Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	angel_n	body_n	soul_n	8,225	5	5.5180	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49339	A vindication of the divine authority and inspiration of the writings of the Old and New Testament in answer to a treatise lately translated out of French, entituled, Five letters concerning the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures / by William Lowth ...	Lowth, William, 1660-1732.	1692 (1692)	Wing L3330; ESTC R22996	119,092	328

by Passion yet still there will appear evident Tokens of a Divine Assistance accompanying him if we take an entire View of the whole history of his Sufferings at Jerusalem With what an Undaunted Resolution he went thither when he knew beforehand That Bonds and Afflictions did abide him and did not value his Life so he might finish his Course with joy o Acc. 20.23 24. How he persisted in the same Resolution notwithstanding all the Importunities and Tears of his Friends being ready not only to be bound at Jerusalem but also to die for the Name of the Lord Jesus p Act. 21.14 with what Courage he sets forth the Grounds of his Conversion before the enrag'd Multitude q Act. 22. with what Authority he Preach'd concerning the Faith in Christ and the Fundamentals of Christianity to Felix and laid his Sins so home to him that he made him tremble Act. 24.25 How powerfully he pleaded for himself and his Religion before Agrippa r Act. 26. so as to make Impression upon the King himself and almost perswade him to be a Christian He that shall lay all these things together will see Reason to admire the Power of God's Grace in St. Paul's Behaviour at Jerusalem and will not think that that one Slip if it were one is able to obscure the Glory of all the other parts of it And as for that Prudential Act of St. Paul which our Author sayes ſ Fr. p. 242. Eng. p. 46. hath nothing of Inspiration in it viz. his dividing the Council t Act. 23.6 and thereby making one half of them his Friends 't was exactly agreeable to our Savior's Advice to the Apostles u Matth. 10.16 To use all Prudence that was consistent with Innocency as this certainly was But besides it implied an excellent Argument ad homines viz. to Jews in behalf of Christianity namely that it was unreasonable for them to reject that Religion or persecute the Abetters of it whose great Design 't is to establish the Doctrine of the Resurrection the Belief of which Point the chiefest of their own Sects for Reputation look'd upon as one of the principal Articles of their Faith And therefore we find St. Paul knowing what force there was in it insist again and again upon the very same Apology for himself x Act. 24.15 c. 26.6 7. c. 28.20 Nay God himself approved of it as appears by the Vision which St. Paul had to incourage him the very next night after his Appearance before the Council by which our Lord himself gave Testimony to him that he had witness'd a good Confession y Act. 23.11 But 't is a wonder to me that our z Fr. p. 243. Eng. p. 48.49 Author should think St. Stephen's Behaviour and Harangue b Act. 7 a proper Instance to shew that the Apostles and primitive Confessors had no immediate Assistance of the Holy Ghost when they appear'd before secular Magistrates For if Courage to speak the Truth and to back it with unanswerable Arguments be a sign of an Extraordinary Assistance certainly no person ever gave greater Evidence of it than St. Stephen To declare publickly that the Temple and its Worship should shortly be destroy'd c Act. 6.14 was such an Invidious Truth that the Apostles themselves did not think fit at first to speak it openly but shew'd a great respect to the establish'd Worship by constantly attending upon it d Act. 3 1.-18.21.-20 16 -21 26. The Dissolution of the Mosaical Oeconomy being a Truth that the new Converts from Judaism were not yet able to bear But even this Truth St. Stephen had the Boldness to profess and maintain'd it too by a continued series of Argument from Abraham whom the Jews boasted to be their Father down to the building of the Temple Wherein he shews that the Patriarchs and Founders of the Jewish Nation were accepted by God before the Temple or its Service had a Beginning nay that Moses himself the Institutor of this Worship prophecied of Christ e Acts 7.37 and design'd the Tabernacle only for a Pattern of Heavenly things f Ibid ver 44. Besides this St. Stephen all along made Reflections upon the stubborn and refractory Temper of the Jews from the beginning and told them