Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	pray_v	prayer_n	word_n	4,036	5	4.6953	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56406	The faithful and diligent Christian described and exemplified, or, A sermon (with some additions) preached at the funeral of the Lady Elizabeth Brooke, the relict of Sir Robert Brooke, to which is annexed ... an account of the life and death of that eminent lady : with an appendix containing some observations, experiences, and rules for practice, found written with Her Ladiship's own hand / by Nath. Parkhurst ...	Parkhurst, Nathaniel, 1643-1707.	1684 (1684)	Wing P489; ESTC R14746	35,723	168

much deprest by it Her Danger was of fainting under this correcting Hand of God but she was upheld by him that is able to succour them that are tempted She often exprest her self in Words importing that she justified God and acknowledg'd his Righteousness in it She feared lest some might be scandalized by it and reflect upon Religion and decline it because of her deep Affliction and most earnestly desired that God would take care of his own Name and Glory But afterwards her Spirit revived and she was comforted as before and rejoiced in the God of her Salvation The Close of her Life was a long Languishing of divers Months which gradually confined her first to her Chamber then to her Couch and lastly to her Bed attended sometimes with great Pains under which Patience had its perfect Work During this Sickness her Mind was calm Her Conscience witnessed to her Integrity and she had a good hope in God that he would crown his Grace in her with Perseverance and then with Glory She was very apprehensive of her need of Christ adhered to him rejoyced in him and desired to be with Him She expired almost insensibly and had at the last an easy Passage to the Happiness which is the Reward of Faith and Holiness and the free Gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. She hath left behind her which are Evidences of an unusual Diligence and an admirable Industry a great number of Writings under her own Hand some of which are these A considerable Body of Divinity in a large Quarto shewing what a Christian must believe and practice written Anno Dom. 1631. Collections of Commentaries upon a great part of the Holy Scriptures and of the Sum of the Controversies between Us and the Papists A Book containing Observations Experiences and Rules for Practice which being a most lively Image of her Mind may supply all the Defects of the Narrative I have given of her and is subjoyned here in hope it may be of no little Benefit to all pious Readers AN APPENDIX Containing Some considerable OBSERVATIONS EXPERIENCES and RULES for Practice found written with her Ladiship 's own Hand I. The World's Vanity ALL my Comforts below are dying Comforts no one Creature not all the Creatures that ever I enjoyed have given my Soul Satisfaction II. Good Actions will bear Consideration but evil Actions will not Every Act of Piety and Obedience will bear Consideration but so will not any sinful Action If we consider before we attempt any sinful Action either we shall not commit it or we shall do it with regret and a Conscience half set on fire But if we consider before any holy Action or Duty our considering Thoughts will much animate us to the Service Wherefore I conclude from hence that Sin shames it self and Religion justifies it self III. The Worship of God is made pleasant by a Sense of his Presence in it God's Presence was formerly manifested by visible Signs as the Cloud Fire and Brightness And though we cannot expect these yet we have the same especial Presence of God with us And when ever by Faith we attain any lively Apprehensions of it How solemn profitable and delightful doth it make the Worship of God with what Joy doth it bring us to the Assemblies and how unwilling are we to be kept from them when we have this Expectation from them And finding our Expectation in this answered how devoutly do we behave our selves in them and how joyfully do we return home as they that have seen God and conversed with Him IV. It is our Interest to be Religious It is a most experienced Truth that we shall never be well reconciled to Religion and steady in Piety until we see it is our Interest to be Religious V. It is difficult to pray without some wandring Thoughts in Prayer It is very difficult to carry Sincerity and keep a Sense of God through every part of Prayer which is necessary to be endeavoured and is the Life of the Duty I find it hard to keep my Soul intent for my Thoughts are slippery and swift and my Heart is snatch'd away sometimes against my Will and before I am aware yea even then sometimes when I have made the greatest Preparation and have had the greatest Resolutions through Grace to avoid wandring Thoughts My best Prayers therefore need Christ's Incense to perfume them VI. A deep Sense of God in Prayer is desirable and ravishing Could I understand my near approach to God in Prayer it would exalt my Soul above measure And why am I not ravished with the Thoughts of being in the Presence of God and haing the Ear yea the Heart of the King of Heaven It is nothing but want of Faith and the strange Power of Sense that weakens my Spiritual Apprehensions and keeps me from an unspeakable Delight in my Addresses to God What an high Priviledg is this to speak to the Great JEHOVAH as a Child to a Father or a Friend to a Friend But how slow