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	heart_n	let_v	3,737	5	4.4169	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52862	The necessity of receiving the Holy Sacrament (that great test both of the Christian and Protestant religion) declared in a sermon, at a conference of the several ministers of the Deanery of Braughin, in the county of Hertford, appointed by the Right Reverend Father in God, Henry Lord Bishop of London, to be held at Ware, August 28, 1678 / by Robert Neville ...	Neville, Robert, 1640 or 1-1694.	1679 (1679)	Wing N523; ESTC R12405	14,625	32

Faith in the virtue and merits of it For the Sacraments as one saith well are nothing else but Protestationes Fidei the publick Protestations of our Faith They who come to the Lord's Table by their very coming do publickly profess that they believe not only every Article of their Faith but also every part of this Divine Promise and Institution by which Christ will renew strengthen and establish his Covenant to every worthy Receiver Nor is our coming to the Sacrament our Protestation only of our Faith but also of our Repentance which 3. Is hugely advantaged and promoted by the Sacrament for we cannot certainly but repent with all speed of our Sins when we consider that they were the Spears that pierced our Saviour's side the Nails that fastned him to the Cross and that they laid such loads of Wrath upon the shoulders of Omnipotency it self as made him complain and sweat groan and die it being impossible for any Man ever to have such a sense of and sorrow for Sin as when he is awakened by the signs and images of Christ's Sufferings and when he sees it writ and decypher'd in Characters of Blood so that our receiving the Sacrament which commemorates Christ's Death and Sufferings is a Protestation of our repenting of those Sins of ours which most Jewishly crucifi'd the Lord of Glory The Canonist will tell us Sacramentum mortis Articulus aequiparantur that we are considered at the Sacrament as on our Death-bed Now on our Death-bed we repent of our Sins then we lay down our Malice then we nauseat our Lust then we go out of and renounce the World then we quarrel with Mammon then we are meek humble and tractable then we are commonly what we should be in Health Now if we consider our selves at the Holy Table as on our Death-bed we shall undoubtedly repent of our Sins and drown them in the Blood and nail them to the Cross of our Saviour and if so then this Sacrament may very well notwithstanding what some extravagant Fancies may suggest to the contrary deserve the name of a Converting Ordinance that is such an Ordinance as God makes use of to turn Men from Sin to Holiness towards which nothing can contribute more than that solemn Obligation which all Worthy Communicants lay upon themselves at the Lord's Table to forsake their Sins and lead holy Lives there being nothing imaginable that can seen a more probable and proper Instrument to convert Men from a wicked to an holy Life than the sacred Remembrance that Christ's Death was designed to be the Death of Sin and the Life of Holiness 4. A fourth Benefit or Advantage of the Sacrament is That it enlarges and enflames our Love our Charity whether it be First Divine Love or the Love of God Or Secondly The Love of our Neighbour First It enlarges and enflames our Love of God For by the commemoration of Christs Death in the Sacrament we imprint in our Memories that Heroic Act that never yet did enoble the story of any Person namely Christ's laying down his Life for his Enemies the Lamb of God his dying for Wolves for those that would have devoured him So that if the Poet's Fancy of Deucalion and Pyrrha were verified in us and we like the Men and Women in their days were made or Stone yet these Marbles could not but weep these cold stones could not but be warm'd with the Fire of Divine Love struck out of them by the consideration of Christs great Love to us exprest by that Gift he gave to obtain our Pardon namely his Life This was such a transcendent Act of Love as no Romance of Friendship did ever yet fancy or suppose We may have heard of two Companions that would die for each other and that never quarrel'd in their Lives but for this who should suffer first to save the other and strove only for Death and Execution But for a Person in the Trinity to leave his Heaven to come down to us to dwell with Agonies that he might free us from Torments This was an Act of Love fit for Ecstasies of Apprehension there were never such wounds of Love as those that tore his Heart never such meltings of Affection and Goodness as dissolved Christ into sweats of Blood Let us look on our Saviour in the Garden and on Mount Calvari and we shall find him there in as great Agonies of Affection as of Torment and hanging down his head upon the Cross with Languishments of Kindness more than Weakness Now such Meditations of Christ's Love to us as these does receiving the Sacrament suggest to us and if as undoubtedly it is Love is the best Loadstone to attract Love the doing this Holy Action cannot but kindle in us that Holy Passion of Divine Love Nor will it stop here but proceed Secondly To nourish and encrease the Love of our Neighbour For it being the Commemoration of his Passion who was the perfect Mirror of Love it cannot but kindle and enflame our Loves to one another which is an expression of our Love to God For 1 John 4.12 If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his Love is perfected in us Christ died for his Enemies and shall not the Commemoration thereof teach us to love ours When the King of Moab was pressed hard by the Israelites and Edomites he took his own Son and offered him as an Holocaust upon the Wall whereupon they presently raised the Siege So God hath offered up his Son as an Holocaust as a Sacrifice for us and can we choose then when we commemorate that his Oblation in the Sacrament but raise the Siege and cease from quarrelling and fighting with our Enemies and do them all the good Offices of Love and Kindness Epictetus hath ingeniously observed That * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every thing in the World hath two handles one turned towards us which we may easily take the other turned from us harder to be laid hold of the first makes all things easy the second does not The instance he brings fits my present purpose Be it says he that thy Brother hath offended thee there are two handles one of the offence the other of thy Brother if thou take hold of that of the Offence it will be too hot for thee but if of that of thy Brother it will make all his behaviour towards thee so tolerable as to continue him still the Object of thy Love There is no part of out Brother's carriage towards us but if we examin it we shall find some handle some circumstance that may reconcile our Love to it if we can find no other that of our Saviour's dying for his most virulent bitter and malicious Enemies will accomplish and effect it For says St. Chrysostom didst thou know that thy Brother intended particular Mischief against thee that he would even embrue his hand in thy Blood * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kiss that very hand for the Lord Christ did

