Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	commandment_n	law_n	moral_a	2,159	5	9.3779	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30019	Discourses and essays on several subjects, relating chiefly to the controversies of these times, especially with the Socinians, deists, enthusiasts, and scepticks by Ja. Buerdsell ...; Selections. 1700	Buerdsell, James, 1669 or 70-1700.	1700 (1700)	Wing B5363; ESTC R7240	90,520	247

swerve For Justice and Judgment are the Habitation or as others the Basis or Foundation of his Throne As his own connate original Wisdom or the Rectitude of his own Nature is the Rule and Measure of his own Actions so is the Transcript of it if I may so speak the Rule for all other Agents to move by He has given the Sea his decree that the Waters should not pass his Commandments and if the proud tumultuous Waves move by his Divine Rules how much more has he settled a Rule for his Angels that excell in strength for those his blessed Ministers who do his Pleasure The very Title of Angel imports Duty and Obedience to that glorious Power from whence it receiv'd its Commission and Obedience implies some Rule by which it ought to be proportion'd As the Angels so the Saints in doe Subordination are in their several Stations rang'd under Rules and Laws For they are all Parts of the great Celestial Polity and all make up one Church Triumphant therefore must be subject to the same Heavenly Canons Laws and Constitutions For Thirdly This Rule is the same with that by which we ought to regulate our Actions therefore they are very fi●ly set out in ●hi● Prayer of our Lord's as a Pattern for our Obedience Now the Rule by which 〈…〉 ought to manage our Practice is that which is styl'd the Moral Law or that Law which first being stamp'd on Man's Heart in his Innocence notwithstanding what Mr. Hobbs * Human vnderstanding p. 366. passion Mr. Locke and others have said to the contrary was after his Fall retriev'd by Moses and the Prophets and lastly by Christ and his holy Apostles that Law which prescribes to us to entertain noble Apprehensions of God to worship and serve him which teaches us Moderation towards our selves and Justice towards our Neighbours which is comprehended in that brief Summary Thou shalt love the Lord thy God and thy Neighbour as thy self This is the Rule of our Actions on Earth ●and that it is the Rule of the Saints and Angels in Heaven may be thus prov'd 1st That it is the Rule of the Saints or of the Spirits of Just Men made perfect That Law which recovens in the Saints that Image of God which was defac'd by the Fall is the Rule of their Actions but the acting up to the Moral Law is a Recovery of this Image and so must be that Rule For Heaven is properly nothing else but a Recovery of that State with something more of Perfection from which Man by Transgression fell If therefore acting in conformity with the Moral Law in all its Points is a Recovery of that State and that Image it is probable to suppose that in Heaven this Law shall be the Rule of the Actions of the Blessed Saints but an acting up to the Moral Law in all its Points is a Retrieval of the Divine Image for the being made in the Image of God is nothing else but being made in conformity with the Moral Law and in a State of Legal Innocence For the Apostle speaking of the Image of God in Man says That it was nothing else but Man's being made in Righteousness and true Holiness which are the two great Points of the Moral Law the former denoting the Duties of the second Table and the latter of the first As long therefore as Man liv'd up to the Moral Law maintain'd Rightcousness and true Holiness so long was ●e to bear the Divine Image but Man being in Honour had no Vnderstanding but became like the Beasts that perish For when he once broke the Law of his Maker whatsoever the Nature of his Sin was he lost this Image and Likeness to God and resembled rather that Cursed Spirit who had Betray'd him than that Blessed God who had Created him And under this resemblance with the Apostate Angels had he continued had not God by an Effort of Goodness which excell'd even that by which he made him offer'd to retrieve him to his former Image and Likeness And this was by assisting him with his Grace to live up to the Moral Law which he had before broken to keep the Divine Commands which would so purify his Nature as to renew the Divine Image in some proportion till he should be receiv'd into Heaven which his Saviour had purchas'd for him where the Image of God should be renew'd with a Lustre surpassing that in which Man was at first created But the reason why the Image of God should shine with a peculiar Splendour in Heaven seems to be because Man is there put out of a possibility of sinning any more and of defacing this Divine Image And this Heavenly State being only a renewing of that Image of God which Man had shortly after his Creation lost if that Image did as was before shewn at first consist in Man's living up to the Rules of the Moral Law of Righteousness and true Holiness if this Image was forfeited by