Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	divine_a	mind_n	universality_n	123	3	15.9923	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54811	The two first books of Philostratus, concerning the life of Apollonius Tyaneus written originally in Greek, and now published in English : together with philological notes upon each chapter / by Charles Blount, Gent.; Life of Apollonius of Tyana. Book 1-2. English	Philostratus, the Athenian, 2nd/3rd cent.; Blount, Charles, 1654-1693.	1680 (1680)	Wing P2132; ESTC R4123	358,678	281

this Cilician had a Wife which had a Daughter by a former Husband with whom this Cilician being extremely enamour'd was accustom'd to lye with her so as it was no longer conceal'd for the Mother coming suddenly to their Bed with Needles prick'd out both her Daughters eyes and one of her Husbands Hereby he taught this piece of Philosophy That it becometh not them who Sacrifice or offer Gifts unto the Gods to exceed a medium Illustrations on Chap. 7. IN this whole Chapter we find but two things remarkable the first concerning the extravagancy of the Gentiles Sacrifices the second of their Gods appearing to them both which were the main support of their Idolatry and gives me a just occasion to inspect the same Now the original of all the false Doctrine Idolatry and Superstition among the Heathens proceeded from these causes First Revelations from above devised and forged by their Priests Secondly Oracles of the same stamp Thirdly ambiguous Prophecies such as those of the Sybils either applied to future events or counterfeited after them thereby to gain Authority for any thing they would have credited by the people Fourthly Interpretation of Dreams in what sence they pleased Fifthly doing things which seem'd Miracles to the Vulgar only by Natural means or otherwise by the confederacy of Priests and Impostors amongst themselves Sixthly by intruding Traditions of great Persons or Actions in former times without alledging any certainty of them And lastly by adventuring to tell more Fables and Lyes because the foolish could not and the wise durst not contradict them Out of all which they extracted and composed a Doctrine of Rites and Ceremonies such as Sacrifices Oblations and the like according to their own fancy and possess'd the easie people therewith who received them as coming from God himself Nothing was more usual among the ancient Priests than to affirm to the people that while they watch'd in the Temple their several Gods reveal'd several things to them as we here see Aesculapius is reported to have done which they were commanded to communicate to the people while for the rest the said Priests being of great Authority and esteem as well with the Magistrates themselves as with the Vulgar did with much gravity for it behoved them to keep their countenances communicate to their Auditors the said supposed Revelations adding that it concern'd both People and Magistrates to take notice of and obey those counsels and precepts which they gave In the mean while the Vulgar not presuming so much as to question the least syllable of what was told them neither heard with their own ears nor saw with their own eyes in so much awe did Religion hold them For the Priests did interest themselves in almost all manner of publick business especially in the times of War and publick calamities well knowing that all men are more Prophane in prosperity and more Superstitious in adversity as being less apt to give thanks than to ask pardon Who but their Priests had I do not say Wit to invent but Authority to introduce Novelties into Religion Who but those that got by it would be so wicked to withdraw men from the practice of a Godly life such as many of their Philosophers taught to a barbarous and sottish form of Rites and Ceremonies more becoming a Puppet-shew than the Service of God Again could any else get thereby but the Priests who profiting themselves more by mens ignorance than knowledge and by mens vices than their virtues cared not how often and how much they imposed and multiplied their Commandments that so the Prevaricators might be more obnoxious to their censure and punishment That which is of a Divine Nature like the Deity it self admits of neither mixture nor pollution from any gross and Elementary substances therefore it is not to be believed that those necessary and Divine Truths which do really come from God can be any more shaken in mens minds or defiled by any Superstitions than the Sun-beams could be defiled by shining on a Dunghill the Heathen Religion was mixed alter'd and corrupted therefore did it not come from God as a necessary and Divine Truth Universality is esteem'd a main Argument of a true Church now the several Sects in any Religion takes away this Universality Another Argument that Priests make use of to prove a true Religion is Antiquity and here that Priest who begins his Religion at a later time than the beginning of History comes short of this mark of Antiquity and casts a blemish on Gods providence for the former times Campanella in his Atheismus Triumphatus reduces the wicked Objections