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	knowledge_n	temperance_n	6,200	5	11.8053	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15681	The true honor of navigation and navigators: or, holy meditations for sea-men Written vpon our sauiour Christ his voyage by sea, Matth. 8. 23. &c. Whereunto are added certaine formes of prayers for sea trauellers, suited to the former meditations, vpon the seuerall occasions that fall at sea. By Iohn Wood, Doctor in Diuinitie.	Wood, John, d. 1625.	1618 (1618)	STC 25952; ESTC S101875	102,315	138

by their feare whereby they awoke him and indeede prayer in it selfe is so excellent that as the word of God is the foode of the soule so thi● is the exercise of the soule for the obtaining keeping and increasing of all spirituall grace So that as a man cannot keepe his body for any long time in health and strength vnlesse he vse some exercise yea though he fill it with good meate and feed it most carefully So although a man doe heare the Word of God euery day preached v●to him and so feede his soule with the foode of life yet vnlesse he doe by this spirituall exercise of praier draw the said heauenly food into the seuerall parts of his soule he shall sensibly feele his faith hope loue patience all other spirituall graces to decrease by little and little yea as ●he exercising of the body doth not onely preserue it in the naturall vigour but also ●ncreaseth the strength of it by keeping it from growing fat and foggy and preseruing it from sicknesse so by the daily vse of prayer we shall find that the Lord will increase in vs all spirituall graces farre aboue our owne expectation or the opinion of any other Yea euen in this life hearty and feruent prayer comming from a faithfull man is health in sicknesse riches in pouerty safety in danger comfort in aduersitie and makes supply of all temporall defects and wants whatsoeuer But aboue all the sea-man ●specially in long voyages being for the most part debarred of the spirituall food of his soule that is the Word of God ordinarily preached should labour to redeeme and recouer that losse both by reading the Word of God and learned mens workes but specially by hauing continuall recourse to God in prayer For it is the end of our preaching to teach men how to pray and there is not a more infallible signe of a true childe of God then the spirit or gift of prayer whereby a man is made able and willing and ready to pray aright vnto God as the present occasion doth require Art thou by distance of place imprisonment trauell or otherwise remoued from the ordinary hearing of the Word preached haue daily recourse vnto God by prayer three times in a day with Daniel seuen times in a day with Dauid alwaies as Christ teacheth and continually as Saint Paul commandeth Offer vp this sacrifice morni●g and euening and say with the Prophet Let my prayer ascend vnto thee as the incense and the lifting vp of my ha●ds as the euening sacrifice Let it be thy first and thy last worke euery day for this is clauis die● a key to open the day and it is Sera noctis a locke to shut vp the night it is Signaculum cibi that which makes thee looke for a blessing on thy meat thy prayer or grace before and after m●ales and whatsoeuer thou goest about though thou haue not time to conceiue a prayer in words yet learne of Nehemiah to lift vp thy heart vnto the Lord. Art thou tempted to any euill pray to God to giue the● grace and strength to ouercome the tentation and if thou receiue it not at the first pray with Saint Paul the second and third time Hast thou giuen way and art thou ouercome by the tentation pray for repentance and faith that thou maist bee reconciled vnto God againe Dost thou find that thou hast deserued Gods iudgements and that they hang ouer t●y head for sinne pray that if it be his will they may be turned away from thee Hath God found thee out and are his iudgements vpon thee rip vp thy heart consider thy former life confesse thy sinnes vnto him pray for deliuerance either to remoue his iudgements or to lessen them or to encrease thy strength and patience to beare thē Again dost thou find any want of any spirituall grace in thee pray to him that is only able and willing to bestow it vpon thee Dost thou find any comfort by any grace already receiued pray for the continuance and increase in it and for multiplying and increasing of more graces Gi●● al● diligence to ioyne vnto your faith vertue and with v●●tue k●owl●dge and with knowledge temperance an● with temperance patience and with patience godlinesse and with godlinesse brotherly kindnes and with brotherly kind●esse lou● c. Pray not only for thy selfe but for others both with thee and farre from thee Frater si prote solùm oras solus pro te oras si pro omnibus ores omnes pro te orant Brother saith Saint Augustin● if thou onely pray for thy selfe thou alone prayest for thy self if thou pray for all men all doe pray for thee A man in the remotest parts of the world should not onely remember his friends at home but his enemies abroad and pray for all that they all may pray for him Now for the necessity of this duty of prayer if we consider Gods commandement Call vpon me in the day of thy trouble This is all that he requires and therefore we say with Naamans seruants If the Prophet h●d commanded thee a great thing wouldst thou not haue done it how much rather then c. This commandement of God were a sufficient reason by the Centurions rule And Christ speaking of an obedient seruant Doth his Master saith he thanke him for doing this But secondly our owne wants and necessities do constraine vs for wee haue nothing of our selues but what wee receiue of him neither haue we any promise of receiuing any thing without prayer Aske and you shall haue Thirdly our enemies are first strong like the strong man armed that holdeth possession in peace Secondly many euen principalities powers worldlie gouernours princes of darknesse c. Thirdly crafty for the diuell is a deepe polititian And lest we should be circumuen●ed wee must not be ignorant of his enterprises As that sometimes hee transformes himselfe into an Angell of light And there is more heede to be taken of him when he comes in the wilie serpent then when he comes with open mouth roring like a Lion We see when he came to tempt our Sauiour Christ he comes as it we●● with his Psalter in his hand and scriptum est in his mouth It is w●itten saith he as though he had Scripture for his warrant Seeing then God commands vs our necessities compell vs and our enemies are so strong so many and so craftie and wee can haue no helpe but of God and no meanes to obtaine helpe from him but by prayer to which he hath annexed his promise and he is faithfull that hath promised Seeing that which Saint Iames telles vs that the prayer of a righteous man preuaileth much is confirmed by examples in holy Scripture that no dutie hath wrought such miracles not onely in the Elements as the opening of the earth to swallow vp

