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
A30305	The poor man's help and young mans guide containing I. Doctrinal instructions for the right informing of his judgment, II. Practical directions for the general course of his life, III. Particular advices for the well-managing of every day : with reference to his [brace] 1. Natural actions, 2. Civil imployments, 3. Necessary recreations, 4. Religious duties : particularly I. Prayer [brace] publick in the congregation, private in the family, secret in the closet, II. Reading the Holy Scriptures, III. Hearing of the Word preached, IV. Receiving of the Lord's Supper : unto which is added an earnest exhortation unto all Christians to the love and practice of universal holiness / by William Burkitt ...	Burkitt, William, 1650-1703.	1694 (1694)	Wing B5738; ESTC R34773	72,112	85

come 3. Let Secret Prayer by your self alone be constantly performed before the Work of the Day be Undertaken It is much better to go from Prayer to Business than from Business to Prayer in regard of the Minds freedom from Distracting Thoughts Because also if the World gets the Start of Religion in the Morning 't is hard for Religion to Overtake the World all the Day after 4. Let Family Worship be performed constantly and seasonably at that Hour which is freest in regard of Interruption and look that it be Reverently and Spiritually performed Call not then for the Cushion when there is more need of the Pillow 5. Then set about and follow the Labours of your Calling with Diligence and Industry He that says Be servent in Prayer says also Be not slothful in Business Rom. 12. and let the Day be spent in your Calling watchfully watching your Company you converse with and the Corruption which you find stirring in you but especially Watch against those Temptations which the Company you are with the Place you are in or the Work and Calling you are about may expose you to or lay you under 6. When about your Calling if alone improve the Time in fruitful Meditation and holy Ejaculations or short Prayers which are no Hindrance at all to your Worldly Business if in Company in such profitable Discourse as may tend to make thy self and others both Wiser and Better 7. In doing your Duty in the Labours of your Calling humbly depend upon God's Fatherly Care for a Comfortable Subsistence for thy self and Family and Compose thy Mind in all Conditions of Life to a quiet and steady Dependance on the Divine Providence being anxiously Careful for nothing but casting all your Care upon him that Careth for you 8. Heedfully Observe all the Passages of Divine Providence daily both towards thy self and others and those Providential Dispensations which thou canst not thoroughly understand awfully Admire 9. In all Places and in all Companies remember the Presence of God and walk continually as under the View of his All-seeing and Observing Eye Often consider that God is every where Present and then you will study to be every where Holy 10. Walk every day with an high Esteem of the preciousness swiftness and irrecoverableness of your Time and resolve to spend it in Nothing which you dare not Pray for a Blessing upon in nothing which you know must be Repented of before you Dye in Nothing which you would not be found doing if Death should surprize you in the doing of it 11. Look every Day to the faithful Discharge of the respective Duties of your several Relations as Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants and remember that much of the Life and Power of Religion consists in the Conscientious Practice of Relative Duties 12. In the Evening retire and take a View of your Actions the Day past Examine what good you have either done or received and bewail it as a Day lost in which you have not either Profited others or Advantaged your self CHAP. IV. Of Glorifying God in our Natural Actions viz. in our Eating Drinking and Sleeping IT is the Advice of the Holy Apostle 1. Cor. 10.31 That whether we Eat or Drink or whatever we do to do all to the Glory of God plainly implying that a Christian ought to perform his Natural Actions to spiritual Purposes and whilst he is feeding his Body must have an Eye at his Serving of God Eating and and Drinking to the satisfying of our Natures and not to the gratifying of our Lusts Our lawful Comforts without Watchfulness become our greatest Snares The first Sin that ever was committed entered the World by Eating Our first Parents pleased their Appetites to their Ruine which ought to make their Posterity afraid of all sinful Excesses to prevent which let the following Rules be remembred and observed 1. Raise not any perplexing Scruples about what you are to Eat and Drink to no purpose but only to your own Vexation Remember Christ has taken away that Distinction of Meats Clean and Unclean which was of old amongst the Jews and has given us a liberty of feeding upon all the good Creatures of God with Temperance and Sobriety 1 Tim. 4.4 Every Creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with Thanksgiving Which hints a second Rule 2. Look that your Meat and Drink be blest and sanctified to you by Prayer and Tanksgiving Sit not down to your