of Heart am I to conceive the Glory and Happiness thereof Could I but manage this great Duty as I ought it would be an Heaven upon Earth It would bring God down to me or carry me up to Him Why should I not be carried above the World when I am so near to God Why should I not be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory Why am I not even transported beyond my self VII We ought to be constant in Prayer Inconstancy in Prayer is not only sinful but dangerous Omission breeds Dislike strengthens Corruption discourages the Spirit and animates the unregenerate Part. Constancy in this Duty breeds an holy Confidence towards God Inconstancy breeds Strangeness Upon an Omission I must never approach God again or my next Prayer must be an exercise of Repentance for my last Omission VIII Sincere Prayers are never offered in vain Formality is apt to grow upon our secret Prayers one of the best ways to prevent it is to come to God with an Expectation This sets an Edg upon our Spirits I do not enough observe the Returns of Prayer though God hath said I shall never seek Him in vain And when I observe I must acknowledg I have daily Answers of my Prayers in some kind or other Nay I think I may say I never offered a fervent Prayer to God but I received something from Him at least as to the frame of my own Spirit IX Prayer promotes Piety and Godliness and Acquaintance with God It is the Christian's Duty in every thing to pray and Holiness lieth at the bottom of this Duty If I in every thing commit my self to God I shall be sure to keep his way or my Prayer will upbraid me This keeps me from tempting him and makes me careful to find a clear Call in every thing I undertake knowing that if I go only where I am sent the Angel of his Presence will go before me and my way will be cleared of

Concerns of their Souls though of meaner Rank and Condition in the World To such she would speak wisely hear them patiently and treat them compassionately when under Temptations and Disquiet of Mind One of her own Servants coming to her Closet upon this account and beginning to open to her the Grief of her Heart She required her for that time to forget she was a Servant and discoursing with her with great Tenderness and Prudence in reference to her Temptations dismissed her comforted and much revived And very many others she received with the greatest Freedom ministring spiritual Comfort to them That part of Religion which is peculiarly stiled Devotion was the Joy of her Life and the Delight of her Soul A very considerable Portion of her Time was daily employed in Prayer searching the Scriptures and in holy Meditations These things were her proper Element and in them she would often profess she found her greatest Refreshments in these she conversed with God and was then least alone when most alone For she did not meerly perform these Duties nor generally engage in them as a Task but observed the frame of her Spirit in them and commanded the Affections of her Soul to wait upon God not being satisfied without some Emotions of Mind suitable to these holy Exercises as she hath often professed and which I gathered from her complaining sometimes of her Infirmities and of the Difficulty of Praying aright and of preserving throughout that Duty a due Sence of God The Christian Sabbath was also her Delight and a Day in God's Courts better to her than a thousand elsewhere and her Enjoyment of God in the Publick Ordinances and Services of that Day was to her as a little Heaven upon Earth And the Impressions she received by attending those holy Institutions were such as that she long'd in the Week for the return of the Sabbath And great was her Affliction when her Hearing was so impaired that she could not attend the Publick Worship of God though few were better furnished to supply that Want by private Exercises and Closet Devotions And having so eminently prized and improved the Lord's-Days it pleased God on the Evening of one of them to take her to himself there to keep an Everlasting Sabbath in his most immediate and glorious Presence in the Arms of Christ the Beloved of her Soul and in the Assembly of Angels Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and all departed Saints And which deserves Admiration in the midst of all these Attainments Vertues and Graces she was greatly humble and clothed with the Ornament of a Lowly Spirit and while many admired the Example she gave in the World She apprehended that others excelled her in Grace and Godliness and continually reckoned her self among the least of Saints For notwithstanding her Quality in the World her exquisite Knowledge eminent Grace and the mighty Value her Friends had justly for her I could never observe in the whole Course of eighteen Years Converse the least Indication of vain Glory or self-Admiration in her And her Humility was of an excellent kind the Fruit of great Knowledg proceeding also from a deep Sense of the Fall the Corruption of Man's Nature the Imperfection of Mortification in this present State and the Remains of Sin in them that are sanctified and was nourished by a great Sight of God and Acquaintance with him and frequent Self-Examinations and by observing how Sin mingles it self in our best Actions and most holy Duties and by a diligent comparing her Self and her Actions with the exact Rules of the Scriptures Which Grace of Christian Humility was the more illustrious in her by the Accession