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	scripture_n	6,364	5	6.0991	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66383	The case of lay-communion with the Church of England considered and the lawfulness of it shew'd from the testimony of above an hundred eminent non-conformists of several perswasions.	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.	1683 (1683)	Wing W2691; ESTC R1501	57,793	83

which men's minds have been corrupted I find in whatsoever they differ one from another yet in this they agree That it 's unlawful to hear in publick which I am perswaded is one constant design of Satan in the variety of ways of Religion he hath set on foot by Jesuits amongst us Let us therefore be the more aware of whatsoever tends that way Of this Opinion also is M r Tombs though he continued an Anabaptist who has writ a whole Book to defend the Hearing of the present Ministers of England and toward the Close of the Work hath given forty additional Reasons for it and in opposition to those he writes against doth affirm Sure if the Church be called Mount Sion from the preaching of the Gospel the Assemblies of England may be called Sion Christ's Candlesticks and Garden as well as any Christians in the World I shall conclude this with what M r Robinson saith in this Case viz. For my self thus I believe with my heart before God and profess with my tongue and have before the World that I have one and the same Faith Spirit Baptism and Lord which I had in the Church of England and none other that I esteem so many in that Church of what state or Order soever as are truly Partakers of that Faith as I account thousands to be for my Christian Brethren and my self a Fellow-member with them of that one Mystical Body of Christ scattered far and wide throughout the World that I have always in spirit and affection all Christian Fellowship and Communion with them and am most ready in all outward Actions and Exercises of Religion lawful and lawfully done to express the same And withal that I am perswaded the hearing of the Word of God there preached in the manner and upon the grounds formerly mentioned both lawful and upon occasion necessary for me and all true Christians withdrawing from that Hierarchical Order of Church-Government and Ministry and the uniting in the Order and Ordinances instituted by Christ. Thus far He. From what hath been said upon this Head we may observe that though these Reverend Persons do go upon different Reasons according to the Principles they espouse though they agree not in the Constitution of Churches c. yet they all agree that the Parochial Churches are or may be as I have observed before true Churches of Christ that Communion with such Churches is lawful and that we are to go as far as we can toward Communion with them Though they differ about the Notion of Hearing as whether it be an Act of Communion and about the Call of those they hear yet they all agree in the lawfulness of it And therefore to separate wholly in this Ordinance and from the Parochial Churches as no Churches are equally condemned by all 3. They hold that they are not to separate from a Church for unlawful things if the things accounted unlawful are not of so heinous a nature as to unchurch a Church and affect the Vitals of Religion or are not imposed as necessary terms of Communion 1. If the Corruptions are such as do not unchurch a Church or affect the vital parts of Religion So saith M r Tombs Not every not many Corruptions of some kind do un-church there being many in Faith Worship and Conversation in the Churches of Corinth and some of the Seven Churches of Asia who yet were Golden Candlesticks amidst whom Christ did walk But such general avowed unrepented of errours in Faith as overthrow the foundation of Christian Faith to wit Christ the only Mediator betwixt God and man and salvation by him Corruptions of Worship by Idolatry in Life by evil manners as are utterly inconsistent with Christianity till which in whole or in part they are not unchurched For till then the Corruptions are tolerable and so afford no just reason to dissolve the Church or to depart from it So M r Brinsley Suppose some just grievances may be found among us yet are they tolerable If so then is Separation on this ground intolerable unwarrantable in as much as it ought not to be but upon a very great and weighty cause and that when there is no remedy So M r Noyes Private Brethren may not separate from Churches or Church-Ordinances which are not fundamentally defective neither in Doctrine or Manners Heresy or Prophaness To all which add the Testimony of D r Owen and M r Cotton The former asserts That many errours in Doctrine disorders in sacred Administrations irregular walking in Conversation with neglect and abuse of Discipline in Rulers may fall out in some Churches and yet not evacuate their Church-state or give sufficient warrant to leave their Communion and separate from them The latter saith Vnless you find in the Church Blasphemy or Idolatry or Persecution that is such as is intolerable there is no just ground of separation This is universally own'd But if any one should yet continue unconvinced let him but peruse the Catalogue of the faults of nine Churches in Scripture collected by M r Baxter and I perswade my self he will think the Conclusion inferr'd from it to be just and reasonable Observe saith he that no one member is in all these Scriptures or any other commanded to come out and separate from any of all these Churches as if their Communion in Worship were unlawful And therefore before you separate from any as judging Communion with them unlawful be sure that you bring greater reasons for it than any of these recited were 2. They are not to separate if the Corruptions are not so made the Conditions of Communion that they must necessarily and unavoidably communicate in them M r Vines speaks plainly to both of these The Church may be corrupted many ways in Doctrine Ordinances Worship c. And there are degrees of this Corruption the Doctrine in some remote Points the Worship in some Rituals of mans invention or custom How many Churches do we find thus corrupted and yet no Separation of Christ from the Jewish Church nor any Commandment to the Godly of Corinth c. to separate I must in such a Case avoid the Corruption hold the Communion But if Corruptions invade the Fundamentals the foundation of Doctrine is destroyed the Worship is become idolatrous and what is above all if the Church impose such Laws of her Communion as there is a necessity of doing or approving things unlawful in that Case Come out of Babylon The Churches of Protestants so separated from Rome But if the things be not of so heinous a nature nor thus strictly required then Communion with a Church under defects is lawful and may be a Duty So saith M r Corbet in the name of the present Non-Conformists We hold not our selves obliged to forsake a true Church as no Church for the corruptions and disorders found therein or to separate from its Worship for the tolerable faults thereof while our personal profession

