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
A60521	The character of a weaned Christian, or, The evangelical art of promoting self-denial being an essay, alluding to the severities and advantages of infant-weaning, both pleasant and profitable / by S. S., ...	Smith, Samuel, 1620-1698.	1675 (1675)	Wing S4164; ESTC R19902	63,054	160

Love that the Lord strikes and stroaks a Saint Thus his Faith can turn an Hell of deep disquietment in Sense into an Heaven of Joy and Triumph A weaned Saint highthens his contentment to a thankful Spirit for Afflictions as happy opportunities of Improving a Gracious Frame This thankfulness is conjoyned with a Resolution to hold fast his Integrity though the Lord smite him into the place of Dragons and cover him with the shaddow of Death Yea a weaned Saint is quickened to become more Active in Obedience by how much the more he is deprest in grievous exigencies and distresses Thus the Ball struck with the Racket rebounds the higher The Vine being pruned bleeds not to death but weeps it self into greater Fruitfulness Again a Saint Censures not the Lords weaning Methods before the Result and winding up of the design When the Lord fires him out of all his Earthly injoyments yet he knows that the good will of the Lord dwells in the Bush to make it flourish in the midst of the consuming Flames Therefore says he it is good to draw nigh to the Holy One when his Dispensations are most dreadful and severe Thus his Faith informs and assures him that he can as little want the Discipline of the Cross as an Heavenly Inheritance That by deep and heavy Tryals the Lord stamps a Badg of honour upon him accounting him to be his Champion and a resolute defender of the Faith of Christ Thus weaned Saints quiet themselves under all their distresses yea Triumph in the Cross of Christ as the top of their felicity and the Crest of their preferment 10. The tenth sort of Sinners not thorowly weaned are partial but not Repenting Reformadoes A Child withdrawn only from the Breast yet brought up by hand with the Bottle and the Spoon is not weaned in as proper strict Sence but only equivocally till it can acquiesce in a more Manly kind of Food So though Sinners lie not soaking at the Brests of the World by some accidental diversion from the more Usual and common ways of cherishing their Lusts yet if they find pleasures from some more Refined methods and secret contrivances in sinning which more sutably promote their present design they cannot be said to be weaned in any tolerable sence Lust is Lust whether it be maintained by secret immediate Self-Love in Acts of Self-seeking self-confidence and self-exalting or from the Bottle and Spoon of some forreign collateral succours which more visibly tend to the sensual gratification of our fleshly Appetite There is a strange kind of sinful metempsychosis the strength of concupiscence may pass out of one extreem into another Lesser Lusts may be intent upon feeding the main Spring as paying a Homage to it yet are they no Losers by this Officiousness for they are not starved hereby but strengthned Thus divers parts of the Body serve to convey nourishment to the Liver as the Fountain of Blood from whence they are moistned and supplied afterwards with an Addition of growth and strength So little are our hearts weaned from the Love and Reign of any sin while its proper operations are suspended to uphold the design or gratifie the Interest of some Capital Lust Every Breast doth not agree with the Constitution of every Child Nor doth every particular kind of sin suit the desire of every sinner Some as Romulus and Remus suck a Wolf in the Exercise of Oppressive Power Others though they live not on Rapine and sucking of Blood as Eagles yet as the Salamander they take delight to frisk in the Flames of Contention And as the Cameleon they pant and gasp after the pleasing yet fickle Air of popular applause The Epicure though he do not make the Wedg of Gold his Confidence yet he makes his Belly and sensual Pleasures his God As Cleopatra who at one draught exhausted as many dissolved Pearls as amounted to the value of a Kingdom Such dig their Graves with their Teeth and are buried Alive in their excessive Riots as Sardanapalus that Monster of Intemperance 11. The Eleventh sort of Sinners not really weaned are such who though they may comply with easier and plain commands yet remain partial in their Obedience and limp like a Badger with one Leg when Commands are difficult or lie cross to Carnal Reason personal Credit or Worldly Interest For the Former this is a deep tryal of self denial when an Injunction is put on a person