Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	know_v	love_v	true_a	9,910	5	5.1266	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93394	Satans temptation, and Gods preservation: or Satans policy and Gods mercy most lively and amply set forth in the discovery of the several temptations, desertions, troubles, and afflictions, that have accompanied the life of Robert Smith of Ludshelf, alias Litchfield, in the county of Southampton, gent. Wherein is discovered the method that Satan took in the several gradations thereof. With an accompt of the life of the author. Published for the benefit, comfort, and support, of any of Gods servants, that now are, or shall be, cast into such a deplorable condition.	Smith, Robert, fl. 1685.	1685 (1685)	Wing S4163; ESTC R231576	19,074	94

doth not Times and Seasons belong unto the Father Mar. 13.32 Was not murmuring Israel of old taxed with this fault They Limited the Holy one of Israel Psalm 78.41 Is it not then better in patience to possess ones Soul and with Devout Heart as well as Tongue to Pray Thy will be done Oh Lord and to Wait for the Lord as they that watch for the Morning Psalm 130.6.7 for with the Lord is Mercy and plenteous Redemption And to lay hold on the Covenant of Grace which although it be not with me as it should Yet I may say as David did in another case he hath made an Everlasting Covenant with me 2 Sam. 23.5 ordered in all things and sure I must confess Oh Sinner Satan Thy method is good and if any way is left for Thy Salvation it is by laying hold of his Covenant of Grace But VI. Suggestion Thou wantest Faith and Repentance the necessary qualifications of the Covenant and therefore that doth not belong to Thee Thou speakest much of Gods Covenant which indeed to them to whom it doth belong is full of Grace and Mercy Psalm 25.10 but it is to them that keep his Covenants Thou hast broken Covenant with him and Thou wantest Repentance to Repent Thee truly of the breach thereof and Faith to believe that upon that Repentance which Thou hast made that God hath forgiven Thee Jeremiah 31.34 and according to his Covenant will remember Thy Sins no more Thou that can'st not trust God for daily supplies do'st Thou think that Thou hast Faith And what if God hath made such enestimable Promises and made such a Feast of Fat things Isa 25.6 if Thou wantest a Hand to reach them unto Thee what art Thou the better Thou sayest Sinner Oh mine Enemy that I want Faith and indeed so I do for every Man may say with the Blessed Disciples Lord encrease our Faith And altho thou grantest the Premises yet thou deniest the conclusion but I hope I can say through Grace Lord I do believe help thou mine unbelief Joh. 9.38 There are some Divine Characters that are stampt upon true Faith It works by Love and it breaths by Hope It works by Love to God to Man If I find in my self such an enflamed Love that if my Saviour would accept me to Grace and Mercy I could be content to endure those Flames that were represented visibly by the Flames of an Oven to my Bodily Eye for the sake of my Blessed Lord And also if I find in my self an hearty Love to Man by which the Apostle saith 1 John 3.14 We may know our Transition from Death to Life because we Love the Brethren And if good works be an Evidence of true Faith what better work can there be then to Love our Brother And this was the signal badge of being Disciples of the Blessed Jesus Even Love to one another Joh. 13.35 If I Love those that are of a different Judgment for the good that is in them can'st thou Oh Satan deny this to be true Faith This is one of the Weapons by which thou art made to fly and by it Thou and the World art overcome 1 Joh. 5.4 'T is by this Faith Christ is brought into the Soul and in him all those God-Covenanting Promises which he hath made of being our God of puting his Fear in our Hearts of taking away the Heart of Stone and giving Hearts of Flesh c. These are links of that Golden Chain of Love wherewith God hath bound himself to his People and left it upon Record for their Comfort This is the River Psa 46.4 the Streams whereof shall make glad the City of our God But thou sayest Oh mine Enemy I want also Repentance 't is true beside our general Repentance we need daily Repentance for daily Sin he whose Body was washed by the Water of Repentance for former Sins Jo. 13.10 had need to wash his feet for continued Transgressions even in that Fountain opened to the House of David Zac. 13.1 and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem But how knowest thou oh Satan that