Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	hear_v	heart_n	pray_v	1,932	5	5.7672	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64835	Things worth thinking on, or, Helps to piety being remains of some meditations, experiences, and sentences &c. never published till now : and now are as an addition to them which were formerly made publick: together with a sermon entituled The beauty of holines / by Ralph Venning ...	Venning, Ralph, 1621?-1674.	1664 (1664)	Wing V227; ESTC R38004	77,776	241

blush and be ashamed that ever they should so much wrong Religion by giving such occasion to reflect such undeserved reproaches on her Alas how will they answer it to Gods-Deputy their Conscience and if not to that how to God for if our hearts condemn us God is greater than our hearts and knoweth more by us than we do by our selves and therefore may much more condemn us With what faces can such persons appear before the Throne of God either here when they pray or hereafter when they must be judged I will say to them as Alexander is said to say to a souldier of his and of his Name Either lay aside thy Name or fight better Either be not Christians in Name or be Christians indeed for if they have a Name to live and yet be dead in sins and trespasses by living in them they may die in their sins and be damned for all their Name He that made them will not save them if they be not new-made and become new-men for t is not being a creature but a new creature that entitles to and assures of Salvation Again 2. Let me say to every House of God by way of dehortation in St. Pauls words which are of God 2 Cor. 6.14 c. Be ye not unequally yoaked with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath he that believeth with an Insidel and what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols For ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwel in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people Wherefore come cut from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a Father to you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty Having therefore these Promises Dearly Beloved Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God Who hath given us these exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of a divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 And you may hear another Voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Revel 18.4 Therefore once more in St. Pauls expressions 1 Cor. 10.14 15 c. My dearly beloved flee from Idolatry I speak as to wise men judge ye what I say for why should we provoke the Lord to jealousie are we stronger than he v. 22. Of old God would not permit his people linsie-woolsie garments nor to plow with an Oxe and an Ass nor to halt between God and Baal Methinks Protestants if they remember the Name should not incline to communion with Papists in their Idolatry which was the ground of our separation from them 3. I would say this by way of caution Let no man counterfeit and dissemble a being holy Simulata sanctitas est duplex iniquitas to be an hypocrite is to be but a rotten post though double gilt 'T is to be not only a sinner but one died in grain Hypocrisie is a word taken from the Stage as is well known and 't is rather a playing than an acting of Religion 'T is personating without being a religious person 'T is an Art not an Act. And in Religion 't is true what they say of faces that painting doth not so much advance beauty to the eye as debase it to the judgement and that handsomness which is only artificial is real deformity 'T is not what is service in the eyes of men or what is celebrated by them for beautiful but what is so in the sight of God as the Apostle Col. 1.22 4. This by way of Exhortation to the House of God be then really zealously and eternally holy not for a day as if ye put on no more but an holy-dayes face and sine cloths but at all times and in all things Whatsoever ye do from the highest duty of Grace to the lowest of Nature whether you eat or drink buy or sell as well as whether you hear or pray do all to the glory of God Jesus Christ hath given himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of and in readiness to every good word and work to walk worthy of him to all well-pleasing and to serve him in righteousness and holiness all the dayes of our life to length of dayes or for ever as 't is in the Text and that though the floods lift up their voice and waves as 't is a little before the Text and to which it hath relation We should be ambitious to be as holy as Absalom was fair and to have as glorious a Name as the Old Temple had which was the beauty of the whole Earth and of which it is said That in it every one spake of his glory or as 't is in the Margine every whit of it uttereth glory viz. to God whose due it is I do the rather urge this because the life of Religion lies in living in it and I scarce know any thing more wanting than an holy life professing hearing and praying there is great store but where is holiness alas can we find it in our hearts to live by God and not live to God! Do we love to hear of Christians Dignities and shall we not love to hear of Christian Duties of Priviledges and not of Performances of Consolation and not of Conversation Doctrine Can we lend our ear to hear what God hath done for us and shall we not give that the hearing which is to be done by us Surely our design in being Christians should be like Gods not only to save our selves but to glorifie him If you will please to lend me a little more of your patience I will endeavour to set this Exhortation home by some obliging arguments 1. The Lord of this House the Pater-familias the Father of this Family is holy and as I have already made appear 't is his Name his Work his Will his Image his Nature and Glory therefore be ye also holy 2. Your Profession is holy and we should not only make a good profession but make it good The House of God is as I may call it an Holy Academy where all are to be holy professors as well as professors of holiness Profession is an engaging thing as St. Paul tells us 1 Tim. 6.12 Fight the good fight of Faith c. seeing thou hast made a good Profession before many Witnesses 3. Your Calling is holy 2 Tim. 1.9 He hath called us with an holy calling and 1 Thess 4.7 He hath called us not to uncleanness but to holiness We are indeed saved by Grace but we are to know