Transgressing these Laws if it is in some degree renew'd in this Life by acting up to them it seems to follow that it shall be totally renew'd and eternally preserv'd in Heaven by an everlasting Obedience of the Saints to these Laws of Morality of Righteousness and true Holiness This Law therefore is the Rule for the Saints to act by in Heaven And Secondly It is the Rule for the Angels to act by also which may be shewn from an Argument drawn from the Fall and Revolt of the Evil Angels and accuss'd Spirits The Argument is this If those Spirits which fell from before the Throne of God fell by their Disobeying that Law of God which is styl'd the Moral Law it follows that they were oblig'd to the Observance of this Moral Law For every criminal Disobedience supposes an antecedent Obligation But if these accurs'd Spirits were ty'd to the keeping of this Law we must conclude that all the rest of the Angelick Hierarchy w●● under the same Allegiance For 〈…〉 ly there was not one Rule of Obedience given to one part of the Celestial Host and another to the Remainders So that the Point to be prov'd is That the Angels fell by Transgressing the Moral Law The Transgressing of the Moral Law was the Crime which banish'd them Heaven Whether their unpardonable Fault was Ingratitude towards God as some suppose or Infidelity as others or Pride and a Reflection on their own Perfections without considering God as the Author as most or Envy as * Chrysost in Gen. Hom. 19. St. Chrysostom and † Civit. Dei lib. 14. c. 11. St. Austin or whether it was as is most likely a Combination of all these some ●oul and dismal Sin form'd out of the Malignity and Venom of each one of them mixt together yet was it a Violation of the Moral Law It was an Injury offer'd to that Light which God had put within them as well as within Mankind They therefore who sinn'd against the Moral Law who

are Eternally punish'd for this sinning were ty'd to the Observance of this Law If they were oblig'd to it once so are the Angels which stand at present for the blessed Angels are just the same now which they were once Tho' now the Objects of God's Eternal Vengeance yet were they once his chief Ministers as much his Favourites as the most spotless most unstain'd of all the Angels ty'd to no other Rules no other Terms of Obedience The Blessed Angels are therefore at present rang'd under the Occonomy of the Moral Law as well as the Cursed were immediately after their Creation and before their Fall which may be farther prov'd by the Analogy that there is between the Moral Law and the Celestial There is the nearest Resemblance and Analogy between the Moral Law and the Celestial whether we consider the Moral Law as it may be reduc'd to One Precept to Two or to Ten. It may be reduc'd to One to that of Love for Love is the fulfilling of the Law But the most perfect Love is display'd in Heaven in the most perfect Charity for tho' Prophecies shall fail tho' Tongues shall cease tho' Knowledge shall vanish away yet Charity never fails but is compleated in Heaven 'T is the bond of Perfectness and in it as in a Center all Duties meet and are accorded The Moral Law may be farther combin'd into Two Precepts Thou shalt love the Lord thy God and Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self for on these Two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets But the Law remains in Heaven under this Character For first The Saints and Angels love their Ever-blessed God with the purest Transports of Devotion they adore him with the most profound Veneration and they serve him with the most faithful Homage Secondly They pursue one another with the most sincere Love and unfeign'd Charity they rejoyce at one another's Happiness and are as unanimous in their Affections towards one another as they are in their Adoration of God But Lastly The Moral Law is dilated into Ten Precepts and under this latitude they are practic'd in Heaven with the utmost vigour Eight of these Precepts are Negative and there is no doubt but that they are observ'd by the Saints and Angels with the greatest accuracy Far be it from those pure Spirits to lift up their Eyes to any God but the True One to detract from or to envy one another to desire what belongs to another no not another's Happiness As to the Affirmative Commands tho' they do not abide literally yet they remain mysteriously because they are chang'd into better The Fourth of the Sabbath or the Lord's Day shall be alter'd into a more noble one for in Heaven there shall be no distinction of Days but all the Rounds of an happy Eternity shall make up one Day which shall not know a second and that wholly appropriated to the Lord one Everlasting Sabbath one Eternal Rest As to the * Affirmativorum sc Praeceptorum erit in beatltudine summa observatio nisi forte illius de Honoratione parentum quia non erit necessitas impendendi hunc actum Scot. l. 3. Sent. d. 38. q. 1. Fifth it shall not be abolished but perfected for tho' all Carnal Relations shall cease as only subservient to the Necessities of this Life yet shall that Honour