Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	act_n	faith_n	grace_n	2,836	5	5.7519	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50023	Man without passion, or, The wife stoick, according to the sentiments of Seneca written originally in French, by ... Anthony Le Grand ; Englished by G.R.; Sage des Stoiques. English	Le Grand, Antoine, d. 1699.; G. R.	1675 (1675)	Wing L958; ESTC R18013	157,332	304

attainted with it as well as the Wise and he that should go about to cure all that are sick of this disease would reduce them to a worse condition then they that are Deaf and Blind For it is knowledg that teacheth men Arts and Sciences that entertaineth Learned men with the Miracles of Nature that disabuseth the ignorant of their Errors and stirs up Philosophers to the discovery of Truths which they knew not But she is so unsteady and her humor hath so little Coherence with the objects she hunts after that she makes game of all she meets with and she is so violent in her pursuits that no man hath yet been seen that was able to resist her fury It is a Worm that gnaweth in every ones Brain an Itch that without respect of persons tormenteth both the wicked and the vertuous a sickness that unites joy and sorrow in the person of them that have it and he that knoweth her Nature will confess that nothing is more common in the World then this distemper we find nothing more unjust nothing more insatiable She undertakes voiages and runs over all the Earth to find out some Novelty she takes upon her to know the secrets of Nature and to unfold by what artifice this common Mother bringeth forth Gold in the Indies by what Vertue she hardeneth water into Crystal and converts the dew of Heaven into Pearles by what means the Adamant attracts the Needle with one side and expulseth with the other and that being bruised in peices it preserveth a Quadrangular figure and hath on each side a different Vertue She ascends the Heavens without the mediation of evil Spirits there she examines how the Sun forms the measure of time how he divides the Seasons and proportioneth his Circular motions She contriveth perspectives to discern his Magnitude she draws him to a descent that she may look into the matter whereof he is made and without fear of being singed with his heat or blinded with his brightness she climbeth his Globe to judg of his Nature We find men now adays so curious that they reverse the method of time to satisfy their desire of Novelties they rise by night to lay wait for the Moon in her course her borrowed light is not without charms powerful enough to attract their affections and though the Poets make her the Mistress of rest she becomes often the tormentor of Astrologers and curious persons they descry Clouds in her which if you believe these ingenious Artists are nothing less then new Worlds wherein they describe Cities Provinces and Governments and without giving themselves the trouble of telling us which of the Apostles preached the Gospel there whether the Roman Pontiff be head of the Church in those Worlds whether the Spirit and Water compose their Baptism as they do ours they multiply Temples and form a Communion of our Saints with those planetary Inhabitants This diligent curiosity admitteth of some pardon because she hurts only such as give way to her surprisals they are tormented by the same vanity by which they were tempted and it may be said that the error and blindness that attend it are the cure of an evil of which they were the cause But we find some men who daring to act the petty Gods are curious in nothing but the discovery of other Mens faults all their study tends to the sounding of their Neighbours Conscience they descend to the depth of their Souls to peep into their designs and prouder then the evil Angels they prie into the Secrets of that Court whereof God hath reserved the knowledg to himself alone although they are ignorant themselves yet will they judg of other mens intentions notwithstanding they are Slaves to their own Passions their Reasons must be admitted for the pure Doctrin of the Gospel and setting up a Heathenish Vertue of their own inventing they unworthily confound it with the crimes and sins of Christians If I am no Molinist if I confess that I understand not that competent or midway knowledg by him found out if I boldly assert the uncontrolable Freedom of the Creator in all his operations if I own no other knowledg in him but what had the ancient Divines for approbators if I cannot endure that his power should be rendred weak or imperfect and that it should be made dependant on second causes in its working yet do I not therefore approve all the Doctrin of his adversaries they are too rigid in most of their opinions to invite me into their Party and how much soever they are flattered in the Justice of their cause let them protest that they undertake but to discover the confusion that sin hath wrought man into and the necessity of the grace of Jesus Christ to restore him they seem to me too severe when they at once pass the sentence of condemnation upon all good works of the Heathen and allow none to be upright or sincere but such as proceed from Faith For if Vertue be nothing more then a habitude acquired by multiplied Acts of Reason and if Reason be a Law of God imprinted in our hearts who shall believe that Man becometh guilty in following this guid that he merits chastisements by living according to his Instructions that vertue who is always innocent should be nothing different from Vice for not being elevated by faith and justified by the grace of the Son of God sin may have ravisht our original righteousness but it hath not been able to rob us of natural purity if it were potent enough to corrupt our nature it was not sufficiently powerful to destroy it and if he that committed the first crime were absolutely able to bring all his Children into that revolt he may boast of not having made so many guilty as unhappy successors The sickness they have contracted hinders not the performance of healthy actions we may exercise Vertue though we be fallen from our excellency we may love God although we be born his Enemies and as Birds do walk though their wings be clipt we may perform actions that are good according to Nature although not meritorious without grace The Example of the Patriarcks is of this a convincing proof their life was pleasing to God although they were guilty of their Fathers crime they became his friends without any reconciliation they eschewed evil before the Sacraments had healed their wounds and to speak after the language of the great Doctor of the Gentiles they observed his Commands before they knew any of his Laws To speak properly all Christian instructions are but so many Commentaries upon their Lives which being Written for our Learning we become Vertuous by imitating their actions if holy men have taught us piety it hath been by consulting these primitive Doctors and even in St. Austins opinion that Vertue which renders to every one his due is not so much the effect of opinion as the product of nature and conscience we can tell what Vertue