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heart_n affection_n love_n thought_n 2,136 5 6.6030 4 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A52431 Reason and religion, or, The grounds and measures of devotion, consider'd from the nature of God, and the nature of man in several contemplations : with exercises of devotion applied to every contemplation / by John Norris ... Norris, John, 1657-1711. 1689 (1689) Wing N1265; ESTC R19865 86,428 282

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in God I might appeal to experience For let any Comtemplative Person try whether this be not the first thing he conceives when he hears the Name of God. But I demonstrate it thus The first thing which is conceivable in God must be the first thing that can absolutely be conceiv'd But Being it self is the first thing that can absolutely be conceiv'd Therefore Being it self is the first thing which is conceivable in God. XX. The Assumption I suppose will pass unquestion'd with all For what can we possibly conceive before Being it self The Proposition I prove thus God is the first or there is nothing before God And therefore the first thing which is conceivable in God must be the first thing that can absolutely be conceiv'd Otherwise there would be something before God which is against the supposition The conclusion therefore follows That Being it self is the first thing which is conceivable in God and consequently that the true Idea God is Being it self which was the thing to be proved The Vse of this to Devotion IF then God be Being it self there is Infinite reason why we should Love Fear Reverence and Adore him For what an inlarged indeterminate transcendental universalized thing is Being it self There is a vast Amplitude in the degrees of particular Beings and inconceivable almost is the disproportion between an intelligence of the highest order and a peice of dead impoverish'd matter But what is this to the disproportion between the highest particular Being nay all the particular Beings that are or can be and Being it self This is that which truely is all other things are but shadows and phantasms Being it self is its own Basis and Foundation the great contrariety to nothing the steddy and inmost support and establishment of all things that have Being and the fountain of all that can be 'T is an Ocean without a Shore a depth without a bottom In short 't is such an immense Amplitude as a Man cannot duly think of without the profoundest impressions of awe and reverence humility and self-annihilation love and wonder fear and great joy The Aspiration O Thou whose Name is Iehovah who art the very Essence of Being who art Being it self how can I ever sufficiently Love Fear Reverence and Adore thee Thou art above all the Affections of my Heart all the motions of my Will yea and all the conceptions of my Vnderstanding No sooner do I begin to think of thee but I am plunged beyond my depth my thoughts are all swallow'd up and overwhelm'd in their first Approach to thy Essence and I shall sooner lose my self than find thee O dreadful Excellence I tremble to think of thy Essence my soul turns her self from thee She cannot look forward She pants She burns She languishes is beaten back with the light of thy Glories and returns to the familiarity of her own Darkness not because She chuses it but because She is Weary O soveraign greatness how am I impoverish'd how am I contracted how am I annihilated in thy Presence Thou only art I am not Thou art all I am nothing But 't is well O my God that I am nothing so thou art all 't is well I am not in my self so I am in thee O Being it self 't is in thee that I live move and have my being Out of thee I am nothing I have nothing I can do nothing I am but little and inconsiderable with thee and what then should I be without thee To thee therefore I devote and dedicate my whole self for I am wholly thine I will ever live to thee since I must ever live in thee And oh let my Beloved be ever Mine as I am and ever will be His. Amen Contemplation II. That God is a Being absolutely Perfect proved from the Preceding general Idea of God. I. FRom the Essences of things slow all their Attributes and Perfections Having therefore in the preceding Contemplation fix'd the Essence and Idea of God in Being it self I shall now in the first place hence deduce that he is a Being absolutely perfect This has been hitherto taken for the very formal conception and Idea of God and accordingly has been made the ultimate ground and foundation to prove all his other Perfections but has rather been supposed than proved it self But now I make this the first general Attribute of God to be a Being absolutely Perfect The proof and deduction of which from his Idea is the concern of the present Contemplation II. Let us therefore reassume the Idea of God which if we attend to we shall discern that absolute perfection is vertually involv'd in it and consequently that God is a Being absolutely Perfect The Idea of God as we have shewn is Being it self Now I consider in the first place that Being it self contains in it all the degrees of Being and consequently all possible Perfection The Argument in form runs thus Whatever has all the degrees of Being has all Perfection But Being it self has all the degrees of Being Therefore Being it self has all Perfection III. The proof of the first proposition will depend upon this that Perfection is nothing else but degree of Being If this be once made out then it plainly follows that whatever has all the degrees of Being has all Perfection Now to prove that Perfection is nothing else but degree of Being I consider first that all Perfection is by Addition For the more Perfect any thing is the more it has But now all Addition is by the Accession of something that really is For nothing though never so often repeated will add nothing And therefore Perfection is nothing else but a further degree of Being IV. This I confirm by considering further that every thing is perfect just so far as it is and according to the mode of Being so is the mode of perfection Thus vertue is no otherwise the perfection of a Man than as he is vertuous nor strength than as he is strong And so in all other instances according as any thing is so is its Perfection And so on the contrary all imperfection is want of Being and every thing is just so far imperfect as it is not some way or other Now if every thing be so far perfect or imperfect respectively as it either is or is not then it clearly follows that perfection it self is nothing else but degree of Being V. Again I consider that 't is impossible that perfection should be any thing else but degree of Being For there is nothing in the world but Being If therefore one thing be more perfect than another it must be it can be for no other reason but because it has more degrees of Being there not being any thing else whereby it may exceed For I think the case is here as in Numbers One number excceds another not by any vertue or quality of another kind but only by the multiplication of the same units And so one Being exceeds or is more perfect than another