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	time_n	work_n	2,608	5	5.7529	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59752	A discourse of the rise & power of parliaments, of law's, of courts of judicature, of liberty, property, and religion, of the interest of England in reference to the desines of France, of taxes and of trade in a letter from a gentleman in the country to a member in Parliament.	Sheridan, Thomas, 1646-ca. 1688.	1677 (1677)	Wing S3225; ESTC R16270	94,234	304

because the tending of this work wou'd take up a considerable portion of their time they allowed Salaries to these public Officers out of the common stock In those days of Innocence when Art was not interwoven with Religion nor Knavery with Policy it was an easy matter to be pious and just And if the higher Powers were pleas'd to remove these two we shou'd soon again see that golden Age The Duty of both Tables was comprised in few Articles That to their Neighbors consisted as now in doing as you would be don unto That towards God of whose Being they were convinced by the strongest of Demonstations the consideration of the visible things of the World in Thanksgivings and Adorations the effect of Gratitude to the Author of their being and of all good things in believing the Immortality of the Soul and of its being susceptible of Rewards and Punishments in another Life and in the consequence That Sin is to be repented of These were their common sentiments the Dictates of Nature The substance of which was acknowledg'd by al even the most barbarous of Nations And therefore cou'd not be the inventions of Policy the Dreams of melancholy men or the Effects of Education These are the Opinions of the unthinking and therefore wild and loose and were the wishes formerly of the few debauch'd But the great sober and wise Philosophers of all Ages upon the exactest Scrutiny finding them to be the Impresses of Nature as essential to our Being as light to the Sun pronounced the speculative Atheist an impossible thing And because they were sencible that a Lyer as destrustive of the very being of human Society ought to be banished the Commonwealth the first of their Laws and the Cement of the rest was That every man shou'd not only speak Truth to his Neighbor but stand firm to his Promises And knowing that Laws tho never so good wou'd prove insignificant if not duly observed And that som men wou'd never be wise that is wou'd never consider and consequently wou'd not easily be restraind from folly from offending to deter the slavish and inconsiderat they did not only annex certain Penalties to the breach of the Laws but unalterably decreed That no Offender tho never so powerful shou'd escape the punishment These Penalties were Pecuniary Mucts loss of Liberty bodily Labor to the Public or Banishment The power of Life and Death they wou'd not give because they cou'd not transfer that to another which was wanting in them selves the taking away of Life was peculiarly reserv'd by Nature as its own indispensible right as most reasonable because she alone coud give it They consider`d That Terrors are but affrightments to Duty That Corrections are for Amendment not Destruction which course shou'd they have pursu'd they might accidentally have run themselves into a state of War Since Nature had told them it was not only lawful but necessary if they coud not otherwise preserve their own to take away the beings of any that attempted theirs That it wou'd be against the End of Society mutual Happiness This rendering the sufferer uncapable of all to which therefore he neither cou'd nor wou'd have consented This or somthing not unlike it was I perswade my self the form substance of the first Commonwealths which if you narrowly look into you may perhaps find som Lines that drawn out fully might be no il Model for any Common-wealth And to come nearer home It has some resemblance to what for several past Ages this Kingdom did and does now enjoy To omit the Brittish times of which we have but very thin gleanings of the Druids their Oracles of Learning Law and Religion And to skip over that of the Romans who were never able perfectly to introduce their manner of Commonwealth We shal find that in the time of the Saxons a people of Westfrizland so called from the shape of their Sword a kind of Cymeter and in that of the Danes the manner of Goverment was as now in substance the not in form or name by King and Parliament But whether the Commons were called to this great Assemby or no I cannot find from the imperfect Registers of Elder times One may guess they were originally Members of it because the same people in Westfrizland from whence they descended do at this day continu a Form of Government different from all the rest of the Provinces not unlike this There are sufficient proofs that the Peers that is the chief of the Clergy and best estated Gentry were as often as the King pleas'd for it was originally Edicto Principis Summon'd to consult with him of the great affairs of State Which Council was before the Conquerors time call'd by several Names as Concilium absolutely sometimes the Epithets of Magnum Generale or Commune were added It was often known by the name of Curca Magna and others and was compos'd ex Episcopis Abbatibus Ducibus Satrapis Sapientibus Regni among which if any wil say the Commons had place I will not dispute because in those times when Titles of Honor were not the Arguments of good Fortune or the mark 's of the Prince's favor the King cal'd to