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	work_n	3,971	5	6.0202	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62089	Being for ever with the Lord, the great hope, end and comfort of believers what it is, and how to be obtained and forethought of / preached by Matthew Sylvester ; and published at the publick request of Mr. Ri. Baxter, at the hearing of it.	Sylvester, Matthew, 1636 or 7-1708.	1688 (1688)	Wing S6329; ESTC R34636	31,001	96

Work of Faith Labour of Love and Patience of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father knowing your Election of God vers 3 4. It is not every one that is to be with Christ for ever The Subject must be suited to this State and Priviledg and that not by mere Miracle but by the fit improvements of those Means and Helps which God affords us for our preparation-work Means suited to their Ends are to be adhered to and used accordingly Nor can it be expected that God's Institutions will ordinarily be neglected by himself and that our neglect thereof should be to us as prosperous as our fit observation● 〈…〉 And yet mistake me not I do not say that outward Means and moral Swasions are all that Christian Converts are brought home by There is a powerful quickning Divine touch upon the Soul needful to make it throughly Christian and without this no Man becomes a real Christian And none can live with Christ for ever but he that is wrought and kept thereto by special Grace and Providence And excellent Persons must such be that are thus changed and kept for such a blissful State as this here in the Text The Apostle calls them the Children of the Light and Day 1 Thess v. 5. such as derive a new Nature from it 2 Cor. iii. 3 18. walk under the Government and Conduct of it Ephes v. 8. and are entitled to great Priviledges by it Acts xx 32. xxvi 18. John xii 35 36. Let me then close this Head with this 1. Consider who expresly are to be excluded and upon what accounts 1 Cor. vi 9 10. Galat. v. 19-21 Ephes v. 5. Mat. xxv 41-46 Rev. xxi 8 27. Hence then this We can take in no such Persons They that make nothing of discovering directive encouraging and transforming Gospel-Light that have not fetch'd their Principles therefrom and formed their Lives and Practices and Tempers thereunto nor made the greatest reckoning of these Privileges which are to be obtained thereby are no ways fitted and therefore not determined whilst such unto this blessed State. Consider 2. whom Christ expresly hath consigned and promised this Priviledg unto John xii 26. Luk. xii 31-37 xiv 26 27. xxii 28-30 2 Tim. ii 11 12. Luke xxi 36. 1 John iii. 1-3 Jude 20 21. 2 Pet. i. 5-11 iii. 14. 'T is not the Form but Power of Godliness that can entitle and adopt us to that State resolute Promoters of Christ's Interests patient Sufferers for it prudent Contrivers fruitful Walkers such as are observant of his Conduct obedient to his Laws submissive to his Providence and satisfied in and with his Care and Grace and that joyfully prepare and wait for his appearance and presence and duly represented him to themselves and others so as to value nothing like him no nor themselves but as in him and for him These are to be with him for ever see 2 Tim. iv 6-8 2. The State and Privilege whereto they are determined to be for ever with the Lord John xiv 2 3. Hence we are exhorted to seek those things above where Christ is Col. iii. 1. Hence Come ye Blessed and depart from me ye Cursed Mat. xxv 34 41. Present with the Lord 2 Cor. v. 8. They shall walk with me in White for they are worthy Rev. iii. 4. When Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in Glory Col. iii. 4. When he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired at in all them that shall believe in that Day 2 Thess i. 10. Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold the Glory which thou hast given me John xvii 24. Christ with his Father are the only Temple of that Blessed State where all the Favorites of Christ must be Rev. xxi 23. Christ is our Life in Heaven Col. iii. 3 4. Our Hope from Heaven Tit. ii 13. Phil. iii. 20. Our Plea for Heaven Heb. ix 15. Our Way to Heaven John xiv 6. Our Head and all in Heaven Ephes i. 20-23 We are to be with him who is the greatest Friend Isa ix 6 7. Heb. i. 2-14 iv 14-16 Rev. i. 5 18. Col. i. 15-19 ii 9 10. The dearest Friend Gal. ii 20. Ephes iii. 18 19. Tit. ii 14. His aim at this our Exaltation and Advancement his sharp and costly Agonies and Engagements to effect it and the delight he took therein prove this And the fastest and most faithful Friend in Isa xi 5. Heb. iii. 1 2. x. 23. xiii 8. But now what it is to be with Christ none yet fully know 1 Cor. xiii 9-12 Christ himself tells us We shall behold his Glory John xvii 22. Now what is Glory but the luster of discovered Excellency and Perfection And O the excellence of the Lord-Redeemer in his exalted State his Transfiguration amazed Beholders When he appeared to Saul he struck him blind the distant sight or glance which Stephen got imprest no ordinary Majesty