Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	call_v	day_n	lord_n	3,188	5	4.3142	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51266	The grand inquiry who is the righteous man: or, The character of a true beleever in his approaches towards heaven. Whereunto is added The resolution of a case of separation betwixt man and wife, propounded to the author by a party much concerned. By William Moore rector at Whalley in Lancashire.	Moore, William, rector of Whalley, Lancashire.	1658 (1658)	Wing M2612; ESTC R214225	54,012	181

which causeth him to weep even that is it which so much delighteth him Thus is it here The faints tears are the saints joy and it is the rejoycing of their souls that they weep and sorrow The tears of Saints is the joy of Angels as I told you before There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth Nay let me tell you further they have greater cause to rejoyce in their sorrowes then others in their greatest jollities The Apostle understands it Therefore saith he 2 Cor. 7.8 Though I made you sorry with a letter I do not repent though I did repent Now I rejoyce not that ye were made sorry but that ye sorrowed to repentance that ye were made sorry after a godly manner for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death There 's a vast difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow the one tends to death but the other to life to repentance salvation The sorrow of the godly is like the sorrow of a woman travelling with childe It is not a barren but a fruitfull sorrow The sorrow of world is barren it brings forth nothing but sorrow but the sorrow of the godly is fruitful it is a joy-bearing sorrow Joh. 16.21 A woman hath sorrow when she travelleth because her hour is come but as soon as she is delivered of a childe she remembers no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the world And ye now have sorrow but I will see you again and your hearts shall rejoyce and your joy no man taketh from you Thus you see the mistake The sorrow of the righteous is a joyful sorrow Oh but thirdly It may be objected that sometimes God requires it as a duty Es 22.12 In that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping and to mourning and doubtlesse the sorrow of the Saints is hearty when the Lord cals for it For answer to this we must confesse it is so indeed Neither do any sorrow as they sorrow Therefore as if they only sorrowed saith God Ezek. 9.4 Set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst of Jerusalem Their sighs are sighs indeed and their cries are cries indeed God sets a mark upon them as if they only were the mourners Yet withall take notice that it is not for righteousnesse but for wickednesse all the abominations that are done in Jerusalem righteousnesse is not the cause but it is sin either in themselves or others 1. In themselves For so the Saints have their failings Seek thy servant O Lord for I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost And as they have theirs sins so they have their sorrows It cost David many a salt tear How he weeps and prayes Psal 51. Lord make me to hear the voice of joy and gladnesse that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce The cry of his sin had made such a noise of sorrow that it deaft his ears from the voice of joy And he is afraid O cast me not away in thy displeasure but restore to me the joy of thy salvation Do not charge your sorrows on the waies of righteousnesse but your swarving from those wayes He that goes out of Gods way he goes into harmes way and returns again by the weeping crosse Or if it be not the sense of their present sins which causes all this sorrow perhaps they consider the time past and it is their trouble that they have spent so much of their time in vanity so they mourn not because they are righteous but because they were no sooner such Or if they be troubled at their present condition it is not because they are good but because they are not so good as they desire to be They count not themselves as if they had already attained or were already perfect they see others that are far before them so they are heavy not because they are holy but because not so holy as they should As some covetous worldling who frets and toyles in the world as if he were not worth a penny and out of a greedy desire of more still complains of poverty So the Saints sometimes so earnestly desirous to be yet more righteous they lose the joy and comfort of those graces they already have Let us not then impute that to their godlinesse which proceeds rather from the want But certainly conclude there 's much sweetnesse in it whilest they thus hunger and thirst after it Thus in themselves 2. In others The Lord cals to weeping and they mourn in Sion It is for the abominations that are done in the land So David Psal 119.136 Mine eyes run down with tears because men keep not thy commandements And Lot amongst the filthy Sodomites 2 Pet. 2.8 In seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawfull deeds It is the sorrow of the Saints to see God dishonoured and poor souls endangered To hear on the one hand men speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them and to see on the other hand men so unreclamable from their foolish and vain courses and running headlong to their own damnation If there be any consolation in Christ Jesus if any comfort of love if any bowels and mercies must it not needs grieve them to see men so fool away their hopes of glory to dwell with everlasting burnings Their charity is great and they could wish all men like themselves in that which is good As Paul to Agrippa I would to God that not only thou but all that hear me this day were both almost and altogether such as I am excepting these bonds And if they will not be perswaded Jer. 13.17 If ye will not hear my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride Thus weeping for them that weep not for themselves And Elijah betakes himself unto the cave And why so They have broken the covenant they have thrown down the altars they have slain the Prophets with the sword Are the lives of the Saints sorrowful But examine your own hearts if the fault lie not in your selves Were your selves lesse wicked their lives would be more comfortable Thus still you see it is not the righteousnesse of the Saints which makes their hearts sad but rather the want of it either in themselves or others Nay yet further even this sorrow is their joy Whilest they thus mourn though others provoke God and perish in their own devices yet God will set a mark upon them that mourn in Sion that the destroying Angel may passe over Es 4.5 God will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Sion and upon her Assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for upon all the glory shall be a defence So that nothing might hinder their peace and joy in believing but so still Rejoyce ye

