Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	affection_n	love_n	love_v	7,004	5	6.6942	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A87093	The epitaph of a godly man, especially a man of God or, The happines by death of holines in life. Delineated in a sermon preached at the funerall of Mr Adam Pemberton late minister of the parish of St Fosters Foster-lane : who ended this mortall, April the 8th, 1655. and was buried in hope of an immortal life the 11th of the same moneth. / By Nath: Hardy M.A. and preacher to the parish of St Dionis Back Church.	Hardy, Nathaniel, 1618-1670.	1655 (1655)	Wing H720; Thomason E844_15	25,148	39

meet in him And truly good reason it should be thus since all Christians are Christs such to and over whom he most justly layeth a claim and challengeth a right It was Davids acknowledgment to God upon which he groundeth a prayer for protection I am thine save me It is every Christians acknowledgment to Christ upon which he groundeth a resolve of subjection I am thine ô blessed Jesus I will serve thee I am thine and therefore my health my strength my life all I am have or can doe is thine It is the character by which S. Paul describeth believers {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} they that are Christs and so they are as for other causes so chiefly because they are redeemed by him It is the reason alledged by the Apostle himself writing to the Corinthians Ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price and now since we are not our own but his and that by so strong an ingagement it is but equall that we should live to him Quicquid es debes creanti quicquid potes debes Redimenti saith Saint Bernard Thou owest what thou art to thy Creator yea whatever thou art able to thy Redeemer Whom should a captive live to but him that ransomed him A slave but to him that bought him A Christian but to Christ who hath delivered him from the slavery and captivity of sin Indeed this is the end which Christ intended in purchasing us by his death He gave himself for us saith the Apostle that he might purifie us to himself a peculiar people and more appositely to our present purpose He died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again Thus then the case stands Christ hath bought us by his blood for himself being thus bought by him we owe our selves and lives to him no wonder if every believer upon this consideration saith with this holy Apostle To me to live is Christ But if this be the inseparable character of a Christian Alas where shall we finde him it was the complaint of God concerning Ephraim by the Prophet Hoseah Ephraim is an empty vine he bringeth forth fruit to himself And may not Christ take up the same complaint of us None of us liveth to himself saith S. Paul nay None of us but liveth to himself may we say Gregory Nyssen speaking occasionally of these words thus comments The Apostle saying to me to live is Christ {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} intends thus much no carnall affection liveth in me not pleasure nor grief nor anger nor pride nor envie nor revenge nor covetousnesse {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} but to him onely I live who is none of all these But my brethren which of us can excuse our selves from living to some one or other of these lusts Doth not the ambitious man say To me to live is honour The voluptuous To me to live is pleasure The envious To me to live is revenge The covetous To me to live is wealth But where oh where is the man can truly say To me to live is Christ We call our selves Christians but we are Christiani sine Christo no better than the Ephesians in their heathenish condition of whom the Apostle saith That at that time they were without Christ onely this is the difference Heathens are without any knowledge of Christ and loose Christians are without the effectuall knowledge of Christ and so their condition worse than Heathens who though they have Christ in their ears and mouths yet he is not in all their thoughts or affections or actions Oh that the setting of this pattern before us might serve to shame us out of our inordinate living to our selves and quicken us in our indevours to live to Christ as Peter said in another case to Christ Lord whether should I go thou hast the words of eternall life Let us say in this Lord to whom should we live thou hast the command of our naturall life yea thou art the life of our life and soule of our soul Oh that all our oyle might empty it self into this golden candlestick that all our water might run in this channell all our actions be levelled at this marke CHRIST and his honour To this end let us get our hearts both enlarged with apprehensions of Christs love to us and inflamed with love to him The love of Christ saith the Apostle Paul constraineth us a phrase which may be construed both waies either actively the love of Christ to us or passively our love to Christ both of which have a sweet yet strong influence 1. Meditate we seriously on the love of Christ to us How truly might our blessed Saviour say whilest on earth yea now he is in heaven To me to live is man he lived here to die he liveth there to intercede for man his Fathers will which was our salvation was not onely his work but his food and as he saith himself His meat and his drink so much content he took and delight he had in our redemption Indeed what was there from first to last which had not a reference to us he was born for us lived for us died for us rose again for us is ascended sitteth at Gods right hand and shall at last come again for us Who can think on this exceeding love of Christ and not acknowledge himselfe obliged to this duty by way of gratulation it being most consonant to the law of thankfulness and retaliation that since to Christ to live nay to die was man to man at least to live should be Christ 2. Let the consideration of Christs love enflame thee with love to Christ and that love will inable thee to live to him It is a known saying The soule is not where it liveth but where it loveth And it is no lesse true Whom the soul loveth to him it will live It is by faith that Christ liveth in us it is by love that we live to Christ let him be the sole object of thine affections and then he will be the chief end of thy actions That expression of the Spouse in the Canticles My beloved is mine and I am his is very considerable to this purpose My beloved is mine in that she expresseth her sense of Christs affection towards her and I am his in that she insinuateth her love towards Christ And which was the fruit of it the resignation of her self to Christ Excellently doth S. Bernard illustrate these words Ille mihi ego illi Ille mihi quia ben gnus misericors Ego illi quia non sum ingrata Ille mihi gratiam ex gratiâ Ego illi gratiam progratiâ Ille meae liberationi ego illius honori Ille saluti meae ego illius voluntati He is mine and I am his He mine because he is mercifull I his because I

