Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	live_v	soul_n	1,528	5	5.4031	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42445	The certainty and necessity of religion in general, or, The first grounds & principles of humane duty establish'd in eight sermons preach'd at S. Martins in the Fields at the lecture for the year 1697, founded by the Honorable Robert Boyle, Esquire / by Francis Gastrell ...	Gastrell, Francis, 1662-1725.	1697 (1697)	Wing G300; ESTC R10900	106,790	282

sure is more than any Man that makes the venture can pretend to I do not here argue that a Man ought to prefer Religion before Irreligion meerly because 't is safer so to do because by the Confession of all Parties a Man shall not suffer any thing in another state by such a Choice whereas he that chuses Irreligion has only his own Opinion for his security and is threatned by the Persons of a contrary Persuasion with eternal Misery after Death I do not think this alone a sufficient reason to determine a Man's Choice to one side against all other Arguments to the contrary for then a Man might be threatned out of any thing but if the Evil threatned be very considerable and 't is full as probable that it should happen as it is that it should not which is the Case now supposed he acts very rationally and wisely who chuses rather to undergo some lesser Inconveniences at present than put himself in danger of greater Now that the Misery annex'd to Irreligion is very considerable cannot be denied it being supposed greater than can be imagined or conceived by us and that it is as probable it should be the Portion of all those that believe and act by such Principles as not must be allow'd whatever Hypothesis be true For if Chance made the World notwithstanding all the Characters of Wisdom we behold in it why may it not as well happen that there should be a Future State and that those we call Irreligious should be miserable in it and the Religious happy It looks indeed like Wisdom and so does the Regularity of the World and a great many constant Discriminations made there Why should the Wind blow down the rotten Fruit and leave the sound why should the Plague sweep away some and leave others in the same City or House but there are natural Reasons and Causes for these things so there may be for the other for ought we know the Wicked may be peculiarly disposed to be miserable the same Temper and Constitution of Body or Soul that inclined them to be wicked may to be miserable also when they live again and there is as much Chance for their living again as for their first Being But if all things exist by Necessity then a Future State may be necessary too and the Wicked necessarily miserable in it for any thing there is in this Hypothesis to the contrary Where every thing is supposed casual or every thing necessary 't is impossible to give any reason why any thing that may be conceived suture should or should not exist or should or should not be after such or such a manner and therefore all things of this nature must be equally probable nothing can be alleged to determine the Mind one way rather than another But if there be a God and the World and all things that are have been or are to be are acknowledged to be the Effects of his Will there are no Reasons to persuade us 't is more probable that God will not punish the Wicked in another State than that he will at least they have not yet been produced From whence it follows That it being equally probable in every Hypothesis that the Irreligious will be extreamly miserable they have no more reason to chuse that side they are of than the other by their own Confession and Account of things and therefore in this Case a Man must not act at all or if he does prefer acting one way rather than another the general Opinion of others concerning the safest side should determine him But moreover it is not only as probable that the Irreligious should be miserable in a future state allowing any of their own Hypotheses to be true but by their own way of Proof it appears that our Hypothesis is as likely to be true as any advanced by them nothing further than a Possibility of theirs being aim'd at And not only so but we do moreover pretend by many direct and positive Arguments to evince the Certainty of ours and at the same time to shew all theirs to be absurd and impossible Wherefore if upon an equal Probability we ought to take the safest measures much more are we obliged so to do when Reason and Happiness are both of the same Side Nay farther He that prefers that Faith and Practice which Eternal Misery in another State is denounc'd against ought not only to have more Grounds of Probability of his side but Certainty and Evidence of Conviction he should be fully satisfied from certain direct Principles that his own Opinions are right or that the contrary are absurd and irrational because the Consequences are of that vast importance that the present Inconveniences we are like to sustain by acting a contrary way can bear no proportion to the hazard or likelihood of Misery that attends this Thus do we of the Protestant Faith defend our selves against the Papists when they peremptorily condemn us to