Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	scripture_n	sense_n	true_a	4,624	5	5.7921	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37987	A demonstration of the existence and providence of God, from the contemplation of the visible structure of the greater and the lesser world in two parts, the first shewing the excellent contrivance of the heavens, earth, sea, &c., the second the wonderful formation of the body of man / by John Edwards ...	Edwards, John, 1637-1716.	1696 (1696)	Wing E201; ESTC R13760	204,339	448

A DEMONSTRATION OF THE Existence and Providence OF GOD From the Contemplation of the Visible Structure of the Greater and the Lesser World In TWO PARTS The First shewing the Excellent Contrivance of the Heavens Earth Sea c. The Second the Wonderful Formation of the Body of Man By IOHN EDWARDS B. D. sometime Fellow of S. Iohn's College in Cambridge LONDON Printed by I. D. for Ionathan Robinson at the Golden Lion and Iohn Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1696. TO THE Most Reverend Father in God His GRACE THOMAS By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of all England c. May it please your Grace HAving lately presented your Grace with a short Essay concerning the Causes and Occasions of Atheism I thereby in a manner obliged my self to dedicate this following Treatise to your Venerable and Illustrious Name for that was but a Preparatory Introduction to this It is certain your Grace hath Right to both because you have shew'd your self a strenuous Asserter and Defender of the True and Orthodox Faith concerning the Deity and betimes exploded the Vanity and Inconsistency of the Hobbian Creed relating to this Great Concern And not only before but since your Arrival to the Metropolitan See you have signally owned and patronized this Cause which I undertake and on the contrary you have as becometh your High Place publickly discountenanc'd and given check to the Abettors of Atheism I profess my self to be one that abhors unnecessary Disputes and loves a Free and Ingenuous Latitude in Matters that are of an Indifferent nature But when I see the Grand Points of our Holy Religion shock'd by Prophane Assailants when I behold Impiety and Atheism lifting up their daring heads amongst us I think my self indispensably concern'd according to that Talent which the Divine Goodness hath been pleas'd in any measure to confer upon me to grapple with the Bold and Vaunting Adversaries to make Opposition to their extravagant Attempts and to assert and defend that Cause which is the Basis of all Religion the Supporter of Kingdoms and the Glory of our Lives This is that which I at present design and humbly crave your Grace's Acceptance of what I here offer But whilst I implore your Patronage I will not apparently incur Your Displeasure and at the same time Injure the whole Nation by diverting and detaining your Grace any longer Wherefore I take my Leave of your Grace and am glad I have this farther Opportunity of publishing to the World that I am Your Grace's most bounden Servant and dutiful Son Iohn Edwards The PREFACE I Could have presented the Reader with many more Observations on the Particulars which I handle in the ensuing Discourse especially on Animals for besides what Remarks I have made my self many Learned Enquirers not only of old but lately have given us a distinct and full Account of the Nature of them But my Business was to take notice only of the most eminent of them and that so far as they are evident Arguments of a Deity i. e. of the Divine Wisdom in contriving their Make and Structure And on other Works of the Creation I could have expatiated much more than I have done but it being not my Chief Province I did not think it would be expected of me especially when that which I have said is sufficient for my present purpose Nor did I design a particular Philosophical Account of all the things I treat of because this is to be found in the known Tractates of Physicks And as to the latter Part of my Undertaking I could have more largely insisted on the Parts of the Body but that had been to transcribe the Books of Anatomy I reckon'd it therefore enough to give a Solution of the Main Phaenomena's in this Humane System and to bring all by rational Deduction to this Conclu●ion that they are caus'd by an Intelligent Mind If I cannot by this Attempt convince Atheists which perhaps is next to blanching an Ethiopian yet I hope I shall do something towards preventing the Spreading of that pernicious Infection which they are the Authors of I hope I shall effect something towards checking the Progress of that Hellish Ferment which works in the World at this day It may be what I shall offer will be serviceable to bridle the Insolence of those bold Men and to make them recoil and give back It may be it will cripple and disable them though they make a shift to be upon their Feet Perhaps it may give them a Mortification though they will not let us know so much Or if my Hopes fail me as to this yet I will not despair of Confirming and Strengthning such who are really perswaded of the Doctrine here treated of I may be helpful to establish these Persons in their Belief though I cannot reclaim the Infidelity of others But this is not the height of what I aim at for besides what I have already suggested my Intention is that this Discourse should afford variety of matter to the Religious