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	justice_n	temperance_n	1,152	5	10.5078	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56983	Enchiridion miscellaneum spare houres improv'd in meditations divine, contemplative, practical, moral, ethical, oeconomical, political : from the pietie and learning of Fr. Quarles & Ar. Warwick, Gents. : by it they being dead, yet speak (Heb. XI. 4).	Quarles, Francis, 1592-1644.; Warwick, Arthur, 1604?-1633. Spare minutes, or, Resolved meditations and premeditated resolutions.	1677 (1677)	Wing Q94; ESTC R6261	74,920	244

knowest must either be vomited or thy death CHAP. LVII SIlence is the highest wisdom of a Fool and Speech is the greatest trial of a Wise man if thou would'st be known a Wise man let thy words shew thee so if thou doubt thy words let thy silence feign thee so It is not a greater point of Wisdome to discover knowledg then to hide ignorance CHAP. LVIII THe Clergy is a Copy book their Life is the Paper whereof some is purer some Courser Their Doctrine is the Copies some written in a plain Hand others in a Flourishing Hand some in a Text Hand some in a Roman Hand others in a Court Hand others in a Bastard Roman if the choice be in thy power chuse a Book that hath the finest Paper let it not bee too straight nor too loosely bound but easie to lye open to every Eye follow not every Copy least thou be good at none Among them all chuse one that shall be most Legible and usefull and fullest of Instructions But if the Paper chance to have a Blot remember the Blot is no part of the Copy CHAP. LIX VErtue is nothing but an act of loving that which is to be beloved and that act is Prudence from whence not to be removed by constraint is Fortitude not to be allur'd by enticements is Temperance not to be diverted by Pride is justice The declining of this act is Vice CHAP. LX. REbuke thy Servants fault in private publique reproof hardens his shame if he be past a youth strike him not he is not fit for thy service that after wise reproofs will either deserve thy strokes or digest them CHAP. LXI TAke heed rather what thou receivest then what thou givest What thou givest leaves thee what thou takest sticks by thee He that presents a gift buys the Receiver he that takes a gift sells his liberty CHAP. LXII THings Temporal are sweeter in the Expectation Things Eternal are sweeter in the Fruition The first shames thy Hope the second crown's it it is a vain Journey whose end affords less pleasure then the way CHAP. LXIII KNow thy self that thou maist Fear God Know God that thou maist Love him in this thou art initiated to wisdom in that perfected The Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom The Love of God is the fulfilling of the Law CHAP. LXIV IF thou hast Providence to foresee a danger let thy Prudence rather prevent it than fear it The fear of future evils brings oftentimes a present mischief Whilst thou seek'st to prevent it practise to bear it He is a wise man that can avoyd an evill he is a patient man that can endure it but he is a vailiant man can conquer it CHAP. LXV IF thou hast the place of a Magistrate deserve it by thy Justice and dignifie it with thy Mercy Take heed of early gifts an open hand makes a blind eye be not more apt to punish Vice then to encourage Vertue Be not too severe least thou be hated nor too remiss least thou be sleighted So execute Justice that thou mayst be loved so execute mercy that thou mayest be feared CHAP. LXVI LEt not thy Table exceed the fourth part of thy Revenu Let thy provision be solid and not farr fetcht fuller of substance than Art Be wisely frugall in thy preparation and freely cheerfull in thy entertainment If thy guests be right it is enough if not it is too much Too much is a vanity enough is a Feast CHAP. LXVII LEt thy apparell be decent and suited to the quality of thy place and purse Too much punctualitie and too much morositie are the two Poles of Pride Be neither too early in the Fashion nor too long out of it nor too precisely in it what custom hath civiliz'd is become decent till then ridiculous Where the Eye is the Jury thy apparell is the evidence CHAP. XLVIII IF thy words be too luxuriant confine them least they consine thee He that thinks he never can speak enough may easily speak too much A full tongue and an emty brain are seldom parted CHAP. LXIX IN holding of an argument be neither cholerick nor too opinionate The one distempers thy understanding the other abuses thy judgement Above all things decline Paradoxes and Mysteries Thou shalt receive no honour either in maintaining rank falshoods or medling with secret truths as he that pleads against the truth makes with the mother of his Errour so he that argues beyond warrant makes wisdom the midwife of his folly CHAP. LXX DEtain not the wages from the poor man that hath earn'd it least God withhold thy wages