Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A63912
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The middle way betwixt. The second part being an apologetical vindication of the former / by John Turner.
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Turner, John, b. 1649 or 50.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing T3312A; ESTC R203722
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206,707
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592
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them the sight and sence of their Sin or by such pleasant though uncharitable searching into the more infamous Lives or Actions of their Neighbours as presents them with a comparative Innocence in themselves There are none so hardened as to make a publick profession and shameless boast of Sin but downright madmen and fools and there are many who by a long course of Wickedness have stifled the convictions of their own minds who yet are ashamed to own how bad they are out of a fear and reverence for the common sentiments of Mankind in a word no man ever had a good opinion of wickedness but he that was hardened in it by his own habitual Vices or by the just Judgment of God or he that was not truly sensible of what he did or said in the heat and intemperance of a Debauch but still as the Debauch goes off and the man returns to a sounder sense of things reason by insensible degrees recovers strength and Virtue begins to shake her drooping wings and pick out the sickly feathers of the mind till being too often and too much opprest by the steams of Concupiscence and vain desire this Candle of the Lord shines every day with a more gloomy and imperfect light and at length abandons us to perfect Darkness and leaves us to become a prey to those unruly Appetites whose end is temporal and eternal Ruin For besides the natural congruity and agreement which there is betwixt all virtuous Actions and a conscious reflecting nature which cannot possibly look back with comfort upon any thing but what is reasonable and like it self there are such plain advantages in point of temporal Interest and profit which flow in a perpetual and uninterrupted stream from all the instances of Virtue and Religion that it may rather seem a Miracle that all Mankind is no better than that they are no worse than they are And from hence it is that Piety and Goodness are by him who is by God himself honoured with so great a Character as that of the wisest of Princes and of Men very fitly stiled by the name of Wisdome as on the contrary all manner of speculative pravity of the mind and all external naughtiness of Conversation is by the same Oracle of experience and truth branded with the ignominious and reproachful term of Folly There being no instance of Virtue which is not an argument of the truest Wisdom nor any example of Wickedness and Vice which does not palpably discover the greatest folly and Madness in the world Shall we think that it needs an irresistible Grace to perswade a man to be temperate or sober when the experiments which almost every one may have made of himself besides the sad examples which every days experience will furnish him with in others will tell him how destructive Intemperance is to health how unfit it renders us for Business how uncapable it makes us of that discretion and Prudence without which our persons must sink into Contempt our Estates run to decay our Families be exposed to inevitable Destruction and Ruin or Lastly how it inflames our Passions disturbs our Reason distracts and discomposes our Imagination and renders the whole man uneasie to himself and insupportable to others What better Remedy or what more mitigating asswagement is there in afflictions or disappointments then patience and how does a carefull and habitual exercise of this virtue set us in a manner beyond the reach of Fortune and place us up on a Rock which no Calamity can shake How does it smoothen polish and refine our Souls How does it blunt the edge of Misery And how does it improve and heighten that calmness and serenity of Spirit in which the true Nature of happiness consists Lastly How nigh of kin is Patience to Humility which gives us Grace and acceptation both with God and men Which procures an easie pardon for our faults excuses and hides our Imperfections and sets an additional brightness and lustre upon all the valuable Endowments of our minds How vexatious to our selves how troublesome to others and how destructive of the Happiness and quiet of all the world are Insolence Impatience and Pride What infinite Charms What inexpressible Pleasures are there to be found in Charity Sincerity Truth and Justice is it not plain by experience that they procure us a lasting respect and veneration from others That they create the most certain delight and satisfaction in our selves How do all Mankind endeavour to avoid dependance and subjection And how are they in love with Power And what nobler or what safer exercise is there of that Power than by doing those things which make for the common Interest of the world and procure us the Friendship and assistance of all with whom we have to do Or of whose help we shall ever stand in need What weakness does Hypocrisie and Dissimulation betray How bigg is it always with Jealousie Suspicion and Shame And how often does it lay open and expose it self by a too anxious fear of being discovered and by a too sollicitous and artificial provision against it How pleasant How excellent and how Godlike a thing is it to have Mercy and to forgive How exquisitely painfull and tormenting is an unsatiable thirst after Revenge And is it not more safe to pardon a great offence then by revenging every little one to draw perpetual Dangers and Troubles upon our heads And since besides the outward advantages with which all the instances of Virtue are so plentifully Crown'd there is also such a strange harmony and agreement between Happiness and Virtue implanted by God and Nature in the Souls of men that we cannot enjoy the one without the other but without Virtue the mind is perpetually out of tune and can make no agreeable Musick to it self what Madness is it to affront and abuse that conscious Nature in us in whose disquiet and pain the very nature of Misery consists as Happiness is to be measured by its satisfaction and Contentment What hath been said of those Duties which are personal and of those which relate to our Converse with one another the First of which have a Natural the Second only an Hypotheticall or accidentall Obligation because it is not necessary to the being of a Man that he should be a Member of a Society or that any other Man should exist besides himself the same is likewise applicable with the same evidence of Demonstration to those Duties which are more properly and strictly denominated Religious as being conversant about Divine Worship and having God for the Scope and Object to which they are Directed that these also are Founded upon principles of such undoubted Interest and Reason that as no Man but the Fool did ever say in his Heart there is no God so it is still an higher degree of Stupidity and Madness to acknowledge and believe that there is so Powerful so Good so Gracious so Wise and so immense a Being and yet not to pay