Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	affection_n	love_n	love_v	1,882	5	6.6827	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85401	Irelands advocate: or, A sermon preached upon Novem. 14, 1641. to promote the contributions by way of lending, for the present reliefe of the Protestants party in Ireland. In the parrish church of St. Stephens Coleman Street London, by the pastor there.	Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.	1642 (1642)	Wing G1178; Thomason E149_2; ESTC R5164	23,228	41

IRELANDS ADVOCATE OR A SERMON PREACHED VPON Novem. 14 1641. to promote the contributions by way of lending for the present reliefe of the PROTESTANTS party in IRELAND In the Parish CHURCH of St. STEPHENS Coleman street LONDON by the PASTOR there JUDGES 5. 23. Curse yee Meroz said the Angell of the LORD curse yee bitterly the Inhabitants thereof because they came not out to the helpe of the LORD to the helpe of the LORD against the mighty But who so hath this worlds goods and seeth his Brother hath need and shutteth up his bowells of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him LONDON Printed for WILLIAM LARNAR and are to be sold at his Shop at the signe of the Golden Anchor neere Paules-Chaine 1641. IRELANDS ADVOCATE OR A SERMON preached upon Novem. 14. 1641. to promote the contributions by way of lending for the present reliefe of the Protestant party in IRELAND 1 JOHN 3. 16. Therefore we ought to lay downe our lives for the Brethren THE sad and most deplorable condition of our Brethren professors of the same Faith and Religion with us in the Kingdome of Ireland as it hath very lately bin represented by Letters from thence unto us is the occasion of turning me aside for the present from that Scripture that I had intended to have proceeded with and of casting me upon this that so as wee have a great opportunity from Hel we may have another from Heaven also to excite and stirre you up to quit your selves like the Children of GOD and the redeemed of JESUS CHRIST by drawing out the bowels of your compassions readily and freely unto those that are or ought to be as deare to you as your selves and your owne Soules The Author of this Epistle was that Disciple and Apostle whom Christ loved that is loved in speciall manner above his fellowes who it seemes as he received abundantly of the sweet fruites and expressions of this affection in GOD and in his Lord and Master JESUS CHRIST towards him so did he abound proportionably in his reciprocall affection towards GOD and JESUS CHRIST againe the fire burned in vehemencie and strength of heate according to the pile of wood that was layd upon it And thus knowing by a double experience the infinite sweetnesse and preciousnesse of this affection he labours more then all the rest of the Apostles to propagate and multiplie it in the hearts of the Children of GOD both towards GOD and towards one another To passe by all other passages in his writings wherein hee labours to promote the cause and Kingdome of this heavenly affection in and neere about the Scripture read unto you hee makes out with a high hand and with many important arguments to kindle this fire in the hearts of men yea and to make it burne out into a vehement flame Greater love hath no man saith our Saviour John 15. 13. then this that a man should lay down his life for his friend and lesser love then this ought no man to have saith John in effect in this place Therefore we ought also to lay down our lives for the Brethren Not so much as to mention any other of his arguments adjoyning neere unto the text both before and after it whereby hee pleades like an Angell of GOD for sinceritie and truth and soundnesse of this affection we speake of in this 16 verse being come to an argument or ground that hee saw could beare it he raiseth his demands in this kinde very high and tells them in effect not onely that it stands them in hand or that it is their duty simply to love one another no nor yet to love one another in deed and in truth but to love one another to the height or to the highest pitch and streyne of this affection we ought also to lay downe our lives for the Brethren which is nothing else being interpreted but as was sayd to love one another with the ferventest and largest and deepest affections that our hearts will hold True it is such a demand as this to lay down our lives for the Brethren riseth very high as was sayd but behold an argument at hand that will justify it and reduce it to a point of the greatest reason equitie and fairenesse that can be Herein saith hee in the former part of the verse have we perceived or knowne love that hee that is JESUS CHRIST layd down his life for us as if he should say this was love indeed this was love in the glory and exaltation of it that our Saviour CHRIST so holy a person so wonderfull in Glory and all manner of excellencie as he was who had no bond or ingagement either of duty or example upon him should freely and willingly part with his life for our sakes to accommodate and pleasure us withall who were his enemies but now for us having such a patterne and example before us to conceive by and such an infinite ingagement upon us as that love of CHRIST is and such an advantage likewise as the benefit redounding to us by that love of CHRIST is to facilitate and make easy any expression of love whatsoever towards those on whose behalfe Christ shall require it it is no great matter in us it is but matter of equitie and duty in us to be so farre raised and carried out in our affections of love towards those that are our Brethren in Christ and partakers of like precious Faith with us as to lay down and part with our lives for them We shall adde no more either for the dependance or meaning of the words We shall from the passage recommend onely this one generall point of Doctrine unto you That the highest and deepest expressions of love to those that are Christs are but matter of duty from Christians when they stand in need of them For we are to take the Apostles expression or inference here with such a limitation as this therefore we ought to lay down our lives for the Brethren viz. if they stand in need of them or if we may accomodate and pleasure them in any proportion or considerable good or benefit thereby not that we ought actually to doe it at all times for then we shall be all bound to die immediatly nor yet that we ought to doe it when we may accommodate them in their necessities otherwise no nor yet to accommodate them in matters of lighter consequence though haply they cannot otherwise be gratified or provided for however I conceive this to be a case rarely incident if incident at all I meane that the common and ordinary affaires or necessities of Christians should not possibly be provided for but by the lives of other of their Brethren for them but in this sense and upon these termes we are all bound to lay down even our lives themselves for the Brethren in the Faith when their necessities are great and sore upon them and the laying downe of our lives may in likelyhood relieve

