Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	faith_n	good_a	work_n	3,907	5	6.0359	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61182	A sermon preach'd to the natives of the county of Dorset, residing in and about the cities of London and Westminster, at St. Mary Le Bowe, on Dec. 8, 1692, being the day of their anniversary feast by the Lord Bishop of Rochester.	Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713.	1693 (1693)	Wing S5062; ESTC R13442	15,232	42

one accord to signifie the Harmonious Agreement of their Spiritual Society They continued daily with one accord in the Temple to testifie their Preference of Establish'd Consecrated Places and their Observance of Orderly Decency in their Devotions Nor did they only there continue in Prayer in Petitioning Heaven for Benefits to come but in Praising GOD for Mercies receiv'd Which is the Noblest the most Sublime the most Coelestial Part of Christian Worship as being indeed the chief Business of Heaven it self And if there be any Communion of Saints which we must believe or utterly renounce one Article of our Creed if any such thing as a Holy Catholick Church whereof surely the proud Boastings and false Pretences of Rome cannot wholly abolish the thing it self then there is no manner of Question but the largest Measures of Grace will be Communicated to our Souls in these Publick Offices of Prayer and Praise which at once as the whole Primitive Church did then so a considerable part of it now with united Tongues and Affections and Spirits more united presents to the Throne of Grace That is the First Part of my Text The Multitude of them that believed were all of one Heart and one Soul in this Sense and to this Degree and in the Uniform Performance of all these Spiritual Duties Now My Brethren upon this so intimate an Agreement of their Understandings Wills and Affections in Matters of Faith and Worship there presently succeeded a like Harmony of Good Works They all practis'd a general Distribution and Participation of each others Earthly Riches and Possessions Which is the last Effect here mention'd of their being all filled with the Holy Ghost None of them said that ought he possessed was his own but they had all things common They were really their own things as much as any other Mens Goods were theirs But their new Principle of Christian Charity had made them to alter their Thoughts so much about them as even to change and transfer the very Propriety of them It cannot indeed be denyed but of such an extraordinary more than Brotherly Love and strict Fellowship as this of the Apostles and Primitive Disciples there had before some Shadows and Footsteps appear'd in the Practise of some Men of other Religions both among the Jews and the Gentils Among the Jews such a Communication of all things was in great part used by that Sect which they call'd Essens towards Men of their own way of Discipline And a Generation of Men they were who of all others came nearest the Christian Institution So that as Grotius tells us our Lord had many of his first Disciples out of the Men of that Profession For which Reason probably as he observes they alone were seldom or never reprehended by our Saviour himself as all the other Sects were very frequently and sometimes exceeding sharply Such a Communication also was in some sort in use among the Pythagoreans and some other Fraternities of the Heathen Philosophers and some of their wisest Polities of Civil Society Whose chief Aim being the Advancement of Human Nature by all Natural Means and they believing they could not do that by any better way than by raising Frienship to the highest pitch which they justly esteem'd the most perfect Natural State of Mandkind in this World They therefore Cultivated especially that kind of Friendly Life which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies the same with the Phrase in my Text of having all things common But notwithstanding all this it were easie to prove that of all the Communities of Goods which have been ever essay'd among Men this of the Apostles and first Christians was the most Excellent the most Innocent the most Spiritual and sincerely Charitable kind of it As for that Sect of the Jews though they did bountifully dispense their Estates in common to Men of their own Party and Form of Life yet we do not find but the same Men still retained something of the general Temper of the Jewish Nation which was to be kind only to themselves and their Proselytes but rigid and hard-hearted to all the World besides especially to all that differed from them in Religion So that in Truth the Divine Efficacy of the Christian Faith in its first beginnings was scarce ever more illustrated in any thing than in this that it first undertook to convince the Jews and could bring so many of them so speedily from the most stiff-necked Arrogance and narrow-handed Austerity to the greatest Humility and Generosity that ever Mankind was acquainted with For as for the Heathens also who profess'd to hold such a Community of all things they generally went so far in the abuse of it as to lay all things common not only lawful but unlawful things too even some of those things which by the Laws of GOD and of Nations had been made