Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	bind_v	law_n	nature_n	1,568	5	5.4669	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57125	A treatise of the necessity of humane learning for a Gospel-preacher shewing the use of I. Languages, II. Rhetoric, III. Logic, IV. Natural philosophy, V. Moral philosophy, VI. History, VII. Chronology, VIII. Arithmetic, IX. Geometry, X. Astronomy, XI. Geography, and the benefits of learning in all ages : also this question is determined, whether grace be essential to a minister of the Gospel? / by Edward Reyner ...	Reyner, Edward, 1600-1668.; Reyner, J. (John), b. 1624.	1663 (1663)	Wing R1232; ESTC R22136	152,217	372

to all men upon Earth to sing unto the Lord that is to praise the Lord Psal 68.2 and 96.1 So that Prayer and Praise are Natural Duties imposed and incumbent upon all men as they are men and part of the Natural Worship which all are bound unto by the Light of Nature and Law of their Creation to perform to God as obligatory to all Mankinde even to the wicked II. Though the wicked cannot perform these Duties of Prayer Praises Hearing aright or without sin as to the maner of doing them but they displease God therein yet it is a greater sin in any even in the wicked and shews more slighting of God and disregard to God to neglect or omit the matter of a Duty or the Duty it self as not to pray not to praise God not to hear the word then to fail fall short or miscarry in the maner of performance as not to perform these aright scil in faith and fervency with affection and sincerity This is a greater sin because to omit the Duty wholly as to the matter of it is as one saith to disobey totally to sin in the maner of doing it is to disobey God but in part onely In performance there is some good scil the matter of the Duty or the thing done it may be some acts or circumstances besides may be good materially though not formally but in omission of Duties there is no good at all now ubi major privatio boni ibi majus malum They do evil that pray praise God or hear the Word amiss but they do worse that do not these at all III. God may reward men for the materiality of their Duties or for the things they do as being good in themselves though he utterly dislike the formality thereof or their maner of doing them God hath out of his infinite goodness sometimes shewed respect to the good things that have been done even by ungodly men though they were but the carcase and wanted the soul and life of good Works so as to reward them temporally Thus God heard the Prayer of Ishmael though a profane wretch Gen. 21.9 10 17. and Ahab's Prayer when he was humbled by fear 1 Kings 21.29 See how it prevailed with God to defer a temporary Judgement and to grant some Deliverance to Rehoboam when he humbled himself which some think was but outwardly 2 Chron. 12.6 7 14. External Humiliation may prevail to remove an outward Judgement Exod. 9.27 IV. The Services even of those that were unsanctified may be instrumental for the good of others as the Teachings of the Scribes and Pharisees were they were grand Hypocrites c. yet Christ allowed them to teach and take his Statutes and Covenant into their mouths else he would not have bidden others hear them scil for the benefit they might get by their Doctrine more then by their Examples for they said and did not The third thing is God's Expostulation with Sinners about their Services or Performances seems to imply not a Prohibition of such things as Duty obliged them to do but rather a Reprehension of them Either 1. For the maner that they did them amiss not so as he prescribed or otherwise then he required or end as seeking themselves therein Hosea 10.2 2. Or for their unsuitable carriage or bad lives accompanying the same Hereupon God rejected their Services and expressed his dislike of them as being not his but theirs because of the iniquities inherent in their Persons or practised in their Actions or adherent to their Duties in their performance of them God reprehended the Jews in his Expostulation with them Isai 1.10 to 16. not simply for their Sacrifices and Oblations solemn Feasts and Assemblies as treading in his Courts making Prayers c. because God had commanded all these to be done as their Duties yea God complains of his People sometime for the want of these Isai 43.22 23 24. but because they did not do these aright they did them hypocritically not sincerely without due affection and devotion of heart and outward reformation of life and their hands wherewith they brought and offered their Sacrifices and which they spread forth in Prayer were full of blood Isai 1.15 i. e. Cruelty Oppression Murder c. Therefore God refuseth to own or to accept these their Duties or Services as being done 1. By such persons as they were 2. In such a maner as they did them Yea they were abhorred of him See the like Expostulation of God with his People Jerem. 