Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	body_n	earth_n	soul_n	16,341	5	5.1635	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B04702	An antidote against a careless indifferency in matters of religion. Being a treatise in opposition to those that believe, that all religions are indifferent, and that it imports not what men profess. / Done out of French. With an introduction by Anthony Horneck, D.D. Chaplain in ordinary to their Majesties.; Traité contre l'indifférence des religions. English	Pictet, Benedict, 1655-1724.; Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1694 (1694)	Wing P2153; ESTC R181787	77,076	145

God knows who believe that all Religions are Indifferent that the Chief Religion is to be Obedient to the Magistrates that Govern us that God is in truth the Center to which all our Devotion ought to tend but that it is of little Importance which way Men arrive at that Center provided they get thither and that there are several ways to be happy Vno itinere non posse perveniri ad tam grande Secretum according to Symmachus That we ought to be of the Religion of the People among whom we live and not to tye our selves to any one particular manner of serving God but to be initiated into all sorts of Religions Esse totius Mundi Sacrorum Antistitem as a Pagan said They who have given us Relations of the Belief of the Siamois or People of Siam report that they believe That God does not preserve the World but only for the sake of that Divertisement and pleasure which he takes in the Variety of Languages Creatures Habits and Religions that this same Medley produces the same Effect as the Diversity of Flowers in a Garden the difference of Meats at a Banquet or the Distinction of Offices in a Princes Palace for that in like manner God delights himself with inspiring into Mortals several manners of Adoring and Serving him and that we ought to believe 'em all to be good since they have all the same Object and bring Man home to his last End 'T is also said That the King of Siam made Answer to the Person who propos'd to him in the Name of an Ambassador from a Great Prince his turning Christian That he wonder'd the Prince should so much trouble himself in a business relating to God for which it did not appear that God did any way concern himself as having left it wholly to our Discretion For added he the True God who Created Heav'n and Earth and all the Creatures therein contain'd and who has given 'em Natures and Inclinations so different had he so pleas'd at the same time that he gave Men Bodies and Souls alike could have infus'd into 'em the same sentiments of the Religion which they were to profess and have Vnited all Nations under one Law But continued he 't is obvious that Providence permits diversity of Sects and Opinions because that God takes as much delight to be ador'd with different Forms of Worship and Ceremonies as to be glorifi'd by the Prodigious Variety of Creatures whose sundry Beauties publish his Infinite Power Now in regard there are too too many among those who call themselves Christians who with Banners display'd appear in defence of this Opinion concerning the Indifferency of Religion Our design is to Combat 'em in the following Chapters But first of all it behoves us to observe that they who are of this Opinion do not all uphold it after one and the same manner There are some who deny Providence others who will not have it to be concern'd in Matters of Religion There are some who assert the Mortality of our Soul Others aver that to speak properly there is no such thing as True or False Just or Vnjust but that every thing depends upon the Will of Man There are some who believe that Truth lies still in Darkness and that God has not reveal'd it Others that he has reveal'd it but so obscurely that there is no Heresie which may not be prov'd by the Word of God Others maintain that Peace is to be preferr'd before Truth and altogether cry up the great Good which would redound to the World from the Opinion of Indifferency in Religion Were but this Opinion every where receiv'd they say there would be no more Wars about Religion nor any more Contentions about Mysteries of Faith All Men would live together in perfect Unity and this Lower World would be a Little Heaven They extol the first Author of this Opinion as one that never can be too Highly applauded and erect Monuments and Statues to honour his Memory All Men they Cry ought to give God continual Thanks for sending such a Man into the World and at the same time are strangely troubl'd because he was not Immortal Let us now see whether this Opinion merits so many Elogies or rather whether it deserve not publick Execration And to the end that none may have reason to complain let us take all our Indifferents for I beg the favour that I may have leave to call 'em so one after another and let us impartially examine what they hold forth CHAP. IV. Against those who deny a Providence I Shall begin with those who not daring to maintain that there is no God yet presume to deny his Providence and assent with Epicurus that the Supream Deity never concerns himself with what is acted upon Earth That 't is a thing beneath the Grandeur of a Sovereign Being to take cognizance of the Petty Affairs of Mortals here below and so 't is very indifferent to Him of what Religion they are True it is that altho' the Love which it behoves us to have for Truth should always oblige us to ty● our selves up to the Belief of that Opinion which is most conformable to our receiv'd Idea's of God nevertheless it must be acknowledg'd that if there were no Providence we might conclude it needless for Man to torment himself about