Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	day_n	rest_n	sabbath_n	4,534	5	10.0930	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45630	Horæ consecratæ, or, Spiritual pastime. concerning divine meditations upon the great mysteries of our faith and salvation : occasional meditations and gratulatory reflexions upon particular providences and deliverances, vouchsafed to the author and his family : also a scripture-catechisme dedicated to the service of his wife and children, and now published, together with other treatises mentioned in the following page for common use / by Sir James Harrington ...	Harrington, James, Sir, 1607-1680.; Harrington, James, Sir, 1607-1680. Meditations upon the creation, man's fall, and redemption by Christ.; Harrington, James, Sir, 1607-1680. Noah's dove.	1682 (1682)	Wing H803E_PARTIAL; Wing H815_PARTIAL; Wing H831_CANCELLED; ESTC R4540	368,029	493

he became a Priest unto God not to offer up for himself or for others expiating Sacrifices because sin then was not for God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good But his sweet incense was Prayer proceeding not from want but from love and duty his Kids were the Calves of his Lips inflamed with praise and sparkling with admiration from the Altar of a pure heart an un-bloody Sacrifice But this Jubile continued not a Year a Moneth a Week I think scarcely a Day God's first Sabbath of rest I suppose was the utmost date of Mans freedome from sin For no sooner had temptation voluntary leave to enter through the sences into this holy Temple but the ambush of sin rushed out of Sathans imposture as the Grecians from their Horse and overthrew and polluted the Priest the Sacrifice and the Altar If the Clay works not according to the mind of the Potter no marvail if he bruise it to powder And if the Creature honour not the Creator 't is Justice in him to destroy it When the House of God is become a Den of Thieves the Priest of God an Idolater and servant to sin and the Altar of God dedicated to Sathan It must needs follow that the curse of God fore-threatned shall now be executed Yee shall surely die O wretched Man hath God pronounced that thou shalt die Be ascertained thou must die since his unchangable Decrees are shaddowed out unto us by the Laws of the Medes and Persians which alter not Must Man die and hath God enacted it who then can deliver us from this Body of Death Be of good comfort we have mercy for our Esther the Son of God for our Mordecay who hath without reversing qualified and fulfilled the decree of his Father Who now can lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that justifies who is he that condemneth it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us being the only Mediator betwixt God and Man All Priests since the fall within the Church of God were the Types of our high Priest Christ Jesus For no sooner was there a breach made betwixt God and Man the Creator and the Creature but mercy pleaded for a reconciliation and that reconciliation in Justice required a Mediator which is the Lord Jesus A principal part of whose Mediatorship is this his office of the Priesthood Before the Law typified in Melchizedeck in the Law pre-figured by Aaron and his Sons and in the Gospel really executed and fulfilled by himself The acts of this his office are chiefly two as being proportionable to the defect and necessity of Man the offendor viz. To satisfie to intercede Go forth now my Soul and bid defiance to all thy Enemies For the Shield of thy faith shall receive all their darts without any danger to thee retorting them back even into the adversaries faces Appear now with confidence before the judgment Seat of God bringing with thee to the Bar of Mercy thy Advocate Christ Jesus Thither summon Sin that Tyrant whom whilst thou weart a Traytor to thy Maker thou didst serve together with those Homicides Death and Hell Let him bring his Parent with him also even Sathan his Agent thy Accuser yea let thy own conscience be called as a Witness Lastly let the Law be prefer'd as thy Inditement Against all those let thy Saviour oppose himself and maugre their objections and accusations plead thy innocency that so thy righteousness may break forth as the light and thy judgment as the Noon-day For he shall trample thine and his Enemies under his feet and destroy them with the two-edged Sword of his Word Doth Sin challenge a right on thee Our Saviour answers That the old Man is crucified with him that the Body of Sin might be destroyed that hence-forth thou should'st not serve Sin Doth Death and Hell cry out we are thy wages The Almighty Conquerour replies O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory And that thou maist never hereafter fear 't is added Death and Hell shall be cast into the Lake of Fire Doth Sathan accuse thee behold thy Michael shall chase this malitious Dragon from the judgment Seat witness that voice of tryumph that the Accuser of our Brethren is cast down which accused them before our God Day and Night And as for thy conscience fear not its testimony since it ceases to accuse when Sin is not imputed For whosoever is born of God sinneth not Again a spotless and blameless conscience cannot be a blaming and condemning conscience But Christ through the eternal Spirit hath offered himself without spot to God that he might purge thy Conscience