Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A36185
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The nature of the two testaments, or, The disposition of the will and estate of God to mankind for holiness and happiness by Jesus Christ ... in two volumes : the first volume, of the will of God : the second volume, of the estate of God / by Robert Dixon.
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Dixon, Robert, d. 1688.
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1676
(1676)
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Wing D1748; ESTC R12215
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658,778
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672
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necessary material circumstances which should make it ponderous and by a shew of falling even with the scale of some general Law I pronounce that for weight which is not if I had the skill or the honesty to poize it Judgment by likelyhood II. I judge of my Action by any likelyhood of Law as Idiots do of Coyn by the general stamp and colour without regard to the mettal I consider not that as all Rules have their exceptions all Topick Axioms their fallacies so all Laws have their limitations Ampliations and limitations of Law III. The naked Law it self being a plain and familiar Principle doth easily sink into my dull brain and prevails with my popular capacity but her ampliations and limitations are so various and intricate that it requires more than ordinary sharpness of wit to conceive aright of them For it is the Crown or Masterpiece of wisdom to set out fairly the true bounds of a Law how far it takes effect and when and where and with whom and why it fails Again because I would have my fuller swing and career of Liberty I will not learn nor believe that my life is subject to the controll of many and diverse Laws or to the Will of one or more uncontrollable Men and that several of those Laws at once may have their several force in one and the same Action Weighing my action by one Law IV. Upon this heedlessness of Understanding or hastiness of Will I weigh mine Action but against one Law when I should counterpoize it with many Yea to deal exactly I should examine it by every particular Law of the whole body to any whereof my repugnancy makes my Action quite unlawful For as in Speculation nothing can be truth that contradicts another truth so in Practice nothing is lawful which any Law forbids And when I have canvased all the respective Laws and got their consent yet I never follow the Rule of my private Reason when the publick should prevail Rather learn by the wary Usurer who in receiving mony hath a peering eye to the mettal and stamp and tries it alwaies by the Touch-stone V. Lastly Suspense between two Laws If I have some knowledge in the variety and opposition of Laws when I find it hang so level between two Laws if I can discover no difference Then my Sin hath the casting voice so which way soever she takes Sin hath the casting voice she gives the scale a twitch and I rest satisfied and my Action is down-weight and very lawful Herein I look not to the Rules that should lead me to the fairest interpretation To follow in doubtful cases the safest in obscure the likeliest in penal the mildest and the largest in favourable But if my sin be driven with Passion or Custome she presently cries down that Law for unreasonable I consider not that where a Law hath no reason annexed Reason of Law it is hard to find it out and that some Laws have no original reason at all Good reason there was for some final determination one way or other but upon deliberation no prevalent reason appearing why this way rather than that way The last Resolution was from the will and pleasure of the Legislator as a matter only indifferent which way but necessary as far as might be guessed to pitch upon this way Thus Law or no Law good Law or bad Law my sin deceives me though differently Without the Law she is liveless but by the Law lawless Let me then no more blame the Casuists that they teach Sin least the like aspersion fall upon all Law All Law may be casual any so infortunate that thence I may take leave to sin For my Lust is so lawless that by learning the Law it will learn to sin and yet my Lust so legal that for any sin it will pretend a law So that as it is true on Sin 's part Ex malis moribus nascuntur bonae Leges Good Laws spring from evil manners so it is true on the Law 's part Ex bonis Legibus nascuntur mali mores Evil manners arise from good Laws In a word Sin gives occasion to some Laws but takes occasion from any Laws The CONTENTS Transition Nature of Slavery Tye of Slavery TITLE VIII Of Slavery under the Law Transition HItherto I have treated of the great and strange Question How we are deceived by the Law In the next place I proceed to another of as strange a nature How we are in bondage or slavery under the Law To the Subject of Slavery there belong these three points Nature of Slavery 1. The Nature of it 2. The Subject of it 3. The Lord of it which is Servitude the Sinner Sin and Satan The Nature of Slavery consists in three things 1. The Tye of it 2. The Seat of it 3. The Cases of it Tye of Slavery 1. The Tye of Slavery Slavery is a state of servitude the Tenure whereby it holds is Bondage bond service whence such as are under that yoke are called Bond servants or Bond slaves The words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Servus are equivocal and signifie two degrees of Servants not kinds 1. A Free servant that lets out his service by contract freely 2. A Bond servant whose service is constrained and forced from him The offices of a Wife to a Husband a Son to a Father a Servant to a Master are not only services but free services 1. Because they are all temporary and expire as the service of the Wise by the Husband's death for then she is free from the Law of her Husband As the Son in full Age is no longer under Tutours and Governours As the Servant after the time of Contract is expired is free from the Law of his Master 2. Because they are certain and have limited and distinct offices as the duties of a Wife Son and Servant are distinct one from another 3. Because they are meritorious and have several rewards for their services as the Wife hath her Dower the Son his Portion the Servant his Wages But the service of the Slave is a bondage a miserable service contrary to the former 1. Because it is perpetual the time thereof is timeless for Bondage is a mutual Inheritance entailed to the Lord and the Slave and to their Heirs for ever The Lord being lord to the Slave and his heirs for ever and the Slave being slave to the Lord and his heirs for ever 2. Because it is arbitrary for the works and services thereof are uncertain pro libitu Domini according to the will of the Lord. 3. Because it is unprofitable no reward for the Slave but his labour for his pains and stripes to boot or pains for his pains All profits that arise by the Slave or his Wife and Children and his and their gains accrue to the Lord of them all and all they have or do Therefore Bondage is a barren or fruitless service Thus the Israelites
