Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A96914
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A word in season: or, an essay to promote good-husbandry in hard and difficult times: being, in part, advice from a gentleman, to his son a tradesman in London. Lately communicated by way of letter
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1697
(1697)
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Wing W3547C; ESTC R232225
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9,118
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16
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as he tells us Mat. 16.26 What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his own soul c. And Seek the kingdom of God first of all says he and his righteousness and then we have our Saviour's assurance that all these things of the world shall be added to us Mat. 6.33 so far as his wisdom thinks fit and convenient for us Excellent therefore is that advice pursuant to our blessed Saviour's aforesaid contained in this Latin Verse Omnia si perdas animam servare memento i.e. In the loss of all that thou hast be sure to secure thy Soul and its eternal Welfare I shall proceed with the Advice of the great and wise Heathen Philosopher Aristotle who stares that to be the most deserable proportion of all worldly Felicities and Enjoyments which is most consistent with Men's devoting themselves to the business of Religion and that to be either too much or too little of Wealth Honour or Power c. when Men are hindred in their Meditations on God or their Worshipping of him And no wonder a late Author bewails the Folly and Ill-Husbandry of Men viz. Alas says he Man would only live and cares not to know how to live well That which a Man should especially and only know is that which he knoweth least and cares least to know Now why may not I here add and not improperly also as a principal piece of Good-Husbandry That great Vertue of Honesty and Integrity of Heart and Life according to that excellent Aphorism and wise Saying Sola honesta utilia i. e. Only honest things are profitable And more-especially when honest Socrates used to curse those who separated Profit from Honesty Piety holdeth saith one the first place in the rank of our Duties It is the most noble Vertue and concerneth Religion and the Worship of God and is a thing of great importance whence it is dangerous and yet very easie to err and be mistaken therein Religion loveth and honoureth God settles a Man in Peace and Rest lodgeth in a liberal free and generous Soul but Superstition saith he on the contrary is a frantick Error as St. Augustine saith It feareth Friends corrupteth those that love it It is the disease of a weak Mind which being infected therewith can never be at rest And Varro saith of it thus Religious Men fear God for Love and the Superstitious for Punishment Now true Religion saith another worthy Author is in truth the strongest exciter to the vertue of Integrity fixing and engraving it upon the Heart of Man making such deep impressions thereof upon the Soul that a Man shall even preferr Death to the foregoing of his Duty And also Monsieur Charron tells us That the end and effect of true Religion is faithfully to yield all the Honour and Glory unto God and all the Benefit unto Man We are to serve God with our Heart and Spirit answerable to his Nature And the most acceptable Sacrifice unto God is an innocent Soul a harmless Life A pure Mind is the best Service of God the most religious worshiping him is to follow him to imitate him Yet nevertheless we are not to contemn and disdain the Outward Publick Worship of God which must be an assistant to the other To be brief We must think speak and deal with God as if all the World did behold us we must live and converse with the whole World as if God saw us and we are not to separate Piety from Honesty for the one cannot be without the other entire and perfect Now saith he here are two Rocks whereof we must take heed for there are some who wholly give themselves to the Worship and Service of God taking no care at all of true Vertue and Honesty whereof they have no taste a Vice noted as natural to the Jews who were so besotted with this Outward Devotion placing their Confidence therein that they thought themselves discharged of all Duty yea they were made more hardy hereby to do any wickedness From whence arose that Proverb An Angel in the Church and a Devil in the House nay they make Piety a Cover for Impiety they alledge their Offices of Devotion to extenuate or make recompence for their Sin and Iniquity Others there are quite contrary who make no account but of Vertue and Honesty little caring for any thing that belongs to Religion a fault of many Philosophers and which is likewise too common among our Atheists Now the first is far more easie and of greater shew and the fault of vulgar Spirits The second is far more difficult and laborious in the performance of less shew and is the fault of the more gallant and generous Spirits The Pharisees were religious and wicked and some of the Philosophers were good and vertuous but yet irreligious And alas may it not be said What execrable Wickedness hath Zeal for Religion brought forth so much is God injured and abused For the unjustest War that hath ever been in the world Religion incontinent hath been brought to stake to defend it according to that Saying Tantum Relligio potuit suadere malorum i. e. Nothing but the pretence of Religion that could have prevailed with Men to have been so wicked as they have proved But he that hath Religion without Honesty I will not say saith he that he is more wicked but far more dangerous than he that hath neither the one or the other Not that Religion teacheth us nor any way forwards wickedness as some foolishly affirm but the reason is that having no taste nor image or conceit of Honesty but by the Imagination and for the service of Religion and that thinking that to be an honest Man is no other thing than to be careful to advance Religion they believe all things whatsoever be it Treachery Sedition Rebellion Treason or any other Crimes to be not only lawful and sufferable being covered with Zeal and Care of Religion but also commendable and meritorious yea worthy of Canonization if it serve for the progress and advancement of Religion and the overthrow of their Adversaries And the said Mr. Charron also saith That the fear of a present Evil to fall upon us stirs up in us Choler and Courage which are Passions strangely violent and wholly pervert Reason and besides he that hath a meaning to go astray believes every thing as he would have it and not as it is indeed Accordingly heretofore Dr. Stillingfleet when Dean of St. Paul's in one of his printed Sermons tells us That no Man will sooner affirm a thing to be false than he that knows it to be against his Interest to believe it to be true And even Old Geofry Chancer long since hath told us That English men what they not like they will never understand But the said worthy Monsieur Charron afore mention'd tells us That there is in a wise and good Man a true Honesty and a true Piety joined and married together and both of them
