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	son_n	witness_n	5,359	5	7.9501	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12211	A friendly advertisement to the pretended Catholickes of Ireland declaring, for their satisfaction; that both the Kings supremacie, and the faith whereof his Majestie is the defender, are consonant to the doctrine delivered in the holy Scriptures, and writings of the ancient fathers. And consequently, that the lawes and statutes enacted in that behalfe, are dutifully to be observed by all his Majesties subjects within that kingdome. By Christopher Sibthorp, Knight, one of his Maiesties iustices of his court of chiefe place in Ireland. In the end whereof, is added an epistle written to the author, by the Reverend Father in God, Iames Vssher Bishop of Meath: wherein it is further manifested, that the religion anciently professed in Ireland is, for substance, the same with that, which at this day is by publick authoritie established therein.	Sibthorp, Christopher, Sir, d. 1632.; Ussher, James, 1581-1656.	1622 (1622)	STC 22522; ESTC S102408	494,750	610

verie soone and at the third hower some at the sixt houre some at the ninth and some at the eleventh hower and some are called even at the last houre as was the Theefe crucified with Christ. So that God calleth some earely and betimes in their youth and some in their riper and elder yeares and some not till their old age and latter dayes of their life and some not till the verie last houre of their daies and consequentlie so long as life remaineth there is a possibilitie for men to be called and therefore no reason is there why anie should despaire as likewise none ought rashlie or unadvisedly to presume upon this doctrine 2 Now then to shew unto you the truth of that other point as being an appendant hereunto namely that even in this life a man may come to be assured that hee is one of the number of those that be elected and predestinated to eternal life and salvation consider first what S. Peter writeth saying Brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if yee doe these things yee shall never fall Here you see it precisely and directly taught by S. Peter that men not onely may but ought so farre to endeavour namely to make their calling and election sure to themselves And he there further sheweth them how they may attaine unto this assurance namely by having doing and using of those excellent christian vertues and courses he there mentioneth Againe doth not S. Paul speake thus in plaine tearmes Try your selves vvhether yee bee in the faith or no Examine your selves Knovv yee not that Christ Iesus is in you except yee he reprobates Where hee likewise declareth that all that be sound Christians may by good triall and examination of themselves finde perceive and Know that Christ Iesus is in them and that they belong unto him This confidence knowledge and assurance had that holy man Iob for thus he saith I am sure that my redeemer liveth c. though af●er my skin vvormes destroy this bodie yet shall I see God in my flesh vvhom I my selfe shall see and mine owne eies shal behould and none other for me Yea this perswasion and assurance had also S. Paul and not only He but all the rest of Gods Children have likewise this confidence and assurance for thus hee speaketh in the name of them all VVho shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednes or perill or sword as it is vvritten For thy sake are vvee killed all the day long vvee are counted as sheepe for the slaughter neverthelesse in all these things vve are more then Conquerors through him that loved us For I am perswaded the words of your Translation declaring the same thing be Certus sim I am sure or I am assured that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. In these words you see that S. Paul speaketh not onely in the singular but in the plurall number and consequently of others aswell as of himselfe even of all the elect people of God that they all aswell as he at some one time or other of their life have this strong confidence and unremoveable assurance that nothing shall be able to separate Them from Gods love toward them in Christ. For he saith againe that as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sonnes of God And againe he saith That spirit beareth vvitnesse with our spirit that we are the children of God Who then having that spirit within him for a Witnesse can make anie doubt of it Likewise speaketh S. Iohn saying Hereby know vvee that vvee dwell in him and hee in us because hee hath given us of his spirit For by that spirit it is that VVee know as S. Paul againe witnesseth the Things that bee given to us of God But S. Iohn saith againe thus Dearely beloved Now are vve the sonnes of God but yet it doth not appeare vvhat we shall be But vvee know that when he shall appeare vve shall be like him for vvee shall see him as he is and every man that hath this hope in him purgeth himselfe even as He is pure Marke here still that hee saith they Know it and therefore it is no uncertaine opinion or doubtfull hope but an assured hope or hope with assurance Which assured hope or knowledge of their owne salvation whosoever have by the testimonie of Gods spirit within them wee see here by this expresse testimonie of S. Iohn that they are not idle negligent carelesse and licentious persons but such as continually labour strive against their owne corruptions and defilements