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	love_v	see_v	4,893	5	3.4092	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53083	Peccata in deliciis a discourse of bosom sins : a sermon preach'd before the Lord Mayor and court of aldermen, at Guild-Hall Chappel, October the 10th, 1686 / by Peter Newcome ...	Newcome, Peter, 1656-1738.	1686 (1686)	Wing N902; ESTC R3277	17,860	35

and knows not when he swears And the reason is apparently this This is his reigning Sin and the shame and difficulty which was in it at first is now by familiarity and custom quite worn off but the other Sins which he boggles at are not his familiars and therefore remain yet strange and uggly to him Hence the Apostle calls this our familiar Sin in opposition to all our other Sins Heb. 12.1 The Sin that does so easily beset us i.e. The Sin we are the most prone to and can commit with the least sense of guilt and shame Such Sins we may certainly apprehend and mark them for our Own Iniquities our easiness to admit them arguing our Acquaintance our Love and near Relation But 3. Such Sins may again be discern'd by our Impatience of any Reproof for them There being no surer nor shorter way of discovering the most secret Affection to any thing than by speaking ill of the thing beloved For Love like the Fire will be apt to sparkle upon every disturbance No Man will indure to be reprov'd for what he loves What we hate or are indifferent toward we esteem as alien and think our selves not concern'd for what befalls it but what we affect and make our Darling we look upon as part of our very selves and espouse its Concern and Fortune so nearly that a Reproof here reflects upon our selves and does engage us to resentment Thus Herod could hear St. John the Baptist gladly as the Text informs us till he preach'd against his Herodias and then he could not bear it We may think therefore what Sin it is which we can least of all indure to hear of which makes us most apt to be angry at the Man that reproves it and that we may conclude is our Beloved our Darling and Peculiar Sin The which we may discover moreover 4. By our Desire and Endeavour to conceal it Because what we love and are loth to part with we are apt to be unwilling to be known we have it Love hath ever so much of Jealousy as to affect Privacy So that if we but then consider with our selves what Sin it is we are the most afraid should be publickly known which we would not for the World be deem'd guilty of which few or none suspect and which we endeavour to hide from all by such our care to keep secret we may easily come by the sure discovery of our Darling Lust And so again we may discover it 5. By our readiness to plead for and excuse it by the most fair Pretences and plausible Arguments upon almost any Occasion No Man will be wanting to play the Advocate for what he loves Every cunning Shift and Design are Attendants to Our Iniquity Thus the Covetous may we hear extolling wise Frugality and good Husbandry and the Luxurious Magnificenee Pomp and Gentility only for the sake of those Darling Vices of theirs which they shape by these Vertues They will still be endeavouring to cover Vice's Deformity with Vertue 's Mantle shuffling that under the name of this calling Vice Vertue or anything rather than part with what they affect So that but observing the tendency and drift of such Mens Discourses one may easily trace out the Beloved Sin for whole sake they design the Panigyrick 6. This Sin likewise we may discover by considering what Sin it is which above all other we could wish or be content at least that it were no Sin For all Sin being naturally so deform'd and opposite to the Beauty of Holiness it is not possible that any thing but an ardent and peculiar Love can make any Man boggle to part with it And therefore when the Young Man in the Gospel being inform'd of the necessity of parting with his Affection to the World in order to his obtaining Heaven went away sorrowful it was doubtless Mat. 19.22 because he was hugely enamor'd with his wide Possessions and could heartily have wish'd his Love thereto and hopes of Heaven consistent with each other and troubled he was because they were not Covetousness upon this appearing to be the Sin he lov'd his darling Lust For had he not been strangely in love with that Vice he could ne're have desired it to have been otherwise than what it was And when he saw and understood so positively that he must resolve to part either with it or his hopes of Salvation nothing but a blind and doting Affection could have disturb'd or delay'd his Resolution To wish therefore that such a particular Sin we might however still love and live in without Sin argues our more than ordinary love for it and it's predominancy over us Nay yet farther 7. The Sin that is in an especial manner our Own may yet be discover'd by its readiness to distract us most in holy Duties For our Mind being continually bent towards it is apt to stand so even when we most strive to bend it the quite contrary way A Sin by being accustomarily lov'd becomes in fine even as natural