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The theological works of William Beveridge, D.D. (v. 5)
The theological works of William Beveridge DD - v. 5 Author:William Beveridge Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SERMON CVI. PERPETUAL REJOICING THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS. Phil. iv. 4. Rejoice in the Lord alway ; and again I say, rejoice. Serm. He that aims at true p... more »iety and virtue, that he may be . CVI- " meet to partake of the inheritance of the Saints in light," must begin with his heart, and take special care that all be Prov. 4. 23. right there: for, as Solomon observeth, " Out of the heart Matt.i2.34. are the issues of life." And a greater than Solomon, " Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." All our words and actions have their rise in the heart, and from thence issue forth into the life; and therefore God hath given such laws to our hearts, that if they were but duly observed, all His other Commandments would be pleasant and easy: for they all tend to the directing the several motions of our hearts towards Himself, that they may all meet and centre in Him, as they were at first designed to do. Thus He commands, that our thoughts be always running upon Him, and our desires carried after Him; that we live with a constant fear and reverence of His glory and power, and with a sure trust and confidence in His goodness and truth ; that we love Him with all our hearts and souls, so as to have no love for any thing else, but in obedience and subordination to Him: and if we do that, it follows in course, that we must also rejoice in Him; for that we cannot choose but do in what we love. And as we are to love Him always, so we are always to rejoice in Him : which, notwithstanding, that we may be the moresure to do, He hath here by His Apostle given us a particular command about it, saying, " Rejoice in the Lord alway." And the better to enforce it upon us, he repeats it again; "And again I say, rejoice." Which being a duty that the best of men are sometimes apt...« less