Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A19287
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The conuerts first loue discerned iustified, left and recouered. Resoluing the truth of an effectuall conuersion. And informing the right way to perseverance and perfection. By Thomas Cooper.
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Cooper, Thomas, fl. 1626.
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1610
(1610)
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STC 5697.5; ESTC S116341
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35,249
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52
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THE CONVERTS FIRST LOVE Discerned Iustified Left and Recouered Resoluing THE TRVTH OF AN EFFECTVALL CONVERSION AND Informing THE RIGHT WAY TO PERSEVERANCE and PERFECTION By THOMAS COOPER 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by F. KINGSTON for WILLIAM WELEY and are to bee sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the white Swanne 1610. TO THE RIGHT VVORshipfull and religious Sir Iames Harington Sir William Dier Sir William Fairut Sir Edward Harington Sir Thomas Fulgeam Knights and their vertuous Ladies grace mercie and peace from God the Father through IESVS CHRIST the sonne of the Father in truth and loue RIght Worshipfull and dearely beloued in the Lord whom I loue also in the truth and not I onely but they that haue knowen the truth for the truths sake which dwelleth in vs which is professed and maintained of you and shall abide with and preserue vs for euer Blessed be God euen the father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath reuealed his sonne vnto you and hath giuen you a large heart towards his Saints that your delight is the Law of the Lord and your affections are to the excellent that are on earth to consider wisely of the cause of the afflicted and to minister comfort to the distressed soule And blessed be the name of his Maiestie for euer who hath respected the base estate of his seruant and made mee a witnesse both of your loue vnto his word and his afflicted members In consideration whereof as I can doe no more then testifie my thankfulnesse vnto our gracious God for his mercies bestowed on mee not only in deliuering mee from a most desperate sicknesse but in casting mee graciously on such feeling members who ministred so abundantly towards my recouerie so I must doe no lesse then to doe my vtmost indeuour that the memoriall of the iust may liue for euer and their righteousnesse may be had in euerlasting remembrance to their more comfortable assurance that their reward is with God when all will-worship and presumption of merit shall be confounded and to the prouocation of the Saints in these daies wherein charity is growen cold that they bee not weary of well-doing as being assured that in due time they shall reape if they faint not And the rather doe I finde my selfe obliged at this time to this Christian dutie because the Lord hauing inabled mee in my great weaknesse to bestow a spirituall gift vpon the most of your worships being graciously by Gods holy hand brought together to such good ends it pleased his good Maiestie so to affect your hearts with that heauenly treasure as not only to hearken with all reuerence and attention vnto the wholesome word of life but for the further establishing of your iudgements and triall of your hearts thereby that it might appeare your holy purpose was to cleaue vnto the Lord in the obedience of his word our gracious God in the riches of his mercie inclin'd some of your hearts I doubt not for the behoofe of all to desire a briefe of what had beene publikely taught thereby to trie the spirits with the men of Berea and so to hold the truth in constancie of well-doing And could I doe better then according to my poore strength and memorie then to leaue such generall and short notes with you which might in some sort testifie my desire to build you forward in Christ Iesus howsoeuer they could not satisfie your desires for the full resoluing of your consciences in so principall and profitable a point as is the triall and recouerie of our first loue And ought I not then to indeuour the further kindling of such smoaking flax such holy and gracious desires May I not iustly take occasion in paying a debt vnto you to make the Church of God become my debtor for this paines now published for the generall good and so ingage my selfe in a further and more generall debt both of praier that the Lord would giue a blessing to these poore labours and of further paines as God shall minister health occasion and libertie And shall not the Saints also become debtors vnto you by whose holy desires it is that they now also haue this glasse to discerne aright their estate in grace to recouer their decaies and grow to perfection And is not the Lord indebted vnto vs all to crowne his owne graces and recompence the faithfull imploiment of his talents And hath not our glorious God thus brought light out of darknesse Will he not perfect his power in weaknesse and wisdome in humane infirmitie Shall not the dead men liue Shall not they awake and sing which haue sate in the dust yea in the shadow of death yea haue beene euen swallowed vp of the nethermost hell Shall not the brand be pluckt out of the fire and the prey out of the teeth That the glory may be vnto our God and not vnto men Behold saith Iacob I had not thought to haue seene thy face and yet the Lord hath let mee liue to see thy seed This is the Lords doing and it is maruellous in our eies Accept therefore right worshipfull some fruit of your desires and euidence of Gods power in this weaknesse of his seruant which the more it appeares let our God the more haue the only glory both of your desires and my indeuours in blessing both with conscionable practise in this life and crowning also both with competent perfection and glory in the life to come This is the fruit of our labours and for this is and shall bee the scope and summe of my praiers vnto our God for you that according to his promise he would make you perfect in euery good worke to doe his will on earth that his will may be done on you for euer in heauen to raigne with Iesus Christ in that glory which neuer fadeth And so I humbly take my leaue From my poore house at COVENTRY this 10. of April 1610. Your Worships most bounden for euer in Iesus Christ THOMAS COOPER TO THE CHRISTIAN READER WISDOME TO DISCERNE HIS Estate aright and grace to grow forward to perfection BEloued in the Lord Iesus it is a most dangerous and yet very easie and plausible delusion to conceit vnto our selues an estate in grace when as yet wee remaine the bond-slaues of Satan And it is a very difficult and yet most necessarie triall to discerne our constant abiding and proceeding in this estate of grace For to passe by those who make a mocke of conuersion as being a touch of noueltie a brand of inconstancie and imputation of hypocrisie who is there almost that flatters not himselfe to be in the fauour of God and so interessed in his grace And hath he not many such pretences and colours heereunto which may so abuse his iudgement that hee may thinke himselfe to be somewhat when he is nothing and so refusing to be found in Christ by being lost and emptied in himselfe thereby become worse then
