Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	law_n	nature_n	precept_n	1,292	5	9.1116	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27462	A sermon preached at the assizes held at Leicester, July xxii. MDCLXXVI before the Right Honourable Sir Edward Atkins Lord Chief Baron, and Sir Christopher Milton, Baron of the Exchequer / by the Honourable George Berkeley ...	Berkeley, George, 1651 or 2-1694.; Atkyns, Edward, Sir, 1630-1698.; Milton, Christopher, Sir, 1615-1693.	1686 (1686)	Wing B1970; ESTC R8808	9,310	30

should be singular wilful and testy humoursome and capricious but rather gentle and conversable frank and easie complaisant and obliging in whatsoever things are honest and of good report No man is willing to have an unjust Tyranny obtruded upon him in words and actions by a troublesome Lawgiver and Dictator in Discourse or a greedy Extortioner in Business and Dealing No man is willing that his Neighbour should treacherously collude with him in Promises and Covenants or wickedly and deceitfully trepan him We would all be gently accosted and favourably handled in word and deed No Body is fond of ill-natur'd censure of unworthy and base detraction Who is there ambitious of being exposed and Bussoon'd to have hisfaults unravell'd with envy and spight his imperfections publickly canvass'd as a common Theme of Discourse an entertainment of laughter and malice No Body careth to be wrongfully upbraided unseasonably charged and rebuked nor are we fond of being proudly over-awed insolently brow-beaten or imperiously controuled No man careth to be sawcily bearded to be stubbornly withstood in a reasonable matter by a wilful and cross-grain'd opposition Is there any man who is willing to have his words wrested his sense misconstrued or his actions misreported and traduced Is there any one who is willing that his person should be vilified with open slander nay with malicious truth stabb'd in effigie by cowardly whispering or griev'd with unmanly scoffs with insupportable insulting Taunts If it be true that we are apt to wink at our own faults and conceal them to colour our own failings nay to make an Apology for our very Crimes and grow angry that others will not bestow the Curse which Isaiah mentions upon themselves Isai. 5.20 of calling evil good and bitter sweet is it commendable or honest then to disclose another's nakedness to aggravate all the miscarriages of our Neighbour and magnifie them beyond all modesty and measure 'T is certain we would not be hurt or prejudiced in Body damnified in Estate or deflowred in Reputation we have so delicate and nice a feeling in our own concerns that we cannot bear a moderate reflection but it shocks us immediately we cannot endure the Brunt of a false Story of our selves how doth it stagger and unsettle us amuse and affright us How eager are we to stop the mouths and ears of others against our selves and stifle as soon as possibly we can the infection and hinder it from spreading And this may be a Rule to square our Deportment and fashion our Behaviour in whatsoever relates to Ingenuity and Candour to honest and plausible Dealing to the sweet and comfortable enjoyment of reasonable Society For this is a Rule of unsailing Equity of impartial Truth and Godly Simplicity to do to others as we would have them do to us if we could exchange our persons with them which in a Negative sense implies the for beating what we dislike and the declining such Proceedings with our Neighbour as are hateful to our selves And this removes an Objection which might perhaps be started viz. That it seems an infringement of Order and a relaxing of Society for men of very different and unequal capacities so far above or below one another by natural or acquired Rights to follow the strictness of this Rule That it tends to the confusion and levelling of Persons and therefore is impracticable No certainly this holy and wise Law hath a respect unto the Common Good of Mankind and cannot overthrow that peace and settlement which God by writing it in the hearts of men intended it should uphold and establish although it had never been inforced by positive Institution and Command no more being meant thereby than a commodious Rule ever at hand to adjust and temper all the Duties of Sociable Life that every man would do by his Neighbour that which his Reason and Conscience tells him he should expect from him in like circumstances to fulfil the Laws of universal Justice and to establish an equal and uniform Charity which is the Bond of Perfection and the Top of all humane Vertue I come now to consider the last Proposition in my Text viz. IV. The Divine Authority and Sanction of the Precept For this is the Law and the Prophets This is not only a Dictate of the Law of Nature a Precept every way agreeable to our rational Faculties but it is the very Basis and Ground-work of Legal and Prophetical Dispensations throughout the Book of God What is the Second Table of the Decalogue in what doth it consist but in standing Rules of Direction concerning our Duty unto our Neighbour in strict Injunctions of due Honour and Obedience to our Superiours and of Justice to all men in severe Prohibitions to be injurious to any in their Persons their Property and Good Name or any thing belonging to them What are the Prophets but inspired Commentators upon the whole Law of God with extraordinary Commission to inforce Righteousness and Morality nay and often to prefer it before Devotion it self as more pleasing to God Hos. 6.6 Matt. 9.13 for he loveth mercy better than Sacrifice and the good we do our Fellow-Creatures that need it better than his own Worship and Service who though he infinitely deserves it yet needs it not Now as this Body of Institutes was given to Moses by the Ministry of Angels and delivered to the People of Israel the Seed of Iacob God's peculiar Inheritance so the Gospel of our Lord the Covenant of Grace hath exceedingly confirmed and strengthened this Second Table of the Commandments by superadding eternal Rewards and Punishments unto all those who willingly observe or wilfully transgress them Doth not our Saviour assure us That with what measure we mete unto others it shall be measured to us again in our Accounts with God in the Journal of our Lives when He that sets Iudgment to the Line Isai. 28.17 and Righteousness to the Plummet will pronounce us everlastingly condemned or acquitted by the Rule of Charity And therefore St. Paul exhorts us for a Test of our Holiness Col. 3.12 and Mark of our Election to put on Bowels of mercy humbleness of mind to be clothed with meekness and long-suffering Gal. 6.2 to bear one anothers Burthens Rom. 12.3 and think soberly of our selves In reference also to publick Establishments how firmly doth the Apostle bind us to Obedience Rom. 13. Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers Render to all men their Dues Tribute to whom Tribute Custom to whom Custom Fear to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour 1 Pet. 2.13 So also S. Peter Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake And that we may not be blown and puff'd up with vanity which renders us overweening and conceited imperious and haughty we are forbid to do any thing Philip. 2.3 through strife or vain-glory but in lowliness of mind to give preheminence to others and esteem them better than our selves In