from thee If he complain to thee hear him least he complain to Heaven where he will be heard if he hunger for thy sake thou shalt not prosper for his sake The poor mans penny is a plague in the rich mans purse CHAP. LXXI BE not too cautious in discerning the sit objects of thy Charity least a soul perish through thy discretion What thou givest to mistaken want shall return a blessing to thy deceived heart Better in relieving idleness to commit an accidental evil then in neglecting misery to omit an essential good Better two Drones be preserv'd then one Bee perish CHAP. LXII THeology is the Empress of the world Mysteries are her Privy Covncell Religion is her Clergy The Arts her Nobility Philosophy her Secretary The Graces her Maids of Honour The Moral vertues the Ladies of her Bed-chamber Peace is her Chamberlain True joy and endless pleasures are her Courtiers Plenty her Treasurer Poverty her Exchequer The Temple is her Court If thou desire access to this great Majesty the way is by her Courtiers if thou hast no power there the common way to the Sovereign is the Secretary CHAP. LXXIII IT is an evill knowledg to know the good thou shouldst embrace unless thou likewise embrace the good thou knowest The breath of divine knowledg is the bellows of divine love and the flame of divine love is the perfection of divine knowledg CHAP. LXXIV IF thou desire rest unto thy soul be just He that doth no injury fears not to suffer injury The unjust mind is always in labour It either practises the evill it hath projected or projects to avoid the evill it hath deserved CHAP. LXXV ACcustome thy palate to what is most usuall He that delights in rarities must often feed displeased and somtimes lie at the mercy of a dear market common food nourishes best delicates please most The sound stomack preferr's neither What art thou the worse for the last years plain diet or what now the better for thy last great Feast CHAP. LXXVI WHo ever thou art thou hast done more evill in one day than thou canst expiate in six and canst thou think the evill of six days can require less then one God hath made us rich in days by allowing six and himself poor by reserving but one and shall we spare our own flock and shear his Lamb He that hath done nothing but what

man so much as thy own self Another is but one witness against thee Thou art a thousand Another thou maist avoid but thy self thou canst not Wickedness is its own punishment CHAP. LXXIX IN thy Apparell avoyd Singularity Profuseness and Gaudiness Be not too early in the fashion nor too late Decency is the half-way between Affectation and Neglect The Body is the shell of the Soul Apparell is the Husk of that Shell The Husk often tels you what the Kernell is CHHP. LXXX LEt thy recreation be manly moderate seasonable lawfull if thy life be Sedentary more tending to the exercise of thy Body if active more to the refreshing of thy mind The use of Recreation is to strengthen thy Labour and sweeten thy Rest CHAP. LXXXI BEe not censorious for thou know'st not whom thou judgest it is a more dextrous errour to speak well of an evill man then ill of a good man And safer for thy judgement to be misled by simple Charity then uncharitable Wisdome He may tax others with priviledge that hath not in himself what others may tax CHAP. LXXXII TAke heed of that Honour which thy wealth hath purchased thee for it is neither lasting nor thine own What money creates money preserves if thy wealth decays thy Honur dies it is but a slippery happiness which Fortunes can give and Frowns can take and not worth the owning which a nights Fire can melt or a rough Sea can drown CHAP. LXXXIII IF thou canst desire any thing not to be repented of thou art in a fair way to Happiness if thou hast attain'd it thou art at thy ways end He is not happy who hath all that he desires but that desires nothing but what is good if thou canst not do what thou need'st not repent yet endeavour to repent what thy necessity hath done CHAP. LXXXIV SPend a hundred years in Earths best pleasures and after that a hundred more to which being spent add a thousand and to that ten thousand more the last shall as surely end as the first are ended and all shall be swallowed with Eternity He that is born to day is not sure to live a day He that hath lived the longest is but as he that was born yesterday The Happiness of the one is That he hath liv'd the Happiness of the other is That he may live and the lot of both is That they must die it is no happiness to live long nor unhappiness to die soon Happy is he that hath liv'd long enough to die well CHAP. LXXXV BE carefull to whom thou givest and how He that gives to him that deserves not loses his gift and betrays the giver He that conferrs his gift upon a worthy receiver makes many debtors and by giving receives He that gives for his own ends makes his gift a bribe and the