Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	countenance_n	iron_n	sharpen_v	849	5	14.5973	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26075	A sermon preached before the honourable Society of the Natives of the County of Kent November the 21th, 1700, at St. Mary-le-Bow, London / by William Assheton ...	Assheton, William, 1641-1711.	1700 (1700)	Wing A4043; ESTC R36641	8,063	33

God 1 Cor. 6. 10. But I shall not enlarge any further on so harsh and unpleasing a Subject There are indeed great Irregularities committed in the World and which ought sharply to be reproved but not fit to be mentioned in this Place 'T is not decent to insist on those scandalous Excesses before such a great and generous Audience Leaving therefore these Blemishes I shall crave leave to remind you III. What are the Reasons of this Days Solemnity Or in the Language of my Text of your Eating and Drinking together on this Day Now the Design of this Day 's Solemnity is plainly Twofold I. First To maintain Friendship II. Secondly To promote Charity I. First The first Design of your present Meeting is to maintain and improve your Friendship A most Noble and truly Generous Design Since a true and well-regulated Friendship is not only the greatest Pleasure and Satisfaction to your own Breasts but also is of equal Benefit and Advantage to others Now the sociable Life of Friends or the mutual Conversation of Wise and Vertuous Persons is of great Advantage in several Respects 1. By improving our Vnderstandings and rectifying our Judgments 2. By regulating and composing of our Passions 3. By assisting of us in our useful Designs and the relieving of us in our Wants 1. Friendship doth improve our Vnderstandings and rectifie our Judgments Iron sharpeneth Iron so a Man sharpeneth Prov. 27. 17. the Countenance of his Friend .i. e. As Iron is sharpened and brightened by Iron so one Man's Parts are raised and improved by anothers Hence 't is observed That a Friendly Conversation where Men communicate their Notions with freedom is of much greater Advantage to true and useful Knowledge than either Reading or Meditation I grant indeed that both Reading and Meditation are necessary and 't is as vain to pretend to Learning without them as it is to build without a Foundation But that which I design shall be expressed in the words of the Great Lord Verulam Reading may make a full and copious Man and Meditation a profound Man but 't is Discourse that makes a clear distinct and useful Man In Confirmation of this 't is observed That several Persons have been highly accomplish'd in most parts of Conversation and have been very useful to the Publick without any great share of Bookish Learning Which I do not mention with the least Design to discourage true Learning but to rectifie and improve it For Reading without Discourse is like Eating without Digestion which only loads the Body obstructs the Passages and impairs the state of Health instead of advancing it Now that which Digestion is to the Body Discourse is to the Mind By which word I do not only mean private Discourse with a Man 's own Thoughts which we call Meditation or Thinking a most pleasing as well as profitable kind of Discourse But by Discourse I denote external Discourse expressed by outward Conversation with others By this Conversation we open our Breasts unfold our Notions bring them out into the Light to be considered and examined by others Which is a most prudent and modest Practice For we are all of us too apt to think well of our selves and have a strange fondness for the Issue of our own Brain But when our Projects are brought to light and communicated to others then the Sagacity and Faithfulness of a Friend discovers and rectifies our Errors and Mistakes 2. Another Advantage of Friendship is the regulating and composing of our Passions The tumults and disorders of which Passions are the cause of all our Misery as being the chief Ingredients of our Sorrows both in this World and in the next The Frenzy of Anger the Feaver of Love the Consumption of Envy the Aguish Vici●situdes of Hopes and Fears are the noted Diseases and Distempers of our Mind Now by opening our Breasts with freedom to our Friend and by giving vent to our Passions we assist his charitable Inclinations to rectifie these Disorders For when he knows our State and our Circumstances he will then by his friendly Advice compose our Anger direct our Love correct our Envy regulate our Hopes and divert our Fears 3. Friendship doth assist us in our useful Designs and relieves our Defects I doubt not but you are all fully convinced that you were not sent into this World only to please your selves and to gratifie your own sensual Inclinations but that it is your Duty in all your Actions to glorifie God and do Good to others Especially you that are Gentlemen whom God hath entrusted with the Talents of Authority and Estates beyond and above other Men you I say are more especially obliged to be faithful to this your Trust by laying out your Estates and using your Power in such a manner as may make you even a Blessing to the Age you live in But when you come ad practicandum and project any particular Advantage either to the Neighbourhood or the World then from the Envy or Designs of others you shall quickly encounter such Opposition as will convince you of your Weakness and how necessary it is to call in the Help of others to supply your own Defects From hence the necessity of Friendship is undeniably established For on such an Occasion a Stranger is not proper to be consulted who may not know the whole State of your Business nor the Series and Circumstances of your Affairs Much less is an Enemy to be trusted who will only betray you and undermine your Designs But the assistance of a faithful prudent Friend will effectually support you in all your Difficulties and in all your Wants I might add much more of the Nature and Excellency of Friendship by representing that it is the chief Ingredient of our Happiness in Heaven where the Blessed Angels and Spirits of Just Men made perfect by their mutual Conversation enjoy the Perfection of Friendship to all Eternity But this is too noble a Theme for any Humane Expression This Heavenly Friendship is best explained by being practised And God grant that your Generous Inclinations may make the Experiment Do you begin and continue a true Christian Friendship in this World and through the Mercy of God and the Merits of Jesus Christ it shall be compleated in the next I am now addressing my self to Gentlemen who have this Obligation to Friendship amongst others that they are Country-Men Either born in or Inhabitants of the same County A County which is not only one of the Largest but also one of the Richest and most Flourishing Counties of the whole Kingdom And that whether you consider the Fruitfulness of the Soil the Number and Disposition of the Inhabitants and the Priviledges you enjoy The Fruitfulness of the Soil doth appear in the Riches of the Inhabitants since one of your Yeomans doth rival the Gentry of other Counties The Disposition of the Inhabitants is thus described by Malmsburiensis an ancient Writer The Country-People and the Town-Dwellers of