The Works of Richard Bentley, D D

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CONFUTATION OF ATHEISM FROM III . STRUCTURE AND ORIGIN OF HUMAN BODIES. PART I. SERMON III. Preached May the 2d, 1692. Acts, xvii. 27. That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him; though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being. I Have said enough in my last to shew the fitness and pertinency of the Apostle's discourse to the persons he addressed to; whereby it sufficiently appears that he was no babbler, as some of the Athenian rabble reproached him; not a rjrepfio6yoi, a busy prating fellow; as in another language they say, sermones serere and rumores serere, - in a like mode of expression; that he did not talk at random; but was throughly acquainted with the several humours and opinions of his auditors. And, as Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, so it is manifest from this chapter alone, if nothing else had been now extant, that St. Paul was a great master in all the learning of the Greeks. One thing further I shall observe from the words of the text, before I enter upon the subject which I proposed, that it requires some Plautus, Virgil., Livius. industry and consideration to find out the being of God; we must seek the Lord, and feel after him, before we can find him by the light of nature. The search indeed is not very tedious nor difficult; he is not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being. The consideration of our mind and understanding, which is an incorporeal substance independent from matter; and the contemplation of our own bodies, which have all the stamps and characters of excellent contrivance; these alone, though we look upon nothing abroad, do very easily and proximately guide us to the wise Author of...