Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	david_n	young_a	youth_n	34	3	8.2641	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03695	Life and death Foure sermons. The first two, of our preparation to death; and expectation of death. The last two, of place, and the iudgement after death. Also points of instruction for the ignorant, with an examination before our comming to the Lords table, and a short direction for spending of time well. By Robert Horne. Auspice Christo.	Horne, Robert, 1565-1640.; Horne, Robert, 1565-1640. Points of instruction for the ignorant. aut	1613 (1613)	STC 13822.5; ESTC S118515	156,767	464

leasure to liue well but flit from sinne to sinne as the flye skippeth from dish to dish till they be taken with the sweet meate of sin in their mouth and there bee no place to repentan●● Let such consider that the custome of sinne causeth a hardning in sin For so the Apostle speaketh thou after thine hardnesse and heart that cannot repent heapest vnto thy self● wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.5 and let them remember that custome will adde to nature and turne it vnto it selfe Which is the cause that a Preacher shall as soone take Nature from a man by his words as sinne to which hee is accustomed Besides Sathan is not easily cast our where hee hath long dwelt and if Sathan be in sinne will not be out if Sathan haue possession sinne that attends vpon him will not loose possession if one dwell in vs both as well as one wil and must dwell in vs. So much for the Wisemans exhortation his reasons follow Whiles the euill dayes come not c. These are the reasons for which Salomon would haue his young man not to put of in the age of youth which is most prime and teachable the remembrance spoken of And they are taken from the many infirmities and withdrawings that are to bee found in old age when youth is abused as much as if Salomon should haue said Well my sonne thou art now yong lustie and actiue of good apprehension and sharpe conceite indued with fresh and strong faculties of wit and remembrance thy feete are nimble thy sight is good and thy hearing perfect now therfore serue God whiles thou maist the time may come when thou wilt be old weake and sickely dull in apprehending and of bad capacitie and remembrance without a good legge to bring thee to church without a good eare to heare at Church and either without all eies or darke sighted and so not able to reade or not able to reade long nor a good letter but through spectacles then it will be too late to doe any good seruice to God thy Creator This I take to be the Wise 〈◊〉 meaning in these words and the doctrine from hence is Doctr. Old age is no fit time wherein to begin godlinesse when the gay and fresh age of youth hath beene consumed in vanities The Israelites are complained of by the Lord in Malachy That they offered the blind for sacrifice and the lame and sicke for a● hallowed thing Mal. 1.8 He that would not haue a beast that had no eyes in his seruice would haue the● whiles thou hast eyes to serue him The sicke and the lame were no good offerings then and bee they good ware now in the sicke and lame bodie of a man that hath desperately put off his turning to God till he can neither draw winde nor legge Moses knew this and therefore bore this burthen yong and while his legges were able to beare him For the Text saith That when he was come to age hee refused to be called the sonne of Pharaohs daughter that is would not liue in delicacies while he had strength to liue vnto God Heb. 11.24.25.26 Ioseph also in his beautie and faire person turned his back to his tempting Mistresse and his face to the Lord. Gen. 39.10.12 He would not put off to serue God till old age had made choppes to his beautifull face and till his skin was withered Iosiah a good King in the eight yeare of his raigne and sixteene of his age when he was yet a Child began to seeke after the God of Dauid his Father and in the twelfth yeare of his raigne and twentieth of his age made a famous reformation 2. Chro. 34.3.4.5.6 What so soone and so young So saith the Scripture and so it was without controuersie For Gods Children take the good daies of youth for good duties and not the euill of sickly and saplesse old age for them as commonly the worlds children doe Samuel serued God in his minoritie and grew in spirit as hee shotte vp in yeares Samuel was a good man and the better be●●●● a good yong man The reasons Repentance as it can neuer come too soone where sinne is gone before so it must needes with much adoe and not without some speciall worke of God ouertake so many sinnes of youth and manhood so farre and much before it Secondly old age is full of wearinesse and trouble and where wee haue elbow-roome in youth we cannot turne vs in old age Perhaps wee shall neither heare nor see nor go nor sit without paine and torment in all parts and is this a fit condition of life and age of time to serue God in Or doe we thinke seeing wee will not know God in youth that he wil know vs at these