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	master_n	wife_n	2,782	5	6.2775	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26158	Ten sermons preach'd before Her Royal Highness, the Princess Ann of Denmark at the chappel at St. James by Lewis Atterbury ... LL.D. and one of the six preachers to Her Royal Highness.	Atterbury, Lewis, 1656-1731.	1699 (1699)	Wing A4157; ESTC R35290	112,085	264

same pitch of Devotion But when he is at the lowest Ebb he endeavours to quicken and raise his Affections he begs of God to enflame his Heart with a Coal from the Altar and cannot rest satisfied till the Light of God's Countenance shines in upon his Soul and he is in some measure assur'd of God's Favour and Good-will towards him These are the four Marks by which we may certainly discover if we will but bring our selves to the Tryal whether we have the Power of Godliness or the Form only I come now Fourthly To shew How far we must turn away from such Persons as have only the Form but not the Power of Godliness And I. We must Examine their Doctrine II. Detest their evil Examples III. Avoid their Company I. We must Examine their Doctrine and the Ends of it St. Paul gives us a hint of both Now I beseech you Brethren Rom. 16.17 18. mark them which cause Divisions and Offences there 's their Doctrine contrary to what they have heard and avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ here are their Ends and Designs but their own Bellies and by good Words and fair Speeches deceive the hearts of the Simple Whatever Doctrines have a shew of seeming Holiness and Piety and yet by probable Consequence tend to promote any evil and wicked Designs ought not to be receiv'd till try'd by the Touch-stone of God's word and are found exactly conformable to the Holy Scripture II. We must detest their evil Examples for this is an absolute and certain Rule that unless we dislike their evil Practices and alienate our Affections from them we shall write after the same Copy Our Life will be according to our liking and therefore we must hate and detest their Hypocrisie though we love the Men we must abhor the Uglyness of their Vice tho' we bear no ill will to their Persons In this sense we must hate them right sore and with a perfect hatred Psal 139.22 even as though they were our Enemies III. We must avoid their Company and this is the literal meaning of the Text. From such turn away It was a subtil though a wicked Policy of Jeroboam to set up two golden Calves the one at Dan the other at Beth●el that he might detain his People at home least going up to Jerusalem and conversing with the Subjects of Rehoboam they should contract a Friendship and Familiarity with them and be perswaded to return to their Obedience He knew how much Company and Conversation wins upon Mens Affections and that Society and Familiarity has by degrees wrought out what the most perswasive Rhetorick could never accomplish Be ye not therefore unequally yoked says the Apostle for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness c. 2 Cor. 6.14 16. Wherefore come ye out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you But this is the Rock upon which too many split they first look upon all other Men as common and unclean who in Truth are much better than themselves and then not only avoid their Conversation but conclude that they are not to be treated by the Rules of common Honesty And thus by straining the String too high make it Jar and spoil all the Harmony and Consort And therefore I shall more particularly set out the Bounds and Limitations of this Precept and consider how far we must turn away from such Men as have the Form but not the Power of Godliness And first We are not hereby engag'd to quit our particular Engagements or to separate our selves from our Friends and near Relations For the Servant is ty'd to his Master the Child to his Parent the Husband and Wife to each other and no Pretence of greater Sanctity and Purity is sufficient to excuse them from the performance of their Duty Nay we must not so turn away from any Man as to refuse doing good and charitable Offices either to his Soul or Body But rather imitate the Example of our Heavenly Father Matth. 5.45 Who makes his sun to shine and his rain to descend on the just and the unjust T●● more wicked any Man is and the more infected with the Leprosie of Sin the more need he has of a Physician If therefore we see a Man who has the Form but not the Power of Godliness let us omit no opportunity of reclaiming him from the Evil of his ways let us assist him with seasonable Counsel and Advice and do him all the good Turns that lie in our way remembring that excellent Saying of a Heathen Homo sum humani nihil à me alienum puto I my self am but a Man and therefore no Affliction can happen to any one but I bear my part in it But let us not contract a Familiarity with a vicious or heretical Person let us not lay such an one in our Bosoms or make him our particular Friend but keep such a strict Guard over our selves and be so cautious in our Dealings with him that we may receive no Prejudice by his evil Example We must treat him as we usually do those who are sick of an infectious Disease furnish him with those things he wants Administer to all his pressing Necessities But we are not oblig'd to converse frequently with him or to expose our selves to the Danger of catching that Distemper under which he labours such a Familiarity as this 't is our Duty to avoid Psal 1.1 Blessed is the man says David that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful And in another place I have not dwelt with vain persons Psal 43.4 neither will I have fellowship with the deceitful I have hated the Congregation of the wicked and will not sit among the ungodly I will wash my hands in innocency O Lord and so will I compass thine Altar And when ever the Duties of our Callings oblige us to frequent their Company we must say with the Psalmist Wo is me that I dwell in Mesech Psal 120.5 and take up my Habitation in the tents of Kedar In short let us observe these three Rules 1. Let us imitate them in good things The Form of Godliness the outward Profession of Religion is highly necessary and Praise-worthy Let us therefore imitate them in this Nay Let us go beyond them in a constant attendance on the publick Duties of Religion in the Devotion of our Prayers the Solemnity of our Fasts the becoming Decency of our Worship and in avoiding all such Sins as are not only heinous Offences against God but scandalous amongst Men and uneasie to modest and vertuous Conversation Let that Face and outside of Religion which they put on incite in us a Holy Emulation to outdo them in their own Art For good is still the same in whatsoever Subject 't is found we have no Reason