6.20 To what purpose cometh there to me Incense from Sheba c. your Burnt-offerings are not acceptable nor your Sacrifices sweet to me God tells them that their Services were none of them pleasing to him because they rejected his Laws and wilfully said We will not hearken scil to the Prophets vers 17 19. and their lives and courses were displeasing to him Christ reproved the Scribes and Pharisees in Matth. 23.23 not for tithing Mint Anise and Cummin for these were commanded by the Law Levit. 27.30 but for omitting the weightier matters of the Law as Judgement Mercy and Faith these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone Christ blames not those that do the smallest things commanded as some expound this place but those that think when they have done these Annotat. they have done all that is required and so securely neglect the greatest Duties Paul reproved the Jew in Rom. 2.17 to 23. not for teaching others but for not teaching himself ver 21. or for doing the contrary himself to what he taught others as stealing committing adultery vers 22. not for abhorring Idols but for doing as ill or worse that is committing sacriledge May it not be conceived that God in this Psal 50.16 reprehends the wicked not simply for declaring his Statutes and Words but for the maner because they did it in hypocrisie and for the concomitants thereof in them seeing they hated Instruction and rejected his Words v. 17. And may not these words What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes c. be understood rather as an Expostulation with them about it then a Prohibition of them to it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quid tibi What is it to thee As if God had said 1. How unfit unable and unworthy art thou to declare my Statutes c. seeing thou art so vile and dost so and so 2. Or how durst thou or wast thou not afraid or how hadst thou a face to speak of my Statutes and Covenant 3. Or what profit or benefit will it be to thee seeing thou hatest instruction and livest contrary thereunto and art so hypocritically and desperately wicked in thy self loathsom and abominable in the sight of God All thou doest is in vain but lost labor as to thy self thy declaring my Statutes c. in such a maner will neither be grateful to me nor useful to thy self thou shalt have neither acceptance nor recompence from God for the same after this life

Minister of God in respect of himself in order to his own salvation yet that it is required of him in respect of his Office to qualifie him to be a Bishop or Gospel Minister upon the ground of Expediency Conveniency or Commodity ad bene esse or as some other particulars are in Paul's Catalogue of qualifications in Titus 1.7 8. propter melius for the better not of absolute necessity as causa sine qua non or ad esse as if a man could not be a Minister except he had the real work of Grace or holiness in his heart He is most fit and able every way for the work of the Ministery who hath Grace as well as Gifts and is inherently holy but the bare or simple want of holiness doth not uncapacitate a man for the Ministery nor annul the same if other things concur in him as Gifts and a Call inward and outward and unblamableness of life Christ knew Judas to be a close Hypocrite yet he chose him to be one of the twelve and he was useful in the Church for a time Dr. Taylor in his Comment upon Titus 1.8 A Bishop must be holy saith Necessary it is for a Minister to be clothed with the robes of holiness both inward and outward yet this must not so be taken as that holiness is so Essential to a Minister as that he cannot be a Minister that wanteth it for Judas may be Disciple and a Devil too but that it is a dangerous estate to himself and hurtful to others for him to be destitute of Holiness Object 2. Unto the wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or take my Covenant in thy mouth c. seeing thou hatest instruction c. Psal 50 16 17. Ergo None should be Preachers of God's Word and Testament but such as have Grace Answ To this I answer three things First O●● Psal 50.16 That Unto the wicked God saith Appellationem impii saith Musculus Scriptura dai non cuivis peccatori sed plane malitiosis qui ex destinata malitia non ex errore peccent The Scripture gives this name of wicked not to every sinner but to those that are malicious who offend of fore-thought malice not of error The wicked do offend far otherwise then those that sin through error See Musculus's Distinction of wicked men into two sorts in that place The worst kinde are they who cover the malice and impiety of their hearts with a counterfeiting or colour and pretence of Piety and probity in life who by Hypocrisie seek the name of Piety among men when in heart they are wicked and they cover these wickednesses which they design as wicked men with the paint or counterfeit of external and dissembled Piety therefore they are not aperte but occulte impii not openly but covertly impious Et hi sunt saith Musculus qui hoc loco reprobantur These are the wicked who are reproved by God in this place They had God's Covenant oft in their mouths that is they did in words or by external confession profess the Name of God and Piety before men and pretended to a Covenant with God and that they were his People yet