and so to be purged more and more from them Farre therefore from carelesnesse and licentiousnesse doth also this doctrine touching assurance of salvation appeare to be For not everie one that saith he is assured of it is by and by assured but this is a matter as you see that requireth a great triall and examination of a mans selfe and is ioined with a continuall care desire striving and endevouring to walke in the commandements and waies of God it being in verie deed the most comfortable ioyfullest and highest step of Christianitie and the Summum bonum or chiefest felicitie that anie man can reach to in this life For this causeth a Ioy even a True Ioy to the heart and soule of a man and such a Ioy as cannot be expressed But then you aske how he is sure of continuing persevering in the way of godlinesse unto the end for you obiect that the godliest man that is often sinneth and may fall Whereto I answer that most true it is he often sinneth and falleth but God still rais●th him up after his falls by a godly sorrow and a true Christian repentance for those sinnes and by amendment of life afterward so that such a one neither doth nor can finally fall or perish for as it is written in the Psalme Though he fall he shall not be cast off for the Lord putteth under his hand to raise him up againe And so saith Solomon also that the lust man falleth seven times but he riseth againe And these things be spoken of him that is a lust and righteous person indeede and not of an Hypocriticall and counterfeit person or of such a one as onely in his owne opinion or in the opinion of others is a righteous person and not so in verie deed nor in the sight of God For he that is a righteous person onely in his owne opinion or in the opinion of other men and not so in verie deed may fall utterly and finally away and then shall not all his former righteousnesse that hee had

know the times and the seasons vvhich the Father hath put in his owne power There is another exposition which the Protestants deliver unto you touching the 42 moneths and 1260 daies otherwise called a Time and Times and halfe a Time mentioned in the Revelation which is this namely that times in Gods appointment certaine of the several persecutions and molestations of the Church be therein limited and prescribed albeit to us they be uncertaine untill the event doe declare them For that a time certaine even in the Revelation of S. Iohn may be thus put for a time uncertaine the Rhemists themselves doe sufficiently declare who expound the Thousand yeares wherein the Divell is said to be bound which in it selfe is a time certaine to be neverthelesse the whole time how long or short soever it be of the New Testament untill Antichrists time If then the certaine time of a Thousand yeares signifie no certaine number of yeares but are put for an indefinite and an uncertaine time as the Rhemists and other Papists also teach what marvell is it or what iust exception can they take against us if wee likewise expound the 42 moneths and 1260 daies otherwise called a Time and Times and halfe a Time for a time indefinite and uncertaine to us untill it be accomplished though God in his foreknowledge hath certainely limited it Yea according hereunto Beda saith By the number of these dayes vvhich make three yeares and an halfe the Holy Ghost comprehendeth all the times of Christianitie because Christ vvhose body the Church is preached so long in the flesh To the same effect he saith upon the 14 verse Hee designeth the vvhole time of the Church comprehended before in the number of Dayes Ambrosius Ansbertus likewise saith The number of 1260 dayes in vvhich the woman tarieth and is fed in the vvildernesse doth so signifie the course of Preaching or end of Persecution in vvhich the old enemy is permitted to rage against the holy Church by that damned man vvhom he shall possesse that neverthelesse it comprehendeth the beginning either of the preaching or of the persecution in vvhich Christ began to preach and suffer yea the vvhole time of this present life which is betweene the beginning and the end Rupertus also expoundeth these daies for so long time as the Church being a stranger in the vvorld suffereth persecution Haymo likewise saith It may be referred unto all the time from the ascention of Christ unto the end of the vvorld Thus you see that even these ancient Expositors expound it not for iust three yeares and an halfe as yee doe but as comprehending in it a much longer time and as being a time certaine put for an uncertaine as wee doe But yet to answere more particularly to those Texts And first to that Text of Revelat. 11. It is there said That the Gentiles shall tread under foot the holy Citie that is the true Church of God two and forty moneths But I will give power unto my two vvitnesses and they shall prophecy saith the Text 1260 dayes clothed in Sackcloth These are two Olive Trees and two Candlestickes standing before the God of the earth And if any man vvill hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouthes and devoureth their enemies For if any man vvould hurt them thus must he be killed These have power to shut heaven that it raine not in the dayes of their prophecying and have power over vvaters to turne them into bloud and to smite the earth vvith all maner of plagues as often as they vvill And vvhen they have finished their Testimony the Beast that commeth out of the bottomlesse pit shall make vvarre