Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	day_n	know_v	lord_n	5,129	5	3.8876	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62648	The wisdom of being religious a sermon preached at St. Pauls / by John Tillotson ...	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1664 (1664)	Wing T1272; ESTC R4633	37,624	58

assurance as the belief of a God and of a future state after this life things which we never saw nor did experience nor ever spoke with any body that did now it seems to argue too great a facility and easiness of belief to assent to any thing upon insufficient grounds To this I answer 1. That if there be such a Being as a God and such a thing as a future state it cannot as I said before in reason be expected that we should have the evidence of sense for such things For he that believes a God believes such a Being as hath all perfections among which this is one that he is a Spirit and consequently invisible and cannot be seen He that believes another Life after this professeth to believe a state of which in this life we can have no trial and experience 2. We have the best Evidence for these things which they are capable of at present supposing they were 3. Those who deny these Principles must be much more credulous that is believe things upon incomparably less evidence of Reason The Atheist looks upon all that are Religious as a Company of credulous Fools well met But he for his part pretends to be wiser then to believe any thing for Company he cannot entertain things upon those slight grounds which move other men if you would win his assent to any thing you must give him a clear Demonstration for it Now there 's no way to deal with this Man of Reason this rigid exactor of Demonstration for things which are not capable of it but by shewing him that he is an hundred times more credulous that he begs more Principles takes more things for granted without offering to prove them and assents to more strange Conclusions upon weaker grounds then those whom he so much accuseth of Credulity And to evidence this I shall briefly give you an account of the Atheists Creed and present you with a Catalogue of the Fundamental Articles of his Faith or rather Unbelief He believes That there is no God nor possibly can be and consequently that the wise as well as unwise of all ages have been mistaken except himself and a few more He believes that either all the world have been frighted with an apparition of their own Fancy or that they have most unnaturally conspired together to cozen themselves Or that this Notion of a God is a Trick of Policy though the greatest Princes and Politicians do not at this day know so much nor have done time out of mind He believes either that the Heavens and the Earth and all things in them had no original Cause of their Being or else that they were made by Chance and happened he knows not how to be as they are and that in this last shuffling of Matter all things have by great good Fortune fallen out as happily and as regularly as if the greatest Wisdom had contrived them but yet he believes that there was no Wisdom in the contrivance of them He Believes That that which is possible is impossible and that that is not which cannot but be He believes That meer Matter can Understand and Will and most dextrously perform all those fine and free operations which the Ignorant attribute to Spirits and consequently that there are no such things as immortal Spirits or a Resurrection of the Body or everlasting Life This is his Creed And seriously it is a wonder that there should be found any person pretending to Reason or Wit that can say Amen to such a heap of absurdities which are so gross and palpable that they may be felt So that I think it will fall to the Atheists share to be the most credulous person that is to believe things upon the sleightest Reasons II. The Second Imputation is Singularity the affectation whereof is unbecoming a Wise man To this charge I answer 1. If by Religion be meant the belief of the Principles of Religion that there is a God and a Providence that our Souls are Immortal and that there are Rewards to be expected after this life these are so far from being singular Opinions that they are the general Opinion of Mankind even of the most Barbarous Nations as Tully Seneca and others testifie insomuch that the Histories of ancient times do not furnish us with the names of above three or four at most who denied a God And Lucretius acknowledgeth that Epicurus was the first who did oppose those great Foundations of Religion the Providence of God and the Immortality of the Soul Primùm Grajus homo c. meaning Epicurus 2. If by Religion be meant a living up to those Principles that is to act conformably to our best Reason and understanding and to live as it does become those who do believe a God and a future State this is acknowledged even by those who live otherwise to be the part of every wise man and the contrary to be the very madness of folly and height of distraction Nothing being more ordinary then for men who live wickedly to acknowledg that they ought to do otherwise 3. Though according to the common course and practice of the World it be somewhat singular for men truly and throughly to live up to the Principles of their Religion yet singularity in this matter is so far from being a Reflection upon any mans prudence that it is a singular commendation of it In two Cases singularity is very commendable 1. When there is a necessity of it in order to a mans greatest Interest and happiness I think it to be a reasonable account for any man to give why he does not live as the greatest part of the world do that he has no mind to die as they do and to perish with them he is not disposed to be a fool and to be miserable for company he has no inclination to have his last end like theirs who know not God and obey not the Gospel of his Son and shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2. It is very commendable to be singular in any Excellency and I have shewn that Religion is the greatest Excellency to be singular in any thing that is wise and worthy and excellent is not a disparagement but a praise every man would choose to be thus singular III. The Third Imputation is that Religion is a foolish bargain because they who are Religious hazard the parting with a present and certain happiness for that which is future and uncertain To this I answer 1. Let it be granted that the Assurance which we have of future Rewards falls short of the Evidence of sense for I doubt not but that that saying of our Saviour Blessed is he who hath believed and not seen and those expressions of the Apostle We walk by faith and not by sight and faith is the evidence of things not seen are intended by way of abatement and diminution to the Evidence of Faith and do