they denied God in their hearts lives or works They were haters of Reformation contemners of the Word of God vers 17. addicted to theft lust or adultery vers 18. to evil or deceitful speaking vers 19. to slandering and calumniating near Relations vers 20. They transformed God into an Idol after their own fancy vers 21. By the description of their improbity it appears that these were obdurate obstinate wilful restractorily wicked though covertly and concealedly as much as they could To such as are so wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes c. Quamobrem usurpas tibi Statutorum meorum foederis administrationem ad te non pertinentem saith Musculus Why dost thou usurp to thy self the Administration of my Statutes and Covenant which doth not belong to thee Est ergo Deo prorsus abominabile c. The office of a wicked man is abominable sive illud siat praedicando c. whether it be done in preaching sive Ceremoniis externis ipsum colendo or in worshipping him in outward Ceremonies A man may be a sinner and not a wicked man Mr. Caryl shews the difference between them in five things in Job 10.7 15. Job confessed himself to be a sinner vers 6. but thou knowest saith he to God that I am not wicked The best of Saints are sinners on Earth and the worst of Saints are not wicked Sin is not inconsistent with Grace but wickedness is yea a man may have no Grace or be void in heart of the true fear of God and Piety and so be an unregenerate man and yet not be a wicked man in Scripture-sense or be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies an ungodly restless lewd turbulent man See his character Isaiah 57.20 And why such as are not wicked being fitted and called may not be allowed to preach the Word I do not see Yea a man may commit gross sins and yet not concealing the malice of his minde with hypocrisie not be in so high a degree wicked and abominable in the sight of God as those that cloak their Impiety and Hypocrisie Those that are so wicked and are known to be so are unworthy to be Ministers of God's Word The second thing is Though the Services which those that are Sinners perform in the general are displeasing to God as their Prayers Praises hearing the Word giving Alms Prov. 15.8 and 21.27 Isai 66.3 Yet 1. God doth require them to do the same 2. Though they sin in doing them yet it 's a greater Sin not to do them 3. God may reward them for the same 4. They may be instrumental for the good of others thereby I. They may be such things in themselves or for the matter of them as God requires or which are their Duty to do as Praying Hearing Praising God Duties of the Moral Law which all men even bad as well as good are bound unto As 1. To pray to God The neglect hereof is noted as a sin in the very Atheist that fool who saith in his heart There is no God Psal 14.1 4. in the workers of iniquity Psal 53.4 in the very Heathen for which God poureth forth his wrath and judgement Psal 79.6 Jer. 10.25 Even by the Light of Nature all men are bound to pray unto God as the Mariners in Jonah 1.6 acknowledged in a tempest and by the Law of Creation to seek to God for what they want 2. To praise and give thanks to God for his Mercies David excites all the Creatures to praise God as a natural Duty according to their several capacities Psal 148. and Psal 145.21 Let all flesh bless his holy Name And vers 10. All thy Works shall praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee God hath given a general Command

Philosophy SECT I. Usefulness of Natural Philosophy declared and proved PHilosophy is either 1. Natural called Physics 2. Or Moral called Ethics First Natural Philosophy is of great use to a Minister of the Gospel After the times of the Apostles the Church as Aretius saith had always learned Doctors or Teachers ex Philosophorum Scholis translatos Probl. loc 151. such were Justin Martyr surnamed the Philosopher in Platonicis disciplinis ad mira●ulum eruditus Cyprian and Lactantius Origen Chrysostom Hierom were Philosophers Austin excelled herein and writ divers Philosophical Pieces This is useful in two Respects I. To know the Natures Properties Effects and Operations of all sublunary Creatures 1. Of the four Elements as Fire Air Water and Earth 2. Of Meteors in the Air. 3. Of Minerals in the Earth 4. Of all living Creatures As 1. Vegetatives of all Trees Plants Herbs Fruits and Flowers that grow out of the Earth the Kinds Qualities and Vertues of them 2. Sensitives or Animals as of 1. All Birds in the Air. 2. Beasts of the Field 3. All creepings things on the Earth 4. And the Fishes in the Sea 3. Rational Creatures as of Spirits and Men. Of Man's Body the Fabrick and all the Members of it Man's Soul the Essence and all the Faculties of it and their Operations II. To make a fit application of the Creatures scil of the Natures Qualities and Effects of them to spiritual uses as the Holy Ghost directs us in the Scriptures which have much Philosophy in them as Genesis and other Books and are full of Allusions to the Natures of all kinds of Creatures Of Beasts as Lions Wolves Goats Sheep Lambs Of Fowls