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	know_v	love_v	6,073	5	5.9564	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86068	God the believer's best stronghold in the worst times. A sermon preached upon the preservation of His Majesty's person, and the discovery of the late plot of the intended invasion. / By Edmund Godwin ...	Godwin, Edmund.	1696 (1696)	Wing G967A; ESTC R177501	23,981	57

whereby he knoweth his is not a bare speculative Knowledg as he knoweth all things but as special Knowledg as if he knew none in the World beside as God said concerning his own People Amos 3. 2. You have I known of all the Families upon Earth and as God said to Moses Thee have I known by name As if God knew none in the World besides after such a sort and therefore he hath his Marks whereby he distinguishes between his own People and others So Ezekiel 9. a Mark is set upon them that mourn as if he did and would know them from all the People on the Earth So 2 Tim. 2. 19. The Lord knoweth who are his for it is indeed a Knowledg that doth imply Love and Affection to the Party that he knows and therefore John 10. 10. Christ is said to know his Sheep Why did he not know the Goats wicked and ungodly Men Yes doubtless he did but he did not know them with that Love and Care and Affection as he did his Sheep and besides it is such a Knowledg as doth imply Approbation so Psal 1. and the last Verse The Lord knoweth the way of the Righteous Why doth he not know the way of the Unrighteous too Yes doubtless he doth Can they walk in such a secret Path that God cannot find them out Nay there is not a Way of their Feet a Work of their Hands a Word of their Mouths or a Thought of their Hearts but it is better known to God than to themselves who is indeed the Father of Lights and will doubtless in his good time bring to light all the hidden Works of Darkness and Dishonesty and Cruelty though never so cunningly contrived as he hath done of late to the Shame and Confusion of the Plotters But as they have conceived Mischief let us conceive Praise and let us be often doing that Work upon Earth which we shall be always doing in Heaven And to encourage you to the Duty consider that it is a greater matter to praise God here upon Earth in the midst of Enemies than to praise God in Heaven where all Enemies are subdued and all Happiness enjoyed and none but such as will help forward the Work and none that will hinder it as here are too many here And that you may not be afraid of your Adversaries or discouraged from trusting in God consider though your Enemies carry it out for the present with a great deal of Splendour and Bravery yet they are but Men and Men whose Breath is in their Nostrils and when God takes it away they die and cannot withstand God's stroak Many thousands of them have been cut off in these Wars already that look'd upon themselves as brave Fellows And besides they are on that side that must fall God hath said it that Antichrist and his Adherents must be destroyed and it shall certainly come to pass for hath the Lord of Hosts said it and shall he not do it whose Word is his Work I will work says God and who shall let it Besides as Abijah told Jeroboam With you are the Golden Calves and so with our Adversaries are graven Images and they are such as have forsaken God and defiled his true Worship and God hath forsaken them and let such be our Enemies as many and as much as they will if we have but God on our side we shall do well enough Again Consider that you may not be offended at their outward Bravery and Splendour how the triumphing of the Wicked is but short but their end will be that they shall perish for ever and on the other side though the Godly are afflicted yet they are not deserted as the Ungodly are though they are cast down yet they are not cast off Saul and David they were both afflicted and greatly distressed Saul in his Distress he runs to a Witch O! says Saul I am sorely distressed Why so Why the Philistines make War against me Why so they had done formerly and yet Saul did then well enough I but says he and God is departed from me I there was the cause there lay the Core of all his Miseries for this is like the dropping of the Eyes out of the Head the darkning of the Sun in the Firmament the departing of the Soul out of the Body Now David likewise he was greatly distressed for the City Ziglag where his Treasure was that was burnt and his Wives they were carried away Captives and the People likewise they were ready to stone him so that his Treasure was gone his Wives were gone and the Hearts and Affections of his People were gone off from him What doth he do now Doth he go to a Witch or use any unlawful means as Saul did No he goes and encourages himself in the Lord his God and you see how bravely he comes off afterward Hence we may see the Excellency of Faith and how Believers having such a Strong-hold shall never be beat quite out of heart having so good a God to relie upon for though their Enemies threaten and rage never so much yet Believers have divers Props to stay and uphold their Hearts in days of Trouble and to cause them not to be dismaid but still have cause to trust in God As 1st That the Devil and his Instruments wicked Men they are all in the hand of God and they can do no more against them than God gives them leave It is true God sometimes lets out a Link or two of the Devil's Chain but still he keeps the Chain in his own hand that he nor his cannot do so much Mischief as otherwise they would 2dly When you are in any danger you must act Faith upon God so the Prophet resolves to do Psalm 56. 3. What time I am afraid I will trust in thee Now that you may be able to act Faith aright 1. You must labour to have a right Knowledg of God and of what God is for you cannot stay your Minds and trust in him whom you do not know and have no Acquaintance with him As one said sometime to a Gentlemen that was walking in Pauls Pray lend me ten Pounds Ten Pounds says the Gentleman why I do not know you Says the other If you did you would hardly lend me ten Shillings Some are better known than trusted but so is not God but the more you know him the more apt you will be to trust in him so Psal 9. 10. especially if it be an experimental Knowledg so Psal 22. 4. Our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them And so if we their Posterity trust in God God will deliver us They cried unto thee saith the Church and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded So doubtless if we cry unto our Forefathers God we shall be delivered if we trust in him and have recourse to him we shall not be confounded But confounded shall they be that worship carved Images as it is plain our Adversaries

