Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	according_a	good_a	reason_n	917	5	4.9887	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00945	Certaine very proper, and most profitable similies wherein sundrie, and very many, most foule vices, and dangerous sinnes, of all sorts, are so plainly laid open, and displaied in their kindes, and so pointed at with the finger of God, ... Collected by Anthonie Fletcher, minister of the word of God, ... This present yeere of our happines 1595.	Fletcher, Anthonie.	1595 (1595)	STC 11053; ESTC S116009	166,265	184

Ezechiell where it is commanded that they should not go out of the temple by the same gate that they went in bicause they should not vncomelie turne the holie things that were there behinde them and so the sooner forget them or deal vnreuerently with them And that also in Genesis doth teach vs no lesse where they that went out of Sodom were charged that they should make haste and go foreward without looking backe and there is an heauie iudgement of gods vengeance shewed vpon hir that looked back And Christ affirmeth That he is not méete for his kingdome that putting his hand to the plough looketh backe It behooueth all true and vnfained christians to kéepe a perpetuall constancie in a right course of liuing vertuouslie holilie and godly and as the holie prophet saith to go from strength to strength vntill euerie one of them appéere vnto the God of Gods in Sion IT hath béen vsuall of olde that men would inquire and aske of God by his prophets concerning those things wherof they doubted Saule séeking his asses did go to a séear to wit to a prophet for so called they the prophet then The sonne of Ieroboam being sicke his wife is sent to Ahiam the prophet Dauid being a prophet himselfe did aske Nathan another prophet of God whether he should build a temple vnto the Lord or not When the Gabaonites did speake fraudulently to the children of Israel the scripture saith that they were deceiued and that they did not aske at the mouth of the Lord meaning the Lords prophet by whom he vsed to speake vnto the people This I say was very vsuall and common in that time wherein the prophets liued Howbeit all did not come with one minde for it is to be séene in the prophet Ezechiel that certaine of the elders of Israel came vnto him to inquire of many things whereof they doubted but bicause they came not with a good but a bad minde the Lord would vouchsafe them no answere For they came not as men drawen with the glorie of God but stirred with malice and their owne iniquitie They were contented to haue some knowledge of the Lords will but they had no purpose to frame their liues after the same The number of such at this day is infinite for who sées not how many are very déepely séene in the vnderstanding of Gods word and the knowledge of his will which neuer stretch out one hand nor set one foote before another to practise or to do the same They know and will also acknowledge and confesse that they ought to kéepe their harts their minds their thoughts their hands their hearing their séeing and all their inward and outward parts without the foule and filthie spots of the world and to be carefull to walke in innocencie holines and righteousnes before the Lord vpon paine to be barred and shut out of his kingdome for euer and yet they will euen against that they knowe féede fat and as brawne franke themselues with all maner of sinne and iniquitie So that euen as the sunne at some time of the yéere in some place doth affoord his shine and light vnto the people and yet doth little or nothing warme them So the knowledge and vnderstanding of the word and will of God doth not by and by worke an hungring and thirsting to leade a vertuous and godly life in all those whom it hath instructed and most perfectly taught what they should do and how they ought to liue They receiue knowledge and vnderstanding from it but they refuse the grace and denie the power of it But euen as he is not rightly called a rich man which vnderstandeth and knoweth great riches and can tell how and by what meanes a man may be excéeding rich but he that hath riches of his owne and doth possesse them So he is not a good and right Christian man that can according to knowledge dispute and reason of vertue and godlines and can describe and define the same but he that is indued with vert●●● and possessed with true godlines and doth most willingly practise the same in the whole course of his life both with his friends and with his foes that man and such a woman is rightly called and is indéede a true Christian in whom the Lord hath great delight The lord vouchsafe to make many such Otherwise knowledge when it is bare and naked without the loue of God and man doth puffe men vp with insolencie and pride so that the more they knowe the woorse they are and must be beaten with the moe stripes bicause they know the will of God and do it not We all are hailed and drawen after an earnest desire of knowledge and vnderstanding but we must