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	patience_n	temperance_n	6,100	5	12.1333	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44524	The great law of consideration: or a discourse, wherein the nature, usefulness, and absolute necessity of consideration, in order to a truly serious and religious life, is laid open: By Anthony Horneck, preacher at the Savoy.	Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1677 (1677)	Wing H2833; ESTC R220111	198,374	451

Go into houses where mad men are kept and see whether thy deportment and practice be not as like theirs as one thing can be like another it 's the character of mad men to choose means altogether unsutable to the end they design if they offer to kindle a fire with shining brass or attempt to build a house without materials or think that a Net will secure them against the bitterest Frost or hope to be Masters of a Trade without learning of it or talk of being acquainted with such a language when they have neither Books nor Men to converse withall we justly look up on them as distracted and would not one think thou art besides thy wits that hears thee hope for Heaven without taking the way that leads to it And talk of being saved when thy actions savor only of preparation for eternal misery To hope to be saved by following the dictates of thy flesh is as wise an act as to hope to be warm by sitting upon Ice or by surrounding thy self with Snow-balls Thou wouldst take that man to be besides himself that should choose to lie all night in mire and dirt when there is a convenient Bed provided for him or that should-prefer sleeping on a Dunghil before reposing himself upon a cleanly Couch And dost not thou act the same madness when thou preferrest lying in the Arms of an Enemy before resting in the bosome of a gracious Redeemer And hadst rather rest in sin more odious and loathsome to God than any Dunghil than delight thy self in him whose service is perfect freedom Can there be greater madness than to prefer Stone before Bread and a Serpent before a Fish And is not thy Distraction as great to esteem a sinful pleasure more than the favour of God And set by the Dross and Dung of this World more than by the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Is this thy wisdom to neglect thy weightiest Concerns and spend thy time in admiring Bubbles Is this thy wisdom to prefer a few drops before an immense Ocean of blessedness an Atom before an Infinite and the small dust upon the balance before Mount Zion which can never be mov'd Is this thy wisdom to thrust away salvation with both Arms and to oppose the endeavours of that God that would even compel thee to come to the Supper of the Lamb Is this thy wisdom to lie in a Dungeon when a Palace is prepared for thy reception And to be enamor'd with deformity it self when thou art courted by him who is altogether lovely Is this thy wisdom to relie on broken Reeds rather than on the Rock of Ages And to trust more to Castles in the Air than to him who is the Ancient of dayes and hath promis'd neither to leave nor to forsake those that call upon him faithfully And when the case stands thus with thee when thou art as mad as thou canst well be sure thou needest not be afraid that Consideration of thy wayes will make thee so Consideration Why this would make thee sober This would bring thee to thy right senses again This would make thee live like a rational man again This would restore thee to thy Wits again This would cure the Distempers of thy Brain This would be so far from promoting that it would chase away all madness and distraction This would clear thy Understanding and rectifie thy Will and Affections and make all thy faculties move more orderly Consideration would let thee see what madness it is to despise him whom thou standest most in need of and to neglect that now which upon thy Death-bed thou wilt wish thou hadst minded day and night This would shew thee what a folly it is to slight the Fountain of living waters and to hunt after broken Cisterns which can hold no water and to esteem a Wilderness a Land of Desarts and of Pits a Land of drought and of the shadow of death a Land which no man passes through and where no man dwells infinitely more than a plentiful Countrey Jer. 2.6 This would shew thee what a folly it is to forfeit the favour of him that must be thy Judge one day and to make him thy Foe without whose mercy thou must fall a prey to Hellish furies to scorn that Provision now the crums whereof thou wilt be glad to gather one day and to mock his kindness now when one day thou wouldst rejoyce at the least smile of his countenance if thou couldst but have it This would shew thee what a folly it is to be ravish'd more with a painted Coronet than with the real glories of a Kingdom and to rejoyce more in the present pomp and adoration of a Stage than in thy right to the reversion of a Crown and what distraction it is to think that the great God who changes not will make those blessed who renounce his bliss and quench Hell-fire for men because they are resolved to run into it to make those like unto the Angels of God that will live like Beasts here and prefer those to this Throne that would not have him to reign over them This would shew thee what a folly it is to make merry at the brow of a Pit and to sing Care away when thy sins call for mourning and lamentation Consideration sinner would let thee see That there is no Wisdom like that Wisdom which makes men wise unto salvation and that those who deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts living soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and that glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ are the only men that are in their Wits and that the rest who forget their calling and walk not worthy of the vocation wherewith they are call'd do really unman themselves and live below their reason This would let thee see that those who give all diligence to add to their faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity and are not barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ are the men that choose the fittest means for the greatest end and that he that works to day in Gods Vineyard and so numbers his dayes that he may apply his heart unto Wisdom and lives like a person that remembers he hath a Soul to be saved is the man who governs his Affairs with discretion This would let thee see that men do pretend to Learning in vain while they are ignorant of mortification of their members which are upon the earth and of that spiritual life which is every mans greatest interest That the Logician who resolves all knotty Arguments is but a Fool while he knows not how to keep himself from the snares of the Devil and that the Grammarian who rectifies the errors of Speech is but a mad man while he takes no care to rectifie the errors