passeth away 1 Joh. 2. 17. and we must pass away that are in it for we have here no abiding City but yet the People of God are too apt to let out their Hearts and Affections on the things of this present World If they have all sorts of Flowers in their Garden they are too apt to make a Nose-gay of them and to hold them so fast till they wither in their hand when a full cup of Prosperity is fill'd out to them God many times anoints the brim with Aloes or some bitter thing that they may not drink too long of it nor too much Sometimes God beats their Plow-shares into Swords and turns their Rods into a Serpent Again God brings them into days of Trouble for the trial of their Graces both for the trial First Of the Truth of them Secondly Of the Strength of them First The Truth of them hang heavy Weights upon rotten Boughs and they break them but upon green and sound Boughs and they bear them unsound fruit will hang upon the Tree in a still and calm day but if it be stormy then down it falls The building upon the Sand may make as fair a shew in a Sun-shine day as that built upon the Rock but when the Floods come and the Winds blow hard then down it falls when the other stands An unsound Foot may travel pretty well in soft and green Way but when it comes upon the hard Stones then it will be apt to boggle and halt It was the Sword that did discover to whom of right the Child did belong unto 1 Kings 3. 24. There be many that think their Graces are sound and good but when a Storm or any Hardship comes how full of Unbelief and Impatience are they there That God may try his People's Graces whether they are sound or no he brings many stormy days over their heads if Afflictions bring us nearer to God it is a great sign they are sanctified to us but if they drive us further from God it is a great sign that they are in Wrath and not for our good God speaks to a Believer when he afflicts him as Isaac did to Jacob when he came to him for the Blessing Come near me my Son that I may feel thee whether thou beest my very Son Esau or no So if they bring us nearer to God and we endure them with patient submitting to the Will of God without any muttering or repining it is a great sign that we are indeed the Children of God Secondly He doth it also to try the Strength of their Graces It must be a strong Wing that must fly against the Wind weak Grace will hardly bear up in a strong day If thou faint in the day of adversity thy Strength is small saith Solomon Prov. 24. 10. To love God when he hears our Prayers and answers our Prayers presently is no great matter but to continue praying when he shuts out our Prayer as he did the Churches Lam 3. 8. and appears as an Enemy this argues strength of Faith It is an easy thing to love God when he smiles upon you with his Favours and Blessings but to love him when he hath a Frown in his Brow and a Rod in his Hand this argueth strength That fire of Love burns hot that many waters of Affliction cannot quench or put it out We read in Matth. 15. of a Woman that came to Christ with Words in her Mouth and Sorrow in her Heart and all to move him to pity At first he gave her no answer afterwards his Disciples are her Spokes-men in her behalf After that Christ calls her Dog yet she will not give him over a Cure she came for for her Daughter and a Cure she must have afore she goes away She doth in a manner confess her self a Dog and doth but desire the Favour that Dogs are apt to have at their Master's hands a crum of his Charity O Woman says Christ great is thy Faith O! it is Strength of Faith that will trust and rest in Christ when he doth not answer nay when he doth refuse and reject and seem to cast off Again the Children of God have their days of Trouble That by this means God might humble them and bring down the Pride of their Spirits Pride and Ambition it is an ill Weed and will not only grow in the vast howling Wilderness but often it springs up in the Garden of God Not only wicked Men are guilty of this Sin but sometimes the Children of God are apt to be puft up with Pride as we see it in Hezekiah nay they are apt to be puft up with their very Graces as the Devil was with his Excellencies and whereas their Graces should be a means to keep them humble they will be apt to grow proud of them if they take not heed now to let out this bladder of Pride Sometimes there is sent a Thorne in the Flesh as there was to Paul and sometimes God thrusts in the Sword of Affliction to let out the Corruption of this big-bellied Vicu A Sword was sent to pierce the Heart of the Blessed Virgin that was so highly exalted in all probabilty to keep her humble It is the Speech of Elihu Job 33. 17. He chasteneth Man with pain that he may hide Pride from Man In the 14th Verse God speaketh once yea twice God speaketh once by his Word and again by his Sword once by his Word and Man heareth it not and he speaks again by his Rod and all to hide Pride from Man and that they may not think poorly of others in regard of themselves Again they meet with days of Trouble that they may be made conformable to Jesus Christ God's dearly beloved Son so Rom. 8. 29. They are the Apostle's words there That Christ and his Members may be all of a piece The Children of God are not made choice of and appointed unto Glory only but they are also appointed unto Conformity to Jesus Christ You know that whilst he was God he was in Glory but when he became the Son of Man he became a Man of Sorrows and we hid our faces from him as it is Isa 53. as if we were ashamed of him Trouble was as a Thred drawn thorow the whole course of his Life Now that God's Children may be conformable to Christ they meet with days of Trouble they must be afflicted and misused for if they have done so to the green Tree what will they not do to the dry who is no better than fit Fuel to the everlasting Fire Again they meet with days of Trouble that they may be the more put upon the Duty of Prayer for times of Affliction are more properly times of Supplication and Prayer Call upon me says God in the day of Trouble Then God calls upon us to call upon him and then we are more apt to do it than at other times as appears Isa 26. 16. Lord in Trouble have they visited thee and have poured