Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	john_n	robert_n	sir_n	95,046	5	7.1389	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42445	The certainty and necessity of religion in general, or, The first grounds & principles of humane duty establish'd in eight sermons preach'd at S. Martins in the Fields at the lecture for the year 1697, founded by the Honorable Robert Boyle, Esquire / by Francis Gastrell ...	Gastrell, Francis, 1662-1725.	1697 (1697)	Wing G300; ESTC R10900	106,790	282

THE Certainty and Necessity OF Religion in General Or The First GROUNDS PRINCIPLES OF Humane Duty ESTABLISH'D In Eight Sermons Preach'd at S. Martins in the Fields at the Lecture for the Year 1697 founded by the Honorable Robert Boyle Esquire By FRANCIS GASTRELL B. D. Student of Christ-Church Oxon. LONDON Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half-Moon in S. Paul's Churchyard 1697. 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 by the Appointment of the Honorable ROBERT BOYLE Esquire Most Reverend and Honored HAving by your Appointment preach'd the following Sermons and publish'd them by your Command I humbly desire this Dedication of them to you may be accepted as some Acknowledgment for that great Trust you have been pleased to honour me with I have nothing to say for the Performance but that I have endeavoured all I could to proportion my Care to the Subject and Design of the Lecture and where the Management is faulty I have reason to hope the Evidence of the Truths I defend will bear me out I have taken the Liberty to Print my Sermons all together in a continu'd Discourse that the Strength of the Proofs there given may appear more plainly from their Connexion If it shall please God to render what I have done in any degree or measure serviceable towards the raising or promoting a Sense of Religion among us I shall extreamly rejoyce at my Success and I am sure I shall have my Satisfaction encreased by your Approbation of my Endeavours and by your farther Protection and Defence of the same Cause in which I am now particularly engaged and which ought to be the general Concern of Mankind I am Most Reverend and Honored Your most faithful and obedient Servant FRANCIS GASTRELL The PREFACE IN every Age of the World we have any Account of left us the Wickedness of Mankind has much the largest share in their History and if we believed the Complaints of the several Historians who acquaint us with what passed in their days we should be disposed to conclude that those particular times we were reading of were certainly a great deal worse than any that went before and that consequently Vice having been always growing and gathering Strength as the World advanced in Age the present Generation of Men must far exceed all their Predecessors in Wickedness but tho' I have a very ill Opinion of the Age we now live in I cannot look upon this Reflexion as just and well-grounded The true Occasion both of the Observation and the Complaints grounded upon it I take to be that variety of Wickedness whereby the several Ages and Countries of the World have been distinguish'd from one another For there have been as many different Methods and Fashions of sinning among Men as Forms of Government and as many Changes and Revolutions in Vice as in Empire Some Periods of Time have been remarkable for open Cruelty Rapine and Oppression others for Treachery and private Revenge and all the secret ways of Destruction other Ages there have been when Luxury and Riot and all manner of extravagant Lust and Debauchery were the publick reigning Vices sometimes Profaneness and a publick Contempt of Religion have prevail'd at other times Indifference and a careless Neglect of all that 's good sometimes Hypocrisy and an open pretence to Piety and Vertue have been used for a Cover to a close and secret practice of all manner of Vice and at other times Men have had the Impudence to defend the worst Actions by endeavouring to make them appear consistent with Religion These and many more such like Differences are observable in the History of former times but the peculiar distinguishing Character of this Age is a publick Denial of Religion and all the Obligations of it with an Endeavour to disprove the Evidences brought for it and to offer a more rational Scheme of Libertinism 'T is true indeed this ought to be the Plea of all wicked Men that are resolved to continue in their Vices and upon that account it may be justly wonder'd at that the number of Atheists and profest Libertines has not been much greater in former Ages than in this in which we pretend to juster Views and stronger Proofs of Religion than they had heretofore But 't is plain there never were more than there are now to whom those Characters do truly belong whatever softer Names they are pleased to distinguish themselves by and the reason of it I look upon to be this The Scriptures of the New Testament which are generally in this part of the World believed to contain the Revelations of God are so plain and particular so full and express in the Account they give of the Duties required of Men and the future Rewards and Punishments appointed for them according as they observe or neglect these Duties and the World is so inlightned now by the great Improvements of Knowledge that have been lately made especially by a critical and exact Search into the Design and Meaning of the Sacred Writings that 't is impossible for Men of Sense to reconcile a wicked debauch'd Life with those Ideas of God and Religion they meet with in the Scriptures and therefore they find themselves obliged in defence of their Vices which they cannot perswade themselves to part with to deny not only Revelation but all manner of Religion too since if there be any Religion at all they are forced to acknowledge the fairest and most rational Draught of it seems to be laid in the Writings of the New Testament This Method of reasoning is now found to have a stronger Influence in quieting the Conscience and making a wicked Man satisfied with himself than any Plea formerly used because it has a greater shew of Fairness and Sincerily in it 't is so very reasonable and honourable a thing for a Man to act up to his Principles that wicked Men are easily disposed to entertain a good Opinion of the Principles of Irreligion because the constant Agreeableness of their Practice to them makes their Character consistent and all of a piece and gives them a great Advantage both in point of Judgment and Honour over those who pretend to other Principles and yet act just as they do But whatever Preference may be due to these Men in a comparison of them with wicked Professors of Religion and whatever Ease and Satisfaction it may afford them in a continued Course of Vice that their Judgment and Practice agree together I think it may be made very evident that they have only found out a new Artifice to deceive themselves and that all their Reasonings are not only vain and groundless but directly opposite to the clearest Corruptions of Truth and Happiness Mankind is capable of This is the Design and the Pretence of the following Discourse and to render it more effectual for the checking and putting some stop to the