Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	ancient_a	church_n	doctrine_n	1,896	5	6.2759	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66053	Of the principles and duties of natural religion two books / by the Right Reverend Father in God, John, late Lord Bishop of Chester ; to which is added, A sermon preached at his funerals, by William Lloyd ...	Wilkins, John, 1614-1672.; Lloyd, William, 1627-1717. Sermon preached at the funeral of John, late Lord Bishop of Chester.; Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1675 (1675)	Wing W2204; Wing L2705_PARTIAL; ESTC R20334	178,528	530

possit quidem sine ullo labore There is nothing which God cannot do and that without any kind of labour 2. By Reason If the power of God could be limited or circumscribed it must either be by something of greater power which is inconsistent with the notion of his being supreme and soveraign Or else by the difficulty and repugnancy which there is in the nature of things which could not be in the first creation of them because there was nothing then to make any resistance and since that there is nothing but what was made by him derived from him and is dependant upon him and therefore must be subject to him And besides all such things being finite must therefore be at a vast distance of inequality from the infinite power of God To which may be added that all his other perfections would be insignificant and ineffectual if his power of acting whereby they were to be communicated to inferior natures were not answerable to them Meer Knowledg without Power would be but an idle speculation Wisdom to contrive without Power to effect would be but vain and useless What could his goodness and mercy signifie to us if he were not able to give any proofs of it And so likewise for his Justice and Faithfulness which there would be no reason to fear or to depend upon if Rewards and Punishments were not at his disposal and he had not sufficient power to perform what he promises Nor could there be any sufficient ground for his being acknowledged the supreme Lawgiver For why should any one take upon him to intermeddle in the affairs of the world and to prescribe Laws to others who had no power to dispose of things and were not able to enforce obedience to his own Laws In brief without the belief of this Attribute there can be no foundation for Religion amongst men because there could be no ground for our Faith or Trust no reason for our Hope or Fear 2. Besides this absolute consideration of the Divine Power there is likewise a relative notion of it respecting that Dominion and Jurisdiction which he hath over reasonable Creatures his right to govern them in this life to command prohibit what he pleases to reward and punish as shall seem good unto him And that this doth belong to the natural notion of God may appear 1. By Testimony Plato and Tully and Plutarch do often style him the Lord of all things the Eternal God Father and Creator of the world and all things in it Deo nihil praestantius ab eo igitur necesse est mundum regi saith Tully God is the most excellent Being and therefore is it necessary that he should be the Governour of the world And in another place Deorum immortalium numine omnia regi gubernarique credimus We believe that God is the Governour of all things To which I shall add that testimony of a Heathen King Nebuchadnezzar in that Remonstrance which he published to all people nations and languages that dwell in all the earth viz. that Gods dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing before him And he doth according to his will in the armies of heaven and amongst the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what dost thou And as this was their declared opinion so was their practice suitable to it by owning that to be their Duty which they supposed to be agreeable to his Will and which would render them acceptable to him 2. By Reason If we consider those several titles which can give right to Dominion amongst men we shall find them all to concur in God Now men claim a right of Government either by Conquest or Purchase or Compact or by having others born in a state of subjection under them or by their having oblig'd others with any special bounty or favour but above all these there is another ground of subjection which men cannot pretend to namely the giving of Being to a thing And this must needs above all other claims be the greatest imaginable right for the government and disposal of that thing according to the pleasure of him that made it It is he that made us says the Psalmist and not we our selves and therefore we are his people and 't is reasonable that we should be under his dominion and government 3. The distribution of future Rewards and Punishments to men according as their lives and actions have been in this world That this likewise doth belong to the natural notion of God may appear 1. By Testimony From all kind of Heathen Writers Nothing hath been more universally believed in all places and times not only amongst the civilized Nations the Grecians and Romans but likewise amongst such as were most wild and barbarous All sorts and Professions of men of any special eminence as Princes Statesmen Souldiers Philosophers Poets Artists have had great impressions upon their minds concerning a future state And it may be reasonably presumed as Tully observes that those who do so much excel others in their parts and their virtue are not