this great Council such as large Possessions Courage or Wisdom recommended as fit For we find that the Fathers having sat there gave no Right to such Sons as did not with their Estates inherit their Vertues It appears farther that the great Council in the later end of the Saxons Reign and til the beginning of King Iohns had by the grace of Kings accustomed themselves without any summons to meet thrice every year at Christmas Easter and Whitsontide which course was not interrupted by any particular Summons but when in other seasons of the year the public occasions required their meeting The long continuance of the Barons Wars made the before stated meetings of the great Council return to the uncertain pleasure of the Prince What ever the power of the Commons was before the Conquest it plainly appears that for somtim afterward their Advice was seldom desired and as things were then ordered their Consent was not thought necessary being always included in that of the Lords For the Conqueror having subjected the Natives to an intire vassalage seiz'd upon all their Possessions reserved to the Crown larg proportions in every County gave part to the Church in Francalmoine and the residu to his fellow adventurers in the War to be held by Knight servic● These subdivided part of theirs to their Followers on such conditions as render'd them perfect Slaves to their Masters rather than their Lords By the possession of so much Power these Barons or Freeholders for theword signifi'd no more did what they pleas'd with their vassals became very terrible to the Conqueror and his Successors To curb whose Extravagance tho all were willing King Iohn was the first that made the attempt but by his over hastiness he gave birth to the lasting broyles of the Barons Wars He

Name than that of Christians for indeed as such they al agree that is in the Fundamentals of Religion as for the disputed things they are already shewn not certain therfore not necessary consequently to us impertinent which of the assertions be true and only differ by the considerations of Pride or interest as they are Trinitarians or Antitrinitarians Arians Socinians Papists or Protestants Remonstrants or Antiremonstrants Iansenists or Molinists Franciscans or Dominicans Lutherans or Calvinists Presbyterians or Independants c. But for my own part I am of opinion That we shal never arrive at the tru state of Christianity either by Disputing without Toleration or by Toleration with Disputing i. e. we shal not come to live Righteously Soberly and Godly in this present World For disputing destroys al and Toleration alone wil not take away those wrong Notions with which the present Age is prepossess'd tho some of the prejudices may be lessen'd by softness and gentleness by Love and Perswasions this Iconfess wil not do in al because al have not understanding and such as want it must inevitably run into Error For whatever the Philsophers Dispute whether the Wil and the Understanding be distinct Faculties or distinct Operations of the same Soul it plainly appears in al our actions that we wil or nil things according to our Understandings which as wel or il inform'd make us do things good or evil so that til our Notions are rectifi'd we are to be pityed and instructed not hated or condemned When by an excellent Education and a good Example we are taught not only to know but to practise our Duty it wil then be almost morally impossible for us to offend wheras on the contrary while both are now neglected 't is a wonder we are not worse Pursuant to this Salomon gives a wise Direction Train up a Child in the way thou woud'st have him to go and when he is old he wil not depart from it The great Business then not only to asswage the pain which in the present Circumstances cannot be don without Toleration but wholly to remove the Distemper is to introduce such a fixt Method of Education as may imprint on our Minds tru and early Notions of Virtu and Religion The Parliament have lately begun to look into the Practice of Piety and to prevent or lessen Prophanation and Debaucheries have enacted That Hackney-Coaches it had bin more equal if al had bin under the Penalty shal after the Iewish manner of Sabbath rest from Labor I wish they woud now be pleased to take care the People keep the Christian-Sabbath as they ought Not so much in a Rest from bodily Labor as from Sin the greater toyl of the Soul to which they are oblig'd by every days Duty The use of the Seventh above the rest seeming to be set apart for returning Thanks for Blessings and for Exhortations effective of Holiness and a good Life The Duty of that day is not fulfil●d by hearing a quaint-Man preach himself not Christ Policy not Morality confute the Pope the Calvinist or the Arminian the Presbyterian or the Episcopal Such Discourses engender nothing but Strife and tend not to Edification they are the vain Traditions of Men in which we shoud quicly find did we but seriously consider that there was nothing of that Faith without which we cannot please nor of that Holyness without which no man shal see God And since the Parliament by that last mention'd Act have begun to tythe Mint and Commin t is to be hoped they wil go on and not leave the weightier things of the Law undon that their Wisdoms and their Zeal wil be more imploy'd about the Power than the form of Godliness which may for ever be establisht by the following Method or such other as they shal think more agreeable viz. To make new Divisions of Parishes which may with more