Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	godliness_n	knowledge_n	temperance_n	6,959	5	12.3060	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44513	The crucified Jesus, or, A full account of the nature, end, design and benefits of the sacrament of the Lords Supper with necessary directions, prayers, praises and meditations to be used by persons who come to the Holy Communion / by Anthony Horneck ...	Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1695 (1695)	Wing H2823; ESTC R35435	411,793	617

Industry of the Husband-man The End must ever be procured by the Means and they only betray their Folly and Simplicity that talk of adding to their Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Godliness and to Godliness Patience that have not escaped the Pollutions of the World through Lust 2 Pet. 1. 4 5. This is to invert the Method of Grace and to expect that a Tree should begin to grow at the Top before it hath a Root or that Bread should be baked before the Oven be heated These Pollutions must first be removed and the Ground being cleared of the Rubbish you may go and superstruct the intended Edifice 4. To eat and drink unworthily is to eat and drink without sincere Resolutions of Obedience This is consequent to the former Article for Obedience is a necessary Concomitant of Repentance and when the Repentance ends not in Obedience the Repentance is a Cheat. A Man may by some Reasons and Arguments be prevail'd with to part with Sins that are of the bigger sort when he thinks of coming to this Sacrament but except he at the same time seriously resolves to obey Christ in every thing he commands him and particularly in things which are levell'd against his Worldly Interest and is heartily willing to endeavour after those Vertues which are the proper Characteristicks of his Disciples he certainly deceives his own Soul To shake Hands with scandalous Sins and to think that now the Work is done without an holy Readiness to venture on those Graces which render'd the Apostles and the Primitive Believers what they were i. e. amiable in the Sight of God such as Humility Meekness Overcoming the Evil with Good c. In a Word to lop the most luxuriant Branches of the evil Tree and not to take care that it may bring forth good Fruit is to do the Work by halves and the Way to eat and drink unworthily For 1. Such Persons continue in Rebellion against God What is Rebellion but not to obey when we know his Will and have all possible Opportunities to know it If God will have me do a thing and I pass it by as if I heard him not and when it is often inculcated and pressed upon me in Sermons and my Memory refreshed with the Duty and yet still I look upon it as needless or a thing which doth not concern me what is this but Obstinacy And I need not tell you that Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft 1 Sam. 15. 22. Thus Samuel tells Saul upon his Disobedience to the Command of God of extirpating the Amalekites 'T is probable Saul had his Excuses and thought God might not mean it in that rigid Sense that the Prophet's Words imported or that if he executed part of the Order it would be sufficient But these are not things that avail much with God notwithstanding all this the Prophet calls his Neglect Rebellion I know and am sensible that a very worthy Communicant may sometimes ignorantly neglect a Duty and yet preserve an Interest in God's Love because as soon as he comes to know his Errour he doth not encourage it in himself but reforms it But this differs very much from Disobedience to things peremptorily commanded and which every Day that we hear or read the Word are represented to us as necessary Here not to resolve to do those things is opposing our Wills to God's Will and though we do not do it openly yet in effect we do it and whereas God thinks such a Vertue necessary to Salvation we will not think it so and notwithstanding his assuring us that without such Accomplishments we cannot inherit Eternal Life we fancy we may And what is this but crossing the Will of God And how much does this want of Rebellion and thinking our selves wiser than God And surely these are not very good Qualities to dispose a Man to eat and drink worthily at this holy Table 2. Such Persons discover their Desires to be their own still their own Masters their own Governors and at their own dispose contrary to the express Assertion of the Holy Ghost That they who pretend an Interest in Christ's Blood are their own no more And the Reason is exceeding strong for saith he ye are bought with a Price 1 Cor. 6. 19. 20. He that redeems a Slave out of Turkish Captivity redeems him with this Intent That for the future he shall not do his own Will but his Master 's that hath ransom'd him The same we must think of the Son of God who we may suppose would never have freed us from the Devil's Yoak by a voluntary Death to give us leave to do what we list but that we might be at his beck and act like Persons that have in a manner nothing to do with our selves but are to mind only what our Master who bought us would have us do Now he that comes to this Sacrament without sincere Resolutions to obey Christ in those commanded Virtues which may cross or go against his Interest discovers his Regret at the Mystery of Redemption dislikes Christ's redeeming him for this End that he might not be his own betrays his Wishes and could have been contented that he had redeemed him upon softer and more favourable Terms and in a manner declares and expresses his Desire that he would be his own still after that wonderful Price that was paid for him which though unthinking Men do take no notice of yet he that searcheth the inward parts of the Belly doth and cannot look upon such a Person as a worthy Receiver 5. To eat and drink unworthily is to eat and drink without a Speculative Esteem of Christ Jesus Where Men are not satisfied or not persuaded that his Love deserves sacrificing all to his Interest and in case Times of Trouble and Persecution should come are unresolved to hate Father and Mother Wife and Children Lands and Houses even Life it self for Christ and with this Irresoluteness come to this holy Sacrament they certainly want that which must make them worthy Receivers For 1. He hath expresly told us that he that loves Father or Mother more than him is not worthy of him Matth. 10. 37. And if such a Person be not worthy of him how can be worthily receive him in the Sacrament Not to be worthy of him is to have no part in the Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and reserved in Heaven for his faithful Servants It is to have no Share in his Intercession no Right to his Comforts no Right to the Act of Indemnity he hath published for the Benefit of those who adhere to him in all Dangers no Right to his Promises no Right to the Privileges he communicates to those that continue with him in his Temptations no Right to the exceeding Greatness of his Power towards them that believe And how can Christ dwell in such a Person that looks upon the Pelf of this World and his outward Accommodations as greater

