Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	abide_v	father_n	keep_v	4,728	5	6.8206	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31664	A brief apology in behalf of the people in derision call'd Quakers written for the information of our sober and well-inclined neighbors in and about the town of Warminster in the county of Wilts. by Wil. Chandler, Alex. Pyott, Jo. Hodges, and some others.	Chandler, William.; Pyott, Alex. (Alexander); Hodges, Jo.	1694 (1694)	Wing C1934A; ESTC R35979	36,422	93

3.16 if they repented not and did their first works and that of Laodicea to be spewed out of his Mouth Who can say those foolish Virgins in the Parable were not once in a state of Grace whose Lamps were once lighted and burning as well as trimm'd or else they could not properly be said to be gone out Mat. 25.8 Or that those were not called by Saving Grace in whose Hearts the Heavenly Seed sprung up and for a time prosper'd Luke 8.7 8 14 15. 'till the Bryars and Thorns the over-care and concern about the things of this Life choak'd it 't was not that they had no day of Visitation from God wherein they might have wrought out their Salvation had they continued to make the Kingdom of Heaven and its Righteousness their first and chiefest Choice and placed their Treasure there and disintangled themselves from those unnecessary Cares the Seed that was sown and sprung up was the very same with that which in the honest Heart brought forth Fruit abundantly Surely Paul that Great Apostle was not of these Mens Opinion when after he had long laboured in the Gospel takes care to keep under his Body least while he Preach'd to others 1 Cor. 9.27 he himself should be a Cast-away whom yet we doubt not but they will grant was then effectually called and in a state of Grace And the Author to the Hebrews writing in the Third Chapter to those he calls holy Brethren and Partakers of the Heavenly Calling Verse the 12th exhorts them to take heed lest there was in any of them an evil Heart of Unbelief in departing from the Living God And again Chap. 4.1 Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring his rest surely then not eternally reprobated any of you should seem to come short of it Verse 11. Let us labour therefore to enter that rest lest any Man fall after the same example of Vnbelief Again Chap. 6. Verse 4 5 6. speaking of those who had been enlightned and had tasted of the Heavenly Gift and were made Partakers of the Holy Ghost and that had tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come shrewd signs that they were effectually call'd and in a State of Grace that if they should fall away 't would be impossible to renew them again to Repentance not because they were eternally reprobated but because they Crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh because they grieved his good Spirit and rejected the Means Hath not the Lord said Ezek. 18.24 26. and c. 33. v. 18. If a Righteous Man turns from his Righteousness he shall die Who can be Righteous without the assistance of God's Grace No Man can make himself so 't is not in Man to direct his own Ways and yet it seems 't is possible for him to fall from it after he hath lived so long under its conduct as by it to be made Righteous and one would think should then be sanctified too Our Saviour saith of himself John 15.1 2 5 6. I am the true Vine ye are the Branches my Father is the Husbandman every Branch in me that beareth not Fruit he taketh away Again If a Man abide not in me he is cast forth as a Branch and is withered Surely those who are Branches in Christ while so are accepted of the Father and yet it seems 't is possible for them to fall away and be cut off as wither'd Branches whence he often repeats this Condition if ye abide in me and presently he saith Joh. 15.10 the way to continue in his Love was to do his Will as he had that of his Father's and continued in his Love But though we can't embrace their Opinion for their Reasons and as they state it but own that 't is possible for People to make a considerable Progress in Grace and yet for want of a careful and constant Watchfulness to that Grace they may fall away Yet we believe such a State and Growth in Grace through a vigilant Attention thereto and such a degree of Faith attainable as that there is no more going forth Though we speak of God's tendring and Man's accepting or rejecting the Offers of his Love yet far be it from us to assert that fallen Man in his own Natural Estate can of himself think a good Thought much less will a good Deed or in his own power convert his own depraved Will to God any more than the Needle can turn and direct it self towards the Pole without being impregnated by the Loadstone For though Adam's Fall introduced no such real change in the Faculties of Man's Soul as to subvert their natural order and so destroy the natural liberty and freedom of his Will but that what he wills he wills freely and not by constraint yet forasmuch as he died from that Divine Life to which he was united and thence