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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	authority_n	church_n	reason_n	1,707	5	5.2951	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43959	The reasonableness and necessity of the Christian faith manifested in a sermon / preach'd before the right honourable the lord mayor at Guild-Hall Chapel, Oct. 17, 1697, by John Hitchcock ...	Hitchcock, John.	1697 (1697)	Wing H2193; ESTC R178053	8,732	26

as the Apostle adviseth unless we understand the grounds and reasons of it our selves And we cannot do this without the exercise of our Faculties in the examination of them as comparing the Quality of our Saviour's Person with the Character of the Messias delivered by the Prophets weighing the credibility of the Apostles Testimony and the Authority of the Church's Tradition by which the Revelation of Christ was handed down to us These and the other Arguments of our Religion must be duly examined before we can be convinced of the Truth of it and believe it as Men. An Implicit is an irrational Faith and a blind Assent to Religion is a contempt of Reason God indeed does not expect the same use of Reason and the same degree of conviction in matters of Religion from all Men because their Faculties and Education are both different He considers the weakness of understanding in many and the want of Education in more But yet he expects that Men make use of that Reason which he has given them and examine the Arguments as far as they are able which attend the Religion he has revealed And if Men would do this with an honest Mind and a sincere desire to know God's Will they would see no just cause to doubt of Christianity but would embrace it with a rational choice and in that choice think themselves happy As to the offence that some take at a Poor and Crucified Saviour I have this to say That there is nothing in it that is unseemly of unbecoming the Majesty of the Son of God but that it is rather such a state as was both necessary and suitable to the office of our Redeemer For the clearing whereof two things are to be considered 1. That the Justice of God was to be satisfied for the Sins of Mankind And that was to be done by the Death of a Divine Person in our Nature according to the Declaration of the Divine Will God himself foretold by his Prophets that the Redemption of the World should be wrought by his Incarnate Son under the Mystical Name of Immanuel and that this Great Work should be effected in a way of Expiation Christ did all that could be done to prove himself the Person design'd of old for this Office of Redeemer He manifested his Divinity by illustrious Miracles and the satisfaction of his Death upon the Cross by his Triumphant Resurrection 2. It is also to be considered that a Perfect Pattern of Vertue was to be set for the imitation of Mankind and that must have been done in a state of Poverty and Suffering Men are naturally more apt to live by Example than by Rule because Example is a visible thing and does powerfully incline the Will through the Senses The Beauty of Vertue is more lively and charming in Practice than in Idea And therefore an Example of Consummate Vertue was highly requisite and useful to Men for the more correct Conduct of their Lives And such an Example was the Life of Christ It was a Perfect Original of all Vertue He was humble and condescending though he was he Son of God He complied with the Infirmities and Weaknesses of Humane Nature was meek and patient under affronts and injuries did the greatest Good for the greatest Evil resign'd himself up to the disposal of his Heavenly Father and submitted to his Will in every thing All which excellent and useful Vertues Christ could not have exercised if he had not lived in a mean Condition and undergone want and pain The Person of a Prince and a Prosperous Condition would not have suited the Design of Christ in giving an Example to Mankind But by appearing under such Circumstances as he did by being the Son of God in the form of a Servant he was an Example to the Great and Rich as well as to the Poor and Distressed he practised the Vertues that belong to every Condition and led every Man the way to the performance of Duty As to those Doctrines which go under the name of Mysteries viz. the Doctrine of the Trinity and of the Incarnation why should we dislike them the worse for being Mysteries when there is nothing in the World but what has something in it unknown to us Nay although we could perfectly understand the natures of all Created Beings yet the Nature of God would still remain Incomprehensible There is an infinite distance and disproportion between his Perfections and our Faculties and it is as impossible for us to comprehend God us for a Bucket to contain the Ocean It is not then a Doctrine's being above reason but contrary to reason that makes it unreasonable for us to believe it All the Parts of Revelation are equally True and an obscure Doctrine has as good Authority as a Plainer Since therefore the Gospel discovers to us that there are three distinct Persons in the Godhead the Father Son and Holy Ghost to which the Name and Attributes of God are expresly given and also that the second Person in this Blessed Trinity did freely take our Nature that he might be our Redeemer and so is both God and Man in one Person we have the same reason and obligation to believe these Doctrines as any other Doctrine in the Gospel Thus much to the Reasonableness of our Christian