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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	act_n	faith_n	justify_v	2,616	5	9.2467	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61638	Shecinah, or, A demonstration of the divine presence in the places of religious worship being an essay, tending to promote piety, prevent apostacy, and to reduce grosly deluded souls, first to their right wits, then to the right waies, of Gods publick instituted worship / by John Stillingfleete ...	Stillingfleet, John, 1630 or 1-1687.	1663 (1663)	Wing S5680; ESTC R9466	109,230	256

and goodness of the Spirit of God is much discerned in his seasonable teaching of souls To speak in season is an high peece of wisdome words spoken in season are like Apples of Gold in pictures of Silver His goodness appears too in that hee helps when there is most need How suitable is a refreshing promise in the time of desertion a word of comfort in the time of affliction a word of establishment in the time of tentation And even thus seasonably is Gods Spirit wont to apply himself unto souls Sometimes the Spirit of God directs the Preacher from his Text to send some seasonable Truth home to a soul As I have read of St. Augustine as hee was preaching hee was suddenly carried from his Text hee knew not how to speak against the Manichees A little after one meets him and thanks him for that discourse of his it was a means of reclaiming him from those errors hee was preaching against And it hath been the experience of some good men that those Truths that have been suggested to them in preaching beyond their ordinary meditation have had some good effect and they have heard souls to be more affected with those than with other Truths delivered at the same time A digression in a Sermon sometimes proves a diversion in some mens thoughts which may help forward the conversion of some soul or other in the Auditory I have sometimes thought those affectionate Parentheses of the Spirits suggesting in preaching of Sermons well digested otherwise before-hand are much like that most exquisite story of the woman that had a bloody issue whose Faith made her whole that is inserted in the passage of Jairus his Daughter being healed of our Saviour Luke 8.41 The Evangelist sets down the beginning of that passage about Jairus the Ruler of the Synagogue as our Saviour was going to cure his Daughter the woman meets him in the way and hee cures her first and then raises Jairus his Daughter that was dead Thus the Spirit of God doth sometimes direct the Minister to such a subject that may raise a dead soul that may quicken dead affections but by the way hee meets with a soul that hath a bloody Issue of sin some reigning lusts or other here may be some Truths seasonably suggested to cure his soul and then hee is directed forward to raise and quicken those that may be overtaken with deadness and dulness This occasional and providential discovery of Truths that come close to the soul that receives them speaks very much the seasonable teachings of the Spirit of God As some by an occasional reading of such a place of Scripture or such an ones writings or such an one they have perhaps heard occasionally preach and such Truths have dropped into the soul so suitably as if God had immediately spoken from Heaven this must be resolved into the work of Gods Spirit that directs all for the best advantage of Gods Children § 5. 5. The Spirit of God teaches certainly A Childe of God is not lead by meer conjectures about the things of God that hee is taught The highest the Saints can arise to ordinarily is but a conjectural probability according to the Papists so that they may give some probable conjectures at their good estate But the Spirit of God where it comes and teaches leaves not the soul at such uncertainties How could St. Paul have bid the Corinthians examine themselves whether were in the Faith or no 2 Cor. 13 5 unless they could have known this certainly What made Calvin and Perkins and many others lay down the very nature of Justifying Faith in full assurance and certain perswasion Was it not their certain experience of it that made them oppose the Papists mainly who would lay it onely in a bare assent Though the middle way be the truest to hold out Justifying Faith as an act of recumbency yet the experience and certainty those good men arrived to made them the more violent in their opposition When the Spirit comes to teach the soul it comes in a demonstrative way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the demonstration of the Spirit 1 Cor. 2. ● and of Power The plainest language is most peircing when the things of God are to be treated of the reason is because the Spirit sets it home with power Men must use flourishes of Rhethorick to perswade when matters of humane concernment are treated of they have then their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perswasives but when Gods Spirit comes with the Word hee brings his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 down-right demonstrations Thus when Celsus objected against the Christians the barbarousnesse of their original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●rig con ●els p. 5 ●d Cant. Origen