Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	angel_n	lord_n	praise_v	7,773	5	9.9558	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85780	Ortholatreia: or, A brief discourse concerning bodily worship: proving it to be Gods due; to be given unto him with acceptation on his part, and not to be denyed him without sin, on ours. A thing worthy to be taken into consideration in these dayes, wherein prophaness and irreverence toward the sacred Majesty of God hath so much corrupted our religious assemblies, that men are regardless of their being before God, or of Gods being amongst them in his own house. / By S.G. late preacher of the Word of God in the Cathedrall Church of Peterburgh.	Gunton, Simon, 1609-1676.	1650 (1650)	Wing G2247; Thomason E592_8; ESTC R206877	34,540	64

which is verily the most general and universal Custom that is in the world there being scarce any Nation where Superiours receive not this homage and civility from their Inferiours and upon this ground account their god whatever it be that they account their god worthy of such Bodily reverence in a Religious way But we Christians in the West are now so far declined from all due reverence and respect towards Gods Divine Majestie that our bodies must not acknowledge him by kneelings and bowings gestures of reverence which in the Civil way we plentifully exhibit unto men our superiours when we meet with them or make our addresses to them Now if we did but rightly consider Gods transcendency above men and our own obligations to his Divine Majestie and Goodness above whatever we do or can owe to all the men in the world we should surely see that Corporal adoration is more due to God in a Religious way then unto Men in a Civil Though perhaps for all this if the primaevity or fundamental constitution of Corporal adoration Civil and Religious be considered it may seem a disputable Question Which of the two is the Mother and which the Daughter Whether the Civil adoration be derived from the Religious That because God himself is to have Religious adoration therefore Men our Superiours are to have a Civil as having some analogie and resemblance with God Psal. 86. 2. or Whether the Religious adoration be derived from the Civil That because we worship Men with our Bodies therefore we ought also to worship God Which way soever it be determined the Civil worship to Men will infer and strongly establish Religious Bodily worship towards God which is the scope of the Argument A Fifth Argument may be drawn from the silence of the holy Scriptures If the Scriptures be not against it they are for it He that is not against us is on our part Where does the Scripture forbid that Bodily worship should be given unto God or Where is it said that God condemned any for doing it or that Himself refused to be worshipped with the body Many devout and humble suppliants have bowed kneeled and prostrated themselves unto God and Where is it written that God rejected them as if he would not have been worshipped after that manner This must be plainly shewn else it cannot be made good that Bodily worship unto God is unlawful But sinco the Word of God is altogether for it and hath not one syllable against it neither in the Old Testament nor in the New it must needs be not onely lawful but convenient and necessary Where are then the odious aspersions that are cast upon it in calling it Idolatry Superstition and I know not by what other scandalous names Would the Word of God the lantern light and oracle of Truth be silent or connive at a sin worthy of so hainous appellations and neither countenance the opposers nor condemn the practisers of it Would that Light want a ray to enlighten us in the knowledge of this which by some is accounted so great an offence Who will say that the Scripture is imperfect and deficient in a thing of such consequence But rather on the contrary Have we not many both Examples and Precepts in the Old Testament and in the New for giving of Bodily worship unto God Are not the words of this present Scripture first given by Moses and now ratisied by our Saviour strong enough to enjoyn Bodily worship that they may satisfie any but the wilfully obstinate Sure we are that these words put the devil to silence for when our Saviour urged them the devil was forced to yeeld having nothing to reply against them And let not the opposers of Gods Bodily worship shew themselves more stubborn then the devil was lest even he accuse them before God for the neglect of that duty with the truth whereof himself was so clearly convinced by Scripture-evidence But I will put the case Suppose one who is an opposer of Gods Bodily worship and withal an hater of Idols should be tempted as our Saviour was to fall down and worship the devil or an Idol which the * Scriptures call a devil Our Saviour having taught him to be furnished with Scripture whereby to resist temptations Would he not think this place which our Saviour made use of a fit answer for himself and would he not alleadge it to put the tempter to silence I trow he would alleadge either this or some other equivalent place And Would he not then be driven upon necessity against former mislikings to acknowledge Corporal adoration to be Gods due and so even condemn himself if he does not yeeld it unto him Let him consider this A Sixth Argument may be drawn from the practice of Corporal adoration in heaven Rev. 5.14 And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever Earth ought to conform it self to Heaven the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant in setting forth the honour and worship of God Now if it were unlawful or so great an offence as it is here made to worship God with the body S. John with his illuminated eagles eyes would scarce have seen such a thing in heaven It it shall be objected that there were no such bodies in heaven when S. John saw this he onely saw it represented in a Vision This is nothing for the vision of the thing in heaven is sufficient to approve the lawfulness and authorize the practice of it here on earth And let any gainsayer ask himself When he comes into heaven bodily Does he think he shall not with those four and twenty elders fall down before God bodily worship him If so Shall it be Honour then and Dishonour now Shall it be Glory there and Shame here Shall it be an high Happiness in Gods Heavenly house and Sin in his Earthly Me thinks Reason it self should perswade us that Corporal reverence and worship should be given unto God here as a necessary preparation for the doing of it hereafter A Seventh Argument may be drawn from the Majestie of God If nothing else will prevail one would think this should Is not he the Almighty God infinite in Power Greatness Majestie Holiness and Glory Does not he dwell in that light which no man can approach unto the least ray of which light is ten thousand times brighter then the Sun Are all the Kings in the world half so glorious as he or their Thrones to be compared to his Footstool Does not he sit upon a Throne of incomprehensible glory attended upon with thousands of glorious and mighty Angels that stand before him admiring worshipping blessing praising and crying continually Holy holy holy Lord God of hosts And although he hath his dwelling so high yet Does he not humble himself to behold the things that are in heaven and earth Does he not vouchsafe to admit these poor