receiver a prisoner He that gives often teaches requittance to the receiver and discovers a crafty confidence in the giver CHAP. LXXXVI HAth any wronged thee Be bravely reveng'd Sleight it and the work 's begun Forgive it and 't is finisht He is below himself that is not above an injury CHAP. LXXXVII LEt not thy passion miscall thy Child least thou prophesie his fortunes Let not thy tongue curse him last thy curse return from whence it came Curses sent in the room of blessings are driven back with a double vengeance CHAP. LXXXVIII IN all the Ceremonies of the Church which remain indifferent do according to the constitution of that Church where thou art The God of Order and Unity who created both the Soul and the Body expects Vnity in the one and Order in both CHAP. LXXXIX LEt thy religious Fast be a voluntary abstinence not so much from Flesh as Fleshly thoughts God is pleased with that Fast which gives to another what thou deniest to thy self and when the afflicting of thy own Body is the repairing of thy Brothers He fasts truly that abstains sadly griev's really gives cheerfully and forgives charitably CHAP. XC IN the hearing of Mysteries keep thy tongue quiet five words cost Zacharias forty weeks silence In such heights convert thy Questions into Wonders and let this suffice thee The Reason of the Deed is the power of the Doer CHAP. XCI DEride not him whom the looser world cals Puritan lest thou offend a little one if he be an Hypocrite God that knows him will reward him if zealous that God that loves him will revenge him if he be good he is good to Gods Glory if evill let him be evill at his own charges He that judges shall be judged CHAP. XCII SO long as thou art ignorant be not asham'd to learn He that is so fondly modest not to acknowledge his own defects of knowledge shall in time be so fondly impudent to justifie his own ignorance ignorance is the greatest of of all infirmities and justified the chiefest of all Follies CHAP. XCIII IF thou be a Servant deal just by thy Master as thou desirest thy Servant should deal with thee Where thou art commanded be obedient where not commanded be provident Let diligence be thy Credit Let faithfulness be thy crown Let thy Masters credit be thy care and let his welfare be thy content Let thine Eye be single and thy heart humble Be Sober that thou maist be circumspect He that in Sobriety is not his own man being drunk whose is he Be neither contentious nor Lascivious The one shew's a turbulent Heart The other an idle Brain A good Servant is a great Master CHAP. CXIV LEt the Foundation of thy Affection be Vertue then make the Building as rich and as glorious as thou canst if the Foundation be Beauty or Wealth and the building Vertue the Foundation is too weak for the Building and it will fall Happy is he the Pallace of whose affection is founded upon Vertue wal'd with Riches glaz'd with Beauty and Roof'd with Honour CHAP. XCV IF thy mother be a widow give her double honour who now acts the part of a double Parent Remember her nine moneths burthen and her tenth moneths travell forget not her indulgence when thou didst hang upon her tender breast Call to mind her prayers for thee before thou cam'st into the world and her cares for thee when thou wert come into the world Remember her secret Groans her affectionate tears her broken slumbers her dayly fears her nightly frights Relieve her wants cover her imperfections comfort her age and the widows husband will be the Orphans Father CHAP. XCVI AS thou desirest the love of God man beware of Pride it is tumor in thy mind that breaks and poysons all thy actions it is a worm in thy treasure which eats and ruines thy estate it loves no man is beloved of no man it disparages vertue in another by detraction it disrewards goodness in it self by vain glory the friend of the flatterer the mother of envy the nurse of fury the baud of luxury the sin of devils and the devill in mankind it hates

superiours it scorns inferiours it owns no equals in short till thou hate it God hates thee CHAP. XCVII SO behave thy self among thy children that they may love and honour thy presence be not too fond least they fear thee not be not too bitter least they fear thee too much too much familiarity will embolden them too little countenance will discouragethem so carry thy self that thy may rather fear thy displeasure than thy correction when thou reprov'st them do it in season when thou correct'st them do it not in passion as a wise child makes a happy father so a wise father makes a happy child CHAP. XCVIII WHen thy hand hath done a good act ask thy heart if it be well done the matter of a good action is the deed done the form of a good action is the manner of the doing in the first another hath the comfort and thou the glory in the other thou hast the comfort and God the glory that deed is ill done wherein God is no