Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A66060
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Sermons preach'd upon several occasions before the King at White-Hall by the Right Reverend Father in God, John Wilkins ... ; to which is added, A discourse concerning the beauty of providence by the same author.
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Wilkins, John, 1614-1672.
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1677
(1677)
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Wing W2213; ESTC R22933
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57,878
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194
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SERMONS PREACH'D Upon several Occasions Before the KING AT WHITE-HALL By the Right Reverend Father in God JOHN WILKINS late Lord Bishop of CHESTER To which is added A DISCOURSE Concerning the Beauty of Providence By the same Author LONDON Printed by H. Cruttenden for Robert Sollers in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1677. TO THE Right Honourable GEORGE Lord BERKELEY Lord of Berkeley Mombray Seagrave and Bruce Custos Rotulorum of the Counties of Gloucester and Surrey and Governour of the LEVANT COMPANY May it please your Lordship HAving these scattered Discourses in my custody and wholly at my disposal either to republish or suffer them to sleep in that darkness wherein they lay I thought it very incongruous to the necessities of this degenerate age to let the excellent works of so learned pious and worthy a Prelate be extinct and lye hid from the open view of the World sith they are none of the worst of which this Great Man was pleased to bless our times with These Sermons were fram'd for and preached before a Great and Regal Auditory though by their plain natural and unaffected Style a thing he always delighted in one would have thought the contrary since the Chappels as well as Courts of Princes are by byass'd and self-interested principles so often flatter'd And now I thought no man so fitting as your Lordship to shelter these Discourses from the rage and fury of the Atheistical Male-Contents of the Age they being the Fundamentals of Religion that he treats of which I am very sensible your Lordship well knows are not only slighted but bid open defiance to and the Authority of their Institution call'd in question That man would certainly be held a notorious Delinquent that should openly affront the King and disown that Authority and Legislative Power by which he commands Obedience to his Laws The Consequent may be justly applicable in the words of a Reverend and Learned Writer of our times But to Blaspheme God and Deride his Service seems to have a much greater malignity in it inasmuch as our obligations to his Honour and Service are much greater than they can be to any created Being And to such kind of men it may be said in the words of a Noble Author Agnoscant vero hanc suam formam tanquam in speculo miseri perditi illi qui Deum obliviscendo se sui oblitos non vident quia formam naturamque essentiam quantum in se est obliterarunt That I make this DedicatoryEpistle proceeds not from a desire thus publickly to expose my self for as I can have no interest to court the applause so neither have I any reason to value the censure of the World but it is from a sincere principle to express that Reverence I bear your Lordship whom I know as you have Goodness to pardon so I presume to your Honour will be both ready and willing to stand in the defence of this bold Address That Length of Days may be in your Right Hand and in your Left Riches and Honour is the Hearty and Affectionate Prayer of him who desires nothing more than to subscribe himself in all the circumstances of a becoming Devoir My LORD Your Lordship 's most Humble and most Obedient Servant J. G. TO THE READER WHen first these Discourses were sent to the Press there was neither Epistle nor Preface design'd but it being a thing altogether uncouth and unusual I was unwilling to affect any thing of singularity and in this affair to be so great a friend to the Bookseller and Printer as to follow the common Road. If there is any thing in the Publisher that thou maist call folly or presumption it was done through ignorance or inadvertency and since I acknowledg my fault I hope you will pardon it As for the following Discourses they are so admirably well pen'd and their contexture so smooth and even that they are beyond all imaginable praise It would argue nothing less than presumption to speak in their behalf and it needs nothing more than the name of its Author to Recommend it to the World Farewel A SERMON Preached before the KING AT WHITE-HALL In Lent 1669. PROV 3. 16 17. Length of days is in her right hand and in her left hand Riches and Honour Her ways are ways of Pleasantness and all her Paths are Peace THE chief design of the Wise-man in this Text is to set forth the many great advantages that belong to Religion in order to which he doth here enumerate those five principal things that must contribute to a compleat state of Happiness in this World namely Health and Riches and Honour and Pleasure and Peace and asserts concerning them that they are the proper effects of that wisdom which consists in being Religious This he expresses by way of Allegory representing Wisdom as is usual for other Virtues in the shape of a Woman or Queen with her Arms extended in the posture of directing and rewarding her Followers holding in her right-hand the blessing of Health or length of Days the great Promise of the Law to which the Precedence of the right-hand is therefore given because it is amongst all worldly Blessings the greatest and most desirable that without which a man cannot enjoy any thing else nor so much as his own self Length of days is in her right-hand And then for those other things whicâ— the generality of men do so much covet and labour after Wealth and Reputation these likewise are at her disposal and must proceed from her gift And in her left-hand Riches and Honour And as for the Cheerfulness of our conditions he affirms that the truest Pleasure must be found in those ways that are directed by her Her ways are ways of Pleasantness And because there are several things which have some present delight in them seeming to drop as the Honey-comb and to be smoother than Oyl and yet upon trial do prove in the issue bitter as Wormwood and sharp as a two-edged Sword therefore 't is added that her ways are not only pleasant but they are likewise safe and quiet all her paths are Peace That these things are the effects of Religion is here only affirmed which to them who believe the Authority of Scripture is evidence sufficient But it were easy to prove this concerning each of them by all other kinds of evidence of which such matters are capable I purpose at this time to treat only concerning the third of them namely Honour as being the most proper Subject for this Presence and Auditory And that this can only be attain'd by Religion and Virtue I doubt not but to prove with so much strength and perspicuity as shall be sufficient to convince any oâ—â— who will but attend and considâ—r In order to this I shall first endeavour 〈◊〉 state the true nature of Hoâ—â—â—â— and to shew wherein the most proper Notion of it doth consist 't is an equivocal word and is capable of various sences First Sometimes 't is used