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	work_n	6,717	5	5.8349	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03586	A learned discourse of iustification, workes, and how the foundation of faith is overthrowne. By Richard Hooker, sometimes fellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford	Hooker, Richard, 1553 or 4-1600.; Jackson, Henry, 1586-1662.; Spenser, John, 1559-1614.	1612 (1612)	STC 13708; ESTC S121045	45,591	98

vnsowred with this and so be * saved Fourthly if they all held this heresie many there were that helde it no doubt but only in a generall forme of words which a favourable interpretation might expound in a sense differing farre enough from the poysoned conceipt of heresie As for example did they holde that wee cannot bee saved with Christ without good works We our selues do I thinke al say as much with this construction salvation being taken as in that sentence Corde creditur ad iustitiam ore fit confessio ad salutem except infants and men cut off vpon the point of their conversion of the rest none shall see God but such as seeke peace and holines though not a cause of their salvation yet as a way which they must walke which will be saved Did they that hold without works that we are not iustified take iustification so as it may also imply sanctificatiō And S. Iames doth say as much For except there be an ambiguitie in the same tearme S. Paul and S. Iames do contradict each the other which can not be Now there is no ambiguity in the name either of faith or of workes being meant by them both in one and the same sense Finding therefore that iustification is spoken of by S. Paul without implying sanctification when he proveth that a man is iustified by faith without workes finding likewise that iustificatiō doth some time imply sanctification also with it I suppose nothing to be more sound then so to interpret S. Iames speaking not in that sense but in this 21 Wee haue already shewed that there bee two kindes of Christian righteousnes the one without vs which we haue by imputation th' other in vs which cōsisteth of faith hope and charitie and other Christian vertues And S. Iames doth proue that Abraham had not only the one because the thing beleeved was imputed vnto him for righteousnes but also the other because he offered vp his son God giveth vs both the one iustice and the other the one by accepting vs for righteous in Christ th' other by working christian righteousnes in vs. The proper and most immediate efficient cause in vs of this later is the spirit of adoptiō we haue received into our hearts That whereof it consisteth where of it is really and formally made are those infused vertues proper and particular vnto Saints which the spirit in the very moment when first it is given of of God bringeth with it the effects whereof are such actions as the Apostle doth call the fruits of works the operations of the spirit The difference of the which operations from the root whereof they spring maketh it needfull to put two kinds likewise of sanctifying righteousnes Habituall and Actuall Habituall that holinesse wherewith our soules are inwardly indued the same instant when first we begin to be the temples of the Holy Ghost Actuall that holynesse which afterwards beautifieth all the parts and actions of our life the holynes for the which Enoch Iob Zacharie Elizabeth other Saints are in the Scriptures so highly commended If here it be demanded which of these we do first receiue I answere that the spirit the vertues of the spirit the habituall iustice which is ingrafted the externall iustice of Iesus Christ which is imputed these wee receiue all at one and the same time whensoever we haue any of these we haue all they goe together Yet sith no man is iustified except he beleeue and no man beleeueth except he haue faith and no man except he haue received the spirit of adoption hath faith for asmuch as they doe necessarily inferre iustification and iustification doth of necessity presuppose them we must needs hold that imputed righteousnes in dignitie being the chiefest is notwithstanding in order the last of all these but actuall righteousnesse which is the righteousnes of good workes succeedeth all followeth after al both in order and time Which being attentiuely marked sheweth plainely how the faith of true beleevers cannot bee divorced from hope and loue how faith is a part of sanctification and yet vnto iustification necessarie howe faith is perfected by good workes and no worke of ours without faith finally how our fathers might hold that we are iustified by faith alone and yet hold truely that without works we are not iustified Did they think that men doe merit rewards in heaven by the workes they performe on earth The ancient vse meriting for obtaining and in that sense they of Wittenberg haue it in their confession We teach that good workes commaunded of God are necessarily to be done and by the free kindnes of God they merit their certaine rewards Therefore speaking as our fathers did and we taking their speech in a sound meaning as we may take our fathers and might for asmuch as their meaning is doubtfull and charity doth alwaies