from dead works Wherefore having such an High Priest over the House of God draw thou neer with a free Heart in full assurance of Faith Lastly doth the severe justice of the Law threaten to swallow thee up strengthen and comfort thy self in Christ who hath redeemed thee from the curse of the Law being made a curse for thee for it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree c. Yea let this following immunity The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus having made thee free from the Law of Sin and Death dismiss thy fears and silence all thy adversaries O my Saviour who art only the true Melchizedeck the compleatment of Aaron's Priest-hood and the end of the Law How much praise is thy due from me thy redeemed since to me is thy saying verified Blessed are those Eyes that see those things that I see And the Eares that hear those things that I hear Abraham saw thee in Isaac David saw thee in Solomon but I see thee in thy self yea in these and in all other thy Types I see thee also and that with much comfort and confirmation in thy Calling Vnction Bloody Sacrifice Sanctification Redemption Ascention and Intercession which were heretofore mysteriously bound up in the Levitical Priest-hood are now fulfilled and to me graciously manifested Lord Jesus since of thy free mercy thou hast made my deafness to hear and hast given me sight that was blinde for the strengthning of my faith As I have seen thee in thy types so let me see thee also in that eternal decree of thy Father So shall salvation appear Gods act and not Mans phantasie viz. Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Thou art the Lamb slain that takes away the sins of the World Lastly let me behold the execution thereof wherein the Lord is both offered to me and accepted for me viz. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased O my Soul what canst thou now more desire as having the Decree of God for thy Foundation the merit

hath adopted thee his Son and esteemed thee and stiled thee his Sister and Mother To conclude lest these foregoing degrees may admit of a division he vouchsafes thee this high favour to call thee the branch He the Vine thee a member He thy Head He the Husband thee the Spouse that so a union yea the perfectest of unions might be exprest and that sweetest of Petitions be fulfilled That all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Those that are joyned unto the Lord being one spirit and one body in Christ. Tell me then O my Soul can such a Lord whose love to thee made him serve thee become a cruel Inquisitor to condemn thee Will thy friend thy brother be an Achitophel a Cain to thee Is it a thing possible that thy everlasting Father instead of the Bread of Life will give thee to the torments of Hellish Scorpions No though Parents may forget the Sons of their Wombe y●● will He not forget thee Is it unnatural for the Root to suffer the Branches to wither for want of sap For the Head to deny animation to the Members yea cannot there be a true conjunction in Marriage without the cement of affection And wilt thou dare to think that that Root of Jesse thy Head thy Spouse the God of Order and Nature will destroy the Principlse of nature and with-hold the sap of his Grace and Mercy his all-quickening Spirit of Life and Glory his Eternal free and unchangeable love from thee a branch a member a beloved No account it impious Infidelity to give such a thought the least entertainment Rather if thou wilt meditate of that day which indeed is a Christians duty all being commanded to watch because we know not at what hour our Lord will come pitch thy thoughts upon the Resurrection and that happy and blessed assumption of thy Soul and Body reunited to meet thy Judge and Saviour The Apostle testifying that we shall be all caught up together in the Clouds to meet our Lord in the Ayre and that then we shall be ever with the Lord For wheresoever the Carkass is there will the Eagles be gathered together Wherefore as the same Apostle exhorts Comfort both thy self and others with these words Rely also upon and apply those golden and royal declarations of thy Judge As that he will not condemne thee when thou art judged That he that believeth on him is not condemned but hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life That there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Since God doth justifie thee who is he that condemns thee That we are often times corrected here that we should not be condemned with the World Further is it possible that thou shouldest be saluted with so sweet an invitation and denomination as Come thou blessed of my Father and be accursed Canst thou be the Heir yea the Possessor of a Kingdome and also the Slave and Prisoner of Sathan Will the righteous Judge give to them Torments of Fire and Brimstone to whom he hath promised a Crown of Glory Art thou commanded to pray for to long for to wait for thy destroyer No surely but for him that hath promised to deliver us from the wrath to come To conclude even amongst Men none that is a Delinquent must presume to possess the Bench the Seat of Judicature But know you not saith the Apostle that the Saints shall judge the World yea Angels Wherefore doubtless they must be just yea are acquitted and made innocent both imputatively and inherently in their own Persons Further if this be