Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	act_n	person_n	power_n	4,318	5	5.0707	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47669	A sermon preach'd before the King at New-market, on Sunday the 16th day of April, 1699 by John Leng ...	Leng, John, 1665-1727.	1699 (1699)	Wing L1050; ESTC R11706	12,544	38

old and mighty in power and their houses are safe from fear neither is the rod of God upon them but they spend their days in wealth c. Therefore says he they say unto God depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways What is the Almighty that we should serve him And what profit should we have if we pray unto him In like manner the Holy Psalmist speaking of such Wicked Men whose eyes swell with fatness and they have more than heart could wish adds thereupon that They corrupt others and speak of wicked blasphemy their talking is against the most High Psal 73.11 By which places and divers others it appears that the prosperous condition of Wicked Men in this World not only hardens themselves in Sin and makes them prone to forget God but that others also seeing their worldly happiness and considering the mean condition of many good Men are thereby tempted through weakness of judgment and want of consideration to think hardly of the Providence of God as if he were regardless of Good and Evil. And indeed the Temptation seems sometimes so plausible that the Holy Psalmist himself confesses he was a little Staggered with it till he reflected more seriously upon the Matter in the forementioned Psalm v. 18.14 And the Prophet Jeremy complains Chap. 12.1 2. Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with Thee yet let me talk with Thee of thy judgments Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously Thou hast planted them yea they have taken root Thou art near in their mouth and far from their reins Seeing therefore good Men themselves are capable of being tempted if they be not upon their guard by the seemingly unequal distribution of these outward good things to have sometimes misbecoming thoughts of the Justice and Goodness of Providence no wonder that Men strongly enclined to be Wicked are ensnared and taken by such Temptations And accordingly we find that this is one of the most common and as they think fairest and strongest Pretences they make use of for the denying of Providence and encouraging themselves in Wickedness For after this or the like manner do they that altogether deny Providence Reason with themselves We are told say they that there is a Divine Power that made and Governs this World that particularly takes notice of all the actions of Men and intends to reward the Good and punish the Wicked but we see in Fact that many of those who are reckoned good and vertuous Men are oftentimes more miserable than other People that they suffer want and are in distress are revil'd and persecuted even for their being good as themselves term it or however if they escape such Treatment yet they are as subject to Poverty and sickness and the like Calamities of Human Nature as other People and on the contrary many of those whom they account impious and profane often enjoy the greatest Affluence of all good things Health and Riches Honour and Pleasures fall as often to their shares as to others nay some attain to the greatest part of their outward Prosperity by the very Acts of the greatest Villany and Baseness Now if there were such a Wise and Powerful and Just Governour of the World as we are told there is would he not presently Thunder down his Vengeance against such Exorbitant Contemners of his Authority rather than suffer them one moment to proceed in their Rebellion against him If an Earthly Prince should take no more notice of affronts put upon his Person and his Laws his Power and Authority would soon be little regarded Since therefore things are thus negligently Manag'd say they how can we imagin that there is any such Providence presiding over the World as takes notice either of our Good or Evil behaviour had we not therefore better resolve all into Chance and make the best of our Lives while we enjoy them and trouble our heads no further with the thoughts of God and Providence After this manner do these Men Reason themselves out of all Sense of God and Religion and this is the very way mentioned by St. Peter 3.3 There shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming i. e. the Coming of Christ to Judgment for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation We see no marks of any approaching Judgment nor as matters are managed any likelyhood that ever any such thing should be For the World as far as we can see is just in the same state that it always was But if there be really a Judgment to come why does it not make more haste or at least give some Symptoms by which we may guess that it will come at all that we may see them and Believe Such as this is the reasoning of them that are entirely Infidels But then as for those that are not altogether so bold as utterly to deny Providence or the Being of a God upon this account but yet are desirous to enjoy their Sins as quietly and securely as they can they endeavour to frame to themselves from the Divine longsuffering and forbearance towards Sinners quite other Notions of God than the Holiness and perfect Purity of his Nature will admit of We find say these Men that God is very kind and merciful towards Wicked Men for we see many that surpass us in wicke dness thrive in the World and prosper very well and therefore we believe he is not so utter an Enemy to all manner of Sin as he is represented or if he be resolved indeed to Punish Sinners we hope it will be but gently or however we have Reason to think it will be a great while first and therefore what need we trouble our selves with the matter at present May we not safely Argue with those in the Poet Ut sit magna tamen certe lenta ira Deorum est c. If vengeance do but seize Men in order 't will be long before it come to our turn and however when the worst comes to the worst we shall escape as well as others And in this manner do these Men endeavour with false imaginations to lull themselves asleep in their wickedness and take as little notice of God and Divine Vengeance as ever they can till they awake in another World and to their sorrow find those things true which they are so unwilling to believe in this And thus it appears how Men take occasion to disbelieve or doubt of or embrace false opinions concerning the Providence of God from the flowness of Divine Rewards and Punishments But now though this ministers the occasion to such conclusions yet the fault is wholly in our own over-hasty judging of these matters For the Reason why we conclude thus rashly against Providence from these Appearances of things in the World is not because these