Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	peace_n	spirit_n	unity_n	1,812	5	8.9331	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26295	Vox clamantis, or, An essay for the honour, happiness and prosperity of the English gentry, and the whole nation in the promoting religion and vertue, and the peace both of church and state. / by P.A. ...	Ayres, Philip, 1638-1712.	1684 (1684)	Wing A4314; ESTC R32826	52,049	117

to be much wondered at among Heathens that know not God yea many of them that worship the Devil But for those that own the Christian Religion a Gospel of Peace to abound herein is the greatest scandal possible to our holy Christian Profession The Almighty calls therefore aloud to us all to return to the Primitive Purity and Integrity of our Religion and if so then there would be neither place for Papal pride Tyranny Uncharitableness and Cruelty on the one hand nor for Pride Peevishness ignorant Confidence Factions Divisions Hatred and Variance on the other hand Alas Quis non vita etiam sua redimat subrotum istuc infinitum dissidii scandalum was the saying as I have read of the worthy Martin Bucer It is therefore Gentlemen a work very well becoming you to set your selves against all Faction and Division earnestly to promote the peace of the Church and State that we may be all united at home And in the next place promote the Peace and Unity of Christendom a brave and noble work if it were possible to be effected to unite all Christians together in Christendom which wise and good men of all sides have thought possible but if in this respect you can do little yet let us all wish and pray for the peace happiness and unity of the Christian world in the Language of our Church That God would inspire continually the Vniversal Church with the Spirit of Truth Vnity and Concord and grant that all they that do confess his holy name may agree in the truth of his holy word and live in Vnity and Godly love And however as to such who although they deny the Infalibility of the Papacy yet will every one claim it to himself that affirm they are every one guided by the Spirit and that adhere strongly to those tenents which are inconsistent with Government Order and Peace of the world if ever you would preserve peace and Unity these must be looked on as Religious Lunaticks and so to be dealt with kept from doing of mischief Consider our holy Profession enjoyns us nothing more than Unity and Peace to speak the same things to be all of one mind to study peace to keep the unity of the Spirit in the Bond of of Peace to love one another by which we should properly distinguish our selves to be the Disciples of Christ which our Fanaticks will nevertheless contradict and gainsay although it be to reproach God himself for they will confidently affirm that this which God requires of us is impossible and that it is as possible to make all faces alike as all Christians to speak one and the same thing and to be united And that to endeavour this is to do as Procrastes did with those that lay in his Bed with horrid cruelty to bring all men to the size thereof When in truth they herein plead but for their Lusts and Vices and because they be unwilling to bring their lives to the rule God hath given they would wickedly pervert the Rule and make it sute with their Lusts. For the great hinderance of this Unity Peace and Love arises from our Pride and Self confidences our Peevish Tempers our Lusts and Passions which we ought to mortify and subdue if we would be Christians as we profess our selves to be this excellent design of Unity and Peace among all Christians might meet with its desired effect I have read of St. Ambrose that he should say Si virtutem finis ille maximus sit qui plurimorum spectat profectum moderatio omnium pulcherima est if that end of Vertues be the greatest that looks at publick good moderation is of all the most beautiful And it is said of the Thebans that they made Harmonia a Goddess they accounted her the Defender of their City and surely she may be well accounted the Upholder of the Universe for by Order Agreement and Peace the whole world subsists and God in Scripture is styled the God of Order Therefore as one says well Harmonious Dispositions that are for Order and Government Unity and Peace have much of God in them there is a Nobleness in such hearts And doubtless those Principles Doctrines and Designs which most promote the great end and design of Christianity viz. The making men really good and vertuous and for the uniting us all together in mutual Love and Charity as Brethren all of one great Family of which Christ is the head will own God their Author So likewise all those that are of Dividing and Schismatical Principles and Practices whose very end and natural tendency is disturbance to order Government and Peace in the world are certainly from the Devil that Abaddon and Apollion the great Destroyer whatever their Pretences otherwise may be And now I think these truths which I have presented before you are worthy of our most serious thoughts and considerations and that it is high time when Gods dreadful Judgments are abroad that shake the Foundations of Christendom to leave off Jesting and Drolling with God and Religion Sharpness of Wit as a Learned Author hath observed hath commonly with it Pride and Levity two ill Companions therefore take heed and consider truly that wit and wisdom are far different things it is true that wit well improved by sound Study by time and experience improves into wisdom at last for wisdom is not born with us into the world yea wisdom is a solid and serious thing it teacheth us to consider truly and fully of all things to look beyond the surface or first representation and appearances of things and if Gentlemen and Scholars will not study and consider things truly if they become careless and lay aside consideration what use will all the Pious and Learned Books in the world be for any more but to be consumed and destroyed and the Religion of Mahomet to be speedily expected among us for that will best befit an inconsiderate age given up wholly to their sensualities to gratify their carnal appetites for nothing will certainly please more such sensualities than a Mahumetan Paradice But I hope better things and that Gentlemen will yet be like Gentlemen Knowing Learned and Wise and let every one of you argue with your selves thus What although I am descended of a Noble of a Gentile Family and am possest of a fair Estate enjoy the fulness of all earthly felicities have a numerous train and live in great Pomp and State yet hath not the wisest Mortal that ever lived even wise Solomon after he had experienced the fulness of all these things in a greater measure then ever any before or since hath done and being inspired with wisdom from God concluded thus that Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit And shall I be so unwise as to put any other value or esteem upon all these far less injoyments that possibly I may possess Is not that a prudent Saying Si tibi Pulchra Domus si splendida mensa quid inde

