Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	husband_n	love_n	wife_n	8,272	5	8.0646	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58838	The life of God in the soul of man, or, The nature and excellency of the Christian religion with the method of attaining the happiness it proposes : and An account of the beginnings and advances of a spiritual life : in two letters written to persons of honour.	Scougal, Henry, 1650-1678.; Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1677 (1677)	Wing S2101; ESTC R2701	52,875	148

deal of seeming hast but anon they flagg and give over they were in hot mood but now they are cooled they did shoot forth fresh and high but are quickly withered because they had no root in themselves These sudden fits may be compared to the violent and convulsive motions of Bodies newly beheaded caused by the agitations of the animal spirits after the Soul is departed which however violent and impetuous can be of no long continuance whereas the motions of holy Souls are constant and regular proceeding from a permanent and lively principle It is true this Divine life continueth not alwayes in that same strength and vigour but many times suffers sad decays and holy men find greater difficulty in resisting temptations and less alacrity in the performance of their duties yet it is not quite extinguished nor are they abandoned to the power of these corrupt affections which sway and over-rule the rest of the world Again Religion may be designed by the name of Life because it is an inward free and self-moving principle and those who have made progress in it are not acted only by external Motives driven meerly by threatnings nor bribed by promises nor constrain'd by Laws but are powerfully inclined to that which is good and delight in the performance of it The love which a Pious man carries to God and goodness is not so much by vertue of a Command enjoyning him so to do as by a new Nature instructing and prompting him to it nor doth he pay his devotions as an unavoidable tribute only to appease the Divine Justice or quiet his clamorous Conscience but those Religious exercises are the proper emanations of the divine life the natural employments of the new born Soul he prayes and gives thanks and repents not only because these things are commanded but rather because he is sensible of his wants and of the Divine goodness and of the folly and misery of a sinful life his charity is not forced nor his alms extorted from him his love makes him willing to give and though there were no outward obligation his heart would devise liberal things injustice or intemperance and all other vices are as contrary to his temper and constitution as the basest actions are to the most generous spirit and impudence and scurrility to those who are naturally modest so that I may well say with St. John Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God Though holy and religious persons do much eye the Law of God and have a great regard unto it yet is it not so much the sanction of the Law as its reasonableness and purity and goodness which doth prevail with them they account it excellent and desirable in its self and that in keeping of it there is great reward and that Divine Love wherewith they are acted makes them become a Law unto themselves Quis legem det amantibus Major est amor lex ipse sibi For who can give a Law to those that love Love 's a more powerful Law which doth such persons move In a word what our blessed Saviour said of himself is in some measure applicable to his followers that it 's their meat and drink to do their Father's will and as the natural appetite is carried out toward food though we should not reflect on the necessity of it for the preservation of our lives so are they carried with a natural and unforced propension toward that which is good and commendable It is true external motives are many times of great use to excite and stir up this inward principle especially in its infancy and weakness when it 's often so languid that the man himself can scarce discern it hardly being able to move one step forward but when he is pusht by his hopes or his fears by the pressure of an affliction or the sense of a mercy by the authority of the Law or the perswasion of others Now if such a person be conscientious and uniform in his obedience and earnestly groaning under the sense of his dulness and is desirous to perform his duties with more spirit and vigor these are the first motions of the divine life which though it be faint and weak will surely be cherished by the influences of Heaven and grow unto greater maturity but he who is utterly destitute of this inward principle and doth not aspire unto it but contents himself with those performances whereunto he is prompted by Education or custom by the fear of Hell or carnal notions of Heaven can no more be accounted a religious person than a Puppit can be call'd a Man This forced and artificial religion is commonly heavy and languid like the motion of a weight forced upward it is cold and spritless like the uneasie complyance of a wife married against her will who carries dutifully toward the husband whom she doth not love out of some sense of Virtue or Honour Hence also this religion is scant and niggardly especially in those duties which do greatest violence to mens carnal inclinations and those slavish spirits will be sure to do no more than is absolutely required 't is a Law that compels them and they will be loath to go beyond what it stints them to nay they will ever be putting such glosses on it as may leave themselves the greatest liberty whereas the Spirit of true Religion is franck and liberal far from such peevish and narrow reckoning and he who hath given himself intirely unto God will never think he doth too much for him By this time I hope it doth appear that Religion is with a great deal of reason termed a Life or vital principle and that it 's very necessary to distinguish betwixt it and that obedience which is constrained and depends on external causes I come next to give an account why I designed it by the name of divine life and so it may be called not only in regard of its fountain and original having God for its Author and being wrought in the Souls of men by the power of his Holy Spirit but also in regard of its nature Religion being a resemblance of the Divine perfections the Image of the Almighty shining in the Soul of Man nay it is a real participation of his Nature it is a beam of the Eternal Light a drop of that Infinite Ocean of goodness and they who are eudued with it may be said to have God dwelling in their Souls and Christ formed within them Before I descend to a more particular consideration of that Divine Life wherein true Religion doth consist it will perhaps be fit to speak a little of that natural or animal Life which prevails in those who are strangers to the other and by this I understand nothing else but our inclination and propension toward those things which are pleasing and acceptable to Nature or self-Love issuing forth and spreading it self