everlasting Misery for being of contrary Opinions to theirs without meeting with the same Returns from us and then urge us to take the safest side Thus I say do we answer did we believe their Opinions or Censures probable the 't was possible and to us perhaps seem'd as probable or more so that they might be false we would then allow some Weight in the Argument But we do not now go over to them upon the account of Safety because we not only think our Opinions certain and theirs impossible absurd or irrational and are fully persuaded we have proved them so but supposing our selves to err in all the Points in controversie betwixt us we think it demonstrable from common Principles own'd on both sides that none of these Errors which upon due care for better information are believed by us as Truths can expose us to the hazard of Damnation if in all things else we live up to the Principles of our Religion And if the Atheist and Irreligious can make the same Defence for himself if the Doctrines of Religion and the supposed Consequences of Irreligion seem as absurd and contrary to all the Principles of his Knowledge owned by him as the Popish Tenets do to a Protestant or as ridiculous and unwarrantable as the Visions Resveries or Predictions of every little Enthusiast or Fortune-teller to a Man of calm sedate Sense and he is able to make this good in the usual ways and methods of Reasoning then may he despise our Threatnings and laugh at the Misery of a Future State securely But to deny all these important concerning Truths without offering at any Proof of their Falshood to say they are doubtful and uncertain Points and yet to act with the same Assurance and Security as if they were certainly false to refuse our Assent to them for want of greater and more evident Proof without confuting the Arguments already advanced or producing stronger on the contrary side to laugh at the Terrors of the Lord without proving them first to be vain

as denied all this where should he first set out in his Proof What Order should he give his Thoughts Where must he take his Rise when he is to prove original Foundation-Truths What Evidence will be powerful enough to prevail upon those who love a Lye and hate to be reform'd How are they to be attempted who are strongly fortified with their Prejudices and have hardly left a Man that would attack them any Ground to stand upon Such an unreasonable Defiance of the common Sense of Mankind is justly thought by the Wisest Men to deserve no other Confutation but that of Punishment However since those who are yet innocent or indifferent may be corrupted and those who are just entring upon the ways of Irreligion may be farther advanc'd and confirm'd in them by more settled Atheists the same is to be done for the Security of those as should be applied to the Conviction of these if they were judged capable of being convinc'd and therefore the Method to be used upon this Occasion must be such as will surest destroy the Pretences of Atheism as well as give the easiest Account and most undeniable Proofs of Religion that so the Arguments made use of by the Perverters of Mankind may lose all their Power and Force upon others by losing the Advantage of coming unanswer'd In order therefore to satisfy those who have not quite renounc'd their Reason of the Truth of Religion according as I have before described and stated it and the Falshood of those Grounds upon which it is opposed I shall proceed in this manner First I shall give some Account of the Nature of Man the Nature of God and that Relation there is between them so far as is necessary to establish the Notion of Religion Secondly I shall prove that there is a God or a Being of such a Nature as I before supposed Thirdly From the Knowledge I have shewn we have or are capable of having concerning the Humane and Divine Natures I shall deduce a positive and direct Proof of Religion Fourthly I shall farther evince the Truth of Religion from a Comparison of it with Irreligion and the necessary Consequences arising from thence Fifthly I shall consider the Grounds and Pretences of Irreligion what can be alledged in Defence of it and what are the usual Pleas for it and from thence shew the Absurdity and Folly of their Principles and Actions who have no better Reasons for what they Believe and Do than those upon Examination will be found to be Sixthly I shall make some Enquiries into the Causes of Atheism and Irreligion or the Reasons that induce Men to take up such Opinions And conclude with a short Explication of the different Notions of Atheism and Deism I. First then I am to give some Account of the Nature of Man the Nature of God and the Relation there is between them so far as is necessary to establish the Notion of Religion The Knowledge of Religion as of all other Things whatsoever must begin from the Consideration of our Selves Now our Existence being granted the same Consciousness that satisfies us of this if we carefully attend to what passes within us will farther inform us that we are capable of Thinking Perceiving and Knowing which Capacity is usually stiled Understanding and that we have a Power of determining our selves to Think and not to