Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	abound_v	godliness_n	temperance_n	1,050	5	11.3029	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29181	Practical discourses upon the parables of our blessed Saviour with prayers annexed to each discourse / by Francis Bragge ...	Bragge, Francis, 1664-1728.	1694 (1694)	Wing B4201; ESTC R35338	242,722	507

Dresser of it Christ Jesus who have such great Helps and Assistances to bring forth fruit unto Holiness and consequently such full Assurance of Hope Heb. 6.11 that the End will be Everlasting Life Let Them give Thanks from the Bottom of their Hearts whom the Lord hath thus Redeem'd and deliver'd from the Hand of the Infernal Enemy and be telling of his Salvation from Day to Day And let us of these Happy Islands in the first place magnifie him for this his Infinite Goodness for none have had a greater share of it than we none better Planted nor better Cultivated than the Members of this Church of England and which does much advance the Blessing none were in a more sad and deplorable Condition than the Inhabitants of these Islands before the Preaching of the Gospel And indeed what the Prophet Isaiah says of God's dealing with the Jewish Church which was then his Vineyard Isa 5.4 may be very truly said of his gracious Dealing with this our Church What could have been done more to his Vineyard that he hath not done in it He hath planted it in a very fruitful Hill and fenced it by his Providence from the Incursions of its Enemies and gather'd out the Stones thereof purg'd it from scandalous Heresies and Superstitions which are Stones of Stumbling and Rocks of Offence and built a Tower in the midst of it guarded it with the Civil Power making Kings its Nursing Fathers and Queens its Nursing Mothers and made a Wine-press in it furnish'd it with all Necessaries of Holy Instruction and the Service of an Excellent Ministry to inforce the great Truths of Religion and lay all the Beauties and Excellencies of it before the People And now what could have been done more for this Church than the Lord has already done for it And what an inestimable Happiness is it that we enjoy who were Born in this Church early Consecrated to God in Baptism and thereby planted in this Vineyard and sed with the sincere and unmix'd Milk of the Word plainly and without Reserve or the cunning Craftiness of Men that lye in wait to deceive We are invited to a Frequent and Entire Reception of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper that great Conveyance of the Divine Grace and Aid and have as many and as moving Exhortations to live up to our Holy Profession as are enjoy'd by any Part of the Christian World What an inestimable Happiness is this And what great Reason have we as to bless God for this his unspeakable Goodness to us so to bring forth the Fruits of Righteousness in great Abundance 'T is but Just and Right that we should do it and God expects it from All that are Planted in his Vineyard much more from such as have had extraordinary Care and Cultivation bestow'd upon them as we have had For so in the Second Place we find in this Parable that the Owner of the Vineyard came to the Fig-Tree he had planted in it expecting Fruit from it The Fruit that God expects from Christians that have enjoy'd the Means of Grace and spiritual Improvement is that which is call'd Fruit meet for Repentance and the Fruits of the Spirit Fruits meet for Repentance are the Advances to a New and Spiritual Life such as shall demonstrate a sincere Renovation and Change of Mind a Turning from a Course of Rebellion against God and Hatred of him to entire Obedience to him and hearty Love But he that to the Profession of Christianity adds Debauchery of Manners and instead of bringing forth the Fruits of the Spirit such as Love Joy Peace Long-Suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance and such like Drudges in the Works of the Flesh such as Adultery Fornication Uncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murthers Drunkenness and such like such Men as these are as St. Jude expresses it Trees Jude 12. whose Fruit withereth without Fruit twice dead or dead a second Time after they were enliven'd by the Grace of Christ and planted in his Vineyard where they might have lived and flourish'd and brought forth much Fruit well pleasing unto God and by this their Barrenness are as 't were pluck'd up by the Roots and to whom is reserv'd the Blackness of Darkness for ever and whose End is to be burn'd When our Lord as he was returning from Bethany to Jerusalem saw a Fig-Tree at a Distance very promising and full of Leaves and went to it expecting to find Fruit upon it but finding nothing thereon but Leaves only curs'd it and said unto it let no Fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever he plainly enough told the World that the Profession of Christianity must always be attended with the Fruits of Piety that he expects to find it so and will severely punish where he finds it otherwise The Leaves of a Fig-Tree are broad and strong and hang thick and are of a lovely Colour and therefore very apt to represent the Profession of Christianity which makes the fairest Appearance of any Religion that was ever taught the World and the Title of a Christian does include all that can be suppos'd excellent and good in a Man But as the Fig-Tree besides flourishing Leaves bears a Delicious Fruit and has always upon it Fruit coming to Maturity so Christianity must not be all Shew and Profession but the Fruits of Holiness must appear as well as the Leaves of Fair Speeches and the outward Performance of some of the more Customary and Publick Duties of it and as is observ'd in the Fig-Tree there must always be some Fruit growing to Ripeness and Perfection God expects to find it so and where he is disappointed the Fate of the Barren Fig-Tree will be their Portion We are all of us too apt with our first Parents to cover our Spiritual Nakedness with Fig-leaves and by tacking together a few External Observances of Religion think to hide our Shame and pass for good Servants and Disciples of the Lord Jesus But this is too thin a covering to conceal our Vileness from his Eye to whom all things lie naked and open and who knows the very Secrets of the Heart He that is indeed a Follower of Christ and loves him in Sincerity must walk as he walk'd imitating his Example and treading in his Blessed Steps departing from all Iniquity denying himself and all his vile Lusts and Affections obeying chearfully the Holy Commands of his great Lord and giving all diligence to add to his Faith Virtue and to Virtue Knowledg and to Knowledg Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and to Brotherly Kindness Charity 2 Per. 1.5 6 7 8. for if these things be in us and abound they make us that we shall be neither Barren nor Unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ And he only that has thus his Fruit unto Holiness shall in the End attain Everlasting Life

