Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	holy_a	lord_n	prayer_n	2,432	5	5.9863	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32041	The monster of sinful self-seeking, anatomizd together with a description of the heavenly and blessed selfe-seeking : in a sermon preached at Pauls the 10. of December, 1654 / by Edm. Calamy, B.D. ...	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1655 (1655)	Wing C259; ESTC R15527	29,832	44

queen of all graces it is as necessary as it is excellent For though we bestow all we have to feed the poore thou●h we give our bodies to be burnt yet if we have not Charity it profiteth us nothing But now a self-seeker is made up all of uncharitablenesse 1. He hath no love unto Jesus Christ his interest and there is a double curse pronounced against those that love not the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 16. 22. 2. He hath no love to his Neighbour but for his owne ends it is amor concupiscentiae vel amicitiae it is not love but merchandize 3 He hath no love to Church nor State All his love centers in himself He is wholly compounded of self-love and creature love which is a composition God hates 5. It is a Sin that makes all our holy duties abominable in the sight of God Though the actions we doe be never so holy yet if we do them upon politique designes if we aim at our selves in what we do the Lord abhorres us and all we do as we see in the Pharisees who in their Almes Prayers and Fastings did all to be seen of men and therefore God abhorred all they did Self-aimes pollute and putrifie all holy actions 6. It is a sin of horrible Hypocrisie for it is making use of Religion as a ladder to clime up to pre●ment and then casting the ladder away it is setting up God as a Pander to our ambitious and covetous interest which is Hypocrisie to be abhorsed This is uti Deo ut ●ruamur nobismetipsis which is no little transgression 7. It is Idolatry in the highest degree it is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a worshipping of self it is making our selves and our own interest the root rule and scope of all our undertakings which is to make an Idoll of our selves and to usurp the throne of God It is Idolatry against the first Commandement which is greater than Idolatry against the second by how much the heart is better than the knee 8. It is a sin that is the fruit of six cursed roots as you have already heard and the root of many cursed fruits It is 〈◊〉 omnium v●tiorum a sin and the cause of all sin the Pl●e so●e o● Church and State the great Church-devouring and State destroying sin To give some few instances What is the reason that the Government of the Church so happily began is now obstructed and almost quite broken in 〈◊〉 Is it not because all men seek their owne and no men the things of Christ What is the reason that the house of God lieth wast and every man labours to build his own house Why is it that men complain of taxes and want of trading but no man complaines that the House of God is neglected the pure Ordinances despised and the godly Ministry undervalued Is it not because all men seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ What is the reason that the truths of Christ are trampled under feet and men are suffered to deny the Divinity of Christ and of the Scriptures and no man saith why do you so But let a man but speak a word against the lawes of men he shall be severely punished Is not this because all men seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ What is the reason that so few Gentlemen Citizens and Ministers appeare for the things of Christ that so many silence themselves and suffer Religion to be almost lost and yet dare not appeare for it Why is it that our Lectures are so little frequented in most places● that many think nothing too much to give to their 〈◊〉 but any thing too much for their Minister that 〈◊〉 Master will be very exact to see his servant do his business upon the week da●es but indulge him to do what he will upon the Lord● day Is it not because all men seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ What is the reason that the things of the Church drive on so slowly like the Egyptian Chariots when the wheeles were taken off what is the reason that there is so much oppression and injustice in places of judicature So much cousenage and false dealing in our commerce one with another in a word what is the cause of all our miseries both in Church and State Is it not because all men seek their own and not the thin●s of Jesus Christ thus you have the greatnesse and the mischievousnesse of this sinfull selfe-seeking So much for the Explication of the Doctrine I come now to the Application Is this be so that amongst the multitude of Christians that professe love to Christ and his cause there are many yea very many that ●ek their owne and not the things of Christ Let us then 〈◊〉 beseech you behold as in a glasse the sinfulnesse and miserablenesse of the times wherein we live for if the Apostle compla● of his times which were the first and the best times the golden Age the Primitive Apostolical Virgin-Church when the Saints of God met together in one place with one accord much more may we of our times which are the last and worst the iron age wherein the Church of Christ is wofully divided and wonderfully Apostatized How justly I say may we take up this sad complaint against our t●es All men seek th●i owne not the things of Jesus Christ And yet I dare not say all men collectively I believe there are a few names even in England which have not defiled their garments and have not bowed their knees to Baal some Magistrates some Gentlemen some Ministers and Citizens yet remaining who seek the things of Jesus Christ more than their owne yea with the neglect and losse of their owne who seek the prosperity and welfare of Sion more than their own Some Ezra's Nehemiah's and Daniel's that lay to heart the desolations of the Church and with Old Ely are more troubled about the Arke of God than their owne private relations But these are a very few in comparison It is certaine that most of all sorts are guilty of this sinfull selfe-seeking most Magistrates most Gentlemen Ministers and Citizens Now then let us examine our selves whether we be not amongst the number of this multitude To quicken you to this consider 1. That this sinne is both a New and an Old Testament sinne It reigned not onely in Pauls time but in Debora's and Baraks who tell us that for the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart because he abode among the Sheep-folds and cared not what became of the Church of God Judges 5. 15 16. 2. It is a common and ordinary sinne few are free from it 3. It is a great and crying abomination as you have heard 4. It is a great and hidden iniquity an inward invisible and spirituall sinne that consumes England as a moth not as a Lion It is threatned Hos. 5. 12. 14. That God would be to Ephraim as a

