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_v	church_n	zion_n	22	3	9.5348	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93880	The teachings of Christ in the soule. Opened in a sermon before the Right Honble House of Peers, in Covent-garden-Church, upon the solemne day of their monthly fast, March 29. 1648. / By Peter Sterry, M.A. sometimes fellow of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge: and now preacher of the Gospel in London. Published by order of that House.	Sterry, Peter, 1613-1672.	1648 (1648)	Wing S5486; Thomason E433_30; ESTC R204205	36,001	61

are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. 14. Can Sense which is the light of Beasts trace the workings and flights of Reason in her Contemplations or discerne the things of men Can we see a soule or an Angel by the light of a Candle Divine things must have a Divine light to discover them a Divine power and principle to comprehend them 2. Reason at first was no sure Judge It never was infallible It was deceived It may then be so alwayes If it were againe perfect it might againe be deceived Man being in honour continueth not but becomes like the beast that perisheth Psal 49. 12. The rectitude of Reason was the Image of God the Crowne and Glory of Man By this he grew up streight in the midst of the Creatures uniting them heightning them all by a Harmony into the same Image So he subdued them to himselfe himselfe with them ascended into and rested in the Divine Image Thus Man was the true Orpheus with his Divine Hymnes in the midst of Beasts Trees and Stones dancing to his Musick But vaine Man continues not in this Honour Reason proves a degenerating thing It is quickly tempted easily overcome so it sinks downward first into a brutish then a devilish state Reason was the glittering and circling Serpent in Paradise more subtle then all the beasts of the field or subtle above all the beasts of the field Gen. 3. 1. Yet this Serpent was the first seate and instrument of that deceit by which the Devill ruined our first Parents But if Reason were undeceived uncorrupt and should remaine so yet could it give us no assurance For it is a derived subordinate Principle Reason may indeed be considered in a two-fold state 1. State As Reason is supreame in God So it is no other then Jesus Christ For He is the Image the Harmony the Light the Truth the Wisdome the Word the Reason of God John 1. 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God Instead of Word you may reade Reason as properly according to the Greeke for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reason or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Speech Christ is that Reason in which all things are knit together and appeare to God that Reason by and for which God made all things Reason in this sense is the Spirit For Christ and the Spirit are One not two Masters but One. 2. State as Reason is subordinate in Man Thus it is a distinct Master and Light from the Spirit In this sense we have hitherto spoken of it and doe so still Vpon this ground we say that Reason in Man if it were pure and could abide so could have no full assurance in it selfe could give us none because it is a derived subordinate Light It is subject to another and depends upon another above it So it cannot have any Certainty or perfect Cleernesse but in that other Light Neither can it establish us in any Certainty but as it holds forth that other Light in it selfe That was the true Light which lightneth every man that commeth into the world saith Saint John of Jesus Christ John 1. 9. Reason hath so much of a true light as it hath of Jesus Christ in it Reason in Man is an inferiour Light and therefore imperfect If we receive the Testimony of Man the Testimony of God is greater 1 Joh. 5. 9. As God is above Man so is the Prinple of Light by which God sees which is His Sonne and Spirit above that Principle of Light by which Man judgeth all things which is his Reason For this is the Testimony of Man his Reason this is the Testimony of God His Spirit So far then as the Light of Man falls short of the Light of God it must of necessity fall short of perfection have a negative though not a privative want be mixt with darknesse uncertainty doubt feare Though these in innocency were tempered with their contraries reduced to a harmony and so had not deformity or torment yet even then the morning of light and the evening of darknesse made the day of man's knowledge God is light and in him is there no darknesse 1 John 1. 5. Reason at first at best is but a Twi-light This is Reason in Man an inferiour imperfect dependent Principle unsuitable at best to Divine things unsure at first apt to be deceived deceived now depraved in all men This is that which at first betrayed us and cast us out of Paradise shall we trust it now when it is corrupt can it now bring us into Paradise againe We have examined the first Master and found him unfit for the Schoole of Christ Let us now try the second 2. Master The Authority of the Church What doe you take a Church to be A Combination of men If you cannot trust your owne Reason or that of another man because Reason hath a worme at its root is adulterate in its Principle O then doe not trust your foules your immortality to a Councel of all mankind if it were met together in one For all men are acted by the same Principle of Reason In vaine you worship me teaching for Doctrines the Traditions of men saith Jesus Christ Obj. But you will say A Church is a Communion of Spirituall men in the Spirit of Jesus Christ It is the Vnity of the Spirit that binds men up into a Church Keepe the unity of the Spirit in the band of peace Ephes 4. 3. It is the presence and power of Christ who is the Image and glory of God that gives to any the Authority of a Church I am with you to the end of the world saith our Saviour Mat. 1. 1. Paul saith 1 Cor. 5. 4. In the name of our Lord Jesus when ye are gathered together and my Spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Thus he describes a Church-meeting by the Name which is the Discovery and the Power of Christ upon them Answ If it be the Unity of the Spirit and the Presence of Christ that make a Church then is it the Appearance of Christ and his Spirit through any sort of men that must discover the true Church to me and distinguish them from every false and pretended one I will know saith Saint Paul not the speech but the power of such 1 Cor. 4. 19. For the Kingdome of God that is the Church is not in word but in power that is in the power of Christ working with them ver 20. The woman is the Glory of the man saith Saint Paul Christ is my Master The Church shall be my Mistris so far as she is the Spouse of Christ his Image his Glory I then submit my selfe to the authority of the Church when I submit my selfe to the Appearances of Christ and the manifestations of his Spirit in any society of men See how S. Paul as an Apostle in whom the authority of the whole Church lay commends and justifies

