Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	fear_n	perfect_a	torment_n	3,057	5	10.7804	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88594	A treatise of effectual calling and election. In XVI. sermons, on 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherein a Christian may discern, whether yet he be effectually called and elected. And what course he ought to take that he may attain the assurance thereof. Preached by that faithful servant of Christ, Mr. Christopher Love, late minister of Lawrence Jury, London.	Love, Christopher, 1618-1651.; Calamy, Edward, 1600-1666.; Cross, Thomas, fl. 1632-1682,	1653 (1653)	Wing L3178; Thomason E696_1; ESTC R202781	182,095	256

cannot stand together Prov. 28.14 Blessed is the man that feareth alwaies Now if a man must alwaies feare then the most a man can have is hope and so hang between hope and feare all our daies To which I answer That the fearing alwaies which Salomon annexed blessednesse unto is not meant of the feare about a mans election but onely a feare to sinne against God And if you ask me how that appeares read the whole verse Bl●ss●d is the man that feareth alwaies but he that hardens his heart shall runne into mischiefe Now mark by the Antithesis it is apparent that feare there is not a feare of our everlasting estate but onely a feare in opposition to hardnesse of heart in wicked men that goe on in a course of sin Another place they urge is 1 Cor. 10.12 Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall Now say they the Scripture tells us that every man though never so firm as he thinks about his election yet he must take heed he may fall from grace and be damned for all this Now by way of answer to this I would lay down two things First The Apostle doth not speak of men that have a grounded assurance of their election but to men that lie in carnall security and have deluded perswasions of their good estate and this appeares by the Text for he saith let him that thinks he stands He doth not say let him that stands for he cannot fall but he that thinks he stands Those men that nourish presumptuous and ungrounded perswasions that they are in a good estate and in a happy condition let them take heed lest they fall Secondly the falling here is not meant a falling away from grace or a falling away finally after election for that is impossible but it is onely meant of a falling into sinne and so the meaning is this Let him that thinks he stands i. e. that thinks he is strong in grace and stands upon his own legs let that man take heed lest he fall into sinne Now a man may take heed of falling into sinne yet no way question his assurance And if you aske how I make it appeare that this is the intendment and scope of the place I answer by the Context Read the foregoing verse Let not us tempt Christ as they tempted him let not us murmur as some of them murmured for these things hapned to them for ensamples and are written for our admonition Therefore let him that thinketh he stands take heed lest he fall As much as if he should say you have here seen some men fall into sinne you have heard some men murmur some men tempt Christ this should make you affraid lest you fall into sinne and suffer the punishment they did But what is this to the denying of assurance that men cannot be assured of their election Another place they urge also is Phil. 2.12 worke out your salvation with feare and trembling Now say they if a man must work out and carry on the businesse of his salvation with feare and trembling then surely a man can never be assured in this life of his election To which I answer That feare and trembling there spoken of is not a feare and trembling in opposition to the assurance of our election but in opposition to that carnall security and sinfull dependance upon our own strength This is apparent in the next words For it is God that worketh in you the will and the deed And therefore because you have no strength of your own and no power of your own to doe any thing therefore feare and tremble in that regard Secondly feare and trembling may very well be consistent with this grace of assurance for we read Psal 2.11 Rejoyce in the Lord with trembling You may feare and yet rejoyce also So Psal 5.7 As for me I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies and in thy feare I will worship towards thine holy Temple Here is feare and confidence in the mercies of God joyned together to shew that feare and assurance may very well be consistent each with other But then they object how can this be for John saith that perfect love casteth out feare I answer that though John saith perfect love casteth out feare yet John doth not say that imperfect love casteth out feare Now in this life our love is imperfect and therefore mixt with feare but in heaven our love is perfect and so casts out all feare So that still this makes nothing against us but that a man may have a grounded assurance of his eternall election Another place they object is Rom. 11.20 Be not high minded but feare To