I want that Repentance which God will accept 't is not such a degree of any Grace that is required so there is so much to make it true and saving If Confession if Contrition and Compunction of Soul accompanied with a sincere forsaking of Sin in Resolution may be judged Badges of the Divine Order of Penitents I hope with all Humility to pretend to be a little Member of that Heavenly Society And surely if all the forementioned Ingredients are necessary to make this Holy Oyntment of Repentance my condition hath afforded me much opportunity of joyning in making the Composition But if I wanted Faith and Repentance to whom should I go but to the giver of both Phil. 1.29 To you it is given to believe And to them God granted Repentance unto Life Act. 11.18 Oh my Soul wait upon Thy God for from him and him alone cometh Thy help and Thy Salvation Psa 43.5 I cannot blame Thee Satan Oh Sinner to be careful of Thy Salvation Eternal Weal or Woe depends upon it and therefore if Thou wilt hearken to me I will tell Thee a way how to do it VII Suggestion The way to save Thy Soul is to destroy Thy Life This is the only way that is left and if Thou wilt do it I will shew Thee a way how Thou mayest accomplish Thy desired End This is strange Sinner Oh subtle Serpent that a thing of such contrariety and inconsistency should concur in Harmony and my designed Felicity Must I break the Divine Law of the Supream Legislator and become a Felo de se c. and promise my self impunity nay benefit thereby Certainly if ever thou wert Transformed into an Angel of Light 2 Cor. 11.14 't is now At this time we may truly say Satanas inter filios Dei for thou to pretend my Salvation in such a manner as intends my Souls Destruction and then to suggest to me such a way so ridiculous and fantastical in a thing not to be named without Laughter and Detestation Must my Mother be an instrument of my Consumption and Anihilation that was a means of my Conception and Production Can a Man enter into his Mothers Womb and be Born again Joh. 3.4 Had not thy Ridicularity been to others formerly known and now to my self it would scarcely have been believed as having no affinity with thy pretended Sagacity It must confess my long denied Rest and continued Conflict hath so weakened my understandings that I am not fully Master of my own Reason and therefore a fit subject for thy delusion and I am so strongly and violently Assaulted with thy restless Temptation forcing me as it were against my will to my Bodies destruction that had those ways at another time been by me used it certainly had attained its final

by my too much Musing on my Condition I imparted the same to several worthy Friends both Divines and others whose Prayers and Tears were not wanting in condoling my Condition and Praying for my Recovery My Case being thus I thought it best having an only Brother in the Country a Divine whose house I made choice of for the place of my Retirement and unto whose Care and Counsel I committed my self who was not wanting in procuring all help by Phisitians to my Body and by Reverend Divines to afford all good Counsel to my Soul as Fasting and Prayer for the recovery of my inward Man who was then fallen into so sad dejection both of Body and Mind that I was so disquieted that I had not I think one hour of quiet rest from the Month of May till the Month of February following But loe here the Power and Mercy of the Almighty was seen That altho a Fontinel was made by a hot Iron in my Head yet tho sensible thereof disturbed me not though the benefit of Nature was wanting for a fortnight or three weeks together though Physick of the strongest Nature never wrought tho rest ceased Ez. 9.15 yet God preserved me alive as at this day In this mine Agony and Conflict Satan was not wanting in his Temptations whose Method in order I shall discover in these following Suggestions I. Suggestion That certainly I did not belong to God because such dreadful Afflictions had befallen me And here I think it will not be amiss for Illustration sake by way of Dialogue between Satan and the Sinner to set forth Satans Assaults and the Sinners Repulses for tho I dare not say that all these Insinuations and the Responses thereof were Modo forma dilated upon in my late Conflict yet the Heads and Matter thereof were And methinks I remember him begining as to our first Parents his Parley and Speaking to my Fancy to this effect in this Dialect Man Satan Thy Condition is Lamentable worse then the worst of Mens Surely Thy Spiritual Estate is not sound God doth seldome let