A guide to godlynesse or a Treatise of a Christian life shewing the duties wherein it consisteth, the helpes inabling & the reasons parswading vnto it ye impediments hindering ye practise of it, and the best meanes to remoue them whereunto are added diuers prayers and a treatise of carnall securitie by Iohn Douname Batcheler in Diuinitie and minister of Gods Word.
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Title
A guide to godlynesse or a Treatise of a Christian life shewing the duties wherein it consisteth, the helpes inabling & the reasons parswading vnto it ye impediments hindering ye practise of it, and the best meanes to remoue them whereunto are added diuers prayers and a treatise of carnall securitie by Iohn Douname Batcheler in Diuinitie and minister of Gods Word.
Author
Downame, John, d. 1652.
Publication
Printed at London :: By Felix Kingstone [and William Stansby] for Ed: Weuer & W: Bladen at the north dore of Pauls,
[1622]
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Subject terms
Christian life -- Early works to 1800.
Cite this Item
"A guide to godlynesse or a Treatise of a Christian life shewing the duties wherein it consisteth, the helpes inabling & the reasons parswading vnto it ye impediments hindering ye practise of it, and the best meanes to remoue them whereunto are added diuers prayers and a treatise of carnall securitie by Iohn Douname Batcheler in Diuinitie and minister of Gods Word." In the digital collection Early English Books Online 2. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A20762.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 21, 2024.
Pages
§. Sect. 3 That God chiefly desi∣reth the heart aboue all other parts.
And hereof it is that the Lord chiefly requireth the heart, according to that of Salomon, My sonne, giue me thy heart. The which also Dauid chiefly required of him in the seruice of God; And thou Salomon my sonne, know thou the God of thy father, and serue him with a perfect heart and willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and vnderstandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts. It is, aboue all other parts, the sacrifice which is most acceptable vnto God, according to that of the Psalmist, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. An vpright heart is his chiefe delight, and though he requireth sincerity both in our words and workes, yet aboue all, he desireth truth in the inward parts. And if the heart be sincere, and desireth to offer vnto God perfect seruice, the Lord passeth by and pardoneth our imperfections, and accepteth as perfect, our weake and worthlesse indeuours; according to that of the Apostle, If there be first a willing minde, it is accepted according to that a manhath, and not according to that he hath not. An example whereof we haue in Iehosaphat and Asa, who though their inward corruptions did breake out into diuers open sinnes, yet because they prepared their hearts to seeke the
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Lord, he esteemed them as perfect, and what they did, seemed iust andright in his eyes. Whereas on the other side, how glorious soeuer our words and actions seeme to be, yet if we regard wickednesse in our hearts, the Lordwill not regard vs nor our prayers; if we will not lay Gods Word to our heart,to giue glory to his name, he will send a curse vpon vs, by which, euen his bles∣sings shall be accursed.