Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	degree_n	feel_v	great_a	67	3	2.1056	3	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

of which State we are farther convinced of by the general Wants Miseries and Imperfections of our present Nature which proceed from some Principle or Disposition within us contrary to that of Religion which Principle or Disposition is the Reason of that universal Wickedness which reigns in the World Did Mankind enjoy all the Happiness they were otherwise capable of in this mortal Condition yet so long as they found in themselves Capacities and Desires of greater unknown degrees of Pleasure which from the present Frame and Constitution of things they had no Hope or Prospect of and felt an Uneasiness at the Thoughts of parting with those Enjoyments they were possess'd of by the unalterable Decree of Death which they knew themselves subject to were they I say in such a Condition they would have great Reason from hence to conclude that God did design them for some other more perfect State where their whole Capacities would be filled all their Desires satisfyed and no kind of Pain or Uneasiness check or allay the Fullness of that joy not that they had then any cause of Complaint as if God had not dealt kindly by them in granting them lesser degrees of Happiness than what they were capable of but because in such a case as is supposed their Capacities and Desires would be given them in vain which does not seem consistent with the Wisdom of God and moreover the Uneasiness of Defining what was impossible and the painful Fears and Apprehensions of what was certain which they would then experience would appear inconsistent with God's Design of making Man for Happiness and therefore t' would be more agreeable to all the Notions we have of God and all the Observations we have made upon his other Works to suppose that had this Life been the Extent of Mans Being and Happiness God would not have given him a sense or prospect of any other upon such a Supposition as this 't is highly rational to think that constant even Contentment would have bounded all his Thoughts that his Soul would always have remained at the same equal Poize and that he would have lived without desiring more than he enjoyed and died without any previous Fears of loosing that And if there is good ground to believe that there would be a State of future Happiness tho' Men enjoyed all they were capable of here according to the present Circumstances of their Nature and Condition because their Happiness here was not compleat by reason of some Pain and Uneasiness mixt with it and because their Capacities and Desires exceeded all their actual Enjoyments how much more reasonable is it to make the same Conclusion now when we every way fall so short of the Happiness the condition of this Life would allow us as will plainly appear if we compare the present State of the World with that Draught and Representation we have before given of Humane Life under a regular Practice of the Duties of Religion We are now not only conscious in general of larger Capacities of Happiness than what we enjoy but there are several kinds and degrees of it within our Knowledge and seemingly within our Reach and Power which with all the Endeavours we can use we are not able to attain and the more Wants we are sensible of and the better and more particularly we know what they are the stronger are our Desires and the greater the Uneasiness of Defeats and Disappointments which Experience assuras us are very frequent The Satisfactions we meet with are commonly very short and mixed with Pain and we have a great many other things to fear besides death But the Troubles and Calamities of Humane Life are too well known to need being insisted upon and too large a subject to be particularly treated of in this place 'T is sufficient to my purpose to remark in general what I think may very safely be affirmed that if what falls to every Man's share was fairly computed the Misery of the greatest part of Mankind would out-weigh their Happiness If therefore Man was design'd by God for Happiness and was so framed that he cannot enjoy compleat Happiness in this Life without a mixture of Uneasiness and yet has Capacities and Desires of greater than he can conceive belonging to his Nature and the necessary Circumstances of it here and farther if Mankind be now involv'd in such a State or Condition of Life in which they all actually enjoy much less Happiness than they find themselves by Nature capable of here and the greatest part of them have a larger Share of the Troubles than the Advantages of Life from hence I think it may be truly and certainly inferr'd that there will be another State of pure compleat Happiness answerable at least to the highest Notions and Conceptions we are able to frame of it But since as has before been proved God has not absolutely and unconditionally determined all Men to be happy but has made Happiness and Misery to depend upon our Actions and consequently has annex'd Happiness to a particular way of acting we have all the Reason in the World to believe that the Happiness of another State will be the Portion of those and those only who live according to the Rules of Religion here and this I believe no body is disposed to doubt of that owns a future State and therefore I shall spend no time in an unnecessary Proof of it And if there are none to be found that exactly discharge all the Obligations of Religion yet 't is more agreeable to our Reason to conclude that those who sincerely endeavour to do it shall by the especial Grace and Favour of God in some such way or manner as to his Wisdom shall seem fit be rendred capable of future Happiness than to believe that all Mankind shall be miserable and none obtain Happiness contrary to all the Marks and Indications of the Des●gn of God in making Man Granting therefore what I think has been sufficiently proved under this Head that there will be a future State in which all Men will be happy or miserable according as they have behaved themselves here with regard to what we call Religion this I say being allowed it manifestly follows from hence that it is more for our Happiness to act up to the Rules and Directions of Religion than to pursue any other Measures whatever we should happen to suffer in this Life for so doing because the Happiness of a future State will so far outweigh all the sufferings of this that when we come to enjoy it we shall be forced to acknowledge that the end and reward of our Labours was very well worth all the Troubles and Difficulties we found in the way to it and if it be absolutely with regard to the whole extent and duration of our Being more for our Happiness to live Religiously than otherwise then are we in the highest and strictest sense obliged to live so which was the thing I undertook to prove Nay further

