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A43959 The reasonableness and necessity of the Christian faith manifested in a sermon / preach'd before the right honourable the lord mayor at Guild-Hall Chapel, Oct. 17, 1697, by John Hitchcock ... Hitchcock, John. 1697 (1697) Wing H2193; ESTC R178053 8,732 26

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as the Apostle adviseth unless we understand the grounds and reasons of it our selves And we cannot do this without the exercise of our Faculties in the examination of them as comparing the Quality of our Saviour's Person with the Character of the Messias delivered by the Prophets weighing the credibility of the Apostles Testimony and the Authority of the Church's Tradition by which the Revelation of Christ was handed down to us These and the other Arguments of our Religion must be duly examined before we can be convinced of the Truth of it and believe it as Men. An Implicit is an irrational Faith and a blind Assent to Religion is a contempt of Reason God indeed does not expect the same use of Reason and the same degree of conviction in matters of Religion from all Men because their Faculties and Education are both different He considers the weakness of understanding in many and the want of Education in more But yet he expects that Men make use of that Reason which he has given them and examine the Arguments as far as they are able which attend the Religion he has revealed And if Men would do this with an honest Mind and a sincere desire to know God's Will they would see no just cause to doubt of Christianity but would embrace it with a rational choice and in that choice think themselves happy As to the offence that some take at a Poor and Crucified Saviour I have this to say That there is nothing in it that is unseemly of unbecoming the Majesty of the Son of God but that it is rather such a state as was both necessary and suitable to the office of our Redeemer For the clearing whereof two things are to be considered 1. That the Justice of God was to be satisfied for the Sins of Mankind And that was to be done by the Death of a Divine Person in our Nature according to the Declaration of the Divine Will God himself foretold by his Prophets that the Redemption of the World should be wrought by his Incarnate Son under the Mystical Name of Immanuel and that this Great Work should be effected in a way of Expiation Christ did all that could be done to prove himself the Person design'd of old for this Office of Redeemer He manifested his Divinity by illustrious Miracles and the satisfaction of his Death upon the Cross by his Triumphant Resurrection 2. It is also to be considered that a Perfect Pattern of Vertue was to be set for the imitation of Mankind and that must have been done in a state of Poverty and Suffering Men are naturally more apt to live by Example than by Rule because Example is a visible thing and does powerfully incline the Will through the Senses The Beauty of Vertue is more lively and charming in Practice than in Idea And therefore an Example of Consummate Vertue was highly requisite and useful to Men for the more correct Conduct of their Lives And such an Example was the Life of Christ It was a Perfect Original of all Vertue He was humble and condescending though he was he Son of God He complied with the Infirmities and Weaknesses of Humane Nature was meek and patient under affronts and injuries did the greatest Good for the greatest Evil resign'd himself up to the disposal of his Heavenly Father and submitted to his Will in every thing All which excellent and useful Vertues Christ could not have exercised if he had not lived in a mean Condition and undergone want and pain The Person of a Prince and a Prosperous Condition would not have suited the Design of Christ in giving an Example to Mankind But by appearing under such Circumstances as he did by being the Son of God in the form of a Servant he was an Example to the Great and Rich as well as to the Poor and Distressed he practised the Vertues that belong to every Condition and led every Man the way to the performance of Duty As to those Doctrines which go under the name of Mysteries viz. the Doctrine of the Trinity and of the Incarnation why should we dislike them the worse for being Mysteries when there is nothing in the World but what has something in it unknown to us Nay although we could perfectly understand the natures of all Created Beings yet the Nature of God would still remain Incomprehensible There is an infinite distance and disproportion between his Perfections and our Faculties and it is as impossible for us to comprehend God us for a Bucket to contain the Ocean It is not then a Doctrine's being above reason but contrary to reason that makes it unreasonable for us to believe it All the Parts of Revelation are equally True and an obscure Doctrine has as good Authority as a Plainer Since therefore the Gospel discovers to us that there are three distinct Persons in the Godhead the Father Son and Holy Ghost to which the Name and Attributes of God are expresly given and also that the second Person in this Blessed Trinity did freely take our Nature that he might be our Redeemer and so is both God and Man in one Person we have the same reason and obligation to believe these Doctrines as any other Doctrine in the Gospel Thus much to the Reasonableness of our Christian Faith I proceed in the third place to shew the Necessity of this Faith to render us acceptable to God Without Faith it is impossible to please God Now the necessity of this Faith is founded in a necessity of the Gospel Revelation And this will be made evident by clearing these two Points 1. The necessity of a Revelation in general 2. The Insufficiency of all Revelation before the Gospel for the Salvation of Mankind 1. The necessity of a Revelation in general appears from the impossibility of pleasing God and obtaining Happiness without one For by Sin we lost the Favour of God and forfeited Immortal Life And although we know by the Light of Nature that God must be Atoned before we could be Restored yet we could not from thence learn whether God would be Atoned or not and what kind of Atonement he would accept of This depended upon his Free Grace and therefore could only be discover'd to us by himself Had we continued Innocent there would have been no need of any Revelation for the Light of Nature was then a sure guide both to Duty and Immortality But by breaking the Law of our Creation we incurr'd the Divine Displeasure and became Mortal And how to get out of this unhappy condition nature could not teach us There was no other way but to begin again upon a New Covenant which was wholly at the pleasure and in the breast of God and so was a matter of pure Revelation Men may talk of Natural Knowledge in the business of Religion and magnifie it as much as they think fit but it will serve only in a state of Innocence When Sin and Corruption take place Natural Knowledge