Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	child_n	father_n	good_a	2,753	5	4.1032	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45640	The divine physician, prescribing rules for the prevention, and cure of most diseases, as well of the body, as the soul demonstrating by natural reason, and also divine and humane testimony, that, as vicious and irregular actions and affections prove often occasions of most bodily diseases, and shortness of life, so the contrary do conduce to the preservation of health, and prolongation of life : in two parts / by J.H ...	Harris, John, 1667?-1719.	1676 (1676)	Wing H848; ESTC R20051	75,699	228

But I shall now proceed to something more proper and adaequate unto the present purpose and that is to lay down a Plat-form of the succeeding Argument In the next Chapter I shall demonstrate in general and particular that vertuous and regular actions and affections are in a super-natural sense conducing to the preservation of health and prolongation of life and in the third Chapter shall shew you that such actions and affections do in a Natural sense conduce to the same end of health and long life and in the fourth Chapter prove that the same means through the blessed influence of Divine Providence do become occasions of the same Natural effects and in the last Chapter shall answer some Objections briefly and then conclude the whole CHAP. II. Shewing in general and particular that vertuous regular actions affections are in a super-natural sense conducing to the preservation of health and prolongation of life IF we search the Scriptures we shall find a great Cloud of witnesses and testimonies ushering in this truth viz. that a life led in Religion vertue and the fear of God doth conduce much to the health of Body and also length of dayes As for instance it is written Ye shall serve the Lord your God and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee Exod. 23. 25. Also long life is promised as a blessing unto them that keep the Commandments in these ensuing words That he turn not aside from the Commandment to the right hand or to the left to the end that he may prolong his dayes in his Kingdom Deut. 17. 20. Also in these That thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest obey his voice and that thou mayest cleave unto him for he is thy life and the length of thy dayes Cap. 30. vers 20. Again health is promised upon like conditions Be not wise in thine own eyes saith Solomon fear the Lord and depart from evil It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones Pro. 3. 7 8. Thus Jesus Christ the grand Exemplar of innocency and integrity was without sin and therefore without sickness More particularly these blessings are held forth as temporal rewards of sundry Moral Civil and Religious acts and duties and this may appear both by Divine and Humane Authority First then in respect of obedience to Parents we find long life promised as a motive to it in the fifth Commandment Honour thy father and thy mother that thy dayes may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Exod. 20. 12. Which the Apostle calleth the First Commandment with promise Eph. 6. 1 2. viz. the first affirmative Commandment or the first in the second Table or the first of all the Ten with promise in particular to them that keep it Which promise sheweth that a more plentiful blessing in this kind followeth from our obedience to this than to the other Commandments And yet I confess obedience in general meets with the same blessing as the Psalmist doth denote unto us What man is he that desireth life and loveth many dayes that he may see good keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile Depart from evil and do good seek peace and pursue it Psal. 34. 12 c. However there lieth a special Emphasis upon the particular observance of the aforesaid Commandment by an express and particular promise of long life But doth this promise alwayes hold Yes surely it holdeth generally and for the most part in comparison of the wicked who do not live out half their dayes Psal. 55. 23. and if it fail it is but rarely and then in exchange for the better that as the Prophet saith The righteous may be taken away from the evil to come Isay 57. 1. I say but rarely it fails for to say otherwise were to make the promise of no effect and the tenor of the Commandment very ambiguous But do not the disobedient live long also truly they have no promise for it and commonly they are cut off by an untimely death or if some of them be reprived until old age they are but comparatively few being reserved only as so many examples of God's mercy and forbearance as the rest being many are soon cut off as examples of his justice Long life then is most commonly the reward of obedience and piety to Parents And it must needs be so when Divine Providence which is more then a Wall of brass to encircle and secure us taketh such especial care in the protection and preservation of such as are endued with that eminent vertue as appeareth by what Aristotle telleth us viz. how that from the Hill Aetna there ran down a torrent of fire that consumed all the houses thereabout yet in the midst of those fearful flames God's especial care of the Godly and obedient shined most brightly For the River of fire parted it self and made a kind of lane for those who ventured to rescue their aged Parents and pluck them out of the jaws of death Ipse dixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. de mundo cap. 6. If Providence then wrought so much in a miraculous way for the preservation of the lives of Heathens to reward their duty shewed towards their Parents surely Christians the Children of God whose obedience to Parents springeth originally from their obedience to their Heavenly Father may with much more confidence depend upon the same Providence for the like preservation and so by consequence the prolongation of their lives as a reward of the same duty Now though I have insisted upon the afore-mentioned Commandment in a literal sense yet by the rules of extension requisite for the interpretation thereof we are to understand there not only our Natural Parents but as Spiritual Fathers 1 Cor. 4. 15. as Ministers and political Fathers Gen. 45. 8. as Magistrates and oeconomical Fathers 2 Kings 2. 12. 5. 13. as Masters and matrimonial Fathers as Husbands Eph. 5. 22. to all which a respective obedience may I suppose claim a share or portion in the promise of long life In the Second place devout and zealous Prayer in a super-natural way procureth bodily health and so by consequence length of dayes to enjoy the same Sick Abimelech was sent to Abraham a Prophet to be healed by prayer Now therefore saith God restore the man his wife for he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee c. Gen. 20. 7. So Abraham prayed unto God and God healed Abimelech v. 17. So then Abimelech was healed by God as the supream and efficient cause by prayer as the instrumental Hence it is the Son of Sirach adviseth us My son in thy sickness be not negligent but pray unto the Lord and he will make thee whole Eccles. 38. 9. And also soon after sheweth us that the good success of Physicians depends upon something beyond the Sphaere of Natural means and that is prayer unto the Physician of Physicians the

