Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	act_n	act_v	action_n	376	4	6.5285	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A74656	Expository notes, with practical observations; towards the opening of the five first chapters of the first book of Moses called Genesis. Delivered by way of exposition in several lords-dayes exercises. By Benjamin Needler, minister of the gospel at Margaret Moses Friday-Street, London.	Needler, Benjamin, 1620-1682.	1654 (1654)	Wing N412; Thomason E1443_2; ESTC R209640	117,247	301

may be Object expounded thus God did actually purpose to sanctifie it after the giving of the Law If to sanctifie the seventh day be only Resp to purpose to sanctifie it then the Sabbath was no more sanctified since the creation then ab aeterno for then God purposed it should be sanctified c. For the further clearing of this truth I shall give you the Arguments of some learned persons why they conceive that the Sabbath was not instituted till the giving of the Law on mount Sinai Adam in innocency should not have Arg. 1 needed a Sabbath not his soul for every day was a Sabbath to that nor his body because his body was not then subject to wearinesse neither could it be appointed for the ease of servants because then no such thing as servitude in the world The Sabbath was instituted not for Resp 1 common rest or rest from natural wearinesse principally but for holy rest that the soul might have more immediate communion with God Returne to thy rest O my soule saith the Psalmist The rest of the soule is not a ceasing from all operation for that cannot stand with the nature of a spirit hence the soul is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an act because it is still in action a spirit cannot be and not act but when the soule centers on God then it is said to rest Bodies rest in their proper places and souls rest in the enjoying of their proper objects Now Adam in innocency thogh his body was not subject to wearinesse might stand in need of such a rest as this is Adam was to serve God in a particular calling God took the man put him into the garden of Eden that he might dresse it keep Gen. 2. 5. it now Luther professeth It followes from hence saith he that if Adam had stood in his innocency yet he should have kept the seventh day holy viz. on that day he should have taught his children what was the Word of God wherein his worship did consist and wholly have sequestred himself to his service on other days he should have dressed and kept the garden though every day was to be spent in holinesse mediately in seeing God in the creatures and meeting with God in his labour yet it was not unsuitable for that estate to have one day in the week for more immediate and special converse with God and though it was no paine to him to dresse the garden yet this must needs take up his thoughts while he was about it The Saints and Angels in Heaven have Object had no set Sabbath and why man in innocency The state of innocency on earth should Resp not have been in all things alike to the state of glory in heaven and particularly in this there should have been marriage dressing of the garden day and night in Paradise but no such thing in Heaven We do not read that there was any other Arg. 2 positive precept or law given to our first parents in the state of innocency but only this that they should not eat of the forbidden fruit Now the command of God for the observation of the Sabbath is a positive command and that appears because although the worship of God do belong to the Law natural viz. founded in the Law of nature yet the circumstance of time when God in an especial manner is to be worshipped that we should keep an holy rest unto the Lord every seventh day this is a positive precept and was never determined by the Law of nature That Adam had from the creation at Resp least that which amounted to a positive Law for the observance of the Sabbath is plaine It is said God sanctified the seventh day Now though this word is variously taken in the Scripture yet in this place the seventh day must be said to be sanctified one of these two wayes Either by infusion of holinesse or sanctification into it now the circumstance of a seventh day is not capable of sanctification in this sense only rational creatures Angels and men may be said thus to be sanctified By separation of it from common use and dedication of it to an holy use as the Temple and Tabernacle were which had no inherent holinesse in them Now if the Sabbath were thus sanctified it must either be for the use of God or man either God must impose upon himself the observation of every seventh day to keep it holy which is absurd or else it was dedicated and consecrated for mans sake and use and if so man had that which amounted to a positive Law for the observation of the Sabbath When Moses makes repetition of the Arg. 3 Law of God Deut. 5. 