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duty_n bind_v law_n nature_n 1,568 5 5.4669 4 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A44433 Discourses, or, Sermons on several Scriptures by ... Ezekiel late Lord Bishop of London-Derry. Hopkins, Ezekiel, 1634-1690. 1691 (1691) Wing H2729; ESTC R31535 75,889 298

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of it and that our Obedience unto every part be raised to the highest degree of Love Zeal and Charity This Title was once good but it is now lost by the Fall in the common Ruine and Rubbish of Mankind and he who hath not another Title upon better and easier Terms will find Cherubims and the Flaming Sword of Divine Justice set to guard the Tree of Life from his Approaches as once they did from guilty Adam II. It is Evangelical Obedience There is therefore another Obedience which gives a Right unto the Tree of Life and that is an Evangelical Obedience which according to the Grace Condescention and Equity of the Gospel shall be accepted unto and rewarded with Everlasting Happiness Now this Evangelical Obedience consists not indeed in Innocency and Perfection but in sincere Desires and proportionable Endeavours after it when we strive to the utmost to live holily and to walk more strictly with God according to the Rules that he hath prescribed us in his holy Word And it consists of two Parts Mortification of our corrupt and sinful Affections whereby we die daily unto Sin And the Spiritual Renovation and Quickning of our Graces whereby we increase daily in spiritual Strength and make farther Progresses in Holiness and true Piety And as it consists of these two Parts so hath it also these two Adjuncts 1. The one is True Repentance for our past Sins reflecting upon them with Shame and Hatred confessing and bewailing them with Sorrow and Contrition and endeavouring with all Earnestness and Sincerity to abstain from the Commission of the like for the future 2. The other is A True and Lively Faith whereby we rely on the Blood and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ for the Remission of our Sins and upon his perfect Righteousness and prevalent Intercession for the Acceptation and Reward of our imperfect Obedience Whosoever doth thus sincerely do the Commandments of God universally and constantly with his whole Strength and Mind as though he expected to be saved by the Merits of his own Works and yet after all doth so entirely rely on the Merits of Jesus Christ for Salvation as though he had never done any thing He it is and he alone who hath this Right unto the Tree of Life and shall enter through the Gates into the Heavenly City For he doth his Commandments out of a sincere Love and God who is Love will own his Sincerity Secondly What Right bedience gives to Eternal Life I come now to consider what that Right is which this Evangelical Obedience or doing the Commands of the Law according to the Favour and Mercy of the Gospel doth confer upon us by virtue of which we may assuredly expect Eternal Life And here I. It cannot be a Right of Purchase Not a Right of Purchase or Merit It is a foolish Presumption and intolerable Arrogance to think we can deserve any thing at the hands of God unless it be his Wrath by our Sins For 1. In all proper Merit there must be an Equivalence In Merit there must be an Equivalence or at least a proportion of Worth between the Work and the Reward Which to imagine between our Obedience and the Heavenly Glory is to exalt the one infinitely too high and to abase the other infinitely too low What proportion is there between a Cup of cold Water given to a Disciple of Christ and that Ocean of Everlasting Joy and Pleasure which shall be the Reward of it A Man might more reasonably expect to buy Stars with Counters or to purchase a Kingdom with two Mites than think to purchase the Heavenly Kingdom by paying down his Duties and good Works which are no way profitable unto God For is it any Pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous Job 22.3 or is it any Gain unto him that thou makest thy Way perfect and bear no more proportion to the infinite Glory of Heaven than a single Cypher doth to the numberless Sands of the Sea 2. The very Grace that enables us to do the Commandments of God Grace to obey is given freely is freely bestowed upon us by himself and therefore the Obedience we perform unto him merely by his own Assistance cannot be said without a grand Impropriety to merit any Reward from him Such kind of Merit is but an idle and frivolous pretence For certainly he who gives me Money to buy an Estate of him doth as freely give me that Estate as if I had never bought it of him but he had immediately bestowed the Land upon me and not the Summ of Money 3. All our Obedience is imperfect All our Obedience is imperfect and therefore if it deserve any thing it is only Punishment for the Defects and Failures of it This Coin is not currant this Metal is base and adulterated the King's Stamp defaced and obliterated the Edges clip'd and the Superscription which should be on both sides Holiness to the Lord is on the Reverse at least A Sacrifice to Hypocrisie Formality and Vain Glory and therefore this counterfeit and base Alloy will not pass for Purchase-Money and had it what it deserves it would be melted down in the Furnace of Hell 4. Suppose it were perfect Obedience is due from us which it is not yet is it no more than our bounden Duty and Duty can never be meritorious We are bound by the Law of Nature and as we are Creatures who have received our Beings and the Continuance and Preservation of them from God to employ our selves faithfully and assiduously in his Service and if for our greater Encouragement therein he hath promised and will bestow upon us a vast and unconceivable Reward we must attribute it wholly to the Supererrogation of his free Bounty for without this all our Services were duo to him before Thus our Saviour tells us Luk. 17.9 10. Doth the Master thank the Servant because he did the things that were commanded him I trow not So likewise ye when you shall have done all those things that are commanded you say not in a complemental way but with Truth and Sincerity we are unprofitable Servants we have but done that which was our Duty to do And therefore certainly if we cannot deserve Thanks much less can we deserve so ample a Reward as Eternal Life And therefore those that think to purchase Heaven and Eternal Life by doing that which is not commanded nor their Duty will find a fearful Disappointment of their presumptuous Hopes when they shall hear that sad Greeting Who hath required these things at your hands This Right then of Merit and Purchase is excluded and no Man can have a Right to Heaven upon the Account of the Worth and Value of his Works There is therefore a Threefold Right which they that do the Commandments of God have to Heaven A threefold Right to Heaven and Eternal Happiness 1. They have a Right of Evidence 2. They have a Right of