Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n
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A11261
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An hundred heauenly thoughts And resolutions, tending to draw the minde from euill to good. Written by W. S. preacher of Gods worde in S. Iohns of Mathermarket in Norwich.
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Stinnet, William.
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1616
(1616)
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STC 21527; ESTC S112134
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22,139
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174
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men couet to bee Best fayne would we surpasse one another but the wronge course is taken Hard fayre great iournies dangerous attempts mischiuous Coūcells vnmercifull force mortall wounds are vnder-gone and vnder-taken and all to bee Best that is forsooth to bee richest But alasse it is not so hee that sinnes least is the best man and he that sinnes most is the worst Oh then I will flye from sinne and I will account my self excellentest when from sinne I can stand the farthest 66 VVHen learned men come amonge rude vnskilfull swaines they many times haue not ordinary courtesie from them yea often they haue giuen vnto them an vnkind and shrewd welcome I maruaile not at it for betweene them and vertue there was neuer knit a fast frendshippe by any education Their witte is so base they cannot conceiue the beauty and sweetnes of a learned life But though such loue to drinke on the draffe let my life bee spent among the learned breasts For this I know Hee that leaueth the learned to liue with the ignorant may happen on some wealth but hee shall neuer bee wise 67 Who so hath gotten vertue possesses a Lady of great beauty and such a beauty as shewes forth the beames of wisedome where euer it comes Indeed deepe sorrowes strange wrongs often mightily darken her excellency for a time But as the excellent and swift running Sunne quickly breakes out and kindely cheeres the short and sweet nibled grasse so Lady vertue quickly adorns her owner and well arayes him with most pleasant grace Lord giue mee vertue then rather then the exquisitest dainties and daintiest varieties that high conceits can fancy 68 I Hold it a base thing to be straitened by vnworthy seruitude a man can not then goe to behold delightfull prospects nor step aside to haue his sorrowfull minde supported Hee cannot walke to heare the cherefull and well tuned Birds or to see the pretty Lambes with bleating oratorie craue the dammes comfort limited he is and he must giue attendance But more base I deeme it when Sathan so shall fetter a man that hee may not behold Gods holy Temple where hee may haue his sorrowfull soule solaced with Preachers breath more sweete then South-west winde that hee cannot heare Gods sweete wel-tuned Birdes nor see Gods Lambes desiring milke 69 DEath strikes to some a dreadfull terrour others are not moued at his terrible countenance but by their hardines despise death Some when hee comes giues him a cheereful welcome The first is base and seruile the second is courage without skill the third is truely valiant Lord giue mee a resolute heart that when I shall bee dangerously sicke I may not faint Let mee haue courage guided with skill and skill armed with courage that when death shal cast his rufull dart I may giue thee my heart and leauing this world I may feed my mind with higher thoughts and more excellent contemplations longing to be in heauen my delightfull country and my heauenly dwelling 70 HOnour oft fetches his earth where hee will grow from out of the popular sort so lowe dunghills are fetcht to fairest fields but whiles the poore earth is thus exalted it gets a new quality and holds no more his former then the child that hath leaue to play holds the last part of his lesson Times alter natures honors change manners So such as haue disdained all chamber delights now like and entertaine them with pleasant discoursing Those who would not thinke a thought that is not weighed by wisdome and vertue now can cherish most abominable actions O Lord though thou shouldst set mee high yet let me know a vertuous heart will neuer yeeld to villany 71 FRiendship now a dayes is so rare as it is to bee doubted whether it bee a thing indeede or but a word most make loue to others and yet loue no body but themselues sweet termes and kindest courtesie things ordinarye when yet their heartes within bee naughty But howsoeuer their walke bee close yet often-times their owne feet betray them for they themselues vtter themselues to