man tell me here that this is to make man independent from God and to assert that men may convert themselves and change their own hearts and give themselves that repentance and faith which the Scripture everywhere asserts to be the gift of God For Gods power and glory is so far from receiving any prejudice by this Doctrine that I know nothing can advance and promote it more than this way It 's confess'd that Conversion is the work of God but then he expects I should do my part and work according to the power he hath given me and improve the Talents he hath already bestow'd upon me and trade with them and make use of the faculties I have and exercise them as much as I can in order to a serious change of life and in the use of such means God will be found as we see in Cornelius Acts 10.4 And his holy Spirit shall come down and make the work effectual and bless those honest endeavors with grace and mercy and make the wheels go merrily which went but heavy before and turn that piety which proceeded from fear of Hell before into a sincere love to God and to the beauty of holiness and make that obedience universal which was but partial and by halves before and that 's a kindly Conversion To indulge our selves in laziness and idleness and weariness of Gods service upon pretence that we must wait Gods time and stay till God is pleased to work upon our hearts is no better than mocking of God For God who hath protested that he 'll cast out none that will but come to him and never left himself without witness and is engag'd by promise to be a rewarder to them that diligently seek him hath no where in his Word promis'd to work upon our hearts except we will use such means as he hath given us power to make use of in order to Conversion and he that lets the power God hath given him for this use lie dead doth but imbezle the gift of God and with that unprofitable servant layes up his pound in a Napkin and consequently can expect no other answer than was return'd to him Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee thou wicked servant thou knewest that I was an austere man taking up that I laid not down and reaping that I did not sowe Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury Therefore take from him the pound and give it to him that hath ten pounds And as for those mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them and it seems such are all those that will not improve those powers God hath given them especially this of Consideration in order to be reclaim'd from the errors of their wayes bring them hither and slay them before me Luke 19.22 28. And indeed he that can sit down and consider what losses may befall him what mischief may happen to him if he keeps company with a turbulent quarrelsome man and thereupon shuns his society will find in the last day that he might as well have sate down and consider'd what evil a sinful life would bring upon him His reason to be sure is capable of taking the one into Consideration as well as the other and he that believes he hath a Soul must be supposed able to think of dangers that may befall his Soul and since Consideration is that which represents all dangers in very lively colours and by that means affects and makes impressions upon the whole man there is no person but may safely expect Gods blessing upon such Considerations not upon the account of merit but because God hath most freely and most graciously promis'd his assistance where men shew their willingness to work in his Vineyard And that 's the reason why Conversion in Scripture is sometimes attributed to man and sometimes to the Father of lights from whom every good and perfect gift descends and why we read in the same Prophet Make your selves a new heart and a new spirit Ezek. 18.31 And I the Lord will give you a new heart and a new spirit will I put within you Ezek. 36.26 Because God expects the sinner should take his ways and preposterous actions and the danger which hangs over his head into serious Consideration represent the odiousness and disingenuity and unseasonableness of his sin to his mind and muse upon that endless happiness he may arrive to weigh the comforts and consolations he may enjoy on this side Heaven and God will encourage him gather the Lambs with his Arms and carry them in his bosome i. e. prosper those sincere endeavors and water them with the dew of his benediction till the byas of the Soul is chang'd and turned towards Heaven Consideration is the Bed where the incorruptible Seed is sown and on the ground thus prepared the Sun of Righteousness doth shine and by his warmth produces in the Soul all manner of pleasant fruits Cant. 7.13 Consideration like the Pool of Bethesda draws the great Angel of the Covenant down who stirs the Pool and gives it a healing virtue and immediately the blind receive their sight and the lame walk and the Lepers are cleansed and the dead are rais'd up Matth. 11.5 That God hath sometimes by miraculous means converted and turn'd men from their irreligiousness and contempt of holiness we do not deny but though these miracles might be the occasion of their Reformation it was still Consideration that digested these miraculous Providences and engaged these men to enquire what they meant and for what end they were sent and how they should escape if they neglected so great a salvation It was this made them argue that as these Calls were great and full of wonder so they challeng'd entertainment and submission answerable to so great a mercy It was this made them see the love of God and wonder whence it should be that God should overlook so many thousands and knock at their gates pass by Palaces and be content to take up his rest in their poor habitations It was this made them ponder that after such Admonitions and Exhortations from Heaven there was no standing still and that contempt of such extraordinary Providences must needs fall very heavy on the Soul one day and sink it into the nethermost Hell upon which Considerations and Expostulations they resolv'd to close with Christ and with the terms of the Gospel But all this will more fully appear if we can prove That without Consideration Conversion or Reformation of life cannot but be counterfeit Conversion being a change of the whole man and loving God better than the world or minding Heaven more than earth an immortal Soul more than a frail dying body there can nothing be imagin'd under God more likely to prevent our being deceiv'd with a form of godliness than Consideration That the Devil very ordinarily transforms himself into an Angel of light and imposes

