Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	faith_n	hope_n	theological_a	1,178	5	12.4996	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17887	A draught of eternitie. Written in French by Iohn Peter Camus Bishope of Belley. Translated into English by Miles Car preist of the English Colledge of Doway; Crayon de l'eternité. English	Camus, Jean-Pierre, 1584-1652.; Carre, Thomas, 1599-1674.	1632 (1632)	STC 4552; ESTC S107542	142,956	502

of Eternitie in the Purgatiue way and the force which it hath to reclayme vs from wickednesse A continuation of the formar discourse LXIX AS for the Illuminatiue way whose propertie it is to incite vs to goodnes and vertue what difficultie is incident to the pursute of vertue which is not surmounted by the price of so great glorie which is proposed vnto vs in Eternitie as I haue alreadie at large declared For the words of thy lipps ô Lord saith the Diuine Psalmist that is vpon the hope of thy promisses I haue kept the hard wayes IACOB hauing espyed that misterious ladder a figure of Beatitude durst close with an Angell neuer leaue wrastling with him till he had wrested a benediction from him And was not MICHOL with SAVLS crowne being proposed for his guerdon who should vanquish the Giant the motife which did so generously incite DAVID to so glorious an enterprise O Lord sings the Diuine Psalmist I ranne in the way of thy Commandements when thou didst opene and dilate my heart And yet what is able to dilate it more then the thought of Eternitie O how faire are the feete that is the affections of a foule which directes her stepps towards those eternall Hills through the pathes of pietie erecting stares in her heart to ascend vp to the heauēly Sion by the stepps of vertues This is she which doth rauish the Angells with admiratiō when they discouer her ascending out of the desart of the world as a litle rod of smoke composed of all the aromaticall spices It is written in the Apocalipse that the first fundation of the holy Citie Hierusalē is made of Iasper a stone marked with all the seuerall colours which are dispersed amongst the other stones wherby is intimated vnto vs that the eternall Sion hath its fundation vpō all the vertues and that he who pretends the attayning of it must resolue to imbrace them all otherwise he will not be permitted accesse Now what vertue is not acquired by this consideration what good habite is not contayned therin Let vs cast an ey vpon those which are the principall and as it were the roote of all the rest and we shall find Eternitie to be the Sea whither all these litle brookes runne What is FAITH but the argument of things not appeareing And are not eternall things those which doe not appeare for so the great Apostle doth teach vs. What is HOPE but an expectation of eternall blesse and the coming of the glorie of the great God In thee ô Lord haue I put my hoped saith DAVID and I shall not be confounded for euer What is CHARITIE but a Vertue which according to the Apostle remaynes for euer euen when FAITH and HOPE shall cease to be and Prophecies shall be made voyde and such as are rooted and founded in this Vertue doe in some measure comprehend the length bredth hight and depth of Eternitie What is PRVDENCE but a wise foresight of future things and principally of the next life for the life which ends in this world is called a Death by the Apostle yea yet in sharper tearmes a sensuall terreane malignant life And it was this prudent thought of Eternitie which MOYSES perceaued to be awanting in Israel while he tearmed it a Nation deuoyd of Councell and iudgement and wished from his heart that that people would become wise vnderstanding and foreseeing the tyme to come Touching FORCE and TEMPERANCE we haue shewen in the formar stroke that this thought makes one abstayne from and contemne earthly things and doth in courage the heart to all kinds of sufferances and crosses for the Conquest of Eternitie Concerning IVSTICE since eternall Glorie is tearmed the crowne of Iustice and that no iniustice can be permitted to make entrie there who can deney but the fruites of the thoughtes of Eternitie are the very same with those wherof DANIEL speakes which is to free the soule from sinne and to lodge eternall Iustice in its place And doth not the Psalmist say that the iust shall liue for euer PATIENCE also doth springe frō this thought sith the Kingdome of Heauen is promissed to such as doe practise it in persecution And who will not become HVMBLE vnder the powrefull hand of God when he shall seriously consider that the Kingdome of heauen belongs to the poore in spirit and that the humble shall be saued and aduanced and that the proude of heart are cast headlong downe with Lucifer into perpetuall flames And who will not turne MEEKE and mild when he shall reflect that the promised Land of Eternitie is their inheritance Who will not be deuoute and feruent in all the exercices of pietie whether it be prayer fasting Almes-deedes or in the practise of interiour or exteriour mortifications if he fall duely to consider that the violent doe beare away the Kingdome of Heauen Who will not imbrace or at least who will not loue and honour the Euangelicall Councells when he reades what great rewards are promised to the Continent obedient and voluntariepoore Runne in this sort ouer all the vertues whose pursuite and practise is the proper imployment of the Illuminatiue way and you shall find that whether they be Theologicall or morall infused they haue all for their Obiect a supernaturall end as faith the Angell of the schoole and consequently all of them ayme at Eternitie as all the lines of the circūference at the vnitie of the Cēter As for the vnitiue way which consistes in a certaine adhearing to the soueraigne Good which is God the verie essentiall Eternitie we will shew in the ensuing stroke that the essentiall Eternitie being no other thing properly speaking then God himselfe there is no thought at all which doth more immediately nor more generally vnite vs vnto him then that of Eternitie Whence I draw this Conclusion that the consideration of Eternitie is truely that one necessarie thing which is so highly commended in the Ghospell euen from the mouth of the sonne of God and called MARIE'S BEST PART which shall neuer be taken from her Iudge you then Athanasia of what importance it is to thinke frequently yea incessantly of Eternitie since it is as it were the pinne whervpon all spirituall life doth turne Of the essentiall Eternitie LXX HItherto Athanasia we haue not giuen thee a straight and cleare but an indirect view of Eternitie we haue shewen it thee onely sideling as BALAAM beheld the armie of Israel we haue onely pondered the two armes therof not the bodie It 's effects onely not it's cause and as one would say we haue seene the shouldiers onely not the face the accidents not the substance therof For albeit the Diuines teach vs that it is a whole and perfect possession of an endlesse life yet doth not this description quiet my vnderstāding in that it doth not represēt Eternitie as a thing created and out of God and which being applyed to creatures will indeede haue no end yet presupposeth a begining God alone being

