Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	christian_a	church_n	great_a	6,947	5	2.6794	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44211	An account of the spirits working upon the minds of men in the several ages of the Christian church in a visitation sermon before the Right Reverend Father in God, Henry Lord Bishop of London, at Burntwood in Essex, Septemb. 14, 1680 / by Richard Hollingworth.	Hollingworth, Richard, 1639?-1701.	1680 (1680)	Wing H2485; ESTC R26432	13,861	26

severity every person that did not bow down to them And Oh how hard a thing it was then for the Apostles to contest with prejudices founded in education in principles sucked from those they loved most to wit their Parents and therefore upon this account there was great need of an extraordinary Spirit whereby men might be convinced of the truth of their persons as well as their doctrins Alas had it not been for this the Gospel would have been nipped in its first budding forth and it would have been a downright impossibility for so great a part of the world to have been imposed upon by such a company of illiterate persons as the Apostles before the descent of the Holy Ghost were Can you imagine that such Learned men as Dionysius the Areopagite and other persons brought up in the Schools at Athens who well understood the principles and connexion of things would have submitted to the pretences of such bold and rude persons who could shew no reason at all beyond their own confident assertions for what they said No it was impossible And by the way this one thing shews the great necessity of human Learning and is a sufficient confutation of all those Enthusiasts who do revile it to wit that what the Apostles wanted of it upon the score of education God supplied by Miracle Well but 2. Let us consider how long this extraordinary Spirit continued in the Church for that it is ceased and that no man can now pretend to it is a plain case because we daily experience it for he that pretends to the same spirit the Apostles had must do the same things or else he is mighty vain and argues his understanding to be much impaired Now in answer to this it is certain that God who is never wanting to what he promises nor to those needs and necessities which his wisdom and goodness conspire to answer was not wanting to his Church in the first Ages thereof so long as they had any work to do like to what first they set upon that is so long as they had new Countreys or People to spread this Gospel abroad amongst And therefore we find in History that this extraordinary Spirit continued more or lefs for about 400 years in the Church of God and men wrought Miracles and thereby convinced Gainsayers though about that time as St. Augustin tells us they were not so numerous and plentiful as they were before and the reason was because there was no such need of them and a little after they ceased And this we may assert notwithstanding the boasts of the Church of Rome who indeed instead of confirming men in the Christian Religion by their pretended miracles do if men be considerate rather expose it to their scorn and censure so ridiculous are the stories they tell and upon such slight and pitiful grounds do they pretend their Miracles are wrought And therefore I say when the occasion and reason of working Miracles ceased then God in Wisdom suspended that great and mighty power wherewith he had accompanied good men before and Kings proving Nursing-fathers and Queens Nursing-mothers to the Church the Gospel being a National Religion in most Countreys and that which youth was brought up in at first and there being so full an evidence on its side taken from the purity of its doctrine the innocence of its design the multitude of Miracles that awaited its first appearance and other concurring testimonies of equal force therefore men are now to look for no other Spirit but what is necessary for their needs and necessities as they are Christians which brings me to the third thing to be considered of and that is 3ly Notwithstanding the ceasing of this extraordinary Spirit yet there is a spirit continued to the Church of God sufficiently helpful to men suitable to their necessities and to what God requires of them in order to be partakers of his blessings God is never behind-hand with his Creatures but his Providence stands ready to assist them with such Auxiliary forces as they really stand in need of and no man shall ever complain that he perishes for lack of any thing that God hath promised the death of men must be laid at their own doors and had they not been wanting to themselves Heaven had been their portion and the lot of their Inheritance and as God said to Israel so he may say to all Christians whatsoever O you Sons of men you have destroyed your selves And now we enter into a large field of discourse and I wish my thoughts and meditations may do justice and right to the matter under hand and withal answer your expectation in a thing so really momentous and concerning I say then that though God hath thought good to withdraw the extraordinary Spirit yet he is with his Church and People to the end of the World by affording them such assistances as are requisite for their serving of him And this is a Doctrine that hath so universally obtained in the Church of God that the Pelagian Heresie that asserts Man by the strength of his faculties improved by Scripture and Reason by the objective evidence that is in things might attain to such a state of mind as to render him fit for Gods favour while here and his eternal glory hereafter But though this was a Doctrin generally acknowledged yet for all that the mistakes about the Spirit of God the confounding the extraordinary and ordinary spirit the misinterpreting several places of Scripture which speak of the effusion of the Spirit in the last days particularly that of my Text the setting up of the Spirit in opposition to human Learning and the exercise of our Reason the patronizing of our own folly and wickedness by pretences to a more immediate guidance and direction of the Spirit of God I say these things have done a world of mischief to Religion and civil Society together they have forced men out of their proper places and been the original of so much pride and vanity of spirit that Children as it were have risen up against the Ancients and every Novice hath taken upon him to pitty his betters and to be a director of the People and therefore certainly it is a thing of great concernment to every man to set this Notion right in his mind that so he may not like every little Child be tossed too and fro with every wind of doctrin and that his judgment may not be enslaved to every bold pretender that covers a Woolfish nature with Sheeps cloathing Now that Spirit which awaits good men in this world give me leave to give you this account of which if but well considered will I am certain strengthen you against all those addresses that sin or errour at any time make to you 1. The Spirit which now affists good men in this life works upon them according to what they know it brings no new Notices of things to them but operates upon those they by their

