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
A36461	The triumph of Christianity, or, The life of Cl. Fl. Julian, the Apostate with remarks, contain'd in the resolution of several queries : to which is added, Reflections upon a pamphlet, call'd Seasonable remarks on the fall of the Emperor Julian, and on part of a late pernicious book, entituled, A short account of the life of Julian, &c.	Dowell, John, ca. 1627-1690.	1683 (1683)	Wing D2057; ESTC R8708	83,984	256

Exchequer-Rolls in which the Rates of their Imposition was Recorded and promises them upon his Victorious return from the Persian Expedition to rebuild Jerusalem and fill it with Jews and inhabit in it himself that with them he might Sacrifice to the Powerful and Gracious God He commanded the Jews to offer Sacrifice to which they presently returned That their Laws would not permit them to offer Sacrifice out of Jerusalem and therefore desired him to restore the City and build the Temple which request of theirs he granted and issued out an Edict for the rebuilding the City and Temple and gave the charge of the speedy dispatch of this affair to Alipius Prefect of Antioch sometimes Viceroy of Brittain The Jewish Women with so great a Cheerfulness encouraged this work that they sold their Jewels their Ornaments and their Cloaths towards the defraying the Charges they spared not their delicate and tender Bodies but in their Richest Attire would carry Mortar towards the building of this Structure But God wonderfully frustrated this enterprize Cyril Bishop of Jerusalem being returned from Banishment was not at all dismayed but comforted his dejected Flock by assuring of them that the Issue of this undertaking would be the compleat fulfilling of our Saviours Prediction that one Stone should not be left upon another And accordingly it happened for whilst the Jews were busied in throwing away the Earth and Rubbish Flaming Balls of fire issued out of the Earth which burnt many of the Workmen and consumed their Tools and Instruments designed for the building of the Temple and as oft as they renewed the attempt so oft they were repulsed by Fire There were heard hideous noises and a prodigious Earthquake which threw up the Stones that remained in the old Foundation This is not only averred by Christians but likewise by Heathens To this miraculous Fire in the Earth was added a miraculous Light in the Heavens which appeared in the form of a Cross and powdered the Garments not only of Christians but Pagans with Crosses Thus that Name and Figure which was contemned upon Earth appears in the Heavens as a Divine Trophy Chrysostom in his 2d Homily against the Jews after he had given a Narrative of this miraculous Fire thus directs his discourse to his Auditors If you go to Jerusalem you shall find the Foundations cleansed we are all Witnesses of this done it was done not long since in our time Consider now the Triumph of Christianity This did not happen in the Empires of Pious Coesars lest any one might say that Christians encouraged by their Emperors might suddenly fall upon the Jews and so frustrate their intentions No but it was when the affairs of Christians were deplorable when Paganism flourished when Liberty was denyed us when we were all in danger of our Lives when Believers lay concealed in their Houses and fled into desarts then these things happened that the most impudent might not have the least occasion to deny or palliate this thing At this Julian was so enraged that he intended to persecute the Christians as Magicians for those cannot see the Methods of Divine Providence whose eyes the God of this World hath blinded He was confident of being Victorious in Persia he vowed upon his return to put Basil and Nazianzen to cruel deaths and that he would build a Theacre of those Materials which were prepared for the rebuilding of the Temple in which he would Sacrifice the Christians to Devils But God frustrated his cruel designs his Vows were impious and his Hopes a Dream JULIAN ' s Character JVLIAN was born of Constantius who conspired the death of Constantine the Great his Brother who attempting the Purple was slain in a Tumult and of Basilina a Religious Princess Tho' the Soul be in its Essence far superior to the Body yet it receives some inclinations to Virtue or Vice from it Some may judge it a fond trifle if I should attribute any thing of Julian's devotion to Basilina or of his Apostacy to Constantius Sure I am that the disposition of Parents is many times derived to their Children 'T is a miserable vanity to attend with the greatest care the breed of Cattel Horses nay Dogs and Swine and neglect the