of the Vertue of Courtesy which she had in a high degree entertaining all Persons with Civilities proper to their several Qualities so that she obliged all though she was evermore careful that nothing in Conversation might border upon those Freedoms that dishonour God and blemish the Christian Profession by this means adorning the Gospel and shewing that Religion though it requires great Strictness yet it doth not necessarily introduce either Melancholly or Moroseness And which is a much greater thing than to be courteous in the highest degree as a real Disciple of Christ she had learned to deny her self and could abridge her own Right that she might thereby promote the Glory of God benefit others avoid Offence and maintain Love and Peace And which may properly be subjoyned to her Self-denial as a Grace equal to it she industriously avoided Censoriousness disliking it in others and endeavoured to make the best Interpretation of both Words and Actions not lightly speaking Evil of any nor readily receiving an evil Report And above all things she abhorred to be Censorious in reference to Preachers and Sermons of which she was a most candid and equal Hearer Judicious and Critical enough but not Captious in the least If but Truth were spoken and Piety urged in any ordinary method she was satisfied so as not to find fault But the Sermons which she preferred were either Discourses greatly Rational or such as did particularly illustrate the sense of the Scriptures or discover the Excellency of the Gospel or such as displayed Christ in his Person Undertaking and Offices or such as discovered the difference between the Real and Almost Christian and such as did most nearly approach the Conscience and urge the Exacted Conversation and the governing the Heart Thoughts and inward Affections In all her Relations she demeaned her self as a Christian She was a faithful dutiful loving and prudent Wife And the Heart of her Husband safely trusted in her She was a most affectionate tender Wife and watchful Mother restraining her Children from Evil according to her power and bringing them up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord most constantly endeavouring to inftil into their Minds the Principles of Justice Holiness and Charity To them that became her Children by marrying into her Family she was most kinde and treated them as her own To her Servants and Tenants she was just and kind and to her Neighbours all that they could desire To her particular Friends she was endeared by her Prudence Fidelity and almost Excesses of Love and improving of Friendship to serve the great Ends of Religion which are the honouring of God and the bettering one another She was also a Loyal Subject to her Prince of which there is full Evidence in this following Relation which was communicated to me by one of her intimate Friends When his late Majesty was in his Enemies Hands and they were preparing for the horrid Murther of that Excellent Prince she was most passionately concerned and being very earnestly desirous that an Hand from Heaven might have prevented that Wickedness kept a private Fast in her Closet on his behalf And when she knew that God in just Judgment to the Nation had permitted Men to take away his precious Life she resented it with the Passions of a Mother professing that the loss

Temptations and Mischiefs When our Call is clear our Way is safe Moreover the Practice of this leads me into much Acquaintance with God my very praying is an acquainting with Him And if in every thing I pray I shall in every thing give Thanks and this still brings me into more Acquaintance with him By this means my Life will be filled up with a going to and returning from God X. The real Christian loves Solitude Solitude is no Burden to a real Christian he is least alone when alone His Solitude is as busy and laborious as any part of his Life It is impossible to be Religious indeed and not to love Solitude in some measure for all Duties of Religion cannot be performed in Publick It is also a thing as noble as 't is necessary to love to converse with our own Thoughts The vain Mind doth not more naturally love Company than the Divine Mind doth frequent retiring Such have Work to do and Meat to eat the World know not of Their Pleasures are secret and their chiefest Delight is between God and themselves The most pleasant part of their Life is not in but out of the World XI There is more necessary to the rendring us truly Religious than a mere external Revelation of Truth True Religion is Heaven born for to the perfecting of it in any Soul not only the outward Revelation is necessary but also an inward Secret and particular Divine Impression The savouring of Divine Things is from the Power of the Highest over-shadowing the Mind for till God makes this inward Impression Men are not able to perceive the Things of God There must be a Light within us as well as without us otherwise the Gospel may be hid even where it shines so that whoever conclude aright that they are under the Power of Religion must experience something very supernatural something that is the Work of God and not of Man something above all their own or the Power of the whole World XII Religion in the Practice of it is most highly Rational Religion makes a Man live up to his Reason So far as a Man is a Christian so far is Reason exalted sitteth in the Throne and governs and commands all the Powers of the Soul