Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	esq_n	john_n	robert_n	27,784	5	10.3127	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45642	Immorality and pride, the great causes of atheism a sermon preach'd at the cathedral-church of St. Paul, January the 8th 1697/8 : the first of the lecture for that year, founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq. / by John Harris ...	Harris, John, 1667?-1719.	1698 (1698)	Wing H850; ESTC R15170	14,121	30

Mr. HARRIS's First Sermon AT Mr. BOYLE's Lecture 1698. Immorality and Pride The Great Causes of ATHEISM A SERMON Preach'd at the CATHEDRAL-CHURCH of St. Paul January the 3 d. 1697 8. BEING The First of the LECTURE for that Year Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq By JOHN HARRIS M. A. and Fellow of the ROYAL-SOCIETY LONDON Printed by J. L. for Richard Wilkin at the King 's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1698. TO THE Most Reverend Father in God THOMAS Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Sir HENRY ASHURST Baronet Sir JOHN ROTHERAM Serjeant at Law JOHN EVELYN Senior Esquire Trustees appointed by the Will of the Honorable ROBERT BOYLE Esquire Most Reverend and Honoured AS I had the Honour to Preach this Sermon by your Kind and Generous Appointment so I now Publish it in Obedience to your Commands and humbly offer it as also my ensuing Discourses to your Candid Patronage and Acceptance I have in pursuance of Your Grace's direction studied to be as Plain and Intelligible as possibly I could and shall by the Divine Assistance prosecute my whole Design after the same manner which Method of Treating this Subject appears very Suitable to the Pious and Excellent Design of Our Noble and Honourable Founder I humbly desire your Prayers to Almighty God that He will vouchsafe to render my weak Endeavours effectual to shew the Ground●essness and Inconclusiveness of those Objections which Atheistical Men usually bring ●gainst the great and Important Truths of ●eligion which is the End they are sincerely ●irected to by Most Reverend and Honoured Your most obliged humble Servant HARRIS PSALM X. 4. The Wicked through the Pride of his Countenance will not seek after God Neither is God in all his Thoughts IN this Psalm is Contained a very lively Description of the Insolence of Atheistical and Wicked Men when once they grow Powerful and Numerous for then as we read at the Third Verse they will proceed so far as openly to boast of and glory in their Impiety They will boldly defie and contemn the great God of Heaven and Earth v. 13. They will deny his Providence v. 11. and despise his Vengeance And as we are told in these words of my Text They will grow so Proud and high as to scorn to pay him any Honour or Worship to Pray to him or Call upon him but will endeavour to banish the very Thoughts of his Being out of their Minds The Wicked through the Pride of his c. In which words we have an Account more particularly by what Methods and Steps Men advance to such an Exorbitant height of Wickedness as to set up for Atheism and to deny the Existence of a God for there are in them these Three Particulars which I shall consider in their Order I. Here is the general Character or Qualifications of the Person the Psalmist speaks of which is That he is a Wicked Man The Wicked through the Pride c. II. The particular kind of Wickedness or the Origin from whence the Spirit of Atheism and Irreligion doth chiefly proceed And That is Pride The Wicked through the Pride of his Countenance c. And III. Here is the great Charge that is brought against this Wicked and Proud Man viz. Wilful Atheism and Infidelity He will not seek after God Neither is God in all his Thoughts Or as it is in the Margin of our Bibles with good Warrant from the Hebr. All his Thoughts are there is no God In discoursing on the two First of these Heads I shall endeavour to shew that Immorality and Pride are the great Causes of the Growth of Atheism amongst us And on the Third I shall consider the Objections that Atheistical Men usually bring against the being of a Deity and shew how very weak and invalid they are And first I think it very Necessary to say something of the Causes of Infidelity and Atheism and to shew how it comes to pass that Men can possibly arrive to so great a height of Impiety This my Text naturally leads me to before I can come to the great Subject I design to Discourse upon and I hope it may be of very good use to discover the Grounds of this heinous Sin and the Methods and Steps by which Men advance to it that so those who are not yet hardened in it nor quite given up to a Reprobate Mind may by the Blessing of God take heed and avoid being engaged in such Courses as do naturally lead into it I. Therefore let us consider the general Character or Qualifications of the Person here spoken of in my Text And that is that he is a Wicked Man The wicked through the Pride c. And this is every where the Language of the Sacred Scripture when it speaks of Atheistical Men. David tells us Psal. 14. 1. and 51. 1 that 't is the Fool i. e. the Wicked Man for so the word Nabal often signifies and is so here to be understood 'T is he that hath said in his heart there is no God 'T is such an one as is a Fool by his own fault one stupified and dull'd by Vice and Lust as he sufficiently explains it afterwards one that is corrupt and become filthy and that hath done abominable works So the Apostle St. Paul supposes that those Men will have in them an evil heart of unbelief who do depart from the living God and live without him in the world And indeed it is very Natural to conclude That those which are once debauched in their Practices may easily grow so in their Principles For when once 't is a Man's Interest that there should be no God he will readily enough disbelieve his Existence We always give our assent very precipitantly to what we wish for and would have to be true A Man oppressed with a Load of Guilt and conscious to himself that he is daily obnoxious to the Divine Vengeance will be often very uneasie restless and dissatisfied with himself and his Mind must be filled with Dismal and Ill-boding Thoughts He is unwilling to leave his Sins and to forego the present Advantage of Sensual Pleasure and yet he cannot but be fearful too of the Punishments of a Future State and vehemently disturbed now and then about the account that he must one day give of his Actions Now 't is very Natural for a Man under such Circumstances to catch at any thing that doth but seem to offer him a little Ease and Quiet and that can help him to shake off his melancholy Apprehension of impending Punishment and Misery Some therefore bear down all Thought and Consideration of their Condition in an uninterrupted enjoyment of Sensual Delights and quite stupifie and drown their Conscience and Reason in continual Excesses and Debauchery and thus very many commence Atheists out of downright Sottishness and Stupidity and come at last to believe nothing of the Truths of Religion because they never think any thing about it nor understand any thing of it Others