Religion and deem it lawful enough to make choice of that which best agrees with our Interests or with the Society with which we converse But 't is no difficult thing to refute this Opinion which with as good Reason might be call'd The Sponge of all Religions as a Persian Author once said the same thing of the Fatality of the Stoicks Nor shall I make use of any more then two or three Arguments to overthrow it without alledging any passages out of Scripture because I dispute with People that will not acknowledge it to be Divinely inspir'd First it must be acknowledg'd that they who deny a Providence never seriously consider'd what God is The Idea which we naturally have of God instructs us that he is the most perfect of all Beings that exist or may exist as already has been said Now can we believe that a God who should neglect his own Works and should shut himself up in Heaven without taking any care of what he has created can be a perfect Being seeing that among Men themselves those persons have been always look'd upon with the Highest contempt who neglect their own Affairs Fathers for example who never mind their own Children and those slothful Princes who like Sardanapalus abandon the care of their Dominions and leave their Subjects at liberty to do whatever sees good in their own Eyes How can such a sluggish Remissness a Negligence so unbecoming an imperfect Creature be thought to beseem the most perfect of all Beings At least it cannot be deny'd but that if God takes no care of his Creatures there must be a Being more perfect then he But this

to bid good speed to those that bring not the Doctrine of Christ for it appears that he speaks of the same Seducers who confess'd not that Jesus Christ was come in the Flesh Wherefore is it that he would have us stand so strictly upon our Guards when the business in Dispute is about the receiving a Doctrine or not receiving it if it were sufficient for a Man to correct his Manners to be Sav'd III. I draw a Third Argument from hence that the Doctor of the Gentiles thunders out Anathema's against those that press the observation of the Mosaic Ceremonies thô they carefully enjoyn'd the practise of the Moral Law If it were sufficient to observe the Decalogue would Christian Charity have allow'd St. Paul to Anathematize People who believ'd in Christ only that they were zealous of the Law Acts 21.20 and who were only for joyning Moses to Jesus Christ the Ceremonies of the one to the Gospel of the other IV. If this Opinion which we oppose were true whence comes it that the Scripture condemns the Unbelievers to Eternal Pains Apoc. 21.8 and that it excludes Idolaters out of the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Cor. 6.10 There can be no other Reason given but only because that living Morally well is not sufficient for the obtaining of Eternal Salvation but that it behoves us to believe those Truths which are Taught us Fifthly If Living according to the Rules of Moral Honesty were sufficient to bring a Man to Heaven I would fain know the Reason why the Apostles take so much pains to instruct People in the Truths of the Gospel why do they keep such a stir to prove that Christ is the Promised Messiah that they speak of his Divinity and his Cross two things that equally stumbled both the Jews and the Gentiles Had it not been sufficient to have taught 'em Good Morality Sixthly Whence comes in to pass that Christ and his Apostles so frequently exhort us to suffer for their Truth and that so many persons have suffered Martyrdom in Defence of the Truth of which they might have been ignorant if we may believe our Antagonists without being deprived of Salvation There would have been but very few Confessors and Martyrs had Moral Honesty been sufficient to bring us to Eternal Felicity To all these Proofs I add this Important Reflexion that we draw from the Truths of the Gospel which are propos'd to us to the end we should believe 'em the most powerful Morives that are able to engage us to Holiness There is nothing more prevalent to incline Men to Sanctification then to make known to 'em a God that loves Men to that Degree as to give 'em his only begotten Son a God that abhors and detests Sin to that degree that he rather chose to expose to Death his only Son in whom he is well pleased then to leave Sin Unpunished A God that takes upon him Human Nature and under that Nature suffers a most Cruel Death to make an Atonement for the Sin of Men and to satisfie Divine Vengeance justly provoked against ' em Lastly A God that penetrates into the most secret Folds and Concealments of the Heart who is to raise the Dead and bring 'em to appear before his Throne to give an Account of all their Actions It behoves us therefore to believe if we will live well and to believe and live well if we intend to be Sav'd CHAP. XXI That the Opinion of Indifferenay in Religions has displeased almost all People THere remains nothing more for me but only to Answer an Argument which is attributed to the King of Siam and which we have cited already in the Third Chapter The True God said he who Created the Heaven and the Earth and all the Creatures therein contained and who has given 'em Natures and Inclinations so different had he so pleased by giving Bodies and Souls alike to Men could have inspir'd into 'em the same Sentiments as to what Religion it behov'd 'em to follow and have caused all Nations to agree and unire under one and the same Law But it seems that Providence permits diversity of Sects because God takes as much delight to be honoured with different sorts of Worship and various Ceremonies as to be glorify'd by a Prodigious Number of Creatures the variety of