Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	act_n	faith_n	grace_n	4,322	5	5.9067	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76092	Sick-bed thoughts, upon those words of the apostle in Phil. 1, 23 ... Part. I containing an answer to that great and solemn question, what that state and condition is, which a person must be found in, before he can have good and sufficient ground, not to be affraid, or unwilling to dye? / by J.B.	Batchiler, John, ca. 1615-1674.	1667 (1667)	Wing B1075; ESTC R42879	47,054	145

otherwise may be round about it I shall lay down several things to which it bears a faithful witness and of which it hath clear and satisfying evidences within it self in which sense it is that Salomon speaks Prov. 14.14 where he saith that a good man is satisfied from himself First Then a quiet Conscience and setled in such a firm peace as aforesaid bears witness to this that it hath truly and savingly closed with Jesus Christ and this by a double act an act of faith and an act of love By an act of Faith considering him as Christ-Crucified in which sense most properly hee is the next and immediate object of Faith And by an act of Love considering him as a most excellent and lovely person In which sense properly he is the highest object of our love for 't is amabile something lovely that is most properly objectum amoris the object of love Now when Conscience gives evidence of such a double closure with Jesus Christ both as a Prince and a Saviour as a dying Mediatour and a dear Lord and Husband and that it hath not onely done this for once as I may so say but continues to do this alwaies by new acts of Faith and Love by repeated acts every day and so is alwaies united to him hath and doth alwaies accept him is as 't were alwaies embracing him and cleaving to him and that as heartily and affectionately as ever a pleased Bride did to and with her beloved Bridegroom and that it hath taken him and ever doth take him as God gives him with all his Offices and Powers over the Soul as King Priest and Prophet to be taught and ruled as wel as saved by him I say when Conscience bears witness to this and hath an undoubted and clear proof of this within it self What greater foundation can it lay for its own peace and quiet For doth not peace come in by believing The Apostle saith it doth Rom. 15.13 and indeed where is such a peace to be had a peace so sweet and satisfying as a soul enjoyes that hath contracted a friendship a great and intimate friendship between Christ and it self Now this every believing soul doth every true lover of Christ that closeth with him by such a double act of Faith and Love as hath been now mentioned For doth not such a closure 1. Necessarily make an union betwixt Christ and the soul a strict firm and entire union And where such an union is doth not communion follow too Sweet and blessed communion for doth not Christ and the Soul now live in each others bosomes Is there any more than one heart as it were between them Espousals when finished give more than co-habitation here more than a meer dwelling together namely a mutual in-dwelling in each other the Soul in the very bosome and heart of Christ and Christ and Christ only in the soul So saies the Apostle Christ in you the hope of Glory Col. 1.27 And if any man be in Christ he is a new Creature 2 Cor. 5.17 And can there be so sweet a peace then any where as here Secondly When Conscience bears farther witness that as it hath closed thus with Crucified Christ and lovely Christ in his person so that it hath done as God himself doth laid all its sins upon Christs back transferred all thither transposed them all from its own back to his who is best able to bear them yea who alone can bear them and the wrath of God due to them Compare Isa 53.6 with 2 Cor. 5.21 Where 't is said that God hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all that is of all that believe and that he hath made him to be sin for us What else did the slain Goat which was offered up for all the sins and uncleannesses of the children of Israel signifie Levit. 16.7 15 16. and the live-Goat over whose head all the iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their transgressions in their sins were confessed and upon whose head they were all put and he sent away into the Wilderness or as some say into the land of forgetfulness verse 21 22. I say what did they both signifie but this that Christ is he whom these two Goats typifyed Christ onely that bears our sins dyes for them and carries them away so as they never come into remembrance any more and that he was anti-type to both these Goates and that in this respect only is evident in the New Testament first to the slain Goat therefore is called the Lamb slain Rev. 5.6 9. and also to the scape-Goat therefore said to bee the Lamb of God that taketh away or beareth away so 't is in the Margent in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sins of the world John 1.29 Upon him then it is that every true Believer lays all his sins and that even every day as fast as he commits them brings new loads new burthens to Christs back all his new contracted guilts and were not Christ mighty to bear as well as mighty to save how could he stand under such encreasing weights And from so many hands too