Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	believe_v	church_n	know_v	4,058	5	4.1423	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91801	A sermon preached at Walden in Essex, May 29th. At the interring of the corps of the right Honorable Susanna, Countesse of Suffolke. Being a modest and short narration of some remarable passages in the holy life and death of that memorable lady. Who dyed May 19th. 1649. / By Edw: Rainbowe. D.D.	Rainbowe, Edward, 1608-1684.	1649 (1649)	Wing R141; Thomason E532_40	25,929	38

what shall I say for application should I reprove those who erre in opinion and build their Good Name upon Greatness Glory Fame Naturall indowments Morall accomplishments Beauty Wit Mirth Friendship and the like or any thing not Christian Or should I stir you up to lay a sure foundation for a Good Name in Faith Holiness and Virtue Should I lessen the terrors of Death and hasten any of you in the desires of it which gives so fair a season to this Glorious Flower a Good Name which shuts the door on sin and misery and opens to eternall joyes in all these the text might be a copious theme and I can hardly refrain from inlarging But because Examples have a more lively force on the souls of men than simple Precepts and Practice is the only warrant that rules are Good and that it hath seemed Good to him who hath the issues of Life and Death in his hand to lay such a Pregnant Spectacle before our eyes as may give an exemplary testimony to the truth of this text I shall now take leave to set before your Christian attention some few such observations from and upon the Life and Death of this Eminent Personage whom the uncontrolable Will of the Almighty hath made the sad occasion of our present meeting as may in hance the price of a Good Name and make Death have its true comfort when we see it happen after a well-spent and well-ended life And now well remembring where I am and in whose dreadfull presence before that God of truth who can measure the Deeds and words of men and see what conformity they hold in a Congregation also amongst many of whom the light of her conversation did shine and could not be hid I shall in all sincerity indeavour to speak nothing for Favour Relation Flattery or to gain a Vain-glorious Name to her that is gon or him that speaks but to set forth such reall Virtues as shined in her life that we may all have occasion to glorifie God who was graciously pleased to instamp such lively Characters of his Image upon a poor corruptible Creature and to aspire after all that is praiseworthy in so precious an example that at our Death we all may have lively hopes to be also numbred amongst the living and to leave a Good Name fragrant and refreshing to all those who live after us And now where shall I begin and how shall I find an end both did seem alike difficult to my preparations whereon shall I lay the foundation to build a Precious Name and Memoriall for her who her self had purchased it so many wayes Shall I tell you of her naturall parts and indowments Shall I tell you how her Parents and her self had perfected those by carefull education art and industry Shall I let you know how those were made Gracefull by a meek pleasant and affable Deportment How they were adorned with the choysest Jewels which every Virtue could afford her or which is rarest that all these were consecrated by a Religious even frame and temper and lastly which is the highest Perfection attainable on Earth that she and they were sanctified by the visible operations of the Spirit of God whose Image sat bright and Glorious on her Soul and did shine through all her Conversation These are the solid sure foundations of a Good Name and all these crouded so into my thoughts at once that they were easily lost in the many fair paths and turnings through which look which way soever you would her Excellencies Parts Virtues Graces were ready to invite and draw my meditations But that this universality may not disorder your thoughts as they have done mine I must not seek such arguments for her Praise being dead as have no fast bottom for an Inward Good Name and for which she would not only dispraise but sharply censure me if she were living Namely for any thing she had by nature although from that too in this regard seeing whatsoever Nature had given her she made a Vessell to lay up some Grace or other in If I should tell you of the Sharpness of her Wit I could not better instance to prove it than that in Questions of Religion chiefly Cases of Conscience and difficult places of Scriptures she was most sudden at making Nice Doubts and extraordinary happy in resolving them at least to the satisfying of others although such was her Humility and low esteem of her own Gifts that she would earnestly labour for the resolution of others rather than trust to her own Her Judgment was most sound which might appear as by concurrence with the Wise and Learned in opinions about secular affairs private or publique so chiefly in the Controversies in Religion that amids all those differences and varieties of opinions to the Knowledge of