Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	bind_v	earth_n	power_n	8,826	5	5.9330	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96858	Gnōston tou Theou, k[a]i gnōston tou Christou, or, That which may be knovvn of God by the book of nature; and the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ by the Book of Scripture. Delivered at St Mary's in Oxford, by Edward Wood M.A. late proctor of the University and fellow of Merton Coll. Oxon. Published since his death by his brother A.W. M.A.	Wood, Edward, 1626 or 7-1655.; Wood, Anthony à, 1632-1695.	1656 (1656)	Wing W3387; Thomason E1648_1; ESTC R204118	76,854	234

to the consideration of the Supreame Governour and Mover of all I saith God will heare the Heavens and they shall heare the Earth and the earth shall heare the Corne and the Wine and the oyle and they shall heare Jezreel Hos 2. 21 22. Here is the order and concatenation of Inferiour Causes Jezreel crying unto the corne and the corne unto the earth the earth unto the heavens and both corne earth and heavens crying and leading unto God You know that absurdities will follow in Philosophy upon the allowing a progressus ad infinitum i. e. an endlesse rising up of one Cause above another without a non ultra and resting in one Prime and Originall one which may stay and ease the mind in it's inquiries and porings upon the reasons of things The inconveniences that would follow upon such a position were as I conceive next unto the Light of Nature the maine ground and motive that made the Heathen acknowledge a God and hence it was too as I suppose that though many amongst the Heathens maintained the World to be Eternall yet they acknowledged withall God as the Cause of it As the Sun is the cause of light though light be coëxistent with the Sunne True there were some few amongst them who held that God was not the Cause of the world but Austin very well called this their opinion intollerabilis error a most intollerable senselesse errour as being repugnant to the very Light of Nature and convictions they might have from the very Creatures themselves I might here enter very pertinently upon a discourse against the Eternity of the World but it being a businesse of Philosophy and besides having not had time to weigh and debate the matter in mine owne thoughts I shall omit it What remaines is this that God by way of Causality or by our arguing from the effect to the cause may be known in the Creatures The third way by which we may know God in his Creatures is per viam eminentiae which floweth from the two former for because God hath not those Imperfections in Being and Operation as his Creatures have and because he is the Prime Cause and Mover of all things therefore it will follow that he is the most Perfect Being that he doth Eminently containe whatsoever worth and goodnesse is scattered in his Creatures as we may argue and say that because all light that is in the aire be it little or much proceedeth from the Sunne and therefore the Sunne hath it in a more eminent and excellent degree so likewise may we conclude that since all Power Goodnesse Love and the like issueth from God unto the Creatures therefore God hath these infinitely more excellent in him then the Creatures Therefore we read that in God are riches of grace and treasures of wisdome and the like Ephes 2. 7. Col. 2. 3. In the Creature there is no Goodnesse but what is derivative and participated of God but what is dregg'd and allayd with evill and therefore Finite and Limited But now Goodnesse is Essentiall unto God and therefore as himselfe is Infinite Independent pure without measure and therefore as the Sunne hath for these many yeares together scattered light and influence dayes and yeares upon the world and yet doth still remaine the same Sunne as full of light as ever so likewise though God from the Creation of the world hath not ceased continually to bestow and communicate his riches unto his severall Creatures yet he is still the same God as Rich in Goodnesse as ever Wherefore doubtlesse it will come to passe that by these glimmerings and faint rayes of Goodnesse in the Creatures a meere Naturall man an Heathen may conclude that there is a God in whom such Goodnesse dwelleth more fully and plentifully And so much shall suffice to be spoken concerning the second point and the Doctrinall part of my Text let mee crave your patience now but to winde up all in a word of Application and so I shall conclude This should confute the damned Vse 1 Atheists who either in Speculation or Practice doth deny the Being of that Deity whom these creatures doe so clearly represent and voluntarily hoodwinke himselfe from beholding the footsteps of these Infallible things of God in the Workes which he hath done for so saith the Apostle 2 Pet. 3. 