that continually lay load upon him For doth not a true Believer and right improver of Christ Crucified every day do two things bring something to Christ and fetch something from him First he brings something to Christ What 's that you 'l say Why hee brings both his worst and his best to Christ His worst that is his sins and laies them on Christs back his best and that is his heart and affections in all the Services he performs to him And then fetcheth something from him every day and if you ask what that is I answer nothing but his All all his Pardons all his Comforts all manner of supplies from his rich stores strength against his Corruptions and Temptations abilities for the Exercise of every Grace and Performance of every Duty Now then if Conscience bears witness to this too is not here new matter of peace still Thirdly When Conscience bears witness that since the soul hath come into Christs arms and transferred all its sins upon his back it hath also arrayed it self with his Robes his Robes of Righteousness that the same Faith which united it to his Person hath put 〈◊〉 his Ornaments and so is not only 〈◊〉 to him but wears him and is thereby become beautiful and glorious Beautiful with his Beauty and comeliness which he hath put upon it Ezek. 16.14 with those Garments of Salvation which he hath now cloathed it with and all be-deck'd it as a Bride is decked with Jewels Isa 61.10 for how tattered and terne soever a poor soul be before 't is espoused to Christ yet when that day once comes that blessed day of all others 't is in rags no longer but puts on its Robes of state When Salomons Queen stands by him she stands there like her self as one made meet to be his Queen in gold of Ophir and cloathing of

many ardent affections and pious ejaculations may pass from the heart to Heaven which the Devil may not know the reason of and of which alone God is witness This then is another excuse that Conscience makes for it self and 't is none of the least And yet 4. There is one more a very good one when all else is said that can be the Conscience flies to that in 1 Joh. 1.7 The blood of Christ cleanseth me from all sin So that let the Devil accuse as home and charge as deep as hee can yet here to be sure is a full answer for him an irrefragable one and such as he can never invalidate or take away the force of And in case Satan should be so impudent as to urge the matter farther and say that is true the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin but that belongs to none but a true Beleiver which you can never prove your self to be To this Conscience answers likewise and that roundly and smartly Thou lyest Devil and besides thou art no Judge in this case it comes not within thy cognisance what transactions are in my soul what mutual embraces betwixt Christ and me what acts of faith and love are in that secret place as I said before thou knowest not It doth not therefore follow it is not de non entibus de non apparentibus idem est judicium things that appear not to one that is ignorant are as if they were not Let that matter alone Devil for as cunning as thou art thou art no Judge in it it is enough that my God who alone is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the knower of the heart Acts 15.8 knows that I love him and believe in him whether thou knowest it or not Thus now we see what a good Conscience is in both the parts of it both as 't is honestè bona pacatè bona as 't is a quiet Conscience and an excusing Conscience every way void of offence both towards God and towards men and where such a Conscience is is it not a sufficient fortification against the fear of Death What is it that can be a just ground of trouble to this man That which is the most disquieting thing of all namely his sin and the guilt of it that is removed Christ hath taken it off from him What is it can be matter of terrour to him at the great Tribunal which he must one day stand before No enemy will appear against him there for God is reconciled to him and hee that shall sit there as his Judge is no other than his Redeemer And if Conscience here even in this life whose internal motions are known to none but God himself upon which ground none else but he can impose a Law upon it and oblige it be at so much ease Surely 't is from the same God that he is going to who alone can comfort or afflict the person to all eternity hereafter whose conscience he alone also can comfort or afflict in time But I hasten to answer two impertant objections which seem much to contradict all that hath been said hitherto SECT 9. Two important objections answered against the preceeding doctrine and what hath been said upon it FIrst It may be some will say shall we think that all those that are afraid or unwilling to dye are to be looked upon as persons without such a quiet and excusing Conscience or as those which have not such inward testimonies of a good estate and that in all the particulars which have been mentioned Would not this be very uncharitable to pass such a censure Yea and very unwarrantable too and against plain evidence both of Scripture and Experience Of Scripture which positively affirms Heb. 2.15 that some and those precious ones too for 't is spoken of Saints through fear of death are all their life time subject to bondage