Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	earth_n	heaven_n	word_n	6,641	5	4.7023	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62626	Sermons preach'd upon several occasions by his Grace John Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury ; the first volume.; Sermons. Selections	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1694 (1694)	Wing T1260; ESTC R18444	149,531	355

or not which a testimony from God does suppose and therefore ought not to be brought for the proof of it 'T is true indeed that those effects of Divine Power I mean miracles which will prove a divine testimony to an infidel will as well prove the being of a God to an Atheist But when we dispute against those who deny a God no testimony ought to be presum'd to be from God but must be prov'd to be so And whatever argument proves that will also prove that there is a God Humane testimonies are of two sorts universal tradition and written History Both these are plainly and beyond dispute on our side First There is an universal tradition concerning the beginning of the world and that it was made by God And for the evidence of this we have the concurring Tradition of the most ancient Nations the Egyptians and Phoenicians * Vide G●●t de verit Chr Relig. L. 1. and of the most barbarous the Indians who as Strabo † Geograph L. 15. tells us did in many things agree with the Grecians particularly in this that the world did begin and should have an end and that God the maker and governour of it is present in all parts of it And Acosta tells us that at the first discovery of America the inhabitants of Peru did worship one chief God under the name or title of The Maker of the Vniverse And yet these people had not had any commerce with the other known parts of the world for God knows how many ages To which may be added that the most ancient of the Philosophers and those that were the heads of the chief Sects of Philosophy as Thales Anaxagoras and Pythagoras did likewise consent to this Tradition Particularly concerning Thales Tully * De Nat. Deorum L. 1. tells us that he was the first of all the Philosophers that enquired into these things and he said that water was the beginning of all things and that God was that mind or intelligent Principle which fashion'd all things out of water So likewise Strabo * Georg. L. 15. informs us that the Brachmans the chief Sect of Philosophers among the Indians agreed with the Grecians in this That the world was made of water Which agrees exactly with Moses's account of the Creation viz. That the Spirie of God moved upon the face of waters which St. Peter * 2 Pet. 3.5 expresses thus That by the word of God the heavens and the earth for so the Hebrews call the world wert of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 constituted or made of water not standing out of the water as our Translation renders it Nay Aristotle * Metaph. L. 1. c. 3. himself who was the great asserter of the eternity of the world gives this account why the Gods were anciently represented by the Heathens as swearing by the lake Styx because water was supposed to be the principle of all things And this he tells us was the most ancient opinion concerning the original of the world and that the very oldest Writers of Theology and those who liv'd at the greatest distance from his time were of this mind And in the Book de Mundo * Cap. 6. it is freely acknowledg'd to have been an ancient saying and a general Tradition among all men That all things are of God and were made by him I will conclude this with that full Testimony of Maximus Tyrius * Dissertat 1. to this purpose However says he men may differ in other things yet they all agree in this Law or Principle that there is one God King and Father of all things c. This the Greeks say this the Barbarians this those that live upon the Continent and those that dwell by the Sea the wise and the unwise Secondly We have likewise a most ancient and credible History of the beginning of the world I mean the History of Moses with which no Book in the world in point of antiquity can contend I shall not now go about to strengthen my argument by pleading the Divine authority of this Book for which yet I could offer good evidence if that were proper to the matter hand It is sufficient to my present purpose that Moses have the ordinary credit of an Historian given him which none in reason can deny him he being cited by the most ancient of the Heathen Historians and the antiquity of his writings never questioned by any of them as Josephus * L. 1. contra Appion assures us Now this History of Moses gives us a particular account of the beginning of the world and of the creation of it by God Which assertion of his is agreeable to the most ancient Writers among the Heathen whether Poets or Historians And several of the main parts of Moses's History as concerning the Floud and the first Fathers of the several Nations of the World of which he gives a particular account Gen. 10. do very well accord with the most ancient accounts of Prophane History And I do not know whether any thing ought more to recommend the Writings of Moses to a humane belief than the easie and credible account which he gives of the original of the World and of the first peopling of it As to the account of ancient times both the Aegyptian and Chaldean accounts which are pretended by some to be so vastly different from that of the Scriptures may for all that be near the matter easily reconcil'd with it * Vide Dr. Stillingsleet's Orig. Sac. where this is fully made out if we do but admit what Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch very credible persons and diligent searchers into ancient Books do most expresly assure us viz. that both those Nations did anciently reckon months for years And the account of the Chineses is not hard to be reconcil'd with that of the Septuagint Now in so nice and obscure a matter as the account of ancient times is it ought to satisfie any fair and reasonable enquirer if they can be brought any whit near one another So that universal Tradition and the most ancient History in the world are clearly on our side And if they be one can hardly wish a more convincing argument For if the world and consequently mankind had a beginning there is all the reason in the world to expect these two things First that there should be an universal Tradition concerning this matter because it was the most memorable thing that could be transmitted to posterity And this was easie to be done if mankind sprang from one common root and original● from whence this Tradition would naturally be universally diffus'd Secondly it may with the same reason be expected that so remarkable a thing should be recorded in the most ancient History Now both these have accordingly happened But then on the other hand if the world was eternal and had no beginning there could be no real ground for such a Tradition or History And if such a Tradition