Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	blood_n	heart_n	part_n	1,385	5	4.9423	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27428	The folly and unreasonableness of atheism demonstrated from the advantage and pleasure of a religious life, the faculties of humane souls, the structure of animate bodies, & the origin and frame of the world : in eight sermons preached at the lecture founded by ... Robert BOyle, Esquire, in the first year MDCXCII / by Richard Bentley ...	Bentley, Richard, 1662-1742.	1699 (1699)	Wing B1931; ESTC R21357	132,610	286

must allow therefore that Bodies were endowed with the same affections and tendencies then as ever since and that if an Ax-head be supposed to float upon water which is specifically much lighter than it it had been supernatural at that time as well as in the days of Elisha And this is all that I desire him to acknowledge at present So that he may admit of those Arguments as valid and conclusive against his Hypothesis that are fairly drawn from the present powers of Matter and the visible constitution of the World Now that we may come to the point All Matter is either Fluid or Solid in a large acceptation of the words that they may comprehend even all the middle degrees between extreme Fixedness and Coherency and the most rapid intestine motion of the Particles of Bodies Now the most cavilling Atheist must allow that a solid inanimate Body while it remains in that state where there is none or a very small and inconsiderable change of Texture is wholly incapable of a vital production So that the first Humane Body without Parents and without Creator if such an one ever was must have naturally been produced in and constituted by a Fluid And because this Atheist goes mechanically to work the universal Laws of Fluids must have been rigidly observed during the whole process of the Formation Now this is a Catholick Rule of Staticks That if any Body be bulk for bulk heavier than a Fluid it will sink to the bottom of that Fluid and if lighter it will float upon it having part of it self extant and part immersed to such a determinate depth as that so much of the Fluid as is equal in Bulk to the immersed part be equal in Gravity to the whole And consequently if several portions of one and the same Fluid have a different specifick gravity the heavier will always in a free vessel be gradually the lower unless violently shaken and blended together by external concussion But that cannot be in our present case For I am unwilling to affront this Atheist so much as to suppose him to believe that the first organical Body might possibly be effected in some Fluid portion of Matter while its Heterogeneous parts were jumbled and confounded together by a Storm or Hurricane or Earthquake To be sure he will rather have the primitive Man to be produced by a long process in a kind of digesting Balneum where all the heavier Lees may have time to subside and a due Aequilibrium be maintain'd not disturb'd by any such rude and violent shocks that would ruffle and break all the little Stamina of the Embryon if it were a making before Now because all the parts of an undisturb'd Fluid are either of equal Gravity or gradually placed and storied according to the differences of it any concretion that can be supposed to be naturally and mechanically made in such a Fluid must have a like structure of its several parts that is either be all over of a similar Gravity or have the more ponderous parts nearer to its Basis. But there need no more concessions than this to extinguish these supposed First-born of Nature in their very formation For suppose a Humane Body to be a forming in such a Fluid in any imaginable posture it will never be reconcileable to this Hydrostatical Law There will be always something lighter beneath and something heavier above because Bone or what is then the Stuff and Rudiments of Bone the heaviest in specie will be ever in the midst Now what can make the heavier particles of Bone ascend above the lighter ones of Flesh or depress these below those against the tendency of their own Nature This would be wholly as miraculous as the swimming of Iron in Water at the command of Elisha and as impossible to be as that the Lead of an Edifice should naturally and spontaneously mount up to the Roof while lighter materials employ themselves beneath it or that a Statue like that in Nebuchadnezzar's Vision whose Head was of fine and most ponderous Gold and his Feet of lighter materials Iron and Clay should mechanically erect it self upon them for its Basis. Secondly Because this Atheist goes mechanically to work he will not offer to affirm That all the parts of the Embryon could according to his explication be formed at a time This would be a supernatural thing and an effectual refutation of his own Principles For the Corpuscles of Matter having no consciousness of one anothers acting at least before or during the Formation as will be allowed by that very Atheist that attributes Reason and Perception to them when the Formation is finished they could not consent and make a compact together to carry on the work in several places at once and one party of them be forming the Brain