the commandement might have secmed somewhat hard and the practise of it might have bin stuck at but now since he who hath ingaged us to ingage our selves so deeply in the behalfe of others when they stand in need hath ingaged them likewise to ingage themselves proportionably for us when we stand in need obedience unto the commandement cannot but seeme very equall and reasonable as well on our part in respect of others as upon others in respect of us The Apostle taketh off the seeming hardnesse or offensivenesse of that demand which he made to the Church of Corinth for somewhat a larger contribution then ordinary the necessities of the Saints in other places requiring it for the present by this very consideration or reason 2 Cor 8. 13. For I meane not saith he that other men be eased and you burdened But by an equalitie that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want that their abundance also may be a supply for your want that there may be equality Reason 7 GOD hath endued those that are his with power from on high to doe it he hath furnished them with a new principle out of which by a due and conscionable improvement of it in themselves they are able to afford all that is required of them in this kinde So that if any man or woman I meane that is borne againe and is a childe of GOD shall finde their hearts low and base and unworthy in this kinde below the line and levell of that duty now presented unto you it is because they doe not effectually stirre up the grace of God within them as the Apostle somewhere speakes they bow downe their backs to the suggestions of the flesh whereas their strength were it put forth accordingly would serve them to goe upright Consider that one Scripture to this purpose 1 Pet. 1. 22. Seeing you have purified your Soules in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the Brethren see that yee love one another with a pure heart fervently Here two things amongst many others are plainely implied First that no man is able out of any naturall principle to love the Brethren that is the Saints the heart must be purified through the word and Spirit of GOD together that is that base and drossie affection of inordinate self-love must be purged away before a man be able to lift up his heart to such a spirituall and heavenly service as this Secondly that a man or woman having obtained such an excellent principle as this a power of loving the Saints unfeignedly through the purifying of their hearts are bound in a speciall manner to give out themselves fully and freely according to the nature strength and importance of this principle to expresse themselves in excellent termes of love and respects unto them as their necessities shall require it This for the 7 and last reason We addresse immediatly to the Vse and application of the Doctrine we shall be very briefe in particulars here By way of Instruction in the first place we may from the Doctrine observe sundry particulars As First that the minde and good pleasure of JESUS CHRIST concerning his Saints and people on Earth is that you should be a societie or body of men and women in the world animated and quickened as it were mooved and acted by a spirit of love as the life or soule of it that you should abound in this affection above all other societies of men whatsoever Doubtlesse he that commands us to lay down our lives one for another commands us also by a commandement involv'd and wrap'd up in this commandement to maintaine a Spirit of most ardent and burning affection towards one another A man can never be instructed or taught to die willingly by any other teacher or teaching whatsoever but by Love yea and that such a Love of such a conquering and commanding power that it must tread downe the strength of a thousand loves and desires besides yea and many of these of soveraigne strength and power also To require a man to lay downe his life for the Brethren out of any other ground or principle whatsoever then out of an affection of love to them and that transcendently glorious is in effect to bid him gather grapes of thornes or figges of thistles Secondly This likewise is by way of instruction observable from the Doctrine That men doe but that which is their duty in this kinde when they are enlarged in the greatest measure in the expressions of their love towards their Brethren if they should give all their goods and part with their whole substance to them yea if they should lay downe their necks and jeopardie their lives for their sakes yet there is nothing to boast of in all this they are never-the-lesse to remaine vile and little in their own eyes If their right hand doth never so much in this kinde yet should not their left hand know any thing at all of it Heights of duty should no waies prejudice or hinder the depths of humilitie So likewise yee saith our Saviour to his Disciples when you shall have done all things that are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to doe Observe Thirdly by way of Instruction what gratious and blessed provision the Lord JESUS CHRIST hath made for the poore and weake and distressed ones in any kinde in his Church Hee hath ingaged the rich and strong and those that are at libertie and that have meanes of reliefe or support in any kinde in their hand to be ready at all times to minister unto them The necessities of any as farre as they are made knowne are a summons from Heaven to call the rest to looke after them and relieve them If this royall Law were duly observed in the Church of CHRIST one sufferer should create and raise up many relievers neither should there be heard the complaint or crie of any man sinking whilst there remaines any one swimming It is a signe that the minde of CHRIST is not fulfilled by his body if there be one member hungry whilst another is drunken if there be want in any place before there be want in all Fourthly we are yet in the way of instruction If the highest and deepest expressions of our love to the Saints be but matter of duty in us as their necessities may determine it then is it not any discharge of a mans duty nor to be counted obedience unto GOD or unto the Lord JESUS CHRIST when the necessities of your Brethren being great and sore upon them men shall minister unto them in a sparing pinching and contemptible manner when the condition of the Saints requires it may be the one halfe of our substance and we cast in two mites into their treasury when their exigences call us to lay downe our lives for them and we are willing onely to bestow the parings of our nailes upon them Doubtlesse

