Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	command_v	servant_n	unprofitable_a	1,244	5	10.6349	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93757	Six several sermons preached on Isaiah, 38. I. Wherein that great duty of setting our body and soul in order, for we shall die, is at large opened and explained Wherein also many divine truths are made known relating to the same matter; and now published, because of the exceeding importance and concernment of this subject unto all people whatsoever.	Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703.	1696 (1696)	Wing S5135; ESTC R230779	115,810	178

most Holy Precise and Religious kind of Life by the Dream of a Night Vision or by a Voice speaking unto him in his Sleep that such an Acquaintance of his naming him by his Name was really damned Now he that had this Vision was an outward Worshipper Religious at the common Rate Standard or Measure as it goes ordinarily in the World with the Generality and Multitude But the other Person whilst he lived was more religious and strict than People usu●lly are And if such an one should be really damned for his defects and comings short in matters of universal and inward Religion how should this quicken and exhort others and my self as yet living to the utmost preciseness and circumspect walking in all things For if I may so express it a little preciseness and circumspect walking in all things is much better and beyond the utmost and greatest preciseness and circumspect walking only in some things as the manner of too many is who seem to be Religious But if such an one whom the World accounted very Religious should perish Good God! What will become of us who are not Religious perhaps to the tenth degree as he was This should indeed stir us up so to run that we may obtain as we do desire it and foolish are they who do not endeavour all that they can after it to be in all things what God commandeth us very circumspect and to abound in all Holy Conversation and Godliness as is possible for Mortal Creatures whilst in the Flesh and in this Life to be For truly if we consider throughly the great displeasure God Almighty hath to Sin as is set forth in 2 Pet. 2. 4 5 6. He spared not the Angels that sinned And how that for one single Act of Disobedience he entailed a Curse on Adam and all his Posterity Of six hundred thousand of his own People whom he had brought out of the Land of Egypt there were but two only which went into the promised Land and Moses himself who before had so often stood in the gap between an enraged God and a provoking People yet He was not admitted into the promised Land of Canaan because he had provoked his Spirit and spoke unadvisedly with his Lips hereupon misgiving and fearful thoughts have arose in my Mind that if Moses such a precious Servant of God unto whom there arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face Deut. 34. 10. yet if this very Man so familiar with and beloved of God was not admitted to enter into the promised Land for but one unadvised Speech of his Lips much more may I a sinful Creature and so may others also tremble and fear that after I have done all to get into Heaven which is the promised Land yet I may not be admitted there for really my self have and it is well if ye have not also done many more and worse things than to let fall one unadvised Speech of our Lips I have been guilty of an Omission of Duty which as I sensibly perceived at the very time did shut Heaven against me although at the very same time I went to Worship the Lord in the Congregation when at the very same time He commanded and directed me to give forth Testimonies of his Law and Truth unto the Rulers and chief of the People who were then met together in another Congregation for outward Worship But through my neglect and failure herein I had smitings of Conscience and Revelations of his Wrath against me in that manner as here spoken of Have a care of Sins of Omission for 't is these which shut Heaven against us as may be seen from the latter end of the twenty-fifth Chapter of Matthew Truly after all the things we have done in order to God throughout all this our Life after all our Prayers and hearing the Word preached after all our Acts of Publick Family and Private Worship and whatever we have done pertaining to Religion or what is c●mmonly called good Works yet it is possible and to be feared that we may perish and miscarry for all throughout Eternity Where the Psalmist Prays by the Spirit Remember all thy Offerings and accept thy burnt Sacrifice Selah The Lord fulfil all thy Petitions Psalm 20. 