Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	day_n	lord_n	sabbath_n	9,284	5	10.5348	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56393	Reasons for abrogating the test imposed upon all members of Parliament, anno 1678, Octob. 30 in these words, I A.B. do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, profess, testifie, and declare, that I do believe that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, at, or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever, and that the invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary, or any other saint, and the sacrifice of the mass, as they are now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous : first written for the author's own satisfaction, and now published for the benefit of all others whom it may concern.	Parker, Samuel, 1640-1688.	1688 (1688)	Wing P467; ESTC R5001	62,716	138

to their Duty to himself among these the chiefest are Circumcision and the Sabbath which he instituted as it were the two Sacraments of the Jewish Religion or the Worship of the Creator of Heaven and Earth to distinguish them from their Neighbour Nations who Worship only his Creatures With Circumcision God sign'd his Covenant with Abraham which was the first Revelation of himself against Idolatry and the Foundation of the whole Mosaick Law which was seal'd to by this sacred Rite of Circumcision so that without it they were esteemed no better than Idolaters and an uncircumcised Man signifies no less than an Heathen This Reason is expresly given by God himself at the first Institution of it in his Covenant with Abraham I will establish my Covenant between thee and me and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto Thee and to thy seed after thee This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every Male Child among you shall be Circumcised And you shall circumcise the Flesh of your Fore-skin and it shall be a Token of the Covenant betwixt you and me and therefore the uncircumcised shall be cut off from his People as having broken my Covenant i.e. renounced the true Religion which is as Grotius observes not reasonably to be understood of Infants but of Men grown to Years of Understanding whose Parents had neglected that Office in their Infancy and therefore if they did not supply that Defect when they came to Age it was looked upon as renouncing the Worship of the true God of which this was the first Sacrament or Ceremony of Admission into the Jewish Church which alone profess'd it and that is the Reason of St. Paul's Assertion Every Man that is circumcised is a Debtor to do the whole Law i.e. he that willingly and knowingly undergoes this initiating Ceremony by Vertue of that he obliges himself to the Observation of the whole Mosaick Law and all things commanded in it And for this Reason no Proselyte was admitted to the Paschal Festival the most sacred Solemnity of the Jewish Religion without Circumcision When a stranger shall sojourn with thee and will keep the Passover to the Lord let all his Males be circumcised and then let him come near and keep it and he shall be as one that is born in the Land for no uncircumcised Person shall eat thereof This seems to be the meaning of that Passage Ioshua 5. 9. when God commanded Ioshua to circumcise all the People that were born in the Wilderness and that indeed is all then living for those that came out of Egypt were dead and when Ioshua had done it God tells him This day have I rolled away the Reproach of Egypt from off you the Reproach of Egypt was their Idolatry which they had now renounced by the Sacrament of Circumcision And accordingly in the Persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes to abolish the Jewish Religion and establish Idolatry the Jews are commanded to leave their Children uncircumcis'd and the Apostates endeavoured to blot out the Marks of their Circumcisioni and certain Women that had taken care to circumcise their Children were put to Death and the Infants hanged about their Necks That was the distinctive Mark through all Ages between a Worshiper of the true God and an Idolater So that it was the same thing not to be circumcised and to apostatise to Idolatry The second and indeed the greatest Bar of all against Idolatry was the Institution of the Sabbath in memory of Gods Creation of the whole visible World and for that reason this Doctrine of the Sabbath was reputed as fundamental an Article in the Jewish Church as the Doctrine of the Cross in the Christian because all other Articles of their Religion depended upon the belief of their God's Creation of the World. And therefore when God had given Moses a compleat Body of Laws for his own Worship he ratifies and as it were comprises them all in a vehement and reiterated pressing that one Law of the Sabbath Exod. 31. v. 12. to the end of the Chapter And after the Children of Israel had committed Idolatry in worshiping the Golden Calf for which God had for some time cast them off he is at last prevailed upon by Moses to renew his Covenant with them upon a new Contract First That they worship none of the Gods of the Heathen Nations nor ever use any of their Rites and Ceremonies And then that they be more careful to observe the Passover and the Sabbath Exod. 34. 