5. This they are willingly ignorant of that by the Word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the waters Doubtlesse those men were wilfully blind who when the Glorious Booke of the Creatures is laid wide open before them can yet notwithstanding not read the Authour of them for looke up unto the Heavens thou Atheist and view that Glorious cover which every where attires this Lower world and then tell me is it not a God that thus speadeth out the Heavens like a curtaine are not those glorious bodies the Workes of his hands or thinkest thou that Chance or Fortune could so uniformly for so many thousand yeares together turne about that vast body of the Sunne which so constantly as a bridegroome comes out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a strong man to runne his course Thinkest thou that those Starres thou beholdest were set a running by any kind of Fate or that they throw downe their Influences upon us by any designe of their owne without a guidance of Providence Looke down upon the Earth and tell mee who was it that laid the foundations and the corner stone thereof Who was it that founded it upon the Flouds Could it be brought to passe by Chance or any Confluence of Atomes that this little ball of Earth should hang up in the aire thus Immoveable poys'd by it's owne proper weight and not rather reele to and fro and stagger like a drunken man that the wild Ocean doth not challenge the upper hand of the Earth and overflow the surface of it that even the Raine should so strangely ascend up into the Clouds and there be Bottled up for the use of man and that there should be no meanes even in the joynt Powers of all men to unstop those bottles or command the least drop from them From whence come all these things must thou not of necessity say from some Almighty Power who hangeth the Earth upon nothing and who ruleth the raging of the Sea and madnesse of the waves and who bindeth up the waters in the thick clouds and the cloudes are not rent under them There is not a Creature in the world from the highest Heaven to the lowest earth from whence thou maist not copy out a Lesson of the Eternall power and Godhead and in whom as in a glasse thou maist not see the Invisible things of him clearly reflected unto us from the things that are made The serious contemplation of which cannot but make the most Sottish Atheist cry out with the Prophet O Lord how manifold are all thy workes in wisdome hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy

to bestow any further light upon any it comes to passe that the Gentiles being not able to walke according to the knowledge they primitively had are left without excuse So then the Essentiall Primary end of the Light of Nature and the Creatures was to instruct man in the knowledge and true worship of God the consequentiall if I may so terme it and accidentary end is to the intent that they may be without excuse This shall suffice concerning the words themselves on which I have been the larger because the Exposition of them may give much light to my ensuing discourse which shall be grounded upon this proposition viz. That God though in his owne Nature invisible may yet by a Gentile a meere Naturall man be reacht unto and discovered in his Workes For the better clearing of this Point it will be convenient to distinguish concerning the Workes of God which are either ad intra or ad extra those ad intra are such which have no other object then God himselfe and are eternally bounded within his owne nature such as are the Eternall generation of his Sonne and Proceeding of the Holy Ghost now as no one knoweth the inward workings and contrivances of the mind save the spirit of a man or he to whom he revealeth them in like manner there is no one that can fath om or dive into these inward essentiall Workes of God save God himselfe or those to whom his Word hath communicated them nay indeed the best Saints of God in this their Earthly Tabernacle though never so much enlightened by his Word and Spirit cannot perfectly know or conceive these his ineffable Workes and Mysteries True they may substantially and in generall know that such Workes there be for they are revealed in his Word but then the strange manner of the Generation of the one and Proceeding of the other that admirable Energy and divine Reflexion by which he understands himselfe from all Eternity they cannot but by Analogy faint resemblances and conjectures apprehend much lesse then can a meere Naturall man a Gentile discover and trace either God in these Workes or these Workes in God The second sort of Gods Workes are those ad extra viz. such whose effect is in something without himselfe or whose proper subject is the Creature and these again are either such which do chiefly concerne us in another case as the Election of some unto salvation and reprobation of other unto damnation or else such which immediately concerne either the Being or Preservation of the Creature in this world and these properly are the Workes of Creation and Providence from these chiefly I say it is that a Naturall man knowes God This we shall prove First in the Works of Creation Secondly in the Workes of Providence And first we shall shew in generall that the Creatures in themselves doe every where set forth and proclaime a God Secondly we shall shew by what wayes and meanes the Creatures doe thus bring us unto the knowledge of God 1. First then that the creatures doe every where proclaime a God is manifest from Psal 19. 