Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	knowledge_n	lord_n	temperance_n	1,588	5	11.7145	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60175	Sarah and Hagar, or, Genesis the sixteenth chapter opened in XIX sermons / being the first legitimate essay of ... Josias Shute ; published according to his own original manuscripts, circumspectly examined, and faithfully transcribed by Edward Sparke.	Shute, Josias, 1588-1643.; Sparke, Edward, d. 1692.	1649 (1649)	Wing S3716; ESTC R24539	246,885	234

and challenging him for not performance while in the mean time they regard not at all the performance of the condition What do men think that having entered into Covenant with God that he must be tied by his part and not they by theirs Must he be fast and must they be loose I wonder with what face they can complain of God where they are conscious to themselves of their gross and foul neglects contrary to their vow in Baptism contrary to their Covenant renewed in the Lords Supper and contrary to many private engagements upon occasion of some mercy experienced or judgement feared or inflicted I dare not think they are so desperate as to imagine that nothing is to be done on their part that they make account to go to heaven in some whirlwinde that the Kingdom of heaven will come with expectation or that there is no more required but some languid or faint wish to make them happie like that of Balaam Let my soul die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his that once being within the compass of the Church like passengers at sea they shall be brought to the haven even sleeping like the lilies cloathed without spinning and like the birds fed without sowing Certainly they must think that something is to be done on their part And if so Why do they not do it Why do they not strive that they may be crowned Why do they not run that they may obtain Why do they not fit themselves for Gods blessing by holy living At least why are they not ashamed to lay claim to the Obligation when they have not performed the Condition If they miss what they would have let them thank themselves God was and is still ready to do what he hath engaged himself but we fall to obey his Commandments and therefore fall short of our hopes and expectations and that we be forced to say as Nehemiah The Lord hath done righteously but we have done wickedly and as our Saviour he would but they would not In the second place let it teach us all that having a promise of blessings from God we be careful to do what is required of us Desideranda est promissio sed consideranda est conditio the promise saith one is not more to be desired then the condition to be considered The Apostle having mentioned 2 Cor. 5. 2 Cor. 5. toward the end that God would dwell among them and be their God and they should be his people that he would be a father unto them and they should be his sons and daughters in the first verse of the next Chapter he saith Having therefore these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God Do we look to be made free by our Master and not serve our time Do we think to have our bargain and not perform conditions And do we think to have the good things of this life and not walk in the fear of God Surely we may have something but not in mercy and for eternal life Vis esse beatus S. Augustine non bonus saith Saint Augustine wouldst thou be blessed and not good Certainly no without holiness no happiness without holiness no man shall see God If a man live a deboist life and so die and think to have heaven at last he is miserably deceived he may as well look for grapes from thorns or figs from thistles The way is truely laid down by Saint Peter 2 Pet. 1.5 2 Pet. 1. Joyn unto faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience Verse 11. c. and vers 11. Thus an entering in shall be ministred unto us into the kingdom of our Lord. Haec via ducit ad urbem this is the way unto the new Jerusalem Let us perform the condition and he which cannot lye hath promised and will perform heaven and earth shall perish before he fail Calv. in locum I might adde a third general thing out of Reverend Calvin upon this place Ut mitiget quod in praecepto grave erat solatio aliquo lenat benedictionem promittit in foetu quem gestat That he might mitigate what was irksom in the command and alleviate it with some consolation he promiseth a blessing in the fruit she buds with It might seem an hard command to her to return to her mistress and to humble her self under her hand he therefore sweetneth it with the promise of a blessing And he goeth on Poterat Deus praecise injungere quod justum erat sed quo liberiùs faceret quod sui officii est quasi blanditiis eam allicit ad parandum God could have strictly enjoyned her what was just but that she might the more chearfully do her duty he even wooes her to obedience with pollicitations And this is the gracious disposition of God Observ 3. Gods gracious imitable disposition wooeth and inviteth where he might command and urge Hos 11.4 That what we are bound to do yet he is willing to invite us to the doing of it by sweet promises and so draweth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Prophet speaks with the cords of a man Non vult servilitèr trahere ut quasi coacti praestemus quod mandatum est he will not draw us in a servile manner like the horse and mule that we perform his precept by compulsion God might say to every man Obey me thou owest it unto me as my creature I am thy Lord and thou art my servant and see thou do it upon pain of damnation But he addeth to his Commands Promises of blessings both temporal and eternal so that what we do out of duty we yet shall not do without a reward We see this thorow the whole Book of God and we shall finde he hath not been more free in promising then sure in performing for who ever kindled a fire in vain upon Gods altar Application Against Merit And this may silence all conceit of Merit God of his good will inviteth us by promises to do our duty and shall we think the doing of our duty to be meritorious of that which God hath promised Shall his encouragement be accounted a debt and that as they say he cannot in justice deny the reward It is true he is a debtor promittendo nobis by promising something to us non accipiendo à nobis but not by receiving ought from us We may in humility say Da quod promisisti Give us Lord what thou hast promised but we cannot stand upon terms and say Redde quod accepisti Restore what thou hast received from us Nay he is so far from being any way indebted to us for that which we do that he is fain to help us to do our duty to furnish us with money and help us to pay him his own debt When he invites us to do our duty by a reward and