Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	brother_n	love_v	see_v	10,944	5	5.0158	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61531	Christian magnanimity a sermon preached in the cathedral church at Worcester at the time of the assizes, September 21. 1690 / by ... Edward, Lord Bishop of Worcester.	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1690 (1690)	Wing S5566; ESTC R2456	16,305	41

although they are masked under a pretence of Religion yet there are no two things more opposite to the true Spirit and Design of it S. Iohn concludes that man to have no true Love to God who doth not love his Brother He that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen And we may argue the other way If a man doth not Love God how can he love his Brother When the Love of God is the best Foundation for Charity and Kindness to our Brethren who were at first made after the Image of God and have it again renewed in them by the Power of Divine Grace in Righteousness and true Holiness And even where that doth not appear yet there is a Tenderness and Compassion due to Mankind as far as is consistent with the Order and Government of the World 2. The Spirit of Love and of a Sound Mind consists in laying aside private Animosities and Heats for a Publick and General Good That is a thing too great and too sacred to be exposed and ridiculed as though it were onely a Popular pretence for Faction and Sedition Whereas Nothing is more directly opposite to it for therefore it is called Faction and Sedition because it is against it If it hath been abused by men of ill Minds so have the best things in the World but they do not lose their Nature and Excellency by it If there be not such a thing as a Common Good whence comes any Mans Obligation to preserve Order and Government and to seek the Safety and Welfare of his Country although it may be to the hazard of his own Life If there be such a thing it deserves our Regard in the first Place and we ought to lay aside all Prejudices and mutual Animosities and the Interests of particular Parties and heartily to promote that which is our true Common Interest as we are English Men and Protestants of the Church of England which is a great and considerable Part of the Christian Church and the Chief of the Reformation It is hard for any not to see that the whole Protestant Interest lies at Stake and that the Preservation of it depends very much on our Conduct and Union at this time But if we find any to be humoursome and peevish any to struggle more for the Interest of a Party to make it uppermost than for our Common Good although it be a very sad Consideration and bodes very ill to us all yet we have that poor Comfort left us that men were as ill disposed even in the Apostles times For saith S. Paul at a time when one would have thought they should have been much better inclined All men seek their own not the things which are Iesus Christs I hope it cannot be said of all now but I fear it is so true of too many that it is one of the worst Symptoms of the present State of our Affairs And that which makes it more deplorable is that some Men have entertained such Suspicion and Jealousie of each other that he that goes about to Reconcile them instead of making them Friends is look'd on as a common Enemy I am afraid there is not Sincerity and Integrity enough left to be a Foundation for uniting several Parties among us at least there wants an Opinion of it And as long as there are such Mistrusts and Jealousies the greatest Integrity is so far useless Some learned and good Men have been of late apt to perswade themselves and others that the Glorious and Happy times of the Church are coming on I could be glad to be of their opinion for it is a comfortable thing to a man who travels in an ill Road and with bad Company whom he is perpetually afraid of to see at a distance a pleasant and safe Country where he shall be rid of his Fears and Dangers But I confess I cannot much please my self with such thoughts till I see the Tempers of Mens minds begin to change towards one another If I could once see the Spirit of Love and a sound time prevail among us If men would be contented to Sacrifice their Humours and Piques to the Publick Interest in short if there were any hopes Men would be Wise and Good there were then a great Foundation for hope that all things would be settled among us so as to continue for succeeding Generations But if Men will persist in their own Wilfull Humours If they had rather all should perish than they not compass their own Ends we need no foreign Enemies to come in upon us we shall soon come to that height of Animosity as to bite and devour one another and then it is an easie Inference that we shall be consumed one of another I am far from thinking our Case desperate for I hope Men have not lost all their Sense and Zeal for our Common Interest but if Mens Heats and Passions increase and grow fiercer a Man needs not pretend to Prophecy to foretell what the dreadfull Consequence will be The true Spirit of Religion seems to be buried in Mens warm Contentions about it and some have pretended to a sort of Zeal without Conscience to Religion without Faith and to Scruples without common Honesty If ever God designs to doe us Good there must be a great Alteration in Mens Tempers and Manners We must have more Sincerity and Integrity among us the want of which hath caused such a general Mistrust of one another that if Faith were to save the Nation I am afraid there is hardly enough left in it And it looks like one of the Symptoms of the Day of Judgment upon us For If the Son of Man should come he would hardly find Faith upon Earth But instead of discoursing of Magnanimity I am sensible I have run into the Object and Reason of our Fears But therefore to conclude all I shall speak briefly to the last Particular which was 3. To consider what Arguments and Means there are to support us against our Fears or to attain to that Christian Magnanimity I have been discoursing of And there are two great Arguments which Christianity doth particularly recommend to us 1. Let things go as ill as we can fear in this World if we are sincere Christians there is a far better State to come to which we shall be admitted when we are once out of this troublesome and sinfull World There will be no Hurries and Confusions no Jealousies and Suspicions no Piques and Animosities The highest Regions of the Air are the most calm and serene all the Clouds and Storms and blustering Winds are below and arise from the Atmosphere If our Minds were more loose from the World we should be more at quiet For at the bottom the Considerations of this World make Men so troublesome in it It is Honour or Power or Riches which make them so unquiet and endeavouring to supplant and undermine one another If Men could