Think or Perceive and not Perceive certain Objects or Ideas and to move and not to move certain parts of our Body and by that means other contiguous Bodies as likewise a Power of Acting and not Acting according to our own Determination that is we can actually entertain a Thought or dismiss it cause a Motion or hinder it when we have so determin'd with our selves and that barely by determining so to do which general Power of determining our Selves and executing our own Determinations or Commands is call'd the Will and includes all that is active within us And upon further Reflexion we may find that in several Instances we have an equal Power to determine our selves to Think or not to Think to Move or not to Move and in several Instances an equal Power to Act or not to Act according to such Determination but in several others we can determine our selves but one way and in some where we can determine our selves either way we can obey but one Determination In the first Cases we act with Liberty in the latter we are under a Necessity But all our Actions in all the several Instances before mention'd are stiled voluntary as proceeding immediately and effectually from our selves only when the Acting or not Acting proceeds wholly from some extrinsick Violence surmounting the Strength of our Bodies which is properly call'd Force as distinguish'd from Necessity the Effects of which cannot truly be said to be ours but belong to those Beings who employed that Force upon us 'T is plain also from Experience that we are capable of Pleasure and Pain by which I mean all manner of agreeable and disagreeable Sentiments whether caus'd by our selves or occasion'd by any thing without us that these are the first and only Springs of Action which set all our Powers a-work and give Rise to all our Determinations the obtaining the one and avoiding the other being the whole Employment of the Soul and that there are some Things which we are naturally by our very Frame and Make pleas'd or displeas'd with without being taught by one another to be so and consequently that we desire and do are averse from and forbear several things in Compliance with these first original Sentiments From whence it follows that there is something antecedent to all manner of Action begun within our selves which is the Reason of it without which it had not been which when taken away or ceasing the Action ceases too and there follows a Rest Acquiescence or Satisfaction This Reason or Motive of Action is call'd an End the Perception of which at a distance or future as such as would be all things consider'd more agreeable to the Mind when present than any thing it feels now is the Cause of all those Actions which are look'd upon as requisite for the Attainment of it Now if this Representation be true and the Actions proper and fit a Man is said to act wisely and for his true Interest and Advantage but when either of these Conditions is wanting he acts foolishly and to his Disadvantage But since by the same Experience we are inform'd that we may and often do act foolishly and to our own Prejudice by lessening or discontinuing our present Satisfaction or bringing more Pain and Trouble upon our selves than we already feel and that the only Cause of this is the different Representation of things future from what they are perceived to be when present both in themselves and in their Consequences and Dependances we are from hence convinc'd that there is no other way of remedying this Evil and preventing our being accessory to our

or resistible to contradict the general Belief of the World without making any new Discoveries or Observations to lay aside a whole Scheme and System of things which has been proved and established in all the principal Branches and Connexions of it because we are not able to comprehend or account for some little remote Consequence and to venture eternal Misery upon a seeming Possibility of an Escape which very few perceive or allow These are all egregious Instances of the absurd Faith and foolish Conduct of the Enemies of Religion and consequently good Proofs of the Judgment and Wisdom of those who believe and act upon contrary Grounds and Measures There 's another thing also which the Atheist commonly discovers his Folly in and that is the publishing and propagating his Opinions For 't is more the Atheist's Interest that other People should have Religion than 't is the Religious Man's For his whole Happiness being in this Life the more other People are restrain'd and the better they are persuaded he acts by the same Rules they do the larger will his Liberty and Advantages be and the less he will suffer from their Designs and Pursuits whereas the Religious Man's Reversion is not endanger'd but confirm'd by what he loses or suffers here Other Proofs likewise of the Unreasonableness and Absurdity of Irreligion might be brought from the Inconsistency both of the Faith and Practice of such as are profess'd Favourers of it such as their Credulity and readiness of Belief in common indifferent Matters and sometimes embracing absurd Opinions exploded by all the World when at the same time they are distrustful of every thing upon the Subject of