most proper and peculiar But in such things the greater the Community the greater the Wickedness Whereas this Evangelical Community here instituted in the Primitive Church had all the quite contrary Advantages and Perfections First It was most pure spotless and unblameable It was only a Communication of Lawful Things and of such Things as might Lawfully be used in common But all Fellowship with the unfruitful Works of Darkness all Imagination of partaking in unlawful things they universally condemned and their practise was accordingly They restrained themselves and taught us to abstain not only from the real Guilt but from the very appearance of Evil. They utterly abhorred the least suspicion of Licentiousness under a pretence of Christian Freedom They knew that although through Christ they were free indeed yet he had redeemed them only from the Burden of Legal Observances and not from the Obligation of Moral or Natural Laws Secondly As their Liberal Distribution of their Temporal Inheritances for the Relief of those among them that wanted did flow from the most Divine Principle of Christian Love and Tenderness towards all their Brethren of the same Faith and Communion so it was at the same time accompanied with an unconfined Good-will an open-hearted Kindness and enlarged Bowels of Compassion to all Mankind besides What St. Paul exhorted all Christians to do they perform'd in an Eminent Degree As they had Opportunity they did good to all Men though they did it chiefly to those of the Houshold of Faith And that indeed is the true Christian Charity It may have its Degrees but never admits of its Contraries So that all who are sincerely thus affected may express their Charity to some more than to others but must never be uncharitable much less unjust to any To all we are bound to practise a perpetual Communication of our good Will and good Offices and of our Goods too in the Works of Justice and Charity In the Works of Charity according to our Capacities in the Works of Justice always and without reserve For only the Able can be Charitable And it may not sometimes be a

of Heaven as well as the other and as such are to be distributed by the same Laws They were therefore all of one Heart and one Soul than which a nearer Agreement cannot be described or imagin'd The Heart if there be any difference of the Expression in Scripture-Language being to be taken for the chief Seat of the Will and Affections and the Soul of the Judgment and Understanding Nor was this only spoken of St. Peter and the rest of the Twelve nor only of the Apostles and Seventy Disciples nor only of the first Hundred and Twenty in the Upper Room nor only of the Three Thousand Converted by one Sermon but of All of the Multitude of them that Believed Certainly some strange and unusual thing must needs happen as here it did that could bring together and cement such a Multitude so as to make them be of one Heart that could persuade such a Multitude to converse together and conspire in the same Thoughts and Desires as if they had but one Soul Whereas a Multitude however composed too commonly seems by its inconstant and fluctuating Counsels its partial Debates and perverse Opinions and head-strong Resolutions to have more Hearts and more Souls than it really has even more than it has Bodies In the Weakness and Ignorance or prejudicate Knowledge of a Multitude how easily are the Seeds of Dissention and Contradiction sown By the various Interests or wilful Humours or violent Passions of a Multitude how quickly are they rais'd and inflamed And when once a Multitude is engaged in Divisions how hard a thing is it to compose them again A Multitude therefore could never have been so united had they not been a Multitude of Believers Nor then neither had not the Holy Ghost the Blessed Author of all Peace and Truth inclined them to it Had not that taught them to make the Matter of their Belief to be the Cause and Ground of their Concord not of their Separation as too often since has been experienc'd The Difficulty of so Divine a Work to Unite a mixt Multitude of all People and Languages to Unite them so closely to Animate them all with such Cordial Affections did well become the Almighty Power of the Holy Spirit It well became and could only belong to that Blessed Person who is one GOD the same with the Father and the Son GOD Blessed for ever to inspire so great a Degree of Union into the Minds of all whom it fill'd with its first Gifts and Graces and Benedictions And Beloved in our Lord and Saviour this Heavenly Fruit of the Heavenly Spirit 's being thus pour'd forth on the Primitive Christians was not only intended as some of the other Fruits of it were to confirm our Faith but also to instruct us in one of our most necessary Duties The Apostles Miraculous Acting and Speaking with such Invincible Freedom and Power requires our Belief of the Faith that they Preach'd And GOD took this way to establish it But that Marvellous Unanimity of their first Converts concerns our practise and was design'd to direct it It is not given us to follow them Step by Step in their other extraordinary Privileges and Prerogatives But in their humble and Fraternal Condescentions to each other their peaceable Acquiescence in