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	great_a	honour_n	3,688	5	5.7936	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30434	A sermon preached before the Queen, at White-Hall, on the 16th day of July, 1690, being the monthly-fast by the Right Reverend Father in God, Gilbert Lord Bishop of Sarum.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1690 (1690)	Wing B5892; ESTC R21629	20,709	42

end of it And even this is only a Personal Success for that the Nation that is the Scene of that Prince's Glory may suffer as much under him if not more than it could have done from any Enemy since all the Protection that they enjoy under him is that they are preserved from the Impressions of others that they may be the entire Prey of the Lawless Power that devours them and all their Substance and employs it in the support of his Injustice and Cruelty Besides the great decays of true Religion among all those Churches that carry the Name Reformed may have required an exemplary chastisement to awaken and parifie them and the slow progress that they make in this may have occasioned so long a continuance and encrease of Glory in him whom God has made the Rod of his Anger for correcting them But when that end of Providence is once fulfilled we may then reasonably hope to see that Persecutor who is swelled up upon his success become the object of as much Scorn as he has been hitherto of Flattery But alas our Impenitence and Irreligion keeps off still that day and our Immoralities and Vices do still feed his Pride and furnish him new matter of Triumph and Glory In a word nothing needs be further said for a fuller proof of this matter than that those very Sins that provoke the wrath of God do likewise dissolve and corrupt all that is great or noble in human nature falshood dissolves the mutual Confidences and Union of a Nation without which it must act feebly and move irregularly as a disjointed body Cruelty brings a barbarity on mens natures which makes them incapable of prudent and wise Counsels Sensuality takes away mens Hearts their Courage and their Spirit But above all things a brutal Impiety and scorn of Religion cuts all the Banks and Fences of Human Society and not only sets men loose to all their Appetites and Passions by taking off all inward checks and restraints but begets a sort of boisterousness and insolence in their Tempers so that they become incapable of Order and Conduct and equally unfit both for Council and Execution How much of all this belongs to us is but too visible Would to God it were but a Secret and not too notorious and publick Where is the ancient gravity and composure of Behaviour that made a large part of the Character of this Nation Where is the Truth and Fidelity which was formerly one of the distinctions of Englishmen Where is the Good-nature and Generosity that was the Ornament of those that were nobly born Where are even the Decencies of Religion or of the Worship of God What is become of the Love of our Country and of its ancient Government and Liberty Has not this shameful Degeneracy of our Morals brought us so low that there is scarce Virtue enough left and men enough to be found that have even a general Tincture of it to save a Nation Sensuality has run many into such a deep Arrear for Vice that they cannot be true neither to publick nor private Engagements and then Imployments will be made the Robberies of the Publick and Vice will swallow up all that Strength and Treasure which should go to the support of the Nation Men are pleased or displeased only as their Vices are fed or starved Some pretend to be Patriots that are so eminent for Vice that a Government fixt and strong enough to reform the Nation must throw them off as the Scum and Reproaches of it For let those Sons of Belial say what they will Atheism and Impiety are as destructive to a Nation as they are to a Church What can secure a man's Honesty or give life to his Industry What can cure all those Diseases under which we languish but the possessing mens minds with inward principles of Religion which will make them to become a Law and a Rule to themselves What can raise in men a generous love to their Country which is the root of all Political Virtues to so high a degree as the Principles of Christian Love and Charity the sense of an Account to be given to God for all we do and that noblest Principle of all Religion the raising up our Natures to become as like the Divine Being as possibly we can which will give us a Zeal of doing all the good we can to Mankind and of being publick Blessings to the Age and Place we live in These are solid Principles upon which Vertue is founded and in these it finds a Root from which it receives a perpetual encrease But if Virtue has no other Root but Honour which is a decenter name for Pride or Humour there is no strength in this Principle to resist a Temptation that bears hard upon some other corrupt Inclination especially if one hopes that things may be managed with Art and Secrecy But on the other hand what can be desired to make a Nation great and happy but that which at the same time recommends it to the favour of God When the Principles of Truth and Goodness of Sobriety and Temperance of mutual Love and Kindness and above all when an inward strictness in examining ones Actions as in the sight of God come to possess multitudes of Men then a Nation may reckon it self safe and happy because as it comes under a kind and indulgent Providence so it has a real strength from the vertues of every individual Person in whom those good qualities live The World might be well and happily governed with a moderate proportion of Understanding if there were but a great deal of Vertue under it For if it were not for Vice and Falshood which must be watched over carefully there are not such Mysteries in things but that they may be easily master'd Here is then the root of all our evils on the one hand and the remedy to them all on the other we have fallen from our ancient Vertues and our Religion has not force enough to reform or restrain us we went easily into corruption when great Examples led and encouraged us to it But we do not so easily recover out of it though we have now as bright Examples before us the other way but this has a contrary operation on depraved Minds and instead of making them love Vertue Religion the better for the lustre with which it shines in the Persons of those that govern us many perhaps love the Government the worse because they apprehend that Immorality and Impiety will become more odious less excused and less protected But a noble Pattern set by Princes tho' it is a great thing in it self yet it is not all that they owe to God and to their People It does indeed give them great advantages in reforming their Courts and their Subjects when it appears that they do not deny to others the freedoms of Vice that they may appropriate them to themselves and that what they do this way is not a Hypocritical affectation