Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	charity_n	faith_n	temperance_n	1,943	5	10.7125	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81791	Moral instructions of a father to his son upon his departure for a long voyage: or, An easie way to guide a young man towards all sorts of virtues. With an hundred maximes, Christian and moral.; Instruction morale d'un père à son fils. English	Dufour, Philippe Sylvestre, 1622-1687.	1683 (1683)	Wing D2455A; ESTC R231963	42,504	123

Duties of a Spiritual Life viz Reading the Word of God with Attention frequent and ardent Prayers a constant Perseverence in the Faith and a perfect and entire Resignation to the Will of God tho he expose you to be tried by the most bitter Calamities If you had still remained with me I should have given you these very Instructions the two first whereof I have bin very careful in making you practice as soon as your Age would permit it Therefore I could not but think them more necessary to you when you are from me and chiefly in a Country where far from having the Comfort of a publick Exercise of your Religion you will scarce ever see an Example of the least Piety which ought the rather to oblige you to practise most exactly the Advice I have now given you I do exhort you to it by the Bowels of Mercy of our Lord and Saviour I require it of you by the Care you ought to have of your Salvation and I do entreat you to do it by that Complaisance which I have reason to expect from your Gratitude If you follow this Counsel you will render to God what is due to him you will accomplish the demands of your Father and thereby you may discharge that Duty you owe to your self wherein I shall instruct you in the second Discourse which according to the method I prescribed must treat of Personal Duties Of Personal Duties I Have been more concise in the first Part which treats of your Duty towards God than I shall be in this which concerns your Duty to your self or in the next following which comprehends your Duty to your Neighbour and 't is no hard matter to justifie my Proceedings in this Point I have followed the Example of God himself for of the Ten Commandments whereof his Law is composed there are but four which have immediate Regard to his Service whereas there are six to guide us in our Duty towards our Neighbour There is no Nation so ignorant or brutish but believeth in some God and at the same time prepares a form of Worship whereby to shew their Obedience so true it is that the Belief of a God doth imply a Duty of serving him not to be dispensed with and this is so absolutely necessary that altho some Men might be so irreligious as not to acknowledge it they must nevertheless be convinced of it in their Conscience Your Mind my Son is replenished with this Knowledge let it then pass from thence into your Will and with those Lights wherewith it hath pleased God to enlighten your Understanding rectifie whatsoever is amiss in your Affections Discharge your self of the Duties that are inseparably joyned to your Knowledge of God that is to fear to love and to serve him I do not question but you would have done this tho I had not exhorted you to it which will be a matter of great Comfort in my Sorrow for your Absence Vpon this Belief I abridg'd my Thoughts and suppressed much of what I could have said upon this Subject which being so abundant would have render'd this Discourse at least as long as both those which are to follow To being with our second Subject which is concerning your Duty to your self I think it very convenient to put you in mind of that moral Dialogue which in your tender Years I made for your Instructions wherein you may have remember'd that I treated of Christian Vertues which are Faith Charity and Hope which three guide us in our Duty to God Faith makes us submit to him in all Things Charity makes us cleave to him at all Times and Hope carrieth us to him to all Eternity You ought also to remember that there are Moral Vertues viz Prudence Fortiude Temperance and Justice These are to teach us our Duty to our selves as also our Duty to our Neighbours The first of these four Vertues is like a Salt to season the other three Fortitude and Temperance have a relation to each individual Person and Justice is the Bonds of Humane Society without which Men must live together like Wolves not being capable of any Converse for the Publick Good which next to the glorifying of God ought to be our chief Aim So that in this second Article of Instructions which my Son I do now lay down before you I must speak but of the three first Vertues Prudence Temperance and Fortitude Prudence ought to be the Rule of your Actions and Conduct Temperance will instruct you how to govern your self in Prosperity that you may not be poisoned with it's delicious Pleasures And Fortitude will so guide you that you shall not be overcome with the Bitterness of Adversity I will reduce all I have to say to you to as few words as I can altho the Subject be very copious that you may only receive the Pith and Juyce of it