Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	lead_v	light_n	spirit_n	4,475	5	5.5430	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45644	The notion of a God neither from fear nor policy a sermon preach'd at the cathedral-church of St. Paul, March the 7th 1697/8 : being the third of the lecture for that year, founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq. / by John Harris ...	Harris, John, 1667?-1719.	1698 (1698)	Wing H852; ESTC R15402	19,178	32

in another place saith he What kind of Nation or People is there any where to be found who have not without learning it from others a Prolepsis or Deity And in two other places he tells us That there is no Nation so barbarous and wild who do not acknowledge the Being of a God and some how or other revere and worship him Seneca in his Epistles frequently saith the same thing Sextus Empiricus owns also That all Men have a common Notion of God by way of Prolepsis and believe Him to be a most Blessed and Happy Being Incorruptible Immortal and uncapable of any kind of Evil. And he concludes That 't is unreasonable to assert that all Men should come to attribute the same Properties to God by Chance and not rather be induced thereunto by the Dictates of Nature Maximus Tyrius hath a very plain Passage to prove this common Notion of a God Though saith he there be so much quarrelling difference and jangling in the World yet you may see this agreed in all over the Earth that there is One God the King and Father of all This the Greek and the Barbarian both say the Islander and the Inhabitant of the Continent the Wise and the Unwise alike Aristotle saith That all Men have a Pre-notion concerning the Gods even both Greeks and Barbarians And in another place he hath a very remarkable passage to this sence That there is a very Ancient Tradition which our Fore-fathers have handed down to Posterity in a Mythological Dress That there are Gods and that the Divine Nature sustains or encompasseth all things But this Tradition he saith had in process of time some Figments connected with it as that the Gods had Humane Shapes or those of other Creatures c. which if we separate from it we may suppose it at first divinely spoken and delivered That the Gods were the First Beings Many more Testimonies might be produced to prove this Point that it was the concurrent Opinion of all the Ancient Heathen Writers that there was a common Notion or Belief of a Deity in the Minds of Men But these I think are sufficient And now what can the Atheist say to such a Proof as this What greater Evidence can be desired of the Truth of any thing than that it hath been believed by all Men in all Ages and Places of the World 'T is a very good way of Arguing from Authority that Aristotle uses in his Topicks That saith he which seems true to some Wise Men ought to appear a little probable what most Wise Men believe is yet further probable and what most Men both Wise and Vnwise do agree in is much more probable yet But what is received as Truth by the general consent of all Mankind in all Ages of the World hath certainly the highest degree of Evidence of this Kind that is possible And what hath such a Testimony 't is intolerable Arrogance and Folly for any Men to deny and to set up their single Judgments and Opinion contrary to the common Suffrage of all Mankind But they are so puff't up with Pride and Vanity that they do not see the Weakness and Precariousness of what they advance nor how inconsistent it is with their other Tenets If it have but the appearance of contradicting the received Notion that we have of a God and if it do but seem never so little to Undermine Religion they will set it up at a venture as a Demonstration and stick to it let it be never so inconsistent with what at other times they deliver Thus sometimes they will assert that there is no Universal Idea or Notion of a God At other times they will grant there is such an One but that it was Coined and Invented by some Cunning Politician a long while ago before any Books or Histories were written and by him communicated by Tradition to Posterity But here they do not consider that this will necessarily derive all Mankind from one common Parent which is a thing they will at another time by no means admit of lest it should seem to countenance the Story of Adam or Noah which is said to be nothing but an old Jewish Tradition And that 't is impossible to account for the Peopling of America and All Islands remote from the Continent without supposing their Inhabitants to be Aborigines and to spring out of the Earth like Mushrooms And then to account for the General Notion that they cannot deny these Aborigines have of a God as before they made One Wise Man Invent it now they will suppose it to be done by a Hundred such Cunning Politicians who though in different Places and Ages of the World yet did all light by chance on the very same Notion of a God and Abuse and Cheat Mankind just after the same manner and though this be the