sharer CHAP. XCIX WOuld'st thou purchase Heaven advise not with thy own ability The prize of Heaven is what thou hast examin not what thou hast but what thou art give thy self and thou hast bought it if thy own vileness be thy fears offer thy self and thou art precious CHAP. C. THe Birds of the air die to sustain thee Beasts of the field die to nourish thee the Fishes of the Sea die to feed thee Our stomacks are their common Sepulcher Good God! with how many deaths are our poor lives patcht up How full of death is the miserable life of momentany man The end of the second Century THE Third Century CHAP. I. IF thou take pains in what is good the pains vanish the good remains if thou take pleasure in what is evil the evil remains and the pleasure vanishes what art thou the worse for pains or the better for pleasure when both are past CHAP. II. IF thy fancy and judgement have agreed in the choice of a fit wife be not too fond least she surfeit nor too peevish least she languish love so that thou mayst be fear'd rule so that thou mayst be honour'd be not too diffident least thou teach her to deceive thee nor too suspicious least thou teach her to abuse thee if thou see a fault let thy love hide it if she continue it let thy wisdom reprove it reprove her not openly least she grow bold rebuke her not tauntingly least she grow spitefull proclaim not her beauty least she grow proud boast not her wisdom least thou be thought foolish shew her not thy imperfections least she disdain thee pry not into her Dairy least she despise thee prophane not her ears with looss communication least thou defile the sanctuary of her modesty an understanding husband makes a discreet wife and she a happy husband CHAP III. WRinkle not thy face with too much laughter least thou become ridiculous neither wanton thy heart with too much mirth least thou become vain the suburbs of folly is vain mirth and profuseness of laughter is the City of fools CHAP. IV. LEt thy tongue take counsell of one eye rather then of two ears let the news thou reportest be rather stale then false least thou be branded with the name of lyer It is an intolerable dishoneur to be that which onely to be call'd so is thought worthy of a Stab CHAP. V. LEt thy discourse be such as thy judgement may maintain and thy company may deserve In neglecting this thou losest thy words in not observing the other thou losest thy self Give wash to swine and wort to men so shalt thou husband thy gifts to the advantage of thy self and shape thy discourse to the advancement of thy hearer CHAP. VI. DOst thou roar under the Torments of a Tyrant weigh them with the sufferance of thy Saviour and they are no plague Dost thou rage under the Bondage of a raving Conscience compare it to thy Saviours passion and it is no pain Have the tortures of Hell taken hold of thy dispairing soul compare it to thy Saviours torments and it is no punishment what sense unequally compares let faith enterchangeably apply and thy pleasures have no comparison Thy sins are the Authors of his sufferings and his hell is the price of thy heaven CHAP. VII ARt thou banisht from thy own Country thank thy own folly hadst thou chosen a right home thou hadst been no Exul hadst thou commanded thy own Kingdom all Kingdoms had been thy own the fool is banisht in his own Countrey the wiseman is in his owne Countrey though banisht the fool wanders the wiseman traruls CHAP. VIII IN seeking vertue if thou find poverty be not ashamed the fault is none of thine Thy honour or dishonour is purchased by thy own actions Though vettue give a ragged livery she gives a golden Cognizance If her service make thee poor blush not Thy poverty may disadvantage thee but not dishonour the● CHAP. IX GAze not on Beauty too much least it blast thee nor too long least it blind thee nor too near least it burn thee if thou like it it deceives thee if thou love it it disturbs thee if thou lust after it it destroys thee if vertue accompany it it is the hearts paradise if vice associate it it is the souls purgatory it is the wisemans Bonefire and the fools Furnace CHAP. X. IF thou wouldst have a good servant let thy servant find a wise master let his food rest and wages be seasonable let his labour recreations and attendance depend upon thy pleasure be not angry with him too long least he think thee malicious nor too soon least he conceive thee rash nor too often least he count thee humorous Be not too fierce least he love thee not nor too remiss least he fear thee not nor too familiar least he prize thee not In brief whil'st thou giv'st him the liberty of a servant beware thou losest not the Majesty of a Master CHAP. XI IF thou desirest to be chast in Wedlock keep thy self chast before thou wedd'st he that hath known pleasure unlawfully will hardly be restrained from unlawfull pleasure One woman was created for one man He that