Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	good_a	grace_n	work_n	2,997	5	5.5080	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26041	The envious man's character a sermon preached at S. Mary's Church in Cambridge / by William Aspin ...	Aspin, William, 1635 or 6-1714.	1684 (1684)	Wing A4003; ESTC R217	17,795	37

'll consider briefly the parts of this Description that we may the better understand the nature of it 1. I say Envy is a grief and besides that every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. Mor. one who has experienced it has felt it to be so this appears by its effects it making men sad and full of complaints that are infested with it It changes the natural pleasantness of the countenance wasts the Zenoph Memor Lib. 3. Body and disquiets the mind And therefore David tells us When he was envious at the foolish Psal 73. 3 21. seeing the prosperity of the wicked his heart was grieved 2. 'T is a grief conceived in the mind by which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Plut. de Invidia Odio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. Psal 38. 20. terms 'tis distinguished from that grief which Beasts may have because of some present bodily pain that they are afflicted with who though they are capable of grieving being of a sensible nature Yet they cannot envy one another because they can have no imagination of the prosperity that others enjoy above themselves 'T is a grief conceived in the mind at anothers good and hereby 't is distinguish'd from hatred which has for its object evil 'T is true a man may be hated for doing good as 't was David's lot but then 't is looked upon under the notion of Evil. But Envy has good for its object not our own which would excite our joy but anothers which causes our Envy And Solomon tells us 'T is not for any evil but for good For every right work a man is envied of his Neighbour That is 1. For every right work of Art Thus when a Mechanick has finished a piece of work according to the rules of his Art he is envied for it by some or other that are of the same Trade with himself And therefore such can seldom speak well of one another but will be secretly undermining and take all occasions to disparage and detract from one anothers skill and love to be finding fault with that which they did not do themselves Which was an observation long since made by the Greek Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and is grown into a Proverb amongst our selves Hence we are told by the Moralist That all excellency is attended with Envy A man cannot hope to excel in any thing but he shall be envied by some body for it And 't is a common Proverb amongst the Rabbies That every Artificer hates the Children of his own Craft 2. A man shall be envied of his Neighbour for every right work of Nature Such I account are all natural perfections either of mind or Body As are Wit Beauty Strength or the like They who have either any or all of these are in danger of being envied by some that want them 3. For every right work of Grace For if a man live uprightly and do justly in all probability he is like to be a considerable gainer by it in this World though fools are apt to think otherwise 't is the likeliest means to advance both his Reputation and Estate which men that have the greatest Dealings in the World seem to be convinced of in that they pretend to it and would be thought to be most righteous even then when they have designed to steer a quite contrary course But it matters not much what such mens thoughts are since we are sure that Grace or Godliness has the promise of the things of this life and that he who by the constant tenor of an upright life best acquits himself of his duty to God and Man shall ordinarily be best accepted of by both I say ordinarily because most assuredly God will value him the more for it And so unless it be very rarely will men too And he that has the advantage of God's favour and man's is most likely to advance in his worldly Estate and to become the object of his Neighbour's Envy Thus likewise if a man by his honest Industry thrive and increase in Wealth or if by the merit of his vertues he be raised to honour he shall be envied by some body or other It may be to speak strictly no man is envied for his grace or goodness but for the rewards of it For a man may be as holy and as vertuous as he will and yet no body will envy him for that unless from thence he be more esteemed and be better thought of or unless by such a course he thrives in his worldly estate then he shall be envied But because 't is hard to separate between vertue and its reward therefore I may not improperly say That for every right work of grace a man is envied of his Neighbour And thus you see anothers good is the object of Envy or the good which another injoyes is that which causes his Neighbour to look upon him with an evil eye Which is the third Particular to be considered in the definition which I have given you of it 4. 'T is for that good especially that a man is envied by which the envious person receives no injury For if one possesses a good by which another is injured it makes him hated rather than envied because he came by it by evil and indirect means that is by injuring of another But what injury can it be to an Artificer to have another to perfect a more curious piece of Work than he It may accidentally be a loss to him because most will make use of him that 's best skilled in his Art but injury it can be none And what wrong is it to me if another Sim ipse foelix sint alii foeliciores non equidem invideo mihi nihil detrahetur Cumberland de Legibus Naturae p. 128. A saying like that excellent Author be wittier handsomer and stronger than I I have never the less of either because he has more That degree which he has above me was not taken from me And so if he excell me in any vertue or as a reward of that vertue if he be better thought of find greater favour and be preferred before me 't is but as it should be He has what he deserves and I am not injured by it For though he have more than I yet I may not have less but more than I deserve Thus you see the object of Envy is anothers good A man is envied for any good of Art of Nature and of Grace too For the highest vertue goodness and innocence is no fence against it as is plain because our blessed Saviour himself for Envy was delivered over to be proceeded against by the Civil Magistrate Nay as Synesius has de Providentia observed Envy is not so much suppressed by vertue as inflamed or not so much appeased as inraged Neither can that good which is possessed without the wrong of any one secure a man from it that good of another being especially the object of it by