Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	age_n	church_n	time_n	2,142	5	3.6322	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A06341	The prouerbes of the noble and woorthy souldier Sir Iames Lopez de Mendoza Marques of Santillana with the paraphrase of D. Peter Diaz of Toledo: wherin is contained whatsoeuer is necessarie to the leading of an honest and vertuous life. Translated out of Spanishe by Barnabe Googe.; Proverbios. English	Santillana, Iñigo López de Mendoza, marqués de, 1398-1458.; Googe, Barnabe, 1540-1594.; Pedro, de Toledo, Bishop of Málaga, d. 1499.	1579 (1579)	STC 16809; ESTC S108829	87,267	250

the race And moste approued perfect path of goodnesse and of grace O milde and honourable Age that doest abate the fire Of vicious youth and doest restraine eche lewde and fond desire The Paraphrase THE blessed Apostle telleth vs that as long as wee liue in this worlde we are Pilgrimes and straungers to the Lorde meaning that our true and naturall countrie is that of which Dauid speaketh saying I trust to see the glory of the almightie in the land of the liuing The land of the liuing is the glory of Paradise where who soeuer remaineth doe liue without any dread or daunger of death And as the Apostle sayeth all the while that we are absent from that place wee are aptly here called straungers and pilgrims meaning that as the pilgrim wandreth here and there forth of his Countrey So we are alwayes absent and out of our countrey as long as wee liue in this transitorie life And because that by the meanes of age we draw neare to our owne countrey when we drawe neare to death by which death as Plato saieth in his Phedro the soule atteineth vnto libertie and breaking out from the Gaole of the bodie being deliuered frō sorrow and miserie commeth to her owne quietnesse ioy and solace And therefore we ought not to be displeased at our olde age since that it is the race of goodnesse that is to say the plaine path way by which wee passe from sorrow and trouble to quietnesse and to rest And this is onely to be vnderstood of the modest and well gouerned age for that is shee that abateth the lustes and outrages of youth For there is an age as Aristotle sayeth in the first of his Ethikes that being destitute of all vertue and good behauiour is altogether doting and childish For there is no difference as Aristotle sayth betwixt him that is yong of yeeres and him that is young in behauiour so that the age which shall not be displeasant must be modest and furnished with good behauiour and vertuous exercises and that is the age that doeth abate the fire of vicious youth and doeth restraine eche lewde and fonde desire This age as Tullie in his booke de Senectute writeth doeth alay both lust pride presumption and doeth so enfeeble the force of the flesh as it bringeth a man to bee lowly milde and modest Of this kinde of age also speaketh the Psalme where it sayth When the time of meeknes mildnes shal come then shal we be reformed which time of mildnes is from the age of threescore to threescore and ten which season suffreth not a man to be prowd or disdainful but lowly milde and disposed to vertue And therfore the Prouerbe saith It doeth abate the fire of vicious youth c. 94. This to the vertuous man alone doth giue authoritie And makes him perfite in the pointes of grace and honestie For who is he that in his youth can keepe the perfite way Or measure in his life obserueth or runneth not astray The Paraphrase IT is commanded in the lawe of God that whensoeuer we see an old ancient man we should rise and reuerence him And we finde in the Ciuil law that in the Citie of Rome in the olde time they vsed to worship and reuerence their aged persons and the people of those dayes did yeelde the same honour to suche as were olde as they did to their Iudges and Magistrates and this onely they did in respecte of the honour that their olde yeeres doeth giue them for no young man though his wit be neuer so pregnant or quicke is able to attaine to that vnderstanding that the olde man by his experience hath gotten For as Aristotle in the first and sixteenth of his Ethikes witnesseth the number of yeeres is it that giueth knowledge experience And therefore he sayeth that the yong man can neuer giue anie perfect iudgement of anie thing because he neuer hath had anie great experience And although that in naturall Philosophie and in the liberal artes learnings there needeth nought else but a sharp and quicke conceite and vnderstanding yet in morall Philosophie which is the knowledge by which we learne to liue vprightly and honestly it is not onely enough to haue a good wit capacitie to but