Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	air_n	earth_n	element_n	2,483	5	9.5484	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A04780	A suruey of the new religion detecting manie grosse absurdities which it implieth. Set forth by Matthevv Kellison doctor and Professour of Diuinitie. Diuided into eight bookes.	Kellison, Matthew.	1603 (1603)	STC 14912; ESTC S107995	369,507	806

from nothing to some thing and so euer vvas of necessitie nether can it bee brought frō some thing to nothing and so euer shal be and that of necessitie If it haue a necessarie independent being it hathe an infinite essence bicause it is not limited by anye and soe exceedeth the bounds of a creature therfore if the vvorlde vvas of it selfe it is a God vvhich perfectiō not vvithstāding it can not haue bicause the vvorlds materiall substance mutabilitie visibilitie and determinate quantitie arguethe a creatur not a God vvho is immaterial inuisible and infinite in his immensitie Vvho thē vvas it that created this goodly pallace so huge a building as is this vvorlde Not it selfe as is proued not any Angel or other creature bicause creation of nothing argueth infinit povver and vvhere is infinite povver ther is an infinite essence and so God only vvas hee that could create it And if thou vvilt obstinately defend that an Angell or some other creature created it I vvill thus argevve against thee ether that creature vvhich thou imaginest to haue created the vvorlde vvas of it selfe or it vvas created of another If it vvas of it selfe it vvas God and so thou grauntest vvhich I endeuour to vvrest from thee by force of argument if it vvas created of another creature I aske vvho created that other and so at the lengthe I vvill leade thee to the first cause vvhich created all and vvas created of none vvhich is the God vvhom vvee seek for Secondly not only the vvholle vvorld but also euery parte of it vvill make a plain remonstraunce of a God-head And to begin vvith man vvho though hee bee a litle vvorld yet is but a parte of the great vvorld vvho I pray you vvas it that gaue the first man his being Vvee see by experience that men breed not as flyes and vvormes doe of the corruptiō of other liuing creatures nether do they spring out of the earthe like hearbes or toadstooles as Iulius Caesar sayd of the first inhabitauntes of England nether are they begotten of beasts of another kinde as mules and chickins are but rather as vve see by experience man only begetteth man and of no other liuing creatur no not of an Angel can he bee begotten Vvho then vvas it that gaue the first man his being of him selfe man could not bee bicause then had hee been a God of another man hee could not be begotten bicause no man could bee before the first man no other creature could beget him as is already proued ergô some thing that vvas no creature created him And vvhat is that but God Another part of the vvorld that the most noble is an angell And vvhoe I pray you created those spirits and immateriall substāces One Angell could not beget another bicause that vvould argewe thē to be materiall substāces corruptible creaturs and so no spirits To say that men can produce Angelles or that any other creature extant could do the same is farre lesse probable bicause they are the highest creatures in perfection and so could not bee produced of their inferiours It follovveth therfore that some cause not included vvithin the ranke of creaturs created them and vvhat can that bee but the Creatour l. 12. met c. 9. s. l. 1. de cas● c. 9. To denye all Angells and spirits is against Philosophie and all the best Philosophers For Aristotle the Prince of Philosophers affirmeth that the heauens are not moued by their ovvne proper formes and faculties but by Angelles vvhich he calleth intelligences In Plyt ad Tyrannum in Sympo sio Zenoc l. de morte Mercur in Pymā dro Plato and the Platonists make often mention both of good an euill Angells So doth Plutarche also and diuers others and vvho hathe not read of Socrates familiare vvhich vvas called demonium that is a good or euil spirit Yea experience proueth that ther are deuils vvhich are spirits and differ only from the good Angells in mallice For if vvee behold the straunge effectes vvhich are to bee seene in those vv ch vvee call possessed persons vvee can not vvith any probabilitie ascribe all to a melancholike humour for those pullinges and conuulsions straunge motions and operations can not proceed from any humour or naturall and materiall cause Bicause vvee see them some tymes lifted vp from the ground some tymes they hovvle like dogges some tymes they yell like vvolues some tymes they tell secrets and speake in straunge