12. And the Observation of the Sabbath is again enforced in the very beginning of the next Chapter as the Bond and Epitome of the whole Law And Moses gathered all the Congregation of the Children of Israel together and said unto them these are the words which the Lord hath commanded that ye should do them Six days shall work be done but on the Seventh day there shall be to you a Holy day a Sabbath of rest to the Lord whosoever doth work therein shall be put to death As if the Sabbath alone were the whole Law according to that Saying of the Talmud Whosoever denies the Sabbath denies the whole Law. Because that 's an Acknowledgment of the Creator of the World as the Author of the Mosaick Law. And for that reason the Almighty upon all occasions styles himself in Scripture Creator of Heaven and Earth which we improperly enough translate Possessor of Heaven and Earth and indeed the History of the Creation it self and the whole Pentateuch seem to have been written on purpose to prevent Idolatry or the Worship of Created Beings and therefore Moses doth not set down the Creation of the Universe in gross but of every part by it self particularly of the Sun Moon and Stars And that is in it self a sufficient Security against giving them that were meer Creatures the Worship that is only due to the Creator And this seems to be the reason of the particular form of words in the Fourth Commandment Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy for in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth and rested the seventh day As if he had said be sure that you be particularly mindful of this Commandment of the Sabbath above all others for it is a Day dedicated to the Eternal Memory of the Creation and therefore enjoyn'd to be observ'd every Seventh Day that it may continually bring to mind that great work and never suffer it to decay out of thy Memory And from hence it is that the Precepts of not worshiping Idols and observing the Sabbath are so frequently coupled together in the Scriptures as if they were inseparable Exod. 23. 12 13. Six days thou shalt do thy work and on the seventh day thou shalt rest and make no mention of the Names of other Gods neither let them be heard out of thy mouth Levit. 19. 34. Ye shall keep my

defines it So that it is not the meer Image it self that is the Idol but the Image as representing a false God tho it be only a Symbol and not a Picture of him as most of the Heathen Images were of the Sun as the Calf and the Ram. These are the Vanities or Representations of False Gods in Use at that time among the Neighbour Nations that seem to be here properly interdicted in this Commandment As for the Fourth Commandment it is the very Sacrament of the Worship of the true God the Creator of Heaven and Earth in opposition to Idolatry or the Worship of his Creatures and therefore is prescribed as it were as the Holy Day of the Creation continually to mind the Iews that the God that they Worship was the God that made the World and all the Gods that their Neighbours worshiped particularly the Sun Moon and Stars his Creatures This then being set up as the great Festival of the Creator of Heaven and Earth from hence it was that the Precept of not Worshiping of Idols and Keeping the Sabbath are so frequently coupled together in Scripture and that the Breach of the Sabbath is punished in the same manner as Idolatry it self But I shall treat of this more largely when I come to a Review At present I have only given a narrow Prospect of the whole matter but upon a full and open View of the Mosaick History it will appear in full and undeniable Evidence by these Two Considerations First If we consider the great Propensity of the Israelites to renounce the Worship of the One True Invisible God and to return to their accustomed Worship of Idol Gods. Secondly If we consider that these Gods were nothing else but the Heavenly Bodies and that the Sun was worshiped as the Supreme Deity As to the first their continual Revolts and Rebellions against that Almighty God of whose Power they had had so much Experience could proceed from nothing less than the most inveterate and invincible Prejudices Their whole History from their first Deliverance to their last Captivity is nothing but a perpetual Series of Disloyalty against the God of Israel to play the Harlot as the Scripture expresses it or commit Fornication with the Idols of the Gentiles Psal. 78. We have an acurate Epitome of this whole History the Miracles that God wrought for them in Egypt in the Wilderness in the Land of Canaan notwithstanding all which as they made continual Attempts of Rebellion so they at last sunk into an universal Apostacy v. 58. Provoking him to Anger with their High Places and moving him to Iealousie with their Graven Images so that at length he gave them up into the Hands of their Enemies And first the Ten Tribes were lead away Captive and not long after the Tribe of Iudah as it immediately follows in the same Psalm God was wroth and greatly abhorred Israel so that he forsook the Tabernacle of Shiloh the Tent which he placed among Men and delivered his