Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	faith_n	good_a	work_n	21,552	5	6.5180	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54948	A sermon preach'd to the Artillery Company, at St. Mary le Bow, Septemb. 11, 1677, and at their earnest desire published by Thomas Pittis ...	Pittis, Thomas, 1636-1687.	1677 (1677)	Wing P2317; ESTC R10835	15,095	39

Dan. 5.3 if Belshazzar has once the possession of them nor is any Estate so desirable as Glebe-Lands to the Furious or Prophane the tenth Sheaf shall then make the fairest Bread and the best Barn to lodg it in shall be a Temple desecrated by such a bold prophanation The Christian Souldier must take his Directions therefore from his Officers and duly observe his Rank and Order not invade the Station of his Superior nor desert his own For where there is not this distinction it is not Order but Confusion the Pulpit will there be made a Drum and this turn'd into a Pulpit He therefore that does not observe his Place is not capable of Military Conduct for an Army must be under exact Discipline and the first thing a Souldier must be taught is how to obey And when you have thoroughly learn'd this you must be used to frequent Exercise that you may know how to handle your Arms be more expert in receiving and obeying all words words of Command and encounter your Enemies in any Figure you shall be cast into For Habits are acquired by frequent Acts which once obtained become easie and pleasant to you But above all John 15.17 John 17.11 Phil. 2.1 2. Ephes 4.2 3 c. you must be at unity among your selves and there is nothing in all Christian Religion to which Men are more frequently and pathetically exhorted This Cements the Church of God 1 Cor. 10.17 which the Lord's Supper both represents and increases If an Army once break their Ranks they make a Gap to receive the Enemy who soon spies such an Advantage to break and rout the main Body And if Christians by differences among themselves refuse to stand by and assist each other leave their Station 1 Cor. 12. ch and invade each others Rights and Office Satan being the Prince of the Air presently plays upon them from on High and having cantoniz'd those that were before united crumbles them into Faction and Divisions Gal. 5.15 and makes the Church fight against it self that joyning his Forces with one Party he may increase the Schism till he has destroyed another and weakned all And if those that remain yet undivided do not make good their Front against him by filling up the Places of the Dead His Name is Legion Mark 5.9 and he will pour down his Troops upon us 'till we are put into an eternal Confusion and routed beyond the possibility of a Rally For what countenance can we expect from him that is Defender of the Faith if we raise Disturbances by our Divisions Nay what Protection from God himself when instead of opposing the Common Adversary we run upon each other and destroy our selves and fly the Methods of Divine Providence Prov. 19.3 And our Religion is now so interwoven with the Concernments of the State that we can hardly disjoynt the one without endangering if not ruining the other and God and the King become either our joint Enemies or Friends To make Christianity then tilt against it self and by this to raise Intestine Divisions is to run our selves on the Points of Swords antedate all the Misery we fear provoke and dare the Violence of others and draw Blood from our Persecutors Heads upon our own Whilst we pretend to light our Matches at the Stars if we thus make Thrones uneasie we do it at the Flames of Hell that we may discharge Fire and Brimstone into the World Instead of this therefore let us incourage one another to Love and to good Works Heb. 10.24 and fight the good Fight of Faith 1 Tim. 6.12 that prostrates our Enemies and lays them at our Feet 1 John 5.4 mortifie all our reigning Sins Col. 3.5 and persevere in all the Duties of Religion Col. 1.23 that we may lay hold of Eternal Life and Rom. 8.37 through Jesus Christ be more than Conquerors For inward Guilt will make our Musquets recoil upon our selves our Swords turn their Points upon our Bosoms and when we are called to Fight the Battels of our Sovereign we shall sheath them with such trembling Hands in the Bowels of our Adversaries that we shall give them time to make a Pass at our own Let us therefore whilst we engage our Enemies first make Friends with our selves and then contend with Faithfulness and Courage that no Fear may cause us to give back nor any Hypocrisie make us Treacherous We otherwise bussle and fight for Satan in the Name of God and instead of Kindling our Sacrifice with Coals from the Altar we burn it in the Flames of Hell Finally that you may know how to use as