Food as a Beast to his Fodder without taking any Notice of the Hand that provides it for you Our Meat doth not Nourish us by its own Power but by Divine Appointment and therefore our Blessed Saviour tho' he was Lord of the Creatures yet did not sit down to feed on them before he lookt up to Heaven for a Blessing upon them St. Mark 6.41 Remember that the Creatures on your Table are God's Creatures and if you Convert them to your own Use without asking God's Leave you are bold Usurpers 3. Eat and Drink as in the Presence and View of God We are most apt to forget God at our Meals feeding our selves without fear Now the Remembrance of God's Eye upon us will Remedy this It is a memorable Expression which you have in Exod. 18. v. 12. And Aron and all the Elders of Israel came to eat Bread with Moses Father-in-law before God Where Observe 1. The Greatness of their Courtesie 2. The Graciousness of their Carriage Their Courtesie was great tho' Jethro was a Stranger and no Isralite yet the Elders of Israel honoured him with their Company and their Carriage was gracious they came to eat Bread with him before God that is in gloriam honorem Dei says one to the Honour and Glory of God They received their Sustenance as in God's sight and caused their Provision to tend to God's Praise 4. Remember that Reason and not Appetite is to be our Guide and Rule both for the Quantity and Quality of our Meat and Drink Not what Appetite likes best but what Reason and Judgment tells you is best ought to be received by you Meat and Drink have destroyed more thousands than ever Poyson did because persons are not so fearfull of these as they are of that If the Brute Creatures at any time eat or drink to any Degree of Excess it is to satisfie their Nature not to gratifie their Lusts But what an Abominable shame is it for Man instead of being governed by Reason to be inslaved by his Lust and to have his sensitive Appetite command his Rational Faculty 5. Take heed of making thy Table a Snare either to thy self or others This is done two ways 1. When our Meals are Incentives to Sin and our Food is made Fewel for our Lusts the Flesh is an Enemy too strong for us when we take away its Armour and fight against it but much more so when we our selves put weapons into its hand and provide it

and keep them in such a holy humble joyful thankful Frame and Posture that God may have the Glory and We the Comfort of all our Religious Addresses to him and attendences upon him in the way of his Ordinances 3. Keep a Watchful Eye upon thy Heart when thou art engaged in any Religious Duty Never are our Hearts so apt to wander as at such a time and therefore they require a strong Guard How very backward is the Heart to Duty how naturally dead and dull in Duty how soon weary of Duty how many Pretences will our Hearts make to cause us to Omit Holy Performances or to render us heedless and lifeless in them therefore as good Nehemiah when building did Work and Watch Watch and Work so must we in Duty Pray and Watch Watch and Pray 4. Make Conscience of Glorifying God in all Religious Duties one as well as another Partiality is hateful to God in the Duties of Religion which have all a Divine Stamp upon them Many Complain of their deadness in Prayer and dulness unto the Word who never came to the Sacrament Wonder not at it God will not meet thee in one Ordinance if thou neglectest him in another We must not limit and bind the Holy Spirit to this or that Duty but wait upon him in all Almighty God is pleased to Communicate himself with great Variety to his Children at one time in this Ordinance at another time in that on purpose to keep up the Esteem of all in our Hearts and to engage us to Attend upon all Conscientiously in the whole Course of our Lives 5. Look that in all thy Religious Duties thou servest God with an holy Alacrity with a Spiritual Delight and Joy Joy suits no Person so well as a Christian and at no Season so well as when Waiting upon God in Religious Duties We have a Promise of it Isa 12. v. 3. With Joy shall ye draw Water out of the Wells of Salvation And we have also a Promise made unto it Isa 64.5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteuousness that is Thou Acceptest him 6. Look that thy End in Attending upon Religious Duties be the same with God's End in Appointing of them Namely First that by them we should pay our Homage to him as our Sovereign Lord And Secondly That through them he may Communicate his Spiritual Blessings into his People's Bosoms 7. Above all take Care that thou dost not blot thy Holy and Religious Duties by a wicked and Unholy Life If thou intendest to foul thy Hands with Sins black work on the Week-day it is in vain for thee to wash them with Prayer on the Lords-day A little seeming Zeal at thy Devotion in the Church will not guild over the Weeks Miscarriages in thy Shop nor attone for thy Pride and Passion for thy Deceit and Fraud for thy Riot and Excess CHAP. VIII Of Glorifying God in Publick Worship IT is Confess'd by all Persons who have any Sense of God and Religion upon their Minds that they were made to serve and glorifie their great Creator by a constant Acknowledgment of his