and Glory on his Countenance But Christ acquaints us with his three-fold Glory wherein every Eye shall see him Luke ix 26. There is his personal Glory as to his humane Nature a glorious Body Spiritual Immortal incapable of Sufferings lively and of the nearest alliance and approach to Spirit and every way fitted to subserve the Function of his compleated Soul and like a Chrystal Mirror to have his inward Glory transmitted through it to all Spectators A glorious Soul exerting all its vigours in and through this Body wherein every Gesture Look and Motion and Expression shall shew the excellent Temper Furniture and Beauty of his Soul. O the Wisdom Majesty Holiness and Vivacity of his Soul which then will have their fullest Explications and Appearances And then the fulness of the Godhead which dwells bodily in him shall have such great and clear Discoveries and Effects as shall delightfully entertain his Favorites with great varieties of discoveries for evermore What emblemmatical Glory may attend his Person as the Symbol and Signal of the extraordinary presence of his Father with him and complacency in him I dare not guess at nor am I wise or good enough to know nor arrogant and bold enough to determine but sure I am the physical Changes and the judicial Process and Conclusions of that Day with the evident yieldings and submissions of the whole Frame of Nature to his Will and the effectual bowing of every Knee and the confession of every Tongue to him will deservedly bear the Character of the Father's Glory Phil. ii 9-11 And all this shall we behold to everlasting Satisfaction And we shall see his Glory further in all his Rectoral Excellencies The Constitution and Administration of his everlasting Kingdom will declare his Eminencies How much he is above them in Excellencies and Prerogatives How excellently he governs them with such extraordinary Light and Love suited so

The earnest of the Spirit left and the earnest of Flesh carri'd up to Heaven a Pledg that all shall once be fetch'd up thither The Kingdom of God and Heaven possest in Christ makes all secure O then let Flesh and Hearts both rest in hope for Christ in Heaven will fetch us all to Heaven for there at God's right Hand stands Christ to plead and vindicate Act. 7.55 and there he sits to hear dispense and rule Heb. 1.3 13 14. And if he fail in both then may the lively Hopes 1 Pet. 1.3 of quickened Hearts Eph. 2.5 expire and die And if so then where is our Anchor sure and stedfast reaching to that within the Vail Was not the Heart of our ascending Lord and Head exceeding mindfull of his Friends and warm toward them Joh. 20.17 and cool'd it by the way Heb. 4.15 No surely all that are truly and firmly Christ's alway lie warm upon his Heart Let him be where he will though in the heights of all his Glory he is yet our High Priest Heb. 4.14 8.1 Our Life Col. 3.4 Our Head Eph. 1.22 23. Our Peace Eph. 2.14 Our Hope 1 Tim. 1.1 Our Lord 1. Cor. 1.2 Our Saviour Tit. 1.4 The Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls 1 Pet. 2.25 and our Advocate 1 John 2.1 And can Christ in Heaven statedly and avouchedly under such near and sure and dear Relations to us suffer our Hopes to fall surely his Exaltation puts no period to his Relation to us nor to those Bowels that are proper to it nor to those Expectations that are built upon it It 's true his Joys are high his Trust is great but it is as true that his Heart is commensurate with and answers both nor will his Kingdom please him without his Bride he will step once more from Heaven to fetch Her to Himself John 14.3 8. O what an Antidote is this Hope against the Snares and Fears of things below 2 Cor. 5.1 the Cross is heavy and Hearts are soon unfixed when Heaven and Christ therein and our determinate abode with him are not our lively Hope and stated Poize The Cross can make no breach while Christ in Heaven thus sets his Heart upon us and we have sent our Hearts intirely after him keep them there Rom. 8.34 35. Heb. 10.34 And Pleasures can do but little hurt whilst this great Hope relishes duly with us All the Delights of Pharaoh's Court could never reach the Heart of Moses When Christ and Heaven had got his Eye and fixt it Heb. 11.25 26. Hearts should be under their restraint in lawful Mirth and at enmity with sinful Mirth during the absence of their Lord Mat. 9.15 Mephibosheth grew careless of himself until his Lord returned in peace 2 Sam. 19.24 No joy but in his Master's presence And shall not Christ in Heaven correct and moderate our Joys in things below Groans to be stript of Earth and Flesh and to be gone to Christ in Heaven should be the deepest Groans And truly Sirs if Christ in Heaven have not your Hearts they will be prone to Surfeits or Distractions You either will be tunn'd with Wind or drunk with Vanity or wrack'd with Cares and Fears Hearts pitcht on Christ in Heaven know where to be full and welcom when things below have shew'd their best and done their worst They have a Glory that will pierce the darkest Cloud and