whose Beauty 's set forth and Magnifies his Infinite Power There are some People who suffer themselves to be dazled with this Argument but I beseech 'em to consider that it may be prov'd as well that God takes pleasure in the Sins which Men Commit For it might be said that had God so pleased by giving to Men Bodies and Souls alike he might have infused into 'em the same Sentiments for Virtue but that it seems as if he permitted the one to be Wise and Virtuous the other to be very Vicious because he takes delight in the variety of Humours and Inclinations Now I am apt to believe there are very few that would approve such a Method of Arguing To this first Answer I may add two more The first is That there might be something Plausible in this first Argument of the King of Siam if God had not really made known to Men what it was that he requir'd 'em to believe and what they were to do But we have proved that he has reveal'd it to 'em and that they need no more then read the Scripture with attention and without prejudice to understand which is the True Religion The Second Answer is That this Argument is grounded upon a false Principle that God might have inspired into all Men the same Sentiments of Religion had he not taken delight in Variety For God is not bound to make himself known alike to all Men. He is absolutely at his own Liberty in all his Works They to whom he has reveal'd himself have no more cause to magnifie themselves then others and they from whom he conceals himself have no cause to complain Moreover it is not to be imagined from the Opinion which the King of Siam seems to have concerning Indifferency in Religions that this Sentiment derives it self naturally into the Thoughts of all Men. On the other side it would be easie to prove that the greatest part of Religions have condemned it The thing is clear in respect of the Christian Religion nor is there any need of bringing farther Proofs The Pagans were so fixed to their Old Opinions that one of the most Learned Interpreters of Virgil observes that great Care was taken both among the Athenians and the Romans that no body introduced New Religions For that Reason it was that Socrates was condemned at Athens that the Jews were expell'd Rome and that the Books of Numa were burnt Josephus reports that the Athenians inflicted grievous punishments upon those that introduc'd new Deities and durst presume so much as to speak against their Law Dionisius of Halicarnassus asserts that not only the Greeks but also the Barbarians carefully preserv'd the Religion of their Ancestors and the same thing is reported of the Scythians and Persians Nevertheless we will not deny what Socrates said that it was lawful for every Body to serve the Deity according to the Custom of the Country and that Foreign Gods were often transported to Rome and Athens But give us leave to make these Three Remarks 1. That the Testimony of Socrates is of no Weight because he was Condemned at Athens 2. That the greatest Part of those Deities which were transported to Rome were remov'd out of the Cities which the Romans had Besieg'd and were by the Priest Invited before the whole Army to the Capital of all Italy where they should have as they said more Temples more Sacrifices and more Adorers To which we may add that they were therefore removed because it was an Opinion among 'em that all Places had their Tutelar Deities and that they could not take Cities till after they had removed the Gods that protected ' em 3. That those Gods which were carried to Rome Athens and other Places and those that were there Worshiped under the Character of unknown Gods are sufficient proofs that some Accident fell out of which they believed some Deity that was unknown to 'em to be the Author and make it appear that the Romans were of Opinion that the more Gods they had in their Cities the more Protectors they had But from thence it does not follow that the Athenians and Romans believ'd that all Religions were Indifferent For had they so thought why did they persecute so Cruelly the Christians and the Jews It is certain also that they derided those New Gods that were introduced as appears by the Comedies of Aristophanes To which I may add that the Bramiry among the Indians who are the Ancient Brachmans believe that every Body may be saved in his own Religion provided he follow exactly the way that God has shewed him but that he shall be Damn'd if he pursues any other As for the Mahometans 't is very true that Mahomet seems to favour Indifferency in Religions while he says in his Alcoran that every Man who lives well who Worships the true God and does good Works whether Christian or Jew obtains the Favour of his God Nevertheless 't is certain that in another place he asserts that the Law is the only way of Salvation and ordains his Religion to be established in the World by force of Arms. Indeed it would be a kind of Wonder that the Mahometans should think that the Christians could be Saved seeing that the Christians aver Mahomet to be an Impostor and daily beg of God that that same false Prophet may have no more followers but that his Religion may be rooted from the Earth Moreover 't is well known that the Turks openly condemn the Persians Which they would never do if ' they thought all Religions were Indifferent As for the Jews the Thing is so certain that he who questions it must never have read their Writings For they continually curse the Christians and are so obstinately persuaded of the Truth of their Religion nay more That it is the only True Religion in the World that there have been several who have rather chosen to die then Violate the meanest precept of their Law THE END