Sovereignty over them and their continual Dependency upon him Now much of the Honour of God and the Credit of Religion depends upon the due Performance of his Publick Worship this Glorifies God much more than any Private Addresses from the Family or the Closet both as it creates a greater Veneration and Esteem of God in the Minds of Men and also because Publick and Solemn Adorations are the most Illustrious Testimonies we can render to God of our Homage to him Besides how reasonable is it that we should own the God whom we serve in the Face of the World Not but that a Christian honours God highly and serves him Acceptably by his Family-Duties and Closet-Devotions But we do much more Glorifie him by our Publick Addresses Then we Honour God Eminently when we let others see conspicuously the high Esteem we have of his Excellencies and cause the Voice of his Praise to be heard amonst Men. The Honour that is done to Persons amongst Men is not done in secret but is always a Publick thing Honour me before the Elders of my People said Saul to Samuel in like manner we give unto the Lord the Honour due unto his Name when others are Witnesses of the Esteem which we have of his Divine Perfections by our Reverend Acknowledgment of him in his Publick Worship To excite you therefore to a diligent and daily A●tendance upon God in his Publick Worship as you have Opportunity Consider 1. That Publick Worship glorifies God most 2. He Accepts it best 1. Publick Worship glorifies God most because hereby a Sense of God and Religion is best kept up and preserved in the World which otherwise would be in danger of being lost If the Publick Assemblies fall Religion cannot long stand the Worship of God in our Closets will not do this because it is unseen What we do alone no Body sees nor is it intended that they should and therefore that cannot induce others to the same way of Glorifying God But when Men see a Body of Christians assembled together in an humble manner with Pious Devotion and submissive Reverence with bended Knees and Eyes lifted to Heaven paying their Solemn Acknowledgments to the Author of their being this strikes Men with a certain Awe and supports the Belief both of God's Existence and Pen●ficence also in the Minds of Men As for instance when we see a great multitude of poor People constantly waiting at the Gates of an House we presently conclude that some great and good Man dwells there whom the Poor wait upon Thus doth the Publick Worship of Pious Christians spread the Fame of God's extraordinary Goodness far and near whereas when few or none tread in the Courts of his House which were built to contain a multitude of Worshippers and to represent the inconceivable Greatness of that God who is therein worshipped this very much damps the Sense of God and Religion in the World and represents him after a poor and contemptible fashion Oh how unsuitable then is it that the Worship of such a superexcellent and transcendent Being as God is should be confined to our Closets and Private Houses when it is much more suitable and agreeable to his Nature that we Magnifie and Praise him as openly and as Publickly as possible we can that so we may not seem to Worship some little petty Deity but the Almighty and Universal Lord of Heaven and Earth 2. As Publick Worship glorifies God most so he accepts it best for there is nothing that Almighty God more delights in than in the joint Prayers and Praises of his People Psal 87.2 The Lord loveth the Gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob No doubt the Prayers which good Men put up to Almighty God from under their Private Roofs are very acceptable to him but if a Christian's single Voice in Prayer be so sweet what

Lord He builds the House he setteth the Solitary in Families He has founded this Domestical Society ultimately for his own Glory and Subordinately for our good and Comfort Your Families then are Gods by a Right of Creation and by a right of Conversation also He made them and he sustains them We and ours live upon his Bounty and are maintained at his Cost 't is his Flax and his Wooll which we daily wear and he giveth us richly all things to enjoy Now if the Ox knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Masters Cribb shall a Family which Almighty God doth hourly sustain and nourish neglect to pay their Homage to Him and own their Dependance on him Consider 2. The superadded Obligation you lye under to the performance of this Duty both in point of Duty and in point of Interest In point of Duty 1. As you are intrusted by Almighty God with the Care and Charge of your Children and Servants also for which reason every Parent and Master is constituted a Prophet Priest and King in and unto his Houshold As a Prophet he is to teach them by Instruction and Example As a Priest he is to offer up the daily Sacrifice of Prayer and Praise for them And as a King he is to command his Children and Houshold after him to keep the way of the Lord. In point of Interest also 2. Have you not many Family-Sins to confess and many Family wants to supply Now is there any that can pardon the one or supply the other besides God If thy Children want bread