Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A33547
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An enquiry into the nature, necessity, and evidence of Christian faith. Part I. Of faith in general, and of the belief of a deity by J.C.
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Cockburn, John, 1652-1729.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing C4810; ESTC R24209
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50,203
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73
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the Just to live by this Faith as for a Square to have four equal sides both Texts of Scripture and the Nature of the thing require it The true and primitive Character of a Just Man is to be Conscientious to follow the Dictates of his Mind and to order his Life and Actions according to what he knows and believes to be right A Just Man must be Upright and there is no Uprightness if the outward and inward-man do not keep touches if there be no Correspondence betwixt them if the Mouth contradict the Heart and the Life and Actions be disagreeable to the inward Light and Sentiments This Faith is as the Eye by which we see and know how to order our Steps it is as the Light to shew the Way in which we should walk and not to follow it or to go contrary to it is great Perverseness and the Character of a Wicked Man As the Spirit is the Principle of Life and Life of Motion so this Faith is the first Principle of a good Life and Men are to be reckoned good or bad as they walk according to it He is a bad Man who contradicts it and he is no good Man whose Actions do not flow from it The Motions of a Puppet or Engine may be both Regular and Useful but they cannot be reckoned Natural because they proceed not from a Principle of Life but from Artificial Springs So tho' one's Actions be never so plausible fair or useful to others yet they are not good nor is he who doth them Just if they proceed from any other principle than this Faith that is an inward Perswasion of their being just and good lawful and reasonable for whatsoever is not of Faith saith the Apostle is sin Rom. 14. 23. Hence it is that we see some in Scripture branded with the Character of ill Men and others denied the Approbation of being good whose Actions were outwardly good and commendable because they did what they did for other Reasons and upon another account than the intrinsick goodness of those things or their own Perswasion of it 4. All the Actions of every one are to be Approved or Condemned with a regard to this Faith and by vertue of it things in themselves good and lawful become evil and what is evil loseth a part of its malignity Thus the Eating of Flesh which in it self is a lawful and innocent Action is a damnable Sin to him who has the least doubt whether it be lawful and what is clean turns unclean to him who thinks it so as is excellently discoursed in that fore-cited Chapter So on the other hand we find God himself excusing Abimelech for taking Sarah into his House because he did it in the integrity of his heart that is he was ignorant of her being another Man's Wife And St. Paul's Perfection of the Saints was the more pardonable because he verily thought he ought to do many things against the Name of Jesus I was before saith he a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief that is without Faith or the perswasion of the evil of it 1 Tim. 1. 13. But then it is to be remembred That this Faith which hath such Influence upon our Actions and which is so Essential to a Just Man is not Fancy or Imagination nor a light or hasty Perswasion Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind saith the Apostle ver 5. and therefore our Faith and Perswasion ought to be well-grounded the effect of serious Enquiry and Deliberation that it may give true and certain Direction otherwise it may be still said that we are regardless of Right and Wrong Truth or Falshood Good and Evil which is inconsistent with the Character of a perfectly Just Man A wise Architect doth not work at random but by Plumb and Rule but then he is first careful that his Plumb and Rule be right and exact for without this he cannot sincerely intend to have his work perfect So a Just man carefully studieth both a Conformity betwixt his Actions and his inward Sentiments and betwixt these and truth and the stable Rule of Right and wrong Good and Evil. To act contrary to inward Conviction is to offend wilfully and the height of Wickedness but it is the next degree to it to be careless whether we offend or not whether we do Good or Evil which we are guilty of when we are not at any pains to adjust our Perswasion to Truth to know the right or to inform our selves of what is good lawful and fit to be done The same reason which makes it Just and our Duty to act according to our Knowledge and inward Perswasion or to do the Good we know obligeth us to search out the real Good that is that there may be no Errour in our Perswasion nor Crookedness in our Practice and then only our Thoughts can justifie our Actions when by Diligence and due Care we have endeavoured to make our Thoughts just and true conform to the Nature of things for without this we cannot be fully perswaded in our Minds as the Apostle enjoineth the assurance of Faith is wanting which is necessary to dispel all doubts and to establish our goings Happy is he saith St. Paul that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth Rom. 14. 