Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	day_n	good_a	lord_n	2,726	5	3.8026	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30638	The fathers legacy: or Burtons collections Containing many excellent instructions for age, and youth, shewing them how to live godly in this life, and to attaine everlasting happinesse in the life to come. First written for the instruction of his onely son, and now set forth for the benefit of others. By Edw: Burton.	Burton, Edward, of Stanton, Derbyshire.	1649 (1649)	Wing B6159; ESTC R215093	76,775	223

Prayer in time of W●rre Pag. 192 A praier for Gods protection of his Church in respect of the present troubles of it Pag. 195 A Prayer before Sermon Pag. 199 A Prayer before the receiving of the Sacrament ibid. A Prayer after receiving of the Sacrament Pag. 200 A Prayer at the houre of Death Pag. 201 The Fathers Legacy OR Burtons Collections My Sonne FIrst honour God then thy Prince thy Parents and thy Elders be true and just and see thou never grudge to clear the cause of the oppressed Innocent for one day God shall also be thy judge If gold or bribes do corrupt thy Conscience if fear or favour do sway thee in thy Judgment if thou respect the difference of Persons be sure that God will in the end repay thee for it Begin thy dayes work when the day begins first blessing Gods thrice blessed name then at the Evening when thy labour is ended praise him again so bring the year about Say not thou my hand hath brought this work to an end nor this my vertue hath attained rather say thus This hath God w●●●●ht by me for God is the Author of that little good we doe The world is like unto a ●ound City where ●ach ma● may be rightly said to be a Citizen as well the ●ude Barbarian as the Greek as well the meanest as the mig●tiest States In this fair Cities goodly Walles God planted man and placed him as in a Sanctuary where he himself in a Thousand parts hath plan●ed with lively col●ur● that ●o never c●ange There is no● a corner so small in all this City wherein Gods greatnesse doth not appear plain which that we might the bette● view he hath placed man just in the middle Yet can h● n● where better know the same then in hims●lf wherein he may see as in a glasse Earth Water Ayre and Fire For all the world his Essence doth infould Who of himself hath gained perfect knowledge is not ignorant of any thing that he ought to know but the best means whereby it is attained is oftentimes to go to wisdoms glasse That which thou seest of man is not man but a prison that keepes him Captive it is but a Tombe wherein he is interred it is but a Cradle wherein a while he sleepes This mortall body where the ravished sence sees sinnues flesh bones muskles bloud and skin it is not man man is of more Excellency it is the fair Temple where God himself dwelleth Rightly to speak what we call man it is a beamling of Divinity it is a dropling of Eternity it is a moathling hatcht of Unity O man then know thine own originall and learn to scorn the base Cells of earth sith thou shalt flourish in Heavens glistering Hall and art indeed a Divine Plant by birth Well mayst thou vant thee of thy glorious race Not from thy mortall Parents either line But from thy true imm●rtall F●●●●● grace Who by the modell of his 〈…〉 thine Shun thou the filthy sect of 〈◊〉 Epicures bold miscreant● every w●● blaspheaming the which do n●● 〈◊〉 ●●spect nor acknowledge God but only the fatall sway of nature And in the mean while like the grunting swine lye alwayes wallowing in the stinking mud and feedes on fi●th like to the loathsome froggs voluptious filth of every fleshie desire Happy is he whose hope relies on God alone and who on him in either fortune calls as well in prosperity as adversity and puts no trust in humain help at all Canst thou assure thy hopes on worldly trash frail mortall things I pray thee tell me such are the greatest of earthly men and have more need to be secured then thou God is the just mans aid and his Anchor his sure defence when all the world forsakes him And therefore then is he the least dismade knowing that God is most strongest for him when all wordly means fayles him The goods which we call the goods of fortune they are not goods if we tearm them rightly for they are ever subject to the least change that is But vertue only still persists the same Vertue between the two extreams that hants Between too micle and too little size● Exceedes in nothing in nothing wants Borrowes of none but to it self suffizes O vertue could we but see thy naked face how wouldst thou ravish us with thy sacred beauty sith rarest witts rapt with a seeming grace have in all ages courted even thy shadowes The Parents comfort is a prudent Sonne now such a Sonne if thou desirest to have direct him young to run in duties race But thy own example is the nearest way If thou be born Sonne of a prudent Father why dost thou not follow his example if otherwise why dost not thou by vertuous deeds strive to cover his disgrace It is no small thing to be descended by our predicessours from an honest and