that their Rejecting and Murdering of Christ when he came was but agreeable to their usage of the Prophets who foretold him g Ib. ver 52. I think he that said these things had the Gift of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostles pray'd for h Acts 4.29 in a great measure And tho our Author is pleas'd to say i Ubi supr that St. Stephen mentions divers Circumstances of History which were nothing to the purpose yet for my part I must declare I see none but what are necessary to make it a full and Complete Narrative or else serve to set forth the ill manners of the Jews under the several Dispensations of Providence And I am apt to think St. Luke was of the same mind for abstracting from his Divine Character he was too Judicious a man to trouble himself or his Reader with a Rehearsal of impertinent Circumstances I am sure there are several particulars which are of great use to explain the Writings of Moses k Acts 7.20 26. which we could never have known if this Discourse had not been preserv'd This Gentleman may call these Impertinencies if he pleases but I believe few will follow him in this bold and Unscholar-like Censure and 't is well St Luke was of another mind for we should have had a great Loss if he had not preserved them And as for those particulars which he says l Ubi supr cannot be reconciled with the History of the Old Testament m Acts 7.16 if S. Luke made these Mistakes they have been accounted for above n Supr p. 45 46. if St. Stephen himself did I suppose the same Defence that is made for a Writer will hold more strongly for a Speaker And tho we suppose St. Stephen to have been full of the Holy Ghost when he spake o Acts 6 10.-7.55 yet there 's no reason the Spirit should dictate a History to him which he was before so well acquainted with And why may we not say that although the Holy Spirit were so remarkably present with him at this time that the Glories which were shed forth upon his Soul shin'd thro his Body and made his face look like the face of an Angel p Acts 6.15 yet the Holy Ghost thought fit not to supply the Defect of his Memory in one or two particulars to shew that Inspir'd persons even in their Brightest Minutes are still but men and that the Excellency might appear to be of God and not of themselves What has been said is sufficient to shew what little ground there is for this Author 's unworthy Reflections upon the Behaviour of the First Christians before

the Publick Worship both in the Jewish and Christian Church ever since they were made i See 1 Chr. 6.31 they were always us'd at the time of offering the Sacrifices which was the most solemn part of the Jewish Worship k 1 Chr. 16.40 41. Ecclus. 50.16 17 18. Ezra restored this Service assoon as the Foundation of the Second Temple was laid l Ezr. 3.11 The Evangelists tell us m Matt. 26.30 Mark 14.26 that our Saviour and his Disciples Sung a Hymn after the Paschal Supper which Learned Men suppose to have been the same Collection of Psalms which the Jews used upon that Solemnity St. Paul Exhorts the Colossians that the Word of God should dwell richly in them and especially recommends the Psalms to their use n Coloss 3.16 The Visions in the Revelations where Saints and Angels are represented Worshipping and Praising God do certainly in many things allude to the Customs o See Rev. 4. ver 4 5 6 7. c. 5 8 -8.1.-11 19 which the Jewish and Christian Church at that time used in their Publick Service which two Churches then differ'd very little in the manner of their External Worship And in these we find the Heavenly Devotions consist altogether of Hymns and Songs of Praise p Rev. 5 9.-14.3.-15.3 which is a good Argument to prove that the Singing of Psalms was the most considerable part of the Christian Worship in that Early Age q V. Cl. Dodwel c. Grot. c. 4. as it had formerly been of the Jewish I deny not but in that Inspir'd Age they used several Hymns of their own Composing r 1 Cor. 14.26 Euseb H.E. l. 5. c. 28. l. 7. c. 30. yet 't is certain from the Testimony of many Ancient Writers ſ See Dr. Hamm. Preface to his Paraphr upon the Psalms that David's Psalms still were most in use and in highest esteem And this is one Argument of it viz. because all the Hymns Compos'd by the Ancient Christians have been lost time out of mind except very few which can be attributed to nothing so probably as to the Difuse of them by reason of the more Frequent and Constant Use of the Book of Psalms And 't is not likely the Christian Church would have been beholding