to us as the quality of Cold to Water And therefore as this when heated tho never so hot still is working it self towards its own natural Temper so we tho never so much warm'd by our Devotion are apt quickly to grow cool again and when we do so we ever work towards the Sin that is most familiar to us We cannot long continue from our accustomed Temper It will still be working against and chilling all opposite Heat and Fervour That is the Sin which is Ours therefore which our Hearts work most towards and which disturbs and distracts us most in Holy Duties Once move and to conclude 8. Lastly That Sin which we are apt to think on first in the Morning and last in the Evening is moreover deem'd likely enough to be ours For our first and last Thoughts are observ'd to discover very much of the temper and affection of the Mind What we love most we usually make our first and last give it entertainment first in the Morning and take our leave of it last in the Evening Thus where the Love of God prevails good Men have experienc'd it working in their Hearts especially at these seasons With my Soul Isa 26.9 saith the Prophet Isaiah have I desired thee in the Night yea with my Spirit within me will I seek thee early Our Evening and our Morning Thoughts are a Tribute indeed due only unto God Every one ought to begin and end the day with him and offer most devoutly both the Morning and the Evening Sacrifices of a Thought at least unto him Thus When I wake saith the Psalmist I am still with thee Psal 139.18 And by Night on my Bed I sought him whom my Soul loveth Cant. 3.1 sings the Spouse in the Canticles God as he is the Alpha and Omega in himself so ought he to be unto all his People also and whatever therefore does possess it self of our first and last Thoughts that usurps as it

then no Man can stop himself when he pleases 'T is a fond thing for any to think to set bounds to himself in any thing that is bad To resolve to sin in number weight and measure That he will entertain only this one Sin and bar out all the rest Alas our Corrupt Hearts put once into a ferment tho but by one Sin yet are they like the Raging Sea to which we can set neibounds nor say Hitherto shalt thou go and no further One Sin tho never so little in the Heart hath full power to call in what company it lists 'T is like those little Thieves which being put in at the Window set the Doors open to all the rest For the same reason may be equally inducive to all Sin As the repulsed Vices may otherwise complain justly of great partiality when as bad as themselves are still spar'd and cherish'd so this points them out a way to attaque us more prosperously For let them shape themselves but to our Humour put on the Countenance of our Beloved Sin and they need not doubt of as free an admission Thus unhappy is the Case of him who entertains any one darling Sin his Enclosure is broken down and he lies then common He is left destitute of a reply to any Temptation and like a bashful Person will be in danger of yielding because he is asham'd to deny And sure then this unhappy fruitfulness of Sin may be a strong Evidence of the Necessity lying upon us all to run away from every Sin and dread to retain any one evil Spirit as that which may bring in upon us many more worse than it self Which tho it should fail to do we beyond all expectation continue in one posture hugging but our one Bosom Sin and not be tempted to grow worse yet we may conclude 't is because Satan finds we need it not And we have little reason sure to be proud of that Vertue which the Devil himself will allow us Or to think our selves good enough when we are as bad as he wishes us For 6. This one beloved Sin is sufficient even by its own single weight to sink us into Eternal Perdition One Wound may be as mortal to the Soul as it proves oft to the Body A Tempest is not always necessary to sink the Ship One treacherous Leak may do it in the greatest Calm Our Adversary well knows that while he holds any part God will have none and so the whole falls to him of course Therefore can he permit Men we see not only to cashier some one single Sin but whole sholes together and yet not fear the sinking of his Interest in us He may trust us even as far as he did that Young Man in the Gospel who was pronounc'd not far from the Kingdom of God and yet so long as there is but any one unmortify'd Lust that may send us away sad from Christ his Tenure will remain firm enough And this indeed is the Devil 's main advantage that he can hold fast by the smallest Thred And whereas to our Bliss a Conspiration and Union of all Vertues is required Our Ruine may spring from any one solitary Crime Many Rounds make that Ladder whereby we scale Heaven whereas one step serves to precipitate us into the Abyss of Hell Any one Sin therefore gives us into the possession of Satan and leaves us at his will and pleasure to be led away finally to Destruction Thus Unhappy it is in the power of any one indulged Sin to make us If appearing upon all these accounts to be the most malignant and mischievous one that can be harboured and