religious stock but it is much more to shine by their light unto our own Successors So long as thou livest cease not to learn think that day lost wherein thou learnest not some good thing that may give new grace to make thy self wiser and better Respect thy credit more then thy own life I mean that which drawes each mans duty to the uttermost we are able to God to our King to our Lawes and our Country What thou canst do to day defer not till to morrow like sloath Mother of fowlest sinnes nor be thou like to those who do borrow others hands and what themselves might do will do by others Frequent the good flye from ungodly men especially in thy youthes tender age the while outragious appetites provoke and arme thy sences against the sway of reason Go not about to deceive the simple nor wilfully offend thy weaker brother nor wound the dead with thy tongues bitter gall neither rejoyce at the fall of thine Enemy Let thy discourse be true in all things whether then be●● called as a publike witnesse to 〈◊〉 a q●estion or in thy ordinary and familiar ●●●k To beguile ●he silly birds the crafty fow●er doth faine thei● sweet notes so doth subtle mates counterf●ct the words and guise of hon●st men Reveal not whatsoever is ●●uld thee in secret nor busily inquire things of others the Inquisitive can hardly keep Councell and the charitable is commonly a lyer Make thou alwayes lawfull measure and equall waight though none could spye or discover thy dealing And where thou hast received a good turn restore it with some kindnesse back again Whatsoever is committed to thee in trust keep it carefully and when the owner shall demand it again deny it not neither with a large Conscience by subtle Law-tricks and strive to detain it It is not enough that thou dost wrong no man thy self but thou must also suppresse the same in others righting the weak mans cause against the unrighteous whether it touch his life his goods or name Whosoever doth desire the fame of honour must tame his anger and that heart-swelling

and though they be most acceptable to men wise like themselves yet have they never more need of wisdom then when they converse with the ringing elboes who like corrupt Ayre require many Antidotes to keepe us from being infected But when they grow bitter to a wise man we are then worse for he sees further into the disgrace and is able to harme us more Laughter should dimple the cheeke not furrow the brow into rudgedness The birth is then prodigious when mischief is the child of mirth All should have liberty to laugh at a jest but if it throwes a disgrace upon one like a crack of a string it makes a stop in the Musick Flouts we may see proceed from an inward contempt and there is nothing cuts deeper in a generous minde then scorne Nature at first makes us all equall we are differenced but by accident and outwards and I thinke it is a jealousie that she hath infused in man for the maintaining of her owne honour against externall causes and though all have not wit to reject the Arrow yet most have memory to retaine the offence which they will be content to owne a while that they may repay it both with more advantage and ease 'T is but an unhappy wit that stirs up enemies against the owner a man may spit out his friend from his tongue or laugh him into an enemy Gall in mirth is an ill mixture and sometimes truth is bitternesse I would wish any man to be pleasingly merry but let him beware he bring not truth on the stage like a want on with an edged weapon Of the uncertainty of life MIserable brevity more miserable uncertainty of life we are sure we cannot live long and uncertaine that we shall live at all and even while I am writing this I am not sure my Pen shall end the sentence our life is so short that we cannot in it contemplate what our selves are and so uncertaine as we cannot say We will resolve to doe it Silence was a full answer in that Philosopher that being asked What he thought of humane life said Nothing turn'd him round and vanisht like leaves on Trees we are the sport of every puffe that blows and with the least gust we may be shaken from our life and nutriment We travell we study we thinke to desect the world with continuall searches when while we are contriving but the nearest way to it Age and consumed yeares overtake us and onely labour payes us the losses of our ill expended time Death whiskes about the unthoughtfull world and with a Pegasian speed f●yes upon unwearied man with the kick of his heele or the dash of his foot springing fountaine of teares of friends If Nature had not made man an active Creature that he should be delighted in imployment nothing would convince him of more folly then the durance of some enterprises that he takes in hand for they are many times of such a future length as we cannot in reason hope to live till their conclusion comes We build as though we laid foundations for eternity and the expeditions we take in hand are many times the length of three or foure lives How many Warriers have expired in their expugnations leaving their breath in the places