not all the presumptuous Sins you ever committed in your Life-time begin in your Heart were they not forg'd and contriv'd there And how can you tell but that the Allowance of one wicked Thought may be the Rise of the most villanous Act No Man was ever wicked all of a sudden The Sinner at first is timorous and bashful and goes on by Degrees till at last he arrives at the highest Pitch of hardness and Impenitency Many a Man there is who thinks it can be no heinous Offence to cast a covetous Eye on other Mens Goods or a wanton Look on his Neighbours Wife and yet whosoever doth not restrain these evil Affections of his Mind will soon lie under an unavoidable Temptation to commit the grosser Acts of Theft and Adultery for if we allow our selves in the lighter Breaches of our Duty we shall soon come to think every Sin to be so and wicked Thoughts harbour'd and encouraged will produce wicked Actions Had David at first suppress'd his lustful Thoughts after the Wife of Vriah he had never added the Murder of the Husband to Adultery with the Wife but when once he gave way to sinful Thoughts this Man after God's own Heart this holy Prophet as well as great King was born down the Stream of his vicious Inclinations and committed the vilest Acts of the most presumptuous Sins Consider therefore with thy self that though a vain and wicked Thought is a Sin of Infirmity when it enters into our Mind without our Consent and Approbation yet we shall very much encrease the Guilt when we allow our selves in it and it may prove very dangerous to our eternal Welfare 4. If sinful Thoughts still press into our Minds divert them to some holy Meditation and take this hint of bending your Thoughts to the contrary Duty Thus if you are tempted to plot and contrive the Commission of any Sin make this the Occasion of fortifying and strengthning your Resolutions against the Commission of that very Sin of considering its evil Nature and dangerous Consequences and hereby encrease your Hatred and Detestation of it Are the sinful Pleasures which you have formerly enjoy'd represented to your Fansie Let the Remembrance of them renew your Sorrow and Repentance for your disobedience to God's Law and the Breach of his Commandments and put you upon begging God's Grace and Assistance that for the time to come you may live more uprightly and unblameably Are you perplex'd and troubled with blasphemous and Atheistical Thoughts Fall presently on the Contemplation of the wonderful Works which he has made and the curious Operations of his hands consider this stupendious Fabrick of the World the infinite Variety and yet exact Order and due Subordination of Beings contained in it ask thy self what Power it was which first created it and still continues to preserve it which has furnish'd irrational Creatures with unerring Instincts that teaches the Bird to build its Nest the Spider to weave its Web look into the curious Frame and Composition of that lesser World thy own Body Psal 139.14 and behold there how fearfully and wonderfully thou art made And by such Contemplations as these affect thy Mind with a humble Awe and devout Reverence of God's Power and Majesty Are you tempted to Envy the Prosperity of your Neighbour Consider how many Gifts of God's Bounty you have receiv'd how much you enjoy more than you deserve and how unthankful and ungrateful you have been for those good things God has already given into your hands Are you given to lustful Thoughts Turn this strange Fire into a Holy Zeal for God's Glory Do presumptuous Thoughts rise up in your Heart Consider your former Sins and repeated Provocations against God and take occasion from hence to exercise your Humility Are you overwhelm'd with Despair Call to mind God's gracious Promises and admire his infinite Goodness who has given his only begotten Son and sent him into the World on Purpose to atone for your Sins and to accomplish the great Work of your Salvation and still makes you the Proffers of Pardon and Forgiveness by such Meditations as these you will imitate your heavenly Father in drawing Good out of Evil and make the Temptations of the Devil the occasion of promoting your eternal Welfare Nay if you thus resist the Devil he will flee from you James 4.7 his Assaults will be neither so frequent nor so furious when he finds they serve only to exercise your Graces and make you more watchful 5. Season thy Heart every Morning with some Holy Meditation Dedicate the First-fruits of thy Thoughts unto God How precious are thy Thoughts unto me O God says the Psalmist how great is the sum of them Psal 139.17 18. If I should count them they are more in number than the Sand When I wake I am still with thee The constant and serious Meditation on those great Motives to a Holy Life the Example of our Blessed Saviour the Torments of Hell the Joys of Heaven the certainty of Death the Terrors of Judgment if made the Subject of our Morning Meditations would be a Spring and Source of good Thoughts all the day long and produce in our Minds suitable Desires and Affections and to this End let us constantly read some Portion of the Holy Scripture This will be a Lamp to our feet Psal 119.115 and a light to our Paths it will both inform our Judgments what we ought to do and incline us to walk in the Way of God's Commandments 6. And lastly Let us beseech Almighty God that he would give us his Grace and enable us with the Assistance of his Holy Spirit to Keep our Hearts and govern our Desires and Affections And though this Duty is too difficult to be perform'd by our own Strength yet we may be assur'd that God will enable us to go through with it because he requires nothing of us which is not in our Power to perform He has promis'd Isa 42.3 That he will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking Flax but that he will encourage every Effort that we make towards a good and vertuous Life His Grace was never deny'd to any one who did but sincerely desire it and endeavour to render himself capable of receiving of it Luk. 6.38 To him that asks it shall be given not only what he prays for but also the larger Effusions of his Holy Spirit he often prevents our Prayers and is more ready to give than we are either to desire or receive And now what remains but that we being furnish'd with these Helps and assur'd of the Assistance of God's Holy Spirit immediately set upon the Practice of this Duty and endeavour with all Care and Diligence imaginable to keep a strict Watch over the Thoughts and Affections of our Hearts 'T is true this cannot be perform'd without much Pains and Industry but what Design which is either great and glorious useful and honourable can be compass'd