Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	affection_n	love_n	love_v	1,882	5	6.6827	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78452	The innocent lord; or, The divine providence. Being the incomparable history of Joseph. / Written originally in French, and illustrated by the unparallel'd pen of the learned De Ceriziers, almoner to my lord the Kings brother. And now rendred into English by Sir William Lowre Knight.; Joseph, ou la Providence divine. English	Cerisiers, René de, 1609-1662.; Lower, William, Sir, 1600?-1662.	1654 (1654)	Wing C1681; Thomason E1480_3; ESTC R208739	71,959	184

image of death upon their visage and so tyed their tongue that all what they could say was to confesse themselves criminals Then our Patriarch exercising the first effect of his power upon the resentment of his injuries raised them and by the abundance of his tears witnessed to them that he had nothing but love and tendernesse in his heart My friends said he unto them I conjure you to forget what is pass'd and to expect as much of my affection for the future as if I were your son I am obliged thereunto both by duty and by inclination It is to you that I owe my prosperities it is with you that I will divide them Perhaps if I had not been miserable I should not be now happy If a storm should drive me unto the Port I should blesse it and I should love him that would cure me would he empoison me You have failed the one through too much zeal the other through too much love These two persecutors are too amiable for me to disoblige I pardon that excesse to the weaknesse of our nature I chuse rather to believe that my misfortunes were arriv'd me from the Providence of God then from the malice of men For my part who am the subject of all these inconstancies of fortune so far am I from keeping any resentment against you that I desire henceforward to have no better friends then my first Masters The truth of my words shall be known by the effects upon all occasions wherein you shall employ me Joseph no sooner finished his discourse but he began his liberalities offering to Potiphar a Chain of Gold and to his wife a Rose of Diamonds his daughter was not forgotten for he sent her by one of his Gentlemen two rich Pendants for her ears which equalled not for all that the price of his affection Since this first sight he never ceased to oblige them as if he had design to do them as much good as he had received evil from them A little while after this interview death surprised Cyrene as if she had not stayed but to see her Innocent to take away her life After her decease Potiphar was capable of the chief dignity of Egypt he was possessour thereof since he was furnished therewith at the recommendation of the Vice-Roy Heliopolis rendred the same honors to the God Mnenis as Memphis did to the God Apis and to speak the truth there is no more reason to honour the beasts in one place then in another It was then the dignity of the high Priest which Potiphar exercised in that Town of the Sun and though Joseph would rather have seen the Calves at the shambles then upon the Altars he judged it fitter to put this superstition into the hands of his Master then to charge another therewith because he knew him more capable to deride it The care which he had to ruine the Idols justified the care which he took in appearance to establish them It was a truce which he made with the gods of Egypt and not a peace that he concluded he gave himself leisure to think of their destruction with safety Let us leave this high Priest departed with all his family to go exercise his charge and let us stay to consider the conduct of our Intendant I know that Philon represents us him as the example of a faithful Minister and that a great Cardinal makes him the Idea of his Monarch but I can say that he had something more then the qualities which are necessary to the one and the other since he wanted not any perfection that might compleat a man He needed not to seek the model of a wise Favorite out of himself the perfect Courtier was in his person He possessed the heart of his Master but he managed it not but to bring it to doe good to all the world so that his hands were but the publick Conduits of his Princes favors He could take every one in his humour hee would buy those that would not give themselves The most rude and savage spirits found sweetnesse in his and if the enormity of the crimes required some rigour from him it was but with regret that he was just loving better to correct vice by the repentance then by the despair of the guilty All Egypt was no more but a great family of which he was the father procuring with an incredible care that abundance and delights might be there without luxury This design succeeded to him so well that they must goe more then an hundred miles to finde one miserable or one vicious For as felicity was established in this happy Country the good manners met here also all the moral vertues reigned there excepting those which cannot exercise themselves but in misfortune or which suppose imperfections and defects in their objects Never did policy arrive more perfectly to her end which is to make as many happy as she hath subjects then at that time having the wisdome of Joseph for soul and Intelligence Pharaoh tasted this good fortune for he was loved of his people he was feared of his enemies The strangers could not give more solid foundation to their repose then to gain them the good will of Ioseph But it is time to admire one of the miracles of the world and to consider these prodigious Pyramids which hide whole Provinces with their shadow I am not ignorant that there are some Writers who assure us that these proud Obelisques were the monuments of the Kings of Egypt and that these excellent works were made but to cover magnificently dust and ashes I know well also that there are other some who make our Ioseph the Authour of them and that they should be the publick Granaries which he caused to be built in every Town principally at Memphis and about Babylon Whilest that more then an hundred thousand hands were employed about these buildings there was but the head of Ioseph that laboured to see if the exe●ution answered to the design and if the work were as perfect as the Idea he took leave of the King and visited all Egypt It was during this course that he knew Heaven took care to marry him and that God would not that virginity should be longer one of his vertues It will not be from our purpose to observe the Providence of him who disposed thus the will of our Patriarch I have said that Potiphar had a daughter endowed with a rare and ravishing beauty and whose incomparable perfections invited a great number of Lords to her suit but though she gave love to all the world she took it not from any person I know not whether she esteemed the bravest of the kingdome unworthy of her alliance or if naturally she could not love a man At least might one judge that there was contempt or inclination in the care which she took to fly their encounter Since the time that her father was retired to Heliopolis she devoted her self to the service of Diana and promised