derived power and ability to will and do that which was good he became thenceforth utterly incapable so to do as of himself otherwise than as he is influenced by and assents and yields to the drawings of that Divine Grace which God in his great Love hath liberally bestowed on Mankind both to illuminate their Understandings and also incline their Wills Which is both sufficient and freely offers to reclaim Man and convert his Will and finally unite his Mind to it self and therein restore to him the power of willing and doing good which Man never had nor never can have ●ut in conjunction with this pure principle of Divine Light and Life but ●e may and is most inclinable to slight ●ts Offers and resist its Endeavours ●nd while so can't experience that power and vertue that is found in it where it freely exerts it self So that as it must be acknowledged that Man acts as a free Agent and as having an Elective Power and that God in his various Dispensations treats him as such yet is this Gift of God the first mover in all his motions towards that which is truly good and acceptable to him which is always so near and ready to help and assist a Man while it continues to strive with him that probably none that neglect its assistance and do evil but upon reflection plainly perceive they may do otherwise Whence 't is clear Man's destruction is of himself and his only sufficiency and help is in God who never requires any Duty of him but he furnishes him with a suitable power to perform it would he but regard and close with it But that which seems to be our capital Error and the top of all their Charge and that which is to silence all Plea's in our behalf is our omitting the use of the Ordinances so called of Baptism and Bread and Wine John indeed as the next immediate Forerunner of Christ to prepare his Way gave an Alarm to the Jews that were so secure under the Law of Moses and proclaim'd the Kingdom of Heaven at hand Mat.

love him as for the future to live a holy Circumspect Christian Life and obey his Commands thereby continuing in his love Which Holy Life so much Celebrated and strictly kept to in the Primitive Ages of Christianity that whosoever named the Name or took the Name of Christ upon them were to depart from Iniquity we believe ought to be inseparable from a true and faithful Christian as ever accompanying a true living and active Faith and it seems was thought no less necessary by those who composed the promise that should be made in behalf of Infants before they were admitted into that once sacred Catalogue to wit that as they came to Years of discretion Tit. 2.11 12. they should forsake the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World Luk. 1.75 and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh and keep Gods holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all ●he days of their lives Ro. 6.18 19.22 2 Cor. 7.1 Eph. 4.24 1 Thes 3.13 4.7 Heb. 12.10.14 1 Joh. 4.4 This we be●…eve to be the bounden Duty of Man●ind and though our Opposers have ●coft us and branded us with error for holding Perfection because in plead●ng for a Holy Righteous Life as that which is well-pleasing to God and avouching his power to be stronger in Man as Man believes and cleaves to it ●o rescue him from under the power of Satan than is that of the Devil to retain him in Thraldom we have sometimes made use of the Words of Christ and his Apostles as be you perfect Mat. 5.48 Col. 4.12 1 Joh. 3.3 as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect he that hath this Hope in him purifieth himself even as he pure c. Yet have we never pretended to a Moral Perfection beyond what is contained in the above Promise which is sound and true in it self and is that which God requires of us and therefore 't is that we frequently press it's necessity and fervently exhort People to its performance Neither do we expect to be exempt from Temptations while we inhabit these frail Tabernacles Heb. 4.15 which is no Sin provided we consent not Christ himself was likewise tempted yet he Sinn'd not for tho both Good and Evil is presented to our Thoughts yet we appropriate neither but as we entertain and embrace it So that tho the number of Thoughts may sometimes press us and the nature of some grieve us yet they don't otherwise affect us or is Sin thereby conceived i● our Wills don't close with and joyn to them by assenting but if we consent we are culpable in the sight of God tho it proceed not to an open immorality And as we can't prevent the forming of some Thoughts so we can't wholly avoid the presentation of some Evil ones while our common Enemy is busie with his Baites but yet the more we resist and the more the Lusts and Affections of the Flesh which is the part that entertains them is mortified the more their Habit is weakned their Assaults Feebler and we the less infested by them And notwithstanding we have hence been falsely accused that we expect to be saved by our own works as being Meritorious yet we don't acknowledge a Holy Life as the Efficient and procuring