Religion enlightens and strengthens Reason and Reason helps and serves Religion Reason is inseparable from the Soul we shall be rational in Heaven and Grace is the Recovery of right Reason The whole Practice of Godliness both in Divine and Moral Duties and the frame of a Christian's Spirit is but the Rational Consequence of two great Principles which the Christian hideth and embraceth in his Heart viz. That there is a God and that the Scripture is his Word The Inferences from these two and the Life of a Christian are the same XIII Religion in the Practice of it is a living in and conversing with God True Relion makes a Man not only live above the World and in Converse with his own Reason but also to live out of himself in God conversing much with him A real Christian will deny himself for God quit all Self-interest and resign to him in all Points of Duty and Service God's Glory is his End his Work his Direction He takes no Pleasure in himself nor in any thing without himself further than he seeth the Stamp of God upon it He forgets himself and minds nothing but the Will of God triumpheth in nothing more than in his own Nothingness and God's All-sufficiency and Fulness This is having nothing and yet possessing all things This is Divine Life and the heighth of Religion to know and perceive that not only as to our Natural Life we depend upon Providence and live and move in God But that also as to our Spiritual Life we receive all of his Fulness and are acted by a Life in and from him Of this I desire to be still more and continually sensible XIV Religion gives us a real Enjoyment of God The true Christian liveth above himself not only in a way of Self-denial but in the very Enjoyment of God His Fellowship is with the Father and with the Son He every where and in every thing seeketh out God in Ordinances Duties and Providences whether prosperous or adverse nothing pleaseth unless God may be found in it or admitted into it That is to him an Ordinance indeed wherein he meeteth God That is a merciful Providence indeed in which appears much of the Finger of God God is nearer to the true Christian than to others for there is an inward feeling an Intellectual Touch which Carnal Men have not And herein is the very Soul of Religion and the Quintessence of it that it unites us in a nearness to God and gives us already to enjoy him XV. Religion gives a Man the power of himself who by Nature is his own worst Enemy True Religion gives a Man a great Command of and restores him to a just Power and Dominion over himself by subduing in him his own Will and Passions Man in his depraved Condition is himself his greatest Enemy For the Devil and World prevail against him not by their own Strength but by the Treachery and Baseness of his own Heart The Destruction of Souls is of themselves Ignorance and neglect of God takes away Fear and there is in him such an Inclination to Sin as leads him to a delightful Entertainment of Temptations so that it is not so much the Devil and the World without as the Devil and the World within not the Baits of Honour Wealth and Pleasure without but Ambition Covetousness and Sensuality within which prevail upon Men. Wherefore unto purified Souls and mortified Minds many Temptations do in a great measure cease to be Temptations XVI Self-denial bears a great part in the practice of true Religion The great Property of true Religion is that it teaches Self-dental which Self-denial is indeed the Foundation of Religion and the Sum of all the Precepts of the Gospel Every true Christian sincerely though imperfectly denies himself and makes a Free-will Offering of himself to God in resigning to him his Will And indeed we can never have Peace in Prosperity unless our Will as to Action be swallowed up in the Divine Will nor can we have Contentment in Adversity except our Will be complying with God's Will This is the great Victory to conquer our selves and to him that thus overcomes is the Promise given of sitting with Christ in his Throne XVII We glorify God not by giving to him but by receiving from him I know I can add nothing to God's Glory I glorify him by receiving from him the Impress of his Glory upon me rather than by communicating any Glory to him When the frame of my Mind and Life is according to his Prescription when I am most like to him when a Spirit of Holiness and Love runneth through all my Actions then I glorify him God seeketh his own Glory by communicating Grace and Happiness to me and

eject it It is not easy to bring the Soul back again into the State in which it was before it contracted Guilt XXXV Anger is seldom innocent I have no reason to trust my Anger it is not so just and righteous as it sometimes seems to be Anger is apt to blind my Mind and then Tyrannize over it There is in it something of Rage and Violence It stirs me up to act but takes away my Rule by which I should act I find an Aptness to credit my Passion and that foments it And when I am under the Power of Passion I have cause to suspect my own Apprehensions For Passion is blind and cannot judg it is furious and hath no leisure to debate and consider Giving way to it makes me unfit to act or receive Grace Though Anger should serve the Interest of Religion and so be good yet it being a strong and fierce Motion of the Spirit it must be used with great Advice and Caution XXXVI It is very hard and difficult to give God his due Glory under cross Providences