Religion their believing Matters that concern their present Happiness upon less Grounds their exposing themselves to greater Troubles and Inconveniences and running greater Hazards upon a fainter Prospect of future Happiness in this Life and sometimes on the contrary fearing and avoiding things upon a less Appearance or Likelyhood of Danger than what Religion affords and lastly their acting contrary to their own Principles and denying themselves what they esteem substantial Happiness out of a regard to imaginary Notions which have no Foundation but in the Opinion of Men. But these being Matters of common Observation and too long to be fully insisted upon here I shall think it sufficient to have hinted at them and so pass on to the VI. Sixth and last general Branch of my Discourse proposed in the beginning of it and that is To give some Account of the Causes of all Atheism and Irreligion or the Reasons that induce Men to take up such Opinions There 's nothing People are better satisfied of than the Power nnd Influence of Prejudices and false Motives of Judging every body being apt to resolve the Cause of another Mans differing in opinion from him into some particular Byass upon his Understanding But this we do commonly without examining whether the Person that differs from us has not better Reasons for his Dissent than we have for our Persuasion whether the Opinion he is of be not in the Reality of things true tho he believes upon false Grounds or whether we our selves are not disposed to judg as we do upon some of the like Motives we suppose him to be directed by By which means we are often not only guilty of the same Partiality we charge upon others but either confirm'd in our Errors or else prevented from making just Enquiries into the Truth of things so that if we are in the right it is by chance and more than we are able to prove to our selves or others Upon which account I think it a very preposterous and deceitful Method of proving a thing false to assign some peculiar Prejudices and wrong Motives of judging which may possibly induce Men to be of such an Opinion tho the Truth should be of the other side and which have often had the like Influence upon Men's Understandings in other Matters and from thence immediately without any further Proof to infer that such and such Persons have no other Reasons for their Belief of the point in question and consequently that they are in the wrong this I say is not a fair way of arguing But after plain and manifest Proofs of the Truth of an Opinion according to the standing Rules and Principles of Reasoning it is not only proper to enquire how any People came to be of a contrary Persuasion but the Strangeness and seeming Unaccountableness of the thing make it expected and in some respect necessary in order to a fuller Satisfaction of those who notwithstanding all the appearance of Evidence to themselves may be apt to have such favourable Notions of Mankind as not to imagine that Persons who have the same Faculties and all other Advantages of Knowledge as they have should deny what appears so plain to them without some rational Grounds for their Denial Having therefore as I persuade my self fully and evidently proved the Truth of Religion I think I may now be allow'd to say That all Atheism and Irreligion must be the sole Effect of Prejudice and Prepossession if any such Cause of it is assignable And if we search the Heart of Man and look into the hidden Mysteries of Iniquity lodg'd there if we consider all the false and corrupt Reasonings and the several Arts and Methods of Deceit which are used by Men to delude themselves we shall soon discover the secret Spring and Original of all Atheism and Unbelief Now the Causes from whence it proceeds are these two The Fear of an After-reckoning for a wicked Life and The Pride and Vanity of appearing greater or wiser than other Men. The first of which is the principal and most powerful Cause and is only assisted and strenghened afterwards by the Accession of the latter And what other Reason can be assigned It cannot be the Force and Evidence of Truth as plainly appears not only from the foregoing Proofs of Religion but from the Confession and Conduct of the Atheists themselves It is not because the Notions of God Immortality and a Future State shock the Understanding and contradict the plain Principles of Reason that they deny these Foundations of all Religion Was the Being of God consider'd only as an Hypothesis to solve the Difficulties of Nature by without those troublesome Consequences of Duty Sin and Punishment the Atheist would not scruple this Philosophy and Lucretius himself would easily grant the Soul to be immortal to be separated from the Body and reunited again would you allow him that Conclusion that neither separate nor reunited it hath any Sense or Remembrance of what was done before the Separation God should also enjoy the Fulness of Perfection he should be clothed with all the magnificent Attributes that Man could conceive so his whole Employment was the Comprehension of himself and the Contemplation of his own Glory and he was not unnecessarily troubled to take account of our Actions This is the dreadful