Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
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A81842
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Forgetfulness of God the great plague of man's heart, and consideration one of the principal means to cure it. By W.D. master of arts, and once fellow of King's Colledge Cambridge
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Duncombe, William, fl. 1683.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing D2600; ESTC R230969
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274,493
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513
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assisted in preparing their hearts and exciting their affections and graces when they draw nigh to God in that most awful solemn Ordinance of the Lords Supper By John Flavel Minister of Christ in Devon Duodecimo price 1 s. 6 d. A peaceable resolution of Conscience touching our present Impositions wherein Loyalty and Obedience are proposed and setled upon their true Foundation in Scripture Reason and Constitution of this Kingdom against all resistance of the present Powers and with compliance with the Laws so far as may be in order to Union with a Draught or Specimen for a Bill for Accommodation Octavo price 2 s. A Memento for English Protestants c. with an Answer to that part of the Compendium which reflects on the Bishop of Lincolns late Book Quarto price 1 s. 6 d. Naked Truth the first Part being the true state of the Primitive Church by an humble Moderator price stitcht 1 s Causa Dei or an Apology for God wherein the perpetuity of Infernal Torments is evinced and Divine Goodness and Justice that notwithstanding descended c. By Richard Burthogge M.D. The Narrative of Robert Bolron of Shippon Hall Gent. concerning the late horrid Popish Plot. The Narrative of Lawrence Mowbray of Leeds in the County of York Gent. concerning the late horrid Popish Plot. Tully's Select Orations All Mr. Gouges Works Octavo Horrid Popish Plot in a Pack of Cards A second Pack continuing a Representation of their Villanous Design from the publication of the first Pack to the last Sessions of Parliament begun Octob. 21. 1680. A third Defence of the Cause of Peace proving 1. The need of our Concord 2. The impossibility of it on the terms of the present Impositions against the Accusations and Storms of viz. Mr. John Hinckley a nameless Impleader a nameless Reflecter or Speculum c. Mr. John Cheney's second Accusation Mr. Roger L'Estrange Justice c. The Dialogue between the Pope and a Phanatick J. Varney's Phanatick Prophesie Sacra Unio or an Holy Union chiefly proposed to the Divided Protestants in England and extensively to all other Christians abroad in the world according in Fundamentals and disowning the Popes Supremacy and Image-worship Whereto is added this needful advice that they all bear one with another in things which they cannot yet in their Conscience agree upon as Rites Ceremonies and Discipline together with the Protestants Religion 's Fundamental Doctrine and four Tables containing the Popish Religion at large and Grecian and Abasine and Muscovian written at this time of need in English and Latin for the good and Conservation of all true Protestants in Europe and all other good Christians in other parts of the world where the Latin is understood By Christopher Jelinger M. A. Some Arguments to assure and perswade the Infallible Truth and Divine Authority of Scripture for the Exercise of that part of Faith that consists in the Intellects Assent Argument I. THose Writings whose Pen-men were Authorized and approved by God must needs be of Divine Authority But the Writings of the Old and New Testament had such Pen-men Therefore c. The Major Proposition is beyond all doubt and past dispute The Minor Proposition viz. That the Pen-men of the Old and New Testament were Men Authorized and approved by God in that very Work is evident in that these Writers did attest and prove the Inspiration they did pretend to by frequent Reall and uncontrouled Miracles which none but God could enable them to do For First They were unquestionably above the power of meer Man Secondly These Writers thereof must derive their power from some invisible Author either Good or Bad But from the Devil or any bad Spirit they could not For First Some at least of those Miracles which were wrought by the Pen-men of the Old and New Testament were without the Spehre of all natural Causation and were such as no created Cause or meer natural Agent can possibly produce by the meer stock of their own strength Now the bad Spirits are no better than Creatures and can work no other waies but by natural Efficiency