Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	divine_a	holy_a	inspiration_n	2,416	5	10.6383	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28272	No reason to desire new revelations a sermon preach'd at the Cathedral-Church of St. Paul, October 7th, 1700, being the seventh for the year 1700, of the lecture founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq. / by Ofspring Blackall ...	Blackall, Offspring, 1654-1716.	1700 (1700)	Wing B3047; ESTC R18677	36,532	66

things they value as they now are But I do not think there are any here present concern'd in this Part of my Discourse and therefore shall lengthen it no further Heb. 6.9 I am persuaded better things of you and things that accompany Salvation For your Presence here in the House of God and in the Assembly of Christians makes it reasonable to believe that you are already convinced not only of the Being and Providence of God but likewise of the Truth of the Christian Religion and of the Divine Inspiration and Authority of the Holy Scriptures 2. To you therefore who are Christians I shall now turn my Discourse Heb. 13.22 And I beseech you Brethren suffer the word of Exhortation it is only this Since you have Moses and the Prophets and Christ and his Apostles and believe that they are Messengers sent to you from God to instruct you in his Will receive the Truth and the Law at their Mouths mind what they say and be careful to follow their Directions in all things For even we who have the Scriptures the lively Oracles of God may perish for want of Knowledge as well as they that have them not unless we make that Use of them which they were given for unless we are diligent in reading them and careful to practise what they teach For the Rich Man spoken of in this Parable had the Scriptures but his meer having them did not keep him from Hell And his five surviving Brethren had likewise the Scriptures and yet were then in a fair way of following their Brother to that Place of Torment They had Moses and the Prophets but they did not hear them And this also may be our Case who have not only these but also Christ and his Apostles Preaching to us if we do not hear them for what Advantage can it be to us to have good Instructors if we will not mind what they say if we stop our ears to all their Counsels and Reproofs No Man was ever made a Scholar only by having a good Library in his Possession No Man ever learnt any Art or Science tho' it was never so well taught in any Book only by keeping the Book in his Chamber or carrying it about in his Pocket And as little shall we be the wiser only by having the Holy Scriptures tho' as the Apostle says they are able to make us wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 if we do not read and study them with an honest Design to furnish our selves from thence with a stock of useful Knowlege and with a firm Resolution to lead our Lives according to the Directions which they give us Nay so far shall we be from receiving any Advantage only by our having the Holy Scriptures given us and free Liberty allowed us to look into them a Privilege we of this Nation have above most of our Neighbours that if we do not read and study them it will be much the worse for us our Condemnation will be the greater and our Destruction so much the more certain For the Case of those who offend thro' Ignorance when their Ignorance is unaffected is very pitiable and tho' we can't certainly say how God will deal with those who had no clear Revelation of his Will made to them this we may be sure of that God who is a merciful God will deal mercifully with them John 15.22 If I had not come and spoken unto them says our Saviour they had not had Sin But the Case will be quite otherwise with those Luke 12.47 who knew their Master's will and did not do it They as our Saviour says shall be beaten with many Stripes And it will be all one if they did not know it if their Ignorance of it was occasioned by their own fault in neglecting those Means of Knowledge which God has afforded them And much rather if their ignorance of their Duty was affected and chosen that they might Sin with less disturbance of Mind for our Saviour's Judgment in this Case is very plain and 't is his Judgment by which we must stand or fall to all Eternity Joh. iii. 19. This is the Condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men loved Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds were Evil. Having therefore Moses and the Prophets and also Christ and his Apostles continually Preaching to us in the Books of Holy Scripture let us hear them This is both our Duty and our Interest And that our study of the Scripture may be with good success and we may thereby be thoroughly furnished unto all good Work Let us Pray as we are taught by our Church in a most excellent Collect suited to the Subject I have been Discoursing of Blessed Lord who hast caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our Learning Collect for 2d Sunday in Advent Grant that we may in such wise hear them read mark learn and inwardly digest them that by Patience and Comfort of thy Holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed Hope of everlasting Life which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ Amen FINIS ERRATA Page 55. line 10. for some read same