qualities of those that are design'd for Marriage the splendor of Gold and Silver so dazling the eyes of Parents that in the Marriage of their Children they believe Riches makes the Deformed Beautiful the Lascivious Chast the Fool Prudent the Debauch'd Temperate and the Prophane Religious Hence Springs a degenerate weak and vicious Progeny Julian was of a graceful aspect his eyes lively he was not very tall or bulky but well compact he had a good Head and being of a strong constitution was fit for the Sword and Pen he had prominent Shoulders which in his walking he was observ'd to move and shake he had a strait Nose the Nose is the symbol of sagacity hence prudent and inquisitive men are nasuti and 't is a commendation for a person to be Emunctoe naris his Mouth somewhat with the greatest He was very talkative his Tongue was seldome idle he had a fat Neck and bending forward from the Crown of his Head to the Nails of his Toes he carried a just proportion and an uniform knitting of his lineaments whereby he was strong and nimble his Eyes whirl'd about the cast of them was insolent and fierce his Nose breathed injury and contempt his Legs somewhat crooked and his Feet were always in motion The ridiculous Figure and Composure of his Face gave an indication of his evil temper he was always profuse and loud in his laughter his nodding usually denoting his assent or refusal Being known to Nazianzen at Athens he was a great observer of him his gesture and mean and thus saith of him I know that I shall not be an ill conjecturer of him tho' by nature I am not fram'd for that purpose yet the regularity of his carriage and his frequent commotions he that knows well how to conjecture is a good Divine manifested that nothing of Christ appeared in him his discourse was with hoesitation and interruptions his questions disorderly and not intelligible his answers were not superiour they being not well digested nor proceeding in a learned method so suddenly pressing upon one another Why should I thus particularly describe them Him I saw before he appear'd whom I beheld thus acting on the Stage there are those alive who knew and heard me speak these things and will without difficulty attest it The Levity of his nature made him inclinable to Revolt A good Face carries Letters of Commendations with it Galba was deformed which was hid by his Military Vertue whilst he was under Command but made him despised when Emperor The esteem which the Army had for his Valour and Policy was lessened by this Sentence which became Proverbial amongst them Anima Galboe male habitat This Grace of Julian's did argue him effeminate for he affected a long

which was equivalent This was the sweet acceptable Sacrifice of him who was God and man man to be a Sacrifice God to render that Sacrifice of a due Value the Piety was the Altar to Sanctify the Sacrifice This is that mystery hid from Ages that God should become man that by offering his own Body he might make attonement for Man by his own Blood he might enter into the Holy place making eternal Redemption for us by one sacrifice once offer'd he might ever perfect those who are sanctified He gave the most excellent Commands and Rules of Living which he enforced by his own evample He was seperate from Sin his Life was the pattern of all goodness and invited men by the Promises of an Eternal Glory How blind the eyes of Reason and natural Philosophy are the sentiments of Philosophers which concern the ultimate end of Man easily manifest Did Pythagoras Plato Aristotle or Zeno discover in what compleat Beatitude consisted were it to be found in any of the Academies ancient middle or new In the Stoa or the Roman Forum No. The Metempsuchosts of Pythagoras is an absurd fiction and destroys the greatest part of the Divine Providence by making a retribution in the next life which cannot be granted if that be conceded Plato seems to have the clearest apprehension of the Souls immortality and a future Life as the state of the Soul is when living and in that condition with those qualities when seperated from the Body sentenced to bliss or torture As saith he the Body is full of Scars or the Members dislocated it will be so when dead The same with the Soul the Filth Wounds and Deformitys which it contracted when in the Body will remain and be seen when seperated The Soul which by Virtue is made pure and beautiful when in the Body retains that same purity and beauty being separated And further that Virtuous Souls have their various Seats in Heaven and are happy by possessing a perfect good which is God and this to continue for ever and is obtained more by Loving than