Cause of our Salvation which we no less than you totally refer to the free Grace Eph. 2.8 and Mercy of God in Christ without any Merit in Man but we esteem it as a constant Companion thereto James ● 18 to the end and a necessary ●ondition on our part in complyance with God's gracious Offer without which we may not obtain it Heb. 11.6 Ro. 12.1 2. being ●nseparably annext to that Faith which only pleaseth God and is but our reasonable Duty And we believe that although Christ thus offer'd up himself once for all Heb. 2.9 10.12 for the Sins of all Men to the end of the World thereby rendring Repentance and Amendment of Life prevalent with God yet that the Traditional Belief of that alone is not sufficient to entitle us to that common Salvation that comes by him but that 't is of necessity that we truly Repent and be Converted from the evil to the good Act. 3.19 and therefore 't is no less necessary for us now than 't was for Believers in the Apostles Days and 26.18.20 that we be turned from Darkness to Light or in other terms from the dark power of Satan to the power of God who is light that thereby we may every one know the work of Redemption and Salvation wrought in and for our selves For 't is not enough to believe that Christ died if we feel not the blessed Effects of his Death who came to save us from our Sins and bless us by turning us from our Iniquities Mat. 1.21 Act. 3.26 and gave himself for us Tit. 2.14 that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good works Gen. 2.17 Ro. 5.12 2 Cor. 5.14 Gen. 6.5 Ro. 7.5 For we believe such to be the natural State of Man in the fall that by Nature we are dead as to God at a distance from him prone to Evil and to gratify the Desires of our Sensual Minds sway'd by the corrupt and sinful Lusts of the Flesh Eph. 2.2 and under the power of a strange King rul'd by the Prince of the Power of the Air 2 Tim. 2.26 so that our inward Man being thus Dead from God we cannot exercise our Spiritual Senses towards him nor can this natural Man perceive know or savour the things of God 1 Cor. 2.14 which only are Spiritually discerned Wherefore notwithstanding our Saviour died for us we are yet by Nature in a miserable undone condition in Captivity to our Souls Enemy 1 Cor. 15.45.47 Eph. 2.1.5 Col. 2.13 Ro. 8.11 Eph. 5.13.14 Joh. 1.9 Eph. 2.3 5.6 except we know the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven that quickning Spirit to quicken our Souls and make us alive to God again that being restored to the use of our inward Senses we may by the assistance of his Divine Light wherewith for that end he hath blest all the Sons and Daughters of Men see our selves in ●his sad and lost state under the wrath ●f God and abhor our selves therefore ●nd under this living Sense wherein ●hings will appear with another aspect ●han before cry to God for delive●ance therefrom 2 Cor. 7.10 with such an inward ●earty Sorrow as works a true Re●entance for the same 'T is not our ●eing sprinkled when Infants that will make us true Christians convert us ●rom being Children of Wrath Joh. 1.12.13 Ro. 8.14 to be●ome Children of Grace and Sons of God and Members of Christs Church and invest us in an Interest in him 't is not learning our Catechism and subscribing to certain Articles of Faith though never so Orthodox and being educated in a

Lusts and Affections and bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit adorning the Doctrin of God our Saviour by a Sober Godly Righteous Life are of God 1 Joh. 3.10 for herein the Children of God are manifest from the Children of the Devil Thus have we candidly though briefly exprest our real Opinion and Belief in those Points in which we apprehend our Adversaries have endeavour'd most to expose us which we hope may prove satisfactory to those who are not resolved to think ill of us But to speak fully to every critical trifling Objection were a tedious Task as well as vastly beyond the Extent of our Design We request our serious Neighbours to hear and see for themselves and not take things upon trust from others and judging the things they know not condemn us by hear-say Don't be imposed upon by those whose peevish Humours would have all do like themselves who either look not at all or but very coyly into the Books of those they have taken a Pet against whose Perswasion in some things differs from what they have pronounced Orthodox as tho' Truth were their peculiar inclosure which yet certainly argues either a great deal of Prejudice or a feeble and fleeting Judgment that dares not trust it self Were our Books stuft with such palpable Errors as is suggested surely 't were not so dangerous Reading them Who fears to read the Alchoran But on the contrary 't is a strong indication that they contain much truth for as 't is the proper Object of the Understanding so where it appears with a clear Evidence answering to Peoples own Experience 't is very forcible and prevalent upon the Minds of those who diligently seek it for love of it and willingly deposit all pre-ingagements of Mind in