Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	good_a	great_a	sin_n	3,394	5	4.6230	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49447	Meditations upon retirement from the world Occasioned by a discourse with a gentleman, who begun to see the vanity of worldly enjoyments, whereof he had had a very great share, and thought it necessary by despising of them, to secure the interest of his soul, while there was any time left.	Ludolf, Heinrich Wilhelm, 1655-1710.	1691 (1691)	Wing L3464; ESTC R216641	10,010	11

noise of the City nor the hurry of the Court can discompose a temper well settled by not depending upon uncertainties but intirely relying on Gods Providence which designs nothing but good for us Though it cannot be denyed that every body is not strong enough to resist the temptations of City and Court which wheedle us into wrong courses MEDITATION II. SInce then Retirement which is to set our mind at ease doth not consist in the bare changing of the place of our abode it seems to me that the secret of enjoying quiet and tranquillity of mind consists only in withdrawing our-heart from any thing we are in possession of in this World This is the way to hold Riches and Honour nay even that more valuable pleasure of friendship without the uneasiness of fearing to lose them or grieving for them when they give us the slip It is a common observation that Sin and Folly differ but very little and that the Wisdome of Providence hath put a straight connexion between Sin and Punishment So that whosoever forgets his duty to his Creator to such a degree as to lay him by for the Creature and to bestow upon the Creature those affections which were due only to the Creator that person must needs expose himself to a great many inconveniencies which by Gods unchangeable Law attend the committing of Sin and Folly We daily see that Wise-men make themselves ridiculous about those Worldly objects which they most dote upon and never make a worse use of their understanding than when they are busied about the things they love best Love as well as other passions leading commonly their Mistress the Reason by the nose and the Proverb Love is Blind is of a larger extent than to be understood only of admiring a Woman For we see Parents fond of their Children not only over-value their parts but by too much indulgence to the humour of their Children to expose themselves to the just censures of discreet impartial persons We meet with bookish men puffed up with some Philological remarks that are hissed at by men of sence and of use to either Church or State Children and Books are questionless as harmless objects of our fancy as any and yet when our heart is set upon them they easily betray our folly and bring no less an inconvenience upon us than the lessening of our reputation by having our judgement called in question As irrational loving of sensual pleasures Money and Fame is more criminal so it is attended with punishment more real than the bare loss of the good opinion of men of sence I do not speak only of men that pursue these things by the commission of the most provoking sins but even of those that hunt after them in some seeming honest course A man may endeavour to grow rich without Robbing and Cheating another may offer at Greatness without Slandering or Supplanting and yet both these men will find themselves mistaken at the long run if they make this their chief business and it is a Mercy of God when he shews them their error and directs them to look after that which must render the injoyment of plenty and greatness secure and comfortable This cannot be obtained unless a body be sure of Gods favor and support but it is not probable that God Almighty will assure a man of so great a blessing unless he thinks it worth the longing for it which he is not like to do as long as his mind chiefly runs upon worldly things Wherefore I conclude that withdrawing our heart from worldly things is the true retirement which leads us to calmness of mind and keeps us from being disturbed in the City and Court as well as in the Country Nay it will beget that love and trust in God which makes Prosperity the more comfortable and adversity the less uneasie and when our crosses seem to overballance too much our comforts this sort of Retirement will make us amends for all by a promising prospect of our future hopes MEDITATION III. IT is I must confess not so very easie to withdraw our heart from the world for it is hard to blot out the impressions made upon our minds in our younger years One that alwayes heard people admired for a great Estate for a splendid House-keeping and magnificent Furniture and Retinue will be backward to believe that all those things signifie nothing and are not worth our seeking them We hear Great Men so often reckoned among the fortunate and very often see so many real advantages of power that we cannot help almost our being betrayed into Ambition Nay when bountiful Nature hath bestowed so good an understanding upon us as to be convinced that Wealth and Greatness are very empty things without Contentedness there is one object left from which it is hardest of all to withdraw our heart that is We our selves The wise Author of Nature hath implanted in us a love of our being that we might seek to preserve and to improve it And there is no question to be made but that it would stand us in very great stead if we loved our selves with a due regard to our glorious Maker for it is more than probable that our Being may be improved by him that contrived it so artificially But when we lay him a side and perhaps do every thing to affront him into the bargain it is no wonder he should revenge so base an ingratitude by suffering our Self love to lead us as a blind Guide This perverse Self love begets that uncharitableness and envy from whence springs all the strife and faction which disturbs so very much both publick and private It intoxicates us with that conceit of our own judgment that we will hardly allow any body to be in the right but our selves making commonly very peevish requitals to those that offer to shew us our mistakes In one word Self-love is the root of Pride which is so criminal a qualification that it turned Lucifer out of Heaven The inlightened Author of The Whole Duty Man makes very good Remarks upon this subject Nor can it be denyed that the greater the thing is which we are proud of the greater is our Sin and consequently the Fall that attends Pride commonly The mischief of our being pleased with our own person is not so great as to think our judgment infallible and being puffed up with a vain conceit of Saintship is worse still and very often occasions those false lights whereby many a poor soul is lead into precipices The reason seems to be that Pride hath ingratitude towards God Almighty at the bottom for the proud man doth not reflect upon his holding every thing of God Almighty and the greater his gifts are the greater is his ingratitude when he ascribes them to himself Since then Self-love is so dangerous and yet so natural to us we ought to take the more particular care to break ourselves of that fondness of our selves which is the last and hardest