against them and shall overcome them and kill them c. You suppose that by these two witnesses here mentioned be meant Enoch and Elias who as you imagine shal come againe personallie into this world to encounter and oppose themselves against Antichrist But first how doe yee prove these two Witnesses to be Enoch and Elias for yee finde them not so named in the Text. And indeed it is but an imagination or surmise which hath no sufficient ground or certaintie in it Yea S. Hierom reiecteth it saith that they be Iudei Iudaizantes haeretici c. Iewes and Iudaizing hereticks that looke for a corporal or personal comming of Elias And in another place he reckoneth such maner of expectation and opinion touching Enoch and Elias as also the opinion touching the building againe of the material Temple at Hierusalem in the number of Iewish Fable Arethas indeed saith of these two Witnesses that it was constantly received that they should be Enoch and Elias but Victorinus who was more ancient then Arethas telleth us otherwise Many thinke saith hee that one of these two vvitnesses is Elias the other eyther Elizeus or Moses but they are both dead Howbeit the death of Ieremy is not found And all our Ancients have delivered saith hee that that other is Ieremy And S. Hillary thinketh them to be Elias and Moses Such uncertaintie there is even in ancient Fathers as well as in other Writers when they goe by coniectures ghesses and imaginations onely without sufficient warrant from the word of God It is therefore to be observed that the Revelation is full of mystical prophetical and alluding speeches As for example where these two Witnesses be called two Olive trees and Candlesticks he alludeth unto that prophecie in Zachary chap. 4.1.2.3.4.5.6 c. Which witnesses of divine Truth and Preachers and Ministers of the Gospel be not unfitly called Candlesticks inasmuch as they beare and hold out the light of Gods word unto the people as also they be well resembled to Olive trees inasmuch as by the meanes of their Ministerie and Preaching of the Gospell the Oyle of Gods grace and of his spirit is powred into mens hearts to mollifie and to convert them unto God Againe in that hee mentioneth two witnesses hee alludeth unto the Law which requireth the Testimonie of two witnesses the testimonie of which number of witnesses is held sufficient to ratifie and confirme a matter So that by these two witnesses he meaneth that hee will ever have even in the greatest furie and rage of Antichrist a competent and sufficient number to beare witnesse of his truth and religion conteined in the two Testaments of the holy Scriptures Likewise hee alludeth partlie unto the times of Elias and partlie unto the times of Moses when hee saith that If any vvill hurt the two vvitnesses fire proceedeth out of their mouthes to devoure their enemies and that these have power to shut heaven that it raine not in the dayes of their prophecying and have power over vvaters to turne them into bloud c. For so in Moses time in the land of Egypt vvere the vvaters in the River turned into Bloud and sundrie other plagues brought upon that land of Egypt for molesting of Gods

sufficient and abundant to condemne himselfe but if renouncing all confidence in himselfe as he ought he finde himselfe to be a firme beleever in Christ and so consider himselfe as he is in Christ Iesus the Saviour and remembreth withall Gods immutable promise of eternall life to as manie as have that firme true and lively faith in him hee cannot as I said before but rest assured of his salvation except which were most abominable he will make God a liar It is true that even Gods children sometimes are cast into Dumps and very great perplexities and have not their consolation and faith at all times strong alike but yet as God still raiseth them after their falls so doth he also in his good time remove againe all those doubtfull perplexities distrusts and dismayes and maketh their faith at last so strong and eminent as that the power and gates of Hell it selfe be not able to prevaile against it For Gods children which not onely heare the word of God but be carefull also to doe it be by Christ Iesus himselfe likened to the vvise man that built his house upon a Rocke and the raine fell and the floods came and the vvindes blew and beat upon the house but it fell not because it vvas builded not upon the sands but upon a sure Rocke Whereby we see that whatsoever stormes doe arise or windes and tempests doe come upon Gods children yet God supporteth them and maketh them to stand for all that invincible Yea they are in the end more then Conquerors as S. Paul speaketh through him that loved them Howbeit it is a good Caveat and admonition against rash Presumption and arrogant and deceitfull confidence which S. Paul giveth saying Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall for a man may thinke himselfe to stand when he standeth not so may easily deceive himselfe if he take not verie good heed And therefore doe both those Apostles S. Paul S. Peter require a great search triall and examination diligence and endevour to be used in this matter that so men through an overweening conceit or false perswasion deceive not themselves It is true likewise that Gods elect and sanctified people are to vvorke out that is to proceed or to goe on forward in the race of their salvation vvith feare and trembling as S. Paul admonisheth to make them the more carefull and watchfull