Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	call_v	great_a	name_n	2,891	5	4.7258	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40081	The great wickedness, and mischievous effects of slandering, represented in a sermon preached at St. Giles without Cripplegate, on Sunday Nov. 15, 1685 by Edward Fowler, D.D. ; together with a preface and conclusion in his own vindication.	Fowler, Edward, 1632-1714.	1685 (1685)	Wing F1707; ESTC R10722	18,466	44

SIGHT He makes Slandering their Neighbours a Capital Crime and declareth That Whoso Slandereth his Neighbour him would He CUT OFF. First I will endeavour to shew what is here Meant by Slandering ones Neighbour Secondly Upon What accounts we may presume this Good King did thus Threaten those that should be Guilty of this Practice I. What is here Meant by Slandering ones Neighbour Thus to do is either to Devise a Tale of another and then Tell it That is Such a Tale as tends to the bringing of a Blot upon the Person of whom 't is invented and told Or to tell a false Story from other hands as true and with a design to have it Believed without sufficient Evidence of the truth of it Now although this Latter way of Slandering be a very Great Sin as proceeding from great want of Charity and being perfectly opposite to that Golden Rule of our Saviour What you would that Men should do to you do you even the same to them than which no Maxim in Morals is more plainly taught by the Law of Nature i. e. Right Reason unassisted by Divine Revelation and which a Pagan Prince gives us in Negative Terms viz. Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris Whatsoever thou wouldst not have done to thy self do not offer to do to another I say as this Latter way of Slandering is for these reasons a very Great Sin and consequently will meet with where it is not timely repented of very Sore Punishment from Gods hands yet the Former way viz. Slandering by Inventing of Stories to the Blemishing of any ones Good-Name is a Greater Sin as is evident at first hearing and therefore deserves Greater Punishment And the more the Tale Blackens his Reputation of whom it is told and the greater or more useful the Person is in the World who is defamed as also the greater the Injury is that is designed him in telling it of him the greater still is this exceedingly great Sin Now the Slanderers that King David must needs mean here in the Text and whom he threatneth with being Cut off are such as shall Devise and Invent Lies to the Injuring of their Neighbours i. e. of any Persons be their Rank and Quality what it will which the word Neighbour doth import And they are only such Slanderers as these which must be here thus threatned because the other Sort viz. Such as do not Invent but only Rashly give Credit to and Report Lies of their Neighbours though They are great Sinners too yet we cannot think that the King would doom them to so great a Punishment For in all Places there are too many of these Offenders to be made Obnoxious to so severe a Sentence And besides it is not so easy a matter for the Magistrate to find Evidence sufficient in such a case as this to found such a Sentence as that of Death upon it II. I come to shew upon what Accounts this Good King did thus threaten such as Privily Slandered their Neighbours There is very great reason for his being thus Incensed against them First Because Inventers of Slanders are in the number of the most Injurious and Mischievous People in the World 1. They are most Mischievous to those Persons who are the Objects of their Slanders None are more so except those Instruments of Satan who by drawing others to Sin destroy their Souls After the Divine Graces and Virtues which are necessary to Qualify for the Heavenly Happiness a Man's Good-Name is the most highly Valuable It is not only Better than precious Oyntment and rather to be chosen than Silver and Gold as the Wise Man saith but 't is to be prefer'd before all Temporal Enjoyments whatsoever not excepting Life it self For who can take any Comfort in his Life unless he be devested of all Humanity and strangely sunk into the Brutish Nature that is sensible of having Out-liv'd his Good-Name And as for those that are so sunk it would be much better for themselves as well as for the World if they were out of Being And as it is Natural to those Men who have any thing of Generousnes and Ingenuity in their Tempers above all things to Covet a Good-Name So there is this great reason why they should namely Because it is the chief Thing that makes Men useful in the World and there are no such unprofitable or insignificant Creatures upon God's Earth as those are who have lost their Reputation or had never any to lose I mean by a Good-Name and Reputation that of a Good-Man Of a Man that hath imbibed good Principles and is true to them Of a Man Revering the Great God and Fearing to break wilfully any of His Laws That which either in the Sacred Writings or in the Books of the Philosophers is called a good-Good-Name is wholly Founded upon Good Morals A Large Understanding shrewdness of Wit and Parts High Titles of Honour c. have 't is Confessed acquired to their Owners Great Names but these alone never made any Man the Possessor of a GOOD-Name Now so far as any Man's Reputation in reference to his Morals is Eclipsed so much the less Capable doth he immediately become of being Serviceable in his Generation The less of a Good-Name any one hath the fewer Opportunities and Advantages will he have of being Beneficial to his Fellow-Creatures either in their Temporal or Spiritual Concerns but especially in their Spiritual And as it is cheifly upon this account that a Good-Name ought to be so Highly esteemed So to Esteem it upon any other account separate from this is nothing better than a Gratification of Animality or Fond Fancy But this Consideration makes it highly reasonable to prize a Good-Name above Rubies and above the Wealth of both the Indies and to reckon our Sufferings herein in the number of the greatest Worldly Sufferings So it is manifest King David did by divers Passages in his Psalms As particularly in Psal. 35. 11 12. saith he False Witnesses did rise up against me they laid to my charge things which I knew not or which I was altogether Guiltless of they rewarded me evil for good or this Evil of Slander for all the good Services I have done them to the spoiling or as 't is in our Old Translation to the great discomfort of my Soul And Psal. 69. 19 20. he thus Complaints Thou hast known my Reproach and my shame and my Dishonour mine Adversaries are all before thee Reproach hath broken my heart and I am full of Heaviness So that a Slanderer being a Robber of that which is deservedly so Precious or at least he alwayes being so in his Endeavour there was great reason why this Holy King should so Abominate him as we find by our Text he did But 2. As the Slanderer is thus highly Injurious to Those who are the Objects of his Slanders so is he the most Pestilent Creature to the Community of which he is a Member Those who invent Slanders