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
A73267	The dignitie of Gods children. Or An exposition of 1. Iohn 3. 1.2.3 Plentifully shewing the comfortable, happie, and most blessed state of all Gods children, and also on the contrarie, the base, fearefull, and most wofull condition of all other that are not the children of God.	Stoughton, Thomas.	1610 (1610)	STC 23315.5; ESTC S117855	406,069	519

of the sobriety of Gods children in prosperity and in aduersity as also of that watchfulnesse which doth alwaies accompany and associate the said sobriety For whereas the wicked in prosperity swell and rage are proud and insolent contemning and despising all men as if they would beare down all before them and so do fall into infinit outrages the children of God looking to him that giueth prosperity considering for what end they haue more then other regarding the vncertainty of all that they haue and remembring before the account that one day they shall make of the emploiment of all that they haue receiued are kept from the former euils So whereas the wicked in aduersity do mutter and murmur against him that sendeth the same and particularly in the times of need and great penury do occupy their heads with many wicked imaginations and put in practise many vnlawfull shifts of stealing of borrowing without purpose of paying againe of promising much and performing nothing of deceiuing cosening and such like the children of God liuing euen this life by their faith and belieuing the promises of God as well for this life as for the life to come and remembring the performance of them in all ages and calling to mind the experience that themselues haue had of Gods prouidence c. do so commit their waies vnto him and cast their care vpon him that they are kept from those former scandalous euils These things might be prosecuted more at large but the religious reader by these instances may consider of other the like Touching the other point before named the raising againe of them that after regeneration doe fall to disgracefull sinnes Dauid also is a most worthy example thereof For how gratiously he was raised after his foule adultery with Bathsheba and his most horrible murder of her husband Vriiah it is manifest by the confession of his sinne to Nathan the Prophet 2. Sam. 12. 13. and by that dolefull and no lesse heauy then heauenly one and fifty Psalme written afterward by him in further testimony of his most serious and vnsained repentance When he was againe afterward ouertaken with numbring of the people yea though Ioab coūselled him very grauely to the contrary how was he raised out of the same being admonished thereof by Nathan and corrected with a great pestilence amongst his people by the angell of the Lord Yea did he he testifie that his rising againe by acknowledgement of his sinne and by praying for the people that the hand of might be turned from them vpon himselfe and his own house saying I haue done wickedly but these sheepe what haue they done Let thine hand I pray thee be against me and my fathers house 2 Sam. 24. 17. How did Hezekiah humble himselfe and cause the inhabitants of Ierusalem to humble themselues when hee saw wrath to come from the Lord vpon him and Ierusalem because he had not rendred vnto the Lord according to the reward of health miraculously bestowed vpon him 2. Chroni 32. 25. 26. How bitterly did Peter weepe after his foule and shamefull denying and forswearing of his master Yea how zealous was he from that time forward for him For being with other and Christ being there vnknown to his disciples and hauing bidden them to cast out their net on the right side of the ship with promise to finde for they had laboured all night and taken nothing and the net according to the former promise of Christ hauing comprehended a great multitude of fishes whereby Iohn discerned him to be Christ that had so spoken vnto them Peter no sooner heard Iohn say It is the Lord but presently he girded his garment vnto him and leapt into the sea and so came swimming vnto Christ whereas all the rest staied in the ship and so at leisure brought it and came themselues therein vnto the land Ioh 21. 1. To these things let me heere insert this one point more viz. that whereas the children of God regenerated doe sometimes fall into greater sins then the common sort of eiuill men not regenerated as Dauid in the things before spoken of and Salomon in many things this falleth out by the speciall prouidence and wisedome of God the better to teach what men are of themselues without God and beeing left vnto themselues as also to admonish such as thinke they stand to take heede lest they fall 1. Cor. 10. 12. and to instruct all to finish ther saluation with the more feare and trembling Phill. p. 2. 12. So by their sinnes they are made schoolemasters vnto other Is not this a singular priuiledge so to haue the old man more and more mortified so to bee preserued from great sinnes after regeneration So to arise out of them being by frailty and naturall corruption fallen into them and so by falling into them to bee made schoolemasters of such excellent things vnto other Verily we cannot but acknowledge it to be a great priuiledge if we shall consider with what greedinesse all the wicked and vnregenerate commit sinne continue in sinne and like wilde horses doe runne on and proceed from one sinne to another without any restraint But to proceed yet further as the childrenof God do daily more and more die vnto sinne and are preserued from notorious euils wherein the wicked wallow and welter themselues like filthy swine in the mire and will not be plucked out or if they fall into such euils yet they rise againe As I say the children of God do thus so also hauing by the vertue of their regeneration once brought foorth the fruits of the spirit and of righteousnesse they are made more and more abundant in them As the Apostle hath often exhorted the children of God so to doe viz. to abound alwaies in the works of the Lord 1. Cor. 15. 58. to encrease more and more c. 1. Thes 4. 1. to bee rich in good works c. 1. Tim. 6. 18. to consider one another to prouoke to loue and to doe good works Heb. 10. 24. to toyne vertue with faith and with vertue knowledge with knowledge temperance with temperance patience with patience godlinesse with godlines brotherly kindnes with brotherly kindnes loue and not onely to haue all these things but that also these things should abound in them 2. Pet. 1. 6. 7. 8. And as the Apostle praied most earnestly to be with the Philippians to this end that their loue might abound more and more in knowledge and iudgement and that to these ends first that touching their inward man their minds might be able to iudge things that differ and their hearts might be pure as the Sunne Cantic 6. 9. that is cleer and sincere without mixture of hypocrisie and touching their outward man both without offence euen till the comming of Christ and also filled with the fruits of righteousnesse Philip. 1. 9. 10. 11. As I say the Apostles haue exhorted the children of God so to abound in all goodnesse as also whiles they liued praied