and promis'd as fair as the good Corn but when the Time drew nigh that the Corn should appear and come to Ripeness and Perfection then there was a manifest Disparity and what appear'd so well at first was then found to be an empty noxious Weed And thus it is too often in Religion Many Men make a fair Shew and Semblance of Piety attend the Place of divine Worship with much seeming Seriousness and Devotion and to all outward Appearance listen to the Sermons of the Gospel and beg the divine Aid as that Dew of Heaven which alone can make 'em fruitful as earnestly as others do And this looks very well and is as far as Men or Angels can discern for the present as hopeful a Beginning as need be desir'd The really good Seed can send forth nothing more promising at first and hitherto the Tares grow undiscover'd among the Wheat by any Eye but that of God But after this first Blade has appear'd and that for some considerable Time after they have begun to make this Shew of Religion instead of advancing further and further to Perfection as the good Seed does and abounding in every good Work like the full Grain in the Ear these have nothing but a Blade and Stalk of Religion no Fruit appears there is no no real substantial Vertue attends this Shew of Piety but rather the Works of the Flesh are discernable in their Lives and Conversations And this is a plain Discovery to themselves and others that they are but formal not sincere Christians vile unhappy Tares but not good Seed for every Tree is known by its Fruits Wherefore let no Man flatter himself with vain Hopes from a formal customary Religion when there are no real Fruits of Righteousness but on the contrary much Wickedness and Folly and Vanity for unless his Religion makes him grow in Grace and Vertue and is seen in all his Conversation 't will be to no purpose to make an hypocritical Shew of it at Church and is no better than the most provoking Mockery of God and an unnatural starving of the Soul with such fantastick Food and will consign to the lowest Hell which is the Portion of Hypocrites And as a hypocritical Religion will have a very sad Consequence in the other World so it exposes Men to much Shame and Contempt in this For every Man that sees such great Shews of Religion such Pretences to Christian Vertue will naturally expect to find the Man all of a Piece and that to his Devotion and Shew of Godliness at Church be added Sobriety and Righteousness in his Conversation and Intercourse with Men. As when Men see the first Sproutings and Flourishing of a Field that was sown with good Grain they expect to find Increase of the same good Fruits But when after all this fair and florid Shew of Piety and Goodness there appears nothing but Tares and the Man is over run with wicked Habits and vile Affections little or no Sign of a real Sense of Religion upon his Mind but rather the hidden Works of Dishonesty in his Dealings Lying and Collusion instead of Sincerity and Truth Lewdness and Intemperance Pride and Malice instead of Purity both of Flesh and Spirit When such Vileness as this treads upon the Heels of a Mans Shew of Religion any Man may discern that he is a christian Pharisee like a whited Sepulchre beautiful without but within full of Rottenness and all Uncleanness that his Religion is confin'd to the Church whither he goes sometimes for Fashion's Sake to visit it but always leaves it there behind him and will not be troubl'd with its Company abroad Now such Hypocrisy as this is certainly one of the most hateful things in the World and instead of gaining Reputation to a Man is the ready Way to make him a common Scorn Men can't but discover the abominable Cheat and they can't but hate and detest it Tares will at length appear to be Tares and the sooner for being among the good Corn. 'T is therefore certainly the greatest Folly in the World to pretend to conceal under a fair Appearance what will in a very short Time discover it self and will bring a Man to nothing but Shame and Hatred in this World and the Flames of Hell in the next And it concerns every Man that desires to be happy either here or hereafter to lay aside all Guile and Hypocrisy in Religion and sincerely endeavour after the Power of Godliness as well as put on the Form and Appearance of it And thus much for the third Part of this Parable viz. when the Blade was sprung up and brought forth Fruit then appear'd the Tares also The next thing it informs us of is the holy Angels Observation of the Actions of Men especially of Christians and their Diligence and Watchfulness in doing God Service and Zeal for his Glory For thus 't is said the Servants of the Housholder that is the Angels as 't is in the Interpretation came and said unto him Sir didst thou not sow good Seed in thy Field From whence then hath it Tares He said an Enemy hath done this They answer'd wilt thou then that we go and gather them up They observ'd by the loose Lives of some Professors that there were very ill Men that went under the Notion of Christians which they knew would reflect Dishonour upon Christ the great Planter of that holy Religion and would be injurious to the Progress of the Gospel and therefore they haste to tell him that they may have his further Commands and with Zeal for his Glory and Intentions of great Charity to us poor Mortals they offer their best Endeavours to rid the Church of those scandalous hypocritical Members That the blessed Angels are by God's Appointment Observers and that for excellent Purposes of the Lives and Actions of Mankind especially of Christians is evident not only from this Part of this Parable but from many other Places of Scripture as an attentive Reader of the holy Writings must often have observ'd Of which some few of the new Testament only that give most Light to this Matter I shall at present mention St. Paul in 1 Cor. 11.10 giving Directions for the more decent Service of God in the Church for this Reason says he according to the Custom of that Time ought Women to be veil'd or cover'd as the true Sense of the Place is in their publick religious Assemblies because of the Angels That is lest any thing indecent should be observ'd by those pure Spirits who are present as God's Spies upon the Actions of Men. The last Verse of the 1st Chapter to the Hebrews is likewise very plain to this Purpose where the Apostle speaking of the Angels Are they not all says he as assur'd of the Truth of what he said Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be Heirs of Salvation That is to take notice of their Behaviour in the World in order to