Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A56258
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The whole duty of man according to the law of nature by that famous civilian Samuel Puffendorf ... ; now made english.; De officio hominis et civis. English
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Pufendorf, Samuel, Freiherr von, 1632-1694.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing P4182; ESTC R17921
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151,736
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377
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another the Paternal Authority indeed ceases but Piety and Observance is for ever due as being founded in the Merits of the Parents whom Children can never or very seldom be supposed to requite Now these Merits do not consist in this only that a Parent is to his Child the Author of Life without which no good can be enjoyed but that they bestow also a chargeable and painful Education upon them that so they may become useful Parts of Humane Society and very often lay up somewhat for them in order to make their Lives more easie and comfortable AND yet though the Education of Children be a Duty laid upon Parents by IX Education entrusted Nature itself it hinders not but that either in case of Necessity or for the benefit of the Children the Care thereof may by them be entrusted with another so still that the Parent reserve to himself the Oversight of the person deputed Hence it is that a Father may not only commit his Son to the Tutorage of proper Teachers but he may give him to another man to adopt him if he perceives it will be advantageous to him And if he have no other way to maintain him rather than he should die for want he may pawn him or sell him into some tolerable servitude reserving still a liberty of redeeming him as soon as either himself shall be able to be at the charge or any of his Kinred shall â—e willing to do it But if any Parent shall inhumanely expose and forsake their Child he who shall take it up and educate it shall have the Fatherly Authority over it so that the Foster-Child shall be bound to pay filial Obedience to his Educator AND as the Father ought not to turn X. Marriage with Parents consent his Child out of his Family while he stands in need of Education and Assistance from him without the most weighty Reasons so also ought not the Son or Daughter leave the Parents House without his Consent Now whereas Children frequently leave their Fathers Family on occasion of Matrimony and since it much concerns Parents what persons their Children are married to and from whom they are to expect Grand-Children hence it is a part of filial Duty herein to comply with the Will of the Parents and not to marry without their Consent But if any do actually contract Matrimony against their liking and consummate the same such Marriage seems not to be void by the Law of Nature especially if they intend to be no longer burthensom to their Parents and that for the rest their Condition be not scandalous So that if in any Country such Marriages are accounted null and void it proceeds from the Municipal Laws of the Place THE Duty of Parents consists chiefly XI Duty of Parents in this that they maintain their Children handsomly and that they so form their Bodies and Minds by a skilful and wise Education as that they may become fit and useful Members of Humane and Civil Society Men of Probity Wisdom and good Temper So that they may apply themselves to some fit and honest way of Living by which they may as their Genius and Opportunity shall offer raise and increase their Fortunes ON the other hand 't is the Duty of XII Duty of Children Children to honour their Parents that is to give them Reverence not only in outward shew but much more with a hearty Respect as the Authors not only of their Lives but of so many other unvaluable Benefits to 'em to obey 'em to be assistant to 'em to their utmost especially if they are aged or in want not to undertake any business of moment without deferring to their Advice and Opinion and lastly to bear with Patience their Moroseness and any other their Infirmities if any such be CHAP. IV. The Duties of Masters and Servants AFTER Mankind came to be multiplied I. Servile State how begun and it was found how conveniently Domestic Affairs might be manag'd by the Service of other men it early became a Practice to take Servants into a Family to do the Offices belonging to the House There at first probably offer'd themselves driven thereto by Necessity or a Consciousness of their own want of Understanding and then being assur'd that they should constantly be supplied with Food and Necessaries they devoted all their Services for ever to their Master And then Wars raging up and down the World it grew a Custom with most Nations that those Captives to whom they granted their Lives should be made Slaves ever after together with the Posterity born of them Though in many Countries no such Servitude is in use but all Domestic Offices are perform'd by Mercenary Servants hired for a certain time NOW as there are several Degrees as II. A temporary Servant it were of Servitude so the Power of the Masters and the Condition of the Servants do vary To a Servant hired for a time the Duty of the Master is to pay him his Wages the other making good on his part the Work as agreed for And because in this Contract the Condition of the Master is the better therefore such Servant is also to pay Respect to his Master according to his Dignity and if he have done his business knavishly or negligently he is liable to Punishment from him provided it go not so far as any grievous Maiming of his Body much less so far as Infliction of Death BUT to such a Servant as voluntarily III. A voluntary perpetual Servant offers himself to a perpetual Servitude the Master is obliged to allow perpetual Maintenance and all Necessaries for this Life it being his Duty on the other hand to give his constant Labour in all Services whereto his Master shall command him and whatsoever he shall gain thereby he is to deliver to him In thus doing however the Master is to have a regard to the Strength and Dexterity of his Servant not exacting rigorously of him what is above his power to do Now this sort of Servant is not only subject to the Chastisement of his Master for his Negligence but the same may correct his Manners which ought to be accommodated to preserve Order and Decency in the Family But he may not fell him against his Will because he chose this for his Master of his own accord and not another and it concerns him much with whom he serves If he have been guilty of any heinous Crime against one not of the same Family he is subject to the Civil Power if he live in a Community but if the Family be independent he may be expell'd But if the Crime be against the same Family it being independent the Head thereof may inflict even Capital Punishment CAPTIVES in War being made IV. Captive Slaves Slaves are frequently treated with greater Severity something of a hostile Rage remaining towards 'em and for that they attempted the worst upon us and our Fortunes But as soon as there intervenes a Mutual
