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
A41441	The old religion demonstrated in its principles, and described in the life and practice thereof	Goodman, John, 1625 or 6-1690.	1684 (1684)	Wing G1111; ESTC R2856	107,253	396

is not so to be understood as if the obligations of Religion extended no further than to acts of worship or address to God for it is as much our duty to manage our selves well towards others for Gods sake as towards him for his own sake And therefore as hath been intimated heretofore true Piety in its just dimensions comprizes no less than a worthy discharge of our selves in all those relations Divine Providence hath placed us in Now next to our obligations to our Creator and Preserver and next to our concern for the better part of our selves our own Souls a man stands related to his Family so nearly that he is wanting in both the former that is negligent of this Almighty Wisdom and Goodness pronounced it not fit for man to be alone and therefore the first provision he made against the uncomfortable state of solitude was to enter him into the Society of a Family partly that in so near a station they might mutually relieve and help one another in difficulties entertain one another by Discourse and improve one anothers reason partly that in this Conjunction they might fortify one anothers Spirits against all ill accidents or the enterprizes of wicked and malicious Spirits more powerful than themselves but principally that they might mutually provoke and inflame one anothers hearts to admiration love and reverence of their great Creator And this end is so great and the injunction of it so strict that every man in this Society stands charged with the Soul of another and is accountable for it at least so far that he cannot be excusable that doth not indeavour to bring those with whom he so intimately converses and upon whom he hath so many opportunities to a sense and regard of God and Religion And this especially concerns those that are heads of Families forasmuch as by virtue of their place they have always been accounted not only Kings and Governours but also Prophets and Priests within their peculiar sphere and province Accordingly we find it to have been the constant care and practice of all good men in all Ages to train up those of their Families in the knowledge of the true God and the exercises of true Religion particularly God himself testifies of Abraham Gen. 18 19. that he knew he would command his children and his houshold after him that they keep the way of the Lord c. And Job 1. 5. we find it to have been the continual care of that holy man to sanctify his Children and Family and daily to intercede with God for them by Sacrifice Deut. 6. 6. it is an express injunction upon the Children of Israel that they not only keep the laws of God in their own hearts but that they should teach them diligently to their Children and talk of them when they sate in their houses and when they walked by the way c. that is that they should convey and imprint a sense of God and his Religion upon the minds of those they familiarly conversed with And so great is the authority and influence of Governours of Families and so powerful is good example in this particular that Josh 24. 15. Joshua undertakes for his Family that they should serve the Lord whether other people would do so or no. David often declares his zeal for the maintenance of Religion in his Family so far that he resolves those persons should be excluded his House that made no Conscience of God and most remarkably 1 Chr. 28. 9. he gives this solemn charge to his Son Solomon Thou Solomon my Son know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind for the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imagination of the thoughts if thou seek him he will be found of thee but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever And for the times of the New Testament there is abundant evidence that it was the constant practice of all those who had a sense of Religion in their hearts to set it up in their Families also of which the testimonies are so many and so ready at hand that it is needless here to recite them and the success was commonly answerable to the indeavour from whence it comes to pass that Acts 10. 2. it is said of Cornelius that he was not only a devout man and prayed to God always but that he feared the Lord with all his house i. e. his Example Prayers and instruction prevailed upon all those that were under the influence of them to bring them to at least a profession of piety also upon which account it is further observable that generally when any Governour of a Family imbraced the Christian Faith and was converted to that Religion it is said that such an one believed and all his house or he and all his house were baptized namely because truly good men did not fail by their example and endeavours to bring those over to the same Religion which themselves were heartily perswaded of and accordingly we see it often come to pass in these times wherein we live that several persons very heartily bless God that his providence disposed them into such or such pious Families wherein the foundation of their eternal happiness hath been laid by the means of the instructive and exemplary devotion which they have there been under the advantages of upon consideration of all which reasons examples and incouragements and several others which might with great ease have been added let no good Christian be of so monastick a spirit as to extend his care no farther than his own Cell and to think he hath acquitted himself well enough when he hath discharged the offices of his Closet and hath kept Religion glowing in his own heart but think it his duty to take care that his light shine quite through his House and that his zeal warm all his Family In order to which we will here consider these three things First Of the several members which usually a Family consists of and which are concern'd in its discipline Secondly The several duties of piety which especially become and concern a Family And thirdly By what means the members of a Family may be brought to comply with all those duties 1. First The ordinary relations of a Family especially as it signifies those which dwell or converse together under the same roof are Husband and Wife Parent and Children Master and Servant Friend and Friend and all these I take to be comprized in those several passages of the Acts of the Apostles where it is said that such a man and all his house were converted or baptized for there are great interests of Religion which intercede between every of these as for the relation of Husband and Wife as it is the nearest and strictest that can be so consequently it is of mighty importance to their mutual comfort and a wonderful indearment of affections when both the relatives are animated with