to earthly obiects It discryes nothing but the fayding shapes of this world And as hounds fall easily at default in the Spring when the fresh smells of flowres make them loose the sent of the game they poursue So the mynd that is carried to the search of heauenly things runns counter misled by the neerenesse of present things That we put a rate vpon present things rather by their neerenesse then worth VIII FOr though many of those that are carried away by their allurements know well that they are not comparable in worth to eternall things yet rather by their neighbourhoode then valour they make a stronge impression Who would not say that the full moone is greater thē the starrs it appearing as another Sunne amongst the lesser lightes which the night discouers in the heauens yet is it not so as the Astrologers assure vs but her proxmitie causeth this mistake Present things obnoxious to the decay of tyme are so short in continuance that they are but flying vapours as soone bet downe as blowen vp seeming rather appearances or the shadowes of a dreame then solidities while yet beeing neerer they appeare to the eyes of such as muse or rather abuse themselues therin more worthy of consideration then eternall things which are not limited in their extention nor haue end in their beeing And who knowes not to keepe in our comparison that the influences of this starre the nights great eye are more forceable then any other excepting that which is the fountaine of all light and which doth communicate it to all the rest We must say the like of things present that by reason of their neerenesse they strike the soule by the senses a more violent blow then the future doe which are beheld as a thing in absence Whence we haue a MAXIME that present obiects moue the powres which things in distance doe but slowly shake But all this proceeds from want of Fayth as hereafter we will declare for if this vertue were closely vnited in the mynds of those that doe beleeue her propositions she would make things hoped for appeare as present inuisible things visible according to the definition therof deliuered vs by the great Apostle The Moone appeares in diuers shapes or altogether disappeares according to the different oppositions of the earth betweene it and the Sunne We may say the like in the matter we treate of that Eternitie is seene or shut vp from soules according as they are more or lesse infected with earthly affections ô Loue of the world how long wilt thou obscure the faire light of heauenly loue ô thicke cloude why dost thou shut from so many eyes the aspect of the glorious rayes issuing from eternall lights behold this torch throwen downe the waxe which while it was below the flame did feede it is the very bane of it The loue of inferiour things guided according to the order of Charitie doth not impeach eternall loue but when perishable things are preferred before those that are permanent then this cleare lampe which shines to our feete to conduct vs in the way of eternall peace being smothered with materiall things dies out ô Smoke ô vnfortunate dung how many Tobies thou beatest blind Iron doth naturally run after the Loadstone yet many things hinder this stones attraction as when it is rubd with garlike or greese when it is neere vnto a Diamant or when it is placed in too great a distāce from the iron And our soules who of their owne natures are immortall by their owne instinct doe tend to Eternitie as to that which they most affect but as soone as the garlike or greese of the pleasures and delights which are tasted in things present doe attrape them or when the lying luster of worldly honours keepes them at a gaze it is not strange that Eternitie which they behold as a thing a far of doth so litle worke vpon their affections Shall I speake in a word what is the Remora which stops the shippe of our hearts vnder the sayles of our desires sayling towards Eternitie it is that euery one seekes himselfe and not the glorie of God It is as that old Antipheron that in euery thinge hauing our eyes turned vpon our selues in euery thing we seeke our owne interest Few hate their soules in this world to gayne them to Eternitie Few renounce all things present and yet fewer themselues who are more not onely present but pressing to follow Iesus Christ and to doe the will of God in earth as it is in heauen The weaknesse of Fayth makes Eternitie lesse considerable IX BVt what doe I say to doe the will of God Alas how many wicked how many mad men say in their heart their is no God Our lipps are to our selues who is our Lord Come let 's crowne our selues with present roses before death the death of all pleasures make them fade away let not a flowre of vanitie of loose desire of lucre put vp the heade in the meades of this mortall life which we take not a taste of before the graue shut vs vp And it is there that this want of beleife maks vs loose the veiw of the North-starre of Eternitie which I giue for a third cause Yes quoth our Sauiour himselfe to his Disciples doe you thinke that the sonne of man coming to iudge the world in his last coming shall find Faith in the earth and doe we thinke there is Faith in this end and dreges of ages wherin we liue Verily if we forme a iudgement of Faith by workes as the scripture teacheth vs it will easily be gathered by the fruite the world brings out that there is nether Truth nor Faith nor Memorie of Gods iustice or Eternitie left in the heart of man All erre from their mothers wombe and stray from the pathes of equitie being heauie hearted slow to beleeue that which is taught them by faith touching things to come They loue vanitie and seeke after falsitie and lyes ô how deceitfull are the children of men in their waightes suffering themselues to be deceaued in the Vanitie of their senses Let vs consider this more neerely and practically Faith tells vs many glorious things of the Citie of God where he raignes eternally with his Elect where he makes his loue take roote as in a fertile feild It tells vs that this Kingdome is of all ages that all the Blessed are Kings heires of God and coheires with Iesus Christ. That God is there all in all filling them with an eternall felicitie that his power is an eternall powre That his Kingdome shall haue no end And in our Crede we protest that we beleeue life euerlasting the life of the world to come That such as doe well shall enter into the blessed Eternitie and the wicked into an eternall tormēt That is one of the principale articles of our Faith and as it were the pinne vpon which the rest moue and turne for if all should die to vs togeither with the