Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	believe_v	faith_n	receive_v	6,064	5	5.4775	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28822	A mirrour of mercy and judgement, or, An exact true narrative of the life and death of Freeman Sonds Esquier [sic], sonne to Sir George Sonds of Lees Court in Shelwich in Kent who being about the age of 19, for murthering his elder brother on Tuesday the 7th of August, was arraigned and condemned at Maidstone, executed there on Tuesday the 21. of the same moneth [sic] 1655.	R. B. (Robert Boreman), d. 1675.	1655 (1655)	Wing B3759; ESTC R32573	28,004	41

Tractat in the Practice of Piety concerning the Lords Supper Secondly I examin'd him my self in respect of his Faith Knowledge Repentance and Charity the requisites of a worthy communicant then thirdly grounding my act upon a charitable perswasion of his true and and hearty sorrow for his bloody sin I did upon these grounds minister the Saerament unto him Mr. Y. who only did cōmunicate In so doing I hope I have offended none but those who will not give the Sacrament to any but to them who are of their faction and they but a few as I am informed to submit to which faction subscribe to their decrees is counted the first and main degree of conversion so that they of that Town that will not submit and they are the greater number by far they and their children must be debarred from both Sacraments Baptism and the Holy Communion which none of them can receive living or dying neither in publick nor private and without it many have deceas'd by whom it hath been earnestly desired Oh sad and fearfull condition As I would not have the Childrens bread given to dogs so not denied to the Children themselves I mean those Christians who live soberly and honestly with repute in their severall callings whose compasse by which they steere their lives is Faith not Faction whose profession too is not to side with parties but to serve the Lord Jesus If Mr. Sonds had staid the leisures of our Lording Censurers and received not till they had given him a Probat He had died I verily believe without the Seal of his everlasting comfort and that because it may be he was of a different judgement from them for which cause my selfe with others are censur'd so severely and unchristianly by them who make us either ignorant men that know not our duty or unconscionable men that will not perform it But God forgive them Qui volens detrahit famae meae invitus addit gloriae meae So said Saint Austine once to his reviler so Mr. Higgons Mr. Yate and my self who glory in the shaming unjust reproaches of our Adversaries To do well and hear ill was not onely the portion and lot of our blessed Saviour and Master Jesus but it is also ours who are his unworthy Ministers Malice will ever find a tongue to blast the persons and blot the actions of well-meaning and deserving Christians I shall onely exhort them in the words of St. Peter 1 Ep. c. 2. v. 1. Mistaken seduced and seducing Christians laying aside all maliciousnesse and all guile and dissimulation and envie and evill speaking as new born babes be innocent and not injurious to those that are living the true Ministers of God not to the memory of the de●eased Mr. Sonds who being dead yet speaketh and in the fifth place exhorteth all those that lie under any Diabolicall temptation a temptation which is against nature as for a man to murther himself or another he exhorts those and all such who are troubled in mind or afflicted in Conscience to open their minds to a godly friend or companion to a Minister especially that is knowing and prudent which if Mr. Sonds had done he had not committed so foul a sin He likewise advises all such to be earnest with God and frequent in prayer when they are so tempted It is a good saying of an antient Father Gravis sit nobis illius Tentatio sed gravior illi nostra Oratio His Temptation i. e. the Devills may molest and trouble us but let us be assur'd that our faithful prayers to God who is above the Devil do much more molest and disquiet him In hoc uritur incendio he is scorched and tormented with the flame and fire of our devotion He is compared to a roaring Lion by St. Peter 1 Eph. 4.8 now as a Lion is as the naturalists observe frighted at the crowing of a Cock and runs away at the first hearing of it so the Devill will not stand but cease from tempting so soon as a man betakes himself to the Souls Sanctuary which is hearty praying I demanded of Mr. Sonds once whether he said his prayers during the time that the Devill did assault him with that fearful suggestion his answer was that he was at prayers the night before he did the fact with his Father and his Family whereof his brother was one and so went to bed and died with prayer and his Fathers blessing but confessed that he prayed faintly he meant formally he onely heard another pray but his heart did not join with him It is an hearty fervent faithfull prayer which prevailes with God This mentioning of the Devill puts me in mind of a false unchristian report in a lying Pamphlet which was that the Devil appear'd and talked with him about two hours before his death I shew'd him the Pamphlet and demanded of him an account of that flying report he mildly as his manner was to answer replied that there was no such apparition that he was only assaulted with a strong suggestion which he believed as is true was from the Devill arising from discontent and melancholy which he advised all men to avoid and shun as they desire inward peace and comfort lest they fall into some fearfull sin as he did Who sixtly and lastly as his last legacy and we know that the last words of David were as the words of dying men are especially noted 2 Sam. 23.1 He desired me a little before he was to die to publish these very words by way of advise to the world First I desire all Gentlemen to learn by my example to read the word of God frequently and not omit their prayers to him daily He read the Bible with his brother by course most nights as I am inform'd and join'd with his Father in praier but he did this then as it seems onely in appearance with an outward compliance but not with hearty and sincere affections as he did afterwards in his restraints Then is our reading of the word and praiers sincere when they end in practice Secondly I advise all Parents not to suffer their Sons to live in idlenesse which exposes a man to temptation but to imploy them in some honest publique calling These be the dying words of Master Freeman Sonds and I believe he might say at last as David did v. 2. of the forenamed Chapter The spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue The Lord of Heaven grant that what hath here been published may tend to the honour and glory of his name by the conversion of sinfull soules the confirming of those that stand and the raising of those that are fallen Amen Amen An appeal to the godly Orthodox Clergy of the Church JT was a most true saying of the Roman Orator though in better language that there was never any act not so vicious but in some age had a commender and none so laudable virtuous but that it found many times a