1 2 3 4. the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke c. That glorious canopy which we behold above us however in it selfe mute and dumbe doth yet notwithstanding set forth as it were unto us a declaration of it's Creatour's Power Goodnesse and Wisdome of his power in the framing and contriving so excellent a piece of his Goodnesse in ordering all it's Motions and Revolutions unto the benefit of his Creatures and of his Wisdome in allotting it so commodious a position and structure unto the performance of those offices to which he hath ordained it and so vers 2. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge that is doth sufficiently Discipline and Instruct men in the knowledge of God so that the most sottish and rude Gentile cannot plead ignorance For what though their Philosophers alone could tell the severall vertues and influences of the Starres the periodicall motion of the Sun Moon their just Horizontall elevation and depression and the like yet day unto day and night unto night doth sufficiently shew forth even to the most ignorant who is the Authour of this their Succession and Revolution for so the Psalmist goes on vers 3 4. there is no speech nor language where their voyce is not heard their line Scriptura ipsorum their writing is gone out throughout all the earth and their words to the end of the world Marke here how the Creatures are made the praecones as it were of God the Cryers and Heraulds of his glory Doubtlesse there is a certaine kind of dumbe eloquence even in Inanimate Creatures to perswade men to subscribe unto the mighty Creatour of all things Wherefore it was not without some cause that Hermes an Auncient Philosopher among the Heathens called the world the Image of God for as the coine of a King doth represent the King whose coine it is or as in the beholding of a curious Edifice we cannot choose but in it admire the Art and Dexterity of the Artificer in like manner the admirable structure of this neat Vniverse the curious and subordinated disposition which one creature hath to another the exact Symmetry and proportion of each part unto the whole must needs lead us unto the Creatour of them and cause us to admire the infinite Power and Perfection of him who out of nothing could raise so glorious a fabrick As then Protogenes at the very sight of a curious picture did presently guesse it to be the workmanship of Apelles because he knew that none could doe the like so likewise in the contemplation of these glorious Creatures of God we may straightway conclude him to be the Authour of them because they are beyond the contrivance and art of any other For there is no finite being that can make or adde one haire unto our heads much lesse can contribute any sense life or vitall motion unto any thing Many men indeed as Zeuxis Albertus Magnus and others have endeavoured to imitate the God of nature in his workes but never could any one by all his Apish art frame a naturall and reall creature for besides the limitednesse of his Nature the narrownesse of his Vnderstanding the inabilities of him to find out the true forme and peculiar operations of all things there is a certaine stubbornesse and disobedience if I may so speake in the matter it selfe whereby it scornes as it were to be wrackt and tortured into another forme then what the Soveraigne of all things is pleased to impresse upon it God can out of dust build a man but t' is impossible for any man be he of the most exquisite wit invention and judgment as he will ever to raise the least contemptible Creature out of the most refined Matter It remaineth therefore that the most minute inconsiderable least thing in the world doth

only know but also confute such errours as are repugnant unto sound Doctrine and the Analogy of Faith the Word of God is called a light Psal 119. 105. and therefore as by light only we know what darkenesse is so by the same word may we understand what is erroneous and false in religion As we say that a right thing is a sufficient judge of its own straitnesse and the crookednesse of another body so that there is an elencticall power as I may so speak in the very Scriptures themselves to stop the mouthes of gainsayers and to quash put to silence the impious opinions and errors of ungodly men 3. 'T is profitable for correction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the reformation that is for an amendment of all things amisse either in life or manners there is not the least deviation from the Law of God either in thought word or deed but it doth espye and correct A man can never sinne soe closely but it will find him out for the Word of God tryeth the reines the heart it is a two edged sword dividing betwixt this joynts the marrow is a discoveres of the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4. 12. As it doth teach what things are right so it doth correct amend what things are out of order 4. 