thou destroyest thy spirituall diseases the more thou ruinatest the Devils faction within thee weakenst the opposition of the Flesh against the Spirit He that loves his sins hates his own soul Pro. 8. 36. Gal. 6. 8. he that soweth sin shall reap hell he that makes provision for the flesh provides fuel for bel fire He that nourisheth the old Adam within him cherisheth that which tainteth and polluteth all his holy duties which indisposeth him to all good and disposeth him to all evill he cherisheth his Souls greatest enemy 1 Pet. 2. 11. he delights in that which was Pauls greatest misery and which made him cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7. 24. therefore I may truly say he that is the greatest selfe-denier is the greatest selfe-seeker He that seeks to doe most service to God in his generation that seeks his own glory by seeking Gods glory is a Divine self seeker The reason is because the perfection of every thing consisteth in attaining the end for which it was made As the perfection of meat is to be eaten he that hoards it up and will not eate it destroyes it The end for which God made Man is to serve him to glorifie him here and enjoy him hereafter Therefore the more service we doe to God the more we seek his glory the more we attaine the end of our creation and therein we are the more happy He that loves himselfe for himselfe and for his owne ends destroyes himselfe because the end for which God made us is to serve him and not our selves When all the streames of selfe-love flow into the great Ocean of the love of God this is Divine selfe-love Oh that men would thus labour to love themselves and seek themselves to look upon themselves as servants and instruments unto God and his glory to say Lord how may I advance my selfe by advancing thy name how may I glorifie my selfe by glorifying of thee How may I seeke my selfe by seeking thy praise and perfect my selfe by disposing of my selfe of my understanding memory will heart affections and actions in order to thee and thy glory The more a man serves God out of pure love without reflection to selfe the more he seeks himselfe for this is a certaine truth The lesse we seek our selves and our owne ends in any holy duty the more we seek our selves because the lesse we seek our selves the more we seek God and his glory and the more we seek God his glory the more reward we shall have The lesse we look after reward for that we doe the more reward we shall have and therefore the Papists who teach men to doe good works that thereby they might merit heaven supposing their Doctrine to be true lose all the reward of their good worke He that serves God to merit by his service cannot merit by his service the more he eyes merit the lesse he meriteth He that serves God for his owne ends doth not serve God but himselfe but he that serves God for Gods sake shall be rewarded by God The lesse we eye our selves in any duty the more reward we shall have and therefore the more we seek our selves That man who seeks the glory and honour of God above his owne glory and honour is a Divine selfe seeker The reason is because the happinesse of Man is more in God than in himselfe As the happinesse of a member of the body is in conjunction with the body take it from the body it dieth So the happinesse of Man is in conjunction with God who is our chiefest good who is an universall good therefore he that seeks union with God most seeks himselfe most As the safety of the beame is more in the Sun then in it selfe and of the streame in the Fountaine then in it selfe So the safety comfort and happinesse of every Christian is more in God then in himself therefore he that seeks the glory and honour of God more than his owne glory and honour is a heavenly and blessed selfe-seeker He that loves the publique good more than his owne private good that seeks the prosperity of Sion and Jerusalem of Church and State more than his owne is a Divine selfe-seeker Oh that this word were mingled with Faith A man that is in danger to have his head cut off will willingly even out of selfe-love lift up his arme and suffer it to be cut off to save his head because his life is more in his head than in his arme Our safety is more wrapt up in the publique welfare than in our private and therefore they who preferre the publique before the private are the truest selfe-seekers Thus did Old Ely he mourned more for the losse of the Ark● than of his two Sons Thus also did David Psa 137. 6. He preferred Jerusalem above his chiefe joy In a storme at Sea he that seeks the preservation of the Ship seeks most the preservation of his own Trunk for if the Ship be drowned his Trunk cannot be saved The truth is if the Church and the true Religion be destroyed to what purpose is it for a godly man to live I read of Titus Vespasian that when the Souldiers had destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem they came to him and asked him what they should doe with the Priests that did supervive Kill them said he for now their worke is at an end When Religion is destroyed what will it advantage a godly man to live therefore they that seek the good of the Church more than their owne are blessed selfe-seekers That man who had rather lose wife children estate and life it selfe than sinne against God is a Divine selfe-seeker The reason is because his happinesse is more in keeping a good Conscience than in keeping his Estate or saving his Life The holy Martyrs who loved not their lives unto the death were the greatest selfe seekers It is a most blessed selfe-seeking to suffer the fire of Martyrdome to avoid the fire of Hell to lose earthly promotions to attain everlasting honours And therefore Christ argueth from selfe-love Mat. 16. 25. Whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall finde it so also Mark 10. 29 30. the antient Martyrs did the like Heb. 10. 34. Heb. 11. 35. He that loseth all for Christ shall finde more than he hath lost in Christ From all that I have said concerning this blessed selfe-seeking I gather these three conclusions 1. That no Man is a true selfe seeker who is not a true Christ-seeker 2. That true Religion and a consciencious walking according to the rules of it is founded upon Right reason and that no man can be truely said to be a rationall man who is not a Religious man for the more Religious any man is the more he seeks himselfe and his owne happinesse the more irreligious he is the