not refuse to kiss that very Mouth that made the Bargain for his Blood The Effusion whereof we commemorate by pouring out the Sacramental Wine Now this Love of his required the best of our Love by way of Compensation and he hath made our Brethren Letters of Attourney to receive that Debt of our Love which is due to him And thus having muster'd up all the Arguments to enforce the Necessity of receiving the Sacrament which the time allotted to this Discourse would allow of I shall now remove some of the principal Objections which are urged by some to discourage both themselves and others from this necessary and holy Duty The first Objection is that of their own Unworthiness which they say frights them from this holy Feast To which let me return this Answer that though they pretend Fear to be a Bridle in their Mouths that hinders them from eating yet I am apt to believe this but a bare pretence because they are not afraid of those things which I am sure have more evil and danger in them than the doing this holy Action can ever be supposed to have for they are not afraid to break a positive Command of Christ's which requires them to do this in remembrance of him They are not afraid to live in the known Sins of Schism Faction Covetousness Uncharitableness Disobedience to their Governours both in Church and State and yet they are afraid to do a necessary Duty which Christ himself requires of them They make their Unworthiness a Plea for their not coming but who is culpable and blameable for it Is it not to be charged upon themselves alone Is it not because they are unwilling to take a Survey of their Consciences and examin themselves Is it not because they are so in love with Sin as to think it hath a better Gusto than this blessed Feast O let not these sad Wretches put such Cheats upon themselves as to pretend that the thoughts of their Unworthiness fright them from it of which if they were truly sensible they would not remain so unworthy but as the Apostle adviseth 1 Cor. 11.28 First examin themselves and then eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. Let them not therefore spin such fine Threads of Hypocrisy as to deceive their own Eyes for their Unworthiness is no sufficient reason to keep them from this Duty unless they are resolved to continue in that state without Repentance The sick Man is not unworthy of Physic because he is sick but because he flings away his Physic and defies all Remedies and Medicines that may restore him to Health and if this be the state of these Men in Spirituals they are then indeed unfit to come to the Holy Table But if they are desirous to purge away their sins by repentance and lead a new life for the future they may nay they are obliged to participate of this Holy Feast and are as worthy of it as the Wounded Man is of Healing Balsam or the Sick Man of Physick that is they want it and Christ invites them to come that they may receive such supplies as are suitable to their Wants and Necessities Secondly A second Objection against coming to the Sacrament is this That it is often seen that Men break those Resolutions against Sin after the Sacrament which they made in so solemn a manner before they received it and than therefore they will not come to it lest by breaking those Vows and Promises of a Reformation which they made to God before receiving they should enflame their Reckoning encrease their Sins and thereby exasperate God the more against them To which I answer That though Men should by chance break their resolutions of amendment after the Sacred Solemnity is over yet let not that fright them from a second Celebration of it but induce them rather to frequent it the more that they may obtain that strength by a frequent repetition of this Action which could not be had from one single Act there being a greater Probability of their standing firm and not relapsing into Sin if they receive often than if they receive seldom or not at all especially if they consider that their not receiving is it self a Sin a Sin of Omission a breach of a positive Command of Christ's who requires their Presence at his Holy Table to which if they come prepared by Self-examination and with a sincere Resolution of their Souls to lead a new Life they will find their Graces strengthned their Faith quickned their Hope encreased their Charity enflamed and their whole Inward-Man repaired by it and that the oftner they receive the Sacrament the more fit they will be to receive this Sacrament being more suitable to the weak than the strong tho needful for both and it is more than probable that Mens weakness is the effect of their feeding so seldom on it and permitting those Recruits and Reinforcements they had received by it decay and languish before they were renewed by a fresh repast To which I may also superadd that by the same Argument by which Men discourage themselves from the Sacrament they may also fright themselves from the duty of Repentance without which there is no Salvation upon Gospel terms For whenever I repent I must after I have asked God pardon for my former Sins promise and resolve to serve him with better Obedience for the future if I would obtain Pardon of him And do we not find by woful experience that we break those Promises we make even in our most solemn Repentance and consequently incur God's Displeasure by that breach of Promise And what then must we not repent because we sometimes fall back from our Repentance and either forget or break our Promises Certainly we ought rather to repent again of that our breach of Promise to repent and be sorry for the imperfections of our former Repentance So that by the same Reason that we must not come to the Sacrament because we often break those Vows and Promises of Amendment that we make before we receive it we must not also repent because we often again return to those Sins whereof we repented and which we resolved against at the time of our Repentance which dangerous Opinion no Christian who understands the purport of the second Covenant will dare to espouse Thirdly A third Objection against the Sacrament is That Men fear they want Knowledg and understand not aright the nature of the Sacrament which if they do not this their gross and stupid ignorance of a thing so easie and withal so necessary to be understood is inexcusable A Subtilety in thorny Controversie or an Ability in the intricate Mysteries of Religion are no necessary Ingredients in a Worthy Communicant even those Heads that can neither toil about not spin out an Argument may be as richly arrayed in that Knowledg that is requisite for a good Communicant as Solomon in all his Glory To qualify and fit Men for the Sacrament it is not