Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	affection_n	love_n	love_v	1,357	5	6.6930	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67684	Divine rules for Christian unity opened and urged a sermon / preach'd in the Cathedral Church of Norwich, October 16, 1692 by Erasmus Warren, rector of Worlington in Suffolk.	Warren, Erasmus.	1692 (1692)	Wing W964; ESTC R28908	20,645	38

is or can be compleatly Pure Some kind of Drossiness cannot chuse but be Inherent in it as being indeed of the very Nature of it And can it consist with Reason to pull a living Body to pieces to rinse its Bowels from such an Impurity as is rather Natural than Noxious Especially if we consider that when all is done Natural Feculence will still be necessary and remain inseparable unless the Body wherein it rests be clarified from it by some mighty Change And when the Church has undergone the Change she hopes for she shall then be a Pure Church indeed For she shall be Glorious not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but shall be Holy and without Blemish Eph. 5.27 But this being the Privilege of her Triumphant State it is not to be look'd for in any part of her while it is Militant As to forbearing Punishment Care is taken And I own it is my Hearts desire and I nothing doubt but it is Yours also and even meer good Nature without the additional Tenderness of Religion cannot methinks but prompt all to wish it That Penal Laws may never touch the Harmless but have the Dint of their Severity turn'd upon the Obstinate Penal Inflictions must be improper to lay upon Men of good Minds and hurtless Principles that Innocently go on in wrong ways meerly because they scruple the Right For such harsh Methods instead of inward Satisfaction the thing they want do only give them outward Trouble And as for honest well-meaning Christians who are no whit leavened with Perverseness or Contumacy and whose Fault lyes wholly in their Vnderstanding Poor Souls they are Unhappy enough in erronious Consciences and need not be punish'd too because they are miserable Again therefore I wish that all who err in Simplicity may escape with Impunity and none may smart for what they cannot help Nor needs this Forbearance which is supposed to make all Cautious Discrimination betwixt the Tender-conscienc'd and others be a Ground or Occasion of Jealousie to the State For where GOD sees it impartially exercised He will find the Government so like his Own that his watchful Providence will take due Care that such a Lenity shall rather establish than weaken or overthrow it And so I pass to the sixth Rule Live in Christian Love The Church of CHRIST in this very Chapter is compared to an Humane Body and elsewhere in Scripture to a Stone Building Now as such a Body must have Sinews to knit its Joynts and such a Building must have Mortar to cement its Stones So the Christian Church must have Christian Love to unite its Members And therefore the Apostle for preserving Unity in the sixth place exhorts us to Amity Yea he gives a broad Hint that even Toleration or Forbearance it self will no farther promote Unity than as it proceeds from this Principle by beseeching us to forbear one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Love Love is the very Life and Soul and Essence of Unity so that where the one is not the other cannot be As there can be no Fire where there is no Heat and no Day where there is no Light As there can be no Musick where there is no Harmony and no Beauty where there is no Symetry so there can be no Unity where there is no Love Look what the Root is to the Tree or the Foundation to the House What the Basis is to the Pillar or the Center to the Circle And the same is Love to Unity It cannot be produced it cannot be preserved it cannot be increased or perfected without it Here then let us do our part again Let us Love as Brethren as we are counsel'd from on high and let Brotherly Love continue Let us be knit together in Love and be rooted and grounded in Love and walk in Love as CHRIST hath loved us And truly though Unity were not the Effect of this yet who would not chuse and study and strive to live in Love considering how delectable a thing it is Delectable I must own beyond my Ability of describing it Only this let me say It is an inexhaustible Fountain of singular Pleasure A Spring of secret but high Contentment and a Source from whence flows the incessant Streams of a noble Satisfaction There is nothing more Soft nothing more Sweet nothing more Generous and throughly gratifying amongst vertuous Passions than an exalted refined universal Love And therefore GOD has injoyn'd it and made it the second great Commandment like the First not only to give us matter of Duty but to lay a Foundation of Happiness for us And truly did we love all the World as our selves and did they love us so again according to the Tenour of the Divine Law how could we be Happier here upon Earth or what could raise us nearer to Heaven Where I dare confidently affirm that the choicest part of the Saints Felicity lyes in their Love to GOD and one another In Compliance therefore with the Holy Direction let us be kindly affectioned one to another and let us provoke one another to love Let our Love be of the right kind without Dissimulation And let it be of a just Extent reaching to all without Exception Only it must be freer and more fervent to some than it is to others according to the Grounds and Measures of a wise Distinction And since our LORD bids us love our Enemies that any are such must be no Bar to our Affections Yea there is reason enough for that Love besides His Command For if we be his unfeigned Disciples the worst our Enemies can do us be they never so bad is but to benefit us To give us occasion to act our Duties and exercise our Virtues and so to improve our Graces here and our Glories for ever And have we not sufficient reason to love the Instruments of our so great Good Yea should any prove such Enemies to us as to persecute us to the very Death they would be but our eternal Benefactors For even while they kill us their kindly cruel Hands would help to set a Crown of Life upon our Heads and a Brighter too than other Saints shall wear So that indeed we ought not only to love our Enemies but to love them for the very Injuries they think to do us for even by them they advantage us mightily and while they design us nothing but Mischief they do obliquely and beyond their Intention serve our best Interests I note but one Rule more which is included in the Text and it is this If you would preserve Unity be careful to maintain Peace As that helps to tye us fast together in one so without it we inevitably fall into Divisions as a Sheaf of Corn falls asunder that has no Band. And therefore the Apostle as a true Promoter of the Unity of the SPIRIT injoyns us to keep it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Bond of Peace And great reason we have to do so there being no