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
A97232	Chonoyterion he Sion. The refinement of Zion: or, The old orthodox Protestant doctrine justified, and defended against several exceptions of the Antinomians, methodically digested into questions, wherein many weighty and important cases of conscience are handled, concerning the nature of faith and repentance, or conversion to God: of his eternal love, and beholding of sin in his dearest children: of justification from eternity, of of [sic] preparations to the acceptance of Christ, of prayer for pardon of sin, and turning to God: of the gospel covenant, aud [sic] tenders of salvation, on the termes of faith and repentance. For the establishment of the scrupulous, conviction of the erroneous, and consolation of distressed consciences. By Anthony Warton, minister of the word at Breamore in Hampshire.	Warton, Anthony.	1657 (1657)	Wing W987; Thomason E914_2; ESTC R207476	171,315	250

in Christ by Gods Judgments 2 Chro. 33.12 13. Luke 15. wherewith he hath visited them and awakened their consciences and by meditating of the shortnesse and uncertainty of their life here in this world and by other the like morives and considerations And it is manifest that not a few but many have extraordinarily been prepared unto Faith in Christ by miracles and strange works Mark 16.20 John 11.45 20.31 which have been wrought by God for the confirmation of the Gospel Lastly It is not to be denied that God both can work Faith yea and that he hath extraordinarily and most marvellously wrought it in some without any precedent qualifications or preparations at all To teach the contrary is to deny Gods power Luke 1.44 and to contradict the holy Scripture Quest 8. Whether we are made the Sons of God by Faith in Christ or but declared so to be Reconcil of man to God pag. 66. Gal. 3.20 MR. D. his peremptory resolution is We are not made the Sons of God by Faith for we were before reconciled unto him and were his sons And whereas S. Paul saith ye are all the sons of God by Fa●th in Christ Jesus he will have the sense and meaning hereof to be That we are declared to be the sons of God by Faith in Christ Jesus But the Apostle saith you are and not are declared to be the sons of God though that be true also He speaketh therefore of the essence of son-ship and not of the manifestation or appearance hereof only Object But here it will be said Were all the Galathians that made profession of the Faith of Christ the sons of God really Answ It is not likely they were St. Pauls words therefore must be understood per reduplicationem to wit thus you are all the sons of God that is all of you who are the sons of God are his sons by Faith in Christ Jesus Or else we are to say that he speaketh of them according to the judgment of charity when he saith ye are all the sons of God presuming them to be so and then specifieth the means how they came to be his sons when he addeth by Faith in Christ Jesus But if they he will not admit of this Exposition I would know of him what it is that maketh a man to be a son Is it not his parents begetting of him Sure I am that is fundamentum hujus relationis the foundation of this relation Now St James telleth us That God hath begotten us by the word of truth Jam. 1.9 1 Pet. 1.23 St. Peter also saith that we are renati born again not of mortal seed but of immortal by the word of God Whence it followeth necessarily that we are not the sons of God until we do hear his word and are thereby converted to the Faith and obedience of Christ But Mr. D. t●inketh to avoid and put off this also by saying that the Apostles do say Object that we are regenerated and born again by the word because we are declared so to be and not that we are in deed and in truth regenerated by the word But this will not serve his turn Answ for the word being made effectual by the spirit is that which begets faith in us for Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of of God Now it is absurd to say that a man is regenerated while he liveth in infidelity or incredulity and is void of Faith Again until men hear the word their minds are blined with ignorance and their lives are full of impurity and uncleanness And hereupon St. Paul saith that God sent him unto the Gentiles to turn them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God that is by his preaching Gods word unto them which they had not heard before Yea our Saviour's own Disciples were unclean as all men are by nature until they heard the word as those words of Christ do testifie Now ye are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you They were not so therefore before and how then could they be said to be regenerated without the word For by regeneration men are made partakers of a new nature which they had not before St. Paul also speaking of the whole Church of Christ in general saith that he sanctifieth and cleanseth it with the washing of water by the word All therefore generally and ordinarily without the word are unclean and unregenerated Object But let us see how Mr. D. endeavoreth to prove that