Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	aaron_n	call_v	hand_n	47	3	4.7496	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41009	Kātabaptistai kataptüstoi The dippers dipt, or, The anabaptists duck'd and plung'd over head and eares, at a disputation in Southwark : together with a large and full discourse of their 1. Original. 2. Severall sorts. 3. Peculiar errours. 4. High attempts against the state. 5. Capitall punishments, with an application to these times / by Daniel Featley ...	Featley, Daniel, 1582-1645.	1645 (1645)	Wing F586; ESTC R212388	182,961	216

former course of life hath not been corresponding to so holy a Calling but that we blame them for is that they take upon them the honour and office of the Priesthood not being called thereunto as was Aaron that they despise the Churches Ordination by Imposition of hands that they handle the holy Scripture and Sacraments with black foule and unwashed hands that they presume that they have those gifts and graces of the Spirit which indeed they have not that they usurp upon the place and function of the Ministers of the Gospel and too much undervalue the cure of souls which as Saint Gregory rightly defineth it is Ars artium the Art of all arts And S. Paul by the question he propoundeth resolveth as much saying Who is sufficient for these things But now as the practise is and the common estimation of the vulgar we may crosse S. Pauls question with a contrary Interrogatorie Who is not sufficient for these things sith Coach-men Weavers Felt-makers and other base Mechanicks are now by some thought able Ministers and profound Doctors of the Church and Exercise as they tearme it not onely in private Conventicles but also per famam populum in great Churches and publique Assemblies to the great dishonour of God prophanation of his Ordinances and scandall of the Reformed Churches ARTIC 5. Concerning taking an oath especially ex officio ANABAPTIST NO Christian may lawfully take an Oath no not though it be required by a Magistrate especially such an Oath whereby they may hazard their life liberty or estate THE REFUTATION Though this assertion of the Anabaptists as they maintaine it hath a glosse and varnish put upon it of piety prudence and justice of piety in preventing all occasion both of false and vaine oathes of prudence in not insnaring our selves of justice in not concurring actively to our own prejudice or wrong yet upon due examination it will appear to be repugnant to all three to piety by robbing God of a part of his substantiall worship to wit a holy kind of invocation to prudence by unfurnishing our selves sometimes of our best defence which is to cleare our innocency by oath to justice by depriving all Courts of justice of this soveraigne evidence of truth and all humane society both of the surest tye of fidelity and the readiest meanes to end all strife and controversie For the farther manifestation whereof I am to cleare three points 1. That oathes may lawfully be taken by Christians 2. That some oathes may be lawfully exacted of them and imposed upon them 3. That oathes may be lawfully urged and exacted not only in civill but in criminall causes such as are commonly tearmed oathes ex officio when a man is required to answer upon oath concerning some crime or fault objected to him or articled against him Some deny it to be lawfull to take any oath others allow of oathes freely taken but not imposed a third sort dislike not all oathes imposed but only except against oathes ex officio These three questions hang as it were upon one string For if no oath may bee lawfully taken certainly none may be lawfully imposed and if oathes may not be imposed least of all the oath ex officio whereby we hazard and endanger our lives liberties limbes or estate if we confesse but our soules if we deny upon oath what is truly laid to our charge Againe on the contrary if the oath ex officio in some cases may be lawfully imposed then other oathes may be imposed with much lesse difficulty and if oathes may be lawfully imposed certainly they may be lawfully taken Yet must these questions of necessity be handled apart for the satisfaction of scrupulous consciences who first must be perswaded of the lawfulnesse of taking an oath in generall before they will suffer an oath to be imposed upon them and secondly that the Magistrate hath a lawfull power to exact oathes before they will take such and such a kind of oath required of them To lay the foundation therefore firme before wee build any thing thereupon First I prove the lawfulnesse of taking oathes the conditions prescribed by the prophet being observed namely that we sweare in judgement righteousnesse and truth in truth not falsely in judgement not rashly in righteousnesse not wickedly to the prejudice of equity or breach of Christian charity ARGUMENT I. Whatsoever God commandeth is lawfull for Gods command is the rule of good his command maketh that good which otherwise were evill as Abrahams offer to kill his sonne and the Iewes robbing the Egyptians of jewels of gold and silver and in like manner his prohibition makes that evill which otherwise in it selfe were good as working in a mans calling on the Sabbath the sparing the fattest of the cattell for sacrifice by Saul If every sinne be a transgression of the law it cannot be sinne to fulfill it But God commandeth taking of oathes as part of his worship Deut. 6. 