22. by which he gives us to understand that our Heart must approve our Actions our Minds must Judge that the ways we take are right otherwise we stand Self-condemned Now the Judgment is not Just which is not certain which is rashly or hastily pronounced before a strict Examination or a due Attention to all the Proofs and Evidences which can be brought for clearing the Cause There is still place for Doubting when necessary Caution and the proper Means have not been used for right and sufficient Information And as Doubting defileth the Man and polluteth all his Actions so it is uneasie to the Mind As Darkness in which when one walketh it maketh him Apprehensive full of Fears and Jealousies going forwards and backwards to the right and left without any steady course because he has no certainty of his way What is translated a Double-minded Man ought to be a Doubtful Man one that has not the assurance of Faith and such an one saith St. Iames is unstable in all his ways he wavereth like a wave of the Sea which is driven with the wind and tossed Jam. 1. 6 8. Fleeting and Inconstancy change of Opinions and Practices regarding Events and outward Advantages is at least a sure sign and evidence that the Person has not attained to a true Faith or full Perswasion of his Duty of what is good lawful or necessary for Faith gives a chearful confidence it makes one constant and to be always the same because Truth and the Nature of things change not To conclude this Matter By Faith here we are to understand a true Knowledge of the Nature of
being capable to produce them And there are artificial Contrivances regular Proceedings and wise Adaptation of things to Ends and Purposes far above the Power and Capacity of any thing which is existent These and many such things follow the Denial of a God which are not only great Difficulties but such gross and senseless Absurdities as no thinking Person can either swallow or digest As therefore Deformity sheweth Shape and Proportion beautiful so the Belief of a Deity appears more reasonable by the Absurdity and Unreasonableness of Atheism which contradicts common Sense overturns the agreed Principles of Knowledge and Reason confound Chance and Contrivance Accident and Design and which has its Recourse to Wild Romantick and most precarious Hypotheses for they cannot shun the owning an Infinity and the Existence of something from Eternity and they are forced to acknowledge that things are framed according to the Rules of Art and Proportion Now is it not more reasonable to ascribe the constant Observance of these Rules to an Intelligent Being than to Chance or no Cause For there is no middle thing betwixt them to be fixed on either the one or the other must take place Nature which they talk so much of is an Obscure Word for concealing their Thoughts and Sentiments If by this they mean something distinct from Matter which moves and directs it their Nature is God in Disguise and if they must flee to this for a rational Account of the Production of things why do they quarrel at the Word God which carries a clearer Idea and in the Sense of which all the World is agreed Tho' this Nature of theirs be equivalent yet it is more mysterious and therefore it smells of some designed Perverseness as if by the Use of this Word and the Disuse of the other they would turn Peoples Thoughts from God and God from the Honour of being the Creator of all things But if by Nature they only understand certain Laws and I know not what Ordinances by which things must move is this sufficient to explain the first Productions of things For tho' it should be true that Matter cannot move but according to these Laws and that moving by them in process of Time the Work could have been produced as it is at present after that Romantick Manner of Cartesius yet there was no Necessity that Matter should move at all nor could it move of it self Wherefore whether they will or not they must own the Existence of something prior to Matter it self or the Motion of it which Cartesius was sensible of and therefore he could not build his airy and fanciful System without supposing the Existence of a Deity And if he had kept his Eye upon this infinitely perfect Being and considered the World and all particular things as his Work if instead of a vain curious Enquiry how things should have been if Matter once moved had been left to it self he had shewed how things are and explained the admirable Contrivance of them if he had given us a History of Nature and described the Wisdom of God in the Make Order Place and Relation of particular things I say If Cartesius had done this as he seems to have been able for it the World would have been more obliged to him his Philosophy should have been more rational and satisfactory more useful to others and of more lasting Fame to himself Whereas now by turning his Thoughts from the Ends and Uses of things and the Wisdom of the Author and Contriver he has turn'd his Back upon the only true Light that was to have guided him he has grop'd in the Dark and produced nothing but useless Conjectures and the extravagant Ravings of his Brain which tickled Men at first as all Novelties use to do but which wise inquisitive and thinking Men will and must disgust because there wants Solidity As God is the first Cause and Author of all things so the Belief of a Deity is the Foundation of all solid Reason what is not built on this is Nonsense and Absurdity I know the Atheists arrogate to themselves Wit and Judgment and Knowledge above others and do think that it is the Ignorance and Credulity of the Bulk of Mankind as one