where they laid their Seige Certainly he that thinkes on lifes casualties can neither be carelesse nor covetous I confesse we may live to the Spectacle and bearing-staffe to the stooping Back to the Snow or the slacknesse of the declining Crowne but how few are there that can unfold you a Diarie of so many leaves More doe dye in the spring and summer of their yeares then live ●il autumne or their growned wint●● Wh●● 〈…〉 exhaust his very vitality for the hoarding up of fatall Gold and shall then thinke how a haire or fly may snatch him in a moment from it how it quells his laborious hope and puts his posting ●inde into a more safe and quiet pace unlesse we were sure to injoy it why should any man straine himselfe for more then is convenient I will never care too much for that I am not sure to keepe yet I know should all men respect but their owne time an age or two would finde the world in ruine So that for such actions men may plead their charity that though they live not to injoy those things themselves they shall yet be beneficiall to posterity And I rather thinke this an instinct that God hath put in man for the conservation of things then an intended good of the Author to his followers Thus as in propagation we are more beholden to the pleasure of our Parents then their desire of having us So in matters of the world and fortune the aimes of our Predecessors for themselves have by the secret worke of providence cast benefits upon us I will not altogether blame him that I see begins things lasting though they be vanities to him because he knowes not who shall enjoy them yet they will be things well fitted for some that shall succeede them They that doe me good and know not of it are causes of my benefit though I doe not owe them my thankes and I will rather blesse them as instruments then condemne them as not intenders Of Reward and Service WHen it lights upon a worthy nature there is nothing procures a more faithfull service then the Masters liberality nor is there any thing makes that appeare more then a true fidelity they are each of other alternate Parents begetting and begotten Certainly if these were practised great men need not so often change their followers nor would the Patrons be abandoned by their o●d Attendants rewards are not given but payed to servants that be good and wise nor ought that blood to be accounted lost which is out-letted for a noble Master worth will never faile to give desert her bayes A liberall Master that loves his Servant well is in some sort a god unto him which may both give him blessings and protect him from danger And beleeve it on the other side a diligent and discreet servant is one of the best friends that a man can be blest withall he can doe whatsoever a friend may and will be commanded with lesser hazzard of loosing nay he may in a kinde challenge a glory above his Master for though it be harder to play a Kings part well then 't is to act a Subjects yet Natures inclination is much more bent to rule then obey service being a condition which is not found in any Creatures of one kinde but man Now if the question be when men meet in these relations Who shall the first begin the lot will surely fall upon the servant for he is tyed in duty to be diligent and that ever bindes without exception The Lord is tyed but by his Honour which is voluntary and not compulsive liberality being a free adjection and not a tye in his bargaine 'T is good sometimes for a Lord to use a servant like

chant it as cheerfully in September the beginning of Winter as in March the approach of the Summer why should not we thinke I give as cheerfull ent●rtainment to the hoary Haires of ou● ages Winter as to the Primroses of our youths spring why not to the declining Sunne in adversity as like Persians to the rising Sunne of prosperity I am sent to the Ant to learne industry to the Dove to learne innocencie to the Serp●nt to learne wisdome a●d why not to this Bird to l●arne Equanimity and patience a●● to keep the same teno● of my mind●● q●●etness as well at the app●●ac●● of calamitous Winter as of the Spring of h●ppin●ss● And since the Romans constanc●e is so commended who changed not his countenanc● with his changed Fortunes why sh●uld not I with a Christian resolution hold a steddy cou se in all weat●ers and though I be ●orced with crosse Winds ●o shift my Sayles and catch at side Winds y●t skilfully to steare and keep on my course by the Cape of good hope till I arrive at the haven of eternall happinesse And now to conclude Meditation is a busie search in the Store-house of Fantasie for some Ideas of matters to be cast in the moulds of resolution into some formes of words or actions in which search when I have used my greatest diligence I finde this in conclusion that to meditate on the best is the best of Meditations and a resolution to make a good end is a good end of my resolutions A Morning Prayer O Most gracious God and loving Father we heartily thanke thee for all thy loving kindnesses so abundantly shewed upon us for our Election Creation Redemption mercifull