Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	diligence_n	faith_n	temperance_n	1,246	5	10.7571	5	true

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

Graces are amiable and attractive in the view of Men as easiness to pardon a readiness to oblige compassion to the afflicted liberality to the necessitous sweetness of conversation without gall and bitterness these are of universal esteem with mankind and soften the most savage tempers If there be any Vertue and if there be any Praise think on these things And St. Peter excites Believers to joyn to their Faith by which the Gospel of Christ is embrac't Intellectual and Moral vertues without which 't is but a vain picture of Christianity Add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly kindness and to Brotherly kindness Charity He enforces the command give all diligence that these things abound in you and ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of Christ. Now these Graces purifie and perfect refine and ra●se the humane nature and without a Command their Goodness is a strong obligation I will take a more distinct view of the Precepts of Christ as they are set down in that excellent abridgement of them by the Apostle The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all Men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present world Here is a distribution of our duties with respect to their several Objects our selves others and God The first are regulated by Temperance the second by Justice the third by Godliness And from the accomplishment of these is formed that Holiness without which no man shall see God 1. In respect to our selves we must live soberly Temperance governs the sensual appetites and affections by sanctified reason The Gospel allows the sober and chast use of pleasures but absolutely and severely forbids all excess in those that are lawful and abstinence from all that are unlawful that stain vilify the Soul and alienate it from converse with God and mortifie its lust to spiritual delights By sensual complacency Man first lost his Innocence and Happiness and till the flesh is subdued to the spirit he can never recover them The carnal mind is enmity against God Fleshly lusts war against the Soul Therefore we are urged with the most affectionate earnestness to abstain from them by withdrawing their incentives and crucifying our corrupt inclinations In short the Law of Christ obliges us as to deal with the body as an enemy that is disposed to revolt against the Spirit by watching over all our senses lest they should betray us to temptations so to preserve it as a thing consecrated to God from all impurity that will render it unworthy the honour of being the Temple of the Holy Ghost 2. We are commanded to live Righteously in our relation to others Justice is the supreme Virtue of humane Life that renders to every one what is due The Gospel gives rules for Men in every state and place to do what Reason requires As no condition is excluded from its Blessedness so every one is obliged by its Precepts Subjects are commanded to obey all the lawful commands of Authority and not resist and that upon the strongest motive not onely for Wrath but for Conscience They must obey Man for Gods sake but never disobey God for Mans sake And Princes are obliged to be an encouragement to good Works and a terror to the evil that those who are under them may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all Godliness and Honesty It injoynes all the respective duties of Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants And that in all contracts and commerce none defrauds his Brother accordingly in the esteem of Christians he is more religious who is more righteous than others Briefly Christian righteousness is not to be measured by the rigor of Laws but by that rule of universal Equity delivered by our Saviour Whatsoever ye would have others do to you do it to them 3. We are instructed by the Law of Christ to live Godly This part of our duty respects our apprehensions affections and demeanour to God which must be sutable to his Glorious perfections The Gospel hath revealed them clearly to us viz. the Unity Simplicity Eternity and Purity of the Divine Nature that it subsists in three Persons the Father Son and Spirit and his Wisdom Power and Goodness in the Work of our Redemption It requires that we pay the special Honour that is due to God in the esteem and veneration of our Minds in the subjection of our Wills in the assent of our Affections to him as their proper object That we have an intire Faith in his Word a firm Hope in his Promises a Holy Jealousie for his Honour a Religious care in his Service And that we express our reverence love and dependance on him in our Prayers and Praises That our Worshp of Him be in such a manner as becomes God who receives it and Man that presents it God is a pure Spirit and Man is a reasonable Creature therefore ●e must worship him in Spirit and Truth And since Man in his fallen State cannot approach the Holy and Just God without a Mediator he is directed by the Gospel to address himself to the Throne of Grace in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who alone can reconcile our Persons and render our Services acceptable with his Father Besides the immediate service of the Deity Godliness includes the propension and tendency of the Soul to him in the whole conversation and it contains three things 1. That our Obedience proceeds from love to God as its vital Principle This must warm and animate the external action this alone makes Obedience as delightful to us so pleasing to God He shews Mercy to those who love him and keep his Commandments Faith works by Love and enclines the Soul to obey with the same Affection that God enjoins the Precept 2. That all our Conversation be regulated by his Will as the Rule He is our Father and Sovereign and the respect to his Law gives to every action the formality of Obedience We must choose our Duty because he commands it Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus that is for his command and by his assistance 3. That the Glory of God be the supreme End of all our Actions This Qualification must adhere not only to necessary Duties but to our natural and civil Actions Our light must so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do all must be done in a regular and due proportion to the Glory of God A general Designation of this is absolutely requisite and the renewing of our intentions actually in matters of moment For He being the sole Author of our Lives and

