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	law_n	rule_n	1,234	5	7.2505	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30929	Natural theology, or, The knowledge of God from the works of creation accommodated and improved, to the service of Christianity / by Matthew Barker ...	Barker, Matthew, 1619-1698.	1674 (1674)	Wing B777; ESTC R20207	99,798	210

Maker would soon take me away He that set me in a rank and station of Being would remove me or rather throw me out of it again He that made Man hath thereby Sovereign Power over him By this Sovereign Power he hath right to appoint Man a Law to govern him And if Man transgress this Law he violates God's Sovereignty And therefore it belongs to God either to pardon or punish the Transgression And upon the account of both God is to be feared As he hath Power to punish so we are to fear him and as he hath Power to pardon so we ought to fear him also Psal 130. 4. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared And as God's Sovereign Power over Man as his Creator gives him this Right so his essential or Creating Power gives him ability to destroy the Creature which it gave Being to The Prophet Jeremy therefore bids the people not to fear the Heathen Idols 10. Jer. 5. And why For they cannot do evil neither is it in them to do good But then speaking of the true God adds v. 7. Who would not fear thee O King of Nations for to thee doth it appertain He can do Good and Evil he can save or destroy Man that made him and therefore fear appertains to him 3. Praise As the Psalmist calls upon the most inferior Beings to praise God as Beasts and all Cattle and creeping things how much more should Man praise God that hath so noble a Being David considering himself as God's Creature and Workmanship breaks forth into his praise 139. Psal I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made And then he speaks particularly how God drew out the Scheme of him in his Book and then how his members were fashioned and curiously wrought v. 15. 16. Now saith David I will praise thee Even as a curious piece of Work every one is ready to commend and praise The Philosopher could thank his God that he made him a Man and then for the advantages he afterwards conferred upon his humane Nature Ought we to praise God for our Food that preserves Life much more for Life it self that is better then Food Matth. 6. 25. 4. Submission Will he correct and chasten thee submit and give him reverence Do we so to the Fathers of our Flesh that are but instruments to give us our Flesh and shall we not much more do it to the Father of Spirits that is the Efficient and Creator of the Spirit As the Apostle argues 12. Heb. 9. Hath he made thee out of the clay as Job expresseth it Chap. 10. Hath he given thee Being and may he not dispose of it as he will Hath not the Potter power over the clay to make it and fashion it as he pleaseth He that built an House may alter it and change it yea and pull it down if he please God hath a twofold dominion over Man Dominium jurisdictionis proprietatis A Dominion of jurisdiction whereby to rule over us and a Dominion of property to dispose of us And both these are founded upon the highest and most Sovereign Right which is that of Creation 5. Dependance Thou hadst thy Being of him and thou hast it still in him As the Apostle puts both these together 17. Act. 28. We are his of-spring that is we have our Being of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and saith also We live move and Be in him Our preservation is but a continued Creation We subsist every moment in the first principle of our Being As the beams subsist in the Sun from whence they spring Thy Life depends more upon him then upon the Bread Man liveth not by Bread alone but by every word that commeth out of the mouth of God That word that first gave Man his life is that upon which it still principally depends And it is that which Job acknowledgeth Thou hast given me life and favour and thy visitation preserveth my spirit Job 10 9 10. Now this Natural dependance upon God should teach Man a Moral dependance upon him Man's state is passively a state of dependance and therefore his life should be actively a life of dependance Should we not then in all our ways acknowledge him And trust in him with all our Hearts and not leane to our own understanding 3. Pro. 5 6. what ever means thou usest for the welfare of thy Soul or Body yet depend not upon them but upon him that is the Creator of both Let that infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness out of which thy Being flowes be the objects of thy dependance for thy well being Especially seeing we have these ingaged to us if we are believers in an Everlasting Covenant to be exerted for our succor and supply in every time of need So that we may now depend upon him and commit our selves to him not only as a Wise Good and Powerful but as a Faithful Creator 1 Pet. 4. 19. Considering that the Soul and Body that were made by him are not under his care only by the common Laws of Creation and providence but by special Covenant 6. Obedience to his Law I mean his Written Law I know this Law comprehends in it all the foregoing duties which are in themselves Naturally moral and by vertue of God's Law are made Positively moral but yet this Law of God being of further extent I shall therefore speak of it under a distinct head God as Man's Creator hath right to appoint him the Law and Rule of his Life and Actions and so as his Creatures we owe him obedience All Creatures are passively under a Natural Law which the Creator did appoint to them and which is observed by them though many of them know it not But Man is under a Written Law which he is actively to obey He being a Reasonable Creature he is capable of knowing the rule and end of his being which the other Creatures are not And both these are laid down in the Scriptures Consider then 1. God is Man's Creator 2. He Created him for an End 3. He hath given him a Law and Rule to walk by in order to that End And hereupon Man lies under the highest obligation to Obedience it being the Law of him that made him And Man's obedience to God ought to be absolute Though it ought not to be so to Men because God's dominion over us is superior to that of all Men and so may supersede and over-rule it And if we think it our duty to obey Magistrates and Parents that have some inferior power over us how much more that God who hath a Supreme Power and that founded in the highest right which is that of Creation And let us particularly shew our obedience to his Law in our worship of him For as worship is due to God as our Creator as the Psalmist speaks 95. Psal Oh come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker so he hath right also thereby by to set

