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	hope_n	2,556	5	7.0461	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91322	Dissertatio de pace, &c. Or, A discourse touching the peace & concord of the Church. Wherein is elegantly and acutely argued, that not so much a bad opinion, as a bad life, excludes a Christian out of the kingdom of heaven; and that the things necessary to be known for the attainment of salvation, are very few and easie: and finally, that those, who pass amongst us under the name of hereticks, are notwithstanding to be tolerated.; Dissertatio de pace. English	Przypkowski, Samuel, 1592-1670.; Biddle, John, 1615-1662,	1653 (1653)	Wing P4133; Thomason E1495_1; ESTC R203302	40,192	82

his colours Which not belonging unto men who go astray from the common road out of meer ignorance or injury of the times what shall we do to them that make use of this exception Shall they who in these calamitous times in this desolation of the Church being born a great while after the rise of Antichrist and not able fully to dispel the darkness of that long night turn aside into by paths be judged to sin out of perversity of minde Where now is that royal high-way thorow which the godly may pass securely on with an unerring foot to Salvation If it lie in the authority of the Church she hath now for many ages been beset with the snares of Antichrist We wonder that they are afraid of the suspected faith of the Church when they do the same after our example and in so great danger to fear even all the things that are safe is a point of prudence And we still dare to upbraid them with rashness in departing from the common doctrine when they seem to do it out of a just and well-grounded fear But if this way consisteth in the authority of the holy Scripture they do not stray from it whilst they together with us honour those Sacred books with due reverence But you will say that the right and orthodox sense of the Holy Scripture is rather the onely path that is able to bring us to the very citadel of Truth I confess that this way was heretofore worn with the publike going of Christians but now being first hidden with the springing briars of Antichrist and therefore trodden by very few and not as yet discovered by having all the brake cut down and besides called into doubt by so many intervening false paths it hath not as yet recovered the name and nature of a Royal high-way which it had for a long time lost And therefore the greater pardon is due unto such as deviate from the same For neither do they erre through desperate malice of heart who do not always walk therein amidst so many cross-ways and turnings Let any one reckon up to me all the sects of Christian Religion and I will say he is a brave fellow if he omit none In so great a concourse of opinions if they have not chosen the truer who will say that this is rather done out of improbity then out of ignorance For by what argument after so many errors have been introduced ought the Truth to lie open to their view By the unanimous consent of the Church O unanimous consent amidst six hundred different sects You will say that in the doctrine contrary unto them the greatest part are agreed But this is nothing since they have also agreed in very many errors So that we must again seek out a priviledge for the doctrine of the Trinity whereby it came to pass that though men erred in other points yet could they not mistake in this But if we suppose that they ought to examine all opinions by the rule of the Holy Scripture and afterwards to chuse the truer they have done both save that in the latter they have not followed that which indeed was but onely that which they thought to be truer Which certainly is an error and no malice nor can they be said to sin self-condemned in holding such an opinion for which they are ready to lose their life and fortunes For neither doth he condemn himself at least in his conscience who in the midst of cruel tortures hopeth for eternal life from God as the reward of defending the truth Wherefore since we are not certain that they are perverse and self-condemned but well assured that they are not such even from the death which they willingly undergo for their Errors and since such Errors as hath been before proved do not subvert eternal salvation it seemeth that they ought not to be segregated from the communion of the Church if they will testifie their love towards the Lord Jesus by obeying his commandments CHAP. XII What Hereticks are to be excommunicated what not and a fuller Apologie for those who in our Age pass for Hereticks BY this reckoning will some say How few Hereticks must be excommunicated who will not invent plausible pretences for his pravity There is no doctrine so absurd and pestilent which being palliated with that cloke of error may not creep into the Church To which I answer that there is no cause why we should be solicitous lest we should have no occasion to use this rigid law of excommunication Would the Church had even at this day no voluntary rebels against the Divine Majesty But neither in the times of the Apostles were there men wanting who subverted either our faith