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
A70079	Golden remains of Sir George Freman, Knight of the Honourable Order of the Bath being choice discourses on select subjects.	Freeman, George, Sir.; Freeman, Sarah, Lady.	1682 (1682)	Wing F2167B; ESTC R21279	41,541	130

the proper Objects of its nature and so long as there is that appetite the mind cannot be said to enjoy true pleasure But here I expect to have it objected to me That upon this account the Virtuous Man as well as the Sensualist cannot be said to enjoy true Pleasure because the former as well as the latter hath not while he is in the body his appetite satisfied To this I answer That when the mind is once set right and hath made a choice of that which is intrinsecally good and suitable to its nature immediately it begins to enjoy true Pleasure because although it do still desire more yet doth it not covet any thing better or of a more excellent nature than it hath already tasted of so that the desires of the mind are stopt quoad rem because it doth not covet any thing contrary to or desperate from what it hath already pitch't upon but not quoad mensuram rei because it desires to be put into a full fruition of that which it now enjoys but in part upon which account the Kingdom of Grace and Glory seem not to me to differ otherwise than gradually so that the Spiritual man hath something of that he desires but not all yet so much as he hath sufficeth to bring him true Pleasure though not to make up the integrality of it while the Sensual Man pursuing a wrong Object cannot possibly while he doth so arrive at true pleasure The second thing requisite to constitute or make an Object suitable to the mind is that it have wherewithal to gratifie all the appetites of the Soul but no external thing can accommodate the mind with more than it hath in it self that is it cannot entertain it with spiritual delights how far short will it prove then of satisfying the Soul with all it is capable of in spirituals this being more than any created Intelligence can administer to it for though we find many excellencies in Angels and the Souls of Men by the reason that they are intelligent Natures yet they have not that sufficiency in them which is requisite to an Object that is in all respects suitable to the mind which must not only present it with something spiritual and incorporeal but likewise with whatsoever it can covet within the genus of spiritual and immaterial existencies and this nothing can do but that satiating Plenitude which is only to be found in God which appears to be true by that propensity which Men of large apprehensions have to enquire into those remote Truths which yet they cannot see clearly into there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1. 19. which hath such a Magnetick virtue in it that it is alwayes drawing the Soul towards it self neither will the Spirit of Man be ever at rest till it be united to the Son of God and put into a full fruition of the Deity How do we hear even young Students wrangle about the dividing of a body into so small parts and that it is not capable of further division for not conceiving how it can be that so long as there remains something in quantity that quantity should not be capable of being separated at least Intellectu though not Actu and yet not understanding how a body can admit infinite separations they are still searching into this Abstrusity which remains with God What Battologies have we about Free-will and respective Decrees not being able to distinguish between the precognition of God and his concurrence of volition or necessitation how are we prying into the mystery of the Incarnation into the nature of the Trinity there are certain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which S t Peter speaks of to be in S t Pauls Epistles which although they are things hard to be understood yet are we still coveting to comprehend them which aspirations of the Soul do shew that it was created for matters of a higher concernment than any created substance can furnish it withall from themselves for such things are to be found only in God inhesively or subjectively but they may be communicated to us by Angels who know them either by acquisition or divine infusion and these tendencies of the mind are arguments to me that the Soul of Man is capable of apprehending those abstracted Truths which it so covets to know while it is in the body because our pressing to know seem's to me to be an immediate effect of our wanting or being ignorant of something which our minds are comprehensive of and therefore Beatified spirits cease to desire more because their capacities are fill'd which is perfect Happiness ad modum recipientis But it may be objected That the Angels which fell desired to be equal with God but it was impossible it should be so therefore we must not measure our capacities by our desires To this I answer First that I do not believe they ever did because it must seem to be below the extent of their knowledge which reached to so vast a height to entertain with the least hopes such a childish Ambition but rather that their Lapse did arise from a spleen and malice to God for advancing Mankind so high or if it could be so we must distinguish between an undue and vitious and a natural or necessary act of the will I 'le suppose their's to have been an audacious and arbitrary willing of that which was ipso facto destructive to their happiness but these propensities of our Souls which God hath so infused into us that we cannot suppress them are continual willings as it were against our wills and are therefore natural and to be accounted of as the effects of our present defective state and these I am induced to believe will hereafter attain to what they have strain'd for here But not to make any farther digression Let us enquire into the second thing requisite to true Pleasure which is fruition It is not enough that there is in nature an Object suitable to the mind but there must be such an application of it to our persons as may make us true Possessors of it and here I cannot say exclusively that there is no fruition in the Pleasures of sense for were there not the Devil would have no train at his heels but they will be found to be very inconsiderable and equivalent with none at all And first let us consider the Glutton who makes not that the end of eating which he should namely the support of his natural life as S t Augustine Hoc mihi docuisti ut quemadmodum Medicamenta sic Alimenta sumpturus accedam How soon doth his sweet bit pass over the threshold of his tongue and then his Pleasure is over for that morsel consisting but in ipso transitu and although he puts in another and another yet it cannot be long e're his stomack will be filled and then he must cease repeating it till Nature or Art have disposed of the Load after a Scene of sick Qualms in the mean

