Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n
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A48584
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A treatise of election and reprobation in vindication of the universal grace and love of God to mankind by B.L.
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Lindley, Benjamin, d. 1723.
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1700
(1700)
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Wing L2312; ESTC R28788
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51,533
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66
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thy Father's Children shall bow down before thee c. Gen. 49.48 Whence and from several other Scriptures may appear That Judah had the first place in the Love of God before any other Tribe or Family then upon Earth yet God would not bear their Wickedness but was provoked by it so as he slew Er the First Born Son of this great Father of the Tribe and from whom it took its Denomination And in After-time when their Kings did wickedly God was provoked with it as appears particularly in the Instance of Manasseh who did evil above all that the Amorites did which were before him for which cause God said He would bring such Evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whosoever should hear of it both his Ears should tingle And further I will forsake the Remnant of mine Inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their Enemies and they shall become a Prey and a Spoil unto all their Enemies because they have done that which is Evil in my sight and provoked me to Anger c. And notwithstanding the great Reformation soon wrought in Judah by that good King Josiah who was this wicked King's Grand-Child of whom 't is Recorded That like unto him was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his Heart neither after him arose there any like him Yet so far was the Lord provoked upon so great a defection of the People that he turned not from the Fierceness of his Wrath wherewith his Anger was kindled c. but said I will remove Judah also out of my sight as I have removed Israel and I will cast off this City Jerusalem which I have chosen and the House of which I said My Name shall be there c. § 3. So 't is clear People in great Favour with God could forsake him by Disobedience and forfeit their share in his Love and instead thereof draw down his Displeasure and Wrath upon them For no Man shall please the Lord or continue long in his Favour who does not Love Honour and Serve him and it hath been in many Instances observable That the nearer God takes any People unto himself the more need they have to be humble reverent and holy as they are nearer the Divine Presence For the Lord hath said He will be sanctified in them that come nigh him which when Moses expounded of the sudden and miraculous Death of Nadab and Abihu Aaron held his Peace this high Priest could not deny the Exposition Levit. 20.1 2 3. So for People to take a greater liberty in their Words Actions and Conversation because of an Opinion of their being more Beloved of God and his People in a more peculiar manner than others is exceeding foolish and erroneous this hath introduc'd that evil Licenciousness with some People that they could think those things tolerable in themselves which they condemn in others and hath found out that hurtful distinction between the Sins of the Saints and the Sins of the Wicked and hath brought a strange Species of Sin for they 'll not allow it to be of the common fort into the Prayers and best Duties of the Saints which many will plead for as though it were either necessary or unavoidable Whereas the Man that is thus stated with respect to the Divine Favour should rather shew it forth out of a good Conversation with Holiness of Truth Next Amos the Prophet saith in God's Name unto this Select People Amos 3.2 You only have I known of all the Fumilies of the Earth therefore I will punish you for all your Iniquities which hath come to pass on this once Honourable Tribe as well as on the rest of the Jews whose Government is overturn'd their Country inhabited by another People and they under a more visible Dispersion into other Lands than any other People or Nation under Heaven and remain to this day as a sort of Vagabonds and Fugitives scattered up and down upon the face of the Earth having neither King or Nation of their their own for as Levi hath lost his Dedicate things so hath Judah his Regalia the Scepter is departed from him the Lawgiver from between his knees CHAP. V. Being 1. An Inquiry into the Infamous Race and Posterity of wicked Ham whom their Father Noah Cursed with great Bondage and Servitude notwithstanding which Curse and Rejection many good People were found amongst them 2. That their General Restoration is held forth in Scripture § 1. HAving taken a view of the two most honoured and beloved Families upon Earth let us next take a view of the most Accursed and Infamous Family upon Earth that of Ham's not Excluding even those that wear the black Badge of Darkness in the surface of their Skin the Posterity of him who blush'd not at his Father's Nakedness became as it were uncapable of a Blush Our Saviour himself speaks of this People in comparison of the aforementioned as Dogs to Children Mat. 15. So that if there had been such a special Election according to which some had been sav'd without any respect to their Faith Obedience c. it would have been found among those or if there had been such an absolute Reprobation according to which some had been cast headlong into Perdition without any respect to their good or evil Deeds we should find it among these But in the trace of the former it 's shewed how that notwithstanding their special Election many of them were rejected and fell away So it may appear concerning these that such of them as walked according to the Grace given them were received and accepted for good For Instance 1. Vriah the Hittite one of David's Worthies a Man of great Zeal and Vertue who was with Israel in their Wars against Ammon and his Zeal for God was such as coming on an Errand from the Army he refused the King's Order to go home unto his Wife saying The Ark and Israel and Judah abide in Tents 2 Sam. 11.11 and my lord Joab and the Servants of my lord are incamped in the open Field shall I then go into mine House to eat and to drink and to lie with my Wife As thou livest and as thy Soul liveth I will not do this thing 2. The Widow of Zarepha or Sarepta to whom Elijah the Prophet was sent after he had prophecy'd against Ahab King of Israel and she was a Woman of great Faith as the following Passages shew At that time there was a sore Famine in the Land and she was run to the last extremity having left her but an handful of Meal in a Barrel and a little Oil in a Cruise and she was gathering Sticks to bake it for her and her Son being resign'd unto Death after that their last Cake was eaten And yet even in this extremity she was perswaded to feed the Prophet with this her Food and to believe him contrary to the common course of things that her Barrel of Meal should not waste nor