Master of a Family Not still but that any man is excepted from this Duty who be takes himself to a chast single life finding his Constitution accommodated thereto and that he is capable in that rather than in the married State to be useful to Mankind or to the Common-wealth especially also if the Case be so that there is no fear of the want of People BETWEEN those who are about to IV. Matrimonial Contract take upon themselves the Married State a Contract ought and is wont to intervene which if it be regular and perfect consists of these heads First because the Man to whom it is most agreeable to the Nature of both Sexes that the Contract should owe its Original intends hereby to get to himself Children of his own not spurious or supposititious therefore the Woman ought to plight her troth to the Man that she will permit the use of her Body to no other man but to him the same on the other hand being required of the Husband And secondly since nothing can be more flatly contrary to a Social and Civil Life than a vagabond desultory and changeable way of Living without any Home or certain Seat of his Fortunes and since the Education of that which is the Off-spring of both is most conveniently taken care of by the joint help of both Parents together and whereas continual Cohabitation brings more of Pleasure and Comfort to a Couple who are well match'd whereby also the Husband may have the greater Assurance of his Wives Chastity Therefore the Wife does moreover engage her Faith to her Husband that she will always cohabit with him and join herself in the strictest bond of Society and become of the same Family with him And this mutual Promise must be supposed to be made from the Husband to her of the like Cohabitation the Nature of this State so requiring But because it is not only agreeable to the natural Condition of both Sexes that the Case of the Husband should be the more honourable of the two but that he should also be the Head of the Family of which himself is the Author it follows that the Wife ought to be subject to his Direction in matters relating to their mutual State and to their Houshold Hence it is the Prerogative of the Husband to chuse his Habitation and she may not against his Will wander abroad or lodge apart Yet it does not seem essentially necessary to Matrimony that the Man should have power of Life and Death or of inflicting any grievous Punishment as neither of disposing at his pleasure of all the Estate or Goods of his Wife but these points may be settled between the Married Couple by peculiar Agreements or by the municipal Laws of the Place NOW though 't is manifestly repugnant V. One Man and one Woman to the Law of Nature that one Woman should have more Men than one at once yet it obtain'd among the Jews of old and many other Nations that one Man might have two or more Wives Nevertheless let us allow never so little weight to Arguments brought from the Primitive Institution of Marriage deliver'd in Holy Writ yet it will appear from Right Reason that 't is much more decent and fit for one Man to be content with one Woman Which has been approv'd by the Practice of all the Christians through the World that we know of for so many Ages NOR does the Nature of this strict VI. Contract perpetual Union tell us less plainly that the Bond of Matrimony ought to be perpetual and not to be unloosed but by the Death of one Party except the essential Articles of the principal Matrimonial Covenant be violated either by Adultery or a wicked and dishonest Desertion But for ill dispositions which have not the same Effect with such lewd Desertion it has obtain'd among Christians that a Separation from Bed and Bord shall be sufficient without allowing any Engagement in a new Wedlock And one great Reason hereof among others is this that too free a Liberty of Divorce might not give encouragement to either party to cherish a stubborn Temper but rather that the irremediable State of each might persuade both to accommodate their Humours to one another and to stir them both up to mutual Forbearance For the rest if any Essential Article of the Matrimonial Contract be violated the wrong'd Party only is discharg'd from the Oligation the same still binding the other so long as the former shall think good ANY man may contract with any Woman VII Moral Impediments where the Law makes no special Prohibition if their Age and Constitution of Body render them capable of Matrimony except some Moral Impediment be in the way presupposing that he or she is under a Moral Impediment who are already married to some other person AND it is accounted a Moral Impediment VIII Kinred of lawful Matrimony if the parties are too nearly allied by Blood or by Affinity On which score even by the Law of Nature those Marriages are accounted incestuous and wicked which are contracted between any persons related in the Ascending or Descending Line And for those in the other transverse Order as with the Aunt either on the Fathers or Mothers side the Sister c. As also those in Affinity as with the Mother-in-Law Step-Mother Step-Daughter c. not only the positive Divine Law but that of most civiliz'd Nations with whom also all Christians agree does abominate Nay the Special Laws of many Countries forbid Marriage even in the more remote Degrees that so they may keep men from breaking in upon those which are more sacred by setting the Barrier at a greater distance NOW as the Laws are wont to assign IX Ceremony to other Contracts and Bargains some Solemnities which being wanting the Act shall not be adjudg'd of validity so also it is in Matrimony where the Laws require for the sake of Decency and good Order that such or such Ceremonies be perform'd And these though not enjoin'd by the Law Natural yet without the same those who are Subjects of such a Community shall not consummate a legal Matrimony or at least such Contract shall not be allow'd by the Publick to be effectual IT is the Duty of a Husband to love X. Mutual Duties his Wife to cherish direct and protect her and of the Wife to love and honour her Husband to be assistant to him not only in begetting and educating his Children but to bear her part in the Domestick Cares On both sides the Nature of so strict an Union requires that the Married Couple be partakers as well in the good as ill fortune of either and that one succour the other in all Cases of Distress moreover that they prudently accommodate their Humours to each other in which matter it is the Wives Duty to submit CHAP. III. The Duty of Parents and Children FROM Matrimony proceeds Posterity I. Paternal Authority which is subjected to the