of our modern Atheists against Christianity into six principal Quaeries whereof the first reflects upon the Antiquity of our Religion however because they are short and of no force I will here venture to insert them just as I find them in him 1. Si Christus est Deus providus cur prioribus non venit saeculis ad salvandum homines 2. Et cur nunc tam innumerae damnantur Gentes Ergo vanus fuit adventus ejus Et cur alias multas perire absque remedio permisit postmodum in altero Hemisp●aerio quod vocant Novum orbem 3. Et cur creat Animas quas praenovit esse damnandas plures salvandis 4. Et cur unius pomi morsus tantum invexit malorum ut totus exitio sic debeatur Mundus ex tam levi crimine quod Deus necesse habeat incarnari redimere eum per gravius crimen in sua morte ab homine commissum 5. Si enim homo ob tantillum inobedientiae tanta passus est mala nunc quia occidit Deum ipsum quanto majora pati debet nec salvari illius sanguine sed irreparabilius damnari 6. Et cur hodierno tempore Diabolus locupletior potentior est quam Christus inter homines But these Arguments are so weak and futilous that they need no Answer as appears by the very first for all men that understand Christianity know that we hold Christ to have been from all Eternity and so he speaks of himself before Abraham was I am Iohn 8.58 But to proceed The definition of Religion according to St. Austin is that which prescribeth the reverence and ceremony of some superiour Nature which they call Divine Lactantius distinguisheth Superstitious persons from those we call Religious thus the Superstitious are those who reverence the surviving memory of the Dead or who out-living their Parents adore their Images at home as their Houshold Gods which many of the Heathens did Plutarch defines them to be such who are by fear brought to believe Daemons or Gods But Mr. Hobbs makes Religion to be Tales publickly allow'd and Superstition to be Tales that are not allow'd of by publick Authority Now he that will examine all the Religions in the World must in the first place cast off all menaces and threats Secondly he must comfort himself with the assurance that God is the communis Pater

Persecuters like men always in a passion have seldom Reason on their side for the great God and giver of Reason is not to be found either in the Whirlwind of Passion or i● the Earthquake of Persecution but in the still voice of Love and mutual forbearance Grotius in his Book de Iure Belli Pacis saith It is unreasonable to punish any man for not assenting to the things of the Gospel since they cannot possibly be discover'd by the light of Nature but must be made known by Revelation As for us the very Revelation whereby we have a knowledge of them is not so clear as that a man should incur civil punishment for doubting of it since this Revelation though at first confirm'd by Miracles and so infallible to them that saw those Miracles yet is it not so to us for that both the Miracles and Doctrine come down to us only by Tradition And Christ says Had I not done these things among ye observe those words among ye your want of faith had not been imputed to you for sin To the same purpose speaks Salvianus Bishop of Marcelles who concerning the punishment of the Arrians for denying the Divinity of Christ saith They are Hereticks but against their knowledge they are so in our opinion but not in their own for they think themselves so far Catholick that they defame us with the title of Hereticks therefore what they are in our opinion we are in theirs We say they do wrong to the divine Generation in saying the Son is less than the Father and they believe we do wrong unto God the Father in saying the Son is equal unto him We say the Truth is with us but they say the Truth is with them The Honour of God is with us but they think they honour the Godhead more They are impious but they think it true Piety They err but they err with a good mind not out of hatred but out of affection to God believing that by this they honour and love the Lord Though they have not the right faith yet they think theirs the perfect love of God and how they are to be punish'd at the day of Judgment for this errour of a false Opinion none knows but the Judg himself In the mean time as God lends them his patience so may we lend them ours Tertullian tells us that nothing has more advantaged Christianity than Persecution for says he the Romans by every cruel act did but tempt others to come over to their Party the oftener they were mowed down the faster they sprang up again the bloud of Christians making the Churches soyl more fat and fertil Tertul. Apol. Nor is Persecution less powerful to advance a false Religion than a true There is no Religion saith Lactantius so erroneous which hath not somewhat of wisdom in it whereby they may obtain pardon having kept the chiefest duty of man if not in deed yet in intention Thirdly It does no ways advantage Religion for the Apostles themselves although they were infallibly assured of their Doctrine and could also make their Hearers assured of it by Miracles yet never desired that the Refractory should be compell'd