for their Devout Contemplations I have set the Greater and Lesser World before them and have so display'd the several parts of both that they may every where discern the Eternal Godhead I have propounded those Visible and Remarkable Topicks whence pious Minds may infallibly deduce the Truth and Reality of Providence and the adorable Excellency of the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God and his other Divine Perfections and Properties which respect Mankind If I had not chiefly design'd these Papers for such I should not have so often alledg'd the Holy Scriptures which with the other sort of Men are in no esteem and are thought to have no Authority no more than the Alcoran or some Legendary Tale. But all those that have a true Sense of Religion on their Spirits reverence and prize these Writings next to the Blessed Author of them and they know that it is proper to prove a God out of his Own Book The Reader may observe that I frequently make use of Scripture in setting forth Natural things those which appertain to the Heavens Earth Sea c. and the Body of Man because I would let the World see that this Holy Book is not only useful as to Divine and Spiritual Matters but even in respect of all sorts of Humane Learning which I have on another occasion amply proved Having thus propounded the Designs of my Undertaking and if I be successful in any of them I shall reckon it a great Happiness I will enter upon the Work it self by the Assistance of Him whose Existence and Providence I am now to demonstrate THE CONTENTS PART I. CHAP. I. THE Argument of the following Discourse is suited to the Genius of those for whom it is chiefly designed God's Being and Providence are proved in General 1. From the Harmony and Connection of the things in the World Where is shew'd wherein this Harmony consists and how the Notion of Chance

Fixed Stars are above a thousand times bigger than it Now is it not more likely that the Earth moves than that these vast Bodies move from Place to Place I answer No the thing is not at all likely for the vaster these Bodies are the more easy is their Motion This is plain because where there are the more parts in Motion there the impulse is stronger and more vehement And where there is this Vehemency the Motion must needs be facile it being put on with so much Strength and Vigour especially if we remember that God impress'd this Motion at the very first and so it is natural and consequently is easy This I think sufficiently proves that they who argue from the Bigness of the Sun and other Heavenly Bodies to the Stability and Rest of them have no ground in Reason and Philosophy No they talk after a popular manner and because they see that Bulky Persons do not stir about with that nimbleness which is observ'd in others of a lesser Size they think it is so with the Sun and Stars or that they are idle and lazy and loth to bestir themselves Or it may be they proceed on that Vulgar Maxim viz. That great Bodies move slowly And because that those of the Heavens are very great they will not suffer them to move at all forgetting in the mean time that it is their very Nature to move and that their Make and Constitution prompt them to it Secondly The Copernican Opinion seems to confront a higher Principle than that of Reason If we will speak like Men of Religion and such as own the Bible we must acknowledg that their Assertion is against the plain History of the Holy Book for there we read that the Sun stood still in Ioshua's time and went back in King Hezekiah's Now this Relation is either true or false it must be one of them If it be the latter then the Inspired Scripture is false which I take to be as great an Absurdity as any Man can be reduced to If it be the former i. e. if the Relation be really true then the Sun hath a Diurnal Motion about the Earth for the Sun 's standing still could not be a strange and wonderful thing as it is here represented unless its general course was to move This any Man of Sense will grant And so likewise the Sun 's going back doth necessarily imply that it went forward before And if it did so surely it moved This I think no Man can deny and consequently it is evident that the Sun hath a Progressive Motion and goes from one part of the Heavens to the other If it be said as it is suggested by some that the Sun only seemed to stand or to go backward then farewell all Miracles for they may be only seeming Ones according to this Answer Which is as much as to say There are no such things in Truth and Reality If it be said as I know it is that this manner of speaking is only in compliance with the Speech and Notion of the Vulgar I grant indeed that the Scripture speaks so very often as I have elsewhere shew'd from several Instances both in the Old and New Testament yea even when it makes mention of some of the Heavenly Bodies the Expressions are according to the Capacity and common Apprehension of Men and not according to the Accuracy of the Thing So that I do not think that a Body of Natural Philosophy or a System of Astronomy is to be composed out of the Bible this being design'd for a far greater and higher Purpose Yet this I say that whenever the Scripture speaks after the foresaid manner concerning these things and several others it doth it in that manner that we may plainly see that the Words are not to be taken strictly and properly but only in a popular way as