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
A74656	Expository notes, with practical observations; towards the opening of the five first chapters of the first book of Moses called Genesis. Delivered by way of exposition in several lords-dayes exercises. By Benjamin Needler, minister of the gospel at Margaret Moses Friday-Street, London.	Needler, Benjamin, 1620-1682.	1654 (1654)	Wing N412; Thomason E1443_2; ESTC R209640	117,247	301

may be Object expounded thus God did actually purpose to sanctifie it after the giving of the Law If to sanctifie the seventh day be only Resp to purpose to sanctifie it then the Sabbath was no more sanctified since the creation then ab aeterno for then God purposed it should be sanctified c. For the further clearing of this truth I shall give you the Arguments of some learned persons why they conceive that the Sabbath was not instituted till the giving of the Law on mount Sinai Adam in innocency should not have Arg. 1 needed a Sabbath not his soul for every day was a Sabbath to that nor his body because his body was not then subject to wearinesse neither could it be appointed for the ease of servants because then no such thing as servitude in the world The Sabbath was instituted not for Resp 1 common rest or rest from natural wearinesse principally but for holy rest that the soul might have more immediate communion with God Returne to thy rest O my soule saith the Psalmist The rest of the soule is not a ceasing from all operation for that cannot stand with the nature of a spirit hence the soul is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an act because it is still in action a spirit cannot be and not act but when the soule centers on God then it is said to rest Bodies rest in their proper places and souls rest in the enjoying of their proper objects Now Adam in innocency thogh his body was not subject to wearinesse might stand in need of such a rest as this is Adam was to serve God in a particular calling God took the man put him into the garden of Eden that he might dresse it keep Gen. 2. 5. it now Luther professeth It followes from hence saith he that if Adam had stood in his innocency yet he should have kept the seventh day holy viz. on that day he should have taught his children what was the Word of God wherein his worship did consist and wholly have sequestred himself to his service on other days he should have dressed and kept the garden though every day was to be spent in holinesse mediately in seeing God in the creatures and meeting with God in his labour yet it was not unsuitable for that estate to have one day in the week for more immediate and special converse with God and though it was no paine to him to dresse the garden yet this must needs take up his thoughts while he was about it The Saints and Angels in Heaven have Object had no set Sabbath and why man in innocency The state of innocency on earth should Resp not have been in all things alike to the state of glory in heaven and particularly in this there should have been marriage dressing of the garden day and night in Paradise but no such thing in Heaven We do not read that there was any other Arg. 2 positive precept or law given to our first parents in the state of innocency but only this that they should not eat of the forbidden fruit Now the command of God for the observation of the Sabbath is a positive command and that appears because although the worship of God do belong to the Law natural viz. founded in the Law of nature yet the circumstance of time when God in an especial manner is to be worshipped that we should keep an holy rest unto the Lord every seventh day this is a positive precept and was never determined by the Law of nature That Adam had from the creation at Resp least that which amounted to a positive Law for the observance of the Sabbath is plaine It is said God sanctified the seventh day Now though this word is variously taken in the Scripture yet in this place the seventh day must be said to be sanctified one of these two wayes Either by infusion of holinesse or sanctification into it now the circumstance of a seventh day is not capable of sanctification in this sense only rational creatures Angels and men may be said thus to be sanctified By separation of it from common use and dedication of it to an holy use as the Temple and Tabernacle were which had no inherent holinesse in them Now if the Sabbath were thus sanctified it must either be for the use of God or man either God must impose upon himself the observation of every seventh day to keep it holy which is absurd or else it was dedicated and consecrated for mans sake and use and if so man had that which amounted to a positive Law for the observation of the Sabbath When Moses makes repetition of the Arg. 3 Law of God Deut. 5. 15. he laies downe this as a ground of the observation of the seventh day as a Sabbath the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt therefore the Sabbath was not instituted from the creation This that is urged is placed by God by Resp way of preface and motive as an argument for the observation of all the Commandments yet who will say that none of them were in force till the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt This was one reason why the Sabbath Resp 2 should be sanctified but not the only reason therefore Exod. 20. 6. the reason that is rendered there why the seventh day is the Sabbath is this for in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth c. The Jewes were to observe the Sabbath not only upon the ground of its first institution but upon reasons proper and peculiar to that Nation It is likely their deliverance out of Egypt was on the Sabbath day and therefore urged by Moses as a ground of their observation of it We finde not any expresse mention Arg. 4 that the Patriarchs before Moses time did sanctifie a Sabbath We may as well argue it was not kept Resp all the time of the Judges and Samuel because no expresse mention made in those Books of any such thing No doubt but they observed it because Object it was published on mount Sinai The like may we say of the Patriarchs Resp 1 before the promulgation of the Law on mount Sinai because it was sanctified from the Creation Abraham is commended for keeping Gods Commandments and the Sabbath is one of Gen. 26.5 them We may as well argue that the Patriarchs for two thousand five hundred yeares together observed not any day at all for the worship and service of God for there is in Scripture as much mention of a Sabbath as any other day yea It is plaine in the Scripture that the Jewes did keep the Sabbath before the Law was given This is that which the Lord hath said To morrow is the rest of the holy Exo 16.23 Sabhath unto the Lord c. I might adde that it is not improbable but the sacrifices of Cain and Abel were upon the Sabbath-day the usual stated time for such services If a time had not beene set apart even in Adams

