Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	according_a	law_n	nature_n	1,115	5	5.3946	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07371	A sermon of fasting, and of Lent, and of the antiquitie, dignitie, and great necessitie thereof preached vpon the 14. of Februarie, anno 1607 at Shaftesbury / by Io. Mayo.	Mayo, John K.	1609 (1609)	STC 17755; ESTC S451	20,912	68

and 14. Submit your selues to all manner of ordinance of man c. But some peraduenture may say you haue spoken nothing of Imber Fasts and Fasts on Saints Eues What can you say of them are not they altogether idle superstitious and to bee abolished I pray you giue mee leaue and I wil speake somewhat of them also And 1. I will shew you why they were so called 2. By whom they were first ordained And 3. the occasion why they were ordained They were called Imber-daies vpon no other reason and occasiō but of eating bread baked vnder Imbers or ashes Whosoeuer doth say otherwise saies it either of malice or ignorance For the people vpon those dayes vsed to fast and to eate nothing but bread baked vnder Imbers Which they did for two causes First to pay vnto God at such times the tithes of their soules bodies in thanksgiuing for the fruites of the earth and the fruites of his grace Secondly that the holy Ghost might the more plenteously bee powred downe vpon them which receiue holy orders For the Sunday after these Imber-fasts and at no time els alwaies hath beene and yet still is the ordering of ministers by the Bishops Some refer the first institution of these Imber-fasts to Pope Vrbanus Some to Calixtus the 2. And some say that they were first confirmed in the Coūcel of Mentz held vnder Charles the great of which I spake but now for this intent that people vpon those daies should come to the Church should fast to the 9. houre and abstaine from flesh and all things els But most certaine it is that these Imber-fasts are most ancient haue béene most common and in all the Christian world most religiously obserued foure times of the yeere and therefore they are called Ieiunia quatuor temporū the fasts of the foure times because of the foure speciall turnings of the sun the first about the Spring Equinoctiall the second about the Summer Solstice the third about the Equinoctiall in Autumne and the 4. about the winter Solstice And vpon these three daies of the wêeke the Wensdaies the Fridaies and the Saterdaies because our Sauiour Christ was solde vpon a Wensday crucified vpon a Friday died vpon a Saterday and rested in his sepulcher These reasons haue beene alleadged heeretofore for the institution and obseruation of these Jmber-fasts The eues of Saints-daies are called in Latine Vigiliae which is watchings because in the time of the Apostles and alōg time after watchings prayers and almes-déeds were accustomed to be ioyned to fastings These fasts on saints eues were not at first idely inuented and haue not in times past beene fondly nor foolishly obserued And they haue beene set as master Hooker writeth as vshers Eccle. Pollib 5. pag. 214. of festiuall daies for preuention of disorders as much as might be which may bee kept not without great good to the kéepers and singular vse and benefite to the whole Common-weale Concerning which as the Apostle S. Paul said to the Corinthes so say I vnto you Let all things bee done honestly and according to order Great is the dignitie of order and therefore the Apostle saith Let all things Great is the necessity of order and therefore the Apostle saith Let all things be done Great is the eminency and the excellency of order and therefore the Apostle concludeth his Chapter with the same Will you haue common dutie kept which Nature requireth then let all things be done honestly and according to order Will you haue common law regarded which Pollicie willeth then let all things bee done honestly and according to order Will you kéepe your goods your houses and all things that you haue in peace quietnesse and prosperitie then let all things bee done honestly and according to order Will you be faithfull and firme louing and loyall subiects to our gracious Soueraigne then let all things bee done honestly and according to order And will you haue all things to go well with you and to prosper well with you in this world then let all things be done honestly and according to order Without this order there is no duety no deuotion no charitie no concord no law no loue no peace plentie nor prosperitie no grace goodnesse nor any godlinesse although we heare neuer so much know neuer so much talke debate and dispute of diuinitie neuer so much Thus much of the 2. Tim. 3. 16 matter Now of the application and the vses Because all Scripture is giuen by inspiration is profitable as the Apostle Paul telleth vs to teach to improue to correct and to instruct in righteousnesse we ought heere to follow the example of Dauid and to chasten our selues with fasting as he did although by some it bee turned to our reproofe Of which his fasting Humiliation was the cause euen as diuine speculation was the cause of Moses so long fasting in the Mount For in the holy Scriptures wee reade how not only Kings fasted as Dauid and Iehosaphat but Prophets fasted as Moses Elias Daniel women fasted as Anna Hester Iudith and Sara Raguels daughter the children of Israel fasted the inhabitants of Gabish Gilead fasted the Apostles fasted Saints Fathers and Confessors fasted yea the very heathen as wee reade fasted as Iupiters priests in Create with the greatest Philosophers Antisthenes Pythagoras and Socrates But in these our daies it is strange to see the scorne and the scandall the contempt and the disdaine which many make of fasting in so much that if a man or a woman doeth but for ciuill and politike respects obserue and kéepe set daies and times of Abstinence and fasting commanded by Authoritie he shall be of some reproched and reproued for it he shall be of some thought to bee popish and superstitious We are all now growen to excesse and to extreamities to lust libertie and licentiousnesse We are all for the most part giuen to gluttonie and gourmandice to securitie sensualitie and surfetting We are all now growen to bee Epicures to be Sibarites and to loue the two daughters of the horse-leach although they sucke out all the blood of our bodies The best feastmaker is thought with some to be the best Christian and the least faster is thought with some not to bee the least professour Wee care not for the preseruation of the breed of Cattell the maintenance of the Kings Maiesties Nauie or the Calling of the Fisherman Wee care not for any good Lawes or Statutes whatsoeuer that enioine vs to Abstmence and fasting but like Heliogabalus we will be our own heires and make an end of all things our selues like the children of Israel when they were without Kings we will doe that which is good in our owne eies and like the two sonnes of Aaron Nadab and Abihu we will offer strange fire although we be burned in the flames thereof Worshipfull and beloued in the Lord Men brethren and fathers I pray you giue me leaue to say thus much vnto you The wisest and