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	reason_n	1,093	5	5.2924	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81791	Moral instructions of a father to his son upon his departure for a long voyage: or, An easie way to guide a young man towards all sorts of virtues. With an hundred maximes, Christian and moral.; Instruction morale d'un père à son fils. English	Dufour, Philippe Sylvestre, 1622-1687.	1683 (1683)	Wing D2455A; ESTC R231963	42,504	123

request whereto the assurance you gave me did not a little contribute that the impatience of becoming more worthy of my singular Care in your Education did prompt you to this besides your mentioning what Joy you should conceive to share the Pains I take to increase your Fortune The Protestations of this truth made to me in private and reiterated in the presence of our Relations who I was willing should be witnesses of my Carriage towards you in an Affair of this importance prevented my making use of an absolute Authority given to me as a Father to force you to comply with my Will and that for three Reasons which I shall the more gladly impart to you because I am presuaded the knowledg of them will excite you to acknowledge my Kindness The first is That altho many Fathers will admit of no Limits in Filial Obedience and their claim thereto being of Divine Right yet I can say I never took such advantage over you by this Right as to use it in it's utmost Rigour Of this I have given you more than one Proof and you may remember that as often as your Conduct brought upon you my Correction in the greatest and most lawful Causes I had of being incensed I always allayed the heat of those Provocations caused through your Indiscretion with the Fondness of a tender Father You know I have Contracted the Bounds of your obedience and extended those of my Kindness to whatsoever you could pretend and in putting you in mind of your Duty by these words of St. Paul Children obey your Parents in all things for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord I was exhorted to mine by the words following Fathers provoke not your Children to Anger least they be discouraged The second Reason which obliged me not to withstand absolutely your Intentions was to avoid the Reproaches which you might reflect upon me hereafter that my refusal had bin an Obstacle to your Fortune And the last was the Fear I had lest you should have made use of that very refusal for a Pretext to justifie ever after all defects in your Proceedings These Reasons my Son were the Cause of my complying so easily with your request I could have wished you would have altered your Intentions to please me but seeing that you could not conform to my Sentiments and that you still persist in your design after having implored the Almighty to grant you his Grace and to Shower down the most precious of his Blessings upon your Soul your Person and your Actions I think it is absolutely necessary for to satisfie my Inclination and Duty not to let you go without some peculiar Instructions which may be as a Guide to your Manners and which most certainly will be convincing Proofs of my Kindness as also inexhaustible Springs of future happiness in your Conversation both Spiritual and Civil if you will apply your self to them which I exhort and command you to do However let what will happen these Instructions will remain as so many irrefragable Witnesses how zealously I endeavoured to do my Duty if unhapily you should be wanting in yours By telling you my dear Son that these Instructions which I am about to give you are the Effects of my Inclination and Duty I have inverted that order which Reason requires I should rather have said these Effects proceeded from my Duty and Inclination and so have preferred Duty before Inclination because the first is governed by Reason whereas the latter is but an Incitement of Nature who is not seldom blinded by those tender Impulses which Proximity of Blood inspires But I was overcome by a Weakness common to most Fathers which I do not stick to confess to the intent you may be perswaded that in this following Discourse I rather fell into a great Indulgence than that I maintained a Severity too Austere 'T is also not without some Mystery my Son that in wishing you the Blessings of God I would have them applied to your Soul your Person and your Actions The order of these Words is one of the Duties whereon I shall give you some Instructions which I enjoyn you to observe and practice I divide it into three parts Spiritual Personal and Civil Duties the first shall teach you your Duty to God the second your Duty to your self and the last shall instruct you in your Duty to your Neighbour If I should go about to treat of this Matter to an extent as great as it's Importance I ought instead of a few Pages I intend for you to write several Volumes but this being wide of my Design as also far above my Abilities I shall rest satisfied in being as concise as this matter can possibly allow God grant through his Grace that I may be inspired with Arguments