against him that he is faine to crie out Miserable man that I am who shall deliuer me Til then there is no place for repentance nor no way for faith to apprehend and lay hold of the sweete and comfortable promises of God in Iesus Christ. And though where faith and loue are entertained after our conuersion according to the measure of grace which we receiue in thē this seruile feare of hell and condemnation be expelled cast out as S. Iohn speaketh yet seeing we can haue no perfection in any grace in this life and Gods best children doe still carrie with them concupiscence the body of sin and as they are daily subiect to infirmities so many times fall into grosse ●innes As a leaking ship had neede of continuall pumping and a beggars rotten coat of continuall patching ●o our liues haue neede of continuall repenting which cannot be without the beholding of Gods iudgements with feare and therefore as the Prophet willes vs to serue the Lord in feare and reioyce in ●rembling So the Apostle aduiseth vs To worke out our saluation in feare and trembling And as Saint Peter and Saint Iude doe propound the iudgements of God against the Angels against the old World against Sodome and Gomorrha because as the Poet saith Oderunt peccare mali formidine poenae that is Euill men abstai●e from doing euill for feare of punishment And Saint Augustine Si non potes propter amorem i●stitiae fac propter timorem poenae If thou canst n●t abstaine from sinne for loue to righteousnesse yet doe it for feare of punishment So the feare of punishment breedes abstinence from sinne and that abstinence a will and desire to doe good from thence a delight and pleasure in goodnesse And thus Gods best children doe make good vse of that feare that proceedeth from the meditation of his iudgements as a bridle to restraine them from sinne and a spurre to set them forward in the seruice of God It was therfore the excesse of feare that our Sauiour here reproued in his Disciples that they were so discouraged and dismaied that they were euen in a maner past hope of deliuerance notwithstanding his presence The feare of death is naturall and so far from being sin that our Sauiour Christ himself had the sense thereof when before his Passion Saint Matthew reporteth that hee began to bee sorrowfull and grieuously troubled And S. Marke saith He began to be troubled in great heauines which the Apostle expoundeth thus That in the daies of his flesh he did offer vp prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares vnto him that was able to saue him from death and was also heard in that which he feared and if this were the case of the greene tree what can we expect of the withered If Christ himself were so affected with the sense of death no maruell though his Apostles now in the time of their minority do cry out with the Prophet Mine heart trembleth within me the terrors of death are fallen vpon me Feare trembling are come vpon me a horrible feare hath couered me And again I am afflicted at the point of death from my youth I suffer thy terrors doubting of my life Thine indignation goeth ouer me and thy feare hath cut me off So that our Sauiour doth here not simply reproue them for their feare but for the exceeding measure thereof proceeding from their want of faith as himself witnesseth in the words following O ye of little faith wherin he answereth to the question before propounded by himself and sheweth that in stead of their exclamation before we perish they should rather haue said with the Apostle We are afflicted on euery side yet not in distresse we are in doubt but yet despaire not we are persecuted but not forsaken cast down but we perish not Now the question is what faith it is the want whereof our Sauiour doth here charge the Disciples withal and I vnderstand it not of iustifying faith but of the faith of working miracles that they beleeued not in Christ that he was able miraculously to deliuer them out of the danger though it were neuer so great For as to work a miracle there is faith required as Christ speaketh to them afterwards Verily I say vnto you if ye had faith as much as a graine of mustard seede ye shall say to this mountaine remoue hence to yonder place it shall remoue and nothing shal be vnpossible vnto you So must there be faith in thē vpon whom the miracle is wrought and therfore when the father of the child that was possessed said to Christ If thou canst doe any thing help vs and haue cōpassion on vs he answereth him If thou canst beleeue all things are possible to him that beleeueth and therfore that which our Euangelist saith of Nazareth where our Sauior was brought vp That he did not many great works there for their vnbeleefes sake S. Marke expresseth thus He could not there do any great works saue that he laid his hands vpon a f●w sick folk healed them And he maruelled at their vnbeliefe for as faith can draw vertue from Christ vnawares for the working of miracles And make Christ wonder So infidelity vnbeleefe doth not only eclipse and darken but also let and hinder the powerfull working of Gods grace from doing vs any good either to our bodies or our soules And therfore S. August doth fitly compare faith to the mouth of a vessel whereby the sweet liquor of Gods grace is poured in and infidelity to a couer or stopple that hinders the entrance of any such liquor So that the meditatiō of this point is that of the Apostle Take heede brethren lest at any time there be in any of you an euill heart of vnbeleefe to depart away from the liuing God but exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest ye bee hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sinne Let no man say in his extremity with the wicked Tush God hath forgotten hee hideth away his face and will neu●r see or with Iobs wife Curse God and die But let vs rather as the Apostle willeth vs hold the profession of our faith without wauering Let vs not cast away our confidence which hath great recompence of reward Let vs being compassed with a great cloud of witnesses cast away euery thing that presseth downe and the sinne that hangeth so fast on let vs run with patience the race that is set before vs looking to Iesus the author and finisher of our faith c. And wheras miracles are ceased and therefore in that kind no such faith required of vs yet our true iustifying faith which is proper to Gods children shall giue vs such peace with God and peace in conscience that we shall be as bold as Lions and not feare any perils nor