most extravagant and ridiculous Assertion that ever can possibly come into the Mind of Man as well as contradictory to the former yet 't is all one for that this or any thing else shall be supposed rather than they will yield to the Conviction of Truth and allow the Notion of a Deity to have a real Foundation But 't is no wonder to find Men that wilfully shut their Eyes against the clearest Light to go forward and backward and often times run against each other in the dark Mazes of Error those must needs be at a Loss who neglect His Guidance who is the Way the Truth and the Light and that Spirit which would lead them into all Truth and those no doubt may easily miss of the true Knowledge of God who are resolved they will not seek after Him and all whose Thoughts are that there is no God FINIS Books printed for Rich. Wilkin at the King's-Head in St. Paul ' s Church-yard IMmorality and Pride the Great Causes of Atheism A Sermon Preach'd at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul January the 3 d. 1697 8. Being the First of the Lecture for that Year Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq In Quarto The Atheist's Objection That we can have no Idea of God Refuted A Sermon Preach'd at the Cathedral-Church of St. Paul February the 7 th 1697 8. Being the Second of the Lecture for that Year Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq In Quarto Remarks on some late Papers relating to the Universal Deluge and to the Natural History of the Earth In Octavo All three by J. Harris M. A. and Fellow of the Royal-Society Dr. Woodward's Natural History of the Earth in Octavo Dr. Abbadie's Vindication of the Truth of the Christian Religion against the Objections of all Modern Opposers in Two Volumes In Octavo (a) Blount's Life of Apollon p. 19. (b) Leviath p. 338. (a) Life of Apollon p. 3. (b) Oracles of Reason p. 158. (c) Blount's Life of Apollon in the Preface and p. 24. (a) Causa à qua Superstitio oritur conservatur fovetur metus est Tract Theol. Polit. in Praef. (b) Si Homines res omnes suas certo consilio regere possent vel si fortuna ipsis prospera semper foret nulla superstitione tenerentur sed quoniam cò sapè angusliarum rediguntur ut consilium nullum ad ferre queant inter spem metumque misere fluctuant ideo animum ut plurimum ad quidvis credendum pronissi num habent Ibid. (c) Ea omnia quae Homines unquam vanâ Religione coluerunt nihil praeter Phantasmata animique tristis timidi suisse deliria Ibid. (d) Ex hâc itaque Superstitionis Causâ sc. metu clarè sequitur omnes homines naturâ superstitioni esse obnoxios quicquid dicant alii qui putant hoc inde oriri quod omnes mortales confusam quandam Numinis Idaeam habent Ibid. (e) Leviath p. 51. (f) Leviath p. 26.51 (a) Leviath p. 54. (b) Caetera quae fieri in Terris Coeloque tuentur Mortales pavidis cùm pendent mentibu ' saepè Efficiunt Animos humiles formidine Divùm Depressosque premunt ad Terram propterea quod Ignorantia Causarum conferre Deorum Cogit ad Imperium Res concedere Regnum Et Quorum operum causas nullà ratione videre Possunt haec fieri Divino numine rentur Lib. 6. v. 49. (c) Lib. 5. v. 1160. Nunc. quae causa Deüm c. (d) ●i qui dixerunt toram de Diis immortalibus opinionem fictam esse ab hominibus sapientibus Reipublicae causâ (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato de Legib. lib. 10. (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sext. Emp. adv Math. p. 310. (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (a) Praeterea cui non animus formidine Divium Contrahitur cui non conrepunt membra pavore Fulminis horribili cum plagâ torrida tellus Contremit magnum percurrunt murmura Coelum Non Populi Gentesque tremunt Regesque superbi Conripiunt Divùm per●ulsâ membra timore Ne quod ob admissum foedè dictumque superbè Poenarum grave sit solvendi tempus adactum Lucret. l. 5. v. 1217. (a) Vid. Archbishop Tillotson's First Sermon p. 47. (a) Rom 1.20 (a) Blount's Life of Apollon in the Preface (a) Primum Graius homo mortales tollere contra Est oculos ausus primusque obsistere contra Quem nec fama Deûm nec fulmina nec minitanti Murmure compressit Coelum Lib. 1. v. 67. (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adv. Math. p. 314. (a) Sext. Empiric Adv. Mathem p. 316 317. (b) Vbi supra (a) Leviathan p. 87. (b) Ib. p. 7. (c) Ib. p. 238. (a) Pag. 36. (a) In omnium Animis Deorum Notionem natura ipsa impressit De Nat. Deorum lib. 1. (b) Quae Gens est aut quod Genu● Hominum quòd non habeat sine Doctrinâ anticipationem quandam Deorum quam appellat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epicurus Ib. c. 32. (c) Tuscul. Quaest. l. 1. De Legib. l. 1. (d) Vid. Epist. 117 118. De Benefic 4.4 (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adv. Mathem p. 314. (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dis. 1. p. 5. (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Coelo l. 1. c. 3. (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Aristot. Metaph. l. 14. c. 8. p. 483. Paris 1654.