Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	action_n	good_a	sin_n	1,294	5	4.8298	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70079	Golden remains of Sir George Freman, Knight of the Honourable Order of the Bath being choice discourses on select subjects.	Freeman, George, Sir.; Freeman, Sarah, Lady.	1682 (1682)	Wing F2167B; ESTC R21279	41,541	130

theirs who did reject it And I would very fain be satisfied how the Dissenters from Ecclesiastical Ceremonies can quarrel with the Church of England for imposing things in their own nature indifferent that is not prohibited by God in his revealed will how they can I say except against the imposition of such lawfull things and plead it is for this reason to avoid giving offence to tender consciences which consciences cry out before they are hurt and yet maintain that themselves may publickly omit this great duty of saying the Lords Prayer and that to the offence of so many well-grounded consciences who can by no means dispense with it The Church of England out of her prudent care to preserve Order and Uniformity in the exteriour part of Gods worship imposeth a lawfull thing or action and that 's a sin the Presbyterian dispenseth with the not performing of a necessary duty and that 's no sin The Church of England magnifies Christs Prayer and that 's idolizing a Form the Presbyterian despiseth it and that 's good Religion The Parliament of England of which the Fathers of the Church are a very considerable part do cause the illegitimate Covenant to be burnt and that 's a great wickedness the Presbyterian slights the Divine Energy of the Lords Prayer legitimate as Tertullian calls it which is far worse than the bare action of burning the paper wherein it is printed or written and that 's not ill at all But it may be they will say to me you make a discourse concerning the excellency of the Lords Prayer we may ask you the same question that one was asked who insisted long upon the praise of Hercules Quis unquam vituperavit Herculem which of us ever spoke against the excellency of the prayer It is true I never heard any man in terminis do it as I said in the beginning of my discourse for that were open blasphemy and persistence in it would merit excommunication from the society of Christians but you do implicitely and inclusively or otherwise why do you not use it Actions speak more than words and cry aloud in the ears of God either for reward or judgment But some of them do object that they do use it sometimes but they are not bound to use it alwayes To this I answer that the intermitting of its use doth imply the setting of but a gradual esteem upon it and that they do not acknowledge its supereminency above all other prayers If a man that is prescribed an excellent dyet-drink which never sail'd the cure of some disease which he labours with and is ordered by his Physician to take it every day if he intermit but one day it will argue that he doth not so highly approve of it that is that he doth disapprove of it in a degree proportionable to the discontinuance of it So if any man do make use of the Lords Prayer sometimes and sometimes useth it not what doth this omission of his unless it be through forgetfulness but secretly whisper to the understanding that he doth not intensively and absolutely approve of it but partially and in gradibus remissis For to say the Lords Prayer is the best prayer and yet to say it is not requisite to use it at all times of prayer is a most absurd assertion and to be exploded by all judicious men for if it be the best and that most transcendently why should any other prayer justle it out It is true that many times there is incumbent upon the soul the guilt of so many great and often repeated sins that the deep apprehension of the spirit at such a time requires more room and a greater field of language to rove up and down in and to unbosome her remorse to God whom she hath offended she would come to a more particular repentance and insist upon all the circumstances which may aggravate her guilt and be argument of sorrow to her in her self-condemning that by her timely sentence upon her self she may avoid that irrevocable sentence which Christ at the last day will pronounce against those who justifie themselves and therefore is not satisfied in her deep recesses of grief with that petition in our Lords Prayer Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us and therefore other prayers are allowable because the soul doth by them as it were divide her repentance into smaller parcels and make it more fine by sifting it into single circumstances but when this penitent Soul hath recollected all she can for the accusation of her self and finds that in her memory she can discover no more being troubled she cannot now let her make a sure conclusion with this perfect prayer which is a summary of all her wants in which she confesseth all her sins and asketh forgiveness for all and not for her own sins only but for the sins of the whole Church by which Petition of the Lords Prayer we are most sweetly taught how diffusive our Charity should be and now having confessed all her sins and begged pardon of God for all her own and others sins she can strain at no more but finding in this prayer a sweet repository of all her scruples commits her self to God till the next time that he shall honour her so highly as to let her enter again into that near Communion with himself which Prayer gives us So that to conclude though the Lords Prayer do not exclude the use of other Prayers especially when they are collected out of Scripture yet it comes with full commission for the use of it self Especially at the conclusion of our devotions For then all other forms of Prayer which are like rivulets and little streams should retire into this Prayer as they into the Ocean to cover their imperfections One thing I shall add more and that concerning the brevity of it for although various expressions are allowed to the Soul in her passions for sin which when they are found in the concerns of repentance are most exceeding acceptable to God in Christ yet that is caused by the unaptitude of the body to answer readily to the first motions of the soul. And therefore the soul cannot communicate her notions but by a longer successiveness of discourse but those that have most evaded their passions and are advanced nearer to a ready use of their noble faculties may with the Lords Prayer perform the act of repentance thoroughly and obtain pardon for their sins with all temporal blessings without a fear or groan or any farther enlargements of themselves and rise up as much advanced as any others in all the concernments of their salvation FINIS A DEHORTATION FROM ALL SIN BUT Particularly the Sin OF DRINKING Reader IF thou hast been hitherto carefull to lead a good life according to the rule of Gods Word I entreat thee to persevere for the Lords sake unto the end that thou mayest receive the end of thy hope even the salvation of thy soul which upon