the same Divine Truths their meek Obedience to the same Holy Laws in these we may and ought to follow them The Glory of the Signs and Wonders which they wrought was enough for GOD's purpose in propagating the Gospel to all Times and Places But we of these latter Ages can never arrive at the same Abilities nor ought we to emulate them in what was Peculiar to their time and Personal to Themselves Whoever does he is likely to shew more Proofs of his own Natural Vanity or Spiritual Pride than of any Supernatural Power or Illumination Yet still it is left to us and it is incumbent upon us with the utmost of our Zeal to imitate their other Virtues and Graces which are though of a lower Degree yet of a Perpetual Duration for the Benefit of the Church Such as their Simplicity of Heart their Agreement in the same Acts of Piety and their Consent in the same Christian Faith In those their more exalted and inspired Endowments we must of necessity be defective since we cannot have any the least proportion of their immediately-Divine Helps to acquire them And because those are not so necessary indeed not at all necessary in this common and setled Course of Christianity as they were for the first Founding of it But as for these their other good and gracious Dispositions such as their Meekness Self-Denial Patience Long-suffering Forbearance of each others Frailties and Fellow-feeling of each others Infirmities such as inclined them to this Unity of Heart and Soul and are all still equally necessary to us towards our attaining of these we have still a sufficient Assistance from that Father of Lights from whom they are derived Of all these My Brethren it was especially design'd that there should be a perpetual Succession deriv'd down on all that succed them in the same Faith In these they are to be our lasting Patterns to the End of the World I mean in this Mutual Concurrence and Conformity of Minds This Charitable Compliance of Judgments and Endearment of Affections among our selves this mild gentle tender-hearted Temper towards all Men this submissive Uniformity in GOD's Worship All of them Virtues and Graces that exceedingly contribute to the very Being much more to the Well-being of the Christian Church All of them so peculiarly the Effects and certain Influences of the Holy Ghost that they are expresly call'd the Unity of the Spirit and that which is inseparably annext to it The Bond of Peace Wherefore in the Name of GOD let us all fix our Eyes and our Hearts on that uncorrupt Original of the first Christians Agreement in sound Doctrine and holy Worship which was as you have heard the genuine and immediate Off-spring of the true Spirit of GOD. That most Christian Communion which began so soon so gloriously That most happy Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That most Spiritual one Accord That most desirable Unity of Heart and Soul which was most frequently and most religiously enjoyn'd all Christians by the Author and Finisher of our Faith And which took so effectually in them that were the first Publishers of it When they come to recommend it to us you see with what Vehemence they do it Beseeching us If there be any Consolation in Christ if any Comfort of Love if any Fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels of Mercies Fulfil ye my Joy saith the Apostle Phil. 2. 1. That you be like-minded having the same Love being of one Accord of one Mind And when they come to use Arguments for it you see how they press us all the ways that can be thought of to make it enter into our Souls how they oblige us to it by all the Considerations of Duty

Man 's own fault that he is not able to be outwardly Charitable But it is ever a Man 's own fault only if he is not outwardly Just and at least inwardly Charitable to all Thirdly This free dispensing of their Goods and Possessions that was then made by the Able to sustain the Unable and Afflicted was far from being intended to cherish the Laziness or to encourage the Negligence or to nourish the Vanity and Pride of any that were thus relieved but to quite contrary Purposes that is either to supply the real Wants of the innocently Necessitous or to comfort those that were under fierce Persecutions or to excite those to indefatigable Industry who were to labour in the Work of the Lord that with more Leasure and Freedom from Worldly Cares and Diversions they might attend the most important Business of saving Souls and spreading the Everlasting Gospel These My Brethren were the only or the principal Ends of the first Christians having all things common Ends very different from those of the Monastical Life as it has been universally abused in all Christendom Though that pretends to come nearest the first Christians retirement from the World and free partaking of what each other possessed and living their Life in common But towards the imitating of that humble devout and self-denying Life of the Apostles and their Disciples it is not sufficient for Men or Women only to profess a sullen Reservedness or unprofitable Separation from the World For some Persons in shew of a more Spiritual Life to live idly upon others mistaken Charity is not to practise the Primitive Community of Goods Whoever will be really like