and Causation and therefore could not do some of these works Such was the Raising of the Dead to Life and the giving sight to those which were born perfectly blind Not to instance in any other Though perchance to cure all sorts of Diseases with a word and in a moment is more than the Devil can seemingly imitate or any one can do that hath not assistance from God Now the Rule is certain A privatione ad habitum non datur Regressus naturaliter if the privation be Total Nam productio totius entis entis ex materiâ prorsus ineptâ are the Specialties of God alone and Prerogatives Royal annexed to his Crown who hath ordained the constant course of Causes and Effects which we call Nature or the Course of Nature and hath made all those Agents that work in that orderly Course which we call Natural Causes Secondly If the evil Spirits could do such works as these which yet they cannot as hath been proved yet it would be inconsistent with the infinite Wisdom Truth and Goodness and the nature and being of that Government which as supreme Rector of Mankind he doth exercise to suffer his Creatures to be thus deluded and to leave Man under an Impossibility of ever attaining to the knowledge of his Will in a rational way and by such objective Evidence as may work conviction upon his own Faculties and the Faculties of others with whom he shall discourse Thirdly And yet if the Devil could do such works and God should permit him neither of which can be as hath been made appear yet it would not consist with his own interest to countenance and credit such Writers as these were and to Confirm Such a Doctrin that 's so destructive to his nature and that tends so visibly to the overthrow of his Kingdom For if Satan were thus divided and should fight after this desperate Manner against himself his Kingdom could not stand Mat. 12.25 Which is the very strength of our Saviours Argument when he was calumniated by the Jews to have wrought those mighty works which he did by the Power of Belzebub Undoubtedly either the Devil himself must want that that 's Essential to an Intelligent Being c. Spirit and void utterly of all understanding or else the man must that can think the Devil would so effectually promote his own Downfal and strike such a blow at the very Root of his own kingdom For we see by Experience where this Doctrine is once received the worship of Devils and all Magick Arts and impious Practices do forthwith vanish And the one true God is served with detestation of Devils And the Doctrine of Christ for Confirmation whereof these works were done forbids us to worship Devils and draws us away from all pollutions wherewith the evil Spirits are delighted Whose power and Force was broken by Christ's coming as Porphyry himself
acknowledgeth And therefore Origen Arnob. Tertulian Justin Martyr Athanasius Clemens Alexandrinus Athenagoras Lactantius with the rest that dealt with the Heathens do make the pure Excellency of Christs Doctrine above all other Doctrine whereby it promoteth Holiness and Justice and order in the World and strongly opposeth all impious and unrighteous Practises in which the Devils are delighted whereby their Kingdom is very much weakened and in some places utterly ruined one of the main Arguments for the Christian Faith Would the Devil ever set any seal or give any confirming Testimony to such Precepts as command that which he hateth to such Promises as encourage Men every where to hate and oppose him to such threatening as tend exceedingly to discourage and bring to repentance all his Confederates Would he helpon such a Doctrine that teacheth Men What a filthy malicious Spirit he is and from what a Happiness he fell and what a design he driveth on against God and whatsoever hath the Face of Goodness and how he hateth Mankind and would bring all Men into the same cursed condition with himself Would he have Men know his devices least he should come upon them unawares And would he have them abhor and tremble at the mention of his very Name These are the effects that this Doctrin is like to have upon Mens Minds And therefore it 's past doubt that if the Devil could work Miracles he would never do it in the present case nor give the least Countenance to such writings But if he were Master of such a Seal and had that Faculty he would rather lend it to the Sects that seek to disparage undermine and cry down these Writings in the World He perfectly hateth that parity that runneth in every vein of the Christian Doctrine which made Aeneas Sylv. say ut Plat. p. 328. Christiana Fides si Miraculis nonesset approbata Honestate suâ recipi debuit And therefore it would be a wonder indeed if he should do a Miracle to confirm it The