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	parent_n	person_n	2,074	5	5.3963	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37568	A sermon preach'd at the funeral of John Melford ... who dyed (aged eighteen years) the 21st day of June, through the sad occasion of a fall from a horse, and was buried ... the 27th day of the same month, 1692 / by Tho. Easton ...	Easton, Thomas, b. 1661 or 2.	1692 (1692)	Wing E107; ESTC R19705	19,674	31

demand from their Children in point of practice must be severe i. e. admit of no diminutions There must be no Commutation in the exercise of tender vertue for that will by degrees tempt Children to believe that 't is only indifferent But now when Parents keep a severe hand and a watchful Eye over their Children and will allow no abatements of their duty but encourage and reward them for doing well and render Vertue amiable from the consideration of that credit that attends it and Lastly when they recommend Religion to their choice from the consideration 1. That Gods Honor is concerned in it ☜ 2. That their own eternal Happiness depends on it then Parents have done their duty for their Children Secondly And then there is no doubt that those who have begun thus well will ever fall back those who are so forward in their way to Heaven can't fail of arriving thither with ease and comfort as well as be received with joy and glory He that hath been accustomed to do well will not admit of any temptation to biass him but his whole conversation will be heavenly his discourse alway grave as if seasoned with Salt ministring Grace to the Hearers his thoughts alway limited his desires bounded and his actions will be so innocent and withal his temper so obliging and his society so acceptable and withal so beneficial that all that know him must commend him And which is a comfort to himself he is alway in readiness for the coming of the Bridegroom Preparation for death includes more than a Death-bed-repentance or a faint Lord have mercy upon me He properly and he only prepares for death aright who lives every day with that care and watchfulness as if he were to dye ere the night i. e. not to fall wilfully into any notorious sin nor to allow little ones but every night confesses the Errors and Miscarriages of the day past and endeavours what he can to avoid the same in after times In a word 'T is an Early beginning to live well that can be truly accounted a timely preparation for our removal hence N. B. Fourthly Inf. 4. We should moderate our sorrow for the loss of any Friend how near or hopeful soever The days of man are but as grass says the text All Flesh is grass saith the Prophet I say 40. 6. and all the glory of it but like a Flower well then Are you discontented that your grass withereth Or are you perplexed that a flower fadeth No. This doth not disturb you for you know 't is natural Be it so mans days are no more but his removal hence is necessary and will you will you it lies not in your power to prevent that sate for that 's a war in which there 's no discharge And therefore to be angry that our Friends dye is to blame the wisdom of God who made them mortal or to be discontented that we can keep them no longer is to pretend to tell God what season is proper for him to do what we would have done which is to put our selves above him In a word we have no more solid reason to be grieved that our Friends dye I mean grief to excess than that a Stone descends or Water is moist or the Sun giveth light or Fire burns for all are alike natural But it may be said if ever grief be allowed when our Friends dye as Nature prompts it and there are not many who can conquer their passion so as to suppress it then in extraordinary cases it will follow that there should be extraordinary grief allowed will it not may be a Question I answer no or I ask to what purpose will your Friend be the more easy after he is dead if you tear your Hair or rent your Cloths or break your Rest or forbear your Meat and pine your self into a Consumption If you you can think so spare no Labour but rather take incentives to heighten a disconsolate passion to any degree this side your own expiration But if you can't suppose that the deceased Person for whom you so lament and whom you so passionately bewail is at all benefited thereby pray then to what purpose is it Or why make ye this ado I am sure it can be no comfort or ease to indulge those phlegmatick passions reason doth not require them nor religion tolerate them Or if no other argument can convince men how unserviceable excessive grief is in such a case I say that others shall shortly lament us as we now do our late dear Friend In a word therefore in all the circumstances of Life let our grief be moderate Summ. Appl. in all our concerns of Eternity let us be very vigilant Let it be our care to have Oyl alway in our Lamps We are but as Flowers we know not how soon we may be gathered hence let us be careful that we be not found unprovided If God should think fit to call us off suddenly are we now provided I know many don't care to put this question much to themselves but they would rather enquire after others that died in this manner but that is not any mans duty for any one to mind more than himself for himself But this I know and forwarn and testify viz. that where God continues the means of grace and makes all men a free offer of glory if they will but labour after it If men will prefer a Lust to Eternal Life Value Vanity beyond a Crown of Glory prize a Bubble before an Inheritance which fadeth not away if they slight the Threatnings of God and contemn his Judgments and despise his Mercies he will speedily execute Vengeance on those that so affront him And thô their time in general be but short yet God will cut off such in the midst of their days hasten their Destruction and send them quick into Hell and then they shall too late perceive their Folly which now they would not suspect On the other hand If from the consideration of the uncertainty of our continuance here we provide our selves for a removal and make it our business to look out that City which hath Foundations whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11. 10. If from the thoughts of a speedy death weare perswaded to mortify sin in our members presently if from the remembrance of leaving this world we are induced to fix our thoughts upon Heaven If the thoughts of leaving behind us all our Friends engage us to make Friends with the Mammon of Vnrighteousness If the leaving our wealth prevails upon us to lay up a treasure In Heaven Then have we lived long enough how little while soever we have lived then death shall never be sudden how unexpected soever it may seize us Lastly then our bounty our honour and splendor which are so many Flowers on us in Life of which death deprives us shall be all abundantly recompenced by a Crown of Righteousness which shall be a lasting ornament to our head to a never ending Eternity FINIS