while another is modelling the Heart and a third delineating the Veins No there must be according to Mechanism a successive and gradual operation Some few Particles must first be united together and so by apposition and mutual connexion still more and more by degrees till the whole System be completed and a Fermentation must be excited in some assignable place which may expand it self by its Elastical power and break through where it meets with the weakest resistance and so by that so simple and mechanical action may excavate all the various Ducts and Ventricles of the Body This is the only general account as mean as it appears to be that this Machin of an Atheist can give of that fearfull and wonderfull Production Now to confute these Pretences First There is that visible Harmony and Symmetry in a Humane Body such a mutual communication of every vessel and member of it as gives an internal evidence that it was not formed successively and patch'd up by piece-meal So uniform and orderly a system with innumerable Motions and Functions all so placed and constituted as never to interfere and clash one with another and disturb the Oeconomy of the whole must needs be ascribed to an Intelligent Artist and to such an Artist as did not begin the matter unprepared and at a venture and when he was put to a stand paused and hesitated which way he should proceed but he had first in his comprehensive Intellect a complete Idea and Model of the whole Organical Body before he enter'd upon the Work But Secondly if they affirm That mere Matter by its mechanical Affections without any design or direction could form the Body by steps and degrees what member then do they pitch upon for the foundation and cause of all the rest Let them shew us the beginning of this Circle and the first Wheel of this Perpetual Motion Did the Blood first exist antecedent to the formation of the Heart But that is to set the Effect before the Cause because all the Blood that we know of is made in and by the Heart having the quite different form and qualities of Chyle before it comes thither Must

soberly and righteously and godly in this present world I believe there would be no such thing as an Infidel among us And without controversie 't is the Way and Means of attaining to Heaven that makes profane Scorners so willingly let go the Expectation of it 'T is not the Articles of the Creed but the Duty to God and their Neighbour that is such an inconsistent incredible Legend They will not practise the Rules of Religion and therefore they cannot believe the Promises and Rewards of it But however let us suppose them to have acted like rational and serious Men and perhaps upon a diligent inquisition they have found that the Hope of Immortality deserves to be joyfully quitted and that either out of Interest or Necessity I. And first One may conceive indeed how there might possibly be a necessity of quitting it It might be tied to such Terms as would render it impossible ever to be obtain'd For example if it should be required of all the Candidates of Glory and Immortality to give a full and knowing Assent to such things as are repugnant to Common Sense as contradict the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the universal Notions and indubitable Maxims of Reason if they were to believe that One and the same Thing may be and not be at the same time and in the same respect If allowing the received Idea's and denominations of Numbers and Figures and Body they must seriously affirm that Two and two do make a Dozen or that the Diameter of a Circle is as long as the Circumference or that the same Body may be all of it in distant places at once I must confess that the offers of Happiness upon such Articles of Belief as these would be meer tantalizing of Rational Creatures and the Kingdom of Heaven would become the Inheritance of only Idiots and Fools For whilst a man of Common Capacity doth think and reflect upon such Propositions he cannot possibly bribe his Understanding to give a Verdict for their Truth So that he would be quite frustrated of the Hope of Reward upon such unpracticable Conditions as these neither could he have any evidence of the Reality of the Promise superiour to what he is conscious to of the Falsity of the Means Now if any Atheist can shew me in the System of Christian Religion any such absurdities and repugnancies to our natural Faculties I will either evince them to be Interpolations and Corruptions of the Faith or yield my self a Captive and a Proselyte to his Infidelity II. Or 2dly they may think 't is the Interest of Mankind that there should be no Heaven at all because the Labour to acquire it is more worth than the Purchase God Almighty if there be one having much overvalued the Blessings of his Presence So that upon a fair estimation 't is a greater advantage to take one's swing in Sensuality and have a glut of Voluptuousness in this Life freely resigning all pretences to future Happiness which when a man is once extinguish'd by Death he cannot be supposed either to want or desire than to be tied up by Commandments and Rules so contrary to Flesh and Blood to take up one's Cross to deny himself and refuse the