Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	commandment_n	keep_v	love_v	23,346	5	7.4368	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62608	A sermon preach'd before the Queen at White-Hall, March the XXth, 1691/2 by John, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1692 (1692)	Wing T1245; ESTC R16847	15,855	37

of and such as is sufficient to answer and bear down all sorts of captious Cavils and Objections against it but so much as is abundantly sufficient to satisfie a sober and impartial Enquirer after Truth one that hath no other interest but to find out Truth and when he hath found it to yield to it If it were otherwise and the Principles of Religion were as glaring and evident as the Sun shining at Noon-day as there could hardly be any vertue in such a Faith so Infidelity would be next to an impossibility All that I would expect from any man that shall say that he cannot see sufficient reason to believe the Being and the Providence of God is this that he would offer some other Principles that he would advance any other Hypothesis and Scheme of things that is more agreeable to the common and natural Notions of men and to all Appearances of things in the World and that does bid more fairly for the comfort and happiness of Mankind than these Principles of the Being of a God and of his watchfull Providence over the children of men do plainly do And till this be clearly done the Principles of Religion which have generally been received by Mankind and have obtain'd in the World in all Ages cannot fairly be discarded and ought not to be disturbed and put out of Possession And this I think puts this whole matter upon a very fair and reasonable Issue and that nothing more needs to be said concerning it Secondly from what hath been said in the foregoing Discourse it naturally follows That God is the only Object of our trust and confidence and therefore to him alone and to no other we ought to address all our Prayers and Supplications for mercy and grace to help in time of need But now according to the Doctrine and Practise of the Church of Rome the Psalmist here puts a very odd and strange Question Whom have I in Heaven but thee To which they give a quite different answer from what the Psalmist plainly intended namely that God was the sole Object of his hope and trust and that upon Him alone he relyed as his onely comfort and happiness But to this Assertion of the Psalmist the Church of Rome can by no means agree They understand this matter much better than the Psalmist did namely that besides God there are in Heaven innumerable Angels and Saints in whom we are to repose great trust and confidence and to whom also we are to address solemn Prayers and Supplications not only for temporal good things but for the pardon of our Sins for the increase of our Graces and for eternal Life That there are in Heaven particular Advocates and Patrons for all exigencies and occasions against all sorts of dangers and diseases for all Graces and Vertues and in a word for all temporal spiritual and eternal Blessings to whom we may apply our selves without troubling God and our Blessed Saviour who also is God blessed for evermore by presuming upon every occasion to make our immediate Addresses to Him For as they would make us believe though Abraham was ignorant of it and David knew it not the blessed Spirits above both Angels and Saints do not onely intercede with God for us for all sorts of Blessings but we may make direct and immediate Addresses to them to bestow these Blessings upon us For so they do in the Church of Rome as is evident beyond all denyal from several of their Prayers in their most publick and authentick Liturgies They would indeed fain palliate this matter by telling us that by these direct immediate Addresses to Angels and Saints to bestow Grace and eternal Life upon them they mean no more but only to pray to them that they would be pleased to intercede with God for these Blessings to be bestowed upon them by their Mediation But if they meane no more why do they say more then they meane Why do they use such expressions as to the common sense and understanding of Mankind do signify a great deal more than they say they mean such expressions as they themselves do acknowledge if they be understood according to the most obvious sense of the words would render them guilty of flat Idolatry Especially when they know that they are charged with Idolatry upon this account and since to cleare themselves of it they will not alter their Prayers they justly lye under the suspition of it And yet admitting what they say in this matter to be true and that by these expressions in their Prayers they intend no more but the solemn Invocation of Angels and Saints that they would intercede with God to bestow these Blessings upon them for the sake of their Merits and upon their Mediation yet this surely is a great deal too much and cannot be done without a high entrenchment upon the Office of the onely Mediatour between God and man the Man Christ Jesus But let them not deceive themselves God is not mocked The Lord our God is a jealous God and He will not give his Glory to another I have not yet instanced in the grossest part of their Superstition not to say downright Idolatry in this kind I mean in their extravagant worship of the blessed Virgin and Mother of our Lord whom they blasphemously call the Queen of Heaven and whom by a new style unknown to the Scriptures and Primitive Antiquity they think to dignify with the modish Title of our Lady as if that could be any addition of honour to Her whom the Angel declared to be blessed among Women Who if she know any thing of the follies of Her Worshippers here below with what disdain and indignation do we think She heares those infinite Prayers that are made to Her and that Sacrilegious Worship which is given Her in that Church and which makes both pages of their Religion and which for the frequency of it both in their publick and private Devotions is very much beyond what they give to God and Christ As if there were none in Heaven but She nor any thing upon Earth to be worshipped in comparison of Her Image Nay so far have they carryed this extravagant Folly and how much farther they would have carryed it had not the Reformation given a check to it God only knows so far I say have they proceeded in this Folly as in that famous Book of their Devotions called our Ladyes Psalter not only to apply to Her some part of this Psalm out of which I have taken my Text beginning it thus How good is God to Israel to them that worship his B. Mother But they have likewise profanely burlesqued I cannot afford it a better terme this whole Book of Psalms applying to Her almost the highest things that are there said concerning God and our Blessed Saviour Heare O Heavens and give eare O Earth and be ye horribly astonished to see the best and wisest Religion in the World transform'd into Superstition and Folly and to see the most learned Persons in that Communion set themselves in good earnest to justify all these follyes and absurdities by a grave and groundless pretence to Infallibility Thirdly and Lastly This shews us how necessary the favour of God is to every mans happiness And there is but one way to gain his friendship and favour by becoming holy and good as He is Then may we rejoice and glory in God as the Psalmist here does and say Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee A wicked man dreads God above all things in the World and he has great reason to do so For he is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with him The foolish shall not stand in his sight he hateth all the workers of iniquity When by sin we depart from God we forsake our own happiness Salvation is far from the wicked says David And againe a little after the Text They that are far from thee shall perish but it is good for me to draw near to God Now by holyness and goodness we draw near to Him who alone can make us happy It is certainly the common interest of mankind there should be a God because we cannot possibly be happy without Him But then it is no mans interest to be wicked because thereby we make Him our Enemy in whose favour is life and upon whom all our hopes of happyness do depend To conclude if we would have God for our Happiness we must be sure to make Him our Friend and then we may promise to our selves all those advantages which the Friendship of so great and powerful a Patron can give us And there is but one way to establish a firm Friendship between God and us and that is by doing his Will and living in obedience to his Laws Ye are my friends saith our Blessed Lord if ye do whatsoever I command you This is the love of God saith St. John that we keep his commandments And to love God is the way to be made partakers of those glorious things which God hath prepared for them that love Him such as eye hath not seen nor eare heard neither have entred into the heart of man Which God of his infinite goodness grant we may all at last be made partakers of for his mercies sake in Jesus Christ To whom with Thee O Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory dominion and power both now and for ever Amen FINIS V. 1. V. 2. V. 10. V. 12. V. 13. V. 14. V. 15. V. 16. V. 17 18. V. 21. V. 23. Psal. 22. 9 10 11. Rom. 8. 35. v. 38 39. Prov. 1. 24. 25. c. Isa. 27. 11. Ps. 4. 6 7 8. Psal. 119.