Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	add_v	grace_n	temperance_n	1,517	5	11.5641	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34575	The great necessity of preparation for death and judgment a sermon preached in the parochial chappel of Macclesfield, in the county palatine of Chester, at the funeral of Mr. John Corker, als Cor Cor, of Hurdesfield, on the eleventh day of November, 1693, and since revised and enlarg'd at the request of the relations of the deceased / by Samuel Corker, als Cor Cor ...	Corker, Samuel, 1645 or 6-1713.	1695 (1695)	Wing C6307; ESTC R9062	80,354	95

the most sweet and melodious Voices and all other delightful things as Musical Instruments of all sorts he denied not himself any thing that was pleasing to his Eyes or grateful to his Senses or that his heart desired neither was he hindred from the free and comfortable Enjoyment of all his Labours either by Wars abroad or Tumults at home or personal Afflictions or any outward Calamity or imbittering Occurrents and he had a heart to use and taste the sweetness of all his labours which the eager covetousness of wretched Misers will not suffer them to do who reap no more benefit by their Riches than to look upon them and to say the property thereof is Mine So true is that of the Royal Preacher He that loveth Silver Eccl. 5.10 11. shall not be satisfied with Silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase When Goods increase they are increased that eat them and what good is there to the Owners thereof saving the beholding them with their Eyes Which is a poor benefit indeed unable to make the Worldling compensation for his cares of getting and fears of losing them a Priviledge which is common to all others who may every day see more goodly sights the radiant lustre of the Sun adorned with Light as with a beautiful Garment and smiling upon the Earth with a most pleasant and amiable Countenance the sparkling Glories of the heavenly Bodies in their Constellations the lovely and fragrant Flowers of the Field the Rarities and Treasures of Nature and all the Pomp and Gallantry of Princes and Nobles all which are more pleasing sights to the Beholders But mark what Character he gives of all outward things after that he had taken a serious Review of all his Wealth and Labour and found himself disappointed in them Eccles 2.11 I looked saith he on all the labours that my hands had wrought and on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit a disappointment of all my hopes and desires of satisfaction This was my portion of all my labour Alas all things here below are of too narrow an extent to satisfie the vast and capacious Desires of our Souls which are enlarged with enjoying and therefore the inspired Pen men of the holy Scripture have advis'd us That we labour not to be rich Prov. 23.4 Mat. 6.19 Colos 3.2 nor lay up for our selves Treasures upon Earth but that we set our affections upon things above 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace and Glory and the Inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled and fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us and not on things on the Earth the Pleasures Honours and Profits of this World which we are prone to desire inordinately and to pursue immoderately tho' we are charged to the contrary Love not the World 1 John 2.15 neither the things that are in the World if any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him Know ye not that the Friendship of the World is enmity with God James 4.4 whosoever will be a Friend of the World is the Enemy of God in open hostility with him and unfit to see his Face in Death or Judgment therefore our Saviour warned his Disciples to take heed and beware of Covetousness Lake 12.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an inordinate desire of earthly things a Mans Life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth he may live as easily and comfortably without it Nature is content with little and Grace with less Abundance is not necessary to render our Lives happy the Poor are as merry and chearful as vigorous and healthy as well satisfied and contented with a small pittance as the Wealthy and Opulent with their Superfluity which serves only to administer to Pride and Vanity Prov. 23.11 to make them wise in their own conceit to puff them up with Haughtiness and Arrogancy Insolency and Imperiousness of Spirit and to betray them to sin and solly They that will be rich fall into temptations and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts 1 Tim. 6.9 which drown men in destruction and perdition which take up their time and fill their heads with solicitous Cares and Fears engross their Affections encumber their Lives with toilsome Labours about them expose them to a great many Sorrows which pierce their Souls and render Death and Judgment exceeding formidable to them Therefore since the love of this World is so dangerous a thing let us not with Martha be careful and troubled about many things and leave Mary's Vnum Necessarium wholly unregarded but rather spend our Days and Years in this mortal state in adorning our Souls with Evangelical Graces and Vertues to fit us for Heaven for if we had the Riches of both the Indies we can take nothing away with us when we depart hence Job 1.21 Naked came we out of our Mothers Womb and naked shall we return We must everlastingly part with all that we have when we dye and leave it as Solomon saith to the Man that shall come after us and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise Man or a Fool Ecoles 2.18 19. yet shall he have rule over all our labour and gather all that we have heaped up but works of Righteousness will accompany us into the other World and now is the time for us to be rich in good Works to grow in Grace and Holiness To give all diligence to add to our Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledge to Knowledge Temperance to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and Charity for if these things be in us and abound and our Minds fit loose to the Affairs of this Life we shall be ready and willing to leave them whensoever our Lord shall please to call us hence 3. This Readiness and Preparation for Death and Judgment does confist in making our Peace and Reconciliation with God and Men. 1. With God which is a thing of infinite moment for so long as we continue in enmity with him and maintain a Rebellion against his Crown and Dignity he is engaged for the Vindication of his own Soveraign Power and Justice to be our Enemy and to execute his severe Judgments upon us and we have no Security that he will not do it speedily without giving us farther time to consider our ways and throw down our Arms of Hostility against him For the Psalmist assures us Psal 7.11 12 13 That God is angry with the wicked every day even while his Providence seems to smile upon them and they think themselves most secure and confident If he turn not he will whet his Sword he hath bent his Bow and made it ready he hath prepared for him the Instruments of Death God is loth for the Glory of his Patience and Long suffering forthwith to proceed against us For my Names sake Isa 48.9 will I defer mine