13. Thou shalt feare the Lord thy God and serve him and sweare by his name Deut. 10. 20. To the Lord thou shalt cleave and sweare by his name hee is thy praise and he is thy God And Ier. 4. 2. Thou shalt sweare The Lord liveth in truth judgement and justice And to such as sweare in such a holy and religious manner God promiseth a blessing both outward and inward outward Ier. 12. 16. If they will diligently learne the wayes of my people to sweare by my name then shall they bee built in the midst of my people inward Psal. 63. 11. The King shall rejoice in God and every one that sweareth by him shall rejoice or glory in him Ergo to sweare is lawfull for Christians ANABAP ANSVVER It was lawfull to sweare when God commanded it under the law but it is not now lawfull for Christians sith Christ hath forbidden it in the Gospell REPLY 1. The same God is Law-giver both to the Iewes and Christians and the same truth shineth in the law and in the Gospell only with this difference in the law it shined through a tiffany or vaile of rites and ceremonies but in the Gospell as it were with open face The vaile is now taken away whereof religious swearing by the name of God was no part For an oath containeth not a resemblance of Christ but a worship of God It is no type or sign of grace but seale of truth the sense whereof is meer morall the law of it naturall the use perpetuall the worship performed in it to God is essentiall When we call God to witnesse a hidden truth in the sincerity of our intentions wee agnize his Soveraigne greatnesse For every oath is by a greater Heb. 6. 16. we professe his all-seeing wisdome we invocate his revenging justice which are not rituall but substantiall parts of worship In which regard in the texts of the Prophet Ieremy above alleadged swearing is joyned with the feare of God and cleaving to him both duties of the

such distinctions in the new testament We can for we read in the new testament of pastours and flocks they who feed with the word are the Clergy and the flocks who are fed are the Laity All are not pastours or teachers 1 Cor. 12. 29. Are all Apostles are all Prophets are all Teachers That is all are not so Deacons preached they were Lay-men therefore may Lay-men preach I instance in Steven c. The Deacons were not meer Lay-men but men full of the holy Ghost and of wisedom upon whom the Apostles layd their hands Acts 6. 6. Prove that any preached who had not imposition of hands Here that Anabaptist failing Cufin undertook it saying In the 8. of the Acts we read plainly that after that great persecution of the church at Jerusalem they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the Apostles and that they who were scattered abroad went every where preached the gospel and that God gave a blessing to their preaching it is plain Acts 11. 19. Again Peter saith 1 Pet. 4. 10. As every man hath received the spirit even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of Christ. If God have given us a talent it is our duty to improve it They that were scattered and preached the gospel were such as the Apostles had layd hands on and sent to preach and among them Philip the Deacon there mentioned For the text of S. Peter he speaketh not there of publike preaching and administring the sacraments which appertaineth only to pastours by their speciall function but of edifying one another and teaching and admonishing in private according to the precept of S. Paul Colos. 3. 16. Let the word of God dwell richly among you in all wisedom teaching and admonishing one another this was no publike preaching or expounding the word but godly conference in private houses with those whom they met such as every godly master of a family useth in his house instructing his children and servants the best that he can telling them their duty out of Gods word It is true in time of persecution we read of one Frumentius a Lay-man who in his travailes converted some to the christian faith confirming the truth of christian religion by scriptures That is all we desire to do as Frumentius did That was no preaching publikely by vertue of a pastorall function or expounding scriptures but holy conference and exhortation such as that of Aquila and Priscilla And the historian addeth after the church had notice how God blessed Frumentius his labours in turning many heathen to christinity the bishops sent ministers unto them to confirm them and administer the sacraments unto them and himself also received holy orders to accomplish that work which he had so happily begun The scripture puts no difference betwixt publike and private it is as lawfull to worship God in a private house to preach there as in one of your Steeple-houses The Apostle puts a difference 1 Cor. 11. 