also to haue the experience and knowledge of time and such thinges as are done by men of ripe yeares we alwayes presume that they bee done vppon great aduise and deliberation which is nothing so with yong men And therefore vppon great consideration our Sauiour being perfect God and man although in the verie instant that he was conceiued he was perfect in all knowledge vnderstanding did not grow with space of time to more ripe knowledge skill would neither preach nor publishe his doctrine in his yong yeares but at such time as he was come to his perfect age neither doeth the Church receiue for trueth and certaintie anie other things then those which we read to bee done at his full age Wherevpon all such Bookes as are written of suche thinges as hee did in his childehoode and youngest yeares the Church doeth take for Apocripha and counteth them not in the Canon of holy Scriptures And it is good reason that the thinges that are done in vnripe yeares should be of no authoritie since our Sauiour Christ himselfe woulde neither preach nor publish his doctrine till such time as hee was of ripe and perfect age 95. This made the Catoes so renoumed for wisdome great and graue this made the valiant Scipioes so great a name to haue This onely gouernes in the field and giues the victorie And this in peace doth coūtries keepe from all hostilitie The Paraphrase THere is no man as hath bene saide before that attaineth to anie perfection in his doinges and deuises but onelie by long experience of manie yeeres And therefore saieth Aristotle in the sixth of his Ethikes that young men ought alwayes to haue about them olde and auncient men whose counsaile they may vse and whom they ought in al things to beleeue and therfore age is of great account and estimation for it maketh as the Prouerbe here sayeth men to be wise meete to iudge and discrete in gouernment And therefore Trogus Pōpeius in his eleuenth Booke writeth that Alexander whensoeuer hee happened vpon anie desperate aduenture or sawe himselfe in great daunger in the field woulde neuer haue about him anie yong blooddes or hewsters but olde men that were of experience such as had serued his Father and his Grandfather in their warres to the end hee might haue in his companie not onelie Souldiours but directers he sayeth beside that when his old Souldiours had required of him leaue to goe home to rest and refresh their olde and weeried bodies and that they woulde sende in their places their sonnes that were yong and lustie and better able to doe him seruice He answered them that he made a great deale more account of the wise and skilfull

for helpe himselfe and not be hearde And therefore it is not to bee thought of a noble minde but if hee see a man in miserie or distresse hee will followe the aduise of the Prophet Esaie who saith Breake thy breade to the hungrie and carrie home to thy house the sorowfull and the poore where thou seest a man bare and naked cloth him and despise not thine own flesh Solomon saith in his Prouerbes He that hath pitie vpon the poore shal be happie And this is the meaning of this Prouerbe A noble minde wil neuer staine c. The seuenth Chapter of Truth 68 Truth honour thou alwayes loue step not from her aside But frame thy friendship after her that euer may abide The Image faire of holy life and daughter true is she As faithful sister vnto vertue chiefe is honestie TRuth is of so great a worthines and excellencie that God himselfe as it appeareth in the Gospel is called the Truth This truth hath two extremities The one called vayne boasting which is when men brag of thēselues more then they are able to performe the other is named Ironia when men publishe of themselues that which is not in them Men ought to loue and honour the trueth after one of these two manners eyther where it concerneth onely them and therein men ought to beware that they neither exceede nor doe lesse then that which is reason The other is when it toucheth an other in this case to reuerence the trueth is as much to say as to performe whatsoeuer is promised and to bee true of our worde as well to our enimies as to our friends as we are bound by the Ciuill lawe for there is no greater duetie betwixt man and man then to keepe their faith and promise iustly one with the other without the which all trafficke and dealing amongst men must of necessitie cease And therefore the Prouerbe sayeth Truth honour thou and alwayes loue steppe not from her aside And farther that we ought to frame our friendshippe after truth Friendshippe according to the minde of Aristotle in his Ethickes is in one of these three sortes eyther for profite for pleasure or for