such dreadful effects of his Indignation fall upon any Man but for some deep dy'd Sins that must be of so beynous a Nature beyond the name of humane Frailties or common Infirmities surely thy Profession of Christianity hath been but disguised Hypocrisie thou art but one in Masquerade Rev. 3.1 thou hast a Name to live but art dead surely didst thou belong to God and wert one of his he is a God of Mercy and would not leave thee or forsake thee in this so sad and deplorable a Condition It 's true my Case is bad Sinner to be Lamented even with Tears of Blood and my Spiritual Estate needs a serious consideration soundness in Christianity needs an exact Scrutiny Life and Death depend upon it for if Aarons Sons offer strange fire Levit. 11.14 Fire shall devour them Jealousie is hottest about the Sanctuary Read Ezek. 8. and who can dwell with Everlasting Burnings Great Sins deserve great Punishments Isa 33.14 I need therefore to look into mine own heart and search what particular Sins I have been guilty of before God and to spread and bewail them before him which through the Divine assistance I have done and if God be graciously pleased to acquit Rom. 8.1 who can condemn But doth not God often sorely Afflict them that belong to him surely Satan thou art in nothing else more a Lyar than in this Psal 88.14 15. what made godly Heman so bitterly to complain good Hezekiah to chatter like a Crane Isa 38.8 Psal 38.8 upright David to roar through the disquietness of his heart and the blessed Jesus to cry out in his Agony My God Mat. 27.46 my God why hast thou forsaken me And in our late days how sharp and violent hath thy Temptations been In thy Assaults upon Mrs. Katharine Stubbs and Mrs. Sarah White and many others to whom God hath given Evidence of their sincerity by their Conquests over him and of their inward Consolation And as in respect of inward Desertions so of outward Afflictions Witness St. Paul Job and many of the Worthies of Old Heb. 11.37 which were Destituted Afflicted Tormented And in our late times so much the Wicked were suffered to prosper that even the Anoynted of the Lord was taken in their Nets Lam. 4.20 and the Royal Diadem of Majesty made subject to a Fatal Stroke and some of the shining Stars of Nobility obscured and their Honours laid in the Dust with several Martyrs Confessors and others who have given Signal demonstrations of their Sincerity and belonging to God But what if I shew thee oh Satan some Marks and Evidences of Sincerity formerly by me Collected Wilt thou say that these are Tokens of Hypocrisie or can'st thou not but confess the contrary I have observed in the course of Gods Providence that God hath had a regard to me in all conditions but especially in Afflictions and Distress God hath given me Comfort and Relief That tho God hath given me Afflictions to Humble me yet he hath given me some Comforts to support and uphold my Heart from Sinking I ever had since any work of God visibly upon me a sense of Gods Authority and my Duty That at any time I was unfit for any business of Moment unless I had first commited my self to God by Prayer I have often desired of God that he would grant me such a way to Live in the World that I might with comfort and freedome serve him I have always had a Love to those that were truly Godly tho differing in Judgment in the circumstantials of Christian Religion And have had more a desire of the Conversion of Enemies then their Confusion I have pressed and desired after more Holiness and more Humbleness and Repentance then I could ever sensibly find in my self I have many times found the presence of God in his Word and Sacraments warming and enflaming my Love Now What say'st thou Oh Enemy of Mankind Are these signs of Hypocrisie or Sincerity 'T is true some of them may be lyable to thy cavil and exception but others of them are beyond thy Sophistry or Evasion But what is this to thy Condition Satan II. Suggestion Thy day is past the door of Grace is shut Had'st Thou look'd to it sooner and made Thy Calling and Election sure 2. Pet. 3.10 when Thou wast in Thy Youth and Strength it had been well for Thee but Thou hast Lived many Years in the World and Gods Calls by Sickness and otherwise hath been frequent The Golden Scepter of Grace and Mercy hath been held forth and Thou hast Refus'd to come in and Submit but now Divine Vengeance hath Pursued and Overtaken Thee and the door of Grace is shut 'T is now too late What canst Thou do The consideration of my no sooner turning to God Sinner and setting my Face Heaven-wards is matter