languages The manifolde and straunge operations of vvitches their meetinges and voyages vvhich they make in the ayre the straunge apparitions vvhich all the vvorld talketh of and therfore can not lye bicause the voice of the people is the voice of God demonstrateth that ther are angelles and immaterial spirits And seing that these creaturs can nether produce one another nor bee produced of any create cause vvee must needes confesse a God and an increated spirit vvho created them The like proofe for a diuine povver the heauens do also yeeld vs for seing that noe creature nor second cause could create those huge and incorruptible bodyes vvee must needs confesse a God and first cause vvhoe extended and framed them Thirdly the goodly order and disposition of things vvhich vve see argueth a nature of intelligence not conteined vvithin the ranke of creaturs vvhich ruleth guidethe directeth all and appointeth euerie creatur his taske and place Vvee see hovv the Elements are disposed of and appointed euerie one to his natutall place The fier as moste noble and of a most light and aspiring nature taketh the highest place the aire and vvater take the middle roome bicause they participate of tvvoe extremes the one aggreeing vvith the fier in heat and ligthnesse the other vvith the earth in cold and heauynes And the earth being of a heauy and lumpish nature is vvorthilie thrust dovvn to the lovvest place Vve see hovve the heauens and planets moue in order and distinguishe the tymes and seasons neuer altering their course since they vvere created in so much that by their vniforme motion the Astrologers can tell most certainly the tyme yea minute of the chaung of the moone of the sonnes setting and rising and of the sonnes and moones Eclipses Vvee see the order and diuersitie of partes and members in plantes beasts and men vvhich are so furnished of all partes and faculties belonging vnto nature that there is noe parte vvanting none superfluouse not so much as a veine sinevv or litle bone as vve see by experience vvhen vve vvant the least of them The eyes are placed in the head vvhich is also made to turne about that vvee may looke about vs and therfore are called the guides of the body The eares are the organes of discipline bicause by them vvee heare vvhat others say vvithout the vvhich mans life vvere noe life at all bicause it should bee deuoid of conuersation The nose smelleth a farre of all odours vvhich are good or bad for the

bodyes healthe and besides it is the trompet of the voice The sence of feeling is dispersed throughe out all partes of the bodye vvhose office is to feele vvhatsoeuer approcheth or toucheth the body therby to fly it if it bee hurtefull as fier is or to take commoditie of it if it bee conuenient The mouthe receueth the sustenaunce and meare vvhich is necessarie for the bodye the toungue besides that it is the instrument of speaking and the interpretour of the mynd is to taste this meate and to iudge of it before it passe any farther vvhich iudgement beinge giuen the throate svvallovveth it dovvne The sto make boyleth and disgesteth it the liuer makes blood of it the veines cōueighe this blood to all partes of the body and nothing ther is not necessarie or expedient not so much as the guttes vvhose office as it is base bicause they are as it vvere the sinkes of the Kitchin to passe the filthe and excrementes so is it so necessarie that othervvise the body vvould bee poisoned and infected Tell me novv ô godless Atheist vvho it is that hathe sett dovvne this order vvho is he that so rulethe the motion of the heauens that they moue at the same tyme from East to vvest and backvvard againe and one vvithin another and one more slovvly then another and yet so that they hinder not one another Vvho hathe established a perpetuall peace amongest the fovvre elementes vvhich yet by reason of their contrarie qualities are of a iarring nature And vvho hathe so placed them as they may best aggree for the aire aggreethe vvith the fier in heat and therfore is placed nexte vnto him the vvater in moysture aggreeth vvith the ayre and in cold vvith the earthe and therfore is lodged betvvixte them vvheras if the vvater vvere placed next the fier and the ayr next vnto the earthe they vvould make vvarre cōtinually one vppon another and neuer vvould bee satisfied vvithout the ruine of one another bicause they disagree in bothe qualities the fier being hoate and drye the vvater cold and most the aire hoat and moyst and the earthe cold and drye Vvho hathe so ordered the partes of the bodyes of liuing and mouing creaturs as they may best serue their turnes and by their proportion and disposition bee the greatest ornament