Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	believe_v	faith_n	heart_n	7,913	5	5.2011	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62129	A gentleman's religion in three parts : the 1st contains the principles of natural religion, the 2d. and 3d. the doctrins of Christianity both as to faith and practice : with an appendix wherein it is proved that nothing contrary to our reason can possibly be the object of our belief, but that it is no just exception against some of the doctrins of Christianity that they are above our reason.	Synge, Edward, 1659-1741.	1698 (1698)	Wing S6380; ESTC R24078	100,488	452

influence of God's Spirit does not work so uncontrollably but that it may be resisted and even wholly rejected and lost is I think sufficiently obvious as well from Reason and Experience as form those passages of the Holy Scripture wherein we are exhorted not to quench the Spirit but to walk in and be led by the Spirit and the like which were apparently needless and to no purpose if the operations of the Holy Spirit upon our Hearts were so strong as that we could not chuse but comply with them Now the things which God requires to be performed on our part in order to life everlasting are apparent and can be no more but to believe those Truths which he has made known which is called Faith and to observe those Precepts which he has commanded which is called Obedience And as I have already shewn that these things are required from no man beyond the measures of possibility Part 1. § 14. So does the Scripture most fully assure us that God will in them make a very sufficient allowance for the ignorance and frailty and even for the perversness of our Nature and will not only be merciful unto our Weaknesses and ordinary Failings but will pardon and forgive even our greatest and most wilful Sins upon our true and hearty Repentance which is a part of our Obedience And as for the sin against the Holy Ghost which is said to be absolutely unpardonable I do not think it needful to enquire here into the Nature and Consequence of it but shall refer my Reader to that excellent Sermon of Dr. Tillotson the late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury upon that subject But here it is highly necessary that we should all take that Caution which both Reason and the Holy Scripures do give us viz. That we should not presume so much upon God's Mercy and Lenity as from hence to take occasion of going on in our Wickedness For Kindness thus abused will certainly turn into the highest Wrath and much increase the Damnation of a Sinner 43. I am inclined to think that those Arguments which are drawn from the nature of the Humane Soul it self are not by themselves sufficient to prove that it is immortal but on the contrary that the eternal duration of any created Being depends not so much upon its own Nature as upon the Will of God who created it But as Reason alone suggests unto us that there is a Life to come after this Part 1. § 13. And that Man was at first designed by God unto life eternal Part 2. § 29. so does the Holy Scripture most clearly assure us that they who perform what God requires shall be happy to all Eternity and they who do not so shall be miserable without end The reconcilableness of which with God's Justice and Mercy I have accounted for § 17. But wherein this Happiness of the righteous shall consist we can but very imperfectly tell and whether the Punishment of the wicked shall literally be in everlasting Fire or whether that expression be only made use of Metaphorically to signifie the greatness of the Torment I think it not necessary to determine But both my own Reason and some places of Scripture do seem strongly to suggest that neither the Reward of good men nor the Punishment of the evil shall be equal unto all but greater or less according as they have exceeded one another in the Holiness or Wickedness of their Lives 44. That all Men are mortal is sufficiently testified by out daily Experience But that the Souls of Men immediately upon their separation from their Bodies are not in a state of Insensibility but are straitway conveyed into a state either of Joy or Misery seems very apparent to me from St. Paul's desire to be dissolved that he might be with Christ from our Saviours Promise unto the Thief upon the Cross and from the Story or Parable of the Rich man and Lazarus as also from some other intimations which the Holy Scripture gives us But since there is one day to be a general Judgment of all mankind before the Tribunal of Christ where every man must receive his Sentence for eternal either Happiness or Misery as the Holy Scripture does assure us It seems not irrational to judge that neither the righteous nor the wicked do receive their full and final portion until that Judgment be passed upon them I know not therefore how to condemn those who anciently took up the Custom of praying for their deceased Friends who had lived holily and died piously that they might find favour and acceptance at the general Judgment and have their portion of Glory augmented But I can by no means approve of those who upon such pitiful suggestions have presumed to determine that there is such a place as Purgatory where the Souls of men are to be purged and suffer a temporary Punishment before their admission into Heaven And altho I look upon their praying for the dead to be a mistake rather than a sin yet their taking of Mony for so doing and raising such a Revenue upon that Fund I look upon to be a most ungodly Cheat and Imposition upon the People 45. Altho I do not apprehend that there is any natural decay in the general frame and structure of this World yet it is certain that by the Power of God who made it it may whenever he pleases be destroyed and dissolved and the Scripture assures us that it shall be so at the time of the general Judgment at which time also there shall be an universal Resurrection of the Bodies of all those who have died and a change of those who shall be then alive But whether all the same individual Particles of each mans Body which have been laid down in the earth shall be raised and reunited again to their Souls I look upon to be a needless Enquiry What St. Paul says upon this Argument 1 Cor. 15. 35. does abundantly satisfie me the purport of whose words I take to be this viz. That God who being the Author of Nature has given such a vegetative power to a Grain of Corn that when it is thrown into the Ground and there macerated and dissolved it springs up again and brings forth a Body suitable and proper to its self that that same God I say both can and will at the last day from the dead and dissolved Bodies of Men raise up such Bodies as shall please himself And as there is a continual and great change of Particles in the Humane Body between the Birth and the Grave so I see not what Absurdity would follow if we should allow also that there is a like change between the Grave and the Resurrection 46. And thus I have endeavoured to give a brief and plain account of that part of Christianity which is purely or chiefly doctrinal which upon the most strict search that I have been able to make I think is exactly agreeable to the tenour and main design of the Holy Scriptures

