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A64373 A sermon concerning the folly of atheism preached before the Queen at White-Hall, February 22, 1690/91 / by Tho. Tenison ... Tenison, Thomas, 1636-1715. 1691 (1691) Wing T715; ESTC R9856 9,461 38

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PUBLISHED By Her MAJESTIES Special Command A SERMON Concerning the folly of Atheism Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL FEBRUARY 22. 1690 1. By THO. TENISON D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to THEIR MAJESTIES LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard M DC XC I. A SERMON CONCERNING THE Folly of Atheism PSALM XIV 1. The fool hath said in his heart There is no God They are corrupt they have done abominable works there is none that doth good THOUGH the Being of a God is in Religion the first and most fundamental Article yet it may be prov'd by some foregoing Principles of Natural Reason This may be done but the attempt seems unnecessary in a Christian Congregation where the Members profess not only That there is a God who made them but also That there is a Messiah who redeem'd them Taking it therefore here as a confessed Principle That God is I shall make it my business to represent to you these Two Things 1. The Folly of those who live without God in the world 2. The Vileness   For these two Remarks are here offer'd by the Royal Psalmist in the Text The fool hath said in his heart There is no God they are corrupt they have done abominable works there is none that doth good Holy David does here In the 1st place Take notice of the Folly of those who live without God in the world They can never be without his Essential Presence nor always without an in ward sense of it there is no worldly Charm that can perpetually keep the Conscience from such reflections but whilst they remain insensible of a God their way is their Folly And 1st They want Knowledge and Judgment 2dly They want Wisdom and Discretion Ist. They want Knowledg and Judgment and commit wonderful mistakes about Principles common to Mankind For as a natural Fool may sometimes speak a shrewd and seasonable thing so an irreligious one tho he has in other respects ability of mind as Judas and Demas themselves had being wise in their generation yet with reference to the Existence of a Deity he is guilty of gross and palpable Errors None deserve those Epithetes more than these that sollow viz. That there is an Effect without a Cause That an insufficient Cause can produce a perfect and sufficient Effect That something without an Almighty Power can come out of nothing They are to be derided rather than confuted who shall have the confidence to say That a House had no Builder that all the Materials fell into that useful Order by Accident and that the Master of the House Sprung at last out of the very Frame of it The Atheist does not say this in terms but he maintains that which is equally absurd For seeing the Heavens and the Earth are imperfect beings and did not could not make themselves he that denies that a God or a First and absolutely perfect Being was the Maker of them does by consequence set before us imperfect Causes and Effects existing without a Cause And seeing all things are made in Number Weight and Measure either he shews his stupidness in not discerning the Footsteps of Wisdom in the wonderful frame of Nature which appears the more regular the greater portion a man has of the knowledg of the Lines and Figures of Bodies and the Rules of Motion or he ascribes all this to Chance which yet is a word he ought not to use who makes all Causes necessary and maintains that Confusion is the most wise Parent of Order Seeing also he makes the Soul to be the Temper of the Body and the substance and the modese and motions of it are as distinct from Understanding as is the matter and movement of any other Engine from a reasoning mind he makes Nothing to be the Spring of Something that is the Constitution of the Body which hath no thought nor any thing from whence it can possihly come to be the Cause of Thought of Judgment of Wisdom of Conscience But as one of that sort of men has written in one of his Intervals 'T is very hard to believe that to produce all the several and curious Organs of Sense and Memory could be the work of any thing that had not Understanding And he might have added Much more of the Understanding it self And this Error is still the more gross because the Godless person holds it to be an Error whilst he denies the Creation of the World out of nothing and then sees not that it is one when he speaks of the Original of the Soul out of that which hath nothing of Soul in it Such Inconsistence is a plain indication of want of judgment and ungodly men are in many more particulars at variance with themselves As for example In Health they are Atheists and in Sickness Superstitious They say all we do is necessary and yet blame some Actions and commend others They have no Faith about Divine Prophecies even those which have been evidently fulfill'd in the Coming and Death of Christ and the precise times of them yet they can put their trust in Astrology which is not so much as good guessing They scoff at Good men and yet cannot but wish that their latter end were like heirs They mock at the Being of Ghosts in the light and dread them in the dark In company they deny the Existence of Evil Spirits and fear to be all alone in the night lest Evil Spirits should fetch them away In fine men that live without God are so destitute of Knowledg that they are a riddle to themselves Nay even whilst they think they have asserted their Liberty and that they are perfect Masters of themselves they are led captive by the Devil at his will for he rules in the hearts of the disobedient This shews that part of their Folly which consists in want of Knowledg and steddy Judgment And there is 2dly A great deal that gives us demonstration of the other part of it their want of Wisdom even that of the Serpent the doing of things for their own benefit safety and comfort For 1st They use means contrary to their ends 2dly They run an infinite hazard upon inconsiderable motives 1st Those who say in their hearts There is no God manifest their want of Wisdom and Discretion by using means contrary to their End For one great pretended End of Atheism and Unbelief is a deliverance from fear the making of the mind easie in all a man's thoughts and words and actions by freeing it from that terror which is struck into it by the apprehension of a God as an Observer a Judg and an Avenger as one that will call them to a severe account for whatsoever they have done in the flesh whether it be good or evil But the Fear which hath Torment cannot otherwise be wholly prevented than either by Innocence or Repentance and Application to God and for the Expedient of the Epicureans it brings into the
