Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	wonderful_a	word_n	wrought_v	21	3	7.5862	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56539	Monsieur Pascall's thoughts, meditations, and prayers, touching matters moral and divine as they were found in his papers after his death : together with a discourse upon Monsieur Pascall's, Thoughts ... as also another discourse on the proofs of the truth of the books of Moses : and a treatise, wherein is made appear that there are demonstrations of a different nature but as certain as those of geometry, and that such may be given of the Christian religion / done into English by Jos. Walker.; Pensées. English	Pascal, Blaise, 1623-1662.; Walker, Joseph.; Perier, Madame (Gilberte), 1620-1685. Vie de M. Pascal. English.; Filleau de la Chaise, Jean, 1631-1688. Discours sur les Pensées de M. Pascal. English.	1688 (1688)	Wing P645; ESTC R23135	228,739	434

nothing wherein it is harder to impose upon them and wherein there is less occasion of Dispute So that when it is demonstrated to them that Christian Religion is inseparably join'd to Deeds the truth of which cannot justly be contested they must and ought submit to what it teacheth or that they abandon all Sincerity and right Reason If Moses for Instance was and that he wrote the Book that is attributed to him then the Jewish Religion is true If the Jewish Religion be True Jesus Christ is the Messias and if Jesus Christ be the Messias all must be believed that he said The Trinity the Incarnation Resurrection Ascension and all the Rest It is by this Divine chain of Truths God conducts Men to the true Faith and that they might shew there is nothing more reasonable than the submission they give to the most incomprehensible Mysteries very far from censuring them of Weakness and Imprudence And as this great Body of Christian Religion is compos'd of a great many different Parts which all tend to the same End and that it has subsisted Six thousand years it cannot but be by a Chain of infinite Truths that every Age has added a new Accumulation of Proofs and that at what Part soever one begins at what Point soever one apply themselves one still finds such a great abundance of Light that 't is impossible not to be convinc'd But one is so much the more obliged to apply themselves exactly to the seeking these Proofs God ordering it so that they should not consist in common Principles and so plain that they should presently be discover'd and that they should be alike seen of all Men. It is rather a heap of Circumstances that every body does not put together or don 't consider after the same manner which yet nevertheless are plain to the most ordinary Capacity when they ever so little open their Eyes and when they are all together produce a certainty if not greater at least more intimate and natural than that we have by speculative and abstracted Demonstrations because the manner of it is more proportion'd to the Mind of Man and that there 's no body but finds the Principles in themselves It is in this design that to give an Essay of the way that one should consider these Deeds which by their certainty do necessarily perswade that of our Religion we will make choice of the particular History of Moses and the Truth of his Books which serve as the Foundation of the Jewish Religion as this doth of the Christian according to St. Paul. I do not think my self bound presently to prove that if there was effectively a Man who lookt on himself to be sent on Gods part and that not desiring he should be believed on his bare Word or by Actions which are known to be but little above those of the power of Man has given for greater Evidence that wonderful Succession of Prodigies which is to be seen in the Pentateuch who was seen to have dispos'd of Life and Death to have Commanded the Elements and made the whole Frame of Nature stoop to his Orders I make no question I say but all the World will confess but this Man does best desérve to be believ'd of what he has writ concerning God in whose Name it was he wrought all these Wonders and that the Religion he Establish'd should be accounted as True and Divine The most obstinate Spirits will as 't were be at a loss under the weight of these Wonders and find no other means to satisfie the Inclination they have to Unbelief but to seek vain Reasons to question the Truth of these Miracles and of the Book which contains them But if they have any remains of Honesty and Sincerity left in them they cannot possibly proceed very far in these Doubtings and they will find them so dissipated by the abundance of Proofs which attend this History that they must be forc'd either to confess it to be true or be reduc'd to the dulness of those who to avoid believing what Religion Commands do rather chuse never to think at all of it For by what Suppositions do they think to shake the certainty of what is writ in these Books and put their Mind in a State of thinking that it all amounts to nothing Let them give all the scope they can to their Imagination and let it feed them with all the Chimera's it can they will never find any thing that has the least shadow of likelihood and which a Judgment never so little solid would not