Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	conceive_v	divine_a	subsistence_n	3,611	5	15.0046	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25316	The evidence of things not seen, or, Diverse scriptural and philosophical discourses, concerning the state of good and holy men after death ... by that eminently learned divine Moses Amyraldus ; translated out of the French tongue by a Minister of the Church of England.; Discours de l'estat des fidèles après la mort. English.	Amyraut, Moïse, 1596-1664.; Minister of the Church of England.	1700 (1700)	Wing A3036; ESTC R7638	98,543	248

Saint John Collects the brief sum of our happiness in these few words we shall be like him in as much as we shall see him as he is Certainly to see God as he is is to acquire the supream degree of perfection in matter of knowledg and understanding and to be made like unto him is to attain the supream pitch of Holiness and Virtue Forasmuch therefore as the first is the cause of the second and that on the knowledg of God as he is depends necessarily our transformation into his likeness it behoves us to enquire what is meant by seeing God as he is and what is the nature of that knowledg Because God is a Spiritual Essence and totally separate from the matter of Bodies 't is absolutely impossible that he should be seen as he is with our bodily eyes and therefore 't is necessary that we refer the word see by a Metaphor to that faculty of our minds that consists in understanding Now although the nature of God be marvellously one and simple so it is that according to our manner of conception we distinguish his virtues and Properties from his Essence Concerning his properties we conceive them under very different respects and pretend not when we say that he is merciful to beget an apprehension in the minds of those that hear us that he is just or when we say that he is wise to give occasion to think of his power and might as his Attributes have very different Objects so we comprehend them in our understandings under very different Idea's But then when we speak of his Essence we make a kind of abstraction of it from his Properties and represent it as a single and simple thing in which all his Attributes exist as in a common Subject As to what concerns his Attributes we see them in some sort in this life in that we understand at least in some degree what is the nature of those Operations by which they display themselves upon their Objects For we are not perfectly ignorant what may be that inclination in God of pardoning sins to the penitent and punishing the obstinate and impenitent and things of like nature But as to his Essence there is no man that doth not acknowledg that we understand it not at all in this life that is to say we are not able to form any conception in our minds which hath any respect to the nature of his Essence only some think that when we shall be received into the Heavens our supream happiness will consist in the vision of this Essence which certainly seems extream difficult to be imagined for since the question here is not concerning the Corporeal Vision seeing God is absolutely invisible after that manner But concerning the Vision of the Mind our understandings here below know not in any wise the Essence of things but fix themselves alone on the Contemplation of their Properties so that it is not at all possible for us now to comprehend how this faculty of understanding shall be so changed in the Heavens that not fixing it self on the Contemplation of the Properties of things it should pass on to the very Essence it self Add to this that if there be any Being in the World whose Essence is incomprehensible 't is that of God for all others have at least this conformity with us that they are Created and by consequence there being some proportion between their Essence and ours it will not be so strange if there should be some proportion between them and the operation of our faculties whereas God being an Increated Being which exists by it self it is more than difficult to conceive how created faculties can attain to the comprehension of his Essence as long as we are encompassed with this body although we be Spiritual as to the most excellent part of our Essence so it is that we know not at all what is the nature of Spirits and however subtilly we do contemplate however precise and delicate be the Abstractions by which we endeavour to withdraw our minds from all Commerce with matter in our Contemplations so it is that if we try to form any conception in our minds as they speak which we will accommodate to the nature of a Spirit we know not how to hinder some Corporeal Idea from gliding insensibly on our thought and imagination Now I am of this opinion that though our Souls be truely Spiritual if you compare them with the nature of bodies nevertheless they are in some sort Corporeal if you do compare them with the nature of God that is to say there is as much disproportion betwixt the simplicity of the nature of God and the quality of our minds as there is between the nature of our minds and the quality of that part in us that is Corporeal and for that reason there seems to be a like impossibility for our Spirits to comprehend the nature of the Essence of God as there is for us whilst we are clothed with this body to conceive the nature of our own Souls and that of Angels Lastly The Divine nature cannot be Divine that is to say endued with the Perfection that becomes the excellency of its Being if its Essence be not altogether infinite Either then this conception of our minds by which we comprehend the Essence of the Deity equalleth it self to the whole extent of this Essence so as entirely to comprehend it or else it comprehends only as much as is proportionable to its capacity and to its extent to that same Essence if it be equal to the nature of God it will become infinite and we shall become so many Gods which is too absurd and erroneous to be received by any understanding of regular apprehensions if it comprehend only what will be proportionable to its capacity seeing this capacity is finite and that between finite and infinite there is no proportion there will always be an immense disproportion between the Essence of God and what we comprehend concerning it I know well that here are alledged certain subtil distinctions which put us to as much trouble to confute them as they give us trouble to understand them For some say that we see the Essence of God all entire but that we do not see it entirely Well near as if we said that on the Sea Shore we see the Sea in whole but not in all its latitude and extension for we see it in whole or in its integrity in that it is the Sea and because in all the parts of the World it hath no other nature than that which it hath upon our Shores But we do not not see it in all its latitude because our sight cannot extend it self so far as the extent of our Horizon so far is it short of being able to see what is at the Antipodes But this doth not at all weaken my Argument for if the word Sea signifie nothing but a certain kind of water salt in its original and which by hidden