'T is profitable for instruction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instruant Patriarchae etiam errantes The title of the 32. Psalme is a Psalme of instruction the word seemes to me to imply the great profit of the Scriptures even for the instruction of Children and young men so farre was our Apostle from forbidding any of what sort soever the reading of the Scriptures that he makes it one of the main ends and uses of the written Word to instruct all men even unto Children hence it is that v. 15. the Apostle approves in Timothy that from a Child he had read the Scriptures and I am verily perswaded that the Romanists withhold the reading of Scriptures from the people more out of a point of policy then Religion or ground they have for it out of the Word it selfe for it seemes altogether repugnant first to the Commands of God who enjoyned Moses to read the Law before all Israel Men Children and strangers within thy gate without any distinction Deut. 31. 12. And who bids us search the Scriptures Joh. 5. 39 and who commands that the Word of God should dwell in us richly and abundantly Had not laymen and ordinary people soules to be saved as well as the greater Cardinalls and Priests there were some reason that these precious things should not be cast unto such doggs these Jewells to such Swine but they expecting life from the same Christ as greater Schollars why should they not with them have the same meanes to obtaine it if the command of God lye thus indefinitely upon all men why should they be debarred from obeying that command Secondly 't is repugnant to the very designe of God in revealing his will in the Holy Scriptures for whatsoever things were written a foretime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15. 4. why was the word written but that we might have hope and shall not a lay-man have hope of Salvation will you exclude the common people from the hope of Heaven if not why then shall they not have this hope through patience and comfort of the Scriptures againe Ephes 6. 12. 17. the Apostle there shewing how that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalites and powers c. bids them therefore take to themselves the Helmet of Salvation the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God and now ought not poore ignorant soules thus to wrestle thus to fight against powers against the rulers of the darknesse of this world against Spirituall wickednesse in high places why then shall they not have this comfort Why should they not be armed with that sword of the Spirit the Word of God When a Prince setteth forth a Proclamation 't is penned in a language that all his Subjects may understand it and doubtlesse 't is the intent and end of God in proclaiming his Will and Word unto mankind that all his People should read and understand what wonderous things he there revealeth for their Salvation for otherwise what a vaine unprofitable thing would it be to kindle a light meerly to put it under a bushell to bestow a rich treasure upon us for so the Word is called to be hid and clasped in a box to give us a rule whereunto we should square our lives even his Holy Word only that it should be shut up and cabineted in an unknown language it is in my judgement the highest piece of injustice in the Church of Rome thus to deprive the people of the bread of life and instead thereof to obtrude upon them their own hypocriticall leaven their fopperyes and traditions to obstruct and seale up the fountaine and then to feed them with the muddy streames of their own inventions yea indeed to damne mens souls meerly out of a divelish kind of policy to secure their own state and interest but say they there is no such necessity certainly for the common peoples reading the Scriptures when as in the times of the old Testament there were many Believers as Job his friends who yet living not among the Jews to whō then only were committed the Oracles of God were destitute of the holy Scriptures we answer that as for Job his friends they lived by computation of the best divines before the Law and the written Word whereas had they lived after it they had been bound to have the Scripture after it was delivered besides what if it be granted that some believers there were under the Old Testament who de facto had not the Scriptures must it therefore now de jure be true that the commonalty ought not to have them under the Old Testament perhaps God might by vision or some other extraordinary way reveale his will unto some of the Gentiles as unto Job others before their Conversion which ways being not now to be expected reason it is that all People should now fetch their knowledge of God from the Scriptures Againe they object that Paul writ not his Epistle unto the Romans in Latine which was their vulgar tongue but in Greek therefore to put the Scriptures in a vulgar tongue is not needfull we answer that the reason of this was that those sacred monuments of Paul being to instruct all people besides the Romans the Spirit thought it most convenient to write it in such a language which might most universally be understood now that the greek was then most known unto all Nations appeares not only out of prophane Authors but also out of the Scriptures themselves as from Rom. 1. 16. and other places where the Apostle under the name of Greeke comprehends all