whereby you may be nourished without being overcharged Man was born for Society and I may say without that Society Vertue would have no Followers Man's Life would be unpleasant and in this World there would be no Content God after he had created Man said it was not good that he should be alone Therefore through his extraordinary Goodness he made him a Help meet for him and formed a Person with whom he might live in Society Now this Society is nothing else but a reciprocal Communication made between divers Persons who by mutual Services to one another endeavour to render their Lives as pleasant as they can and to avoid vexatious Cares and Sorrow According to the Humor of the Persons which make up this Society it will be good or evil for as Solomon saith He that walketh with wise men shall be wise but a Companion of Fools shall be destroyed Evil Communication corrupts good Manners therefore my Son you ought diligently to take heed in the choice of those Persons with whom you design to be acquainted Hearken not to Nature herein who following her Inclination to what is evil might lead you into bad Company be rather attentive to true Piety which will tell you Enter not into the Path of the Wicked and go not in the way of evil Men. Consult Prudence and she will teach you to choose your Friends which is a thing of the highest consequence because we acquire generally the Habits and Passions of those whom we frequent This was so well known to our Fore-fathers that they did not scruple to pass their Judgment upon any Man when they were once acquainted with the Temper of his Companions according to this old Saying of theirs Tell me what Company you keep and I will tell you what you are Frequent then my Son as much as you are able Persons of Honour and Integrity or at least those who are esteemed such and out of this Company choose one of the most vertuous whom you must endeavour to make your particular Friend Let not this single Expression of one Friend surprise you for it is not

Disorders he undergoes within By such innocent Means as these a Learned Man in our time found what he had vainly searched after in all the Secrets of Philosophy the way to diminish the Inclination which one of his Disciples had towards this Vice in whose vertuous Education he was very much concerned He shewed him in the Countenance of a Man agitated with this Passion so great a change and so vastly different from what it was wont to be that from the Effects running up to the Cause it was not difficult for him to make him understand that a Stream so infected must needs proceed from a poison'd Spring whereby he brought him to be so averse from this Vice that it even diminished extremely the Inclination he had towards it The Lacedaemonians did heretofore use the like device to make Drunkenness odious to their Children They made their Slaves drink to Excess and then they were brought before them in that Condition who seeing them reel and stagger and act like Men depriv'd of their Senses conceived so great a hatred for this loathsom Vice that they would never after be reconciled to it Do you my Son take the same Method to oppose and conquer that Passion of Anger which is a sort of Drunkenness that assaults our Understanding and clouds our Reason with Fumes more dangerous than those of Wine because they are of a longer continuance and they produce more direful Effects In a word to give you an easie and infallible Remedy against Anger tho you have never so great Provocations thereto practise the Advice of a great Person of this latter Age who exhorts us to yield betimes to Reason that which in a little while we cannot but yield to Time To this wholsom Advice add Fortitude that Heroick Vertue and the support of the rest whereof Prudence is the Guide and it will not be difficult for you to succed Envy is the last Vice I have to mention whose Picture I am going to draw Of all Vices 't is the most rampant It incited Man to a Crime which being directed immediately against God and Nature made him fail in his Duty to one and t'other and in one Act made him commit Sacrilege and Murder by stirring up Cain to deface the Image of God in the Person of his Brother whom he killed 'T is a Passion which after having poison'd the Mind spreads also it 's Poison all over the Body which corrupts the whole Mass of Blood and casteth its Venome through all the Veins which renders the Countenance meager ghastly hideous and which notwithstanding all Endeavours to lye hid doth manifestly expose it self by disfiguring that Person whom it possesseth And we may very justly say that if Anger is a Fire which enflames us Envy is one that dries us up and carrieth along with it the Punishment of the Envious seeing that neither Night nor Day doth it suffer him to take any Rest 'T is like a Hecktick Fever which consumes a Mans Body by degrees and which is difficult to drive away when through Negligence one has suffer'd it to take Root The Envious Man strikes directly at God He derives his greatest Misery from the just distribution God makes of his