A sermon concerning the folly of atheism preached before the Queen at White-Hall, February 22, 1690/91 / by Tho. Tenison ...

A sermon concerning the folly of atheism preached before the Queen at White-Hall, February 22, 1690/91 / by Tho. Tenison ...

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A SERMON CONCERNING THE Folly of Atheism

A SERMON CONCERNING THE Folly of Atheism

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PSALM XIV. 1.‘The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God: They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doth good.’

THOUGH the Being of a God is, in Religion, the first and most fundamental Article; yet it may be prov'd by some foregoing Principles of Natural Reason. This may be done, but the attempt seems unnecessary in a Christian [Page] Congregation, where the Members profess, not only, That there is a God who made them; but also, That there is a Messiah who redeem'd them.

Taking it therefore, here, as a confessed Principle, That God is; I shall make it my business to represent to you these Two Things:

1. The Folly | of those who live without God in the world.
2. The Vileness |

For these two Remarks are here offer'd by the Royal Psalmist in the Text; The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God: they are corrupt, they have done abominable works; there is none that doth good.

Holy David does, here,

In the 1st. place,

Take notice of the Folly of those who live without God in the world.

They can never be without his Essential[Page]Presence, nor always without an in ward sense of it; there is no worldly Charm that can, perpetually, keep the Conscience from such reflections; but whilst they remain insensible of a God, their way is their Folly. And

1st. They want Knowledge and Judgment.

2dly. They want Wisdom and Discretion.

Ist. They want Knowledg and Judgment, and commit wonderful mistakes about Principles common to Mankind. For as a natural Fool may sometimes speak a shrewd and seasonable thing; so an irreligious one, tho he has, in other respects, ability of mind (as Judas and Demas themselves had, being wise in their generation;) yet with reference to the Existence of a Deity, he is guilty of gross and palpable Errors: None deserve [Page] those Epithetes more than these that sollow; viz. That there is an Effect without a Cause. That an insufficient Cause can produce a perfect and sufficient Effect. That something (without an Almighty Power) can come out of nothing. They are to be derided rather than confuted; who shall have the confidence to say, That a House had no Builder; that all the Materials fell into that useful Order by Accident; and that the Master of the House Sprung at last, out of the very Frame of it: The Atheist does not say this in terms, but he maintains that which is equally absurd: For, seeing the Heavens and the Earth are imperfect beings, and did not, could not make themselves; he that denies that a God, or a First, and absolutely perfect Being, was the Maker of them, does by consequence, set before us imperfect Causes and Effects, existing without a [Page] Cause. And seeing all things are made in Number, Weight, and Measure, either he shews his stupidness in not discerning the Footsteps of Wisdom in the wonderful frame of Nature, which appears the more regular, the greater portion a man has of the knowledg of the Lines and Figures of Bodies, and the Rules of Motion; or he ascribes all this to Chance (which yet is a word he ought not to use, who makes all Causes necessary) and maintains, that Confusion is the most wise Parent of Order.

Seeing, also, he makes the Soul to be the Temper of the Body; and the substance, and the modese and motions of it are as distinct from Understanding, as is the matter and movement of any other Engine, from a reasoning mind; he makes Nothing to be the Spring of Something; that is, the Constitution of the Body, [Page] which hath no thought, nor any thing from whence it can possihly come, to be the Cause of Thought, of Judgment, of Wisdom, of Conscience.

But (as one of that sort of men has written in one of his Intervals) ‘'Tis very Decam. Physiolog. p. 130, 131 hard to believe, that to produce all the several and curious Organs of Sense and Memory, could be the work of any thing that had not Understanding:’ And he might have added, Much more of the Understanding it self.

And this Error is still the more gross, because the Godless person holds it to be an Error, whilst he denies the Creation of the World out of nothing; and then sees not that it is one, when he speaks of the Original of the Soul out of that which hath nothing of Soul in it. Such Inconsistence is a plain indication of want of judgment; and ungodly men are, in many [Page] more particulars, at variance with themselves.

As for example; In Health they are Atheists; and in Sickness, Superstitious; They say, all we do is necessary; and yet blame some Actions, and commend others. They have no Faith about Divine Prophecies, even those which have been evidently fulfill'd in the Coming and Death of Christ, and the precise times of them; yet they can put their trust in Astrology, which is not so much as good guessing. They scoff at Good men, and yet cannot but wish, that their latter end were like heirs. They mock at the Being of Ghosts, in the light, and dread them in the dark. In company they deny the Existence of Evil Spirits; and fear to be all alone in the night, lest Evil Spirits should fetch them away. In fine, men that live without God, are so destitute of Knowledg, [Page] that they are a riddle to themselves.