that Reverence that Obedience which are by the Fifth Commandment peculiarly attributed to Parents become due to all the Saints The force of all is That the Obedience of the Blessed is a just Rule for our Obedience on account of the Matter of it because they practice the same Virtues and practice them by the same Rule which we are oblig'd to God's Will perform'd in Heaven is therefore on this account a just Standard for our accomplishing of it on Earth So is it on account of the Manner of its Performance by the Blessed Saints and Angels which was the Second General So that I shall very briefly shew that they perform God's Will after that Manner as to be just Patterns for us For First They perform it with all possible Chearfulness and Alacrity The Word is no sooner out of God's Mouth but it is also executed and these Ministers of his stay not so long as even to promise Obedience There is not among them any demurring to the quality of the Command or any delay put to the Execution of it by an over-modest representing their own unfitness for their Task They question not at all with God about the suitableness thereof nor yet debate with themselves whether or no or with what Vigour they shall apply themselves to the Execution of it Secondly They perform God's Will uniformly For an imperfect Obedience is in strict speaking no Obedience at all for he who only obeys so far as himself pleases only does God's Will as far as it complies with his own There is this more extensive Proof of the Uniformity of the Angel's Obedience That the greatest part of it is employ'd in discharging such Commands as subject them in some proportion to those Creatures which are plac'd below them Such are those Commands which demand their attendance upon us who are by Creation made somewhat lower than they yet have made our selves much more so by our Sins and Frailties So that it is easy to be imagin'd That had not their Obedience been truly uniform it would not have carried them to a compliance with such Branches of it as seem not fully consistent with the Dignity and Grandeur of their Order and Station Thirdly Their Comportment with the Divine Will is constant and settled and they always discharge the Will of God as well as chearfully and uniformly That Establishment which is destin'd to their Piety by the Election of God will most certainly produce this Constancy Besides this the Scripture displays them as always looking on the Face of God expecting as it were and inviting his Commands or travelling about his Messages as continually descending from Heaven about their Earthly Ministrations or ascending up thither after the Execution of them Fourthly The Obedience of the Angels is as compleat as it is chearful uniform and constant and reaches to every Branch of their Injunction as well as to all God's Commands because as there can be no doubt of their sufficiency for such a Compliance who are so near to the Divine Influences and so gloriously adorn'd by them so the same Reason and Obedience which move them to have a respect to all God's Commands will incite them to have a regard to every the minutest Punctilio as having the same Impress of the same Divine Will stampt upon it A DISCOURSE Concerning The Qualifications of PRAYER Or A Method to Pray in the Spirit Against the Enthusiasts EPHES. Chap. VI. ver 18. Praying always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit AS Religion is the Life of the Soul so is Prayer the vital Spirit of Religion without which it can neither live nor move

of Nature and their own magnify'd Deism it self prove so extremely necessary how can they expect that God should make fresh discoveries to them by new Miracles But granting that God should condescend so far as to work Miracles in their favour there is the greatest reason to believe that they would find collusions and pretences to continue still in their Unbelief since they have invented ways to evade those of our Saviour granting that the Matters of Fact were true And it is very remarkable That tho' nothing could be more bright and convincing than the Miracles of our Saviour yet the Jews still found out reasons to break the Force and avoid the Evidence of them And are the Scepticks and Deists of our Age less furnisht with Sophistry or better prepar'd to entertain Religion Does not the same disposition of Heart so contrary to the Christian Religion Do not the same Pride Prejudices and Negligence prevail amongst them which did amongst the Jews Is God therefore oblig'd to humour their unreasonable Desires or run the hazard of having his wondrous Works expos'd to their Censures Criticisms and captious Enquiries At this rate God would be engag'd to work a Miracle as often as any Man should arrive at Impiety high enough to doubt of his Religion and to receive prophane Sentiments into his Breast At this rate why ought not Sin and Unbelief to abound that Grace might much more abound But farther Is not the System of Deism so contriv'd as quite to preclude the working of a Miracle For if God is Material as Mr. Hobbs pretends and so not distinct