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	work_n	2,998	5	6.1099	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56406	The faithful and diligent Christian described and exemplified, or, A sermon (with some additions) preached at the funeral of the Lady Elizabeth Brooke, the relict of Sir Robert Brooke, to which is annexed ... an account of the life and death of that eminent lady : with an appendix containing some observations, experiences, and rules for practice, found written with Her Ladiship's own hand / by Nath. Parkhurst ...	Parkhurst, Nathaniel, 1643-1707.	1684 (1684)	Wing P489; ESTC R14746	35,723	168

eject it It is not easy to bring the Soul back again into the State in which it was before it contracted Guilt XXXV Anger is seldom innocent I have no reason to trust my Anger it is not so just and righteous as it sometimes seems to be Anger is apt to blind my Mind and then Tyrannize over it There is in it something of Rage and Violence It stirs me up to act but takes away my Rule by which I should act I find an Aptness to credit my Passion and that foments it And when I am under the Power of Passion I have cause to suspect my own Apprehensions For Passion is blind and cannot judg it is furious and hath no leisure to debate and consider Giving way to it makes me unfit to act or receive Grace Though Anger should serve the Interest of Religion and so be good yet it being a strong and fierce Motion of the Spirit it must be used with great Advice and Caution XXXVI It is very hard and difficult to give God his due Glory under cross Providences XXXVII There is a Chain of Graces It is most certain there is a Chain of Graces inseparably link'd together and they who have one have all in some good measure They who have a lively Hope have fervent Love to God and they who love God love their Neighbours and they who love God and their Neighbours hate Sin and they who hate Sin sorrow for it and they who sorrow for Sin will avoid the Occasions of it and they that are thus watchful will pray fervently and they who pray will meditate and they who pray and meditate at home will joyn seriously in the Publick Worship of God Thus Graces are combined and holy Duties link'd together and no Grace is alone It is not with Graces as with Gifts to one is given this and to another that XXXVIII To be impartial in Piety and Mortification is very difficult It is a most difficult thing to withdraw Love from every Sin To proceed a little way in Religion is not hard But it is really so to go to the Extent of Mortification and Piety something of Religion may be embraced and our own Hearts Satan and the World not offended Some Morality and an outside-Devotion is not tedious to Flesh and Blood neither doth it shake Satan's Kingdom nor trouble the most of them we converse with But when we come once to engage in a close walking with God and to live by Rule in every part of Life resolving seriously to indulge no Sin whatever we pull the Kingdom of Darkness upon our Heads Then Corruption will strive Satan will rage the World will scoff watch for our halting and glory in our Miscarriages and we shall find it difficult to run against the course of Nature oppose Satan and go contrary to Men But of necessity this all this must be for any Sin indulged will divorce us from Christ XXXIX To trust in God is a Christian 's necessary Duty I find trusting in God my most necessary Duty My Condition is such that I cannot see before me I know not what a day may bring forth I find my self weak and impotent unable to do or suffer as I ought I cannot preserve my Soul Life Health or any thing dear to me And without trusting in God I cannot expect God should fulfil any Promise it being the Condition of the Promise XL. Trusting in God produces real Comfort I find it comfortable to trust in God it raises my Hope and gives me present Rest and Quiet and holy Contentation Trusting in God like many other Duties is my Work and my Ways XLI To trust in God is one of our most difficult Duties I find it difficult to trust in God at all times When Providences cross my Expectation they discourage me and prove a Temptation through my Weakness I have but feeble Apprehensions of the Power and Goodnese of God when I come to make use of them for my particular Security and Benefit I think I may say it is easier to obey and act for God than to trust in him XLII Faith is the Root of other Graces Faith is the Principle of Spiritual Life and Motion every true good Work and Exercise of Grace take their Rise and Vigor from Faith A Christian prays reads and meditates hears hopes loves is zealous for God and doth good to others Why because he believes What is Repentance and godly Sorrow but the Soul acted by Faith upon the Belief of the Sinfulness of Sin its Opposition and Contradiction to God and of the high Obligations we are under to avoid it and of the Misery we run into by venturing upon it and of the Madness and Folly of ruining our selves by it I find Faith most necessary and that I cannot be without it Where can I go or what can I undertake