strays beyond the limits of liberty is brought into the verge of Slavery Where one is enough two are too many and three are too few CHAP. XII IF thou would'st be justified acknowledge thy injustice he that confesses his sin begins his journey towards salvation he that is sorry for it mends his pace he that forsakes it is at his journeys end CHAP. XIII BEfore thou reprehend another take heed thou art not culpable in what thou goest about to reprehend He that cleanses a blot with blotted fingers makes a greater blur CHAP. XIV BEware of drunkenness lest all good men beware of thee where drunkenness reigns there reason is an Exul vertu a stranger God an Enemy Blasphemy is wit Oaths are Rhetorick and Secrets are Proclamations Noah discover'd that in one hour drunk which

flower thrives to its goodnes and glory This is also my case when I endeavour to plant grace in the fertill soyl of a good wit For luxurious nature thrusts up with it either stinging wrath or stinking wantonnes or drowzie sloath or some other vices which robb my plant of its desired flourishing But these being first pluckt up the good with produceth in its time the faire flower of vertue I will not there fore thinck the best wits as they are wits fittest to make the best men but as they are the best purged best wits The ground of their goodnes is not the goodnes of their wits ground but the good weeding and clensing it I must first eschew the evill ere I can doe good supplant vices ere I can implant virtue CHAP. XXVIII AS it is never too soon to be good so is it never too late to amend I will therefore neither neglect the time present nor despair of the time past If I had been sooner good I might perhaps have been better If I am longer bad I shall I am sure be wors That I have stayed long time idle in the marketplace deserves reprehension but if I am late sent into the vineyard I have encouragement to worke I will give onto this last as unto thee CHAP. XXIX WHen I see the Husbandman wel contented with the cold of frost and snow in the Winter because though it chilleth the ground yet it killeth the charlock though it check the wheat somewhat in growing yet it choaketh the weeds from growing at all Why should I bee moved at the winter of affliction Why vexed at the quaking fit of a quartan ague Why offended at the cold change of affection in my Summer-friends If as they seem bitter to my mind or body they prove healthfull to my bettered soul If my wants kill my wantonnes my poverty check my pride my disrespected sleighting quell my ambition and vaine-glory and every weed of vice being thus choaked by afflictions winter my soul may grow fruitfull for heavens harvest let my winter be bitter so that I be gathered with the good corn at reaping time into the Lords barn CHAP. XXX AS oft as I heare the Robin-red-brest chaunt it as cheerefully in September the beginning of Winter as in March the approach of the Summer why should not wee think I give as cheerefull entertainement to the hoary-frosty hayres of our ages winter as to the Prim-roses of our youth's spring Why not to the declining sunn in adversity as like Persians to the rising sunn of prosperity I am sent to the Ant to learn industry to the Dove to learn innocency to the Serpent to learn wisedom And why not to this bird to learn equanimity and patience and to keepe the same tenour of my minds quietnes as well at the approach of calamities winter as of the spring of happines And since the Romans constancy is so commended who changed not his countenance with his changed fortunes Why should not I with a Christian resolution hold a steddy course in all weathers and though I be forced with cros-winds to shift my sails and catch at side-winds yet skil fully to steer and keep on my cours by the Cape of good hope till I arive at the haven of eternall happines CHAP. XXXI THe same water which being liquid is penetrated with an hors-haire will beare the hors himselfe when it is hard frozen I muse not then that those precepts and threats of God's judgements enter not into the hardned hearts of some old men frozen by the practice of sinn which pierce and penetrate deep into the tender hearts and melting consciences of yonger folks thawed with the warmth of God's feare Hence see I the cause why the sword of the Word so sharp that it serveth in some to divide the joynts and marrow in others glaunceth or reboundeth without dint or wound from their cristall frozen and adamantin hearts I cannot promise my selfs to be free from sinn I were then no man but I will purpose in my self to be free from hardnes of heart by costum and continuance in sinn I may err in my way I will not persist goe on in my errours till I cannot returne againe into my way I may stumble I may fall but I will not lye still when I am fallen CHAP. XXXII WHen I see two game-cocks at first sight without premeditated