convenience to the People be don than as at present they stand by limiting every Parish to the compass of about three Miles Square and building a Church in the central place to hold about a thousand and to apportion the Parishes in Cities at least to the like number of People This wil reduce the Parishes from about ten to a little more than four Thousand To erect Schools in every Parish where al the Children shal be instructed in Reading Writing and the first Elements of Arithmetic and Geometry without charge to the Parents Whence to the greater Schools to be erected in the Dioceses Counties or Hundreds after the manner of Westminster Eaton or Winchester so many of the ripest and best Capacitated as shal suffice for the supply of al Callings that make Learning a Trade as Divinity Physic and Law may be yearly elected to be train'd up in the further necessary Parts of Learning and from thence yearly sent to the Universities from the Universities upon al vacancies Schoolmasters and Ministers to be chosen the first not under five and twenty years the later not under Thirty the age allow'd among the Iews for Doctors or Teachers and at which our Savior began to Preach and both to be Masters of Art before the one be Licensed or the other Ordain'd by the Bishop and none to be Ordain'd before they are secur'd of being Noble Mens Chaplains or elected to Parishes That the Bishoprics be also divided according to Convenience and the number of Parishes That the Ministers and School-masters be Celibats not under a vow as in the Church of Rome but on condition of quitting their Benefices upon Marriage and returning to a Lay-life For that of the priests being jure Divino being disputed is therefore to say no more to our Salvation not necessary to be believed For unless they demonstrat the contrary by Scripture the sufficient Rule of Faith or by Miracles men wil be apt to believe the Story of an indelible Character to be a Relic of Popery invented to aggrandize the Honor and Power of the Church turn'd into a Court of Rome But be it what it wil 't is plain they can't be greater than St Paul who did not only for Convenience of the Church avoid leading about a Wife or a Sister but wrought at his Trade after he had Received the Holy-Ghost of which it were to be wisht al Divines shew'd themselves possest by a Life conformable to that of the Holy Iesus But without doubt there wil be enuff found to undertake this calling on these terms tho seemingly difficult By this course there is a provision made for the Incontinency of such of the Priests as find themselves Flesh and Blood which if don in the Church of Rome woud free it from great Scandal That a book of Homilies be compil'd for varietie four for every Sunday and two for each festival or holy day That nothing be inserted but Dehortations from Vice and Exhortations to Virtu neither Controversies nor State Affairs so much as oblicly glanc'd upon That a Catechism adapted to the meanest Capacity be

composed shewing the Duty of Christians according to the express Words of the Text of Scripture without straining or misapplying any one as is don in two many of those now extant and without touching upon any one disputed point That al the Books of Controversial Divinity as wel those in privat hands as in Booksellers be bought up by the State and plac'd in the Kings-Library or burnt That al the Commentaries on the Bible be reviewed by sober moderate and learned Men and as many of them as contain more than what directly tends to the Illustration of the Text by recounting the Language Customs and Ceremonies of the Times and places it was writ in follow the fate of the others And because it is reasonable to believe There is no such intire Work extant in imitation of the Septuagint Translation there may be seventy appointed for this to be in Latin and for the Homilies and Catechism in English which being don let al the present Expositions be sent to the Library or the Fire That the same Persons or others be ordered to pick out of the Scripture al such Passages as tend to the encouragement of a Holy Life and to put them into one piece in English for common use I have heard som sober Men wish that English Bibles were not so common that the ignorant and unwary might not wrest the hard texts to their own destruction nor to that of the Public Peace But you know I have often told you I look'd upon the variety of Translations out of the Original into the vulgar Languages as the best Comment These things being don To take the Printing of Books into the state it is as necessary as the Mint false Coynage of Books has don England more mischief than ever that of Mony did or wil do The Licensing of Printing or importing from beyond-Sea wil not otherwise prevent great Evil to Church and State That there be but a convenient number of book sellers permitted Those to be under obligation to vend no other books then such as are Printed in this allow'd Printing-House where forrein books with advantage to the Public may be reprinted The hindering forrein Coyn from being current is not so useful and advantageous as the care in this wil prove to the Kingdom When Things are thus far settled the Bishops who are not to be chosen under forty are to see that al Ministers School-masters and Church-wardens do their respective Duties going about and visiting Parish by Parish as was the Antient Practice Confirming after Examination and exhorting al to continu obedient to the Laws of God and Man reprehending and suspending such as they find