Strength into Captivity and his Glory that was the Symbol of his Divine Presence into the Enemies hand But to Trace a few Particulars The first Opportunity they could gain in the Wilderness after the miraculous Deliverance out of Egypt by the Absence of Moses they set up and worshiped the Golden Calf a Form of Worship they were accustomed to in Egypt what this Idol was is variously disputed by Learned Men some will have it to have been made in Imitation of the Cherubin when as yet God had made no Description of them Others and almost all the learn'd will have it to have been the Idol of Apis or Serapis or Osyris whom the Egyptians worshiped by that Symbol and that it was the same Idol is certain but I take it to be much more antient for as yet we find not any Footsteps of Divine Worship given to Men and Women That Folly is of a much younger Date and seems to have been brought in purely by the Grecian Vanity to derive the Originals of all Nations from Themselves and to People Heaven with their own Country-men Thus they tell us that this Apis was King of the Argives natural Son to King Iupiter by Niobe who marrying Isis left his Kingdom and went into Egypt who teaching the Barbarous People Civility and the Art of dressing Vines and Agriculture He was by common consent chosen their King and after he had Reign'd with extraordinary Wisdom and Mercy to the great Improvement of the Nation when he dyed they deify'd him and worshiped him under the Image of a Calf or Ox all which is pure Grecian Fable For Egypt had been a famous Nation many Hundred Ages before any of the Grecian Deities were born It was a flourishing Kingdom in the days of Abraham I am sure they knew how to dress their Vines and plow their Fields before there was any such Nation as Greece or any of its Cantons known by any Records There was no News of them till the Trojan War and that is the thing objected by all Writers to the Greeks both before and since Christianity that their remotest Antiquity is meer Novelty in comparison of the Egyptians and is confest by their own best and most antient Writers at least in these Antient Times there were no Men nor Women Deities Gods or Goddesses But when the Greeks had stollen their Religion from the Eastern Nations in requital they furnished them with Gods of their own and clapt the Heads of one of their own Country-men upon every antient Idol thereby gaining Reputation of Antiquity both to their Nation and Religion as if they had been as antient as the Egyptian and Oriental Idolatry Thus they fasten this old Idol of the Golden Calf upon King Apis whereas if there ever were any such Man for the Greeks have neither Faith nor Knowledge enough to be believ'd one Word in any matter of Antiquity either of their own or other Nations he was born many Ages after this Idol had been Famous in the World And in that unknown Interval of which there are no Historical Records and therefore the whole Story of him as well as of all the other Grecian Gods is nothing but Fable And much more probable it is that the Greeks were so far from bringing a God Apis into Egypt that they carried the very word thence Apis being the Hebrew and Egyptian Word to signifie a Calf or a Bullock and so it is rendred by the Septuagint Ieremiah 46. 15. in the Prophetick Burthen against Egypt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why did your Apis fly or that your beloved Calf desert you because the Lord did drive him Tho we render it in the English Translation Why are thy valiant Men swept away So that the Calf can be nothing else than an Old Egyptian Idol or Symbol of some Deity that they had been accustomed to Worship And therefore thinking themselves betray'd or deserted by Moses after Forty Days Absence as for this

Sabbaths I am Iehovah your God turn ye not unto Idols nor make to your selves molten Gods I am the Lord your God. Levit. 26. 1 2. Ye shall make ye no Idols ye shall keep my Sabbaths Ezek. 20. 18 20. Walk ye not in the statutes of your Fathers nor defile your selves with your Idols and hollow my Sabbaths that are for a sign between you and me that you may know that I am Iehovah your God for their hearts went after their Idols so v. 24. they polluted my Sabbaths And as these Commands are so frequently joyned together so is the violation of them as if they could not be parted Ezek. 20. 16. They polluted my Sabbaths and their eyes were after their Fathers Idols And King Ahaz when he set up Idolatry he in Contempt turn'd the Covert for the Sabbath out of the House of the Lord. 1 Mac. 1. 