upon our minds by shadows of virtues as it is his interest so it is a thing as common as our yielding to temptations of that nature Daily experience is a sufficient witness how men deceive themselves with a varnish and paint of Piety and flatter themselves that they are ordain'd to eternal life and in a way to those Regions of bliss when they are not Because they acknowledge and profess that God is infinite perfect glorious and the Supreme Governor of the world and that in him we live and breathe and have our Being and that it 's he that rules the great wheel of Providence they conclude they love him better than their riches or pleasures here when they do nothing less indeed no more but what Parrots may do which being taught can repeat the same words and be never the nearer that wisdom which makes men wise unto salvation We see how men because they have no inclination to some gross notorious sins that other men are guilty of are apt to conclude that they mortifie their lusts and put off the works of darkness walking soberly as in the day-time and because they frequent the Temple of the Lord they are presently true hearers of the Word Because such a man is not drunk every day but is sober now and then he believes himself to be a very temperate man Another because he doth not cheat so notoriously as his Neighbors concludes he is just honest upright and fair in his dealings Another because he works hard in his Calling and doth no body wrong fancies he doth all that 's fit for a Christian to do Another because he hath sometimes a good thought of God and can send up a short ejaculation to Heaven is very confident he meditates and contemplates the Almighty Another because he hath some faint breathings after him knows nothing to the contrary but he is as zealous for Gods glory as any of his acquaintance can be Another because he hath now and then a melancholy thought of his sins and confesses them to Almighty God concludes he doth repent as well as the best and because he often wishes for salvation and hath a good opinion of holiness and goodness he doubts not but he is made partaker of the Divine Nature That these are Cheats and Delusions is evident to any rational man The Gospel doth not offer Heaven on these terms and it is not partial but universal obedience that Christ requires of his followers He is resolved Heaven shall cost them more than these little services come to and they shall not impose upon God however they may deceive themselves But then how shall these or any other Cheats be discover'd and avoided but by Consideration True Conversion consists in resisting and conquering such Delusions but how shall they be resisted if they be not known how shall they be known if men consider not whether the course they take be either agreeable to the way God hath prescrib'd or like to bring them to that happiness they aim at It 's Consideration must manifest which is God and which is the Cloud which is Gold and which is but Guilt which are the waters of Jordan and which are the rivers of Damascus which is Corn and which are Tares which are the fiery tongues and which is the Glow-worm light which are Jacob's hands and which are the hands of Esau. There are not a few sins which look very much like virtues complying with mens impieties looks so like Humility Flattery so like that Charity which bears all things and hopes all things and believes all things and endures all things reviling again when we are revil'd so like doing justice worldly mindedness so like providing for our Families lying for profits sake so like a work of necessity and self-preservation and bearing a grudge to him that hath offended us without discovering it in our actions so like curbing our passions that few men will think themselves concern'd to part with them except they consider which is the pure and which the sophisticate mettle How like saving knowledge doth that knowledge of God look which puffs up the Soul and tempts men to despise others that are not arriv'd to the same measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. There is no distinguishing of them but by the effects and how shall the effects be discriminated but by Consideration I cannot avoid being deceiv'd if I do not sit down and reflect Lord I pretend to knowledge of the Cross of Christ but doth this knowledge make me humble and vile in mine own eyes Doth it discover to me my spiritual poverty and make me prefer others before my self Doth it make me prize Christ above all And doth it engage me to count all things Dross and Dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Doth it make me stand under the Cross of Christ and breathe and pant after his precious blood like a man truly sensible both of the worth and want of it Doth it produce that mind in me which was in Christ Jesus Dost thou feel this O my Soul How happy art thou if thou art sensible of these operations Do not deceive thy self doth not this knowledge thou pretendest to make thee secure and careless Doth it not make thee sit down contented without the life of Religion Doth it not persuade thee to believe that thou art a Christian though thou dost not imitate Christ in his holy life and conversation Does it not make thee proud and self-conceited and think more highly of thy self than thou oughtest to think and like the Pharisees look between anger and scorn on those that know not the Law if so how is the knowledge of Christ Jesus in thee The same may be said of Faith it 's Consideration must separate it from presumption and satisfie me whether it be of the true Eagle-kind or no it 's impossible to know whether my faith be of the right stamp or no without I make such inquisition as this Faith is a gift or fruit of the Spirit which I am apt to believe God hath blessed and enrich'd my Soul withall and I thank him that I am not born an Heathen or Infidel But what power hath my Faith upon my Affections Doth it purifie my heart and drive away those lusts that have taken up their residence there Doth it make me cut off my right hand pull out my right eye when they do offend me Doth it make me live like a person that believes the Omnipresence and Omniscience of God Doth it make me cautious and afraid of offending that God whom I believe of purer eyes than to behold iniquity Doth it make me embrace Christ both as my Redeemer and Governor both as my Saviour and my King Doth it engage me to resign my will to his Will and to receive the Kingdom of God as a little child without disputing his commands or contradicting his injunctions Doth it work by love And doth it drive me to give God my