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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
evil_n	good_a	know_v	knowledge_n	3,077	5	7.3450	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57346	The cursed family; or, A short tract, shewing the pernicious influence of wicked prayer-less houses, upon this church and kingdom Humbly tender'd by way of subserviency to His Majesties Royal Proclamations, and Acts of Parliament, for preventing and punishing immorality and prophaness. By THomas Risley Master of Arts, and sometime fellow of Pembrook-Colledge in Oxford. With a prefatory epistle by the reverend Mr. John Howe.	Risley, Thomas, 1630-1716.; Howe, John, 1630-1705.	1700 (1700)	Wing R1539; ESTC R218001	38,264	98

the Lord and from the glory of his power 2 Thes. 1. 7 8 9 What a misery is it that thou hast lived to see so many Gospel-years with Rain and Sun-shine hast been partaker of the Labours of God's Husbandmen and of their Seed and should'st have come into the Barn as a Shock of Corn in his season yet now at last thou provest no better then a Bundle of Tares Ah what a Curse is it to be thus long-liv'd Is it not a sad Spectacle to see Governours of Families in Gray-haires and without the Leaves of outward Religious Duties in their Houses Matt. 21. 19 It may be said of such that they have unhappily improved the Stock of Sin as long and as far as they could and that a long-lived Eternity of Punishment is their desert Matt. 25. 41. 4. The sweetness of Friends shall be taken 4. Their Friends from the Wicked God withdraweth from them Spiritual and they have no better then Carnal Friends who are willing to please them in their sins Although this is accounted in Scripture to be Hatred to their Friends and Neighbours Lev. 19. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer sin upon him O what a Curse is it to make choice of such Friends as are hurtful to our Souls to wit of loose jovial vain Persons O what a Curse is it to have no better Friends then such as be Friends to our Sins and Enemies to our Souls Admit that a Worlding or a Loose Liver may carry Friendly from a Principle of common honesty and the Interest of his Reputation yet they do not they cannot and whilst such they will not shew a Christian Care over the Affairs of greatest moment namely the Education of the Posterity of the Deceased in Vertue and Piety Compute then what comfort a Wicked Man finds in his Friend or rather come and lament the Misery of all such Persons and Families considering that for the want of this faithful Christian Friendship and Trust the Children of Irreligious Worldly Families are in apparent danger to follow the steps of their Parents and Friends and so perpetuate and as it were entayl God's Curse upon the House still How should Families in matters of Trust for Posterity be careful in Chusing Feoffees I mean chiefly about Religion that it may not Dye in a Pious Family of Children when their Parents Dye If Seneca esteem'd at an high Rate Civil or Moral Friendship it teaches us to esteem at an higher rate Christian Friendship * Non judicabam me cum illos superstites relinquerem mori putabam inquam me victurum non cum illis sed per illos c. Ep. 78. I saith Seneca esteemed my Friends so much my Self that I thought my Self never Dead while they Lived that although I lived not on Earth with them yet being Dead I Lived by them so that I seemed rather to Deposit my Life as well as my Cares with them then to Depart this Life Not unlike one of our late English Senators Expressions viz. † L. Bacon's Essays A Friend is far more then a Mans Self Men have their Time and Dye in the desire of some things which they principally take to heart the Bestowing of a Child the Finishing of a Work or the like If a Man have a True Friend he may rest almost Secure that the Care of these things shall continue after him So that a Man hath as it were Two Lives in his Desires Obj. But Solomon in one place saith That the rich hath many friends Prov. 14. 20. And in another Wealth maketh many friends Prov. 19. 4 What matter then Money is my Friend my Estate is my Friend Ans. Solomon in both places discovers the Covetousness and Partiality of Men in the World who for Advantage-sake sell the Truth in Witness-bearing and accept Persons in Judgment And who knows not how apt Men are to be drawn with Silver and Gold Twist * Utilis amicitia ultimum habet locum quas amicitias utilitas conglutinat easdem resolvit Cic. in Laelia Amicitia non est nisi inter bonos Ibid. Of all sorts of Friends Money-Friends are the worst-Friends to the Purse not to the Person Hence it is that if they Judge the Gift or Fee too little then they conclude their Service and Trust too cheap and they will do far less or quite neglect their Duty The truth is A Real Substantial Friend is the Conscientious Man Neh. 7. 2. Daniel Chap. 6. 4 5. Verses It is a True saying Friendship cannot be there where Goodness is not He that loveth pureness of heart for the grace of his lips the King shall be his friend Prov. 22. 