Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	father_n	holy_a	son_n	15,395	5	5.8830	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00726	A learned sermon preached before the King at VVhitehall, on Friday the 16 of March: by M. Doctor Field: Chaplaine to his Maiestie; Learned sermon preached before the King at Whitehall, on Friday the 16 of March.	Field, Richard, 1561-1616.	1604 (1604)	STC 10855; ESTC S115098	14,831	44

they find amongst vs they obserue wherin each man is most likely to excell and imploy him accordingly some in writing some in reading some in preaching some in disputing they haue some for Schoole diuinitie some for positiue ●ome for the studie of the Fathers and courses of antiquitie But with vs all the● things are neglected and therefore 〈◊〉 goe before vs not in the goodnes of 〈◊〉 cause but in the good and wise managing of an euill cause For I dare vndertake that if a choyce be made and me● may haue those helps encouragemen● that are fit for men so imployed this nationall Church will yeeld men more th●● matchable with the greatest of the aduerse faction in all those courses of learning wherein they seeme most to excell But to returne to the words of the Apostle we must contend not for thinge● indifferent not mistaking one another but for the maintenaunce of the fayth A●● the name of hope sometimes signifieth the things we hope for as when the Apostle saith If we had hope onely in this life we were of all men the most miserable sometime the desire and expectation of the same thinges so the name of fayt● sometimes signifieth the act or habite of beleeuing sometimes that sum of Christian doctrine the conclusions wherea● are not demonstrable by reason but 〈◊〉 he belieued by faith This doctrine of fayth least we mistake it is described by two circumstances It was once deliuered and it was deliuered to the Saints It is said to haue been once deliuered to expresse the difference betweene the manner of the diuine reuelation formely and since Christ appeared For before the heauenly truth was reuealed not all at once but in diuers sorts and degrees according as the time wherein the reuelation vvas made was neerer or more remote from the appearing of Christ but in the last times God spake by his owne sonne and b● him at once deliuered all that that shal be knowne concerning himselfe till the ends of the world So that we which are Christians must be●●eue nothing but that which was deliuered at the first beginning of Christianitie So that the error of the Montanists is to be reiected which imagined that Christ reuealed not all the mysteries of his kingdome to Peter on whom he promised to build his Church to Iohn the disciple he ●o deerely loued which leaned on his breast at the mysticall supper and to the rest of that blessed company but reserued many things till the spirit descended vppon Montanus and his prophetesses as also the phrensie of those heretickes in Fraunce which affirmed that as the Father was author of the old Testament the Sonne of the New so the holy Ghost in the last times must be the author of a third which is a law of loue which because it is the last to continue for euer to haue none after it may as they suppose be rightly termed the eternall Gospell so abusing the place of the reuelations of Saint Iohn But passing by these errors of phanaticall and vaine men in that the faith is said to haue beene once deliuered we obserue two things the f●rst that that onelie is true which was deliuered at the first For howsoeuer many things be more fullie distinctly and expresly knowne in latter times then they were formerly yet they were deliuered at the first infolded in generalities out of which they are afterwards more distinctly and expresly deduced euen as a child when it is first borne hath all those parts of body that euer after it hath though not expressed and enlarged as afterwards they are as Vincentius Lerinensis most aptly noteth Secondly we may obserue that vvhatsoeuer may be proued to be most auncient is vndoubtedly true as being immediatly inspired from the spirit of truth Quod primum verissimum the truth is before the counterfeite the thing before the imitation of the thing the habite before priuation and good before euill the good seede was first sowed and then the enuious man came et superseminauit zizania and sowed tares where the good seede was before We deny not therefore but most willingly graunt vnto our aduersaries that Antiquitie is a note of the true Church not as if that Church were alwaies purest and most vncorrupt which first re●eiued the fayth and hath longest conti●ued in the profession of it for then the Aethiopian and Asian Churches would proue themselues as pure or purer then ●ny Churches in the world but because ●hat is the truest and purest Church which holdeth that doctrine and discipline that was first deliuered The Romanists are wont to stand much vppon this note of Antiquitie but hovv wil they proue they haue the faith which was first deliuered They proue it because they once had it and it cannot be shewed when they departed from it For aunswer wherevnto we say that in many things we can shew when the alteration beganne For who knoweth not that Charles the Emperour with threates and punishments forced all the Clergie in the Prouinces subiect vnto him to forsake the ancient formes of diuine seruice publique administration they had formerly vsed and to receiue the Romane order and that the Spanyards as beeing most stiffe in all theyr courses held their owne rites till in the time of Gregory the seauenth they were forced by Alphonsus the sixt to leaue them which they did not without great sorrow expressed with teares And though we could not preciselie note the time when theyr errors abuses entered into the Church yet the consequent were not good that therefore they haue not departed from the first and originall puritie For there are and haue beene many errors in the Church not onely so iudged by vs but confessed to be so by them the precise time of the beginning whereof is not knowne The opinion of the necessitie of giuing the Sacrament of the Lords body vnto infants and the practice of the same continued in the Latine Church as Maldonatus confesseth sixe hundred yeeres and is retained in all the Orientall Churches to this day This was an error and yet neyther the time when it began nor the author of it knowne The opinion that none shall see GOD nor enter into heauen till the resurrection was the error of many of the auncient yet the author of it the time when it beganne is vnknowne The opinion of two resurrections the one of the iust the other of the wicked there beeing betweene the one and the other aboue a thousand yeres was an error amongst the auncient the Author of ●t and the time when it beganne is not ●nowne To leaue these things that were auncient and to come to the things now priuayling in the Church of Rome it vvas the old custome that the Sacrament of the Lords body and blood was giuen to all that were present at the time of the mysticall blessing consecration and operation all the Catech●meni poenitents not communicants missis et exclusis being

