Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	know_v	speak_v	word_n	9,131	5	4.2861	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62612	A sermon preached before the King and Queen at White-Hall, February the 25th, 1693/4 being the first Sunday in Lent / by John Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1694 (1694)	Wing T1249; ESTC R33832	19,454	46

justified and by our words we shall be condemned To which I will add the counsel given us by the Wise-man Refrain your tongue from backbiting for there is no word so secret that shall go for nought and the mouth that slandereth slayeth the Soul I proceed in the IV th place to add some further Arguments and Considerations to take men off from this Vice As First That the use of Speech is a peculiar Prerogative of Man above other Creatures and bestowed upon him for some excellent end and purpose That by this Faculty we might communicate our thoughts more easily to one another and consult together for our mutual comfort and benefit Not to enable us to be hurtful and injurious but helpful and beneficial to one another The Psalmist calls our Tongue our Glory therewith we praise God and bless men Now to bless is to speak well of any and to wish them well So that we pervert the use of Speech and turn our glory into shame when we abuse this Faculty to the injury and reproach of any Secondly Consider how cheap a kindness it is to speak well at least not to speak ill of any A good word is an easy obligation but not to speak ill requires only our Silence which costs us nothing Some instances of Charity are chargeable as to relieve the wants and necessities of others The expence deters many from this kind of charity But were a man never so covetous he might afford another man his good word at least he might refrain from speaking ill of him especially if it be consider'd how dear many have paid for a slanderous and reproachful word Thirdly Consider that no quality doth ordinarily recommend one more to the favour and good-will of men than to be free from this Vice Every one desires such a man's friendship and is apt to repose a great trust and confidence in him And when he is dead men will praise him and next to Piety towards God and Righteousness to men nothing is thought a more significant commendation than that he was never or very rarely heard to speak ill of any It was a singular Character of a Roman Gentleman Nescivit quid esset maledicere he knew not what it was to give any man an ill word Fourthly Let every man lay his hand upon his heart and consider how himself is apt to be affected with this usage Speak thy Conscience Man and say whether as bad as thou art thou wouldst not be glad to have every man's especially every good man's good word And to have thy faults conceal'd and not to be hardly spoken of though it may be not altogether without truth by those whom thou didst never offend by word or deed But with what face or reason dost thou expect this from others to whom thy carriage hath been so contrary Nothing surely is more equal and reasonable than that known Rule What thou wouldst have no man do to thee that do thou to no man Fifthly When you are going to speak reproachfully of others consider whether you do not lie open to just reproach in the same or some other kind Therefore give no Occasion no Example of this barbarous usage of one another There are very few so innocent and free either from infirmities or greater faults as not to be obnoxious to reproach upon one account or other even the wisest and most virtuous and most perfect among men have some little vanity or affectation which lays them open to the raillery of a mimical and malicious wit Therefore we should often turn our thoughts upon our selves and look into that part of the Wallet which men commonly fling over their shoulders and keep behind them that they may not see their own Faults And when we have searched that well let us remember our Saviour's Rule He that is without sin let him cast the first stone Lastly consider That it is in many Cases as great a charity to conceal the evil you hear and know of others as if you relieved them in a great necessity And we think him a hard-hearted man that will not bestow a small Alms upon one in great want It is an excellent Advice which the Son of Sirach gives to this purpose Talk not of other mens lives If thou hast heard a word let it die with thee and be bold it will not burst thee I shall in the V th and last place give some Rules and Directions for the prevention and cure of this great evil among men First Never say any evil of any man but what you certainly know When ever you positively accuse and endite any man of any Crime though it be in private and among Friends speak as if you were upon your Oath because God sees and hears you This not only Charity but Justice and regard to Truth do demand of us He that easily credits an ill Report is almost as faulty as the first inventer of it For though you do not make yet you commonly propagate a Lye Therefore never speak evil of any upon common Fame which for the most part is false but almost always uncertain whether it be true or not Not but that is a fault in most Cases to report the evil of men which is true and which we certainly know to be so But if I cannot prevail to make men wholly to abstain from this fault I would be glad to compound with some Persons and to gain this point of them however because it would retrench nine parts in ten of the evil-speaking that is in the World Secondly Before you speak evil of any man consider whether he hath not obliged you by some real kindness and then it is a bad return to speak ill of him who hath done us good Consider also whether you may not come hereafter to be acquainted with him related to him or obliged by him whom you have thus injured And how will you then be ashamed when you reflect upon it and perhaps have reason also to believe that he to whom you have done this injury is not ignorant of it Consider likewise whether in the change of Human affairs you may not some time or other come to stand in need of his favour and how incapable this carriage of yours towards him will render you of it And whether it may not be in his power to revenge a spiteful and needless word by a shrewd turn So that if a man made no conscience of hurting others yet he should in prudence have some consideration of himself Thirdly Let us accustom our selves to pity the Faults of men and to be truly sorry for them and then we shall take no pleasure in publishing them And this common Humanitie requires of us considering the great infirmities of humane Nature and that we our selves also are liable to be tempted Considering likewise how severe a Punishment every Fault and miscarriage is to it self and how terribly it exposeth a man to the wrath of God both