Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	air_n	element_n	fire_n	13,062	5	7.1789	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61627	Several conferences between a Romish priest, a fanatick chaplain, and a divine of the Church of England concerning the idolatry of the Church of Rome, being a full answer to the late dialogues of T.G.	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1679 (1679)	Wing S5667; ESTC R18131	239,123	580

him Athenagoras speaks when he joyns him with Saturn and Proserpina Where he mentions the Poetical Theology and he saith that Orpheus Homer and Hesrod were not much inferiour in age to the Gods they describe as to their Genealogies shapes actions and passions which he shews at large to be unworthy of any who are called Gods Towards the latter end of his Apology he gives the true account of these things viz. that those whom they worshipped for Gods had formerly been men of interest and power and either through fear or flattery had divine worship given to them and particularly of Jupiter he proves from Callimachus that he was born in Creet although the Poet will by no means allow that he died and had a Sepulchre there From hence he shews that under the names of Deified men the evil spirits did assume the divine worship which was given to themselves which he proves from the cruel and impure actions which they did put men upon He shews that the Image of Neryllinus who lived in their time did give answers to those who consulted it and so did that of Proteus or Lucians Peregrinus who cast himself into the fire at Olympia since therefore the Images themselves could not do these things nor those whose Images they were he concludes they were evil Spirits who were busie about those Images and wrought upon the imaginations of those who came to consult them And who denies that these were evil Spirits which drew men to Idolatry and encouraged them in it as Athenagoras observes who under the names of great men did assume divine worship to themselves And in this sense Dr. St. never denied that Jupiter of Creet was a false God and the Devil under his name drew men to the practice of gross Idolatry 3. The Allegorical Jupiter For Athenagoras saith that the Poetical Fables were so filthy and base that the Philosophers had no other way but to turn them into Allegories and to interpret them Physically of the nature and mixture of the Elements And thus according to Empedocles Jupiter was Fire Juno Earth Pluto Air Nestis water However saith Athenagoras these are but Elements and parts of matter and therefore cannot be Gods nor deserve divine worship The Stoicks made Jupiter to be Fire Juno Air Neptune Water Others made one part of Air to be Jupiter and another Juno however they cooked and dressed their Allegories they were but Pork still it could arise no higher than a worship of the Elements instead of God And now let any one judge how sufficiently T. G. hath proved from Athenagoras that the supreme God of the Heathens was an Arch-devil I pray proceed to your next R. P. Theophilus Antiochenus saith that neither the Mother of the Gods nor her Children are Gods but Idols the works of mens hands and most impure Devils which T.G. saith was cited by him in the same page with Origen before although Dr. St. makes so much sport with him about crying out the Fathers when he named he saith only Origen P. D. And was not this true Doth T. G. name any more than Origen to prove that Jupiter according to the Fathers was an Arch-devil Look the place and you will find it punctually true I grant he mentions Theophilus Antio●hemis in the same page but to what purpose Not to prove the supreme God an Arch-devil but the inferiour Deities to be Inferiour Devils which was a thing never denyed by Dr. St. and therefore this Testimony signifies as little now as it did before R. P. But you will not so easily reconcile Tertullians Testimonies with Dr. St. 's abominable pretence as T. G. calls it that the God of the Romans was the true God P. D. It is one thing to say the God of the Romans was the true God and another to say they did worship the true God under the title of Jupiter O. M. For the former may imply that they had no other Gods besides him to whom they gave Divine Worship which I dare say never came into Dr. St.'s head But all that he asserted was that the Romans did own and worship the supreme God under the titles of Jupiter O. M. and gave such characters and descriptions of him as could agree to none but the Lord and Governour of the World which he proved from many testimonies of Cicero Seneca and others the gravest of the Roman Writers And what doth Tertullian say to take off these testimonies R. P. First he saith we are not ignorant that those who act and are pleased and counterfeit a Divinity under those names of dead men and consecrated statues are wicked spirits i. e. Devils P. D. And what then I beseech you Was Jupiter O. M. one of these dead men if not to what purpose is this Testimony brought unless it be as Countrey people say for want of a better R. P. Not so for he saith elsewhere We worship one God whom ye all know by the light of Nature As for the rest whom you think to be Gods we know them to be Devils P. D. Admirable who can stand before such demonstrations Tertullian here grants they all knew the true God therefore the supreme God of the Romans was a Devil He might as well have brought another Testimony out of the Book de spectaculis No man can be ignorant of that which Nature suggests that God is the Maker of the World Were the Romans ignorant of that which Tertullian saith no man could be ignorant of And when they made use of the most proper Epithets of Good and Great to describe and worship him by is it probable they should not understand him Or that Tertullian should think their supreme God was an Arch-devil when he saith in the words cited by T. G. he was the same God whom the Christians worshipped Doth T.G. consider what he writes when he puts down this for a Testimony against Dr. St. We worship one God whom ye all know by the light of Nature Doth it not hence follow that the God whom the Gentiles knew was the same whom the Christians worshipped and he was not certainly an Arch-devil I pray judge whose pretence is the more abominable upon his own Testimonies R. P. For all this Tertullian shews that Jupiter worshipped in the Capitol was not the true God For speaking of the supplications the Heathens made there he saith they were averse both from God and Heaven P. D. And had he not great-reason to say so when he saith The Romans with full bellies and wallowing in all kind of Luxury did offer up their sacrifices to obtain rain and thought to have it drop down from the Capitol upon them if the people went barefoot thither Doth not God himself tell the Jews they were far from him when they seemed most to draw nigh unto him i. e. their sacrifices and oblations signified nothing while they continued in their sins I should not stick to say that intemperate