dayes for Divine service how improbable is it that Cain and Abel should concurre at the same time in bringing their offerings unto the Lord and if not at the same time how could Cain discerne that Abels offering was respected and accepted of God when his was Gen. 4.3 not and besides it is said In processe of time it came to passe that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. In the processe of time or at the end of days as it is in the margin of your Bibles and as the original will bear it viz. on the Sabbath-day when there is an end of the dayes of the week and they begin again I might adde that it is not improbable but that Noah and his family kept the Sabbath in the Ark for it is said that he stayed Gen. 8. 10 12. other seven dayes and sent forth the Dove out of the Ark and verse 12. He stayed other seven dayes and sent forth the Dove why did Noah this on the seventh day It was likely that then Noah and his family were at prayer and engaged in the worship and service of God and at such times it is good to make experiments of Gods fatherly care of us and providence over us Quest. 3. verse 4. In the first Chapter it is said that God made the heavens and the earth in six dayes and in this verse it is said These are the generations of the heaven and the earth in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens From this place some would gather that Resp 1 all the world was made in one day and that Moses doth divide the creation into six dayes propter captum that it might be the better understood Others conceive that Moses relates to that first matter or substance of which all things were created now this was made in one day Others think with whom I close that Moses doth not speak strictly here but indefinitely in the day the Lord made the earth that is to say in the time the Lord made the earth so it is taken in other places of Scripture To day if you will hear Psal 95.7 his voice c. Quest. 4. verse 5. How God could be said to create every plant of the field before it was in the earth Either the meaning is that they were Resp 1 created potentialiter in the first masse and so created before they were in the earth Or else the meaning is this God created every plant of the field before it was in the earth viz. there was not a plant in the earth before God created it Quest 5. verse 7. It is said God formed man of the dust of the earth How can man be said to be made of dust or earth when he is made of the four elements earth fire aire water Moses saies God formed man of the dust Resp 1 of the earth but not only of the dust of the earth Moses loquitur de terra ut de causa partiali non totali Moses speaks of the dust but as part of that matter of which man was made But he expresses the one and therefore Object by consequence denies the other This is just as if a man by calling one his Resp fathers sonne should deny him to be his mothers Quest 6. verse 7. Why doth the Lord speak distinctly in this verse concerning mans body and soul We shall finde God speaks of other creatures in the bulk body and soul together Let the waters bring forth abandantly the moving creature that hath life and so verse Gen. 1. 20 24 24. Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kinde c. To note the spirituality and immateriality Resp 1 of the soul the soul of man non educitur ex potentiâ materiae as the Learned phrase it but the body was made of one kind of substance and the soul of another for Consider 1. The condition and nature of its object speaks this truth Seneca could say Hoc habet argumentum anima suae divinitatis quòd illam divina delectant This argument of its spirituality hath the soul of man in its own essence that it is delighted with things divine and spiritual If the soul were material we could not reach to the knowledge of any thing but that which is material and we might as well see Angels with our eyes as understand them with our mindes We say Receptio fit per modum recipientis you cannot fill a chest with vertue 2. It s independence on the body it is able of it self to performe its own actions without the help and concurrence of the outward man It seeth when the eys beshut and sometimes seeth not when the eyes be open It travelleth while the body resteth resteth when the body travelleth Rev. 1. 10. When John saw his glorious revelation he is said to be in the spirit when Paul had his revelations and saw things unutterable he knew not whether he were in the body or out of the body for beleevers to know that there are laid up for the Saints such joyes which eye hath not seene nor eare heard what is this but to leave sense behinde us and out-run our bodies 3. Time that wears out all corporeal things addes perfection to the souls and understandings of men old men who have the weakest bodies have the most lively and vigorous souls yea we may observe that men who have the most admirable soul-accomplishments have usually the weakest bodies and are not of the longest lives 'T is a remarkable passage that of Saint John to Gaius I wish saith he that thy body prospered even as thy soul prospers Here is a clear text against the Atheists of these dayes that question whether there be a soul or not the truth is a man cannot doubt of it without it as a man cannot prove Logick to be unnecessary but by Logick as a man cannot say he is dumb without speaking Quest 7. verse 7. In what sense these words are to be understood He breathed into his face the breath of life for the Manichees from hence held that the soul was part of Gods Essence as the breath is part of a mans substance It is true in mans breath there is part of Resp his substance but these words are not spoken of God properly but metaphorically if Moses should have said Jehovah by the power of his Spirit without making use of any elementary matter breathed into man a vital soul An horrid blasphemy to think the Essence of God should be subject to change ignorance sinne c. as the soul is Quest. 8. verse 7. Why is God said to breath into his nostrils or face the breath of life rather then into any other part of the body Because the operations of the soul discover themselves in no part of the body Resp 1 more then in the face hence a living man is usually pictured smiling or reading c. And besides the face and head