this I answer These words are not spoken of fearing our election that we should feare whether we are elected or no. But serves to beate down any opinion of our own righteousnesse as if we were therefore accepted of God and to keep us from insulting over the rejected Jewes now that we are taken in in their room One Scripture more whch indeed is the main pillar they rest upon is Rom. 11.34 Who hath known the minde of the Lord or who hath been his Counsellor Here say the Papists the Scripture challengeth any man in the world to come forth and say that he knowes Gods mind by Gods mind is meant Gods decree And here Paul challengeth all that no man knows the decree of God from eternity Therefore if no man knows the mind of God then certainly none know their own election for that is Gods mind and Gods decree this they hold an undeniable argument And here to satisfie you in this Scripture I shall lay down three things First When it is said No man knows the mind of God nor no man is his Counsellor this doth hold true that no man knows the mind or decree of the Lord touching other mens election The Apostle doth not speak this as if no man knew Gods minde about his own but about other mens election who are elected and who are not for that is the scope of the place The Gentiles they thought all the Jewes were damned men and they censured and vaunted over them Now saith Paul None knows Gods mind concerning others whether they shall be saved or damned while they are in this world Secondly no man knows the mind of the Lord in this sense that is so as to give a reason of Gods decree why God did decree this and decree that why God did chuse Peter and not elect Judas no man knows the reason of Gods decree and of his waies Thirdly No man knows the mind of the Lord that is no man knows Gods decree by looking upon it alone but by bringing down Gods secret will to his revealed will and so we may know his decree I may make use of that place Rom. 10.8 Let no man say I will ascend up to heaven to fetch Christ thence but what saith the word the word is night thee even in

his Name c. though you may be ignorant about circumstantials yet if it be not in fundamentals your ignorance may be consistent with effectual calling But now Thirdly If a godly man be satisfied in these two points and thinks happily I may have the first concomitant to call upon God and so evidence my effectual call and then happily the second may not be wanting in me that I do not lie under the state of a wilful sottish fundamental ignorance But alas saith he I want a third concomitant that accompanies effectual calling and that is I finde in the Word that they that are effectually called they are brought into an Obediential frame of heart to all the wayes of God that whatever God commands them to do their hearts can readily obey and this I finde Rom. 1.5 6. God hath called them by his grace unto the obedience of faith Now alas saith a poore soul I finde a defect in this concomitant likewise I cannot discerne that I am called to an obedience flowing from faith as its principle I cannot finde this frame of heart to be in me and therefore I doubt of my effectual calling This I shall labour to take off likewise First When I say that obedience is a concomitant that will accompany one effectually called I do not say nor intend it of obedience in the actings of it but of an obediential frame of spirit in the purposes of it Many men may be effectually called In praeparatione animi when they may not alwayes live in the acting of obedience to Christ but every man effectually called hath an obedient frame of heart that is he hath purposes intentions and resolutions to obey God though he cannot act what he would do he hath obedience in the habit and obedience in his purposes and resolutions always attending him Secondly you finde in Scripture that the strongest and ablest Christians who have done most for God have sometimes been very defective in the Actings of obedience that they could not do what they would do for God And therefore Paul complaines Rom. 7. The good that we would do we cannot do Paul himself that was a pillar in Gods house yet he tells you he could not go out in those Actings of obedience which in his heart he would do therfore if you would willingly do more then you do God accepts of the litle you do Thirdly Though you cannot put forth many Actings of obedience to God where there is readinesse of minde and heart God accepts the purposes of the minde for the Action it self 2 Cor. 8.12 Where there is a willing minde it is accepted of God as if the deed were done And thus much be spoken to the second case of conscience why men effectually called do so much doubt of their own call Doubt 3 Thirdly Seeing Christians must put forth diligence in making their calling sure therefore now whereabouts must this diligence of ours be conversant or into what Channel must our diligence run that so we might be sure of our effectual calling This is a very material question and in resolving of it I shall answer it in