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	find_v	love_v	2,574	5	5.6724	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27165	No treason to say, Kings are Gods subjects, or, The supremacy of God, opened, asserted, applyed in some sermons preached at Lugarshal in Sussex by N.B. then rector there, accused of treason by James Thompson, Vicar of Shalford in Surry, and the author ejected out of the said rectory for preaching them : with a preface apologetical, vindicating the author and sermons from that false accusation, relating the manner of his ejection, and fully answering the narrative of the said Vicar, now also parson of Lurgarshal / by Nehemiah Beaton ...	Beaton, Nehemiah, d. 1663.	1661 (1661)	Wing B1568; ESTC R17272	43,029	53

the Art of Government requires much more time study and abilities to go in and out before a great People of various tempers and distempers Solomon thought it required an extraordinary measure of wisdom 1 Kings 3. 9. and what wofull work hath the want of it caused in the world Now this Wisdom and ability to govern which Princes that have had the best Education and all other advantages have not been able to acquire God can immediately and suddenly bestow and infuse He can take Saul a man of the smallest of the Tribes of Israel and of the least of all the Families of the Tribe 1 Sam. 9. 21. accustomed to mean and base imployments ver 3. and without the help of Study or Tutors all on a sudden can fill him with all that Knowledge Wisdom Skill and Prudence which is necessary to make a wise and happy Prince in a moment he shall have another heart and be turned into another man 1 Sam. 10. 6 9. 2. In a way of Judgement God exerciseth his Dominion over the Hearts and Understandings of Kings in infatuating them and spoiling them of that wisdom and discretion necessary for them yea which they seemed to have so that take a King of greatest wisdom and experience whose Policy and potent Abilities make him the wonder of the Age in which he lives God can at any time when his greatest Concernments are in greatest danger cause him to act below the discretion of a very child or ideor When Nebuchadnezzar is boasting of his Greatness and Power and glorying in that Wisdom and Policy by which he had obtained them he is immediately by this King turned into a Beast that is as himself teacheth us to interpret it deprived of the use of his understanding and reason Dan. 4. 34. Mine understanding returned to me and ver 36. my reason returned to me Take but one Instance more King Rehoboam 1 Kings 12. from v. 1. to v. 18. he was the Son of the wisest of Kings who doubtless was very exact in the education of this his only Son and left him many wise and able Counsellors yet this King shall you see when his Crown and Kingdom lay at stake play the Game like a very fool Jeroboam anointed King watcheth an opportunity to get possession of the Kingdom and now hath met with it the discontented and burdened People are gotten together Jeroboam heads them comes with them and petitioneth that their intolerable burdens may be taken off his wise Counsellors shew him his danger and a cheap and easie way to escape it 't is but to dissemble his displeasure and give the People a few good words and he may defeat Jeroboam and secure the Kingdom to himself for ever there was no more in it and yet so foolish and sottish is he that he refuseth this takes a contrary course and so loseth ten Tribes Well now he sees his error sure we shall finde him hereafter wiser the mischief he would not prevent he now seeks to cure and therefore sends one to appease the People but see here he commits a greater error than the former the People are crying out of Taxes Burdens and Tributes and he sends a Tax-gatherer Adoram one whose imployment made him most odious and hatefull to the People the sight of whom doth further enrage them they stone him with stones he 'll quench the fire with throwing on of oyle But it may be all this proceeded from the weakness of the mans parts and so nothing to our present purpose No such matter v. 15. 't is said expresly the cause was from the Lord. Secondly By the heart of the King we understand the will of the King which certainly is here principally intended for turning is properly of the Will Now this also is in Gods hand and he exerciseth dominion over it The Will is that faculty by which we imbrace or refuse any object and as it is free in its actings a self-determining power so it is commander in chief in the Soul all other powers and parts must obey it even the Understanding it self in respect of its exercise is subject to the dominion of it Well but this supreme power of the soul in all the acts of it is subject to the dominion of God 1. What he pleaseth that shall it intend and resolve though otherwise it would never have been in all their thoughts How comes Artaxerxes a Heathen to intend and resolve the re-building of Jerusalem and to grant Nehemiah all that he desir'd for the promoting of that work Neh. 2. 8. This the King granted me according to the good hand of God upon me How came it into his heart to write so gracious a Letter to give so large a Commission to Ezra alas this would have been far enough from him had not God put it into his heart Ezra 7. 21. Blessed be the Lord who hath put such a thing as this into the Kings heart to beautifie the House of the Lord. 2. As he can make them intend what otherwise they never would so when they have of themselves according to their own proper apprehensions and humours intended purposed and resolved then can he in a moment quite alter and change their determinations and cause them to intend and resolve quite contrary Instances of this we have many but shall content our selves with one famous and notable of Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther he by the suggestions and perswasions of Haman his Favourite fully resolves the destruction of the Jews to this purpose Letters are written and sealed with the Kings Ring sent out by the posts who are hastened by the Kings Commandment Esth 3. 