them or stand them in some speciall service and there is no other meāes in appearance likely to do it Therfore I include al these proviso's and cases of exception in that clause in the Doctrine when they stand in need of them laying it down thus the highest and deepest expressions of love to those that are Christs are but matter of duty from their fellow Christians when they stand in need of them The point lies large and full in the Scripture read unto you so that we shall not need to adde much for the further proofe of it Take we only a Scripture or two So then being affectionately desirous of you we were willing to have imparted unto you not the Gospell of God only but also our own soules i. our lives because you were deare unto us 1 Thes. 2. 8. We see the Apostle here very glorious and high in expressing the tenor of his affection towards this people he was willing to have imparted even his own soule unto them viz. if their condition had required it if he had conceived that hee might have inriched them with peace or comfort by it Whatsoever the intensnesse or pitch of his affection towards them was he could not ascend higher then this in a way of expression to them Greater love then this i. a greater expression or testimony of love then this hath no man saith our Saviour as we heard that a man lay down his life for his friend Now then I demand whether in case Paul had actually performed on their behalfe what hee here professeth himselfe willing and ready to doe that is had indeed imparted his owne soule unto them whether I say he had supererogated or no or gone beyond the line of that which was his duty to doe Doubtlesse that commandement Luk. 10. 27. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soule and with all thy strength and with all thy mind reacheth the utmost extent and point of the utmost abilitie that is in man neither is it possible for any man to rise in any expression whatsoever of love either to God or man above it So then if Paul in laying down his life for the Thessalonians should have done no more then what God required of him in case their condition had required it certainly he requires no lesse of any man when the necessitie of his Saints doe require it Take another Scripture from the same pen of somewhat alike importance Who now rejoyce in my sufferings for you and fill up that which is behinde of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his bodies sake which is the Church Col. 1. 24. These sufferings of the Apostle for these Colossians that is to accommodate them in the ministery of the Gospell though as he saith he reioyced in them yet doubtlesse they tooke deepe of his outward man and were grievous to the flesh and consequently were great and weighty expressions of his love to them and yet upon the ground lately mention'd they were no more then the demand of a good conscience of him Now Paul and so any other faithfull minister of the Gospel may be said to fulfill or fill up {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the remainders or wantings or afterlings as it were of the sufferings of Christ to open this by the way for the Churches sake when he desisted not from his worke and imployment of preaching the Gospell for any persecution or outward losse or trouble be susteyned thereby There are two things amongst many others of absolute necessity according to the counsaile and course of Gods ordinary dispensation to accomplish the salvation of his elect of whom his body that is his Church consists First the making of a Gospell Secondly the preaching or making knowne of this Gospell The Gospell is no meanes of salvation unto any man except it be revealed and made known unto him Now the Sufferings of Christ were of absolute necessitie to constitute and make the Gospell and they are also of absolute and intire sufficiencie this way Christ wants no sufferings to be added to his or to come up in the reere to second his for any such purpose as this to perfect the Gospell intrinsecally in any kinde But because the making of a Gospell though never so compleate rich and absolute was not enough to effect and actuate the salvation of his Church but the publishing and preaching of this Gospell up and down the world was further necessarie hence it cometh to passe that the afflictions and sufferings of Paul and so of other Ministers of the Gospell are necessarie too over and above the sufferings of Christ to bring the Church into an actuall possession of her glorie For Satan the God of this world will be sure to take a course where he hath to doe and as farre as the length of his arme will extend that the Gospell of Iesus Christ shall not be effectually and with power preached in the world without the trouble and persecution and sufferings of those that shall put forth their hand to that Plough and breake up the fallow ground of the world with it So that except Iesus Christ should make the Ministers of the Gospell willing to suffer from the hands of the world aswell as himselfe did his sufferings according to the platforme of the counsell of God touching the meanes of the Churches salvation would not accomplish it This interpretation might be further argued and strengthened from that word in the originall {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which our translation renders I fulfill or fill up but this English doth not fil up the Greeke the word hath a more emphaticall signification then so The word properly signifieth ex adversa or ex opposito adimplere that is to fill up on the one side as it were over against another who likewise filleth up on the other side or in another way This force or importance of the preposition {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is cleerely seene in that expression or phrase of speech used by our Saviour himselfe Luk 24. 17. where {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} signifieth to conferre together or to speake by way of answere or opposition one to another So that the Apostles meaning in this place seemes to be this that as CHRIST tooke up the one end the fore-end as it were of those sufferings whereby the Church was to be saved and caried and bare that so he help'd to take up the other end the hinder end as it were of the same sufferings this end being as necessary to be taken up and borne by the Ministers of the Gospell as the other was by the Author of the Gospel himselfe But this by the way For further confirmation of the Doctrine I only touch one Scripture more 1 Pet. 4 8. And above all things have fervent charitie or love among your selves If it be the duty of Christians to have fervent love