both so clear and strong as to equalize the greatness of my Enterprize and that through his Goodness he may encline you to put them in Practice for his Glory for your Salvation for my Satisfaction and for your Profit and Advancement Of Spiritual Duties YOU learned in your Childhood my Son that God created you to know him and to serve him These two Obligations which bind you from your Birth have Relation to the two chief Faculties of the Soul The Knowledge of God belongs to the Vnderstanding and the Service of him to the Will but the Light of our Understanding has too narrow limits ever to arrive to the perfect Knowledge of his Divinity and the Will of Man is too perverse to be capable of serving him as we ought These Impediments which grow out of the abundance of our Corruption must nevertheless not discourage us A bruised Reed God shall not break and smoaking Flax shall he not quench He fulfils his Power in our Weaknesses he supplies our Wants he helps our Infirmities and he knowing that of our selves we cannot ascend to him out of his Divine Goodness is pleased to come down to us He not only makes use of his Word and his Works to imprint in our Minds some kind of Idea of his Greatness which we may not wholly conceive but also through the Communication of his Holy Spirit he corrects our Inclinations and when he has made them to will what naturally they would not he also forces them to act it by a sweet sort of Violence which we cannot resist My Son read this Word and that as often as possibly you may but read it with great Respect and Attention 'T is the Voice of God This Reason must oblige you to the Respect and 't is for your Instruction you read it this should force you to the Attention I demand of you Set apart some hours for this sacred Study which on Sunday ought to be two at least and one upon each other Day Be careful that upon no account you neglect this Duty The greatest of all Considerations is that of your Salvation quit all others that you may not fail in this and let not any interest or pleasure

falling out with you Never praise to an Excess those of whom you speak especially if they are present for altho 't is but what they deserve yet in their very Opinion you will be esteem'd a Flatterer suspecting that the Intent of such excessive Commendations is more to exhibit the Elegancy of your Wit than to manifest the Greatness of their Merit Civility and Complaisance are the Spirits that keep up Society whosoever is void of these is a trouble to all the World whereas he that can make use of them opportunely may boldly flatter himself that his Company will be unacceptable to none However let Reason rule your Com●laisance let it not condescend to what is criminal nor yet to what is base Stubbornness is not only a deadly Enemy to Complaisance but it also acts for the most part contrary to Reason and Sence A Person that is stubborn can never be so happy as to comply with others whereby he falls into the Misfortune of being shun'd by all company and at last becomes a Burden to himself Endeavour therefore to be complaisant with Prudence and firm in your Resolutions with Justice Jeer No body if you would not run the Hazard of being jeer'd in your turn and rendering that Person whom you jeer your Enemy Not but that innocent jesting may be lawfully used in Conversation but the Abuse of it doth not seldom produce Quarrels and Animosities which too often cool the most fervent Affections and rarely do we see Raillery carry'd on without some sharp and stinging Expressions Never put off till to morrow what you can do to day Be exact towards all Men and in all things but principally in paying your Debts Observe your measures so rightly that the Presence of your Creditors may not be tedious to you and be always more ready to persuade every Man to take his Due than they to ask it of you In the mean time do not you exact with the utmost Severity what is due to you This would be contrary to the Religion of JESUS CHRIST as also not consistent with that Civility and Condescension which we ow to one another How deform'd soever any Person may be in his Body be sure that you have a great Care not to make it a Subject of Derision and Laughter but rather render thanks to God that he has bin pleas'd to favour you more then him 'T is out of his pure goodness that he has given you all those Advantages of Body and Mind which you possess Why then should you boast of what has bin given you undeservedly The more you have received the more you have to answer for Here my Son I bring you another sort of Neighbour your Domestick Servant I would not have you think that his Quality can discharge you from your Duty towards him The chiefest part of your Duty is to let your Carriage towards him be mild and easie whereby mitigating the Discontent which his hard Fortune might have rais'd in him he may be induc'd to serve you joyfully which if you desire recede so far from the Right of a Master as to come within the Bounds which Christianity prescribes that is consider him as a Brother in God behave