might be shew'd in abundant Instances But it is not so here for in the forenamed Places we have Matter of Fact plainly and directly set down we are told what Prodigious Things happen'd in those Days viz. that upon the Request of Ioshua the Sun stood still as well as the Moon stayed And that we might not think that this is spoken popularly and meerly according to the common Notion of Men the very same words are repeated and others are added to convince us that they must be meant in the plain and proper Sense of them So the Sun stood still yea in the midst of Heaven and hastned not to go down about a whole Day All this is said to let us know that it was a Reality and not an Appearance that what is here said is spoken properly and not in conformity to a receiv'd Opinion And if it should be said that the Hebrew word used in the former of these places is dum which signifies to be silent as well as to stand still any one that is not prejudiced may see that it is here of the latter Signification For in the next Verse gnamad stetit is the word and is apply'd to the Moon and immediately after to the Sun And the Seventy translate it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so in the other place it is in plain and intelligible Terms related that the Sun returned ten degrees by which degrees it was gone down Than which there can't be more perspicuous Terms to assure us that the Sun it self really moved backward Though vulgar Expressions are used at other times by the Sacred Writers which is readily acknowledged yet in such a Case as this when there is a plain Narration of what happened and when it is a Supernatural and Extraordinary Occurrence even a Miracle that is spoken of we cannot reasonably bring our selves to believe that they merely conform to the Apprehensions of others but we must needs be perswaded that they speak according to the Nature of the Things themselves The upshot then is this that the Sun moves round in a Diurnal Motion or else we must hold that the standing of it and its going back were no Miracles This to me is a very considerable Argument and I suppose will be thought so by those who reverence the Holy Scriptures and believe the Historical part of them to be true Thirdly Men do not frame right Notions concerning this lower World and the Nature of it whilst they defend the other Hypothesis For I find that they have a very mean Opinion of this Terrestrial Habitation such indeed as is both unworthy of God and of Themselves the chief Inhabitants of it For tho the Earth be a dull Sediment in respect of the Bodies of the Sun and Stars and though it be a shrivel'd Point in comparison of those vast Globes yet this is to be remembr'd that i● far surpasses all those Celestial Regions and whatever is in them because it is made the Seat of Man of whom God hath so great a Care and to whom he bears so ineffable a Love What are the Heavens in

especially the Objection lies as some imagine how truly you shall hear afterwards against those Philosophical Men who chiefly study the Nature of Man's Body and scan all its Parts and have a very distinct Knowledge of the excellent Structure and Composure of it What is the reason say they that such great Numbers of these Persons have so little Sense of a God in their Lives Why do some of them profess an Indifferency as to Religion and scarcely acknowledge the Author of it Yea why do some endeavour to expel both of them out of the World and to introduce Atheism Scepticism and Prophaneness Whence is it that these Men see little or nothing of a Divine Being or Providence in the Works of Nature who yet one would think should discern these sooner than any others because they are constantly conversing with such Objects as are said to be visible and apparent Proofs of a God and of his stupendous Wisdom May we not rather be inclined to believe that the Matters before discoursed of are no Arguments of the Divinity and that we wrongly infer from the Parts of the World or of Man's Body that there is an infinitely wise Author and Contriver of them For if there were what Reason can be given why these learned and diligent Enquirers into these Matters are so far from evidencing it by their religious Lives that on the contrary they confute it by their blasting of all Religion and laughing at the very Notion of a Deity I answer though this among some may be the Character of Natural Philosophers and particularly of Physicians yet it doth not follow thence● that we are to believe it to be true Yea it is certain that it is founded upon Mistake and is occasioned by a false Representation of some Matters which relate to the Persons of that Faculty And to be particular I conceive there are these following Reasons why They rather than others lie under the Imputation of Atheism and Irreligion First this proceeds from a common and vulgar Opinion which hath prevailed in the World They have been anciently struck at and some severe Common-wealth's Men would not suffer them to be Members of Humane Societies Plato was for banishing them out of his Republick and Cato the Censor was a deadly Enemy to them The old Gentleman did not love to hear of Sickness or Death or suppose any such thing He could dispatch himself without Physick if there were occasion He had a present Remedy against all Diseases He could like his Grand-son cure himself with his Sword Aesculapius's Temple was without the