part Corporeal there is great probability that this faculty being extinct with the Body its images will by that means be obliterated in such sort that there is no great appearance that we can call to mind at the Resurrection the sensible and Corporeal shape of those that we have seen and known during the time of life But though we should retain some memory of them knowledge depends on the conformity that is found between the qualities which at present you find in the objects that are offered to your eyes and other senses and the images of those qualities which they had when you formerly knew them which are remaining in your memories So that if you find them such as you have seen them you may indeed remember them But if they be so changed that there be no likeness between their qualities and the Idea's which you have formerly received of them as if you had known some infant and should see him again along time after well advanced in years it would be impossible for you ever to recal him to mind Now we have already said that there will be a change marvellously great in all the constitution of our Bodies so that those that have seen us here below will find nothing at all of that by which we may become knowable unto them Moreover whilst the state of nature subsists the natural affections are both necessary to its subsistance and very beautiful and lovely in themselves when they are governed and conducted by that judgment and right reason that ought to preside over all our passions So 't is supreamly agreeable that Husbands love their Wives and Wives their Husbands and that Parents have great tenderness for their Children and Children vehement affections and profound respects for their Parents And by consequent it agrees perfectly well to the institutions of nature that those should cordially love each other between whom it hath established these Relations but when the estate of nature shall be changed and all things put in a supernatural state there is great probability that the necessity of these affections ceasing they will either be totally extinct or at least they will certainly lose much of their heat and vigour and our Lord Jesus answering to the Question which was made to him concerning the Woman that had seven Husbands and teaching us that in the Kingdom of Heaven all these Relations will cease hath as it seems likewise taught us that the affections that depend thereon will also be reduced to nothing Add to this that we know nothing more sweet nor more affecting in this life than the affections that we mutually bear to each other be it that they proceed from the inclinations and sentiments of nature and the Relations that it doth establish between us be it that familiar conversation and a conformity of humours and inclinations do generate and produce them Therefore as we are inclined to measure all things by the knowledg that we have and as it were conceive nothing above it Scarcely can we imagin that in the Heavens there be enjoyment more agreeable and pleasant than those that we have here on earth even our Lord accommodating himself to these inclinations and to the capacity of our minds promises us as it hath been said above that we shall there sit at Table with the Ancient Patriarchs but nevertheless there is great probability that as when St. Peter saw the transfiguration of Christ he was so swallowed up in the admiration of those objects that he forgot all those that at other times he knew and said 't is good for us to be here So then when we shall have our Souls filled with that love and joy which the presence of the Redeemer and the vision of God himself will beget within us we shall no more remember any of all that tenderness of affection that we had experience of in the present life Notwithstanding I shall not in this place neglect to observe two things that concern this matter the first is that St. Paul writing to the Thessalonians and being willing to exhort them effectually to something of importance speaks to them after this manner Brethren we beseech you by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him the meaning is without doubt that he conjured them by that which might be most glorious and most desirable for them in the coming of our Saviour and by all that which might be one day most sweet and consolatory in our Holy Communion then when we shall be found together and from all our dispersions assembled round about him which seems to signify that he expected to enjoy content in their presence as they should enjoy in his at the coming of our Lord. Now 't is difficult to conceive what that manes if their be no mutual knowledge of each other I think therefore if it may be permitted to speak our apprehensions in things concerning which we have but little light from the word of God that the intellectual memory that is in us retaining the remembrance of general things which have been committed to it neither the Apostle St. Paul will forget that he Preached the Gospel to the Thessalonians nor will the Thessalonians forget that by the Preaching of St. Paul they had been called to the Communion of the Gospel If then St. Paul have any signal or mark by which he may be known among the Ministers of the Gospel of Christ and we shall see by and by what can be said about it the memory of it may awaken in the Thessalonians their ancient affections so that they may approach St. Paul and give unto him and receive from him as far as the glory of their Condition will permit them mutual Testimonies of their love and good will And forasmuch as our happiness will not be only for that day but for all Eternity and this Eternity will not pass in Solitude but in most pleasant and agreeable Communication who doubts but that in so long a consequence of Ages there may be presented an infinite number of accidents which may awaken in us those general remembrances which do remain of what we have seen here below and which by this means will reanimate our affections towards those persons which we have dearly loved in this life But as a Father which equally loves his Children perceives his love for a time more lively towards him among them which returns from a far Country after a very long absence than towards those that have been always with him but afterwards when time hath quieted that extraordinary emotion he returns to that equality of affection wherewithal he doth embrace them in like manner that joy which St. Paul and the Thessalonians will have to find themselves together at the appearance of Christ will not hinder but that in a short time their love will return and equally divide it self to all the faithful which they shall see partaking with them in the glory of the Saviour of