the greatest Obstacle to our becoming upright before God So that if we have any love for our selves any desire for our spiritual interest we cannot but charge our selves with care to keep our selves from it Much more might the Love of God constrain us because which may serve as a further Evidence of the Necessity of our quitting these Sins especially 6. Be they never so dear we should part with them the rather because the greater instance it will be of our Love and Sincerity towards God The offering of our Darling Isaac is a most signal Instance of Divine Love Now says God to Abraham I know thou lovest me Gen. 22.12 seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son thy only Son from me To part with Sins we care not for is only an Instance of Self-love but to deny Self for another's sake evidences true love for him And who then that hath any spark of Christianity left in him would not be forward to shew as much love as ever he can towards God who hath always been and still is daily expressing so much Love in innumerable Instances towards him Let the Sin therefore be never so dear the dearer it is the greater instance will it be of our loving God to keep our selves from it in obedience to his Command that we may become upright before him And indeed if we would have God believe that we are sincere in loving him we can do no less than give him the Precedency in our Affections However to conclude all if there be no Ambition of Love to allure yet it may be there may be some fear of Wrath to afright us from such Sins Therefore seriously consider 7. Lastly How dear each darling Lust is like to cost us if after all that hath been now said to evidence the necessity of our leaving it we will still keep it Send up your Thoughts into yonder Regions above and view well that fulness of Joy those Pleasures that are at God's right-hand for evermore and tell me what Sin tho never so palatable can recompence the loss thereof Nay cast down your Looks into that Bottomless-Pit of Horror where you see there that multitude of Souls stretched upon the Rack of Despair the never-dying Worm gnawing and feeding upon their Vitals and the great God of Mercy laughing without Mercy at their endless Calamity Mark whence you hear those dismal Shrikes and Groans those blasphemous Cursings that dolorous weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth and soberly consider if you can be content to share for ever in these and ten thousand times ten thousand more Miseries than I can tell you of for the nauseous Embraces of a treacherous Lust What is there good God! in any Bosom Sin that can tempt us to part with the Joys of Heaven and incur the Pains of Hell so willingly What is there in this Idoliz'd Sin of ours which should exact such costly Sacrifices Would it not be easier and more our Interest too to part with any Sin rather than Heaven To endure the short Agonies of a Revulsion of the dearest Lust from our Hearts than the horrid Dispair of a Damned Ghost for ever To thwart a foolish and unreasonable Inclination than lie roaring to Eternity upon the Rack of a Revenging Conscience Is there really any proportion between our abstaining from the Pleasures of Sin that are but for a moment and our being excluded those of Heaven and all hopes of Happiness for ever Alas If it be hard and difficult to contend now with one evil Habit to struggle with one stiff and obstinate Inclination how severe will it prove to dwell with Everlasting Burnings and suffer the dire Effects of an Unappeasable Vengeance to all Eternity Wherefore since we are under an absolute necessity of enduring the one or the other let us in the Name of God act like Men and of the two Evils chuse that which is most tolerable Let us throw aside tho with never so great difficulty and pain the Sin especially that does so easily beset us Let us without the least Mercy and Pity to our selves tear it out from the closest Embraces of our Inclinations And that we may not only evidence but most effectually and speedily render our selves sincere and Vpright before God and so escape the Miserie 's reserv'd as a Portion for ail Hypocrisy let us with the Psalmist resolutely and diligently henceforth keep our selves especially from Our Iniquity Which God grant we may all of us successfully accomplish for the Sake and Merits of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ c. FINIS ADVERTISEMENTS A Sermon on 1 John 5.4 This is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith preach'd before the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen at Guildhall Chappel July 18. 1686. by James Fen M. A. and Vicar of Goudhurst in Kent A Paraphrase with Notes and a Preface upon the Sixth Chapter of St. John shewing that there is neither good Reason nor sufficient Authority to suppose that the Eucharist is discoursed of in that Chapter much less to infer the Doctrine of Transubstantiation from it Grotius his Arguments for the Truth of the Christian Religion rendred into plain English Verse All sold by J. Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard