Religion and reason adjusted and accorded, or, A discourse wherein divine revelation is made appear to be a congruous and connatural way of affording proper means for making man eternally happy through the perfecting of his rational nature with an appendix of objections from divers as well as philosophers as divines and their respective answers.

Title

Religion and reason adjusted and accorded, or, A discourse wherein divine revelation is made appear to be a congruous and connatural way of affording proper means for making man eternally happy through the perfecting of his rational nature with an appendix of objections from divers as well as philosophers as divines and their respective answers.

Author

Banks, R. R. (Richard R.)

Publication

London :: Printed for the author,

1688.

Rights/Permissions

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Subject terms

Theology, Doctrinal.

Revelation.

Link to this Item

https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A30855.0001.001 content_copy

Cite this Item

"Religion and reason adjusted and accorded, or, A discourse wherein divine revelation is made appear to be a congruous and connatural way of affording proper means for making man eternally happy through the perfecting of his rational nature with an appendix of objections from divers as well as philosophers as divines and their respective answers." In the digital collection Early English Books Online 2. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A30855.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 4, 2024. content_copy

Contents

• title page
• THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER.
• THE CONTENTS.
• RELIGION AND REASON Adjusted and Accorded. OR, A Discourse wherein Divine Revelation is made appear to be a congruous and con-na∣tural Way of affording proper Means for ma∣king Man eternally Happy, through the per∣fecting of his Rational Nature.
  • SECTION I. There is an absolute perfect Being, which is self-existent, Eternal, only One, Infinite, Im∣mutable, a pure Act, entirely Simple, one For∣mality, and a Spirit.
  • SECT. II. In the Ʋnity of the Divine Essence there neces∣sarily is a Trinity of Persons.
  • SECT. III. The Ʋniverse was created by God. There was no prae-existent Matter whereof it was made. It is not of the Nature and Essence of God. It neither could have been eternal for Dura∣tion, nor infinite in Extension. There is no Endless Number of Worlds. The Ʋni∣verse is only one, the best for Kind that was possible to be created.
  • SECT. IV Man was created by God. He has an imma∣terial Substance, which is the Principle of Motion proper to him, immortal and indued with the Rational Faculties of Ʋnderstand∣ing and Will. He was created in a State of Innocency. What the State of Innocency was. The End for which Man was crea∣ted. In what his Chief Good and Felicity doth consist.
  • SECT. V. Man is fallen from the State wherein he was created. The manner of the Fall explicated. The eating of the Tree of the Knowledg of Good and Evil was forbidd, because of the Evil which God certainly knew would ensue from the very eating thereof.
  • SECT. VI. Original Sin the natural Consequent of eating of the forbidden Fruit, and how? What Original Sin is? God cleared from being the Author of it. Actual Sin is excited by Original. All Miseries incident to Man, as well as Sin, are the bitter Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledg of Good and E∣vil.
  • SECT. VII. Eternal Damnation, or the perpetual Loss of Bliss, inevitably follows from the perpetual Alienation of the Souls Affections from God. Eternal Torments, or the Pains of the Damned necessarily for ever accompany their impious Desires of preferring worldly Vani∣ties before the Enjoyment of God. Hence by these two, an Aversion from the Creator, and a Conversion to the Creature, Man makes himself eternally miserable.
  • SECT. VIII. The only Evil which is prejudicial to Man in respect of the End for which he was created, is Malum Culpae, the Evil of Fault; and it is either Privative or Positive, The for∣mer consists in an Aversion from God; the latter in a Conversion to the Creature. Each of them is called Sin, the one Formal, the other Material. The greatest Alienation of the Heart from God makes the greatest Sin∣ner.