of mercies yet thinks not the best even Grace and Glory too good for us Psal 84.11 28 Some men who seem free enough to confess their sin are yet very impatient at the reproof of it the reason seems to be because Confession is but like an arrow shot from them and the danger is going off but Reproof is like an arrow shot to them and the danger is still approaching beside Confession is their own act but Reproof is another mans and all our own acts on our selves are more gentle and favourable than others acts upon us as a man that pincheth or strikes himself feels it less or at least regrets it less than if another did it I need not add that men reckon reproofs to be nothing but or to differ very little from reproaches Prov. 9.7 8. and 12.1 and 15.10 29 It is the great work of a Christian while he lives in the body to be crucifying the body of death Rom. 7.24 1 Cor. 9.27 Rom. 6. throughout 30 They who use to think well often cannot but do well sometimes and they that think of evil are like to do evil for vain imaginations produce vain conversations Matth. 12.35 31 It should be and is the desire of every gracious person to attend upon God without distraction 1 Cor. 7.35 and to walk with God as Enoch without interruption Col. 1.9 10. 32 It 's very great reason that he who is Gods should cease to be his own and to act for himself 1 Cor. 6.19 20. 33 It 's as much if not more the desire of a gracious person to hear what he is to do as what he is to enjoy Commands to be obey'd as Priviledges and Promises to be obtain'd that he may be Gods to serve God as that God may be his to save him that he may glorifie God on Earth as be glorified by and with God in Heaven Acts 9.6 Phil. 1.20 c. 34 'T is our Heaven here to have God with us and Christ with us but 't will be our Heaven hereafter to be with God and Christ Phil. 1.23 35 Sincerity is good security against others reproaches 2 Cor. 1.12 and against our own infirmities Rom. 7.25 36 An evil mind when it hath power and opportunity doth not only follow the sway of desires already within but frames to it's self new desires not thought of before 2 Kings 8.12 13. 37 They who love God consider more what is than why 't is commanded 1 John 5.3 and there is no service like his who serves because he loves 38 Sufferings for Christ Jesus are so far from separating his love from the Sufferers or theirs from him that they the more indear each others affections Rom. 8.35 39. 39 Hope is a great succour and support to perplexed minds Psal 42.5 Lam. 3.29 Rom. 8.23 24. 40 They who have defaced the I●●age of goodness and vertue in themselves do not love to see it in others 't is an eye-sore to them 1 John 3.12 41 We should not so much consi●ler and love the things that do as ●he things that ought to please us Matth. 19.8 42 Jealousie between relations and friends is the Phrensie of wise-folkes the well-wishing spite an unkind carefulness the way to lose that which we most suspect and are unwilling to lose the Self-Punishment for others faults the Cousin of Envy the Daughter of Love and the Mother of Fear if not of Hatred Prov. 6.34 43 It doth hugely oblige us to and should as much indear our obedience to Jesus Christ that he hath given ●ife to us who deserved death yea and died for us that we might live 2 Cor. 5.14 15. 44 Take heed of flattering and idle busie-bodies who spend their time in telling of tales and talking of nothing but vanity 2 Thess 3.11 1 Tim. 5.13 1 Pet. 4.15 45 'T is much more noble to love distressed Vertue than to adore or enjoy the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked world Heb. 11.25 for we are equally enjoyn'd to forsake them as the Devil and all his works and all the sinful lusts of the flesh 46 Whatever we part with and surrender up in obedience to the will of God we are sure to receive it again●● with usury Matth. 19.29 47 He who repents for not doing the Will of God doth do the Will of God Matth. 21.31 48 'T is more a Martyrdome to deny our selves to mortifie our sins to submit our Will to the Will of God and a greater Argument of our love to him then 't is to give our body to be burned 1 Cor. 13.3 49 Our Will in any evil or to it makes it cease to be an infirmity and makes it to be a sin though it be not committed Matth. 5.28 but our Will in and to any good makes it a Vertue though it be not acted for then God accepts the Will for the Deed Matth. 26.41 2 Cor. 8.12 Heb. 11.17 50 Many are apt to quarrel with God for non-performance of his Promises when it may be they are not the Persons to whom or have not performed the Condition to which the Promises were made Gen. 4.6 7. Mat. 20.15 51 If we are but naturally or prudentially patient and humble and not so in obedience to the Will of God we may be said to be vertuous but cannot be said to be gracious 1 Pet. 2.18 21. 1 Pet. 4.19 52 To gratifie Nature is a duty but to satisfie humour or to gratifie lust is a sin We may pray for daily bread and beg food convenient for us but to ask meat for lusts to cater and project for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof is to sin against to tempt and to provoke God Psal 78.18 Rom. 13.13 14. 53 The World shall never overcome them for whom Christ hath overcome the World but they shall have peace even then when they have tribulation John 16.33 54 Many mens senses ingross the men as if they had no souls to mind or had souls only to mind their bodies Their bodies are daintily fed and richly clad They have Gentlemen● bodies and too often slaves minds and of such men one saith all is good but the man Luke 16.19 c. 55 Terrors that are caused and exalted by a guilty conscience are the most intollerable and incurable of any other Prov. 18.14 56 Body and Soul are so united and do so sympathize that they are refreshed or pained together the body never sends the stomach to tell us we have eaten too much but the foul feels it too for when the stomach riseth against the meat the conscience riseth against intemperance and as the one feels the meat the other doth the sin of surfetting Let the Palate and Belly-pleasers read Luke 21.36 57 'T is a goodly thing to learn the Theory of them that understand the Practise of Religion well Phil. 3.17 to 20. 58 What 's thy end in keeping so much a-do is' t to get wealth yes but why for contentment well if there be more without it thou goest