interprete doubtfull things favourably what should iuduce vs to thinke that rather the dammage of the worst construction did light vpon them all thē that the blessing of the better was granted vnto thousands Fiftly if in the worst construction that may bee made they had generally al imbraced it living might not many of them dying vtterly renounce it Howsoever men when they sit at ease do vainely tickle their hearts with the wanton conceipt of I knowe not what proportionable correspondence betweene their merits their rewards which in the trance of their high speculations they dreame that God hath measured weighed laid vp as it were in bundles for them notwithstanding we see by dayly experience in a number even of them that when the houre of death approcheth when they secretly heare themselues summoned forthwith to appeare and stand at the barre of that Iudge whose brightnesse causeth the eies of the Angels themselues to dazle all these idle imaginations doe then begin to hide their faces to name merits is then to lay their soules vpon the racke the memorie of their own deeds is lothsome vnto them they forsake all things wherein they haue put any trust or confidence no staffe to leane vpon no ease no rest no comfort then but only in Iesus Christ. 22 Wherefore if this proposition were true To hold in such wise as the Church of Rome doth that we cannot be saved by Christ alone without workes is directly to denie the foundation of faith I say that if this proposition were true nevertheles so many waies I haue shewed where by we may hope that thousandes of our fathers which lived in popish superstition might be saved But what if it be true what if neither that of the Galatians concerning circumcision nor this of the church of Rome by works be any direct denial of the foūdatiō as it is affirmed that both are I neede not wade so farre as to discusse this controversie the matter which first was brought into question being so cleere as I hope it is Howbeit because I desire that the truth even in that also should receiue

are not of the heresie of the Church of Rome The people following the conduct of their guides and observing as they did exactly that which was prescribed thought they did God good service when indeed they did dishonor him This was their error but the heresie of the church of Rome their dogmatical positions opposite vnto Christian truth what one man amongst ten thousand did ever vnderstand Of them which vnderstand Romane heresies and allow them all are not alike partakers in the action of allowing Some allow them as the first founders and establishers of them which crime toucheth none but their Popes and Councels the people are cleare free from this Of them which maintain popish heresies not as authors but receivers of them from others all mainetaine them not as masters In this are not the people partakers neither but only the predicauts and schoolemen Of them which haue beene partakers in this sinne of teaching Popish heresie there is also a difference for they haue not all beene teachers of all Popish heresies Put a difference saith S. Iude haue compassion vpon some Shall wee lay vp all in one condition Shall we cast them all headlong Shall we plunge them all into that infernall and everlasting flaming lake Them that haue beene partakers of the errors of Babylon together with them which are in the heresie Them which haue beene the authors of heresie with them that by terror and violence haue beene forced to receiue it Them who haue taught it with them whose simplicitie hath by sleights and conveiances of false teachers beene seduced to belieue it Them which haue beene partakers in one with them which haue bin partakers in many Them which in many with them which in all 13 Notwithstanding I graunt that although the condemnation of them bee more tollerable then of these yet from the man that laboureth at the plough to him that sitteth in the Vatican to all partakers in the sinnes of Babylon to our Fathers though they did but erroneously practise that which the guides heretically taught to all without exception plagues were due The pit is ordinarily the end aswel of the guid as of the guided in blindnesse But wo worth the houre wherein we were borne except wee might promise our selues better things things which accompany mans solvatiō even where we knowe that worse and such as accompany condemnation are due Then must we shew some way how possibly they might escape What way is there that sinners can finde to escape the iudgement of God but onely by appealing to the seate of his saving mercy Which mercy with Origen wee doe not extende to divells and damned spirites God hath mercy vpon thousandes but there bee thousands also which he hardeneth Christ hath therefore sette the bounds he hath fixed the limittes of his saving mercy within the compasse of these tearmes God sent not his owne sonne to condēne the world but that the world through him might be saved In the third of S. Iohns Gospel mercy is restrained to beleevers He that beleeveth shall not be condemned he that beleeueth not is condemned already because he heleeued not in the Sonne of God In the 2. of the