And doth not experience farther prove it almost every day How many choice Servants of Christ have met with hard struggles when they come to dye Have been willing to live yet longer if it might bee Have they not had their dreads on them Yea their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pangs and bands in their death like a woman in travel Secondly On the other hand is it not a very ordinary thing to see wicked men live and dye in peace Men as vile as prophane and deboished as any the earth hath and yet their Consciences are quiet notwithstanding they have no disturbance at all from them nor as the Psalmist saies have they any bands in their death Psal 73.4 but seem to pass out of the world as innocent as Lambs and without any fear at all upon them These are two considerable Objections indeed and must be answered and to satisfaction too least the truth before delivered bee prejudiced and shaken by it I answer therefore to both in order and first to the first objection I say three things First by way of concession I grant it that many who have indeed such a quiet and excusing Conscience a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men as I have been speaking of do notwithstanding dye with fears upon them and seem to be taken out of the world by violence rather than freely to go out of it and this contrary to the very precepts even of an Heathen moralist For what saies Seneca in his 104th Epistle Vir fortis sapiens exire debet è vita non trahi a wise and a valiant man ought to go readily out of this life not to be drawn And again quid est obsecro cur timeat mortem homo What is there in death considered simply in it self that a man should fear cum illâ nihil sit mali nisi quod ante ipsam est timeri the greatest evil of it is to be afraid of it before it comes Thus he even a very Heathen Well but yet for all that such is the extraordinary timidity of some persons and good ones too such is their aptness to despond partly from the natural constitution and temper of their melancholy bodies and mindes partly from the molestation of the great enemy of mankinde through Divine permission the Devil that the work of natures dissolution comes off hard with them and is a much more difficult task to them than to some others And the truth is who that is a Son or Daughter of Adam let them be never so holy and never so fit for Heaven but more or less have something of a cohorrescency of death upon them Two such old friends and so intimate as the body and the soul are loath to part It is natural for every thing to desire and seek the preservation of it self and to oppose and be afraid of that which destroys it Hence 't is that Aristotle in the third Book of his Ethicks the fixth Chapter tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death is most dreadful Thus also another Heathen Epicur Ad me nunc Apud

in person to her that would satisfie her Thus the Persian Lady to her Prince when he offered her a very precious Jewel to wear for his sake 't is your self Sir I desire to enjoy Tu mihi sola gemma es these without you lose their value and in my account will be little worth In like manner our Apostle here placeth his chiefest happinesse in the sight of Christ and being in person with him Bernard in Psal qui Habit. expresseth it to the life Esse Christum cum Paulo magna securitas esse Paulum cum Christo summa foelicitas Christ his being with Paul was his great security but Paul's being with Christ was his highest felicity Secondly when Paul desires to be with Christ the meaning of it in this place is so to be with him as to have the most full enjoyment of him that he could be made capable of to be in the full view of him even face to face Here he had but glympses of him and that by faith onely and through thick clonds and this but now and then too which though very refreshing to him yet far from making up such a blessednesse as the constant and un-interrupted enjoyment of him would give This and nothing less than this will put an end to his desires and afford him the content he seeks for omnis motus tendit in quietem all motion aims at rest but this most of all Thus we have the Apostles desires what they are and how vehement and the object about which they are conversant together with the Medium or way for the attaining of them he would depart and be with Christ Let us next see the reason of his desires 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is far better so 't is translated but it would be better expressed by a right Englishing of the causative particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for for it is far better far better multo magis melius saies the vulgar translation much more better Longè enim optimum est saies Beza for that is farre the best Properly the words may be rendred by much rather better better by much or as 't is in the old bibles best of all But for whom not for you saies the Apostle but for me I am sure Indeed for your sakes Methinks I could be content to stay a while longer but when I consider how sweet it will be to be with Christ for altogether and in the highest and fullest enjoyment of him then I am impatient till I am with him His love to the Phillippians was great and his love to himself was great too Willing he was for their sakes to stay and yet