Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	heart_n	holy_a	soul_n	2,522	5	4.8207	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32087	A funeral sermon preached upon occasion of the decease of the eminently pious Mrs. Elizabeth Williams, late wife of Mr. Daniel Williams, who departed this life, June the 10th, 1698, Ætat 62 with some account of her exemplary character taken for the most part out of her own papers / by Edmund Calamy.	Calamy, Edmund, 1671-1732.	1698 (1698)	Wing C272; ESTC R29171	36,308	112

adherence to GOD are travelling up and down in the World for a Time in great uncertainty often changing their Place and State and Posture and Circumstances as they of Old did in Canaan Of which also they have not been insensible Thus David confesseth to GOD We are Strangers before Thee and Sojourrers as were all our Fathers And he gives this Reason Our Days on Earth are as a Shadow and there is none abiding And elsewhere I am a Stranger with thee and a Sojourner as all my Fathers were And it hath been the like with others also But that which bore them up in this their unsettled State and under all the Evils and Troubles which attended it was the Hope and Prospect of a quiet Habitation and perpetual Rest in a Future State Thus we are told concerning Abraham in this very Chapter That he sought a City which had Foundations whose Builder and Maker was GOD. And 't is intimated that it was the believing Foresight of that which made him easie in the midst of all his Difficulties And Iacob in an Holy Rapture cries out I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord. And Iob declares that though after his Skin Worms should destroy his Body yet in his Flesh should be see GOD Whom he should see for himself and not another Though his Reins were consum'd within him The thought whereof enabled him to hold out under the forest Tryals David also herein Triumphs that whatever he was forc't first to undergo GOD would at length shew him the Path of Life and bring him to his own Presence where there is fulness of Ioy and to his Right Hand where are Pleasures for evermore And at another Time when he was much discompos'd at the Reflection on his own Afflicted State compar'd with the Prosperity of the Wicked he soon recovers at the Thought of the Happy Issue that awaited all his present Exercises and Conflicts As for me says he I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfi'd when I awake with thy likeness St. Paul also not only in his own Name but as personating the Body of Believers declares We know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolv'd we have a Building of GOD an House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens And that our Light Affliction which is but for a Moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory WHICH Things taken together give us sufficiently to understand that this Doctrine is true in Fact as to many of the most remarkable Servants of GOD whom we find mention'd in our Sacred Records To whose Experiences in a Point of this Nature we may well conclude those of others who are acted by the same Spirit how different soever their particular Circumstances may be should be Consonant and Correspondent But I advance further and dare be bold to say that whosoever truly belong to GOD they cannot but look upon themselves as Pilgrims in this Life and therefore can do no other than earnestly seek an Home above where they may be at Rest and that for ever And if you 'l but a little consider the Divine Principle that is in them the Worlds unsuitableness to them and the Prospect Faith gives them of Futurities you 'l easily conclude that thus it must necessarily be with them FIRST then Let us a little consider the Divine Principle which is in all Holy Souls and which not only is in them but acts and governs them They are made partakers of a Divine Nature which therefore necessarily prompts to and issues in a Divine Life which lies in two things among others a Love of GOD and Vniversal Purity Both which have a direct tendency to alienate them from this World and make them Foreigners in it and to raise their Hearts towards a better World and make them earnest Seekers of it 1. THE Divine Principle which is implanted in all Holy Souls naturally tends to draw forth their utmost ardour in the Love of GOD to whom it brings them wholly to resign and sacrifice themselves desiring above all things to please Him and delighting in nothing so much as in Fellowship and Communion with Him It causes them to disdain and undervalue all things below Him as mean and unworthy So that that Strain of the Psalmist Whom have we in Heaven but Thee and there 's none upon Earth we desire besides Thee becomes their natural breathing For He is really their Souls last End and Rest. Now how can Persons of this Make be fond of this present World which is a meer Stage of Vanity and Sin where under the utmost Advantages they are comparatively distant from Him whom their Souls love Comparatively I say with what they desire and hope to be hereafter THEY well know that While they are at Home in the Body they are absent from the Lord How then can they do any other than as the Apostle intimates be rather willing to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. 