Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	course_n	zeal_n	zealous_a	14	3	9.1016	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81177	A sermon preached before the worshipful mayor of Bridgewater, and several other members of that ancient corporation, in the county of Somerset At a lecture design'd for reformation of manners. By John Cumming M.A. minister of the gospel in Shepton-Mallet, in the same county.	Cumming, John, minister of the gospel in Shepton-Mallet.	1699 (1699)	Wing C7583; ESTC R230231	19,904	41

as far as in them lies Such Sinners in their works deny his Being and reject his Government In their Works they deny him Tit. 1.16 They say in their Hearts There is no God Psal 14.1 They deny him Honour and Obedience tho' he is their rightful Lord. They will not have him to Reign over them nay they War against Him Now who hath any concern for Gods Glory or Kingdom but must discover his Zeal and a Holy Indignation against such Sinners What should be so dear to a Christian as the Glory of God the honour and advancement of his Kingdom Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee And am not I grieved with them that rise up against thee Ps 139.21 The Glory of God is the end of our being It deserves the slower and strength of our Affections We are taught to give it the preference in our Devotions And we are to seek it in the first place in all our Actions It naturally follows then That we should be greatly concerned for it and consequently filled with the greatest Indignation against the invaders thereof God's Enemies as such ought to be ours also And nothing more discovers our Love to God than that we cannot bear them which are evil that is them that are ungodly and enemies to him 2. A real hatred and abhorrence of Sin The Wicked Ungodly and Prophane are hateful not as Men but as Sinners and Rebels against their Maker And what maketh them hateful unto God should make them unsufferable to all that bear his Image He that really hateth the Sin will never indulge and cherish the Sinner I will not know a wicked Person saith the Holy David Psal 101.4 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell in my House I will early destroy all the Wicked of the Land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the City of the Lord ver 7. and 8. ibid. Thus a gracious Soul in his respective capacity whether a private Person Magistrate or Minister cannot bear them which are evil According to his abhorrence of Sin his Indignation manifests it self against the Sinner either by a seasonable reproof a withdrawing from his Society a refusal to comply with him some testimony of dislike or bringing the Offender to Justice by shame or punishment Thus a Holy Indignation against Sinners as such discovers the cursed nature of Sin and how hateful it is to a gracious Soul And e contra a connivance at the Sinner argues some respect unto the Sin It was Jehosaphat's foul blot and blackest spot that he loved them that hated the Lord. 2 Chro. 19.2 shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord Therfeore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. 3. All lawful endeavours to reform or in case of obstinacy to restrain Sinners in their courses Who would not desire and endeavour the Reformation of Sinners if possible Under the old and severest dispensation the very Cities to be destroyed had first peace proclaimed to them If there is the least hope of Reformation by ●●hortation Reproof or otherwise how happily are such endeavours used He that turneth a Sinner from the evil of his way saveth a Soul from Hell And to this end we should neither spare our prayers nor our most earnest endeavours every one in his place and Station But if this will not do as we regard God's Honour our own Duty the good of Sinners or the happiness of Mankind we must labour to restrain and suppress growing wickedness every one according to his place and station For no plague so spreading and dangerous as Sin No evil so threatning to the private and publick to Families Churches and Kingdoms It is a cursed and bitter root the reproach of any People an Evil attended with dreadful consequences and effects It therefore highly concerns every one to endeavour to restrain the course and spreading thereof This should be the great care and work of Masters in their Families of Ministers in the Churches of Magistrates in the Commonwealth and of all Persons in their several places And how much good might be done if all did joyn hand in hand in this Work Then should we glory not in the empty Name of the Reformed but in a happy Reformation The plague would stop and Sinners would appear as Theeves and Robbers were they on all hands pursued with the hue and cry When all in their several places set up their standard against Wickedness and prophaneness when Ministers use aright the Keys of Doctrine and Discipline and live down Sin when Christians testify against and arraign it on all occasions and Magistrates are a terrour to evil works and as Ministers of God and Divinely appointed Revengers execute Wrath upon incorrigible Sinners and evil Doers Then there may be some hope of a Reformation then may it be said of all That they are Zealous for God Valiant for the Truth and Active to restrain and stop the torrent of growing Wickedness Or as it is in the Text that they cannot bear them which are evil Who but such as delight in devastations can stand unconcerned to see a devouring Fire spread and consume all before it In such a case what hands are at work What endeavours used All bring their Buckets and offer their Service And is not the danger as great or greater when Sin breaks in upon a Land as a Flood When it runs as Lightning and kills like the Plague When it spreads as a Gangrene and eats like a Cancer In a word when Iniquity abounds and the number of Sinners is daily increased Who should not then stand in the Gap and appear for God Who should not endeavour to bind up the hands of Self-murtherers and to restrain the course of such Sinners as are not only thorns and briers in the sides of the Church but a plague unto the World Surely when Sinners turn obstinate and resolute against Reformation 't is high time for such as fear God to appear for him and manifest a Zeal for his Glory And should they not considering how good their Cause is be as active for God as others are or can be for the Devil Methinks all Christians should be ambitious of the Character of the Text Thou canst not bear them which are evil Thus a true zeal for God discovers not only a Concern for his Glory and a Hatred of Sin but stirs up to all lawful and possible Endeavours to reform or restrain Sinners in their wicked Courses So much at least is emplyed in not being able to bear them which are evil II. Consider we That such a zeal is not only commendable but the Duty of all Christians especially of Christian Rulers whether Civil or Ecclesiastical All Christians in general in their several places are bound by their allegiance to declare their Love and Loyalty to God and their hatred of his Enemies It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing Gal. 4.18 And what better thing than