Revelation mercy is restrained to the penitent For of Iesabell and her sectaries thus he speaketh I gaue her space to repent and she repented not Behold I wil cast her into a bed and them that commit fornication with her into a great affliction except they repent them of their workes I will kill her children with death Our hope therefore of the Fathers is if they were not altogether faithlesse impenitent 14 They are not all faithlesse that are weake in assenting to the truth or stiffe in maintaining things any way opposit to the truth of Christian doctrine But as many as hold the foundatiō which is pretious though they hold it but weakely and as it were with a slender thread although they frame many base and vnsutable things vpon it things that cannot abide the tryall of the fire yet shall they passe the fierie triall and be saved which indeed haue builded themselues vpon the rocke which is the foundation of the Church If then our Fathers did not hold the foundation of faith there is no doubt but they were faithlesse If many of them held it then is therein no impediment but many of thē might be saved Then let vs see what the foundation of faith is and whether we may thinke that thousands of our fathers being in Popish superstitions did notwithstanding hold the foundation 15 If the foundation of faith doe import the generall ground wherevpon we rest when wee doe belieue the writings of the Evangelists and the Apostles are the foundation of the Christian faith Credimus quia legimus saith S. Ierom o that the Church of Rome did as soundly interpret these fundamentall writings wherevpon we build our faith as shee doth willingly hold and imbrace them 16 But if the name of foundation do note the principall thing which is believed then is that the foundation of our faith which S. Paul hath to Timothy God minifested in the flesh iustified in the spirit c. that of Nathaniel Thou art the sonne of the living God thou art the king of Israel that of the inhabitants of Samaria This is Christ the Saviour of the world he that directly denieth this doth vtterly rase the very foundation of our faith I haue proved heretofore that although the Church of Rome hath played the harlot worse then ever did Israel yet are they not as now the Synagogue of the Iewes which plainely deny Christ Iesus quite and cleane excluded from the new covenant But as Samaria compared with Hierusalem is tearmed Aholath a Church or Tabernacle of her owne contrariwise Ierusalem Aholibath the resting place of the Lord so whatsoever we tearme the Church of Rome when we compare her with reformed Churches still we put a difference as then betweene Babylon and Samaria so now betweene Rome and the heathenish assemblies which opinion I must and will recall I must graunt will that the Church of Rome together with all her children is cleane excluded There is no difference in the world betweene our fathers Saracens Turks Paynims if they did directly deny Christ crucified for the salvation of the world 17 But how many millions of them were known so to haue ended their mortall liues that the drawing of their breath hath ceased with the vttering of this faith Christ my Saviour my redeemer Iesus Answere is made that this they might vnfainedly confesse and yet be farre enough from salvation For behold saith the Apostle I Paul say vnto you that if you bee circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Christ in the worke of mans salvation is alone the Galathians were cast away by ioining Circumcision and the other rites of the law with Christ the Church of Rome doth teach her children to ioine other things likewise with him

by consequent or indirectly which hold any one assertion whatsoever wherevpon the direct denial thereof may be necessarily concluded What is the question betweene the Gentiles and vs but this whether salvation bee by Christ What betweene the Iewes and vs but this Whether by this Iesus whom wee call Christ yea or no This to be the maine point wherevpon Christianity standeth it is cleere by that one sentence of Festus concerning Paules accusers They brought no crime of such things as I supposed but had certain questions against him of their superstition and of one Iesus which was dead whome Paul affirmed to be aliue Where we see that Iesus dead and raised for the salvation of the world is by Iewes denied despised by a Gentile by a Christian Apostle maintained The Fathers therefore in the Primitiue Church when they wrote Tertullian the booke which hee calleth Apologeticus Minucius Foelix the booke which he intitleth Octavius Arnobius the seavē bookes against the Gentiles Chrysostome his Orations against the Iewes Eusebius his tenne bookes of Evangelicall demonstration they stand in defence of Christianity against them by whom the foundation thereof was directly denyed But the writings of the Fathers against Novatians Pelagians and other heretikes of the like note refell positions whereby the foundation of Christian faith was overthrowne by consequent onely In the former sort of writings the foundation is proved in the later it is alleaged as a proofe which to men that had beene knowne directly to deny must needes haue seem'd a very beggerly kind of disputing All Infidels therefore deny the foundation of faith directly by consequent many a Christian man yea whole Christian Churches haue denied it and doe deny it at this present day Christian Churches the foundation of Christianity Not directly for then they cease to be Christian Churches but by a consequent in respect whereof we condemne them as erroneous although for holding the foundation we doe and must hold them Christian. 