himself 2 Cor. 3. 1. Need we Epistles of Commendations to you or from you ver 2. Ye are our Epistles written in our hearts ver 3. Ye are manifestly declared the Epistle of Christ ministred by us written not with Inke but with the Spirit of the living God not on tables of stone but on hearts of flesh These are the Commendatory Letters which a true Apostle the true Church carry about with them these are the Commission by vertue of which they challenge their authority The Epistle that is the Gospell that is the Discovery of Christ shining thorow them into the hearts of men by the Spirit These are the onely life power authority discovery of the true Church the Manifestation of Christ and the Ministery of the Spirit to the hearts of men We reade Gal. 4. 25 26. of two Hierusalems one above the other below that now is subject to temporary appearances in this world or that now is whose time is now whose being and glory is of this world These are the Two Churches one in the outward forme the other in the Spirit To be subject to the Hierusalem below to the Church in the outward forme for the outward forme's sake is a bondage For that Church is in bondage with her children This Church is but our Mother-in-law The Hierusalem which is above the Church in the unity of the Spirit is the true Mother of us all That Church is our right Mistresse which is our true Mother This is the Mount Sion that cannot be toucht that is not obvious to sense or subject to a carnall discerning Here is the great Congregation of the first-borne the meeting of all good Spirits in this one Spirit Heb. 12. 18 22 23. To be subject to the authority of this Church is to be truly free For this Church is seene onely in the Spirit and in that Spirit justifies her selfe This Spirit is the seale of the living God upon her Thus the Authority of the Church is none or t is that of Christ and his Spirit in her 3. Master Miracles Divines distinguish between Mirandum and Miraculum a thing to be admired and a Miracle That is to be admired which is unusuall or unknowne which proceeds from some unwonted or undiscovered cause in nature That onely is a Miracle which is above Nature which transcends the course and power of Nature which hath the Divine Nature putting forth it selfe in the vigour of its abstracted Being You have Miracles described Mark 16. 20. They went forth and preached the Lord working with them and confirming the Word by signes following That onely is a Miracle or a signe from heaven for confirmation of the truth which hath the Lord Jesus working and appearing in it joyntly with some creature There is no way of confirming the Appearances of Christ but onely by the multiplying of those Appearances How then shall I know which is a Miracle I must have a Spirit large as the sand of the Sea that can put a Girdle about the whole Compasse of Nature in her widest extent I must fathom her in the utmost of her Power before I can say of any thing This is supernaturall this is a Miracle Or else he that saith He sees a Miracle must say he sees God as he is above all creatures comming downe in his owne likenesse into some particular Creature and making a change of it by that Discovery of himselfe in it The waters saw thee O God and were driven backward saith the Psalmist of the Miracles wrought in the passage of the Children of Israel out of Aegypt No man can discerne a Miracle 'till he discover God which can never be done but by the Eye of God in the Soul of man Jesus Christ is the Head-miracle For in him first the Face of God is seen in union with the Creature as in a glasse Each Miracle is the same Appearance over again in severall shapes as the same Soul which shines out in the Head shewing it self in the various Members and parts of the body Therefore is the Working of Miracles a Gift of the Spirit and the working of a Miracle is by the faith of Christ 1 Cor. 12. 9 10. Mat. 17. 20. But let us passe from Miracles to the Letter of the Scriptures 4. Master Letter of the Scriptures Nothing is to be said of these but reverendly They are to be set below the Spirit alone It is in comparison with this Spirit that themselves undervalue themselves and testifie of themselves these things 1. The Scriptures in the Letter are Dead But now we are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein we were held that we might serve him in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter Rom. 7. 6. The Law and the Letter are every where made of equall dignity power and extent Both as they are alone are old and dead The Scriptures thus taken signifie nothing except you bring some living Power or Principle to them to quicken them Lay them before a dead man and they are as dead as he 2. The Scriptures in the Letter are Killing 2 Cor. 3. 6. The Letter Killeth but the Spirit quickneth The Letter of the Scripture Kils two waies by confounding and condemning us It hath so much darknesse upon it so much difficulty in it it is subject to so many disputes to such variety of interpretations that it troubles and distracts our Vnderstanding making it able to see nothing to settle no where This indeed is the proper end and best effect of the Letter to put out quite all our Light that we may wait for a higher Light from Heaven which may restore the Letter without us and Reason within us as by a Regeneration Saint Paul saith I by the Law am dead to the Law Galat. 2. 19. Happy is he who can say in like manner I by the Letter am blind and dead to the Letter that the Spirit may shine thorow the Letter upon me and fulfill the law of the Letter in mee 3. The Letter of the Scripture is an Outward thing Rom. 2. 1. Saint Paul teacheth us that he is not a Jew who is one outwardly in the Letter but he that is one inwardly in the Spirit The Letter and the Spirit are opposed as inward and outward The Spirit is called a Sword Ephes 6. 17. The Scriptures are the Scabbard in which that Sword is laid up and out of which it is drawn The Spirit in the same place is called the Word of God This is the inward Word the Scriptures are the outward The Spirit is a Person the Scriptures are a Garment fitted to that Person and receiving their warmth from him before they can give any to us Yet every Principle and Power of falshood as well as truth can cloth it self with this Garment He is not a Jew that is one outwardly in the Letter Each Principle and Spirit makes the Scriptures appear to it selfe in its owne Likenesse Spirituall wickednesses