we were the sons of God before we did believe The Holy Ghost saith he declareth son-ship to be the cause of giving the Spirit when he saith Because ye are sons Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father Seeing therefore a man cannot believe without the grace of the Spirit it followeth necessarily that we are the sons of God before we do believe Answ But hereunto I answer that the Spirit is given diversly First to regenerate us for we are born again not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man John 1.13 but of God by the powerful operation of his Spirit Even as our Saviour himself also teacheth when he saith Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit John 3.5 he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Thus the Spirit is not a consequent of our regeneration whereby we are born the sons of God but a precedent cause thereof 2. Again the Spirit is also given to increase Faith and holinesse in us and to strengthen and establish us in grace after we are regenerated For as Christ by his Spirit beginneth the good work of grace in us so doth he by his Spirit perfect the same Phil. 1.6 2 Cor. 3.5 and not we our selves by any power of our own Lastly After we are born again the Spirit is also given to comfort us and to assure us of our Adoption by crying in our hearts Abba Father Thus as Mr. D. saith son-ship is in some sort the cause of giving the Spirit But otherwise we are not sons before and without any work of the Spirit at all for he is the Author or principal efficient cause of our being regenerated and born again the sons of God Another of Mr. D's Objections is this The Apostle saith Object that God the Father hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself We were not therefore begotten in time by the word but it is an eternal grace Whereunto I answer that he might as well infer Answ and conclude that we are alteady glorified and in actual possession of Heaven For God hath predestinated us to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light It 's strange that he cannot distinguish between the Decree of Election it self which is eternal and the effects thereof that is to say the things whereunto we are Elected

the terrors of the law he be not first made to see in what a wofull case and condition he was by his sins to wit that he should have perished and been damned to unspeakable and unconceivable torments in Hell if God out of his surpassing love pity and compassion towards him had not provided and given him a Saviour Thus must we first be brought by the Law and the judgments and terrours thereof to apprehend our own misery before we can acknowledge the depth of Gods mercy and be inflamed with love towards him and stir up our selves unto thankfulnesse unto his Divine Majesty for the great and most gracious work of our redemption and salvation by Christ The preaching then of Hell and damnation and the rendring of a terrible account to a severe Judge is not the laying of the foundation neither of Faith nor of our justification and sanctification whereby we are made good Christians but a digging deep to remove the rubbish of self-confidence and spiritual pride and presumption that so the foundation of our conversions may be laid in the Love of God and of his comprehensible mercy towards us in Christ Jesus SECT VII Objections answered and the truth in this Controversy cleared AS long as any colourable specious and plausible objections against the truth remain unanswered men who have been taken and deluded by them will hardly be brought to renounce their errors no not when the truth shall be solidly taught and confirmed from the alone ground of all Divine and supernatural truth the holy Scripture Having therefore of late met with a Book of very high esteem with many intituled The exaltation of Christ in the dayes of the Gospel by T.C. and finding that the Author thereof doth teach that men are not at all prepared for Christ and Faith in him by the preaching of the Law but by hearing of the Gospel only I have thought good therefore not to passe over in silence but to examine those things he delivereth and the rather because his reasons and allegations do differ from those which I have before met with Exalt of Christ pag. 216. Edit 3 First he telleth us that though all are under the Law by nature yet it is the preaching of the Gospel that discovers it that is as he after explaineth himself that discovereth unto them that they are under the curse and condemnation of the Law See also before pag. 112. and so most miserable creatures He teacheth therefore that a man must first in the preaching of the Gospel see Christ and then by reflecting upon himself see his own misery which otherwise is not to be seen and discerned by the Law But in this he contradicteth St. Paul for he telleth us that by the Law cometh the knowledge of sin And he instanceth in himself Rom. 3.20 Rom. 7.7 and saith I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Thus the Law sheweth us our sins yea and the punishment also Deut. 27.26 Gal. 3.10 that by them we have