Nay, even whilst they think they have asserted their Liberty, and that they are perfect Masters of themselves, they are led captive by the Devil at his will; for he rules in the hearts of the disobedient.

This shews that part of their Folly, which consists in want of Knowledg and steddy Judgment. And there is,

2dly, A great deal that gives us demonstration of the other part of it, their want of Wisdom, even that of the Serpent, the doing of things for their own benefit, safety, and comfort. For,

1st. They use means contrary to their ends.

2dly. They run an infinite hazard, upon inconsiderable motives.

[Page] 1st. Those who say in their hearts, There is no God, manifest their want of Wisdom and Discretion, by using means contrary to their End. For one great pretended End of Atheism and Unbelief, is a deliverance from fear, Lucret. l. 1. Humana ante ocules faedè cum vita jaceret in terris oppressa gravi sub Rellig one, &c. the making of the mind easie in all a man's thoughts, and words, and actions, by freeing it from that terror which is struck into it by the apprehension of a God, as an Observer, a Judg, and an Avenger; as one that will call them to a severe account for whatsoever they have done in the flesh, whether it be good or evil.

But the Fear which hath Torment, cannot otherwise be wholly prevented, than either by Innocence, or Repentance, and Application to God; and for the Expedient of the Epicureans, it brings into the bosom that Anxiety which it pretends to expel; for men having had experience of [Page] their own impotence and imperfection, and of the weakness and deceitfulness of others, and observing the daily changes and chances of this world, can by no means be secur'd against them, but by the belief of an over-ruling Providence, and the performance of such things as may secure to them the Protection of it. He only who is not conscious to himself of guilt unrepented of, who is sincere in his duty to God and Man, is capable of remaining without despair, if he should perceive the frame of Nature ready to be dissolv'd. Our Saviour's question carries its answer along with it; Why are yee fearful, O yee of little faith? A weak Faith is scarce sufficent to keep out fear and trouble: What Peace then can there be, where there is no faith at all? What Peace can there be to the Wicked, remaining such, who are [Page] without God, without Providence, without inward Comfort, without help in Nature; without hope in this World, or the Other?

2dly. The want of Wisdom, in irreligious men, is seen, by the infinite hazard they run, upon inconsiderable motives.

The hazard they run, is the loss of Body and Soul for ever; which loss, though the Atheists believe not, yet they cannot say 'tis an Impossibility.

And upon what Temptation is it, that they make this perillous Adventure?

Why! for the sake of a few vile Lusts, and inordinate Passions, the fruit of which is present shame, and inconvenience: They lose their hopes of being like Angels for ever, that they may enjoy [Page] a few Brutal Pleasures for a few days on earth.

A man would mortifie all those unruly Appetites, with respect even to the dignity of his own nature, and for the Interests of this life, upon the account of which this foolish sinner parts with a blessed Eternity.

Wisdom would prescribe Temperance, Justice, Gratitude, Peaceableness, decent speaking, and the like, if there were no other World; much more does it require obedience to the reasonable Commands of Religion, when they are means to the comforts both of this life, and that which is to come.

Nothing was more remote from Wisdom than the choice of Esau; what man of common understanding would have lost his birth-right, to satisfie an impatient appetite, which might in a little time have [Page] bin appeas'd, without the loss either of Birth-right, or Health? Who then is the foolish Merchant? He, doubtless, who whilst he deals in the World, parts with a present certainty upon the probable hopes of very great gain; But will not part with so much as a Vice which is of no profit to him (with so much as an Oath which offends others, and weakens his Credit among them, and brings him no imaginable Advantage) upon the Hopes of Life eternal.

Now the Folly of such Persons is the more notorious, because, whilst they are blind, they look upon themselves as those, who see furthest into the causes of things. Thus it happen'd to the ungodly among the Romans; professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

Now to such Folly as consists both in the want of Judgment, and of Wisdom [Page] in the best things, may sitly be joyn'd, that which David (in the second place) takes notice of in the Text, The vileness of those who live without Religion: Which is two fold;

1. The vileness of their Temper and Disposition; They are corrupt.

2. The vileness of their Practice, They have done abominable works; There is none that doth good.

1. Atheistical Persons are vile in their temper and inclination. They are corrupt, or they have corrupted, first themselves, and then their works. There is rottenness at the heart of them.

Na-bhal is the Original word. From thence a Writer Bythn. on the Text, will have that of Nebulo derived. He fails in his Etymologie, but his meaning is [Page] good; For he would suggest thus much to us, that it is the knavish man who hath said in, or to his heart, There is no God. He is of so villanous a disposition, as, whilst he believes there is a God, to wish there were none, because his Vices cannot approve themselves to Wisdom, and Justice, and Holiness.

Immorality is the beginning of Atheism, and Atheism is the strengthning of Immorality; for the Immoral first would be glad there were no God, and what they desire they readily believe; and when once they so believe, then they are confirm do and encourag'd in their Vices, and sin with Assurance.

For Atheism begins, not from the Arguments of a sound Mind Tarq. fatuus, insanus. in a sober Temper, but in a sensual Disposition, which inclines Men to seek out sor colours, whereby they may deceive themselves [Page] into an opinion of the safety of living in a course that pleases them

What they assert through sensuality, that they do, and when they have done it, they study to make a defence, both that the sting of Conscience may not give any pain to them, and that they may have something to say to those who reprove them.

It was from the corrupt hearts of the Rulers, Elders, Scribes, Annas the High Priest, Caiphas, John, Alexander, and others;

It was (I say) from their love of popularity, and their fear of being look'd upon as openly confuted, that They endeavour'd to stifle a plain Miracle which God wrought by St. Peter and St. John, in healing a lame Man, instead of being convinced by it. When They saw Acts 4. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. the boldness of Peter and John, ‘[Page] and perceived that they were unlearn'd and ignorant Men, they marvelled, and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus, And beholding the Man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. Put when they had commanded them to go aside out of the Council, they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these Men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them, is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the People, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no Man in this Name.’

‘To the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled, nothing is pure, but the very Conscience is defiled,’ the sense [Page] they have of things is (by their ill temper) perfectly corrupted.

If Men had in them a principle of Probity, and were inclin'd to seek necessary Truths, and the Rules of Goodness, with impartiality, they would certainly find them; but having some Lusts or other earthly Interests to gratifie, the corrupt Heart, biasseth the judgment; and they will not understand nor seek after God. When you speak of a just God, to an unjust Man; of a holy God, to an unclean Man; of a merciful God, to a cruel Man; of a God that is good, and do's good, to a covetous Man; of a God of condescension, to a proud Man; of a long suffering God, to a rash and revengeful Man; of a God that rules over all, to an untractable Man; of a God that will call every Man to an account, to an unjust Steward; you speak of Pearls to [Page] Swine: nay, each of these, has not only no value for such a God; but there is in them, a wicked prejudice against the notion of such a Deity; there is an interest (tho' a wretched one) made by their earthly Affections, in their Hearts against the Being of him. When you speak of a Heaven where they neither eat nor drink to an Epicure; of the Idolatry of the worship of Diana to Demetrius and others who get their living by making Silver Models of her Temple; you speak to those whom Pleasure and Interest have rendred deaf.

If a Man could see into the Breast of a godless Person, what a Cave of horrour would he look into? What ungovernableness of Spirit would he behold; what an unwillingness to own any Lord over it? What heighth of pride would he find there? The wicked through the [Page]pride of his countenance will not seek after God; God is not in all his thoughts. Psal. 10. 4.

How is such a one puffed up with this vain conceit that He understands the deepest secrets of Nature, and is wiser than all the Men of all Ages, who have by the things that are seen, ascended to the acknowledgment of an invisible God? What uncharitableness would he see in such a Person, rendring him distrustful of all the World as designing, and unfaithful? for they that live without God, mete by the Measures of their own dishonest Hearts.

What disgust would be given him by many filthy and monstruous Lusts, darkning, by their impure steams, the understandings of knowing Men, and driving them impetuously into such beastly Follies as are the shame and peril, as well as the degeneracy of humane nature?

[Page] From Hearts so corrupt cannot but proceed first, wishes of Atheism, and when they have deluded themselves into a conceit that they have their wish, there cannot but follow (what I am next to Consider.)

2. The vileness of their practice. They have done abominable works; there is none that doth good.

First, There is a natural tendency to such abominable practice, in the Heart of godless Men

Secondly, It is true in fact, that their Practice is, the Omission of all good, and the Commission of presumptuous evils.

1. There is a tendency to such abominable practices in the Heart of Godless Men.

Some Unbelievers have pretended to regulate their practice by Honour, by Decency, by Discretion, by cunning [Page] Craft; they have pretended to sin by Method, and to act with worldly Safety.

But where there is so ill a Heart, so brutishly inclin'd, so given up to a reprobate sense, so void of the Grace of God; it will, upon temptation and opportunity, break forth into the most execrable abominations.

Our Laws suppose all Murthers, Adulteries,' Thefts, and other such violations of them, to be acted by Persons, who have not the fear of God before their Eyes. That is the Bridle which will restrain them, if they are not past restraint.

And if those, who believe in general, that God is, but consider not what they believe, and forget him, and have him not in their Thoughts, commit very black Crimes: certainly they preserve not themselves innocent, who are by a corrupt [Page] Heart, inchanted into this worst of persuasions, that there is no God at all.

All find it difficult to live a holy and blameless lise after having entertain'd good Principles; after much consideration, and striving to master themselves, and Prayer to God for his Assistance. How improbable then is it, that those should be free from presumptuous evils, who neither fear God, nor regard Man; who make Sense their Guide; who rather give up the Reins to brutal nature, than endeavour to govern it.

And, 2dly, It is true in fact that their practice is the omission of all good, and the commission of presumptuous evils.

1. For good, that, saith David, is generally omitted amongst them, There is none of them that doth good.

It is true, that ungodly Men do sometimes that which is materially good, to others; [Page] but it is not from the true motives of Goodness. The unjust Judge did justice, Luke 18. 5. but 'twas upon Importunity, and to avoid being wearied. Ill Men do good, not because it is an imitation of God, or pleasing to him; because it is beneficial to the Community of which they are Members; because it is a means to find mercy at that day: they will not give up a cup of mater to a Disciple of our blessed Master Jesus in the name of a Disciple. For they cannot act by principles which they have not: but, with the Publicans, they do one Courtesie to receive another; and they have a hook in every gift: They sometimes do a good office for good Men who may honour them before the People, and serve them in another way: But the Creatures they most readily support, are Parasites, Flatterers, the Instruments of their Lust, Injustice and Revenge, and such [Page] who know their several Abominations, and for that reason are fear'd.

Therefore the Good they do is not properly good. But

2dly, For their Evils, they are formally evil; They are all manner of Immoralities in the Root of them: For if Atheists actually forbear any Evil, it is not from Conscience (for that they have not) but from fear of the Law, or of those they depend on, or publick Infamy, or expence, or disease, or from impotence, or want of opportunity.

There are two sorts of their evil practices, which I shall take notice of, from the second Chapter of the Book of Wis-dom

1. The first is, abominable sensuality.

2. The second is, cruel and unmerciful oppression.

[Page] 1. For the first, Their abominable sensuality, holy David observes in verse 3. that they are altogether become filthy. Their filthiness is thus describ'd in the 6, 7, 8, and 9th Verses of the forementioned Book of Wisdom. ‘Come on,—let us enjoy the good things that are present; and let us speedily use the Creatures like as in youth: Let us fill our selves with costly Wine and Oyntments; and let no Flower of the Spring pass by us. Let us crown our selves with Rose-buds before they be wither'd; let none of us go without his part of our voluptuousness; let us leave tokens of our joyfulness (that name they give to their Lusts and Revellings) in every street.’

This course, being very expensive, brings on,

The second part of their abominable practice, which is cruel and unmerciful oppression. [Page] The Author of that Book doth therefore, in the tenth Verse, go on after this manner, ‘Let us oppress the poor righteous man; let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged.’

‘Let our strength be the law of Justice.’

So that whensoever any one shews his Neighbour a godless Man, his Neighbour can immediately shew him a Monster made up of the Goat, the Swine, the Wolf, the Lion; if I may allow him any thing so generous as, they say, there is in that King of the Forest.

After all this manifestation of the Folly, and vileness of such as are without God in the World; It is time in the

Third place to think what is fit, in this case, for those to do, who believe in God; both first as to themselves, and

Secondly, To those who believe not.

[Page] And, first, for our selves, who believe in God, and in Jesus Christ whom he has sent; It is necessary to keep our Faith from deadness, by the exercises of holy Living.

The Devils do more than the Atheists, for they believe; but because they promote infidelity in others, and obey not themselves, they are Devils still.

If we own a God, it is our duty to glorifie him as God; otherwise our Faith is vain, and the unfruitfulness of it will be the Aggravation of our sin; and if we desire not to retain God in our knowledge, and to honour him with the Talent with which he has intrusted us; he will deliver us up to those vile Affections over which a Victory is to be obtained by a living Faith.

[Page] But if we adorn our Belief by an agreeable Life, that will be a means to save our selves, and to gain others; at least, to put to silence the Ignorance of foolish Men.

II. With relation to such,

1. All should learn to distrust, and to be watchful. For what Confidence can be put in a Man that thinks not of a God that will call him to an Account? who measures all things by Power and personal Humour or Interest? Who if he pursues his Principles, must never speak Truth, nor do Justice against his private Ends?

2. All Persons should pray to God, not to work Miracles before Unbelievers, not to call up Men from the Dead, and send Ghosts to convince them; but to give them Grace to attend [Page] to the sufficient Means which are offer'd to them in the Gospel.

3. All judicious good Men should endeavour to become part of the Means of their Conversion, by sound Discourse, by exemplary Lives, and by bearing, not with mean Cowardise, but with Courage and Patience, their insolent Scorn; not answering Fools according to their Folly; but shewing them that True Religion can govern those Passions, which make them, as raging Waves, to foam out their own shame.

4. It concerns all Masters of Families to defend their Threshold against the Footsteps of the Ungodly, who will tempt their Children, and their Servants to Lust and Prodigality, and to the Supports of them, Theft, and imbezlement of Goods.

5. All Churches should, as far as [Page] possible, discountenance Superstition, and loosness of Life.

(1.) They should banish far from them all Frauds abusively call'd Pious, all fabulous Legends, all feigned Miracles, all absurd and superstitious Doctrines and Practices, which beget and nourish Atheism; for these, where they are discover'd, blemish Religion in those who are educated in such Societies; for they have taken that in which they have been bred, for All Religion; and rejecting that, with it they reject all. They distinguish not betwixt the Impostures of Men, and the Truths of God, the Light of whose Word is taken from them.

(2.) Where there are not such Frauds, or they are not discover'd; Men who have liv'd loosly, and without any Principles, not being able to content [Page] the Conscience without some Religion, will at last run from the extream of Atheism to that of Superstition. After having liv'd Infidels, they will die Idolaters.

There is no where so great a Harvest for Romish Missionaries, as where Men, under the true Light of the Gospel, have no Religion at all.

And a Church that will keep out Popery, must, as far as it can be done by its Discipline, mortify Lewdness and Profaneness.

6. It behoveth all Civil Governours to animadvert upon Atheism, as that which supplants the Foundation of all Humane Society.

This Psalm is supposed to have been penned upon occasion of the Conspiracy of Absolom, and the general Wickedness of that Generation [Page] which gave occasion to it, and to the spreading of Atheism. It was an Age so corrupt, that David seems to compare it to the State of the Old World before the Flood, at which time the Earth was filled with Violence, Gen. 6. 11, 12. and all Flesh had corrupted its Ways. We read in Numb. 21. That those who spake Evil of God, spake Evil of Moses. They who will not fear God, will not inwardly reverence Man. They who scoff at Religion as Priest-Craft, will, under the Name of Prince-Craft, despise Civil Government. If such universally prevail'd, they would ruin all Kingdoms, by taking away all Faith and Trust, which is the Ground of Commerce. They would make all Publick Pacts and Covenants of none effect, by removing Conscience, which ties Men to the performance of their Words and [Page] Promises; when Interest, join'd with Power, commands all Men that have no Religion to be no longer Slaves to them.

Atheism supplants all Laws, by invalidating the belief of all Evidences and Oaths. What judicial proceeding can there be, for the preservation of Mens Persons and Properties without Witnesses? And how can an Atheist, a false Man, be a faithful Witness? What a Mockery is his deposing upon a Gospel, which he does not believe? Or his taking up the Name of a Deity, of which he says, as St. Paul of an Idol, that it is Nothing?

By reason of Atheists the Land mourns; they are the greatest Enemies of it. And if (which God avert) it should ever come to pass, that there should not be good. Men enough to ballance [Page] their Impiety, we should soon become a Desolation.

Pray we therefore to the Lord of Heaven and Earth, and say, ‘Arise, O God, maintain thine own Cause; remember how the foolish Man blasphemeth thee daily.’

And, to this King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, to the only Wise God, let us give from our Hearts, Glory and Honour, for ever and ever. Amen.

FINIS.

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PUBLISHED, By Her MAJESTIES Special Command.

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A SERMON Concerning the folly of Atheism; Preached before the QUEEN, AT WHITE-HALL, FEBRUARY 22. 1690/1.

By THO. TENISON, D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to THEIR MAJESTIES.

LONDON: Printed for Ric. Chiswell, at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard. M DC XC I.

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A sermon concerning the folly of atheism preached before the Queen at White-Hall, February 22, 1690/91 / by Tho. Tenison ...

Tenison, Thomas, 1636-1715.

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1691

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— A sermon concerning the folly of atheism preached before the Queen at White-Hall, February 22, 1690/91 / by Tho. Tenison ..., Tenison, Thomas, 1636-1715..

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[4], 35, [1] p.

Printed for Ric. Chiswell ...,. London :: 1691.. (Reproduction of original in Huntington Library.)

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