us we would never entertain them these goodly things have their Recipisti written upon them Son remember thou hast received thy good things c. How many of those think you saith the Author who out of their opinion of skill and strength hath given free entertainment to the world and made large use of it when their time and hour came would rather have gon out of some poor Cottage than out of a Princes Palace and have lived with no noise in the world that so they might have died with some peace Charles the 5 th the Prince of Parma and sundry others though they lived in all pomp and state yet at their death they desired to be buried in a poor Capuchins Hood I hope Gentlemen you will accept of plain reason and truth although coming to you in a plain and Country Dress without Ornament of Language Fine Words and Complement usually have a prevalency with Ladies but it is Reason that is or should be at least most acceptable to and most prevalent with men especially with Gentlemen that better part of Mankind the well educated the best instructed the most knowing part of the world with them especially the universal reason of all Mankind the Ius Naturale should prevail I cannot but express my respects I bear for a Gentleman that is such and truly deserves that name And this brief Essay proceeds therefrom designing next to the honour of God and Loyalty to my Sovereign the Credit the Honour the Profit of the Gentry of England their greatest interest and happiness their highest concern the welfare both of their Minds Bodies Estates and Families their felicity both Temporal and Eternal Gentlemen as the Son of Syrach speaks Ecclus. 39.20 Wine and Musick rejoice the heart but the love of wisdom is above them both The great design and main end of Gentlemen in all their study should be a solid piety according to that saying Finis studiorum sit erudita pietas You had better been without an Estate then without this for as Solomon speaks Prov. 26.1 As Snow in Summer and as Rain in Harvest so honour is not seemly for a fool I hope I may propose this to you in the words of the Royal Martyr to his Majesty that now is in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is better to be Charles le Bon than Charles le Grand it is better to be Good than Great CHAP. VIII Cautions to Gentlemen to take care to preserve their Estates by wise management of them I Hope it will be now needless further to pursue my design and to beseech you not to dishonour and degrade your selves by any sordid base and unworthy Actions but to uphold and keep up your eminency and Repute in the world to maintain your honour and that by actions truly Generous Noble and Excellent and this the rather upon this further consideration that the Gentry are usually the object of the Common peoples hatred doubtless you have many Enemies of the vulgar who have of a long time had an aking tooth at your Grandure and Estates and you may be sure you are the objects of their envy witness the designs of the Levellers in our late times take heed therefore you do not cherish an Enemy in your own bosom also I mean your Intemperance and Excesses Let this therefore be in the number of your Litanies A meipso Libera me Domine and be you solicitous to preserve your Estates as from the Assaults of others so more especially from the Assaults of your own Extravagancies Riot and Excess May I propose a few things for your welfare and preservation of your Estates and Fortunes in the world Live answerable to your selves and to your Estates but not above them and beware of Suretiship this being a fault that the best natures are most incident to Great reason that Gentlemen should be warned of the danger hereof and that their generous and friendly natures do not prejudice or undo them there being very many instances that many Families have been ruined thereby And certainly no charity should lead a man out of desire to save his friend wilfully to ruin himself and offer up himself Wife and Children a Sacrifice to Friendship Compute therefore often your incomes and disbursments that so you may see whether you go forward or backward in your Estates and think this no despicable Counsel for if this advice had been followed it had preserved many a gentile and worthy Family from ruin in this Nation that are come to nothing A Gentleman of Four or Five Thousand Pounds per Ann. may as soon be undone as a Gentleman of Two or Three Hundred when he will every year exceed his Income and Estate especially when it meets also with other chances and contingencies unseen and unthought of which very many times fall out in the world Expect not therefore impossibilities but if that you yearly sink in your Estate at last it may end in beggery And think seriously what entertainment you are like then to meet with in the world especially from the common sort of people It is true that Donec eris feliix multos numerabis Amicos but alas then you will find things far otherwise In time consider therefore to prevent this mischief by retrenching your Expences and reducing them to be answerable at least to your Estates that you come not to Iulius Caesar's Reckoning as a late Author hath it who when he had considered of his Estate and summ'd it up and found how great a Sum he was indebted beyond what he was worth said merrily Tantum me oportet habere ut nihil habeam so much must I have that I may give every man his own and my self have nothing Now doubtless it cannot be prudent therefore to live to the utmost extent of an Estate but to live above an Estate what less can it be but the height of madness and folly Get faithful Servants and that they may be diligent and faithful to you promote Religion among them if they are not under there straints of Religion and Conscience I know not how they should prove Good Servants for it is most certain that it is true Religion that makes Good and Loyal Subjects and good diligent and faithful Servants Do not therefore corrupt and debauch your Servants by promoting what is sinful in them either by your countenance or command for that is directly acting against your own great interest Gentlemen may I humbly tender this further to your consideration whether it might not better become you and be also for your real advantage to be more resident upon your Estates and at your ancient Mannor-Houses and Habitations in the Country not only to keep them up in good repair but to keep up and maintain your Honour Splendour and Repute by the ancient and good House-keeping and Hospitality and there to live as petty Monarchs in your own Principalities and to well-manage and govern your Tenants and Dependants to serve your King and