Selected quad for the lemma: father_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
father_n	believe_v	faith_n	holy_a	10,213	4	5.4982	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A71259	The characters of divine revelation a sermon preached at St. Martins in the Fields, March 4. 1694/5 : being the third of the lecture for the ensuing year, founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esquire / by John Williams ...	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.; Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691.	1695 (1695)	Wing W2696; ESTC R1810	13,869	36

requisite to the Proof of a Revelation somewhat peculiar to it and that so belongs to it as not to be common to any thing with it And that is a Point I shall now take into Consideration Toward the clearer Proof of which I shall distribute it after a Threefold manner 1. I shall consider the case of such as were themselves inspired and to whom the Revelation was made and how they could be satisfied of the Truth of such a Revelation 2. The case of those that received the matter revealed immediately from the Persons inspired and how they were to judge of the Truth of such a Revelation 3. The case of those that lived in Ages remote from that of the Inspired Persons and after that the Revelation was compleated as was the case of the Jews more especially that lived between the time of Malachi and John the Baptist and as the case is of all Christians since the Apostolical times and what Satisfaction and Evidence may there be expected in those Circumstances 1. The Case of those that received the Revelation and how they themselves could be satisfied about the Certainty of such a Revelation The Resolution of this Point belongs in part to the Third General under which the Difference remains to be shewed between a Revelation and Imagination But I shall not wholly refer it thither There seems to be so near an Affinity between Revelation and Imagination and Imagination is so far operative in many Branches of Inspiration that 't is very difficult to set out the bounds exactly and to say This is of Divine Inspiration and this the effect of Fancy But whatever it may seem to us that have no Sensation or Experience of such Divine Representations as the Prophets had and so 't is no more possible for us to describe it than 't is for one that never had his Sight to conceive what Light and Colour is Yet as the blind man may be convinced that there are such things as Light Colour Figure and Sight by what he hears and observes from those that are about him and that he converses with So we may be as well assured that there was in Prophetical Schemes that powerful Representation on the part of the Divine Agent and that clearness of Perception on the part of the Person Inspired as would abundantly make good those Phrases of Vision and Speaking by which it is described in Scripture and which may well be supposed as much more to advantage as the Power that operated upon them was beyond that of mere Imagination So that those Inspired Persons after such Illumination might as well question what they heard or saw by the Natural Organs of Sense as doubt of what was revealed to them by the Impressions made upon them through the Agency of the Divine Spirit To deny this is to deny that God can so communicate himself to an Intelligent Creature that the Creature shall certainly know that it proceeds from his immediate Suggestion which I have before shewed it is unreasonable to question And indeed what is no more to be questioned or denied because we our selves have no experience of it than the Blind from their Birth can reasonably question or deny there is what we call Light and Colour or the Deaf that there are Sounds Voices and Words because they have no Notion or Idea of these things Now if we think it reasonable that the Deaf and the Blind should notwithstanding a Natural Inaptitude and Incapacity in themselves assent to what all Mankind besides do unanimously aver and not call in question the Truth or Possibility of what is thus affirmed because of their want of Sensation So it is not fit or reasonable to think this way of Revelation never was and cannot be because we have not an experimental knowledge of such a Manifestation For Almighty God can so clarify the Understanding by a Beam of Light let in from above as shall be as evident a Proof of its Divine Original as it is that the Light proceeds from the Sun the Fountain of it or as a Person himself is sure of the Truth of any Proposition which by an Argument before unthought of or unconsider'd he comes to be fully convinced of in spight of all former Prejudices and Opinions So little Truth or Reason is there in a bold Assertion of a certain Author That Revelation is uncertain and never certain without a sign And therefore saith he Abraham Moses and Gideon asked a Sign over and above Revelation But it is far from being true that those persons therefore desired a Sign because they conceived the Revelation to be uncertain or that they doubted of the truth of it but as a Sign was for the greater confirmation of their Faith in some Points difficult to be believed or in some very difficult Services for Faith as other Graces is capable of Addition and Improvement In which cases their asking a Sign is no more an evidence of their distrust of God or a doubting of the Truth and Certainty of the Revelation than God's confirming his Promise by an Oath was an evidence that he thought not his Word sufficient without it or than Abraham could be supposed not obliged to believe upon a Promise alone without that superabundant confirmation of an Oath Heb. 6.17 Thus it was even in the case of that Holy Patriarch to which this Author refers where before ever he asked a Sign he is said to have so believed in the Lord that it was counted to him for righteousness Gen. 15.6 8. his Faith was highly commended and he is for that reason called the father of the faithful So that Revelation may be certain when there is no Sign and the person was bound to believe it and was obliged by it as well where there was no Sign as where there was I grant when the Revelation comes at second hand to a person and rests on Human Testimony on the Ability and Sincerity of the Relater or person supposed to be inspired there needs some farther Evidence some Sign or Signs that are to be as it were the Credentials from Heaven since all men are liars Psal. 116.11 that is may be deceived or may deceive may either be so weak as to be imposed upon by their own Imagination or the Imposture and Practices of Evil Spirits or be so wicked as under the pretence of Revelation and Inspiration to impose upon others In such a case no man's Affirmation or Pretence is ordinarily to be heeded further than as he is able to produce such Testimonies as are really as Divine as he would have his Revelation accounted to be But when a person is himself the Recipient to whom the Revelation is imparted there is no absolute need of a Sign or further Evidence to ascertain the Truth of it to him when if God so pleases the Revelation of it self might be made as clear as it could be made by the Sign What need is there of a sign to prove