be asham'd to propose Will they say Moses never was and that all that is said of him is only a Fable invented at pleasure But let them consider that it is not Jews and Christians only that have been heard speak of this Moses seeing it is also known that Prophane Historians make mention of him and if that were not so let them also look on all the Histories in the World but as Fables seeing there is not one of them can be Credited if it were permitted to doubt that there was a Man called Moses who brought the Jews out of Aegypt after a long Captivity For all the Reasons whereby Men judge the truth of other Histories do equally appear in that of Moses For Instance we do not doubt but that there was an Alexander and a Cyrus because several Authors have writ of it and that no body ever thought of making any question of it neither has ever any body seriously question'd if there was a Moses It was constantly own'd and believ'd amongst a very Numerous People and by all those that knew them and that had any dealing with them without ever having been deny'd by any body But there is moreover this difference that Moses has particular Proofs and such as are not to be found in others for never was a Book preserv'd with so much Care and Affection as that which contains his History and nevertheless Men had never greater and more powerful Reasons to destroy the Truth of any Book if they could have found any colour for doing it than the Jews had in regard of this seeing that at once they might have freed themselves from a Law that was the most troublesom the most painful terrible and Injurious that could be to be observ'd so that one can see no Motive that should incline them to bear it but the firm perswasion of the Truth of it Incredulity not being able to subsist in this Chimera it must of necessity pass to some other and that for Example one must say That it is true there was a Man call'd Moses and that he was Chief of a great People he brought out of Aegypt but that he was a great Impostor which deceiv'd that People by false Miracles and forged all the Prodigies he Relates in his Book to subject them to the Law which he gave them and by that Law to himself in making them look upon it as come from Heaven and making

they saw this Confession of Faith they discover'd the defect of it which obliged them to go to Gaillion to speak with the Archbishop of Roüen who having examin'd Matters found the business of such importance that he sent a Commission to his Council and gave express order to Monsieur Du Bellay to make this Man to disown all the Points that he was accused of and not to hearken to any thing he should say till 't was communicated to those that had informed against him things were transacted accordingly and he appeared in the Archbishop's Court and retracted all his former Opinions and it might be believed 't was sincerely for he never shew'd any grudge against those that prosecuted him which shews that 't is like he was deceived himself by the false conclusions he drew from his false Principles and he was well assured that they had no Intent of hurting him nor other aim but to undeceive him by himself and hinder him from seducing young Scholars that had not been capable of distinguishing Truth from Error in those subtil questions So this Affair ended without Noise and my Brother continuing more and more the means to please God this Love of a Christian Life increased so much from the 24th year of his Age that it was conspicuous throughout the whole Family My Father himself not being ashamed to submit to his Sons instructions and from thenceforward imbraced a more exact manner of Life by the continual Exercise of Vertue until his Death which was very exemplary and as became a good Christian My Sister also who was endued with extraordinary Gifts of the Mind and that from her Infancy had acquired a Reputation that but very few attain unto was so wrought on by my Brothers Discourses that she resolved to part with all Worldly advantages she so much loved to consecrate her self wholly to Gods Service which she performed accordingly entring into a Nunnery where she so well improv'd the Talents God bestow'd on her that she was esteemed capable of the most difficult Imployments which she discharged with all Fidelity and departed this Life the 4th of October 1661. Aged 36. Years In the mean while my Brother whom God made the Instrument of all this good was agitated by continual Sicknesses which still increas'd upon him But now knowing no other Science but that of Holyness he found a great deal of difference betwixt this and those that had formerly taken up his Thoughts for whereas his sicknesses put a stop to the progress of the others this on the contrary made him the better in the same indispositions by the admirable Patience with which he bore all things and to shew it I will only relate one instance Amongst other inconveniencies he had that that he could not swallow any liquid thing unless 't were warm and not then neither but drop by drop and having besides a violent Head-ach and an excessive heat in the Bowels and other Distempers the Physicians order'd he should be purged every other day for three Months together so that he must