Selected quad for the lemma: world_n
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A26126
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The Christian physician by Henry Atherton, M.D.
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Atherton, Henry, M.D.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing A4112; ESTC R35287
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159,440
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417
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So assist us continually with thy grace that we may be able to repel all the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil Teach us to deny all Vngodliness and every worldly Lust and to live more Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World that so having our Fruits unto holiness here we may have our ends Everlasting Life And grant O Lord we may not only cease to do evil but we may also learn to do well that we may have respect unto all thy Commandments and serve thee by a sincere uniform impartial Obedience all the days of our lives giving all diligence to add unto our Faith Vertue to Vertue Temperance to Temperance Chastity to Chastity Humility to Humility Meekness to Meekness Brotherly kindness Charity Preseverance and every Christian Grace That we may at length arrive to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ to be such as thou wouldest have us to be holy in all manner of conversation even as thou our God art Holy Prepare us for all Conditions that thou shalt see fit to call us unto here in this life and give us hearts truly thankful submissive and contented in all thy disposals Give us a sanctified use of all thy Creatures and such a portion of those Temporals as may best secure our eternal concerns Mind us of Death and Judgment That we dwell in Houses of Clay whose Foundation is in the dust that when a few days are past we shall go the way whence we shall not return and that it will not be long before we shall stand at thy just Tribunal and be callâ—d to give an account of all our Actions in the Flesh whether they be good or evil Give us Grace therefore all the days of our appointed time to wait until our change shall come That we may be continually trimming our Lamps and waiting for the coming of the Bridegroom that at whatsoever hour he calls for us we may be ready to enter in and be admitted to sit down at the Eternal Supper of the Lamb. Neither desire we a blessing for our selves alone but for the whole race of Mankind Let the knowledg of the Lord cover the Earth as the Waters cover the Sea Let the people praise thee O God yea let all the people praise thee More especially bless we beseech thee the Congregation of Christs Church however dispersed over the face of the whole Earth Have a particular regard to that Church and Nation in which we live Bless the principal Member of it our gracious Soveraign Lord the King the Queen and all the Royal Family Bless all that wait at thine Altar by what Names or Titles dignified or distinguished Grant that they may speak as the Oracles and live as the Messengers of God Bless all to whom thou hast committed the Sword of Justice let them not bear it in vain but so use it as to be a terror to evil doers and a praise to them that do well Bless all the Commonalty of this Land every one of us in our several places and relations and grant that we may all live in the true Faith and Fear of thee our God in humble obedience to the King and in brotherly Love and Charity one towards another Bind up the broken hearted Give liberty to the Captives and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound Comfort all that mourn in Zion give unto them Beauty for Ashes the Oyl of Joy for Mourning and the Garment of praise for the Spirit of Heaviness And as we pray unto thee so we desire likewise to laud and praise thee for all thy Mercies Spiritual and Temporal towards us for thy protection of us this Night for all the Mercies of the Week past to our Souls and Bodies More especially we beseech thee accept our praises for the great Mercies of this day for all the wonderful works of thy Creation and for the providential care and provision made for every one of them That thou hast appointed us certain seasons and opportunities to Worship and Adore thee even for our own good But above all we acknowledg thy inestimable benefits bestowed upon us in Jesus Christ We praise thee for his immaculate Conception and Incarnation his holy Life and bitter Death for his glorious Resurrection upon this day for the Mission of his blessed Spirit and continual Intercession for us at thy right hand for all the means of Grace and the hopes of Glory We praise thee for the glorious Company of the Apostles for the goodly Fellowship of the Prophets for the Noble Army of Martyrs and for all other thy Saints and Servants departed this life in thy Faith and Fear beseeching thee to give us grace so to follow their good Examples that we together with them may be partakers of a glorious Resurrection unto life everlasting And now O Lord seeing this is thy day a day which thou hast sanctified and set apart for thy Service be pleased to give us Grace wholly to devote it unto thy glory Make us more watchful over all â—ur thoughts words and actions than on other days and so assist us with thy holy Spirit that we may perform all those Duties thou requirest of us in such manner as they may be well pleasing and acceptable in thy sight Fit and prepare us for thy House of Prâ—yer and for the discharge of those great and weighty Duties which thou there expectest from us purifie bur hearts from all sin and inflame them with a Spiritual Zeal and Affection that we may enter into thy Gates with Thanksgiving and into thy Courts with Praise Give us Grace to come before thee with reverence and godly fear Make us servent in our Devotions answerable to our needs and necessities Give us hearing Ears understanding Hearts retentive Memories particular Application of it to our selves and holy Resolutions of practising it in our Lives and Conversations that we may return satisfied with the fulness of thy House and praise thee more and more Open thou the Mouths of thy Ministers every where this day O be present with the Assemblies of thy Saints Speaâ— unto thy Servants the Ministers that they may speak unto thy people and deliver unto every one such Doctrine as may be suitable and seasonable to the several Conditions of their Auditors That the most obdure sinner may be convinced and converted the most weak in faith may be strengthned the most dâ—jeâ—cted in spirit may be comforted And grant that all who speak and all that hear this day may add some Glory unto thy Name and receive some benefit and comfort to their own precious and immortal Souls Finally thou O Lord who knowest the several wants and necessities of all thy Servants O that thou wouldest be graciously pleased to put a word into the mouth of thy Minister which shall dispense thy holy Oracles unto us this day which may particularly respect our Condition whether it be for Comfort or Terror Reprehension or Exhortation