in the World It is time in the Third place to think what is fit in this case for those to do who believe in God both first as to themselves and Secondly To those who believe not And first for our selves who believe in God and in Jesus Christ whom he has sent It is necessary to keep our Faith from deadness by the exercises of holy Living The Devils do more than the Atheists for they believe but because they promote infidelity in others and obey not themselves they are Devils still If we own a God it is our duty to glorifie him as God otherwise our Faith is vain and the unfruitfulness of it will be the Aggravation of our sin and if we desire not to retain God in our knowledge and to honour him with the Talent with which he has intrusted us he will deliver us up to those vile Affections over which a Victory is to be obtained by a living Faith But if we adorn our Belief by an agreeable Life that will be a means to save our selves and to gain others at least to put to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men. II. With relation to such 1. All should learn to distrust and to be watchful For what Confidence can be put in a Man that thinks not of a God that will call him to an Account who measures all things by Power and personal Humour or Interest Who if he pursues his Principles must never speak Truth nor do Justice against his private Ends 2. All Persons should pray to God not to work Miracles before Unbelievers not to call up Men from the Dead and send Ghosts to convince them but to give them Grace to attend to the sufficient Means which are offer'd to them in the Gospel 3. All judicious good Men should endeavour to become part of the Means of their Conversion by sound Discourse by exemplary Lives and by bearing not with mean Cowardise but with Courage and Patience their insolent Scorn not answering Fools according to their Folly but shewing them that True Religion can govern those Passions which make them as raging Waves to foam out their own shame 4. It concerns all Masters of Families to defend their Threshold against the Footsteps of the Ungodly who will tempt their Children and their Servants to Lust and Prodigality and to the Supports of them Theft and imbezlement of Goods 5. All Churches should as far as possible discountenance Superstition and loosness of Life 1. They should banish far from them all Frauds abusively call'd Pious all fabulous Legends all feigned Miracles all absurd and superstitious Doctrines and Practices which beget and nourish Atheism for these where they are discover'd blemish Religion in those who are educated in such Societies for they have taken that in which they have been bred for All Religion and rejecting that with it they reject all They distinguish not betwixt the Impostures of Men and the Truths of God the Light of whose Word is taken from them 2. Where there are not such Frauds or they are not discover'd Men who have liv'd loosly and without any Principles not being able to content the Conscience without some Religion will at last run from the extream of Atheism to that of Superstition After having liv'd Infidels they will die Idolaters There is no where so great a Harvest for Romish Missionaries as where Men under the true Light of the Gospel have no Religion at all And a Church that will keep out Popery must as far as it can be done by its Discipline mortify Lewdness and Profaneness 6. It behoveth all Civil Governours to animadvert upon Atheism as that which supplants the Foundation of all Humane Society This Psalm is supposed to have been penned upon occasion of the Conspiracy of Absolom and the general Wickedness of that Generation which gave occasion to it and to the spreading of Atheism It was an Age so corrupt that David seems to compare it to the State of the Old World before the Flood at which time the Earth was filled with Violence and all Flesh had corrupted its Ways We read in Numb 21. That those who spake Evil of God spake Evil of Moses They who will not fear God will not inwardly reverence Man They who scoff at Religion as Priest-Craft will under the Name of Prince-Craft despise Civil Government If such universally prevail'd they would ruin all Kingdoms by taking away all Faith and Trust which is the Ground of Commerce They would make all Publick Pacts and Covenants of none effect by removing Conscience which ties Men to the performance of their Words and Promises when Interest join'd with Power commands all Men that have no Religion to be no longer Slaves to them Atheism supplants all Laws by invalidating the belief of all Evidences and Oaths What judicial proceeding can there be for the preservation of Mens Persons and Properties without Witnesses And how can an Atheist a false Man be a faithful Witness What a Mockery is his deposing upon a Gospel which he does not believe Or his taking up the Name of a Deity of which he says as St. Paul of an Idol that it is Nothing By reason of Atheists the Land mourns they are the greatest Enemies of it And if which God avert it should ever come to pass that there should not be good Men enough to ballance their Impiety we should soon become a Desolation Pray we therefore to the Lord of Heaven and Earth and say Arise O God maintain thine own Cause remember how the foolish Man blasphemeth thee daily And to this King Eternal Immortal Invisible to the only Wise God let us give from our Hearts Glory and Honour for ever and ever Amen FINIS Decam Physiolog p. 130 131 ⸪ Lucret. l. 1. Humana ante ocules faedè cum vita jaceret in terris oppressa gravi sub Rellig one c. a Bythn * Tarq. fatuus insanus * Acts 4. 13 14 15 16 17. Psal. 10. 4. Luke 18. 5. Gen. 6. 11 12.