so far from excusing men that it will aggravate their condemnation and therefore Irreligion is not onely an argument of the greatest Ignorance but of the greatest Folly I know there are great pretensions in the world to Knowledge and Wisdom but upon a true and just account of things there 's nothing more familiar and ordinary then Ignorance and Folly these ill weeds are of a forward and plentifull growth in the nature of man Nihil tam valde vulgare quam nihil sapere Nothing is more common then for men not to be wise We talk much of Prodigies but as Tully sayes well Maximum portentum est vir sapiens One of the greatest Wonders in the World is a truly wise and knowing person so that it is not very easie to answer Job's Question at the 12th Verse of this Chapter Where shall Wisdom be found and where is the place of Understanding So many wicked men as there are in the world so many Fools and that I am afraid amounts to a great number Men generally stand upon the credit and reputation of their Understandings and of all things hate to be accounted Fools because Folly is so great a reproach to the Understanding of a man and so high a reflection upon his discretion But I know no way for men to avoid this imputation and to bring off the credit of their Understandings but by being truly Religious by fearing God and departing from evil For certainly there is no such imprudent person as he that neglects God and his Soul and is careless and slothful about his everlasting concernments because this man acts contrary to his truest Reason and best Interest he neglects his own safety and is active to procure his own ruine He flies from happiness and runs away from it as fast as he can but pursues misery and makes haste to be undone Hence it is that Solomon does all along in the Proverbs give the title of Fool to a wicked man as if it were his proper name and the fittest character for him because he is eminently such There is no such fool as the sinning fool who every time he sins ventures his Soul and layes his everlasting Interest at the stake every time a man provokes God he does the greatest mischief to himself that can be imagined A mad man that cuts himself and tears his own flesh and dashes his head against the stones does not act so unreasonably as a sinner because he is not so sensible of what he does wickedness is a kind of voluntary frenzy and a chosen distraction and every sinner does wilder and more extravagant things then any man can do that is craz'd and beside himself and out of his wits onely with this sad difference that he knows better what he does And that wicked men are many of them wise as to the things of this world is no vindication of them any more then the more innocent actions of mad men as catching at shadows and pursuing butter-flyes about which possibly they may use as great an activity and diligence as any man can do about the most weighty affairs but this does not vindicate them from being mad for because such actions are trifling and impertinent to the great concernments of life we account such men distracted for all that I know the world applaud themselves much in this wisdom and cry it up as the onely prudence but infinite Wisdom which is the best Judge of wisdom calls it folly David in Psal 2. when he brings in the Sages and Politicians of the world consulting about a wicked design against Christ he tells us that as wise as they took themselves to be He that sits in heaven laughs at them and the Lord hath them in derision and shall we account them wise at whom God laughs Can we reckon that to be prudence which the Lord hath in derision The Rich man Luk. 12. who had enlarged his barns and laid up goods for many years no doubt took himself for a very prudent man but God who calls things as they are and does not call any body out of his name calls this man fool because in the midst of all this care he had neglected his soul Thou fool c. To them who believe another life after this an eternal state of happiness or misery in another world which is but a reasonable Postulatum or demand among Christians there is nothing in Mathematicks more demonstrable then the folly of wicked men for it is not a clearer and more evident principle that the whole world is greater then a part then that Eternity and the concernments of it are to be preferred before Time But it is not my work to revile sinners and to call them names but to convince them if it be possible and to reclaim them I will therefore put the matter into a temporal Case that wicked men who understand any thing of the Rules and Principles of worldly wisdom may see the imprudence of a sinfull course and be convinced that this their way is their folly even themselves being judges Let me then propound some Cases to sinners and ask them a few Questions Is that man wise as to his body and his health who onely cloaths his hands but leaves his whole body naked who provides onely against the Tooth-ach and neglects whole troops of mortal diseases that are ready to rush in upon him Just thus does he who takes care only for this vile body but neglects his precious and immortal Soul who is very solicitous to prevent small and temporal inconveniencies but takes no care to escape the damnation of Hell Is he a wise man as to his temporal Estate that lays designs onely for a day without any prospect to or provision for the remaining part of his life Just thus does he that provides for the short time of this life but takes no care for all Eternity which is to be wise for a moment but a fool for ever and to act as untowardly and as crosly to the reason of things as can be imagined to regard Time as if it were Eternity and to neglect Eternity as if it were but a short time Do you think him a wise man who is serious about trifles but trifles about the most serious matters Just so is he who pursues the World and the petty interests of it with all his might but minds Religion and the weighty concernments of Eternity as if he minded them not Do you count him prudent who throws himself over-board to save his goods Just so doth he who to secure any thing in this world makes ship-wrack of his Conscience and casts away his Soul Is he wise who is wise in any thing but in his proper profession and imployment wise for every body but himself who is ingenious to contrive his own misery and to do himself a mischief but is dull and stupid as to the designing of any real benefit and advantage to himself Just such a one is he who is