already by better Heads been so largely and learnedly discussed nor yet pretend to the invention of many new but only cull out a few which seem to me most cogent and convincing and which have given me the greatest confirmation of my own Faithin the Existence of a Deity SECTION I. Concerning God and what he is IT was not without great Reason advised by the Wisest of Kings that when we had a mind to speak any thing before God we should not be hasty to utter it and Aristotle teaches us Nunquam nos-verecundiores esse debere quam cum de diis agitur That we never ought to be more modest than when we have to do about God and there is no doubt but that when we speak not only before God but of him we ought most seriously to weigh our thoughts and words and with much caution produce them lest we should any way derogate from the Purity and Excellencies of so transcendent Majesty But when we have weighed and considered all that we can of him our Apprehensions are very narrow and scant and our Notions of him come infinitely short of his Divine Perfections For as he is Invisible to the Eye so he is Incomprehensible to the Mind Whatsoever we conceive it is but in part there is much more we cannot perceive nor comprehend He is represented to us a Spiritual and Incorporal Essence and till we come to be unbodied our selves we cannot perfectly conceive what he is so that we may conclude with Aristotle Hoc tantum scio me nihil scire This only we know that we know nothing or with a Diviner Authori Elihu Job 37.23 Touching the Almighty we cannot find him out There is no question but those that duly Worship and Honour God duly agnise and are acquainted with him But if the Atheist to whom the greatest part of this Discourse is directed should interrogate Where is your God Jovis omnia plena And bid us Worship what we know we answer God fills every place John 4.22 and we know what we Worship and that is the true God whose Nature and Infinity though we who are but finite Creatures cannot sufficiently comprehend yet he is more cognoscible to us by his Perfections and Attributes than any other thing whatsoever Under the Notion therefore of a God I understand a Being that is Eternal Omniscient Omnipotent the Fountain of all Goodness Mercy and Truth the Creator of all things and finally that hath in himself the Complement of all Perfections This is a Glympse a general Notion that we now have of that most glorious God we Revere and Adore Job 26.14 We now hear of him but a little portion saith Job We know but in part 1 Cor. 13.12 and see him but darkly as through a Perspective Glass in the Works of his Creation but hereafter when this earthy Tabernacle of ours shall be dismantled We shall know him as we are known and see him face to face Our Eyes are now too weak to behold this dazling Sun but then they shall be strenghened and enlightned all mists dispelled and we shall with Cherubims and Seraphims admire its lustre and bear our part to him in that Divine Anthem Revel 4.11 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Let us learn then hence this Corollary That though God be invisible to the Eye and incomprehensible to the Mind and as Job says We cannot find him out in his perfection Job 11.7 Let us lay by our Sense and Reason and apprehend him now by Faith that so we may know him to our Salvation for ever SECT II. That the Existence of a God and a Providence in the World is as cleerly demonstrable as any Truth whatsoever IT hath been often disputed if there ever were and whether it is possible there ever should be such a Prodigy in Nature as a Speculative Atheist and it hath been generally carried in the Negative and for my part I can hardly believe that there is such a Monster in the World for amongst the immense number of Deities that remoter Nations have had and their disagreeings what Gods they ought to have yet none were so wild and barbarous as totally to renounce all Nulla gens est neque tam immansueta neque tam fera quae non etiamsi ignoret qualem habere deum deceat tamen habeâ—dum sciat Cicero de Legib. lib. 1. And again Nulla gens tam fera nemo omnium tam sitim manis cujus mentem non imbuerit deorum opinio Tusc Qu. lib. 1. So Seneca Nulla gens usquam estadeo extra leges moresque projecta ut non aliquos deos credat Epist 118. In omnium animis deorum notionem impressit ipsa natura Nature it self hath herein given Laws to the minds of Men. This is one of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 common Notions The Law written in our hearts and were there an Absolute impossibility to have this Notion ab Extra yet it is too deeply impress'd there by the God of Nature ever to be errased or obliterated Otherwise what can we think of those who have been born both Deaf and Dumb and understood nothing of any Character to be instructed by yet will give manifest Discoveries of their Apprehension of a God by paying him in their unintelligible way Homage and Adoration and often prostrating themselves on the Earth with their Eyes and Hands lifted up towards Heaven with the greatest seriousness and reverence imaginable This is a part of Piety St. Basil says we never learn'd but brought with us into the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as an impression made in us by the hand of Nature it self Men were heretofore so superstitious in the belief of a Deity that they those rather to err on the right hand than the left and would have too many rather then none at all They would have a Deity for every thing their Corn and their Wine and their Cattel and so that the Romans by that method had multiplied their Gods to above Thirty thousand and other Nations came not much behind them But alass our Age pretends to more light and indeed I think only too much hath dazled our Eyes that we cannot see as far as the Wisest Heathens Non praestat fides quod praestat infidelitas Even Fabricius Cato and Regulus will upbraid and shame many of us who call our selves Christians Heretofore only a few poor Indians Inhabitants of Soldania in Affrick and Cannibals of Ammerica or single persons as Diagoras Milesius Protagoras Abderites Lucian and no number much less Societies of Men ever denyed a Deity but now we need not go so far as those dark and barbarous Corners of the World to search for such Monsters as these who differ but little from the very Brutes we may find them much nearer home in Europe as