the dutiful observance of which seems to Contradict Duty When the precept of tryal seems to thwart the setled Precept of ordinary Obedience Nay to justle and run counterwise against the Promise of God When a Man can hardly obey God but he must make him a Lyar. As in Abraham's Case he could not offer up his Son but he must violate that Command Thou shalt not kill yea if he had consulted Carnal Reason he must have offered some Violence to his Faith and seemingly to the Veracity of God that all Nations should be called and blest in Isaac Now different Obligations begetting cross apprehensions in the Soul do exceedingly puzzle oppress and distract it yea increase its tryals and troubles to a perplexing height Yet a Weaned Soul who is not selfconceited nor strives for the supremacy of his own Will can reconcile seeming contrariant Precepts in the Holy Vnity and simplicity of the Divine Nature For the very Command of the Lord stamps Holiness on that very Action which otherwise were unlawful You must know that other Actions which are only indifferent in their own nature yet become absolutely necessary upon a Divine positive Law injoyning them Some are commanded because precedently good in their own Nature as to love God for himself to hate sin as an unnatural Act to a Mans self Moral Duties are generally and universally known by the very Light of Nature and are grounded in their necessity and suitableness on the very notion of the Deity and his unchangeable Holiness But particular positive Duties which bind by express Revelation are good and necessary to be fulfilled because of the Wisdom and Authority of the Lawgiver though Carnal Reason cannot guess at their Equity usefulness or necessity Of this Nature were the Jewish Ceremonies which yet were punctually in every Circumstance observed by the Faithful Forefathers What Reason can be assigned why the Jews should be prohibited such and such sorts of Meats which were pallatable and wholsome yet they were tutored in their Bill of Fare and trained up to Self-denial in these severe restrictions Though I suppose some Moralities might lie couchant in them As they might not plough with an Ox and an Ass nor sow divers Seeds promiscuously in the same plat of Ground nor wear a Garment of Linsi-Woolsie to signifie how hatefull to God all impure mixtures are in his Service or any disagreeing Principles in Religion But if such Mysteries never were made known in these positive Laws yet the bare Authority of God is Reason sufficient and obliging why

ready way to blast it or to anticipate it with a Curse Even Manna over-eagerly hoorded up stank and suddenly became as much loathed as it was impatiently longed for Had Jacob as plain a Man as he was been thorowly weaned from Self-seeking and Unbelief he had never attempted to have snatcht at the Promise while the Fruit hung unripe upon it nor to have forestalled the Blessing of his Father by the disguize of an Artificial Lye A weaned Saint so far as such will not turn aside to crooked ways and unlawful shifts to accomplish his design Faith doth not set a Man upon preposterous Courses Therefore let none pretend to trust in God's Promises while they make void his Laws That is an Orthodox Regular Faith which so bears Witness to the Truth of the Promise that it will not betray the Trust of Duty There is Power and Wisdom enough in the Womb of every Divine Promise to bring it self to the Birth without the Midwifery of any sinful expedients or excentrical practices to uphold the Lords fidelity by our dissimulation Therefore a weaned Frame doth not only produce a Working Suffering and Abstaining Patience from the forbidden Fruit of Sin but also an Expecting Waiting Patience in order to reap when Ripe the Blessing of every delayed Mercy A weaned Saint had rather have the Boon which he asks denied than cross the Rule in asking He is more troubled if his desires prove Inordinate than that the Lord takes no Order to speed and gratifie them He is very full and pregnant with holy desires yet his Importunity doth not justle out his Modesty He is a self-denying Supplicant his desires are neither peremptory nor impatient He will lie at Heaven-Gate though Relief do not hasten to him He esteems an heart made willing and able to wait as a Mercy equal to that he waits for And indeed it is part of an Answer as well as a Pledg of gratifying his Request 9. The ninth sort of Sinners not truly weaned are such who are Dumb under the Lord's weaning strokes which is more sad and dangerous than any sting of Affliction whatsoever There is a false quietness or silence of Spirit under Cross disappointments and