reach the greatest Deep 2 Cor. 1.5 Their bitterest Herbs and sharpest Agonies may possibly be their entertainment at their last Passover but these their short-liv'd Sorrows are but to usher in and aggravate their Master's Joys Pleasures possest and kept by Christ for them and to be possest by them in his own immediate Presence must needs be great O Christians remember Heaven and Christ therein and what he is there preparing for you and fear neither Plots nor Strokes nor Rumors 1 Pet. 1.4 to 7. Mat. 5.10 to 12. Let your exalted Head and this your elevating Hope distil such influences upon your exercis'd Hearts as to make you valiant for your Prize exalted in your Aims triumphant in your Hopes and Sufferings and evermore insulting over the Cheats and Dangers that attend you He sells his Head and Hopes for thirty Pieces that is intangl'd with or unhing'd by any thing below this Head and Heritage and these things above Sure Christ in Heaven so evidently intent upon your being brought to live where he is wants neither Heart nor Worth nor Joys to make you know and to acknowledg that he is a Non-such Friend and though rough-handed Esau may be the first-born of your Entertainments here yet Jacob hath him by the Heel and shall supplant him Suffer and reign these are the terms of Life the Royal Law of Hope 2 Tim. 2.12 Ought not we as well as Christ to suffer and so to enter into Glory Luk. 24.26 with Rom. 8.17 Must not he follow Christ that designs to reach what he hath got John. 12.26 Heb. 12.2 What though the Way be foul and rugged What should discourage you in those Paths where every step you take is an advance toward Christ in Heaven Your Faith in Christ and Hope of Heaven are as the Dawnings of this Day to you and every look at Christ in Glory is as a Lift toward Heaven and as a Foretast of it A look at Christ in Glory bore up the Spirit of that Proto-martyr Stephen above the debasements which carnal Fears produce in others and would otherwise have brought him under 9. Why should not Things above make us remember and send our Hearts to Christ above had not Christ bought the Prize of Heaven Eph. 1.11 14. and made our way thereto Heb. 10.19 20. and peirced the Vail Heb. 9.8 and won and worn the Crown through his own Blood Heb. 1.3 our being with our Lord in Glory had been beyond our reach and hope 1 Pet. 1.3 4. An open Heaven for us cost Christ a wounded Heart He was poor to make us rich 2 Cor. 8.9 Our springs of Hopes and Joys came from this cloven Lehi if I may allude to Judg. 15.19 where the Spring that God clave was not in the Jaw-bone but in the place called Lehi because of the miraculous execution that was done by the Jaw-bone of an Ass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maxilla as Lehi siggnifies and should not Heaven in hopes inthrone our Lord in Heart 2 Cor. 5.14 It was this made the Apostle's Heart so warm and active Wherefore we labour c. Vers 9. Good-Will indeed toward Men when such good things were purchast for them Luk. 2.14 O then Christians if there be either Worth or Love Bowels or Bounty in that Heavenly State so aggravated by our there ever being with the Lord let all your Hearts be evermore for Christ He walk'd in the Valley of the Shadow of Death that you might fear no evil and felt the Pangs and Strokes of Death with all the loads and bitterness thereof consistent with the dignity

BEING For ever with the Lord THE Great Hope End and Comfort of BELIEVERS What it is and how to be obtained and forethought of Preached by MATTHEW SYLVESTER And Published at the publick Request of Mr. Ri. Baxter at the hearing of it LONDON Printed for J. Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard M.DC.LXXXVIII TO Mr. M. SYLVESTER'S HEARERS IF you know not the Reasons of my desiring Mr. S. at the hearing of it to publish this Sermon I now tell you they were these 1. I was affected with it as suitable to my own Condition who have little Comfort to live on but my hopes of being for ever with the Lord and no Motive so powerful to engage me to my great Duty and to overcome all Temptations 2. And that which is so suitable to me is not unsuitable to you I am not the only Man that must die and that hath another Life to live 3. Mr. Sylvester's Style is so concise and naturally elegant that neither I nor you can sufficiently digest his Sermons upon a transient hearing A full and frequent review may make them more our own Of-times four or five Names or Epithets signify as much as so many distinct Sentences and his Phrases are not always vulgar And therefore they are like strong Meat that must have longer time than lighter for digestion 4. The Subject is such as you must daily live upon and therefore should be glad of a daily Help for your practical Meditations on it Being for ever with Christ in Glory is that which you pray for hope for labour for suffer and wait for deny the Flesh and the World for and which you must fetch your supporting comforts from or else you must have neither Hope nor Comfort which sound awakened