15. he laies downe this as a ground of the observation of the seventh day as a Sabbath the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt therefore the Sabbath was not instituted from the creation This that is urged is placed by God by Resp way of preface and motive as an argument for the observation of all the Commandments yet who will say that none of them were in force till the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt This was one reason why the Sabbath Resp 2 should be sanctified but not the only reason therefore Exod. 20. 6. the reason that is rendered there why the seventh day is the Sabbath is this for in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth c. The Jewes were to observe the Sabbath not only upon the ground of its first institution but upon reasons proper and peculiar to that Nation It is likely their deliverance out of Egypt was on the Sabbath day and therefore urged by Moses as a ground of their observation of it We finde not any expresse mention Arg. 4 that the Patriarchs before Moses time did sanctifie a Sabbath We may as well argue it was not kept Resp all the time of the Judges and Samuel because no expresse mention made in those Books of any such thing No doubt but they observed it because Object it was published on mount Sinai The like may we say of the Patriarchs Resp 1 before the promulgation of the Law on mount Sinai because it was sanctified from the Creation Abraham is commended for keeping Gods Commandments and the Sabbath is one of Gen. 26.5 them We may as well argue that the Patriarchs for two thousand five hundred yeares together observed not any day at all for the worship and service of God for there is in Scripture as much mention of a Sabbath as any other day yea It is plaine in the Scripture that the Jewes did keep the Sabbath before the Law was given This is that which the Lord hath said To morrow is the rest of the holy Exo 16.23 Sabhath unto the Lord c. I might adde that it is not improbable but the sacrifices of Cain and Abel were upon the Sabbath-day the usual stated time for such services If a time had not beene set apart even in Adams

and then we must affirme corpore infici posse spiritum which is an absurdity for 1. Though the truth of this axiome be taken for granted that Corpus non potest agere in spiritum yet I conceive we may demurre to it For though it should be assented unto that this could not be done by the power of nature yet it may be done by the efficacy and power of divine ordination Especially if we consider what a strict union there is between the soul and the body and that according to the various disposition and affecton of the body the soul also is variously affected and disposed We finde by experience that children resemble their parents not onely in their countenance and the outward lineaments of their body but in their manners and inward habiliments of their mind We finde that the soul in a great measure followes the temper of the body and that the spirits humors organs of the body being vitiated and disordered there followes upon this frenzy Melancholy passion and the like The Learned say Potentia materiae est duplex 1. Naturalis quae educibilis est in actum vi alicujus agentis naturalis There is a naturall power in that which that materiall or corporeall which is educible into act by vertue of a naturall agent that is to say wood hath a naturall power to receive heat viz. vi naturalis agentis scilicet ignis 2. Obedientialis an obediential power which is educible into act by vertue of a superior agent this wood or stone hath an obediential power to be formed into astatue for this is not effected by a natural agent which doth necessariò agere but by vertue of an Artist such a power also hath the soul to receive spiritual gifts the supernatural gifts of the Spirit as faith hope c. We say the work of conversion is possibile naturae though impossibile naturâ possible to nature though impossible to be wrought by a natural power Obediential power of a subject to receive a new form puts not any causall power in the thing or matter to be changed all such power is without viz. in the efficient there is onely a power of reception in the thing or matter not a power of causality Now we may take into consideration whether vi superioris agentis corpus may not agere in spiritum To this I might adde the consideration of the fire of hell which for ought I can learne may be material and yet can t●rment spirits as calor naturalis hath two properties 1. Calefacere to make warme and this it acts of it selfe 2. Alimentum in debitas partes distribuere To convey nourishment into the severall parts of the body and this it acts as an instrument of the soule so Hel-fire may be considered in its selfe and so it burnes bodies or as an instrument of divine wrath and so it torments spirits 2. Be it granted that the soule is created pure by God and that it cannot be tainted by the body yet it may be polluted ratione suppositi by Gods ordination and appointment as it is the soul of a man son and heir of corrupt Adam If you aske me Supposing this be taken for granted that we are defiled upon the account of divine ordination