Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	apostle_n	faith_n	good_a	2,900	5	3.9902	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43663	The moral schechinah, or, A discourse of Gods glory in a sermon preached at the last Yorkshire-feast in Bow-church, London, June 11, 1682 / by George Hickes.	Hickes, George, 1642-1715.	1682 (1682)	Wing H1857; ESTC R10895	13,920	39

Christian Religion because it is his Religion and to the First Day of the Week because it is the Lords Day All these things challenge a particular respect from us different from all other things of the same name and kind upon the account of their relation unto God and when we treat them with reverence for his sake the honour of it redounds to him because every action of that Nature is a solemn Ackowledgement and Declaration that he is the Great and Holy God These are all genuine duties and effects of Godliness or Religiousness as it is distinguished from other parts of Christian Piety But alas how little of it is practised in this Prophane Age How little Religious and how much Profane and Atheistical discourse is now to be heard in all Companies Nay how is the Worship of God which above all other things is ordained for his Glory dishonoured and profaned and almost perverted to the contrary End by the irreverent and unworthy carriage of man To see how many men behave themselves in the Service of God would tempt an indifferent man to believe that they designed not to acknowledge Wisdom Power and Goodness and their trust in and dependance upon his infinite Majesty but rather to deny him in the Action and declare to all the World that Religion is nothing but Superstition and that it is very uncertain whether there is a God or no or if there be whether or no he concerns himself in the Government of the World To this if we add the general practice of Rash and Vain Swearing on one hand and Solemn Perjuries on the other together with that utter disrespect which is now accounted brave and generous to cast upon all Things and Persons which belong unto God we must needs acknowledge that there are great numbers of men among us who tho' they may profess God yet in their Works deny him being so far from doing whatsoever they do to his Glory that there Actions tend and it is to be feared many of them are designed to extirpate the Notions of him out of mens Minds his Fear out of their Consciences and his Name and Religion out of the World II. So much for the first kind of Human Actions which immediately regard God from whence I proceed to the second which are such as regard our Neighbours and are practised in our Dealing and Conversation with them and in these Actions this is the Rule That they tend to Gods Glory when they tend to the Good of Men and are declarative of that excellent and comprehensive Virtue in us which the Greeks call Philanthrophy the Latines Humanity and the Christian Religion Love This is the general Supream Law which God hath commanded men that they should love one another according to that repeated Precept of our Saviour This is my Commandment and these things I command you that you love one another and that you love one another as I have loved you This reiterated Precept of our blessed Saviour made the Apostle say unto the Thessalonians Now as touching brotherly Love ye need not that I write unto you for ye your selves are taught of God to love one another and this saith St. John in his Epist Gener. is the Message that ye have heard from the beginning that ye love one another St. Paul in several places gives us the reason why our Lord so carefully enjoyn'd this duty upon us because it is the fulfilling of the Second Table of the Law By love saith he Gal. 5. serve one another for all the Law is fulfilled in one word thou shalt love thy Neighbor as thy self And love faith the Rom. 13. Worketh no ill to his Neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law This Character of Love which the Apostle gives us is indeed Negative but as all other Negatives are it is founded in positive sense so that his meaning is at large this love worketh no ill but worketh all manner of good to his Neighbour therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law In these two prime effects of love to do no ill and to do all manner of good are founded the Laws of Justice and Charity and in these two are comprehended all the duties which every man owes to other men For Justice powerfully restrains us from doing any harm or injury to our Neighbour and Charity pushes us on to do him all good Offices and Kindness and therefore all just and Charitable Actions which spring from the Divine Root of Humanity or Love must needs tend to the Glory of God and the manifestation of his Divine Nature who as St. John saith is love and who in the Saxon Tongue from which the Dialect of our Country is but one remove is called God because he is good as in our Saviours answer to the Ruler who called him good Master 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or man man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is one good save only God According to this Derivation of his Name the Apostle saith That Love is of God and that every one that loveth is born of God and he that loveth not or hath not the grace of Love in him knoweth not God for God is Love or made up of Love and kindness to men No man hath seen God at any time if we Love one another God dwelleth in us and his Love is perfected