'T is the nature of Love to excite vehement desire after the nearest Union that is possible with its Prime Object and to make uneasie under Absence and Separation from it Now what is in this Life to be found and felt and enjoy'd of GOD is as nothing to what our Natures are capable of and what Grace leads Holy Souls most earnestly to desire and what they hereafter hope for on the Account whereof it is that they are at present said to be as it were absent from him The intenseness therefore of their Love to Him necessarily leads them to look upon themselves as being in this Life abroad and in a strange Countrey and with vehemence to long for that near Vision and close and un-interrupted Enjoyment of Him which they expect when they shall come to be at Home And when they act like themselves nothing but a sense of Duty and desire of serving the Purposes of His Glory according to their capacity here on Earth can enable them to brook their Absence from Heaven where their Hearts and Hopes are fixt 2. THAT Divine Principle which resides rules and governs in all Holy Souls most naturally and directly influences them to an Vniversal Purity They are fram'd for Divine and Intellectual Pleasures which are unspeakably Superiour to what Sense can possibly afford The Body whereto they are at present linkt in its State of Mortality and Corruption hath such a propenseness to be inveigled by those light and Airy Gratifications which Sensual Objects offer for their Entertainment that they are forc't to keep up a constant Contest with it and to be perpetually striving for the Mastery of it And when they have done all they can they find their success so small that they have good reason with the Apostle Paul to cry out of their wretchedness This makes them necessarily very uneasie and the more so because they can see no reason

to hope it will be otherwise while this Life lasts Well then and naturally may they conclude that this is not a Place for them to be fond of or wherein they should desire to settle that this World is a place where they must carry it as Strangers least before they are aware they are defil'd and debas'd They must needs be induc'd often to long for their Arrival at that Place and State where being free from that toil and trouble which is now their daily Exercise they shall meet with Entertainments every way suitable to their sublime and refin'd Tempers and be satiating themselves therewith to all Eternity But further 2. IF we add hereto the Consideration of the Worlds unsuitableness to Holy Souls we shall meet with further Evidence of the same thing Whatever others think who judge by the Great and put all the Additionals of a Freakish Fancy into the Scale together with that small Scantling of Reality that is here to be met with for their parts they find this World to be a very unsuitable place for them to make any long stay in and the longer they live in it the more do they find it so And that because 't is so very troublesome so uncertain and changeable and so ensnaring 1. THEY find this World to be very troublesome This Life hath a great many natural inconveniencies which make it uneasie to Thinking-Persons There is no Age of it from first to last whether Infancy or Childhood Youth or Manhood or Old Age but hath its peculiar Troubles No State in it but what hath its special Difficulties Do Persons live solitarily they are in danger of being Mopish Are they much in Conversation they 'll see so much Vanity and Folly Ill Humour and Insincerity as if they will give way to Thought cannot but disturb them They 'll find it hard with the utmost Caution to walk inoffensively and meet with so many unkindnesses and that even it may be where they have study'd to oblige as will make them weary of their Lives Are they in a poor and low condition they 'll find it very hard to rub through the World with any thing of evenness of Temper and content of Mind Are they rich and wealthy the Vexation Care and Fear and the envy of others that attends their Estates and the disquieting Losses and Disappointments they meet with do often more than over-ballance the Comfort they afford them Are they in Health and Strength yet it 's an Hundred to One if they are not afflicted with Losses or depriv'd of their Friends or crost in their Interests and Designs or have something or other ever and anon happening to them to interrupt their Repose Are they sick and crazy or often in Pain How little Relish have they of all all their Comforts How burthensome are their Lives Nay How often do we find that even those who have all that heart could wish for that have all the Materials and Ingredients of a Worldly Felicity at command yet even in their suffciency are in streights and make a shift to create as much trouble to themselves by