do our greatest and best indeuour that our knowledge may be coupled with vertue and true godlines for he that knoweth what he himselfe ought to do and will point and teach others what best becommeth them to do and will shew them their faults that they may shun them and yet will not bend and plie himselfe to do those good things whereunto his knowledge doth direct and point him he is like vnto a cléere and bright looking glasse which sheweth plainly to others their blemishes and foule spots but séeth not it selfe For as the looking glasse doth shew very plainly to them that behold it the likenes of such men or women as are before it that they may dresse and trim themselues and yet doth not sée it selfe So that master or teacher which very copiously and eloquently doth teach others vertue and all good things and yet himselfe giuen to sinne and wickednes he doth in déede teach others but he teacheth not himselfe Against such masters and teachers the holy Apostle inueigheth very sharply saying Thou which teachest another teachest not thy selfe thou saiest a man should not steale and yet thou stealest thou saiest that a man should not commit adulterie and yet thou committest adulterie c. An heathen man by the light of nature and reason could say that not onely an accuser but such a reproouer also is not tolerable in whom is wel knowen and found the same fault which he sharply checketh and reprooueth in another And the same man in an other place doth say that he which is prepared to speake against another man must be without all fault himselfe And another man also no lesse a heathen than he compareth those men which will speake good things and will not do them to a swéete instrument which will sound very swéetly and make a pleasant noise wherewith it will greatly delight others and yet it neither heareth nor vnderstandeth it selfe True it is that good spéeches in men are in danger to be lost and to do little or no good when they be not holpen and in some measure furthered with the good life and honest maners of those that speake them when knowledge hath vertue ioined with

noble and honorable parents bragging onelie of their nobilitie and chalenging their honour but despising their vertues shewe themselues wicked loose and leude of life He that is not nobled for some woorthy acts of his owne nor renowmed by reason of some famous vertues knowne and found to be in himselfe what honour may he looke for séeing there is nothing in himselfe that is good but onely a vaine and proud challenging of the excellencie woorthines of other men Christ calleth the proude bragging Pharisies the generation of vipers And when they boasted that they had Abraham to their father he saide Ye are of your father the deuil And when the Iewes resembled the Amorrheans and Cetheans and imitated their sins and iniquities the Lord saith That Amorrhaeus is their father and Cethaea their mother So that these places last cited do plainly shew that somtimes the holy Ghost doth call sonnes not of nature but of imitation and likenes bicause the Iewes did the déeds of the diuell Christ saith the diuell is their father And when they so followed the steps of the Amorrheans and Cetheans that for the likenes of their iniquities and abhominations they did séeme euen to bée bred and borne of them and had like condemnation with them bicause they had the same sinnes the Lord saith that Amorrhaeus and Cethaea be their parents EVen as Aesops Iay being clad with the faire feathers of other birds did vainly take vnto himselfe a beautie but being discouered and stript of all for a reward was throughly scorned and was turned into his old blacke gowne when euery bird had taken from him hir owne feather So they that make their boast of the noble acts of others and do vaunt themselues of the dignitie of their predecessors and do vsurpe vnto themselues the nobilitie of ancestors themselues being naked of all vertue and vtterly void euen of common honestie temperance and sobrietie are constrained many times with great ignominie shame to put off other mens vestures and with no small disgrace to forgo their vsurped honors It is a thing far more honorable and woorthier commendation that a man florish and be famous with his owne vertues and iust deserts than to borrow his praise and honor of others Men are very fitly though not naturally called the sonnes of them whose déedes they do and whose vices or vertues they imitate If ye be the sonnes of Abraham said Christ to the Iewes boasting and glorying of their originall then do the déedes of Abraham They were indéede by nature the children of Abraham but by imitation they were the brats of Amorrhaeus and Cethaea If thou wilt be counted the sonne or daughter of a noble honest and good man then do noble acts thy selfe lead an honest life and do good works And following the steps of Christ thou shalt be a christian otherwise looke whose maners and waies thou walkest in his sonne or daughter art thou rightly called ECclesiasticus saith that pride is the beginning of all sinne And indéede it is that centre in the sphere of mans life whereout do go lines to the circumference of iniquitie For a proud man hath no righteousnes no equitie he hath no liking of any vertue he scorneth and despiseth all all are his inferiors and he superior to all in his owne conceit Euen as in a thrashing place chaffe is séene aboue the wheate not bicause it is the better but bicause it is the lighter and wheras it is the viler and of the lesse valure yet notwithstanding it getteth the higher and woorthier place Euen so in this life a proud and vaine man is exalted aboue the humble and lowly not for any woorthines iust desert or true vertue that is in him but for his vanitie and a false opinion that he hath conceiued of himselfe And whereas he is of very little or no valure yet he putteth out himselfe before others which are far beyond him in vertue wisedome and nobilitie But the lowly though the woorthier and more excellent man doth euer humble himselfe not bicause he is of lesse valure but bicause he hath in him greater weight of wisedome vnderstanding and true nobilitie Wheat the weightier sounder and better it is the lower place it desireth and séeketh the humble man the wiser and more gratious that he is the more pleasure and delight he hath in christian humilitie and lowlines But the proud man being lighter then the winde lifteth vp and extolleth himselfe aboue all things Whereupon it commeth to passe that he peruerteth all the lawes of God and man for that souerainty sake which he falsely imagineth to belong vnto himselfe Tobias that vertuous charitable and wise man did earnestly disswade his son from all pride and did perswade him to humilitie and lowlines Suffer not pride saith he in any wise to dominéere o● to beare a swaie in thy vnderstanding nor in the words of thy mouth And Ecclesiasticus counselleth euerie man greatly to humble his spirit And saith That pride is odious before God and men and the holie apostle saith What hast thou that thou hast not receiued And if thou hast receiued it why boastest thou as though thou hadst not receiued it There is an old and true saying almost in all mens mouthes that is Pride will haue a fall and the same is very strongly confirmed by Christ himselfe who saith He that exalteth himselfe shall be brought lowe and he that humbleth himselfe shall be exalted Augustine saith that pride deceiued angels and that much more it will deceiue men and therefore to be shunned And Ambrose saith it made of angels diuels And no doubt it is the originall of all euils and the ruine of all vertues where it is maintained WE sée somtimes two men about to go into some sumptuous and stately hall or house through a very lowe and narrow doore the one stouping and bending himselfe doth passe through and go in without harme the other stout not stouping nor bending at all but preasing in with great force hurteth his head and falleth backward Such a stately and princely place is the kingdome of heauen the habitation of the saints of God whose way is very straight as Christ himselfe doth affirme and the doore thereof is so lowe and narrow that he compareth it with the eie of a néedle That man that humbleth himselfe and stoupeth lowe doth enter into that most stately and princely house of the king of heauen but he that is puffed vp with pride and swelled with insolencie cannot get in at that gate he falleth to the ground his pride doth throw him backward Augustine speaking of heauen saith it is a very high countrie but the way to it lieth very lowe And so much would the Lord and king of the house signifie when he biddeth all learne of him bicause he is méeke and lowly in hart And when he called a little childe vnto him and set him in the

he be throughly tried S. 35. P. 13. The best foode for the soule of man S. 36. P. 13. 14. Not proud but humble men do profite by reading and hearing of the worde of God S. 37. 38. P. 14. 15. The riches dignities and honors of this world and the life of man are fitly compared to clouds in the aire which are suddenly dispersed and scattered with the windes S. 39. P. 15. 16. The word of God is a looking glasse that wil deceiue no man If a man behold himselfe well in it he shall see plainly that before he was man he was earth and before he was earth he was nothing S 40 P 16. As a birde thrusteth hir bill through the loopes of hir cage in token of hir great desire to be at libertie So the soule of a true Christian groneth and sigheth in the bodie in desire to be dissolued and to go to dwell with the Lord Iesu S. 41. P. 16. 17. Papists compared to vipers S. 42. P. 17. Man for his inconstancie is compared to a ballance that is mooued with euerie little weight S. 43. P. 17 18. Man is so wauering that he is compared to a Chameleon which changeth his colour according to the thing that is next him and also bicause the Chameleon will be changed into any colour saue white S. 44. 