Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	day_n	lord_n	sabbath_n	851	5	10.2633	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03641	Two sermons vpon the XII. chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrewes, the sixteenth and seuenteenth verses Preached in the citie of London the twelfth day of Iune, 1608. By Thomas Hopkins minister at Yeardley in the countie of Worcester.	Hopkins, Thomas, minister at Yeardley.	1609 (1609)	STC 13770; ESTC S116954	46,735	82

am in doubt many of vs come short of and yet perswade our selues to be good Christians First you haue not read a more louing kind and gentler sonne to his father then he was and his father againe loued him dearely and more dearelie then hee did Iacob Gem. 33.4 Secondly how kind was hee to his brother who though he went with a full purpose to haue slaine him yet meeting of him his heart so melted that he fell on his necke and kissed him yea his kindnes was such to his father that hearing of his death Gen. 25.19 came many a mile to performe his last dutie and to see him buried and laid him in his graue yet wee reade him branded for a castaway Againe was hee a couetous man truelie no Gen. 33.8.9 as may appeare in the storie when he met his brother Iacob who offering him a great present he did refuse it protesting hee had enough which did argue a mind void of couetousnesse Was he proud no verily for as we reade when his brother and hee could no longer dwell together he in courtesie gaue place to his youngest brother What was his sinne was he a drunkard an adulterer an vsurer We doe not reade that hee did liue in any of these grosse sinnes What then was his sinne He was a prophane man and therefore hated of God and set vp for a spectacle to all the world From whence wee may obserue for our instruction Doct. 4 Howeuer a man may haue many temporall blessings and morall vertues yet being a prophane man it is not only sufficient to bring seuere punishments vpon him but he carries a principall brand of a castaway I say againe and marke it though a man be come of a most honorable descent though kind and dutifull to his parents though rich and wealthy in regard of the things of this life yea though hee be contented and be very humble outwardly yet if he be prophane he may carry the very brand of a reprobate So that it is one of the greatest sinnes in the world to be prophane and irreligious yea many papists I meane the simple and ignorant Papist are in better case then a prophane man Not that I teach that euery one shall bee saued by his owne religion for as there is but one true God so there is but one true way by which he will be worshipped and by which we shall attaine to saluation consisting in true reconciling of vs to God in Christ And I grant the poore deceaued Papist is not in the right way for he seekes other waies and depriues himselfe of the righteousnes of God in Christ going about to establish his owne inuentions And further they be Idolaters and worship stockes and stones the worke of mens hands therefore cannot looke to be saued in this way Yet I sa yt here is more hope that God will shew mercie vnto them then to a prophane person because they doe it of ignorance he of presumption which caused Peter to tell the Iewes that they were capable of mercie Act. 17.3 because they did it of ignorance And this must mooue vs to hope well of many of our ancestors who liued and died in the time of Poperie who no doubt would not haue so beleeued if they had knowne it not to haue been the truth which they professed But the prophane person cannot bee ignorant but that his course of life is sinne therefore more hope of such ignorant persons then of the prophane Atheist It is not morall vertues ciuill honestie kind natures that is the way to heauen Nay a man with these may be a miserable man except he be sanctified with religion Wee doe not hold as the Papists falsely charge vs that good workes are needelesse to saluation Iam. 2.14 For wee both know and teach that faith without good workes is dead and it is a shame if Christians exceed not worldlings yet we say that all morall vertues in a man without religion are vnauaileable to saluation and as Salomon saith in another case they are as a ring of gold in a swines snout Honestie and ciuilitie are most pretious Iewels but they that haue them without religion are no better then swine Example of Nicodemus Iohn 3.3 who was accounted a most honest man in the world an vpright dealer a common frequenter of the Temple liberall to the poore c. yet our Sauiour told him it was not his kind nature nor his morall vertues nor his ciuill carriage would bring him to heauen except hee were regenerate and borne anew that is except there were another nature wrought in him and so become religious The like example wee haue of the Apostle Paul who bragges of his estate by nature Phil. 3 4.5.6.7.8 saying that no man could boast of outward things as he either of stocke tribe kinred zeale or righteousnesse of the law Of the which hee saies he was vnrebukeable that is no man could iustly detect him or say so much as blacke was his eie But when the Lord wrought true religion in his heart hee cries shame on them all and accounts all but dung in respect of the benefit that comes by religion Wee must not flatter our hearts with outward ciuilitie amongst men but labour to approue them religious towards God It is not our care and conscience of the second Table will afford vs one iot of comfort to saluation except they bee grounded on conscience and respect of the first Table It is not our detesting and freedome from pride drunkennesse whoredome theft vsurie slandering that will bee accepted of God except there be planted in our hearts a feare of God a loue to religion a conscience of sanctifying the Sabbath day a reforming of families and instructing our children a hating and abhorring the sinne of swearing and departing from infidelitie impenitencie and hardnesse of heart which the Lord by his spirit workes in those that hee makes religious Yea if all the morall vertues that can be possible were in a man yet if these bee wanting Matth. 22.38 hee is a prophane man and remaineth in the case of damnation To this end our Sauiour calles the first table the first and the greatest The first because it must bee preferred in the first place and chiefe roome before our eating sleeping marrying rising labour c. there must goe some part and duety of the first table The greatest because the punishment thereof will be greater then the other Vse Now for the vse of this First it teacheth vs to make triall in our hearts whether wee bee infected with this sinne of prophanenesse or not And though there bee many and sundrie signes to trie our hearts by yet I will content my selfe with foure things besides the chiefest of all which followes in the next words to bee spoken of which the holy Ghost hath set out and branded Esau withall The first is his behauiour in the matching himselfe in marriage wherein he shewed his