took a resolution to discover the secret to him if the fear which his brothers gave him of a cruel death had not shut his mouth This silence was not a vertue since to the treason against Ioseph it added the hazard to make Iacob dye But since that our discourse can neither wipe away nor describe the tears of this desolate father let us permit him that which the most cruel Tyrants forbid not to the afflicted and let us follow his miserable son into Egypt When the Ishmaelites were arrived to the Fountain of Shilo which is near unto Bethlehem our slave perceived a Pyramid erected upon a Tomb which he knew to be that of his mother The desire to give a last kisse to the marble which covered her holy reliques made him take his course towards that place The Merchants who saw him stretched out upon that Tomb had some suspition that he was a Necromancer and that he spake to the dead according to the belief that was given them of his Magick Whilest they entertained themselves in this thought Ioseph indeavour'd to discover his unto Rahel Alas my good mother said he if you keep yet that pitiful and loving heart which you had formerly will you not make it appear unto me at this present that I am loaden with these chains with the most sensible misery that could assault a strong patience I am assured that your vertue gives you a great power with the God of Abraham could you better imploy it then to the relief of Innocents I desire not that my merit be the motive of your benefit because that being so little I cannot expect from it so notable a succour It shall be if it please you your goodnesse which never found any thing difficult provided that it was reasonable I desire not that God would punish the sins of my brethren I love better their repentance then their death I wish not that my life be prolonged a sweet death seems more desirable unto me then a languishing life Behold then the subject of all my devotions Grant my amiable mother that this stone open it self and permit me to dye in the same bosome where I began to live This favour is great if you measure it according to the esteem that I make thereof But then it is he whose birth wip'd away the tears of seven years that demands it it is he to whom you wished so many blessings whereas you see me charged with so many misfortunes It is in a word your son Ioseph can you refuse him this favour at lesse rate then to be no more mother As he pronounced these words his eyes bathed the Tomb and his sighs made his masters understand sufficiently that he had more affliction in his heart then design of Magick in his action Having drawn him notwithstanding from this Sepulchre where it seemed that love had tyed him they continued their way towards Egypt but it was not without thinking of his actions and without weighing all the words of our Captive Above all some observed with much astonishment that this young man gathered up certain little stones by that Tomb. The most judicious of these strangers seeing I know not what of extraordinary upon the visage and in the discourse of Ioseph believed assuredly that though he had the condition of a slave he had not the birth of one This thought gave him the curiosity to demand of him why he fixed himself upon that Tomb and who he was The young man taking the liberty which they gave him to speak replyed Sir If I went away from you as soon as I perceived that Pyramid I did it not upon any apprehension not to obtain that favour from your courtesie but the remembrance of my dear mother preventing all my other thoughts took from me that of my duty and carryed me farther towards her then I had permission for Know then that my Father passing some ten years since by Bethlehem which you see my mother was surprised in this Land with the throwes of child-bearing of which a few days after she dyed My Father who had alwayes loved her as she deserved would yet witnesse it after her death erecting her this Pyramid where he graved the name of his dear wife and that of all his childreu The young man ended his discourse when his master commanded him to tell the place of his birth his name and that of his parents he did it with so good grace that it was sufficient to win the heart of an Arabian and to deserve to be freed of the chains with which he was loaden One might here demand why these Ismaelites took no resolution to bring him back to his Father The question is not so easie as it seems at first For to say that they believed not the discourse which he had made them the good usage which he received from them shewed wel that they held him not for an Impostour Was it that they knew not Iacob This reason cannot be good since he was nephew to Ismael their Grandfather Perhaps they apprehended the vengeance of those who had sold him what probability for that since their force was equall unto theirs Shall we believe that the fair parts of Ioseph might make them hope a great profit by his sale I confesse that interest can much upon a mercenary soul but from whom could they hope more then from a father who loved perfectly then from a father who knew well the merit of such a son then from a father who almost lived no more in that he supposed Ioseph was dead Though we should have brought all the conjectures we should not have touched the true reason I love better to reject the small appearances of my reasoning and have recourse to that Providence which governed all the fortunes of our Ioseph Providence which sometimes takes pleasure to blind all the wisdome of men to the end to conduct her designs by ways as amorous as they are unknown How many times have we seen the wise men of the world and those wits which we flatter with strength and intelligence to loose discourse in the events whereas infancy could speak Learnedly God pleaseth himself sometimes to make us confesse that wee have no light but what he thinks fit to communicate unto us We need not wonder then if these Ishmaelites saw not the advantages which the deliverance of Ioseph would bring them since God concealed them to make his designs succeed Whilest we divert us thus pleasingly Ioseph changes Country and becomes a stranger Some have written that he was sold twice before he entred into Egypt That which hath made them to erre was that they were ignorant that the names of Ishmaelites of Arabians and of Madianites were not but one and the same people Howsoever it was without engaging me in these difficulties willing to unfold them it is certain that our Merchants steer'd right to the Royal Town where they believed that fortune would sooner attend them then any where else