deserved when it saith Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them 2 Cor. 3.7.9 And hereupon it is that the Apostle calleth it the ministration of death and of condemnation For as the Law at the promulgation and publishing thereof upon Mount Sinai was delivered with great terrour so it still of it self terrifieth and astonisheth the consciences of sinners accusing them when they do evil as both St. Paul Rom. 2.15 and every mans own experience teacheth But let us take notice of the Arguments of Mr. C. whereby he endeavoureth to make good that which he hath taught Object First he telleth us That a man never savingly seeth his evil condition without Christ And again That it is the Spirit of God that discovereth sin unto him Now the preaching of the Law bringeth not this Spirit but the hearing of Faith as witnesseth St. Paul Gal. 3.2 But here first I would know of him why he saith Answ a man never savingly knoweth his evil condition without Christ For our salvation consisteth not in knowing of our evil condition but in the knowledge of Jesus Christ John 17.3 Isa 53.11 For a man to know his evil condition by sin is to know that damnation is due unto him for his sin Now many a man hath attained to this knowledg who was never saved Salvation therefore doth not at all consist in this but in a mans flying unto Christ and laying hold of him when he seeth how miserable his condition is become through sin Now whereas he alledgeth the Apostles words Gal. 3.2 to prove that a man is not brought by the preaching of the Law but of Faith to be made partaker of the Spirit without which he cannot see his miserable condition by sin I answer him That the Apostle speaks there partly of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit which were by God bestowed on none but those that had heard the Gospel and made profession of Faith in Christ and partly of the Spirit of adoption which also is peculiar to believers Now thus indeed we do not receive the Spirit by the preaching of the Law but otherwise Rom. 8.15 as the same Apostle giveth us elsewhere to understand we did by the Law receive the Spirit of bondage to fear His meaning is that the Spirit of God which we received from him illightning our minds with the true knowledge and understanding of the Law did fill our hearts with fears and terrours and so did put us as it were in a state of bondage at or before our conversion unto Faith in Christ We have need therefore of the illumination of the Spirit that we may throughly understand the Law For as long as men are left to themselves their very knowledge of the Law is but shallow and superficial as it to be seen in the Pharisees and in all those who are only civilly honest which sort of men are either not at all or but a little troubled in their souls and consciences with the fear of their sins or of hell and damnation Whereas then Mr. C. saith The Apostle was once alive without the Law that is without the spiritual understanding of the Law but when the Commandement came sin revived and he died that is when Christ had opened his eyes to see into the spirit of the Law the spiritual sense thereof I trow he meaneth In all this I do agree with him but not in that which followeth when he addeth That we come thus to know the spiritual understanding of the Law only by the preaching of the Gospel For I have already proved the contrary to wit that when the Law is preached men come to understand it by the illumination of the Spirit opening their minds to see the true meaning of the several precepts thereof Object But Mr. C thinketh by instancing in

the Lord in his Gospel required of us Now what Christian eares can indure to hear that Christ should be said to have turned from sin unto righteousness Christ was never overtaken with any sin he never turned from God therefore he cannot be said to have turned from sin unto God as we do when we are converted Nor can he be said to have been mortified for us for there was no flesh nor none of the old man in him that required any mortification SECT IV. How Christ is made unto us Sanctification BUt let us see now how Mr. S. endevoureth to prove and make good that Christ hath fulfilled all the conditions of the Gospel for us The Apostle saith he teacheth Object that Christ is made unto us of God Sanctification his holiness therefore is ours he wrought it for us 1 Cor. 1.20 Whatsoever holy duties therefore of faith or new obedience are required of us in the Gospel Christ hath fulfilled them for us Thus I have urged and inforced his Argument to his greatest advantage as I suppose For answer whereunto I say Answ that Christ may be said to be made unto us Sanctification three manner of wayes 1. Imputativè by way of imputation 2. Meritorie by way of merit 3. Effectivè efficiently or effectually working it in us The first of these Mr. S. maketh choyce of and pitcheth upon For he will have Christs holy obedience to be imputed unto us for our sanctification Now I grant that it is imputed unto us indeed Rom. 5.19 but for our justification not for our sanctification For as St. Paul saith