to the Jewish Temple for their Forms of Worship especially when we consider how much more Noble a Subject for Praises and Hymns the Christians had by the Clear Revelation of the Gospel if they had not been perswaded that God design'd the Book of Psalms for the perpetual Use of the Church to be both a Pattern and Treasure of Devotions at once to Enlighten our Minds and Warm our Affections and teach us to Pray and Praise God with the Spirit and with the understanding also And if what I have said prove that this was God's Intent in stirring up Holy Men to make these Excellent Pieces of Devotion I think 't will be sufficient to satisfy any Reasonable Man that the Book of Psalms deserves a place among the Inspir'd Writers without Nicely determining how great a share the Holy Spirit had in making these Composures and how much is to be ascribed to the Authors own Study and Meditation Since 't is very hard in any Case to Define the manner how God's Grace does Cooperate with Man's Indeavours and the Spirit like the Wind to which our Saviour compares it t John 3.8 does sufficiently discover it self by its effects tho we can't Comprehend the Manner of its Operation And 't is no wonder that should not be easily Intelligible by us who are Ignorant how our own Soul acts within us and after what manner Outward Objects make an Impression upon it But saith Mr. N. z Fr. p. 228. En. p. 23. the Imprecations which are found in many of the Psalms can't proceed from the Good and Merciful Spirit of God and consequently the Authors of those Psalms could not be Inspir'd This being the only Considerable Objection against the Psalms to take off all Prejudice against the Use of so Excellent a Book I shall indeavour to give a distinct Answer to it in these Three particulars 1. In the First place therefore I desire it may be Observed that many of those Expressions which seems at first Sight to import Wishing Mischief and Destruction to others do really wish no more harm to them than that they may be Disappointed in their Enterprises and Vndertakings For example that Expression a Psal 70.2 Let them be b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ashamed or Blush and c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Synonymous with the Former and rendred by the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. all which words signify Shame Confounded that seek after my Soul means no more but this Let them be fill'd with that shame and Confusion of Face which follows a Disappointment Now since 't is lawful to Oppose the Designs of our Enemies and to use all honest means to prevent their bringing them to pass it can be no harm to wish and pray that they may be Unsuccessful in their Attempts against us And in this Sense are all those Imprecations in the 35th Psalm to be understood 2. Secondly let it be considered that all those Expressions which are commonly Translated by way of Imprecation may be as fitly rendred by way of Prediction and we may Read They shall be Ashamed instead of Let them be Ashamed Nay this way of Interpretation is more agreeable to the Letter of the Hebrew where the words are not in the Imperative but in the Future And if we take these Expressions in this Sense then they imply no more than a Denouncing God's Judgements against Wicked Men if they still persist in their Wickedness And thus to Denounce the Terrors of the Lord against Sinners is so far from being a piece of Uncharitableness that 't is the highest Act of Charity we can shew to them and the most effectual means to awaken them to a sense of their Condition and what they are to Expect except they Repent And if this Interpretation be true as nothing hinders but it may then all Mr. N's Objections c Ub. supr against the 109th Psalm vanish immediately for according to this Interpretation it only contains a Prediction of the Miseries that were to befall the Person whoever he was under whom Judas was Represented And the Denunciation of the Psalmist against his Family will be liable to no other Exceptions than that Prophecy of Isaiah against Babylon d Isaiah 13.16 Their children shall be dash'd in pieces before their eyes their houses shall be spoiled and their wives ravished And St. Peter himself seems to have understood this Psalm in no other sense for he tells us e Acts 1.16 that the Holy Ghost in this Psalm spoke before or PROPHESIED f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the mouth of David concerning Judas But besides this it was an Usual way of Speech among