honestie Friendshippe for profite as Seneca sayeth is Merchantes friendshippe which neuer endureth longer than there is hope of gayne Friendshippe for pleasure lasteth as long as delight and pleasure lasteth and as delightes doe alter with yeeres and suche thinges as seemed pleasant at some age are thought displeasant in an other Therefore this Friendshippe can neuer long continue Friendship for honestie is that which is grounded vppon truth and vertue and as vertue truth honestie are thinges euerlasting vnchangeable so the friendship that is grounded vppon them cannot but continue for euer This friendshippe floorisheth in the time of prosperitie and continueth and remayneth in the time of misfortune and aduersitie and therefore hee saieth That shee is the daughter of holinesse that honestie is the faithfull sister vnto the most soueraigne vertue Honestie as Plato reporteth as it is brought in by Tullie in the beginning of his offices is of suche an excelling beauty as if she might be seene with mens eyes the whole worlde woulde bee in loue with her Who because shee is stedfast assured sounde and euerlasting is saide to bee The faithfull sister to soueraigne vertue 69. Attilius knowing well before That he shoulde surely dye If vnto Carthage he returnd Obseruing faithfully His troth and woord deferd no time For to returne againe Where as he suffred tormentes great By death and deadly paine The Paraphrase MArcus Attilius as S. August writeth in his 1. booke of the Citie of God and also Tullie in his Booke of duties beyng prisoner among other Romanes in Carthage sent vnto Rome to persuade an exchange of prisoners when he came to the citie and hauing declared his message was demaunded to geue his opinion what hee thought best to bee done after that he had thorowly cōsidered that the Roman prisoners were olde impotent men and that the Carthaginians were all young and lustie fellowes his aduise was that they shoulde in no wise make anie exchaunge and when his friends vnderstanding that his counsell was allowed laboured by all meanes they could to keepe him from goyng agayne He told them that hee had geuen his faith and his woorde to the Carthaginians that he would returne himself with the answere and therfore notwithstanding that he knew was sure that his goyng thither should be harmefull dangerous comming into the handes of his cruell dealy enimies yet cōsidering that he had promised he would performe it and so in deede did whereas he suffered most cruell death with greate torture and tormentes The eight Chapter of Continence in coueting 70 Of worldly goodes possesse no more nor farther seeke to haue Then may suffice thy neede cleare thy conscience after graue All ouerplus with heede auoyde for more then meete is nought And nothing can continue long that on the earth is wrought The Paraphrase SOlomon saith in his Prouerbs that the praier which euery man ought to make vnto God is this Pouertie nor riches lord giue thou vnto me but only that with is sufficient for my maintenance least by hauing to muche I be tempted to forget God and to saie Who is the Lord and hauing on the other side to litle I bee forced by miserie and want to blaspheme the ●ame of my god And this aucthoritie of Solomon is in a maner the full Cōmentarie of this Prouerbe Likewise Aristotle in the tenth of his Ethickes saith To seeke to possesse a meane moderate wealth is the perfection that a man attaineth vnto And Seneca in a booke that he made of the quietnesse and satisfyng of the minde moueth this question What quantitie of the goods of fortune a man ought to enioy to and what is the meane temperate state of riches That a man ought to seeke for and possesse so muche as may keepe him from pouertie and yet to be not farre from it And this is it that preserueth a man from falling as the piller which is the conscience being the greatest rest and quietest that a man can carry with him The Prouerb saith Nothing can continue long that on the earth is wrought The world it selfe must ende and all thing that therein is created wee see that nothing endureth long beautie decayeth fauour faileth strength abateth and life it selfe but a smal time lasteth The greatest princes that be must away and though the whole world be subiect to them yet are they them selues but subiectes to miserie to casualtie to sorowe to sicknesse and to death and muste die as an other man all our pompe our vanities and follies muste haue an ende wee haue no continuall abiding place as saint Paule saith but must al away some to heauen some to hell according as they haue heere behaued them selues And therfore is it a great madnes for any man to set