Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	holy_a	read_v	scripture_n	8,342	5	5.9261	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30437	A sermon preached at the funeral of the Right Honourable Anne, Lady-Dowager Brook, who was buried at Breamor, the 19th day of February, 1690/1 by the Right Reverend Father in God Gilbert, Lord Bishop of Sarum.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1691 (1691)	Wing B5895; ESTC R21611	15,045	40

treating Ulcers which were so loathsome that no Charity less than Hers could have endured so odious a Sight Her not being afraid even of contagious Diseases except that of the small Pox in which Her care of Her Children obliged her to more Caution All these Particulars of which I appeal to you that are before me how many Instances you have seen and known do fully shew that Her Rank and Fortune were only considered by Herself as so many Engagements upon Her to be rich in good Works and to be cloathed with Humility But to give you her Character in that which according to my Text gives a just Title to praise She feared the Lord greatly she had so deep a sense of Religion that she spent a great part of her time both in studying the Holy Scriptures which she had laid well up in her Memory and in reading Books both of Devotion and of Instruction in Matters of Religion which she did carefully those who have attended on her many Years have assured me that she would not lose quite that time which was set off for her Dressing and which the far greatest part make to be a studied and lengthened Vanity but she used then either to read herself or imploy another to do it that so her Mind might have some share of that Time and that it might not go all to her Person She made Extracts out of many Books but in short-hand since they were only intended for her own or her Childrens use she also used her short-hand in taking the edifying Parts of Sermons which she went over in private afterwards with her Children she was frequent and constant in secret Prayer which had been as she owned to me the chief Joy and Support of her Life in that it was that she found Strength to bear the loss of Six Sons one after another all she ever had and a dear Husband that was more than all who was so dear to her that with this single Consideration she quieted her Mind after the loss of one Son which happened soon after her Lord had recovered of a great Sickness that she could not complain of any thing which God did to her after he had granted her so great a Blessing She was a Religious Observer of the Lord's-Day but without Superstition or Affectation she never fail'd in a Course of many Years while in Health to lay hold of every opportunity of receiving the Sacrament and was always retired a day or two before it and did rise ever very early on Communion-days that she might be for a considerable time retir'd before she went to Church She observed the daily Returns of religious Performances in her Family in a most regular manner the Prayers of the Church being never discontinued nor so much as put off She was constant in the Communion of our Church and had so hearty an affection to it that when she saw the danger of our being over-run with Popery she exprest her sense of it in the tenderest manner and told her Children that she had much rather go with them to a Stake than see them defile themselves with the Idolatry of the Mass yet her Zeal for her Religion did not transport her to any uncharitable Excesses and therefore she had a due regard to Vertue and Goodness wheresoever she saw it But though all about her saw how much Religion possessed her Thoughts yet she shewed it as little as was possible except where the Obligations of a Mother or of a Mistress of a Family required it She took care to have all her Family know and fear God such as could not read she allowed them both Time and Books and other necessary Helps for it and she furnished all about her not only those of her Houshold but of the Countrey quite round her with such Books as might instruct and direct them and as her Modesty made that she would not assume to herself to be a Reprover of those that were not under her Authority so the way she took where she saw any occasion for it was to send them such Books in which they might find the Reproofs that they needed When she reproved her Servants those who have been twenty Years about her have assured me she never did it in words of Reproach or Anger but in the way that she believed was the most proper to have a good effect on them She said she was naturally passionate but she came to be early under the Power of Religion and broke herself so entirely from it that those who have known her the longest do affirm they never saw her at any one time under the Power of it She was more particularly gentle to those who were immediately about her so that neither her Grief for those great Afflictions with which it pleased God to visit her nor the sharp Pains nor lingring Disease of which she died ever drew an indecent Expression from her Her Religion as it gave her much Joy so it gave her some Trouble while by an exactness that carried her into too scrupulous a Jealousy of her self she was too apt to censure her own Defects and Coldnesses She chose a proper Guide to whom she gave frequently an account of the various Scenes of Thoughts that passed in her Mind her choice of one of my Reverend Brethren shewed how well she could judg of a Person fit for such a Confidence and she had found as she told me great Benefit and Comfort in his Conduct Her Soul was so wholly dedicated to God that she seemed to have no other concern upon her but how to know and to do her Duty upon all Occasions and it made even the Burden of her Sickness a redoubled Affliction to her because it depressed her Spirits so that she could not raise them up to God with that Chearfulness and Joy that she had felt on other Occasions and that she did not fly towards Death with so entire a willingness as had often formerly inflamed her Thoughts she thought that even the desire of seeing the last part of her Care setled and entred into the World was a concern below that Elevation of Soul with which a Christian ought to entertain the Approaches of Death With all this deep Sense of Religion she had no sort of Affectation Singularity Censoriousness or Sourness of Temper she had all the decent chearfulness about her that became her tho always governed with a stay'd Gravity she affected nothing that made any extraordinary shew so that in all indifferent things she lived like those of her Rank She never placed Religion in little and assumed Severities but studied in the whole Course of her Life to practise that pure Religion and undefiled with God and the Father which is to visit the Widows and the Fatherless in their Affliction and to keep her self unspotted from the World She was free from that Spirit of Censoriousness to which even good People are too prone perhaps through the sharpness of their Zeal