offended what tremblings will invade them How will they quake for fear What pitiful shifts will they betake themselves to but all in vain O let that dreadful day be ever before mine Eyes Let the future shrieks and groans of impenitent Sinners even now in this my day sound in mine Ears that I may be frighted from Sin O let me think what their ways will end in and turn my feet away from their Paths O let me not follow their pernicious ways that I may not be condemn'd with the World 31. For if they do these things in a green tree what shall be done in the dry JUdgment must begin at the House of God and if it first begin at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God And if the Righteous scarcely be saved where shall the Ungodly and Sinner appear God is resolved to judge the World and even the best shall have a taste of his Justice The Afflictions that befall the good in this World are but the beginnings of his indignation against Sin and by the Blood of Christ they shall be saved from the wrath to come But if these be the beginnings of God's anger what will the progress of his Justice be and where will it end O blessed Saviour How fearful will the end of all ungodly Sinners be If I must be afflicted O let me have my share of it in this World that I may not sink under the burden of thine indignation hereafter 32. And there were also two other Malefactors led with him to be put to death VVHat an opportunity had these wretches to save their Souls even at the last moment of their Lives An opportunity the like of which never was before nor ever will be Here was an happy day for them to have secured Christ's Favour who would not have denied his Grace to them had they been but willing to accept of it upon this extraordinary occasion Kings and Princes bestow extraordinary Acts of Grace at their Coronation or upon some remarkable Solemnity Now had been the time for these Malefactors to have laid hold on Eternal life which they never had any hope of before But how do Men let slip the opportunities God puts in their hands So have I my Blessed Jesus many a time when I have been in a good frame when thou hast put good Thoughts and Resolutions in my Heart what opportunities had I to to make my self for ever But I have return'd to the love of the World despised these opportunies of Grace and justly deserved thou shouldst deny them me for ever Dear Saviour visit me once more with thy Salvation with the Day-spring from on high and I will admit thy Beams into my Soul that I may be enlighten'd edified sanctified and preserv'd for ever 33. And when they were come to the place which is call'd Calvary there they crucified him and the Malefactors one on the right hand and the other on the left HEre begins the act at which Heaven and Earth stood amaz'd What a spectacle was here The Son of God nailed to the Cross and hanging betwixt two Thieves Did not the hands of the Soldiers that nailed the Saviour of the World to the Cross tremble Did not their Hearts fail them when they tied him to the Tree No their hearts were flint and adamant No other could have been engaged in the Service O wonderful stupidity they knew not what flesh they touch'd They knew not it was a Body fram'd by the Holy Ghost and the fruit of the Virgin 's Womb Here O my Soul here the work of thy Redemption is commenc'd O look upon the Heavenly Creature that hangs here and think what Riches are treasured up in his Cross Here he shew'd himself a Mediator indeed hanging in the middle betwixt a Penitent and a Prodigal betwixt Heaven and Earth betwixt the Living and the Dead They crucified him What did the Angels think to see their Lord and Master thus used What dost thou think of it O my Soul Job's Friends seeing the greatness of his misery sate silent by him in the Dust seven Days Look O my Soul upon this object sit silent and admire for thy Lord's grief is great 34. Then said Jesus Father forgive them for they know not what they do LOrd Jesus What a Miracle of Mercy dost thou work here I know not which is the greater wonder those thou dist formerly when conversant on the Earth or that which I see now perform'd on the Cross. To pray for Men who had abused thee to a Prodigy To beg of thy Father to forgive their Insolencies and not to exclude them from the possibility of Repentance Can I think of this and not believe that this was to teach me how I must behave my self toward those that have done me wrong Canst thou forgive such injuries and shall not I forgive them that trespass against me One would have thought that these affronts and indignities which were offered to thee would never have been forgiven yet they are no sooner offer'd but thou intercedest for their Remission O let no injury that 's henceforward offer'd me seem too big for pardon O let me freely pass by the offence committed against me that my Father which is the Heaven may forgive me my Trespasses 34. And they parted his Garments and cast Lots VVHat a rich Spoil did these Soldiers get and they knew it not If a good Christian that understood the great Mystery of Godliness had got such a Treasure how would he have valued it what Joy what Comfort would it have been to such a Soul Not that there is any great virtue in the Cloaths of the Son of God A Man might have kept them and yet by leading an ill life have perish'd Eternally but Who would not have preserv'd these precious Relicks if he had known what Person it was that wore them It would have done him good to have looked upon them and admirable Reflections he might have made upon them But to Men that knew not God these things were of no value O my Soul Thou hast not priz'd the good Things thy God hath bequeathed to thee How little hast thou valued the Means of Grace thy Saviour left behind him Henceforward learn to make a better Use of them that they may be Health to thy Navel and Marrow to thy Bones 35. And the People stood beholding and the Rulers also with them derided him saying He saved others Let him save himself if he be Christ the chosen of God IT could not but cause strange Admiration to see him who had been known to be a Prophet mighty in Word or Deed come to such a doleful and dreadful End But for any Man to be so impudent as to deride him in his Misery this was extraordinary bold and insolent Yet Men that have done a very ill thing think themselves obliged to justifie it by their Gestures and Actions partly to keep themselves from Reproach and partly to