A Learned Sermon preached before the King at VVhitehall on Friday the 16 of March by M. Doctor Field Chaplaine to his Maiestie At London Printed by Iames Roberts for Ieffry Chorlton 1604. Iude. verse 3. ¶ Beloued when I gaue all diligence to write vnto you of the common saluation it was necessarie for me to write vnto you to exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the maintenance of the Faith vvhich was once deliuered vnto the Saints THE blessed Apostle Saint Iude finding that many in his time began well and ended ill who beeing seduced by wicked miscreants made shipwracke of the fayth forsooke their first loue departed away from the liuing GOD and embraced this present world writeth this his Epistle generall to the Christians of those times to strengthen the vveake confirme the doubtfull and stay such as were ready to fall The argument whereof is contained in these words which I haue now read in your hearing wherein three thinges are to be obserued First he maketh knowne vnto them his loue in that he calleth them his beloued Secondly his carefull and diligent study and endeuour not onely by word being present but also by writing beeing absent to procure their euerlasting good and to direct them to the attayning of eternall saluation in that he professeth he gaue all diligence to write vnto them of the common saluation Thirdlie he sheweth what it was that in those his carefull deliberations how he might most happily worke their eternall good he found most necessary to write vnto them of It was necessary for me to write vnto you to exhort you to contende c. Of these thinges in order as they lie in the words of the Apostle first of the first which is his loue Many and great are the things Almightie God requireth of them whom he appointeth Rulers and Gouernours ouer his people For as he communicateth vnto them part of his owne honour giueth them his owne tytles setteth them vpon his owne seate committeth the care of his people vnto them and trusteth them with the execution of his owne iustice and iudgement so he requireth of them and putteth in them a spirit of more then ordinary wisedom courage and magnanimitie fit to sustaine and beare the weight of so great a burthen But aboue all he requireth of them a tender and louing affection towards his people of whom they take the charge that they seeke not their owne priuate pleasure profit or content but the good of them ouer whom they are set And as this is required generally of all Rulers so most principally of them to vvhom the Word of reconciliation the dispensation of the Diuine mysteries and the power of the keyes of the kingdome of heauen is committed This our Sauiour shewed by his manner of proceeding and the course he tooke when hauing accomplished the worke of redemption and being ready to returne back to him that sent him he resolued to send out his Apostles with most ample Commission for the gathering of the Saints the worke of the Ministerie and the conuersion of such as he had bought purchased with his most precious blood For though he had made choyce of such men for that imployment as had beene conuersant with him in the dayes of his flesh seene his miracles and workes of wonder and heard the words of his heauenly wisedome and were most fit to be witnesses of all the things he did and suffered and to publish the ioyfull tydings of saluation to the people of the world yet would ●● giue them no Commission till he vvere assured of their loue And therefore though he had promised to builde his Church on Peters fayth and ministerie and to giue vnto him the keyes of the kingdome of Heauen yet before he performed this promise and said vnto him Feed my lambes feede my sheepe he demaunded thrice of him concerning his loue Neither doth he aske him of his loue towards them he was to take charge of but of his loue towards himselfe thereby the more to enforce it and raise it to a higher degree as if he had thus said If I haue de●erued any thing of thee if my death and bitter sufferings deserue thy loue if thou owest any thing vnto me for the benefits of the heauenly calling the knowledge of that truth which flesh and blood could not reueale vnto thee and the dignitie of an Apostle wherewith I haue honoured thee as I say vn●to thee thou owest more then thy selfe turne the course of thy loue vpon the people of my purchase for they are the inheritance my Father gaue me vvhen I came into the worlde the reward of my labours the recompence of my trauailes and the price of my blood for their sakes I left my throne in Heauen put off my robe of Maiestie and put vppon me the habite of a seruaunt they are my Temple in which I am worshipped my Church in the middest wherof my Name is called vppon my spouse whom my soule loueth and my body with out which I am not complete and full An example of this loue which God requireth of vs himselfe gaue vs when he loued vs and gaue his Sonne for vs whiles we were yet his enemies An e●ample hereof Christ shewed vs when he poured forth his soule in bitter passions to redeeme his people from theyr sinnes An imitation of these examples in the highest degree that euer was founde amongst mortall men we haue in Moses that desired to haue his name blotted out of the booke of life rather then GOD should be dishonoured or his people destroyed and in Pa●ule who wished to be Anathema from the Lord Iesus for the Iewes his brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh A portion degree and measure of this loue resteth vpon all the true seruaunts of God whence it commeth that so often when they speake vnto the people of God they call them beloued So much of the Apostles loue His diligence follovveth Diligence or studie is an intentiue fixing of the minde on some one thing much esteemed and respected The diligence of the Apostles and Apostolike men in the worke of the Ministry the gathering of the Saints and procuring the euerlasting good and eternall saluation of Gods people appeareth in three thinges the multiplicitie of the thinges they do for the working of this intended good the sedulitie in doing them and the diuers manner of doing of them Touching the first who can expresse the varietie of the things they do for the good of them whom GOD hath committed to theyr charge They teach the ignorant convince them that erre seeke them that are lost bring backe them that are ou● of the way heale the sicke binde vp the broken harted comfort the heauy such as are deiected with sorrow they strengthen the weake confirme the doubtful stay them that are ready to fall and raise vp them that are fallen This multiplicity of endeuours to procure the good of Gods people we