take all this Physick warmed and drop by drop which was no small torture and grieved them that were about him yet he never seem'd to repine at it The continuance of this means with other helps procur'd him some ease but did not fully recover him so that the Physicians were of Opinion that perfectly to recover his health it was convenient he should lay apart all manner of Study and that he should seek occasions of recreating himself as much as he could My Brother was very loath to follow this advice because he thought there might be danger in it but at last he comply'd with it thinking he was bound to do what he could for the recovery of his health and he judged innocent Recreations could do him no harm and so he set out into the World and though by God's Mercy he ever shun'd all Vice nevertheless God having appointed him to a higher Degree of perfection he would not suffer him to remain in that course of Life and he made my Sister the Instrument for this purpose as he had formerly used my Brother as a means to call my Sister from the Pleasures she lived in in the World. She was at this time a Nun and lived so exemplary a Life that she was much esteemed by the whole House being in this Condition she was concern'd to see him to whom under God she was bound for the happiness she enjoy'd not to enjoy the like Graces and my Brother often visiting her she often spake to him and at length did it so effectually and obligingly that she perswaded him to what he had before perswaded her wholly to forsake the World so that he resolved with himself to forsake all Worldly Pleasures and Enjoyments and to omit all Superfluities of Life even to the indangering his Health thinking his Salvation was to be preferr'd before all things He was then about 30. years of Age and always sickly and 't was about that time he took up the course of Life that he continu'd till his Death The better to accomplish his Design and to break off all his former Customs he remov'd his Lodging and went to reside some time in the Country from whence being return'd he so plainly shew'd that he would quit the World that at last the World left him and be setled the manner of his living in this retirement upon those chief Maxims of denying himself all Pleasures and Superfluities and 't was in the Exercise thereof that he spent all the rest of his Days The better to attain his desire from thenceforwards he deny'd himself the Attendance of his Servants as much as he could possible he made his Bed himself he went to take his Dinner at the Kitchin and carry'd it to his Chamber and so return'd with it back again To conclude he made no use of his Servants but to dress his Meat to go of Errands and such other things as he could not well do himself he spent his whole time in Praying and Reading the Holy Scriptures and therein took unspeakable Pleasure he said the Holy Scripture was not a knowledge of the Brain but a knowledge of the Heart that was not to be attained but by those that were sincere and that it was obscurity to all others It was with this Frame of Mind that he read it disclaiming all the perfection of his own Wit and made so great progress therein that he had it all by heart so that no body could impose on him therein for when any would say 't is so or so he would answer positively That is of the Scripture or not and would presently turn to the place He also read all the Commentaries with great exactness for the respect to the Religion wherein he had been Educated from his Youth was now changed into an ardent Love for all the Truths of Faith whether it be for those that regard humility of Mind or those that regard our

things in the World thereupon and you will find all things tend to the establishing these two Principles of Christian Religion 15. * If one does not know himself to be full of Pride Ambition Covetousness Weakness Misery and Injustice he must be very Blind And if in knowing it one desires not to be deliver'd from this State what can be thought of so unreasonable a Man Should not such a Religion then be highly esteem'd as does so well understand the Infirmities of Man and how earnest should our desires be for the truth of a Religion wherein such comfortable Remedies are to be found 16. * It is impossible to consider all the Proofs of Christian Religion altogether without being convinc'd of the force of it the which no Reasonable Man can contradict Consider its first Establishment that a Religion so opposite to Nature should settle it self so easily without any force or violence and yet so firmly that no Torments could hinder Martyrs from professing it and that all this should be effected not only without the assistance of any Prince but also in despight of all the Kings of the Earth that resisted it Consider the Holyness the Greatness and the Humility of a Christian Soul. The Antient Philosophers acquir'd a higher degree of Reputation than other Men by their orderly manner of Living and by certain Opinions that had some conformity to those of Christianity but they never looked upon that as Virtue which Christians call Humility they would even have thought it inconsistent with the other Virtues they made profession of It was only the Christian