City of Rome that it might appear thence saith Pliny the Elder that the Romans did not willingly but of necessity attribute any thing to Physicians Indeed this Author as is evident from that Chapter where he thus speaks was most bitter on what account is hard to tell not only against Physicians but all Medicks But this is no Reproach to them for this Writer who gives too great occasion to his Readers to think him to be an Atheist would not have been so severe against Physicians if he had taken them to be such It is certain that the unprejudiced and wise had other Sentiments of them and looked upon them as useful Members of the Community Nay Plato himself as we may be informed from his Writings seems to be against Physicians in this respect only that dissolute Men were encouraged to live in Debauchery and Luxury and to expose themselves to Diseases in assurance that they could be cured by these For the like reason the old Censor before named was a great Enemy of Physicians and would not have them brought from Greece to Rome These Statesmen and Philosophers thought Physick was a Promoter of Vice but a Man would think these politick Heads might have better secured their Common-wealths against it by inflicting severe Punishments on the vicious than by expelling the Ministers of Health But truly if we narrowly examine the matter we shall find that both these great Men notwithstanding what Pliny suggests had no Antipathy against the Professors of Medicks barely considered but only so far as they abused their Profession They were not against Physicians but Pretenders to the Art and who indeed is not against them Who always did more Harm than Good Iulius Caesar knew the Worth of the former that is such as were Men of Art and Skill and accordingly he made them free of the City of Rome But vulgar Souls who search not into the true Nature of things from the Dislike which some considerable Men had of the ill Managers of this Art took up a Disesteem of all the Professors of it and ranked them among the worst of Men. And even the learned to comply with the common Notion have sometimes inveighed against the Sons of Aesculapius and a great many piquant Sayings are found against them The Iewish Masters are extremely forward to gratifie the People in this Point and are full of their Sarcasms to this purpose but Rabbi Iuda outstrips● them all who is positive that the best of Physicians go to Hell Thither this circumcised Doctor sends them to cure them of their Disease of Atheism which he thinks they are all incident to for there are no Atheists in that Place Among Christians as well as Pagans and Iews this Opinion hath taken place and the Religion of a Physician is looked upon as a Chymaera and is turn'd into Sport and Ridicule Many verily think that their Art makes them Atheists that when they commence in the Faculty they take an Oath to abandon all that is pious and that for the future they know and think of no other Day of Iudgment than that of their Crisis on a Disease They are perswaded that what was said of some Physicians of old is true of all in every Age of the World viz. that they know nothing but what is perceived by Sense and attend only to the Body as if they were mere sensitive Animals Whilst they go a Simpling they are thought to be condemned to Nebuchanezzar's Fate Fields and Grass and so become brutish and sensual They take the poetick Fable to be Truth viz. that Chiron a noted Physician was half a Man and half a Horse and they will allow the rest of that Order to be no other than Centaurs and Monsters All this proceeds from an old Prejudice against them which first began among the vulgar and such as have shallow Apprehensions of things It may be they took offence at their Language which generally is not like that of other Men. Perhaps they disrelish'd their hard Names both of Diseases and Medicines and thought those could be no very good Men who use a sort of Conjuring as they take this to be Or it is likely their Prejudice may arise from Covetousness as well as Ignorance they would have a cheap Health and therefore they listen with great Attention and Concern to what is reported of the old

Romans that after they had banished Physicians they six hundred Years together preserved themselves found and in perfect Health by eating only of Coleworts or Cabbage Some have an Averseness to Doctors as they call them because it is chargeable Nay there are some fantastick Folks that think these Persons can cure a Disease no other way than by killing the Patient The very Colledg-Dispensatory seems to them to be but the Office for Burial And the Aphotheeary's Mortar rings the Man's first Peal It is no wonder that such Cabbage-eaters as these vote our Artist to be a very bad Man Again this Conceit may be nourished by the particular Behaviour which is observed in them when they visit the sick They ●eem to be regardless of their Danger and though they know that their Case is deplorate and even desperate yet they remind them not of another State and of preparing themselves for it Whence some are apt to gather that they believe no such thing themselves But this is a very uncharitable Inference and those that make it consider not that the Physician and the Divine come to the Sick on different accounts and to discharge different Offices The latter is to take care of their immortal Part and to address himself to them accordingly