compleat and crowned with the Grace of God which he will deny to none that shall ask it of him Mar. 15.11 Mar. 7.11 As St. Augustine saith Deus dat spiritum sanctum petentibus eum i.e. God giveth his Spirit to such as heartily ask it of him And another telleth us Man is a strange kind of noxious Animal very mischievous without Religion and Honesty for of all the goods that are in Man Vertue and Honesty is the first and principal and which doth excel Knowledge and Dexterity and we cannot but confess that the Will where Vertue and Goodness lodgeth is of all others the most excellent for in truth Honesty is a lightning Ray of the Divinity a stream and dependant on the Eternal Law which is God himself and his Will As nothing can be just which proceedeth not from Reason so true Honesty is free manly generous pleasant chearful equal uniform and constant not altering its pace or gate for the wind the time the occasion True Honesty is a right firm disposition of the Will to follow the counsel of Reason It is an active valiant manly and effectual Goodness that is required in us which is an easie and constant affection towards that which is good right just according to Reason and Nature Every Man therefore should be or desire to be an Honest Man because he is a Man and he that takes no care to be such is a Monster and renounceth himselt I would have my honest Man saith a Heathen never to consent to any thing that is evil these are things inseparable that is to say to be and to be willing to be an Honest Man And also that honest Heathen Socrates tells us That an honest Man may suffer evil but will never do any for it is not permitted at any time for a Man to leave Vertue and Honesty and therefore away with all Injustice and Wrong all Treachery Disloyalty Rebellion and Treason Indeed all Passion of Choler Envy Hatred Avarice Concupiscence and Self-love saith one is the deadly poyson of the Judgment and of all good Understanding and every Man 's particular Profit and Interest is the worst poyson of true Judgment and Affection It is a happy thing saith Plato for a Man to go through his private Affairs without Injustice Perjury and Treachery is in a certain sence more base and execrable than Atheism for it is a less sin to contemn God ' than to mock him As an honest Man never wrongeth any one so I would have an honest Man saith he never to consent to any Evil for you sin twice when you do but humour him that doth evil which an honest Man never doth And that to do good where there is danger and pain is the part of an Honest Man and of Vertue and Goodness But there must saith Monsieur Charron be to make my Honest Man compleat the Grace of God whereby his Honesty Goodness and Vertue hath life and is brought forth in his due time and receiveth its last and perfect portraiture And as there is nothing doubtless to be preferr'd before bodily Health but Honesty which is the Health of the Soul so also it is the best Policy and Good-Husbandry to sow good and honest Actions for then a Man may expect an harvest answerable For as Socrates said the Just Man and the Happy Man are all one And indeed the said excellent Author aforesaid Monsieur Charron further discourseth to us Honesty is far more worthy firm stable and amiable than Profit which in a moment vanisheth And he further saith That Justice in general is the giving to every Man what of right belongeth to him And that great Philosopher Heraclitus adviseth us above all things to combat Injustice and Wrong and to suppress it with all our might as we would do the most devouring Fire And it hath been observed above all for a Man to wrong and injure the Innocent is to wrong God himself And herein especially it is the part of a generous Mind to take part with the weaker Side and to succour the Afflicted A late worthy Author tells us He that will mark it well shall find not only more honest People but also those more excellent in all kind of Vertue among those that know little than among those who know most and therefore it hath been complained of in the world that simple and open Vertue was turned into obscure and crafty Knowledge and that in truth Atheism Error Sects and all the troubles of the world have risen from the Men of Art and Knowledge as the wise Seneca long since observed and complain'd of viz. That when Men came to be learned many times they ceased then to be morally honest and vertuous But this certainly is from the abuse of Learning and Knowledge which are in themselves a great benefit and advantage to Humane Nature It was an excellent and noble Character that was given of that great Lawyer and Judge Sir John Fineux in King Henry VIIIth's Reign That he hated nothing but what was Dishonest he feared nothing but was Ignoble and loved nothing but what was Just And it is related also of that Excellent Learned and Valiant Knight Sir Philip Sidney in Queen Elizabeth's Reign That he taught England the Majesty of Honest Dealing and the Interest of being Religious and that he found no Wisdom without Religion and Honesty And it was further said of him That none was more fearful of doing Evil and none more resolved to suffer in a just Cause For as it hath been well observed a good Conscience breeds great Resolution and an innocent Soul is impregnable Accordingly is that Saying of Horace of a Vertuous and Honest Man Justum tenacem propositi virum i. e. He is such whom neither the Madness of the People the He at of the Rabble calling for an evil thing nor the Face of a Tyrant menacing and commanding it can shake his vertuous stedfastess who is I may add semper idem always the same honest Man and Hands fixed as a Rock in a tempestuous Sea And in truth Honesty Integrity and Fidelity was accounted by the wise Heathens to be the great Pillars which supported the Universe and without which no Kingdom or Government could possibly subsist and they always looked upon such Persons who once had abandoned their Honesty and Fidelity to be no other but as noxious Animals as Wolves and Tygers fit to be hunted out of the World by all Mankind As also it is very wisely observed That Fidelity and Honesty was like Life which when it is once gone and parted from the Body never returns again It hath been observed also That the first commitment of a Wrong usually puts a Man upon a thousand Injuries to support that one And it is further truly observed That Simplicity and Truth is a great and wise thing but Cunning and Deceit is mean and foolish As also that proverbial Saying truly instructs us viz. That Frost and Fraud may hold for