malice fight desperatly and furiously the one to maintain the injury offered the other to revenge the injury received by the first blow and to maintain this quarrell not onely dye the pit with their blood but die in the pit with their mutuall bloudy wounds me thinks I see the succes of those duëllers of our time which being ambitious of Achilles his praise Pelidis juvenes cedere nescij desperatly and furiously adventure their lives here and endanger their souls hereafter onely for the vain terms of fals honour I will not say but that being flesh and blood I may be careles of my flesh and blood to revenge injurious indignities offered me yet since as a tenant my soul must answer her Land lord for reparations of the house she dwels in and I have no warrant of God or man for such revenge I will not kill my own soul to kill an other mans body I will not pull the house of my body on my souls head in a fury that God may make them both fuell for the fury of hell fire CHAP. XXXIII When I view the heavens declaring the glory of God and the firmament shewing his handy work and consider that each little numbred star even of the sixth magnitude containeth the earths dimension 18. times in bignes by Astronomers conclusions I easily descend to consider the great difference of earthly mens glory and that weight of glory afforded the Saints in heaven For what a poor ambition is it to be the best man in a City What 's a City to a Shire What a Shire to the whole Island What this Island to the Continent of Europe What Europe to the whole Earth What that Earth to a Star What that Starr to Heaven and that to the Heaven of Heavens And so by a retrogradation how little How nothing is this poor glory J find many which say hoc nihil est aliquid J find in my selfe cause to say hoc aliquid nihil est Jf J needs will bee somebody by my ambition J will bee ambitious to bee ranged with the Saints in Heaven rather then ranked with the Kings on earth since the least in the Kingdome of Heaven is greater then they CHAP. XXXIV I Saw once a Jerfalcon let fly at an Heron and observed with what clamour the Heron entertain'd the sight and approach of the Hawk and with what winding shifts he strove to get above her labouring even by bemuting his enemies feathers to make her slaggwinged and so escape but when at last they must needs come to a necessitated encounter resuming couroge out of necessity hee turned face against her and striking the Hawk thorough the gorge with his bill fell downe dead together wihth is dead enemie This fight seemed to me the event of a great sute i● Law where one trusting to his cause potency more then his causes equity endeavours to disinherit his stubbor● neighbour by colourable titles to hi● land Here may you heare the clamorous obloquies of the wronged and se● the many turnings and winding Meanders in the Law sought out to get above his adversary And lastly when the issue must come to tryall oftentimes in the grapple they both sink to beggery by the Law whiles lawfully they seek to get a-above each other Hence warned against potent enemies I will alway pray Lord make me not a prey unto their teeth and against an equal or inferiour I will not borrow the lawes extream right to doe him extream wrong nor fall to law with any body till I fall by law to be nobody I will not doe that to have my will which will undoe my selfe of what I have by my willfullnes CHAP. XXXV THe Psalmist doth not slander the slanderers when in a good description of their bad natures he saith their throat is an open sepulcher c. the poyson of Asps is under their lips For what more loathsome stench and noisom smells can a new opened sepulcher belch out then these venomous open throated slanderers And well may their lips contain the poyson of Asps of which Lucan saith in nulla plus est serpente venent when a few words of theirs shall like a Witches spell charme and strike dead a mans deerest reputation I will therefore indeavour to make my actions of that vertu that as an antidote of Mithridates his best confection they may repell the worst infection those Serpents shall spit at me And albeit I cannot bee free from their assaults from which none is freed yet I will not with Cleopatra set those Asps so neer my heart that they may stop my vitall spirits with their poyson And since I must pas thorough this Africa of monsters and harmefull beasts I will carefully feare and shunn the worst of tame beasts the flatterer and of wild beast the slanderer CHAP. XXXVI MEditation is a busie search in the store-house of fantasie for some Idea's of matters to be cast in the moulds of resolution into some forms of words or actions In which search when I have used my greatest diligence I find this in the conclusion that to meditate on the Best is the best of Meditations and a resolution to make a good end is a good end of my resolutions FINES