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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A54036 Reason regulate[d], or, Brief reflections upon a l[ate] treatise of human-reason by T.P. T. P. 1675 (1675) Wing P117; ESTC R25516 24,178 78

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a Man directly to Berwick if he that travels in it confidently believes he 's right will certainly bring him to Dover Crede quod habes et habes He had rather think he says with Origen that the Divels themselves by the excessive kindness of their Judge shall at last be exempted from Damnation than that he himself shall be damn'd for that Opinion Undoubtedly this shews the Author to be a very Compassionate and good Natur'd Man but certainly that cannot be true Charity which ' thwarts the irrevocable Decree of Heaven and truly I do not see why he may not with as much Reason doubt that the Glorify'd Bodyes may fall from their Beatitude as think that the Divels themselves shall at last be releas'd from their Damnation but as certainly the former are past all hopes of Relaxation from their Torments so the latter are past all fear of being depriv'd of their Felicity and Eternal Jubilee For that which truly makes Heaven and Hell is not so much the excessive Greatness as Infinity of their Joyes and Torments He thinkes He may very well believe that there are Secret and Wonderful ways by which GOD may be pleased to apply his Merits to Mankind besides those direct open and ordinary ones of Baptism and Confession This I must confess is very secret wonderful and dark Divinity because Diametrically opposite to the Divine Writ where JESVS answering Nicodemus his Question said positively Amen Amen I say to thee Vnless a Man be born again of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of GOD. And therefore why this Author should advance a Beliet so palpably Anti-Christian I cannot imagine unless he supposes which is Blasphemy to think that our Blessed Saviour did not then fully understand his own mind The Text clearly confutes the Extravagancy and impiety of such an imagination and discovern this Authors Human Reason to be in this as in many other particulars but a fallacious Dream from which if he would rouse and thorowly awake himself he would quickly perceive it to vanish into nothing and prove a meer Illusion For I leave any Prudent Christian to judge whether he thinks it not onely absolutely necessary to walk towards Heaven by those Direct Open and Ordinary wayes of Baptism c. but also absolutely impossible unless in case of Martyrdom which is still Baptism in Bloud to cross over upon such a slight and slippery Bridge as this because the Author think's without proving that there may be other secret and wonderful ways of gerting thither And he may if he please goe one Step farther and believe that there may be no other secret and wonderful ways for a man to live besides Breathing Corruptio optimi pessima And certainly that must need 's be an impious excess of Charity which not onely shakes the Foundation but frustrates the whole Fabrick and Designs of Christianity GOD deliver all good Christians from such gentle and good-Natur'd Doctrine Our Blessed Saviour that best knew foretold there must be Heresies which most Divines agree to be those Gates of Hell mentioned in Scripture and consequently in-lets to Damnation Contrary to which this Author contends that scarce any Heresie if at all discoverable can be Damnable and maintains such a Facility to avoid all dangerous Errours that no Men of ordinary Sense and Reason can possibly fall into them Haereticum hominem post unam secundam correptionem the Scripture saith devita But how can he be shun'd that is not knowable And therefore I must intreat this Author to correct Saint Paul's Admonition or his own Human Reason which he thinks fit for one of them certainly is very much in fault To obey in matters of Belief without being able to believe the thing commanded is no less he says and seems more a Contradiction than simply to obey without knowledge of a Command Certainly this Author thinks every Man's Reason has a secret Magnetick Power to attract or draw down the high Mysteries of Faith within view of his Understanding which is impossible But if Men's Reasons are as beyond Debate they may be satisfy'd that those who guide them neither will nor can deceive what should make them start or fly back Their incapacity to understand can be no good or sufficient Reason for them to disbelieve and a much worse Argument to prove any thing de fide false which they propose who doe truly and Naturally conveigh to us the Will and Pleasure of GOD they are his Voice Qui vos audit me audit or at least the very Eccho of it The Church never Doctrinally but when and what CHRIST speaks and if he that hears one hears both which our Saviour himself saith Human Reason which thus far ought to proceed and we to follow tells us Our business and duty then is to obey and not dispute Besides if that saying be true Fides est Argumentum non-apparentium I do not see why Faith and Obedience should stand still because Reason cannot go forward He says The Vnity of the Christian Church is broken not so much by them who differ in Opinions as by them who will not allow ef such a Difference Cu●us contrarium verum est By this I see Reason has her Antipodes too for Can any thing be more directly against it than to call him the greatest Wrangler who would prevent others from quarrelling And to say he that would reconcile Differences and hinder Men from going together by the Eares was the occasion of their falling out Certainly 't is as Rational to say There can be no Order where there 's no Confusion as to say There can be no Unity without Difference 'T is a Solecisme and Paradox much above the reach of my Reason but if be understands it 't is well enough Who knowes saith he whether that GOD who liked best that no Men's Bodyes should have the same complexion no Men's Faces the same Figures no Hares the same Lines no Voyces the same Sounds nay not so much but their Motions and Gestures should be Distinguishable has not likewise best pleased himself with no less Variety in the parts of Men that are Immaterial and even in the most Immaterial Actions of those parts which is the Worship and Adoration of a Deity This though it look prettily upon Paper is a meer Quick-Sand and easily answer'd with asking another Question Who knows whether GOD is best pleased with such Variety in the Faith as in the Faces of Men That which fortifies me indubitably to believe the contrary are those express Words of Scripture One GOD one Faith one Baptism which evidently inferre that besides that General Impediment viz. the Sinfulness and Frailty of our Natures men if sway'd solely by their own reason easily may and too frequently do miscarry for want of a Right Path. Does GOD says he gain any thing by our Devotions does he receive Hurt from one kind of Worship and Advantage by another No surely say I for he is an Unutterable