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cause_n ghost_n holy_a spirit_n 3,926 5 5.5026 4 true
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A39886 Nehushtan, or, John Elliot's Saving grace in all men proved to be no grace and his increated being in all a great nothing by J.F. J. F. (James Forbs), 1629?-1712.; Elliot, John. Saving grace of God. 1694 (1694) Wing F1444; ESTC R29851 45,242 37

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If thus in all how comes it that there are still and have been so many personal Infirmities and Failings where he takes up his constant Residence How comes it that some of them have in an hour of Temptation grosly prevaricated for a time both in Principles and Practice If in some only then this is a Priviledge peculiar to those few and not to others If so by what Covenant or Promise is this Priviledge entailed upon them exclusive of others or does the purchase of Christ's Death as to this extend to them not to others The greatest Argument for what I can perceive for a personal inexistence of the Spirit in Believers is that there are so many Texts of Scripture which speaking of this do speak of him as a Person Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God v. 26. Quo efficitur ut clamemus nos The Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered All I reply hereunto at present is this By the same Reason also there must be a personal inexistence of the Father and the Son in them 1 Joh. 4.12 13. If we love one another God dwelleth in us Hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit v. 15 16. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him Gal. 2.20 Christ liveth in me Mr. Samuel Eaton's Arguments against a Personal In-dwelling of the Spirit in Believers are of weight with me Quakers confuted p. 1. 2. We do not believe that there is any substantial essential or personal Union between this eternal Spirit and Believers for such Unions would either make the Spirit and Believers some Third Thing as when Soul and Body are united a Third Thing which is neither Soul nor Body but compounded of both ariseth from it which is called Man or else there will be a confounding of Substance which cannot be for God cannot mix with the Creature And else such Union if it should be personal as betwixt the two Natures in Christ would make Believers God and equal with Christ and consequently equal with God himself the consequence of which would be that such Persons would have an Almighty Power which they might put forth in working as many Miracles as they please as they may see it make for the Glory of God and that they would be Omniscient and know all things and would have the rest of God's Attributes as Christ had who was God and equal with God and in whom this personal Union was And though we believe that the Spirit of Christ dwells in Saints yet we assert the Spirit of Christ to be distinct from the Saints and the Saints from the Spirit and though he dwells in them yet he acts not in them but as it pleaseth him neither doth he impart Wisdom Power Grace and Glory but as it pleaseth him 1 Cor. 12.7 to 12. There are some Passages in Mr. R Sherl Discourse of the Holy Spirit worthy of a Remark p. 11 12. It was the Errour of the Macedomans and Samosatenians of old and of the Socinians of late That by the Spirit of God is meant no other but Virtus seu efficacia quâ hommes fideles sanctificantur divinis usibus consecrantur i. e. That Vertue or Efficacy whereby faithful Men are sanctified and consecrated to Divine Offices And opposite to this Extreme many now-a-days run to the other mistaking and misterming the Efficacies and Vertues of the Spirit for the Person of the Spirit himself The Holy Orthodox Truth lies betwixt these two Extremes And when you read in Holy Scriptures of being filled with the Holy Ghost or made Partakers of the Spirit of God it is not to be understood of the Spirit in respect of his personal Essence for thus he filleth the World and contains all things being really existent and present in and with all things and Creatures giving unto All their Life and Breath and all things In whom we live and move and have our Being Act. 17. viz by his inexisting Presence and this in respect of his personal Essence If we should say then That the Spirit of God is in his Saints and Servants here upon Earth in a greater measure than other Men personally and in respect of his Essence we should so divide and consequently define and limit the Essence of God which is undivided infinite and unlimited Jer. 23.23 Am I a God at Hand and not a God afar off Can any hide himself in Secret Places that I should not see him for do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord Thus then those Scripture-Phrases of receiving the Holy Ghost are not to be understood of the Spirit in respect of his personal Essence but in respect of his Impressions and Workings on the Souls of Men in respect of his Gifts and Graces which are various and diverse and carry their Name from the Cause or Author of them 1 Cor. 12.4 There are diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit where the Spirit is plainly distinguish'd from his Gifts as the Cause from the Effect the Workman from the Work of his Hands or as the Body of the Sun from the Light and Heat which is darted and displayed from it And whereas 't is said The Spirit is one but his Gifts diverse we may hence observe That if we should confound the Spirit of God with the Gifts and Qualifications dispensed from him we should be so far from worshipping the true God which is but One that we should fall into that gross Idolatry of the Heathens of old making as many Spirits of God as they made Gods who Deified the moral Vertues and worshipped their several Vertuous Qualifications as Gods Hence it is that some being persuaded that they have the Spirit of God personally abiding in them have been puft up with such an excessive Spiritual Pride and self-conceited Eminence as not only to exalt them selves above their Brethren but even to extol themselves above the Heavens and most blasphemously to profess and boast of an equality with God There was a Testimony bore against this Principle by a Synod in New England 6. Preliminary The Word Grace in the Scripture is of a double Acceptation there is Gratia gratum faciens which is says Scharp Curs Thes p. 383. Paterna Dei benevolentia quà immerentes gratis complectitur It is the same with Divine Benignity or God himself freely willing to communicate the Specialities of his favour even to those that are most underserving Gen. 9.8 Exod. 33.19 1 Cor. 15.10 I am what I am by the Grace of God Haec sons causa bonorum donorum omnium est non in nobis sed in Deo residet This is the Original of all the good things we have and is not resident in us