Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
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A53095
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Ultimum vale, or, The last farewell of a minister of the Gospel to a beloved people by Matthevv Nevvcomen ...
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Newcomen, Matthew, 1610?-1669.
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1663
(1663)
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Wing N914; ESTC R8564
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50,710
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82
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Love and Obedience which the Son yeelds to the Father So the Hapiness and Glory of the Life to come is not only a sufficient but a superabundant Recompence of all that the Saints of God either do or suffer for him Fourthly Because often in Scripture the phrase or denomination of an Inheritance is used pro quavis regratâ et acceptâ So Psal 16. The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places and I have a goodly Heritage Now the Hapiness and Glory of the Life to come may be called an Inheritance because it is the most acceptable desirable delightful thing that God himself could bestow upon the Creature Fiftly An Inheritance it is a free gift No Son can claim the Inheritance at his Fathers hands by way of merit indeed a man may by his demerit forfeit his Inheritance and deserve to be disinherited but no child can challenge the Inheritance of men but must receive it of free gift And the Child yet ows all love and all service and all duty to his Father though he have never a peny of Inheritance to leave him and though he hath and should not leave it to him but leave it to some other yet still the child ows all Love and Duty to his Father and the Inheritance that is left him it is his Fathers love and good-will and not his desert So the Happiness and Glory of the Life to come though as I said before in the third Particular it is a sufficient super-abundant reward of all the Love Duty Service and Sufferings of Believers yet it is not the wages of their Service but it is the Grace of God the free Gift of the good Will and Pleasure of God And that leads me to the second Doctrine That the Heavenly Inheritance it is a Gift So Scripture expresly speaks Luke 12.32 It is your Fathers good Pleasure to give you the Kingdom Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death indeed is due wages deserved wages but eternal Life the Heavenly Inheritance is a Gift a free gift a meer gift so in many other places and needs it must be so I will but use the Apostle's disjunction Rom. 4.4 Either it must be of Grace or of Debt of debt it cannot be And therefore it must needs be of Grace That the Heavenly Inheritance or Reward cannot be of Debt I prove First That what ever it be that makes another indebted unto me it must be in debitum unto him For by doing that which is a due debt in me and which I am obliged to do I can never make him for whom I do it indebted unto me Now all our Service and Obedience to God it is but due debt in us unto God it is that we are obliged to and therefore all our Service can never oblige God or make him indebted unto us Upon this account it is our Saviour teacheth us Luke 17.10 When ye have done all these things which are commanded you say We are unprofitable Servants we have done that which was our duty to do Secondly This cannot be of debt because there must be a proportion between the Work and the Reward to make the Reward due of debt A man that works in your Fields for you a day why he may come at night and claim twelve or fourteen pence for a dayes work as a due debt but if he should challenge an hundred or a thousand pound for one dayes work you would look upon him as unreasonable and impudent There is infinitely more difference between all our Service and the heavenly Inheritance than there is between a pound for a dayes hedging or ditching in your Fields It cannot be that Heaven should be a debt it must then be a Gift not of Debt but of Grace Seeing then that Heaven is an Inheritance and therefore of Gift not of Merit because an Inheritance Let this teach us to abhor that proud Popish doctrine of Merit and admire and adore the free Grace of God in Jesus Christ The Reward of Heaven and Glory it is not a Purchase but an Inheritance Among men there is a great deal of difference between a Purchase and an Inheritance For a Purchase a man layeth down a valuable price but an Inheritance comes to him freely it costs nim nothing possibly it might cost another man much that purchased it for him but if it descend unto him by Inheritance it costs him nothing O my Brethren Heaven the Happiness and Glory of the Life to come it is not our Purchase but our Inheritance we pay nothing for it indeed it cost Christ our elder Brother dear to purchase it not for himself for He was Heir by birth but to purchase this Inheritance for us it cost him dear but it cost us nothing Christ bequeathed it unto us of free Gift it is to us not of purchase but Inheritance therefore it is not of Merit but of Grace Yea Heaven is not only said to be our Inheritance but we are said to be made Heirs So Tit. 3.7 We are not born Heirs of Heaven but born Heirs of Hell but we are made Heirs of Heaven by the Grace of Adoption yea we are not only made Heirs of Heaven by the Grace of Adoption but we are made fit for Heaven by the Grace of Sanctification unto Acceptation So that here all is of Grace The Inheritance of Grace our Right and Tittle to it is of Grace our Fitting and Preparing for it is of Grace all of Grace nothing of Merit all of God nothing of our selves Secondly this That Heaven is an Inheritance which God freely gives This should teach all of us 1. To set our minds upon this Inheritance A man that hath but possibilities or expectations of an Inheritance to befal him by the death of such or such a one though it be but a poor slender paltry matter yet how hardly can he keep his mind from running upon it from thinking long till he come to the possession of it from even almost wishing sometimes the party dead whose the present possession is Filius ante diem Patrios inquirit in annos Many a graceless Child is even weary of his Father and sick of his Mother only because his mind runs so much upon the Patrimony the Inheritance and he thinks so long for it Pupillumice utinam quem proximus Haeres Impello ex pungam saith another O my Brethren did we look upon the state and happiness of the life to come as an Inheritance as our Inheritance it would be so with us we could not keep our minds from running out upon the happiness and glory of the life to come our thoughts would be running upon it our hearts would be longing and wishing for the possession of it and here we may give our thoughts and desires line scope to the utmost Indeed in our thoughts of and desires after earthly inheritances we had need set bounds to our
