Selected quad for the lemma: law_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	gentile_n	heart_n	write_v	7,180	5	5.8793	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43737	Hierocles upon the Golden verses of the Pythagoreans translated immediately out of the Greek into English.; Commentarius in aurea Pythagoreorum carmina. English	Hierocles, of Alexandria, fl. 430.; Norris, John, 1657-1711.	1682 (1682)	Wing H1939; ESTC R3618	78,971	222

blind and ignorant as some make them and their most Heroical Vertues but splendid Sins certainly the best of their Morality would not be worth reading much less translating I shall therefore consider the Morality of the Heathen both in the Theory and in the Practick Concerning the Theory I shall endeavour to make good this Proposition That 't is possible by due Advertency to the light of Nature or the dictates of natural Reason sufficiently to discern between Good and Evil. Concerning the Practick this That the actions of the Heathen which were conformable to this light of Nature were not Splendida peccata but truly and properly Vertues I begin with the first of these That there is such a thing as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or law of Nature is here supposed in the Proposition The thing affirm'd is the possibility of sufficiently discerning between Good and Evil by it This I will make Evident three ways 1. By the Authority of express Scripture 2. By one demonstrative Reason 3. By an Appeal to the writings of the Heathen First I urge that known place in the 2d of the Romans For when the Gentiles which have not the Law doe by Nature the things contain'd in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves Which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their Conscience also bearing them witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another This Scripture proves my second Proposition as well as my first For if they perform the things contain'd in the Law they doe good works and avoid sin For herein consists the whole Law The next place is in the 14th of the Acts. Where Saint Paul speaking to the men of Lystra concerning the ignorance of the Heathen World yet says Nevertheless he left not himself without witness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that he did good from Heaven c. which words can bear no other tolerable sense but this That the ordinary works of Nature give sufficient testimony of the divine Omnipotence Goodness and Wisedom Which though few did consider and improve as they ought and might yet nevertheless they who have this Testimony have means in themselves absolutely sufficient whereby they may know believe in and worship God I shall alledge but one place more which is in the 1st of the Romans where St. Paul speaking of the abominations practis'd among the Heathen says that they hold the truth in unrighteousness And in the following Verse he gives this reason for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because that which may be known and ought to be known of God For the word signifies both is manifest in them for God hath shew'd it unto them For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his Eternal power and Godhead So that they are without excuse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In which Phrase is not meant as some blasphemously and absurdly assert the end which God aim'd at in manifesting himself to the Gentiles but only the Event of that manifestation as Curcellaeus well distinguishes in his excellent Dissertation De necessitate Cognitionis Christi I insist chiefly on the last words of the Text. From which I form this Argument which I take to be as clear a Demonstration as any in Euclid That manifestation of God which is sufficient to leave any void of excuse is also sufficient to direct them in their duty But the manifestation which the Heathen had of God was sufficient to leave them void of excuse Therefore the manifestation which the Heathen had of God was sufficient to direct them in their duty The Assumption is in the Text. The Proposition is almost Self-evident For if that manifestation of God which is sufficient to leave any void of excuse be not sufficient to direct them in their duty which is the contradictory Proposition then they have Insufficiency to plead which is the greatest excuse And so the Proposition will contradict it self A Man is then only said to be left without excuse when he is sufficiently capacitated both to know and perform his duty and when the only reason why he does neither is his own avoidable negligence There can be no greater excuse than unavoidable Impotence or Ignorance Thus it appears from express Scripture that 't is possible by due advertency to the light of Nature sufficiently to discern between Good and Evil. I proceed now to demonstrate the same by reason And here among a multitude of Arguments which offer themselves to my Consideration I shall content my self with one because I will not be over-tedious It is taken from the nature of God's gifts which as they are always design'd for the good of Men so are they always adapted and proportionated to the good for which they are design'd The first cannot be deny'd without manifest injury to the divine Goodness nor the second without disparagement to his Wisedom Since therefore the light of Nature is one of God's gifts whosoever denies the possibility of discerning sufficiently between Good and Evil by due advertency to it must necessarily gravel himself upon one of these Absurdities Either he must say that God did not design this light for Man's direction and then why did he give it him it having not the least aptness to any other end Or if he did yet that it is not sufficient and then why did God design it for such an end I need not apply my self to the first part of the Dilemma for that the light of Nature was design'd by God for Man's direction is plain even by the light of Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Heirocles The latter part I perceive lies open to this Exception That what God designs for the attainment of any end is then only of necessity sufficient when taken adequately and intirely But now the whole which God design'd for Man's direction is not the light of Nature alone but the light of Nature in Conjunction with that of Revelation Were these two lights always inseparably united I confess there would be some colour in the Evasion But to this I oppose God's Dispensation with our fore-fathers from the beginning of the World till the promulgation of the Law by Moses which was about 2450 years It is plain that the whole which God design'd for their direction was only the law of Nature and consequently by the very supposition of the Objection it was sufficient I come now to appeal to the writings of the Heathen wherein they give undeniable Evidence of what I have been hitherto proving for them viz. That 't is possible by due advertency to the light of Nature sufficiently to discern between Good and Evil. I say possible For I did not undertake to prove neither is it my opinion that the law of Nature was engraven upon the hearts of Men in as fair Characters as upon the two tables of Stone For then there