Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A51813
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Of religious prudence a sermon preach'd before the Queen at White-Hall, on Sunday, Sept. 17, 1693 / by Thomas Mannyngham ...
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Manningham, Thomas, 1651?-1722.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing M494; ESTC R6637
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11,806
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31
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a total Ruine or a translation from one People to another to make it evident that the Providence of God is over all and disposes things for the best Advantage of the World that there may be a Dispensation of Temporal Calamities for those Kingdoms which are otherwise incorrigible who may be sure of Prosperity when they veturn to their Vertue again Most of those Persons who make use of unjust means to free themselves from any present Distress or to advance themselves to any Eminency in the World besides the direct Impiety of their Hearts have usually such poor and narrow minds as cannot contemplate the Providence of God with any due extent of Thought nor consider things with those Relations and with those Consequences in the viewing of which the Excellency of Man above other Creatures does consist and the proper Wisdom of his Mind is display'd And shall we allow those to be Prudent who neither Reason nor Consider who never weigh the Justice and Expediency of an Action which depends upon Laws and Permissions but run from every thing that displeases and rush upon every thing that they fancy without any respect to the Obligations of Honesty and Right If to avoid what one dislikes and to obtain what one desires by any means whatever were all that were requir'd in Prudence then common Instinct might serve the Turn as well as Reason for that supplies some Creatures with Tricks and Shifts enough to compass and effect their little Ends But a Natural Sagacity is not sufficient for Man who is accountable for his Actions who must engage on no Designs but what are Rational nor pursue them by any means but what are Just and Lawful That Wisdom which degenerates into Craft is but equivocally call'd Wisdom 't is really Folly a mischievous shifting Artificial Folly that conceals it self a while but throws off its disguise at last that looks like wise and prosperous Management for some time but ends in Ignominious Ruine The Man of Integrity and Conscience needs no Arts of Dissimulation the more he appears the sooner is he trusted and the more he depends on God and his own Sincerity the better he succeeds Tho' Honesty and true Prudence can never be really separated in the main Actions of Life yet it is better to live without the Opinion of Prudence than without that of Honesty for do but separate the Opinion of Integrity from any one and then the more Intellectual and Subtil he is the more he is suspected and avoided but Men will put a great Confidence in him who has an honest Heart and a good Meaning tho' he has not so large a reach of Understanding as the other There is a Natural Presage that things will succeed well in the Hands of those who are Vertuous that a Propitiousness will attend them in all their Undertakings that what they want in Contrivance will be made up by a Felicity of Event Whereas 't is generally expected that Wickedness should befool the greatest Parts give a check to the boldest Spirits and blast the best Designs Wherefore there is no surer way to Honour and Eminence even in wicked Times than to have a general Reputation of being a Person of true Piety and Conscience He shall have the Favour of the People and the Love of his Country when the Man of Impiety and ill Morals tho' never so extraordinary in other Respects shall be secretly despis'd and the Hypocrite tho' never so close and specious for a while shall be detected and dismiss'd with Confusion An Uprightness of Action a Constancy in Vertue and unmovable Frame of Mind and Resolution of always pursuing what is Just and Beneficial to the Publick by right and laudable ways is that which will make a Man Fortunate or deserving to be so in the general Esteem of Mankind 't will make him truly Valuable even without Riches or Titles t will make him truly Great and Reverenc'd and fit for the highest Trust tho' he be not imploy'd But for the most part 't is the ready and direct Road to all the desirable things of this Life Justice being the surest Path to Greatness honest Dealing the most provable way of growing Rich and those being usually the most respected and the most belov'd who walk through this World and its several Stages of Duty in the plain Garb of Integrity and Truth To separate Political Prudence from Religion is not only Impiety but the extremity of Folly too For is Man able to over-rule the various Contingencies of this Life Can he fix the Thoughts Can he determine and point the Affections of others to his particular Designs And yet a Concurrence of these is requir'd to every Event and Mankind in all Ages were so sensible of this that in their more considerable Undertakings they always made an especial Application to some Superior Power Liberty of Intention and Design with the Care of Preparations is all that Man can boast of but the Success of Actions depends on Circumstances without his reach Therefore Men were still desirous of knowing what was the Divine Will as to those Affairs in which they were ready to engage Many of the Eastern Nations attempted to read the Will of their Gods in the Stars and Constellations the Grecians consulted their famous Oracles and the Romans depended much upon their Auguries but the Holy Scriptures are our standing Oracle where God has deliver'd his Immutable Will that he will destroy the wisdom of the World scatter the proud in the imagination of their Hearts and though a sinner do evil an hundred times and his days he prolonged yet Solomon assures us as of the Decree of God that it shall be well with them that fear the Lord Eccles 8.12 2. I shall endeavour to shew that the Pious Person in the main is the truly Judicious If we would speak according to the Accuracy of Moral Writers Wisdom is the Knowledge of things Great Admirable and Divine whereby the Mind is rais'd and enlarg'd into delightful Contemplations and Prudence is a right Practical Judgment or the Skill of judging what we are to do and what not and of distinguishing between Good and Evil and the degrees of each And tho' Prudence in the common acceptation of the World passes now for any Cunning Contrivance for any dextrous Management of an Affair whatever means are us'd yet the ancient Moralists never allow'd a wicked Man to be call d Prudent They readily grant that such an one may have a subtilty of Judgment and an acuteness in speculative Studies and that he may be well skill'd in all the Mysteries of Craft but they unanimously declare that a wicked Life corrupts the very Principles of true Prudence and right Reason which cannot dwell with Passions and irregular Desires Prudence is that Vertue or Power of the Soul whereby the Mind deliberates rightly and finds out what is best to be done when all things are consider'd or it helps us to discover what are the best Means