which she was drawn by her carious Soul which had a mighty thirst after all kind of knowledge especially in matters which concerned God Religion and Eternity I say though she knew all Good and Evill yet she had a Discerning Judgment and Exercised Senses to chuse the Good and refuse the Evill not only in points simply necessary to Salvation in which we may believe the Spirit of God would not let her fall but in Speculative truths her opinions were not tainted nor her mind shaken with any of those plausible Errors wherewith the Times havenow so miserably infested and distracted the Church of God and ted Captive many well-meaning Souls but her knowing and well-grounded assent went along first with the Sure Rule the Written Word of God then with those who for sticking to that have been held the Soundest and most Classicall Wheresoever in cases she differd from the most-received opinions it was commonly in Practicall points and seldom but she inclined to the more strict her very Error if it were one deserving its own pardon Her Phancy was most Divine and although she fed it very much with Humane Authors delighting in Wit that was Pure and filled with ingenious and artificiall conceit Poetry especially in the apprehension of which she was very Dexterous and would ever set a Mark upon such expressions as were most emphaticall and quaint many times adding a Grace by her particular interpretation even beyond the intention of the Author but with exceeding fitness and significancy yet she most confined her Phancy to Gather Flowers in Paradise in Gods Garden in his Book and in such as exercised their wits in that Field especially in Divine Poetry in which kind she took an excessive delight to be conversant in Mr. Herberts Temple in which she found out such fit and significant elegancies that when she read or repeated them it was hard to determine whether the Author or she made the sence such innumerable descants would she make upon every single expression there And to shew what delight she took in that heavenly Wit I have heard her more than once seriously aver that if there were no more extent but her copy some

A SERMON PREACHED AT WALDEN in ESSEX May 29th AT THE INTERRING of the Corps of the right HONORABLE SUSANNA Countesse of SUFFOLKE Being a modest and short Narration of some remarkable passages in the holy life and death of that memorable LADY Who dyed May 19th 1649. By EDW RAINBOWE D. D. Hier Ep ad Marcellam In optimis praedicandis bonorum ad virtutem Studia concitentur London Printed by W. Wilson for Gabriell Bedell M. M. and T. C. and are to be sold at their shop at the Middle Temple Gate 1649. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE JAMES Earle of SVFFOLKE My Lord THat I have not paid a more speedy obedience to your Lodships Commands and the admonitions of some of my worthiest friends in making publick these following conceptions proceeded from no other reason than that in my more deliberate review I thought it some injury to her high deserts to have expressed so little where with truth and evidence so much might have been asserted It had been a taske not lesse pleasing to my self and more satisfactory to all that knew her to have pend an History rather than a Sermon and if a happier pen had undertaken this subject the story of her life might prove a most perswasive Orator for goodnesse and piety the highest effects of Sermons But considering the place where I was no make this discourse I could not otherwise contrive but that what could be spoken in the praise of so incomperable a Lady must hold small proportion with what must be supprest in silence and because I would be true to the Title I have made no addition nor considerable alteration That the Image of her Virtues may finde a place in your Lordships memory and may live in your daily imitation and of all who shall see some glimpses of it in this unartificiall but faithfull representation to the glory of him whose Image she bore is the fervent prayer of Your Lordships most humbly devoted servant EDW RAINDOWE Audley-End Sept. 11. 1649. ECCLES 7. 1. A good name is better than Precious Oyntment and the Day of Death than the Day of ones Birth THe Text needs no preface the sad occasion of our present meeting our last duty to a deceased Lady in whose grave Honour Vertue Goodnesse Grace a rare measure of humane perfections seeme to be interred this sets a black and mournfull Preface before the Text. But comfort ye beloved the occasion indeed is a sad Preface to the Text but the Text may afford a comfortable theme and argument unto the occasion I come not here to afflict you altogether from the memory of your sinnes which now bid you weep over her grave but also to afford some comfort from the sence of her happiness and to desire you to take some pleasure in her fame and memory The text and the occasion mingled together make a chequer-worke a mixture of black and white mourning and joy when we present to your imaginations how Precious a Vessell of Oyntment is this day broken and that the Day of Death hath seized on her who can blame our griefe But if