who are his yet it lieth much in vs either to make sure and beautifie the building by being watchfull and diligent in well-doing or else by our negligence and security to deface and interrupt the same yea many times to our sense and feeling euen vtterly to ouerthrow the same For proofe heereof peruse this treatise ensuing let it be in Gods feare a touch-stone vnto thee to make triall of a sound conuersion and take it as a preseruatiue to keepe thee in the power of godlines that so thou maist not leaue thy first loue If by pride or security thou hast beene left to thy selfe and so hast left thy former measure view thy selfe diligently in this present glasse and vse it as a meanes for thy recouerie and perseuerance Expect not what may be said seeing my health and study affoords only breuity neither misconstrue what may be well digested lest thou be peruerted by a stumbling blocke Though many are called yet but few are chosen and therefore if few digest this pill let them not condemne the physicke but their owne ill-disposed hearts Those that can get meat out of the eater and sweetnesse out of the strong let them praise the glorious Lord who bringeth light out of darknesse and not cease praying vnto our gracious Father that he would turne our darknesse into light and enable vs to worke while yet we haue the light that so wee may approoue our selues the children of the light and bee prepared to that light which shall neuer be changed into darknesse Euen so be it Come Lord Iesus Come quickly ⸪ In whom I rest thine vnfainedly THOMAS COOPER DOCTRINES AND OBSERVAtions opened heerein are 1 That the best haue their infirmities 2 The least euill in the Saints causeth the Lord to haue a controuersie with them 3 Sinne not to bee smoothered but plainely reprooued 4 The godly must perseuere in grace and grow to perfection 5 Euery true conuert hath a first loue where of the meanes and markes thereof 6 The Conuert may leaue his first loue where of the meanes whereby it is cooled 7 First loue may seeme to be lost when it is not where diuers false imputations are remooued 8 The leauing of first loue with the true markes and symptomes thereof 9 First loue how to bee recouered and re-gained againe c. 10 How farre the Saints may recouer their first loue 11 The Saints cannot finally nor wholly lose their first loue but shall in some measure recouer it THE CONVERTS FIRST LOVE REVELAT 2. 4. Neuerthelesse I haue somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first Loue. OVr blessed Sauiour hauing by the Ministerie of his Apostles planted diuers Churches in Asia directeth his seruant Iohn the Euangelist to write vnto each of them for their further strengthening in the faith And because the Church of Ephesus was both famous for the outward glorie and inward graces thereof as also in a sort the peculiar charge of the Apostle Iohn therefore doth he first send greeting to that Church giuing very iust and true testimonie vnto her of the great graces of God bestowed vpon her and her profitable vse of them in the second and third verses And that she might not be ouercome of spirituall pride to which in regard of such excellent graces she might be subiect yea was so tainted therewith as that it wrought in her some securitie and thereupon remissenesse he therefore giues her notice of this her decay and cooling in the fourth verse telling her that He had somewhat against her because she had left her first loue both therein expressing the greatnes of her fall by the excellencie of the thing wherein she failed namely her first loue as also aggrauating this her fall by the iust esteeme thereof in the iudgement of her Sauiour Christ namely that it gaue occasion for him that was her aduocate now to come against her and to haue a controuersie with her as an enemie and thereby giuing her to conceiue in what a fearefull case she stoode hauing him now to be against her who if he were on her side she need not feare who were against her who being against her all other things though with her must necessarily serue to her further condemnation So that these words doe containe a description of some declination in this Church of Ephesus with some arguments to lay this her estate more closely to her heart that so she might by repentance recouer her selfe againe Wherein first that this Church of Ephesus though otherwise endowed with excellent graces and hauing so prospered in the holy vse of them that she receiues a testimonie from the trueth himselfe of such great faithfulnesse as to haue endured patiently and not fainted is yet notwithstanding charged by the same Lord Iesus to be defectiue and to haue some failings and imperfections in her wee may learne here this lesson That as the best Church so the best Christian hath and may haue some infirmities and corruptions as appeareth by these places 1. Ioh. 1. 9. Iames 3. 2. Chron. 8. 36. and by the examples of the best Dauid 2. Sam. 12. commits murder and adulterie Peter denies his master Matth. 27. Moses did not giue glorie to God in beleeuing his word Noah was drunken Salomon idolatrous c. Numb 20. Gen. 38. Gen. 9. Thus haue the saints of God been subiect to infirmities and that not before their conuersion only but euen after also as the Apostle Paul in the name of all the rest acknowledgeth for himselfe in the seuenth to the Romans 19 20 21 22. And surely seeing the Lord Iesus hath satisfied the wrath of his father for vs in fulfilling the lawe and vndergoing the penaltie thereof and so continues daily our intercessor and suertie to answere vnto the iustice of God for our offences and to obtaine pardon for them so that there is no necessitie that we should be freed quite from sinne and so perfit as to fulfill the law of God seeing the Lord Iesus hath performed this already and therefore for vs to vndertake the same were to intrude into Christs office and so to rob him of his glorie Therefore that some infirmities and corruptions doe remaine in vs seeing now the guilt and punishment yea the dominion and rage of sinne is taken away by Christ It is very conuenient and profitable and that first 1. That Gods free mercie may be daily aduanced in the pardoning of sinne Psalm 51. 12 13. 2. That the merit of Christ Iesus may be glorified in satisfying for sinne Iohn 9. 3. That our saluation may be better assured vnto vs in the daily experience of Gods loue in the forgiuenesse and healing of our particular corruptions 2. Pet. 1. 8. 4. That the graces of the spirit may be exercised in the daily resisting and conquering of sinne Ephes 6. 11 12 13. 1. Pet. 4. 5. That the power of God may be perfited in