the pursuing of Gods Glory in the reformation of Sinners Moreover this zeal for God is one of the Effects and Discoveries of true Repentance or a godly Sorrow 2 Cor. 7.11 Yea what zeal It is a Frame most contrary to a lukewarm and Laodicean Spirit than which nothing is more hateful unto God And therefore Sinners of such a temper are called to this instead of all other Duties and that because indeed a pious and regular Zeal leads to all other holy Performances Rev. 3.19 Be zealous therefore This was that which made Phinehas famous to all Generations and gained him the Covenant of an everlasting Priest-hood He was zealous for his God and against these bold Sinners Zimri and Cosbi Numb 25. verse 8 15. This seems to have been Elijah's Boast or matter of glorying he pleads it twice before God in a Breath I have been very jealous surely it was his Zeal that made him so for the Lord God of Hosts for the Children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant 1 Kings 19. ver 10 14. This was that which gained the highest Character from the Spirit of God to David Asa Jehosaphat Hezekiah and Josiah above all other Kings they zealously advanced a Reformation This is the great Glory of the promoters of Reformation in any and all Ages and an Argument of the greatest sincerity and faithfulness in Gods Service It is what the Religious Nehemiah and the same may be said of other Reformers took much comfort in in his Reflections upon and Examination of his former Life Remember me O God saith he when he had been reforming and cleansing the People and manifesting his zeal against the prophanation of the Sabbath Nehem. 13.31 What shall I say It was one of the great and crying sins of Judah and what forced such floods of tears from the fervent Prophet Jeremiah That the people bent their tongues for lies but were not valiant for the truth upon the Earth Jer. 9.3 Surely then to be zealous for God is a duty incumbent upon all high and low that espouse the interest of God and Religion But that Christian Rulers whether Civil or Ecclesiastical should more especially discover a zeal for God and the reformation of Sinners that they should in their respective places endeavour to cast off all evil doers from the City of the Lord will further appear by considering that I. Their function and places call them to appear in a more eminent manner for God Such are God's mouth unto and his representatives among the people God hath raised them unto honour above others and invested them with Power and Authority in order to instruct rule reform and punish Sinners It is their work the very design of their office to stop the current of Prophaneness to promote Righteousness to discountenance Sin and maintain the power of Godliness Therefore they are to lay themselves out for God The Minister to reprove rebuke exhort with all Authority And the Magistrate to maintain justice and good order and to distribute rewards and punishments For he is the Minister of God a Revenger to execute Wrath upon him that doth evil Hence it is he is said not to bear the Sword in vain Rom. 13.4 Let such Rulers consider the great end of Providence in calling them to Authority over and above others and they need no more to discover or prompt them to their duty to be zealous for that God by whom they rule and to whom they must be accountable for the faithful discharge of their places For to bear patiently them which are evil to encourage or connive at Sinners what is it but to contradict the end and great design of their Office II. By not opposing and appearing zealously against spreading wickedness they involve themselves in the guilt of the abominations and sins committed in the places where they Live and bear Rule Malum qui non prohibet cum potest Jubet saith the Moralist he that suffereth Sin to be committed when it is in his power to hinder it is equally guilty with the acter And the guilt is so much the greater as any is in authority or power to do God Service A Ministers People is in a manner his Family and a People within a Magistrates Juridiction is his also If it is in their power therefore to command good order and reform the one or the other and they do it not what is this but to encourage sinners in their wickedness Is it not to become publick Patrons of Sin and consequently to contract publick Guilt Elie's great Sin was that when his Sons made themselves vile he restrained them not Therefore saith the Lord I will Judge his House for ever 1. Sam. 3.13 how far this concerneth all in Authority who also are Fathers in their several places let them consider I am sure he payed dear for his negligence and it is recorded for admonition to others III. Much may be done to restrain growing Impiety and prevent impending Judgments when Men in authority perform the duty of their places Sinners are greatly discouraged when they see others brought to shame or punishment and that there is no transgressing with Impunity The zeal of two such Witnesses as a Religious Magistracy and Ministry doth not only torment but terrify the boldest Sons of Belial And for encouragement Acts of Justice are a Sacrifice acceptable unto God and sometimes as an atonement for the most crying Sins as in the case of Phinehas But supposing a People incorrigible and equally regardless of the Authority of religious Magistrates and Ministers which is the saddest case the worst that can be supposed yet what comfort will it prove unto such Rulers that they have done their duty It is not of them that Sin groweth or Sinners multiply They stood in the Gap and their great Affliction was that the Sons of Belial were too hard for them But however as faithful Witnesses and in some sense Martyrs they shall have their Souls for a prey God is not unfaithful to forget their labour and zeal for his Glory IV. A hatred of Sinners a restraint of Prophaneness makes Rulers a publick blessing unto any People By righteousness a Nation is exalted and Sin is not only a reproach but a sore and threatning evil Then it is The wicked walk on every side when vile Men are exalted Psal 12.8 Then sinners multiply and sin appears bare faced And the consequence is such Rulers are a visible Judgment and a Curse upon the People They are given in wrath and not in mercy On the contrary religious Rulers are a publick Blessing as pillars on which the happiness of a People stands firm and unshaken The Earth and all the Inhabitants thereof are dissolved I bear up the Pillars thereof saith the royal Psalmist Psal 75.3 Were it not for Government all things would soon come to ruin and dissolution Not only the throne but the happiness of Mankind is established by Righteousness Blessed art thou O Lord When thy