Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	adversity_n	brother_n	time_n	850	5	3.9961	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00945	Certaine very proper, and most profitable similies wherein sundrie, and very many, most foule vices, and dangerous sinnes, of all sorts, are so plainly laid open, and displaied in their kindes, and so pointed at with the finger of God, ... Collected by Anthonie Fletcher, minister of the word of God, ... This present yeere of our happines 1595.	Fletcher, Anthonie.	1595 (1595)	STC 11053; ESTC S116009	166,265	184

the same somtimes throwen vp as it were into the clouds and somtimes hurled downe as it were into hell And howsoeuer it beareth thée in hand it will serue thée a sluttish tricke in the end It will promise thée health but ere long thou must be sicke it will promise thée friends but if aduersitie ouertake thée thy friends will be to séeke it will promise thée wealth and shortly after thou shalt be in hucksters handling and be faine to crouch to a beastly vsurer that will eate vp thée and all thou hast it will smile on thée and deceiue thée whatsoeuer it shall promise thée Looke thou for quid pro quo Therfore if thou beest well aduised say to it and dissemble not farewell world I desire to be dissolued and to be with the Lord Iesus AS the image of Nabuchadnezzar although it had an head of fine gold yet it fell and was broken all to péeces bicause it had féete of clay which being touched with a stone ouerthrew the whole inuention So iustice many times falleth to the ground bicause although the princes which are rightly called the heads of their countries be very excellent iusticers and made as it were of the purest and finest gold of vertue yet the ministers of iustice are earthen and do bend their harts and mindes to nothing but earth and clay and with gifts and rewards they are carried euery way for gaine they will sell iudgement and breake the necke of iustice If you shall touch their hands with some precious stone some iewell of gold some costly plate some gold or siluer curiously engrauen or with some good round sum of gold or mony though it be in an olde purse they will for thy sake turne vpside downe all the lawes of God and man And yet notwithstanding there be many such ones in the world it is not to be doubted that there be some yea many very good vpright and godly iusticers with vs which hate bribes loue iustice with single harts and framing their whole liues after the rule of reason and equitie do neuer willingly violate the lawe God amend the worse and increase the better EVen as a brooke in winter is caried with great violence and runneth with a mighty force flowing ouer with abundance of waters on euery side when there is no want nor néede of water but in the heate of sommer is dried vp and emptie when water is scant and hard to be had whereto thirstie passengers as they trauell running in hope of water to drinke are vtterly deceiued So a fained and hollow harted friend in the time of thy prosperitie and rich estate will promise thée many things when thou hast néede of nothing but if the wind shall turne and blow the contrarie way and thou shalt be turned and tossed with many sharp brunts and blustering blasts of troubles aduersitie penurie and pouertie thy friends as thou thought will be like a trée withered through want of sap and like a ditch without water dried and parched with the heate of the sunne If thou be troubled in the citie he will be gone into the countrie if in the countrie then his busines is in the citie He will hide himselfe he will stand a far off he will be afeard to méete thée yea he will liue in a continuall feare and dread least God should vse him and make him his instrument to do thée good Iob had great experience of this when he complained saying My friends passed by me or haue deceiued me euen as a brooke that runneth swiftly in the vallies Such men are friends of thy table of thy welth of thy fauour and of thy friendship they will waite of thy honor thy lordship thy worship and authoritie but in pouertie imprisonment or in any other distresse or disgrace they will vtterly forsake thée If thou wilt follow my counsell therefore trie them throughly and knowe them perfectly and forsake thou them before they forsake thée AS a shadow doth follow that man which is lighted with the bright beames of the sunne but if the sunne be hid or couered with a cloud the shadow vanisheth and is cleane gone So a painted and counterfetted friend doth follow and ply that man whom he perceiueth to be rich to be famous honorable and in the princes fauour at whose hands he hopeth that something will be gotten but if he shall fall into calamitie be dispoiled of his riches and shall tumble downe from the top of his honor into the lowe vallie of disgrace he presently forsaketh him and maketh no reckoning nor account of him But a true friend is no changling Salomon saith He that is a friend doth loue thée at all times and a brother is tried in perplexitie and anguish And Ecclesiasticus saith A