3 5. Thereby is shewn forth and made known unto us that if the Lord should not remember nor accept nor fulfil as we are to strive earnestly with him in Prayer on this behalf and so it is of whatever we have done as pertaining to God and Religion it will not stand in stead nor avail to the saving of the Soul What shall we do then the safest way and rule is that as Christ our Saviour saith after ye have done all things that are commanded say that we are unprofitable Servants We have done only what was our Duty to do So in the Name of God let us do all things whatever we can instantly continually and diligently remember all these three Adverbs for to find Acceptance with our God and to get to Heaven and to say after we have done all this we deserve to be rejected by him and to be cast into Hell My Life for yours I will venture my immortal Soul upon this Point It shall never go one Jot the worse with us for thus speaking For after that the disobedient and Prodigal Child had said Father I have sinned against Heaven and am no more worthy to be called thy Son ye● the Father said unto his Servants bring forth the best Robe and put it on him and put a Ring on his Hand to di●tinguish him from and to put him into a Condi●ion above hired Servants and Shoes on his Feet It is no absurdity and contradiction in things pertaining to God though it may seem as a Paradox and strange Doctrine to the Proud Self-justifying and Ignorant P●arisee to acknowledge and confess for so doth the Church in Isa 64. 6. that our Works are not meet for God's Acceptance and yet God will accept of them washed over with the Blood and covered with the Righteousness of his Son It is a great matter and very desirable but withal it is somewhat difficult to hit upon because that so many miss thereof Who seek to enter in and shall not be able Luke 13. 24. for to please and find Acceptance with Almighty God For we are not to think now as we shall see and know at last that either the much speaking of the Heathen nor yet the Superstition of the Jew nor yet the M●mbling of the Papist over his Beads although all these do therein seek to please God will receive any thing from the Lord as to future Good and Salvation God looks and hath more respect unto the quality than the quantity of our Services how good they are and not so much to the length and number of Words And so it is of all meer formal Prayers Lip-labour when the Heart is far from God with all the

and ingrafted in the Body before we die because the end of Holiness is Everlasting Life 3dly By those Words Set thy House in order is denoted and shewn forth that we set our Souls in order The Phrase set thine House in order is a Metonomy for by the Name of the thing containing is meant the things contained in that House like as when mention is made of the Cup which Jesus a little before He was betrayed took B●ead and gave thanks and gave it to them saying Drink ye all of this Mat. 26. 27. Thereby is intended not the bare outward Cup but the Wine contained in that Cup. And so in li●e manner this Phrase of the Spirit of God delivered by the Mouth of Isaiah doth not so much signifie that Hezekiah should set the outward Walls of his Palace or dwelling House in Order but rather his Houshold concerns which were contained in that House nay further that Tenement of Clay wherein Himself did inhabit his Flesh and Body this He should set in Order Nay to come yet closer and nearer to himself He should not so much set the earthly House of his Body in Order this should be done but yet much more He should set the Inhabitant of that earthly House viz. His Soul in Order Now what was commanded to H●zekiah is the Duty of us all severally upon whom the ends of the World are come The Soul is not our House but the Inhabitant of our House and from the like Analogy and Reason of Things by the very same Interpretation and opening out of the Scriptures which the Eternal Spirit in the penning and giving them forth hath designed therein when He expresses the things contained therein by the Word or Name of the thing containing Therefore of necessity the Spirit of God did mean and intend thereby when He saith set thine House in Order set thy Soul in Order because that this Soul of ours is the Principal and I may say the only Thing that is most Immaterial and Substantial which is contained in this earthly House of ours If we compare Mat. 16. 26. For what is a Man pro●●●ed if He shall gain the whole World and lose his Soul together with Luke 9. 25. where instead of his own Soul it is thus written What is a Man profited if He gain the whole World and lose himself Now put both the●e places together and from them both it will undeniably follow that the Soul is the Man himself Man fest Reason I will go on to add yet further ev●n very Sense teacheth the same for we may understand and perceive that the Body is just enlivened and 〈◊〉 sensible but is as it were a meer Trunk or Engine for the Soul to Act in It is evidently seen that the Body upon the Decease or Departure of the Soul from out of it is just like an empty House Tenement or Cottage without any Inhabitant at all in it which as that thereupon doth fall into Ruin and Decay without any one to mind or look after it so the Body yet much sooner Moulders into Corruption Stink and Dust Fear and the Pit and the Snare are upon thee O Inhabitant of the Earth Isa 24. 