by the obedience of one that is of Jesus Christ many are justified or made righteous Again If Christs holiness should be imputed unto us for our sanctification then sanctification should not be inherent in us but external and without us as our justification is And lastly Then there should be no real difference between our justification and sanctification neither should they be different graces but altogether the same For wherein consisteth our justification but in the imputation of Christs holy obedience unto us Now if our sanctification do consist in this also Heb. 10.29 13.12 what real difference will there be between them I do indeed acknowledge that the holy Scripture doth now and then make no real difference between sanctification and justification For whereas the Apostle saith ordinarily that we are justified by the blood of Christ it is said that we are sanctified by his blood Where I conceive that sanctification is either put for justification or at the least that justification is included in it as it must needs be if we shall say that the meaning of the Apostle is that the blood of Christ hath merited both our justification and our sanctification 2. In this sense I do willingly grant that Christ is made unto us sanctification that is by the merit of his passion purchasing it and by his blood washing away the spots of sin that do adhere to our sanctification 3 And lastly I do also acknowledge as all Orthodox Protestants do that Christ is our sanctification not only meritorieé by way of merit sed effectivé but efficiently also because by his spirit which he hath purchased of his Father he doth sanctifie us or effect and work holiness in us And thus as I take it I have cleared the Apostles meaning and made it manifest that he hath no intent to teach that Christ believed for us and obeyed the Gospel for us in that sense as Mr. S. taketh his words when he saith That Christ is made unto us of God sanctification SECT 5. Although the promises of the Gospel are offered unto sinners yet they have no right nor interest in them unless they do receive them LEt us now examine another of Mr. S. his Arguments whereby he goeth about ro prove that the promises of the Gospel do belong to sinners as sinners and that there is no condition of faith nor of repentance required of them that they may be partakers of remission of sins and of salvation through Christ What saith he were the Churches of the Corinthians Object Ephesians Colossians and what was Paul before Christ came to him were they sinners or qualified And what were all that believed before they believed Answ They were sinners It s true they were so but though the promises were then offered unto them yet they did not then belong to them nor had they any interest in them until they received them but as the Apostle saith Eph. 2.12 They were strangers from the Covenants of promise and so should have remained continued for ever had they rejected them as did the Jewes and some other Citizens of Antioch in Pisidia when Paul and Barnabas preached Act. 13.46 and offered Christ unto them Briefly therefore I do reason thus Promises do belong to those to whom they are made and not to any other but the promises of the Gospel concerning remission of sins and eternal salvation in Heaven are made to those that either do for the present or shall hereafter repent and believe in Christ and not to any other therefore none have any right to these promises but such believers and repentant sinners Object This was written before Mr. S. his death It may be Mr. S. or some other will here reply and say are the promises of the Gospel then to be offered to none but to those that do repent and believe Yes They are to be offered unto all neither Infidels nor any other sinners excluded but not absolutely sed sub conditione fidei resipiscentiae but upon condition that they do repent Mar. 16 16 Act. 3.19 and believe if they will have their sins blotted out and be saved through the mercy of God in Christ Thus indeed promissiones Evangelij sunt universales conditione promulgatione sed non applicatione the promises of the Gospel are to be preached and propounded unto all but all do not appropriate and apply them to themselves nor interest themselves in them Now wherefore is this but as I said before because the promises are not absolute but conditional For were they absolute and no condition at all were required then one man should have as great an interest in them and as good right to them as another whether he were believer or unbeliever SECT VI. How the promises of the Gospel or of the new Testament are said to be better then the promises of the old or of the Law Object BUt against this that hath been said it is further objected The Law promised life upon condition for so it saith Lev. 18.5 hoc fac vives do this and thou shalt live Heb. 8.6 The promises of the Gospel therefore seeing as the Apostle saith they are better then those of the Law are absolute and not conditional Answ But I answer No such thing followeth hereupon For the Apostles words are That Christ is the Mediator of a