by knowing These speculations are curious and ingenious these approach near to Christianity and certainly the Philosophy of Plato was a preparation for the Gospel We evinced before that the best Principles of Socrates and Plato's moral Philosophy came short of the Code of Jesus Christ So when we consider the Doctrine of our Lord we shall find that these Speculations are inferiot to it for as to the judgment of the last day 't is clearly revealed that the Son of Man shall descend from Heaven and shall place his Pavillion in the Clouds and Judge the World Plato in his Gorgias tells that to the three Sons of Jupiter the last Judicature is committed Minos Rhadamanthus and Aeacus being in a certain Meadow in Bivio where are two ways one leading to the Isles of the Blessed the other to Hell the naked Souls of these Judges viewing the naked Souls of men to send the Virtuous to Heaven the vicious to Hell Minos and Rhadamanthus are the Judges of the Asians and Aeacus of the Europeans Let what Ficinus says of Plato ' s Opinion be Plato ' s sence that by Saturn is intended the Supreme Intelligence in whom is the Vniversal Law and Providence over all things Subordinate to him are three principal Deitys Who gives the essence and form of Beings is called Jupiter who gives life is termed Neptune who disposes the orders and degrees of Forms is called Plato and the three Sons of Jupiter Judges of Asia and Europe are three Deities Servants of Jupiter and Plato designed for that Office Christianity acquaints us that there is but one only God that God did assume our nature that he will judge the World Plato introduceth other gods these three Judges to take a view of the naked Souls by inspection to pass the Sentence Christianity saith the Books shall be opened that is the Divine Omniscience which clearly discovers the actions and knows the estate of every one shall discern the deeds of every individual person And the Consciences of all persons are another Book in which are written the Sins and Graces of every person all shall then be so awakened and disposed as they shall give a faithful account This is a rational account of the supreme and exclusive Tribunal How can those three Judges pass a just sentence except they know of the Crime and Virtues of every Soul which they can't do except they be Omniscient And when they have passed the sentence how are the Souls sent their several ways Certainly that power which brought every Soul into such a Meadow and conveyed the Souls to the places to which they are sentenced must be Infinite whereby it must be one not three subordinate Deities Omniscience and Omnipotence are properties belonging to the true and only God The account of the Christian felicity is clear An immortal Soul which through the aid of Heaven the assistance of the Spirit subjecting the Body to its self and gaining a spiritual conquest over it making it subservient to Reason and Religion when separated from the body ascends into Heaven where it hath an immediate and full enjoyment of God in the understanding and will by a clear and full prospect and view of God by that which we usually call Beatifical Vision And this immediate Vision which is Divine filis the Will with the most ardent Love of God whence springs all imaginable joy and delight and this to continue for ever Plato speaks very delicately of this happiness when he pronounceth that Happiness doth consist in the possession of God That Souls come from and return to God again that the possession of God chiefly consists in the Loving him above all things Yet it must be acknowledged that great Person commended to the World for his Eloquence Holiness of his Life and Pen receiv'd the knowledge of these things from the Jews which is observed by Ludovicus Vives and Leonard Coquoeus the Jesuits in their Commentaries upon St. Austin de Civitate Dei Lib. 22. Cap. 28. And our Learned Gale Court of the Gentiles Part. 1. Lib. 2. Cap. 7. and affirm'd he hath so mixt the Narrative that it very much sinks below the Evangelical Discovery according to the Apostle Life and Immortality is brought to light by the Gospel 2. Tim. 1. 10. The fullest discovery of an Eternal Life and Glory was made by the Holy Jesus Which will farther appear to those persons who were the preservers of their Country advancers of its Glory enlargers of its Territories and Dominions and was assign'd the greatest share of Glory in the World to come This the intent of Scipio evinceth Sed quanquam sapientibus c. Tho' Religion upon the performance of excellent acts is a most ample reward of Virtue yet those divine perfections are not satisfied with those honours which Images standing upon Lead or Triumphs adorn'd with fading Laurels give it but requires that Remuneration which is