can'st thou put it into their Mouths before God puts it into thy hand If they want Grace can any work it in their hearts but the God of all Grace In a word Do you not daily receive many Family-Mercies from the hand of Divine Bounty and is it not reasonable that they which eat of the same Feast should joyn in the same Song of Praise to the Founder of it When you awake in the Morning and find none of your Families dead in their Beds or Buried in the Ruines of their Habitation but all of you preserved from death and danger and delivered from the power and malice of Evil Spirits and out of the hands of unreasonable and wicked Men is not this a mercy that deserves thy calling thy Family together jointly to offer up your thankful acknowledgements to the God of your Mercies 3. Consider That the very Heathens at the great day will arise up in judgment and condemn all such persons as live in the neglect of worshipping God in their Families For even they had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Dii Domestici their Lares and Penates their Houshould Gods as they called them whom they sacrificed Morning and Evening unto that they might conciliate their Favour and be successful in their Enterprises The Old Heathens were wont to say Now we have Sacrificed let us go to bed How many that call themselves Christians say Now we have Supped let us go to bed Oh what shall we think of such persons are they Men or are they Swine they are sunk not only below Heathens but even as low as Brutes who never look up to the hand that feeds them Now that your Family-worship be performed in an Acceptable and Advantageous manner Let the following advices be observed by you 1. Take care that Family-Worship be performed constantly and seasonably by Family-Worship I mean especially Family-prayer Reading the Holy Scriptures c. Catechizing and Instructing Children and Servants in the Fundamental Principles of Christianity and praising of God in Singing All which duties the Family-Governour is to take care not only that they be performed constantly but seasonably at such times as are freest in reguard of interruption particularly the Morning is the fittest season when our Spirits are fresh and lively and before a Throng of Worldly business crowds in upon us You will find it much better to go from Prayer to Business than from business to prayer in regard of the freedom of your Minds from distracting thoughts So when the Evening comes on delay not the performance of your duty to an unseasonable hour Some Masters call for the Cushion to go to Prayer when they are more fit for the Plilow and to go to sleep But supposing that this should not be thine own case thou art wakeful thy self yet thou oughtest to consider the condition of thy poor Servants who work hard in the day and to take heed that thou dost not expose them to the sin and temptation of drousie praying 2. Look upon it as thy oblidged duty to pray Morning and Evening in thy Family many Masters pray neither Morning nor Night with their Houshold some pray at Night only and then so late that a Child is asleep in one corner and a Servant in another and the Master himself between sleeping and waking can such hanging down our heads instead of listing up our hands be Accepted as an Evening Sacrifice Surely we cannot expect it To convince you how reasonaby Almighty God may expect from you a Morning as well as an Evening Sacrifice of Prayer and praise Consider 1. That under the Law Almighty God required thus much namely both a Morning and Evening Sacrifice which was called the continual Burnt-offering 2. That we have no reason to think or suppose that Almighty God expects less but rather more homage and spiritual worship from us now having freed us from the burthen of such Ceremonial observances as they were oblidg'd to 3. That the often repeated commands of the Gospel which require us to pray always and to pray without ceasing cannot reasonably be thought to signifie less than praying as often as the Jews offered Sacrifice which was Morning and Evening And this may as properly be called a praying continually as the Morning and Evening Sacrifices under the Law were called a continual Burnt-Offering So that if you do not pray Morning and Evening you must suppose that Almighty God will accept of less service under the Gospel than he did under the Law 3. Advice is this Spend so much time in Family-worship and particularly in Prayer that those that joyn with you may be affected but not so much time as to be wearied with the Duty My meaning plainly is be neither too short nor yet too tedious To arise up from our Kees before our Hearts are affected either with our own Sin or with Gods Mercies is to come away from a duty no better than we went to it And such an over hasty Brevity argues very little delight that we take in the duty but shews that we are very glad to get out of Gods presence as soon as we can And on the other hand too much prolixity and length in duty has its inconveniencies and makes the Duty burthensom and Persons the more backward to the performance of it Let thy prudence then so guide thee in the management of thy duty that God may have the Glory