over themselves but this trembling in the presence of Gods great powerfull and incomparable Maiestie and this awfull feare which they beare and are to beare unto him doth not hinder but doth rather affirme and confirme this assurance of salvation before spoken of within themselves For the feare toward God which all Gods children have and are to have is not a slavish or servile feare such as Reprobates and Divels have which is onely in respect of punishment torments and of condemnation ●nor anie such feare as is ioyned with a continuall distrust and doubting of Gods love but it is a filial feare such as kinde well natured and dutifull children beare to their fathers and such a feare as is mingled with faith and with a sense and feeling of the love even of the everlasting love of God toward them in Christ Iesus For which cause S. Paul saith expressely that They have not received the spirit of Bondage to feare any more but the spirit of Adoption vvhereby they cry Abba Father So that such is the feare ioyned with faith and love that is in Gods Children as that they have neverthelesse in the end Bouldnesse even in the day of Iudgement as S. Iohn expreslie testifieth for if God be on their side vvho can be against them And sith God hath iustified them who can condemne them Yea who can lay anie thing to their charge as S. Paul speaketh and in an holy and heavenly sort exulteth and triumpheth But all this while doe you not perceive how miserable the popish Church is wherein no such faith or confidence is to be found but at the most no better but doubtfull or uncertaine hopes which yeeld a verie poore or no comfort to the soule of a man CHAP. VIII Concerning Reprobation wherein Gods doings and the Doctrine of the Protestants bee justified against Objections Cavills and Calumnies of Adversaries THat there is a Reprobation aswell as an Election is a thing manifest for S. Paul saith of some that God hath delivered them up unto a Reprobate minde to doe those things vvhich are not convenient being full of all unrighteousnes fornication wickednes covetousnes malitiousnes c. Hee saith againe of some that they bee abhominable and disobedient and to everie good worke reprobate And again he saith of some that they be men of corrupt mindes and reprobate concerning the faith Yea if there were nothing else the verie terme of Electing some unto salvation importeth that there is a Reprobation or refusal of the rest that were not Elected For what is Election if you well observe the force and nature of the word but the choosing or singling out of some from the rest so that Reprobation is the opposite or contrarie to Election as Damnation is the opposite or contrarie to Salvation To be a Reprobate then is nothing else but to be refused or reiected as touching salvation or not to bee elected thereunto For the better understanding whereof wee must know that God made Adam good and righteous in the beginning but he afterward through the temptation of the Divell and his owne consent thereunto fell from that his Integrity and puritie and so all Mankind being inclosed in his loynes fell togethet with him and in him for In him all sinned as S. Paul expreslie affirmeth and were all by nature thus corrupted become the Children of vvrath as hee likewise speaketh in another place God beholding this fallen Lumpe of Mankind who by this their sinne and transgression had all alike deserved condemnation was pleased neverthelesse to take elect some of them to salvation in Christ and to relinquish the rest leaving them in that their sinfull estate to goe to condemnation And therefore be the Elect upon whom God was thus pleased to shew mercie called Vasa misericordiae The vessells of mercie as contrariwise the rest which were not so Elected but relinquished and reiected that is to say the Reprobates be called Vasa Irae the vessells of vvrath fitted as S. Paul speaketh through their owne sinne and corruption to destruction So true is it that their perdition or destruction is of themselves and that the salvation of the rest namely of the Elect is of God and of his meere grace and bountie For as the Elect bee elected in Christ and given to him to bee redeemed and to bee saved from Wrath and the curse of the Law and bee therefore in the times appointed of God quickened renevved regenerated iustified and sanctified and so come in the

shall be able to diswade them Howbeit I would desire you to be better advised and though it be to the utter overthrowing of your fancies and wills to yeeld to that puissant and unvanquishable truth which not onlie reason but all right faith and religion also requireth at your hands for even faith and religion aswell sense and reason perswadeth against that monstrous conceipt of Transubstatiation and of the natural bodie of Christ to be eaten with the bodilie mouth For further declaration whereof doe but consider some absurdities and inconveniences wherewith it is accompanied First you thereby make the Lords Supper to be no Sacrament for if it be a Sacrament it must of necessitie have aswel an outward visible signe of an holie thing as the holie thing it selfe The outward visible signe in this point is the bread and the holie thing whereof it is a signe is the verie natural bodie of Christ which was crucified for us Now you s●y That after consecration there is no bread at all remaining but onlie the verie natural bodie of Iesus Christ and so making no bread at all to