Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	brazen_a	look_v	serpent_n	839	5	9.9901	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26796	The harmony of the divine attributes in the contrivance and accomplishment of man's redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ, or, Discourses wherein is shewed how the wisdom, mercy, justice, holiness, power, and truth of God are glorified in that great and blessed work / by William Bates.	Bates, William, 1625-1699.	1674 (1674)	Wing B1113; ESTC R25864	309,279	511

Repentance and Faith which are humbling Graces to be the conditions of our obtaining Pardon By Repentance we acknowledge that if we are condemned 't is just severity and if we are Saved 't is rich Mercy And Faith absolutely excludes boasting For it supposes the Creature guilty and receives Pardon from the Sovereign Grace of God upon the account of our Crucified Redeemer The benefit and the manner of our receiving it was typified in the miraculous cure of the Israelites by looking up to the Brasen Serpent For the act of seeing is performed by receiving the Images which are derived from the objects 't is rather a Passion then an Action that it might appear that the healing Virtue was meerly from the Power of God and the Honor of it intirely his In short God had respect to the lowliness of this Grace in appointing it to be the qualification of a Justified person for the most firm reliance on Gods Mercy is alwayes joyned with the strongest renouncing of our own Merits Briefly to excite humility in us the Gospel tells us that the Glorious reward is from rich bounty and liberality The gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. As the Election of us to Glory so the actual possession of it proceeds from pure Favour There is no more proportion between all our Services and that High and Eternal felicity than between the running a few steps and the obtaining an Imperial Crown Indeed not only Heaven but all the Graces that are necessary to purify and prepare us for it we receive from undeserved Mercy So that God crowns in us not our proper Works but his own proper Gifts 2. The Gospel strictly commands Self-denial when the Honor of God and Religion is concern'd Jesus tells his Disciples If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me Life and all the endearments of it Estates Honours Relations Pleasures must be put under our feet to take the first step with our Redeemer This is absolutely necessary to the being of a Christian In the preparation of his mind and the resolution of his will he must live a Martyr and whensoever his duty requires he must break all the Retinacula Vitae the voluntary bands that fasten us to the World and die a Martyr rather than suffer a divorce to be made between his Heart and Christ. Whatsoever is most esteem'd and lov'd in the world must be parted with as a snare if it tempts us from our Obedience or offered up as a Sacrifice when the Glory of God calls for it And this command that appears so hard to sense is most just and reasonable For God hath by so many titles a right to us that we ought to make an intire Dedication of our selves and our most valuable interests to him Our Redeemer infinitely denied himself to save us and 't is most just we should in gratitude deny our selves to serve him Besides an infinite advantage redounds to us for our Saviour assures us that whosoever will save his life when 't is inconsistent with the performance of his duty shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for his sake shall find it Now what is more prudent than of two evils that are propounded to choose the least that is Temporal Death rather than Eternal and of two goods that are offered to our choice to prefer the greater a Life in Heaven before that on the Earth Especially if we consider that we must shortly yeeld the present life to the infirmities of Nature and 't is the richest traffick to exchange that which is frail and mortal for that which remains in its perfection for ever 3. The Gospel enjoyns Universal Love among Men. This is that fire which Christ came to kindle upon the Earth 't is the abridgment of all Christian perperfection the fulfilling of the Divine Law for all the particular Precepts are in substance Love He that loves his Neighbor will have a tender regard to his Life Honour and Estate which is the sum of the second Table The extent of our Love must be to all that partake of the same common nature The universal consanguinity between Men should make us regard them as our allies Every Man that wants our help is our Neighbour Do good to all is the command of the Apostle For the quality of our Love it must be unfeigned without dissimulation The Image of it in Words without real Effects provokes the Divine displeasure for as all falshood is odious to the God of Truth so especially the counterfeiting of Charity that is the impression of his Spirit and the seal of his Kingdom A sincere pure affection that rejoyces at the good and resents the evils of others as our own and expresses it self in all real Offices not for our private respects but their benefit is required of us And as to the degree of our Love we are commanded above all things to have fervent Charity among our selves This principally respects Christians who are united by so many sacred and amiable bands as being formed of the same Eternal Seed Children of the same Heavenly Father and joynt-Heirs of the same Glorious Inheritance Christian Charity hath a more noble Principle than the affections of nature for it proceeds from the Love of God shed abroad in Believers to make them one Heart and one Soul and a more Divine pattern which is the Example of Christ Who hath by his Sufferings restored us to the Favour of God that we should Love one another as He hath Loved us This Duty is most stricty injoyn'd for without Love Angelical Eloquence is but an empty noise and all other Virtues have but a false lustre Prophesie Faith Knowledge Miracles the highest outward Acts of Charity or Self-denial the giving our Estates to the Poor or Bodies to Martyrdom are neither pleasing to God nor profitable to him that does them Besides That special branch of Love the forgiving of Injuries is the peculiar Precept of our Saviour For the whole World consents to the returning evil for evil The vicious Love of our selves makes us very sensible and according to our preverse judgments to revenge an injury seems as just as to requite a benefit From hence revenge is the most Rebellious and Obstinate Passion An Offence remains as a thorn in the mind that inflames and torments it till 't is appeased by a vindication 'T is more difficult to overcome the Spirit then to gain a Battel We are apt to revolve in our thoughts injuries that have been done to us and after a long distance of time the memory represents them as fresh as at the first Now the Gospel commands a hearty and intire forgiveness of injuries though repeated never so often to seventy seven times We must not only quench the Fire of Anger but kindle the Fire of Love towards our greatest Enemies I say unto you Love your Enemies

