Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A26078
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A theological discourse of last vvills and testaments by William Assheton.
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Assheton, William, 1641-1711.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing A4046; ESTC R17297
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32,407
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122
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say unto them Depart in peace be you warmed and filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body what doth it profit Even so faith if it hath not works is dead being alone Jam. 2. 14 15 16 17. As if he had said Unless according to your capacity you are ready to do good and relieve those that are in want all your pretences to Religion are vain and hypocritical And this most important Truth which the Rich men of this World are so unwilling to believe is further confirmed by St. John The design of whose Epistles is to exhort us to the love of God and our Brother The latter of which as he largely shews us is the surest Mark and Evidence of the former If a man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a liar For he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 Joh. 4. 20. No man hath seen God at any time God is a Spirit and invisible and we do not converse with God as we do with one another How then can we pretend to this love of God or assure our selves that we have this Divine Grace Now St. John takes care to satisfy us in this matter v. 21. He who loveth God let him love his Brother also i. e. He who pretends to love God let him prove his love to God by the love of his Brother But how shall we evidence this love of God by our love to our Brother Of this the Apostle gives us a plain and convincing Proof cap. 3. v. 17. Whoso hath this Worlds good and seeth his Brother have need and shutteth up his Bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him i. e. He who relieveth not his poor Brother when it is in his power he neither loveth God nor his Brother And he that loveth not his Brother abideth in death v. 14. And because this may be censured as a very harsh and uncharitable Sentence the Apostle thus confirms it in the following verse v. 15. Whosoever hateth his brother is a Murderer and ye know that no Murderer hath eternal life abiding in him With such powerful Motives as these the Apostles of our Lord did recommend this most necessary Duty of Charity And as this was the Doctrine of the Apostles so also of our Blessed Lord himself Give Alms of such things as you have and behold all things are clean unto you Luk. 11. 41. Sell that ye have and give Alms provide your selves bags which wax not old a treasure in the heavens that faileth not where no thief approacheth neither moth corrupteth Luk. 12. 33. And I say unto you Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations Luk. 16. 9. Love ye your Enemies and do good and lend hoping for nothing again and your reward shall be great and ye shall be the Children of the Highest for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil Be ye therefore merciful as your Father also is merciful Luk. 6. 35 36. But in no part of the Gospel is this Duty of Charity so effectually recommended as in Matth. 25. v. 31. c. The words contain the Process of the Great and Final Judgment punctually described by our Saviour and our Judge They are of infinite concernment to us all And therefore I shall transcribe them at large And the rather because in its proper Place I shall make some Remarks and Observations upon them When the Son of man shall come in his Glory and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his Glory And before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a Shepherd divideth his Sheep from the Goats And he shall set the Sheep on his right hand but the Goats on the left Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in Naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me Then shall the righteous answer him saying Lord when saw we thee an hungred and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in or naked and cloathed thee Or when saw we thee sick or in Prison and came unto thee And the King shall answer and say unto them Verily I say unto you In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was a stranger and ye took me not in naked and ye cloathed me not sick and in prison and ye visited me not Then shall they also answer him saying Lord when saw we thee an hungred or athirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in Prison and did not Minister unto thee Then shall he answer them saying Verily I say unto you In as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these ye did it not to me And these shall go into everlasting Punishment But the Righteous into life eternal From these words of our B. Saviour 't is pertinent to observe That though as appears from other Places of Scripture we must be judged for what we have done in the Body i. e. for all the good or evil that we have done in this World yet our Saviour in describing the Process of the Last Judgment makes no mention of any thing but Acts of Charity From whence you may be admonished how necessary it is to do all the good you can whilst you live and to improve all those Talents with which you are intrusted particularly your wealth to the highest advantage And as a further Confirmation of this necessary Duty I must not omit to observe That Charity to the Poor is not only commanded in the Gospel but also in the Law and the Prophets If thy Brother be waxen poor and fallen in decay with thee then thou shalt relieve him yea though he be a stranger or a sojourner that he may live with thee Lev. 25. 35. If there be among you a poor man of one of thy Brethren within any of thy Gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thy hand from thy poor Brother Thou shalt surely give him and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him because that for this thing