sufferrings which differs very much from the generous Divine Submission and Acquiescency of a weaned Saint 1. It arises from want of inward Conviction of sin A spurious Patience is the sullenness and stoutness of a rebellious proud impenitent hard heart Foulness of Guilt produces Felness of Spirit 2. It flows from utter despair because such who are constrainedly patient and repine though they do not Rage conceit that the stroke of their wound is unparallel'd and incurable Amos 6.10 Hold thy peace be silent even from praying for we have plaid the part of Hypocrites so long that Now we may not make mention of much less Glory in the Name of the Lord. 3. Reason or Common sense may Argue sinners into a meer Moral Patience making a Vertue of Necessity Because when the Lord of Hosts takes hold on Judgment no Created power can strike his Sword out of his hand And what is without all Remedy must by silence be endured But a truly weaned Saint doth not only submit out of Duty and Conscience rather than Constraint but can also Cleave to God he will Clear and Justifie yea Bless him with a thankfull heart and a Fruitful Life when he lays his Ax to the Root of his dearest enjoyments Faith welcoms Afflictions as good Angels sent for its Instruction because they Cure our sinful Surfeits and Bleed us in the Master-Vein A weaned Saint counts himself less than the least of Divine Mercies even below the Lords condescention to Correct him He will joyn and take part with God against his own Interest and Enjoyments Yea he rejoyceth in the Lord abstractedly for himself when he is stript naked of all Earthly Comforts A supernatural Patience can rejoyce in Bonds sing in Prison Glory in Tribulation Triumph in Sufferings and count it self exalted in the deepest abasement for Righteousness sake A Real Christian maintains a Consistency in the tranquillity of his Mind while he Ploughs the Waves of every amazing Providence with the steedy Helm of an Heroick Faith guided by the Pole-Star of the Word of God He is anointed with the Spirit of Holiness as a Son of Peace therefore he murmurs not Thus Oyle asswages the Tempestuous Raging of the Sea His Faith works by Love and this puts a good Construction on every Divine Chastisement But now the Hypocrite who seems weaned by submissiveness in suffering sets a demure Countenance on a froward Heart His Patience is most-what selfish and theatrical to gain the Reputation of a Generous and Heroick Mind Yet out of desperate presumption he courts Death as the only Refuge of his Cowardise The Hypocrite studies his Hearts-ease in his seeming Patience He well knows that a Bird by fluttering draws the snare the straiter upon it self that a Fellon who attempts to break Prison is loaded with a heavier Chain that the stubborn Child by fretting and kicking gets nothing but more stinging Lashes Thus a Malefactor lays down his neck upon the Block as eaven cleaverly as he can lest if he should startle or resist he should increase his Torture But now a weaned Saint is patient because he espies Love in the Correction and hopes to experiment spiritual Advantage from his sufferings He can espy a bright Lamp of Salvation in the midst of the smoaking Furnace Honey in the Carcase of a Lion Halcyon-days in a Storm and is assured that of Thorns he shall gather Grapes and fetch Meat the hid Manna of Divine Consolation out of the Eater of some wasting devouring providence The Hypocrite may pretend to some degree of Softness of heart while scorcht by Affliction yet he soon returns to the folly of sin and discontent at his sufferings As the Flesh of a Peacock Roasted turns Raw again after a few hours Reservation On the contrary the magnanimous patience of a weaned Saint being insuperable is not stinted nor ordinarily Ruffled or discomposed by the severest sequestration of his nearest and dearest Earthly Joys His Faith can divorce the heart from the Heart the renewed part of a Christian from the Carnal and make the Soul forget its wonted Acts of excess in the Fond sallyings out of his Affections to the Creature All the use of mourning for the want or loss of Worldly accommodations is only This to revenge himself on his Lusts which he made the Idols of his heart He knows that sighs are too Spiritual a blast to be spent on any thing but his Sins Being fixt in the admiration of the Lords infinite excellencies no Worldly loss or gain can divert his intire Communion with the Fountain of pure Joy Thus he stains not his Christian profession with any sullen Tears in a Low afflicted state nor is transported with fond delights in an High-estate For he well considers that it is from the same