well as gain a Victory you must not swell and be puffed up with your Successes Luke 18.11 14. for this is so far from being an Argument that you grow in Grace that you have drunk Poison and are even blown up by the Devil The Christian Souldier must be the more humble and modest by how much the more he is Victorious This is the way to possess your Conquests and your selves too and whilst ye thus demean your selves you still go on to compleat your Tryumphs You can never be secure in this World but your whole Lives are a continued Warfare the Enemy will Assault where he cannot Conquer Ephes 6.12 and will trouble those whom he cannot overcome He will rise again after he is slain and endeavour to get Dominion over us even when we have him under our Feet and is always like a Roaring Lion 1 Pet. 5.8 Mark 13.37 seeking whom he may devour Be watchful therefore and always upon your Guard 1 Cor. 10.12 and let him that standeth take heed lest he fall that when he has over-power'd one Temptation another may not overcome him Val. Max. lib. 9. cap. 1. Sen. Epist 51. ad Lucil. Cyprian passim de Lapsis in Epist Hannibal was vanquished by the Delicacies of Capua after he had conquer'd the Roman Army and some were found amongst the Lapsi after they had confess'd Christ in a Prison And if we too having begun in the Spirit end in the Flesh our sensual Pleasures having bauk'd our Progress and weakned our Resolutions Ezek. 18.24 stain all the Christians former Victories Though he has contended earnestly for the Faith and kept it safe amongst Earthquakes and Storms yet if after all like the Ancient Romans in times of Peace he grow luxurious and lies down playing in the Sun he will not only discolour his Beauty but stain the Glory of former Actions whilst every little Vermin will assault him Judg. 15.15 Sampson who slew a thousand Men with that uncouth and Enthusiastick Weapon the Jaw Bone of an Afs was yet weakned by the Embraces of a Woman and though he brake all the Bands of the Philistins was so hampered in the Locks of his Mistress that he lost his own Judg. 16.19 and with these his Strength departed from him till he became a Vassal and Scorn to his Enemies being first a Slave to his own Prisoners when his Reason yielded to his Affections Take heed therefore least after God has brought you out of the Land of Egypt you tempt him in the Wilderness Heb. 3.12 and as the Apostle applys it that there be not in you an evil Heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God but exhort one another daily whilst the state of your Tryal lasts lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of Sin that having subdued your Enemies in the World you may at last triumph over Death too through him who died and rose again Jesus Christ the Righteous To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost three Persons and one God be all Glory Power and Adoration now and for ever Amen FINIS

Sin 3. You must put Shooes upon your Feet as being ready for March or Battel Peace within your selves and Charity to others that Offences from without may not scandalize you and like sharp Stones grieving the bare Feet of a Traveller wrench your Joynts or cause you to desist from your Enterprize that you may run on with fury upon your Enemies when your Feet are thus securely shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace 4. You must take the Shield of Faith a firm Belief possessing your Minds both of the Promises and Threats of Heaven and this will quench all the fiery Darts of the Wicked This lifts the Soul above Difficulties makes it conquer in the midst of Thunder and though this may roul up and down the Clouds our Faith arms us against its Power and makes it break under our Feet The belief of the Promises will excite our Endeavours fully to possess them and an assurance that God's Threats are infallible will make us diligent and vigilant to avoid them This will help us to Conquer this World whilst it reaches to us the Glories of the next 5. You must assume the Helmet of Salvation which is the Confidence and Hope of it This like an Helmet will bear off the Blows of our Enemies that we may put to flight the Armies of the Aliens those Forreign Lusts which War against our Souls Keeps us free from Fearfulness or Despair and makes us persevere unto the end in hope of that Immortal Crown which hangs in our view if we believe and expect and shall certainly at last be in our Possession if we are not weary and faint in our Minds 6. You must take the Sword of the Spirit the Word of God which teaches us to possess our selves of the Weapons of our Adversaries and both to handle and secure our own It discovers the Force and Stratagems of our Enemies and no Ambush can be so closely