12 13 14 15. What now shall Mordecai Esther and the poor Jews do is there any hopes that they can change the Kings Resolution No they despair of it they have but one comfort left and 't is this in my Text that God had his heart in his hand and could turn it To him therefore do they seek and wait by fasting and prayer Esth 4. 16. and with God they do prevail and immediately after by what a series of strange and wonderfull Providences doth God turn the heart of this King as you may reade at large in the fifth sixth seventh eighth ninth Chapters of that Book which I desire you to reade at leisure and you will conclude with me that though the Name of God be not found in all that Book yet the Providence of God and his Dominion over the hearts of Kings are most visible and conspicuous in it Thirdly If by the heart of the King in this place we understand the Affections and Passions of the King his Love Hatred Anger Fortitude thus also is his heart in the hand of the Lord. 1. They must love whom He will have them love and whom otherwise they would never have regarded How came Daniel a poor Captive in favour at Court Dan. 1. 9. will resolve you Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with

Prince 1 Sam. 12. 25. If ye will still do wickedly the people are there spoken to ye shall be consumed both ye and your King As Subjects suffer many times through the folly and for the faults of their King so do Kings frequently suffer and fall for the wickedness of their People Suppose some Forraign Prince had gotten our King into his hands and having secured him in some strong Castle from whence it were utterly impossible his Subjects by force could rescue him should declare that if his Subjects here in England would but for one moneth forbear all Acts of Hostility he would safely restore him to them but if any of them upon any pretences whatsoever should attempt any thing of violence he would forthwith certainly put him to death In this case should not he and would not he be accounted a Traytor to the King that under pretence of affection should go about by open force to rescue him Surely you are all ready to pass sentence on such an one You may very easily apply it The King of Kings that hath the heart life and happiness of our King in his hand hath expresly declared That if we will walk in waies of sin and rebellion against him if we will do wickedly we shall not only destroy our selves but pull down the Judgments of God upon our King May we not then safely conclude them enemies to the King that do that for the very doing of which God hath threatned him You therefore that boast of your loyalty and affection to the King if neither the fear of God nor love of your own souls will prevail with you yet let the consideration of the great damage and danger your sins threaten the King with cause you to leave off your prophane and wicked practices 6. If the Kings heart be in Gods hand c. then certainly we may by parity or rather superiority of reason infer that all other mens hearts are in his hands also Kings have an inward natural liberty equal with others and an outward liberty belonging to their condition above others if therefore God can govern and rule them we may well conclude that no other man is exempted from his dominion which conclusion though it do not so much as shake the freedom of the will yet doth it quite overturn free-will as the Pelagians understand and assert it they think it not enough that the will be acknowledged under God a self-determining power unless we exempt it from his dominion with them it is not free at all unless altogether free from Gods Rule and Government nay though it be yielded them that God never exerciseth this dominion in such a way as is destructive to the natural liberty of the will yet will not this satisfie them they are guilty of Cicero his crime Qui sic homines voluit esse liberos ut fe●it sacrilegos counting it no robbery to make men equall with God as a first and independent cause Surely heaven or hell will shortly teach these men more humility and modesty What can an infinite and Almighty God only entice and perswade can he not infallibly and irresistibly turn the will of his Creatures Is it as some have dared to affirm in the power of our Wills when God hath done all he can to refuse what he would have us choose What is this but in other words to deny what Solomon in the words of my Text affirms Can he be said to have our Wills in his hands and to turn them whither he please that cannot turn it unless man please Let us beware of this dangerous errour let our hearts by this Text be established in this present truth the belief and consideration of which is of unspeakable use and comfort especially to two sorts of men 1. To those that have long mourned because of the hardness and stubbornness of their hearts the contrariety of their wills to the whole will of God they have spent much time and labour in the use of many means for their softening and changing and still as they fear they remain hard and unchanged Oh wretched men that they are who shall deliver them had they ten thousand Worlds they would exchange them all for a heart softened and savingly changed but alas they fear they shall never get such an heart well let all such believe and meditate on this Doctrine though Men nor Angels cannot yet