Him in the admirable Oeconomy of our Redemption 'T is not upon the account of his essential and eternal Purity which is common to all the Persons but in regard of his Office to infuse Holiness into the depraved Soul and renew the Divine Image that he is so call'd Now Jesus Christ purchased the Spirit by his Humiliation and Sufferings and conveys Him to us in his Exaltation and Glory 1. He purchas'd the Spirit by his Sufferings For since Man fell from his original Innocence he is justly depriv'd of special Grace that is necessary to heal and recover him And till by a perfect Sacrifice Divine Justice was appeased that had shut the Treasury of Heaven and the Forfeiture taken off he could not obtain the eternal Riches God must be reconciled before He will bestow the Holy Spirit a Gift so great and so precious the earnest of his peculiar Love and special Favour to us Therefore our Saviour tells his Disciples who were extremely afflicted for his departure from them That it was expedient he should go away for otherwise the Spirit would not come whose Office was to convince and convert the World The departure of Christ implied his Death and Ascension both which were requisite in order to the sending of Him If the Blood of Christ had not been shed on the Cross the Spirit had not been poured forth from Heaven The effusion of the one was the cause of the effusion of the other The Rock that refreshed the Israelites in the Desert did not powre forth its miraculous waters till it was struck by the Rod of Moses to instruct us That Christ our Spiritual Rock must be struck with the Curse of the Law the mystical Rod of Moses to communicate the Waters of Life to us that is the Spirit who is represented in Scripture under that element 2. Our Redeemer confers the Spirit after his glorious Exaltation When he ascended on high he led Captivity captive and gave gifts unto men After his triumph over Principalities and Powers He dispenc'd his Bounty in this rich Donative For the Holy Spirit was first given to Christ as the reward of his excellent Obedience in dying that was infinitely pleasing to God to be communicated from him to Men. And he received the Spirit in the quality of Mediator upon his entrance into Heaven The Psalmist declares this Prophetically Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for Men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them He acquired a right to those Treasures by dying but he takes possession of them after his Ascension Now He is Crown'd He holds forth the Scepter of his Royalty Therefore 't is said that when Christ was upon the Earth the Holy Spirit was not given because Jesus was not Glorified If it be objected that Believers before the Ascension of Christ were partakers of the Spirit the answer is clear 1. It was upon Christ's interposing in the beginning as Mediator and with respect to his future Death and Ascension that the Spirit was given to them 2. The degrees of communicating the Spirit before and after the Ascension of Christ are very different whether we consider the gifts of the Spirit those extraordinary abilities with which the Apostles were endued or the fruits of the Spirit the Sanctifying Graces that are bestowed on Believers the measure of them far exceeds what-ever was conveyed before The Spirit Descended as in a dew upon the Jewish Nation but 't is now powred forth in showers upon all flesh Now in the stile of Scripture things are said to be when apparently and eminently they discover their being So that comparatively to the Power and Virtue of the Spirit discovered in the Church since the Glorification of Christ he was not given before All the former manifestations are obscured by the excess and excellency of the later And not only the Decree of God which is sufficient to connect those things that have no natural dependence but there are special reasons for the order of this Dispensation for the great end of the Spirit 's coming was to reveal fully to the World the way of Salvation to discover the unsearchable riches of Grace to assure Men of happiness after this Life that they might be reduced from a state of Rebellion to Obedience and their affections be refined and purified from all Earthliness and made Angelical and Heavenly Now the Principal demonstrations which he used to perswade Men of these things are the Death and Resurrection of Christ without which these Mysteries had been under a cloud That the Instruction therefore of the Spirit might be clear and effectual it was necessary Christ should Suffer and enter into Heaven and accomplish those things he was to teach And from hence we may observe that the Sanctifying Grace of the Spirit is only the concomitant of the Evangelical Mercy The Gospel and the Spirit are the Wings by which the Sun of Righteousness brings healing and life to the World The declaration of the Law from Mount Sinai was Divine but not accompanied with the efficacy of Grace Therefore 't is called the ministration of Death It conveyed no Spiritual strength as delivered by the hands of Moses considering him precisely in the quality of the legal Mediator but threatned a Curse to the breakers of it All the promises of Mercy scattered in the Books of Moses belong to the Covenant of Grace The Gospel is called the Law of the Spirit of Life and the Ministration of the Spirit that is the Spirit of Holiness and Comfort from whom true and Eternal Life proceeds 〈◊〉 is solely communicated by it The discovery of the Divine Goodness in the Works of Creation and Providence is natural and without the renewing power of the Spirit There is a correspondence between the external Revelation of Mercy and the internal Grace of the Spirit in their Original as the one is supernatural so is the other Not but that the Heathens had some fainter beams of the Sun of Righteousness for he inlightens every man that comes into the World and some lower operations of the Spirit whereby they were reduced from Intemperance Incontinency and other gross Vices to the practice of several Vertues that respect the Civil Life And of this we have an eminent instance recorded by Diogenes Laertius That Polemo half-drunk crown'd with Roses and in the dress of a Harlot rather than of a Man coming into the School of the severe Zenocrates hearing him discourse of Temperance as by a Charm was so perfectly changed that casting away the Garland from his Head and the lascivious Ornaments that were about him and which was more considerable his vicious Habits from his Soul he that entered in a Reveller come forth a Philosopher so corrected and composed in his manners that he was called the Dorick tone which of all others was the most solemn and majestical in the Musick of