in God or the hope of immortality or the piety and love that is enjoyned us and such as did not by deductions and consequences but with open face as they say vent blasphemies and impieties Whose endeavour and impiety is not so obscure but that it is apparent that they were conscious to themselves of their pravity and fraud As if any one should deny the resurrection of the dead who seeth not that such a man after he hath viewed the clear and certain sentence of the Holy Scripture will be convicted in himself although he may perhaps dissemble it There is the same reason in the patron of some manifest vice All which being manifest for so are the works of the flesh and manifestly forbidden such a man hath no starting-hole in the ambiguity or obscurity of the Sacred Scripture unless he disbelieve the same and so overthrow all Religion Whosoever therefore bring into the Church such doctrines as do in their own nature subvert our Salvation and Faith they are deservedly commanded to depart together with the former not onely lest they should hurt others but also because they themselves as hath been shewn are of incorrigible malice and perversity and consequently self condemned For a Chirurgian doth not presently fear or cut-off an infected part because it may with its contagion hurt the rest of the body but would first have that very part cured of the infection which if it doth not succeed he then cuts it off as incurable But those doctrines that stand not within the boundaries of necessity to salvation are such that an errour in them especially in this disturbed state of things cannot be taxed of wilful pravity nor can it either damn its author or exclude him from the bosome of the Church But some one will here object Shall we brand with this spiritual censure the obstinate maintainer of none even the greatest error if so be it overthrow not our Salvation But there are many things which though in their own nature they take not from us our Salvation yet do they by degrees so undermine and weaken the same that afterwards it falleth down of its own accord And do you like it that such diseases should be cherished in the Church To which I answer that I would

herein which though it be not the cause of our Salvation yet is it at least the way and an evident argument and most certain signe thereof Now if it shall be made plainly to appear that they who are not able to extricate themselves out of those perplexed and craggie Questions whereof we have spoken may notwithstanding in the mean time love God and the Lord Jesus Christ with all the powers of their minde what cause will there be why we should not think that the same persons may be saved Logicians say that the next and immediate cause as they term it cannot be hindered but it will out of hand produce the effect Let us therefore in the first place consider the next cause of this Love and then we shall see whether it may be in men so erring The perfit Love of any one is bred in the minds of the lovers chiefly for three causes concurring together 1. From the firm and constant memory of such benefits as are past and from the sense of such as are present For gratitude also is a part of Love 2. From a certain hope and confidence of Supreme Happiness to be obtained from the beloved thing if you come to enjoy it For love languisheth without desire 3. And finally from a perfit apprehension as far as may be of the soverain beauty and excellencie of the object which is the true and principal cause of the Love it self Now forasmuch as neither the perfit Love of God nor the perfit perception of his Excellencie can fully happen to us in this life we mean not an absolute perfection of both but such as is the chiefest in its kinde namely as great as can exist in this state of mortality Nor do I understand what can be further required unto perfit love For who seeth not that our will can no more abstain from loving a perceived beauty then fire from burning stubble put unto it Which beauty if it be perfitly seen a perfit love also will arise but if no more then perfitly in its kinde a love also perfit it its kinde will arise Certainly if any one denyeth that soverain Love necessarily proceedeth from such a cause he subverteth the Principles of Nature which dictateth even to children that whatsoever seemeth good or beautiful will also prove very pleasing and so Love will be increased according to the measure of the apprehended beauty It remaineth that we consider whether such a perfit perception of the Excellencie of God and his Christ accompanied with those two helping causes may not be in them who comprehend not those hidden and abstruse Mysteries of the Divine Essence Which if it be in us who do not erre it may also be in them or it will be necessary to shew a reason of the Prerogative which we have above them in this behalf And first let us speak of God the Father As for the remembrance of his favours they acknowledge themselves together with us to be obliged unto him perpetually making mention of his infinite mercies the chiefest whereof consisteth in taking us for his children As for the certain expectation of a very great benefit what vaster