we will consider that by breaking this boxe of Spiknard her Good name which is better than precious oyntment is powred forth and makes a sweet fragrancy in the world and that to those who dye in the Lord and with such a Good Name the Day of Death is better than the Day of their Birth surely then we will not grieve as without Hope That I may therfore gain some alacrity from your Attentions and Vigour to mine own Spirit let me intreat you to take your eyes a while from the occasion from her Herse and look upon the text and the consolation which is afforded in it A Good Name c. The words contain a twofold comparison of two kinds of Blessings and he that pronounced the sentence was the fittest man that ever lived to be an Arbitrator Solomon the wise and the happy a King whos 's both hands God had filled with blessings of every kind and having a heart as large as the Sea-shore and wisedom to discern having gained abundance to his hearts desire and his knowledge being master over all things small and great low and tall from the Hysop which groweth upon the wall to the Highest Cedar he stands here in this text as it were with the scales in his hand and having before in the foregoing chapters thrown out of the Balance all that Dross and froth of the world Vain Desires Riches Pleasures Labours I say having found these to be vanity it selfe or lighter than vanity and cast them out of the comparison having by many negatives excluded what is not what cannot make up Happinass whatsoever the blind unequall world may judge he now comes to be positive and to let us see that there is a Happinesse belongs to Man and further proceedes to shew wherein it consists and in what degrees and first begins with the means to it the first of which he counts to be a Good name And here not changing the way and method of his arguing by way of comparison proving the excellency of that which hee commends by shewing that it weighs downe in the Balance and is better than those things wherin men are wont to place most excellency he thus argues A good name is good for it is better than Precious Oyntment and the Day of Death for that is better than the Day of ones Birth So that in the words you finde a twofold comparison the first betwixt a Good Name and Pretious Oyntment that is Riches and Delights the second betwixt Life and Death the coming into this world and by a Syllepsis the living in it and betwixt the departing from this world and the going out of it Solomon gives not the verdict as perchance the world would give it A Good name in his Balance weigh's downe Delights and Pleasures to shake hands with this temporall life in his esteeme is better than to imbrace it Before I weigh these together let me first shew you those commodities distinctly and severally after that we shall more clearly make good the difference and the excellency by comparing them together First let me shew you what a Good Name is and how weighty a blessing Secondly Precious Oyntment or costly delights how light they are Thirdly present them together to be weighed For the second comparison of Life and Death which I take chifely to be an explication of the former an addition of more weight to that scale of the Balance wherein a Good Name is placed I shall first speake of it so that is relatively as it serves to inhance a Good Name Secondly Absolutely as it is a true assertion in it selfe that the Day of Death is better than the Day of ones Birth or living in the world And then in the last place I shall endeavour to apply it to our selves and the present occasion For the first take notice that a Good Name although it be grounded upon some

miserable hath I dare say much increased the true tears which have this day fallen none understood relations none could possibly observe them better than she I appeal to Husband Parents Kindred Friends Servants Neighbours to witness this truth I would not inlarge on these which seem to be but Morall Virtues if they had been indeed no more but meer Morality but I am assured they flowed from a gracious disposition in her they were the streams from Jordane the Laver of Regeneration and we may well baptize them Christian Virtues in her For it is well known that all her actions which deliberation did give birth unto she did them out of a Conscience of duty and as in the Sight of God Hence was that Holy Fortitude and Boldness for Truth for which she durst be Valiant she would suffer any inconvenience rather than she would tell an Vntruth or make an Excuse or let any of her Servants do it or by any Equivocation deceive or elude a question For this have I known her much afflicted when she had business especially her Religious Tasks how to shun company and shun a Lye that she might not be found out but any Rock would she venture upon rather than an Vntruth and indeed it is to be doubted that the not fearing to split against this hath made many make Shipwracke of Faith and a good Conscience Her Charity I need not speak of the tongues of the Poor and Distressed whom her pitifull heart hath often relieved may save me that labour and now she is gon