generally mistaken in their judgments about a natural truth Whereas several other opinions and Doctrines which at some times have prevailed have afterwards been rejected this hath still kept up in its vigor and authority amidst all the various revolutions of Government and Religion of Nations and Churches The most ancient Philosophers amongst the Grecians who reduced that people to civility were Thales Pherecides Pythagoras the last of whom was for a long time of so great authority that no others were counted learned but such as were his followers And each of these have most expresly asserted this Doctrine And besides there are many other testimonies to this purpose cited out of Plato Empedocles Plutarch together with Homer Euripides Sophocles for the Grecians the ancient Druids amongst the Gauls the Brachmans amongst the Indians who are all mention'd as bearing witness to this truth by Justin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus and others And as for the Latines I shall mention only two testimonies That of Tully Permanere animos arbitramur consensu nationum omnium We do believe that the Souls of men do abide after death by the consent of all Nations And that of Seneca Cum de animarum aeternitate disserimus non leve momentum apud nos babet consensus omnium aut timentium inferos aut colentium When we dispute about the immortality of the Soul the general consent of men either fearing or worshipping the infernal powers is of no small moment with us That common practice amongst the Heathen of worshipping their departed Heroes doth suppose a general belief that their Souls did remain after death and were advanced unto a higher state of happiness and power In brief all the attestations amongst them concerning the Souls immortality are founded in their belief

judgments are a great deep that he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and that when God hath not thought fit to tell us how he will be pleased to deal with such persons it is not sit for us to tell Him how he ought to deal with them Only of this we are sufficiently assured that in all ages and places of the world all that are saved are saved by the mercy of God and by the merits of Jesus Christ who is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world the Scripture having expresly told us that there is no salvation in any other for there is none other Name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved To be sure there is no reason for any man who lives under the dispensation of the Gospel to expect that he shall escape if he neglect so great salvation This is the tenour of that Doctrine of the Gospel which Christ immediately upon his resurrection doth commissionate his Disciples to preach Mark 16. 16. He that believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned And Joh 3. 18. He that believeth not is condemned already And presently it follows This is the condemnation c. And again Joh. 7. This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and him whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ. Now that to us to whom the Christian Doctrine is revealed and proposed the belief and practice of it is the only way wherein we can hope to be accepted I shall endeavour to make out by these two arguments 1. From the Evidence we have of its Divine Authority 2. From the Excellency of the things contained in it which are the two chief grounds of our obligation to it 1. From that Evidence which we have for the Divine authority of this Doctrine above any other It seems to be a Principle of Nature to which all Nations have consented That God himself should prescribe the way of his own worship All kind of inventions whatsoever that have been any way useful to humane life especially such kind of Laws as concern Civil or Ecclesiastical associations of men have upon the first discovery of them been still ascribed to the Deity As if the Authors of them must needs have been first illuminated with some ray of Divinity Nor is it probable that ever any Nation should with any degree of zeal embrace the respective Ceremonies of their Religion unless they had first esteemed them to have proceeded from Divine Revelation Upon this account was it that Lycurgus and Numa Pompilius and Mahomet and the rest of those kind of Founders of Nations and Religions when they would obtain a reverence and devotion to the things they were to establish they were fain to pretend at least to Divine Revelation Which proceeding of theirs though it did really abuse the people with gross delusions yet was it founded upon this common Principle that none can think aright of God much less serve him in an acceptable manner unless they are first instructed by him in the true way of doing it Now that the Doctrine of Christianity is thus derived to us by Divine Institution we have as clear and convincing evidence as things of that nature are capable of As for the Old Testament that hath by the general consent of learned men all the marks of purest Antiquity there being nothing in the world which in this respect is equal to it or which may pretend to be compared with it All other the most ancient monuments of Antiquity coming short of it by many Ages It was written in the first and most ancient Language from which the very Alphabets and Letters of all other Languages in the opinion of the most learned Heathen Plutarch Pliny Tacitus Lucan c. were derived The very number and order of Letters