laid to offer us any Injury in our Marches if we fix our Designs by these Rules We can with ease withstand Assailants when we receive them with a scriptum est and draw Directions and Arguments from Sacred Writ to obviate the Subtilty or Storm of Temptation Now lest thus accoutred we should go forth and fight in our own Strength and like the Wicked rage and be confident we must add to all Watchfulness and Prayer Vigilance that we are not taken by surprize and thus made Prisoners of War and Prayer too that the Lord of Hosts may joyn in the Encounter deaden all the Bullets of our Enemies and add a greater Power to our own And now that our Armour is thus fixed we must prepare and make ready for the Battel The Drums beat and the Trumpets sound and every Man must hasten to his Colours and put himself into his Rank and Order The World and the Flesh are Confederates with the Devil to Conquer and Lead you away in Triumph and their Vanguard begins to appear Remember therefore the Obligations of your Baptism De Sacramento Militari apud Rom. Macedon Lacedemon c. Vid. Alex. ab Alex Gen. dier lib. 1. cap. 20. Tertul. de Coronâ Mil. cap. 3. de Spectac c. 4. that Sacramentum Militare by which as the Romans in their Oath you are engaged to fight the Battels of your Leader to withstand all the Temptations of the Devil abandon all the Lusts of the Flesh and defie the Pomps and Allurements of the World Remember those that have gone before you who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises especially our Supream Lord himself who calls to you as Julius Caesar was wont to his Souldiers not go yonder but come hither and make your selves Partners in the Victory He himself has set you an Example engaged you by immense Issues of his Love and is gone to prepare Crowns for you if you remain faithful to the Death What he commands is highly reasonable tending to the perfection of your Natures and Godliness gives you the Advantages of this Life and the Glory also of that which is to come Pluck up therefore your Courage and Resolution Let Cowardise and Fear be ashamed and sneak and not appear in a day of Battel For as a small Levite of mean Parts and Spirit is fit only to carry Wisps of Hay to feed Calves at Dan and Bethel but has not courage enough to slay a Sacrifice nor knows he how to offer it to the God of Israel So if you do not abandon your Fears your Adversaries will easily win the Field and make you turn back in the day of Battel though you are harness'd and carry Bows are furnish'd with Arms to assault your Adversaries and defend your Selves Resolve then either to secure your Bucklers or as the manner was to be brought back upon them to endure any Hardships and Difficulties rather than to give ground or quit the Field 'T is not enough to boast and ruffle when you put on your Armour unless your Courage maintains your Honour till you come at last to put it off For a Hectoring Coward is but like an Hare in an Helmet or an Hog in Armour the one may Snuff and Grunt at a Storm but he lies down and sleeps in it and the other may make a frightful Appearance but runs presently before the Face of his Enemy A few Cowards are enough to disorder a whole Army their fear makes them full of mistakes they will create Light in the midst of Darkness and take the Sparks in their own Eyes for Fires in the Camp of the Enemy and if they are prevailed upon to fight they strike winking and like the old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ventilate only and beat the Air or fall upon their Friends and disorder the Host Carnal Fear therefore must have no place in the Christian Camp But yet our Courage must not advance to Rashness This creates Zeal in Religion without Knowledg and that will flame so furiously that it will not kindle only but burn up Devotion consume the Sacrifice and the Altar too Such a Man being cloathed in Fire belches Flame and speaks Thunder But though like the Horse in Job he smells the Battel afar off Job 39. and laughs among the Trumpets yet both equally distinguish the Sound and the Enemy only the Horse is capable of better management being to be held in with Bit and Bridle but the Zealot being blind though he does not know it lays about him without discretion whilst Chance only directs him to that which he encounters This makes him often assault Christianity with its own Weapons fight against our Saviour under his own Banner and whilst he thinks to win Heaven by Storm he makes the Kingdom suffer violence and endeavours to force it without a Metaphor Such a Man will kill the Apostles to do God Service refuse his Worship to avoid Superstition and rob the Church to escape Sacriledg No Bowls are so pleasant to Carouse in as those of the Temple