Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	animal_n	motion_n	nerve_n	1,659	5	10.9186	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38046	Some thoughts concerning the several causes and occasions of atheism, especially in the present age with some brief reflections on Socinianism, and on a late book entitled, The reasonableness of Christianity as delivered in the Scriptures / by John Edwards ...	Edwards, John, 1637-1716.	1695 (1695)	Wing E215; ESTC R18870	42,384	151

their Affairs to think of a God but in others of a higher Rank and Quality for by Ignorance I mean a wilful and sottish stifling of natural Notions and Impressions And this sometimes prevails in Men of great Parts and Knowledge Think it not strange that I reckon such Persons in the number of the Ignorant for to speak impartially they are so and this was the Sense of the wisest Pagans long since For to have no Knowledge and to stifle it is the same thing which is the Case of these Men they make it their business to choak the innate Principles of their Minds and to disregard those Notices which their Natures suggest to them Thus these Persons are stubbornly and obstinately Ignorant Whatever their Pretences and Boastings be their Atheism proceeds from want of Learning and Wit For 't is not the part of a Learned and Ingenious Man to destroy the Notions of Mankind and pull down what hath been built by the universal Suffrage of the World and in its place to erect a Conceit of his own Some may take such for Brainish and Scholar-like sort of Men but then these are so without Thinking for it is the want of this that makes them what they are Or to say the best of this kind of Men and Atheist is but a half-witted Person He hath perhaps made some Attempts in Science but to little purpose He hath attain'd to some slight and trivial Notions but hath not penetrated into the heart of Things and thence it comes to pass that he is full of Doubts and Cavils which he is able to raise but he hath not Skill and Ability enough to answer them Wherefore it was excellently said of my Lord Bacon A little Philosophy inclines mens minds to Atheism but depth in Philosophy brings mens minds about to Religion and a Deity Thus though this mis-shapen Monster would be thought to be the genuine issue of True Wisdom and Sound Knowledge yet it is really the daughter of an Affected Ignorance Wherefore to secure your selves against Atheism be careful that you blind not your minds willingly receive the rays of light into your souls cherish all sound notions and conceptions and by all proper methods bring your selves to a right understanding and steady embracing of all the Fundamental Principles of your Religion II. There is great Disingenuity and unhandsome Dealing in the case else we should not have so much Atheism Here I will prove that they do not act fairly but that they are Ungenteel which perhaps will affect these Persons more than any thing that I can say What they are willing and forward to grant in other matters and on other occasions they refuse to grant here yea they utterly deny it though there be the same reason for one as the other This plainly appears by their Objections As first they tell us they have no Sensible Notices of a God and therefore they can't admit of it for all the knowledge say they which we have of things is deriv'd to us from Sense But here we see that these Men are Partial and Disingenuous for they will not deny that there are many things which they judge not of by Sense they grant that the swiftness of Motion oftentimes out-runs the nimblest Sense and the Observation of the quickest eye yet they do not deny the Motion it self The Element of Air in which the daily converse is not seen nor is it heard or felt unless when 't is extraordinarily moved and disturbed which is but seldom nor will they say they taste it and 't is as certain that they cannot smell it for this is only the Vehicle of Smells but is not it self the object of that sense and yet these nice Gentlemen do not deny the Existence of the Air. They can by none of their Senses discern the Motion of the Sun Moon and Stars or as perhaps they think it most proper to say the Earth and yet there is not a man of them that denies that they move It can't be determin'd by Sense whether the Sun be bigger than it appears to be and therefore Epicurus who was a great Man for Sense held it was of no greater dimension than it seems to the Eye to be yea of no greater heat in it self than it seems to the Feeling to be here on Earth And the Atheistical Poet who borrow'd his Notions from him was of the same mind Nec nimio solis major rota nec minor ardor Esse potest nostris quàm sensibus esse videtur Lucret. lib. 5. This is certain that the things that are least discernible act most The Animal Spirits which do all the great things in our bodies are themselves Imperceptible They are the Insensible and Invisible Parts as Spirits Wind Subtile matter Exhalations which being agitated do the chiefest Exploits in Nature There are Fine Particles and Atoms diffused through all bodies whatsoever and these are the cause of Sense and Motion in Animals by help of these Minerals Plants and all Vegetables are brought to perfection These Invisible Agents effect strange things and act most wonderfully in the World The Nutritious Iuyce in the Nerves if we may credit the famous Glisson is of mighty use and influence yet as he confesses himself there are no Cavities to be seen to convey it and none of this Succus is ever discern'd in the dissecting of Animals Notwithstanding this some Physicians of the most piercing Judgment have granted whatever they do now the real being of it And in other Instances it might be shewed that Sense is not always made a Judge even in sensible Objects but we gather the being and operation of them from Reason and Discourse This the persons whom we are now dealing with do not deny but even practise it themselves and are willing to allow of it Why therefore are they so void of Ingenuity and fair-dealing as not to admit of the same in the case that is before us Why do they most irrationally deny a God because they do not apprehend him by Bodily sense whenas they judge not of some other things by Sense nay though they be proper objects of it This is a plain proof of these mens wilful Prejudice and Partiality especially if I add that God is infinitely farther removed from our most exalted Apprehensions than the Sun of which we spoke before is from this Earth This Glorious Sun dwelleth in that light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath see or can see Secondly they tell us that there are Great Difficulties in conceiving a God and they are loth to swallow these down and more especially the notion of a Spirit i. e. a Being that is void of Matter and Body is too hard to be conceiv'd by them and therefore seeing we hold God to be a Spirit they can form no conception of him I will reply to both the parts of this Objection distinctly and first as to the General Cavil That this notion is