wherein Faith will not be necessary If I pray or meditate it will be a strange Exercise if Faith be wanting If I read or hear the Word it will not profit me unless I mix it with Faith would I hope in any Promise I must call forth my Faith Would I be heavenly-minded it is Faith must raise me above the World Would I be zealous for God Zeal will not gather Heat unless Faith blows the Fire Would I have Peace and Joy they must be had by believing Nay I can do nothing in my more ordinary Affairs without Faith I must know and believe my Design is good and centers in my great Design which is the Glory of God And the means I employ must be known and believed to be regular and holy or I dare not make use of them And then I must be able to cast my Care upon God and to commit the Event and Issue to him or else my Business becomes burdensom to me and I have no Rest in my self XLIII The Devil is a mighty but not an invincible Enemy I have a powerfull subtile watchful and malicious Enemy to encounter with But he is a known Enemy the Word hath discovered him and his Power is limited God hath promised me Victory over him nay my Lord hath already conquered him And I am not alone in this Warfare against Satan I fight not against him singly there is a whole Army engaged in the Quarrel The whole Church prayes and fights against him the Saints collectively make War upon him All the Prayers of the Church go up to Heaven for my Assistance so that I have help against Temptation from every Corner all strike this Dart into his Side Lord lead us not into Temptation And we all fight under our Victorious Captain Christ Jesus The Honour of God and of Christ my Head is bound up in my Safety and therefore I shall conquer nay his very Temptations shall turn to my good All these Considerations are my Encouragement XLIV The Things which the Holy Ghost teacheth The Holy Spirit teacheth every gracious Soul to regard the Immortal Spirit above the Body

raising our Minds above the World and things of this Life to the Desires Hopes and Expectation of the Joys and Pleasures of Eternity and in maintaining a real and delightful Converse with God daily and in a careful thankful acknowledging Him in all the Good that befalleth us and insensibly apprehending that our Happiness consisteth in the Knowledg of Him and his Love and Favour towards us in Christ All this is our Duty and included in the Work of the Lord and we may not willingly omit any thing of it By which we may perceive that though in some respects Christ's Yoke is easy and his Burden light viz. being considered with its Reward and the Assistances of Divine Grace and compared with the wicked Man's Way and End considered together yet it is not altogether easy since so much is to be done Religion and Godliness have their Difficulties and he must be diligent that would not fall short of the Glory of God since the Duties besides that they are great are so numerous as hath been now represented according to the Scriptures II. All this must be endeavoured and practised with much Steadiness Having thus begun in the Spirit we must not end in the Flesh Having put our Hand to the Plough we may not draw it back and make our selves unworthy of the Kingdom of God Whatever may be the Rage of Satan and whatever Objections may arise in our own Hearts against any part of our Duty we may not quit it But considering that the Eye of God is upon us and that it is necessary to persevere to the end and looking at the Joy that is before us and imploring the Aids of the Holy Ghost we must break those Bonds of Temptation to Sin in sunder and cast away such Cords from us and remain fixed in Piety constant to Godliness unmoveably resolved to abide in it Cleaving to God with purpose of Heart Acts 11.23 and avoiding that Reprehension in Hos 6.4 Your Goodness is as a Morning Cloud and as the early Dew it goeth away And that we may be the more animated to Constancy in Religion and Godliness let us consider the many glorious Examples of this Steadiness Noah continued firm in his Obedience to God in the midst of a very wicked World Gen. 7.1 Thee have I seen Righteous in this Generation Lot in the midst of the polluted Sodomites preserved himself and mightily regretted their Wickedness Joseph in Pharaoh's Court and Moses in the Court of another of that Name Obadiah in Ahab's David in Saul's Daniel Ezra and Nehemiah in the Courts of the Persian Emperors remained steady in Holiness notwithstanding varieties of Temptations both of the alluring and affrighting kind The holy Apostles and Primtive Christians and the Antient and Modern Martyrs preserved their Integrity in the midst of violent Temptations to desert Religion They stood like unmoveable Rocks in raging Seas and turned back the Force of Temptations as they do the insulting Waves Wherefore let this be our firm Resolution in the Strength of God That the World shall never gain nor force us to revolt from Him and his holy Ways but that whatever Changes may come we will be the same and though the Mountains should be removed and the Hills carried into