Religion that knew to unite things that till then appear'd so contrary and that first taught Men that Humility is so far from being inconsistent with other Virtues that without it all other Virtues are but Vices and Defects Consider the infinite Wonders of the Holy Scriptures which are Marvelous the greatness and sublimity more than Human of things which it contains the admirable simplicity of its Stile having nothing forc'd nor affected and that bears such a Character of Truth as cannot be disown'd nor gainsaid Consider the Person of Jesus Christ in particular whatever Opinion one has of him it cannot be deny'd but he was endeu'd with great and wonderful Wisdom of which he gave sufficient Testimonies in his Infancy before the Doctors of the Law nevertheless instead of improving those Tallents by Studdy and frequenting the Company of Learned Men he spent Thirty years of his Life in a Handy-craft Trade and a kind of retirement from the World and during the Three years of his Ministry he took into his Company and chose for his Apostles ordinary Persons without Learning or Reputation and incurr'd the hatred and displeasure of those that were esteem'd the Wise and Learned Men of the time a very strange conduct for one that intended to Establish a new Religion Take a serious view of the Apostles chosen by Jesus Christ those Persons who were ignorant and unlearn'd of a sudden were found sufficiently able to put to silence the Wisest Philosophers and Couragious enough to oppose the greatest Kings or Tyrants that resisted the Christian Religion which they taught and preached Then consider the wonderful Succession of Prophets which follow'd one another for near Two Thousand years and that in different manners all foretold even to the least Circumstances the Life and Death of Jesus Christ his Resurrection the Mission of the Apostles the Preaching of the Gospel the Conversion of the Gentiles and several other things touching the Establishment of the Christian Religion and the abolishing of the Law. Consider the admirable accomplishment of these Prophesies so fully and perfectly in the Person of Jesus Christ that it is impossible but to know him therein unless one will be wilfully ignorant Consider the State of the Jewish Nation before and after the coming of Jesus Christ their flourishing State before his coming and their miserable and wretched State after they had rejected him for to this day they continue without any Mark of Religion having neither Temples nor Sacrifices dispers'd over the face of the Earth and the scorn and refuse of all Nations Consider the Duration of Christian Religion having subsisted since the beginning of the World whether it be in the Saints under the Law who lived in expectation of Christ Jesus to come or in those that received and believed in him since his coming there being no other Religion that hath been perpetual which is the principle Mark of the true one To conclude let the Holiness of this Religion be consider'd its Doctrine giving an account of all things even of those that are most discordant in Man and all other particularities Supernatural and Divine that shine in all its parts After all which how can it any way be doubted that the Christian Religion is the only true Religion and whether there was ever any other that was like it §. III. The True Religion prov'd by the distances that are in Man and by Original Sin. 1. THe greatness and Miseries of Man are so visible that true Religion must needs teach us that there is in him some Principle of Greatness and at the same time some great depth of Misery True Religion must of necessity have a distinct knowledg of our Nature that is to say it must understand what it hath of Greatness and all it hath of Misery and the Cause both of the one and the other It must also know how to satisfie us of the strange distances that are therein to be seen if there is but one sole beginning of all things and but one end of all then True Religion must teach us to love and adore him only but finding our selves unable to Worship what we do not know and to love something besides our selves true Religion which instructs us in these Duties doth also inform us of our unability and also affords us necessary Remedies To make a Man happy Religion must teach him there is but one God that 't is our Duty to love him that 't is our perfect Happiness to be his and our greatest Misery to be separated from him this Religion should shew us that we are so full of ignorance that it hinders us from knowing and loving God so that our Duty obliging us to love God and our Corruptions hindering us shews that we are full of unholiness It must make us sensible of the a version we have to God and to our own welfare It must teach us the remedies and the means to obtain those Remedies Let a Man examin all the Religions in the World in this regard and see if there be any but the Christian Religion that answers these particulars Is it what the Philosophers taught who propos'd the good inherent in us to be the chiefest good Is this the chiefest good Have they discover'd the Remedy for our Sorrows to heal the presumption of Man is it to have equall'd him to God and those which have equall'd us with