A SERMON Preach'd at the FUNERAL OF John Melford Esq Of Nymet Episcopi in the Diocess of Exeter Who dyed aged eighteen years the 21st day of June through the sad occasion of a fall from a Horse and was buried at Southmolton the 27th day of the same month 1692. By Tho. Easton A.M. Vicar of Nymet Episcopi St. Luk. 13. 2 3 4 5. The Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their Sacrifices and those eighteen that were slain at Siloam were not sinners above all others Therefore Doctrinally Strange Judgments don't always infallibly denote the sufferers to be extraordinary guilty Non Laudem quaeras potius sed sustine famam Immeritam famam despice Disce pati LONDON Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul ' s Church-yard 1692. The PREFACE THe following Sermon was preach'd at the Funeral of a young Gentleman whom I dearly loved and it was never antecedently intended to be made more publick than at the time of its delivery at the interment But the misinterpretations that have been put upon it by some and the various reports that have sprang from thence by others have necessitated me to do what I never thought And I am rather willing to submit the whole to a Publick censure than that I should lye under the suspicion of abusing the credit of the deceased Gentleman or be guilty of that unpardonable Rudeness of designedly blaming the Conduct and Guidance of his surviving Friends which the uncertain Reports that I have met withal since the Funeral do so plainly intimate For I reckon now the noise is spread so far that those who know nothing of this discourse but only by bare report and that too not begun or propagated upon substantial grounds but as Mistake or Humor gave them first rise and vent they would have presumed me guilty of all that I am accused if I should decline this honest and safest way of a Justification I confess 't is no great wonder if Offen●es happen but yet it behoveth all men to see that they be not causeless In this particular I have sufficient reason to say that it is not thro my fault if any are offended 't is to be attributed to some other original than the following Discourse St. Paul complained and thought it a very hard case that he should be accounted an Enemy to the Galatians for telling them the Truth Gal. 4. 16 i. e. 't was very unjust that they should be wroth with the Apostle for speaking Truth tho it were harsh and they fell under the inevitable Lash of a severe Conviction But MINE is a WORSE case i. e. the cause of my being accounted an Enemy if I am so accounted is not equally manifest with that of the Apostles for be had taxed them of transgression in particular Duties and made the application of his reproof to particular persons and for this the offenders against the Rules of Christianity were offended with the Apostle that preacht it to them Had I done so I confess it might have been a cause in some measure plausible to justify some severe demonstrations of Anger and an evil Resentment But even by Confession nothing is positive only what is here mentioned is liable to misconstructions and Those that don't know the circumstances of the sad mischance of this Gentlemans Death will be apt to ascribe it to a then present Intemperance But if that could have silenced this Controversy or allayed this Heat I then did and now do declare I was personally with him within one hour and neither his Relations or myself or other Friends could in the least suspect it But if other inferences may be drawn from so plain a Discourse whatever their tendency may be or allowing them to indifferent suppositions and so by consequence may afford some ungrateful Conclusions I hope no good man nor no wise man will say that I am chargeable with all that Jarrago of Inferences that either Wit or Malice Ignorance or Curiosity may gather thence My aim was not God is Judge and Witness to make scandalous reflections upon past actions for I declare I know nothing whereof to accuse but I thought considering my method of discourse what I said was fairly deduceable from the words and if I have been particular in the directions I am sure I was designedly general in the reproof And that all those that shall please to condescend so far as to give this little piece an indifferent reading and afterward what censure they please may know fully and plainly the reason why 't was published and judge from thence whether there were any need of Jealousy or Discontent which hath occasioned so wide and common reports I have offered it to your view exactly in the same Method and Language that 't was first written without so much as altering a sentence scarce a single word excepting only that in the repetition of some remarkable Sentences there might possibly be some accidental Transposition And if the publication of it may upon second thoughts with deliberate perusal satisfy those who are particularly concerned in the sad occasion of the Funeral that here are no particular Reprehensions if it may have a favourable approbation from men unprejudiced if it may any way tend to the Reformation of any Person that so God may have the Glory when these or any of them happen with the glory of God attending them I have my only aim and beyond those I wish no more PSALM CIII 15 16. As for man his days are as grass as a flower of the field so he flourisheth For the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more AMong all the troubles to which we are subjected as we are men and which we have drawn upon our selves as we are sinners none is so dreadful as death the thoughts of being removed from this present place of abode to another state have deep impressions upon our Spirits and they also very melancholy and distracting and especially the more afflicting when we find the events of such considerations to affect our selves i. e. if we lose a Friend we are grieved But if we apprehend Death calling for us in particular it chills our Blood and casts a Damp upon our Courage Mirth and Jollity are neglected as insignificant and unsatisfactory and infinitely various surmises do mutually disturb our incomposed Senses so much that under the fears of approaching Death we lose the very advantages of Life And this natural aversion that all men have to dying or a final dissolution is mightily augmented by collateral causes v. gr 1. Some are extreamly fond of this World They are here as they think well at ease they have all that they can need and that makes them suppose and believe 't is all that they ought to wish for and therefore here they resolve to fix their Tabernacles and in this Region of reputed Felicity they would willingly continue a long time at least and for ever