not sufficient to animate and strengthen thy hope let thy faith make the last Article of the Creed thy object Where thou believest everlasting life to take its beginning or rather begin its perfection immediately after death and the last Judgment The time appointed for the full reward and coronation of the Saints I know there are many gracious promises of temporal blessings and those often-times fulfill'd and confer'd upon the Saints in this life Some whereof though few of many as being a remunerating act of Christs regal and judicial Office I will by the way recite not impertinently as being earnests to them of future glory sensible tokens of Fatherly love a Pilgrims Staff for our Faith to lean upon in our lifes peregrination This maxime being first undoubtedly to be believed that the same promises made to perfect obedience under the Law had at the first a respect and are now truly applicable to faithfull sincerity under the Gospel Such that Magazene of blessings in the 28. of Deuteronomy where to the largest and several appetites every true believing and sincere obeying Christian as well as to the sacrificing Jew a most plentifull feast and satisfaction is offered Is thy calling in the City or i● the Field thou shalt be blessed in them both Desirest thou riches and plenty of all the fruits of the Earth and a numerous posterity and a blessed use and enjoying of them Thou hast a Pattent a great Seat for these also Art thou a Man of action and great employment for the Church or the Common wealth yea hath thy vertues splendour a shadow of envious and malitious adversaries If thou hearkenest unto the voice of the Lord thy God thou shalt be blessed when thou comest in and blessed when thou goest out and the Lord shall cause them thine Enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face Wouldest thou have thy forfeited Charter renewed and all the Creatures yea the most honourable serviceable unto thee Behold the Lord shall give his Angels charge over thee yea they shall pitch their Tents about thee and the Heaven shall give Rain unto thy Land in due season Dost thou wish for to the further glory of God a long life and an honourable place and esteem amongst Men The Lord hath promised that he will set thee on high that he will make thee the head and not the taile and with long life will satisfie thee Yea more which is the compleatment of all he will shew thee his Salvation But a long life if imbittered with sickness is but a tedious Death True But if thou fear the Lord and depart from evil it shall be health to thy Navil and marrow to thy Bones Yea thy light shall break forth as the Morning and thy health shall spring forth speedily Further dost thou desire wisdome beauty strength The righteous have promises of all these so far forth as they still perfect their happiness Whose Daughters so fair as Jobs Those that mourn in Sion have assured unto them beauty for ashes If the Feet of the Saints are beautifull surely no part else is deficient But

exhorting you to repentance towards God and faith to our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold I am as one bound a Prisoner and a banished man separated from you not knowing what things shall further befall me But none of these things move or grieve me neither count I my life dear unto my self so that I might finish my course with joy For I am perswaded and assured that neither Tribulation or Distress Persecution or Famine nakedness or peril or Sword Death or Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord or cause to cease my love to him As therefore loving him because he hath loved me first Yea I am further assured that when I have finished my course a Crown of righteousness is laid up for me which my Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that Day and not to me only but unto all those that love his appearing And now my dearly beloved ones I know not God he only knows whether we shall see the Face of one another any more Wherefore that living or dead I may discharge my duty as a Husband and as a Father I take you to record this Day that I am pure from the blood of you all For I have not shunned to declare unto you the counsel of God Take heed therefore to your Souls which God hath purchased with his own blood for I know that after my departure grievous Wolves and Enemies such as the mighty Powers of Darkness the numerous tempting and malicious men of the World and that out of your own selves which therefore are the most dangerous of adversaries will arise strong innumerable and impetuous Lusts all endeavouring to draw you from the Faith and to destroy your most precious Souls Therefore watch and remember that by the space of these many years I have not ceased to warn every one of you Night and Day with tears Therefore my dearly beloved and longed for my Joy and Crown stand fast in the Lord my dearly beloved And I intreat thee also true Yoke-fellow help counsel and encourage our Children in the way of godliness and righteousness which is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come Hide not thy talent nor neglect the gifts that are in thee until I come again unto you Give attendance to reading to exhortation meditate upon these things that I have written and give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all Be an example to our Children in Word in Conversation in