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	good_a	soul_n	3,189	5	4.8286	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63010	A sermon concerning vocal and instrumental musick in the church as it was delivered in the parish church of St. Andrew Undershaft, upon the 31th of May, 1696, being Whit-Sunday, and the day wherein the organ there erected was first made use of / by Gabriel Towerson.	Towerson, Gabriel, 1635?-1697.	1696 (1696)	Wing T1974; ESTC R18086	14,209	32

A SERMON CONCERNING VOCAL and INSTRUMENTAL MUSICK In the CHURCH As it was Delivered in the Parish Church of St. Andrew Vndershaft UPON The 31th of May 1696 being Whit-Sunday and the Day wherein the ORGAN there Erected was First made Use of By GABRIEL TOWERSON D.D. LONDON Printed for B. Aymer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill MDCXCVI A SERMON CONCERNING VOCAL and INSTRUMENTAL MUSICK In the CHURCH EPH. 5. part of the 18th and 19th Verse But be filled with the Spirit Speaking to your selves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. The whole Period runs thus And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Spirit Speaking to your selves in psalms and hymns c. THE Purpose of the ensuing Discourse is to satisfie the double business of this day That which prompts you to reflect upon the Graces of that Spirit which did as this day descend upon the Church And that which prompts you to commemorate that and all other the Blessings of God to it with Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs Whether they be such as mount up to Heaven on the alone wings of their own breath Or whether they be such as are also advantag'd in their ascent thither by the breath of Musical Instruments and both conducted and pushed on by it And may that Spirit by which these and all other Religious Actions ought to be directed so assist me in the handling of the Exhortations that are now before me that I may both my self apprehend and set before you the due importance of each of them and approve them both to your Reason and Affections In order whereunto I. I will begin with that which suggests our being filled with the Spirit and accordingly enquire 1. What St. Paul means by being filled with the Spirit 2. For what end we are to endeavour after it 3. By what means we may come to be filled with it 4. Of what use our being so filled is 1. What St. Paul means in the general by being filled with the Spirit will not be difficult for him to learn who shall consider what that Spirit is which he and indeed all Christian Writers commend to our desires and endeavours or who they are whom St. Paul invites to get themselves replenished with it Because it is certain on the one hand that the only Spirit which either he or they commend to us is that Spirit of God which did as this day descend upon the Church or rather the Gifts and Graces of it And no less certain on the other because St. Paul directs this Exhortation of his to the Community of the Ephesians that he meant such Gifts or Graces of that Spirit as are common to all Believers or at least intended by God to be so 2. But because it is certain that even those Gifts or Graces of the Spirit are many and various and no necessity lies upon us to understand St. Paul of all alike but rather the contrary as will appear by and by from what precedes and follows his Exhortation to be filled with them Therefore it will be necessary for me to go on to enquire for what end he exhorts us to endeavour after such a filling as which alone will give us to understand what Gifts and Graces he especially intended Now that I shall not doubt to affirm to be the either exciting or maintaining in us the Passion of Joy A Passion which Religion doth not only not forbid but enjoyn upon us and commend to us As without which Religion it self would be very uneasie to us but however we should not be able to bear up under those many evils which either Religion it self or the present Dispensations of the Divine Providence will be sure to bring upon us Now as for that Reason it is that Religion it self doth so often endeavour to stir up this Passion of Joy in us and indeed never professeth any the least enmity to it save where it is either misplac'd or immoderate so we shall find if we look into the Context that it is St. Pauls great design in this place to stir up and keep alive in us this Passion of Joy and make it acceptable to God as well as beneficial to our selves For wherefore else should St. Paul exhort that Men should rather be filled with the Spirit than drunk with Wine as that too in order to their Singing and making Melody But that he meant to direct them to a proper means for the exciting of their Joy and such as should give them a much more innocent as well as more excellent one than the Wine of the Drunkard doth to him Or wherefore insist as he doth upon their speaking to one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs Singing and making Melody in their Heart to the Lord These as they are the Natural Expressions of Joy and accordingly directed to by St. James * Jam. 5.13 when a Man is under the sensation of it so the fomenters and maintainers of it that I say not also of the well-being of him in whom it is St Paul saw how necessary the Passion of Joy was to support the Spirits even of Christian Men But especially when they are also taken off from the common incentives to it in Mankind from the indulging of Lustful Practices † Eph. 5.3 4. or as loose Discourses He alike saw how necessary it sometime was even where there wanted not proper incentives to that Passion to make use of other means to raise the dull spirits of Men and put them into a condition even to enjoy their own Happiness Those who live more at ease than the Christian doth making use of brisk Wine to raise their Spirits and furnish them with that pleasing emotion which all their other acquisitions cannot give them That therefore those with whom he had to do and who by means of their own sense of Sin or Calamity had much more need of it might not want such an excitation He exhorts them instead of filling themselves with Wine which would give them but a fading as well as superficial Joy to fill themselves with Gods Spirit and particularly with such Graces of it as might be thought most to minister to it as well as afterwards to keep it alive and increase it with Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs Which supposed the Graces wherewith St. Paul exhorts that we should especially fill our selves will be found to be a grateful sense of Gods goodness and beneficence a stedfast belief of his promises but especially of those which relate to the Happinesses and Glories of the other World and what will not fail to follow from the former if they be well improv'd in our Thoughts and Meditations an ardent love and affection for himself For if our Souls be filled with these they cannot want a Joy as great as they themselves are able to contain and such as no present Evils how great soever can

