Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	affection_n	father_n	son_n	3,406	5	5.4504	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26309	Dying infants sav'd by grace proved and the blessd man with his blessedness described in a sermon preached near Namptwich in Cheshire at the burial of a deceased infant, July 25, 1695 / by S.A.	Acton, Samuel, d. 1740?	1699 (1699)	Wing A452; ESTC R28175	24,873	32

The Judg of the whole Earth must do right he cannot but do so he may as well cease to be as cease to be righteous in all or any of his Ministrations and Procedures Men may be rigorous and unrighteous cruel and preposterous but God cannot be so it is contrary to his Nature and repugnant to that Law by which he will act and govern himself in all his proceedings with Man Now I appeal to all Men of common sense and understanding tho but of a small measure of ingenuity and honesty whether it be consistent with the common Rules of Justice and Equity among Men to punish the Innocent with the Nocent the Faultless with the Guilty Were it your own case could you think so Nay that the Criminal's Offence should be charged upon you and the Offender himself go free The latter of these all Men would decry as high injustice and a preposterous proceeding But so it is in the case in hand reserving that only Instance of Christ's suffering for us and in our stead by the designation of his Father and as an evidence of his good Will to us We have not only God charging the Sin of Adam upon his whole Posterity wherein he is perfectly just Adam considered as our common Head and we all in his Loins standing or falling in and with him but letting Adam go free and inflicting eternal punishment on his Seed But with reverence we may demand What makes vain Man to imagine that God will discharge Adam the actual Offender giving him immediately upon his Fall the promise of a Saviour and yet bind the guilt of that Sin upon the greatest part of his innocent Posterity who could neither avoid nor prevent it to their inevitable ruin and eternal destruction A Conception most unworthy of God and his dealing with Men For whatever Grace and Favour Adam received in so early a Promise of a Saviour he received it as well for his Posterity as for himself and as we had been represented by him under the disadvantages of the Fall so he being still in the station of a publick Person matters were negotiated with him as our common Head for the intitling us to the promised Saviour as well as before he and we in him did so fall The untoward Jews entertain'd such a conceit as this of God insomuch that by the vent they gave it in their Discourses it was taken up as a Proverb in Israel That the Fathers had eaten sowr Grapes and the Childrens teeth were set on edg Ezek. 18.2 But doth God take this kindly at their hands to represent him so unequal in his proceedings as to punish the Innocent with the Guilty No he resents it with great indignation and displeasure abhorring the thoughts they had of him and the measure by which they represented him as manifestly reflecting on the Goodness of his Nature and the Justice of those Rules and Eternal Laws of Righteousness by which he proceeded Wherefore he solemnly declares and that upon Oath That thenceforth they should have no more any occasion to use it as a Proverb As I live saith the Lord God all Souls are mine as the Soul of the Father is mine so also the Soul of the Son is mine but the Soul that sinneth it shall die as you read in the 3d and 4th Verses How positive and plain is the Lord in these terms to satisfy all and to rectify Israel's mistake whose Notions and ill-form'd Apprehensions had been very unworthy of him and who had without any ground conceiv'd him rigid and cruel Therefore Israel change your Opinion of me think of me no more as inequitable in my judicial proceedings with Man I tell you again The Soul that sinneth shall die the Son shall not bear the Iniquity of the Father and so on in the 20th Verse And this Justice and Righteousness of God's dealings is abundantly illustrated in that Passage wherein Moses expresses great tenderness and strong affection to sinning and revolting Israel in his intercession with God for them His Love inclin'd him willingly to be made a Sacrifice for them that had sinned rather than God should cast off all regard for 'em and enter the Lists as an Enemy against them Lord says Moses if thou wilt not pardon thy People blot me I pray thee out of the Book which thou hast written Exod. 32.32 To which the Lord replies as it were No no Moses thou hast not sinned and tho thou hast sufficiently expressed thy love to an undeserving People yet should I do as thou desirest it would be to act contrary to the Rules of perfect Equity and Justice from which I will not I cannot swerve and therefore it is only they that have sinned against me that I will blot out of my Book as vers 33. My love to my People hath been very great exprest by manifold acts of kindness but in case they sin as they have now done my Justice and Faithfulness will not let them go unpunished much less punish thee an innocent Person for their sin and acquit them thereupon from the sin and punishment due to it From all which it 's evident that God will not impute Sin to dying Infants to their eternal condemnation and that in both these respects that Man is blessed Infant as well as believing Man unto whom the Lord will not impute Sin The Doctrine from the words is That he and he alone is blessed whose Sin is not imputed and that dying Infants are assuredly blessed on that account I confess there are many in the World who from the prosperity of their present state and condition think all is well with them they are not under wracking pain nor pinching poverty they have their Wants supply'd and it may be more than their hearts can desire Psal 73.4 5 7. The Language of whose Hearts is the same with that of Babylon's Rev. 18.7 I sit as a Queen and shall see no sorrow whereas their Sun may he declining and as Zephar says Job 20.5 6 7. their Prosperty is very short the remainder of their days may be fill'd with trouble perplexity and disappointment and nothing remain but a sad prospect of mourning and sorrow in utter darkness if not prevented by a timely and hearty Repentance All is not Gold that glisters 't is too common for Man to mistake his own state and to think with Laodicea Rev. 3.17 because of their full enjoyment of this World's Wealth accompanied with a profession of the Christian Religion that they are Rich and have need of nothing when as in truth they are wretched miserable poor blind and naked The rich Man in the Gospel was no less mistaken at last as to his own state and condition Most certain it is that Nature has not power to endow us with Features so amiable and Faculties so excellent as to insure us of Blessedness The greatest Beauty is oft spoiled by a fit of Sickness as the Small Pox c. and sometimes not only defaced but

