of Soveraignty and Dominion He would be a God would have an universal Dominion over all Men and by deluding and deceiving them he conquers and subdues them to himself at least so far as they are deceived by

special of Men's tenaciousness of Errour when once taken up and Embraced by them and that is carnal or corrupted Self-Love This self-Self-Love is the Cause and Root of all Evils and this is an Evil incident not only to unregenerate Persons Causa radix omnium malorum Musc but to Saints themselves yea there is too much of it in the best of Saints tho there be a true Love to God yet Self-Love so prevails as that Love to God is much weakened thereby tho they love God sincerely yet they may love him too little and themselves too much and this Self-Love is over and above the three former the great Cause of Men's tenaciousness of Errour when taken up and embraced by them And if it be said How doth this carnal and corrupt Self-Love work towards Men's tenacious holding of Errour when taken up and embraced by them 1. I answer Self-Love causes Men to over-value and over-ween themselves and in particular their own Understandings and Judgments A deep and piercing Understanding and a clear and sound Judgment have an excellency in them and are ornamental to Human Nature Now Self-Love expresseth it self in Men's wishing well to themselves Hence every one would have at least would appear to have what they apprehend an excellency in and to be ornamental unto them and quod volumus facile credimus Hence from the excess of self-Self-Love Men are easily brought to presuade themselves that that is true of them which they would have at least would have appear to be true of them and answerably apprehending an Excellency and Glory in such an Understanding and Judgment they easily persuade themselves their own are such and hereupon do overvalue themselves self-Love as one speaks is a multiplying and magnifying-Glass it represents Men to themselves double to what they are in reality and Truth Hence a bad Glass for Men to look on themselves in yet it is too common for Men to look upon themselves in this Glass Hence they conceit they have clearer and more piercing Understandings and Judgments than indeed they have and thereupon conceit themselves not liable to those Mistakes Misapprehensions or false Reasonings that other Men are subject unto and consequently suspect not themselves to have a Lye in their right Hand when yet indeed they have Lean not to thine own Vnderstanding saith Solomon implying a proneness in Men to do it and that supposes an over value that Men have for their own Understandings were they sensible and apprehensive of the Shallowness Darkness and Deceiveableness of their Understandings they would not lean unto them but when Men over-value their Understandings and Judgments they lean to them as sufficient to guide them into Truth and secure them from Errour and Deceit and no wonder who Men are very tenacious of Errour when they have embraced it who suppose themselves above the danger of it at least in less danger than ordinarily Men are 2. Self-Love causes men to conceit themselves higher in the Love Favour of God than indeed they are Men are apt to think the Love of God unto them must bear a proportion to the value they have for themselves and hence conceit themselves to be peculiarly priviledged with the Knowledg of Truth and that God from that Love he bears to them will secure them from Errour It was not form Haman's Desert so much as from his Self-Love that he flatters himself with a conceit of being Ahasuerus his Favourite and consequently the only Man whom he delighted to honour Self-Love often causes Men to think they are higher in the Love of Men than indeed they are and answerably they are apt to over rate the Love of God to them and suppose themselves to be as high in his Love as they suppose themselves to be in the Love of Men not but that there are some who are especial Favourites of God and answerably are priviledged with a special Knowledg of Truth and secured from at least any gross Errours but many meerly through Self-Love arrogate this to themselves when they have no just ground so to do Hence suspect not themselves of those Errours they have indeed taken up and embraced 3. Self-Love begets in Men an unwillingness to take notice of and blinds their Minds that they do not see their own Defects Weaknesess and Imperfections The old proverb is Vbi amor ibi nulla deformitas And by how much the stronger Love is by so much the more unwilling Men are to take notice of the more effectually are their Minds blinded by it that they neither do nor can see any Deformity in its Object It is to admiration how the excessive Love of some Parents to their Children will blind their Eyes that they see not those Evils and Miscarriages in them which are obvious and plain to all others Now as a Man is nearest to himself so Love ordinarily worketh most strongly towards himself Hence their Self-Love blinds their Minds that they see not their own Evils but flatter themselves as tho Innocent when yet all others cannot but greatly condemn them See Psal 36.2 Hence it seems to be that David himself saw not his Evils in the Murther of Vriah and committing Adultery with Bathsheba and after taking her to be his Wife and therefore Nathan endeavours his Conviction by representing his Case in another Man's where Self Love could have no influence upon him to blind his Mind 2 Sam. 12. beginning Thus in point of Errour Men through the excess of Self-Love neither are willing to nor do see either the defects of their own Understandings nor the Mistakes Errours and false Reasonings they have taken up and are seduced by And hence having once taken up Errour instead of Truth are so tenacious of it 4. Self-Love opposes Men in owning and acknowledging themselves under any Guilt whether of Errour it self or any other Sin as the effect of it how hard is it to convince Men that are under the prevalency of Self Love that they are under any Guilt through the prevalency of Self-Love Men are willing to persuade themselves all is well between God and them and thereupon to speak Peace to themselves they have more Charity for themselves than to suppose themselves Guilty and besides were they Guilty they must own the displeasure of God out against them and that they are in danger of Judgments and Chastisements from him but this they are unwilling should be and therefore are willing to persuade themselves that it is not and yet further suppose they are Guilty they must apply themselves to those hard and unpleasing Works of Repentance and Self-Humiliation which they are unwilling to do and hence would fain have all things well with them at present And hereupon tho they have taken up and embraced Errour yet they are so hardly convinced of it grant but such a Doctrine or Tenet which they have espoused to be an Errour they must have lower thoughts of themselves than they have or are willing