22. What Have you not houses to eat and to drink in Or despise ye the church of God The word in the originall is ecclesia not templum which never signifieth your Steeple-house in all the scripture The word ecclesia is taken diversly in holy scripture sometimes 1. For a company of men and that either of the wicked as Psal. 26. 5. Odi ecclesiam malignantium Or of the godly Acts 20. 28. 11. 26. c. 2. For the place of their publike meeting and so the word ecclesia is here taken If the people of God meet in a private place is not that then the house of God There is a publike house of God that is a place sequestred from common use and dedicated to Gods service and there is a private house of God as we read Ro. 16. 5. where some of the faithfull privatly meet and that also is called the church greet the church in thine house in such private houses it is lawful to preach in time of persecution but not now when we have publike churches for the service of God to which we may and ought to repair and in these churches no lay-man ought to preach nor at all exercise the pastorall function either there or any where else Which I prove by two reasons especially First none ought to take upon them the office of pastour or minister of the word who are not able to reprove and convince Hereticks and all gain-sayers but your lay and unlettered men are not able to convince Hereticks and stop the mouths of gayn-savers because they can alledge no scripture but that which is translated into their mother-tongue in which there may be and are some errours for though the Scriptures be the infallible word of God yet the translators were men subject to errour and they sometimes mistook Will you say that those learned men who translated the bible at Geneva committed any error in their translation I will and for instance Luke 22. 25. in the Geneva translation printed 1569. we read the Kings of the Gentiles reign over them and they that beare rule over them are called gracious Lords whereas in the originall it is Euergetai that is benefactors or bountifull yet this place hath bin much urged against the titles of our Arch-Bishops and Bishops as if Christ forbad any ministers of the gospell to be called by the titles of Lords or gracious wheras there is never a word in the text that signifieth either Lord or gracious neither d●th Christ there speak only to the ministers of the gospell but to all Christians Besides this I could produce many other errors in that translation which are corrected in the Kings translation Though we cannot prove the letter to be well translated that matters not much for the letter of the scripture is not scripture That 's blasphemy I pray take notice of it he denyeth the letter of the Text to be scripture The letter of the word of God is not scripture without the revelation of the spirit of God the word revealed by the spirit is scripture Very fine doctrine if God reveal not to us the meaning of the scripture is not the letter of the text scripture By this reason the greatest part of the Revelation and other difficult texts of scripture should not be scripture because God hath not revealed to us the meaning of them Here one that stood by demanded of the Anabaptist how prove you the bible to be Gods word By experience For whatsoever is written in the word of God commeth to passe concerning Christ and Anti-christ experience is the best doctor that teacheth us This reason alone will not prove the bible to be Gods word for Moses saith If a false prophet shall arise and fore-tell any thing and it come to passe Deut. 13.

much of their suffering for righteousnesse sake yet where they get any strength and can make head they resist the powers ordained of God and make war against their lawfull superiours as we may soe in Sleiden Gastius and Guy-de-bres Fiftly They inveigh against covetousnesse and to extirpate that root of all evill teach men to renounce all proprietie in their goods and to have all things in common Yet they rob Monasteries plunder townes and villages rifle houses and turne the wicked as they tearm them out of their possessions and hold them themselves and when they are upbraided with this their rapine they alleadge that text for themselves The meek shall possesse the earth presuming themselves to be those meeke ones though we shall prove them hereafter to be a most cruell and bloody sect Sixtly They teach that the office of a civill Magistrate cannot consist with Christian perfection yet they themselves in Munster and elsewhere had a Consul and Senatours and a Headsman of their own yea and a King also Iohn Leiden the Tayler who stitched up a Kingdome in one yeer and ravelled it out the next Seventhly They strip themselves stark naked not onely when they flocke in great multitudes men and women together to their Iordans to be dipt but also upon other occasions when the season permits and when they are questioned for it they shelter this their shamelesse act with the proverb Veritas nuda est the truth is naked and desires no vail masque or guise which reason if it were good would hinder them from holding private Conventicles as they do and when there is processe out against them running into corners to hide themselves for as the proverb is