Chastity in Spirit in Faith in Purity For in doing this thou shalt both save thy Self and Family now solely under thy charge and as to the care of whose Soul● thou must shortly be accountable at God's Tribunal O ye that are my precious Jewels my chief and only riches upon Earth my mouth is open to you my heart is enlarged ye are not straitned in me be ye not therefore straitned in your own bowels Now for a recompence in the same I speak unto you as unto my Children be ye also enlarged And now dear and beloved Christians for this is the highest and shall be my concluding Title and sweetest compellation as therein not knowing you after the Flesh I commend you unto God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build up and to give you an Inheritance among all them that are sanctified Ceasing not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my Prayers That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ The Father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdome and revelation in the knowledge of him The Eyes of your understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his calling And what the riches of the glory of his Inheritance in the Saints And what is the exceeding greatness of his Power to us-ward that believe Your most affectionate Husband and Father J. H. From Antwerpe the First of January 1665. A Directory Letter Mutatis Mutandis sent by the Author to every one of his Twelve Children prefixt to the Manuscript of the following Epistle now Printed for the use and benefit of other Christian Families Dear Daughter Mary I Commend unto your serious and often Reading and Meditation this following Epistle a Work which cost me much labour study and time in the Collection yet performed with much delight and chearfulness as moved to write it to all my Relations by the good Spirit of the Lord as the best means I could use to counsel stir up and advise them with Mary to choose the better part which shall never be taken from them Wherefore loving Daughter let me lay this Paternal Charge upon you as I shall do upon the rest of your Brothers and Sisters for whom I am preparing Transcripts out of the Original written by my own hand That you read it over at least once a Quarter as long as you live as being not mine but the Epistle of our most dear Lord and Saviour presented to you only by my hands his most unworthy Instrument The subject matter thereof being his most sacred Word who is the Lord God of all the holy Prophets the Pen-men hereof And the great Prophet of his Church whose Word whosoever will not hear and obey are threatned to be destroyed My design herein I hope through the grace and mighty power of the most holy Spirit of Christ will be prosperous and effectual as being not only a Letter of advice and counsel from an earthly Father whom I am confident you love and will obey in the Lord But the Epistle and most powerful Exhortations of your heavenly Father yea the love-letter of your Head and Spouse the Lord Jesus Christ who hath married you unto himself in holiness and everlasting righteousness Dear Daughter the holy Scriptures being the Foundation of all saving knowledge and true Religion I have by the direction and assistance of the Lord skim'd off for you the Cream thereof and given you a few proofs of many holding forth as from his own mouth First The excellency of his Person Secondly The Fundamental Articles of the Christian faith and belief in the words of the holy Scripture only Thirdly what things are to be practised by you held forth in God's holy Law Fourthly what evil things are to be eschewed either respecting Doctrine or manners wherein you have the Lord Jesus Christ's encouragement and exhortation to the attaining of all saving graces and virtues and his Dehortation from all errors in Doctrine especially those that are sowen and profest in these worst of times and from all sins and vices in practice Fifthly You have herein many of his Holy Counsels directing

Redemption finished upon this Day of the Lord's Resurrection was by no less than by Divine Authority because the keeping of one Day in Seven as a Sabboth to God was not only sanctified and set apart by God's own example in the Creation Gen. 2. Ver. 2 and accordingly observed by the Israelites many Weeks before the Law was given Exod. 16.23 But is One of the Ten Commandments delivered by God's own mouth in Mount Sinay written by his own Finger in Tables of Stone commanded by himself to be put into the Ark of the Covenant which Decalogue or Ten Commandments are also by our blessed Saviour in his Sermon upon the Mount declared to be the rule of his Peoples moral obedience unto the end of the World Math. 5.17 and in the following part of that Sermon wherein he vindicates the Law from the corrupt Glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees he instances only in moral duties and moral Laws From all which Divines generally infer that the Decalogue is to continue in force unto the Worlds end and therefore it seems most apparent that no Authority that is inferiour to that which appointed the Seventh Day from the Creation to be the Sabboth could abrogate that Day and appoint an other Day to be used instead of it because neither the Law of Nature nor the Holy Scripture doth any where give the least intimation that any humane Power may change any of the Commandments of God and indeed so many absurdities would follow upon such an assertion as I am confident your Majesty will not own it It remains therefore that the change of the Day must be the work of Christ himself or of his Apostles who were divinely inspired Acts 15. 