sort have the greater cause for mirth and consequently must needs be more truly merry for true mirth is a complacency of the mind arising from the apprehension of our personal happiness yet while we are in the body laughter is natural and if it be kept within its bounds and placed upon right subjects is both allowable and conducing to health but is not tyed to the Glass or Bowl This caution against drinking concerns those chiefly whose bodies require strong drinks in some small proportion for none do much since those who are of another temperament will abstain without any mans counsel or any virtue of their own which is only seen where there are propensities to the contrary though some men of this sort may contract habits to themselves contrary to the first requisites of nature I cannot methinks disswade men enough from this sin because I have so often drawn others into it and therefore hope to make some reparation for the spiritual hurt I may have done them who are yet living whiles for those of my associates who are departed this life I hope the mercies of God did overtake them and I wish from my soul that the spiritual dangers which I have experimented and do know to be in that which we call good fellowship or a chirping Cup two seducing terms and the great scandal besides the sin it self which is in staggering drunkenness may have such an influence upon those who have no account to make for any thing that they have yet done as to this sin that they may never commit it and for those who have and do yet continue in it that considering the great dangers attending upon it which though now drown'd in the lavers of the Grape will one day rise up and shew themselves to their terrour they may start from it with as terrible apprehensions while they may prevent the danger as the reprobate will do at Hell when time is past and he cannot escape it For my own particular I have habituated my self to this vice from my youth and of later years have continued in it upon a misapprehension that the predominancy of my temperament being Melancholy which is cold and dry it did require the supply of some accidental heat to correct it but I do now think I have mistaken my self all this while since looking back upon my beginning I do not find I was so when I was under tutelage and therefore do impute it to a habit contracted since and some intervening causes of discontent but since it is so easie a thing to be cheated into an ill custom and so dangerous to be under it it behoves us to be very vigilant against this adversary which comes in the shape of nature and hath such great advantages upon us Custom hath an interest in the actions of the whole world in good men it disposeth them to goodness though the first Principle that moves in them is a Principle of Grace but when the sanctified Soul hath made some progress in a good life custom comes in and promotes it and facilitates our perseverance in bad men likewise it disposeth and enclines them the more strongly to vice and you shall find that men who accustom themselves to a constant afternoons-draught in the week dayes seldomest go to an afternoons Sermon upon the Sunday if they go at all because the ill habit prevails so strongly that the vitiated stomach must have its false wants supplyed though the soul miss of her spiritual repast To prevent the contracting of this habit upon such as are yet free and to set those at liberty who are enslaved by it I shall propose this general remedy be alwayes employed in lawfull exercises It is an Epidemical disease amongst the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation to be sick of their time which is such a burthen to them that being tired with the tediousness of the day they must either drink or trifle it away to avoid a surfeit this as it is a disparagement to their judgments so it is an exceeding detriment to their souls for since man hath a soul which must be eternally sav'd or damn'd he is a fool that thinks he wants employment and he doth every minute draw nearer to the ruine of himself therefore let none of us ever pretend that we want business If I have no accounts to take concerning my estate no Law-suits to follow though I am not a Magistrate or a Divine though I have no Office at Court though I have the Gout and cannot walk though I am blind or shut up in a dungeon from conversing either with Men or Books or whatsoever can befall me yet still I have a soul which is in her militant estate and in the worst of these conditions I can do acts of repentance reflecting with sorrow and detestation upon my sins past and renewing my purposes of amendment I can meditate upon Gods Mercies and all his Attributes I can perform acts of Praise to him and for those publick actions which I cannot do if I am denied the liberty of my body and the society of men yet I can have them in voto and desiring to do what I am denied and so I can keep on my journey to Heaven though I lie shakled in a dungeon But indeed employment is as generally mistaken as mirth for most men think they want it if their time be not spent in some bodily exercise or upon some slight or common subject but for meditation upon God and the Soul the concernments of it that 's accounted a symptom of Melancholy and reading writing or discoursing of any thing that is serious or profitable which comes the nearest to it A great cause of this evil ariseth either from the carelesness of Parents in not giving their Children a literate education or their own neglect of improving it when they are at liberty from their Tutors or Parents or whoever had the charge of them for as the Principles of Learning and Knowledge do wear out so the delight in superficial things grows more strong and prevalent because the knowledge of any one thing and the delight in it alwayes go and come together since we cannot take pleasure in any thing which we are ignorant of therefore Hawking Hunting Horse-matches Gaming Stage-plays and the like are made the business of our time in which our delights do terminate which should only be used to unbend the mind and give it relief after serious employments and to exercise the body for the preservation of health being altogether subordinate to greater ends and this is one reason why Taverns are so much frequented because Libraries are out of request and holy learned or serious communications do not relish with us But this is not sufficient to excuse them for though men either want education or stifle it yet they cannot extinguish Reason and lose the Principles of Religion which they have in their Catechisms in their Bibles and by Preaching and therefore upon that account it