Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	find_v	great_a	see_v	3,378	5	2.9618	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59808	The danger of corrupting the faith by philosophy a sermon preach'd before the Right Honble, the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen at Guildhall-Chappel on Sunday, April 25, 1697 / by William Sherlock.	Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.	1697 (1697)	Wing S3280; ESTC R28137	15,328	30

are no farther concerned with them than with other Human Writings to believe what they teach agreeable to our own Reason Let these Men then either reject Faith and Scripture or confess That Revelation as to all Supernatural Truths must serve us instead of Sense and Reason I would gladly know of them Whether they would not believe such supernatural Truths as are not evident to Reason were they sure that God had Revealed them I guess they will not be so hardy as to say That they would not believe God himself should he Reveal such things as their Reason cannot comprehend and if they would believe God in such matters Why will they not believe a Revelation which they themselves acknowledge to be Divine in such matters For is there any difference between believing God and believing a Divine Revelation If God does know and can reveal such Mysteries and is to be believed when he does reveal them and such Doctrines are contained in an undoubted Revelation then the unconceivableness of them can be no argument against the Truth of the Revelation or that sense of the words which contains such Mysteries Let us then consider the natural consequence of this which is of great moment in this dispute viz. That we must allow of no Objections against Revealed Mysteries which we will not allow to be good Objections against Sense and Reason which is a necessary and unavoidable consequence if Revelation with respect to supernatural Truths stand in the place of Sense and Reason Now no man questions the truth of what he sees and feels or what he can prove to be true by plain and undeniable Reason merely because there are unconceivable difficulties in it as there are in every thing even the most certain and familiar things in Nature And if Revealed Truths are not more unconceivable than many natural objects of Sense and Reason Why should their being unconceivable be a greater Objection against believing a Revelation than it is against believing our Sense and Reason in matters equally unconceivable When God has Revealed to us That he has an Eternal and Only Begotten Son though we cannot comprehend the Mystery of the Eternal Generation Why should we not as firmly believe it as we do that Man Begets a Son in his own likeness the Philosophy of which we as little understand Nor can we any more conceive the Union of the Soul and Body than we do the Incarnation of the Son of God or the Union of the Divine and Human Nature in one Person And if we own the Authority of Revelation Why should we not as well believe what Revelation teaches how unconceivable soever it be as we do what Sense and Reason teaches though it be alike unconceivable All men are sensible that it is very absurd and foolish to deny the Being of any thing which they have certain evidence of because they cannot comprehend the Nature and Reasons of it The Man who rose up and walked before the Philosopher who was disputing subtilly against the possibility of Motion put a scorn upon all his Arguments by shewing him that he could Move And therefore we see that all men believe their Senses and Reason against all the difficulties in Nature and will never be persuaded by the subtillest Disputant That that is not which they certainly see and know to be Now for the same reason if men will allow the Authority of Revelation they must believe what is Revealed how unconceivable and incomprehensible soever its nature be for when we know that a thing is and this may be known by Revelation as well as by Sense as those men must confess who acknowledge a Divine Revelation no difficulties in conceiving it must persuade us to deny that it is This is very plain in it self though few men consider it That to disbelieve what is Revealed for the sake of any difficulties in understanding or conceiving it is to reject the certainty of Revelation For what other account can be given of that difference men make between the Evidence of Sense and Reason and of Revelation but that they allow Sense and Reason to be good and certain proofs of the being of such things as are evident to Sense and Reason how mysterious soever their Natures are but that mere Revelation is no certain proof of the being of any thing which is not evident also to Sense and Reason how plainly soever it be Revealed that is that Revelation alone can prove nothing for if Revelation it self could prove the certainty of what is Revealed the difficulties in Nature and Philosophy could no more disprove a Revelation than confute our Senses Now let any man judge whether this be not unequal usage to expect more from Revelation than they do from Sense and Reason and not to believe Revelation upon the same terms that they believe their Senses Should men resolve to believe nothing which they see till they could give a Philosophical account of the Reasons and Causes and Natures of all they see as they refuse to believe a Revelation any farther than they can conceive and comprehend the thing Revealed they must of necessity be as great Scepticks as they are Infidels For as for contradictions it is an easy matter to make or find seeming contradictions in what we do not understand for when we know not the Philosophical Natures of things nor how they act and yet will be reasoning and guessing at them all our false guesses may be full of contradictions and impossibilities because we know not the true Mystery of Nature It is this vain humour of Criticizing upon Nature which makes so many Atheists They go upon the same Principle with Infidels and Hereticks To believe nothing which natural Reason cannot conceive and comprehend now they cannot comprehend the Notion and Idea of a God which they say is made up of Contradictions and impossibilities and therefore they reject the Being of a God They cannot conceive a Creating Power which can give Being to that which had no Being before which they think a plain Contradiction to make Something of Nothing and therefore they reject the Creation of the World and either assert the Eternity of the World or at least the Eternity of Matter They can conceive no Substance but Matter and Body and therefore reject the Notion of a Spirit as Nonsense and Contradiction They will allow nothing to be wisely made which they understand not the reason and uses of and therefore they fancy a great many botches and blunders in Nature which cannot be the designs and contrivance of Wisdom but the effects of Chance and then the consequence is plain That the World was made by Chance not by a Wise Author Now I confess if this way of Reasoning be allowed it will be impossible to defend either Sense or Reason or Revelation against the Cavils of Atheists and Infidels for there are unconceivable and incomprehensible Secrets and Mysteries in them all and if to conceive and comprehend the Natures