for his own sake more willing to go Egomet mihi proximus ipsi I am nearest to my self may every man say It were something strange if a man should not love himself first I was about to say best too next unto the God that made him and sweet Jesus his Redeemer yet Paul sayes that even in this case he was in a straight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am in a straight between two he was besieged on both sides which to yield to he doth not well know but at last resolves that for their furtherance and joy of faith if Christ should see fit he would abide and continue yet longer with them vers 24.25 he that could wish himself even accused from Christ amazing expression for his brethren his kinsmen according to the flesh Rom. 9.3 was here willing all things considered to come somewhat the later to Heaven which yet he most of all desired on condition to help on the word of the Gospel yet a little further and to give a more firm establishment to the Churches of Christ Oh rare temper What an holy struggle was now in Pauls heart between the love which he bare to Christ and his people in this World and the love which he bare to Christ and himself in the other World Will it not be hard to determine in which of these he exercised the greatest Grace and also which of the two graces now at work in his heart was the most noble his self-denyal or his self-love But enough of glossing upon the Words which I have been the larger in in reference to what will follow in the several Points to be handled from them As for the division of them they fall into two parts 1 a declaration of the Apostles desire which is to depart and to be with Christ 2 the reason of this his desire which is far better The Doctrines arising from the words are these four the first is a Doctrine that lies couchant in them necessarily implyed though not so plainly expressed it is this That whoever hath a true and saving interest in Christ hath good and sufficient ground not to be affraid or unwilling to dye this I take it is included and must be understood for he that desires to dye and to go to Christ must needs be supposed not to be affraid or unwilling to dye omne majus contines minus every greater contains the lesse a man must first be past the fear of Death before he can have a desire of death especially such a vehement desire as is here meant as in goodnesse No man can be positively good but he that is first good negatively first he must removere prohibens take away that which hinders his being good before he can be truly good even so here in the case of death The fear of death must first be removed and conquered before there can be any actual desire at least any great and strong desire of it This then is the first Doctrine The second is this That no person whatsoever is so fit to dye as he that can truly say with our Apostle here he hath a desire an earnest and ardent desire to depart and to be with Christ The third is this A righteous man's death is no other than a going to Christ The fourth this from the se words for it is much better That there is reason very great reason how happy soever a mans condition may seem to be in this world yet even then when it is thus with him to depart hence and to go to Christ yea and to desire it and that greatly SECT 2. The first Doctrine propounded and the method layed down for the handling of it THe first Doctrine then is this That whoever hath a true and saving interest in Christ hath good and sufficient ground not to be affraid or unwilling to dye The method I intend to handle it in shall be this 1 To consider what are the just causes of the fear of death 2 What it is that gives a good and sufficient relief against the said fear which whatever it is is likewise a clear evidence of a true and saving interest in Christ 3 I shall endeavour to answer two very important objections which may seem strongly to oppose the whole Doctrine and all that is said upon it 4 Make use of the whole

speaks of the soundness of his Faith believing all things that are written in the Law and the Prophets and of the holiness of his practise in a pure and right worshipping of the God of his Fathers to both which he immediately subjoyns this his double exercise of a good Conscience or a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men 2. The Annotation of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated void of offence properly signifying one that doth not cause another to stumble for so this very word is used in Luke 4.11 For dashing ones foot against a stone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when Balaam taught Balak how to bring Israel into sin by Whoredome and Idolatry 't is said Rev. 2.14 he taught him to cast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a stumbling-block before the Children of Israel Hesychius Estius Beza Grotius and many other learned men criticize upon this word variously but all in effect amounts to this when a man becomes an occasion to his Neighbour any way to sin he is then a scandal a stone of offence a Trap Gin or Snare to him and is guilty of the curse pronounced in Lev. 19.14 upon those that lay stumbling-blocks before the blinde Now hee that by all means takes heed of this as well in things Spiritual as otherwise hee it is that most truely may