Reason can own 5. As it is a discouragement to Preachers when the best studied Sermons are forgotten at the Church-doore so it is a great mercy to Hearers when they may carry home and keep and daily use such excellent and powerful Helps If the Devil knew what Printing was like to do against his Kingdom I wonder that he did no more to hinder the inventing of it It was because the Father of Lights restrained him You Printers and Booksellers look well to your selves for next to Magistrates and Ministers there are few that Devils have more malignant designs upon than you either to silence your Presses and Shops as to Good or to open them to Evil. You speak more publickly than Pulpits do To many Thousands you either preach wholsom saving Truth or vend flagitious and pernicious Evil. If you vend the best Books only for Mony you have your Reward yet thousands may have a greater gain as carnal Preachers may perish themselves while their Hearers are saved Lastly I would have those Men that have thought our silencing these 28 Years to be the Churches Interest and have called on their Rulers to strike home to see what Doctrine it is that we preach and whether it deserve Hatred and Destruction If many such Sermons tell them not they may see it in the larger Writings of Mr. Ant. Burges Mr. Richard and Joseph Allen Dr. Manton Mr. Charnock and many more to pass by the yet living Your Servant RI. BAXTER 1 Thess iv 17. latter Part. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so shall we ever be with the Lord. THese words are a part of those cheering Passages which were written to this excellent and much-commended Church by way of Antidote against immoderate Sorrows for such as sleep in Jesus And indeed the provident Care and ministerial Faithfulness of this great Apostle clearly appears in the Matter Order and Vigour of Expression that this Epistle entertains its Reader with He first acknowledges what effectual Grace had brought them to 1 Thess 1 2-10 Hethen appeals to God and them as to his Sufferings Doctrines and deportment in both their genuine designed and succesful references to their Good 1. Thess ii 1-20 Then when he was to stay alone at Athens for which no doubt he saw great cause he sends Timotheus to them for their Establishment and Consolation in the Faith and to obviate all Discouragements and Snares which otherwise might make them droop or stumble And Timothy returns with a very good account concerning them which sends our Apostle to his Knees again with Thanks and Joys and further Supplications for them 1 Thess iii. 1-13 And then he presses them to walk according to his Doctrine and abundantly to improve that Christian Directory which they had received from him for pleasing God to avoid all polluting Sins all Sins are such but some incomparably more so than others as inconsistent with their Heavenly Interests and Hopes or prejudicial thereto and destructive thereof 1 Thess iv 1-12 And then when they are under providential Pressures let them repair unto the Hopes Comforts of their returning Lord from Heaven and of their abode with him and his whole Family for ever 1 Thess iv 13-18 and let them also make their highest practical Improvements hereof as being under better Circumstances so to do than others are 1 Thess v. 1-22 All which he closes with a solemn Prayer and Benediction with testified assurance of success herein 1 Thess 5.23 24. and hereupon he charges them by the Lord that this Epistle be read to all the Holy Brethren vers 27. as being of such consequence and concernment to them all And hence you may see how this great Apostle guards his Consolations in first securing Christianity in the Spirit and Practice of it and then proceeding to encourage and refresh the Hearts of Mourners Hence then consider the Text it self in its I. Sense II. Evidence III. Usefulness I. The Sense of the Text. And here these things occur'd to be considered tho briefly in their order 1. The Persons determined to this Priviledg We who are found alive and the Dead in Christ that rise first vers 16 17. and all of them Children of the Light and Day 1 Thess v. 5 8 9. The living Members and true Favorites of Christ distinguished from mere Pretenders Enemies and Strangers by their true conformity to Christ himself in Spirit Purpose and Behaviour 2. The Priviledg and State whereto they are determined to be for ever with the Lord. 3. The Time and Manner of their entrance into the full possession of this State. Christ comes descending with a shout from Heaven the Voice of the Arch-Angel and with the Trump of God. The Dead in Christ rise first They with the Living are caught up to meet Christ in the Air and so they are for ever with him ver 16 17. 1. The Persons here intended for this blessed State and reckoning duly thereupon We. How careful was this Eagle-eyed Apostle to prevent a Rape upon a thing so chast and sacred as this our Christian Hope You turned to God from Idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from Heaven 1 Thess 1.9 10. Your