be but enemies O il imployed courtesie I beare great honour to a friend that is hearty but Lord let me loath hippocrisie and all such humane inhumanity I know some friends whose wordes bring forth actions God blesse them and continue them vnto me but if euer it fall that I loose them I shall haue hearty mourning for the losse of their sweet conuersation 72 GOd is too strong for my poore power to resist hee can either with cunning or with force or rather by his cunning force disfigure and deface me as he gaue me a timely birth so hee can giue mee an vntimely death O then how great soeuer my other busines bee Oh most mighty God I wil most willingly wait on thee though my weake body bee as a ruinous house yet thou canst make mee dwell in safetie 73 IN my time I haue met with strange and vnpleasant changes Oft I haue found ouer-vehement constancy hath proued sodaine Apostacie and pleasant company turn'd to be the forgers of folly This hath made me cry out A constant Louer is an admirable Creature But though such bee the times I am resolued to carry my selfe in all my demeanour so constantly that I will indure any extremity rather then in her sweetest growth to destroy vertue 74 IF Hippocrites bee once vnmasked fame will bee verie prodigall of so notable an accident and all will vnderstand what before the fortifier of wickednesse had concealed It will make mountaines of their sinnes and ouer these the hipocrite as a tossing and tottering ship on wallowing waues shall mount aloft to be straight carried downe to the pit of hellish darkenesse Thus shall they bee carried by the tirranny of fames blast And the longer they liue in sin the more wayward will fame bee to them Lord keep me from all close dissembling that such outragious waues may neuer shake me 75 SOmetimes with heedfull obseruation I haue beheld the water Spaniells sport he hunts the diuing Ducke he waites to spye her rise againe hee swims he snuffles hee in weedes himselfe and all to please his maister and make him sportfulnesse O what a wretch is man that imitates not this Creatures dilligence Euen with my strongest desire I wish I may shew more sedulity in seruing my father heauenlily least this Creatures dilligence doe shamefully condemne me 76 MAny vile things we see to which wee are carried with an eager and impatient delight which things whiles thus we disorderly loue wee disguise our bodies and disfigure our mindes but then especially if led with swiftnesse of desire any thing crosse vs. Loue crost is a monstrous Lyon and like a valiant beast with open Iawes it teares vs. I haue said in my heart then I will looke to my wayes my desires shall bee to thee O Lord. Not whatsoeuer likes me shall bee beutifull but what likes thee shall bee to me delightfull 77 THis world is
strange aduentures But mine eyes mine eares my tongue my head shall serue for a better inquiry For I haue alwaies deemed it miserable to bee a man of mirth or a man of ritches and not to be which passeth both these a man of goodnesse 8 THe aged thinking themselues of some worthines for their long and learned experience haue learne to dispise the yong Young folke say they thinke old folkes fooles but old folkes know that young folkes be fooles Contrariwise young men thinking such weaknesse not fit for worthinesse say Old folkes are froward but young folkes are toward As for mee I am neither young nor old yet age I will reuerence without contempt of youth youth I wil loue without disgraceing age Age is heauy weighes down the fraile and fleshlie ballance but liftes vp the noble and spiritual part And youth is quick and liuely and though oft foyld with vaine and foule fancies yet oft replenished with vertuous delights Giue mee then an old man spirituall and a young man vertuous and both shall goe for currant 9 We vse to say that flesh is weake and so it is how then preuailes it so much with men surely because men are not men for if we be men the reasonable part of our soule is to haue souereigne and absolute command against which if any sensuall motions arise we are to yeeld al our sound forces to the ouerthrowing of so vnnaturall a rebellion I will therefore take courage a fresh and since I am to deale against so weake an Aduersary that in it selfe is nothing but weakenesse I will resolue to resist it and what right reason doth direct by Gods helpe I le perfect 10 I Haue lyued this thirty yeares and euery yeare hath 365. dayes euery day 24. houres so that one yeare hath 8760. houres but 30. yeares the age to which I haue attained hath 262800. houres now in these many hours good Lord how oft haue I thought amisse and if the houres amount to so big a summe who can count my