yeares and in this case and state A reproofe therefore to those who bestow on Sathan the beauty Vse 1 strength and freshnesse of youth and offer to God the wrinckles weakenesse and foule hue of old age Or when they haue giuen away the flower of their yong yeeres to Gods enemie offer to God who will haue the first and deserues the best the dregges and leauings To such I say if thou wilt not know God in thy youth hee will neuer know thee for ought thou knowest when thou art gray-headed If as hath been said thou wilt not giue him the yong and sound and that which is without blemish he will neuer take in good part the old and sicke and euill fauoured which no man will giue to his friend nor dare offer to his Prince If thou wilt not when thou art quick-witted when thou art come to yeares of dotage hee will not If thou wilt not beare him in his day thou shalt cry in thy day that is in the euill day and not be heard Prou. 1.28 It is too late to sowe when thy fruit should be in and no time to leaue sinne when sinne must leaue thee An instruction Vse 2 not to trust to the broken staffe of old age for being holy as wee are called to holinesse 1. Thess 4.7 but in the daies of our youth as the yeares of plentie to prouide with Ioseph in Egypt for a famine of hearing a famine that may come by infirmitie of yeares Gen. 41.49 For holinesse is a gift and the grace of holinesse is the gift of God Psal 51.10 Now a gift must bee taken when it is offered It is offered to day to day if you will heare his voice Psal 95.7 And therefore we may not come for it many yeares hence being promised to day What folly is it to challenge it thirty or forty yeares hereafter But if men haue neglected in their youth thus to remember God it is high time in their age to remember him Which would bee considered of those who haue already put foot within the dores of that age in the which the Almond tree flourisheth the haires are turned white to the haruest of death Eccl. 12.5 For is it not time for

haue appeared to the world and are manifest to vs why should wee arraigne the Lord of any slacknesse or make question of the day that is so farre spent alreadie in the signes that wee haue spoken off But these matters are further opened in the Sermons that follow to which I humbly pray you and the Christian Reader in you to haue duerespect Not for want of better treatises in this kind for there are many after some of which I haue gleaned with poore Ruth in this small worke as after the men whose hands were full Ruth 2.15 but because they containe nothing in perswading to the power of godlinesse but what is written and what the word which is written doth teach for instruction to a godly life Accept therefore I pray you what is here offered by you vnto many and take in good part my endeuour therein So with many vnfained praiers for your true and full welfare which I vnfainedlie wish to you your yoke-fellow and all yours in the world and in the Lord I rest Your worships poore Nephew humbly at commandement for all christian duties ROBERT HORNE THE FIRST SERMON ECCLES chap. 12. vers 1. Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth before the euill dayes come and yeares approach wherein thou shalt say I haue no pleasure in them THis Booke of Ecclesiastes was written by Salomon after hee was fallen from the good way of vertue to the high way of sinne and prophanenesse forgetting his God and forsaken of Wisedom whereof hee had great gifts when he was young and when hee followed the wisedome which is of God And he calleth it the Booke of the Preacher as if he should haue called it the Booke of his Retractations His end of writing it was That it might remaine in the Librarie of the holie Ghost as a testimonie vnder his owne hand of his turning from God by errour of life and of his returning to him by repentance where hee sheweth hauing seene all things in his wisedome that men can neuer bee happie in or for these things wherein the men of the earth repose chiefe happinesse And this hee teacheth by his owne deere-bought experience for hauing tried all things as mirth and wiues buildings and beautie and riches and honour and the like he confesseth that as a Horse in a mill after he had gone in his long circuit or blind maze of twentie yeares prouing conclusions and trying nouelties hee found himselfe to be where he was at first and further from God and goodnesse at the end of his wearie course than at the beginning wherein he had proceeded to destruction if God by his mercifull arrest had not stayed him Therefore returning into the fauour of God and wearied with the errours of his foolish way he concludeth in this Book that all is vanitie vnder the Sun More specially in this Chapter hauing in the former disswaded his young man from that follie that had almost vndone him and raigneth in young yeares wishing him not onely to flee the concupiscences of youth and all habit of mind in them but to giue no way to his corruptsenses lest they proue baits to catch him and hookes to choke him being taken with