their own listless querulous uneasie Tempers as those who have the most real and substantial Causes of Discontent BUT besides all these and a great many other Considerations of the like Nature that might be suggested which are common to all the World is peculiarly troublesome to Holy Souls They for the most part meet with a great many Hardships Contempts and Injuries in it they are often baited at molested and teaz'd by the Men of the World who care not for their Company For as our Blessed Lord hath long since observ'd because they are not of the World therefore the World hateth them and is often speaking evil of them and doing evil to them They see GOD so much dishonour'd in it as grieves them to the heart and causes them often with bitterness of Soul to mourn in secret And all these troubles and a Thousand more that were as easily nam'd as these are great hindrances to them in that whereon their hearts are principally intent and often create them much perplexity and uneasiness How can they then but be tir'd with this World when they have dispatcht the great Business they have to do in it and comfortably settled their Concerns as to a Future State How can they take this for a suitable Place for them to stay in where they are like to have little else but a constant succession of Disturbances How can they do any other than earnestly long to be in their Father's House where they shall meet with no sorrow or trouble more for ever 2. HOLY Souls find also this World very unsuitable to them because so uncertain and changeable The more they give way to Thought the more necessary do they find it to fly higher than the Stage of Sense for a Portion As for themselves they perceive by their Make they are fram'd for Eternity unless he that made them should annihilate them of which they can discern no just Reason to be apprehensive As for this World they find the Fashion of it is still passing away and that in all its Parts and at all Times 't is full of Uncertainty and Unsettlement How then can they six upon it If not better provided how certainly may they expect in a little Time to be left quite destitute And how can they take up with that which they are every Moment in danger of being depriv'd of They well know that there is nothing here to be met withal let it seem ever so sure but it may be taken away by a thousand unforeseen Casualties and let ever so great a Degree of Earthly Felicity be attain'd they within a while must die and in that very Day all their Enjoyments and Hopes as to this World perish Others indeed know these Things as well as they but they mind them not and you may plainly discover by their Carriage they hardly ever think of them But being important Matters they are often seriously weigh'd and intently ruminated on by Holy Souls Who deliberately thence conclude that it is in vain to seek for an Happiness here that we are only Travelling and Passing through the State we are in and are thereby led to fix their Hearts on the upper World where alone it is that any Thing Solid Stable and Durable is to be met withal 3. THIS World is therefore also unsuitable to Holy Souls because ensnaring Often have the best been here led aside from God and their Duty and drawn into Sin to their unspeakable Damage Either unforeseen Temptations have presented themselves or they have been careless and nibbled at the Bait till they were caught with the Hook Through Heedlessness and Privacy was even a Noah tempted to Drunkenness and Incest and unguarded Lust drew a David into Murder and Adultery And who then can be Secure Snares abound every where and some that are taking will not be wanting and even those

of Him in or on it She discover'd an high Value for SHE was much taken-up in admiring Thoughts of our Lord Iesus Christ and His Work of Redemption And often venting the Sense of her Soul in ardent Breathings after Him I 'le give you a few Passages of this kind out of Her Papers in Her own Words IN one Place thus I 'm amaz'd at the Mysteries of Redemption the Incarnation of the Son of GOD the Killing the Prince of Life the Humiliation of the High and Lofty One the Disgrace of the Lord of Glory the Curse upon Him who is Blessed for ever O the Mysteries of Scripture of Love of Grace of Providence IN another Place Oh that I may know Christ as a Prophet instructing me a Priest satisfying for me and a King ruling spiritually in me IN another thus This Wretched Soul of Mine doth Pine away for Strength and even Pant for Breath longing to receive Encrease of Life from the Living Stock Christ Iesus which must be thy Work and thine only Oh work it I humbly pray Thee which way thou wilt Oh Empty my Self of my Self and let all Glory be given to Thee and not to any other SHE was entirely Dependent for all on the Blessed Spirit of Grace In one of Her Papers She hath this remarkable Passage looking that way There is no Corruption though more deeply rooted than others but that in Time by walking in the Spirit bringing it to the Law of Christ to the Death of Christ and to the Love of Christ and joining Ones own Endeavours to the Spirit of Christ one may get an Eminent Victory over it and see it by Degrees fall down before us Lord lend me the powerful Aid of thy Spirit I humbly beg it IN another Place thus I am troubled with Temptations but I Trust in Thee I Rest on Thee for Life and for Salvation Oh take me into the Bosom of thy Love for Christs sake I cast my Self into the Arms of Thine Everlasting Strength I have no Confidence in my Self nor any other BUT in no Grace was She more eminent than in that of Humility She silently converst with Her GOD and that better World which Her Heart was set upon without Noise and Ostentation She was more fearful of nothing than Spiritual Pride Methinks that is an affecting Passage which dropt from Her Pen a Year or two ago I must humbly leave it on Record I never found so much of GOD I never drew so near Him I never experienc'd the Power of His Word as of Late AND yet as Humble as She was and as diffident of Her Self She did not think Her Self excus'd from becoming Christian Resolutions in Dependence on Divine Strength Take some of them in Her own Words I 'LE be ruled by thy Revealed Will. I 'LE be dispos'd of by thy Pleasure I 'LE gladly be improved by Thee I 'LE Rest on Thy Fulness to discharge all my Bonds I 'LE wait on Thee in all Thine Appointments I 'LE intend thy Honour in all I do as my chief End I 'LE be serviceable in my Place as I can to others I 'LE be satisfi'd with Thee and thy Rich Treasures as my Portion And I 'LE take thy Word and Sacraments as my Security HEREIN will I Hope and go on till Death I am weak but Christ is strong AND I Hope for Supplies from Him To which She subscrib'd Her Name GREAT was Her Contentedness Resignation Submission to the Will of GOD and Heavenly Mindedness Her Papers abound with pregnant Expressions and Indications hereof In one Place She delivereth Her Self thus LORD give Me what thou wilt have Me to do and then do what thou wilt to and with Me thy unworthy Servant IN another She hath these Two Remarkable Passages IF Thou wilt have Me poor and disgrac'd I am Content to be so IF Thou wilt have Me serve Thee in the Condition I am in I will gladly do so IT is enough to Me that Thou wilt have it so I desire to yield readily humbly and chearfully to thy Disposing Providence AMEN Amen Lord. HATH GOD made Me Rich that I might maintain my Pride my Pomp and Erutish Pleasures NO He hath rather Lent than fully given Me what I have and I must give an Account to Him for all ALL we are and have we have it on this Condition TO use it to leave it TO lay it out to lay it down VNTO the Honour of our Master from whose Bounty we receiv'd it SHE was very Regular in Her Devotions Much in Prayer and frequent in Meditation and spent more Time in Converse with GOD in Her Closet than most I 'l Cite a few Passages out of Her Papers which seem to deliver the very Sense of Her Soul as to Religious Dutys In one Place She expresseth Her Self thus IN Duty I 'd not be satisfi'd unless Affections be rais'd so as feelingly awfully believingly fervently and sincerely I pour out my Heart with its Desires to GOD. IN another thus The Soul on the Lip and the Soul in the Ear ridd Work in GOD's Service IN another thus A Soul in League with Sin dare not come or look to or think of GOD and what must that Man think on in a Duty who dare not seriously think of GOD SHE was much in Self-Examination And such as these were some of the Marks and Signs whereby She try'd Her Self 1. DO I prize Christs Righteousness 2. DO I choose Heaven above all 3. DO I hate all Sin 4. AM I spirited for Duty 5. DO I relish and prize the Things of GOD SHE fram'd various Maxims and Collected Rules for Her Self both for Her Temper and Practise which those who knew Her best can bear Witness She made Conscience of minding and following I 'le mention a few of them as I find She hath set them down for Her Use. WE should see that we may be fit and ready for GOD's Service and that Religion and Religious Duties sit fitly on Us. THE Commandment finds work the Promise finds Strength Religion is an inward difficult and serious Business Oh rather give me the Saints Heart than the Angels Tongue THE End of Christs Doctrine is Practise and Exercise and not Speculation and Discourse NOBILITY of Birth Honour and all outward Delights are to be deny'd for Christ. A sound-hearted Christian hath always a GOD to go to a Promise to go to and former Experiences to go to besides some Experience of GOD's goodness which he now enjoys BE sure there is somewhat displeasing to GOD when the Word wants its powerful Effect IT S our Duty to refer all the Circumstances of our Petitions to the Wisdom of GOD. WE may be Suitors to GOD but we must not be His Counsellours THAT Condition should be chosen by all which is best for their Souls IT is a Blessed Trouble that brings sound and long Peace THE Spirits Operations will extort Acknowledgments And the like AND yet notwithstanding all these Instances and Evidences and a great