be said to have a Conscience void of offence towards men Thus have I done with the first general Branch of a good Conscience a quiet Conscience I come to the second SECT 8. Of an Excusing Conscience which makes its own defence 1. Against the Challenge of exacting Justice 2. Against the malice of an accusing Devil I Will begin with the first The Challenge of Exacting Justice What is that Challenge you 'l say Why it challengeth for the breach of the whole Law of God and this a thousand and a thousand times over for manifold and great wrongs done to God besides such as an abuse of his patience forbearance and long-sufferance great and high ingratitudes for many Mercies received non-improvements of the means of Grace with many other crimes of like nature but especially for Gospel-sins and the neglects of those offers which for a long time were made before ever they were at all regarded or hearkned to For all which Justice crys out to the God of Justice against the Sinner calls for satisfaction and that to the utmost farthing both principal and interest or else away let him go saies Justice away with him to Prison to Hell-fire there let him lie and there let him be punished too according to the merits of the cause spare him not says Justice let him know what it is to sin against such a God and abuse such Mercy as he hath abused This and abundance more hath Justice to say even against the best man and woman in the world To all which an excusing Conscience makes answer and defends it self thus by pleading three things against which even Justice it self can make no reply but is left wholly speechless First Acknowledgeth that Justice is just in its Challenge that it self is indeed the person guilty of all this of all these debts and these crimes but withal that both the debt and the guilt is transferred and that Justice it self must herein be just also in making its challenge where the debt and the guilt lies which is not now upon me saies Conscience but upon Christ my surety who hath undertaken for me my gracious God hath laid all my sins upon his back and my gracious Redeemer was willing he should and thither I also have carried them and laid them too Secondly Conscience excuseth it self again thus Christ hath not only taken my debts and guilts upon him but he hath endured the punishment and paid the whole debt First for my debts I shall never contract greater or larger debts than he hath already discharged for me and that before-hand too and in better coyn than ever could have been pay'd by any other not with silver and gold but with that which is much more precious his own heart-blood 1 Pet. 1.18.19 And for Punishment hath he not undergone that also And for whom did he undergo it if not for me and such as I am He had no sin of his own to suffer for no sin by inhesion his holy heart had not the least defilement in it Well then it was for my sins that he suffered And did he not suffer to the full Pray speak Justice Was one lash forborn One wound abated Was he not all over wounded for my transgressions even all in a gore-blood How did the drops run trickling from him while the stripes were laid thick on him And why so saies Conscience but that I might be healed Isa 53.5 Hath not the Holy Ghost it self taught me to say so and commanded me to believe it Now then what can Justice it self desire more Ought any debt to be payed any more than once or doth any just Law inflict punishment more than once for one and the same offence Thirdly Conscience proceeds yet farther in its own defence and adds one plea more and 't is a great one without which the two former could never be verifyed by him as to his own particular What is that you 'l say Why 't is the blood of sprinkling for saies Conscience that it may indeed appear that I am one of those for whom Christ hath done this for whose sins he hath undergone his sufferings and whose debts he hath paid that I am indeed one of his saved and redeemed ones Behold here the sprinklings of his blood upon me Where-ever that is found the Conscience cannot not be evil the heart is washed thorowly Heb 10.22 But this thorough-Grace you cannot deny to be upon me and therefore while I adore the Mercy that hath thus sprinkled mee I fear not you Justice nor any Challenge that you do or can make against me But then Satan happily will come in with his Accusations and these great and heavy For that malicious foul-Fiend is wont to lay his charge deep calumniari fortiter and to the very best of Saints too in their Generations Thus he did to Job to Paul yea unto Christ himself he wants not impudence as we may see in Jobs case nor cares he how many lyes hee tells to traduce God and trouble a Saint and he never doth it more than when sickness or any other troubles seizeth him and death approacheth And the whole charge which he bringeth in usually is three-fold or may all be reduced to three general heads First Sins of Commission these he enumerates multiplies and aggravates with all manner of horrid circumstances of time place manner measure endeavours to make them all no less than presumptuous sins sins against Conscience against much light great love many obligations from the God of all Grace and Mercy For the circumstances of time and place don't you remember saies this Accuser of the Brethren