even Moses sheweth when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham c. So Iohn 3.14 Ioh. 6.32 which cannot be said of the books called Apocryphal Quest 1. verse 1. What is meant by the heaven and the earth By the heaven I conceive we are to understand two things Resp The highest heaven the heaven of the blessed the dwelling place of glorified Saints and Angels called also the heaven of heavens 1 King 8.27 This heaven I conceive was made before the earth although I lay not any stresse upon the order of the words Repentance is not before Faith because sometimes set in the first place in the text nor was David before Abraham because David is set in the first place in the text Matth. 1. 1. By the heaven we are to understand Angels Iob 38. 7. Where wert thou saith God when I laid the foundations of the earth viz. when the first matter was made of which the world was composed for the earth to speak strictly is without foundations and hangeth upon nothing like a round ball in the aire when the morning starres viz. the Angels for the lights of heaven Sunne Moone and Starres were not yet created sang together c. To this purpose consider That all kinds of beings were created the first six dayes Angels are like the heaven in their spirituality and incorruptibility as also in their power over sublunary and earthly bodies and therefore may be so called The Saints are called heaven seven times in one Chapter as carnal and eathly-minded men are called earth verse 16. And the Rev. 12. earth helped the woman now if the Saints be called heaven in the Scripture why not the Angels From the consideration of the method that was taken by God in the Creation of man so soone as mans seat was perfected man was created It is probable that proportionably when those blessed invisible mansions were finished on the first day the Angels were created By the earth is meant that whole confused Chaos of earth and water which was yet without forme and void as is afterwards described in the second verse now this might be called the earth as when an house is in fieri we call it an house and say an house is a building Quest 2. verse 1. It is said God created the heaven and the earth and yet 2 Cor. 4. 4. Satan is called the God of this world God is the God of the world ratione Resp creationis in regard of creation Satan is the god of the world ratione cultûs in regard of service He rules in the children of disobedience Quest 3. verse 2. Why God should begin time with darknesse It is no greater a wonder then that the Resp Lord should begin a glorious world with a rude and confused Chaos the progresse of his Wisdome in making the world being for the most part from more imperfect things to perfect from a Chaos to beauty from the servants and furniture to man the Lord and Master of this great house Darknesse is a privation now the habit Object must alwayes actually go before the privation in the same subject This darknesse was rather a negation Resp 1 then a privation Take privation largely and so it may be first in subjecto capaci As silence may be before speech and blindnesse before sight in a man who is a subject capable of both so here darknesse might be before light because the subject of the first matter was capable of both Quest 4. verse 3. God said verse 3. Let there be light and yet Sun Moon and Stars not created till the fourth day That light which before the fourth day Resp was scattered up and down upon the earth was afterwards gathered together into the bodies of the Sun Moon and Stars Quest 5. verse 5. It is said The evening and the morning was the first day now how could there be morning or evening before the Sun was created Evening and Morning in this place is Resp 1 not to be taken according to their usual signification but Morning for all that time it was light Evening for all that time it was dark There is no argument from the present state of things since the Sun was created to the former state of things before the Sun was created morning is now caused one way by the rising of the Sun then caused another way by light scattered up and down upon the earth Quest 6. verse 11 12. Whether the World began with the Autumne Some have thought that it began in the Resp 1 Spring and that upon two grounds 1. Because the spring is the time of encrease as we fin de by experience in fish and fowle 2. Because Adam was thrust out of Paradise to till the ground and spring-time is aptest for tillage Others and I conceive more probably thi●k the world began in the Autumne for it is said expressely that the earth brought forth ●●●sse and herb yeelding seed after his ●work● the tree yeelding fruit whose seed 〈…〉 self after its kind so that as man 〈…〉 a childe but a perfect man so the trees and plants were created in their perfection and therefore when the Serpent tempted our first parents which was immediately after their creation the Tree of knowledge of good and evil had fruit fully ripe on it The woman saw that the tree Gen. 3. 6. was good for food and that it was pleasant for the eyes Quest 7. verse 14. Whether from those words let them be for signes and for seasons and for dayes and for years Astrological predictions be warrantable Neg. There are two sorts of predictions Resp lawful from the consideration of the position of the heavens 1. Praedictiones naturales natural predictions viz. when by the rising or setting of the heavenly luminaries by their opposition conjunction and various aspects we are able to foretel natural events viz. the Eclipse of the Sun and Moone c. 2. Praedictiones civiles civil predictions viz. when the husbandman by the course of the Sun Moone and Stars is able to say when it will be a commodious season for sowing setting ingraffing pruning c. So that we say with the Scriptures that the Stars are for signes viz. for signes and seasons and dayes and years And that they are not only ornamental but influential As trees and herbs were created not only to beautifie the earth but otherwise for the use of man and beast to feed them and to cure them so the Stars were created not only to beautifie the heavens but for the use and comfort of man Certainly if God hath given vertue to springs and fountains stones minerals plants every spire of grasse that growes upon the earth much more to the Stars of heaven But 3. Praedictiones Astrologicae Astrological Predictions when men from the consideration of the face of the heavens will take upon them to foretel contingent events which shal befal Kingdoms or Common-wealths or particular persons these are unlawful 1. They are Antiscriptural