Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	eternity_n	motion_n	mover_n	24	3	16.1056	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69226	A confutation of atheisme by Iohn Doue Doctor of Diuinitie. The contents are to be seene in the page following	Dove, John, 1560 or 61-1618.	1605 (1605)	STC 7078; ESTC S110103	85,385	102

voyce when there was nothing besides him selfe he spake that is he decreed with him selfe that it should be so If you aske what moued him to create it when he could be aswell without it being delighted with the reflection of his owne glorye which he sawe in him selfe made creatures because he would haue some to be partakers also of that his happines as men and Angels and for their sakes he made the worlde that they might be contayned in it Angels in heauen men vpon the superficies of the earth and all other creatures for the vse of man that so Angels and men seeing his goodnes whereof they were made partakers should prayse him As for the Philosophers and Poets and great wise men of the worlde although they enioyed not the Bible as were Mercurius Trismegistus Homer Hesiodus Aristotle Tully Ouid they all held that the world had a beginning and that God was the maker of it How then is it that now our Atheists denie the same Surely they thinke themselues wise and are become foolish as the Apostle speaketh For they thinke there may bee an effect without a cause a motion without a moouer a worke without a workeman But because disputation is not to be held with them which are ignorant but with the learned and the learned will not preiudice their knowledge so much as to be thought not able to yeild a reason of their assertions let vs examin the reasons which they alleadge why they should holde that the world w●●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out beginning Aristotle say they affirmeth that there can be no motion without a mouer and there must be a due proportion inter motorem id quod mouetur betweene that which is moued and that by whome it is moued there is one Sphere which is called primum mobile the first bodye which is moued so there must be one first agent to moue the same but he did moue from eternitie there was therefore some thing which from eternitye was to be moued by him and that is the highest Sphere For say they if he did not from all eternitye moue this Sphere but began the worlde then non agens factum est agens of no agent he was made an agent which could not be without alteration but that could not be because God is not subiect to alteration for then should he also be subiect to corruption and so should be no God The argument I say doth not followe for although that God is said to be primus motor ab aeterno the first mouer from eternitye yet he did not actu mouere ab aterno this motion of his was not in action eternallye and therefore it is not rightly inferred that there should befor that cause anye change in God For God what-soeuer in his eternall fore-knowledge he intended to doe is said to doe it in the same maner as he intended it and that motion which was not in rerum natura subsistens subsisting in the nature of things as they terme it yet in God was alwayes subsisting with whome all future thinges are present which called the things that were not by their names as if they were He ordayned euery thing that it should be euen before the foundation of the worlde was layed the reason is because that eternall and diuine essence doth not acknowledge time he seeth thinges past present and future not successiuelye but all at once Therefore they haue not yet attayned to the true vnderstanding of Aristotles meaning which argue in this maner Naturally I confesse motion is without beginning because one motion cannot begin without an other precaedent motion so likewise it cannot end without alteration because in omni vere continuo physico in euerye true naturall thing whose partes haue their coherence together as this hath there is a perpetuall succession which may be diuided into infinite partes of the same proportion For euen as in time and euery part thereof there is one present moment or instant which argueth that there is an other past and an other future so in euerye motion which is measured by time there is one present mutation which argueth one motion precedent and an other subsequent because euery motion is a change either of substance or of quantitye or of qualitye or ofplace And therfore the first moment of time cannot be assigned nor the first mutation which is in motion The naturall Philosophers could not discerne by nature whether was first the Hen or the egge because one cannot be without the other therfore they supposed that eternallye the generation of one was the corruption of an other and so there should be an eternall reuolution of thinges which indeed naturally must be so but metaphisically it is not so because there is a God aboue nature by whome nature is ouer-ruled Neither is it meruayle though Philosophye and Fayth doe not speake alike concerning the beginning of the worlde whē the Metaphysics and their principles differ so much from the Physics their principles and Aristotle dissenteth so much from Aristotle one and the selfe same man from himselfe It is one thing to affirme that the worlde simply had no beginning and an other thing to saye that nature did not make the worlde and that by the power of nature it shall haue no end for God and Nature are diuers thinges Aristotle confessed that the worlde began and shall haue an end in respect of the diuine and supernaturall power because he said that God as he is the first mouer so he is the first cause of motion and actuallye infinite a most free agent not tyed to any secondary causes instruments meanes whereby he worketh He which is eternall was before all motion can be without motion or time because he made both motion and time Aristotle denyeth that any thing which is eternall can be measured by time he denyeth God to be in time and by a consequent he denyeth him to be tyed vnto motion which is measured by time God moued eternallye but his motion was metaphysicall which was nothing else but to will to nill and to vnderstand The worlde therfore is not without beginning in respect of the first cause which is God but of the second cause which is nature for then nature should be iniurious vnto her selfe if she should doe vyolence vnto her selfe and be a cause of her owne destruction And therefore according to nature there is a reference and due proportion betweene him which mooueth and that which is mooued and the motion it selfe and so the eternitie of the mouer must argue the eternitie of the thing which by him is mooued of the motion but God hath exerciseth his metaphysical power and authoritie ouer all thinges whereby he counterchecketh and ouer ruleth these thinges The arguments therefore which the Philosophers produce to proue the eternitie of the worlde are reduced vnto these First if there were any first motion the mouer and the mo●ued body from whence this motion