ever ravish from us The Passion of Joy though for the most part arising from a present Good yet arising no less from such a one as is present to us by Faith provided that that Faith be firm and stedfast and we find that in us which may as certainly entitle us to the object of it The former whereof he cannot want who hath a due sense of Gods Truth as well as Goodness no more than he can be without the latter who finds in himself an ardent Love for God because the whole both of the Law and the Gospel 3. That therefore being the due sense and meaning of being filled with the Spirit and the Passion of Joy the end for which we are exhorted to get our selves so fill'd Enquire we in the Third place by what means we may come to be filled with it which as it is a much more important enquiry so may seem also of more difficult resolution Because that no doubt depends more upon the good pleasure of the filler than it doth upon any thing that we can do toward the attaining of it But as if we be well assured of the good Will of him that is to fill us as well as of his calling upon us to get our selves filled with it we cannot doubt of his chalking out wayes whereby we may come to be filled with it so we shall find if we consult the Scripture or our own Reason what those wayes and means are because directed to either by the one or the other Of which 1. The first and no doubt most especial one is to invite that Spirit into us by Prayer and beg of God to fill us with the Graces of it because expresly recommended to us as a means to attain it yea assured of obtaining it from him For after our Saviour had set before his Disciples the general efficacy of Prayer and confirm'd it from the disposition of Earthly Parents to gratifie their Children in all those good things which they may be supposed to ask of them He not only infers from it the greater likelyhood of Gods gratifying the Requests of his Children in all their Reasonable Demands and particularly as to what they make of his Holy Spirit but represents it as a thing inconceivable how God should deny that Spirit to them For if ye saith he * Luk. 11.13 being evil are not yet so evil as to deny good Gifts to your Children how much less shall your Heavenly Father deny the Holy Spirit to them that ask him 2. I look upon as no less sure a mean though not so particularly directed your cherishing that Spirit when you have it in any measure as to be sure all Believers have by attending to the Motions of it and readily complying with them in all those things to which they shall incline you Such an attention and complyance naturally disposing a Benign Being not only to continue his Graces to you but to give you more and more instances thereof as knowing that what he shall farther vouchsafe you shall be as kindly received and comply'd with as what he hath already afforded to you Which supposed it will not be difficult to shew which is all that will be farther necessary on this Head how you may come to be filled with those particular Graces which I have said St. Paul to refer more especially to when he exhorts to be filled with the Spirit For then may you expect to be filled with a grateful sense of Gods Goodness a firm belief of his Promises and as ardent a love for himself when you not only endeavour to cherish them by a due consideration of the excellency thereof but set your selves to the doing of all those things which such a sense and belief and love will prompt you to the performance of because that is all beside Prayer which can be supposed to be requir'd of you to invite God to fill you with them 4. The Fourth and last thing comes now to be spoken to even of what use our being filled with the Spirit is and particularly as to that Joy for which I have said it to be design'd Which we shall find upon examination to be to direct our Joy in an especial manner to Spiritual Objects to moderate it as to Earthly and Sensual ones and both keep it up and express it if not by means purely Spiritual yet by such as are principally and especially such For whereas he that is inspir'd with Wine will by that very Wine of his be prompted to place his Joy on Sensual Objects if not also on forbidden ones He who is filled with the Spirit of God and particularly with those Graces of it which I before described will by that very Spirit be directed especially to fix his Joy upon God and the things of God to delight in his Commands and to aspire after his Favours In fine to set as high a value upon them as the Men of the World do upon their most pleasing Enjoyments yea to suffer the want of all Sensual Enjoyments rather than run the hazard of more Spiritual and refined ones Whereas again he who is inspir'd with Wine will by that very Wine of his be tempted to an immoderate Joy in Earthly and Sensual Things and such a one as shall not only prompt him to forget that God who is the giver of them but abuse them also to his dishonour He who is filled with the Spirit of God will by that very Spirit of his be prompted to enjoy them with Moderation because no way comparable to those Spiritual Enjoyments which he himself suggests and much less to those Blessed and Heavenly ones which he assures us of in another World Whereas lastly he who is inspir'd with Wine will by that very Wine of his be prompted to keep up and express his Joy by Extravagant Actions or Lewd Songs and such as tend rather to corrupt his own and other Mens Minds than either to refresh or improve them He who is filled with the Spirit of God and particularly with a grateful sense of his immense Goodness a stedfast belief of his Heavenly Promises and a no less ardent love and affection for him will be thereby prompted to keep up and express his Joy by Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs by such as will put new Life into his Devotion as well as shew it forth and put new Life into other Mens Devotions as well as into his own The Second General to be spoken to and equally enjoyned with the former He who as you have heard exhorts Men to be filled with the Spirit exhorting them in like manner to speak to themselves or rather to one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs singing and making melody in their Heart to the Lord. II. In the handling of which Second Exhortation I will proceed in this Method 1. I will enquire what the Apostle meant by Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs 2. What he meant by speaking to themselves as our