friend shall not be knowen in prosperitie neither will an enimie be hid in aduersitie Augustine saith in one of his bookes of questions There is nothing so much trieth a friend as the bearing of his friends burden And Isidorus saith Friendship in prosperitie is most doubtfull neither is it easily discerned whether a mans person or his prosperous estate be loued And an experienced man affirmeth that whom prosperitie maketh a friend him aduersitie maketh a foe Time doth shew and trie who it is that loueth thée truly in these our daies friends for the most part are rightly compared vnto the bird called a swallow whose companie thou shalt haue in sommer but not in winter so friends as they go now adaies will swarme about thée so long as thou art able and willing to féede their humors and serue their turnes but that ended they will leaue thée in the middest of a thousand surges and waues of what troubles soeuer shall light vpon thée AS an huge and mightie fire will be asswaged and at the length quite put out if thou wilt withdraw the sticks and other matter that doth cherish and increase it So thy afflictions and troubles will come to an end if thou wilt cease to do euill and giue ouer sinne before it giue ouer thée Our sinnes are those drie sticks and stubble wherewith the fire not onely of the wrath and malice of infidels and heretikes but also of the wrath and indignation of God is kindled increased and most mightily stirred vp against vs. They are our greatest enimies the Lord grant that euer beholding them we may vnfainedly forsake and hate them AS a godly and a wise surgeon purposing to cut the corrupted wounds of a sicke bodie and to take away or to seare with an hot iron the rotten flesh in cutting or searing hath no pitie of the weake man to the end that in curing his sore and healing his wound by cutting and searing he may shew him great pitie Euen so our most wise God that celestiall physition and heauenly surgeon smiteth vs that he may heale vs cutteth and seareth vs that he may cure vs. He smiteth whom he loueth

on high first kéepeth it lowe and holdeth it downe with the force of a van and the gathering togither of much winde Euen so our God presseth vs downe and kéepeth vs lowe that he may lift vs vp and exalt vs on high he throweth vs downe héere in earth that he may exalt vs in heauen and laieth many times disgrace vpon vs in this world among men that we may be gracious in the world to come with himselfe his angels and his saints On the other side AS a wrastler imbracing him with whom he striueth in the wrastling place for victorie lifteth him vp the higher that with the greater force he may hurle him against the ground So this world doth extoll vs that with throwing vs downe headlong it may hurt vs and that we may fall from the top of deceitfull and transitorie glorie downe to the bottome of most certaine and perpetuall ignominie Cyprian saith The world smileth vpon a man with a cruell purpose it flattereth to deceiue it calleth a man to it to kill him it extolleth him to vndo him AS men mad and frantike are woont to teare and rent themselues So wicked and vngodly men inflict vpon themselues most deadly and incurable wounds yea they be most wilfull murtherers of their owne soules and bodies For that is true in the booke of Wisedome Man through his owne naughtines killeth his owne soule And what greater madnes can there be than a man to run headlong vpon euerlasting destruction Iob hauing a desire to describe the ignorance of such men and to declare that euen in matters most euident and plaine they be vtterly void and destitute of wisedome he saith In the day light they run into darknes and as in the night so stumble they at noone daies And whereas the feare of God is the beginning of wisdome as Dauid and Salomon his sonne do both affirme and vngodly men loden with all maner of naughtines to the feare of God are méere strangers it is plainly and truly concluded that they be not onely without wisedome but also that they haue not so much as the beginning of the same AS the filthie swine regard not but thrust from them roses that are most beautifull and swéete and séeme to contemne most fragrant and pleasant flowers and do rather séeke after foule puddles and stinking mire and forsaking dainty dishes and costly iuncates do franke themselues most gréedily with wilde mast and vncleane things So vngodly men haue no taste of the word of God but hunting after vncertaine riches which are in continuall hazard and at the length will deceiue them they are as it were fettered in the inchanting pleasures and pestilent flickerings of the world From the which the Lord preserue and deliuer vs. Amen AS in a fruitfull and fertile ground among many wholsome and very medicinable herbes some that be dangerous and full of poyson do grow So the wits and wisedome of men togither with some profitable and wholsome counsels and admonitions do bring foorth perilous and pestilent errors and are therfore with wisedome and great discretion to be regarded euen as herbes are to be