nothing at all or they mean the same thing as we do by a God or else they are altogether irrational and contradictory What are Fate Necessity Chance and universal Soul but meer Covers for Ignorance of the same kind as occult Causes the true Result of all which Principles is a new sort of Creation where all things are made by nothing or nothing is set up as the efficient Cause of all things But if those that use any of these Names mean by the Maker or Cause of all things a Being distinct from the things made such a Being cannot be conceived without all those glorious Attributes which make up our Idea of God For if we will allow the original Author of the World the highest Perfections imaginable by us as his Work certainly required if the first great Cause of all things had the noblest Qualities we can conceive as the Effects produced by it sufficiently declare we must grant this Author or Cause to be an intelligent Being endued with Knowledge and Will For 't is impossible for Man to frame a Notion of any Powers Faculties or Qualities greater or nobler than these and 't is easier to believe that some Man of more refined Intellectuals made the World than that any other Cause which wanted these Perfections could be the Author of it I shall not here enter into a more particular Disquisition of any Scheme or Hypothesis that excludes the Being of a God having consider'd them all before in the former part of this Discourse and shew'd them to be in those Points where they mean any thing distinct from the common Notions we have undertook to defend very absurd and inconsistent And indeed the Falsh●●● and Absurdity of all these Schemes and Hypotheses which pretend to give an account of the Frame and State of things without a God or independently of him are so manifest and notorious that I am fully persuaded a Man may make good the Charge against a great Disproportion of Parts and Learning but this is not my business at present nor is there any occasion for such an Undertaking now For should we allow the Atheist's Scheme of things to be possible and consistent which is the most that is pretended yet we are assured by the common Reason of Mankind that the Philosophy of a God is most rational without the Help of Revelation and universal Tradition which confirm the Truth of it and therefore the Possibility of another Hypothesis cannot justify the Defenders of it unless they can also make it appear more reasonable and fit to be believed than that which obtains but the Atheist will never be able to give an easier juster and more satisfactory account of all the Phoenomena in the Universe than he who owns a God if he should offer at such a thing which is more than any one has ventured at yet And the same may be applied to others who acknowledge a God and pretend to shew there is no such thing as Religion and a Future State For they cannot say that God who made the World and all things in it cannot oversee and govern the Works of his hands that He who gave Man his Being and all his Faculties and Capacities cannot require him to act after such a manner while he lives or is not able to renew him again after Death and continue his Life to him in such a State as he pleases to make agreeable or disagreeable to him and as long as he pleases This is to bring Weakness out of Strength to set Bounds to God within the acknowledg'd Sphere of his Power to say he cannot do things which are less than those he can do Nor can they prove 't is more agreeable to the Nature of God and all those Notions we have concerning Him and our selves that he should not exercise his Power after this manner than that he should The utmost all the Proof they bring can amount to is to shew that 't is possible God may not do all this that we conceive of him as will plainly appear if we consider the chief Arguments made use of upon this occasion which are taken from the supposed Materiality and Mortality of the Soul Here lies the Principal Strength of Irreligion these are the fundamental Principles the whole Fabrick stands upon and great Endeavours have been used to confirm the Truth of them Now 't is plain to any Man that duly considers these Notions without that Confusion and Ambiguity of Terms they are commonly delivered in that 't is impossible to prove that what we call the Soul is not something perfectly distinct from Matter and Motion and all the Modifications of them and that it cannot subsist and act after the Dissolution of the Body nor are there any Arguments producible to persuade us 't is more probable that the Soul should be something material and dissolved with the Body than that it should be a distinct Principle and survive it All that can be said is that we cannot from the Knowledge we have of the Qualities and Operations we attribute to each certainly demonstrate what we term Soul and Body to be two distinct Substances tho at the same time it must be confess'd that Men have been generally more disposed to believe this than the contrary Opinion and 't is as demonstrable that what we attribute to the Soul is not any Mode Composition or Result of the Qualities we ascribe to Body as it is that any Idea we have in our Minds is not any other Allowing then that 't is possible that every thing we ascribe to Body and Soul separately may be united in one common Subject which is the most that can be supposed and that this common Subject at the time we call Death loses those Capacities and Powers we attribute to the Soul in the same manner as it is divested of Motion from hence it follows that it is possible also that the same common Subject may never subsist in the same manner it did before with all those different Qualities united in it in like manner as 't is possible what is now at rest may never be in motion again But then it is as possible also that it may God may if he pleases put us together again after death in such a manner that we shall feel our selves to be the same we were before we died and be conscious of all our former Life and that he will do so we have a great deal of reason to think had we not any assurance of it from Revelation as has before been proved And therefore the Arguments for the Materiality and Mortality of the Soul let them have all the Weight and Certainty they are imagined to have are wholly trifling and insignificant with respect to what they are brought to prove For no new Discoveries are hereby made of the Will and Design of God and consequently the Proof that has been given of Religion and a Future State will have the same Force and Evidence still tho