Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	bring_v	child_n	parent_n	4,502	5	8.9252	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59548	The duty and happiness of doing good two sermons : the former, preached at the Yorkshire feast, in Bow-Church, Feb. 17, 1679 : the other, before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London, at the Spittle, Apr. 14, 1680 / by John Sharpe ...	Sharp, John, 1645-1714.	1680 (1680)	Wing S2976; ESTC R6463	37,896	84

propose to you these general heads First of all none can want opportunities of doing good that is in a capacity of performing any acts of mercy or charity strictly so called whether that charity be shew'd to the bodies or souls of men Now the instances and expressions of this way of doing good are infinite as infinite as are the wants and necessities of mankind To the bodies of men we do good when ever we contribute to the relieving and easing them of the outward pressures and wants and necessities they lie under Such as Sickness Pain Poverty Hunger Nakedness Debts Imprisonment or any other outward affliction that falls upon them whether that ease and relief be effected by our purse or by our counsel and advice or by our labour and pains And sure some one of these three things there is none so mean or inconsiderable in the world but it is in his power to benefit his poor Neighbour with To the Souls of men we do good whenever by our discourses or other endeavours we make men better or wiser when we instruct the ignorant when we satisfie the doubtful when we reduce those that are misled by error when we establish the weak when we reprove those that do amiss in a word all our attempts and endeavours in what way soever to reclaim men from vice and to bring them to wisdom and sobriety is a Charity to their Souls and whether our designs succeed or not we shall be rewarded as those that have done good in the world Secondly All the acts of Beneficence and kindness nay even of Civility and good Nature are to be accounted among the instances of doing good A man doth good not only by acts of Charity properly so called but by every courtesie that he doth to another He doth good by shewing his respect and good will to all about him by reconciling differences among neighbours and promoting peace friendship and society as much as he can by being Generous and Liberal and Hospitable according to his ability by forgiving injuries and if it be possible making friends of those that did them by being easie of access and sweet and obliging in his carriage by complying with the infirmities of those he converseth with and in a word by contributing any way to make the lives of others more easie and comfortable to them Thirdly A man also doth good when he makes use of that acquaintance or friendship or interest that he hath with others to stir them up to the doing of that good which he by reason of the narrowness of his condition or for want of Opportunity cannot do himself This is a very considerable instance of doing good how slight soever it may seem the man that exercises himself this way is doubly a benefactor for he is not only an instrument of good to the person or persons for whom he beg'd the kindness or the charity but he does also a real kindness to the man himself whom he puts upon the benefaction for God will not less reward his good will for being excited by another Fourthly Another way to do good is to be careful and diligent and conscientious in the discharge of all those Publick Offices which we are call'd upon to execute in the place where we live How burthensome soever these be and how much soever of our time they rob us of yet God by calling us to them hath put a prize into our hands as the Wise man speaks to do much good if we have hearts to make use thereof Fifthly We do good when being in a private Capacity we so carry our selves in all the Relations in which we stand as the nature of the Relation requireth As for instance when being Subjects we conscientiously obey the Laws of the Kingdom and submit to our Governours and promote what we can the publick Peace both of Church and State When being Masters of Families we take care of those under our Charge making sufficient provision both for their Souls and bodies When being Husbands or Wives we discharge faithfully all the Conjugal duties When being Parents we love our children and bring them up in the fear and nurture of the Lord. When being children we obey our Parents in all things When being servants we do our work in singleness of heart not as men-pleasers but as those that account they have a Master in Heaven When having contracted friendships we are secret and faithful and prudent in the maintaining and preserving of them and so proportionably in all the other relations that we stand in All these things though they appear little yet are they in their degree a real good and benefit to mankind and so necessary that there is no living tolerably without them Sixthly We also do good by an honest and a diligent pursuit of our calling and employment There is no Art or Trade that we are bred to but if it be a lawful one it may be of great use to the publick and by well minding it and fairly manageing it we may render our selves very profitable members of the Common-wealth Seventhly and Lastly We may do a great deal of good by our good Examples by being to others Patterns of Piety and Prudence of Diligence and Industry of Peaceableness and Loyalty of Humility and Meekness and Temperance In a word every man that will make himself Eminent in any Virtue will be a Light to the world his life will be a constant Sermon and he will often prove as effectual a Benefactor to those about him by his example as others are by their Counsels and Exhortations And now all these things considered who is there among us in such deplorable Circumstances that he can reasonably pretend to want ability or opportunity to do good in his life Sure I am he must live in a desart and have no Communication with mankind that cannot some or other of these ways be useful and beneficial to them And thus much of our Second Head of Discourse I now come in the Third and last place to make some Application of what hath been spoken And First Since every man is so highly concern'd as we have seen to do good in his life let us all be perswaded seriously and heartily to apply our minds hereunto Let us look upon it not as a by-work a thing to be done now and then as there is occasion after our own turns are served But let us lay out our selves upon it let us propose it to our selves as the great Business of our lives Let us take all opportunities for it let us contrive and manage all our affairs so that they may some way or other be subservient to the carrying on this great work Let this be the end of our gathering riches and the measure of our expending them To heap up riches that we may be rich or to throw them away upon our lusts are both equally intolerable it is the doing good with them that sanctifies both the getting and the