Mankind would not only desire but what is best and most necessary for them to know And what is there more material and of greater Importance than to be satisfied about the Origine of all things and how they came at first to be What more desirable than since God is infinitely good and consequently could produce nothing that is in it self evil than to know how the Nature of Mankind came to be corrupted and that where there is such a clear sense of the difference between good and evil such Convictions following that Sense such Memento's and such Presignifications such Reflections upon it that there should be such a Potent Sway Bent and Propension to Evil that with all their Care it can never be prevented or totally exterminated What more desirable than to know what Nature and Reason of it self is insufficient for when we can get no further than a Video meliora proboque c. in the Apostle's Language The good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do may be otherwise effected that these Inclinations may be subdued and Nature brought to a Regular State What more desirable than to know how after all God may be appeased Forgiveness may be obtained and that heavy load upon Human Nature arising from the Guilt of a Man's Mind may be removed Lastly What more desirable than to know the Certainty and Condition of a Future State and how we may attain to the Happiness of it These and the like used to be the Prime Questions which all and especially the most thoughtful and considerate part of Mankind sought but in vain for Satisfaction in And therefore since Revelation is to make up the Defects of Natural Light and is as well for the satisfaction of Mankind as to be worthy of God we may reasonably expect that these should be the chief Subject of such Revelation And a Revelation without this that should leave Mankind in the same Circumstances of Ignorance and Dissatisfaction as they were in before such Revelation is no more to be esteemed than that Course of Physick which after all Pretences to Infallibility leaves a Person as much under the Power of his Disease as before he followed those Prescriptions It is no Revelation and can have no Pretence to such a Venerable Title But when the Subject is Great Noble and Sublime thus worthy of God and thus beneficial to Mankind When there is an exact Concord between the Principles of Nature and Reason and that all falls in with the true and just Notion we have of things When there is an Harmony through the whole we have good reason to say This if any is the Revelation And as far as these Characters belong to Revelation so much reason have we to believe the Matter of Scripture to be such as I shall afterwards shew when I come to examine the Revelation of Scripture by these Characters 3. It would be very desirable toward the Confirmation of a Revelation and for the Satisfaction of those that are required to believe it that there be an Evidence and Testimony as Extraordinary as the Matter Revealed is and the Authority it rests upon such as the one is such in reason ought the other to be And that is Divine Attestation A Divine Attestation I account that to be which exceeds the Power and is out of the Road of Nature for nothing less can change the Course and alter the Law of Nature but that which is above Nature and gave Law to it and it must be somewhat above Nature that can be a sufficient Witness to what is Supernatural And this may justly be required to justify the Truth of a Revelation and to distinguish it from Enthusiasm and Imposture For when the Case is such as Moses puts it Exod. 4.1 c. They will not believe me nor hearken to my voice for they will say the Lord hath not appeared unto thee there needs somewhat beyond a bare Affirmation to support the Credit of the Revelation and the Authority of him that pretends to it And accordingly he was endued with a Power of working Miracles That saith the Text they may believe that the God of their fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob hath appeared to thee A sort of Evidence as that implies that is very necessary and what may reasonably be demanded and which is a Proof of the highest nature and what as all ordinarily can judge of being a matter of Sense so where it is true what we are to be concluded by The first thing then required and to be considered is the Reality of the thing That there is such an Alteration in the Course and State of Nature which our own Senses will inform us in The next thing is That this Alteration cannot proceed from any Natural or Created Cause for that would be to set Nature above it self The last thing is That this Alteration in Nature is brought about for such an end and is solely for the sake of that Revelation and to give Testimony to it Where this is there is the Finger of God and an Infallible Proof of the Truth and Certainty of what it is to witness to Now let us lay all this together and see what it amounts to viz. The Capacity Ability and Integrity of the Persons to whom this Revelation is made the Unanimity and Consent of Persons remote and distant in Time and Place the Usefulness and Reasonableness the Excellency Sublimity and Perfection of the Doctrine they taught the Testimony given to them by such Operations and Productions as exceed the Power of Created Causes and are wholly from the Supreme Where these are concurring and with one mouth as it were giving in their Evidence we may say it is the Voice of God and that it is his Revelation which carries upon it the conspicuous Stamp of his Authority For God cannot be supposed to bear witness to a Falshood and to set up that as a Light to direct men in their Enquiry which is no other than an Ignis Fatuus and tends to their unavoidable Amusement and Deception But supposing those that were Cotemporaries with Inspired Persons had all these concurring Evidences for their satisfaction yet what is this to those that live in Times distant and remote from them and have it only by Tradition of Persons uninspired or as contained in certain Books said to be wrote by Persons inspired This brings me to the last Point which is 3. The Case of those that live in After-Ages when Inspiration is not pretended to and Miracles have ceased and so want those Advantages for their Satisfaction which they that were coetaneous with Inspired Persons might receive and yet being obliged alike to believe as the other must be supposed to have sufficient Authority and Proof for what they are to believe And then the Question is What is that Evidence which will be sufficient for them to ground their Belief upon I answer 1. That if such have all