most generally used in all kind of Alphabets being very improper and unnatural which it is not likely men of several nations would have all agreed upon were it not barely upon this reason that they were taken up by imitation and so did retain the errors and imperfections of that first original from whence they were derived This Book contains as the most ancient so the most exact story of the world The propagation of men and the dispersing of families into the several parts of the earth as I shewed before And though this Book were written in several ages and places by several persons yet doth the Doctrine of it accord together with a most excellent harmony without any dissonance or inconsistency And for the manner of delivering the things contained in it 't is so solemn reverend and majestick so exactly suited to the nature of things as may justly provoke our wonder and acknowledgment of its Divine original Insomuch that Longinus a great master of eloquence amongst the Heathens hath observed the decorum and majesty which Moses useth in describing the Creation in those words God said Let there be Light and there was Light And as for the New Testament Those various correspondencies which it bears to the chief things of the Old Testament may sufficiently evidence that mutual relation dependance and affinity which there is betwixt them That in such an Age there was such a man as Christ who preached such a doctrine wrought many miracles suffered an ignominious death and was afterwards worshipped as God having abundance of disciples and followers at first chiefly amongst the vulgar but a while after amongst several of the most wise and learned men who in a short space of time did propagate their belief and doctrine into the most remote parts of the world I say all this is for the truth of the matter of fact not so much as doubted or called into question by Julian or Celsus or the Jews themselves or any other of the most avowed enemies of Christianity But we have it by as good certainty as any rational man can wish or hope for that is by Universal Testimony as well of enemies as friends And if these things were so as to the matter of fact the common principles of nature will assure us that 't is not consistent with the nature of the Deity his Truth Wisdom or Justice to work such miracles in confirmation of a Lye or Imposture Nor can it be reasonably objected That these miracles are now ceased and we have not any such extraordinary way to confirm the truth of our Religion 'T is sufficient that they were upon the first plantation of it when men were to be instituted and confirmed in that new Doctrine And there may be as much of the wisdom of Providence in the forbearing them now as in working them then It being not reasonable to think that the universal Laws of Nature by which things are to be regularly guided in their natural course should frequently or upon every little occasion be violated or disordered To which may be added that wonderful way whereby this Religion hath been propagated in the world

with much simplicity and infirmity in the first publishers of it without arms or faction or favour of great men or the perswasions of Philosophers or Orators only by a naked proposal of plain evident Truth with a firm resolution of suffering and dying for it by which it hath subdued all kind of persecutions and oppositions and surmounted whatever discouragement or resistance could be laid in its way or made against it 2. From the Excellency of the things contained in it both in respect of the End proposed Means for the attaining of it 1. From the End it proposes the chief reward which it sets before us namely the eternal vision and fruition of God Which is so excellent in it self and so suitable to a rational Being as no other Religion or Profession whatsoever hath thought of or so expresly insisted upon Some of the learned Heathen have placed the happiness of Man in the external sensual delights of this world I mean the Epicureans who though in other respects they were persons of many excellent and sublime speculations yet because of their gross error in this kind they have been in all ages looked upon with a kind of execration and abhorrency not only amongst the vulgar but likewise amongst the learneder sort of Philosophers 'T is an opinion this so very gross and ignoble as cannot be sufficiently dispised It doth debase the understanding of man and all the principles in him that are sublime and generous extinguishing the very seeds of honour and piety and virtue affording no room for actions or endeavours that are truely great and noble being altogether unworthy of the nature of Man and doth reduce us to the condition of Beasts Others of the wiser Heathen have spoken sometimes doubtfully concerning a future estate and therefore have placed the reward of virtue in the doing of virtuous things Virtus est sibi praemium Wherein though there be much of truth yet it doth not afford encouragement enough for the vast desires of a rational soul. Others who have owned a state after this life have placed the Happiness of it in gross and sensual pleasures Feasts and Gardens and Company and other such low and gross enjoyments Whereas the Doctrine of Christianity doth fix it upon things that are much more spiritual and sublime the Beatifical Vision a clear unerring understanding a perfect tranquillity of mind a conformity to God a perpetual admiring and praising of him Than