Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	beget_v	father_n	son_n	11,645	5	6.8465	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20674	A discourse concerning the abstrusenesse of divine mysteries together with our knowledge of them May 1. 1627. Another touching church-schismes but the unanimity of orthodox professors Feb. 17. 1628. By I.D. Mr of Arts and fellow of Merton Colledge in Oxford.	Doughty, John, 1598-1672.	1628 (1628)	STC 7072; ESTC S110101	29,744	58

points as for man he is of an vnderstanding much darkned what it was before the fall whither as of a Viator or a Comprehensor or mixt as Aquinas Sum P. 1ª Q. 104. resolueth it matters not but certainely he did not then apprehend supernaturall things more fully then since hee doth searcely and with dimnesse As the earth is so are the earthly of a dull and heauy capacitie reason here hardly raising it selfe aboue the sense David acknowledgeth in this regard that he was ignorant nay foolish and as a beast Psal 73. Now on the otherside divine mysteries whither they concerne God in his nature or in his attributes they are very sublime First God in his essence he is so pure that he is purity and abstractnesse it selfe as the eie be it neuer so cleere cannot see the thinnesse of the ayre so neither can the eie of the minde truely imbrace the purenesse of the Dietie because wanting as 't were a solid substance wherevpon to fix And therefore you may obserue how alwaies it falls downe streight vpon conceipts more grosse and earthly Cum accesseris saith one longius abit God the neerer wee labour to approach him the farther wee shall finde him remoued beyond our search The Poet some where brings in Aeneas catching earnestly at Creusa's ghost but that flying and escaping betweene his embraces wee may puzle much about the diuine essence but euen then when wee thinke to haue laid hold on it it proues incomprehensible say I am that I am is my name was once the instruction of God vnto Moses Exod. 3. v. 14. and let him be still what he is it is impossible that hee should be measured by mans weake braine Much lesse may that sacred diuision of the Trinity be perceiued how three persons are as it were grafted vpon one and the same essence what the Schoolmen vrge by way of similitude from the vnderstanding memory and will doth but badly illustrate the cause for if the Father begot the Sonne as the power of the vnderstanding produceth its act them must the Sonne beget another Sonne as being with the same power indued likewise as the Spirit is produced by loue so shall it produce againe a Spirit by loue wherefore this instance fals short of a due resemblance Yet is it I confesse the best helpe and shadowe for expression that either here wee haue or may expect Whilst Moses kept vnvailed the Israelites could not indure to look vpon his face it was so bright neither may wee behold this mystery vnlesse it bee through such shadowes and that but weakly So then that which Tertullian hath here defined is most remarkably true Deum aestimari facit dum aestimari non capit wee doe best apprehend God either in his essence or in the Trinity if we confesse that we cannot Come now to those attributes of his power his will and such like what man is able possibly to reach them Who doth not streight acknowledge his dulnesse So long as the vnderstanding meets with obiects equall and befitting it's strength it doth well enough but the hand you knowe cannot graspe a thing bigger then it selfe neither can a finite apprehension throughly conceaue those properties as being infinite it doth well conceaue that they are infinite but not the infinitenesse hee is as high as heauen what can'st thou doe deeper then hell what canst thou knowe Iob. 11. v. 8. By the power indeed of the Almighty was this round world framed his arme and strength laid the foundation of it no man doubts but cleerely to apprehend the manner of its production requires more then a finite capacity our vnderstanding is not able to passe ouer so vast a distance as lyeth betweene an vtter nothing and the newnesse of a being Saint Paul makes it an act of faith to perceiue this Through faith wee vnderstand that the worlds were framed Heb. 11. 3. Yet especially are those mysteries of his will and decree most abstruse for they be not only abstract in their owne nature but also concealed by God of purpose No man knoweth the things of a man saue the spirit of man which is in him 1. Cor. 2. And a prudent man saith Solomon concealeth his knowledge Prov. 12. v. 23. Now God is all wisdome and for this must be as secret in his determinations as he is iust and vpright whither he reprobates men absolutely or vpon a presupposed fall seemes a question of a perplext difficulty Againe whither he allowes sufficiency of grace to all or not 't is easier to argue then finde out wherevpon to pitch a setled assent The Aegyptians to declare the abstrusenesse of their rites did place vpon the forefront of their Temples the picture of a Sphynx how much more iustly may wee doe so So many scruples doe occurre in the bulke of diuinity which if they be searched vnto the bottome they far surmount humane reach I let passe here that great mystery as Saint Paule calls it of Christ's being incarnate that of the last restoring of our bodies both which for their seeming impossibility were points in times past which ancienter professors of the Christian faith did most hardly digest humane reason proued so incapable to entertaine them that they became vnto it a rock of offence Neither stand I to inlarge those disputes of the worlds consummation of Antichrist with others not so rightly to bee tearm'd doubts as riddles Not the Angels themselues perchance do comprehend them as being of that rancke into which they doe but peepe as before they did into that of the redemption of man kinde Mirandula in his Apologie much extolleth certaine Cabalisticall volumes which he had as if in them all such mysterious doctrines had beene darkly comprized for saith he besides the holy writ God did so provide that whatsoeuer is to be known might out of these be collected by the more wise and painefull Iewes which his opinion he groundeth vpon Esdras Esdr 2. 14. This is but a meere fancy yet so farre it agreeth to right that by it is intimated the abstrusenesse of diuine truthes Out of whose womb commeth the yce saith the Lord Iob. 38. or hast thou entred into the treasures of snowe If not into those naturall storehouses of yce hayle much lesse can we ascend into those spirituall ones of which I speak Doubtlesse they are more remoued and being heauenly they as farre exceed the compasse of mans wit as the heauen is diuided from the earth Neither bee these alone of chiefest moment so involued but lesser also and those which we perhaps do iudge our selues to vnderstand compleatly But that of Gods prouidence the administration of the world may seeme to haue stagger'd the kingly Prophet how the wicked should still flourish and the righteous bee daily afflicted the manner of the soules beginning whither propagated or infused did much trouble Austin and Hierom Caliginosissima quaestio saith one of them it is a question too