faulty without favor or affection the Ministers and School-Masters from Office and benifice the people from the Sacraments which is every where monthly at least to be Administred til after Repentance express'd in the reformation of their Lives As for the Iurisdiction of Ecclesiastical Courts because it is a kind of imperium in imperio and that thro the greatness of the Bishops other Charge they cannot officiat in this to take away and prevent abuses it is to be laid aside and other or the same Punishments for the crimes there usually tryable inflicted in the ordinary Courts upon the Bishops or the Minister and Church-Wardens Certificate of the Matter of Fact in whom alone the Power of Examination shoud reside And because the office of Bishops Ministers and School-masters wil be of great Labor none shoud continu in them beyond Sixty nor so long unless they are found fitting After that Age al of 'um to have a handsom decent Retreat in Colleges purposely built where the superannuated of each province the emeriti in the Christian warfare may spend the Remnant of their days without Care in quiet and Devotion To assist and ease the Bishop there shou'd be as formerly Rural Deans over every ten or twenty Parishes Part of the Ministers Business shou'd be to instruct the Boys every Saturday in the Schools in al the Duties of Religion To Catechize and read the Prayers and Homilies on Sundays in public The rest of the Week between the times of Prayer to be celebrated twice a-day to go from House to House exhorting and dehorting as occasion requires visiting the Sick and examining the Needs of the Poor reconciling Differences between the Neighbors and taking care that in every Family the Children such as are found fit by the Electors appointed not by the Parents blind Fondness be constantly sent to School After the continued Practice of this course Christianity wil again flourish The years of the Minister wil make him sober and grave fit to give Counsel which from young Men is now despis'd There wil then be no need of spending time in writing Controversies or studying Sermons which as now Preach'd are rarely understandable or useful to the People of whom it may be said the one is always teaching to no purpose and the other ever learning and never coming to the Knowledg of the Truth The School-masters are not only to be learned but sober and discreet Men to be oblig'd never to whip or beat the Boys whose Faults are to be punished by Exercises by standing mute or kneeling for certain spaces or by fasting from their Victuals c. Those that are good to be incouraged by Priority of Places by commendatory Verses made by the higher Forms c. The Boyes that need beating are as unfit to be taught as the Man is to teach who uses that tyrannical way which too much debases the Meek-spirited and makes the Sullen more stubborn and il-natur'd That whatever any Persons bestow on the Masters be converted to publick Charitable Uses The Method of Teaching to be drawn up by som of the Members who 't is presum'd wil mix Things with Words and approv'd by the whole Royal Society that confirm'd and al others prohibited by Law That in the Universities none be suffer'd to continu beyond the Age of forty-five nor above two in any one House or Colledg after thirty-five That a new Method be likewise fram'd by the same Persons for al the Liberal Arts and Sciences and that new Academies be built for training up young Noblemen and Gentlemen in those Exercises which to the shame and loss of England are now learnt in France That handsom and sufficient Salaries be fixt and paid out of the public Revenu according to every Mans Quality Bishops equal to one another Deans to Deans Ministers and School-masters to each other and these to be chosen gradually as the pure Consideration of Merit shall invite the Electors And to inable the Public as wel in paying these Salaries as in building of Schools Churches Colledges and Hospitals the whole Revenues of the Church Free-Schools Universities and Hospitals shoud at the highest valu be annex'd to the Crown or sould to others that wil give more The Overplus sav'd by this new Model and the Mony they woud yield beyond any other Land of England

yet pick out of both this Truth That tho the Rise of Parliaments like the Head of Nilus be unknown yet they have bin of long standing and of great Power And we shall find it reasonable they shou'd be so if we look back into the grounds and Origin of Goverment which we may suppose to have bin introduc'd by the general consent and agreement of as many Families as upon the encrease of Mankind joyned in one common Society divided the Earth into particular proportions and distinguished between Meum and Tuum To this they were induced by Love not Fear which is but the consequent of that Reason convincing that the enjoyments of life were thus best serv'd and promoted And because that Being and well-Being cou'd not be continued or enjoyed but by the Society of Women and the Products of Labor and that if some wou'd be idle and many covet the same Woman the great Desine of Nature Happiness founded on Living well and in Peace might be perverted into the state of Misery War To prevent the two necessary Consequences Poverty and Death they entred into mutual Compacts Articles or Laws agreeable to that great and fundamental Law of Nature rivited into their Beings To do as they wou'd be done unto That is They resolv'd agreed and promis'd one another to be guided by the Rules of Reason or which is one and