incorruptible inheritance is hers Heaven its self is called the inheritance of the Saints or holy-ones Col. 1.12 and this inheritance is shared among them that are sanctified and none else Acts 26.18 And this inheritance is both Light and Life Kingdome and Crown of Glory which fadeth not away and therefore methinks the great and generous Gallants of this World as they love to be called should be in love with and all inamour'd of Holiness seeing Beauty and Glory Honour and Riches meet and center in her as much and well as they are annexed to her 9. To gather and close up many things together Holiness is the end of all that God the Father Son and Spirit have done and will do for us from first to last as also of all the means enjoyn'd to Priviledges confer'd on Graces wrought in Duties to be done by us Afflictions and Trials wherewith we are exercis'd 'T is the end the Father hath in Electing Eph. 1.4 He hath chosen us in him viz. Christ before the foundation of the World that we should be holy and without blame before him in love As of the Fathers Election so is it the end of the Sons Redemption of us Eph. 5.25 26. He loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it and so again Titus 2.14 He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works The Office and Work of the Spirit is to sanctifie and he is called holy not only as being so in himself but for making us so by his efficient power 2 Thess 2.13 God hath chosen you to salvation not only through belief of the truth but sanctification of the Spirit 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to foreknowledge through sanctification of the Spirit 1 Cor. 6.1 Such were some of you but ye are sanctified c. by the Spirit of our God 'T is the end of all Ordinances and means and we should not take up with the means without the end What is preaching for but to bring men into and to build them up in holiness Eph. 4.11 12 13. 'T is the end of all Dignities and Priviledges of which the Promises are principal and why are they given us but as was said above that we might perfect holiness and partake of a Divine Nature Why is the great Title of the Sons and Children of God bestow'd upon us but that we should be followers of and like to God our Father as dear Children 'T is the end of all graces wrought in and exercis'd by us of faith Acts 15.9 Purifying their hearts by faith and Acts 26.18 them that are sanctified by faith So of hope 1 John 3.3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself as he is pure So of knowledge 1 John 2.4 He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him He hath not learned the truth as 't is in Jesus and therefore his knowledge is but a form of knowledge Rom. 2.20 and knowledge falsly so called 1 Tim. 6.20 'T is the end and effect of love also 1 John 5.3 For this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments and they are not grievous Commands from God who loves us and to us who love him cannot be grievous if they are so 't is for want of love in us for our Saviour tells us if we love him we will and they are the lovers and friends of him who do keep his Commandments 'T is the end of that great duty of Prayer why or what do we pray for but that we may be holy and do his will on Earth as 't is done in heaven Surely what the Apostle prays for in relation to the Thessalonians 1 Ep. 5.23 should be every ones prayer for themselves that they may be sanctified throughout and wholly and to walk worthy of God to all well-pleasing Col. 1.10 'T is the end of all Afflictions Chastenings and Trials that we might come out of them like Gold purified 1 Pet. 1.7 that the fruit may be the taking away of sin Isa 27.9 and for our profit which is in this that we might be partakers of his holiness Heb. 12.10 Yea 't is the end of all mercies and deliverances Luke 1.74 75. that being deliver'd out of the hands of our enemies we might serve him in righteousness and and true holiness without fear all the dayes of our life Yet again and so I conclude 'T is the preparation for and our glory in Heaven its self 'T is our preparation for the sight of God for without Holiness no Man how Wise and Learned Rich and Honourable Fair and Beautiful soever he be shall see the Lord Heb. 12. and when we do see him more Holiness will be the effect of that sight 1 John 3.2 when he doth appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and this is called Glory Col. 3.4 When Christ our Life shall appear we shall appear with him in Glory and 't is for the very thing viz. being holy that the Church is called Glorious Ephes 5.27 Well then These things being so I intreat you to consider of what hath been said and beseech God to give you Understanding in all things that you may so Know as to Believe so Believe as to Love so Love as to Practise so Practise as to Perfect Holiness and be Eternally saved and then I know that you will rejoyce and sing the New Song even Praise to God and joyn with them that say Holy Holy Holy and conclude with my Text that Holiness becomes thine House O Lord for ever Let all the People say Amen And as the Arabick adds Allelujah FINIS