thoughts And if to my thoughts I could adde my vnsauery and idle words and then to these my omitting duties and committing iniquities might I not be ashamed O Lord forgiue thy poore Seruant his innumerable sinnes and teach me so to number my dayes as I may apply my heart to wisedome 11 IT is both Godly and necessary betimes to fit for death Godly because God hath charged that the ignorance of our dissolution should moue vs to preparation and besides sends to vs diuers messengers to giue vs warning for dulled sences weakned ioynts griping griefes and aged wrinckles what are they but messengers of God to prepare vs for death Againe necessary for there be two errors which cannot after commission receiue correction the one about marriage the other about death Hee then that will dye well must prepare well Oh then I will account those blessed soules that thinke of these things and those foolish and vnhappy which cannot abide to heare of death And who so by mirth or promotion would stop me from this preparation I account him as an Host staying his drunken guest till night come who riding then in darke stumbles and breakes his necke 12 TO purchase houses men imploy their deepest wits omitting nothing that cunning can inuent or power minister for a credit they say it is to be an owner But by Gods grace I will die in the streetes before I will bee purchaser or owner of some houses The Pallace of Pride the slaughter-house of cruelty the filthy stewes of vncleannes the building of oppression I will euer loath neuer loue nor euer by them liue And yet in the moyst fickle impression of my eye-sight behold many persons to be Lords of such and so loue their houses as they carry them about in their hearts 13 I Haue seene many whom no outward cherishing could salue the sores of their mind their reason darkened with sorrow their hearts greatly groning teares haue run down their eyes their tongues haue vttred many doleful notes their countenances troubled sometime so ouerpressed that they haue beene dangerously sicke a spectacle of misery But why was this surely God had ecclipsed his fauour and loue for shining on them O Lord I will desire aboue all things to haue thy loue and feare nothing but to misse the same 14 PEace is worth seeking at all times but especially when the enemy is valourous and men bee not of number to keepe the field against his forces yea it is then worth hauing though it were with losse much more to bee desired when it may be had with reasonable and honorable conditions O my Soule God is Almighty in power and thou art weake wilt thou be proud and stubbornly stout against him canst thou match his might Oh no. I will then value his valour and get with losse his fauour yet I shall not loose since the forgiuer is as quicke as the demander the forgoing of my holds in lusts may annome but not so much as his deare loue will ioy me 15 I Haue had friends that I haue thought of value but they haue shaken me off either through their their vnperfectnes or my vnworthines I wil therefore loue the Lord aboue with all the powers of my mind whose perfect friendship no vnworthines in me nor vnperfectnes in him can once dissolue for whom that he loues once he loues euer 16 A Man in ill company is like a pretiouâ— pearle fallen into the mirie grownd the which the longer it lies the deeper still it sinkes into it I haue pittied the case of some that hauing beene of honest disposion haue fallen into such muddy mire and so haue lost their louely qualities But I wil rather retire into some dwelling solitary then infect my soule with such foule company A chast Dame if once you enter into termes of affection with her shee is gone and from you flyes as the hasty Hare from the swift greedy Grayhound So will I flye from iâ—l society and greatly disdaine to endanger my pretious graces amongst their dirty Impieties 17 I Haue often thought in the mid'st of Agonies I should haue bin thurst out of my earthly habitation and that the weake house of my body would haue suffered an vtter ouerthrow And heerein surely I haue beene like to a Horse desirous to run and miserably spur'd but so short rayn'd by his Maister as hee cannot stir forward But I know before long the Raynes will be loosed and I shall bee so galled as I must runne I will not bee so Horshish as to galloppe I know not whither But sithence my house is like to come to ruin I will make preparation for a more firme dwelling least suddenly beeing cast out of house and harbour I bee compelled to take vp a wofull Lodging 18 THe Lord imploying vs in dangerous enterprises the more our vertue is tryed yea the more pure wee grow I will learne therefore to like and not mislike to loue