It is because they act not with that uprightnesse as the righteous doth Perhaps there is too much of self-pleasing and vain-glory in it So the hypocrites give almes to be seen of men verily I say unto you they have their reward But do it as you ought to do it and ye shall finde the incouragement and joy in it And 1. Do it as in the sight of God setting him still before your eyes as spectator witnesse and the judge of all your actions Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient walk before me and be upright So to walk before God as alwaies in his sight this is to be upright in the eyes of God Thus Abraham walked before God that is he walked uprightly And thus Jotham prepared his way before the Lord that is in the sincerity and uprightnesse of his soul he set himself to seek the Lord. Thus Paul 2 Cor. 2.17 We are not as many which corrupt the word of God but as of sincerity but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ Jesus Whilst we corrupt our waies in darknesse we darken and corrupt our joyes but when we act openly as alwaies in Gods eyes then we have our rejoycings before God 2 Do it with the whole heart Ps 119.7 I will praise thee with uprightnesse of heart when I shall have learn'd thy righteous judgements And then vers 10. With my whole heart have I sought thee So to seek God with an upright heart is to seek God with the whole heart Thus Samuel exhorts the people to fear the Lord and to serve him in truth and with all their heart He that serves God in the truth of his heart will serve him with all his heart So Josiah and the people made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord with all their heart and with all their soul And David's Worthies are commended that they were not of a double heart a heart and a heart where there is a divided heart there can be no settled joy A double minded man is unstable in all his waies as a wave of the sea driven to and fro and tossed Whilest as those Samaritans that feared the Lord and served their own Gods so our hearts are divided and our joy to seek Psal 12.2 They spake vanity every one with his neighbour with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak A double heart speaks vanity and so his rejoycings are but vanity It is an entire heart that gives us an entire joy 3. Do it with a pure heart a heart cleansed from the filth of sin I do not expect that ye should be without sin whilest you carry flesh about you For who can say I have cleansed my heart I am pure from my sin But keep your hearts from the love of sin 1 Tim. 1.5 The end of the commandement is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience Where there is a good conscience an honest and an upright heart there is a pure heart O do not deceive your selves with the love of any filthy lust but pluck out that right eye your darling and beloved sin Though it be but one and as Lot concerning Zoar Is it not a little one That little sin as a thief in the chest will rob you of your comforts If the fountain be defiled must not the streams be muddy and your rejoycings like the troubled waters so they lose their clearnesse But Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God It is the pure heart that intitles to th●se pure joyes 4. Do it in truth and in sincerity Heb. 10.22 Let us draw more with a pure heart An upright heart that is a true heart and a true heart is a sincere heart without fraud and without guile Sincera quasi sine cora As honey without wax or as bread without leaven so without that leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisie Thus Hezekiah wrought that which was good and right and true before the Lord his God To walk uprightly is to walk truly So David walked before God in truth in righteousnesse and uprightnesse of heart And it is the prayer of Hezekiah I beseech thee O Lord remember how I have walked before thee in truth and with an upright heart There 's a truth in our words opposed to lying and a truth in our works opposed to hypocrisie A saying in truth and a doing in truth But O damnable hypocrisie The hypocrite you know is a painted sepulchre fair without but full of rottennesse within such is their joy but a rotten joy as the summer Pear mellow to the eye but rotten at the core Job 8.13 The hope of the hypocrite shall perish Nay Cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with hypocrites as if for them God had provided 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a greater damnation But as before so I tell you again 2 Cor. 1.12 Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world Thus you have had the motion to perswade you to the love of the waies of righteousnesse both toward God and toward men and to exercise your selves in them with an upright heart It will be your joy Now I come to the 2. Rejoyce Let such as are righteous such as are upright in heart remember that it is their duty and God cals upon them Rejoyce ye righteous Oh be not awanting to your selves but consider that happy condition wherein God hath set you maugre the malice of men or devils and let not any take away your glory Rejoyce in the Lord alwaies and again I say rejoyce Beloved though it may seem easie yet this is a duty of much difficulty It is easier for me to preach then either for you or me to practise especially in such times as these A voice of wailing is heard in our streets How are we spoiled Had we no more to look upon but only the ruines of a glorious Church to see our cattle engendring with divers kindes and begetting such monsters in Religion to see our ground sown with several seeds and the tares so choaking the good wheat to see our garments mingled of linnen and woollen and this grown so much into fashion that many follow their pernicious waies by reason of whom the way of truth is evill spoken on Are we priviledged beyond the Angel of the Church of Thy●tira Rev. 2.20 I have somewhat against thee Because thou sufferest the woman Jesabel who calleh her self a Prophetesse to teach and to seduce my people And how sad is the doom Jer. 12.9 Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird the birds round about are against her Come ye assemble all the beasts of the field come to devour And now how shall we sing the Lords song thus in a strange land But why not were the times worse then blessed be God they as yet are yet there 's joy for the righteous