more flourishing and permanent Therefore O African that thou mayst be more ready to defend thy Country be certain that to those who preserve Common-wealths are the supporters of it and extenders of its Empire a peculiar Mansion is assign'd in which they shall enjoy perpetual felicity That place is in the Milky-way from whence the souls slide into the body and to which they return In which Circle Scipio thought himself to be when he so dream'd Macrobius knew very well the mind of Plato with whom Cicero agreed in his Book de Repub. Julian saith Marcellinus thus comforted his Courtiers that bewailed his Death It was abject and mean to bewail that Prince who should be placed amongst the Stars From which 't is evidently deduced that there was amongst them an apprehension of a future and eternal Felicity but whether there was not a mistake amongst them concerning the means to attain it and the felicity it self there may be an occasion to judge Political Virtues are made the most suitable conditions to attain it Let us suppose Virtuous Generals Fight against Virtuous Generals who conduct virtuous Soldiers against virtuous Soldiers Let this instance be given amongst a Thousand others Sparta and Thebes take Arms one against another the Commanders in chief are Agesilaus for Sparta and Epaminondas for Thebes both which intensively loved their native Countries to preserve their Cities they were equally inclin'd both were endued with Political Virtues Epaminondas had that glory to make the Spartans know that an Enemy could pass the River Eurotas which no Hostile Army had done for Six hundred years yet this Epaminondas dyed by a Lacedemonian Spear Agesilaus reviv'd the drooping spirits of his Country-men who being incensed against him forced him into Egypt returning to preserve his Country dyed Are both these happy Believe Cicero and Plato as Macrobius affirms of Scipio who saw from the Galaxy Carthage They must be likewise amongst the Stars Yet they were enemies and the preservation of one Country is the ruine of another What account can be given that they were both happy None but this that both of them went to the Dii Patrii whence it follows they did not believe that the happiness of separated Souls did consist in the possession of a supreme Being but of subordinate Deities Therefore that felicity of seperated Souls cannot be perfect those Deities themselves being but finite And Plato's conceit is not suited to that of a Divine Philosopher when he affirms That future Beatitude being gain'd by the Cardinal Virtues Prudence Fortitude Justice Temperance as the separated Soul when united exercised more heroically a more peculiar Virtue So its happiness in the possessing of God consists in the persection of that same Virtue As he that excell'd in Valour his fortitude then shall be accomplished so the rest When that true Beatitude which is in a beatifical Vision brings all Graces then to be exercised in that estate as Faith and Hope cease in Heaven so those Virtues Prudence which directs by the best means to the best ends What need of that Virtue when there is a possession of perfect bliss No object of Fortitude Heaven admits of no Enemy no sorrow or any evil No object of Justice no commutative because no contracts nor distributive for God only rewards and punishes Nor any of Temperance for there 's no Nectar or Ambrosia But what Macrobius asserts in Somnio Scip. Lib. 1. Cap. 11. That there are Two Gates in Heaven one in Cancer the other in Capricornus per has duas portas animos de coelo in terram meare c. And by these 't is believed they return from Earth into Heaven the one the Gate of the immortal Gods the other of Men For by that the Souls of Men return to that seat in which they are eternally blessed And the Souls returning from the Galaxy they then enter into the Dominions belonging to Pluto For Infants newly born are fed with Milk to immind them that they came from the Milky-way The Soul of Man by its innate power of moving its self sliding from the Zodiack and Milky circle into the lower Orbs is clothed with a body of light and exerciseth it self with those actions which are proper for each Sphere In that of Saturn those of Wisdom and Intelligence of Jupiter in the practice of exterior things of Mars heat and courage of the Sun fancy and imagination of Venus desire and appetite of Mercury Eloquence of the Moon the power of Generation and the Soul in its fall between the Snake descends into the Cup and there being Drunk hath a forgetfulness of all the