gathered and vsed But this wisedome and discretion is to be sought for and had onely in the word of God which is a lanterne to our féete and a most perfect light vnto our pathes It is onely acceptable to the soules of Gods saints and nothing but it doth féede them to eternall life It is swéeter vnto them than hony and the hony combe In mens iudgements words and works we may be deceiued in the Lords we cannot Thy iudgements O Lord saith Dauid are iust and more to be desired than fine golde or pretious stones and they are swéeter than hony and the hony combe It is the power of saluation to all that beléeue it it is able to saue our soules if it be throughly rooted in vs. The word of the Lord laid vp in our harts doth preserue vs from sinne it clenseth our harts and by the working of the holy Ghost with it it createth right spirits within vs. By the meanes of it the saints and seruants of God attaine to that puritie and cleannes of hart and minde that they wish for and desire nothing but that which is good godly and holy The author of the word is God himselfe who can neither deceiue nor be deceiued and therefore whatsoeuer is written in it is truth whatsoeuer is taught in it is vertue and holines whatsoeuer it promiseth after death is eternitie and endlesse ioy to the children of God when this life is ended Whereto the Lord bring vs all if it be his good pleasure AS that man that will giue an onset and encounter with an enimie or wil defend and kéepe himselfe vnwounded at his hands hath néede of a sword in his hand to smite the enimie withall and to repell his violence So whosoeuer will triumph and carry away the victorie ouer this world flesh and diuell must hold fast in his hand that is in his maners conuersation and the whole course of his life the worde of God which is called the sword of the spirit is sharper than any two edged sword This the Lord commandeth to be closed and safely laid vp in the cofer of our harts and to be worne as a signe vpon our hands and to be had for a remembrance alway before our eies Salomon doth counsell vs to binde it fast to our harts and to vse it as a chaine about our necks and to take it with vs when we walke abroad And Christ himselfe saith If any man loue me he will kéepe my saying Againe Blessed are they that heare the word of God and kéepe it The apostle also Not the hearers of the law are righteous before God but the doers of the lawe shall be iustified And Iames saith Be ye doers of the word and not hearers onely deceiuing your owne selues The Lord giue grace and his holy spirit vnto vs that we may loue to heare his word and to do his will EVen as doues do loue and delight in houses that be faire whited and do willingly frequent swéete and pleasant places but contemne and flie from blacke foule and vnsauorie cottages So faithles and vntrustie friends do hunt and séeke after the friendship of those men by whose wealth and riches they may be holpen reléeued and enriched But men in pouertie and distressed persons vnable to fill their bellies to clothe their backs or otherwise to pleasure them with some worldly things they vtterly despise they care not for their companie their loue nor friendship feare they God neuer so much Yea if some blustering storme and terrible tempest of aduersitie shall blowe away thy wealth and shall separate thy riches and thy selfe thy greatest friends as thou thoughtest will hide them from thée and no where be found but a faithfull friend loueth at al times

he neuer shrinketh aduersitie and prosperitie is all one to him Happy is he that findeth a true and trustie friend AS great and mighty fishes are not bred and fed in small riuers and swéet waters but in the salt and bitter waters of the seas So men that are excellent and very famous by reason of the notable and manifolde vertues wherewith they be indued are not delighted in the false and deceitfull pleasures of this world but are nourished and as it were swéetely cherished and brought vp in Christ with very sower sorrowes and bitter calamities which they endure and most patiently beare for Gods sake And as to a valiant soldier nothing is more noble and woorthie praise than to carry the armour and armes of his prince So a true Christian man estéemeth nothing of greater valure and more honorable than to beare the armes and badges of Christ his captaine that is to be throughly touched with great crosses and many afflictions and to be well armed with a godly patience Heare the Apostle that stout and valiant soldier of Christ I do beare in my body the marks of the Lord Iesu Yea he saith further All that will liue godly in Christ Iesu shall suffer persecutions Séeing Christ our head and onely sauiour suffered persecutions what maruell if we his members suffer them The holy scripture calleth calamities and persecutions yea and death it selfe indured in the quarrell of God and his truth a cup. Dauid prepared himselfe to receiue this cup I will receiue the cup of saluation and will call vpon the name of the Lord and expressing what this cup is he saith Right