hope what lavisher wish can be fained then that which they together with us desire and expect from the most high God There remaineth behinde the contemplation of his beauty and majestie I confess there is nothing in humane matters so exact that can lend a shadow to the image of so great a Majesty Nevertheless as touching God the Father they do in a maner agree with us For we are able to conceive nothing so great and sublime touching him which they also do not conceive Nor doth it follow that because they do not reach the curious subtilty in the received distinction of Persons therefore they cannot according to their capacity conceive the beauty of the Divine Countenance not to be seen by profane mindes and consequently dedicate and worship the image of that unspeakable Majesty within the Sanctuary of their breast As if it were a hard matter to have all maner of high conceptions touching him whom you certainly know and continually think to be the source and original of all goodness and beauty although you do not comprehend doctrines snarled and entangled with so many knots Enough seemeth to be already spoken touching God the Father But what if they have like yea the same causes with us of Love towards the Son of God will any thing hinder them from being as capable of this love as we our selves are Let us begin from Hope Do not they expect the same bountiful right hand of the Lord Jesus which will hereafter reach out a heavenly reward to all the faithful Do they not luxuriate in this wish And who can chuse but feel his heart wounded with the love of Christ who setteth Christ before his eyes as giving him the pay of his warfare But you will say that in making an estimate of his favours they seem to be injurious to him whilst they affirm that the Fathers anger towards us was appeased without the entermise of Christ and that no price properly so called was paid for our sins For I perceive that almost all who in the article of the Holy Trinity dissent from us are of that opinion I defend not the opinion of the men nevertheless I perceive that they judge a Redemption properly so called to be both absurd and impossible What derogation therefore is it either to gratitude towards the Lord Jesus or to the holy memory of his merits if they imagine that he did not those things for our sakes which could at no hand be done when in the mean time he abundantly performed all other things which might proceed from him toward us For no other thing is required to the most strict obligation of a benefit then that the benefactor do for ones sake all that he is able But they acknowledg that the Lord Jesus did for our salvation spare no pains yea not his very life And though they do not think that his blood was spilt to appease God and therefore not so rigidly to make satisfaction for our sins yet do they hold that it was spent and given for our sakes so that although they assert another special scope and effect of his death then we do nevertheless they seem to acknowledge the same merit in general And who would not be imbued with a most tender affection towards him whom he supposeth to have undergone a most bitter death for his life's sake who would not most ardently love him whom he thinketh perpetually busied in conferring benefits upon him To which if you adde an expectation of Supreme Happiness from his hands it cannot now happen otherwise but that the minde should melt in the resentment of a most delicate flame I come now to the excellency of the Lord Jesus which being imperfitly conceived by them seemeth unable to excite a perfit love of it self For how great a diminution is it of his

striketh at the foundation of our faith For to omit security and despair with which two rams it battereth the wall of our piety it wonderfully weakneth the very belief of Gods promises whilest it bringeth-in God wickedly dissembling the more is the grief CHAP. XI Reasons and Examples for tolerating Hereticks and who are true Hereticks TO what purpose speak I these things namely to shew that there is no cause why we should not think that they ought to be tolerated in the Church whose tenets either by themselves or for their absurd consequences seem scarce tolerable so that they do not wilfully ascribe some impious thing to God and testifie their love towards the Lord Jesus Christ by obeying his commandments For although both the patrons of the forecited opinions did build unprofitable yea damnable tenets as it were hay and stubble upon our foundation which is Jesus Christ yet as it hath been also shewn at the beginning the tenets which they through error have brought in shall be destroyed by fire whilest they themselves in the mean time unless some other thing hinder shall as the Apostle testifieth 1 Cor. 3. obtain pardon and salvation Neither indeed ought we to refuse or scorn their communion whom God will receive into the society of eternal happiness nor should we hate them on earth to whom eternal love in heaven is due We are unworthy to bear the title of Gods children if we disdain to be their brethren whose Father God desireth to be But if we be afraid of the contagion of such errors either in behalf of