11. Parts and Endowments of Wicked Men 5. Parts and Endowments are lyable to God's Curse And what a sore evil do Parents and Masters of Families bring upon themselves and those under their Charge hereby What a Cursed thing is it to have their Intellectuals poyson'd infatuated and corrupted with Atheistical Principles dangerous Opinions and Damnable Practices What a Judgment is it to have their Gold and Silver Canker'd and their choisest Endowments vitiated Let no Wicked Person conclude and presume of God's Love to him from Gifts It is not Distribution nor Receiving of Gifts no true sign of Grace Talents but Grace to employ them well which is an Evidence of God's Love Matt. 25. 30. What great pitty is it to see Men of Breeding and Quality in the World whose Time of Education hath been as Expensive as the Lives of most Men to strip themselves of their Ornaments and trample upon them in the Vomit and Sink of Luxury and Surfeting And how sad is it afterwards in stead of Ingenuity to acknowledge to Prostitute their Gifts and Parts to make Defences for their Enormities Is not this Treason against Heaven to Clip God's Coin his Gifts to Guild their own Dross their Sins to make them Currant in the World Namely to call Healthing and Carousing Good Fellowship Loyalty or Civility To call Swearing Hectoring and Duelling Gallantry or Manhood to call Covetousness good Husbandry and Prodigality Generosity Ah What a Curse is this to become Panders and Devils to draw themselves and others into Hell more securely Is it not Cursed for knowing Persons to hide extenuate and plead for Sin Is not this to Justify that which Christ came to Condemn than which what is more vile and abominable Woe to them that call evil good and good evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Isa. 5. 20. These are wise to do evil but to do good have no knowledge Jer. 4. 22. The light of the body is the eye therefore when thine eye is single thy whole body is full of light but when thine eye is evil thy body is full of darkness Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee

we have cause to lament the weakness of it by reason the wickedness thereof It is most He is no good Church-man who is not good Christian at Home evident from Scripture that such Professors are not True Members of Gods Church which are not Living Members of Christ. He is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the Flesh But he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose Praise is not of Men but of God Rom. 2. two last verses He is not a sound Christian that is Baptized except he be inwardly renewed and sanctified by the Holy Ghost The real Christian Is a New Creature Old things are past away behold all things are become New 2 Cor. 5. 17. And the New Creature hath put off his former Conversation the old Man which is corrupt according to the Deceitful Lusts And is renewed in the Spirit of his mind And hath put on the New Man which after God is Created in Righteousness and true Holiness Eph. 4. 22 23 24. It is for want of Religious Government in The mischief of irreligious families Households that the Lords Day is not better observed that few profit under the Word and that there are so few prepared Communicants at the Lords Table It is from hence That Ministers have slender Congregations and that Taverns Ale-houses Walks Fields Gardens Tatlinghouses in the Neighbourhood are more resorted to then the places of Gods Worship Oh! All you Careless Ignorant Worldly and loose Heads of Families let not this Aggravating Consideration Namely That your Family-wickedness overthrows Churches pass out of your thoughts till it please God to change you and reform your Families Are you Friends to the Church Set up the Practise of Piety in your Families which are the Nurseries of the Church This Duty is of Great weight and Importance to the Interest of Reformed Religion and of the Church of England If professing Christians live in their Si ita Singuli id faciant quod pietatis est totum corpus facil● Sanabitur c. Synop. Bodini de Repub. lib. 1. c. 1. que 24. Houses in due Conformity to their Covenant in Baptism this through Gods Mercy will render our Church Beautiful as the Garden of the Lord And our Land as the smell of a Field which the Lord hath Blessed The Romans were as Careful to maintain their Vestal Fire as to preserve the Palladium as Pledges of Felicity to the Empire Signifying to us Christians that If Religion and Vertue Piety and Policy be Countenanc'd and defended and their Contraries Profaneness and Immorallity supprest and punished then the Lord will Build us and not Pull us down Plant us and not Root us up If we entertain the Life and Power of Christianity and Honesty in our Families Upon all the Glory shall be a Defence Isa. 4. 