another Text we are bid to honour all men 1 Pet. 2.17 and love the Brotherhood that is the intire Fellowship and Fraternity of Christians Nor hath the Scripture only secured Reverence to Authority in a Publick Station and regulated our general converse but it hath likewise stated the welfare of private Societies by teaching the reciprocal Duties of each Member thereof and their respective Obligations Husbands love your Wives and be Col. 3.19 not bitter against them Wives submit your selves unto your own Husbands as unto the Lord for the Husband is the Head of the Wife Ephes. 5.2 as Christ is Head of the Church And for Oeconomical Provision and Care I Tim. 5.8 Whosoever doth not provide for his own especially for them of his own houshold is in the Apostle's judgment worse than an Infidel Lastly we have the mutual Offices of Children and Parents Masters and Servants specified and determined in the New Testament as well as in the Old Ephes. 6.4 That Fathers should not provoke their Children but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord Ephes. 6.1 That Children should obey their Parents in all things as well-pleasing unto God As also That themselves should not be provoked to anger left they be discouraged and out of heart and rendred thereby apt to go astray from their Duty So in like manner Servants are enjoined to obey in all things their Masters according to the flesh not with eye-service as men-pleasers but in singleness of heart Eph. 6.5 6. fearing God to be subject with all fear not only to the good and gentle but the froward and Masters are commanded to give their Servants what is just and equal as knowing they have also a Master in heaven Eph. 6.9 who is no Accepter of persons Here we see a Summary and compendious deduction of the several Branches of Duty arising from this just and holy Precept It remains therefore that we apply it to our selves that we should ponder it in our minds and examine and sift our consciences how far we have swerved from the Rule how far we have crookedly and perversly carried our selves towards our Neighbour in every respect and circumstance how indirectly and obliquely we have dealt with other men yet on the contrary with great fondness and doating partiality to our selves For if all Commandments referring to Intercourse and our Dealings with one another as Thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not commit Adultery Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not bear false witness Thou shalt not covet be contained in this one Article of loving our Neighbour as our selves as our Blessed Saviour tells us Rom. 13.9 and S. Paul Also affirms and makes a particular recital thereof if those Commandments are virtually comprized and summ'd up in this Precept of our Saviour That we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us which is indeed undefiled and unspotted Religion as including all the Duties of Society without reserve or distinction of partiality and prejudice then let us bethink our selves and consider how faulty and unequal we have been in the Weights and Measures of our Justice and Charity to our selves and others Do we not for the most part use a double Balance weighing our own Interests and Concernments in the one and those of our Neighbour in another standing strictly upon the Equity of this Rule to our selves but having little or no regard to it when others challenge the like from us This is certainly very great partiality and injustice Since then we have so clear and certain a Rule which is always ready at hand because every man carrieth it in his own breast it is a matter certainly of wonder and astonishment that any one who calls himself a Christian should not be extremely ashamed not only to break and daily transgress this righteous rule of Justice and Equity but even to fly out into those enormous Crimes of Murder and Oppression of Subornation and Perjury which an honest and sober Heathen would be ashamed and blush at We have therefore great and mighty reason to magnifie and extol the Providence of God who hath ordained and constituted Magistrates as his and the King's Ministers of Justice to execute wrath upon all those who do evil Rom 13.4 without which the World would soon become a Wilderness or a mere Shambles of Cruelty and Oppression and Mankind only a barbarous Herd of Prey the greater and mightier still devouring the lesser and weaker and every one inhumanely striving to crush his Neighbour I beseech therefore Almighty God to prosper your undertakings that Justice in an even Balance may be equally administred that the innocent may be protected and relieved whilst the wicked man is caught in the Snare which he laid for the intrapping of others And I pray God we may all remember the great Account we must one day make at the one great general Assize when an Arch-Angel shall found a Trumpet before the Judge of the whole Earth Eccles. 12.14 and every man shall be recompenced according to his deeds whether they be good or whether they be evil For which Great Day God of his Infinite Mercy grant we may all prepare our selves for the sake of his only beloved Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be given all Honour Praise and Dominion now and for evermore Amen FINIS The WORKS of the Reverend and Learned ' Doctor Hammond in Four Volumes viz. Vol. I. A Collection of Discourses chiefly Practical Vol. II. A Collection of Discourses in Defence of the Church of England 1. Against the Romanists 2. Against other Adversaries Vol. III. A Paraphrase and Annotations upon the New Testament Vol. IV. A Paraphrase and Annotations upon the Books of Psalms A Paraphrase and Annotations upon the ten first Chapters of the Proverbs MS. XXXI Sermons Preached upon several Occasions With an Appendix to Vol. II.