your self towards him as such and then you need not question but he will become sensible of your Kindness St. Paul saith forbear Threatning How much more ought we to forbear Blows Yet whensoever he gives you a just Cause of Anger be not too apt to listen to those Reasons which condemn him let him rather have cause to praise your Forbearance than to complain of your Rigour Seneca saith if we intend to gain our Servants so far as to make them be entirely devoted to our Service we must behave our selves towards them with all Mildness and Familiarity Make trial of this Counsel and if when all 's done your Servants become not more punctual in performing their Duty you having omitted no part of yours which might tend to their Satisfaction dismiss them quietly without Anger and without Noise I cannot say my Son whether I have not forgot some considerable Point touching your Duty to your Neighbour however if it were so I have this Comfort left That if you do justly put in Practice my Instructions upon this Subject your Neighbour will have no great Reason to complain of you It would tho be a Cause sufficient for you to complain of me if I should conclude these Instructions design'd for the Conduct of your Life without making you sensible that nothing in the World can so much facilitate the Means to practise them as frequent and serious Meditations on Death I do confess 't is of all things the most terrible especially if we behold it in our Worldly Thoughts for then it is more proper to precipitate us into Despair than to inspire us with the Love of Vertue and Piety But it is far from being so full of Terrour to those who behold it with the Eyes of Faith This Divine Vertue which is a true Character of a Christian makes Death appear to us already conquer'd and disarm'd by the Second Adam and sent by him himself as a welcome Messenger to open our Prisons upon Earth and introduce us into a Celestial and Glorious Liberty 'T is true in a State so corrupt and imperfect wherein we now are I believe it is a hard matter for the most Regenerate to suffer the Approaches of Death without some kind of Fear But if once you can force your Weakness to admit of a Familiarity with Death besides the Joy and Comfort you will reap from thence it will change that familiar Habitude into a second Nature and then instead of those vicious and corrupt Inclinations wherein you are born according to the Flesh it will inspire such as are truly vertuous which will be the Signs as well as the Effects of your Spiritual Regeneration My Son be sure you do not procrastinate this Meditation under the Pretext that you are as yet very young A Glass newly blown is not a Jot less brittle than one that has been made several Years A new Ship may be split against the Rocks as soon as an old one and how can you tell Perhaps that very Minute which you employ to drive out of your Mind the Thoughts of Death shall be your last in this World Since therefore this Thing is of such moment and yet so uncertain be always prepar'd Watch and pray for ye know not at what Hour the Lord cometh Repent the Day before you die and as there is no Day in your Life which may not be that of your Death let not so much as one slip without throughly Repenting Live just as you will wish to have liv'd when you are at the Point of Death that is to say religiously soberly and justly This will not only have some Resemblance with the three Blessings I mentioned at the beginning of this Treatise upon your Soul your Person and your Actions but also 't will be

a Testimony irrefragable that you have perform'd the three Duties which I prescrib'd to you for you cannot live religiously without doing your Duty towards God nor soberly without observing what is due to your self nor justly without discharging what you owe to your Neighbour The Father of Grace and Mercy grant that you may fulfill my Directions as a good Christian for the sake of his Glory your Salvation and the Edification of your Neighbour That you may consider and meditate upon these Instructions with more delight and render them more familiar and ready to your Memory I have extracted the choicest Matter and reduc'd it under Heads more compact whereby it will make the deeper Impression upon your Mind You will find it in the Maxims following in all a hundred which as many times would I have you read over that you may be sensible how important they are and consequently how necessary the Practice of them Believe this my Son that whatsoever you can expect from me besides it cannot come near the Worth of these Instructions God preserve you prosper your Voyage and bring you back in all Happiness To conclude my Son let the Fear of God be the Star to lead and guide you in all your Ways let it be the Center whereto all your Actions tend and let it be the sole Object of your Meditation Christian and Moral MAXIMES I. BE devout without Affectation Beware of seeming so if you are not for that is Hypocrisie which being directly against God is a kind of Sacrilege II. He that goes about to disguise himself in