these two generals First if you would get assurance of your effectual calling you must put forth diligence to remove those things that will hinder you in making sure your calling And Secondly use diligence to set upon the practice of those duties that may further you in making this sure that you are effectually called First You must remove those things which do much hinder you from being assured and those hinderances that are to be removed I shall comprize under six heads As First you must use diligence to remove Melancholy from your Thoughts This is a natural hinderance of assurance Melancholy is a temper in man arising from a black blood running about the body that doth naturally occasion distrust and fear in mens mindes this temper being in the body doth work much upon the disposition of the soul Now if your temper be Melancholy and so dispose you to distrust and fear this will be a great stop to your having of the joyes and comforts of the Lord in your hearts in assurance of his love It is a note Perkins hath upon Nebuchadnezzar when he are grasse like a beast he writing upon that place thinks that Nebuchadnezzar was in a deep Melancholy and that did so possesse him that he could not tell whether he was a man or a beast though saith he he did not eat grasse but his deep perplexity seazing upon him did make him think that he was from a man turned into a Beast Beloved Melancholy in a Christian it will make him think himself an Hypocrite when he is a Saint and therefore take heed of a Melancholy lumpish and sad temper it is a very great hinderance to this grace of assurance This I lay down only as a Natural remedy Secondly A minde filled with worldly cares and running into incumbring imployments in the world this is a great hinderance of assurance The cares of this life Mat. 13.15 are compared to thornes Now thornes they choake the seed by drawing the juyce that is in the seed to themselves and so the corn doth not grow where thornes spring The cares of this life they are like thornes in this they are of an attractive power to suck and draw the juyce of your spirits and comforts to themselves so that you cannot have the juyce of your spirits in gathering your evidences for heaven the more incumbred you are in the world the lesse clear you will be touching the evidence of your everlasting condition The cares of this life they pierce the soul through with many sorrowes Now when a man is pierced with many sorrows he is in a very unfit temper to be raised up in spiritual joy the more you encumber your selves in the employments of this world the less you wil be in the comforts of heaven I remember it was the speech of a Pope when he lay a dying When I was a painful preaching Minister then I had hopes of my salvation when I came to be a Cardinal I doubted of it but when I came to be a Pope I despaired of it I was so entangled in the Affairs of this life Beloved so I may say to you When you were but ordinary Christians in the world you were in a way to get assurance of your salvation but since you have been taken up with the affaires of the world it doth so distract your minde that you can be in no composed temper to have any setlednesse of heart about your everlasting estate It is the observation of Philosophers that the Sun is eclipsed by the interposition of the Moon the Moon coming between the Sun and our sight Beloved the Sun of your comforts comes to be eclipsed by the Moon which is made an Emblem of the world Rev. 12.9 Now if the Moon of the world comes between your comforts and you it will miserably darken and

nor the glimps of his favour Secondly Thy want of assurance shall not hinder thy successe in prayer but thou maist goe away with an ample returne though thou doest not goe away with fulnesse of comfort Benjamin when he was with Ioseph in Aegypt he had a token of love from Ioseph a Golden Cup in his sacke though he knew it not This is a lively Emblem of the carriage of our Ioseph Jesus Christ to his young Benjamins who may put a love token in your hearts and may give you a Golden Cup and give you grace and you not know that grace is there And Lastly It doth not hinder your reconciliation but you may be at peace with God though you know not that the agreement is made up There may be reall friendship between God and a Believer though there may be some seeming enmity Thou holdest me for thine enemy saith Iob yet God did not though he thought so Zion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me Isa 49.14 But God had not done so for he tells them a little before almost in one breath Though a mother may forget her sucking child yet will I not forget you So that there may be some seeming jarres when there is no enmity at all between God and you Seventhly That Christians who have attained the strongest and highest degree of faith have yet had many defects and doubtings mingled with their faith Lord I believe Mark 9. Yet helpe my unbeliefe yet that man attained to a high pitch of faith 1 Thes 3.10 Night and day we pray exceedingly for