Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	concern_v	zeal_n	zealous_a	35	3	9.5007	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91526	Jewish hypocrisie, a caveat to the present generation. Wherein is shewn both the false and the true way to a nations or persons compleat happiness, from the sickness and recovery of the Jewish state. Unto which is added a discourse upon Micah 6.8. belonging to the same matter. / By Symon Patrick B.D. minister of the word of God at Batersea in Surrey.	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1660 (1660)	Wing P817; Thomason E1751_1; Thomason E1751_2; ESTC R203168	156,691	423

many c. Or if we render it with others Did not be who is one make it i. e. the covenant of marriage and he hath abundance of spirit still to breath into our seed And wherefore did that one make that order that a man should cleave to his wife but that he might have a godly seed and therefore take heed what you do in putting away your wives and taking others for hereby you offend him that breaths the spirit of life into us Or if we take it as others interpret it their wickedness is still argued to be the greater because they boasted that they were the children of Abraham Now Did that one i. e. the first of your family do so of whose spirit we are the residue and what did that one he sought a godly seed he put not away Sarah though she was barren which to you would seem a just cause nor matched with an Idolater that he might have issue Or if we receive that rendring of the words which the learned De Dieu prefers above all the rest it argues them of great inhumanity and that they had not common good nature in them which makes the sin still greater No one would do thus that had but any reliques of the spirit of God in him and therefore much less they that seek a godly seed as you pretend to do You see that he might well call this covering violence with his garment ver 16. because it was such a wrong to those that by the Laws of God and nature deserved better at their hands To spread ones garment or ones skirts over a woman is a phrase in holy writ for to marry her Ruth 3.9 Ezek. 16.8 By taking therefore of a strange woman into their society which was engaged before to another they did as it were marry to violence and contract a relation with injustice Or as the forenamed author thinks it should be translated Violence covered their garments i. e. when as they ought still to have cast their garments of love and protection over their wives violence and wrong did cover those garments their marriage was an act of injustice and their skirts which they spread over strangers were all over stained with cruelty hard-heartedness and oppression 5. And Zachary tells us by way of prophesie what should be in after times toward the end of this Nation and what manner of Rulers should be over the people He compares their Shepherds i. e. Governours as I have shewn before unto young Lyons who do not use to protect but to devour the sheep Zach. 11.3 And he calls the people the flock of slaughter ver 4. whom he is bid to instruct either because they were to be destroyed by the armies of their enemies or because they were a prey unto their Governours According as it follows ver 5. Their possessors slay them and they hold themselves not guilty Yea to such a confidence were they arrived in these sins that they Bless God for the riches which they had got in this sort They had some devotion you see left though no honesty nor goodness God is intituled to all wicked possessions and acquisitions that he may make them good and defend them against all the clamors of men and the suits of their own conscience And it seems the people were very bad also for ver 6. he threatens them that he would have no more pitty on them then their Rulers had but let them destroy one another by seditions and at last deliver them all into the hands of the King that oppressed them who should be so far from taking any pastoral care of them that he should only slay and devour them as you may read v. ●6 6. And some understand by that King the Roman Caesar to whom they made themselves a prey by such sins as those I have been treating of That long Captivity which indures to this day had its way prepared by their avarice and cruelty as those acquaint us upon whom the spirit of prophecy was again poured forth For our Lord coming and reproving the chief of that generation when he lived for devouring widdows houses for extortion rapine and blood for covetousness and oppression for being without natural affection and the like sins while they made long prayers and pretended a great deal of sanctity and religion He declaring also that faith judgement mercy and the love of God were more to be regarded then their strict observation of dayes and the multitude of sacrifices They out of a great zeal for their religion which they thought he did not speak honourably enough concerning most shamefully put him to death I believe they took themselves to be very religious persons and were zealous in what they did only their zeal was not equally dispensed nor conveyed alike through the whole body of duties that God commanded Their heat was like the flushing in mens faces or the burning in their hands which we do not take to be an argument of a good temper but rather a sign that there are obstructions as the ordinary language calls them in the body so that there is not a free motion of the vital blood in all the parts I mean they spent so much zeal in a few things that they left no warmth of affection for other most necessary duties In those things their heat was staid and stopt which made them of an extraordinary high colour and to have the repute in the world of very great Saints and most vertuous persons Yea they themselves gazed so much upon this flame that they took no notice how cold they were in matters of common honesty but they committed all iniquity in a comfortable belief that they were good men and most beloved of God Their great zeal for the Sabbath and such like matters made them take themselves for pious and devout persons but the partiality and particularity of it whereby it remained there confined made them really to be such as our Saviour calls Hypocrites which appellation they took in such disdain that they conspired his death who would not let such as they pass for godly men 7. And are Christians to this day more reformed who have inherited their promises I wish I could say that we are as free from covetousness rapine and unmercifulness as the Pharises were from Sabbath-breaking and Idolatry R. D. Kimchi upon Hos 2.19 20. hath confessed a great deal of that truth which I have endeavoured to illustrate but I can only wish that the latter part of his gloss were found as true as the former part hath proved He saith those words cannot have a compleat sense till the time of the Messiah and that God uses the word betroth three times because of the 3. captivities after which God doth as it were marry them to himself but in the dayes of the Messiah after a more excellent manner then in former times For when they came out of Aegypt he did not betroth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for