are very powerful to long Life Unto which if we add that austere diet which hardneth the mass of the Body and humbleth the Spirits no marvel if an extraordinary length of life do follow such as was that of Paul the Hermite Simeon Stilita the Columna Anchorite and of many other Hermites and Anchorites Now hereunto I may add that by the same rule or reason that such a life doth conduce to long life it doth likewise become propitious to bodily health More particularly and plenarily these following graces and vertues Religious acts and dispositions are to be considered as effectual in some measure to the end designed First Faith as it is attended with a confidence of recovery hath naturally a powerful influence upon the Body For confidence as Galen saith doth more good then Physick And this it doth through the strength of imagination Now such is the force of imagination and a Man's conceit in working effects in the Body that Hippocrates exhorteth Physicians if two kinds of Meat were to be ministred to a Patient the one healthful and the other a little hurtful or not so good as the other that they should prefer this being much desired before that not so well liked And generally both Philosophers and Physicians maintain that the opinion and confidence of the Patient importech much for the cure of any maladie The reason is plain for the imagination herein though erroniously conceiving things better then indeed and really they are causeth a vehement passion of hope wherewith followeth an extraordinary pleasure in the things Which two passions awake or rouse up the purer Spirits and unite them together qualifying and refining them in the best manner which thus combined do most effectually co-operate with Nature and strengthen her in the performance of any Corporal action or vital operation in order to the mastery and expulsion of noxious humours Which brings me to say somewhat In the Second place of Hope which of all the passions is most advantagious for health and long life in regard the Spirits therein which corroborate and quicken all the parts are moderate she stops and keeps them back that they cannot dissipate nor make any vehement agitation for if the Spirits be too active and violent in their operations they may produce strong actions but it shortens our dayes because those Spirits easily scatter and so consume the Natural moisture which Hope useth not to do because I say it keeps the Spirits in a temperate motion and preserves them from wasting too fast Therefore as the afore-cited Lord Verulam saith they which fix propound to themselves some end as the mark and scope of their life and continually and by degrees go forward in the same are for the most part long-liv'd in so much that when they are come to the top of their hope and can go no higher therein they commonly droope and live not long after We may add hereunto that this may be one reason why Kings Soveraign Princes are not commonly so long-liv'd as others because they have fewer things to hope for and more things to fear Now if hope in general as it is a Passion of the Soul be so effectual in this kind much more is true Christian Hope which is at anchor upon more firm ground in as much as the Object thereof is more sure certain and more durably satisfactory and delightful cherishing and encouraging then can be fix'd upon in the alone expectation of any terrene temporal enjoyment Thirdly Love which is ●n the sense it may be understood a duty often inculcated in sacred Writ and is Custos utriusque tabulae The fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13. 10. is also by reason of that strict tye between the Soul and Body a great promoter of bodily health For it is observed by an eminent modern Philosopher That when this affection is alone that is when it is not accompanied with extream Joy Desire or Sadness the beating of the pulse is even and much greater and stronger than ordinary that a Man feels a gentle heat in his breast and quick digestion of meat so that this Passion is profitable for the health Mr. Des-Cartes in his Treatise of the Passion of the Soul Artic. 97. And now I proceed to another Passion which being managed with wisdom will alwayes be found in the track of vertue Fourthly Joy being regulated and moderated by its steers-man Reason and sanctified by the Holy Spirit is a gracious disposition alwayes seasonable in a Christian course Rejoyce evermore saith the Apostle 1 Thess. 5. 16. Yea alwayes seasonable because alwayes healtful to Soul and Body to the Body in this respect namely because by dilating and sending forth to the outward parts it enlivens them and keeps them fresh and active it beautifies the complexion preventeth Consumptions and some other Distempers by assisting the distribution of salubrious nourishment to every part From these considerations then we may understand that Christianity doth not teach us a Stoical Apathie or take away our Passions but only rectifies them and being thus rectified they conduce not only to the health of the Soul but also of the Body and its longaevity Fifthly Labour Industry and Diligence in a lawful calling is no less healthful to the Body then Soul For as by the old sanction we are taught to labour for our bread Gen. 3. 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread Yea as Paradise that was Man's Store-house was also his Work-house He was put into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it Gen. 2. 15. As also by the fourth Commandment it is implied as a duty That we should labour six dayes and do all that we have to do Lastly as a provident industrious and seasonable care and employment is so good and warrantable that in this very thing the Wise man prescribeth the Pismire Prov. 6. 6. for our imitation And in this the Apostle placeth not only necessity 2 Thess. 3. 10. but also Religion 1 Tim. 5. 8. so is the same very commendable in respect of bodily health it being the Salt of humane life which drieth up those crudities which otherwise would prove offensive and preserveth the humours from putrefaction Yea the commodities of moderate excerise are many principally these following 1. The increase of Natural heat and Spirit 2. It assists the distribution of our nourishment 3. It discusses vapours and fuliginous excrements by the Pores or Spiracles of the skin and adds colour and vivacity to the whole Body 4. It makes the juices of the Body hard and compact and so becomes propitious to length of life 5. and Lastly By consuming and exiccating superfluous moistures in the Body it preventeth most Diseases So that indigent People as one observeth have this recompence to their poverty that their necessitated labours keep them much in health and without the need trouble and charge of Physick I may add hereunto that active and industrious Persons be they poor or rich