thoughts and watch our selves lest we should sin and transgress the Commandments but in reference to this Heavenly Inheritance we may let our thoughts and desires run to the utmost bounds and extent of their capacities Many sin in thinking of Heaven too little or desiring Heaven too little few if any sin in minding and desiring Heaven too much that therefore is the first duty this should teach us To set our minds upon Heaven as upon a rich Inheritance 2. This should teach us to labour to get Evidences that Heaven is our Inheritance and when we have got them to keep them You know among men if a man lay claim to an Inheritance and hath nothing to shew for it he doth but befool himself in it or if a man hath a right and title to an Inheritance yet if he hath not good and sufficient Evidence to shew for it he will have but little quiet and peace in the enjoyment of it Any wrangling litigious fellow may shake his freehold and create to him a great deal of trouble and molestation if not put him quite out of possession So here A man doth but befool himself in laying claim to Heaven if he hath no Evidence to produce for that claim of his And this is the commonest and greatest folly in the World Men can deride the folly of those that do thus in reference to earthly and temporal Inheritances and yet themselves do the same things in reference to this glorious Inheritance reserved in the highest Heavens claim it and have nothing at all to shew for it O take heed of this get Evidence to shew for this Heavenly Inheritance else never lay claim to it If a man hath a true right and title to Heaven yet if he hath no Evidence to shew for that Title of his he will have little quiet and peace in his Claim Every Christian hath to do with a most subtil and quarelsome adversary the Devil who will be continually shaking thy Free-hold and though he cannot dispossess thee nor rend away thine Inheritance yet he will continually vex and molest thee and no way to stop his mouth but by getting good Evidence that this Inheritance is thine Now there are three grand Scripture-Evidences of our Right to this Inheritance which we find in the Rolls and Record of Sacred Writ The first is The In-being of Christ in the soul Col. 1.27 Christ in you the hope of Glory The second is Our Adoption or being the Children of God Rom. 8.17 If Children then Heirs The third is Our Sanctification Here in the Text An Inheritance among them that are sanctified Now it is true these three are inseparable he that hath any one of them hath all of them Though possibly one may be more evident than another shall yet where one is they all are Labour therefore to get evidence of these either the Evidence of the Inbeing of Christ in you or the Evidence of your Adoption or the evidence of your Sanctification Never leave taking pains with your hearts till you have got these Evidences And when you have once obtained them prize them keep them as you would keep the Apple of your eye as you would keep your Life your Soul You know how careful men are to keep their Deeds and Evidences In time of War and Plunder they will let twenty things be seized plundered and carried away rather than their Evidences In times of Calamity and Fire let all they have be lost and burnt rather than their Writings and Evidences So my Brethren should it be with us in reference to our Evidences for Heaven we should keep them with exactest care and diligence whatever Satan plunder us of never let us suffer him to plunder our Evidences for Heaven never suffer him to steal or rend away the Evidences of Christ's inbeing in us of our being the Sons and Daughters of God of our Sanctification labour to hold and maintain these to the utmost Thirdly This should teach us to improve our right to this Inheritance to make that Use of it and get that Benefit by it that we ought As namely First To conclude from thence that being an Heir an Heir of Heaven thou canst not but be well provided for in the mean time till thou comest to the actual and full possession of thine Inheritance We see how great Heirs are well and honourably maintained even in their minority their Fathers being rich and kind will not suffer them to want any thing that is needful and fit for them If thou canst upon good Evidence conclude thy self an Heir of God thou mayest from thence conclude thou shalt want nothing that is for thy good And therefore Secondly In the want of any thing thou mayest thou oughtest with boldness to go to God and make thy wants and requests known to him with full assurance that thou shalt speed in thy request which he seeth fit for thee God will be so far from denying thee that it will be the joy and rejoycing of his heart to see that thou canst discern what is needful and convenient for thee and it will be a prevailing motive with God O this is my Heir I may not deny him that which is good for him now that he asketh it of me Thirdly In the evidence and assurance of this Inheritance comfort thy self in all other losses and wants whatsoever whatever thou losest thou canst not lose thine Inheritance thou maiest lose thy Liberty thy Living thy Friends thy Ministers God's Ordinances thy Life yea the sweet and comfortable sence of God's Love which is better than Life but comfort thy self in this thine Inheritance thou canst not lose that is reserved for thee in the highest Heavens thou maiest sooner cease to be a Man than to be an Heir this was that caused the Saints of God formerly to take joyfully the spoyling of their goods In Heb. 11.34 Knowing that they had in Heaven a better and a more enduring Substance Fourthly Under sharpest dispensations of Divine Providence still comfort thy self with this thou art a Child thou art an Heir still thy Father may frown upon thee chide thee buffet scourge thee turn thee out of doors for a few nights all this is sad but He will never disinherit thee Other fathers indeed sometimes out of their passion and displeasure and sometimes upon the misdemeanours of their sons disinherit them but God cannot will not do thus to any of His Children For the Lord will not cast off for ever but though he cause grief yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his Mercies Lam. 3.31 32. and John 8.35 The Servant abides not in the House for ever but the Son abideth for ever A mercinary may be turned off for ever but a Son never shall Psal 89.32 33. I will visit their transgressions with a Rod and their iniquities with Stripes nevertheless my Loving-kindness will I not take from them nor suffer my Faithfulness to fail Fifthly From the consideration