to embrace it Therefore I could wish that men would use one another so charitably and so gently that no errour or violence tempt men to hypocrisie rendring sincerity both troublesom and unsafe For credulity breeds hatred and malice against unbelievers whereas incredulity does only pity believers so that by how much malice is worse than pity by so much is credulity worse than incredulity How vain a thing is it for men to pretend every Opinion necessary in so high a degree that if all said true or indeed any two of them in 500 Sects and for ought I know there may be 5000 it is 500 to one but that every man is damned for every Sect damns all but it self and that is damned of 499. and it is excellent fortune then if that escape For 't is natural to all Zealots to call their own enemy God Almighty's enemy and we may as well hang all men that are not like us in feature as in opinion CHAP. VI. Of Apollonius's Garment and of the wonderful Concourse of men that followed him after he had been commended by Esculapius Also of an Assyrian Youth whom Apollonius cured of a Dropsie AFter such a retrenchment of his 1 Diet he also regulates his 2 Habit so as to go bare-footed and to wear linen Clothing refusing all such as came of living Creatures he likewise suffer'd his 3 Hair to grow long spending most part of his time in the Temple where all the Officers and Priests admired him also Aesculapius himself rejoyced to have Apollonius a 4 witness of his Cures There resorted to Aegas the Cilicians and all such as dwelt round about those parts to see Apollonius in so much that it became a common Proverb amongst them Whither go you so fast to see the young man Here I conceive it will not be improper to relate what then happen'd in the Temple for that I have undertaken to give you a Narrative containing the Deeds of such a man as was in esteem with the very Gods themselves An Assyrian Youth that came to Aesculapius was riotous even whilst he was sick and liv'd or rather died in Drunkenness He was taken with a Dropsie but pleasing himself with his Drinking he took no care of curing his Drought Whereupon the God neglected him and would not so much as appear to him in a 5 Dream and when he complain'd of this hard usage Aesculapius appearing to him said If thou wilt consult Apollonius thou shalt have ease Accordingly the young man going to Apollonius demanded of him what benefit he might receive from his wisdom for saith he Aesculapius commanded me to come unto thee To whom Apollonius answer'd That he knew something would be much worth to him in that condition for that as he thought 't was only Health which he wanted Whereupon the man replied That indeed was the thing which Aesculapius did promise but not perform Be favourable in your words I pray said Apollonius for he always bestows Health upon such as are willing to have it but thou dost those things which are contrary to thy Disease for addicting thy self to Debauchery thou satiatest thy moist and almost rotten Entrails with delicious Food thereby adding Mud to the pre-existent Water And herein he deliver'd his mind plainer than the Wisdom of 6 Heraclitus who told one that came to him for the same Distemper That he must turn wet Weather into dry which words were obscure and difficult to be understood Whereas Apollonius did more easily explain his wise Advice and recover'd again the young man to his health Illustrations on Chap. 6. 1 CErtainly there is nothing doth more conduce to the Study of Philosophy than a thin spare Diet which gave the old rhyming Monks occasion for that jingling saying Impletus venter non vult studere libenter A full

of Faith but also of his Goodness Besides I conceive my self bound to believe that God had many other means to destroy Ahab then in such an oblique way as this I would gladly know therefore whether the Minor may be reputed of equal validity and force with the Major for framing a good Conclusion to this Syllogism It may be answer'd That we find in the Book of Iudges ch 9.15 Isa. 19.14 something to this purpose in the point of Gods imploying wicked Spirits which also will not seem so strange if we consider that in some cases God may imploy them as his Ministers for the execution of Justice as the Prince does the Hangman for the punishment of Malefactors But as concerning the particular of Micaiah's saying that he saw God sit on his Throne and that the Host of Heaven was on his right hand and on his left unless it be taken otherwise than in a Literal sence I hope I may without offence so far declare my self as that I should not easily give the Minor in the ballance of Reason at least an equal poize with the certainty of the Major unless our Divines help it out with some Allegorical Interpretation Especially when I consider'd that the narrative part of Micaiah's Vision as was said before depended only on his single Testimony and seem'd to be approved of no otherwise than by one single event in the fall of Ahab which in a Battel might yet happen upon many occasions Others and particularly the Adversaries of our Faith will more boldly object that Ahab's Prophets being