lately Words it which make them to be of another Belief But I pray you must they carry away Sense and Understanding from others because they are so vain as to think it Do not those in Bedlam think themselves wiser than others All the rest of the World are Fools in their Eyes and those who keep them there not only Fools but Oppressors and most unjust And yet Atheism is a more extravagant and pernicious Madness which it is the Interest of Mankind to keep from spreading But alas it has been suffered to take Root and spread nay it is cherished and encouraged Men walk the Streets and publickly act this Madness In every Corner they throw their Squibbs of Scoffs and Drollery against the Almighty Author of their Being They meet in Companies to concert how they may most wittily expose him and what is the readiest way to render him ridiculous in the Eyes of others A Clinch or Jest or puny Witticism is received and entertained as an useful Discovery and carried about with all Diligence Tho' there be no Reason why the Atheist should be a Zealot there being no Obligation on him to propagate his Opinions and because the less they are entertained by others he is the more secure yet no Sect is become more zealous of late than Atheists and their Fraternity who maintain their Cause by an affronted Impudence by the Exercise of a froathy Wit more than Reason and by Jesting and Drollery rather than serious Argument And is this a reasonable or commendable way of handling a Matter so serious and important Should Impudence run down Evidence Should a Jest or a Witticism be of more Weight than the Dictates of common Sense and sober Reason If these Men were capable of Counsel I would ask them whether they are absolutely sure that they are in the right Are they able to demonstrate that there is no God This is more than any ever yet pretended to and if they cannot pretend to this ought they not to walk very cautiously If there be a God as there may for any Assurance they have to the contrary what then have they to expect for these bold Insults and that wicked Opposition to him A modest Enquiry into Truth even into the Existence of God himself is reasonable and cannot offend either God or Man But Spite and Insolency cannot by any Means be justified It shews a Desire that there should be no God more than Doubts and Scruples about his Existence which must needs provoke the most hight God and draw down his Judgments both on those who are guilty and on the Land which cherisheth them The CONCLUSION THO' the Existence of God be most evident yet I thought my self obliged to insist the longer upon proving it because it is of such Importance for it is the Foundation of all Knowledge and Certainty as well as of all Morality and Religion The Belief of a Deity is the first Article of the Christian Creed upon which the Truth and Certainty of the rest depend And therefore 't was necessary to shew that this is no vain Hypothesis or imaginary Supposition but a Truth loudly proclaimed and strongly confirmed not only by Reason but every part of the World So that whatever the Atheist may arrogate to himself and whatever Esteem may be paid to him unjustly in this corrupt Age yet he is so far from being wiser than others that by the universal Voice of Nature as well as Scripture he will be declared a Fool who saith that there is no God When I have proved that this God doth rule the World which is also included in this first Faith I shall then consider what it is to live by it and shall shew how necessary it is to the being just and righteous And I hope that there is such Satisfaction given in these Essays that who shall read them will be desirous of the other that are promised ERRATA PAge 1. line 2. read is p. 3. l. 7. r. Scripture p. 7. l. 29. r. Principle p. 12. l. 12. r. so well p. 13. l. 17. for touchos r. touch p. 19. l. 8. f. Squares r. Square p. 23. l. ult for is r. are p. 40 l. 31. r. as well ibid. l. 33 r. a part p. 42 l. 25. r. the f. their p. 43. l. 22. r. exceedingly p. 45. l. 13. f. be r. is p. 46. l. 21. f. should r. would p. 47. l. 14. r. conjoined p. 57. l. 20. r. there FINIS * By the latest and exactest Calculation of the Modern Mathematicians there goes 69 Miles and a Tenth Part to a Degree so that the Periphery or Circumference of the Earth is 24876 English Miles It s Diameter is 7915 and the whole Solidity may be reckoned Two Hundred Fifty Nine Thousand Five Hundred Seventy and Eight Million Nine Hundred Thrity Three Thousand Four Hundred and Five Cubical Miles The Earth is greater than Mercury or Mars for the First bears only the Proportion to it which an 100 hath to 347 and the other of an 100 to 334 That is the Earth is more than three times greater than any of these But then it is much less than the rest of the Planets for in respect of Venus the Earth has only the Proportion of 43 to an 100 to Jupiter as 121 to 10000 to Saturn as 296 to 10000 and to the Sun as 1 to 1367631. The Magnitude of the fixed Stars cannot be conjectured but there are Demonstrations offered to prove them greater than any of the Planets seeing they shine so bright at amost stupendius Distance For a Telescope which multiplieth 200 times doth not shew them bigger than they appear to the naked Eye but rather less Whence it follows That this planetary Orb is but as a Point in respect of the Distance of the fixed Stars and consequently That the Vniverse which comprehends the Planets and all the Stars visible and invisible each of which has a particular Orb must be Immense beyond all Imagination and Apprehension