Miracles therefore that were wrought in Attestation of this Doctrine never came from him He had no more hand in the Miracles than he had in the Doctrine they bore witness to or than he would have in the overthrow of his own Kingdom And therefore Mr. Stillingfleet Orig. Sac. l. 2.10 well makes it a Test or Criterium of Miracles wrought by a Divine Power where they tend to the overthrow of Satans Power in the World And this Argument taken from Miracles conjunct with the Holy Doctrine which they ratifie and attest is such a demonstration of the Truth of the Mosaical Religion before Christ and to the Christian Religion since that to attribute these Miracles to the Devil which could not possibly be wrought by any other Power than the Finger of the Holy-Ghost is now commonly thought by the most learned and judicious Divines to be The Blasphemy against the Holy-Ghost c. The unpardonable Sin Thus Athanasius Episcopus and Dr. Hammond thought and Mr. Baxter hath demonstratively shewed in his Treat of Infidelity The only Exception that can have any shew of Pretence to invalidate this Argument is that the matters of fact seem to be Questionable 1 Some may possibly question whether ever such Miracles were wrought to confirm the Scriptures or whether ever there were such a person as Christ that did such Mighty works that dyed and rose again from the Dead and poured forth a Holy and Miraculous Spirit upon his Followers for the Conviction of Infidels Answer The matter of Fact can be questioned with no more Reason than whether there be such a City as Rome or Constantinople by the Persons that never saw them or whether there ever lived such a Person as Julius or Augustus Caesar For there is the same or greater Evidence for THOSE than these is for These But there is none that will question these And the Reason is because this their Assent is grounded upon Two Principles that will not suffer any dissent The first is It 's impossible that so many Men in so many Ages should meet or combine in a Lye when they get nothing by their Lye Nulla ratam testis debet habere Ovid ubi premia falsi ibidem The second is It 's not possible the sences of so many Men should fail them and that they should all mistake and be deluded that were eye and Earwitnesses of the matter of Fact and both saw and heard the Authors of those Writings and the Miracles which they wrought to confirm them See Pet. Hart. de Mendozâ Phys disp 8. de Animâ Sect. 3. and Sect. 23.4 5. pag. 570. And the same Author to This Question what sort of Evidence is that by which I believe that there is such a place as Rome upon the witness of so many Men asserting it Answereth It is Physical For it is impossible even in a Physical sense that so many Men in so many Ages should so lye so that I have no less Evidence that there is a City called Rome than that all Fire is heating Thus he See Mr. Baxter's Spirits witness to the Truth of Christianity pag. 68. The same or as infallible Physical Evidence have we of the Truth of the Miracles by which the Holy-Ghost did witness to the Truth of the Christian Faith For First It 's naturally impossible that so many Churches in so many Countries of the World at such a distance should combine to lye in telling the world that the Holy-Ghost was given and Tongues spoken and Miracles done amongst them for so many Years if it had not been so Secondly Man hath a Nature as well as a Free-will and the understanding naturally enclines to Truth and the will hath naturally and of Necessity Good as Good for its object And man as well as Brutes hath a Nature that cannot but love it self and desire its own wellfare and abhor death and Misery Temporral and Eternal And therefore tho here and there a Man in some desperate Passion may make away himself yet we are Physically certain that it must be a thing which they do indeed believe that must perswade Cities and Countries of People in their wits to cast their Estates and Lives into the Hands of Bloody Tyrants and utterly ruin their worldly hopes And especially when they do all this in hope of a Blessedness in the Life to come Where it is impossible that so many Men of Reason should expect to be blessed for conspiring in a Lye but rather to be everlastingly cursed and miserable by the justice of that God from whom they expect their Reward I conclude therefore that the Case being resolved into Mans Natural Principles and inclinations so clearly as it is There is natural Evidence of the Truth of these Miracles This infallible Certainty that we have or may have is grounded upon Vniversal Tradition whereby Vniversal is not meant the Consent of all Men in the World no more than all the world is meant by Vniversal Church