Veritas nuda est Truth is naked which warranteth them as they conceive to throw off their clothes so also there is a like proverb Veritas non quaerit angulos truth seekes no corners nor innocencie starting holes yet they doe Lastly in their Confession printed this yeer they finde themselves agrieved with the name of Anabaptist saying they are falstly so called yet it is well knowne they all of them either rebaptize or are rebaptized and consequently are properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 actively or passively But as Corvinus in his elder age so quite lost his memory that he forgot his owne name so these are so ignorant that they know not their own proper name If these disclaime second Baptisme they are none of the sect if they practise it how can they truely say that they are falsly called Anabaptist If Anabaptists be their nicke name what is their right name whereby they may be distinguished from mother Christians Catholike or Hereticks They have hitherto been known in generall by no other names then of Anabaptists or Catabaptists and never a barrell better herring And Anabaptist deprives children of Baptisme and a Catabaptist depraves Baptisme A Catabaptist may sometimes be no Anabaptist such as was Leo Copronymus who defiled the Font at his Baptisme yet was he not Christened againe but every Anabaptist is necessarily a Catabaptist for the iteration of that Sacrament is an abuse and pollution thereof OBSERVAT. II. That the Anabaptists are a lying and blasphemous sect falsly pretending to divine Visions and Revelations All devisers of new Religions and spirituall impostures ascribe their new doctrine and worship to some divine Author either God himselfe or some Angel sent from him and this they doe not so much to amuse the vulgar as to secure their tenets from the hazard of disputes and exempt their persons and actions from the test of examination He that speaketh from the earth and beares himselfe upon humane authoritie and reason can gaine no more upon his hearers then the point of his sword or dint of his Arguments can inforce their assent thereunto but he that speaketh as from heaven captivateth our reason and easily perswades us to resigne our eyes to him who dwelleth in a light that none can approach unto In humane debates and consultations we are not to regard so much quis as quid who is he that speaketh as what it is that is spoken but contrariwise in celestriall mystries and disputes about Religion we are not so much to respect quid as quis what is that which our beliefe must embrace as who he is that commands our assent if it be he who endued us with reason all reason there is that our reason should vaile bonnet to him whence is that golden Aphorisme of Saint Gregorie Qui in factis dei rationem non invenit in infirmitate sua rationem invenit cur rationem non inveniat He who inquires into celestiall mysteries and is at a fault in his search and can finde no reason why such things should be so finds a sufficient reason in his owne infirmitie why he cannot dive into the reason thereof His meaning is the plummet of mans wit is too light and the line of his discourse too short to sound the bottome of these depths for this cause it is that the broachers of new and absurd tenets or rites in Religion which naturall reason abhorres to prevent all reasonings about them pretend to Divine Revelations for them Minos fained that he consulted with Iupiter in a deep vault and from him received his law Numa that he had private conference with the Goddesse Aegeria and from her received his rituall Mahomet that he discoursed with the Angel Gabriel whose dictates are registred in the Alcharon the Helcesaites that they had a booke sent down from heaven in which all Divine mysteries were revealed which whosoever heard read should presently receive remission of sinnes In like manner Stock Muncer Melchior Georgius Tuscoverer and others by whose hands the envious man in these latter dayes sowed the tares of Anabaptisme have deluded the people with pretended inspirations visions dreames and Revelations Nicholas Stock gave it out that God spake to him by an Angel and revealed to him his will in dreames promising him the plaee of the Angel Gabriel Next to this Nicholas Stock Thomas Muncer was most famous in the Anabaptists chronicle who when the people that were discontented with their Magistrates and encouraged by their hereticall teachers to rebell in Franconia drew themselves into the body of an Armie this Muncer marched not in the place assigned for false prophets in the taile but in the head and there made an oration to the souldiers Advance brave spirits ride on with your honour and your right hand shall teach you terrible things For God hath revealed to me that the day shall be yours he promised me he who cannot lie nor deceive assured me that he will fight for you let not the Princes Artillery terrifie you for this robe of mine shall receive and dead all the bullets shot at you look up to the sky see you not there a rainbow in the clouds the colours whereof we beare in our Streamers and Ancients and can ye doubt of victorie