45. P. 18. Not they that trust to a dead faith but they that haue a liuely and working faith shall be saued S. 46 P. 18. Many men of very good qualities and indewed with sundrie vertues and full of good parts haue been strongly altered and greatly disgraced through their familiaritie with the wicked S. 47. P. 18. 19. When Peter came into Cayphas his hall he denied Christ S. 48. P. 19. What it is not to eat the word of God and not to fill a mans bellie and bowels with it S. 49. P. 19. The harder that the tree of sinne and wickednes is to be cut downe the more earnestly and diligently ought the preachers of the word to strike at it with the sharpe edge of Gods most mightie and most holie worde S. 50. P. 20. The Lord doth humble vs in this world that he may exalt vs in the world to come this world doth smile vpon vs with a purpose to deceiue vs S. 51. 32. P. 20. Wicked men are wilfull murtherers of their owne bodies and soules S. 53. P. 21. Vngodly men finde no comfort nor sweetnes in the word of God S. 54. P. 21. In mens iudgements words and works we may be deceiued in Gods we cannot Whatsoeuer is writtē in Gods word is truth whatsoeuer is taught in it is vertue and holines and whatsoeuer it promiseth in the world to come is eternitie S. 55. P. 22. The onely weapon that we must vse to ouer come the world flesh and diuell is the word of God and the practise of the same S. 56. P. 22. Poore men feare they God neuer so much are little set by in this world S. 57. P. 23. Christ hath his cup and the world his the one is bitter but wholesome the other very pleasant but pestilent and deadly S. 58. P. 23. and 24 and also S 60. P. 24. As a guiltie man whose conscience doth accuse him would neuer see the iudge and a traitor would neuer willingly be espied of his prince nor a disloyall person of one that knoweth him and on the other side a true and faithfull subiect that hath done dutifull seruice desireth the presence of the prince in hope to be well rewarded So the wicked and vngodly ones of the world are greeued to heare of Christs comming to iudge the quicke and the dead but they that haue liued with good consciences do grone for his comming S. 61. P. 24. There be great braggers of religion which make a great noise as thogh none were right professors of the truth but themselues such be not the best men humble minded Christians are better than they S. 62. P. 25. Death commeth suddenly vpon many that neuer thought to die nor cannot tell what shall become of them when they bee dead S. 63. P. 25. 26. All men are alike subiect to death whether they beyoong or olde this world is like a potters warehouse and all men in it are earthen vessels S. 64. P. 26. As the moone decreasing hath hir open side hanging downward but increasing and gathering light hath hir opening vp towards heauen So men meere naturall haue their harts set only vpon earth and earthly things but men regenerate haue the open side of their harts euer towards God heauen and heauenly things S 65. P. 26. 27. A common wealth without good lawes and holy ordinances put in practise is like a bodie without a soule S 66 P 28. As the horse is ordained to run the oxe to plough and the dog to hunt So is man borne to loue God aboue all things S. 67. P. 28. Mans hart is so hard that it must be smitten with the Lords owne hand and bruised with one calamitie or other or else no godo thing will euer issue out of it S. 68. P. 28. and S. 69. P. 29. S. 70. P. 29. The earth is the Lords steward and doth dispose and detaine the increase of it selfe at the Lords appointment when God wil plentie when he will scarci●ie S. 71. P. 29. 30. If man cleaue to God God will sticke to him if he will run from God yet can he not escape his hands S. 72. P. 30. A man that is vertuous without hypocrisie is an excellent iewell he is greatly greeued to see any bewitched with the forceries of the world he doth what he can that none may Carnall men are meere strangers to true christianitie S. 73. P. 31. Vaine and carnall men compared to organs S. 74. P. 31. Naturall men will do no good thing vnles they be pricked forward with the praise and commendations of the world S. 75. P. 31. 32. Hypocrites most plainly and truly described by a wood or groue full of goodly trees and pleasant plants to delight men and also full of stinging serpents to poyson and to kill men S. 76. P. 32. Heauenly meditations doe molli●ie and warme the hart and do greatly inflame men with a feruent loue of God This world and the things thereof haue euer been false and haue deceiued euen their louers and deerest friends at the length S. 77. P. 32. 33. The Lorde suffereth his owne children whom he loueth most deerely to bee oftentimes in great wants when the wicked haue euen the world at will The afflictions of this are not the maledictions and curses of God but rather most certaine signes of his loue and tokens of his grace S. 78. P. 33. 34. God doth su●fer his saints heere vpon the earth to be smitten and sore beaten of the world and to be throughly tried with diuers tentations to the end that their inward graces may breake