Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	ghost_n	holy_a	spirit_n	3,926	5	5.5026	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42831	Some discourses, sermons, and remains of the Reverend Mr. Jos. Glanvil ... collected into one volume, and published by Ant. Horneck ... ; together with a sermon preached at his funeral, by Joseph Pleydell ...	Glanvill, Joseph, 1636-1680.; Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.; Pleydell, Josiah, d. 1707.	1681 (1681)	Wing G831; ESTC R23396	193,219	458

Grace and Hope And this very often is the condition of the Scoffer who hath debauch'd and jested away all feeling of these Interests Yea 2. there is great cause to think that he commits the Sin against the Holy Ghost or a sin that is very near it For that consists in the Disbelief and contempt of the great and last Testimony that was given by the Spirit to the truth of Christianity And that I may not seem to speak this without ground let us look into the place where the first and fullest account of this sin is We have it Matth. 12. Our Saviour had cur'd one that was possest ver 22. The people marvell'd and were inclin'd to believe upon it ver 23. But the Pharisees revil'd saying that he cast out Devils by Belzebub ver 24. Christ shews the absurdity and falshood of their suggestion arguing that then Satan would be divided against himself and his Kingdom so divided could not stand ver 25 26. And having reason'd against that malicious account of his Miracle he infers from the contrary and true way of his performing it ver 28. If I by the Spirit of God cast out Devils then is the Kingdom of God come unto you viz. then I that have done this am the Messias And he concludes by a serious application to them to shew the sad consequence of such bold and impious suggestions 31. Wherefore I say unto you All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men Where by Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost must be understood according to the context That of imputing the operation of the Spirit in Miracles to the Devil which is therefore so hainous because it is an expression of the greatest contempt of it and a bar against the being perswaded by it Now to apply this Though the Scoffer doth not impute the Spirits Testimony in Miracles to the Devil yet that is not because he hath a greater esteem of the operations of the Spirit but because he hath less belief of the existence of Devils Yea he will not allow so much as the Pharisees did That any such things were done but supposeth all to have been Impostures and delusions in the Author or cunningly devised Fables in the Relators which is a contempt put upon the operations of the Holy Spirit equal to that of ascribing them to the Devil and doth as effectually and incurably strike up the Grounds of Faith as that So that in substance the sin of the Scoffers is the same with that described in the Text though differing in circumstance and form Yea 't is the sin with aggravation since they do not barely speak against the Holy Ghost and his operations but deride them an expression of the greatest contempt possible And when men are come thus far to despise the great Testimony of the Spirit and ground of Faith after it hath been sufficiently propounded to them and entertain'd by them in favour of their Lusts we have cause to think their Infidelity is incurable and consequently unpardonable For so the Apostle hath declar'd plainly Heb. 6. 4 5 6. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly Gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost viz. in Baptism and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the World to come all which are expressions of the visibly owning Christianity and partaking in the duties and priviledges of it if they shall fall away to renew them again to repentance And they that are arriv'd at the impudent height of deriding all this are faln away with a witness and therefore I think we may conclude safely from the Doctrine of the Apostle that they are incurable and unpardonable and from this and the discourse before that 't is sadly probable they have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost This 't is like may seem very severe Doctrine but I cannot help that if it be true I am not to be blam'd for the severity of it And I 'me sure the Book of Homilies declares more positively in the case than I have done For speaking in the Tenth Homily of the Scorners of Godliness and Religion who are there describ'd the Author saith of them I think I may without danger of Gods judgement pronounce that never any yet were converted unto God by Repentance but continued still in their abominable wickedness heaping up to themselves Damnation against the day of Gods inevitable Judgement I Come now IV. to the APPLICATION which shall be 1. Earnestly to Dehort all that have the least sense of vertue or reason from Scoffing at Religion or at men for making profession of it And then 2. I shall conclude with some very brief Directions and Rules of caution to secure us from the danger of this Sin Concerning the first I consider that the Scoffers with whom I am further to treat are of two sorts 1. The desperate who have debauch'd themselves into down-right Infidelity And 2. the Fashionable ones as I crave leave for distinction to call them who do not Scoff at Religion out of enmity or malice but out of modishness and compliance and it may be out of design to be accounted Wits for so doing I shall deal First with the former sort and in treating with them shall use none of the acknowledgments of Religion but from plain unassisted reason shall shew the extreme vanity and madness of their practice And I would entreat them to think of the following things 2. Be Religion True as we know or false as they vainly imagine their Scoffing at it is exceedingly absurd Every Faculty is to be applyed to its proper object to employ and of them about others that belong not to them is foolish and unnatural Now God hath bestowed upon us Reason and understanding to judge and discourse about things that are serious and the Faculty of laughter and derision to be exercised upon things that are vain to employ the former and discourse gravely about ludicrous trifling matters is ridiculous And 't is equally absurd to be sportive about affairs that are serious Now whether Religion be true or not 't is a serious thing If true the greatest Interests of this world and another are included and concerned in it Or if it be otherwise it must yet be granted that it hath much agreeableness with the Reasons and most serious Faculties of Mankind and our greatest and most important concerns in this Life viz. the main affairs of the Government of the World are bound up with it and have relation to it So that whether true or false it is no matter of sport but subject for our most serious considerations and discourses And from this last hint about Government I mind the Scoffer 2. That his practice tends to the dissolution of humane Society and the turning of mankind into the condition of wild nature And if it should