5. Quest. What think you of Errours and Heresies tending to the subverting of Christianity A. Quest. And what may we think of Parties and Sectaries Are they not greater Enemies to the Church then profane Families Answ. 1. Here is not intended a Comparative Answer Enquiry whether Damnable Errours and Heresies do more mischief in our Church then wicked Families but the main Business in hand is to shew that Profane and Wicked Families are Pernicious Enemies to both Church and Sate Sabbath-breaking Swearing Drunkenness Filthiness Coveteousness Oppression Pride Treachery Perjury Cursing Cheating Killing Stealing Lying and such like black infernal Sins in Families will without Reformation Ruin Kingdoms and Churches 2. Profane Scandalous Livers are Practical Atheists and Hereticks They profess that they know God but in good works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1. Last 3. Moral Evils of Sin and Intellectual are Conjunct A foul Stomach hath an aking Head and corrupt Streams come from a corrupt Fountain St. Paul In Titus 3. 10. And 1 Cor. 5. 11. Joyns together Hereticks and Sensualists or Scandalous Persons in Families and Parishes as Fatal and Capital Enemies to the Church and equally obnoxious to Ecclesiastical and Civil Punishments 4. We have sad experience what Mischief Parties and Sectaries Rents and Schismatical Causes and Instruments have wrought among Christians even to oppose That Great Article of our Faith The Communion of Saints 5. He is no better then a Wicked Man that hatcheth Divisions and Covets to make separations and will not admit of healing Such were the Donatists whose Tumults were supprest by the Magistrate O that all Scandalous Profane Families in Parishes would sit down and set themselves as in Gods presence seriously considering that they are no more Living Members of Gods Church then the Dead Bodies in the Church Yard are Living Members of that Family whence they came to be Interr'd 3. Consider That Profane Families are 3. Aggravation of Family Impiety It rendereth the Ministry of Gods Word unprofitable great Enemies to the Ministry If Heads of Families would perform their Duties according to Gods command that is to set up Religion in Families Prayer reading the Word of God Catechizing shewing good Examples in the Week Day and upon the Lords Day causing their Families to keep it Holy both publickly and privately I say were their Families thus Governed the word Preach'd would take better effect upon them Is it likely that Preachers should do any good when Parents by open Profaneness pull down what they set up As if they were resolved to live as they do let the Minister say what he will Is it likely that the Ministry should prosper in a Congregation when most Families will do nothing towards it themselves by keeping Holy the Lords Day and serving and worshipping him in the Week Day Would Masters of Families take hold with the Minister Religion would enter into Families through Gods Blessing But O what little is done to help forward the salvation of Souls by Good Parents They ought to prepare and break up the fallow ground of their Families they ought to Root out the Weeds of Vice and pluck up corrupt Principles out of this little spot of ground that it may be fit to receive the Seed of the word with profit Jer. 4. 3 Hos. 10. 12. Governours of Families ought to make their Families Nurseries for the Church i. e. well Husbanded well disciplined and well taught In their own Houses Parents are both Magistrates and Ministers in a Subordinate way to the training up an hopeful Generation for Church and Kingdom Why do Ignorant Loose Worldly Careless Prayerless Families cast off their Duty upon sureties for the Christian Education of their Children Whereas they themselves stand Bound as they are Believers not only to Dedicate them to the Lord by Baptism but as their Childrens Sponsors To bring them up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord Eph. 6. 4. 4. The Barrenness of the ground upon

nunquam desinit esse Maelum nunquam desinat esse Miser Men prolonged for ever upon Earth they would sin for ever The guilt and filth of sin descends into Hell with the Impenitent and the Damned are ever Living and ever Sining therefore it is Just that their Punishment run Paralel with their sining 2. In respect of Duration sin and punishment may be considered and in this respect they both are Infinite i. e. the malignity emnity and contrariety of sin to God's purity and goodness remaineth for ever and the punishment is inflicted for ever Gods word hath placed Rewards and Punishments one against another Mat. 25. Last And these shall go into everlasting Punishment but the Righteous into Life Eternal The wages of Sin is Death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. As Rewards are Eternal so Punishments are Eternal As Life is Eternal so Death is Eternal By the Rule of Contraries these Illustrate one another 3. Sin and Punishment are considered in respect of the Object or against whom sin is committed i. e. against the Majesty of Heaven and Earth the supreme Law-giver of Infinite Justice and Holiness Sin in this respect may be said to be Infinite being the Transgression of the Law of an Infinite Majesty For more full Answer to this Question 1. Observe That although Mans Time of sinning be but short compared to Eternity of suffering yet this doth not appertain to the Nature of sin being Extrinsecal to it for the sin of Apostate Angels presently after the Commission was in it self