Selected quad for the lemma: love_n
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A89447
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A box of spikenard newly broken not so much for the preparation of the burial; as for the clearer illustration, and exornation of the birth and nativity of our blessed Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus. Contained in a short and sweet discourse which was at first hinted, and occasioned through a question propounded by R.B.P. de K. Which is now answered and resloved by T.M. P. de P.
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Malpas, Thomas.
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1659
(1659)
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Wing M340; Thomason E2140_2; ESTC R208367
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46,250
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128
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believe also in me and I verily believe it and am strongly perswaded that in doing this thing which you say you are fearful to do lest you should be the more inexcusable for your sins you shall be so far from being accused and condemned for it that it shall rather be a means to excuse you and a help to hide and cover your sins at the day of Judgment and all the harm I wish unto you or my self or to any of the dearest and nearest Friends that I have in his World is that we had no greater Crime or Offence then this to answer for at the great and terrible Day of our general and common appearance For then should we be acquitted and dismissed with that sentence of absolution I mean with that joyful and comfortable and soul-reviving sentence of Venite Benedicti Come ye blessed And for your further satisfaction herein and better confirmation of that which I have affirmed and averred Let me give you a hint and instance of it in that one and remarkable example of Mary Magdalen who though she were a notorious Malefactor and a great and grievous Sinner Luke 7. as the History Evangelical effigiates and sets her forth unto us yet hearing that Jesus sate down to meat in a Pharisee's house she presnmed and made bold to go into the house and bringing an Alablaster-Box of Oyntment she stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears and did wipe them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the Ointment Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it he spake within himself being discontented saying This man if he were a Prophet would have known who and what manner of Woman this is that toucheth him for she is a Sinner And Jesus answering said unto him Simon I have somewhat to say unto thee and he saith Master say on There was a certain Creditor who had two Debtors the one owed five hundred pence and the other fifty and when they had nothing to pay He freely forgave them hoth tell me therefore which of them will love him most Simon answered and â—aid I suppose that he to whom he forgave most and he said unto him Thou hast rightly judged And he turned unto the Woman and said unto Simon Seest thou this Woman I entred into thy House Thou gavest me no water for my Feet but she hath washed my Feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head Thou gavest me no kisse but this Woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kisse my Feet My Feet with Oyl thou didst not anoint but this Woman hath anointed my Feet with Oyntment Wherefore I say unto thee Her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little Where the Argument is not as learned Fulk observeth and as the whole discourse of the Text makes it manifest from the Cause to the Effect but from the Effect to the Cause Many sins are forgiven her therefore she hath loved much for our Saviour had cast seven Devils out of her therefore she had good cause to love him much for to whom little is remitted he loveth little wherefore our Saviour preferrs and extolleth her kindnesse both above and before the entertainment of the Pharisees House So that if we in like manner do shew our love to Christ freely and chearfully in celebrating the memoriall of his Birth as she did in token of his Burial we shall not onely be excused but accepted as she was for as St. Mark relates the same story more briefly Mark 14. 4. When there were some that murmured at it and had indignation within themselves saying Why was this waste of the Oyntment made for it might have been sold for more then three hundred pence and have bin given to the poor But Jesus said by way of Apology for her Let her alone Why trouble you her She hath wrought a good work on me for you have the poor with you alwayes and whensoever ye will you may do them good but me you have not alwayes She hath done what she could she is come aforehand to anoint my Body to the Burying Verily I say unto you Wheresoever the Gospel shall be preached thorow out the whole World this also that she hath done shall be spoken for a memoriall of her i. e. for a memoriall of her love of that good work that she hath bestowed upon me Wherefore as St. Austin answers some who made a question How it was possible a Virgin should bring forth a Child Fides adsit nulla quaestio remanebit So I say to you Si amor adsit timor iste removebit if you love Christ in sincerity as you ought to do then this fear will soon remove and expell such timorous Niceties and frivolous Scrupulosities out of your mind for what saith the Apostle St. John There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment or fear hath painfulnesse 1 John 4.18 And let this suffice for the answering of the seventh Argument Answer to the eighth Argument The words of the eighth Argument are these It seems to me a vain and needless thing c. To this Argument I answer first in the words of the Roman Oratour Quaedam videntur non sunt some things seem to be that which they are not for according to the Opinion of the Philosopher Quandoque sensus fallitur circa proprium Objectum sometimes the sense is deceived about its proper Object as when a Man seeth a Bush a far off he takes it to be a Man which when he cometh neer it he finds it to be no such matter even as the Man in the Gospel having received a little glimpse and glimmering of his sight thought he saw men walk like Trees i.e. he took them to be as bigg as Trees because the Organ of his Eye being not sufficiently cleansed he could not otherwise discern them Mark 8.24 But it seems to you to be a vain and needless thing What Is it a vain and needless thing to serve God It seems there were some who both thought and spake so in Malachi's time Mal. 3.13 14. but their gross error and their madness was reproved by the Prophet even as St. Peter tells us that Balaam was rebuked for his Iniquity the dumb Asse speaking with Man's veice forbade the madness of that false Propher because he loved the wages of Unrighteousness went beyond his permission being blinded with the hope of Bribes and Rewards of Divination 2 Pet. 2.16 and Is it think you a vain thing unprofitable to serve the Lord as Eliphaz the Temanite saith Job 4.7 Who ever perished being innocent So who ever waited on the Lord and went away unrewarded He that serveth himself serveth a Fool He that serveth the Devil serveth his Enemy He that serveth the World