XXXVII There is a Chain of Graces It is most certain there is a Chain of Graces inseparably link'd together and they who have one have all in some good measure They who have a lively Hope have fervent Love to God and they who love God love their Neighbours and they who love God and their Neighbours hate Sin and they who hate Sin sorrow for it and they who sorrow for Sin will avoid the Occasions of it and they that are thus watchful will pray fervently and they who pray will meditate and they who pray and meditate at home will joyn seriously in the Publick Worship of God Thus Graces are combined and holy Duties link'd together and no Grace is alone It is not with Graces as with Gifts to one is given this and to another that XXXVIII To be impartial in Piety and Mortification is very difficult It is a most difficult thing to withdraw Love from every Sin To proceed a little way in Religion is not hard But it is really so to go to the Extent of Mortification and Piety something of Religion may be embraced and our own Hearts Satan and the World not offended Some Morality and an outside-Devotion is not tedious to Flesh and Blood neither doth it shake Satan's Kingdom nor trouble the most of them we converse with But when we come once to engage in a close walking with God and to live by Rule in every part of Life resolving seriously to indulge no Sin whatever we pull the Kingdom of Darkness upon our Heads Then Corruption will strive Satan will rage the World will scoff watch for our halting and glory in our Miscarriages and we shall find it difficult to run against the course of Nature oppose Satan and go contrary to Men But of necessity this all this must be for any Sin indulged will divorce us from Christ XXXIX To trust in God is a Christian 's necessary Duty I find trusting in God my most necessary Duty My Condition is such that I cannot see before me I know not what a day may bring forth I find my self weak and impotent unable to do or suffer as I ought I cannot preserve my Soul Life Health or any thing dear to me And without trusting in God I cannot expect God should fulfil any Promise it being the Condition of the Promise XL. Trusting in God produces real Comfort I find it comfortable to trust in God it raises my Hope and gives me present Rest and Quiet and holy Contentation Trusting in God like many other Duties is my Work and my Ways XLI To trust in God is one of our most difficult Duties I find it difficult to trust in God at all times When Providences cross my Expectation they discourage me and prove a Temptation through my Weakness I have but feeble Apprehensions of the Power and Goodnese of God when I come to make use of them for my particular Security and Benefit I think I may say it is easier to obey and act for God than to trust in him XLII Faith is the Root of other Graces Faith is the Principle of Spiritual Life and Motion every true good Work and Exercise of Grace take their Rise and Vigor from Faith A Christian prays reads and meditates hears hopes loves is zealous for God and doth good to others Why because he believes What is Repentance and godly Sorrow but the Soul acted by Faith upon the Belief of the Sinfulness of Sin its Opposition and Contradiction to God and of the high Obligations we are under to avoid it and of the Misery we run into by venturing upon it and of the Madness and Folly of ruining our selves by it I find Faith most necessary and that I cannot be without it Where can I go or what can I undertake wherein Faith will not be necessary If I pray or meditate it will be a strange Exercise if Faith be wanting If I read or hear the Word it will not profit me unless I mix it with Faith would I hope in any Promise I must call forth my Faith Would I be heavenly-minded it is Faith must raise me above the World Would I be zealous for God Zeal will not gather Heat unless Faith blows the Fire Would I have Peace and Joy they must be had by believing Nay I can do nothing in my more ordinary Affairs without Faith I must know and believe my Design is good and centers in my great Design which is the Glory of God And the means I employ must be known and believed to be regular and holy or I dare not make use of them And then I must be able to cast my Care upon God and to commit the Event and Issue to him or else my Business becomes burdensom to me and I have no Rest in my self XLIII The Devil is a mighty but not an invincible Enemy I have a powerfull subtile watchful and malicious Enemy to encounter with But he is a known Enemy the Word hath discovered him and his Power is limited God hath promised me Victory over him nay my Lord hath already conquered him And I am not alone in this Warfare against Satan I fight not against him singly there is a whole Army engaged in the Quarrel The whole Church prayes and fights against him the Saints collectively make War upon him All the Prayers of the Church go up to Heaven for my Assistance so that I have help against Temptation from every Corner all strike this Dart into his Side Lord lead us not into Temptation And we all fight under our Victorious Captain Christ Jesus The Honour of God and of Christ my Head is bound up in my Safety and therefore I shall conquer nay his very Temptations shall turn to my good All these Considerations are my Encouragement XLIV The Things which the Holy Ghost teacheth The Holy Spirit teacheth every gracious Soul to regard the Immortal Spirit above the Body