should so shine before men that they may see our good works see that we worship and serve God and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Matth. 5. 16. Thus Mr Hildersham And let me set a good bush at his back who comes with his three Reasons also not much different The Reverend Arch-Bishop of Armagh in the Page of his Book which is cited before To this question Is there any use of our bodily behaviour before God sith he is a Spirit and looketh to the heart He answereth thus Yes verily For The whole man and consequently the body it self oweth duty unto God It is a glass wherein the affections of the mind are beheld The mind is the better holden in the thing affected and the better holpen and furthered in the inward worship when both body and mind are joyned together Since these Authors and I doubt not but many more if they were sought into of unquestionable repute have like so many streams bent their courses to the Ocean of this Truth Our late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury is not to be condemned for his pious resolution without the rejection and disproof of all the rest For my own part saith he I take my self bound to worship with body as well as in soul when ever I come where God is worshiped And were this Kingdom such as would allow no holy Table standing in its proper place and such places some are yet I would worship God when I came into his house And were the times such as should beat down Churches and all the curious carved works thereof with Axes and Hammers as in Psal. 74. and such times have been yet I would worship in what place so ever I came to pray though there were not so much as a stone laid for Bethel My last authority shall be more general When in the dawning of this Churches reformation in King Edwards dayes the night of idolatrous worship began to wear away Our blessed reformers Spiritual and Temporal in their endeavours to establish an orderly method for the true worship of God they ordered kneeling at several times in the performance of Gods Service Nor did they intend any other object of their outward bodily worship but only God And our Brethren in Scotland were not disagrecing from the same practice and injunction for Mr Knox having been no otherwise taught in this by his great Master composing a Liturgie for the publick Use of that Church this was one principal thing joyned That the Minister and People should prostrate themselves in the Celebration of their solemn Fasts So far was he or they in those dayes from denying corporal reverence and adoration to be Gods due and just Prerogative This consent of a multitude proceeding not from any heady inconsiderate rashness but from good advice deliberation is a good confirmation of Gods propriety in our bodily worship And though it be much spoken against no adayes by the ignorant who cry it down at all adventure and by the careless profane not a whit practiced in the publick Assemblies yet it might easily be hoped the one would not condemn it nor the other neglect it but both would joyn with the profession of this Service if well and advisedly they would but look into it As when Balaams Ass saw the Angel of the Lord she fell down under Balaam for which his anger was kindled that he smote her with a staff and wished that there were a Sword in his hand for then would he kill her yet afterwards when his own eyes were opened he did the same thing He bowed down his head and fell flat on his face Even so if men who are angry with the profession of corporal Reverence unto God and could find in their hearts to smite and to kill such as they observe to do it would apply themselves to a serious and upright scrutiny of the thing using those helps whereby their eyes might be opened and their understandings enlightned their Will not sitting as Judge in the place of Reason they would surely worship God with their bodies as others do And withal if they would consider how little they can have from the Writings of Divines to countenance their Opposition of Gods bodily worship Pens are commonly more deliberate then tongues and though some mens tongues walk at liberty and prate much against it yet I have not seen or heard that any pen hath drop't so much as a letter in contradiction of this That God is to be worshipped with the body Nor do I think there can be a face so bold as to do it I know they may break forth into exclamations against the corruptions and abuses of bodily worship which for mine own part I am as desirous may be reformed as any gain-sayer of corporal adoration can be And therefore for conclusion of this poor Treatise I shall level a Caveat against two main evils from which I desire every good Christian may be careful to keep himself in his acts of corporal adoration And these are Idolatry and Hypocrisie both which are high provocations unto God For Idolatry This is a grosse abuse and mis-employment of our bodies which God having made them only for himself will not that they should do any religious homage to any but to him alone having by his own express Edict often reiterated excluded all things else whatsoever from having any part or fellowship with himself in this service Though there be Angels and Saints in Heaven yet corporal adoration is not theirs the Angels have refused it and I doubt not but the glorified Saints if they could signifie so much unto us are of the same mind and would likewise shew that they do refuse it If St. Peter could be talked withal he would surely diswade from corporal adoration if it should be tendered unto him as being alive he diswaded Cornelius Act. 10.25 26. Though the * Blessed Virgin be with Christ her Son yet she is not to share with him in our adoration But if we will be wise let us do like wise men who when they came where Christ and his Mother were they fell down and worshipped only him Mat. 2.11 moved questionless thereunto by the secret instinct of the same Spirit which conducted them thither Nor shall I fear to say That the Bread in the holy Eucharist his neerest and most lawful representative in the world is not to have any corporal worship done unto it much less his Image Picture or Cross whatever Aquinas and the Papists are pleased to say That it is to be worshipped with the same worship as Christ himself is As for Images of Gold or Silver Wood or Stone we are not only streightly charged by God himself to with-hold our adoration from them but we may be diswaded even by their own impotency vileness unworthiness they being of our own making inferiour to us and regardless of us In time of need they require more help from us then we can