not confesse the same are in that poynt worsse then deuils Last of all it stan leth with good reason that it should be the safest opinion for the Atheists to holde that there is a God For if so be that there were no God there could come no hurt vnto them for thinking so because all men besides them selues holding the same there were none that would punish them for their opinion But if so be that there be a God as I haue prcued vnto them that there is surelye one day he will torment them in hell fire for their contempt because they would not belceue in him and confesse his name Therefore I conclude with the Apostle Corde creditur ad iusticiam orefit confessio ad salutem Let the heart belecue to righteousnes and the tongue consesle vnto saluation At the name of Iesus let euery knee bow both of thinges in heauen and thinges in earth thinges vnder the earth and let euery tongue confesse that Iesus Christ is the Lord vnto the glorye of God the Father Amen Chapter 5. What God is SAint Chrisostom saith Ego omne quod intelligo sinc Christo Spiritu Sancto Patre nolo intelligere nisienim intellexero in Trinitate quae me seruabit mihi dulceesse non potest quod intelligo I can vnderstand no other God when I heare the name of God mencioned but the Father the Sonne and the holy-Ghost For vnlesse I vnderstandd it to be ment by the holy and vndiuided Trinitye whereby I am saued my vnderstanding shall content me nothing So thē according to S. Auguste God is a diuine nature consisting of three persons the Father the Sonne the holy Ghost God the Lord the Cōforter He which begetteth which is begotten he which regenerateth newe begetteth Of one all things In one al things By one al things Frō whence By whome in whom are al things Life w c liueth Life of him which liueth the quickner of al things which are liuing One of him selfe One of an other One of thē both The principles of humane artes and liberall sciences are by themselues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to bee proued by the same artes An Arithmetician cannot proue by Arithmeticke that Omnis numerus est par aut impar euerye number is euen or odde The Musitian cannot proue by his owne Arte that two crotchets make a quauer because these be principles of Arithmeticke and Musicke All principles as Aristoile teacheth in his Demonstrations if they be demonstrated must be demonstrated by the Metaphysics which are of an higher nature but that the principles of the Metaphysics cannot be demonstrated because there is no higher science But forasmuch as Diuinitye is the highest it is enough for vs to belceue the principles thereof without farther serching and happy is the man which seeth not the reason how they should be so and yet belecueth that they are so No man hath seene God at any time because he is inuisible Tully saith Vtioculus it a anima sereliqua videns seipsum non videt The eye seeth not it selfe and the soule vnderstandeth other thinges better then it selfe And that this saying Nosce teipsum know thy selfe is meant in regarde of the soule of man because it is so hard to conceiue what it is But if so be that an eye cannot see it selfe no meruaile though it haue not seene God if a man cannot fullye vnderstand him selfe how should he so perfectly conceiue and define what God is which is so infinitelye aboue himselfe That which is finite him which is infinite the creature the Creator the pipkin the pipkin maker he which is made of vile claye him that hath made all thinges of nothing But as Moses when he was a mortall and sinfull man was not able to beholde the glorye of God and therfore sawe but his backe partes onelye as he passed by So let vs which haue but shallowe braynes so far demonstrate faith by reason as faith may be discerned by reason The Philosophers as S. Augustin saith seeking after the nature of God found that he could not be a body therefore concluded that he was farre more excellent then all bodyes and therfore a Spirit that he could not be subiect to change and therfore that he was aboue all bodyes and soules which are subiect to alteration that all mutable thinges haue their beginning from that which is without all shadowe of change or mutabilitye and that hee which is not thus subiect is simply of him selfe depending of nothing but all other thinges haue their dependance on him Againe they considered that al substances are other bodyes or Spirits and that a Spirit is more excellent then a bodie but that to be moste excellent which hath made both the bodie and the Spirite They considered likewise that the shape of the body is discerned by the outward sences and the spirit is perceaued by the vnderstanding but that which is onely vnderstood is better then that which is seene and that there was something more excellent then both these by so many waies God is known Therfore for asmuch as God is one simple essence not compounded of any partes not consisting of any accidents and yet subsisting and the Apostle speaketh of him in the plurall number saying the inuisible things of him are seene by the creation of the worlde because the truth of God is knowne and perceaued by many meanes through the thinges which he hath made by the continuance of his creatures is vnderstood his eternitie by the greatnes of them his omnipotencie by the excellent order wherby he hath disposed them his wisdome by his gouernment and preseruation of them in that comely and decent order his goodnes and all these thinges doe belong to the vnitie of his substance Therefore not to speake of the authoritie of the holy Bible where at the Baptisme of our Sauiour the blessed Trinitie did sencibly appeare the Father in a voice the Sonne in a man the holy Ghost in a doue how in the beginning the Father made the Son spake and the holy Ghost mooued vpon the waters Bara elohins creauit dij seu Deus Trinus a verbe of the singular number is Ioyned to a nominatiue case of the plurall to shew that these three are one how when three Angels came to Abraham his house he prostrated himselfe to them as vnto God which could not bee without the crime of idolatrie vnlesse they had bin God howe sometimes he spake to them in the plurall number as vnto three persōs sometimes in the singular as vnto one God how the Angels crie in heauen Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth three times holy once Lord to show that there were three persons one God But if I come onely to shewe the backe partes of God so farre as by earthlie comparisons he may be made manifest vnto sinfull man the Atheist doth aske how it can