and directed me where and how to seek for the particular Doctrines of it it follows now that I should put this Speculation into Practice that I would search the Scriptures with all the diligence I can and set my Mind with all its Faculties on work to find out as much as I am able of the Will of God that I may the better conform my self unto it This with God's help I design speedily to do And the Result of my Thoughts shall be published to the World if what I here write prove acceptable But in the mean time I think it not improper here to add some general Considerations which may serve as Rules and Guides to me or to any other Person who shall set himself upon such an Enquiry to direct our Judgments aright to the true Doctrine of Christianity and to keep us from all Mistakes about it XL. First Then I take it for granted That the Christian Religion is calculated for Men of Reason and Understanding that is That it is fit to satisfie and convince every sober Man who seriously considers the Arguments on which it relies and is not led astray by Passion by Prejudice or Worldly Interest That this is so appears very evidently from hence Because both Jesus and his Appostles do appeal to the common Reason and Understandings of Men to judge of what they taught Yea and why even of your selves judge ye not what is right says Jesus Luk. 12. 57. Prove all things hold fast that which is good says St. Paul 1 Thes 5. 21. Be ready always to give an Answer to every one that asketh you a Reason of the Hope that is in you says St. Peter 1 Pet. 3. 15. Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God says St. John 1 Joh. 4. 1. Hence then I conclude That there can be nothing in Christian Religion which contradicts the clear and evident Principles of Natural Reason For otherwise a Rational Man could not be a Christian See § 33. XLI Secondly It appears plain to me that Christian Religion was calculated not only nor chiefly for Men of great and deep Learning But also for those of ordinary plain and mean Capacities That is to say That there is nothing necessary in Christianity but what may be as well understood by every ordinary illiterate Man as by the greatest Schollars If this were not so it would not be possible for an unlearned Man to be as good a Christian as one that is learned Whereas the contrary is most apparently declared in the New Testament I thank thee O Father because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes says Jesus Matth. 11. 25. To which the Words of St. Paul do exactly agree 1 Cor. 1. 19. to Vers 7. of the Second Chapter And the same St. Paul gives us a Caution That Philosophy should not corrupt our Christianity Col. 2. 8. And warns Timothy against Science falsely so called 2 Tim. 6. 20. But there is nothing so much as intimated throughout the whole Bible that Philosophy or any other Humane Learning will qualifie a Man ever the better to become a Christian I confess indeed That as things stand at this time in the World it is highly convenient that the Teachers and Preachers of Christianity should be competently skilled in Humane Learning that they may be the better able to defend their Religion and the Purity of it against those who use so much Art and Skill either to corrupt or oppose it But where a Man sets up not for a Teacher but only for a true Believer it is evident from what has been said that he has no need of Scholarship but only of a plain and sober Understanding to make him capable of all necessary Instruction for a good Christian Or else Why should the Gospel be preached so particularly to the Poor Matth. 11. 5. who are commonly illiterate And how should the Poor in this World become so rich of Faith as St. James tells us Jam. 2. 5. From whence I think I may conclude That all such Doctrines the Vnderstanding and Proof whereof depend either on the subtile Spcculations of Humane Philosophy or the Niceties and Criticisms of Grammatical Learning or the curious Knowledge of History and Antiquity are not to be esteemed as necessary Parts of Christianity XLII Thirdly It is no less evident to me that the main Design of Jesus and of his Disciples whom he sent to preach the Gospel was to make Men not wiser as to Matters of Speculation but better and more vertuous as to their Lives and Actions Knowledge puffeth up but Charity edisieth saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 8. 1. Thus also Chap. 13. of the same Epistle he gives us to understand that the Gift of Tongues and of Prophecy the Understanding of all Mysteries and all Knowledge and Faith are of no value before God without Charity And that by Charity he means a Life led in the Practice of Vertue and Piety susficiently appears by the Sequel of that Chapter The same St. Paul tells us Tit. 2. 13. That the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all Men For what End To make them more wise more learned or more losty in their Speculations No such thing But teaching us That denying Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and Godly in this present World And to omit a multitude of Texts which might be alledged in so plain a Matter I shall only add what we are told Rom. 2. 6 c. That God will render unto every Man according to his Deeds c. Which is a plain Demonstration that it is our Deeds that is our Practices our Live and Conversations that we are chiefly obliged to take care of I grant indeed that God may if he pleases command things that are purely Ceremonial and such as have no manner of Influence upon Vertue and Morality As undoubtedly he did unto the Children of Israel And if he does command any such things 't is certain that we owe Obedience to them by virtue of that Authority which God has over us He may also reveal such Truths as are merely speculative and have nothing practical in them And whosoever is convinced of any such Revelation is undoubtedly bound to give his Assent to the things so revealed although they are beyond the Reach of his Understanding as I have said § 33. But from what I have here said I think I may conclude That since Vertue and Morality are undoubtedly the chief Design of Christianity they ought to be chiefly regarded and attended to by all Christians Nor ought any thing which is purely Ceremonial or Speculative to be reckoned as a necessary Part of Christian Religion except it appears very evidently that God has revealed or commanded it Very evidently I say For when a thing is conceived in dark and doubtful Expressions it is very liable to be mistaken and he that is