Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	know_v	love_v	true_a	9,910	5	5.1266	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65716	Three sermons preach'd at Salisbury the first, A.D. 1680, and again before the militia, at their going against the late Duke of Monmouth ... the second preach'd before the Right Reverend Father in God, Seth, Lord Bishop of Sarum, A.D. 1681 ... the third, preach'd A.D. 1683, at the election of the mayor ... / by Daniel Whitby.	Whitby, Daniel, 1638-1726.	1685 (1685)	Wing W1737; ESTC R28389	88,809	79

well as those who do respect us This saith our Saviour John 13.35 Matth. 5.45 is the Badge by which my true Disciples may be known it is this Love to Enemies this doing good to all which will alone declare us to be the Children of the God of Love this is proposed by Christ as a considerable part of our whole Duty Matth. 22.39 1 Cor. 13. ult and pronounced like unto the first and great Commandment St. Paul doth represent this Charity as the most excellent of Christian Graces and therefore doth exhort us above all things to put on Charity Col. 3.14 1 Tim. 1.5 Rom. 13.8 1 John 3.11 he saith it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the end or the perfection of the whole Gospel Declaration the fulfilling of the Law and the very Bond of Perfection St. John informs us that it is Christ's new Commandment the very Message which he came to deliver to the World and the best Evidence that we are in a state of Grace for hereby may we know that we are passed from Death to Life v. 14. because we love the Brethren All which must be abundantly sufficient to assure us that where this Charity and Mercy is there is the Power of Godliness But without this we can have no true Love to God 1 John 4.20 for he who loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen and all our specious Pretences and high Attainments 1 Cor. 13.2 Gal. 5.6 without this Charity are nothing worth for in Christ Jesus nothing availeth but that Faith which works by Love A Form of Godliness may be sufficient to produce within us a strong Affection to a Sect or Party this being visible in Jew Dissenter Papist yea in Publicans and Heathens saith our Saviour for do not even Publicans do so Mat. 5.46 But 't is the Power of Godliness alone which will enable us to love our Enemies to be sweet and kind in our Behaviour towards all men to rejoyce in their Prosperity sympathize with them in their Miseries relieve their Wants redress their Evils and contribute as much as in us lies unto their Happiness to be patient towards our offending Brother ready to forgive and easie to be reconciled to him Again the Power of Godliness where it resides will certainly express it self in Acts of Righteousness and Justice 't will make us honest upright and fair-dealing men careful to do no Injury to any and ready still to deal with others as we would be dealt with So that in reference to the fifth Commandment to be a just and upright Person is to give due Respect and Honour to my Superiours both natural civil and spiritual not to permit my Heart to curse or causlesly to judge or censure them or my Tongue to speak Evil of Dignities In reference to the sixth Commandment 't is to preserve the Life of others as much as in me lies and to do nothing that may render it uncomfortable when it is in my Power to avoid so doing to bear no Envy Hatred or Malice to my Neighbour nor to indulge to any thought of doing mischief to him In reference to the seventh 't is to preserve our selves and others from Impurity not to desire any lustful Converse with them or cause the Violation of that Faith which they have pledged to others In reference to the eighth 't is to preserve my Neighbours Goods not to defraud him of any thing which he possesseth either by Words as Lying and false Swearing Collusions or Equivocations or by our Deeds as Stealing Robbing Over-reaching Taking advantage of his Ignorance or any other way not to with-hold from any man his due whether what we with-hold be due by Virtue of our Promise or his Labour his Trust reposed in us or our Trespass committed against him In reference to the ninth Commandment to be a righteous honest man is to be careful to preserve our Brothers Credit and good Name not to defame him either by raising or spreading scandalous Reports against him or willingly receiving them from others Lastly in reference to the tenth Commandment it is to moderate our Desires so that we do not envy others that Good which they enjoy or long to have it in our own Possession this being that Injustice of the Heart which prompts us to proceed to the Injustice of the Hand And albeit this honest Man hath been of late decry'd as a mere moral Man by those who too much wanted Honesty themselves yet is the practice of it represented both in the Old and the New Testament Jer. 22.16 as a thing highly acceptable to God and a sure Evidence of real Piety Thus to do Justice is indeed to know God this is the whole of that which he requires Micah 6.8 Ephes 5.9 even to do Justice and love Mercy and to walk humbly with our God this is one of the weighty matters of the Law saith Christ it is a Fruit of the good Spirit 't is that in which Christ's Kingdom doth consist Rom. 14.18 Psal 15.1 2. and which will render us approved of God this will procure our Admission into God's holy Hill into which he that walketh uprightly and worketh Righteousness shall surely enter whilst the dissembling lying dishonest and false hearted Saint and Godly Knave 1 Thess 4.6 will be most certainly excluded from these happy Mansions for God is the Avenger of all such The Violations of the Rules of Justice is a thing very hateful to him These saith he Zech. 8.16 17. Prov. 6.16 19. are the things that you shall do Speak every Man the truth to his Neighbour execute the Judgment of Truth and Peace in your Gates and let none of you imagine Evil in your Hearts against his Neighbour and love no false Oath R. Josua apud D. Pocock Not. Miscell p. 353. for all these are things that I hate saith the Lord. One of the Jewish Rabbies reckons the religious Villain and the holy Cheat among those Persons which bring Destruction on the World And truly he is one who carrieth a contradiction in his very Name to real Piety he is a Scandal and Reproach to that Religion he professeth he tempts Men to believe that either his Religion doth allow such things or to suspect that all Religion is but Policy or a design to serve some worldly end what Favour then can he expect from him whose Name and Doctrine he doth so horribly blaspheme As therefore my Beloved you desire to avoid the dishonour of God the scandal of that excellent Religion you profess as you would not reproach the practice of true Piety nor cast an Odium upon that Party which you most affect or give occasion to that proverbial Saying You will not swear but you will lye and cheat as you desire to be indeed and be esteem'd by God what you profess your selves to be true godly men or to avoid his Hatred here and