tolerable and what no Church is without more or less d. 2. That they are not sufficient to hinder Communion 3. That they are but few First Forms and so it s required of the Members of the Church that they joyn in the use of Liturgy or Common-Prayer For the better understanding their judgment in this matter I shall shew what their opinion is of Forms of Prayer of publick Forms of Forms prescribed and of that particular Form of Divine Service used in this Church 1. The use of Forms is declared by them to be a thing lawful in it self and what God hath left us at liberty to use or not to use as we see occasion So Mr. Ball The word of God doth not prescribe any particular Form stinted or not stinted as necessary but doth warrant both as allowable for where nothing is in particular commanded touching the external Form of Words and Order in which our Petitions should be presented to the Lord there we are left at liberty And to put Religion in reading or uttering Words in a stinted or conceived Form what is it less than Superstition Of the same mind is Mr. Baxter and others And even Dr. Owen though he doth disallow the composing Forms of Prayer for our own private use yet at the same time declares that he doth not argue against Forms of Prayer as unlawful to be used And he adds a little after If they appear not contrary unto or inconsistent with or are not used in a way exclusive of that work of the Holy Spirit in prayer which we have described from Scripture c. I shall not contend with any about them But they do not only assert but they also undertake to prove the lawfulness of Forms from the nature use and ends of prayer and charge the contrary opinion with Enthusiasm and Novelty Secondly As to Forms in publick they declare 1. That it is lawful to use them and that this was the Tenent of all our best and most judicious Divines This Dr. Owen is cautious of denying who saith Supposing that those who make use of and plead for Forms of prayer especially in publick do in a due manner prepare themselves for it by holy meditation c. I do not judge that there is any such evil in them as that God will not communicate his spirit to any in the use of them 2 They do not only grant it lawful to use them but that it 's expedient So Mr. Egerton declares As for the publick Congregation special care must be had that nothing be done in Praying Preaching or Administring the Sacraments but what is decent and orderly because there many Eyes do see us and many Ears hear us and upon this account it is expedient for the most part to keep a constant Form both of matter and words Mr. Bradshaw pleads for it as Mr. Gataker informs us in his life for the avoiding hesitation which in Prayer is more offensive than in other discourse And when in a late collection of Sermons we find it complained of that in our days some have such Schismatical Phrases Notions and Doctrines in Preaching Praying and Praising that a sober Christian cannot say Amen it renders a Form so much the more considerable 3. They declare that publick Forms were universally used So Mr. Clark saith That set Forms of Prayer are according to the practice of all Churches even the best Reformed yea and Mr. Smith himself saith upon the Lords Prayer though as then he was warping and afterwards wandred far in the ways of Separation that it was the practice of the ancient Church and of all the Reformed Churches in Christendom of the Churches immediately after the Apostles nay saith he of the Church in the time of the Apostles as may be probably gathered out of 1 Cor. 14.26 This hath also been the practice of the best Lights that ever were set up in the Churches of Christ. 4. Accordingly this was the practice of the old Non-Conformists So Mr. Clark It is very well known that the flower of our own Divines went on in this way when they might have done otherwise if they had pleased in their Prayers before Sermons This we are told of Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Cartwright And we find Mr. Hildersham's Prayer before Sermon Printed and others This was so universally and constantly practised that Mr. Clark tells us that the first man who brought conceived Prayer into use in those parts where he lived was Mr. Sam. Crook who dyed but in the Year 1649. Thirdly As to prescribed Forms and Liturgies of this Mr. Ball saith I have shewed the use of a stinted Liturgy lawful and allowable by the Word of God of ancient use in the Churches of Christ approved by all Reformed Churches which is a very convenient method for the consideration of their judgment in the case 1. They grant that they are lawful its contrary to no precept or commandment directly or by lawful consequence saith Mr. Ball. So Mr. Norton of New-England doth determine Such things being observ'd as are to be observed it may be lawful to use Forms of Prayers c. prescribed in the Church neither are the Churches which use them guilty of Superstition Will-worship and violating the second Commandment And Dr. Owen himself complys with it who yields That Men or Churches may agree upon a prescribed Form by common consent as judging and avowing it best for their own edification and only argues against prescribing such Forms of Prayer universally in opposition and unto the exclusion of free Prayer 2. They grant that they are not only lawful but that there are footsteps of this way of Worship both in the Old and New Testament as Mr. Tombs and others have shewed and Mr. Ainsworth himself that did otherwise argue against them doth confess 3. They grant that they are very ancient in the Christian Church The Christian Churches of ancient times for the space of this 1400 Years at least if not from the Apostles time have had their stinted Liturgies saith Mr Ball And they answer Objections to the contrary 4 They grant that in the best Reformed nay in all Reformed Churches they are not only used and tolerated but also useful and expedient 5 That those amongst us to whom the use of the Common-Prayer hath been thought most burdensome have from time to time professed their liking and approbation of a stinted Liturgy as Mr. Ball assures us 6. That they thought it altogether unlawful to separate from a Church for the sake of stinted Forms and Liturgies This is not only frequently affirmed by Mr. Ball but little less even by Mr. Norton who saith It is lawful to embrace Communion with Churches where such Forms in publick Worship are in use neither doth it lye as