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A23773 The whole duty of divine meditation described in all its various parts and branches : with meditations on several places of scripture / by the author of The whole duty of man. Allestree, Richard, 1619-1681. 1694 (1694) Wing A1168A; ESTC R43055 62,234 194

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up freely unto him for he that is unthankful for what he has received is unworthy of receiving more and the Gifts of Heaven cease to descend when the Incense of our Thanks leave off ascending VII WHATEVER happeneth to thee convert it to a good use as in Prosperity bless and praise God and exercise Charity according to thy Ability So in Adversity exercise thy Repentance for what Enormities thou hast committed which thou can'st not but imagine to be the Efficient Cause of what thou sufferest Let Humility keep thy Heart in Subjection that Arrogancy may get no possession of thee Judge God to be a Father for his Clemency Power and Gentleness a Lord for his Discipline Severity and Justice Love him piously as a Father for his Mercy and fear him and trust in him who abhors Sin in the least degree Ever humbly acknowledge thy own Misery but loudly proclaim his Mercy MED VII The Whole Duty of Man Eccles. xii 13. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the Whole duty of man FEW there are which perform this Lesson which yet should not so much appear our Duty as it ought to be our Delectation He that hath but once acquired the habit of adoring his Maker will assideouslsly confess Religion the highest of Pleasures and that Legislative Power which seems so formidable and disgustful to the World will prove but recreative to his Immortal Soul But alas how little is there of the Royal Prophet's Piety now among us when instead of delighting in God's Law we obliterate it more and are so far distant from meditating in it either Day or Night that we never in the least think or consider of it at all II. 'T IS become a Custom now to Sin with Audacity and a Syllogism of much Valour to exile this timerous Religion or fearing either the Almighty or his Law which he hath given us The Royal Preachers edifying Doctrine is as obsolete and worser than a Paradox a meer Apocrypha and a Heresie to revive it To instruct us in our Duty is to scurrilize the Times whil'st we officiously unhinge Religion and it is no amazing wonder there are such swarms of Atheists but indeed there never was such a time to generate them as now trace Antiquity to its primitive Rise and this Age cannot be parallell'd III. THE World never encreased so much in Sin abominable Sects and disaffected Parties like Colonies new cultivate the Earth Profaneness is grown Hereditary and sprouts out by Propagation so that in process of time Posterity may perhaps become Ethnicks Were the Divine Wisdom and his Promise mutable a Deluge would prove but a slender Penalty We not only sin but exult in it more whil'st some not satisfy'd to be occult and silent Atheists proclaim it aloud and are fierce of acquiring the Reputation as if we could not render our Ingenuity enough without Denying our Maker IV. NO marvel Religion is out of Tune when a Harmony in Ecclesiasticks is wanting or that Christianity bears so faint a Sound when common Morality is not heard And yet it is a Lesson which we cannot learn too well a Tribute we cannot pay too often We owe our Breath to the Bounty of his Hand what Homage then can we better pay than that which by magnifying of him we purchase an Immortal Crown for our selves Tell me ye stupid Chasers of the World what ye aim at in all your Pretences Ye that scoff at Heaven and make Divinity a Garment for Unrighteousness That with the Pharisee embrace Formality for your Religion and make an external Piety your Duty V. ALAS Heaven is not gain'd by pious Fraudulency gilded Crimes or fortunate Transgressions nor the Eye of the Almigty to be deluded with a gaudy Zeal 'T is not a pretended Sanctity that can invest us with Immortality nor a modish Devotion only that will conduct us to Heaven How miserable is he who idolizes the World and embraces that Religion to neglect his Creator Therefore let us make that inquest of the Voice within us and then invoke the Almghty in these or the like Expressions VI. O GREAT Iehovah what did'st thou bestow our Reason on us but to diligently listen unto the Voice of thy Law that the Celestial Rhetorick of thy Word might at least attract from us an ignorant Profaneness Shall Ethnicks that had no other Scope no other Recompence for their Sanctity than some vain Applause or the internal Triumphs of their Spirits for their good Performances outvie us in the Splendours of a Moral Life and we that have sublimer and purer Hopes be scarce Obedient for Thy sake Shall they that are ignorant of Thee be more passionately Just than we that have traced out Heaven and expect Eternity to succeed VII THOUGH it was not in Man's Power to find Thee till Thou did'st reveal Thy Self in a Crucify'd Jesus yet now having so richly and in that Plenitude expressed to us the Treasures of Thy Love shall we not be excited to perform something for Thy Glory Incite us we beseech Thee to consider well the Advantages that are in Thy Service the Felicity that accompanies Obedience and thae Crown which is the Recompence of Faith that so our Affections being mortified unto these fading Objects here Below they may be enliven'd only with Desires after those Eternal Excellencies that are in Thee in Thy Heavenly Kingdom MED VIII The Vanity of the World 1 Joh. ii 15. Love not the world nor the things that are in the world SET not thy Affections upon the World for it shall pass away and all the things that are therein shall be consumed with fire 1 Cor. 7. 31. 2 Pet. 3. 10. Love that Felicity which is Eternal that so thou may'st enjoy it and live for ever Every Creature is subject to Vanity whosoever therefore idolizes the World shall also become vain himself Embrace that Good which is true and stable that thy Heart may be quiet and fixed VVhy doth mundane ambitious Honour delight thee He that seeketh Applause of Men cannot be Honour'd by the Almighty Ioh. 5. 44. For he that chaseth after this VVorld's Vanity must be conformable to it And the Apostle tells ye He that pleaseth men cannot please God Gal. 1. 10. II. HE that is Extoll'd yesterday perhaps to a high degree by the Applauses of Men may be levell'd to morrow by Dis●race VVhat is mortal Man the better for gaining a Reputation of a greater value than others if he is disesteem'd in the sight of God Our blessed Saviour being sought for to receive a Kingdom fled from it but to be ignominiously Crucified surrendered himself He that despises not the VVorld to follow Christ how will he be qualify'd to lay down his Life for him Therefore there is no passage to true Happiness but by contemning the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked and fading World III. CHRIST that blessed Pattern taught us how we should value the World For if He who is Glory it self rejected