Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	body_n	soul_n	unite_v	970	5	9.6533	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26804	Sermons preach'd on several occasions by William Bates.	Bates, William, 1625-1699.	1693 (1693)	Wing B1122; ESTC R27748	111,901	397

Reason and in Accord among themselves there was a perfect Peace but Sin has raised an intestine War in Man's Breast The Law of the Members rebels against the Law of the Mind for there is no Man so prodigiously wicked and spoil'd of his Primitive Endowments but still there remains some Principles of Morality in the Mind so that his Conscience discovers and condemns the Vices he allows and practises which makes the Sinner uneasy to himself and mixes Vinegar with his Wine Besides since the Passions are disbanded into what Confusion is Man fallen How various how violent are they and often repugnant to one another How often do we change their Habits and Scenes in a day Sometimes we are vainly merry and then as vainly sad sometimes desirous and then averse and with respect to ourselves sometimes pleased sometimes vex'd sometimes amiable and sometimes odious we are more mutable than the Planet that is the Emblem of Inconstancy How often do Clouds of Melancholy darken the bright Serenity of the Spirit and cast a dreadful Gloom over it How oft do Storms of Passion disturb its Tranquillity The Breast of Man that was the Temple of Peace is become a Den of Dragons every exorbitant Affection tears and torments him 'T is true this is also a penal Effect from Divine Justice There is no Peace saith my God to the Wickd With which that Saying of St. Austin is consonant Jussit Domine sic est omnis inordinatus affectus est sibi poena 3. Sin has broke our Agreement with one another When there was a regular Consent between the superiour and lower Faculties in all Men they were in Unity among themselves for they were perfectly alike But the tumultuous and tyrannical Passions have engaged them in mortal Enmity 'T is the account St. James gives From whence come Wars and Fightings among you Come they not hence even of your Lusts that war in your Members Sin kindles and blows the Fire of Discord in Families Cities Kingdoms Sin is the Fury that brings a smoaking Firebrand from Hell and sets the World into Combustion Ambition Avarice the greedy Desires of Rule and Revenge have made the World a Stage of not feigned but the most bloody Tragedies In this Men are not like but worse than the Beasts for the fiercest Beasts of Africa or Hyrcania have a respect for their own Likeness tho they devour others yet they spare those of their own kind but Men are so degenerate as to be most cruel against their Brethren These are some of the Evils that proceed from Sin as their natural Cause And from hence 't is evident that Sin makes Men miserable were there no Hell of Torment to receive them in the next State Secondly I will consider the Evils consequent to Sin as the Penal Effects of the Sentence against Sin of Divine Justice that decrees it and Divine Power that inflicts it and in these the Sinner is often an active Instrument of his own Misery 1. The Fall of the Angels is the first and most terrible Punishment of Sin God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell reserved in Chains of Darkness to Judgment How are they fallen from what height of Glory and Felicity into bottomless Perdition How are they continually rack'd and tormented with the Remembrance of their lost Happiness If a thousand of the prime Nobility of a Nation were executed in a day by the Sentence of a righteous King we should conclude their Crimes to be atrocious innumerable Angels dignified with the Titles of Dominions and Principalities were expell'd from Heaven their native Seat and the Sanctuary of Life and are dead to all the joyful Operations of the intellectual Nature and only alive to Everlasting Pain One Sin of Pride or Envy brought this terrible Vengeance from whence we may infer how provoking Sin is to the holy God We read of King Uzziah that upon his Presumption to offer Incense he was struck with a Leprosy and the Priests thrust him out and himself hasted to go out of the Temple a Representation of the Punishment of the Angels by Presumption they were struck with a Leprosy and justly expelled from the Celestial Temple and not being able to sustain the Terrors of the Divine Majesty they fled from his Presence 'T is said God cast them down and they left their own Habitation 2. Consider the Penal Effects of Sin with respect to Man They are comprehended in the Sentence of Death the first and second Death threaten'd to deter Adam from transgressing the Law In the first Creation Man while innocent was immortal for altho his Body was compounded of jarring Elements that had a natural Tendency to Dissolution yet the Soul was endowed with such Vertue as to imbalm the Body alive and to preserve it from the least degree of Putrefaction But when Man by his voluntary Sin was separated from the Fountain of Life the Soul lost its derivative Life from God and the active Life infused by its Union into the Body It cannot preserve the natural Life beyond its limited Term. A righteous Retaliation Thus the Apostle tells us Sin came into the World and Death by Sin Even Infants who never committed Sin die having been conceived in Sin And Death brought in its Retinue Evils so numerous and various that their kinds are more than words to name and distinguish them Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of Trouble at his Birth he enters into a Labyrinth of Thorns this miserable World and his Life is a continual turning in it he cannot escape being sometimes prick'd and torn and at going out of it his Soul is rent from the Embraces of the Body 'T is as possible to tell the number of the Waves in a tempestuous Sea as to recount all the tormenting Passions of the Soul all the Diseases of the Body which far exceed in number all the unhappy Parts wherein they are seated What an afflicting Object would it be to hear all the mournful Lamentations all the piercing Complaints all the deep Groans from the miserable in this present State What a prospect of Terror to see Death in its various Shapes by Famine by Fire by Sword and by wasting or painful Diseases triumphant over all Mankind What a sight of Woe to have all the Graves and Charnel-houses open'd and so many loathsom Carcases or heaps of dry naked Bones the Trophies of Death expos'd to view Such are the afflicting and the destructive Effects of Sin For Wickedness burns as a Fire it devours the Briars and Thorns Besides other Miseries in this Life sometimes the Terrors of an accusing Conscience seize upon Men which of all Evils are most heavy and overwhelming Solomon who understood the Frame of Humane Nature tells us The Spirit of a Man can bear his Infirmity that is the Mind fortified by Principles of moral Counsel and Constancy can endure the Assault of external Evils but a