Vvho sorteth all beasts vvith their kinde and placeth them in roomes fittest for their nature some in the vvater as fishes some in the aire as birds some on the earthe as beastes and plantes some in the fier as the Crekit and Salamandre Vvho setteth the plantes and hearbes and giues them a roote as a mouthe to receiue their conueniente nourriture and veines to conueighe it euē from the roote to the highest bovves yea leaues and frutes and giues to euery one of them a seed or some other thing in steed of seed by vvhich they propagate them selues and retain a posteritie Vvho I pray thee ô vngodly Impe considering this goodly order and disposition vvhoe I pray thee beholding this goodly Pallace of God and men I mean the vvorlde in vvhich is all this furniture prouision order and disposition vvill not thinke of an artificer of intelligence vvhoe builded it and of a hovvs-keper most vvise and prouident vvho ruleth and disposeth of all in the same Thou vvilt say vvith Epicure and such gracelesse godlesse and vvitlesse companions that all this goodly order happened by a chaunce and that by the like chaunce this goodlye pallace vvith all the partes and vvorkmanship therof vvas framed and effectuated By chaunce sayest thou o man or rather no man but some monster of mankinde Considerest thou vvell vvhat it is vvhich thou auerrest to haue been effectuated by chaunce The printer shall neuer bee able to set his printe by casting his letters together at all aduentures the painter by a careles casting of his colours vppon a clothe or table shall neuer dravve his intended picture The mason by throvving of stones one at another shall neuer builde his goodly pallace And canst thou thinke that all this goodly order vvhich is set dovvne in the vvorlde that this curiouse peece of vvorke of the vvorlde at vvhich men and Angells stande astonished vvas framed and established by chaunce meddlie If thou shouldst enter into a vvestminster-Halle a Non-Such or Royall exchaunge in Ingland into a Louver in Paris or a Scurial in Spaine vvhere thou shouldst see statelie building aspiringe turrets loftie roofes vvittie conueighaūce of Roomes and chambers and orderly disposition of vvindovves pillers chimnies vvouldest thou or couldest thou imagin these artificiall vvorkes and buildinges to haue beene vvrought by a chauncing flight of stones frō the Quarrie and not rather by the arte and skill of some ingenious Artificer And canst thou entering into the sumptuouse building and pallace of the vvorld vvhose pauement is the earth paued vvith so ritche stones and metalls and rushed vvith the greenes of all hearbes and plantes vvhose foundation is the cēter vvhich stayeth all vvhose roofe are the heauens siled so ritchely vvith so many bright and glittering starres vvhose vvalles are the same heauēs vvhich do not only couer but also compasse all aboat vvhose diuers roomes and lodgings are the fovvre elements in vvhich diuers creaturs according to their diuers naturs are diuersly lodged vvhole indvveller and inhabitaunt is man vvho vnder God also is Lord ouer all vvhose prouisiōs and moueables are the goodes and fruites of the sea and lande layed vp in store for mans prouision Vvho I say entering into this Princely pallace so vvell ordered and gouerned can imagin all this to proceed from chaunce and not rather from an intelligent Artificer vvho vvorkes these vvonders and miracles of nature and a prouident prince vvho gouerneth and ruleth all so vvisely and like a pilot sitteth at the sterne guiding and directing the course of this vvorlde and of euerye creaturs actions l. 2. de natura de●rum For as Cicero that famouse Oratour and Philosopher auoucheth nothing is so open and so euident vvhen vvee looke vppon the heauens and the celestial bodies as that there is some diuine povver of most excellent vnderstanding by vvhome these thinges as they vvere first framed so are they still conserued and gouerned Fourthly against these vvitlesse Atheistes the very brute beastes shall argue for their Creatoure vvhose operations are so vvittye and agreable to the ende vvhich is to them by God and nature prescribed as if thy had discourse and vvere indevved vvith reasō They feare those thinges vvhich are contrarie to their good and distinguishe the good from badd as if they had the science of good and badde The sheepe yea the younge lambe euē at the first discerneth the vvoolfe from the dogge and quaketh at the very sight of him althoughe hee differeth litle frō the dogge vvhich hee ferreth not The chicken can put a difference betvvixe the kite and the Peacocke and feareth that litle caring for this althoughe in body bigger The byrdes feare the sparavv havvke