Selected quad for the lemma: rest_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
rest_n	begin_v	day_n	sabbath_n	3,503	5	10.2207	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66053	Of the principles and duties of natural religion two books / by the Right Reverend Father in God, John, late Lord Bishop of Chester ; to which is added, A sermon preached at his funerals, by William Lloyd ...	Wilkins, John, 1614-1672.; Lloyd, William, 1627-1717. Sermon preached at the funeral of John, late Lord Bishop of Chester.; Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1675 (1675)	Wing W2204; Wing L2705_PARTIAL; ESTC R20334	178,528	530

shall purposely omit the mention of those arguments which relate to Infinity as being not so easily intelligible and therefore more apt to puzzle and amuse than to convince Let it be supposed that each of the two Theories whether about the Eternity of the World or its having a Beginning are not impossible and that neither of them does imply a contradiction And further that neither of them can be infallibly demonstrated by the meer principles of Reason In this case the question must be which of them is most credible He that would rationally fix his opinion and belief about this matter hath but these two kind of Proofs to enquire after 1. Testimony or the Tradition of the most Antient times 2. Reason or such Probabilities as do arise from the nature of the thing For the first of these Opinions concerning the Eternity of the World there is very little to be said from either of these 1. As to Testimony Aristotle who was a great Patron of this Opinion and held that the world was a necessary Emanation from God as light is from the Sun doth of himself acknowledg that the Philosophers before him were of opinion that the world had a beginning which acknowledgment of his is no small prejudice to the Autority of his opinion as I shall shew afterwards And then 2. As to Reason It is a meer precarious Hypothesis having no sufficient argument that I know of to render it probable But now for the other Opinion namely the beginning of the World there are as fair and convincing proofs for it of several kinds as the nature of the thing is well capable of 1. From Tradition If the world were made and had a beginning it is but reasonable to expect that so memorable a thing as this should be recorded in some of the most ancient Histories And that some extraordinary means should be used to perpetuate the memory of it and to convey it down from one generation to another by Universal Tradition And if it shall appear that all the evidence of this kind is for this opinion This must needs render it highly credible Now the History of Moses hath been generally acknowledged to be the most ancient Book in the world and always esteemed of great Autority even amongst those Heathens who do not believe it to be divinely inspired And there is no man of learning but must allow to it at least the ordinary credit of other ancient Histories especially if he consider what ground there is for the Credibility of it from the Theology of the darker times which is made up of some imperfect Traditions and allusions relating to those particular stories which are more distinctly set down in the writings of Moses Now Moses doth give such a plain brief unaffected account of the Creation of the world and of the most remarkable passages of the first ages particularly of the plantation of the world by the dispersion of Noah's Family so agreeable to the most antient Remains of Heathen Writers as must needs very much recommend it to the belief of every impartial man Though the Jews were but a small Nation and confined to a narrow compass in the world yet the first rise of Letters and Languages is truly to be ascribed to them It is attested by several of the best and most Antient Heathen Writers that the Hebrew Alphabet or which is all one the Phaenician is that from which both the Greek and the Latin and consequently the generality of the rest now known are derived so Herodotus Plutarch Pliny Curtius Lucan c. From whence it may be probably infer'd that the account given by the first Language is the most ancient and therefore the most likely to be a true Account of the first Original of things The usual course observed by all Nations to preserve the memory of things most remarkable which might otherwise in tract of time be forgotten especially amongst such as are not acquainted with Letters hath been by some practical Institution as by appointing some Festival for the Commemoration of such things And thus likewise hath it been in the present case The Sabbath as Moses expresly tells us was instituted for this very purpose to keep up the memory of the Creation And though perhaps it may be difficult to prove that this day hath upon this Account been observed by any other Nation but the Jews yet the division of Time by Weeks hath been universally observed in the world not only amongst the Civiliz'd but likewise amongst the most Barbarous Nations And there being no foundation in nature for this kind of distribution of days It must therefore depend upon some antient general Tradition the original whereof together with the particular reason of it is preserv'd in the most ancient of all other Histories viz. that of Moses As for the derivation of this from the seven Planets whose names have been anciently assigned to them this being well considered will appear to be so far from invalidating what I now assert that it will rather contribute to the Probability of it It is commonly believed that the assignation of the names of the Planets to the days of the week was by the Chaldeans who were much devoted to Astrological devices and had an opinion that every hour of the day was governed by a particular Planet reckoning them according to their usual order Saturn Jupiter Mars Sol Venus Mercury Luna That Planet which was ascribed to the first hour giving name to the whole day supposing Saturn to belong unto the first hour of Saturday then the second hour will belong to Jupiter the third to Mars c. and according to this order the fifteenth hour will belong likewise to Saturn and so will the twenty-second the twenty-third to Jupiter the twenty-fourth to Mars and so the first hour of the next day must belong to Sol which must accordingly give the denomination to that day and so for the other days of the week Now if it may appear that in this very account which all sorts of Learned men do agree in there is such a special regard to the Jewish Sabbath or Seventh-day as cannot be pretended for any other This will still render it more credible That the Tradition of the Sabbath did precede these Astrological Names If we suppose these Astrologers to reckon from the first day of the Creation and to begin with the most noble Planet the Sun Then the seventh-Seventh-day will be Saturday or the Jewish Sabbath Or which is more probable if we suppose them to begin their computation from the first day after the Creation was finished and from the highest Planet of slowest motion and so more proper to signifie a day of rest According to this way of Computation there is a peculiar priviledg belongs to the Jewish Sabbath which cannot be said of any of the other days The Testimony of greatest Antiquity next to the Books of Moses must be sought for amongst those Ancient Nations the