present destruction and certaine death he here sheweth him the meane by which this young man and all men may escape so great daunger and that is a carefull walking in the sight of God and obedience to God in the sight of men furthered by remembrance For as the forgetfulnesse of God is a great attractiue to sinne so they sinne not so commonly nor greedily that remember their Maker So much in general for the occasion and author of this worthie Booke and subiect of this Chapter So I come to the words now read And they containe an exhortation and the reasons by which it is amplified The exhortation is to remember wherein two things may be considered the person to bee remembred and the time of remembring him The reasons are likewise two the first is taken from the impediments that old age giueth to Gods seruice the other from the incommodities of mans last sickenesse The exhortation standeth thus If thou wilt constantly doe the works of holinesse to God neuer let it slip out of the meditation of thy heart that God doth require of thee by right of creation that thou godlily serue Him all the daies of thy life And the doctrine from hence is Doctr. 1 The remembrance of God that is the hauing of Him alway before vs in His infinite holines wisdome goodnes power truth is a speciall meane for religion and His true feare in our waies Thus Dauid reasoned I haue set the Lord alwaies before me that is God was euer in my mind to serue Him and feare Him therefore I shall not slide that is God hath set my feet vpon a rocke and in the slipperie waies of such as forget God I shall not be moued He considereth that at all times and in all places God was present with Him both as a Lord to surnay His waies left he should slip grosely and as a Father to comfort Him when He slipt of infirmitie therefore Hee kept his heart in continuall awe preparing it for the Lords presence The Lord all sufficient requireth of Abraham that He would walke before Him Gen. 17.1 that is that He would make Him the Arbiter of His thoughts the Interpreter of His words the Lord of His waies and commit all His doings to Him and then will Abraham without all question make the Lord His feare and doe all His workes in His name In Micah this is the Question wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bowe my selfe before the high God Mic. 6.6 that is how shall I please God in my waies and rest on His will and the answere is made by Micah or rather the Lord by Him Hee hath shewed thee O man what is good and that is to humble thy selfe to walke with thy God verse 8 the meaning is that thou shouldst alway set Him in thy sight beleeuing that He doth guide and gouerne thee And surely when wee behold the Lord in His promises of reconciliation that He is at peace with vs of sanctification that He will renew vs and of prouidence and safetie that for our good He will watch ouer vs being at our right hand by His Angels and at our left by His creatures we cannot chuse but reuerence and loue Him at least feare to sinne against Him because of His infinite goodnes and power In the 116. Psalm the Prophet Dauid after some notable cause of thankfulnes for His deliuerance from death so neere by Sauls pursuit because He would remember by obedience what God did for Him in that wofull houre doth promise to walke before the Lord that is diligently to attend do His cōmandemēts in the Land of the Liuing that is alwaies on Earth specially in His temple It is euident therefore that this hauing of God in our sight

in the good way young that they may sucke the milke of the Gospel with the milk of their Mother But to moue such to doe this dutie with more thankfulnesse let it be considered first that such instruction so giuen by Parents is more naturall and kindly then that which is giuen by strangers For as a tender plant will sooner take nourishment thriue better in the soile wherein it first grew and sprung vp then in any other ground because it liketh it owne soile best so tender children will sooner take instruction and good teaching from the Parents with whom they best agree as with their best and most naturall soile in whose loines they seeded and tooke their first roote then they can or are like to doe from strange Teachers when they shall be transplanted as it were into an other stocke and family or be exposed to grow vp in another soile of people then that in the which they had their first nature and sap of being Secondly who but Parents haue such as bee very young and tender vnder their charge and direction Now while they are yong one may work in their youth as in the day Ioh. 9.4 but when the night of their stubborne yeares commeth that season for good things is commonly lost Thirdly as Plants set in the Spring grow and prosper better then they which are set in Winter or Autumne so the instruction that is giuen in the spring of youth better prospereth and doth more edifie then that which is giuen in the Autumne of manhood or winter of gray haires Fourthly as Parents haue brought forth their children the children