44. And many of the People consented to the command of the King and sacrificed to Idols and prophaned the Sabbath So necessary was it for the observation of the Sabbath and the Worship of the true God to run the same Fate or stand and fall together because the Sabbath was instituted in memory of the Creation of the World by the true God and therefore the belief and observation of it was an open Defyance to all Idolatry as the Psalmist joyns them together All the Gods of the Heathens are Idols But the Lord made the Heavens And this is the distinctive Character that God hath given between himself the only true God and the Heathen Idols or Vanities The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth shall perish from the Earth and from under the Heavens The Lord hath made the Earth by his Power he hath framed the Universe by his Wisdom and hath stretched out the Heavens by his Discretion Now the Observation of the Sabbath as instituted in honour of the invisible Creator of the visible or material World being the fundamental Article of Faith in the Jewish Church in opposition to Idolatry or giving the Worship of the supreme Deity to created Beings it is for that reason more frequently recited than any other Law and its Breach as severely punished as Idolatry it self the recital of this Command is almost half of the Law and the Prophets and the violation of it certain Death as a Crime of the same Nature with Idolatry it self So evident is it through the whole Series of sacred History that the Sabbath was instituted in opposition to Idolatry and that the Idolatry it was opposed to was the Worship of created Beings as the supreme uncreated Deity To conclude this Argument tho I designed to confine my self to the Testimony of Holy Scripture that is the only competent Witness in the case yet I find such a pregnant Passage cited out of St. Cyril of Alexandria to the same purpose with the Premises from his own Observation of the Train of Scripture History that it were great pity to rob the Reader of so fair an Authority After the Israelites says he left their own Country to sojourn in Egypt in process of time they lost all memory of their Ancestors and descent from the Line of Abraham so that their antient Customs being worn out by degrees and the Religion of their Forefathers disus'd they were at length debauched by conversation with the Egyptians to Idolatry and gave the worship of the supreme God to the Sun and under him to the Heavens Earth Moon Stars And therefore when God delivered them out of their Egyptian Bondage to bring them to the promised Land he peremptorily commands them to discard all their Egyptian Errors but because there was need of an evident sign by which they should as it were be forced to confess that Heaven was made by his Almighty Power and that the Sun Moon and Stars and all other Beings were the works of his hands he commands the Festival of the Sabbath as a Memorial and Imitation of himself and his work and therefore they that devote themselves to rest as their Creator rested by that acknowledge that all other things were the product of his Power and that is the natural design of the Sabbath Rest to affect them with a sense of the supreme Deity or Creator of all things In the second place a very great and considerable part of the Mosaick Law was enacted purely in opposition to the Old Heathen Rites and Customs Here I omit the Idolatry of the Zabii so much of late insisted upon by learned Men because I find no antient Footsteps of any such People in the World. The Mahometan Arabic Writers are the first that make any mention of them and their Divinity as the Arabians describe it is a meer Fanatick Rhapsody of Chaldaism or Astrologick Idolatry Iudaism or the History of the Patriarchs turned into Fables Gnosticism or the Worship of Demons and Angels Pythagorism or turning all things into Allegories and therefore must be of a much younger Date than Christianity The first time we read of them is in the Alchoran and Mahomet gives them that name of Zabii because they lay Eastward from Arabia for so the Word signifies Easterlings Or more probably from a Fanatick Imitation of the Old Testament that frequently and commonly styles the Heathen Idolaters by the Title of the men of the East i.e. the Chaldeans who were situated Eastward of Iudea After him we have no account of any such Nation as the Zabii till about Eight Hundred Years since For the Prophet and his barbarous Followers as they conquered destroyed all Monuments of Learning till being setled in Peace and Empire as is the manner of all Barbarians they betook themselves to the humour of Learning and translated Books out of other Languages not only Greek and Latin but of their Neighbour Nations into their own Tongue This is the most antient Account after all the noise that has been made of their extreme Antiquity that we have of any Zabian Writers so that setting that Modern Nation aside the Mosaick Rites were instituted in opposition to the more antient Idolatry of their Neighbour Nations particularly the Egyptians and the Canaanites of whom there was most danger by reason of their late conversation with the one and their new conversation with the other And therefore against these God arms them with a special Caution After the doings of the Land of Egypt wherein ye dwelt shall ye not do and after the doings of the Land of Canaan whether I bring you shall ye not do neither shall ye walk in their Ordinances This contrariety of the Jews to the Laws and Customs of all other Nations is made use of by Haman to King Ahasuerus to procure their Destruction Esther 3. 8. And Haman said unto King Ahasuerus there is a certain People scattered abroad and dispersed among the People in all the Provinces of thy Kingdom and their Laws are divers from all People neither keep they the Kings Laws