Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	darkness_n	light_n	shine_v	1,307	5	9.6147	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51822	A sermon preach'd at the parish-church of St. Andrews Holborn, the 30th of December, 1694, on the most lamented death of our Most Gracious Sovereign Queen Mary by Tho. Mannyngham ...	Manningham, Thomas, 1651?-1722.	1695 (1695)	Wing M504; ESTC R6484	8,282	35

Dr. MANNYNGHAM's SERMON Preach'd at the PARISH-CHURCH OF St. ANDREWS HOLBORN A SERMON Preach'd at the PARISH-CHURCH OF St. ANDREWS HOLBORN The 30th of December 1694. ON THE Most Lamented DEATH of our most Gracious Sovereign Queen Mary By THO. MANNYNGHAM D.D. Rector of St. Andrew Holborn and Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY LONDON Printed for Sam. Smith and Benj. Walford at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard and Eliz. Crooke at the Green Dragon without Temple-Bar 1695. TO THE READER I Had not publish'd This Sermon but that I saw Great Leaders before me and that it was not possible when others had broke the way for me to stand any longer to my own Judgment in this Matter without giving some Offence to many Excellent Persons who by their Piety and Friendship have great Authority over me I am conscious of the many Defects of This Discourse which was the Production only of some few hours which was written with such a Concern as would not allow of much Ornament and which cost me more Tears than Invention I am also sensible that I have given you here but a very imperfect View of but some of the many Virtues of our most Dear and Sovereign Queen departed For having confin'd my self in a manner to my own Knowledge and Observation of Her I did not take Compass enough to bring in half Her Worth this forc'd me to neglect a main part of her Princely Character and to speak of Her rather as a most Pious Lady than as a most Noble and Illustrious Queen However there is some Advantage in this my low performance that that part of Her Example which you may read in this Sermon seems most capable of a General Imitation which I assure you was the chief Aim of this present Discourse which after some Retirement comes now abroad in the Habit of a True Mourner without much Dress or care of Periods without Flattery or mean Designs without hopes of Applause or fear of Censure those little things which Sorrow always disregards Receive it therefore as it is a Composure Plain and Serious and in its Circumstances I hope not Undecent A Composure which has nothing to recommend it but the Great and Dear Subject of which it Treats the deep and sincere Grief of Him who made it and the many unfeigned Tears of those who Heard it Chapter the VIIIth of the Prophet A MOS Verse the Ninth and part of the Tenth And it shall come to pass in that day saith the Lord that I will cause the Sun to go down at Noon and I will Darken the Earth in the clear Day And I will turn your Feasts into Mourning IT would have been proper on this Day to have entertained you with some further Enlargements on the Wonderful Wisdom and Mercy of God in sending His own Son into the World to Compleat the Work of our Redemption from thence to have rais'd your Minds into a joyful Frame and a becoming Chearfulness and to have laid down some such Rules as might make your Rejoycings sober and pious Moderate and Christian and suitable to the Mercy which at this Time we Commemorate But al 's there is a sad Occasion which has given a new Turn to our Thoughts a sufficient Temper and Solemnity to all our Joys and has made it seasonable for me to change my Subject and to turn my Song into Lamentations And it shall come to pass in that Day saith the Lord c. The Prophet here expresses the Greatness Suddenness and Unexpectedness of the Calamities that were coming on the Jews by Phrases and Similitudes which are most significant and apt both to imprint and to declare great Consternation of Mind For thus he signifies that God would bring such sudden Troubles upon them as should cause as much Terror and Affrightment as if they really saw the Sun go down at Noon and the clearest part of the day immediately expire into thick and horrid Darkness or as if in the midst of their greatest Jollities and Festival Delights some should hear of the sudden Death of their only Children and others of their Dearest Friends Now something that comes very near to this most dismal Representation has indeed happen'd to us of this Kingdom for we have suddenly lost such a Pattern of Vertue as did truly shine amongst us in a Meridian Lustre we beheld our Queen with chearful Eyes as She appear'd in the very Beauty of Holiness rejoycing to run Her Course of pious Duties and when we expected nothing but a long and clear Day of Light and good Example behold Darkness has overspread us all Faces gather Blackness and our Greatest Festival is turn'd into a Season of Mourning Now that it may appear that our sudden loss of so Excellent a Queen in the prime of Her years and in the full brightness of Her Vertues may very well be compar'd to the Sun 's going down at Noon or to the Earth's being Darkned in the midst of a clear Day I will endeavour to set before you something of Her Character and then consider what reason we have to Mourn and what is the best use we are to make of such Dispensations As to Her Character I shall not much meddle with the Reports and Relations of others because I think I am able to delineate some very Considerable Branches of it from my own Knowledge and Observation And therein I shall confine my self to these Three things I. I shall Contemplate Her in the peculiar Sweetness of Her Temper II. In Her Continual Concern for and Encouragement of the True Religion establish'd amongst us III. In the Constant Practice of Her own Devotion I. I shall Contemplate Her in the peculiar Sweetness of Her Temper We are apt to think That Sweetness of Temper is the Ordinary Constitution of Princes and great Persons that it naturally arises from a Generous Blood a Noble Education Obsequious Attendance and the easie Accommodations of Life but all these are no other than Contingent Causes and do oftentimes produce quite contrary Effects as Pride Haughtiness and Cruelty and such nice and fastidious Humours as few can comply with and none can please A Sweet Natural Temper is certainly a great blessing from whatsoever it arises but there must be care taken to polish and improve it or it will not hold good long it is very apt to turn into Slothfulness or a Sensual Ease so that Vertue alone can give it stability and a lasting shine It is the most proper Soil for Christianity to grow in and then it has this advantage that it receives a New Richness from the very Fruit it bears It is likewise That which best sets off and recommends a Vertuous Life to others for who can resist the Counsels of Wisdom when they are insinuated by all the Charms of Love and Good Nature Now a peculiar Sweetness of Disposition is ever expected from those who are Eminently pious for they are Nobly Descended indeed being in an especial manner