forfeit this Grace or to lose so desirable a Happiness as that of Heaven is Serious and devout Souls on Earth are or at least ought to be fearful of nothing more than of losing the Favour of God or that they receive not his Grace in vain O the Fears and Tears the Cares and Prayers the Watchings and Strivings of the truly pious all which speak forth the possbility of it as well as the many sad Instances we have upon Record to the end we may not lust as they lusted 1 Cor. 10.6 but avoid the Rocks on which they split But such is the state of the Godly in Heaven after Death that it renders their Abiding certain stable and unalterable There is no Evil there much less any Sin not a Temptation to incline the Will to offend no both Will and Power will be wanting in Heaven to make a forfeiture of it There is a Gulf fixed betwixt the saved and the damned which makes it impossible for them to change their Stations or to pass from one place to the other Luke 16.25 26. But Thirdly That which compleats the Blessedness of the Man to whom the Lord will not impute Sin after Death is the Happiness he shall actually and for ever enjoy in his Person in Heaven There he shall behold the Face of God and the Lamb there he shall partake of the Fulness of God's Glory be satisfied with the delights of his Presence and the Pleasures and Treasures that be at his right hand There the Righteous shall not only hear the Holy Quire of Blessed Angels and Saints triumphant warble forth the Praises of God but shall join with mouths full of Hallelujaths to God and the Lamb in a grateful memory of that kindness the Lord shewed them in not imputing Sin unto them There they shall be set upon stable and fixed Thrones their Heads crown'd with unfading Diadems and their Faces shine with rays of unconceivable Glory with greater luster and brightness than the Sun in the Firmament In a word it is a Blessedness too great to be expressed by the Tongue or to be conceiv'd by the Heart of man 1 Cor. 2.9 The most raised Imagination cannot reach it Thus we have shewed you that he and he alone is blessed whose Sin is not imputed If this be the assured Happiness of such unto whom the Lord will not impute Sin and more as is suggested it may be worth our inquiry how we may come to know certainly that we have obtained Impunity that this Act of Grace in the High Court of Heaven is past for us that our Names are there inrolled that we are the Men and Women to whom the Lord imputes no Sin and are consequently blessed Sirs 'T is certain there are Properties and Characters common to such as are thus privileged and among many I will name four which we shall find common to all on whom the Lord charges no Sin The First is sincere Love and Affection to God As it is the Fruit of Divine Love to be freed from the Imputation of Sin so 't is the property of every blest Soul to love the Lord. The Law of his Mouth is the Law of Love and Kindness his Soul is delighted in the contemplation of God's Love to him and accordingly goes forth with strong and hearty Love to him again A Man sensible of the greatness of that Wrath from which he is delivered and the greatness of that Happiness to which he is intitled cannot but express with hearty Affection the kind and respectful sentiment he hath of such Grace and Favour From hence it was that David ingages himself to love the Lord and declares his resolution therein Psal 116.1 I will says he love the Lord because he hath heard the Voice of my Supplication He hath now put me into the injoyment of that which I have long often and earnestly sued unto him for and which is in truth the answer of many Prayers therefore I will love him I cannot but love him his Love constrains me to love him because he loved me first 1 John 4.19 And this is further evident from what our Blessed Saviour says in the Parable to Simon the Pharisee telling us That Mary loved much because her Sins which were many were forgiven her Luke 7.47 God is in himself the only worthy Object of our Affection as he is perfectly amiable and altogether lovely were we not under an Obligation flowing from his Kindness in taking away our Sin but where a Soul is under this Obligation there will be a care to make some sutable return of Love and indeed our Love must be very great if it bears any proportion to the Love of God exprest in his not imputing Sin unto us But Secondly Obedience to his Commands without which 't is not possible to know our selves to be privileged Persons nor shall we ever be able to read our Names written in the Roll of Heaven There is no other way wherein we can express the truth and strength of our Love to God than by obedience to his Commands John 14.23 24. All love not so evidenced is nothing but dissimulation and mere pretence neither is there any Command that a Man will boggle at to whom the Lord imputes not Sin A sense of this Grace will wonderfully incline and quicken us to do his Will Isaiah's Lips were no sooner touched with a Coal from God's Altar importing the purging and taking away his Sin but it presently disposes him to God's Service When the Voice said Who shall go for us immediately the Prophet presents himself saying Here am I send me I am now ready for any Errand to ingage in any business for thy Glory Isa 6.7 8. If God is so kind to break our Fetters and to unloose the Cords that bound us and so set us at Liberty it is not that we should use our liberty as an occasion to the Flesh Gal. 5.13 and sin with a higher hand against God whose Grace abounds Rom. 6.1 2. but that we should love the Lord our God and serve him Deut. 10.12 which St. Paul did with all readiness not once conferring with Flesh and Blood He demur'd not nor was discouraged by those floods of Troubles Tumults Perils Distresses Afflictions and Persecutions that he might raise up against himself none of these things hindred him from a vigorous ingaging in the Work of God's Service but he was obedient to the Heavenly Vision Acts 26.19 And as it is thus evident that Obedience is the Property of such as are in truth thus privileged with the Grace of God so I doubt not but we who have some good ground to hope that we are blessed upon God's not imputing Sin unto us have oftentimes avowed our selves to be the Lord's Servants and to render him the Service he calls for at our hands Which is 1. Sincere Obedience Obedience without Sincerity is no more that which God calls for than a stinking Breath flowing from corrupt Lungs is naturally