Of Religious Prudence A SERMON Preach'd before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL On Sunday Sept. 17. 1693. By Thomas Mannyngham Rector of St. Andrew-Holborn and Chaplain in Ordinary to Their MAJESTIES Publish by her Majesty's Special Command LONDON Printed for William Crooke at the Green Dragon without Temple-Barr 1694. Prov. VIII Verse 12. former part I Wisdom dwell with Prudence ALtho' Wisdom be brought in by Solomon in this Chapter speaking of her self as a Person and upon that account many of the Ancients in their Interpretations have understood it mystically of the Eternal Son of God the Wisdom of the Father from whom all true Wisdom is derived yet according to the common Language and general design of these Proverbial Writings Wisdom stands for Religion and Religion is express'd by the Fear of God Prudence is either Universal or Particular Universal Prudence is the same with the Doctrine of Morality the Application of the most proper means viz. Vertuous Actions towards the acquiring the chief End the Happiness of Man And Particular Prudence is distinguish'd by the different Objects and Ends about which it is conversant and is the prosecution of any lawful Design by such Methods as shall appear to be best upon a due Consideration of Circumstances That which is immediately signifi'd by the Words of the Text I Wisdom dwell with Prudence is this That there is an inseparable Connexion between Religion and Prudence that one cannot be without the other neither Religion without Prudence nor Prudence without Religion One would think that this were so plain a Truth that it could bear no enlargement either for the Illustrating or the Confirming of it But he who considers what perversness of Opinions obtains among Mankind arising from the corruption of their Manners and the immoderate love of present Life will be ready to acknowledge that there are those in the World who frame to themselves a Notion of Prudence which has no dependance upon Religion and practise it without any regard to the Laws of Justice And on the other side whoever considers what an unaccountable awe Superstition imprints on the Minds and Consciences of some and how often it happens that a Zeal without Knowledge passes for the height of Piety will readily confess that there are many who pretend to be very Devout but they want that Prudence which should justifie their Actions and adorn their Religion And now upon this view of things my Text which asserts a necessary Connexion between Religion and Prudence will bear an enlargement in these Three respects I. That there is no true Political Prudence but what is founded upon Religion or the Fear of God II. That the Pious Man is in the main the truly Prudent and Judicious Person III. I shall shew what great use there is of a particular Prudence in the Conduct of a Religious Life 1. There is no true Political Prudence but what is founded upon Religion or the Fear of God God has deliver'd the World not only to the Enquiries and Disputations of Men but in a great measure he has given them the Government of it too reserving to himself a Power over Nature and a Prerogative over all humane Counsels and Actions We may study and observe those Laws of Motion which are imprinted on the Universe as accurately and as nicely as we can but we must not exclude the First Mover who gave beginning to and still sustains those Powers which we call Nature We may likewise carry on our Publick Affairs and Private Business by the exactest Rules of honest Management and wise Dispatch but then we must ascribe the success of all to the Providence of God who over-rules things into what Events he pleases and brings to pass his own Counsels by humane endeavours The first Corruption in Natural Philosophy consisted in the pretending to give an account of the World and its Original without an infinite Understanding and First Mover And the main Corruption of Prudence does consist in attempting the Government of the World by humane Policy without a due submission to the Providence of God But as the most ancient and best Philosophers never undertook to explain Nature without having recourse to an Infinite Spirit and Mind so we find in this Book of Proverbs that the ancient Political Prudence was founded on the Fear of God For so Wisdom speaks in this Chapter Counsel is mine and sound wisdom I am understanding I have strength By me Kings reign and Primes decree justice By me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the earth Prov. VIII 14 15 16. Because in the ordinary course of things the general Influence of a Superior Being is collected only by Reason and Inference and the particular working of Secondary Causes is conspicuous to Sence and manifest to common Experience it often happens that the proud Reasoners and the sensual part of Mankind either wholly deny a Providence or attribute very little to its Superintendency and Power But then these are the Persons whose Counsels are generally blasted and who are often scatter'd in their own Imaginations Tho' they prosper in some few Attempts yet their main Design miscarries and when the wise Ends of Providence are seiv'd their vain Projections are dash'd in pieces We indeed are desirous of seeing these Disappointments of the Wicked much sooner than they commonly happen but we forget how a Providential Dispensation usually takes a large circuit and is not so soon finish d as our Impatience would have it In these Matters we are to govern our Persuasions by what has already been done in other Ages and if any thing appear very Irregular to us at present we may be assur'd upon the confidence of former Events that Divine Wisdom will bring it into its proper Channel again The Universal History of the World and the Particular Histories of Kingdoms and of some more Eminent Families are full of the Tragical Ends of those proud Politicians who thought to govern without God and to be prudent without Religion Their unjust Methods succeeded for some time for the Punishment of a degenerate People and then the Executioners themselves receiv d the like Chastisement from another sett of prospering Sinners who having scourg'd their Generation fell at last under the same Indignation which they had measur'd to others The horrible Wickedness of Mankind seems to have made the permission of some sort of successive Tyranny almost necessary in the World from the ancient Times of Nimrod through all the Four Great Monarchies But the exceeding degeneracy of Christians seems to have given occasion for the multiplying of that Evil and for the erecting many Tyrannies in the World at one time The Antichristian Polity the Turkish Empire and the French Ambition do all contribute to the punishing of wicked Christians for certainly 't is our Impiety that is the principal Reason why these great Tyrannies are permitted in the World Yet even These shall have their signal Judgments their Devastations and Decays either