Satisfaction of Natural Desires This indeed is the true Language of Atheism and the Cause of it too Were not this at the Bottom no man in his wits could contemn and ridicule the expectation of Immortality Now what power or influence can Religion have upon the minds of these men while not only their Affections and Lusts but their supposed Interest shall plead against it But if we can once silence this powerfull Advocate we shall without much difficulty carry the Cause at the Bar of impartial Reason Now here is a notorious instance of the Folly of Atheists that while they repudiate all Title to the Kingdom of Heaven meerly for the present Pleasure of Body and their boasted Tranquillity of Mind besides the extreme madness in running such a desperate Hazard after Death which I will not now treat of they deprive themselves here of that very Pleasure and Tranquillity they seek for For I shall now endeavour to shew That Religion it self gives us the greatest Delights and Advantages even in this life also though there should prove in the event to be no Resurrection to another Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace But before I begin that I must occurr to one specious Objection both against this Proposition and the past part of my Discourse Namely that Religion doth perpetually haunt and disquiet us with dismal apprehensions of everlasting Burnings in Hell and that there is no shelter or refuge from those Fears but behind the Principles of Atheism 1. First therefore I will freely acknowledge to the Atheists that some part of what hath been said is not directly conclusive against them if they say that before they revolted from the Faith they had sinned away all expectation of ever arriving at Heaven and consequently had good reason so joyfully to receive the news of Annihilation by Death as an advantageous change for the everlasting torments of the Damn'd But because I cannot expect that they will make such a shameless and senseless Confession and supply us with that invincible argument against themselves I must say again that to prefer final Extinction before a happy Immortality does declare the most deplorable stupidity of mind Nay although they should confess that they believed themselves to be Reprobates before they disbelieved Religion and took Atheism as a sanctuary and Refuge from the Terrors of Hell yet still the imputation of Folly will stick upon them in as much as they chose Atheism as an Opiate to still those frightning Apprehensions by inducing a dulness and lethargy of mind rather than they would make use of that active and salutary medicine a hearty Repentance that they did not know the Riches of the goodness and forbearance and long-suffering of God and that a sincere Amendment of Life was never too late nor in vain Iesus Christ being the Saviour of all men and a propitiation for the sins of the whole world who came into the world to save sinners even the chief of them all and died for the ungodly and his bitterest enemies 2. And secondly As to the Fears of Damnation those terrors are not to be charged upon Religion it self which proceed either from the Want of Religion or Superstitious mistakes about it For as an honest and innocent Man doth know the punishments which the Laws of his Country denounce against Felons and Murtherers and Traytors without being terrified or concern'd at them So a Christian in truth as well as in name though he believe the consuming Vengeance prepared for the disobedient and unbelievers is not at all dismayed at the apprehensions of it Indeed it adds spurs and gives wings to his diligence it excites him to work out his Salvation with fear and

Glass but for different ends and nobler purposes And yet who will deny but that there are great multitudes of lucid Stars even beyond the reach of the best Telescopes and that every visible Star may have opake Planets revolve about them which we cannot discover Now if they were not created for Our sakes it is certain and evident that they were not made for their own For Matter hath no life nor perception is not conscious of its own existence nor capable of happiness nor gives the Sacrifice of Praise and Worship to the Author of its Being It remains therefore that all Bodies were formed for the sake of Intelligent Minds and as the Earth was principally designed for the Being and Service and Contemplation of Men why may not all other Planets be created for the like Uses each for their own Inhabitants which have Life and Understanding If any man will indulge himself in this Speculation he need not quarrel with revealed Religion upon such an account The Holy Scriptures do not forbid him to suppose as great a Multitude of Systems and as much inhabited as he pleases 'T is true there is no mention in Moses's Narrative of the Creation of any People in other Planets But it plainly appears that the Sacred Historian doth only treat of the Origins of Terrestrial Animals he hath given us no account of God's creating the Angels and yet the same Author in the ensuing parts of the Pentateuch makes not unfrequent mention of the Angels of God Neither need we be sollicitous about the condition of those Planetary People nor raise frivolous