a sollicitous diligent Respect to all God's Precepts is a melancholy Task but it is delightful to the Saints for Obedience is the continual exercise of Love to God the Paradise of holy Souls The mortification of the Carnal Appetites and the restraint from such Objects as powerfully insinuate and engage Carnal Hearts is with a freer Complacency to a Saint than a sensual Fruition of them The sharpest Sufferings for Religion are allayed nay sweetned to a Saint from the Love of God that is then most sincerely strongly and purely acted The Apostle more rejoiced in sharp Tribulation for Christ's sake than in Divine Revelation 4. The Love of God produces persevering Obedience Servile Compliance is inconstant A Slave hates the Duties he performs and loves the Sins he dares not commit therefore as soon as he is releas'd from his Chain and his Fear his Obedience ceases but a Son is perfectly pleas'd with his Father's Will and the Tenor of his Life is correspondent to it He that is press'd by Fear to serve in an Army will desert his Colours the first Opportunity but a Volunteer that for the love of Valour and of his Country lists himself will continue in the Service The Motion that is caused by outward Poises will cease when the Weights are down but that which proceeds from an inward Principle of Life is continual and such is the Love of God planted in the Breast of a Christian IV. We are to prove that from the Love of God and willing Obedience to his Commands we may convincingly know the sincerity of our Love to his Children There is an inseparable Union between these two Graces and the one arises out of the other Godliness and Brotherly Kindness are joined by the Apostle And it will be evident that where this Affection of Love to the Saints is sincere and gracious there will be an entire and joyful respect to the Law of God by considering the Reasons and Motives of it First The Divine Command requires this Love These things I command you saith our Saviour that ye love one another This Precept so often repeated and powerfully re-inforc'd by him made so deep an Impression on the first Christians that they had one Heart and one Soul and their Estates were common between them And in the next succeeding Ages this fraternal Love was so conspicuous in the Professors of his sacred Discipline that their Enemies observ'd it as a rare and remarkable thing See how the Christians love one another see how ready they are to die for one another Now the same gracious Principle that inclines us to do one Command will make us universally willing to observe all for sincere Obedience primarily respects the Authority of the Law-giver which binds the whole Law upon the Conscience And as he that breaks the Law wilfully in one Point is guilty of all because the Violation of a single Precept proceeds from the same Cause that induces Men to transgress all that is Contempt of the Divine Majesty so he that sincerely obeys one Command does with consent of Heart and serious Endeavours obey all And from hence 't is clear that without a religious and unreserved regard of the Divine Commands 't is impossible there should be in any Person a gracious Affection to the Saints that is the product of Obedience to God and consequently the observance of his Precepts is the certain Proof of our Love to his Children Secondly Spiritual Love to the Saints arises from the sight of the Divine Image appearing in their Conversation Now if the Beauty of Holiness be the attractive of our Love it will be fastned on the Law of God in the most intense degree The most excellent Saints on Earth have some mixtures of Corruption their Holiness is like the Morning-light that is checker'd with the Shadows and Obscurity of the Night and 't is our Wisdom not to love their Infirmities but to preserve an unstained Affection to them But the Law of God is the fairest Transcript of his Nature wherein his glorious Holiness is most resplendent The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul the Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the Eyes This ravish'd the Heart of David with an inexpressible Affection O how I love thy Law it is my Meditation all the day And he repeats the Declaration of his Love to it with new Fervor upon this ground I love thy Law because it is pure Now Love to the Commands of God will transcribe them in our Hearts and Lives As affectionate Expressions to the Children of God without the real supply of their Wants are but the shadows of Love so words of Esteem and Respect to the Law of God without unfeigned and universal Obedience are but an empty Pretence Thirdly The Divine Relation of the Saints to God as their Father is the Motive of Spiritual Love to them And this is consequent to the former for by partaking of his Holiness they partake of his Life and Likeness And from hence they are the dearest Objects of his Love his Eye and Heart is always upon them Now if this Consideration excites Love to the Children of God it will be as powerful to incline us to keep his Commands for the Law of God that is the Copy of his Sacred Will is most near to his Nature and he is infinitely tender of it Our Saviour tells us that it is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away than for one tittle of the Law to fail If the entire World and all the Inhabitants of it were destroyed there would be no loss to God but if the Law lose its Authority and Obligation the Divine Holiness would suffer a Blemish The Use of the Doctrine is to try our Love to the Children of God to which all pretend by this infallible Rule our Obedience to his Commands This is absolutely necessary because the Deceit is so easy and so dangerous and it will be most comfortable if upon this Trial our Love be found to be Spiritual and Divine The Deceit is easy because Acts of Love may be expressed to the Saints from other Principles than the Love of God Some for vain-Glory are bountiful and when their Charity seems so visibly Divine that Men admire it there is the Worm of Vanity at the Root that corrupts and makes it odious to God The Pharisees are charged with this by our Saviour their Alms were not the Effect of Charity but Ostentation and whilst they endeavoured to make their Vices vertuous they made their Vertues vicious There is a natural Love among Persons united by Consanguinity that remains so entire since the Ruine of Mankind by the Fall and is rather from the force of Nature than the virtue of the Will and this is in all kind Offices may be express'd to the Saints There is a sweetness of Temper in some that inclines them to wish well to all and such tender Affections that are easily