the sight of God takes Pains to cheat himself III. To pray to God without Attention is to pray without Hope IV. He that prefers the Pleasures of his Body before the Salvation of his Soul suffers a Man to be drowned whilst he runs to save his Cloak V. If you have not more care to adorn your Soul with vertuous Qualities than to adorn your Body with fine Cloaths you offer to an Idol and abandon God VI. He that delights in his Sins makes his Pleasures his Executioner VII An habitual Sin is a Serpent nourished in their own Bosome VIII He that goes slowly in the practice of good Works runs swiftly in the way to Hell IX If you would have God hear your Requests do you hear the Prayers of the Needy X. He that is afraid to think of Death will run into Despair when Death comes XI There is no better School for a good Life than the frequent meditating upon a Holy Death XII A serious Meditation of Eternity will cause you to make good use of your Time and will take away the greatest part of the bitterness of Death XIII A Man is not fully convinced of the Importance of his own Salvation when he knows his Sins and yet will defer his Repentance XIV He that passeth his Life without Devotion shall not end it without Despair XV. If in your Prosperity you will not hear the Voice of God you may well fear that in your Adversity he will not hear yours XVI He that hath no fear of God in this Life may well fear his Judgments in the next Life XVII Be obliging towards all men familiar with a few but be intimate with no more than one alone XVIII He that takes Pleasure to keep Company with naughty men is in Pain whilst he is among the good XIX He that confides without Knowledg will repent not without Reason XX. He that begins a Business without Judgment need not wonder if it ends without Success XXI That which you undertake above your Strength must needs produce Effects below your Hopes XXII In a glorious Undertaking he that is discouraged by the bare Contemplation of the Difficulties neither understands the value of the Honour nor doth he at all deserve it XXIII If Haste in designing and Slowness in executing produce good Success it is by more chance XXIV If you make your Work a trouble to you you will make your Duty a Punis●ment to you XXV He that in a low Fortune hath too high Designs undertakes with waxen Wings to fly up to the Sun XXVI He that falls by aspiring too high needs not seek for any other Reason of his Fall than his own Extravagance XXVII Those who shew themselves over-earnest and eager in small Businesses declare their Unfitness for great ones XXVIII If by Justice you are guided in the pursuit of Gain Tranquillity shall accompany you in the enjoyment thereof XXIX If with an envious Eye you look upon the Good of others you will render your self unworthy to possess your own XXX If the Soul be given to Man only for Action and those who by continual Sloth keep the Soul from Acting they shew that the Soul in their Bodies is but like a little Salt to preserve their Bodies from putrifying XXXI Pride is a swelling of the Spirit which doth as much corrupt all the good qualifications of the proud Man as the swelling of the Stomack alters the good humors of the Body XXXII Altho Anger be but a short Madness yet the Effects thereof many times prove long Follies XXXIII Avoid great Meals if you will avoid long Sicknesses XXXIV He that spoyls his health by Excesses and Disorder hath no Reason to complain of the Excess of his Distempers XXXV An able Cook is more to be feared in time of Health than an ignorant Physician in time of Sickness XXXVI Temperance and Exercise are the best Cooks in the world XXXVII The Fumes of Wine troubles the Brain the Fumes of Pride troubles the Understanding and the Fumes of one in Love troubles both XXXVIII He that fills his Heart with the Love of Women turns a Sanctuary appointed for the Holy Ghost into a Temple of Idols the Worship whereof will lead to Hell XXXIX Divine Love is a Torch to light us but profane Love is one to blind us XL. Humane Love cannot have Bounds too straight but if Divine Love be at all bounded it will be deficient XLI Love is painted naked not only to represent Impudence but to advertise us that usually it strips naked all those who follow it XLII The Covetous Man spares things necessary to provide Superfluities for those who will never thank him for them XLIII Those who in their Actings consult only self Love shall walk blindfold and have as many Falls as Steps XLIV Who spends too much upon his Pleasures deprives himself of the Means of providing for Necessaries XLV If you submit your Judgment to your Pleasures you will Burn your self with the Light which was given to direct you XLVI He that consults not his Reason for his Pleasures ought not to expect help in his pains XLVII He that suffers himself to be governed by his Passions abandons his Liberty to the Fancy of his Slaves XLVIII Too great desire after things Superfluous oft throws a Man into extreme want of Necessaries XLIX He that fills his Heart with his Passions leaves no room for Piety