which is given him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Guide and Moderator of that Appetite viz. that Reason which the Wiseman stiles the Candle of the Lord. Prov. 20.27 When therefore we do act according to the Directions of this Guide when we permit the inward Principle to govern all our Appetites and Passions we must act regularly or in the Language of the Ancients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But when we follow the Inclinations of our blind Affections and ungovern'd Passions our Actions must be sinful and irregular and therefore Virtue is by the great Philosopher defin'd to be the observing of the mein in all our Passions according to the Rules of Prudence When therefore our Religion hath prevail'd over our irascible Passions and made us meek sedate and peaceable patient long-suffering and ready to forgive when it will not permit us to retain Envy and Malice Hatred and Anger in our Breasts or vent our Choler in reviling clamorous calumniating or bitter Words which are all fleshly Lusts or their Productions when it hath fill'd our Souls with Love Gal. 5.22 Kindness Goodness Bowels of Mercy and Compassion towards all Mankind which are the Fruits of the good Spirit when it hath so far moderated our concupiscible Passions that we love nothing but in subordination to God have no great zeal or hatred against any thing but as it tends to his Dishonour and our Souls Estrangement from him desire and hope for nothing in the World but with Submission to him and fear nothing so much as to offend him when we can readily abstain from any sensual Pleasure quit any outward Comforts without excess of Sorrow and be content to want or to enjoy all worldly things as seemeth best to Providence to give or to deny them then have we the true Power of Godliness That this was anciently esteemed the genuine effect of true Religion we learn from that Expression of Lactantius Da mihi virum qui sit iracundus c. l. 3. c. 26. Give me an angry fierce and foul-mouthed Person with a few Words of God he shall become as mild and gentle as a Lamb. Give me a covetous griping Person this Word will make him liberal and open handed 't will make him who once trembled at the Thoughts of Death and Pain to contemn both the Cross and Flames 't will make the lustful and adulterous Ruffian to become sober chaste and continent the cruel bloody Man be kind and merciful and the unjust to give every one his due Tanta divinae sapientiae vis est ut in hominis pectus infusa matrem delictorum stultitiam uno semel impetu expellat Of such a Power is this heavenly Wisdom that being once embraced it instantly expels that Folly which is the Mother of all Vice 2. The Power of Godliness consists in self-denial and the entire Subjection of our Wills unto the Will of God If any Man will come after me Mark 8.34 saith Christ he must deny himself take up his Cross and follow me i. e. If he would be indeed a Christian he must put on a stedfast Resolution to quit all the Enjoyments Honours and Pleasures of the World his dearest Relatives and even Life it self if it be needful for my sake he must take up his Cross submitting his own Will unto the Will of Providence and being ready patiently to suffer any fiery Tryals for the sake of Christ and he must follow me yielding Obedience to my Will of Precept The Weapons of our Warfare saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 10.4 5. are powerful to the pulling down of strong Holds removing all that opposition which is in our Hearts Wills and Affections to a holy Life and casting down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all pride of Soul which will not suffer it to yield all carnal Reasonings which Flesh and Blood suggest against Obedience to the Laws of God And what is all Impiety but the opposing of our Wills unto the Will of God and wherein doth consist the substance of Religion but in Obedience to and in Compliance with his Precepts which are the Indications of his Will What therefore can true Piety import but the surrendring up our Wills unto the Conduct of the Will of God What is that self-denial which the Scripture calls for as the great Duty of Christianity but the submission of our Wills unto our Master's Pleasure in those things which seem most grievous to Flesh and Blood and most to thwart our Pleasures and our worldly Appetites And what is it to mortifie our fleshly Lusts but to reduce all these Desires and Affections to a compliance with God's Will of Precept And this is in effect the same with placing Godliness in a prevailing Love to God which Love to God with all our Hearts and all our Souls Mat. 22.37 38. is saith our Lord the greatest and the first Commandment 'T is that from which all other Duties which we owe to God will naturally flow for what can be more natural than cheerfully to serve the Person whom we chiefly love and carefully avoid what we conceive displeasing to him If we love Pleasure more than God saith our Apostle here 2 Tim. 3.4 we only have the Form of Godliness and what he saith of Pleasures may with like reason be affirmed of Honours and Enjoyments Friends and Relatives or any other worldly thing we do but hypocritically profess to love God 1 John 2.15 if we love any of them more than him and therefore by the Rule of Contraries then must we have the Power of Godliness when our Affection to God is greater than our Love to any of these things Now when is Love to God so prevalent but when it doth effectually move us to part with our beloved Dalilahs to cut off Hands and pluck out Eyes i. e. to quit those Pleasures and Enjoyments for his sake which seem as useful and desirable as an Hand or Eye When therefore we so live that in the general Course or Tenor of our Lives we seek not our own Honour but the Honour of God we do not study how to please our selves in worldly matters but rather do endeavour to walk before God unto all well-pleasing when we engage as well in Duties which are prejudicial to our worldly Interests and full of Hazards as those which minister unto our Pleasure and Advantage and are entirely resolved whether it be good or whether it be bad easie or difficult pleasing or irksome unto Flesh and Blood we will obey the Voice of the Lord and act up to that Resolution then do we in our Lives express the Power of Godliness 3. As Godliness doth in the larger acceptation of the Word include Justice and Charity towards our Neighbours so where the Power of it doth reside it will express it self in conscientious performance of these Duties to him it will possess us with a fervent Love to all Mankind to Friend and Foe to those who hate as