of these devotions When you come to appear before me who hath required this at your hands c. The Sabbaths the calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even the solemn meeting your new moons c. are a trouble to me I am weary to bear them c. And he bids them if they intend that he should speak kindly to them and be friends with them that they should cease to do evil learn to do well and put away the evil of their doings from before his eyes Isa 1.11 12 13 c. Strange indeed it was and worse then all the rest that they should see so much reason to do all those things and yet see no reason to be good But they were like to most men now who will have God to be pleased with what pleases them and gives no great distaste to their natures but will part with nothing that they dearly love though it be the greatest offence to him Very desirous they were to give God content by sacrifices and make him satisfaction even for the most secret sins if we may believe themselves For the burnt-offerings as some of them say was to expiate for the thoughts of the heart or in their phrase for that which goes up in the heart but they forgot what Isaiah saith in another place Isa 55.7 that unless the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts and return to the Lord he will not have mercy on him 4. And the Christian world still depends on their prayers which are their daily sacrifices and on their Alms which are another offering unto God and upon their Altar as the Lords Table may be called where they represent Christs sacrifice of himself I heartily wish there were more of all these acts of Religion exercised but if Prayer do but hallow our unjust and unrighteous actions and if Alms be but a bribe for the passing by of our drunkenness and debauchery and if the Table of the Lord be but the putting of a complement upon him after we have many wayes offended him and continue still to sin against him we shall but still maintain and propagate to posterity that false and hypocritical spirit against which God hath of old expressed so much hatred But of this and concerning the ends and uses of Sacrifices See the Sermon hereto annexed more hereafter CAP. VII 1. The sins that we forsake must never be again embraced 2. And without this perpetual forsaking all our strictnesses about Religious performances will not avail us though done out of conscience 3. Let every man make a judgement of himself by what hath been said 1. AND now I might shew that as God expects a through reformation in all things which I have already often suggested and shall more fully ere long demonstrate so we must continue in that state and not put away our sins only for a short time till we think that Gods anger is passed over us and will not fall down upon us To be good for a while after we have fasted confessed our sins and prayed will not quite turn away his wrath though it may deferr it That which God expects is an eternal divorce between us and our sins and that we seek him with our whole heart so as to continue in well doing For else with our return again to folly the stripes which are for the back of fools will return also And commonly the case is more dangerous and the disease harder to cure when we do relapse after we were pretty well recovered and the rods which before were prepared for us will be turned into scorpions But the holy Story is so clear in this that he must be much unacquainted with the condition of this people in all those times that doth not see it and therefore knowing every one can furnish himself with proofs enough if he do but read any one Book of their History I shall herein spare my further labour 2. I might take occasion likewise here to show that though all this be done out of conscience and we would not for any good omit these performances but out of a kind of honesty we observe dayes of fasting times of confession and constant prayer and have pious intentions in the business yet this will not procure our good acceptance But it is plain enough in the temper of this people as I noted in the beginning of this discourse You could not have hired them to have laid down these Fasts and when they could not offer sacrifices at the Temple they were very constant in their prayers at those times that they used to be offered And because they could not in their captivity offer those sacrifices that are commanded to be added on the eight dayes of the Feast of Tabernacles to the constant sacrifices Numb 29. they used certain peculiar prayers which they retain to this day which they recited at that time that those sacrifices used to be offered at the Temple calling the time wherein they recited them Musaph V. Buxt in voc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. an additament to their ordinary devotions And they were very scrupulous in their consciences also a thing that many please themselves in very much as a mark of piety and they came to the Prophet as men do now to the Minister for to be resolved Very loth they were to displease God by the neglect of such good duties and if it were his pleasure they would still perform them but alas poor souls this was the hypocrisie the Scripture so much speaks of the finer sort of hypocrisie that carries so many to Hell in a pleasing belief that they are going to Heaven They were serious and zealous in some things but not in all and so they did but in good earnest as we say and in a more sober way set themselves to cheat their souls They fasted very severely they mourned very bitterly knocked their breasts heartily confessed devoutly and prayed earnestly and sacrificed plentifully but yet they did not search and try their wayes to turn again unto the Lord they did not every one put away the evil of their doings and so all their zeal in the former things instead of doing them good wrought their greater mischief by making them confidently to account themselves Religious persons and to be angry with the Prophets who would perswade them to the contrary 3. It were well now if every one before he read any further would examine his own heart and give himself an account whether he have done thus much as the peple of the Jews did and then whether he have done any more There are not many it is like that have thus fasted and wept and prayed either for their own good or the good of their Nation and at what a vast distance are they from Gods favour who are not come to the porch of his house no are not in the way to become his servants But I doubt they are very hard to be found one perhaps of