very few or none of those who do not believe and are not brought to Repentance by the Preaching and Standing Revelation of the Gospel would be persuaded by this means If they hear not Moses and the Prophets I add nor Christ and his Apostles neither will they be persuaded tho' one rose from the dead And the Truth of this will I suppose sufficiently appear if these following things be considered 1. That we can't have better or stronger Motives to Obedience and a Holy Life than are already offered in the Holy Scripture to persuade us 2. That the Proof and Evidence already given us of the Truth of Religion is such as cannot be fairly excepted against and that there is no Proof thereof that could be offered but what is liable to Cavils and unreasonable Exceptions 3. That if God should gratifie all Men in this Request the Abundance and Commonness of the Miracles that must then be wrought would go near to destroy the Efficacy and Persuasiveness thereof And Lastly That it is Matter of Fact and Experience that new Miracles have been generally unsuccessful upon those who have not hearkned to nor been convinced by a Standing Revelation of God's Will 1. I say we can't possibly have as to the Matter of them stronger Motives to Obedience and a Holy Life than those which are already offered in the Holy Scripture to persuade us For there we have Life and Death set before us Blessing and Cursing on one Hand the Promise of this Life and of that which is to come and on the other Hand all the Evils that we can justly dread the wrath of him who is a consuming Fire who often punishes Transgressors with remarkable Judgments in this Life and has threatned to all impenitent Sinners Eternal Torments in the next Now if a new Revelation was to be made and we our selves were to contrive the Matter of it what stronger Motives than these could we think of Or if one should come from the dead to Preach to us if Lazarus were sent on purpose to persuade us what could he offer more towards it Could he give us Assurance of any thing better or more desirable than of God's Readiness to forgive us upon our Repentance and of compleat and perfect Happiness both of Body and Soul to all Eternity if we do Repent Or could he threaten any thing more like to deter us from Sin than intolerable and everlasting Misery If not to what Purpose should he be sent to us Or indeed to what Purpose should there be any new Revelation at all For these things are already promised and threatned clearly enough in the Holy Scripture Life and Immortality are already fully brought to Light by the Gospel And if the Hope of Eternal Life and Happiness and if the Dread of Everlasting and Intolerable Torments will not persuade us nothing certainly will or can persuade us All that I think could in any new Revelation be added to that Encouragement that is already given us in Scripture to Virtue and Godliness or to that Discouragement that is therein given as to Vice and Wickedness would be an Assurance that there should be always as remarkable a Difference made by the Providence of God between good and bad Men in this World as we are told in Scripture there will be by his righteous Judgment in that which is to come And a good Assurance given us of this by some new Revelation confirmed by our own constant Observation that it was always well with the Righteous and ill with the Wicked in this World we may think perhaps would do much more towards the Reformation of Mankind than only those Promises and Threatnings of future Happiness or Misery that we meet with in the Scripture have done or are ever like to do And this indeed might be But then 't is to be considered that a new Revelation to this Effect would be inconsistent with the Nature of Religion and would frustrate the Design of God in sending us into this World which was to prove and try us to see whether we love the Lord with all our Heart whether we can believe him for those things which we do not see and whether we are so wise as to prefer a greater future Good before a less that is present a Blessed and Glorious Immortality after this Life before the Pleasures of Sin which are but for a Season For if the Reward of Virtue and the Punishment of Vice were always visible and present there would be no Room left for Faith in God which is a firm Belief of the Truth of his Promises and Threatnings tho' we do not see a present Performance of them Heb. 11.1 Faith as the Apostle defines it is the Substance or (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. in Loc. confident Expectation of things hoped for the Evidence or (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conviction of things not seen And if all the good things both of this Life and of the next were the certain Portion of Virtue and all the evil things that can be suffered both in this World and in the other were the certain and never-failing Consequence of Sin there would be no room left for a virtuous and wise Choice nay indeed there would be hardly Matter for Choice at all for it can't be conceiv'd that a Creature that has Understanding and a Power of chusing and refusing should knowingly chuse all Misery rather than all Happiness Such a Revelation as this being therefore so evidently inconsistent with the Nature of Faith and Religion and with the Design of God in sending us into this World can't be expected And I say that bating this there can be nothing added to the Matter of the Scripture Revelation From whence therefore it plainly follows that such as are not persuaded by the Gospel Motives to Repentance are not capable of being persuaded by any such Motives as consistently with the Nature of Faith and Religion and Vertue could be offered to them And it can't be supposed that any true divine Revelation should ever offer any Motives to persuade us that are not such But it may be said perhaps that tho' better or stronger Motives to Repentance cannot be offered by any new Revelation than are offered already in Holy Scripture yet we might by a new Revelation have better Assurance given us of the Truth of the Gospel Motives and that if we had 't is very like they would be then more prevailing than they now are And this likewise I believe must be granted But then 't is to be considered that the Nature of Faith and Religion and of that State of Trial which we are now in requires that there should be a reasonable Boundary set to the clearness of that Evidence that is given to Men of the Truth of those Motives whereby they are to be persuaded as well as to the Force and Strength of the Motives themselves Because as I noted in my last Discourse such very clear