in us and hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit of Love In these words dwelleth and dwell the Apostle emphatically alludes to the Schechinah or Glory by which God manifested his Presence in the Jewish Tabernacle or Temple and the meaning of them is that we cannot give better Evidence of Gods abiding in us and dwelling in our Souls than by the Spirit and temper of Love if we would make it appear to the World that he is in us or that we are of him and conformed unto his Image and Example nay if we would maike it appear that we are acquainted with his divine Nature or declare that we believe he hath Loved us Nay would we shew our Obedience to his strictest and dearest Command which he hath exemplified in his Son or give a right proof to others that we love him as he hath loved us it must be by conforming all our dealings with men to the Rules of Justice and Charity which are the the genuine and immediate effects of Love Beloved let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him and this Commandment we have from him that be who loveth God loveth his Brother also Nay furthermore the best proof that we can give to our selves and others that we are Regenerate persons and have passed from a state of death unto life is our love to our Fellow-Christians for saith the Apostle We know that we have

that we may Worship the Fountain of Love and Beneficence and hear some profitable exhortation to imitate his Charity and then we go to eat and drink together in a Joyful and Festival manner of his good Creatures that having our Bodies refreshed and our Spirits exhilirated in the sober use of them we should be better disposed to this good work But if after all this Shew and Preparation we give nothing or grudgingly and not according to our power we shall moralize the Birth of the Mountains and disappoint the expectation both of God and men I believe there are no such Provincial ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Feasts of Charity in the Capital City of any other Nation in the World it is perhaps the honor of the English to be the first Authors of such Benificent and Charitable Institutions but then this must needs be said on the other hand that if they exceed other Countrys in this or any other sort of Christian Magnificence and Liberality it is but their duty to do so because tho' England be not the richest Country yet the English are the richest people in the World For as the learned Chancellor Fortescue wrote long ago De Laul Leg. Angl. Cap. 9. it is the happiness of the English to live in a Realm where the Regal or Defpotie is under the limitation of the Civil Power and where the King cannot change the Laws without the consent of his Subjects nor charge them with Impositions against their wills because he governeth his people not only by Regal but also by Political Power This gives us a securer Property than any other people makes us Masters of our Purses and Estates and if by the singular blessing of such a Government we heap up Riches above the Subjects of any other Forein Countrys it is but reasonable that we should find out some peculiar ways of expressing our gratitude unto God This obligation in common to us with all our Fellow-Subject but besides this we have particular reasons why we should be free and plentiful in our Contributions to our poor Country-men for our County as the curious observe is the Epitome of England whatsoever is excellent in the whole Land being to be found in proportion there Besides this God hath been pleased to make it the Birth-place and Nursery of many Great men and special Instruments of his Glory as of Constantine the first Christian Emperor whom all Writers who assert Britain to have been the place of his Birth must needs acknowlege to have been born at York I shall not name any more because it is fitter to talk over the long Catalogue of our Worthies at the Table than in the Pulpit and also because it cannot be done without seeming to flatter some very Eminent and Worthy persons of all ranks and professions whom I ought to suppose are present here Therefore in acknowledgement of all the blessings and honors which God hath bestowed upon our Country and to oblige him to keep it as he did the Holy land which it equals in greatness under the Wings of his special protection let us now be ample Benefactors to the Poor thereof We cannot do any thing that will redound more to the credit of our Country and Religion or more manifest the presence of God among us in this Solemnity than by doing for our indigent Country-men as we should expect our coditions being changed that they should do for us If we do so we shall fully answer the end of this Festival Meeting and lay up for our selves a good Foundation against the time to come but if we do otherwise not giving at all or not giving to them according as God hath given unto us we shall to say no worse fall shamefully short of the Apostles Rule who tells us That whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do we must do all to the glory of God To whom Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascribed as is most due all Honor Praise and Glory now and evermore Amen THE END Pag. 6. lin 18. for but rather r. but I rather pag. 12. lin penult for Starsr Corinthians pag. 13. lin 22. for contrahans r. contrahas pag. 27. lin 14. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 31. lin 17. sor Writers r. those lin penult for whom r. who