Disputes how far they may participate in the Miseries of Adam's Fall or in the benefits of Christ's Incarnation As if because they are supposed to be Rational they must needs be concluded to be Men For what is Man not a Reasonable Animal merely for that is not an adequate and distinguishing Definition but a Rational Mind of such particular Faculties united to an Organical Body of such a certain Structure and Form in such peculiar Laws of Connexion between the Operations and Affections of the Mind and the Motions of the Body Now God Almighty by the inexhausted fecundity of his creative Power may have made innumerable Orders and Classes of Rational Minds some in their natural perfections higher than Humane Souls others inferior But a Mind of superior or meaner capacities than Humane would constitute a different Species though united to a Humane Body in the same Laws of Connexion and a Mind of Humane Capacities would make another Species if united to a different Body in different Laws of Connexion For this Sympathetical Union of a Rational Soul with Matter so as to produce a Vital communication between them is an arbitrary institution of the Divine Wisdom there is no reason nor foundation in the separate natures of either substance why any Motion in the Body should produce any Sensation at all in the Soul or why This motion should produce That particular Sensation rather than any other God therefore may have join'd Immaterial Souls even of the same Class and Capacities in their separate State to other kinds of Bodies and in other Laws of Union and from those different Laws of Union there will arise quite different affections and natures and species of the compound Beings So that we ought not upon any account to conclude that if there be Rational Inhabitants in the Moon or Mars or any unknown Planets of other Systems they must therefore have Humane Nature or be involved in the Circumstances of Our World And thus much was necessary to be here inculcated which will obviate and preclude the most considerable objections of our Adversaries that we do not determine the Final Causes and Usefulness of the Systematical parts of the World merely as they have respect to the Exigencies or Conveniencies of Humane Life Let us now turn our thoughts and imaginations to the Frame of our System if there we may trace any visible footsteps of Divine Wisdom and Beneficence But we are all liable to many mistakes by the prejudices of Childhood and Youth which few of us ever correct by a serious scrutiny in our riper years and a Contemplation of the Phaenomena of Nature in their Causes and Beginnings What we have always seen to be done in one constant and uniform manner we are apt to imagin there was but that one way of doing it and it could not be otherwise This is a great error and impediment in a disquisition of this nature to remedy which we ought to consider every thing as not yet in Being and then diligently examin if it must needs have been at all or what other ways it might have been as possibly as the present and if we find a greater Good and Utility in the present constitution than would have accrued either from the total Privation of it or from other frames and structures that might as possibly have been as It we may then reasonably conclude that the present constitution proceeded neither from the necessity of material Causes nor the blind shuffles of an imaginary Chance but from an intelligent and Good Being that formed it that particular way out of choice and design And especially if this Usefulness be conspicuous not in one or a few instances only but in a long train and series of Things this will give us a firm and infallible assurance that we have not pass'd a wrong Judgment I. Let us proceed therefore by this excellent Rule in the contemplation of Our System 'T is evident that all the Planets receive Heat and Light from the body of the Sun Our own Earth in particular would be barren and desolate a dead dark lump of Clay without the benign influence of the Solar Rayes which without question is true of all the other Planets It is good therefore that there should be a Sun to warm and cherish the Seeds of Plants and excite them to Vegetation to impart an uninterrupted Light to all parts of his System for the Subsistence of Animals But how came the Sun to be Luminous not from the necessity of natural Causes or the constitution of the Heavens All the Planets might have moved about him in the same Orbs and the same degrees of Velocity as now and yet the Sun might have been an opake and cold Body like Them For as the six Primary Planets revolve about Him so the Secondary ones are moved about Them the Moon about the Earth the Satellites about Iupiter and others about Saturn the one as regularly as the other in the same Sesquialteral proportion of the times of their Periodical Revolutions to the Semidiameters of their Orbs. So that though we suppose the present Existence and Conservation of the System yet the Sun might have been a Body without Light or Heat of the same kind with the Earth and Iupiter and Saturn But then what horrid darkness and desolation must have reign'd in the World It had been unfit for the Divine