Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	fix_a	motion_n	star_n	2,539	5	9.5176	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25669	Antiquity reviv'd, or, The government of a certain island antiently call'd Astreada in reference to religion, policy, war and peace some hundreds of years before the coming of Christ.		1693 (1693)	Wing A3510; ESTC R19475	60,242	129

of others who attributed half Divinity to some Instructers of Worship as well as to their reputed Heroiques were no less ridiculous than absurd It being impossible that Religion should be so near ally'd to Mortality or be oblig'd to a Founder of human Denomination And if the World was govern'd by a visible and constant Providence there was no Reason to doubt that Religion was deducible from thence and no less manifest and perpetually extant to Sense as palpably as we behold the Sky and Stars above our Heads Wherefore that this supreme Tenent ought to be allow'd and reverenc'd as the most clear foundation of Belief concluding that it had been as generally conceded had not the Inventions and Frauds of Men oppos'd so clear and known a Truth Adding That he desir'd to hear what could be oppos'd to this Notion before he proceeded to other Principles of their Worship The Athenian Philosopher judg'd that the Method propos'd was highly rational and of divine and natural Simplicity And turning to the Athenian Priest told him That it was incumbent on him to justifie the reasonable Integrity of the Worship he profess'd if in the compass of his understanding lest his Devotion were held unrighteously apply'd to Heaven and Altars polluted by the cruel Sacrifices of Creatures whereby the Divine Power might be rather incens'd than propitiously implor'd to the advantage of Humane Frailty The Grecian Priest was not a little concern'd that he should be thus woo'd to a Disputation of this Nature which he was very prone to avoid But judging that it was for the Credit and Interest of his Persuasion and Function to act polemically in their Defence he reply'd to this purpose That he would not undertake to prove any other Evidence of the Belief he profess'd than what redounded from Usage and allow'd Reception as it had been written or traditionally convey'd by such that were not manifestly liable to the Imputation of Fraud in what they deliver'd who as they were Founders of Worship were likewise esteem'd inspir'd if not oraculously instructed from above That Men from Men in respect of outward Rules and Certainty had been propense to acquiesce in sueh Notions though not otherwise demonstrative Neither did he deny that general Providence as the Fidefendon alledg'd was more apparent and visible than any particular Tenent of Religion however it came to pass that Maxims of Worship were so extremely various in divers Nations though within the compass of one entire World and Divine Conduct That it were to be wish'd that every Article of Faith had been as discernable as the Orb of Light nay written with a Sun-beam on every Object we behold But this general Conviction being not to be perceiv'd Men ought to follow such Doctrines as have gain'd most Credit on their Understandings The Fidefendon told him That he commended him for wishing that the Essentials of Divine Worship had greater Evidence than human Relations or Tenents prescrib'd by the Pen of Man by reason that it was not apparent how far they ought to be credibly allow'd or accompany'd with any sensible Demonstration that Invention or Deceit did not manage the Contrivance For though a Book may with sufficient assurance deliver a Math●matical Certainty with a quod erat demonstrandum It is much otherwise as to any Fundamental of Faith as it should respect Heaven which teacheth the Soul visibly to apprehend the Illuminations without Book from above to which undeniable Conviction all the Faculties of the Mind and what can be attributed to every Sense that operates in Mankind fully assent Suppose he added that I should inspect such Writings of yours as are no less esteem'd by you than sacred Records and should find there such Acts of your deified Jupiter as you grant Miraculous Were it therefore as clear in the judgment of any indifferent Understanding that your Deity either did such Wonders or delegated by Inspiration any Persons to convey them to others when you neither produce or relie on any visible Fact or universal Manifestation of his Omnipotent Power together with the Reverence incumbent from thence on the Soul of Man Our Intellects are sensibly assur'd That we ought to pay Adoration on our Knees to what we see not from what we ocularly behold in the admirable Frame and Structure of the Universe in whose Circumference should not the fixed Stars stand at one constant distance one from another and the diurnal motion of the Orbs above perpetually keep the same time no Individual would in probability last a moment But we reflect on you Grecians no less than on other Nations of the Earth that by invented Denominations and Beliefs presumptuously impose on Heaven what is not to be discern'd from thence by any actual Object or Propriety And could any thing be more perfectly or necessarily perceiv'd than what obviously result● from the Conduct of the Universe above and below It were impious to concede that it would not be effectually conveyed and seen by our Eyes no less undoubtedly than requisite to terminate and convict our Understandings which to deny were very absurd and consequently would force on Providence a defect Some there are who confidently affirm That the Conduct of the Universe doth dependantly subsist and guided in all its Operations and Effects by a spiri●ual Being but how a spiritual Essence can actuate on things of a corporeal Nature that are limited and qualified accordingly is not intelligible we may imagine to the highest degree of Purity that one Substance may be more refin'd and dignifi'd than another as we behold from the Figure and Beams of the Sun and other of the Celestial Bodies yet not be able from thence to define a Spirit or to attribute to a Divine spiritual Essence the contiguous order and disposal of Substances terminated by material parts and effect● of Sense as are our human Bodies and whatsoever has Vegetation or Life to affirm otherwise is not easily discharg'd from Contradiction In like manner it seems no less naturally repugnant to Reason in such as do maintain that spiritual Worship is due from the human Soul which as it has its Being and actuates in the Body of Man can have no proper Idea of any spiritual Existence Let any one that would be thought to believe otherwise prostrate himself as devoutly as he can and he will find in opposition to this Maxim That his Contemplation will furnish him with something or other that resembles Body and Parts and most likely such as are of human Similitude suitable to the Deities that for the most part are worshipt for which the Fictions of the Priesthood ought to be accountable This Example in stead of other Argument I hold fully sufficient to convince Opposers that the Notion of spiritual Worship is neither reasonable or naturally allowable In stead of which I will clearly propose when I touch that Particular such a sensible and proper Worship though annexed to no denomination of Deity in any kind as shall