which the mind of man cannot fancy any thing that is more excellent or desireable 2. As to the Means it directs to for the attaining of this end they are suitable both to the goodness and greatness of the end it self 1. For the Duties that are enjoyned in reference to Divine worship They are so full of sanctity and spiritual devotion as may shame all the pompous solemnities of other Religions in their costly sacrifices their dark wild mysteries and external observances Whereas this refers chiefly to the holiness of the mind resignation to God love of him dependance upon him submission to his Will endeavouring to be like him 2. And as for the Duties of the second-Table which concern our mutual conversation towards one another It allows nothing that is hurtful or noxious either to our selves or others Forbids all kind of injury or revenge commands to overcome evil with good to pray for enemies and persecutors doth not admit of any mental much less any corporal uncleanness doth not tolerate any immodest or uncomely word or gesture forbids us to wrong others in their goods and possessions or to mispend our own requires us to be very tender both of our own and other mens reputations In brief it injoyns nothing but what is helpful and useful and good for mankind Whatever any Philosophers have prescribed concerning their moral virtues of Temperance and Prudence and Patience and the duties of several relations is here injoyned in a far more eminent sublime and comprehensive manner Besides such Examples and incitations to piety as are not to be parallel'd elsewhere The whole Systeme of its Doctrine being transcendently excellent and so exactly conformable to the highest purest reason that in those very things wherein it goes beyond the rules of Moral Philosophy we cannot in our best judgment but consent and submit to it In brief it doth in every respect so fully answer the chief scope and design of Religion in giving all imaginable honour and submission to the Deity promoting the good of mankind satisfying and supporting the mind of man with the highest kind of enjoyments that a rational soul can wish or hope for as no other Religion or Profession whatsoever can pretend unto What hath briefly been said upon this argument may suffice to shew the exceeding folly and unreasonableness of those men who are sceptical and indifferent as to any kind of Religion 'T is a vice this that if it may not be styled direct Atheism yet certainly it is the very next degree to it And there is too much reason to suspect that it doth in this generation very much abound not only amongst the Vulgar but such also as would be thought the greatest Wits and most knowing men It hath been occasioned by that heat and zeal of men in those various contrary opinions which have of late abounded together with those great scandals that have been given by the Professors of Religion on several hands From whence men of corrupt minds have taken occasion to doubt of all kind of Religion and to look upon it only as a Political invention which doth no farther oblige than as the Laws of several Countries do provide for it These common scandals have been the occasion but the true ground at the bottom of such mens prejudice and dissatisfaction is the strictness and purity of this Religion which they find puts too great a restraint and check upon their exorbitant lusts and passions I know they will pretend for their hesitation and indifferency in this kind the want of clear and infallible evidence for the truth of Christianity than which nothing can be more absurd and unworthy of a rational man For let it be but impartially considered what is it that such men would have Do they expect Mathematical proof and certainty in Moral things Why they may as well expect to see with their ears and hear with their eyes Such kind of things as I shewed at large in the beginning of this Treatise being altogether as disproportioned to such kind of proofs as the objects of the several senses are to one another The arguments or proof to be used in several matters are of various and different kinds according to the nature of the things to be proved And it will become every rational man to yeild to such proofs as the nature of the thing which he enquires about is capable of And that man is to be looked upon as froward and contentious who will not rest satisfied in such kind of Evidence as is counted sufficient

those Primitive Bishops in my Text. God requires it of all that succeed them in the Church So of Timothy though he were young in Age yet being in that Place Be thou an Example to believers in word in conversation in spirit in faith in truth 1 Tim. 4. 