those great Examples of Self-denial and Abstinence 't is not enough only to follow them superstitiously and servilely in some one little accidental thing some indifferent Habit or Action of their Lives Rather we must endeavour to resemble them in their real Virtues and solid Excellencies and in carrying on the Work of GOD by doing all the Good we can in this World as they did Fourthly It is observable that of the Goods and Estates of the first Christians thus brought as Free-Will-Offerings into one Common Treasury the Disposition was ordered with great Prudence Equity and Piety and that at first by no less Men than the Apostles themselves afterwards indeed it was committed to inferior Ministers but still at the Appointment and under the Inspection of the Apostles In this Chapter it is said That as many as were possessed of Land or Houses sold them and brought the Prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the Apostles Feet and Distribution was made to every Man according as he had need so that there was none among them that lacked Behold I pray As that was the first General Purse if I may so call it of Christian Charity that ever was raised by the Power of the Christian Faith so the careful directing of it was an Employment worthy of the Apostolical Office it self and becoming their high Dignity and Super-eminent Station in the Church of GOD. For the very Apostles discharge of their Duty it was not sufficient that with great Power they gave Witness of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Nor was it enough for them to Baptize Men into and Confirm them in his Faith nor by Exhortation to Rouze and Awaken the Drowzy World nor by Reproof to Chastise and Admonish the Stubborn and Negligent nor by seasonable Counsels and Comforts to Strengthen the Doubtful and Refresh the Weak But by a constant giving their own according to their Abilities and by a diligent Collection of others Alms-deeds and by a wise Administration of both they became the first Publick Almoners of the whole Christian World You see in a time when the whole Christian Church was in a State of outward Poverty and Misery that was undoubtedly one of the most Christian Offices then to relieve the Indigent to comfort the Distressed to provide for the Widows Orphans Captives Aged and Infirm And certainly therefore the like Deeds of Mercy and Piety ought never to have a less Esteem among all Christians to the End of the World Especially in times of the Churches Prosperity However this we are sure of so highly did the first Planters of Christianity in their time value such common Works of Compassion and Bounty performed in a right Evangelical Method And indeed it is wonderful to consider almost incredible to tell how great Advantages the Gospel obtained in its first setting forth by the Merciful Charitable and Hospitable Conversation of its first Professors When the World beheld Men so despicable in their outward Condition yet enobled and adorned with all that Lustre of Spiritual Gifts When Men saw them so ambitious of another World so unconcern'd for this so not in the least desirous of what was other Mens so Generous in what was their own using their own things so moderately themselves as if they had belonged to others only shewing them to be their own by their readiness of giving them to others When Men saw things so much above the common rate of Human Nature produced in these Men and that only by their being Christians they could not but have a high Esteem of that Excellent Religion they could not but be strongly inclined to embrace it themselves You have heard that the Reasons here assign'd why the first Christians had so soon the Favour of all the People were principally three The first That they went about from House to House eating their Meat with Gladness and Singleness of Heart There is their innocent Hospitality and their right use of the true Christian Liberty in that particular The second That all who believ'd continued together with one accord in Prayers and Praising GOD There is their publick owning of Religion and Zeal for GOD's Worship The third That they sold their Goods and Possessions and distributed them to all Men as every Man had need There is the Universal Extent of their Charity And for this last Cause chiefly it was that they had the favour of all the People as the aforemention'd Excellent Interpreter conceives It is the Doing of Works of Liberality and Bounty in the sight of all the People that most naturally gains their Favour and Affections Of all Religious Actions none are more praise-worthy or amiable none more acceptable to GOD and Men than the visible Works of Mercy and Piety such as are freely and bountifully bestowed either for the Service Comeliness and Honor of GOD's Worship in his Temples or for refreshing the Minds and feeding cloathing and relieving the Bodies of the Poor and Needy which are his Temples also And My Brethren this their abundant Goodness and Benignity this sweet-smelling Sacrifice to GOD this most delectable Savour among Men this best-hallowed Incense that ever was seen on Earth or rose up towards Heaven continued to adorn and perfume the whole Christian Name for several Ages their irreconcileable Enemies themselves being