the midst of the Seas we will still keep Faith and a good Conscience being stedfast and unmoveable in the Work of the Lord. III. We ought not only to be stedfast but also perpetually progressive in all this Duty like the shining Light shining more and more to the perfect Day Our Repentance must be increased and perfected by greater degrees of Mortification Our Faith must grow aiming at the Patriarch's Degree who was strong in Faith giving Glory to God and who against Hope believed in Hope Rom. 4.18 20. Our Love must be more intense our Obedience more exact willing and chearful our Charity more compleat and every Grace ascending and aspiring after greater Degrees going on conquering and to conquer which thing is very possible for Grace is as capable of Growth and Increase as the Plants in the Field or the Cloud of an hand 's breadth It is compared to a Grain of Mustard Seed Which from the least of Seeds grows up into the greatest of Herbs St. Mat. 13.31 32. We may assuredly if we earnestly design it mightily advance in Grace and become much more humble holy obedient mortified patient and heavenly and may add much to our present Attainments and may carry our Victories over Temptations much further to higher degrees of Conquest and Triumph even on this side Heaven And as we may so we ought for this God requires of us That we should bring forth much Fruit that from Babes we should advance to a more perfect stature in Christ and encrease with all the Encreases of God And that in proportion to our Means Mercies Chastisements Experience and Time offered us we should grow in Grace and in the Knowledg and Love of God and Christ to which there is no Encouragement wanting For IV. The Recompence will abundantly answer the Labour which shall not be in vain We shall find a sure and sufficient Reward partly in Peace of Mind Serenity of Conscience and present Joy in the Holy Ghost and chiefly in the future State For 1. Having been stedfast and abounding in our Duty when our Souls shall leave these Tabernacles of Clay whose Foundations are in the Dust as their first Principle Angels shall convey them to Heaven and there Christ will receive them and God the Father will acknowledg them and being entred into that blessed Place we shall have all the Happiness our Souls are capable of in the State of Separation from the Body And this is no less than an entire Deliverance from Sin Sorrow Fear Temptations and Afflictions with the Acquisition of perfect Grace and likeness to the Angels in Humility Purity Zeal Reverential Fear of God delight in Him and Charity one to another Moreover We shall be little less than equal to them in Peace and Joy and the Enjoyment of God in a Vision of Him by Intellectual Sight far transcending our best Knowledg of Him here by Faith For now we see him by Faith only in his Works Providence and Word all which amounts comparatively but to the seeing him through a Glass darkly but in Heaven we shall see Him face to face and know Him in some sort as we are known 1 Cor. 13.12 2. Having been stedfast and abounding in Piety and Holiness we shall in the end of the World recover our Bodies again with advantage for they shall be raised again in Incorruption Glory and Power being made Spiritual Bodies vers 42 43 44. This Corruptible shall then put on Incorruption and this Mortal shall put on Immortality and Death shall be swallowed up in Victory And who can express the Joy and Pleasure that will arise from the Soul 's re-entring into the new-raised Body As a Prince that leaves an old Palace till it be

Temptations and Mischiefs When our Call is clear our Way is safe Moreover the Practice of this leads me into much Acquaintance with God my very praying is an acquainting with Him And if in every thing I pray I shall in every thing give Thanks and this still brings me into more Acquaintance with him By this means my Life will be filled up with a going to and returning from God X. The real Christian loves Solitude Solitude is no Burden to a real Christian he is least alone when alone His Solitude is as busy and laborious as any part of his Life It is impossible to be Religious indeed and not to love Solitude in some measure for all Duties of Religion cannot be performed in Publick It is also a thing as noble as 't is necessary to love to converse with our own Thoughts The vain Mind doth not more naturally love Company than the Divine Mind doth frequent retiring Such have Work to do and Meat to eat the World know not of Their Pleasures are secret and their chiefest Delight is between God and themselves The most pleasant part of their Life is not in but out of the World XI There is more necessary to the rendring us truly Religious than a mere external Revelation of Truth True Religion is Heaven born for to the perfecting of it in any Soul not only the outward Revelation is necessary but also an inward Secret and particular Divine Impression The savouring of Divine Things is from the Power of the Highest over-shadowing the Mind for till God makes this inward Impression Men are not able to