God murmurers prophane persons and otherwise wicked doth prouoke the children of God the more to take heed of such sinnes and the more to abound in the contrary vertues 1 Cor. 10. 6. 7 c. Heb. 12. 16 17. Iude 3. and 4. and 20. This is necessary first in respect of God that the more he is dishonored by other the more glory he may haue by his children Secondly in respect of such wicked men themselues for their better conuersion Mat. 5. 16. 1 Pet. 2 12. The like is to bee said of purging our selues according to the care that we see of other for purging themselues The more we see other to purge themselues the more also must we purge our selues Therefore doth God let vs see and heare of good examples that we should imitate them Heb. 13. 8. Iames 5. 16. 17. 3. Iohn 11. 1. Cor. 11. 1. 2. Cor. 8. 1. c. Philip. 3 17. Last of all the more vncleane and polluted that wee our selues haue been the more we haue giuen our members as seruants vnto vncleannesse and to iniquity before we had this hope in vs. the more the Lord doth require that we should giue our m●mbers seruants vnto righteousnesse when we come to haue this hope in vs. This the Apostle Paul expresly commandeth in the very words before set downe Rom. 6 19. And this is plaine by the doctrine of our Sauiour himselfe For from the particular experience of the abundant loue of the woman towards him that had found abundant mercy in the forgiuenesse of her abundant sinnes from I say his particular experience of her abundant loue for his abundant mercy in forgiuing her abundant sinnes testified by abundant fruits thereof viz. first by her bringing a box of pretious ointment Secondly by her washing Christs feet with her teares Thirdly by her wiping them with the hair of her head Fourthly by her kissing of them Fiftly by her anointing them with the foresaid ointment that so they might not bee cleane with her washing but also sweete with her ointment by all these things our Sauiour pronounceth that many sinnes were forgiuen her and from all these things in her particular example he insinuateth this generall doctrine that to whom much is forgiuen he loueth much as contrarily to whom a little is forgiuen he loueth a little Luk. 7. 47. This we haue seene by the example of Peter before The more he had fallen and defiled himselfe by denying and forswearing of Christ the more Christ afterward chargeth him to loue him and to declare his loue by feeding his sheepe the more diligently Ioh. 21. 15. yea before this charge the more we haue heard Peter to haue testified his loue towards Christ himselfe by casting himselfe into the sea as soone as euer he heard Christ to be on the shore and by swimming vnto Christ when the rest of the disciples euen Iohn himselfe not excepted who was the disciple whom Christ had specially loued made no more hast then to come by ship vnto him The more that Paul before his calling had blasphemed and persecuted Christ the more being called he purged himselfe and shewed himselfe zealous of the glory of God according to his former blasphemy as also by more abundant labour for the Church 1. Cor. 15. 10. and 2. Cor. 11. 23. He shewed himselfe the more louing to the Church according to his former persecution thereof As the Scripture recordeth Bathsheba the wife of Vriah to haue been a greater sinner by yeelding to the adulterous lust of Dauid then Abigail so when they were both the wiues of Dauid it appeareth that she went further in purging of her selfe then Abigail This I say appeareth as by many other testimonies of her greater godlines so especially by those golden precepts of pietie and vertue giuen to her sonne Salomon Pro. 31. 1. c. and often else where Thus much of this effect of our hope viz. of purging our selues The patterne according to which we are to purge our selues is Christ himself as he is pure This word as is not a note of equality or parity but only of similitude or likenes As at the appearing of Christ we shall not be equall vnto him in glory but only like him so much lesse in this life can we be equal in lines but onely like him This patterne is the most perfect patterne of all other we are indeede sometimes exhorted to imitate and to resemble men but they are no otherwise to be imitated and resembled then only as they doe imitate and resemble Christ 1. Cor. 11. 1. Therefore Iohn saith not follow Note them which are good For euen the best haue their faults wherein they are not to be followed but he saith follow that which is good 3. Iohn 11. That all that haue the former hope must purge themselues as he is pure it is manifest because we haue heard before that he is our King Now wee know and see by daily experience that subiects for the most part doe compose and frame themselues according to the example of their Princes Wee haue likewise heard that Christ is the head we the members Christ is the husband we the wife Christ is the vine wee the branches Must we not therefore purge our selues as hee is pure Are not the members of like nature with the head Must not the wife frame her selfe as neere as can bee to her husband And haue not the branches the same vertue and qualities that the vine This condemneth the folly and madnes of the Papists that haue so many patternes of imitation as they haue orders amongst them Some are Dominicans some are Franciscans some are Benedictines some are Augustines Some are black Fryars some white some gray I meruaile also they had not some tawnie some russet some greene some yellow some blew some of all other colours If Paul condemned the Corinthians for holding some of Paul some of Apollos some of Cephas some of Christ 1. Cor. 1. 12. c. would he iustify the folly and madnesse of the Papists in their foresaid multiplying of orders and in propounding to themselues so many patternes of imitation so different and diuers euery one from another Christ is not to be imitated in those things that hee did as God onely viz. in his miracles whereby he declared himselfe to be God nor in those things which were proper and peculiar to the office of his Mediation but in those things which he did in the common forme of a seruant Therefore the Papists are as foolish and mad for imitation of Christ in their lent fast as they should be if because he walked on the sea therefore also they should take vpon them to doe the like This patterne is not speciall for some but generall for all the children of God For the Apostle saith that euery one that hath this hope in him purgeth himselfe as he is pure As therefore not some but euery one that hath this hope in him of being like vnto Christ