ways they must not be parted with or silenc't no all Laws and Constitutions of Government must be thwarted overthrown rather Love and Peace and all must be sacrificed to the Idols which being so what quietness can there be from hence what peace or temper among such principles These perpetually annoy and disturb the Church and to know what they do in the State let us consider Germany Scotland and 't is to be hoped though we have frail memories on this side we shall not forget how peaceable the Sectaries have been in England or not observe how quiet they are at this day Remember I hope we shall for Caution I urge no other remembrance I wish they themselves did not remember them so well as we find they do by many of the same actions and discourses That Kings hold from the people are only Trustees for them and may be resisted and deposed when they fail in that trust are Politicks that do not much tend to civil peace and we know whose Principles those were and we have no great reason to think they have quitted them I can give but brief hints of things that would afford matter enough to fill Volumes as both Popish and Sectarian disloyalty Rebellions and disturbances would do But into these mens secrets let not our Souls come The Church that we some of us at least profess our selves to be members of teacheth no unpeaceable doctrines is guilty of no such practices It imposeth no Articles on our belief as necessary to our Salvation but the Ancient Creeds no terms of Communion but such reasonable orders and decencies as are free from all appearance of Idolatry and Superstition or any thing else that is unlawful as will appear to any rational man that shall take the pains to consider and will judge impartially nothing that is more burthensome or grievous than the Rites and usages of the Primitive Christian Church were which assertions I have in this place lately proved and divers of our Divines in their books have fully done it to the shame of Fanatical Gainsayers As to the concerns of civil peace our Church with Christ and his Apostles teacheth active chearful conscientious obedience to the King and subordinate Rulers in all lawful things and quiet submission to the penalties of not obeying when the things required are unlawful plainly certainly so And that we are not in this nor in any case to resist Suitable to this have been the practices of the people of this peaceable Church Among whom there hath not yet been found a Rebel We never heard of a Church of England-man in the late wars against the King nor of a Sectary for him But 4. The Faith deliver'd to the Saints was a reasonable Faith the understanding of man is the Candle of the Lord Prov. 20. 27. The light of Reason is his light with this The true light hath enlightned every one that cometh into the world Joh. 1. 9. and one light is not contrary to another there is difference in degree but no opposition of Nature Faith and Reason accord Yea Faith is an act of Reason 't is the highest reason to believe in God and the belief of our reason is an act of Faith viz. Faith in the truth and goodness of God that would not give us faculties to delude and deceive us when we rightly exercise and employ them By Faith Reason is further enlightned and by the use of Reason Faith is applyed Religion and Reason sweetly agree and nothing can be Religious that is unreasonable Religion is a reasonable service And by this Character Popery is disproved also For that imposeth on the practice and minds of men things that are extreamly unreasonable and absurd as Articles of Religion Such are the worship of invisible beings by Images of Wood or Stone and especially the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which is full of Contradictions as that the same body can be in a thousand places at once that at the same time it may be bigger and less than it self that it may move towards and from it self That it may be divided not into parts but wholes These and numerous other absurdities and contradictions to the reason of mankind are contain'd in the sensless mystery of Popish Transubstantiation To defend which the Doctors of that Church are put upon this miserable shift of denying all reason in Religion even the greatest and most fundamental Article of it That the same thing can be and not be which some of them say is the only method to confute Hereticks And while Reason and our Faculties are acknowledg'd we cannot entertain their non-sence nor be answer'd in our just oppositions of their gross absurdities On the other side the Character of a reasonable Faith condemns the Sects the greatest part of whose Divinity is made up of sensless absurd notions set forth in unintelligible Fantastical Phrases and these they account the heights of spirituality and mystery upon which they value and boast themselves as the only knowing the only spiritual people When there is nothing in all their pretended heights and spiritualities but vain imagination and dreaming and in v. 8. of this Epistle they are described by this Character 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dreamers And as the light of Sense and Reason dispels the vain Images of Dreams so these admitted would cure Fanatical impostures and delusions For which cause there is nothing they so vehemently declaim against as Reason under the notion of carnal and as an enemy to the Spirit and the things of it There is indeed a carnal Reason that is enmity to truth and goodness but that is not the reason of our minds but the reason of our appetite passion and corrupt interest which is not reason truly so called no more than an Ape is a man But for want of thus distinguishing the things that so differ Enthusiasts rail violently against all Reason as the grand adversary of the truths and mysteries of the Gospel Their Tenents that she calls so will not bear that light But the Church of England teacheth no opinions no mysteries that need such a desperate course to defend them Its Articles of Faith are all contain'd in the Ancient Christian Creeds which are no way opposite to Reason in any Article yea Reason either proves or defends them all So that we never give out at this weapon but are ready to use it upon all occasions against Atheists and Infidels of all sorts The Church of England owns no Religion but what is reasonable 5. The Faith deliver'd to the Saints was certain it was deliver'd to them by those that had it from the holy Spirit of God in the way of immediate inspiration Those holy men spake as they were inspired And that they were really so was no fond imagination or bold presumption but a truth assured by those mighty miracles they were enabled to perform Those are Gods Seal and the grand confirmation of a commission from him and to this proof of their