17. This is a most proper and apposite Expression of the Holy Ghost to call us Inhabitants of the Earth From whence I will go on to Remark yet further that just like as Snails carry their Houses upon their Backs even so we carry about the Houses of our Habitation I mean this little Tenement of Clay the Body all along and every where with us We are wrapt up and covered all over with it And it is a moveable walking House that hath not Foundations Heb. 11. 9. which herein is opposite unto and distinct from that City which hath Foundations there mentioned in the next following Verse And also herein it is opposite unto and distinct from that House Eternal in the Heavens spoken of 2 Cor. 5. 1. Now what we must do or how to behave our selves to set our selves who inhabit and are contained within this earthly House in Order proceed we to shew according to that measure of Knowledge which our Creator hath given unto us To set in Order in one Sence is a kind of Speech which is used when from out of a great mixed and confused Multitude of Men these are Marshalled and put in order of an Army And indeed it is observed of a well Disciplined Army that it is one of the most orderly things in the World when each Officer and Souldier notwithstanding their vast Multitude knows and stands in his proper Place Rank and File not moving one Hands breadth from out of it to the Right Hand or to the Left and they do move and act nothing without Command or Order And so when we read in Joel 2. 7 8. And they shall March every one on his ways and they shall not break their Ranks neither shall one thrust another they shall walk every one in his Path Observe all this for these things being so written and dictated by his Spirit hereby we are shewn and instructed how God is infinitely pleased and delighted with this thing of Order in his Army and in the very great Camp for so it is there called verse 11. as indeed it is of his Creatures or Created Beings And from hence I would observe and make k●●wn though it may seem a little Digression yet I shall soon again return to our subject Matter that when the Scripture stiles God in manifold Places of the Old Testament the Lord of Hosts It hath a much larger and more comprehensive meaning and signification herein that as He was King in an especial Manner over the Children of Israel for that Government was a more immediate Theocracy then over the other Nations so He was their Chief Captain or General of their Armies or Hosts and that He did fight their Ba●tels in dispossessing their Enemies from out of it and giving them the Land of Canaan In Truth in this Sence He was the Lord of their Hosts as He did lead forth the Children of Israel by their Hosts from out of the Land of Egypt and gave them Possession of the promised Land And so in another Sence inasmuch as we are to Publish the Name of the Lord ascribe ye greatness unto our God Deut. 32. 3. And forasmuch as an Host or Army is one of the greatest and most terrible things here living on the Ea●th therefore when the Spirit or Spiritual Men would ascribe greatn●ss unto God they do in this manner express it by his being Lord which signifies Chief Ruler and that He hath Dominion and Authority over them and that He is greater in Power Strength and Multitude than all of them put together But cheifly the largest highest and most comprehensive meaning and signification of these Words the Lord of Hosts seems to be taken from that great Place in Isa 40. 26. Lift up your Eyes on high and behold who hath created

Being as the Logicians and Metaphysicians say But only a Dissolution of a Thing and a Privation of a Being And that is only as to the Body which is as the breaking of a Shell towards the hatching or bringing forth of a Chicking or as a Woman when she is in Travel hath Pain and Anguish till the bringing forth of her Child But after that is born she remembers no more the Pain or Anguish for joy that a Child is born into the World Even so through the Pain and Languishing of Death the Soul is born and comes forth into the invisible World and she remembers no more the Pangs and Throws and Anguish she felt by the Body dropping from her as she came through the Gate of Death and now she is in an Happy and Blessed State But this is only the favour God bears unto his own People and the Heritage of the Servants of the Lord No Weapon that is formed against them shall prosper Isa 54. 