Faith I proceed in the third place to shew the Necessity of this Faith to render us acceptable to God Without Faith it is impossible to please God Now the necessity of this Faith is founded in a necessity of the Gospel Revelation And this will be made evident by clearing these two Points 1. The necessity of a Revelation in general 2. The Insufficiency of all Revelation before the Gospel for the Salvation of Mankind 1. The necessity of a Revelation in general appears from the impossibility of pleasing God and obtaining Happiness without one For by Sin we lost the Favour of God and forfeited Immortal Life And although we know by the Light of Nature that God must be Atoned before we could be Restored yet we could not from thence learn whether God would be Atoned or not and what kind of Atonement he would accept of This depended upon his Free Grace and therefore could only be discover'd to us by himself Had we continued Innocent there would have been no need of any Revelation for the Light of Nature was then a sure guide both to Duty and Immortality But by breaking the Law of our Creation we incurr'd the Divine Displeasure and became Mortal And how to get out of this unhappy condition nature could not teach us There was no other way but to begin again upon a New Covenant which was wholly at the pleasure and in the breast of God and so was a matter of pure Revelation Men may talk of Natural Knowledge in the business of Religion and magnifie it as much as they think fit but it will serve only in a state of Innocence When Sin and Corruption take place Natural Knowledge

that make him so And therefore when the Word of God tells him that he shall be for ever Happy or for ever Miserable in another World according as he has lived well or ill in this a firm belief of so plain a Revelation must needs have a Influence upon his Life correspondent to his Desire of Happiness and Dread of Misery 2ly Faith has a direct and powerful Influence upon our Practice by being the Evidence of things not seen not by turning invisible things into visible but by rendring them as certain and indubitable to our understanding and so as certain Grounds and Principles to act by as any thing that we see with our Eyes of Flesh And this Faith does It brings Heaven and Hell within the Souls view and presents them to the Mind in so efficacious a manner that a true Believer is as much Influenced by them as Worldly Men are by the Objects of Sence These Men are acted altogether by the Impressions of Sensible Things and without looking any further pursue a Life of Sense And so the Man of Faith has the other World in his Eye and by vertue of his Faith lives not only for that World but in it His Conversation is already in that Heaven which he believes and expects 3ly and lastly The Things of the other World which Faith gives us a prospect of are of such vast consequence that they cannot but have a mighty force upon us All the Pleasures and Pains of this Life are inconsiderable when compared with those of the next Heaven and Hell have nothing in them that is Little In those Places are fulness of Joy and extremity of Pain and both Everlasting And who can think of these things without the greatest Concern Or how is it possible for a Man to believe them heartily and yet take no care to please that God in whose Power it is to determine his Everlasting State 't is for want of this Faith that Men live without concern or care for hereafter For as nothing can be compared with Heaven and Hell so nothing can affect us like them In short A true Faith is the only sure Principle of a Good Life No Temporal interest or consideration is great enough to secure our Vertue But Eternity adds such a weight both to Happiness and Misery that nothing can more firmly engage us in the Fear and Service of God than the Belief of it Under the Influence whereof we cannot Live amiss And without this Faith 't is impossible to Live so as to Please God FINIS Books Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard A Defence of Revealed Religion in six Sermons upon Rom. 1.16 Wherein it is clearly and plainly shewn that no Man can possibly have any real ground or reason to be asham'd of Christianity By Henry Hallywel Master of Arts and Vicar of Cowfold in Sussex An Essay to revive the necessity of the Ancient Charity and Piety wherein God's right in our Estates and our Obligations to maintain his Service Religion and Charity is demonstrated and defended against the pretences of Covetousness and Appropriation in two Discourses Written to a Person of Honour and Vertue By George Burghope Rector of Little Gaddesden Com. Hartford and Chaplain to the Right Honourable John Earl of Bridgwater The Principles of the Cyprianick Age with regard to the Episcopal Power and Jurisdiction asserted and recommended from the Genuine Writings of St. Cyprian himself and his Contemporaries by which it is made evident that the Vindicator of the Kirk of Scotland is obliged by his own concessions to acknowledge that he and his Associates are Schismaticks In a Letter to a Friend By J. S. Six Sermons preached most of them at St. Maries in Cambridge By Robert Needham M. A. late Fellow of Queen's College in Cambridge Six Sermons preached before the late incomparable Princess Queen Mary at Whitehall with several Additions and large Annotations to the Discourse of Justification by Faith By George Bright D. D. Dean of St. Asaph and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty The End of the Catalogue