you that we may see your face and perfect that which is wanting in your faith Now you must not take these Thessalonians as if they were new Converts or a people weake in the faith but herein lies the Emphasis that though these Thessalonians were the most eminent Christians of all the world yet they had a great defect in their faith Therefore compare this with 1 Thes 1.7 8. You were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia for from you sounded out the word of the Lord not onely in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad The people in every place spake of the great measure of faith that was in the godly people of this Church and yet though their faith was so eminent and they Christians so eminent as they were yet they had some defects and there was somewhat lacking in their faith for all this See also Psal 55.5 and Psal 77. So that here is very great comfort for Believers that the strongest Christians in the faith have had great defects that have attended their graces Thus having finished these seven comfortable Conclusions because I would have no deluded sinner nuzled up in presumptuous perswasions of his owne blessednesse when he is a Cursed man and designed for hell I have two or three sad conclusions to lay down for all you that harbour groundlesse and presumptuous perswasions of your effectuall calling when you are not As First You that nourish presumptuous perswasions of your effectuall calling when you are not take this conclusion to dread your hearts That it is likely you shall never be effectually called by Jesus Christ There is no man so unlikely to be truely called by Christ as that man that thinkes he is called when he is not Math. 9. I came not to call the Righteous but sinners to repentance Righteous men i.e. that thought they were righteous and in their owne eye thought they had grace and were as good as the best I came not saith Christ to call them but sinners i.e. sinners that see their sinne and see their need of a Saviour and are sensible of their lost and undone condition without Christ Christ came to save them and to call them to repentance Of all men in the world you are most unlikely to be called that nourish ungrounded perswasions of your effectuall calling Secondly whilst you live in this world you are meere strangers to that inward and spirituall joy which every true Believer feeles and findeth in Jesus Christ You doe not intermeddle with those inward solaces and sweet enjoyments of heart which every sincere believer hath in Jesus Christ A man that hath assurance upon good ground he is so filled with joy that it wil bear him up against all the sufferings and sorrows he may meet with here in the world He that hath assurance no sufferings can daunt him As Adolphus Clarebachius when he was burning at the stake he was so filled with the assurance of Gods love that he saith of himselfe I think in my heart there is not a merrier heart in the world then mine is And so another Martyr burning at the stake saith I taste as much sweetnesse and finde as much ease now I am in the flames as if I lay upon a bed of Roses The fulnesse of his joy in the assurance of Gods love made him willingly undergoe any torment Mr. Saunders was in prison till hee was in prison Bainam said when he was in the fire I feele no more then if I were in a bed of down Whereas thou that harbourest false perswasions thy hopes will shrink when thou commest to suffer like cloath not well woven on a rainy day thy delusions will never beare up thy spirit to so high a pitch as these are This is thy misery thou wilt never have that sweet peace and rejoycing in thy heart Believers have who are assured upon Scripture grounds Thirdly take this for thy dread that thou wilt be thrown into hell before thou art aware It is the speech of Mr. Bolton That man that takes up a false perswasion of his effectuall Calling when he is not he is like unto a man that is in a pleasant dream who dreames he is a King and hath a Kingdome and hath Treasures full of Silver and Gold yet when he awakes behold the man hath nothing He compares him likewise to a man that is asleep upon the mast of a ship he is in a golden dream and dreams of Kingdomes and of thousands which he hath and happily in a moment the wind ariseth the ship is tossed upon the waves the man is tumbled into the Ocean and drowned It is so with many men who nourish Golden dreams and hopes that heaven is theirs and Christ theirs when as alas they are tumbled and thrown into hell before they are aware And this should be a dreadfull meditation to thy heart that harbourest presumptuous perswasions of thy effectuall Calling when thou art not Thus I have done in eleven Sermons with this Doctrine touching effectuall calling I passe now to the third and last point drawn from these words and that is Doct. That Christians ought to put forth a great deale of diligence to make this sure to their soules that they are eternally elected by God to life and salvation Give diligence to make your Calling and election sure