Physick presently these were their Gods and were worshipped by them after their Death as Jupiter Mars Bacchus c. They tasted the pretious things put forth by the Sun and the pretious things put forth by the Moon and fell to worshipping those glorious Lights and forgate that God that made them and gave all that Glory and virtue to them They considered not the first Cause that moved all the rest Thus they looked short at the Deities they saw which were but Creatures as themselves and the vilest of all Creatures they were not ashamed to worship and forgate God that made them and all the World Ro. 1.21 c. So though they knew God yet they glorified him not as God neither were thankful to him but became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened professing themselves wise they became foolish And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four footed Beasts and creeping things Wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonour their own Bodies between themselves Who changed the Truth of God into a Lye and worshipped and served the Creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever Amen c. Knowing therefore that God is and must be our God by Right of Creation whether we will or no why should we fly to them that are no Gods And be in Covenant with them When God calls upon us every way but especially in his Gospel to be his People and promises to be our God as by Nature so by Grace if we will take him to be our God and enter into Covenant with him A great Grace for God thus to offer himself and promise his Grace if we will accept it he first loveth us that we might love him because he loved us Therefore how ingracious a thing must it be for a Creature beloved of God to refuse the offer of his Grace who is the Creator and will be their Redeemer and Saviour if they will but chuse him for their God and keep his Covenant What more can be done by God or Man in this Case And how can a Covenant be made without the Consent of both Parties Salvation it self cannot save those men that thus reject the Promises of God against themselves No man can receive a Grace from God or man without or against his Will Salvation it self is not able to save those that will not be saved God nor man can do any good unto a wilful Soul If we perish we perish and destroy our selves But in God is our help if we will take it It is natural reason that teacheth us to be in Covenant with God Natural to be in Covenant with God If he made us and not we our selves if he preserve us and not we our selves then he is to give us Laws and not we our selves and we are to obey his Laws and not our own Lusts It is a perfect Covenant that we are bound to make with God Who saith do ut des facio ut facies I give you your Being and Preservation therein that you should give me your Obedience and Subjection I do this for you that you may do something for me even what I shall command you The Stoick says well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Duties are measured out by Relations the care of the Father calleth for the honour of the Son the Rule of the Master commandeth the Duty of the Servant These are domestici Magistratus Houshold Lords If they say go we must go if they say do this we must do it And there is Reason for it because we have benefit from them and this obliges to Service Mal. 1.6 If I be a Father where is my honour And if I be a Master where is my fear To be in Covenant with God is to keep his Laws and they are not grievous but his yoke is easy and his burden is light And it is in our power to do what God requireth by the help of his Grace And he is Faithful and true that will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able but will together with the Temptation give strength that we may be able to bear it The Law is a Contract or Covenant because he that cometh under a Law hath bound himself to keep it as the Law-maker himself hath done All other Creatures without Life Reason or Will obey their Creator The Sun knoweth his setting and the Moon her Seasons and all the Stars observe their Motions by a Quasi-Covenant but reasonable Creatures do perfectly oblige themselves by their free Consent and Agreement with God their Lord besides their natural Obligation common to them with all other Creators Therefore to conclude the Benefit of our covenanting with God is that thereby we have Right to all that we have or can have in order to our Blessedness and without it we have right to nothing but Cursedness There must always be means for the obtaining of the end which we aim at when the Will by it's own Motion cannot immediately effect that the End should approach to the Agent or the Agent to the end This Rule therefore must be observed Qui jus dat ad finem censetur etiam jus dare ad illa media sine quibus finis obtineri nequit aliàs enim nihil esset actum He that gives Right to the end doth give Right to those means without which that end cannot be obtained or else nothing is done From whence it follows that if these means be unlawful or impossible I am not obliged to that end so far forth as it is attainable only by using such means Thence it is that evil is not to be done that good may come thereof No man can be bound to do that good to which without sin he cannot arrive So that he may come off from such unlawful Vows But when a man is bound to good Means for a good End he cannot come off safely but if he do the Covenant is broken and the other Party free as both may be if they so agree The Matrimonial Covenant by the divine Positive Law hath this special Prerogative That the essence of the Conjugal vow not being violated it cannot be dissolved though by consent of both Parties as other temporary Covenants are It is commonly denyed that any man can be obliged to himself because when the same Person is the Obliger and the Obliged the obliger may free the obliged when he pleaseth and he that can do this is actually free And so a Prince cannot be obliged to his Subjects because they have resigned up their wills to his will absolutely without reserving any power to themselves According to that common Rule of Law That in Covenants there must be two Parties and when the Debtour succeeds the Creditour the debt ceaseth or the obligation is taken away by confusion when of two persons one is