its disquisition Be then so just to us and kind to your selves as to relinquish all Prejudice and Prepossessions and impartially examine the truth of these things search the Sacred Scriptures diligently with an inclination rather to find and embrace Truth than to support a received Opinion try whether 't is so or not comparing it with your own Experiences and the Witness of God in your own Hearts Though our Belief in some of these Particulars don 't exactly quadrate to that of our Opposers it don't therefore necessarily follow 't is not agreeable to Truth and Scripture Nor can they give us any infallible assurance that their Conceptions are a true Standard of Truth notwithstanding they vend their Apprehensions as the only Orthodox yes and are displeased too with those that can't be determined by them We have no Design carrying on behind the Curtain howsoever our Sober Demeanour may be uncharitably not to say maliciously insinuated as only a Cover of Sheeps Cloathing upon the Wolves Nature and our most Solemn Declaration of our Belief in several Religious Points being undeniable Truths construed and suggested by some Men as only a fair Cover wherewith we guild over our Poyson that it may pass the less suspected and be the more glibly swal●owed What think you is not this ●he heighth of Prejudice and Envy in ●he abstract Would they themselves be content to be thus interpreted We have no intent to decoy and tra●an People that we should walk under a Disguise which Intreagues usually have interest at one end of them which can't be our case who neither give nor take Money for Preaching so that the increase of our Numbers won't fill our Coffers We have no other Interest to promote but the Advancement of True Piety and Christianity And having Love and Good-will to all People more especially to those whose Minds are awakened and Hearts warmed having true fervent Desires and living Breathings towards God thirsting after a nearer and more satisfactory knowledge of and acquaintance with him than barely a profession and hear-say of him and therefore what we have found advantageous assistant and satisfactory to us in our unwearied pursuit after Peace with him that we recommend to others We call People home to the Gift of God in themselves which only can do them good that every one may know the good Shepherd and Bishop of Souls for themselves and hear and know his Voice in them from that of a Stranger and learn of him and follow him who is pure and ever leads to Purity and Holiness that so his offering up of himself for them may be of benefit to them and they experience the great Salvation of God For impress this upon your Minds and take it along with you That notwithstanding our Saviour hath paid a Ransom for us and made an Atonement through the precious Blood of his Cross yet if we experience not the end of his Coming and Death effected and answered in our selves it shall avail us nothing except we know him a Saviour and Supporter near except we know a Principle of Divine Light and Life to illuminate our Minds to revive and warm our languishing Hearts to beget and increase true Love to God and the living Faith that gives Victory to convert us and govern our Thoughts to renew and regulate our Wills and limit our Desires and bridle our Tongues to excite holy Inclinations and keep up a due Heat in our Christianity and strengthen our Minds in that which is good and well-pleasing to God Except we know these things in and for our selves all our outside shew of Religion is but vain and our profession of Christ shall profit us nothing but we shall lye down in sorrow at last For none are Christ's Ro. 8.9 14. but those that have his Spirit and are influenced by it nor are any Children of God but those that are led by the Spirit of God which begets in the Mind a detestation of Sin and Evil and a love to Purity Goodness and Vertue Wherefore laying aside all Strife and Animosities all Envying and Evil-speaking let us abhor that which is Evil Ro. 12.9 and cleave to that which is Good and address our selves with a due and humble Application to the accomplishment of that most concerning and important Affair of our Lives the working out our Salvation And let every one follow the Lord faithfully according to what is made known to them knowing that we shall be judged according to our Knowledge and that 't will be happy for those whose Wills and Performances correspond with their Understandings in that Day when all must stand before the Judgment-seat of Christ and give an Account of their Deeds done in the Body and receive a Sentence thereafter either Come ye blessed or Depart from me ye workers of Iniquity It won't be then of what Congregation or Confession of Faith or of what Perswasion amongst the many wast thou Among all which there will then be but Two sorts the Sheep and the Goats those that heard the Shepherd's Voice and followed him who were guided and governed by the good Spirit of God in their Hearts and those who wrapping their Talent in a Napkin stifled Convictions and