Benefits to other men Another's Calamity is his Joy The good Health of his Neighbour diminisheth his own and his Neighbour falling sick makes him well again His Draughts are then sweetest when mingled with the bitter Tears of his Neighbour His private Sorrows arise from the Satisfaction and Content of the Publick He looks upon that Gain or Profit that doth not help fill up his Bags to be a great loss to himself and he is never happy but in the misery of those of his Acquaintance The moderate Harvest of another makes his own unacceptable tho it be abundant and the greatest Prosperity in this World would be unwelcome to him if he were forced to share some part of it with his Neighbours You may easily perceive my Son that a Man of this Temper can have Peace with no body and that generally he must be at War with God judge thereby of the Tranquility of his Body and Soul Others comprehend their Unhappiness within their own Calamities but the Envious besides their own peculiar Misfortunes procure to themselves an infinite number from the good Fortune of others Shun therefore this Vice which is so pernicious and detestable that it is impossible for any one to be guilty of it without becoming both a Punishment to himself and his own Executioner And be assured that after it has furiously tormented in this Life those who are possessed with it in the next it will lead them into that Place which Divine Justice has set apart for all those who have not a submissive regard to whatsoever is ordained by Providence The Description I have made to you of these Vices has been something longer than I should have imagined God grant the Style may be not only so clear as to excite in you that Hatred which you ought to have against them but also so persuasive as to encourage you in the Love and Practice of their opposite Vertues There is not any thing can be throughly known until it be compared with its contrary if therefore you have apprehended the Reasons which should move you to hate Pride Covetousness Gluttony Sloth Vncleanness Anger and Envy you will easily be persuaded for the Welfare of your Soul and Body to love Humility a liberal Frugality Sobriety Diligence Chastity Moderation and Charity and to possess these Vertues you must take your Measures from the Dictates of Prudence Fortitude and Temperance whose Counsels cannot but be advantageous to you if you will thereunto acquiesce Among all the Benefits that you may receive from these Vertues I would to God my Son they would inspire you with as much Love for Truth as young People have Inclination for Lying Have in Horror this Vice and to do this easily remember that JESUS CHRIST took upon him this Quality of True only to signifie to us that he loved those who loved the Truth And why think you is the Devil termed in the Scripture the Father of Lies unless it be to shew that all Lyars are his Children The love of this Vice is an undeniable Character upon all those who practise it through Inclination and from this Inclination acquire a Habit that they are the Children of the Devil I know very well that they who are willing to excuse it say that a secret Shame which they have to acknowledge themselves guilty of the Fault imputed to them doth not seldom drive them against their Will into a Necessity of Lying It is an ill President that Adam hath left to his Posterity But what signifie all these Prevarications wherewith we dissemble the Truth They are but like so many Fig-leaves through which the Truth will be discerned in spight of all our Endeavours to the contrary The Hopes of a more regular Conduct hereafter doth somewhat comfort

Acquaintance This is all we can aim at for therein is Honour Profit and Pleasure Be discreet and sincere in all your Words honest and prudent in all your Actions obliging and affable in all your Behaviour Never construe ill what others say or do unless they come to be publickly so censur'd Take great heed of being revengeful Revenge pierceth and teareth the Heart that is filled therewith The Grounds that make you desire Revenge are either just or injust if injust then you are injust to desire it and if just then by endeavouring to revenge your self you become injust for you encroach upon the Prerogative of the King of Heaven who hath said Vengeance is mine To avoid Perjury or false Swearing which amongst Men is scandalous and abominable in the sight of God I advise you to swear not at all If you once get a Habit of speaking always Truth every one will easily believe you without any need of affirming it with an Oath Among all Vices there is none more base and yet more ordinary than Ingratitude this is the general Opinion and Complaint of the World and if all those who thus complain were free from it no body would use it for every one complains thereof The Ancients by a special Mystery have limited the Graces to the number of three to intimate that if one of them had received a good Turn from the other the third was to return it to her Make hereof a Law to your self and an urgent Endeavour to follow this Lesson