God can make them willing in the day of his power he can make them such as he requires them to be wait then on him resolve to lye and die at his footstoole and to give him no rest till he have taken the heart of stone out of thy flesh and given thee an heart of flesh 2. Gods heart-changing power may exceedingly comfort and incourage those Ministers whose lot providence hath cast amongst a stubborn and rebellious people who do alwaies resist the Holy Ghost who entertain all their messages from the Lord with contempt and scorn and with the Leviathan in Job laugh at the shaking of the spear Oh how is the heart of such a Minister ready to sink under this burden the hope of converting souls was that which engaged him in that difficult employment but now alas he mourns as without hope he plows and sows as without hope the more he preacheth the worse his People grow and therefore he is ready to give over and say with the Prophet I will speak no more in his name Well here is encouragement and comfort for such this Doctrine tells them that with God this is possible even the conversion of those that are Gods and their most resolute enemies even of these stones can God raise up children unto Abraham as fast as they are now running to hell he can stop and turn them and cause them to run the waies of his Commandments though then we have toiled all night and caught nothing yet let us not give over we know not what the next Sermon may do let us sow our seed in the morning and in the evening let us not hold our hand we know God can prosper both but we know not which he intends to bless 7. Hath God the hearts of Kings in his hands Then what an honour what an happiness is it to be his Favourites Kings usually have their Favourites though many are loved and respected by them yet usually there is some one singled out by them whom they delight to honour whom they are not ashamed to call their friends and use as if they were their equals they may request nay command any thing from them only in the Throne will they be greater than they David had his Favourite 2 Sam. 15. 37. Hushai the Kings Friend And Zabud the Son of Nathan is stiled 1 King 4. 5. Solomons friend the King of Kings hath his Favourites though the meanest Saint have an interest in his favour yet are they not all his Favourites there is but one Disciple that leaned on Chriss besome every one of his

people are loved by him but they are not all men so greatly beloved as Daniel God reckons up Noah Daniel and Job as three Favourites that could do far more with him than other ordinary Saints Ezek. 14. 14. Now my Text and Doctrine will resolve whether of these are the most honourable and happy as far as God is exalted above the King in my Text so far is the condition of the Favourites of heaven advanced above the condition of the Favourites of earthly Kings but alas the blind World judgeth otherwise What will men do nay what will they not do to procure the favour of Princes Which when at last they have obtained they bless themselves and think now they are arrived at the top of honour and happiness nor are they alone in this folly and madness the generality of men admiring and envying their condition enquire of them after such an one how he doth and you shall have this or such an answer Alas how can he do amiss he hath the Kings ear and is the only Favourite at Court but as for Gods favour that 's not counted worth the looking after Many say Who will shew us any good But it is David only and some few such as he that cry out Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon us Well thus it is in the World but if you compare the conditions of these two sorts of Favourites together you will find that as far as the heaven is above the earth so far is the happiness of Gods Favourites above the happiness of those that are most highly in favour with earthly Kings I shall only present you with those advantages which the former have above the latter which naturally flow from my Doctrine 1. Then suppose a man as high as possible in a Kings favour let him have all the assurances the King can give him that he will never cast him off yet is this Favourites high place a slippery place because the King hath not his heart in his own hand but it is in Gods who can in a moment turn the stream and cause him to hate him more violently than ever he loved him and then all the advantage he hath by his former happiness is this that it hath made him capable of a greater fall Whereas Gods Favourites are sure that whilst they walk in his waies and choose the thing that pleaseth him neither Principalities or Powers shall be able to separate them from his love having loved his own he loveth them to the end 2. He that hath most of the Kings heart may at that very instant be the object of Gods hatred and what King can interpose and turn away the wrath of a jealous God from him whereas the Favourites of heaven because they are Gods Favourites shall certainly either enjoy the favour of Princes or be secured from any real hurt by their displeasure Rom. 8. 31. If God be for us who can be against us Oh then whilst others are greedily hunting after the favour of Princes let us seek after the favour of that God whose Creatures they are who is all and hath all and doth all in heaven and earth Quest But what must we be what must we do to be Favourites of the King of Kings Answ 1. You must get into Christ you cannot see the face or enjoy one drachme of the favour of God whilst you are out of Christ 't is only in the Beloved that we are or can be accepted Imbrace then Christ as tendred in the Gospel and be assured that the more cordially you close with him the more highly you prize him and the more sincerely you obey him the more shall you have of the heart and love of God Joh. 16. 