v. Leviath de Regno Tenebrarum from the World or if God and Nature are the same as Spinosa the great Apostle of Deism asserts there can be vid. Tractatum Theologico-Politicum p. 100 Passim as also in his Opera Posthuma and Blunt's Anima Mundi no such thing as a Miracle Tho' an Event may be strange and uncommon yet it must be natural still since God and Nature being the same what is wrought by the former is also wrought by the latter Why therefore do they demand such Proofs which they themselves vouch cannot be given But to close all We have not only Moses and the Prophets but a greater than Moses the Holy JESVS and his Apostles if we hear not them neither will we be perswaded if the greatest Miracle should be wrought and even one should rise from the Dead The Miracles therefore of Religion are wisely adapted to convince us of the truth of it and we our selves may be highly serviceable to perswade Unbelievers of the force of Religion if we will suffer it to work one great and comprehensive Miracle on us that is to reform our Lives by composing the unruly motions of our Souls by cooling the irregular warmth of our Affections and by charming all our Passions into so sedate a Peace as to be submissive to the Rules of the Christian Religion which is greater than to speak with the Tongues of Men and Angels Then shall we bring Honour to our holy Religion and be duly prepar'd to expect the last and finishing Miracle of it that is that our Corruptible may put on Incorruption and our Mortal Immortality A DISCOURSE Shewing That the Moral Law of Moses is the same with that of CHRIST against the Racovian Catechism and others LUK. Chap. X. ver 25 26. A certain Lawyer stood up and tempted him saying Master what shall I do to inherit Eternal Life He said unto him What is written in the Law How readest thou THE peculiar method by which our Saviour deliver'd his Doctrin the tendency of it to a greater measure of Piety than was commonly taught by the most extraordinary Doctors of those times the ratifying of his Divine Commission by a train of unquestionable Miracles which were not only suited for the conviction but also at the same time adapted to the use and service of Mankind and all these grac'd with the most unblameable Conversation that ever was had rais'd the Love of the greatest part of his Auditors the Envy of some the Wonder and Curiosity of all Of this number whether mov'd by Envy or Curiosity alone but most likely principally by the former a Lawyer one who was throughly vers'd in the most refin'd Niceties of the Jewish Law came to try what his Judgment was about the Law or Rule of Life designing probably to discover whether he would advance any thing contrary either to the Law or the receiv'd Traditions that so he might make him obnoxious to the Penalty of that Law whose Sanctions he should dishonour by his Innovations The Enquiry which he proposes to him is one of the greatest importance and in whose Resolution the most momentous Interest is concern'd namely What was necessary to be observ'd for the attaining that External Life which Christ promis'd in a clearer manner than had been display'd by the Law and the Prophets The Enquirer no doubt was expecting a system of new Precepts the addition of a Table unknown to Moses at least that the old ones should be extended to fresh Duties and new Obligations And no question but that he was highly surpriz'd when our Saviour informs him That the Law of Moses and the Prophets was a true and adequate standard of Duty and the living up to it the sole way to Salvation That tho' the Law of Ordinances and Ceremonies oblig'd none but the Jews yet that the Moral Law as it was the Reason so it should be the standing Religion of all Mankind That what was indispensably requir'd to Salvation before the coming of the Messias should as to the Substance of it be so after nor any other Duty superinduc'd For the Law as arising from the nature and relations of Things and Persons and as marking out the boundaries of Good and Evil Right and Wrong which are always in the main the same was uncapable of Change Addition or new Interpretation was still to be read and practic'd agreeably to its genuine and original Sence And that the Saviour of the World during the term of his abode in it had no other Authority but to walk suitable to its Commands and to reconcile for the Affronts which had been put upon its Divine Author by Mankind's disobedience of it A certain Lawyer stood up and tempted him saying Master What shall I do to inherit Eternal Life He said unto him What is written in the Law How readest thou From the Words taken in relation to the purport of the Lawyer 's Question a preparation to which Answer is made in those our Saviour's other Questions What is written in the Law and How readest thou but fully compleated in that Injunction of our Saviour's upon the reading of the Law in the words after the Text Do this and live From the Words thus taken I conclude That as our Saviour did not invalidate any Commands of the Law so on the other hand That nothing was made a Duty