Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n
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A53669
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A brief declaration and vindication of the doctrine of the Trinity as also of the person and satisfaction of Christ / accommodated to the capacity and use of such as may be in danger to be seduced, and the establishment of the truth by J. Owen.
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Owen, John, 1616-1683.
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1669
(1669)
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Wing O718; ESTC R30760
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85,616
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276
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whole Scripture as not grant unto him a preexistence in a divine nature antecedent to his Incarnation they framed a new Deity which God should make before the world in all things like to himself but not the same with him in Essence and substance but to be so like him that by the writings of some of them ye can scarce know one from the other and that this was the Son of God also who was afterwards Incarnate Others in the mean time had more monstrous imaginations some that he was an Angel some that he was the Sun some that he was the Soul of the World some the light within men Departing from their proper rest so have they hovered about and so have they continued to do until this day In the same manner it is come to pass with them who have denyed the Deity of the Holy Ghost They could never find where to stand or abide but one hath cryed up one thing another another At first they observed that such things were every where ascribed unto him in the Scripture as uncontroulably evidenced him to be an intelligent voluntary Agent This they found so plain and evident that they could not deny but that he was a person or an intelligent subsistence Wherefore seeing they were resolved not to assent unto the Revelation of his being God they made him a created spirit chief and above all others But still whatever else he were he was only a Creature And this course some of late also have steered The Socinians on the other hand observing that such things are assigned and ascribed unto him as that if they acknowledge him to be a person or a substance they must upon necessity admit him to be God though they seemed not at first at all agreed what to think or say concerning him positively yet they all coneurred peremptorily in denying his personality Hereon some of them said he was the Gospel which others of them have confuted some that he was Christ. Neither could they agree whether there was one Holy Ghost or more whether the spirit of God and the Good spirit of God and the holy spirit be the same or no. In general now they conclude that he is vis Dei or virtus Dei or efficacia Dei no substance but a quality that may be considered either as being in God and then they say it is the spirit of God or as sanctifying and conforming men unto God and then they say it is the Holy Ghost Whether these things do answer the Revelation made in the Scripture concerning the Eternal Spirit of God will be immediately manifested Our Quakers who have for a long season hovered up and down like a swarm of flies with a confused noise and humming begin now to settle in the opinions lately by them declared for But what their thoughts will fall into be concerning the Holy Ghost when they shall be contented to speak Intelligibly and according to the usage of other men or the pattern of Scripture the great rule of speaking or treating about spiritual things I know not and am uncertain whether they do so themselves or no. Whether he may be the light within them or an infallible afflatus is uncertain In the mean time what is revealed unto us in the Scripture to be believed concerning the Holy Ghost his Deity and personality may be seen in the ensuing testimonies The summ of this Revelation is that the Holy Spirit is an eternally divine existing substance the Author of Divine operations and the Object of Divine and Religious Worship that is over all God Blessed for ever as the ensuing testimonies evince Gen 1. 2. The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters Psalm 33. 6. By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Host of them by the Spirit of his mouth Job 26. 13. By his Spirit he hath garnished the Heavens Job 33. 4. The Spirit of God hath made me Psalm 104. 30. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are Created Mat. 28. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Acts 1. 16. That Scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake Acts 5. 3. Peter said to Ananias why hath Satan filled thy heart to lye to the Holy Ghost Vers. 4. Thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God Acts 28. 25 26. Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the Prophet unto our Fathers saying go unto this people and say 1 Cor. 3. 16. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 12. 11. All these worketh that one and self-same spirit dividing to every man as he will 2. 6. And there are deversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all 2 Cor. 13. 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Acts 20. 28. Take heed to the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers Matth. 12. 31. All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men Psal. 139. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit John 14. 26. But the Comforteâ— which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things Luke 12. 12. The Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say Acts 13. 3. And as they ministred to the Lord and fasted the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them Vers. 4. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed into c. 2 Pet. 1. 21. For the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of men but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost It is evident upon the first consideration that there is not any thing which we believe concerning the Holy Ghost but that it is plainly revealed and declared in these testimonies He is directly affirmed to be and is called God Acts 5. 3 4. Which the Socinians will not say is by vertue of an Exaltation unto an Office or Authority as they say of the Son That he is an intelligent voluntary Divine Agent he knoweth he worketh as he will which things if in their frequent repetition they are not sufficient to evince an intelligent Agent a personal subsistence that hath Being Life and Will we must confess that the Scripture was written on purpose to lead us into mistakes and misapprehensions of what we are under penalty of eternal ruine rightly to apprehend and believe It declareth also that he is the Author and Worker of all sorts of Divine Operations requiring Immensity Omnipotency Omnisciency and all other Divine Excellencies unto their working and effecting Moreover it is revealed that he is peculiarly to be believed