26. The Father himself loveth you because you have loved me 2. You cannot be the Favourites of heaven till cured of the leprosie of sin we read indeed of a King in Scripture that had a Favourite Naaman a great man but a Leper 2 Kin. 5. 1. But the King of heaven hath no such Favourites whilst then you are in an unregenerate unconverted estate whilst you are under the raign and dominion of sin know assuredly 'tis utterly impossible thou shouldst enjoy the favour of God Rom. 8. 8. They that are in the flesh cannot please God nor is it enough that you are washed from your filthiness but you must be adorned with the graces of Gods Spirit these are the attractives of his love 3. Would you be men and women greatly beloved of God Do you desire not only reconciliation but a large share of Gods heart and love You must walk with God that is as men that have God in their eye whose whole conversation shews they believe him present with them Enoch walked with God and had this Testimony He pleased him Heb. 11. 5. And then what an high honour and special mark of favour did God put upon him in his translation Be then sincere and uniform in your obedience and have respect to all Gods Commandements for a man fulfilling all his wills is a man after Gods own heart Acts 13. 22. The upright in the way are his delight Prov. 11. 20. 4. If you desire to be high in Gods esteem you must be low in your own eyes the high and lofty one delights to dwell and converse with lowly and humble spirits Isa 57. 15. Princes Favourites usually wear something given them by their Lord as a mark of his favour whoever wears this livery whoever is cloathed with humility that man which God hath adorned with this grace he is the man whom this King delights to honour 5. They are most highly in Gods favour that are most zealous and active for him God himself is a pure act and the more active we are in good the more like are we to him and the better liked are we by him Kings love them most whom they see most busie to promote their Interest Solomon tells us Prov. 22. 29. That if we see a man deligent in his business 't is a sign that man shal stand before Kings 'T is most certain that if we are not sloathful in business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord we shall stand before and be in favour with the King of heaven 6. Those that stick close to God in prophane places or times of danger and general Apostacy these are alwaies his special Favourites you heard before how highly Noah Daniel and Job were in Gods favour and I pray observe this of them all three Job lives in the Land of Uzz amongst a most barbarous people and at a time when Satan boasts that God hath not any visibly to own him and yet Job in this place and at this time is a perfect man fearing God and eschewing evill Job 1. 1. Daniel keeps close to God in the Babylonish Court Noah when all flesh had corrupted his way he remains upright in his Generation Gen. 7. 1. If then when others turn aside from following the Lord we fulfill after him or follow him fully we shall certainly be most highly in his favour 7. The more strong we are in faith the more stedfast we are in believing the more shall we have of Gods heart the more we act faith on Gods Al sufficiency when we can leave our own Country and Kindred sacrifice our Isaacs and against hope believe in hope then do we highly honour God Abraham was most eminent for this grace and see what an high honour God puts upon him Isa 41. 8. Abraham my friend 8. Lastly This Doctrine is full of consolation to the people of God be their condition never so sad their sufferings never so great here is enough to support them yea to fill their hearts with joy and gladness that God who hath taken them into Covenant with himself who is not ashamed to be called their Friend and Father whose love to them passeth the love of women in a word who is as tender of them as the apple of his own eye 'T is that God who hath an absolute soveraignty dominion over all persons and things in the World there hath been nothing done to them but by his permission he hath the heads hearts and hands of their most potent Adversaries in his own hand In the greatest storms and tempests their Father sits at the Stern and can command a calm when he pleaseth If then they are assured of his love and know he will not hurt them they may be assured that others cannot for they cannot go beyond the Word of the Lord to do more or less here is that which in the midst of the thoughts of our hearts is sufficient to refresh our spirits When therefore we hear sad news when those that bring evill tidings like Jobs messengers overtake one another and the last alwaies brings the worst news then remember and retire to this Text and Doctrine which publish peace and bring good tidings of good which say unto Zion thy God raigneth FINIS a Convitia probra quibus Christianos toto hoc tempore Draconicolae obruebant Objicientes eis homicidia conjurationes in Principes M●de in loc b Isid Pel. l. 2. Epist 229. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. c Quasi apud lapsos profanos esse aliud possit nisi mens prava fallax lingua odi● venenata s●crilega mendacia Cypr. ad Flor. Pupian Epist 69. a Chrys Hom. 12. in Act. Ap. c 5. Tom. 3. d Vid. vitam Chrys per Pallad Dacon Script operibus ejus praefix p. mihi 9. Bishop Sanderson Serm. 1. ad populum on 3 King 21. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. 15. e 2 Thes 3. 2. Vid. C. a Lap. Sclat in loc ☜ Observ Cordis nomerad voluntatem potius quam ad intellectum hoc loco pertinet Aquin Reasons Applicat * One that hath since sworn against me