Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A28966
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The excellency of theology compar'd with natural philosophy (as both are objects of men's study) / discours'd of in a letter to a friend by T.H.R.B.E. ... ; to which are annex'd some occasional thouhts about the excellency and grounds of the mechanical hypothesis / by the same author.
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Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691.
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1674
(1674)
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Wing B3955; ESTC R32857
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109,294
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312
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as an ordinary Recompense may exceed a cup of cold water And indeed God's Goodness is so Great and his Treasures so Unexhausted that as He is forward to recompence even the least Services that can be done Him so He is able to give the Greatest a proportionable Reward Solomon had an Opportunity such as never any Mortal had that we know of either before or since of satisfying his Desires whether of Fame or any other Thing that he could wish Ask what I shall give thee was the proffer made him by Him that could give All things worth Receiving and yet the Wisdom even of Solomon's choice approv'd by God Himself consisted in declining the most ambition'd things of this Life for those things that might the better qualifie him to serve and please God And to give you an example in a Greater than Solomon we may consider that He who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God and who by leaving Heaven did to dwell on earth quit more than any Inhabitant of the Earth can to gain Heaven and deny'd more to become Capable of being tempted than he did when he was tempted with an offer of All the Kingdoms of the world and the Glory of them This Saviour I say is said in Scripture to have for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the shame as if Heaven had been a sufficient Recompence for even His Renouncing Honours and Embracing Torments He that declines the Acquist of the Applause of men for the Contemplation of the Truths of God does but forbear to gather that whilst 't is immature which by waiting God's time he will more seasonably gather when 't is full ripe and wholesome and sweet That immarcescible Crown as St. Peter calls it which the Gospel promises to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour will make a rich amends for the declining of a Fading Wreath here upon Earth where Reputation is oftentimes as undeservedly acquir'd as lost Whereas in Heaven the very having Celestial Honours argues a Title to them And since 't is our Saviour's Reasoning That His Disciples ought to rejoyce when their Reputation is pursued by Calumny as well as their Lives by Persecution because their reward is great in Heaven we may justly infer That the Grounded Expectation of so illustrious a Condition may bring us more Content even when 't is not attended with a present Applause than this Applause can give those who want that comfortable Expectation So that upon the whole matter we have no reason to despond or to complain of the Study of Theology for but making Us decline an empty and transitory Fame for a solid and eternal Glory The Conclusion BY this time Sir I have said as much as I think fit and therefore I hope more than upon your single account was necessary to manifest that Physeophilus had no just cause to undervalue the study of Divinity nor our Friend the Doctor for addicting himself to it I hope you have not forgotten what I expressly enough declar'd at the beginning of this Letter That both your Friend and you admitting the holy Scriptures I knew my self thereby to be warranted to draw Proofs from their Authority And if I need not remind you of this perhaps I need not tell you by way of Apology that I am not so unacquainted with the Laws of Discoursing but that if I had been to argue with Atheists or Scepticks I should have forborn to make use of divers of the Arguments I have imploy'd as fetch'd from unconceded Topicks and substituted others for such as yet I think it very allowable for me to urge when I deal with a Person that as your Friend does onely undervalue the study of the Scriptures not reject their Authority And if the prolixity I have been guilty of already did forbid me to increase it by Apologies not absolutely necessary I should perchance rather think my self obliged to excuse the plainness of the Style of this Discourse which both upon the Subject's score and yours may seem to challenge a richer Dress But the matter is very serious and you are a Philosopher and when the things we treat of are highly important I think Truths clearly made out to be the most perswasive pieces of Oratory And a Discourse of this Nature is more likely to prove Effectual on Intelligent Perusers by having the Reasons it presents perspicuously propos'd and unprejudic'dly entertain'd than by their being pathetically urg'd or curiously adorn'd And I have the rather forborn expressions that might seem more proper to move than to convince because I foresee I may very shortly have occasion to employ some of the former sort in another Letter to a Friend of yours and mine who will I doubt make you a sharer in the trouble of reading it But writing this for you and Physeophilus I was far more sollicitous to give the Arguments I imploy a good temper than a bright gloss For even when we would excite Devotion if it be in rational men the most effectual pieces of Oratory are those which like Burning-glasses inflame by nothing but numerous and united Beams of Light If this Letter prove so happy as to give you any satisfaction it will thereby bring me a great one For prizing you as I do I cannot but wish to see you Esteem those things now which I am confident we shall always have cause to esteem and then most when the Light of Glory shall have made us better Judges of the true worth of things And it would extremely trouble me to see you a Disesteemer of those Divine things which as long as a man undervalues the Possession of Heaven it self would not make him happy And therefore if the Blessing of Him whose Glory is aim'd at in it make the Success of this Paper answerable to the Wishes the Importance of the Subject will make the Service done you by it suitable to the Desires of SIR Your most Faithful most Affectionate and most Humble Servant FINIS ERRATA IN the Introduction p. 2 l. 18. point thus else our p. 51. l. 17. r. Corpuscularian p. 114. l. 3. r. Theology for Philosophy p. 133. l. 10. r. yet many of ibid. l. 19. r. else do but. p. 201. l. 12. point thus predecessors did unanimously teach ABOUT THE EXCELLENCY AND GROUNDS Of the MECHANICAL HYPOTHESIS Some Considerations Occasionally propos'd to a Friend By T. H. R. B. E. Fellow of the Royal Society LONDON Printed by T. N. for Henry Herringman at the Anchor in the Lower Walk of the New Exchange 1674. The Publisher's ADVERTISEMENT THe following Paper having been but occasionally and hastily pen'd long after what the Author had written by way of Dialogue about the Requisites of a good Hypothesis it was intended that if it came forth at all it should do so as an Appendix to that Discourse because though one part of it