Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	iron_n	part_n	touch_v	1,197	5	9.5651	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30905	Truth triumphant through the spiritual warfare, Christian labours, and writings of that able and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, Robert Barclay, who deceased at his own house at Urie in the kingdom of Scotland, the 3 day of the 8 month 1690.	Barclay, Robert, 1648-1690.	1692 (1692)	Wing B740; ESTC R25857	1,185,716	995

by which Inward Manifestation we are made capable to see and discern the Eternal Power and Godhead in the outward Creation So were it not for this Inward Principle we could no more understand the Invisible things of God by the outward Visible Creation than a blind man can see and discern the variety of Shapes and Colours or judge of the Beauty of the outward Creation Therefore he saith first That which may be known of God is manifest in them and in and by that they may read and understand the Power and Godhead in those things that are Outward and Visible And though any might pretend that the outward Creation doth of it self without any Supernatural or Saving Principle in the heart even declare to the natural man that there is a God yet what would such a Knowledge avail if it did not also Communicate to me what the Will of God is and how I shall do that The Onward Creation may beget a Perswasion in man of an Eternal Power and Virtue which is acceptable to him For the outward Creation though it may beget a Perswasion that there is some Eternal Power or Vertue by which the World hath had its Beginning yet it doth not tell me nor doth it Inform me of that which is just holy and righteous how I shall be delivered from my Temptations and Evil Affections and come unto Righteousness that must be from some Inward Manifestation in my heart whereas those Gentiles of whom the Apostle speaks knew by that Inward Law and Manifestation of the Knowledge of God in them to distinguish betwixt Good and Evil as in the next Chapter appears of which we shall speak hereafter The Prophet Micah speaking of man Indefinitely or in General declares this Mich. 6.8 He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do Justly and to love Mercy and to walk Humbly with thy God He doth not say God Requires till he hath first assured that he hath shewed unto them Now because this is shewed unto all men and manifest in them therefore saith the Apostle Is the Wrath of God revealed against them for that they hold the Truth in Vnrighteousness that is the measure of Truth the Light the Seed the Grace in them for that they Hide the Talent in the Earth that is in the Earthly and Vnrighteous part in their hearts and suffer it not to bring forth fruit but to be choked with the sensual Cares of this Life the Fear of Reproach and the Deceitfulness of Riches as by the Parables above-mentioned doth appear But the Apostle Paul opens and illustrates this matter yet more Rom. 10. where he declares That the Word which he preached now the Word which he preached and the Gospel which he preached and whereof he was a Minister is one and the same is not far off but nigh in the heart and in the mouth This Divine Preacher the Word nigh hath sounded in the Ears and Hearts of all men which done he frameth as it were the Objection of our Adversaries in Vers. 12 15. How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard how shall they hear without a Preacher This he answers Verse 18. saying But I say have they not heard yes verily their Sound went forth into all the Earth and their Words unto the End of the World insinuating that this Divine Preacher hath sounded in the Ears and Hearts of all men for of the outward Apostles that saying was not true neither then nor many hundred years after yea for ought we know there may be yet great and spacious Nations and Kingdoms who never have heard of Christ nor his Apostles as outwardly This Inward and Powerful Word of God is yet more fully described in the Epistle to the Hebrews c. 4. v. 12 13. For the Word of God is quick and sharper than any two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the heart The Virtues of this Spiritual Word are here enumerated It is Quick because it Searches and Tries the hearts of all no man's Heart is Exempt from it for the Apostle gives this Reason of its being so in the following Verse Before whom all things are manifest But all things are naked and opened unto the Eyes of him with whom we have to do and there is not any Creature that is not manifest in his sight Though this ultimately and mediately be Refer'd to God yet nearly and immediately it relates to the Word or Light which as hath been before proved is in the hearts of all else it had been Improper to have brought it in here The Apostle shews And every Thought and Intent of the heart how every Intent and Thought of the heart is discerned by the Word of God because all things are naked before God which imports nothing else but it is in and by this Word whereby God sees and discerns man's Thoughts and so must needs be in all men because the Apostle saith There is no Creature that is not manifest in his sight The Faithful Witness This then is that faithful Witness and Messenger of God that bears Witness for God and for his Righteousness in the hearts of all men for he hath not left man without a Witness Acts 14.17 and he is said to be given for a Witness to the people Isa. 55.4 And as this Word beareth Witness for God so it is not placed in men only to Condemn them for as he is given for a Witness so saith the Prophet he is given for a Leader and a Commander A Leader and Commander The Light is given that all through it may believe Joh 1.7 For Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by this Word of God which is placed in man's Heart both to be a Witness for God and to be a Mean to bring man to God through Faith and Repentance It is therefore powerful that it may divide betwixt the Soul and the Spirit It is like a Two-edged-sword A Two-edged Sword that it may cut off Iniquity from him and separate betwixt the precious and the vile And because man's heart is cold and hard like Iron naturally therefore hath God placed this Word in him which is said to be like a Fire A Fire and a Hammer and like a Hammer Jer. 23.29 that like as by the heat of the Fire the Iron of its own nature Cold is warmed and by the strength of the Hammer is softned and framed according to the mind of the Worker so the Cold and Hard heart of man is by the vertue and powerfulness of this Word of God near and in the heart as it resists not warmed and softned and receiveth a Heavenly and Coelestial Impression and Image The most part of the Fathers have spoken at large touching this Word Seed and Light and Saving Voice calling

