Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	civil_a	law_n	society_n	2,401	5	9.1625	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31846	A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and citizens of London at the Church of St. Mary le Bow, September the second, 1684, being the anniversary fast for the dreadful fire in the year 1666 by Benjamin Calamy ...	Calamy, Benjamin, 1642-1686.	1685 (1685)	Wing C219; ESTC R5723	17,267	37

all Ages 1. How contrary Vice and Wickedness is to the Temporal Peace and Prosperity of any Kingdom or City will appear from the natural tendency of Sin and Irreligion which necessarily produceth many Publick Mischiefs which we can no ways avoid but by leaving those Sins which are the natural Causes of them and on the other side the true Fear of God and hearty Obedience to his Laws do in their own nature and direct consequence conduce to the Publick Interest Most of the Duties of Religion are so absolutely necessary to the good Order Quiet and Peace of Societies that Men have found it highly expedient to oblige one another to the observance of them by Civil Sanctions and Humane Laws and should the wisest Men the greatest Politicians on Earth set themselves to find out the best and most useful Rules of Living for the securing the Publick Peace and Happiness of Kingdoms or Cities they could pitch on no other but those very same Precepts which God hath given us of doing to all as we would be done unto of mutual Love and Charity of strict Justice and Temperance of Faithfulness and Meekness and Patience And lest Men should not be sufficiently moved by the Divine Threatnings the wisest Governments have always added Temporal Punishments to restrain Men within those Bounds which Religion hath prescribed to us without which all Humane Societies would presently fly in pieces and the World be over-run with Disorder and Confusion It is a common Observation That even Societies of wicked lawless Men who combine together to do mischief and injury to others yet are forced to bind themselves to the practise of some Vertues without which they cannot hold together Thieves and Robbers promise to be just and faithful to each other and the very Powers of Darkness take care to preserve Order and Unity amongst their miserable Subjects without which our Saviour tells us the Devil's Kingdom cannot stand But what Effect Religion hath upon Societies will better be understood if we consider distinctly first the Principles of Religion and then the Duties and Offices of it and shew what Influence they both have upon the Publick Peace and Safety 1. As for the Principles of Religion the Belief of a God and a Future Life these are the very Basis and Foundation of all Society without which it can never subsist This is sufficiently acknowledged even by Atheists themselves whilst they affirm as Tully expresses it the whole Opinion of the Gods to have been feigned by wise Men for the sake of the Commonwealth that so Religion might engage those to their Duty whom Reason could not They would suspect all Religion to have been a Politick Contrivance of Civil Sovereigns and crafty Law-makers by the Fears of an Invisible Power to keep Men in awe and order There was a time at first as they tell us when Mens Lives were disorderly and brutish and the Will of the stronger was the onely Law After which they consented and agreed together to make Civil Laws that so the Disorderly might be punished But Temporal Penalties not being sufficient to deter Men from secret Injuries at last when Mankind hapned to be under one Vniversal Monarch there arose a mighty sagacious and prudent Prince or Minister of State the Author of a further Invention to scare Men from private as well as from open Injuries and that was by feigning a God Immortal and Omnipotent who hears and sees and takes notice of all things and from hence the noise of a God came to ring over the whole World and to fill all Places with Temples and Altars Thus they would represent Religion as a meer Engine of State and Mystery of Government to possess the Minds of the Vulgar with the Belief of a God and a Life to come thereby to render them more tame and gentle submissive and obedient And this alone hath continued the Cheat in the World to this day because this Device hath proved so strangely successful for the Ends of Government to serve which it was first invented and hence it became the Interest of States and Kingdoms to maintain and cherish such Apprehensions in those subject to them I have not time now to confute or expose this wild Supposition for which there is not the least Ground or Evidence but I think I may draw these three Conclusions from this Atheistical Suggestion which will be not a little to my present purpose As 1. That by the Confession of the greatest Enemies and Haters of Religion the Principles of it are very useful and beneficial to Mankind Admitting all they say for true yet it is great pity that Religion hath not its Foundation in Nature and Reason it being so advantageous to Government and it laying such strong Obligations upon People to quiet and orderly living that without it the Earth would be but one vast howling Wilderness and Men so many Beasts of Prey continually worrying and devouring one another 2. If the Principles of Religion were all false if they be all Imposture and Cheat yet it is best for Men to be kept ignorant of this Secret the Belief of them being of so great consequence to the Welfare of all Kingdoms and Societies If we are imposed upon in the Matters of Religion yet it is against our Interest to be undeceived 3. It follows further That they are the greatest Enemies of Mankind and of the Nation or City they live in and ought to be looked upon and avoided as the most dangerous Disturbers of the Publick Peace and the very Pests of Humane Society who go about to root this Belief out of the Minds of Men and to set them free from those Fears which Religion propounds to them this being the readiest and shortest way to dissolve all Government and disband all Societies Take away the sense of Religion and the Consideration of a Superiour Invisible Power who takes notice of all we do and will one day call us to a strict account and Men have no other Rule left to guide themselves by but their own Will and particular Interest All Fences are then broken down Every Man may do any thing he can safely and nothing is unlawful to be done by him who hath but Power enough to justifie it and can defend himself when he hath done it There can be no Security to Governours no Confidence one in another there is nothing we can call our own no Obligation to stand to our Promises and Covenants or to obey the Laws of the Society we are Members of any further than we see it is for our own private Benefit and of this then every Man is Judge for himself So true is that excellent Saying of Plutarch That a City might be as well built in the Air without any Earth to stand upon as a Commonwealth can be either constituted or preserved without the support of Religion 2. If we consider the Offices and Duties of Religion we shall find most of them plainly subservient