Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	authority_n	law_n	power_n	1,453	5	4.7820	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29109	A sermon preach'd before the Right Honourable Lord Mayor and Aldermen, and citizens of London, at St. Lawrence Jewry, on Saturday, September the 28th, 1700 at the election of the Lord Mayor, for the year ensuing / by Samvel Bradford ...	Bradford, Samuel, 1652-1731.	1700 (1700)	Wing B4122; ESTC R19662	14,119	30

the more universal any Man's Reputation is the greater degree of assurance we have that he is endu'd with the good Qualities which are ascribed to him He who is known and esteem'd by a few may be a Wise and a Good Man But he whom all Men repute so is more probably such an one I proceed now to the next General Head I propos'd viz. Secondly To shew how such Governors are a publick Blessing to the People over whom they are placed insomuch that a City in which they Rule may from them be call'd The City of Righteousness the Faithful City And of this an Account may be given in these two Particulars I. Where such Governors bear Rule it is a good sign of the Piety and Justice and in general of the Virtue of the People over whom they preside II. They are certainly the proper Means and Instruments for promoting Piety and Justice and all manner of Virtue in the Places where they exercise their Authority I. Where such Governors bear Rule it is a good sign of the Piety and Justice and in general of the Virtue of the People over whom they preside Governors do for the most part represent those whom they Govern in their Moral Qualities as well as in other Respects so that when a Nation or City is generally Honest and Virtuous the Magistrates who are a part of the Body are usually so too As on the contrary where there is a general Corruption or Depravation in any Society of Men the Magistrates very rarely escape the Infection This was remarkable in the Roman Common-wealth in which there were as in that of the Israelites Judges at the first and Counsellors at the beginning fit to be propos'd as Examples to those who should succeed But as Covetousness Ambition Luxury and all sorts of Vice increas'd among that People so their Magistrates were tainted together with the rest of the Body and as they help'd to propagate the Corruption so they were an evident sign of a general Depravation among them And this must especially be so where Magistrates are Chosen by the People For Men will choose what they like and good-liking we know proceeds from a resemblance in Temper and Manners II. It is certain that Able and Good Governors are proper Means and Instruments for promoting Piety and Justice and all manner of Virtue in the Places where they exercise their Authority and that both by their Example their Prayers and their Endeavours I. By their Example Both Virtue and Vice are propagated more effectually by Example than either by Persuasion or Command and no Example like that of a Person in Authority He stands upon high Ground so that whatsoever he does is seen and observ'd by all about him and 't is fashionable and therefore reputable to imitate those above us Besides that Inferiors account it their Interest to ingratiate themselves with their Superiors and they will easily apprehend that the way to do this is by endeavouring to imitate them Thus for instance a Magistrate who fears God will by his constant attending the Publick Worship invite and draw others to accompany him and by the gravity and seriousness of his own Behaviour will admonish them to demean themselves decently when they are present No one that is not impudently and incorrigibly Wicked will presume to dishonour the Sacred Name of God by profane Swearing or Cursing in his presence whom he knows to be not only free from such vile Practices himself but heartily to detest them He will by his impartial Observation of all the Divine Laws both instruct and excite all sorts of People to do the like A Magistrate who is a Man of Truth as he will encourage Honest and Good Men to shew themselves and to act freely and boldly so a Knave will sneak before him as being asham'd to have his Falseness and Injustice discover'd and lay'd open to him A Generous and Charitable Magistrate will if it be possible warm and open and enlarge the frozen and contracted Hearts of narrow soul'd Men and excite them in imitation of him to do something handsome and usefull if not out of just Principles yet at least for their own Credit and consequently if what will hardly entitle them to any Reward yet will redound to the Publick Benefit In a word an Able and Good Magistrate will by his Example instruct and edify all that are capable of being improv'd and will put all Impious and Vicious Men out of countenance II. Such Magistrates will farther promote Virtue by their Prayers to Almighty God for the People committed to their Care Joh. 9.31 We know that God heareth not sinners but if any Man be a Worshipper of God and doth his Will him he heareth It is pleasing to God to testify his Approbation of Good Men and to encourage their Piety and Virtue by hearing their Prayers and that not for themselves only but for those also to whom they are related Thus the Prayers of good Parents obtain Blessings for their Children and of good Governors for their People And as nothing can gratify such Magistrates more than to see Piety and Virtue propagated under their Conduct so this is what they will certainly make one of their most earnest Petitions The Israelites were not less beholden to the Prayers of Moses Joshua and Samuel than to their Endeavours as we find in divers Instances in their History and that God who was often prevail'd with by them when they interceeded for that People is still ready to hear the Prayers of all such Magistrates as shall resemble them III. Such Magistrates are farther the great Means and Instruments of promoting Virtue by their Endeavours They are indeed some of the principal Instruments of God appointed to this very purpose those whom he raiseth up with this intention and when they discharge their Duty faithfully they seldom fail of answering their End in a good degree Rom. 13. They fill up the Character which St. Paul gives of a good Ruler that he is not a terror to good works but to the evil so that those who do that which is good shall have praise not only verbal but real praise that is reward of the same For he is the Minister of God for good Ver. 4. and he heareth not the sword in vain but is a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil And this is his constant business Ver. 6. he is God's minister attending continually upon this very thing Thus the Magistrate who fears God remembers that he is deputed by Him that he derives his Authority from Him and that he must be accountable to Him for the exercise of that Power wherewith he is entrusted and therefore will from a principle of Conscience which is the only sure tye and bond of a reasonable Creature discharge his whole Duty to the best of his skill and power And forasmuch as he is sensible that the Happiness of the Publick depends upon the Blessing of the