abstractively taken for that Malicious defection and deformity from the chief Good as hateful and contrary to God as it was afterwards and farther on In like manner the sin of our first Parents deserved Eternal Punishment the very first Day as well as in future time The Reason hereof is this We ought in this matter enquire into the Moral Evil Internal principles and roots of sin the formality of it emnity privation separation and aversation from Mans chief end the enjoyment of God himself the Being of Beings and Fountain of Happiness 2. Quest. But seeing that there be some that 2 Quest. dye in their Infancy some in their Childhood others in Youth ripe Age old Age. And seeing there be Greater and Lesser sins as they admit of aggravations against the Light of Nature and against the Gospel How can it be said that they suffer Justly in case all suffer Eternally Answ. Punishment hereafter is proportionable The Answer to Wicked Mens sins committed in this Life and all sorts shall have their Just Deserts Christ Jesus the Judge of all the World will reward every one according to his work Mat. 16. 27. The greater and lesser sins shall have greater and lesser Punishment but all shall have Eternal Punishment There are Degrees of Punishment in Hell as of sinning on Earth but Eternity of suffering is the Portion of all The least sin deserveth Eternal Death There are not Physical Degrees in this Death There is no Diminution in Infiniteness nor Brevity in Eternity O let every Wicked Man be upon his Knees and pray for true faith in Christ and Repentance of his sins let him give no sleep to his Eyes nor slumber to his Eye-Lids till he partake of the Mercy of God and Infinite merits of Jesus Christ the Son of God who alone delivereth from this dreadful wrath to come 1 Thess. 1. 10. CHAP. IV. The Pernicious Influence of the Sins of Wicked Families upon this Church and Kingdom from seven Aggravations 1. THere was never any Nation well 1. Aggravation of Family Impiety It depopulates Kingdoms Sir W. R. Ghost and peaceably Governed in the which Religion and a Perswasion of a Divine Providence was not well and soundly planted in the minds of Men. And the more that any one was privately devoted to Religion and the Reverencing of a Divine Spirit the more Illustrious and Famous he became in all innocency and probity of Life As the secret Atheism of Mens Judgments so the known Atheism of their Practise opens the Door to all Wickedness Injustice Pride Perjury Tyranny Sacriledge or any other Villany Psal. 14. 1 2 c. Titus 1. Last They profess they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate It is observable that the Book called the Practise of Piety was Dedicated to King Charles the First then Heir Apparent of these Kingdoms Intimating that true Religion is the best Crown Imperial the undoubted Glory and Safety of Church and State Wisdom is better then Weapons of War but one sinner destroyeth much good Eccles. 9. Last The good of the Commonalty depends upon the Exercise of Religion If thou hast true Loyalty in Una custodia Pietas Char. of Wisdom thy heart live with an Awe of Religion in thy Family the want whereof will render thee unjust abroad as well as at home Those that are without Devoted Service to God will not be subject to Rulers for Conscience sake He that is subject only upon the account Bp. Wilkins Sermon before the King 1670. of wrath and the Power of the Sword which is over him will be no longer so when he hath an opportunity of escaping or resisting that Power Nor is there any possible way to secure Men in their quiet subjection and obedience but by their being obliged for Conscience sake And therefore such kind of Persons as by their open profaneness and contempt of Religion do endeavour to destroy Conscience from amongst Men may justly be esteemed as the worst kind of seditious Persons and most pernicious to civil Government Was it not hence that the Roman Empire suffered so much namely from their Cateline Brutus Cassius Sylla Marius and such like wicked fellows Righteousness exalts a Nation but sin is a reproach to any People Prov. 14. 34. It is the observation of Josephus in his Antiquities that the Jews were grown very prophane and careless of Religion before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans The Lord hath a controversy with the Inhabitants of the Land Because there is no Truth nor Mercy nor Knowledge of God in the Land By Swearing and Lying and Killing and Stealing and Committing Adultery they break out and Blood toucheth Blood Therefore shall the Land mourn and every one that dwelleth therein c. Hos. 4. 1 2 3. The abominable wickedness of Canaan provoked the Lord to visit the iniquity thereof upon it and the Land vomitted out her Inhabitants Ye shall therefore keep my Statutes and my Judgments c. That the Land spue not you out also when ye defile it c. Levit. 18. 25 26 27 28. Personal sins quickly become Popular and as sin goeth not alone so it goeth not without its Contagion It is a Plague and infects others when we see them not it is as diffusive as the air which we breath in There is much danger in