Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	master_n	servant_n	service_n	3,408	5	7.4851	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29183	The life and death of the godly man exemplified in a sermon preached Nov. 12, 1676, at the funeral of that pious and faithful minister of Christ, Mr. Thomas Wadsworth / by R.B.	Bragge, Robert, 1627-1704.	1676 (1676)	Wing B4203; ESTC R20214	19,604	40

perfect man for in a Gospel-sense they that would have no sin in them they have no sin in them and in a Gospel-sense they that desire and strive after perfection they are counted perfect Thus we have done with the first term the first Character that is given of a godly man as he is stiled the perfect man Secondly He is stiled the Vpright man and some distinguish between these two as between the Root and the Fruit the Fountain and the Streams Perfection they refer to the inward state of the Soul and uprightness to outward walking before God and Man but we need not be very curious in distinguishing these two for they are often put one for another and indeed a Christians perfection it lies in his uprightness and therefore Asa and Job and David are said to walk before God with a perfect heart that is with an upright heart Now then to be upright it is to be downright in Religion to be plain-hearted and single-spirited in what we do when we are true to our profession and real in what we do and thus Jacob is said to be a plain man that is a perfect and an upright man without any foldings or doublings in his spirit 't is oppos'd to Hypocrisie and false-heartedness to dissimulation and empty shows in Religion as the Phaerisees you know they made great shows in Religion they did many things but they were false-hearted in all that they did they made long Prayers but it was under a colour to devour Widows houses they gave Alms but it was to be seen of men they had by-ends base and sinister respects in all that they did they did seek themselves and served themselves in their serving of God they did not do it out of conscience and obedience to God to please God to honour God to enjoy God this was the dead Fly in all their Ointment this was the Leven that did sowr all their Services for without this inward Truth and uprightness of heart all that we do in Religion is nothing at all our most glorious performances they are but abominations in the sight of God if there be not this Truth within if they be not done out of conscience and obedience to God it is the same with that simplicity and sincerity you read of 2 Cor. 1.12 In simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world In simplicity not a foolish simplicity but a godly simplicity as God is said to be a Simple Essence without mixture so Pauls simplicity was without all mixture of guile or fraud or deceit in what he did I might shew you what are the Ingredients of this Uprightness when it is that we do act in the uprightness of our hearts First Love to God that must be the spring and principle from whence all comes for if we do not love God we shall not seek to please him in what we do and if we do not love God God will not be pleased with us neither in what we do for what are all our performances to God if they do not slow from Love and how can we love him except we know that he hath lov'd us first and therefore there must be Faith apprehending the love of God in Jesus Christ at the bottom of all without which all that we do in Religion is but Morality And secondly The Will of God must be the Rule of what we do for it is not properly a duty or service done to God if it be not done in obedience to his Will What Master will be served by his Servant as his Servant will if in our serving and worshipping of God we serve him according to our own will and not his Will we do but serve our selves and not God nay indeed we do but set up our selves in the room of God And Thirdly The Glory of God that must be the end of all not that we may have praise and glory from men but that God in all things may be glorified by us if we have any good thing in us it is from the grace of God that we receive it and if there be any good thing done by us it is by the grace of God we are enabled to do it and therefore the glory and the honour of all that we have and do belongs to God The upright man he is always an humble man he hath the lowest and meanest thoughts of himself of any in the World he hath to do with God in all that he doth and so he can see the defects that are in himself and in his services and therefore when he hath done all he doth acknowledg that he is but an unprofitable servant Thus you see who this Upright man is he is one that doth study to approve his heart unto God more than his ways and actions to men We might here shew you what are the signs and evidences of this uprightness of heart but I must not engage too far in that All that I will say is this There are two Verses in Davids Psalms if you are able to repeat them and your hearts not give your tongues the lye in the saying of them it will be a great proof and evidence of your uprightness the one is that in the 139 Psalm ver the last Lord search me and try me and see is there be any way of wickedness in me If you can thus pray to God that God would try you and search you and see if there be any corruption in you that does endanger your Salvation this is a great sign of your Uprightness That is a sure Rule He that repents truly of any Sin he does repent of every Sin for every Sin hath the nature of all Sin in it and therefore he that says This Sin I must reserve herein the Lord be merciful to me this pride this lust of mine I would have spar'd as Saul spar'd the fattest of the Cattel and as David would have the young man Absalom dealt gently withal he is no upright man The other Text is Psalm 119.6 Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy Commandments Mark true Uprightness it hath an eye to all Gods Commandments to all that is good to know the whole Will of God and to practice it He does not pick and chuse amongst the Commandments of God he that truly makes conscience of one Command makes conscience of every Command partial Obedience it is hypocritical Obedience So that here now is your Trial Christians when there is no Sin that you would have hid from Gods eye and no Duty that you would have hid from your eye when there is no Sin which God reveals to you to be a Sin but your hearts are against it and no Duty which God reveals to be your Duty but your hearts are for it when you make conscience of the least known Sin and of the least known Duty this and nothing less than this will prove your Uprightness will prove your