for their Doctrines and Opinions And if so these Men fall foully in this Crime that do Accuse all others for this Judging of Principles and yet themselves Judge them for their Principles herein And 2. Unstable Judgments and Conscious to themselves Secondly Their Envy in this is of an higher Degree by their own Sentence than those others thus Judged by them because the others proceed upon a certain Belief and firm Perswasion that they are in the Right and those they Condemn Wrong and so proceed rationally Consequential to their own Principles But these Men albeit they be Conscious to themselves that they are not come to a Determination of what is Right and what Wrong and remain yet in doubt for want of a clear Vnderstanding what to Approve and what to Condemn do nevertheless most irrationally and inconsequentially to their own Affirmations Reprove Censure and Condemn all others as destitute of or at least defective in a Virtue and Quality so Necessary and Essential to all Christian Societies To whom therefore may be fitly applied the Saying of the Patriarch Jacob to his First-born Ruben Vnstable as Water thou shalt not Excell Gen. 49.4 And that of the Apostle Paul to the Romans Rom. 2.11 As also that other Saying of the same Apostle to the Galatians For if I Build again the things that I destroyed I make my self a Transgressor Gal. 2.18 II. A Religious Society is judged from its Principles not from particular persons Practices Secondly To make a Judgment of the several Sorts of Christians we must fetch it not from the Practices of Particular Persons but from their respective Principles by enquiring how far they naturally lead to or draw from this Vniversal Love Because that it cannot be denied but that among all and every sort of the several Sects of Christians there are Men of divers and sundry Humours and Complexions some more hot violent and froward who prosecute what they judge Right with great Zeal Hast and Fury others of more Calm Meek and Loving Dispositions who though they be not less desirous to Advance their Way yet do it in a more Complacent Affable and Deliberate Manner Some there are that are naturally of a Careless Indifferent Galli● like Temper in such things and therefore behave more forbearingly and civilly towards such as Dissent from them not because of any Virtue but because such things do not much trouble or touch them Neither then of these Vertues as they are incident to particular Persons are so justly Chargable upon a Sect or People as from thence to make a positive Judgment of their Vniversal Charity or not seeing these are not the Consequences of their Principles or that which necessarily comes from them as relating to this or that Society but the meer product of their Natural and private Humours How far any particular or singular Persons among the several Sects have attained to the Performance of that true Love and Zeal formerly described I shall not determine neither dos it necessarily belong to this Question For if any should be found to do any thing which were so far from being the Consequence of their Principles as to be quite Contrary their Brethren would not suffer their Principles from thence to be Dis-approved so neither can the Excellency of any singular Persons while not proceeding upon their Principles approve them as Justifiable in this respect As for Instance where it is the Vniversal Principle and general Practice of a Sect to Persecute even to the utmost those that differ from them as in the Church of Rome should there be found one or two or a very few of a more moderate Spirit that should profess an Aversion from such sort of Severity and also practise it in their Station according to their Capacity who would ascribe this Moderation and Charity to the Church of Rome would take his Measure but badly And on the other hand where it is the Vniversal Principle and general Practices of a People not at all to Persecute for the Matter of Conscience should any private Persons of that Society be carried by their Fury and Heat to the Practice of any such thing though directly Contrary to their Principles who would charge this upon the whole People and thence measure them would make also a bad Consequence Nevertheless I shall not deny but some Principles are so pernitious and so strait and narrow that they seem by a certain Malignity generally to Influence all their Followers as shall after be observed But I shall now proceed to the fore-mentioned Examination SECT IV. An Examination of the Principles of several sorts of the so called Christians Compared with this Universal Love and found Defective As 1. Of Papists 2. Of Protestants in general 3. Of Socinians Vniversal Love consists in AS there are two Ways Chiefly whereby a People or Society do signify their Charity or Love towards others that differ from them so by these two also is signified their Contrary Principles and Practice 1. A Charitable Judgment The first is by a favourable and Charitable Judgment of the Condition of Mens Souls albeit of different and contrary Principles from them in supposing or at least not absolutely denying but that they may even upon their own Principles if faithful thereto obtain Peace with God and Life Eternal 2. A Friendly Deportment The Second is by a Friendly and Neighbourly Deportment towards Mens Persons in not seeking to ruin and destroy them whether in Life Liberty or Estate albeit their Judgment concerning God and things Spiritual in the Nature and Manner of the Exercise of their Worship be both contrary and different where the Defect of any of these two is there of necessity must be wanting Vniversal Love and Charity 1. Uncharitable Judgment For thou that hast bound up and tied the Means of Salvation to thy Principles and Doctrines so as to exclude from Salvation all that differ from thee or contradict thee hast certainly declared thy Charity exceeds not the limits of thy own Form and that the best Opinion and highest Esteem thou hast of any that differ from thee for any Vertues or Excellencies that may appear to be in them resolves at last in no better than this Conclusion For all this they must be damned Neither will it serve to prove the Vniversal Charity of any People in this respect that some of them may Problematically Affirm That Salvation may be possible to some such Dissenters living in remote parts who are excluded from the benefit of all means of knowing their Principles making this Possibility only as an Effect of God's Omnipotency and so purely Miraculous alledging They will not deny but God in a miraculous and extraordinary way may bring some to Heaven For this shews no Charity at all either in the Principle or People but is only a meer seeming Acknowledgment of God's Omnipotency from a sight of the gross Absurdity that would follow from affirming otherwise