Christ liveth in me and going on in his rhetoricall strain he puts the Question Why ô blessed Apostle doest not thou breathe in the ayre and tread on the earth as we doe Art not thou nourished by food and refreshed by sleep as we are Yes but this life he despised looking after another he did not lead a sinfull but a spirituall life and so to him to live was Christ Thus Origen occasionally speaking of these words saith In quibusdam vivit Iesus in quibusdam defunctus est Christ is as it were dead in some Christians in some he liveth to wit in those who can say to me to Live is Christ in this sense it is that Christ is the efficient cause of a Christians life and as the head communicateth motion to the members and the root sap to the branches so doth Christ life to all Christians 2. One upon this Text expounding it of naturall life rendreth the sense thus To me to live is Christ that is the onely reason why I am content to live is Christs pleasure if Christ will have me to live longer I am willing what seemeth good to him is so to me Consonant to this is that of S. Ambrose To an holy man to Live is Christ quasi servus enim non refugit vitae obsequium since as a faithful servant he doth not refuse the work of life if it may be an opportunity of advancing his Masters glory or like a good Souldier he is willing to stay in the field as long as his Captain commandeth 3. But lastly and as I conceive most rationally we are to interpret this to live of S. Paul's natural life and Christ as the finall cause of it so that we may best render the meaning of these words in Estius his Paraphrase Vitam meam Christo Evangelio consecravi To me to Live is Christ that is I have consecrated my life to Christ and his Gospel This is that which was true of Paul under a double notion the one speciall as an Apostle the other general as a Christian 1. Consider him as an Apostle and so it lets us see what ought to be the chief ayme and scope of every Ministers Life namely the honour and glory of Christ Indeed what other is the work to which a Minister is called and about which he is to be imployed but to use S. Pauls expression in the very next chapter the work of Christ What is it we are to publish but the Gospel of Christ and therein the love of Christ to lost sinners in this respect we are compared to Ambassadours and as the Ambassadours businesse is to declare his Masters message so is this our work to make known the glad tydings of salvation by Christ as being the great errand about which he sends us What is it we endeavour by publishing the Gospel yea not onely by preaching but praying and all other religious means but the gaining of souls to Christ Upon this account we are called the friends of the Bridegroom and as the friends office is to speak a good word in the Bridegrooms behalf and to conciliate the Brides favour and affection towards him so is this our employment to wooe your soules that they may be married to Christ Indeed as Saint Bernard hath piously observed That purity of heart which especially ought to be in a Bishop and Pastor of the Church consists in two things to wit in seeking the glory of Christ and the good of the people it behooving him in all his words and works to seek not himselfe but either Christs honour or the Peoples profit or both so doing Implebit nonsolum Pontificis officium sed Etymologiam nominis pontem seipsum faciens inter Deum proximum he shall according to the Etymologie of the Latine word make him self as it were a bridge between God and his neighbour whereof the one part reacheth God by advancing his glory and the other extendeth to his neighbour by furthering his benifit Oh that all we who undertake this sacred Function would take out this lesson farre be it from us to live to our selves either onely or chiefly ayming at our own emolument wee are among other resemblances compared to Eyes and eyes which see all things else see not themselves no more should we look at our selves in any thing we doe It is said of Ignatius that the name IESUS was as it were engraven upon his heart Oh let our heart be fixed on and then our life cannot but be devoted to him we are in a more speciall manner servants of Jesus Christ it is that character which the Apostle S. Jude giveth of himself and whose work should we imploy our selves about but his we are the soldiers of Jesus Christ according to S. Pauls character of Timothy and whose commands should we observe if not his Finally we are as so many stewards intrusted by Christ with his glory his Gospel and what an odious thing is it for a man not to discharge his trust Oh my brethren if we should not live to Christ who should our relations to him are nearer our obligation greater than any others and therefore as we have opportunity let us lay out our abilities in the service and for the glory of Christ 2. But further consider him as a Christian and so it is a pattern for all to follow and instructs us all what is the genuine character of a sincere Saint To him to live is Christ as Christ is the Alpha or beginning of his spirituall so he is the Omega or end of his temporall life the life of grace he deriveth from him the life of nature he devoteth to him and indeed by the one he is inabled to the other it is only a principle of supernaturall life which inclineth a man to order his conversation aright and steer the course of his life so as may best redound to Christs honour In this respect it is that S. Paul saith in the name not onely of himself but all believers both negatively none of us liveth to himself and affirmatively we live unto the Lord that memorable saying of the Emperour Jovinian is the Motto of every Saint Scopus vitae Christus Christ is the Christians scope and whatever he is or hath or doth it is all in reference to Christ What the end is to the agent that is Christ to a Saint the end is that which doth both excitare and commensurare stirre up the agent to act and according to which he ordereth and squareth his actions so it is with a Christian in respect of Christ that which both moveth and squareth him in all that he goeth about is the glory of Christ what the center is to the circumference that wherein all the lines which are drawn from every part of it doe meet that is Christ to the Saint all the lines of his thoughts and words and works tend to