the same To continu Men. But because it was probable som yielding too much to their Passions might swerve from this great Rule and so wrong Others as well as Themselves Therefore that no man might be Iudge and Party they unanimously confirmed to the Elder person the continuance of that Right which Nature had given him over the Fruit of his Loynes during its Minority To determin what ever Differences shou'd happen Believing Him as the common Father of the Family to be most impartial and as the longer Experienced the Wisest Man This Power tho Great exceeded not the Limits of their then-enacted Laws in their tru and natural Meaning which they took care to make very few and plain That all Disputes and Intricacies not only the Disturbers but Destroyers of Iustice might be avoided And finding they were not only lyable to Danger at Home but from Abroad from such other Societies as had already or might afterwards set up for themselves and that it was not possible for all to watch against these Dangers they therefore resolv'd to put that Care into the Hands of one Man for which great Undertaking the Coward as the Fool if those two really differ were equally unfit Inconsideration in the One being what Fear is in the Other a Betraying of the succors which Reason offers Nature then by giving their Iudge most Authority Wisdom and Conduct which with tru Courage the Effect also in a great measure of Experience are the great Qualifications of a General desin'd him for that Honor which the People readily confirm'd promising Obedience and investing him with the Power of making War and Peace But at his Instance reserving to themselves the Liberty of Examining and approving the Reasons Which the Great and Wise Captain judg'd convenient knowing without the Consent of All he cou'd not but want the Assistance of Som which might dis-able him to defend himself or them whereupon the Ruin of the Whole must inevitably follow And because the Prince his whole time must be employed in this great Work part of which was the preparing his Son for the Succession by instilling into him the necessary Seeds the Principles of Vertu Religion Wisdom Courage Munificence and Iustice The People willingly agree'd to entail upon Him and his Successors a certain Excisum or Proportion of every Man's Labor answerable to the Occasions of the Public and to the particular State and Grandeur necessary for the Support and Maintenance of his Authority and Reputation But because a greater proportion was needful for extraordinary accidents as of War c. They set apart annually another Quota to remain for such Uses in a kind of public Bank so to be order'd as might greatly increase their common Treasure and do good to the poorer sort of Laborers and Trades-men and maintain in Hospitals such Impotents or aged Persons as shoud be disabled to make Provisions for themselves The Revenu they made Great enoff as wel as Certain that the Prince might not ly under any necessity of contriving from time to time new Artifices and Wayes of raising Money that great Rock of Offence on which they foresaw no Prince could stumble without Vexation Animosities and Hatred not only discomposing the Happiness but occasioning the Overthrow of any State And so the People being sure of the Remainder they proportion'd their Expence to their Gettings The former they moderated not only by prudent Sumptuary Laws but by the hazard of their Reputations esteeming it infamous not to lay up yearly somthing of their Labors by which Course the Public Taxes became easie Which they made perpetual that their Children shoud be under a necessity of following their Examples of Thrist and so might likewise be insensible of the Burden Fore-seeing that Taxes impos'd upon People who are so far from saving ought that they account themselves good Husbands if they do but yearly make both Ends meet beget il Blood murmuring and discontent crying that the Bread is taken out of their Mouths or the Cloths from their Backs which are often followed by the evil Consequences of Rebellions and the Subversion of the Common wealth For such never consider That their own Extravance made those imaginary Needs which when they happen are no otherwise to be removed but by moderating former Expences Thus they wisely contriv'd and interwove the perpetuating the Subjects Safety and the Princes Dominion never secure but when founded on mutual Love and Confidence I do not find the practice of this Policy any where so wel continued as in the States of Venice and Holland which has preserved the first about 12 Centuries and made the later increase so prodigiously in less than one Now because they foresaw the products of their Labor wou'd exceed their Expences and that the remainder wou'd be useful for commutations with their Neighbor for som of their Commodities but that in driving this Trade they wou'd be exposed on Sea to Pyracies c. To make their Navigation safe they agreed that the public for securing them shoud receive by way of praemium or insurance a certain Excisum out of all things Exported or imported which we now cal Customes And lest the too great desire of Wealth shou'd make them forgetful of their Duty to God their Parents and their Country that is to one another They ordain'd that a sufficient number of the Elders of the People grave sober discreet persons shou'd at certain times set apart for that purpose remind them of their Duty in every of those particulars and also instruct their Children in the Laws of God and of their Country And