17. For though the Devil thought to make an end of them and destroy them utterly by Sin and Death yet they are escaped whole and safe through them both It is only to such who have this Blessing and Mark of Favour from God as to see the Lord's Christ before they see Death It is these that d●part in Peace The People of that Generation did see Christ in the days of his Flesh We of this present Generation may see Christ in his Grace and Revelation which is full of Mercy Goodness and Truth Simeon took up the Child Jesus in his Arms and Blessed God Even so we may go yet nearer and farther and take up Christ and receive him into our Hearts This is seeing the Lord 's Christ in our days when we see him within us with the Eyes of Faith or with the Eyes of our Understanding being enlightened When what we have heard we have seen with our eyes we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life for the Life was manifest and we have seen it and bear witness and shew u●to you Eternal Life which was manifest unto us or rather within us And so Paul saith by the Spirit unto those to whom he writes Little Children of whom I travail in birth until Christ be formed in ye The same is the end of all our Preaching to beget Christ formed in you which is a work of time and by degrees And if this be done ye will never see Death Eternal Though ye will for all see the first Death for Moses is dead and the Prophets are dead yet ye will never be hurt by the second Death SERMON V Isaiah 38. 1. Set thine House in Order for tho● shalt Die and not live TO see the Lord 's Christ before we see Death is to be a Partaker of the Divine Nature to have the Christian or Christ-like Nature formed and fashioned within us And that not in part or in some things only b●● in the whole and throughout And the very God 〈◊〉 Peace Sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lor● Jesus Christ This word wholly and whole being repeated twice here in the same verse doth shew that th● Holy Ghost do●h lay exceeding much stress and necessit● thereon As the Soul doth act●ate the whole Body eve● so Christ should actuate the Soul throughout and wholly But here is the fault and failure of the generalit● of People of those who call themselves Christian whether they be of the straiter Sect of the Christia● Religion whatever it be or whatever they are called for they would pretend unto others and seem to themselves to be more Holy Real and Sincere in their Christian Profession and the Service of God than others I profess truly I do not love to name the distinguishing Names for I would that the time were once come as it is drawing on in these latter days When the Lord shall be one and his Name one and then all those Nick-names of the several Sorts and Sects of Christianity will be laid aside and be used no more in our Tongue But it hath been my Observation a long time and I seldom knew it fail that when I have came near and beheld the Lives and Manner of Conversation of the Dissenters who seem to be more Religious than ordinary who talk so much of Christ I find that they are for taking up Christ in some yea perhaps in most but not in all things And whereas he that keeps Christ's Sayings shall never see Death John 8. 51. Yet they do not keep and obey that last Commandment which Christ Jesus is Recorded to have given as consequently comprehensive and of greatest concernment of all the rest Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever he hath commanded us Matth. 28. 20. But contrariwise several of them do break some or more of these least Commandments and teach Men so Matth. 5. 19. Do not some break or rather neglect those his lesser Commandments concerning Baptism and the Lord's Supper which he commanded to do in Remembrance of him These are lesser Commandments which are only the possitive outward Duties or Ordinances of Religion in comparison to the greater things of the Law which concern intrinsick Good or Evil Right or Wrong Again doth another sort observe strictly the weightier matters of the Law Judgment Justice and Mercy For it hath been observed of those who are called Rigid Strict Presbyterians ●hat they have been given unto Oppression Injurious Dealing all for their own ends an Heart they have exercised with covetous practices cursed Children 2. Pet. 2. 14. And they have been noted to be Stubborn Perverse Blood-thirsty and Cruel Which is as contrary to Mercy one of the weightier matters of the Law as Darkness is to Light And so that together with their Pervereness is as diametrically opposite to Long-Suffering the Gentleness and M●ekness of Christ as any thing in the World can be Now if you charge any of them closely and talk with them of these things they have a parcel of Sayings and Excuses as indeed all Sin and Transgression hath its excuse There being nothing so bad in the World but somewhat may be said for it Distinctions and Traditions of their own whereby they would make the Commandments of God of none effect So it is evident they break one of his least Commandments and teach Men so Which Disobedience and Prevarication of theirs shews that Christ the Wisdom of the Father who knew was in Man had not supposed against a vain and unlikely thing such as would never happen for these do contrary and different unto it every day But what is the consequence or harm of breaking of one of the least of those his Commandments and teaching Men so He shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven which there signifies the Ministration or Profession of the Gospel This Gospel being to prepare us for and get us