shall cry it at your doors and in your street if they be not starved in their houses from which I can averre she hath kept some Families although their relieved bowells made it divulged not the least ostentation in her Indeed she was made up of Christian kindness and Pity and though I told you she was a Perfect Governess of her Passions yet her Compassion alwayes governed her nor did I ever know her shut her hand when any in want opened their mouth for an Alms she could not excuse her self by sometimes having no money about her if any of her attendants had they were sure to be Almoners But her high-way Charity was not the tithe of what she gave they need not come to her to ask but Clothing and Food and Physick and other Comforts were sent to their habitations that had any nay and these provided also for some who must otherwise have lyen without doors and her self a frequent Visitour to be truly informed of their persons and condition But what do I speak of her Charity to the Bodies of the Poor she had a Way of relieving the Souls of all by her daily Alms of Prayers offered up by her Instructions where she found the Ignorant by her Counsells to the Doubting and Scrupulous How hath she been moved to see some Wretches by distraction deprived of their Reason how she would inquire after the known and secret causes of such Distempers and cast about to have some Cure if possible I am sure she hath spoke and wrote and travell'd for one well known in this place whom it pleased God to let fall into that to be lamented condition But still she had more kindes of Charity than I have named one was in forgiving Injuries which might be by mistakes perchance but if wilfullly or maliciously cast upon her it was the same thing indeed the same Nothing in her account or Memory I told you of her Memory how Tenacious it was but truly if it were to lay up an ill Turn it had no hold at all Benefits and Good Turns Good Deeds and good sayings were ingraven in her heart as if written in Adamant never to be blotted out Offences and Injuries never came near it her Memory was Water to them even the water of Lethe which makes forget all things all things of that nature I am sure were soon forgot by her An Vnkindness indeed for the time might make a deep impression a great wound in her heart where all things were so contrary to it so made up of Kindness Pity and Charity so that it could never beget another the like unkindness there A further kind of Charity was that which the Apostle speaks of indeed as a fruit of the same true Christian Charity that it thinketh none evill 1 Cor. 13. 5. She was in so perfect Charity with all conditions of men that in these boysterous times where difference in opinion either in civill affairs or points of Religion hath bred so much ill blood or indeed shed so much blood both Good and Ill if she chanced to converse with such from whom her judgment differd in every kind and did hear them make serious professions that they practised according to that light which was in their understanding although she could never be won in the least degree to approve of their erroneous opinions yet she hath been in perfect Charity and would not shun conversation with their persons if any relation required it believing they could not be so wicked as to dissemble in their Professions but pitied them for being delivered up and prayd to deliver them from the Spirit of Error Lastly for it is an hard matter for those who knew her Charity to be brief in relating that wherein she was so copious in dispensing yet if you would Know hers and the effects of it in their full Latitude I beseech you read it in that Chapter of Charity 1 Cor. 13. which she seemed by her practice to have learned by heart again and again Hoping all things believing all things enduring all things And yet she had one further effect of her Charity which I find not there and that was a burning Desire for the Salvation of every mans soul Ally or Stranger Friend or Foe how fervent and earnest she was a little before her death for the Salvation of some within her Family even of her servants her most zealous prayer testified Tell her of slaughter or the violent or sudden Death of any how her heart would shrink within her and commonly the first question was how was he Prepared for his Soul I could fill the world with instances of this kind but I forbear I could now speak of the lively Signes of her Faith and Hope by which her Soul mounted even into the Bosome of Christ above all fears and griefs which these Times brought thick upon her Fear indeed if it came suddenly would a little surprize her an incidency to that Sex and the tenderness of her nature but assoon would she recollect her self and by reason and religious arguments dispell all carnall fears So did her Grief yield to Faith and Patience and the Comforts which she could fetch readily out of Gods Storehouse and pertinently for her present malady and the cure of it When her first-born Son her then only Child had the pangs of death upon him she after prayers and tears sat very disconsolate and when at the report of