déere in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints Christ hath his cup and the world his the cup of Christ hath very bitter drink in it but very wholsome The cup of the world is gold to sée to and is ful of pleasures within but most pestilent and deadly it pleaseth the senses and killeth the soule AS a physition doth minister to his sicke patients sower and bitter potions to drinke that some hurtfull humor of their bodies may be expelled So God our heauenly physition willing to cure the maladies and to salue the sores of our soules doth reach vnto vs many times the cup of afflictions troubles and miseries that our sins and iniquities being taken away we may be restored to the former saluation of our soules The world doth offer vnto vs a very beautifull cup but it is full of deadly poison it delighteth our eies and taste but it worketh most surely our ouerthrow and vtter destruction This is that cup that Iohn in the Reuelation biddeth vs to beware of the Lord giue vs grace to shun it for he saith it is full of all abhomination and vncleannes Let vs chéerefully receiue the cup of Christ that is pouertie penurie obloquies euill reports backbitings slanders persecutions sicknes and death it selfe this is very sharpe and vnpleasant to our taste at the first but at the length most wholsome to our infected and sicke soules A Good bailife of husbandrie when he séeth plentifull fruits grow after his faithfull labours desireth that his lord or master may come that séeing his diligence and fidelitie in his calling he may reward him for his trauel and paines taken And a valiant soldier after dangerous fight and noble victorie gotten wisheth the presence of his prince that he vpon the view and sight of the sweate of his browes his grieuous wounds and courage may recompence the noble acts that he hath done So that man which hath faithfully handled the husbandrie and bailywike committed to him of the Lord and hath manfully fought against the world flesh and sathan and through the grace and mightie spirit of God hath gotten the vpper hand and victorie of them all he now most earnestly desireth that Christ his captaine vnder whose banner he hath fought would come that he might receiue his reward which is euerlasting ioy in heauen and eternall saluation through Christ with God his angels and saints for euer and euer Which though it be called a reward yet is it the frée gift of God vtterly vndeserued of man but onely deserued and purchased for vs by Christ Iesu in his death and passion vpon the crosse and to all that do beléeue in him it is frée But on the other side the wicked and vngodly whose delight is onely in the pleasures and pestilent flickerings of the world which do swallow vp vanities euen with gréedines and set at naught all vertue and godlines which are shut vp vnder iniquitie and become slaues vnto sinne which are pricked in their consciences and do feare the infernall woes and terrible torments of hell which are prepared for them against the day of their death they would not haue Christ to come to heare of his comming is troublesome and fearfull to them A guiltie man whose conscience doth disquiet him would neuer sée the Iudge a traitor would neuer willingly be séene of his prince nor a disloyall person of one that knoweth him AS brasse or copper doth make a greater sound and is heard farther off than gold whereas notwithstanding gold is far more excellent than it So eloquence ioined with knowledge soundeth lowder and farther than humilitie coupled with charitie and yet such humilitie is far better and more excellent than it Knowledge without humilitie puffeth vp saith the Apostle but charitie doth edifie Againe If I speake with the toongs of men and of angels and haue not charitie I am but as a sounding brasse or a tinkling cimball A great bragger and boaster of religion maketh much noise but an humble spirited Christian is far better than he AS trauellers not thinking of the sunne setting are ouertaken with darknes before they be aware So doth death suddenly come vpon many that neuer thought of it neither haue learned to die nor what shall become of them when they be dead But it behooueth all Christians that will be saued to watch to stand stedfast in the faith of Christ to quit themselues like men and to be strong and to do all that they do in loue AS earthen vessels are alike subiect to danger breaking whether they be new or old made So all men are open subiect to death alike whether they be yoong men and in their lustie and florishing age or they be old men and well strooken in yéeres If thou shalt come into a Po●ters ware-house where thou shalt sée a large table set full of pots some old and some new some little and some great and shalt demand of the Potter which of them all shall first be broken he may well say for answer That which shall fall first to the ground Euen so among men he dieth not first that is elder but he that first falleth to the ground that is that commeth fi●st to his graue What is this world else but a Potters ware-house and