of wrath by nature So it concerneth them by the doctrine of Regeneration as by a second better nature in all good conscience to help to make them the sonnes and daughters of God by faith Fiftly Parents will betimes put their children forth to good trades And is there any trade of their life for honour delight or riches comparable to the trade and way of godlinesse Is the trade of wisdedome as other common trades which is a tree of Life to all that lay hold of it Prou. 2.18 The meaning is it increaseth strengthneth life where worldly trades if they be wel followed spend and diminish it and where other trades are vncertaine it hath the promises of this life and of that which is to come and where other trades are subiect to the course of this world being sometimes better and sometimes worse this is not so but alwaies good for God hath sealed vp his promise to it that it shall neuer faile which being so how carefull should Christian Parents be not to put off to put out their children carely and as it were at breake of day to such a profitable certaine and happie trade of life by which they shall be sure to liue euer with the Lord But if Parents will not betimes bind their youth by precept vpon precept Esay 28.10 as by Indenture and by Christian discipline as by Indenture sealed to so good a trade I beseech their Christian youth to offer themselues vnto it Sixtly Parents should remember that they help to build or pull downe the Christian world for in their children they beget and beare Parents to posteritie And if they learne no good while they be children how shall they teach it when they be fathers Seuenthly Parents are Gods Husbandmen and their children his seed and husbandrie 1. Cor. 3.9 as therefore in the husbandrie of this world the good Husband before he reape or inne one crop will plow and prepare for another yea and get the best and purest seede that at the time of haruest he may receiue some good increase So God hauing made religious Parents his husbandmen and their children his seede and husbandrie they should see that the haruest of Gods church be in some good proofe and well comming forward in their seede and posterity before their owne croppe be inned in their owne blessed death For Gods husbandrie must not die nor be giuen ouer till death bee vanquished which is the last enemy they must deale with Hee that hath or meaneth to haue and preserue a good Orchard will haue a nurserie also of young trees to feede it with and of these tender trees hee will be more carefull then of those elder in his Orchard of fruits The reason is they may sooner be bitten or nipped or the canker may sooner take them then the other trees God loueth and maketh much of the Orchard of his Church in the old store but hee is tender of it in the nurserie and new store that consisteth of babes in Christ growing to holinesse because the canker of euill things may soonest breed in them heards not of Beasts but of Diuels may soonest bite and nip them and so the Vineyard that God loueth so well may for want of supplies from the seminarie of young men and children begotten to the Gospell become desolate and wast for euer Now is God thus tender of his spirituall Nurserie and shall Christian Parents his husbandmen neglect it Doe they not know that the old trees cannot stand alwaies and that sooner or later they must be cut downe with the axe of death should they not then looke well to the nurserie of the younger impes in their charge by hedging with good nurture and discipline the young men and young women whom they meane to set as trees of righteousnesse in the Orchard of the Lords Church should they not water them with good teaching dresse them in good and due manner paring away their riot and superfluities of apparell of pleasures of play and prouide that no dangerous worme eat into them by any carely habit in euill vnmet with or if they shall despise or post of this so important a dutie what can we call them but prophane and such as leaue Gods Church in worse case then they found it The hope of the Church is in the youth that now haue being for if they be well brought vp they will be carefull that such as proceed from them shall haue good bringing vp also that age will commend this good education to another the next to them that follow and they to others by an inuiolable tradition till there be an end of all generations on Earth And as this is a lesson for all Parents so specially for Parents of great Families for the greater the ship is and the better merchandise it carrieth the more neede it hath of an expert and carefull Pilot. And so the greater a childe is by blood possessions the more need he shall haue of some speciall Ouerseer and one that greatly feareth God to be guide to his youth The contrarie carelesse nursing vp of such in vice and idlenesse is cause of these great wasts that wee find to be made so ordinarily in the best patrimonie of the common wealth for as the fattest soile bringeth forth the rankest weedes when it is not plowed so great houses not well