21. And to prove that it was so Viz. That the Lords Day by Divine Institution now succeeds in the room of the Jewish Sabboth I shall use no other Arguments than these which I finde in ●●rned Bishop Andrews his Speech in the Star-Chamber at the ●●●sure of Mr. Traske who expresly saith that it hath ever been the Churches Doctrine That Christ made an end of all Sabboths by his Sabboth in the grave and that presently the Lords Day came in the place of it And that according to Austin's judgment the Lord's Day is declared to be the Christian Sabboth by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ which the said Bishop not only saith but proveth by these Arguments 1. Because he then began the new World Heb. 1.2 By whom ●e made the Worlds The first World which ended with his ●●rial The second World or new Creation which began with his Resurrection 2. Because all the four Evangelists say Christ rose Vna Sab●ttorum that is the first Day of the Week 3. The Apostles kept their holy Meetings on that Day to Preach and Pray and Celebrate the Lord's Supper Acts 20.7 4. The Day is called the Lord's Day not only in the Apostles times but by the Apostle John himself Rev. 1.10 And he further adds that this Epithite Dominicum in the Scripture is only applyed to these two The Lord's Day and the Lord's Supper To shew that they are both to be taken alike in Scripture 5. He saith we have not only example but express precept for it 1 Cor. 16.2 That upon the first Day of the Week which was the Day of their Assembly then Collections or Oblations would be made 6. And lastly He affirms that in all Ages of the Church this Day was observed To this I may add our Saviour's rest upon that Day from his Works Heb. 4.10 His often visiting the Apostles during the Forty Days after his Resurrection upon that Day speaking of the things appertaining to the Kingdom of God Acts 1.3 Now what more material thing was there to be declared to them than this The change of the Sabboth and the appointing a set time for his Worship he accordingly appearing thrice on the first Day of the Week besides his being seen of the Women to teach and instruct his Disciples First to the two Disciples that went to Emmaus Luke 24.15 c. to the Apostles when Thomas was absent John 20.19 And the third time when Thomas was present John 20.26 As also observe that those wonderful and extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were poured out according to his promise upon the Apostles and Church then met together Acts 2.1 The Day of Penticost being the Morrow after the Seventh Sabboth to be accounted from the Day of the Sheaf-Offering Lev. 23.15 By all which he seems to have honoured and set apart that Day above others for his service Lastly this being a principal Institution might probably be one of those Decrees ordained by the Apostles as well as that concerning the Sacrament 1 Cor. 11.34 delivered by Paul to the Churches in all the Cities through which he passed Acts 16.4 But for the Observation of Easter to be an Annual Festival to Christians I find not any thing in the Holy Scriptures And your Majesty is pleased to place it only upon the Churches Authority And although I will not contend about the Churches Power in the Institution of such things as are simply indifferent yet I suppose I may boldly assert that such things as are only Instituted by Ecclesiastical Authority having no footstep in the Scripture may by Ecclesiastical Authority be laid aside Your Majesties most Loyal Subject and Humble Servant H. J. AN EPISTLE DEDICATORY To the the truly Noble Paire and my most Religious Parents MOst Honoured and best beloved Parents Three Sabbaths of Years the third part of Mans life is already Cyphered in my Youths Accompts and who knows how soon the Divine number of our dayes after my times last addition may conclude the Numeration of my life thus Haec summa totalis Wherefore lest Death should proclaime me Bankrupt before I had paid the due Debt of gratefulness which I owe you next to my Heavenly Father for my Life Education and Preservation I here presume to present you with this disordered and weak Meditations the Fruits of some few hours destinated for the Lord's dayes Preparation as a testimonial of my thankfulness for those your numberless Merits which are as far beyond requital as expression Let them I beseech you obtain a favorable Acceptance a patient Perusal and a Fatherly Censure glorifying God who with his Grace hath assisted my Weakness and shall supply the deficiency of all our Meditations with the fruition of himself till which Imperfection of Happiness I rest Yours in the Lord and in all filial Obedience J. H. To the Worthy AUTHOR OF THIS Divine Meditation The Unworthy Peruser wisheth all Health and Happiness ON Worthy Sir and live to view The like done by your Heire to you There 's one will bless With Int'rests this your gratefulness Sweetning your Budd Both to your own and Parents good Blessing the feet which I suppose Would highly grace a full-blown Rose Oft have I seen those Budds that prove Worm-eaten by that Canker Love Spending their