is a laborious exercise of many good works it consists in the performance of several kind Offices The Christian must exert that labour of love mentioned by the Apostle 1 Thes 1.3 Temperance is a vertue not easily attained it requires presence of mind and great wisdom to regulate unruly Appetites and to govern unnatural Lusts which are fired by a small spark of temptations and to withstand the allurements of pleasure to refuse the courtships and solicitations of jolly Companions to shun the snares of their wild examples and to bear with evenness and equanimity of mind the scoffs and sarcasms of those patrons and encouragers of Vice and Vanity who can have no kindness for those that will not run with them the same risk of madness and extravagance The like might be shewed concerning meekness humility self-denial and resignation to the Divine Will patience contentedness and all other Divine Graces which are from above from the Father of Lights who is the giver of Grace and Glory and hath placed them out of our reach that we might take pains to acquire them by fervent Prayer and Devotion and exert great diligence in the practice of them For since it is appointed for Men to die but once we should do all we can to prepare our selves to die happily and as St. John saith in the Lord that we may live for ever with the Lord. iii. The time allowed us to prepare for Eternity is precious for it is very short if we measure time according to the largest extention of it for all that space of this present life which is allowed us to do the works of our Callings in is exceeding short but if we take it for the opportunity of time or the proper season for the making our Calling and Election sure and securing our everlasting state 't is much shorter Of all the outward blessings and comforts which God is pleased to bestow upon us in this life he is not so frugal and provident in any of them as he is in the distribution of our time He confers upon us the comfortable accommodation of this world in great abundance but Time he proportions to us in a continual succession of days and hours and minutes so that we never enjoy two of them together but as one passeth away he gives us another and yet how profuse and lavish are we in the expence of them A considerable part of our time we have wasted in childish vanities and when we came to maturity of years and consistency of reason we spent no small part of it in gratifying inordinate appetites and in sensual pleasures So that before we seriously consider the end for which we were created the major part of our time is elapsed beyond revocation and we croud up this solemn work of preparation for Eternity into a narrow compass It concerns us therefore to redouble our diligence to redeem the time and to encrease in all Graces adding to our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge c. 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7. To reach forth with the blessed St Paul unto those things that are before Phil. 3.13 14 to stretch as hard as we can after that measure of holiness which we have not yet attained to press toward the mark that we may win the prize of eternal Glory and the rather should we exert the greatest vigour because we have but little time to do the work of him that sent us 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. in The time is short furled like Sails when the Mariner hath finished his Voyage and is come into the Haven so that we should be careful to improve it to our best advantage which is a special point of wisdom commendable avarice as Seneca saith Nulla nisi temporis honesta est avaritia We are allowed to covet earnestly the best things amongst which this precious jewel of time may be reckoned and therefore not to be wasted in fruitless pastimes and carnal contentments in earthly pleasures and overmuch secular negotiations of this life much less in wicked projects or sinful practices but in adorning our Souls with such virtuous dispositions as will fit us for the presence of God and the society of the Saints in the future state of Glory When we come to die one of those days or hours which we have vainly wasted will be of more value to us then all this world It is scarce possible for us in the day of health and prosperity to conceive how valuable Time will then appear to us We shall sadly repent that we have spent any part of it in worldliness ambition idleness sensual gratifications or sinful lusts We shall heartily wish that we had improved every minute of it in the spiritual and everlasting concernments of our Souls and to be sure if we have any presence of Mind and the use of our Reason we shall then imploy every minute of it which is free from disturbances and interruptions in finishing our last preparatory work on Earth in order to our appearing before our great Judge It will be our wisdom to do that now with all our might which we shall then be so intent upon because a few sands more will bring us to that state in which we shall remain for ever and leave us in Eternity iv The urgent necessity of such a solemn preparation as I have described will farther appear if we consider that life it self which is the most valuable treasure the richest Jewel in this World is very short and uncertain and Death inevitable 1. Life is very short The most fading and vanishing things in Nature are made use of by the Penmen of the Holy Scriptures to set forth the brevity of the life of man 'T is represented by a Dream which for a little while affects the Fancy Job 20.8 but when the man awakes if not before it vanisheth away By a Flower of the Field or the Grass of the Earth Ps 73.20.90.6.103.15 which in the Morning is green and flourishing but in the Evening is cut down dried up and withered As for man his days are as grass as a flower of the field so he flourisheth Job 14.2 he cometh up like a flower and is cut down he fleeth as a shadow and continueth not His life slips away suddenly like a Tale that is told his beauty strength and all his excellencies consume away like a Moth Ch. 13.28.7.6.9.25 26. which by eating and fretting a Garment spoils the glory of it Sometimes the life of man is compared to a Weavers Shuttle which is an Instrument of a very swift motion and passeth the Loomb or Web speedily Sometimes it is compared to a swift Post which rideth upon fleet Horses and hasten his speed by land To swift Ships of Ebeh a River in the East where Job lived which by the force and strength of its Current added swiftness to the Vessels which sailed fast upon it And forasmuch as an Eagle of all the Fowls of the Air is