multiply silver or gold Deut. 17.17 i. e. private riches they should not strive to gather into their Coffers for this he knew would make them oppress his people and likewise that they should not lift up their heart above their Brethren v. 20. i. e. be proud and despisers of their subjects for this would make them unmercifull and void of pitty toward them And 5 a Prince is called in the holy language by a name viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which teaches him to be like that Ptolomy who for his good deeds was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Benefactor one that doth good to all but harms none of his Subjects And 6 they cause the People to err if they be bad as it is Isa 9.16 so that every one becomes an hypocrite and an evil doer and every mouth speaketh folly according as you read in the following verse Let us all then from the greatest to the least examine our selves and be well informed whether we be guilty or clear in this matter and let us make the same conscience of doing justly that we do of hearing Sermons and of loving mercy that we do of fasting and praying and then God will dwell in the midst of us And let no mans heart be so wicked as to think that he shall lose by doing thus for God saith In the house of the righteous is much treasure Prov. 15.6 and righteousness exalteth a Nation Prov. 14.34 And The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish but he casteth away the substance of the wicked Blessings are upon the head of the just but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked As the whirlwind passeth so is the wicked no more but the righteous is an everlasting foundation Prov. 10.3 6 25. CAP. XVI 1. A Caution the reason why these sins were more destructive then others 2. Further cleared 3. The reason why men are more apt to be inclined to zeal for religious duties then for justice and mercy 4. A further reason of the same thing 5. This zeal may make men take injustice it self to be a just thing 6. It concerns us therefore to look well to our selves in these matters 7. And Judah should be a warning to England 1. BUT that this discourse may not be liable to any mistakes I shall a little farther open the sense of what hath been said whereby likewise it will become more usefull to the Reader if he please to attend it I do not affirm either of these two things first that these are the only sins that undo a Nation or secondly that these were more heinous in themselves then the Idolatry whereof the Jewish Nation were also guilty No let me not be so understood as if I thought that denying of God blaspheming of his name worshipping of Idols and such like sins as are more immediately against the Deity were not wasting sins more horrid then the other But the truths that I assert are these First that the sins of injustice fraud and cruelty are and have been enough to destroy a Nation without the other and Secondly that they commonly prove the most dangerous and ruinating to a people of any else because they are overlooked when they reform though being duties toward our Brother whom we continually see one would think they should be in our eyes above all other When men reform impieties against God they think themselves to have done him such high service and are so much in those upper speculations that they take no notice of these things under their feet and make no reckoning how they deal with men so they be but zealous and fierce for that which is due to God Or they be content to be religious given to devotion so they may but retain their unlawfull gains pleasures and ambitious ends yea their very religion and forwardness for reformation in such matters may give them a better advantage more colourably to practise these iniquities and their unmortified affections will easily put them in mind to make use of such opporunities 2. Hence I say it is that these sins do more commonly ruine those Nations that know God then corruption in his worship doth not because that is not destructive but because men will a great deal sooner reform in that then in these other for a fair correspondence with God in all the outward duties of his worship is a great deal more easie then this denyal of mens selves in their covetous malitious ambitious and other fleshly desires And beside it is more apt to get a man a great name among others if it be in any good measure of fervency and heat and likewise to beget in himself a comfortable opinion that he is mightily beloved of God seeing he doth those things that are most highly reputed of So much hypocrisie therefore and deceit being in mens hearts and they being so willing thus to put a cheat upon themselves I hope it will not by any be deemed unseasonable that I have treated of this matter rather then of the other And if any will be so censorious as to say that I have not pressed the matters of religious worship so much as I ought they had best take heed that they do not bring our Saviour himself under their lash For when the Ruler asked him Luk. 19.18 what he should do to inherit eternal life He doth not say one word concerning the duties of the first Table but only of the Second in which it should seem they were more negligent then in the rest And when the man answered that he had done all those things that he spoke of Our Saviour doth not Catechise him how he had kept the Sabbath and abhorred Idols and such matters but he desires him only to be careful of this one thing further which was that he would wholly take his heart off from covetousness and the love of the world 3. If any ask how it comes to pass that men should be so very zealous and forward in pious duties when they are so cold in the other I have already given him an answer to this purpose First the religious services in their greatest outward purity do not find the nature of man so averse unto and abhorrent from them but that they may be very forward to do them And Secondly They make also a great sound and dinn in the world and have such a glorious appearance that by the doing of them he may be reputed and also take himself for a Saint And Thirdly Then he may be so pleased with this fine perswasion and so inwardly tickled with the sweetness of such thoughts that he is engaged to mind with all his power the promoting of such matters as have gained him the credit of an holy person without denying his worldly lusts which may rather have a freer liberty under such a brave and splendid Master as stands not upon Punctilio's of honesty and equity between one man and another But Fourthly if we turn our