Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	law_n	nature_n	precept_n	1,292	5	9.1116	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47040	The future state, or, A discourse attempting some display of the souls happiness, in regard to that eternally progressive knowledge, or eternal increase of knowledge, and the consequences of it, which is amongst the blessed in heaven by a country gentleman, a worshipper of God in the way of the Church of England.	Whitaker, Edward.; Jones, George, d. 1704.	1683 (1683)	Wing J941B; ESTC R13197	63,632	160

the Moon be an Habitable World as it is not altogether Improbable I see no reason why we may not think the same of all the other Luminous Bodies that are placed in the Expanded Heavens If that Planet be a World much like our Earth the Sun may be a World something advanced above it in Lustre and in Glory And the Inhabitants thereof may be Illustrious in proportion to their Countrey and excel Us who live upon This Earth as much as the Lustre and Brightness of the One surmounts the Shadows and Darkness of the Other 24. And the Blessed being of a Very Active Nature and capable of moving with Velocity and Swiftness may step from Star to Star and Intuitively observe what-ever is Wonderful and Worthy of Observation there They may observe what-ever in them is fit to Exalt the Honour and Advance the Pra●●ens of their Great Creatour And it needs not to be doubted but they will find Sufficient Reasons and Occasions for it There is something Great in all the Works of God upon the Surface of this Earth and in the Seas and Rivers that run within the Banks and Shores thereof And surely the more Illustrious Worlds and Parts of the Creation will produce things vastly Greater than any that are found Here below and more Worthy of Admiration 25. But no Part of the Vniverse will produce things so Great as will the Court of Heaven There shall we see and behold the Bravest the most Stately and most Magnificent Effects of the Divine Power Wisdom and Goodness And how Great is the Extent of that Glorious Palace and what great Variety of Beings may be found There who can determine If the Earth compared with the Heavens be but a Point the Heavens compared with the Heaven of Heavens may be much more so the Extent thereof may be almost Infinite And though there should be no Other Worlds either Past Present or to Come yet even That alone might employ Eternal Ages to view and behold the Wonders and the Glories of it 26. There may be various Kinds of Rational and Intellectual Essences or Beings There may be Pure Minds and such as are utterly Immaterial and there may be Several Gradual Differences amongst them There may be Angels Incorporate and furnished with Material Organs much of the same Nature with those where-with the Blessed will be endued at the Resurrection And among these there may be very many Gradations and Modal Differences and Distinctions and among the Saints the Gradual Differences may be very great and many and so may be the Reasons of them And all these will lie open to our View and Meditation 27. What Kinds of Beings may be designed and prepared for the Ornament of the New Jerusalem that City of the Living God I cannot say or determine But forasmuch as there are many things Here below which besides the Illustration of the Divine Perfections seem to be of little or no use unless it be to Embellish and Adorn the World and render it Pleasant to our View so 't is probable that in the House and Kingdom of God many things may be placed There to make it Beautiful and Pleasant to those that shall be thought Worthy of Admission Thither And these Beings may be of Several Kinds and Natures and may minister Matter to our Contemplation as well as Pleasure to the Bodily Senses where-withall we shall be endued There 28. But the most Amazing Wonder that will be proposed to the Intuition and Contemplation of the Blessed will be our Lord Christ Jesus He that was sometimes the most Despised of Mortal Men is There the Prince of the Kings of the Earth He that was the Contempt of Men is the Object even of Angel's Admiration He that sometimes stood before the Tribunal of Pontius Pilate is already Appointed Judge of the Living and the Dead and all must come before his Judgment-Seat and receive their Sentence from Him And how great the Excellencies and Perfections of this Jesus are who will undertake to Characterize or Describe 29. A God indeed in the Humane Nature He cannot be but certainly He is and will remain the most Glorious and Resplendent Image of God in the Whole Creation He had never been Exalted far above all Principalities and Powers Angels and Authorities had never been made Subject to Him if He had not greatly surpassed them in his Personal and Essential Perfections and Advantages His Power Wisdom and Goodness his Presence his Providence his Government and Empire is much more Large and Perfect than that of any other Created Essence And therefore He hath obtained a more Excellent Name than any of them and is advanced and set before them 30. Of this Jesus the Blessed will have a present Intuition not only in his Personal but Politick Capacity They will behold him as Head of Saints and Angels the Captain-General of all the Hosts of Heaven the most Illustrious Being that presides over them and under the Pure Deity Directs and Governs them and Communicates Vital Influences unto them For although the Scripture doth assure us That the Work of Man's Restauration and Salvation beign accomplished He shall Give up the Kingdom to God the Father yet I do conceive that He will always retain the Honour and Title of the Saviour and Redeemer of Men and that as the Sun doth Illustrate this Inferiour World so that Son of Righteousness will Illustrate the Supreme and Heavenly Jerusalem The Lamb is the Light of it And the Blessed shall Eternally Behold and Dwell in his Light to their incredible Pleasure and Satisfaction But of the ●ncrease of Knowledge by Intuition I have said enough and therefore here I 'le put a Period to This Chapter CHAP. V. Of the Increase of Knowledge by Revelation 1. WHen God made Man he endued him with Reasonable Faculties and made him capable of Moral Government He was able to understand his Duty and by the Prospect of Rewards and Punishments he could chuse the Observance and refuse the Neglect and Contempt thereof He was able to See and Discern the Meaning and Importance of the Divine Commandments and he could upon consideration of its Advantages chuse Obedience and on the Prevision of its Mischiefs refuse Disobedience and Sin 2. The Laws by which God intended to Govern Mankind were written in the Nature of Things and from thence they were to derive the Knowledge of them The several Beings in the World considered with Relation to God and one Another are the Signs of the Divine Will and Divine Laws are nothing else but the Significations of God's Will concerning Man's Duty Reward and Punishment and the Whole Creation at least as far as Man is capable of observing it are the Revealing Signs thereof 3. God did not Reveal all his Will concerning Man's Duty even whil'st Innocent in the Nature of Things but some Part of it He made known even then by Supernatural Revelation Such was the Prohibition of Eating of the Fruit of the

Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil And such according to the Opinion of Some Divines was the Precept of Sacrificing Beasts For that Sacrifices of that Kind were offered to God whil'st Man continued Incocent they think probable because God cloathed our First Parents with Skins immediately after the Fall which they think were the Skins of those Beasts that had been offered in Sacrifice to God Of the First of these Precepts there is no doubt but that it was made known by Supernatural Revelation But whether Beasts were offered in Sacrifice before the Fall seems very Vncertain if not Improbable and consequently whether there were any Precept concerning it till afterwards For the Reason of This Opinion I conceive is not Valid and other Accounts are given of the Skins where-with our First Parents were cloathed by Learned Divines and Expositors 4. Since the Fall of Man 't is Apparent that much of God's Will hath been made known to them by Revelation This no Man doth or can doubt that Reads and Believes the Holy Scriptures That the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's Head was made known to Adam by Revelation and peradventure some other things not Recorded in the Book of God That the World was to perish by a Deluge if they continued in their Impenitency That God would no more Drown the World for its Wickedness was Revealed to Noah after the same manner Many things were so made known to Abraham and the other Patriarchs to Moses and the Prophets in succeeding Generations and after them to the Apostles of Christ Jesus 5. The History of the Creation was known to Moses either by Immediate Revelation or by Tradition from those that at first received it by Revelation For though the Creation of the World might be Collected and Gathered from the Things that do appear yet the manner of it could not possibly be Collected thence How could it be known that God Created the Heavens and the Earth and that the Earth was without Form and Void and that he said Let there be Light and there was Light and that he Divided the Light from the Darkness and called the One Day and the Other Night and that The Evening and the Morning were the First Day And so on according to the History and Account that Moses gives of it This could not be known otherwise than by Revelation There is nothing in the Frame and Fabrick of Heaven and Earth and the several Creatures in them that give us any notice of the Manner and Order of their Creation 6. To pass by many other things The Government and Policy of the Jewish Nation both Ecclesiastical and Civil was Established by Immediate Revelation from Above All their Laws were appointed by God himself He was their Legislator Their Government was a Theocracy God was their Supreme Prince and Ruled over them Whatever he required of them as a Common-wealth or a Church separate from all the Nations upon Earth to his peculiar Worship and Service was made known to them by Inspiration Their Laws and Methods of Government were not the Products and Effects of Reason upon the Consideration of the Nature of Things but of Divine and in many things of Arbitrary Will by Revelation 7. The Christian Church is also thus Established The great Author and Founder of it came out of the Bosom of God the Father and appointed the Laws by which 't is Constituted Ruled and Governed Tho' many of those Laws be of Natural Revelation yet even they were anew Revealed from Heaven and other Laws both for its Constitution and Administration were purely of Supernatural Appointment and Institution 8. The Angelical Host know much of the Will Nature Attributes and Perfections of God by Supernatural Revelation Thus they understand the Will of God concerning Man's Salvation thus they become acquainted with the Grace Mercy Pity and Compassion of God to wards Faln Man All that they know of these things is by the Revelations that God hath made to the Church and World concerning it Nothing thereof was or could be learned from the Book of Nature All the Knowledge they have concerning it is by Extraordinary Methods of Discovery 9. That God was Placable they might perhaps inferre from the Consideration of his Nature and his Works but that he would be Reconciled unto them they could not know till he Himself had declared it by Revelation The Will of God is secret and no Man or Angel can know or understand it till he hath by some Overt-Act discovered and revealed it That God would be reconciled to Sinful Lapsed and Faln Man was not discovered by Natural Revelation Therefore all that Angels know about it is from God and that by Supernatural Manifestation 10. If Man whil'st Innocent knew at least some Part of God's Will by Supernatural and Extraordinary Revelations if after the Fall God hath continued to make known his Will to the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles after the same manner yea if the Angels know much by the same Method and Means of Discovery I see no reason why it may not be at least Probable that the Blessed may Increase and Advance their Knowledge in the Future State by the same Way and Method Though I doubt not but that very much of the Nature Will and Attributes of God will be exposed and laid before their Eyes in the Glorious Works of his Hands yet I am not sure that Supernatural Revelation will be of No Vse There 'T is not Improbable but something that may and shall be known of God may be Excepted from Natural and Reserved for Supernatural Revelation 11. As the History of This Worlds Generation was made known to Man by Extraordinary Revelation as I have observed already so 't is possible the History of the Generation of many Other Worlds may by the same Means be made known to the Blessed For although it will be abundantly obvious by Natural Evidence and Light that all Beings do proceed from the First Being and all Effects from the First Cause yet the Time and Manner of their Production is not obvious thereby If it may be supposed that there are Angels or Intelligences Younger than this World I think it may be said That they could not know the Time or Manner of its Generation unless it be by Revelation or the Tradition of such Intelligent Beings as were Pre-existent to it There is no Evidence in the Nature of Things that This World was made between Five and Six thousand Years ago nor that Light was one of the First Things that was made and other Things in that order in which they are described in the History of the Creation 12. As many of the Laws and much of the Policy and Government of the Church of God in This World is known both to Men and Angels by Revelation so 't is not impossible but some part of the Laws Government and Policy of Other Worlds may be known to the Blessed after the Same manner They may obtain