Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A66057
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A sermon preached before the king, upon the seventh of March, 1668/9 by John, Lord Bishop of Chester.
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Wilkins, John, 1614-1672.
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1669
(1669)
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Wing W2209; ESTC R7501
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10,448
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40
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give a Man such an interest in the esteem and affection of others as will make them concern'd for his Welfare ready to stand by him and assist him in any kind of Danger which are so great Advantages that whosoever shall wilfully neglect them must needs be render'd very contemptible Having thus Explained the proper Notion of Honor I proceed in the next place to Prove that Religion and Virtue is the only meanes for the attaining of it This I shall endeavour to do by Testimony and by Reason and by Experience which are all the kinds of Arguments that such matters are capable of First By Testimony The Scripture doth abound in divers Assertions and Promises to this purpose Such as are Religious are stiled the Excellent of the Earth Psal. 16. 3. and said to be more excellent than their Neighbours Prov. 17. 27. They are Gods peculiar Treasure The dearly beloved of his Soul He sets apart the Man that is Godly for himself Though such persons may be but low as to their outward Condition being put to wander up and down in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented seeking for refuge in Desarts and Mountains in Dens and Caves of the Earth yet may they upon the account of Religion be of such an excellent value that in the Judgement of the Holy Ghost The whole World is not worthy of them Heb. 11. 37 38. The Wise-man speaking of Religion saith that it shall be an ornament of Grace to thy head and as a chain about thy neck Exalt her and she shall promote thee and bring thee to honor She shall give to thy head an ornament of grace and a Crown of glory God hath engaged himself by Promise to those that are Religious that he will set them above other Nations they shall be made the Head and not the Tayle Deut. 28. 13. He hath said Those that honor me I will honor 1 Sam. 2. 30. And certainly he who is the King of Kings must needs be the Fountain of Honor and able to dispose of it as he pleases But because such persons as are no friends to Religion may have but a small esteem for the Authority of Scripture Therefore to these I would suggest the concurrent Opinion of Wise Men in all former Ages Though the antient Philosophers were divided into various Sects and differ'd very much from one another in several Opinions yet in this they have all agreed that Honor is due only to Virtue and doth not properly belong to any thing else It would be tedious to enumerate the several sayings to this purpose out of Plato Aristotle Tully Seneca and the other Antients And certainly that Man must needs have a very extravagant conceit of his own Abilities who dares prefer his private Opinion before the General Consent of Wise Men in former Ages such as have been counted the greatest Masters of Reason and most eminent for their Knowledge and their Wisdome Secondly I proceed in the next place to confirme this by the Principles of Reason That Religion and Virtue is the cause of Honor. There may be a two-fold cause of things Moral Natural That is said to be the Moral cause which doth dispose a Man to such a Condition upon the Account of Fitness and Desert and in this sence Honor is the Reward of Virtue There is an equitable right a sutableness and congruity that good Men should be loved and esteemed and vitious Men exposed to shame As Snow in Summer and as Rain in Harvest so is Honor unsutable for a Fool Prov. 26. 1. The intermixing of Winter and Summer would not cause a greater disorder in the Natural World than the cross disposal of Honor and contempt would in the Moral World And hence is it that the Lawes of all Nations and Governments have owned it as a point of Policy to excite their Subjects unto Virtuous and worthy Actions by this Motive of Honor and to deterr them from Vitious Courses by the consideration of the shame and contempt which belongs to them That is said to be the Natural cause of a thing which doth by its own immediate efficacy produce the effect and in this sence likewise is Virtue the cause of Honor The Fire doth not more naturally produce heat than Goodness doth Love and Esteem Which will appear very plain if we consider That Inward Honouring is nothing else but the Believing a Man to be Worthy and Virtuous and the Testifying this by our Words and Actions is Outward Honouring Now nothing can be more evident then that the best means for one to be thought good is to be so A Man may excell in Strength Beauty Riches Learning Wit which are all commendable things and will contribute to a Mans esteem But if we apprehend such a one to be notoriously Vitious This esteem will not be accompanied with Love but with Fear Hate and Envy because such a one hath by these things so much the greater advantage of doing Mischief in the World Whereas on the other side though a Man should be destitute of all these other advantages without any Nobility in his Ancestors but of a small Estate a low Condition yet if we believe him to be a truly Virtuous Man it cannot be but that we must pay a Veneration to him All things whatsoever have some Natural Standard whereby the Goodness of them is to be Measured namely their sutableness unto that chief end for which they are designed We do not therefore account a Ship to be good because 't is curiously painted and gilded or carved and inlayed but because 't is fitted for all the purposes of Navigation which is the proper end and use of a Ship Nor do we therefore account a Sword to be good because it hath a rich Hilt and an Embroidered Scabbard but because it is fit for the proper use of a Sword which is to cut They are the comparisons of Seneca speaking of this Subject In homine quoque nihil ad rem pertinet quantum aret quantum foeneret a quam multis salutetur c. sed quam bonus sit It should be so likewise in our esteem of Men who are not so much to be valued by the Grandeur of their Estates or Titles as by their inward goodness Every Man is endowed with a Natural principle inclining him to a state of Happiness and hath in some measure both an Ability to judge of and a freedome and liberty for applying himself unto those Duties which are the proper meanes for the promoting of this end And this being the peculiar difference of the Humane Nature therefore a man is not upon any other account to be justly praised or blamed but according to the right or wrong use of this natural liberty And consequently as a Man doth find either in himself or others a constant and firm resolution to make a right use of this so should he proportion his esteem accordingly Preferring this Inward Greatness