Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	adoption_n	cry_v	father_n	9,732	5	5.0154	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36152	The Dissenters guide resolving their doubts and scruples about kneeling at receiving the sacrament / published to prevent men and their families from being ruined by excommunication.		1683 (1683)	Wing D1688; ESTC R26719	12,355	41

THE DISSENTERS GUIDE RESOLVING THEIR Doubts and Scruples ABOUT KNEELING At Receiving the Sacrament Published to prevent Men and their Families from being Ruined by EXCOMMUNICATION LONDON Printed for and are to be Sold by Richard Janeway MDCLXXXIII THE DISSENTERS GUIDE RESOLVING THEIR Doubts and Scruples ABOUT KNEELING At Receiving the Sacrament A Rightly inform'd Conscience is the indispensable Duty of all men to seek as a concernment of the greatest worth that thereby the irregularities of a Scrupulous Conscience may not expose men and their Families to that Ruine and Poverty which may attend the Guidance thereof And though if a man cannot desert all temporal felicity for the sake of Christ he can neither ever make a sound Christian or a good Martyr Yet men must take heed that those Sufferings which attend a Christian life come upon them from a good warrant even such an one as is founded on the Divine Truths of the Scriptures and therefore what contradicts those truths is a sufficient ground for any mans sufferings Now whereas Kneeling at the Sacrament hath lately been the occasion of sundry mens Sufferings the tendency of the ensuing Discourse is to remove those Objections that some men may have against that manner of Communion in endeavouring to remove those Objections and Scruples which may cause men to lye liable to Excommunication for Non-Conformity to that Gesture And the first is Kneeling suits not with the person of a Co-heir therefore it is unlawful And why doth it not Answer is made That Kneeling is a carriage whereby we acknowledge our selves to be in a condition of inferiority and dis-fellowship with Christ whereas Sitting is such a position of body as argueth not subjection and humility but rather equality and familiarity therefore Kneeling suits not with the person of a Co-heir I should rather have reasoned quite contrary thus We are in a conditon of inferiority and disfellowship with Christ we owe subjection and humility to Christ therefore we should Kneel rather than Sit at receiving of the Sacrament It is true We are Co-heirs with Christ yet this imports not any equallity Christ is the Son of God by nature we by Adoption and Grace Christ is Heir ex propria dignitate we ex permissione Heaven is his by an Eternal Right our Inheritance is his purchase he is the Heir of all things happy are we if we can obtain the meanest Mansions in the Kingdom of Heaven Which way soever we consider Christ either in his Person Actions or Offices we shall find him far our Superiour and consequently our selves in a condition of Inferiority with him Yea do we not acknowledge him to be the Head of his whole Church And that not only as it receives from him sense and motion in the course of Christianity but as it owes him subjection also in regard of his Sovereignty And if the natural head be the most noble of all the parts how excellent then is he who is the head of the whole Church It is true that Christ hath advanced our Nature by his Incarnation and Passion But that must rather humble us than puff us up that we should account our selves his fellows And lest the white feathers of our Adoption might Swan-like make us swell yet the black feet of our manifold Corruptions may justly deject us The greater favours and honours Christ affords us the more it becomes us to be humble Thus the Blessed Virgin when the Angel delivered that Honourable Embassie from the GOD of Heaven was not lifted up in Pride but answered in an humble fashion Behold the Handmaid of the Lord. And John the Baptist who had the honour to be the instrument of our Saviours Inauguration at his Baptism how humbly doth he acknowledge His shoe latchet I am not worthy to unloose So if Christ shall vouchsafe to esteem us his Servants as the Prodigal Son intreated his Father we are Blessed and happy tho' we do not account our selves his Fellows It was no robbery in Christ to be equal with God but it is no less than Luciferian Pride in us to make our selves equal to Christ Object But when we come to the Sacrament we are to act the persons of Co-heirs so that this so this humble deportment cannot then become us Resp Yes surely very well Our Christian duties must not be like Pharaohs Kine that eat up one another but like the Cherubins that looked one upon another and both to the Mercy Seat Many Virtues tho' different in themselves are so connexed that they consort very well in the same action as St. Austin hath observed in the Centurion and the Publican one receiving Christ with much joy the other with great humility Ambo salvatorem honorificantes diverso quasi contrario modo each of them honouring our Saviour in a diverse and as were it a contrary manner And do we not act the persons of Co-heirs when we pray for we speak familiarly to God as to a Father yea it is the Spirit of Adoption that makes us cry Abba Father at those times when upon our Knees we become humble petitioners to our gracious God for his Favours Thus joy humility and confidence may all concur in the very same act Yea what Duty is exempted from humility which must ballance all our actions When we hear the Word of God we must bring trembling Souls when we Pray it becomes us well to prostrate our selves before the Throne of Grace And will not the like humble demeanour become us when we come to the Table of the Lord Yes and to confess there upon our Knees That we are not worthy to gather up the Crums that are under his Table Again it is disputed that Kneeling crossed the assurance of our Co-heir-ship with Christ and therefore it is unlawful Resp That this Proposition is untrue I appeal to the experience of thousands who do humbly Kneel at the Receiving of the Sacrament For my self I have Receiv'd it diversly and I thank God comfortably Yet have I Received it with as much fruit and comfort when I Kneeled as when I used other gestures And I am confident those who use to Receive it Sitting do gain no more assurance of their Co-heirship than those who Receive it Kneeling But let us examine the Reasons of this position the first whereof is this It directeth our hearts to an apprehension of disfellowship with Christ in our future state of Glory represented at the Lords Table by reason that it convinceth the performers thereof to be of an inferior and unfellow-like condition with Christ Ergo it crosseth our assurance and therefore it is unlawful To this I Answer That there is great difference between our Co-heirship and equality of Fellowshhip with Christ For tho' we be now Co-heirs with Christ through Hope yet do we challenge no Fellowship of Equality with him but acknowledge our due Subjection to him as our Lord. And when we shall hereafter be in actual and real possession of our Inheritance I