26 We see what it is to hold the foundation what directly and what by consequent to deny it The next thing which followeth is whether they whome God hath chosen to obtaine the glory of our Lord Iesus Christ may once effectually called and through faith iustified truely afterwards fall so farre as directly to deny the foundation which their hearts haue before imbraced with ioy and comfort in the holy Ghost for such is the faith which indeed doth iustifie Devilles knowe the same things which wee beleeue and the mindes of the most vngodly may bee fully perswaded of the truth which knowledge in th' one and in the'other is sometimes termed faith but equivocally being indeed no such faith as that whereby a Christian man is iustified It is the spirit of adoption which worketh faith in vs in them not the things which wee beleeue are by vs apprehended not only as true but also as good and that to vs as good they are not by them apprehended as true they are Wherevpon followeth the third difference the Christian man the more hee increaseth in faith the more his ioy and comfort aboundeth but they the more sure they are of the truth the more they quake and tremble at it This begetteth an other effect where the harts of th' one sort haue a different disposition from the other Non ignoro plerosque conscientia meritorum nihil se esse per mortem magis optare quàm credere Malunt enim extingui penitus quā ad supplicia reparari I am not ignorant saith Minutius that there bee many who being conscious what they are to looke for do rather wish that they might then thinke that they shall cease when they cease to liue because they hold it better that death should consume them vnto nothing then God receiue them into punishment So it is in other articles of faith whereof wicked men thinke no doubt many times they are too true on the the contrary side to the other there is no griefe or torment greater then to feele their perswasion weake in things whereof when they are perswaded they reape such comfort and ioy of spirit such is the faith whereby we are iustified such I mean in respect of the qualitie For touching the principall obiect of faith longer then it holdeth the foundation whereof wee haue spoken it neither iustifieth nor is but ceaseth to bee faith when it ceaseth to beleeue that Iesus Christ is the onlie Saviour of the world The cause of life spirituall in vs is Christ not carnally or corporally inhabiting but dwelling in the soule of man as a thing which whē the minde apprehendeth it is said to inhabite or possesse the minde The minde conceiveth Christ by hearing the doctrin of Christianitie as the light of nature doth the minde to apprehend those truths which are merelie rationall so that saving truth which is farre aboue the reach of humane reason cannot otherwise then by the spirit of the Almightie be conceived All these are implyed wheresoever anie of them is mentioned as the cause of the spirituall life Wherefore if we haue read that The spirit is our life or the word our life or Christ our life we are in everie of these to vnderstād that our life is Christ by the hearing of the gospell apprehended as a Saviour and assented vnto through the power of the holy Ghost The first intellectuall conceipt and comprehension of Christ so imbraced S. Peter calleth the seed whereof we be new borne our first imbracing of Christ is our first reviving from the state of death and condemnation He that hath the sonne hath life saith S. Iohn and he that hath not the sonne of God hath not life If therefore he which once hath the sonne may cease to haue the sonne though it be for a moment he ceaseth for that moment to haue life But the life of them which haue the sonne of God is everlasting in the world to come But because as Christ being raised frō the dead dieth no more death hath no more power over him so the iustified man being alied to God in Iesus Christ our Lord doth as necessarily from that time forward alwaies liue as Christ by whom he hath life liveth alwaies I might if I had not other where largely done it already shew by many and sundry manifest and cleere proofes how the motions and operations of life are sometimes so indiscernable and so secret that they seeme stone dead who notwithstanding are still aliue vnto God in Christ. For as long as that abideth in in vs which animateth quickneth and giveth life so lōg we liue and we knowe that the cause of our faith abideth in vs for ever If Christ the fountaine of life may flit and leaue the habitation where once hee dwelleth what shall become of his promise I am with you to the worlds end If the seed of God which cōtaineth Christ may be first conceived and then cast out how doth S.