perceive the Things of God There must be a Light within us as well as without us otherwise the Gospel may be hid even where it shines so that whoever conclude aright that they are under the Power of Religion must experience something very supernatural something that is the Work of God and not of Man something above all their own or the Power of the whole World XII Religion in the Practice of it is most highly Rational Religion makes a Man live up to his Reason So far as a Man is a Christian so far is Reason exalted sitteth in the Throne and governs and commands all the Powers of the Soul Religion enlightens and strengthens Reason and Reason helps and serves Religion Reason is inseparable from the Soul we shall be rational in Heaven and Grace is the Recovery of right Reason The whole Practice of Godliness both in Divine and Moral Duties and the frame of a Christian's Spirit is but the Rational Consequence of two great Principles which the Christian hideth and embraceth in his Heart viz. That there is a God and that the Scripture is his Word The Inferences from these two and the Life of a Christian are the same XIII Religion in the Practice of it is a living in and conversing with God True Relion makes a Man not only live above the World and in Converse with his own Reason but also to live out of himself in God conversing much with him A real Christian will deny himself for God quit all Self-interest and resign to him in all Points of Duty and Service God's Glory is his End his Work his Direction He takes no Pleasure in himself nor in any thing without himself further than he seeth the Stamp of God upon it He forgets himself and minds nothing but the Will of God triumpheth in nothing more than in his own Nothingness and God's All-sufficiency and Fulness This is having nothing and yet possessing all things This is Divine Life and the heighth of Religion to know and perceive that not only as to our Natural Life we depend upon Providence and live and move in God But that also as to our Spiritual Life we receive all of his Fulness and are acted by a Life in and from him Of this I desire to be still more and continually sensible XIV Religion gives us a real Enjoyment of God The true Christian liveth above himself not only in a way of Self-denial but in the very Enjoyment of God His Fellowship is with the Father and with the Son He every where and in every thing seeketh out God in Ordinances Duties and Providences whether prosperous or adverse nothing pleaseth unless God may be found in it or admitted into it That is to him an Ordinance indeed wherein he meeteth God That is a merciful Providence indeed in which appears much of the Finger of God God is nearer to the true Christian than to others for there is an inward feeling an Intellectual Touch which Carnal Men have not And herein is the very Soul of Religion and the Quintessence of it that it unites us in a nearness to God and gives us already to enjoy him XV. Religion gives a Man the power of himself who by Nature is his own worst Enemy True Religion gives a Man a great Command of and restores him to a just Power and Dominion over himself by subduing in him his own Will and Passions Man in his depraved Condition is himself his greatest Enemy For the Devil and World prevail against him not by their own Strength but by the Treachery and Baseness of his own Heart The Destruction of Souls is of themselves Ignorance and neglect of God takes away Fear and there is in him such an Inclination to Sin as leads him to a delightful Entertainment of Temptations so that it is not so much the Devil and the World without as the Devil and the World within not the Baits of Honour Wealth and Pleasure without but Ambition Covetousness and Sensuality within which prevail upon Men. Wherefore unto purified Souls and mortified Minds many Temptations do in a great measure cease to be Temptations XVI Self-denial bears a great part in the practice of true Religion The great Property of true Religion is that it teaches Self-dental which Self-denial is indeed the Foundation of Religion and the Sum of all the Precepts of the Gospel Every true Christian sincerely though imperfectly denies himself and makes a Free-will Offering of himself to God in resigning to him his Will And indeed we can never have Peace in Prosperity unless our Will as to Action be swallowed up in the Divine Will nor can we have Contentment in Adversity except our Will be complying with God's Will This is the great Victory to conquer our selves and to him that thus overcomes is the Promise given of sitting with Christ in his Throne XVII We glorify God not by giving to him but by receiving from him I know I can add nothing to God's Glory I glorify him by receiving from him the Impress of his Glory upon me rather than by communicating any Glory to him When the frame of my Mind and Life is according to his Prescription when I am most like to him when a Spirit of Holiness and Love runneth through all my Actions then I glorify him God seeketh his own Glory by communicating Grace and Happiness to me and