already inclined on this side to us who to be sure are not prejudiced against it to us whose Interest leads us to continue in the Religion we were first bred in such Proof as we always accept and allow of in other Cases of the like Nature is Proof strong enough And therefore much rather when we have as indeed we have a stronger and more uncontrouled Tradition for the Truth of the Gospel-History than of any History in the World besides we shall be inconsistent with our selves if we do not allow it to be sufficient So that upon the whole Matter considering the Prejudices both from Education and Interest which they lay under who lived in those Times when the Gospel was first reveal'd and preach'd even their own Eye-sight of some of those Miracles that were then wrought to confirm it was not more perswasive than is that good Assurance that we now have by credible and undoubted Records that such Miracles were then wrought The Proof they had consider'd in it self was indeed stronger than ours but considering our disserent Circumstances that Proof was not more apt or likely to convince them than that which we have given us is to convince and persuade us And if we had now the very same Proof and Demonstration of the Miracles wrought for the Confirmation of our Christian Religion viz. The Evidence of our own Senses this which was but sufficient to them might to us be such a Proof as would be in a manner a Force upon us such clear Demonstration meeting with no strong Prejudice or considerable Interest on the other side might be enough to over-power us so that we could not be Infidels if we would and then there would be no Virtue in Believing 3. The Unreasonableness of desiring more Proof of the Truth of Religion than God has been pleased to afford us by the Standing Revelation of the Gospel and particularly of desiring that God would be pleas'd to work new Miracles for our particular satisfaction or for the Conviction of some of our Friends that are not persuaded by the Gospel-Revelation will further appear if we consider the equal Right that all other Men have to desire the same and the many Inconveniencies and Absurdities that would follow in case all Men should be gratified in this Desire For as to the first of these viz. The equal Right that all other Men have to desire the same What Reason can I pretend for my Infidelity which another Man may not also as well plead for his Have not I as good Proof of the Truth of Religion as my Neighbour has Have not I as free Recourse to the Holy Scriptures as he and the same Evidence of the Truth and Divine Inspiration of them that he has And are we not also in all other Respects alike Being Born in the same Country and having had the same Education and consequently being probable to have the same Inclinations towards or the same Prejudices against or Aversion to the Christian Faith And if so what Reason can I plead for any extraordinary or peculiar Favour For is not he God's Creature as well as I And hath not God the same Tenderness and Regard for him that he hath for me and consequently the same Desire of his Welfare that I can suppose he hath of mine Why then should not God grant him this same Request whether in the Behalf of himself or his Friend as well as I can expect he should grant it me In a word Why may not every Man desire the same as well as I And why should not God grant it to all that desire it as well as to any one But now if God should do this see what Inconveniencies and Absurdities would follow thereupon One sort of Men would not believe unless they might see Apparitions If one went unto them from the dead they would repent And so for their sakes the World must be filled with Ghosts the Dead must never be at Rest in their Graves and the Souls in Bliss who once rejoyced in the thought of being for ever got clear out of a troublesome World must be content to gratifie these Men to leave their Place in Abraham's Bosome and to be deprived of the Beatifical Vision and the unspeakable Joys of Heaven as long and as often as any of these unreasonable Men are pleased to desire it But another sort of Men it may be there are that would not like this kind of Proof A transient Apparition of a Ghost they 'd look upon perhaps as a thing too liable to Cheat and Imposture they 'd therefore desire some more plain and sensible and permanent Miracles than this some such Miracles as those were which our Saviour and his Apostles wrought and if they could but see such they make no doubt but they should be convinced And so for their sakes and for their Conviction half the Men that are born into the World must be born Lame or Blind that so they may be afterwards Cured by Miracle for the satisfaction of these Men And a great many must be possessed with Devils and be grievously torn and tortured by them that these Men may have the Pleasure of seeing with their own Eyes the Evil Spirits cast forth and of observing how much more calm and sober the Men are after the Devil is gone out than they were before But even these Miracles 't is like would not satisfie all but some it may be would be apt to suspect that there might be some Trick or Collusion in them and that what they saw was done only by a Confederacy between the Physician and the Patient to amuse and deceive the Beholders and therefore what they it may be would desire for their particular satisfaction wou'd be to see a dead Man raised to Life again after he had been dead several Days and began to stink and such a Miracle as this they are sure would convince them And so for their sakes a great many Men must die two or three times over or much oftner because perhaps every time before they have been dead a Week some other Person that was not present before may have a desire to see with his own Eyes the same Experiment tried over again But even this Miracle also would perhaps be excepted against by some and nothing less would satisfie them than the very same Evidence which the Apostles themselves had who conversed with our Saviour for some years together and heard all his wise Discourses and saw all his Miracles and mighty Works and were present with him when he expired on the Cross and assisted at the laying his dead Body into the Sepulchre and within three Days after saw him alive again touched and handled him eat and drank with him and after they had thus several times by the Space of forty Days been by many Infallible Proofs assured of the Reality of his Resurrection saw him visibly taken up in his Body into Heaven They that had this they grant