Selected quad for the lemma: end_n
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A55472
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A rational catechism, or, An instructive conference between a father and son
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Popple, William, d. 1708.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing P2966; ESTC R25590
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45,595
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164
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own actions as not to fal frequently into the same known fault Let us consider it in a familiar example What so common as Swearing Now can it be doubted but any habitual Swearer may with a strong Resolution and diligent Care retain himself one quarter of an Hour from that Sin Surely it can not But if a quarter of an Hour why not then half an Hour why not an Hour a Day a Week a Month a Year The same Care wil stil produce the same Effect And not only so but the Work wil be more easy in the End than in the Begining For the strength of the Habit which in the Begining swayd powersully towards Vice and made the first Resistance difficult wil in the End help as effectually towards the Work of Reformation and make the Conquest easy Then wil be experienced the Truth of those Sayings That the Commandments of Christ ar not grievous but that his Yoke is easy and his Burden light And what I say on this particular Instance of Swearing wil hold in al other known Transgresfions Resolution and Watchfulness wil overcom them He that makes it as much his Business to reform his Life as another dos to learn some Trade or Art wil succeed as effectually in that Design as the other in this The one may fail now and then But in the main he practises his Art exactly and is therfore reputed a perfect Master And so the other tho he be not exempt from al possibility of Miscarriage yet he can not chuse but attain to such a Conquest over Sin as that it shal have no longer any Rule over him and to such a general and habitual Practice of Vertu as may truly denominate him a righteous Person And doing so that Man may have Comfort for the Scripture is most evidently clear that his former Transgressions shal be no longer imputed unto him but that by Perseverance in an habitual Course of wel-doing he shal save his Soul. Thus then I say this Perfection is attainable and with it Happiness The Importance is That we apply our selvs heartily to the Work For where such Application is real it fails not to be effectual In the last Place I have promised to shew thee that this sort of Perfection I say perfect Sincerity has in effect been attained And for that I here give thee a List of divers Persons who ar recorded to have therby experienced both Comfort and Assurance in their Condition I wil ad no more But to conclude becaus of the Importance of the Matter I refer thee for the removal of al other Doubts upon it unto that honest and plain yet excellent Discourse of the Reverend Dr. Tillotson's upon 1 John 3. 10. In this the Children of God ar manifest and the Children of the Devil Whosoever doth not Righteousness is not of God. which single Sermon of his wil teach thee more solid and useful Religion than many Volumes of notional and disputative Authors S. I can not but now acknowledg that this Scheme you have given me of Christian Religion is so plain and intelligible in al its Parts so suited to the Facultys of Humane Nature and so agreeable to the revealed Wil of God in Scripture that I am constrained to acquiesce in every thing you have said And the great Clearness that I now perceiv therin makes me astonished at the Perversness of those Men Who rather than follow the Guidance of this Light and walk in that Even Path which it discovers unto them chuse to throw themselvs into intricate and obscure Labyrinths where they have no Assistance in their Conduct but from the faint and uncertain Glances of dark or dazeling Misterys or to use a Scripture Metaphor who forsake the Fountain of Living Waters and hew out unto themselvs Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no Water F. Thy Astonishment is not without Caus. Yet the Reason of this Miscarriage may be easily perceived Interest in the Guides or Governors and Ignorance in the general Herd of Men contribute much unto it But our Savior himself has shown us the great Reason therof in telling us that Men lov Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds ar Evil. They ar conscious to themselvs of the Evil of their Doings and ar loath to be at the Pains of reforming And therfore they indeavor to frame unto themselvs such a System of Religion as they fancy may save them in their Sins rather than from their Sins This is the great Obstacle to the Advancement of Truth that they receiv not the Lov of it but have Pleasure in Unrighteousness But without troubling our selvs further in searching out the Occasion of these Men's Miscarriage I again exhort thee unto whom this tru Light now shineth that thou make it thy special Care to cast off the unfruitful Works of Darkness and to let thy Light so shine before Men that they may see thy good Works and glorisy the Father who is in Heaven That wil be a far more effectual way of convincing them than al that I have said has been to convince thee S. I thankfully receiv your Admonition and resolv now to cease al useless Inquisitiveness and by the Grace of God to apply my self so diligently to the Regulation of my Life by these Rules that I may in the end be made Partaker of that Happiness which attends the Observance of them and that you may in the mean time receiv the Comfort to see that your Labor has not been bestowed upon me in vain F. The good God I beseech him strengthen thy honest Resolutions and crown them with a suitable Success To facilitate thy Work I wil sum up al in a few Words and then leav thee to his Blessing Thou hast learnt that the Substance of tru Religion consists neither in Ceremonys nor Notions but in Sincerity and Practice It lys not in outward Profession and Shew not in Meats and Drinks and other carnal Ordinances not in Sacrifices tho even of God's own Appointment not in Faith nay not in Gifts how excellent soever nor even in the knowledge of deepest Misterys These things indeed ar Means and Instruments But the End of al is Righteousness and the Effect therof is Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost What God requires at our Hands towards himself is That we adore him in Spirit and in Truth What he requires of us towards our Neighbors is Brotherly-Kindness and Charity St. James explains this last Branch in telling us that pure Religion and undefiled before God the Father consists in visiting the Fatherless and Widdows in their Affliction and in keeping our selvs unspotted from the World And the Prophet Micah comprehends both Branches in requiring us To do justly to lov Merty and to walk humbly with our God. These then ar the Eternal and indispensable Laws of God to Mankinde The Gospel of Jesus-Christ is so far