Almighty and that the way to secure his favour is to have his Precepts observ'd he will not suffer any of those Laws to be openly violated which relate immediately to his Service and Honor any more then those which relate to Justice among men He cannot indeed change the Hearts of men but he can in a great measure restrain and regulate their Words and Actions and therefore will think himself obliged to see that no publick affront be offer'd to the Divine Majesty in word or deed without executing the Sentence which the Law passes upon the Offender In like manner a Magistrate who is a Man of Truth will make it his constant care to maintain Truth and Justice those great Bands of Human Society he will according to the Precept of Moses hear the cause between his brethren Deut. 1.16 1● and judge righteously between every man and his brother he will not respect persens in judgment but hear the small as well as the great and not be afraid of the face of man as considering that the judgment is God's He will not be biass'd by Flattery or Fear by Interest or Favor by Party or Faction but will ever be on that side on which Truth and Justice are to be found And lastly a Magistrate who hates Covetousness will not be drawn into any unworthy Action by the hope of Gain nor decline the doing a just or an handsome thing for fear of the Charge of it He will need no Gift to encourage him to do right much less will he accept of any to prevail with him to do wrong He will upon all occasions testifie his detestation of Corruption and Bribery that bane of Human Society that source of all manner of Unrighteousness so that no man of sense will dare to attempt him that way for fear of being not only disappointed but expos'd He will not for his own private advantage dispense his Favours or dispose of any Places of publick Trust to unfit unworthy men He will not think it sair to increase his own Estate by injuring the Publick so far from that that looking upon himself as design'd for a Publick Benefactor he will lay out his Time his Strength and his Estate if occasion be to the Publick Benefit he will be always ready to every good work whether of Piety Charity or true Generosity whereby God may be honour'd and the Society to which he is related may receive advantage He will rejoyce in an opportunity of being useful to his Country or City as much as the covetous man can do in increasing his private Estate In fine he will think himself abundantly recompens'd for all his pains and trouble and charge in the Execution of his Office if having serv'd his Generation faithfully in his place and kept a good Conscience in the discharge of his Duty he may leave a good Name behind him and die with the expectation of a future Reward And certainly where any number of such Men as these bear rule their City may well be call'd the City of Righteousness the faithful City All that now remains is in the third and last place to apply what has been said to our own Use with respect to the occasion of our present assembling and this I shall do in a few words I have with all sincerity and plainness laid before you in short the Character of good Magistrates and such as God in our Text promis'd as a Blessing to the City of Jerusalem probably meaning thereby as I before observ'd that there should be such Magistrates in the time of the Gospel I am sure the Precepts of the Gospel would make all Christian Magistrates such if duly attended to nay we have the concurrence of Reason as well as Revelation in this case For as you have heard it was the advice of Jethro a Prince and Priest of Midian not an Israelite that such should then be chosen which advice as he gave by the light of Natural Reason so it was approv'd and confirm'd by God and lest upon Record by Moses in Holy Writ as a standing Character of a good Magistrate and consequently it always was and will be so to the end of the World All therefore that we have to inferr is in these two Particulars First That those who have the right of Electing Magistrates or Investing them with their Authority should as near as may be choose Persons to whom this Character agrees So Moses and the People of Israel did the latter by electing and presenting such Men and the former by accepting them and conferring Authority upon them and these Magistrates are by our Text made Precedents for future Times I hope I need not urge this with many words It is the happiness of this City to be always furnish'd with a considerable number of Men to whom all the parts of this Character may be justy ascribed and 't is to be charitably presum'd that since it is your Custom upon such Occasions as these first to come to the House of God and make your Acknowledgments of him you also come with Minds dispos'd to follow the Directions of his Word Nor would I have what I have said applied meerly to the Business of this Day but more especially to those Elections by which you fill up the Vacancies of the Magistracy in this City Your particular Business on this Day is only to take One out of that Honorable Court to every Member of which you have already given a reasonable expectation of the Chief Magistracy by your first Electing them into that Body And I believe you will allow me to say without offence That nothing but a very great and weighty and plain Reason should at any time move you to break through that Order which is most regular and natural in such Cases And I cannot forbear wishing that for Order and Peace sake and the restoring of Love and Union among the Inhabitants of this City we might in this respect as well as in others have Judges again as at the first and Counsellors as at the beginning I mean Men chosen for their Abilities and their Virtues without any regard to those Parties which have been form'd and those Names of Distinction which have been invented of late years Suffer me therefore I beseech you seriously to admonish you that you would lay aside all Prejudice and Passion all Animosities and unreasonable Jealousies that you would exercise your Charity by forgetting all former Provocations and Resentments and that you would shew your Wisdom both by rectifying whatever has been amiss on any side for the time past and by resolving to joyn henceforward unanimously in promoting the Common Good I make no doubt to affirm what is certainly true both in Reason and by Experience That in Times of Division and Contention in any Society they are usually the best Men who are least engaged in any Party and as the Zealots of all Parties are seldom good Friends to the whole Body so they very often