actions it did in the Heavens This is the Fluvius Lethoeus These are such great absurdities that they need no refutation But they are a great attestation of the natural ignorance of Man and how weak the understanding of the greatest contemplative men are when not guided by revelation but conducted by their own thoughts The Stoicks placed their Felicity in Virtue which they esteemed their God Aristotle the same but Virtue cannot be the ultimate end of Man when it is the condition and means of attaining it Aristotle placeth happiness in the Body and Mind both but not according to his Master in the enjoyment of the gods Indeed both Aristotle and Plato the one by asserting an eternal matter the other an eternal motion have delivered those opinions which are very much derogatory to the Power and Majesty of God Moses that gave the true account of the worlds being created out of nothing satisfies our reason that nothing can be infinite no not Eternal but only God and that Infinite can produce a Being out of nothing that motion is caused by that Mover who himself is Immoveable And the Sacred Oracle a Divine Revelation gives the fairest and most satisfying account of true Beatitude the knowledge of which the wisest Philosophers not attaining 't is past scruple that their Virtues were not of that eminency and lustre as those of Christians That Queen of Virtues Prudence which governs the actions of men was reigning in the Hearts of Christians with more absolute perfections than in the minds of the most Virtuous Heathens This most amiable and beauteous Princess by Christian Philosophy directs her Subjects to place their happiness not on the Earth but Heaven not in the Creature but the Creator the God blessed for ever And clearly manifests that pious persons are made fully happy in the Possession of God by Vision and Love Divines thus instructed more truly with greater Sublimity profess God to be the Rewarder of Virtuous Actions The Royal Psalmist saith With thee O Lord is the fountain of Life and in thy Light shall I see Light Psal 35. 10. And St. Paul 1 Cor. 15. God shall be all in all St. John 1 Epist 3. 2. Beloved we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is St. John giving us the description of the Heavenly Jerusalem Rev. 21 22. Says And I saw no Temple therein for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it FINIS

burning upon an Altar dissipates Thunder and Prayer averts the anger of Heaven Qu. V. If Christianity hath such an innate purity and glory how comes it to pass that Christians should so violently persecute Christians IF such an Intrinsick worth be in Religion how comes it to pass that Christians are so cruel to Christians that no sort of men prosecute one another with greater violence and hatred than Christians do 'T is a sad Character that Ammianus Marcellinus gives of Christians No Tygers nor Wolves so cruel as Christians to Christians Those most dreadful Persecutions raised by Christians against Christians those instruments of cruelty wherewith Christians have Tortured Christians are sad Evictions of this truth To which I Answer that though the matter of Fact be confessed yet Religion cannot be judged culpable It prompts not to anger but meekness not to Revenge but forgive not to Fierceness and Cruelty but to Humanity and Sweetness It urges not War and Blood but Health and Peace the Master that Christians serve is the Prince of Peace the Gospel which is the Rule of their Lives is the Gospel of Peace and the future happiness to which they are invited is a peaceable Habitation Justin Martyr had a great contest with Crescens a Cynick Philosopher who acted a Philosopher in his garb and demeanor when otherwise he was one that hunted after Praise indulged his Pleasures and immoderately heaped up Riches he practised those Vices which were different from the Virtues which are the ornaments of a true Philosopher This Crescens slanders Christ him Justin confutes and proves him to be vicious and ignorant this charge in his Apology he profers to make good Crescens perceiving how he was bafled endeavoured to procure the death of Justin for which he thus reprehends him That He who perswaded others to despise Death should himself fear it and he who exhorted to a Patient and joyful enduring of Death by reason it puts the Soul into harbour opens the Prison-door whereby the Soul is at Liberty and enjoys a Blessed Immortality yet endeavours to inflict death upon me as the greatest evil I may say the same of Christians how absurd is it for them who believe a life Eternal a future retribution future torments for which the quality and nature far surmount