But the business of the former is to advise and administer what is proper for the restoring of their Bodies to Health and if they faithfully employ their Care about this they discharge their Part. Not but that it is to be wished that they would and I doubt not but some of them do especially when there is no Clergyman at hand as Good Men and Fellow-Christians apply themselves to their Patients as they see occasion and make use of this seasonable Opportunity to discourse religiously to them to admonish them concerning their former Actions to urge them to repent of the Evil of them to beg the divine Pardon and Favour and to fit themselves for a better World when they see they cannot keep them any longer in this But yet Discretion must go along with Religion and therefore though they perceive that the poor Clinick is incurable yet they are not obliged to tell him so with their own Mouths but it is better to commend this Office to some of his Friends and near Relations This is more seasonable and prudent than a personal Application to him for it doth not become the Physician to doom his Patient And let us be cautious of censuring and dooming the Physician Moreover this may be one cause why they are voted to be Irreligious because they are not seen so often at the solemn Places of Devotion they are not so frequent at the publick Prayers and at Sermons as other Men. A Physician oftentimes hath the Character that Horace gives of an Epicurean Parcus Deorum cultor infrequens But if the Law which is grounded on good Reason excuses them in this case I see no reason why we should not Their necessary Avocations are a sufficient Plea for them Yea an Act of Mercy is preferrable to Sacrifice To save a Man's Life is an high Act of Charity which is one of the most substantial Ingredients of our Religion To heal and to worship are expressed by the same Word in the Greek And a Healer and a Priest are synonimous in the same Language I am sure we may here make good use of the Criticism A Physician ● whilst he is conscientiously discharging his Office is accepted as if he were employed in divine Worship yea as if he were an immediate Minister of Religion Therefore the Cavil hath no Ground no more than that of the Pharisees against our Saviour that he healed on the Sabbath day Furthermore this Rank of Men may perhaps incur the Censure of Irreligious because their Converse is so promiscuous and they oftentimes are concerned in the worst Company I mean the worst that can be for Religion that is some who are professed Patrons of Atheism and whose Practice is suitable to such a Principle It is true if they frequently associate with such and in hope of a Fee comply with them in their Folly and Madness yea if they do but so much as connive at these they pay dear for their expected Guineas But if only in the way of their Profession they converse with such Persons that they may be serviceable to them by preventing the Maladies they fear or curing those they labour under I do not see Cause to condemn them The Objection will lie as reasonably against Divines who have the Charge of Souls who if they will fulfil their Ministry as the Apostle advises and perform all the Parts of their sacred Function must visit their Flock and hold Converse even with the worst to reclaim and reform them Which is no more than what our Lord did when he eat and drank with Publicans and Sinners Once more some devout and well-meaning Persons may think Physicians have no Religion because they have so much Philosophy They hear them talk so much of Bodies that they are ready to infer they have no Sense of the other Part of Man Whilest they solve things in a natural Way they are suspected to own no supernatural Principle But this is an erroneous ●urmise for these things do not exclude one another A Man may be a Philosopher and a Christian He may nay he must acknowledg a first Cause though he holds that there are secondary ones Divine and natural Agents are not inconsistent The Discourse of a Physician should savour of both these especially the former and then the observing World would have no Cause to object against them the want of Religion Then it would be seen that their excellent Employment hath Influence on their Practice and furnishes them with devout Thoughts of God and a firm Belief of his infinite Power and Wisdom Thus you have my Thoughts concerning the Occasion of that Calumny which Physicians generally lie under I have endeavoured to take off those Prejudices and Censures which seem to reflect a Scandal on that noble Profession But if it be further urged that many of them are really such as they are reported to be yet this doth not at all invalidate the Proposition which I have asserted For either we speak of Physicians improperly so called that is ignorant Quacks c. Or those that are learned and well skilled in the Faculty As to the former they deserve not the Name of Physicians and therefore though it could be proved that some of these are Atheists yet it cannot be imputed to the Faculty because they are not properly of it Yea I further grant that Ignorance in Medicks as well as in all other learned Arts capacitates Men for Atheism As for the latter i. e. those who are skillful in this Science and merit the worthy Title they bear it is not to be denied that even some of these have procured to themselves the Imputation of Atheism and Impiety by their prophane