as Doves Eagles Ravens Of creeping things as Serpents Worms Ants. Of Gnats Flies Locusts Caterpillers Which we cannot make use of for our selves nor teach or unfold to others unless we have the knowledge hereof in some measure which the study of Natural Philosophy may much help us to This is needful for a Minister for seven Reasons Reas 1. The knowledge of the Nature of the Creatures is but the knowledge of God in the creatures from his works of Creation and providence we may and should learn the power wisdom goodness and glory of God which Natural Philosophy may through God's blessing much further us in yea the Deity of God Rom. 1.20 More 's Antidote against Atheism The subordination of end and means which clearly demonstrate an intelligent Agent in the works 1. Of Creation especially in the fabrick of the bodies of Animals and in the forming of souls 2. Of Providence is as some learned men conceive the clearest demonstration of the existence of a God From hence it is probable Aristotle gathered and owned one first Cause and Plato one God and Cicero divine providence By understanding the utmost activity of Natural Agents we may be assisted in the knowledge and setled in belief of the divine authority of the Scriptures and of the Deity of Christ both which are with much conviction proved by that Argument which Mr. Baxter hath excellently managed in his Rest part 2. page 215 c. drawn from Miracles the many and real miracles with which the doctrine of the Scriptures and the testimony of Christ and his Apostles concerning his Deity were confirmed since all miracles are the product of divine power and the righteous God will not seal and confirm a falshood For seeing the Jews and others the enemies of Christian Religion do impiously object that those miracles which Christ wrought were not above Nature but performed through the exquisite knowledge of it by Natural means what way is there to silence such objections but an accurate search and inquiry into the Causes Natures and Vertues of things and the understanding how far their power and activity will extend Reas 2. The knowledge of the Natures of the Creatures was part of God's Image stamped on Adam at his creation upon us all in him as being in his loins as appears by Adam's giving of Names to the Creatures according to their Natures presently as Hebricians well know See Calvin in Gen. 2.19 And Piscator in ver 19 20 23. saith Ante lapsum eximia fuit in homine cognitio rerum naturalium quippe Adam animalibus sibi a Deo adductis itemque adductae sibi mulieri nomina ipsorum naturae convenientia imposuerit Huc pertinet illud Pythagorae qui dixisse fertur Sapientem oportere fuisse hominem qui primus nomina rebus imposuerit This knowledge Adam lost by his fall for himself and for us and it must be recovered now by observation study and industry To which Philosophy conduceth very much Reas 3. Because a Minister should teach the people to read understand and make use of the books not only of the Scriptures Psal 19. but of the Creatures also which presupposeth himself to be well read in both Reas 4. Philosophy is a very pleasant study and affords much benefit satisfaction and delight to the mind of man which ignorance herein deprives men of and why not to a Minister of the Gospel Reas 5. Good skill in Philosophy may make a Minister more fit and able to understand discuss and determine some points of Divinity though not without the assistance of God's Spirit especially those that have a physical Term in them as about the body of Christ He that would demonstrate that not to be every where or that Christ is not corporally present in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper must fetch his Arguments from the Nature and property of a Body which are delivered in Physics So about the freedom of the Will which cannot be handled well without the knowledge of Natural Philosophy which may also give some furtherance unto his coming to Christ as it did to the wise men Mat. 2.1 2. who came from the East to Jerusalem being guided by the star to seek and to adore Jesus Christ the new-born Saviour These 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were professed Philosophers great searchers of the depths of Nature Why did they only follow the star which led them to Christ when doubtless this light was visible unto many beside them Because they knew it had more then Nature in it Hence Bishop Hall infers Contempl. l. 1. The Sages and the Star That no man is so apt to see the star of Christ as a diligent Disciple of Philosophy that humane Learning well improved makes us capable of divine but Philosophy without the star is but the wisp of error and that God is the author of all knowledge and would never have bestowed any Gift that should lead us away from himself Reas 6. God sends us to the Creatures for Instruction in moral and spiritual duties now we are not capable of it if we be not acquainted with their Natures Thus he placeth an Ant in the chair to teach the sluggard wisdom Prov. 6.6 He sets the Ox and the Ass Esa 1.3 the Stork Turtle Swallow and the Crane