The great duty

The great duty is love to God with our whole heart,

and not such a contemplative love as philosophers may have to the object of sciences, which they are concerned in no further than to please their fancies in the knowledge of them;

but a practical love,
by which we are willing that God should be absolute Lord and Governor of us and all the world,
to dispose of us and all others according to His will, as to our temporal and everlasting condition,
and that He should be the only portion and happiness of all those that are happy;

a love by which we like everything in Him as He is our Lord
- His justice as well as any other attribute -
without wishing or desiring that He were better than He is;

and by which we desire that His will may be done on us and all others,
whether prosperity or adversity,
life or death;

and by which we can heartily praise Him for all things,
and delight in our obedience to Him,
in doing His will,
though we suffer that which is ever so grievous to us,
even present death.

The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification by Walter Marshall, line breaks mine