were rigorous of things not vtterly to be neglected and left vndone washings and tithings c. As they were in these so must we be in iudgement and the loue of God Christ in workes ceremoniall giueth more liberty in morall much lesse then they did Workes of righteousnesse therefore are not so repugnantlie added in the one pro position as in the other circumcision is 31 But we say our salvation is by Christ alone therefore howsoever or whatsoever wee adde vnto Christ in the matter of salvation we overthrow Christ. Our case were very hard if this argument so vniversally meant as it is proposed were sound and good We our selues doe not teach Christ alone excluding our owne faith vnto iustificatiō Christ alone excluding our own works vnto sanctification Christ alone excluding the one or the other vnnecessarie vnto salvation It is a childish cavill wherewith in the matter of iustification our adversaries do so greatly please themselues exclaiming that we tread all Christian vertues vnder our feet and require nothing in Christians but faith because wee teach that faith alone iustifieth whereas by this speech we never meant to exclude either hope or charitie frō being alwaies ioined as inseparable mates with faith in the man that is iustified or workes from being added as necessarie duties required at the hands of every iustified man but to shew that faith is the only hand which putteth on Christ vnto iustification and Christ the only garment which being so put on covereth the shame of our defiled natures hideth the imperfections of our workes preserveth vs blameles in the sight of God before whom otherwise the weaknesse of our faith were cause sufficiēt to make vs culpable yea to shut vs frō the kingdome of heaven where nothing that is not absolute can enter That our dealing with them bee not as childish as theirs with vs when wee heare of salvation by Christ alone considering that alone as an exclusiue particle we are to note what it doth exclude where If I say such a iudge only ought to determine such a case all things incident to the determination thereof besides the person of the Iudge as lawes dispositions evidences c. are not hereby excluded persons are not excluded from witnessing herein or assisting but onely from determining and giving sentence How then is our salvation wrought by Christ alone It is not our meaning that nothing is requisite to mans salvatiō but Christ to saue and he to be saved quietly without anie more adooe As we haue received so we teach that besides the bare and naked worke wherein Christ without anie other associate finished all the partes of our redemption purchased salvation himselfe alone for conveiance of this eminent blessing vnto vs manie things are of necessitie required as to bee knowne and chosen of God before the foundation of the world in the world to called iustified sanctified after wee haue left the world to be receiued vnto glorie Christ in everie of these hath somwhat which he worketh alone Through him according to the eternall purpose of God before the foundation of the world borne crucified buried raised c. wee were in a gratious acceptiō knowne vnto God long before we were seene of men God knew vs loved vs was kinde to vs in Jesus Christ in him we were elected to be heires of life Thus farre God through Christ hath wrought in such sort alone that our selues are meere patients working no more then dead senselesse matter wood or stone or yron doth in the artificers hands no more then the clay whē the potter appointeth it to be framed for an honourable vse nay not so much for the matter wherevpon the craftsman worketh he chooseth being moved by the fitnesse which is in it to serue his turne in vs no such thing Touching the rest which is laid for the foundation of our faith importeth farther that by him we are called that we haue redēptiō remissiō of sins through his blood health by his stripes iustice by him that he doth sanctifie his Church make it glorious to himself that h entrance into ioie shal be givē vs by him yea all things by him alone Howbeit not so by him alone as if in vs to i our vocatiō the hearing of the Gospell to our iustification faith to our sanctification the fruits of the spirit to our entrance into rest perseverance in hope in faith in holinesse were not necessarie 32 Then what is the fault of the Church of Rome Not that shee requireth workes at their handes which will be saved but that shee attributeth vnto workes a power of satisfying God for sin yea a vertue to merite both grace here and in heaven glorie That this overthroweth the foundation of faith I graunt willingly that it is a direct denying thereof I vtterlie deny what it is to hold and what directly to deny the foundation of faith I haue already opened Apply it particularly to this cause and there needs no more adooe The thing which is handled if the forme vnder which it is handled be added therevnto it sheweth the foundation of any doctrine whatsoever Christ is the matter whereof the doctrine of the Gospell treateth and it treateth of Christ as of a Saviour Salvation therefore by Christ is the foundation of Christianitie as for works they are a thing subordinate no otherwise then because our sanctification cannot be accomplished without them the doctrine concerning them is a thing builded vpon the foundation therefore the doctrine which addeth vnto them the power of satisfying or of meriting addeth vnto a thing subordinated builded vpon the foundation not to the verie foundation it selfe yet is the foundation by this addition consequently overthrowne for as much as out out of this addion it may be negatiuely concluded He which maketh any worke good and acceptable in the sight of God to proceede from the naturall freedome of our will he which giveth vnto any good workes of ours the force of satisfying the wrath of God for sin the power of meriting either earthly or heavenly rewards he which holdeth works going before our vocation in congruity to merite our vocation works following our first to merite our second iustification and by condignitie our last reward in the kingdome of heaven pulleth vp the doctrin of faith by the roots for out of every of these the plain direct deniall thereof may bee necessarilie concluded Not this only but what other heresie is there that doth not raze the very foundation of faith by consequent How be it we make a difference of heresies accoūting in the next degree to infidelitie which directly denie any one thing to be which is expreslie acknoweledged in the articles of our beliefe for out of any one article so denied the deniall of the very foundation it selfe is streightway inferd As for example if a man should saie There is no Catholicke Church it