be there you also make no outward visible signe to be there and consequentlie make it no Sacrament Secondlie if there be no bread remaining but onlie the Accidents of bread that is whitenesse roundnesse and such like without a substance as yee hold then beside that it is most absurd by the rules of reason to hold that anie accidents can be without their substance I pray further tell me what it is that the communicant receiveth and eateth for we thinke everie man should be ashamed to say that he eateth bare accidents and not the substance of bread But for cleere proofe S. Paul affirmeth it expreslie to be still bread after consecration and that accordinglie the communicant eateth bread neither will the bare accidents of bread without the substance nourish anie man Thirdlie how absurd and unseemlie a thing is it for one man to eate up another as if it became Christians to be Caniballs or Anthropophagi that is such as were eaters of men and yet if this Popish opinion were true should Christians be eaters even of the bodie of a man and of the best m●n that ever lived even of their owne Saviour and Redeemer Iesus Christ both God and man and that in a most grosse and carnal manner which is a most impious and most inhumane barbarous conceit Fourthlie it is well knowne that Christ Iesus is true man and hath all the properties of one that is a true man being like unto man in all things sinne only excepted as the Scripture witnesseth And therefore as he is a true man and hath a true humane bodie like other men sinne onelie excepted that his humane bodie cannot possiblie be in two or manie places at once no not after his resurrection as S. Augustine expresly witnesseth no more then the bodies of other men For which cause the Angel said of Christ Non est hic surrexit enim He is not here for he is risen This speech of the Angel sheweth contrarie to your conceit that the humanitie and bodie of Christ even after his resurrection is not in diverse places at once as his Deitie and Godhead is and that it cannot be in anie more places then one at a time because when his bodie was in the grave it was not anie where else and when it was risen ou● of the grave then it was not there but in another place as the Angel declareth Yea whilest you make his humanitie to be multi-present what doe yee else but confound his humanitie and fall into as manifest an errour as is the Heresie of the ubiquitares If anie alledge that the humanitie of Christ and his Deitie be inseparable and that therefore wheresoever his Deitie is there is also his humanitie and consequently because his Deitie or Godhead is everie where his humanitie also or manhood must be likewise everie where This is but a sophistical and deceitfull kinde of reasoning wherewith none should be ensnarled for although it be true that the Deitie and humanitie of Christ be inseparable in him in respect of his person in whom they are united both together making but one Christ yet are they not so inseparable but that the one may be and is namelie his Deitie or Godhead where the other is not For example the Deitie or Godhead of Christ is indeed everie where and filleth heaven and earth as it is said in the Prophet yea the heaven of heavens cannot conteine him as Solomon saith and consequently that Deitie was also even in the grave of Christ after he was risen from death and yet was not his humanitie or manhood there as the Angel himselfe hath before assured us So that although wheresoever his humanitie or manhood is there is also his Deitie or Godhead yet it followeth not contrariwise that wheresoever his Deitie or Godhead is there also is his humanitie or manhood Again doth not Christ Iesus himselfe say thus The poore ye have alwayes with you but me ye shall not have alwayes How could these words be true except wee confesse that he may be and is absent from us in his humanitie and manhood although he be alwaies present with us in respect of his Deitie and by his power and spirit In which respect he hath also said that Hee vvill be vvith his Church to the end of the vvorld You perceive then how Christ is present and how absent namelie that he is alwaies present everie where in his Deitie but not so in his humanitie or manhood And for further proofe hereof doth not Christ Iesus say againe expressely thus It is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away the Comforter will not come unto you Againe he saith I leave the vvorld and goe to the Father And againe he saith Now am I no more in the vvorld but these are in the world and I come to thee Holy Father keepe them in thy Name even them vvhom thou hast given mee What meaneth all this but that Christ Iesus after his resurrection was to ascend into heaven and so to goe away to depart to leave the vvorld and to be as himselfe there speaketh no more in the vvorld Must not this needs be intended in respect of his manhood and bodily presence for most certaine it is that in respect of his Deitie power and spirit he is with us to the worlds end and for ever as before is said And therefore also doth S. Peter witnesse that in respect of that his manhood or humanitie the Heavens must conteyne him untill the time that all things be restored vvhich God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the vvorld began For which cause also we beleeve according to our Creede that from thence hee shall come to iudge both the quicke and the dead If then ever since his ascention hee be