Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
religion_n church_n discipline_n doctrine_n 4,176 5 6.2312 4 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A40750 Advice to a young lord written by his father ... Fairfax, Thomas Fairfax, Baron, 1657-1710. 1691 (1691) Wing F255A; ESTC R13706 24,090 146

There is 1 snippet containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

did not triumph and I charge you to make your duty to your Soveraign one of the chief Points of your Religion so far forth as may consist with your obedience to God and the Laws of your Nation which ought to be served best and in the first place yet there is such a reciprocation between both these Services that they commonly go together He that keeps himself strictly to the observation of the Divine Laws cannot err in the Humane and he that is a good Servant of God will never be an ill Subject to his Prince 'T is a Maxime of State That where Princes and People are of a different Religion they will not very well agree yet Modern Experience since the Reformation arrived to a settled constitution of Church Government evinces the contrary as at present in Germany and our own Kingdom of England Cherish and maintain the Ministers of the Gospel especially Pious and Learned Preachers Nothing brings more contempt upon the Religion and service of God in the eyes of the Vulgar than the necessities wants and miseries of Church-Men what esteem you reflect upon them will redound and reflect upon your self again What the Heathen said of their Poets That by their Means and Writings Famous Men were transmitted to Posterity and Immortality who otherwise would have lain in perpetual Oblivion is very true of Evangelical Doctors their Prayers Instructions and Recommendations of you together with your own Holiness is the only Fame and Glory will transmit and place you hereafter in Heaven and Establish you here living and dead in the good will and praise of all good and Charitable Persons Let Charity be a chief Ingredient in your Religion In all things preserve a good Intention without which no good Action can be performed vid. Sen. de Beneficis c. 1. both in Giving and Forgiving as you have Abilities Indulge the Poor and let them in some measure partake with you in your outward Blessings and Enjoyments For the other as you are always liable to Offences to be always as apt and prone to pardon and pass them by which in the greatest Adversities you can undergo will never be out of your power to do Frequent your Chappel and the Houses of God let no Business invade or intrude upon your Religious hours what you have destined to the service of God is already Sacred to him and cannot without great Profaneness be alienated from him and conferred upon others For other Duties necessary for a Christian's Practice I refer you to the Discipline and Instructions of the Church thinking it needless to repeat them here which are so exactly laid down by her which I esteem the purest Truth For search all Religions through the World and you will find none that ascribes so much honour to God nor constitutes a more firm Love among Men as does the Establisht Doctrine of the Protestant Church amongst us In whose Arms I leave you and her to the everlasting protection of God Almighty Of Study and Exercises OF STVDY I shall be more brief and compendious because I have wholly as to this Affair committed you to the Conduct of your Tutor but yet hoping that my Advice may be of some use to you after your leaving the University I shall lay before you these few directions 1st That you make it a great part of your care not to spend your time in frivolous Niceties such as the study of Criticisme may be which is not unfitly termed by one difficiles Nugae stolidus labor Ineptiarum but always propose an end to your self in your Studies according to that Old Rule Respice finem For it will be an instance of great Prudence in you to study things which may be of solid use whereas now the whole Province of Learning is infested with frivolous disputations and nice and vain Impostures The best part of your study will be to read such Books as are most pleasing to you and you can study no Science better than what treats of the knowledge of your self and instructs you how to live and die well Therefore I say the usefulness ought in your Studies to be most observed or respected since 't is a strong evidence of weak Judgment when Men approve of things for their being rare and new or yet for the difficulty where Virtue and Usefulness are not conjoyned to recommend them But though the studying only to pass away time be a most inept Curiosity and mis-becoming active and generous Spirits yet you must so order your Studies that you make them subservient to the Concerns of your Honour Estate and Interest and that they intrench upon no time which should be better imployed either in the Service of God or your Prince Your vacant and leisure hours you cannot better impend upon any thing than Books and Meditation nay there is a necessity of making such leisure time if the multiplicity of business press too fast upon you remembring that of a Great Emperour whose Affairs were not only urgent but full of trouble in a new attained Empire Nulla dies sine linea he would not let a day sl●p without some improvement in Studies Your own choice and Judgment will direct both what Books to read and what Science chiefly to apply your self to though I think it Pedantical and unworthy a Person of Honour to be Excellent in any one it seems as ridiculous as Nero's mad Ambition of being esteemed the chief Fidler and best Songster in the World whom Petronius Arbiter a Roman Knight excellently describes in his Satyricon under the Name of Eumolpus History and the Mathematicks I think are the most proper and advantageous Studies for Persons of your Quality the other are fitter for Schoolmen and People that must live by their Learning though a little insight and tast of them will be no burthen or inconvenience to you especially Natural Philosophy which next to the two I mentioned above I should give the preheminence to As to the Laws of the Kingdom I reckon them not a particular Study for they must be your constant practice your place as to Executory will instruct you and as to the pleading part of them 't is below you Keep always an able Scholar for the Languages in your house besides your Chaplain who may be ready at hand to read to you out of any Book your fancy or judgment shall for the present pitch upon him you 'll find to be of singular use and advantage to you and you ought therefore to give him Salary accordingly Think no Cost too much in purchasing rare Books which I esteem next to acquiring good Friends but buy them not to lay by or to grace your Library with the name of such a M. S. or such a singular Piece but read revolve him and lay him up in your memory where he will be far the better Ornament Read seriously what ever is before you and reduce and digest it to Practice and Observation otherwise you 'll have Sysiphus