tells him by way of answer that the Christian Religion hath a demonstration peculiar and proper to it self of a diviner strain than that of the Greek Philosophers and this the Apostle calls the demonstration of the Spirit and power Demonstrations are the most certain kind of syllogismes with Logicians Aristotle tells us that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it produces knowledge that goes upon the most certain grounds it hath an insight into things by their causes Thus Gods Spirit works in a most certain kind of way in the Soul that few or none but do or at least may know it if they are careful A Woman with Child hath such qualmes and distempers that she certainly knows it So they that have had the breeding of the Spirit in their hearts they know by the motions and stirrings of the Spirit of God within that they are those that are taught by the Spirit of God § 6. 6. The Spirit teaches profitably Let the Minister speak never so powerfully and plainly yet the heart of man cannot discern it and profit by it unlesse the Spirit strike in with it wee shall do little good This is the dexterity of the Spirit that hee tells you what use to make of such a Scripture such a Truth such a Providence such an affliction Isa 48.17 I am the holy one of Israel that teacheth you to profit Men are naturally ignorant and unprofitable they are all the Sons of Belial that is as the Hebrew derivation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth imply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any profit at all unprofitable wretches good for nothing ignorant wretches that know nothing Now when the Holy one of Israel takes men in hand to teach them hee teaches them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to profit Men that before were good for nothing neither profitable to themselves or others when he teaches them by his Spirit he makes them profit for their souls good and eternal welfare and most times they are made very profitable unto others The Spirit of God teaches profitably in that First He teaches practically The Spirit in his teaching directs souls to happiness now one part of a Christians happinesse here on earth lyes in this that hee learns his

taught to walk in the best way To aim at the best ends Pages 206 SHECINAH OR A Demonstration of the Divine Presence in the places of Religious Worship CHAP. I. Self-Reflection discovers the being of an Omnipotent God Gods Omnipresence These two introductory to this Discourse The right use of a Light within The Scriptures declare and prove Gods Omnipresence Several degrees of Gods special presence The Design of this Treatise § 1. MAns rational Reflection upon himself if faithfully improved would with convincing evidence secure him both against Atheism and Irreligion The sound acknowledgement of a Deity presently leads the mind to a Religious Apprehension of him For that comes short of a truly Divine Being and cannot rationally be owned as God which when discovered doth not forthwith present it self to intelligent creatures as the true object of their Religious Worship and Sacred Adoration Now Self-reflection may easily discover that there is a God and this may serve to rout Atheism And that same mind that is able thus to discover a Deity doth also naturally prompt us to an acknowledgement of that undoubted homage which is the unquestionable right of the Supream Soveraign of the world viz. Religious Worship and Adoration And this speaks Religion to be highly rational as that which is connatural to intelligent creatures and withall brands Irreligion with the greatest unreasonableness in the world Let us a little consider now what Self-reflection can do towards the discovery of a Deity 'T is evident that mans soul is not limited and restrained onely to direct Acts in its operation but it is usually as able to reflect upon its own Actions and take a review of them as it is at the first in a direct Act of knowledge to apply its self to any peculiar intelligible Object As Scripture plainly intimates a distinction 'twixt the direct and reflect Acts of Faith 1 Joh 5.13 So the constant experience of a rational soul evidences a clear distinction of the reflect Acts of knowledge from those that are direct For the mind in its reflection peculiarly fixes upon its own former Actions as the proper object it converses about But as it exerts direct Acts of knowledge its circumference is as large as the latitude of Beings or objects that are in themselves intelligible Suppose now a contemplative mind setting it self to take a true scantling of mans nature it must needs abstract the humane nature from all those conditions that would limit it to individual persons and it must conceive it as somewhat common to all men here is a direct act of the mind But when he reviews this Action and narrowly searches into the manner of apprehending and distinct understanding of the humane nature and takes notice of the power and species by which the act of the mind was exerted this is properly Reflection Now the mind by this may clearly perceive that those intellectual Images which represented the nature of man as abstracted from all material accidents cannot be corporeal and material themselves but