as a punishment inflicted by God on man for his apostasie by what instrument or second cause this is effected or brought to passe I answer that as there is nothing more secret then the forming of the child in the wombe the union of the soul with the body and the manner how it is united thereunto so this also must needs be a secret by he mediation of what instrument or second cause man comes to be defiled There are also other Objections urged against the doctrine of the creation of the soul It seems not to suit with the justice and Obj. 2 goodnesse of God to shut up a pure and innocent soul into a stincking prison and to thrust it as it were into abridewell that it might be corrupted there The consequence is to be deny'd for he Resp 1 may be said to act unjustly that acts contrary to what he is bound to do according to principles of justice but God is not bound to infuse the soules of the sonnes of Adam who sinned in Adam and merited thereby eternall death into pure bodies But rather the contrary according to the curse In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death We say that God doth infuse a pure soul into an impure body as the phrase may vulgarly be taken for that would imply that our souls before they were united to our bodies were pure which suits not with our principles formerly mentioned Causa causae est etiam causa causat● Obj. 3 The cause of the cause is also the cause of that which is caused by that cause viz. if God be the cause of the union of the soul with the body therefore he is the cause of that sinne that is occasioned by that union This rule is to be understood de causis Resp perse not de causis per accidens viz. God is the cause of his divine Law the Law is the cause of sinne per accidens as the Apostle I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came sin revived and I Rom. 8.9 died Yet no man will from thence conclude that God was the cause of sin How can Originall sin be propagated Obj. 4 and not the soul Non potest accidens traduci sine subjecto Accidents do frequently transire à subjecto Resp 1 in subjectum non transeunte subjecto as for instance heresie is propaged in these dayes and derived from one to another but so is not the soul which is the subject of these errours The same numericall accident cannot transire à subjecto in subjectum but so may the same in kind as appeares in the former instance Quest 5. vers 4. According to what space of time the yeares of the Patriarchs were measured The great age of the Patriarchs hath Resp enclined some to believe that their yeares did not containe the same space of time with those after the flood and with ours to this day Indeed we read of two periods of time especially by the ancients called yeares 1. There was annus solaris or that which they called their solar yeare which was the same with ours and contained 12. moneths Now this yeare was called solaris because it was measured by the Suns passing through the Zodiack 2. There was annus lunaris or that which they call their lunar yeares the same with our moneth or thereabouts now this was called Lunaris because it is measured by the Moons passing through the Zodiack Some think that the yeares of the Patriarchs were Lunar yeares The dayes of Adam were eight hundred yeares that is say Gen. 5.4 they eight hundred moneths c. Now this cannot in any case be allowed for these reasons 1. Enoch begat children at 65. yeares

it be proved that women are to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper but by consequence That any one particular Church is a true Church but by consequence that fasting daies and thanksgiving-daies may be observed upon occasion but by consequence And here you have the great vapour of the Anabaptists spending it selfe and coming to nothing viz. where do you finde it expressely said in any place of Scripture that infants are to be baptized if we have it by necessary consequence it is sufficient 25. Rule It is usuall for the Spirit of God to expresse both the duties and the priviledges of the people of God under the New Testament by phrases taken from the Oeconomy and Administration of the Old To instance 1. For the duties of the New Testament to offer sacrifice is a phrase proper to the administration under the Old Testament and yet this is pressed as a dutie under the New So Paul I beseech you therefore brethren Rom. i2 i. by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service 2. For the priviledges of the New Testament for instance It shall come to passe Esay 2.21 in the last dayes that the mountaine of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountaines and shall be exalted above the hils and al Nations shall flow unto it The meaning is not that there should be another temple raised like that at Jerusalem but it is to be expounded of the spreading of the Gospel New Testament-priviledges set out by an expression taken from an Old Testament-administration So I will poure Joel 2.28 29. out my Spirit upon all flesh and your sonnes and your daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dreame dreames your young men shall see visions The meaning of this Scripture is not that God in the time of the Gospel would discover himselfe unto his people by dreames and visions but that God would give a greater measure of light and bestow a greater measure of his Spirit on those that should live under the Gospel then those that lived under the Law and that this is the meaning of it is cleare by the Apostle Peters quotation of it Acts 2.17 26. Rule When the Scripture makes mention of ●lthy actions either naturall or sin●ull it expresses them in comley termes 1. When it speakes of naturall actions as Judg. 3.24 't is said of Ehud that he covered his feet in the Summer-chamber Judg. 3.24 viz. he was easing of nature for they had long coates which covered their feet when they eased nature 2. When it speakes of sinful uncleannesse So stollen waters are sweet viz. adultery is sweet So see how incest is described saith Jacob to Reuben Thou wentest up to thy Gen. 49 4● fathers bed And yet this is very observable that the Scripture when it speakes of Idolatry and spirituall whoredome maketh use of plain termes marke how the phrase is altered when God speakes of Idolatry Thou hast Ezek. 16. 2● built thy high place at every head of the way and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred and hast opened thy feet to every one that passeth by and multiplied thy whoredomes A Learned Author gives this account of it Idolatry is such a subtill thing that we are not sensible of its defilement as we are of bodily whoredome and therefore the Lord expresses it in plain termes that we may hate it the more 27. Rule The circumstance of time with relation to the person or thing that is spoken of in the Scripture must heedfully be observed Hence was that saying of Augustine Distribue tempora concordabit Scriptura Distinguish concerning the time and then Scriptures will agree For instance we read concerning Jotham the Son of V●●iah 2 King 15 33 that he reigned sixteene yeares in Jerusalem and yet in the same Chapter mention is made of the twentieth yeare of Jotham now distribue tempora concordabit Scriptura 2 King 15. 30 distinguish concerning the time and you will reconcile these Scriptures For Jotham reigned alone onely sixteene yeares but he reigned with his Father V●●iah who being smitten with Leprosy could not manage the affaires of the Kingdome foure yeares in all twenty yeares 28. Rule We are to consider in the perusall of Scripture what speeches are proper and what speeches are figurative The Scriptures have a proper and literall sense and they have an allegoricall and figurative sense Now it is a dangerous thing when the words are properly to be taken to understand them figuratively or to take them figuratively when they are to be understood properly For instance 1. 'T is dangerous to understand those places of Scripture properly which are to be taken figuratively as in the Prophet Malachi Behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and Mal. 4.5 dreadfull day of the Lord. The Jewes expound this properly of Elias Tishbites when the Prophet meant them figuratively of John the Baptist who came with the gifts of Elias for so you have John called But I say unto you ●aith our Saviour unto his disciples that Elias is come already and Mat. 17. 12 13. they knew him not but have done unto him whatsoever they listed c. Then the Disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist Another instance you have Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees Mat. 16.6 The Disciples understood it properly when Christ meant figuratively So Except a man be borne againe he cannot enter into Joh. 3.3 the Kingdome of God That which Christ meant figuratively of regeneration Nicodemus understands literally 2. 'T is dangerous to understand those places figuratively which should be taken properly thus the Familists turne all the history of Christ into an Allegory Heaven and Hell into an allegory and without repentance their salvation also Such an one was he who reading that place of Scripture where it is said of Judas that having received the sop he went immediately out erat nox and it was night puts both together as spoken of Judas He saith he was the night that went out as Christ was the Sun that gave knowledge to his Disciples who were day So Judas was the night who gave knowledge to the Jewes who were darknesse A senselesse conceit but I mention it to shew you the danger of allegorizing the Scriptures Origen was very faulty this way in turning all Scripture almost into an allegory And it is observable that he who was so much for allegories understood that literally which was to be taken mystically There are some Eunuchs which were so borne Mat. 19.12 from their mothers wombe and there are Eunuchs which were made so of men and there be Eunuchs which have made themselves Eunuchs for the Kingdome of heavens sake And truly I think there was the finger of God plainly to be seene in this providence his punishment