things consist 1 Tim. 3. 16. Without Controversie great is the Mysterie of godliness God was manifested in the flesh Tit. 2. 13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us Hebrewes the first throughout Chap. 3. 4. For every house is builded by some man but he that built all things is God 1 Pet. 1. 11. Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie Chap. 3. 18 19. But Christ also hath once suffered for sinners being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the Spirit by which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison which sometimes were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah 1 John 3. 16. Hereby we perceive the Love of God because he laid down his life for us Chap. 5. 20. And we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ this is the true God and Eternal life Rev. 1. 8. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty Ver. 11. I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last and what thou seest write in a Book and I turned to see the voice that spake with me and being turned I saw seven Golden Candlesticks and in the midst of the seven Candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man Ver. 17. And when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead and he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me fear not I am the First and the Last Chap. 2. 23. I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts and will give unto every one of you according to your works These are some of the places wherein the truth under consideration is revealed and declared some of the Divine Testimonies whereby it is confirmed and established which I have not at present enquired after but suddenly repeated as they came to mind Many more of the like nuture and importance may be added unto them and shall be so as occasion doth require Let now any one who owns the Scripture to be the Word of God to contain an infallible Revelation of the things proposed in it to be believed and who hath any conscience exercised towards God for the receiving and submitting unto what he declares and reveals take a view of these Testimonies and consider whether they do not sufficiently propose this Object of our faith Shall a few poor trifling Sophisms whose terms are scarcely understood by the most that amongst us make use of them according as they have found them framed by others be thought meet to be set up in opposition unto these multiplyed Testimonies of the Holy Ghost and to cast the Truth confirmed by them down from its credit and reputation in the consciences of men For my part I do not see in any thing but that the Testimonies given to the Godhead of Christ the Eternal Son of God are every way as clear and unquestionable as those are which testifie to the Being of God or that there is any God at all Were men acquainted with the Scriptures as they ought to be and as the most considering the means and advantages they have had might have been did they ponder and believe on what they 〈◊〉 or had any tenderness in their consciences as to that Reverence Obedience and Subjection of soul which God requires unto his Word it were utterly impossible that their faith in this matter should ever in the least be shaken by a few lewd Sophisms or loud clamours of men destitute of the truth and of the Spirit of it That we may now improve these Testimonies unto the end under design as the nature of this brief discourse will bear I shall first remove the general Answers which the Socinians give unto them and then manifest farther how incontrolable they are by giving an instance in the frivolous exceptions of the same Persons to One of them in particular And we are ready God assisting to maintain that there is not any one of them which doth not give a sufficient ground for faith to rest on in this matter concerning the Deity of Christ and that against all the Socinians in the world They say therefore commonly that we prove not by these testimonies what is by them denyed For they acknowledge Christ to be God and that because he is exalted unto that Glory and Authority that all creatures are put into subjection unto him and all both men and Angels are commanded to worship and adore him So that he is God by Office though he be not God by nature He is God but he is not the most high God And this last expression they have almost continually in their mouths He is not the most high God And commonly with great contempt and scorn they are ready to reproach them who have solidly confirmed the Doctrine of the Deity of Christ as ignorant of the state of controversie in that they have not proved him to be the most high God in subordination unto whom they acknowledge Christ to be God and that he ought to be worshipped with Divine and Religious worship But there cannot be any thing more empty and vain than these pretences And besides they accumulate in them their former Errors with the addition of new ones For First The name of the most high God is first ascribed unto God in Gen. 49. 18 19 22. denoting his Soveraignty and Dominion Now as other Attributes of God it is not distinctive of the subject but only desscriptive of it So are all other Excellencies of the nature of God It doth not intimate that there are other Gods only he is the most high or one over them all but only that the true God is most high that is indued with Soveraign Power Dominion and Authority over all To say then that Christ indeed is God but not the most high God is all one as to say he is God but not the most holy God or not the true God And so they have brought their Christ into the number of false Gods whilst they deny the true Christ who in his divine nature is over all God blessed for ever Rom. 9. 5. A phrase of speech perfectly expressing this Attribute of the most high God Secondly This Answer is suited only unto those testimonies which express the name of God with a correâ—ponding Power and Authority unto that name For in reference unto these alone can it be pleaded with any pretence of reason that he is a God by Office though that also be done very Futilously and impertinently But most of the Testimonies producâ—d speak directly unto his divine Excelâ—encies and properties which belong unto his nature necessarily and absolutely That he is Eternal Omnipotent Immense Omniscient Infinitely wise and that he is and worketh and produceth Effects suitable unto all these properties and such