immaterial and refined from the dreggs and dross of matter These being immaterial do necessarily require a Spiritual Power and Incorporeal Substance to reside in as their proper subject Therefore it follows the rational soul that thus reflects upon its self can be no other than an incorporeal and immaterial substance If it further searches into the Original of an immaterial substance as the soul of man is concluded to be it cannot but conclude that it could not possibly be made of any pre-existent matter when in its own nature it is immaterial or spiritual Besides the nobleness of its being and the excellency of its operations speaks it to be of no mean earthly or sublunary extraction If the soul being immaterial cannot be generated or made by any material production it remains it must have its being immediately raised out of nothing which being a work of Omnipotency will evidently demonstrate the being of an Infinite and Omnipotent Agent which first gave life and being to an immortal and immaterial soul which can be no other than God himself § 2. Having thus discovered the Being of God and that hee must be of an Infinite Power to create an incorporeal substance out of nothing it were no difficult task to demonstrate the rest of Gods Attributes from this that hee is Omnipotent or of an Infinite Power But to pass by all other Attributes I shall onely consider the necessary Inference of Gods Immensity or Omnipresence from the presupposed Being of his Infinite Power For a Being or Agent of Infinite Power must of necessity be of an Infinite Essence because otherwise the principle of operation would transcend the nature of the Essence and Being and a Finite Essence would absolutely and simply be invested with an Infinite Power which is as repugnant to right reason as derogatory to the nature of the Supreme Being or Being of Beings God blessed for evermore If the Essence be infinite that is of Infinite Power it follows that that Essence cannot be limited or restrained to any finite space For that which is any waies limited cannot every waies and absolutely be Infinite If an Infinite Essence be not limited by any finite space then this created Fabrick of the world being finite because created cannot contain it within its bounds But as it is every where present in the world so being infinite it must needs exceed the limits of every creature and so also the largest bounds of the highest Heavens So that God which is Infinite and illimited in his Essence must necessarily be granted to be in that boundless Imaginary space which must be supposed beyond the surface of the world This may further be proved thus either God can produce another creature in that supposed space or hee cannot If hee cannot then he would not be Infinite in his Power which would be repugnant to his Being and the contrary hath already been evinced If hee can then hee would either be present with that creature or not If not his Essence would not be Infinite because excluded from that space where the creature is supposed to be If hee be present then either newly present with it or he was eternally so If newly then there would be a real mutation in his Being being present now where hee was not before which is as derogatory to Gods Infinite Perfection as a local restraint and limitation is to the Infiniteness of his Essence It remains then that hee was eternally present there and if so then hee alwaies was in that boundless Imaginary space where the creature was supposed to be produced which was the matter to be proved § 3. That this Introduction thus industriously designed may not to any one seem wholly unsuitable to the ensuing discourse concerning the special Presence of God I would advise the Reader seriously to weigh both the matter expressed and the manner of its discovery and hee shall finde both highly subservient to my main design The

is not in every man by Nature but conveyed onely to some by the Spirit of God who is called the Spirit of Wisdome and Revelation Ephes 1.17 Gospel Light in the soul that leads to salvation is the benefit of Christs Redemption and not of our Creation Therefore when Christ is spoken of to come into the world as Mediator to him is attributed this light of salvation The people that walked in darknesse have seen a great light Isa 9. Avenari Lex Hebr. Mal. 4 2. they that dwell in the Land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined Some observe that the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shine hath great affinity with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to heal It holds true here the light of the Gospel is an healing light where ever it comes All men lye sick in sin and ignorance till this light recover them No soundnesse in the Faith without a clear discovery of this light And it is worth our observation Luk. 4.18 that healing of the broken hearted and recovering sight to the blind are both joyned together and both as the effect of Christs undertaking his mediatory work If Christs as God enlightens every man that comes into the world with the light of reason yet we must not therefore beleeve that Christ enlightens every one by saving Grace as he is Mediator 'T is true all that are savingly enlightened are