confident that the Armies of Iudah and Israel when joyn'd together would get the day perswaded the King to fight whilst themselves according to their usual manner stay'd at home and prayed and that it was not unlikely that all things might come to pass as they did without God's sending a lying Spirit into the mouths of Ahab's Prophets And finally because God had so many ordinary ways to procure Ahab's distraction they would say that it seems incongruous for the divine Wisdom and Goodness to choose this For which and many other Reasons also if they rejected not the narrative part as improbable they would however not allow it to go in equal ballance with the Major Nevertheless in this as in all other controverted points it were good to consult our Divines before any thing be determined Now the Reason why many false Prophets have deliver'd most of their Precepts Aenigmatically and Parabolically is either upon the same account as the Heathens did their Oracles that they might be expounded several ways according to several Interests and so likely to speak truth one way or t'other or else that some might get their Living by expounding them knowing that all who live upon their Doctrine will not fail to speak well of the giver of it as we see by Mahomet's Priests Prediction or Prognostication are in a manner the same with Prophesie differing only as Credulity and Faith whereof the former is usually applied to temporal things and the latter to things divine Now Prognostication is thought by many to be but a happy guess which from the vast experience of what is past directs its Prospect to judge of things to come when meeting with the same actions and circumstances as in former times also well knowing that mankind ever was is and will be the same and subject to the same Passions they have reason to expect the like success for the future Now of all sorts of Prophesies those which respect general Things and remote Times are most of all to be suspected To foretell that such a Kingdom shall be invaded or embroyled in Wars as were we now at Peace throughout the whole World to prophesie that there should be great Wars between the French and the Spaniards or that in time the Mexicans and West-Indians should revolt from the Dominion of Spain that such an Empire should be destroy'd such a Countrey infested with the Plague or such a great City fir'd are things that require little Art or skill for that unless some time be limited wherein these things should happen such a Prophesie can never be proved false until it be fulfill'd which in all probability if they be any of the foremention'd things will come to pass once in a thousand years Again To prophesie of the end of this World or of the other World without some divine confirmation by a Miracle renders the truth of such a Prediction very uncertain and makes men jealous that the Prophet spoke of so remote a time and laid the Scene of his Prophesie at such a distance only that he might not live to see himself contradicted well knowing that whilst the World endured no man could disprove him Cur Mundi finem propriorem non facis ut ne Ante obitum mendax arguerere sapis Owen upon Napier Prithee why plac'd you not the Worlds end nigher Lest ' ere you dy'd you should be prov'd a Lyar. 'T was wisely done Prognostications and Prophecies do often help to further that which they foretell the silly people wilfully running into such a predicted Fate as if inexorable because foretold Again others as craftily may endeavour to fulfil a Prophecy which is to their advantage so that the first Prophecy may produce a second Prophet as some of the Ancients receiv'd their titles of Wise only from the Oracles But without some of these helps you will find little more credit to be given to Prophecies except the Sacred ones than to our common Almanacks of which as Montaign observes where they say warm should you say cold and in lieu of dry moist ever setting down the contrary of what they foretell Were I to lay a wager of one or t'others success I would not care which side I took except in such things as admit no uncertainty as to promise extreme heat at Christmas and exceeding cold at Midsummer c. Prudens futuri temporis exitum Caliginosâ nocte pre●it Deus Ridetque si mortalis ultra Fas trepidat Horat. lib. 3. Od. 29. For my part this ignorance of my own Destiny I look upon to be one of the greatest blessings Almighty God hath bestow'd upon me I would not know the time or manner of my death for the World if I knew the time I might not as perhaps I now may live with that joy content and pleasure till the very hour before my death nay it might then he irksom to me some years before it happen'd when I could positively say on such a day in such a year and such a month I must certainly dye so that the uncertainty of the time doth in some measure extenuate the certainty of the suffering Neither would a certain knowledge of the manner and place of my death be less irksom to me for if I knew it was to be by some fall out of a Coach or off from a Horse it might disable me from travelling either way lest the first time I rid so might prove