  • SECT. IX. Mans Recovery from his laps'd and lost Con∣dition wherein it consists, and how wrought. Natural ways and means unable of themselves to procure it. Supernatural Causes chiefly prevalent to that End. Of these the Free Love of God to Man, and the Incarnati∣on of his eternal only begotten Son, with the Consequents of it are the chief.
  • SECT. X. The End of Human Laws is the Good of the Community. The Breach of them is evil, as it hinders the same, and not as it meerly opposes the Will of the Legislator. Every Breach of them is more or less evil, as it is more or less prejudicial to the general Good; and has in that respect a greater or less Pe∣nalty assigned thereunto. Penal Laws are made for preventing of Evils that might happen for want of them, and not to take revenge on the Transgressor of the Law for neglecting or crossing the Legislator's Will.
  • SECT. XI. Faith, Hope and Charity are necessary Means for procuring everlasting Bliss. Sincere ha∣bitual Charity formally expels Mortal Sin, and is therefore formal, but in compleat Righ∣teousness. Perfect Charity formally expells all Sin, and is therefore perfect formal Righteousness, or the absolute fulfilling of the Divine Law.
  • SECT. XII. Neither by the Light of Nature, nor by the Law of Moses, without Christ could ever any, either Jew or Gentile, be eternally sav∣ed, and come to Glory, but through him both of them might. The Christian Religi∣on is in many respects preferable to the Law of Nature, and the Law of Moses. The Injunction of the Judaical Ordinances, Rites, and Ceremonies had a farther Ten∣dency then the exacting of meer Obedience.
  • SECT. XIII. Nothing is available to Felicity, but as it con∣tributes to Charity. The nature of the two Theological Virtues, Faith and Hope; and how they become useful and beneficial to the obtaining and encreasing of Charity.
  • SECT. XIV. The Moral habits Prudence, Justice, Forti∣tude and Temperance are truly Virtues in that respect only as they further Charity. What the Office of each of them in parti∣cular is, as 'tis subservient unto Cha∣rity.
  • SECT. XV. Prayer offered to God for all things absolutely necessary to Salvation (whether the Theolo∣gical Virtues or Moral, or Remission of Sins) is evermore effectual, if it be made aright; and it is always made aright, when it is unfeigned, fervent, and frequently per∣formed.
  • SECT. XVI. Praise and Thanksgiving to God are proper and efficacious Means for procuring and aug∣menting Charity. Vocal Prayer, Musick and Gestures of Body betokening Humility and Reverence towards the Divine Majesty, are useful and advantageous for begetting inward Devotion and Affection towards God.
  • SECT. XVII. The two great Sacraments instituted by Christ for the Benefit of his Church, Baptism and the Lords Supper were ordained to be ser∣viceable to Charity, the one in procuring it, the other in preserving it. Yea, and all o∣ther Divine Institutions and Ordinances whatsoever, are only so many designed mini∣sterial Helps thereunto.
  • SECT. XVIII. In the exercise of the hearty Love of God, or Charity, consists the sincere observance of every Precept of the Decalogue, But the absolute entire fulfilling of the Moral Law is not accomplished till Charity have attained its ultimate Perfection in Heaven.
  • SECT. XIX. There is not any one Precept of the latter Table of the Decalogue truly kept, but when it is observed out of Love to God; nor is there a real Breach of any of them, but when the Soul is either deprived of the Love of God, or has the same abated and weakned in it, by the Omission of something which is required, or by the Commission of something which is forbidden.
  • SECT. XX. Charity or the unfeigned fervent Love of God above all things, proved by Scripture to be Righteousness, or the sincere keeping of the whole Law of God.
• AN APPENDIX OF OBJECTIONS TO Several Things Asserted in the preceding Treatise, With their Respective ANSWERS.
  • Objection 1.
    • Answer.
  • Objection. 2.
    • Answer.
  • Objection 3.
    • Answer.
  • Objection 4.
    • Answer.
  • Objection 5.
    • Answer.
  • Objection 6.
    • Answer.
  • Objection 7.
    • Answer.
  • Objection 8.
    • Answer.
  • Objection 9.
    • Answer.
  • Objection 10.
    • Answer.
  • Objection 11.
    • Answer.
  • Objection 12.
    • Answer.
  • Objection 13.
    • Answer.
  • Objection. 14.
    • Answer.
  • Objection 15.
    • Answer.