Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	bear_v	flesh_n	kingdom_n	6,050	5	7.3681	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35171	Caleb's spirit parallel'd in a sermon preach'd at the funeral of the late Mrs. Constancy Ward of East-Smithfield, London, at the meeting-house in Devonshire Square, April 7, 1697 / by Walter Cross ...	Cross, Walter, M.A.	1697 (1697)	Wing C7257; ESTC R22527	45,737	48

little ones that believe on me the like in Mark 9.42 Ver. 36. we find that it was such a Child that Christ took in his Arms such an one that has Angels for its Guardians such an one as the Scripture calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 18.15 such as were brought to Christ in the Arms of others not on their own Feet the Bringers whereof the Disciples rebuk'd not themselves being uncapable of Converse Jesus says the Kingdom of God consists of such And if there were no actual Sin in them I should be apt to have Charity for all of them for the much more on the second Adam's Side will scarce suffer any to be condemned where that is alone without the least Fruit or Effect The greatest Objection lying against these Texts is that the Infants spoken of seem to be capable of Offence to which if we take the Interpretation of Chrysostom with other Fathers for an answer to offend here is not barely to give an evil Example but to reject which was a Fault Christ reproves his Disciples for the Interpretation is the more receptible because Offending and Receiving are put in opposition to one another The common Opinion of Calvinists is that they have the Seeds of Faith or some Gift like Faith or a certain Inclination to Faith so that there is scarce any Party left but Socinians to join with in denying Infants to have any Faith * Indeed Mr. Lock denies Ideas innate but determines not how early they may be conveyed by Senses neither does he ever pretend to bar Heaven's Influence from creating Ideas in a Soul where its Case is not a span long nor its bodily Tools fit for Work Indeed Socinus says about the State of Adam that it 's ridiculous to attribute Faith in God to Infants and is like to the Dream of a feverish Man but I cannot dream of any particular Persons interested in the Righteousness of Christ without an Union to Christ and how one can be in Christ without Faith or the Spirit which works Faith is more than I can conceive of or than the Scripture informs me of which as generally attributes the Applicatory Work of Grace to the Spirit as the Redemptory to the Son 2 I find some sanctified from the Womb and even that sanctifying Grace in such Exercise as to move the very Organs of an Embryo in the Womb. Luke 1.44 The Babe leaped in my Womb for Joy Jer. 1.5 Before thou camest out of the Womb I sanctified thee How Sanctification can be without Faith is inconceivable that being it the Heart is purified by that the Soul lives by that we are clothed with Righteousness by there can no Assertion be more without Exception than that John 3.5 Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Flesh and Blood cannot enter there and whatsoever is born of the Flesh is Flesh so that one must be born of the Spirit before he can enter thither But 't is observable that the Spirit blows where he listeth neither the Indisposition of the Body nor the Corruption of the Soul can impede his Creative Influence and it seems to me very unreasonable to deny a Spirit 's Converse with the Father of Spirits without a Capacity of conversing with Man in order to the one the Soul must learn how the Glass of the Senses represents such Objects to it nay there is need of Learning and Observation to know the right Hand from the Left it 's a Relation few of 40 Years understand a Hand is a necessary Organ to the Body but a very foreign extrinsical thing to the Soul If we come from Scripture to Experience and Observation we find it essential and necessary to the Soul to think it 's as natural for a Spirit to think as for a Body to be long broad and thick 2ly Wherever Thoughts are they are good or bad Gen. 6. The Imagination of the Thoughts of their Heart are evil continually All that proceeds from a Spirit is moral Christ says that defiles not a Man which goes in at his Mouth but what comes out of his Heart 1 Cor. 15. As the Father of Spirits is a quickning Spirit the Soul is a living Spirit the Image of him who is a pure Act. How can it live without Thought our Body cannot without Motion or be sanctified without good Thoughts If that sleep what can awake it 3ly We find it was a common Opinion in Christ's Time that an Infant was capable of sinning before it was born which he never thought worthy Refutation or Denial Did this Man sin or his Parents that he was born blind If being born blind was the Punishment of foregoing Sin then the Infant could act Sin why not Faith too 4ly Can they inform us of the Difference between a Soul newly formed by the Hand of God and after ten or twenty Years of Age that a Creative Operation of God should be needful to work Faith in the one but not able enough to create it in the other One should not make Exceptions to the Scriptures general Assertions without some clear and solid Reason this the Socinians grant His common way of saving is by Faith and common way of working Faith is by Creation and what Impediment can resist or render the Subject uncapable of that Influence Original Sin is more powerful by Habits radicated in the Adult than in Infants the part of this now under Consideration is the Want of that most like Image of God the Sense of Likeness and Image an Hebraism God cures that Privation by planting it in the Soul the Scripture informs us it consists in Knowledg Righteousness and Holiness Are the Infants sanctified without being transformed into the Likeness of God that is a Contradiction and it is as great a one to imagine the Image of God without Knowledg Psal 8.3 Out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings thou hast ordained Praise This is not objectively only as the Heavens declare God's Glory but actively with their Mouths which Mat. 21.15 was fulfilled by the little Children that went with their Mothers to the Temple though Luke 18. the Disciples began it 's like the Hosannas yet even Sucklings of two or three Years old filled up the Chorus And could their Tongues praise him and not their Souls think of him I cannot imagine that the Difference between a Suckling's Soul and a new-born or unborn Babe's is much 5ly Can all the Pains of an unregenerate Man study himself into a Spiritual discerning 1 Cor. 2.12 The natural Man knoweth not c. And can the want of that Pains hinder the Holy Ghost from induing the Soul with that holy Unction Suppose the Child die and be carried in the Arms of its Angels to Glory will it want Knowledg there or do the unprepared Organs while in the Body prevent the Holy Spirit 's Influence 6ly Take the Experiment of a pregnant longing Woman and we may find