and never to be ungrateful for any at least considerable Benefit received If you intend my Satisfaction or your own Quiet be careful never to become Surety for any Man for any Cause whatsoever If your Friend hath need of you serve him with your Purse and Advice with all your Power and Interest but keep your Liberty and engage for no Man If you have a mind to help a Friend in necessity and that you are well able to do it do it quickly but if you are not well able why will you bind your self to do it hereafter when perhaps you shall be less able Therefore be not bound for any unless you care not to be rid of your Money your Quiet and your Friend In other things my Son I have been contented to advise you to exhort and perswade you but herein I make use of all Authority which the Quality of Father gives me and do absolutely forbid this thing Take heed of refusing my Command as you will avoid the Punishment which your Disobedience shall justly deserve Perhaps this may seem somewhat strange and hard to many Men yet it is drawn from the Advice of a Great King who was the wisest Man in the World 22 Chap. of Prov. Be not thou one of them that strike Hands or of them that are Sureties for Debts If thou hast nothing to pay he may lawfully take thy Bed from under thee My Son by his Opinion I can justifie the Severity and Unkindness that some would impute to mine for absolutely forbidding you to become Surety for any Man You depart hence sufficiently grounded in the Truth of our Religion being able to render a Reason of the Hope that is in you to all that shall ask it which I would have you do upon all Occasions with Respect and Reverence as St. Peter exhorts yet following the Advice of St. Paul avoid always all Disputes about Religion for that rather makes more averse than perswades and the earnest desire of confuting or the fear of being vanquished transports very moderate Men sometimes to dangerous Extremities Hereby Charity is almost always wounded and Truth never cleared which makes appear that it may well be said at this time of Controversies what the Apostle said heretofore of Fables and Genealogies which are endless that they beget rather vain and curious Questions than Godly Edification which consists in the true Faith the Foundation of Christian Vertues as Charity is the Perfection and Hope the Crown thereof Whereof the first hath none but God for it's Object the last aims only at our Selves and the middlemost contains our Duty to God to our Selves and to our Neighbour for by Charity we learn all the Duties of a Spiritual Life as also of a Corporeal which the Apostle St. Paul preferreth before the other two Christian Vertues where he saith that there abideth Faith Hope and Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him The other Vertues draw us nearer unto God but this renders us like unto him in some manner seeing that he accounts it one of his chiefest Attributes that of Charity which is also the inexhaustible Spring of all the Benefits he bestows upon Man So that my Son as often as you are charitable you will imitate God in one of his most frequent Actions who is never weary of doing good to us tho we are so unworthy of it Do good therefore to all especially to those who are of the Houshold of Faith Yet make not that a Pretext to withhold your Charity from all those who are not of the same Communion with you All Men are your Brothers in God which Quality alone should suffice to engage you to help them in their Need to comfort them in their Afflictions and chiefly to let your Assistance be as speedy and effectual as their Necessities are urgent This will be an infallible Means to draw the Blessings of Heaven upon your Soul your Person and your Actions He that giveth to the Poor lendeth to the Lord But whoso stoppeth his Ears at the Cry of the Poor he shall also cry himself but shall not be heard saith Solomon You may therefore see what is generally the Fruits of Charity However let not Self-interest be the Motive which inclines you to be charitable this Vertue would thereby lose its excellent Quality and you might expect in vain the Effects of it if you pretend to make a Bargain with God Almighty 'T is in Charity that all Christian Vertues terminate and it shall be with the Description of this Divine Quality that I will end this Chapter which contains the Instructions that I was to give you about Personal Duties after which there only remains that I should say a Word or two concerning Civil Duties Of Civil Duties HItherto my Son I have represented unto you your Duty to God as also what you owe to your self for his sake seeing that in him we live and move and have our Being and that all our Thoughts Words and Actions ought to tend towards God as to their Center It is now time I should make you consider what you owe to Mankind to whom you are fasten'd with the Bonds of a Civil Society For I would not have you imagine that you was born for your self alone there lieth an Obligation upon you of being a Help to your Neighbour Solitariness is not natural to Man nay 't