how can we expect any cooling streams from Him If we consider him as Man he is resembled to a root out of a dry ground the Justice of the Divine and the infirmity of the Humane Nature did not promise any comfort to us But what cannot infinite Love united to infinite Power perform Divine Goodness hath chang'd the Laws of Nature in our favour and by an admirable act open'd the Rock to refresh us 3. The Rock was struck with the Rod of Moses a Type of the Law before it sent forth its streams thus our Spiritual Rock was wounded for our Transgressions bruised for our Iniquities then opened all his treasures to us Being consecrated by Sufferings he is the Author of Eternal Salvation In this respect the Gospel propounds him for the object of saving Faith I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him Crucified The Sacraments the Seals of the New Covenant have a special reference to his Death the Foundation of it 4. The Miraculous Waters followed the Israelites in their Journey without which they had perisht in the Wilderness This represents that Indeficiency of the Grace of Christ. A Soveraign stream flows from him to satisfy all Believers He tells us Whosoever drinketh of the Water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the Water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of Water springing up unto Everlasting Life 3. The Brasen Serpent sensibly exprest the manner of his Death and the benefits derived from it Therefore Jesus being the Minister of the Circumcision chose this Figure for the Instruction of the Jews As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever beleeves in him should not perish but have Eternal Life The Sacred Story relates that the Israelites by their rebellious murmuring provoked God to send Serpents among them whose Poison was so fiery and mortal that it brought the most Painful Death In this affliction they addrest themselves to the Father of Mercies who World by their Repentance Commanded Moses to make a Serpent of Brass and erect it on a Pole in the view of the whole Camp that whosoever lookt on it should be healed By this account from Scripture we may clearly understand something of greatest consequence was represented by it For the only Wise God ordains nothing without just reason Why must a Serpent of Brass be elevated on a Pole could not the Divine Power recover them without it Why must they look towards it could not a healing vertue be conveyed to their wounds but through their eyes All this had a direct reference to the Mystery of Christ. For the biting of the Israelites by the fiery Serpents doth naturaly represent the effects of Sin that torments the Conscience and inflames the Soul with the apprehensions of Future Judgment And the erecting a Brasen Serpent upon a Pole that had the Figure not the Poison of those Serpents doth in a lively manner set forth the lifting up of Jesus Christ on the Cross who only had the similitude of sinful flesh The looking towards the Brasen Serpent is a fit resemblance of Believing in Christ Crucified for Salvation The Sight of the eye was the only means to derive vertue from it and the Faith of the heart is the means by which the Sovereign efficacy of our Redeemer is conveyed This is the will of him that sent me saith our Saviour that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have Eternal Life As in the camp of Israel whoever lookt towards the Brasen Serpent whatever his wounds were or the weakness of his sight had a present remedy so how numerous and grievous soever our Sins be how infirm our Faith yet if we sincerely regard the Son of God suffering he will preserve us from Death For this end he is presented in the Gospel as crucified before the eyes of all Persons 2. Things endued with Life and Sense prefigur'd the Messiah I Shall particularly consider the Paschal Lamb an illustrious Type of him Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us The whole scene as it is laid down in the 12th of Exodus shows an admirable agreement tween them 1. A Lamb in respect of its natural innocency and meekness that suffers without resistance waas fit emblem of our Saviour whose voice was not heard in the street who did not break the Bruised Reed nor quench the smoking Flax. He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he open'd not his Mouth He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before the shearers is dumb so he openeth not his Mouth 2. The Lamb was to be without Spot to signify his absolute perfection We are Redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without Spot 3. The Lamb was to be separated from the Flock four days the Lord Jesus was separated from Men and consecrated to be the Sacrifice for the World after three or four years spent in his Ministerial office preparing himself for that great Work 4. The Paschal Lamb was sacrificed and substituted in the place of the first-Born The Levitical Priesthood not being instituted at their going forth from Egypt every Master of a Family had a right to exercise it in his own House Our Redeemer suffer'd in our stead to propitiate Gods Justice towards us 5. The Blood was to be sprinkled upon the Posts of the door that Death might not enter into their Houses That sacred Ceremony was typical for the sign it self had no resemblance of sparing and certainly the Angel could distinguish between the Israelites and the Egyptians without the bloody mark of Gods Favour but it had a final respect to Christ. We are secur'd from destruction by the blood of sprinkling They were to eat the whole Flesh of the Lamb to signify our intire taking of Christ upon the terms of the Gospel to be our Prince and Saviour 6. The effects attributed to the Paschal Lamb viz. Redemption from Death and Bondage clearly represent the Glorious Benefits we enjoy by Jesus Christ. The destroying Angel past over their houses and caus'd the Egiptians to restore them to full liberty That which all the dreadful signs wrought by Moses could not do was effected by the Passover that overcame the stubbornness of Pharaoh and inspir'd the Israelites with courage to undertake their journey to the promised Land Thus we pass from Death to Life and from bondage to the Glorious liberty of the Sons of God by vertue of Christs Blood 3. Reasonable Persons represented our Saviour either in their Offices actions or the memorable accidents that befel them Joseph the beloved of his Father sent by him to visit his Brethren by them unworthily sold to strangers and thereby rais'd to be their Lord and Saviour was a lively type of him Jonach three dayes and nights in the Whales belly and miraculously restor'd