enlightened by Christ and his Spirit yet there are many that are never enlightened Yea and of all those that are thus savingly enlightned time was that wee might say of them Yee were sometimes darkenesse § 9. What hath been said may sufficiently serve to answer any that would bee satisfied about that inward Light so much spoken of now adayes of which I shall only propound these four things First Every man in the world hath an inward light of nature or light of reason call'd in Scripture Prov. 20.27 the candle of the Lord. According to which every man hath some seeds of the knowledge of good and evil This is the light of mans natural Conscience Rom. 2.14 15. This light serves to many good uses but not to bring Souls to Heaven Secondly Every true Saint one that is regenerated truly by the Word and Spirit hath an inward light of the Spirit the light of Grace This is light in the Lord. According to this Ephes 4.8 a Saint hath his Conscience savingly enlightned This light is not onely useful but necessary to all true Christians in their life here as Christians and will bring them to Heaven at the last Thirdly There is a middle light betwixt the light of Nature and the saving light of Grace that is the common work of the Spirit called illumination too which many in the visible Church do enjoy and yet are reprobates According to this Heb. 4.6 men may have an awakened conscience This light may bee useful to others but it will not advantage a wicked man at all if hee go no further than this common work Fourthly No man that receives inward saving light of the Spirit but was first in great spiritual darkenesse Thus S. Paul saith of the Ephesians Ye were sometimes darkenesse but now are yee light in the Lord. Ephes 5.8 So that it must needs bee a very grosse mistake to think that any a far greater to assert that all are born with this inward saving light And our Saviour was much overseen in sending Paul to open mens eyes and to turn them from darkenesse to light Acts 26.18 by preaching of the Gospel if so be they had this Light by Nature Wee grant you see and if need were would sufficiently prove with undeniable Arguments a Light within yet not such as many ignorantly enough plead for Vide Fr. Junium de Theol. vera c. 16. expl ss 32. T. 1. p. 1414. Let others therefore sit down and embrace that so much admired Darling of an Inward Natural yet saving Light in all wee know 't is but a Changeling and not the genuine off-spring of the Spirit of God Much like that Strumpet-Goddesse of the men of Ephesus Great is Diana of the Ephesians But in St. Pauls Language it proved a great cry about nothing For saies hee Wee know that an Idoll is nothing § 10. IV. The Spirit of God teaches Corroborando by strengthening the mind and understanding The mind of man is full of weakness as well as darkness The Spirit of God in his teaching brings not only light but also strength to the souls of Gods Children Paul prayes that they may be strengthened Eph. 3.16 with might by his Spirit in the inward man The inward man the soul of a Saint is the chief object of the Spirits care For the outward man that is many times weak and vile but the Spirit comes by his teaching to renew and streng-then the inward man that though the outward man decay yet the inward man may be renewed strengthened and confirmed day by day And if any shall enquire how God by his Spirit doth strengthen the minds of his Children Fr. Junius de Th. vera c. 12. p. 1403. T. 1. A learned and judicious Divine gives this solid satisfaction to his inquiry Whatsoever power is implanted in man by nature to apprehend that God by the power of his Spirit doth so possess that to those gifts of nature hee conjoyns the gifts of his grace that are answerable to them For to the Principles that are naturally placed in the understanding hee super-adds the Principles of Grace To Reason that arises out of those Principles hee conjoyns the increase of his Divine Light To the Conclusions and Determinations which reason hath attained to by the most imperfect light of nature hee super-adds supernatural and most perfect Demonstrations out of which heavenly Knowledge may be raised in the minds of godly men To conclude hee propounds heavenly objects to be apprehended by the mind and will after an heavenly manner and also raises the will to the apprehension of those objects that are propounded § 11. V. And lastly Recolligendo The Spirit teaches by raising and recollecting fallen Truths Mans memory is very slippery especially as to Divine Truths very apt to let them slip and leak thorow Therefore wee ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that wee have heard lest at any time wee should let them slip Heb. 2.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest wee let them run out as leaking Vessels are wont to do Or the Metaphor may be taken from Paper that lets letters sink in and the Ink run abroad that they cannot be distinctly read Thus Divine Truths either leak out or run abroad that they prove useless to souls at the greatest need Now the Spirit recollects and brings in Divine Truths upon several occasions as may be most for the souls advantage Hee shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance what-ever I