and violent particles which had they no superiour powers to give Laws to their motion would like Phaeton set this world of Man on fire No no the great design of this Spirit is to mend that Soul which Christ died to purchase the life of and certainly when ever any man experiences its genuine operations he finds a vast alteration in the state of his mind his apprehensions of things are far different from their former selves when he was under the command of lust and prejudice he then better sees the nature of things and those several excellencies that are in them he pitches upon objects which are every way more agreeable to the delights as well as necessities of his soul than the husks he formerly fed upon And that love he has for God is not founded in the temperature of his body in some present glowings which arise from Rhetorical descriptions but in a deep consideration of the Divine Attributes and perfections of those displays and communications that he bountifully makes of himself to the world and his affections to the Lord Jesus are not fixed upon him barely upon the score of his Priesthood because he fondly and fancifully expects to be saved by him but he honours and loves him as his Lord and King and testifies the truth of his love by submitting to his Authority and resigning up himself to his will and pleasure and the Mans delight in God is bottomed in those rational satisfactions he hath had in a true performance of those duties through which God communicates himself to the intellectual and rational part of Man Alas those touches upon the animal spirits are but flashes and vanish in a moment upon which score we read of several persons in the late confusions who for a time made a great noise and pretended to give as great a light to the world in a moment after the spirits flagged and the course of their bodies altered sunk into the dregs of Atheism and Prophaneness and drolled upon Religion as the product of a few melancholy vapours from the head and not of a rational consideration from the mind Whereas had these men been brought to Religion by the exercise of their minds and reason about the Doctrins and Truths of the Christian Religion and by the help of Gods good Spirit which never fails to raise and heighten the faculties and to enlighten the object to such laborious men they had continued constant to their profession notwithstanding all discouragements for rational satisfaction conviction of mind and judgment cannot be laid aside but by great degeneracy and apostacy of mind or else by something that out-weighs it in point of satisfaction to the contrary And this was the way the Bereans took for though there was the greatest spirit in the World there yet it is said they searched the Scriptures whether those things were so or no Act. 17.11 that is they made use of their Reason to compare Prophesies with events and thereby got the name of being more noble and no doubt furnished themselves with a more full satisfaction Act. 17.2 And St. Paul as his manner was he went unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures that is he appealed to their judgments and understandings and not to their or his own private spirit whereby he intimates that that is the great method of conviction and that the work of the Spirit of God when such things are offered to our reason is to incline us to consider and pause upon the evidence that is in those arguments and to six our thoughts in such a manner as not to ramble from what is proposed but to look into the strength and force such and such Arguments are attended withal I say this this is the great work of the Spirit and to judge of the truth of the Spirits morions by the warmth of our affections and not by the true light of our understanding is to get into a Labyrinth out of which we cannot extricate our selves but by being guided by the clue of our Reason and there is nothing under such delusions as these but a return to a mans self to an exercise of his intellectual powers can save him and prevent his being plunged over head and ears in sin and Heresie And therefore let warm Enthusiasts cry down the use of Reason in Religion as long as they will and call us carnal Preachers for advising men to understand the reason of their Religion Yet for all that I dare desire all those who read these Papers to think themselves Christians upon no other account than that they are convinced their Religion is the best in the World both as to its grounds and as to its design and I dare assure them that if they improve their minds by pains and diligence they shall find constant strength infused into their souls by this good Spirit of God 3. Another thing I lay down concerning this Spirit is this that there is now nothing done by this ordinary Spirit of God which works upon the minds of diligent men which contradicts and gain-says whatsoever was said or done by the extraordinary Spirit in the Prophets and Apostles for the Holy Ghost is God and so is Truth it self and cannot lie and for any man to pretend he comes by vertue of a commission received from him and at the same time to spread abroad propositions of faith or rules of life which are not agreeable to what hath been already delivered down to the world he ought to be rejected as a monstrous Blasphemer a most vile Imposttor one that would thrust the notion of a God out of the world by rendering him contradictory to himself changing his mind upon all emergencies and making that matter of duty to day which not long agoe he declared against with the greatest severity And though one would think such a thing should never be done by any person that wears a mans head yet God knows those loose and scandalous times in which our Fathers and we have lived give us too sad experience of it What do you think of those who pretend to be governed by nothing else but a light within them and yet vent such Doctrins of Devils as these are to wit That Jesus Christ is not God That he died to be our example and not a Sacrifice That they themselves attain to such a perfection of degrees as to live without sin And that which wants not its aggravation namely That the Magistrates have nothing to do to hinder them in spreading these loose and desperate Principles And though I could name other Parties of men who come not much behind in some bad Principles yet I am resolved seeing I am vindicating the true Notion of the Spirit that descended in the likeness of a Dove to do it without any gall whatsoever Let me therefore intreat you if at any time such thoughts arise in your souls as are flatly contrary to Scripture or the like