12. and in the last Verse Take heed to thy Self and to thy Doctrine Do this constantly and continually and so thou shalt save both thy self and them that hear thee Whether they do this or no they are our Teachers and Rulers therefore in the 17 Verse of this Chapter while they live we must obey their Word and submit to their Government When they are dead both for what they are and were we may do well to say no ill of them and since we can say no good e'en forget them and leave them to God But if they are such as they ought which the Apostle supposes in my Text if they live as men that believe themselves what they say 'T is our duty not only to submit and obey them while they live but also to Remember them when they are dead Remember them in our thoughts with that honour they deserve In our Affections with a due sense of our loss and their gain Remember them in words with the just praise of their actions and lives In our prayers to God with due thankfulness for their graces and gifts in this life and for the glory they receive after death Lastly remember to follow them in that holy way which leads to so happy an end In our Apostles words follow their Faith considering the event the blessed end of their good conversation What my Text says in general of Bishops deceased 't is most easie to apply I know it hath been done all this while by them that knew the virtuous and great mind that lately dwelt in this body They know the truth of all I shall say and much more that might be said in his just commendation But the little I can bring within the time I have left being said from many years experience will at least stir up those that knew him not to enquire and if they find these things true they know their duty of Remembrance and Imitation I shall not be minute in drawing all I say under these heads for I speak to them that can distinguish and sort things as they belong to the one or to the other To begin with the Natural endowments of his Mind I cannot think of him without just reflection upon that Paradox of the Equality of Souls He was surely a great Instance to the contrary having that largeness of Soul in every respect which was much above the rate of ordinary men He had an Understanding that extended to all parts of useful Learning and Knowledg a Will always disposed to Great and Publick and Generous things He had a natural aversion from all idle speculations and from the eager pursuit of small and frivolous designs In great matters he judged so well that he was not usually surprized with events He pursued his intentions with such equalness of mind that he was never carried beyond the calmness of his Natural Temper except through his zeal for Publick good or where his Friend was concerned What he was in his Studies I have reason to know that have often been tired with studying with him He was indefatigable and would have worn himself out if he had not been relieved with multiplicity of business However he impaired by it a Body which seemed to have been built for a long Age and contracted those Infirmities that hastened his death The effect of his Studies in his Preaching and Writings are sufficiently known and would have been much more if God had given him time As for his Preaching it was sometimes famous near this place though he sought rather the profit than the praise of his hearers He spoke solid truth with as little shew of Art as was possible He exprest all things in their true and natural colours with that aptness and plainness of Speech that grave natural way of Elocution that shewed he had no design upon his hearers His plainness was best for the instruction of the simple and for the better sort who were in truth an Intelligent Auditory it was enough that they might see he had no mind to deceive them He applied himself rather to their Understanding than Affections He saw so much of the beauty of Goodness himself that he thought the bare shewing of it was enough to make all wise men as it did him to be in love with it In his Writings he was judicious and plain like one that valued not the circumstances so much as the substance And he shewed it in whatsoever Argument he undertook sometimes beating out new untravel'd ways sometimes repairing those that had been beaten already No subject he handled but I dare say is the better for him and will be the sier for them that come after him If in these he went sometimes beside his Profession it was in following the Design of it to make men wiser and better which I think is the business of Universal Knowledg And this he promoted with much zeal and sincerity in hope of the great Benefit that may accrew to mankind It was his aim as in all things so especially in that which I conceive is much more censured than understood I mean in the design of the Royal Society He joined himself to it with no other end but to promote Modern knowledg without any contempt or lessening of those great men in former times With due honour to whom he thought it lawful for others to do that which we have no reason to doubt they themselves would have done if they were living I would not seem to excuse that which deserveth commendation and encouragement or to commend other things for want of subject in him Therefore leaving this Theme in better hands I proceed next to speak of his Virtues and Graces and these the rather as being both to be remembred and followed And in speaking of these where shall I begin Nay when shall I end if I say all that may be spoken I think it not worth while to speak of those that are Vulgar though he had them also in no common degree Nor would I seem to make any Virtue a Propriety But there are those which are not common to many and were generally acknowledged to be in him though they appeared not so to some other men as they did to those that intimately knew him His Prudence was great I think it seldom failed in any thing to which he applied himself And yet he wanted that part which some hold to be essential he so wanted Dissimulation that he had rather too much openness of heart It was Sincerity indeed that was Natural to him he so abhorred a Lye that he was not at all for shew he could not put on any thing that look'd like it And presuming the same of other men through excess of