our selves or rather of the weaker ones in the first place we may not thereupon renounce brotherly love which we owe to them although they erre For we ought not to forsake a certain and clear duty lest an uncertain evil should happen nor to pursue even the most holy ends by unlawful means But secondly that fear is vain For if we have not the truth there is little danger to be feared from them much less if we have it For since they maintain their tenets with no arms nor with any force and think it not so much as lawful so to do nor set them off with any carnal allurements certainly the truth can never be by them either oppressed with force or overthrown with fraud inasmuch as the nature of truth is such that like to Eagles feathers she devoureth all other light plumage of opinions never withdrawing her self from us unless she be tyred either with our servitude or sins Which twain being not to be feared by us in a modest liberty of dissenting and study of true charity what cause is there why we should so warily sence our opinions from their tenets Let us rather be possessed with a certain hope that as earthen vessels being joyned with those of tin or silver are broken to pieces so also if God the author of peace shall bring bring back into the Church that happy tolerance all false opinions fighting hand to hand with the the true will be dashed to shivers and perish Otherwise if we so much fear that mutual patience and friendly conference we do not think well enough concerning the goodness of our cause Heretofore when the dawning of Gospel-light was returned Luther and his followers would have wished that they might be tolerated in the communion of the Roman Church But it concerned the Pope to secure his darkness from the approach of the morning Again when a dissension was risen up between the Lutherans and the Reformed who was it that refused the form of agreement that was offered but he that doubted of his cause Now also in the very reformed Church it self upon the dissention concerning Fate none are more displeased with tolerance then they that suspect the truth of their doctrine Would error were so circumspect in the cradle of its infancie as it is provident being once grown-up But it being blinde when it is born doth afterward become sharp sighted foreseeing its fate afar off and eschewing it and is never more ingenious to prolong its life then when it is pressed with the conscience of its owne weakness But you will say Shall we acknowledge a Heretick even for a brother when the Apostle Tit. 3. commandeth us to avoid him after two or three admonitions why shall we be more merciful then the Holy Spirit Let not that mercy turn to our misery when once the Lord beginneth to require at our hands the souls of so many seduced innocents Shall we not esteem him a Heretick who in so great a matter departeth from the sound doctrine of the Church do we not think our owne doctrine sound How often have they been admonished both with writings and disputations and yet nevertheless stick to their errors as to rocks I answer Let none please himself so much as to vie with the Apostolical meekness It is an incurable member that the Apostle enjoyneth to be cut off from the rest of the Churches body Howbeit there may be error in them that undertake the cure and they themselves may be overspread with much darkness For neither can the sound part be always discerned from the diseased one and the one doth oftentimes deceive us with the disguise and image of the other And though it be never so manifest what part is entangled with a true disease yet doth it sometimes remain to be scanned whether it be to be cut off or cured with mollifying remedies for those members onely ought to suffer amputation wherein the gangrene leaves no place for a milder medicine Nor is the Apostle of another minde when he commandeth many admonitions to be premised before excommunication And lest it should be doubtful whom he designed by the name of an Heretick he subjoyneth arguments thereupon which are indeed effects of the Heretick himself but unto us impulsive causes that we may avoid him For he saith that such a one is overturned and sinneth being condemned of himself And lest any one should think that these are indeed impulsive causes but not of our fact and our avoiding but onely of the Apostles injunction so that he indeed for these causes excludeth every Heretick from the communion of the Church but yet it is not necessary for us to have respect to them he premiseth the participle knowing to intimate that we also ought to know the causes why we discommon any of the citizens in that heavenly commonwealth nor hasten rashly to such Proscriptions but after we have certain knowledge of so great malice in them And truely although the Apostle had not added this yet did very charity and the analogie of our Religion dictate so much unto us For this is a great punishment nor to be inflicted but on such as sin evidently And forasmuch as in so great a matter no error can be little we ought first of all to be ascertained that the man to be condemned is worthy of so rigid a sentence namely such a one as is here painted out in