next verse Yet he passed away and lo he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found He is soon wither'd root and branch all his pomp and bravery it does quickly end in dust and ashes Now in opposition to this the Prophet does here draw the Picture of a godly man and he gives us these two lineaments of him he calls him the perfect man and the upright That is the Picture of his Life And then he gives us the Picture of his Death too or of him dying and so his end is peace Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace The observation or lesson I shall commend to you is this It is our duty to observe and take special notice of the good and godly man both in his life and death Such as are holy gracious and godly men it is good for us to observe them living and dying to mark how perfectly and uprightly they live and behold how peaceably and comfortably they dye Here are three things to be spoken too 1. The Life of the godly man 2. His Death And 3. Our duty with reference to him in both these First Let us a little view the Life of this godly man as 't is given us here under these two Characters of the perfect man and the upright The perfect man who is he or what is it to be perfect That is perfect in a strict sense to which nothing needs be added and so he only is a perfect man that hath nothing of imperfection remaining in him But then where shall we find this perfect Man For if Noah and Abraham had their imperfections if Elias is said to be a Man of like passions with us if Job and David were not without their defects where then shall we find this perfect man We must therefore distinguish Perfection is either absolute or comparative Absolute and so they only are perfect who are free from all sin and imperfection and thus the Angels in Heaven and the spirits of just men above are perfect And Secondly there is a comparative perfection and so the godly man may be said to be a perfect man if compared with the wicked who have no grace at all or compar'd with the hypocrite who hath grace only in appearance or compared with other Saints who have less grace than he Or secondly we may thus distinguish it Perfection is either Legal such as the Law requires or Evangelical such as the Gospel accepts of First Legal perfection That lies in a sinless obedience and an exact conformity to the Law of God and such a perfect man is not to be found amongst men in this World For the Scripture concludes all men under sin Job durst not avouch himself to be thus perfect Job 9.20 If I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse And St. John durst not aver himself to be thus perfect John 1 Epist 1.8 If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us To find a Man that hath nothing of darkness or ignorance remaining on his mind that hath no evil thoughts or inclinations rising in his heart that hath no defects or imperfections in any of his duties and services you may as soon find a man that hath no ill-humours no seeds of sickness or death in his body But then Secondly There is an Evangelical Perfection such as the Gospel does accept of and thus the godly man may be said to be perfect and that these Two ways First Perfect as to his justification before God through Jesus Christ a godly man he is perfectly justified that is his sins are fully pardoned they are all blotted out and remitted as if they had never been committed he that truly repents and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ he hath the perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to him and upon that account is perfectly justified he is acquitted from all his sin Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect Rom. 8.33 We are compleat in Christ Col. 2.10 Compleat in him not in our selves 't is in him we have a perfect righteousness for our justification before God in our selves we have none but what is as a filthy rag and hath a Thousand bracks and cracks in it Secondly A godly man may be said to be perfect too as to his Regeneration and Sanctification and that in Two respects 1. Because he hath the perfect beginnings and seeds of all grace and holiness wrought in him even as a Child as soon as it is born hath the perfect limbs and lineaments of his Father eye for eye and hand for hand and foot for foot though he be still capable of further growth and increase in every member and so it is with those that are born of God they have all the lines of Gods image drawn upon their souls they have all the limbs of the new creature repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ love to God hatred of sin and so of the rest though they are still capable of a higher encrease and perfection in every grace so much the Apostle intimates 1 Thes 5.23 where he prays that God would sanctifie them throughout in Soul Body and Spirit Mark they are sanctied in the whole Man though not wholly they are sanctified throughout though not throughly there is no faculty of Soul that remains unsanctified no member of Body that remains unsanctified grace it doth extend it self as far as corruption did unto every part so that the godly man though he be Regenerate but in part for we know but in part and we believe but in part and love but in part yet he hath this perfection that he is regenerate in every part And 2. He may be call'd perfect in regard of the aims and intentions of his desires and endeavours for perfection is that which a godly man doth aim at and which he drives at as in 2 Cor. 7.1 Let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God Mark he speaks of it as a work that is continually a doing it is still in progress and in proficiency for there is no man that is made perfectly holy at the first as there is no man that is grown a perfect man the first day he is born and thus St. Paul Phil. 3.12 13 Not as though I had already attained or were already perfect But this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things that are before I am pressing onward c. Thus now it is with every godly man there is no imperfection remaining in him but what he longs to be fully rid of and no grace and good thing wrought in him but what he desires to be fully perfected he would be emptied of sin to the very bottom and filled with grace to the brim and in this respect he may be called a