Vocation Justification Sanctification and continuall preservation and for our assured hope of our Glorification in the world to come We praise thy gracious goodnesse for so mercifully preserving us this night past and delivering us from all dangers both of soule and body for that thou hast given us so sweet and comfortable rest and hast brought us to the beginning of this day And as thou hast safely preserved us unto this present houre from all dangers of this life so we beseech thee to continue this thy favour towards us this day and the whole course of our life suffer us not by vaine alurements of this world to be drawne away into sinne and wickednesse assist us with thy Grace and holy Spirit that we spend not our times vainely or idely but that we may alwaies be diligently exercised in the duties of our Calling to the benefit of our Brethren and discharge of our Conscience Grant that in all our consultations words and workes we may ever have thee present before our eyes through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour Amen An Evening Prayer O Most gracious Lord God and loving Father we heartily thanke thee for all thy mercies blessings benefits and preservations so abundantly shewed towards us We doe praise thy glorious goodnesse for so mercifully preserving us this day past and delivering us from all perills and dangers both of body and soule for prospering and preserving us in health and prosperity for giving us all things necessary for this present life as health food and apparrell and other convenient things needfull this gracious goodnesse of thine we beseech thee O Lord to continue towards us for ever And here O Lord God we offer up unto thee our selves and ours our soules our bodies we recommend our lives our meanes and all we have unto thy gracious preservation and protection in assurance that that cannot perish which is committed unto thee keep us this night in safety and grant good Lord that our bodies may sleep and ou● sou●es may watch for the commi●g of our Saviour thy Son Jesus Christ tha● so our soules and bodies may be more apt and able to serve thee in that estate and Calling wherein thou hast thought good to place us we doe confesse and acknowledge O mercifull God that we are most miserable and wicked sinners as well by originall corruption of Nature as by the course of our evill and naughty life we have and doe daily breake and transgresse thy most holy Law and Commandements both in thought word and deed By the meanes of this sinne and corruption we doe continually deserve most just condemnation and to be for ever cast out of thy presence yet such is thy goodnesse towards us thou wouldest not suffer us thus to perish in our sins but hast sent thine owne deare Sonne Christ Jesus to take upon him whatsoever is due to us and to reconcile and mak● us one with thee againe In him therefore and thorow him we come unto thee beseeching thee for his sake that we feeli●g the griev●usnesse of our si●nes and groaning under the burthen of them may finde the release and ●ase of them in that we through thy ●●●y Spirit stedfastly bel●eve that Christ hath borne the burthen of them even for us Grant O Lord that we being assured hereof in our conscience may through thy holy Spirit be renewed with more graces and hate detest and abhorre all manner of sinne and study to live in all things according to thy blessed Will during our whole life Grant this O deare Father for Jesus Christ his sake Amen A Prayer for remission of sins O Lord glorious ever-living loving everlasting Father I wretched sinner presume once againe after my sinne to returne home unto thee requesting begging praying and desiring of thy heavenly Majesty that thou wil● look downe upon me I confesse were it not for the hope of thy mercy an● the hold of thy comfort and the renewing graces which sometimes I feele from thee and that sweet taste and feeling of thy good gifts and thy heavenly Word I should sinke in despaire for my sinne is alwaies before me if I go they follow me if I run they fly after me if I look back they stare upon me if I go forward they meet me if I turne to the right hand they terrifie me if to the left hand they torment me If I look down to earth Hell is ready to devour me now have I no way but to look up to thee Lord be thou then hore ready to receive me help me good God save me deare Father succour me sweet Redeemer assist me mercifull Creator that my prayers may be so fervent so zealous so affectionate towards thee that they may draw down thy mercies upon me powre down thy blessings shower down thy graces open thy hand of mercy restore joy and comfort to my heavie and laden soule wash away my sins wipe away mine iniquity heale my infirmities purge my wicked minde of all evill thoughts pardon all misdeeds and wicked dealings renew the good Spirit of he●venly graces restore the joyes of thy holy comsorts upon me O Lord let me have some feeling some taste some scent some glimmering of thy glorious presence Let me feele some comfort finde some joy have some rest good Lord let