the Spanish Inquisition Ravilliac's Tortures or the dreadful miseries which Moses one of Scanderbeg's Lieutenants endured in Fifteen days flaying should persecute Christians with the most feral cruelties which Policy and Malice can invent or execute This can't be imputed to our Religion which for Meekness Peace Amiableness and Love is preferable to all the Religions in the World 'T is this Religion which calls to endure to suffer for Righteousness-sake to fry Ten thousand Faggots with our Flesh to Purple as many Axes with our Blood rather than sin That same Religion cannot prompt its Professors to such bloody actions We will confess these things have given a great reason to complain of many Professors of so excellent a Religion These actions are no reproach to Christianity 1st It must be granted the Vices of most men are not a just reproach of humane nature What Murthers what Fires what Blood what devastations have been by men caused against men upon no account of Religion Those Wars managed with so great success by the Romans that no Empire of the World ever did or is ever in any probability to attain those they never commenced on the account of Religion they revered the Tutelar gods of every Country and therefore at the besieging of a City that they might the more easily conquer it they did avocare Deos yet what murthers and the sad effects of War they themselves were the causes of 't is notoriously known Pompey did glory that he was the occasion that Eleven hundred Thousand men were destroyed Tamerlane that in the Torrent of his Victories he should be the cause of the death of Eight hundred Thousand What cruelties have been acted by men upon men the Histories of all Ages will attest All these ascertain that there is an Original Sin but yet does not reproach humane nature indeed Mr. Hobs saith that the State of nature is a state of War and that all persons are equal And Spinosa who is Hobs Unvailed says expresly that men are formed to destroy one another as greater Fishes to devour the smaller Theol. Polit. Cap. 13. A fulsome similitude he uses to explain a notorious untruth There is no such estate of nature nor is it possible to conceive such an equality amongst persons for if the Original of man be by Creation then by the Successive generation the question is determined if we suppose men to be born by the prolifick power of Egyptian slime and the benign influence of the Heavenly bodies yet experience acquaints us there is no such equality naturally Think we the understanding of every Grecian was equal to the vast Wit of Aristotle the valour and conduct of every Scythian to that of Tamerlain the eloquence and parts of every Roman could parallel those of Cicero whose Wit equalled the Roman Empire No Fictions may be admitted which serve to explain the Phornomena's of the Heavenly Bodies but to admit such Fictions which destroy Justice under the pretence of giving the true nature of Justice explaining it is a most notorious absurdity and not to be endured Vertue and Goodness are not fictitious though such feral and Bloody actions have been perpetrated by Men yet it doth not conclude that mortals are divested of all humanity or that there are no Laws wrote on the Breasts of men which may be fairly read in the just lives of many excellent persons As Cruelties acted by men upon men reproach not humanity so the persecuting Spirit of some Christians do not justly cast an imputation on Christianity its self 2. It will not be amiss to enquire when this persecuting and bloody spirit invaded the Breast of Christians It must be acknowledged that during the first Ten Persecutions no such spirit appeared There was great divisions many Heresies yet the true Church maintained its self by holiness of Life patient suffering of Tortures and an excellent discipline The only allurements to Christians were a future glory and terror Eternal punishments but when the Emperors became Christians that restless Enemy of Mankind and the great opposer of Christ Jesus imploy'd all his Arts to make Christians act upon Christians those cruelties Pagan Emperors did In the Empire of Constantinus the great Arrius was raised up by Satan to disturb Christianity he colouring what some former Hereticks had not so clearly broached declared in the Church of Alexandria that Christ was not true God coessential with the Father Whence sprung those first Persecutions of Christians against Christians but on the Arrian account Under Constantius the Great no Persecutions were moved His Son Constantius to whom he gave his Empire of the East was prompted though not by his own nature but his Court-Parasites who