Elijah Is it not because there is no God in Israel that thou sendest to ènquire of Baal-zebub 2 King 1. Yes there was a God of Israel but he was as if he was not unto Ahaziah Men cannot nullifie God's Being in it self but they may nullifie it to themselves As the Heathen Idols they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nothings as the Apostle saith of them 1 Cor. 8. 4. yet when Men Worships them trusted in them and gave Divine Honour to them they made them Godds So on the other-hand they not honouring acknowledging reverencing and trusting in the true God do make him as nothing For it is only those that glorifie him as God that do truly own and believe his Being Yea those Duties that are more properly Evangelical and not so expresly contained in the Law of Nature yet the belief we gather to our selves of the Being of God from the Creation of the World may much influence us that live under the Gospel to the performance of and so Natural Divinity may be made subservient to Christianiry whereof I shall give account in the next Chapter CHAP. V. Evangelical Duties are promoted by a true belief of God's Being How the Light of Nature may further the belief of the Scriptures and Faith in Christ and Repentance Whence Repentance first springs what is it to take up Christ's Cross How helped therein from the belief of God's Being What influence the Light of Nature hath upon Obedience to Gospel-Institutions Inference from the whole 1. IT is an Evangelical Duty to believe the Scriptures To receive them as a Divine and certain Rule of Faith and Obedience Now we may fetch some help from the Light of Nature herein Though I deny not but the Scripture is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hath such Characters within it self as may perswade the belief of it and the Testimony of the Spirit in a Man's Conscience is the surest bottom of Divine Faith yet some additional strength may be borrowed from the Light of Nature For that Light that declares to Man There is a God that made the World declares also a Providence that he governs the World If he governs the World he governs it in Wisdom Etenim si Deus est utique providens est ut Deus Nec aliter potest ei Divinitas attribui c. Lact. de ira Dei Cap. 9. if in Wisdom then every Creature is governed according to the respective Principles of their several Natures And therefore Man must be govern'd as a rational Creature And he cannot be so governed but by a Law and that Law enforced by Rewards on one hand and Punishments on the other Now either this Law thus enforced is found in the Scriptures or no where There is no Book can pretend to stand in competition with the Scripture exstant in the World fot the Turkish Alchoran that is but of late years and Man hath been under God's Government from the beginning And most know by what Impostures it obtained any credit and the several Absurdities contained in it and what a sensual happiness it proposeth to them that receive it How it hath been from the beginning enforced upon people by the Sword And never confirmed by those many undoubted Miracles which the Truths of the Scriptures have been But I need not enlarge on this Subject There having been so many Learned Pens already engaged herein especially that Hononred Knight whose worthy Book concerning the Reasonableness of receiving the Scriptures for the Word of God doth justly add new Honour to Himself and a great Confirmation to the Truth 2. The Gospel calls upon Men to come to Christ and to believe in him as the Saviour of the World Now the powerful Sence of a Deity upon the Heart will Excite and Influence Men thereunto And the want of this I look upon as one great Reason why Christ is preached so much in vain When Conscience is awakened then the Innate Notion of a Deity that was before as it were asleep begins to awake And then Men begin to fear and the Sence of Sin and Judgment to come makes them enquire after a way of Reconciliation and so Men are brought to Christ as the way according to the notice they have of him in the Gospel So that as he that cometh to God must first believe that God is as we read Heb. 11. So he that cometh to Christ must be brought to him by an operative Belief of the Being of God When Paul came to Athens to preach Christ to them he first instructed them concerning the true God Act. 17. whom he declares to them to be the Maker of the World ver 24. God that made the World and all things therein c. Here begins true Christianity Men are Christians but in Name till they come to Christ by true Faith and they come not to him till the Practical Belief of God's Being doth excite them to it As the dark Notions the Heathen had concerning God did lead them to offer Sacrifice to him when they feared he was offended So much more will the clearer knowledg of his Being and the fear of his Wrath send those that live under the Gospel to Jesus Christ the true Sacrifice and Propitiation So that whiles I have been demonstrating a Deity from the Works of Creation I hope I have collaterally been serving the great Design of the Gospel of bringing home sinners to Jesus Christ As a Learned Man speaks to this purpose Dr. Jackson Vol. 1. p. 874. The ingrafted Notion is the Matter or Subject out of which God's Spirit raiseth the entire and right frame of Faith as it did the frame and fashion of this visible World out of that Mass which was first without Form though created by him 3. So Repentance is hereby promoted also When men are throughly convinced that God is they then begin to bethink themselves of their wayes how they have carried it towards him how observant they have been of his Law how they have answered his end in their Creation And hence now Repentance doth take its first rise What saith the Sinner if there be a God as I now clearly find there is wo is me that I have thus sinned against him and have taken no more notice of him Alas I have lived without him in the World I have been concerning my self about the Creatures and have little thought of God my Creator and had as little belief of his Being Alas what shall I do How shall I possibly escape I cannot flee from him for he is God I will now judge and condemn my self I will mourn bitterly I will lament my Folly and Ignorance I will go to him and say Lord I have sinned against Heaven and before thee I am thy Creature and the Work of thine Hands yet have rebelled against thee As Balaam went on confidently tlll his eyes were opened and he saw the Angel with the drawn Sword but then saith the Text He bowed down his