serveth his Servant The onely true freedom is to serve the Lord For Godliness with Contentment is great Gain saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.6 yea it is profitable unto all things saith he having promise of the life which now is of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 How then can you justify or affirm it to be a vain needless thing to spend this time in the publick Worship and Service of God namely in the duties of Piety and exercises of Religion in hearing of the Word in offering up Prayers Praises to God celebrating it lauding his holy and glorious Name with Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord Eph. 5.19 20. giving thanks alwaies for all things unto God and the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ And especially and above all things giving thanks for this one thing I mean that inestimable benefit and unspeakable gift which God bestowed upon the World at this time And me thinks to this end and purpose we may very well encourage and stirr up our selves with the words of David and say as he doth Psal 69.31 32. I will praise the name of God with a Song and magnify it with thanksgiving this also shall please the Lord better than a Bullock which hath horns and hoofs yea this shall be as precious and odoriferous in his Nostrils and no less pleasing and acceptable in his sight than that right costly Spikenard which was spent to anoint our Saviour's feet withall although it be said of that That the whole House wherein our Saviour was at that time was filled and perfumed with the odour of the Oyntment Joh. 12.3 But the Reasons you alledge to prove it to be a vain and needless thing to observe this day are in the next place to be examined and considered the first whereof is this as you affirm it because God hath set apart a Sabbath the Lord's-day for this purpose to meditate upon God's Love in redeeming the World and this seems to be an indifferent good one yet you know or at the least cannot but know that the Sabbath or the Seventh day was at the first ordained sanctified and set apart onely in remembrance of the World's Creation as it appears in that passage or Conclusion of the fourth Commandment Exod. 20. For in six daies the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is Wherefore the Lord blessed the Seventh day and hallowed it For this Commandment is hedged in on every side lest we should break out from observing it with a Caveat and speciall Memorandum before it Remember c. and with two Reasons after one drawn from the Equity of the Law and the other taken from the Law-giver's or the Law-maker's own Example Six daies shalt thou labour As if God should speak thus If I permit thee six whole daies to follow thine own business thou mayest well afford me one onely for my own Service but six daies shalt thou labour and do all thine own work therefore hallow the Seventh in doing my work Six daies shalt thou labour whereupon both Reverend Calvin and that learned Gentleman B. Babington who was once Bishop of this Diocesse a man of no mean Note but of good Report both for Life and Learning do observe That these Words Six daies shalt thou labour c. are a permission or a remission of God's right who might challenge all rather than an absolute Commandment For as Judicious Perkins hath also delivered it in his Golden Chaine for a sound Orthodoxal and undeniable Thesis Catenâ aureâ cap. 13 The Church upon just occasion may separate some week daies also to the Service of the Lord and rest from Labour Joel 2.15 Blow the Trumpet in Zion sanctify a Fast call a solemn Assembly And as daies of publick Fasting for some great Judgment so daies of publick Rejoycing for some great Benefit are not unlawfull but exceeding commendable yea necessary And you cannot in Modesty and I hope you will not for Shame deny this to be the Truth for besides the ordinary Sabbath among the Jews they had their Sabbaths and their new Moons and appointed Feasts yea Almighty God himself ordained in the old Testament divers and sundry Feasts to put his People in mind of his great Benefits bestowed upon them Amongst the rest there were three solemn Festivals every year namely the Passover the Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles as we read in the 16th of Deuteronomy The Passover was instituted in remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt's bondage Pentecost in remembrance of the Law given in Mount Sinui The Feast of Tabernacles in remembrance of Israel's dwelling in Tents forty years in the Wilderness Now as Hemingius observes in his Postil dom 1. post Epiph. instead of those three Jewish Feasts our Christian Church which may challenge as much Liberty as the Jewish if not more hath substituted Christmas in honour of Christ's Incarnation Easter in honour of Christ's Resurrection and Whitsuntide in honour of Christ's confirmation of the Gospel by sending unto us the Holy Ghost at that time So that we say according as St. Austin saith in his 108 Epist. cap. 1 Celebrantes Anniversariâ solemnitate Pascha reliquasque Christianas diêrum Festivitutes non observamus tempora sed quae illis significantur temporibiu i.e. In celebrating Easter and other Christian Feasts we do not so much observe the times as the things that are represented and signified unto us at those times If then it be granted as it cannot be denied according to your words that God hath set apart a Sabbath which is our Christian Sabbath and is called the Lord's Day because the Lord rose from death to life on that Day and that on this day in that respect we are to meditate on God's Love in redeeming the World if we must do this once every week in an ordinary course how much more may the Church and Spouse of Christ appoint and set apart one day in the year after an extraordinary manner to meditate and muse and think on his Love in redeeming her from the hands of all her Enemies for so indeed the holy Priest Zacharias tells us in his Song called Benedictus That this was the main End of our Redemption Luk. 1.74 that we being delivered out of the hands of our Enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the daies of our Life Whereupon I infer That if we must serve him all the daies of our life as he may justly challenge and require it at our hands in regard he hath redeemed us How much more ought we to meditate on his Love not onely once a week but also once in every year praise his most Holy Name after a more speciall and singular manner For at this time especially and particularly it may be said of Him as the Psalmist doth Psal 111.9 He sent Redemption unto his People He