the same spirit of Religion and promote the eternal interest of one another As it is vastly mischievous and unhappy when those who are inseparably yoked together draw divers ways one towards Heaven and the other towards Hell in respect of which danger the Apostle advises those who are free not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers 2 Cor. 6. 14. for saith he what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness what communion hath light with darkness what concord hath Christ with Belial and what part hath he that believeth with an infidel Yet because it is possible that light may prevail against darkness therefore when such an unequal Society is contracted he doth not think it a sufficient ground for separation for saith he 1 Cor. 7. 16. What knowest thou O Wife but thou maist save thy Husband or what knowest thou O man whether thou shalt save thy Wife especially since by the piety of one of the Parents the Children are sanctified and placed under the advantages of the Covenant of grace as he there adds v. 14. And seeing it is possible for one of these relatives to be so great a blessing to the other there is mighty reason they both should endeavour it out of self-love as well as charity and conjugal affection since it is both very difficult to go to Heaven alone and also equally easy and comfortable when those in this relation join hearts and hands in the way thither As for the relation of Parents and Children that is also very near and intimate and consequently their interest and happiness is bound up together for as it is a mighty advantage to have holy Parents in regard the Posterity of such persons ordinarily fare the better to many Generations as is assured in the second Commandment and therefore there is a double obligation upon Parents to be good and virtuous not only for the sake of their own Souls but also for the sake of their Children so on the other hand it is no less glory and comfort to Parents to have good and pious Children and therefore they are strictly charged to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and indeed he is worse than an Infidel nay worse than a Brute that can be content to bring them up to Hell and the Devil for they are part of our selves and a man that considers any thing can as well be willing to be damned himself as that they should be so if he can help it Now that there is much in their power this way appears by that charge of the Apostle last named as also by the observation of Solomon Prov. 22. 6. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it for Children in their young and tender years are like Wax yielding and pliable to whatsoever form we will put them into but if we miss this opportunity it will be no easy matter to recover them to good afterwards when they are debauched by evil principles confident of their own opinions headstrong by the uncontrouled use of liberty and hardened by the custom of sinning And therefore it is observable that far the most part of good men and women are such as had the foundations of piety laid in their youth and very few are to be found who were effectually reclaimed afterwards But whilest Children wholly depend upon their Parents and their natures are soft and pliant when as yet they have not the hardiness to rebel nor the confidence to dispute the commands of their Fathers so long they may by the grace of God easily be wrought upon to good and which is very remarkable the influence of the mother is especially considerable in this case for so we find not only that King Lemuel Prov. 31. 1. remembred the Lessons which his mother taught him but as I have noted before Timothy was seasoned with grace by the instructions of his Mother Eunice and his Grandmother Lois 2 Tim. 1. 5. and many other instances there are of the successfulness of the Mothers pious indeavours But where Parents neglect their duty usually the Children perish and their blood will be required at the hands of careless Parents and which is more there is commonly this dreadful token of divine vengeance in this World that those who are careless of their duty both towards God and towards their Children in this particular feel the sad effects of it in the undutifulness contumacy and rebellion of those Children against themselves afterwards as if God permitted them to revenge his quarrel In the next place as for the relation of Master and Servants it is a mighty mistake to think they are meerly our slaves to do our will and that nothing is due from us to them but what is expresly bargain'd for since they are or ought to be Gods Servants as well as ours and must do him service as well as us and they are put under our protection and placed in our Families that they may be instructed in his pleasure and have the liberty to serve him of whom the whole family of heaven and earth is called So that properly speaking we and they are common Servants to one great Master only in different ranks as the one part after the manner of Stewards is allowed to have Servants under them and the other must do the inferiour business but still they are Gods Servants more properly than ours and must therefore have not only as I said liberty and leisure to serve our common Master but also instructions from us and incouragement so to do and he that denies them any of these might as justly deny them their Bread or their Wages nay more he that forgets to pray for them too remembers himself but by halves forasmuch as his interest is concerned not only in their health and prosperity but in their virtue and piety for it is evident that the better men they are the better Servants they will prove So St. Paul tells Philemon in his Epistle to him that he would be a gainer by Onesimus's Conversion for that he would be so much a more profitable servant henceforth as he was now become a better man such persons being not only the most faithful and trusty but by so much the more industrious as they are the more conscientious Besides that it is well known that Divine Providence often blesses a Family for the sake of a pious Servant as God blessed Labans substance for the sake of Jacob and the House and all the affairs of Potiphar for the piety of Joseph So that in short he loves himself as little as he loves God who doth not indeavour that his Servants should be sincerely religious And though it 's true it is not altogether in his power to make them so or to put grace into their hearts yet by virtue of his place and authority he hath mighty advantages of doing them good and will be sure to be called to account how he hath