Heavenly Father and thine by redemption O most gracious Redeemer Lord Jesus Christ receive my soul at its departure out of my body and strengthen me O God the Holy Ghost the comforter that I may encounter with death cheerfully and tast of that bitter cup gladly of which my Saviour hath drunk deep before and for me and suckt the poyson out of it so that I believe it shall onely prove a wholsom potion to release me from the power of sin to redeem me from misery and to restore my soul to an everlasting life in Glory Which God of his infinite mercy vouchsafe unto me for the merits of my Lord Jesus This prayer is the very sense of my soul and the desire of my mournfull heart FREEMAN SONDS A Miscellanie of divers remarkable passages and practises of Mr. Freeman Sonds and others during his imprisonment Written by a Godly and learned Divine Mr. Theophilus Higgons Rector of Hunton nere Maidston and delivered to me Aug. 23. who have as he desired in his letter inserted some particulars to his observations Sect. 1. IT is generally reported in Maidstone concerning Sir George Sonds the Father of Master Freeman that no Religious duties have been performed in his Family Master Freeman Sonds told me that by this report his Father was greatly wronged for it was a constant course said he in our Family that after Supper my Brother read a Chapter in the Bible one night and I another by my Fathers appointment afterwards he said prayers himselfe all the servants being present This also is constantly affirmed since by Master Charnock Sir George his Setward who hath dwelt with him twenty years and saith farther that besides the former publick duty his Master prayed by himselfe privately Prayers also as he saith were often said before dinner So then we must not impute that bloody act of the young Gentleman so much to a want of Education in Religion as to a want of grace for the present which God did withdraw from him for a time when he was under a strong temptation and without which grace supporting and preventing us the Best may fall into the Worst of sinnes so that the most fortified Christian being weak if we respect his naturall condition may rightly and to Gods glory say with Saint Austin C. 6. Soliloq Tentator defuit et ut deesset tu fecisti locus et tempus defu●t et ut deessent tu fecisti Affuit tentator non defuit locus non defuit tempus sed ut non consentirem tu me tenuisti Lord the Tempter time and opportunitie of place was wanting and all these were so by thy grace and blessing The Tempter came and assaulted my infirmity I wanted not opportunity of time and place yet that I should not consent to him Thy goodness prevented me Blessed be the Lord for his grace and mercy Let him that thinketh he stands take heed lest he fall A proud presumption and want of pitty to others is the first step to ruine and miserie in our selves Item Whereas some in Maidstone reported that Sir George Sonds in his Letters to his Son Freeman being in durance at Maidstone did not reprove as he ought his sonnes great offence but daub'd it over c. This report is malitious and false for in his first Letter about August 13. and in his second August 20. the day before his Sons execution he wrote very sharply and fully to him about the greatnesse of his sin and stirr'd him to a very deep repentance with serious and hearty prayers to God in his behalf This appears by his words cited in the Epistle of this book S. 2. MAster Freeman Sonds hath been loaded here with many grievous calumniations It was reported that he being at first committed to the common Gaole August 8. Wine was sent for him and divers Gentlemen with him drank freely he shewing no signe of repentance or remorse for his great offence I charged him with it his answer was and it was true confirmed by some of the said Gentlemen that they had not one drop of Wine nor any Beer and that for his part he who was of the temper of those Rechabites Jer. 35.6 drank no Wine nor strong Beer at any time This is most true of him as the other report's most false comming from the father of lies who is too busie in the hearts and tongues of the men of this Age who reported likewise most falsely that the Devill appeared to Master Freeman Sonds in a visible shape and that he had a conference with him This was strongly denyed by the young Gentleman two howers before he dyed who said he was only overcome by a strong suggestion from that old Serpent the enemy of mankind Let those that report such things maliciously beware lest for their uncharitablenesse God give them up also to Satan who may tempt them to commit the like or a worse sin Item It was reported here that for the space of three or foure years he had never taken a Bible into his hands and had no sign of Religion I asked him of it his answer was as before Sect. 1. that every second night he read a Chapter in the Bible and surely he had it then in his hands besides many other times but to have it in the hands is nothing unlesse a man have it with delight and love in his heart And as he ever prayed with his Father at night so Master Charnock aforesaid assured me that when they went to bed in two severall Chambers his Brother and he did upon their knees at their bed-side pray unto God in private and this was their constant course by imitation or injunction from their Father And it is farther testified by George Guthbert of little Chart who had the custody of him at the house of Master Foster Keeper of the Prison and truckled under him every night from August 8. to August 21. when he dyed that Master Freeman Sonds did duly every morning as soon as he arose and every night before he went to bed fall down upon his knees at his beds-side and prayed by himselfe Also I testifie that I saw a very good Prayer-book which he brought in his pocket to Maidstone the Title of it is Crums of Comfort a book full of good instructions and divine meditations Printed the thirty sixth time and many can witnesse upon their knowledge that being in the Keepers house he did read the Scripture and the Practise of Piety every day especially that content of the joyes of Heaven S. 3. AND as touching his disposition I found that true which was commonly reported by his friends that as he was no Drinker so no sweater no curser no lyar nor prophane in his conversation He resolved to fast on every Tuesday so long as he lived because on that day his Brother was murthered and could hardly be induc'd to eate that Tuesday night which was before the Wednesday morning on which day he should have suffered if