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	speak_v	word_n	6,573	5	4.5953	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35023	A letter written to a friend concerning Popish idolatrie	Croft, Herbert, 1603-1691.	1674 (1674)	Wing C6968; ESTC R3785	21,890	35

point controverted between us Indeed it were strange if in so many points in difference they should not have some colour at least in Scripture for one or two Let us see what Scripture they have for their Transubstantiation A very clear one Our Saviour taking Bread in his hand said This is my Body Sure we believe our Saviour could change Bread into his Body why then do not we believe that he did change it I pray you give me lieve to make the like Argument to you Our Saviour as positively said I am the bread which came down from heaven Sure you believe our Saviour could change his Body into Bread why then do not you believe he did so Are we not upon equal Terms If then you deny the latter to me why may not I deny the former to you You see how unconscionably they accuse us as a sensual and faithless Generation that will not believe any thing beyond our Senses do not we believe the Trinity our Saviour's Incarnation the Resurrection and much more far above all Sense and Reason also and should as readily believe this were there any just ground for it in Scripture But the Papists come upon us again and urge doth not our Saviour say Joh. 6. My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed and much more in that Chapter I must confess the words in this Chapter are far more pressing upon us than those in Matthew This is my body c. for'tis apparent the words in John made many take them in a literal sence as if Christ would give his very Flesh and Blood to be eaten and drunk whereat many of his Disciples were much offended and went from him but when at supper he said This is my body and gave it his Disciples to eat no man was offended at it or made any scruple to eat what he gave which no doubt some one at least would have done had they apprehended it to be his very Flem. Thomas who so hardly believed his Resurrection often declared unto him before hand and attested to him by all the rest after and the thing it self so much more easie for him to believe that the Soul should enter the same Body but two whole days after death when he had seen Lazarus raised after four dayes doubtless this slow believing Thomas would have somewhat boggled at believing the bread converted into Christ's Flesh and to eat it yet we do not find he or any other was startled at it but swallowed it down as readily as the former meat for our Saviour had before informed them that the words he spake were spirit and life therefore they ought not to be offended at them all which makes me confidently believe they did not believe it to be Christ's very Flesh but took the words as figuratively spoken as you and all others do those words I am the bread c. And I do as confidently believe that had they believed wrong our Saviour would have rectified their belief and would have fully instructed them But now I beseech you consider those words in Joh. which are so much more pressing for a literal sence of Christs very flesh given if those by the Papist Doctors are taken in a figurative sence and will not be endured by them in a literal sence have you not much more reason to take those in Matthew in a figurative sence The Papist Doctors dare not take the Words of St. John literally because they so clearly condemn the taking away the Cup from the Laity and denying them the Blood of Christ which our Saviour there so absolutely requires to be drunk by every one that will enter into Life Now consider into what a strait the Papist Doctors have brought themselves into if they take the words literally their taking away the Cup is declared damnable to the Laity if they take them figuratively their Transubstantiation is condemned as a grand Imposture But blessed be God we are free from both and fully confirmed in the figurative sence by St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. 23. Where he tells the Corinthians that he delivered to them what he received of the Lord who said This Cup is the New Testament in my blood which words differ much from those spoken by our Saviour and are as different in the sence also if taken literally for they denote a change of the Cup into Christ's Blood and therefore of necessity must and are taken by all figuratively and then they signifie the same with our Saviour's words and I hope the Papists will not accuse St. Paul to have told the Corinthians a false story and delivered that unto them which he never received of Christ. Sure you will rather stand up for St. Paul and accuse their Transubstantiation of falsity I could dilate on this Subject much more but I love brevity as well as you and when you desire more there is enough to be seen in Bishop Morton e. The Conclusion is made by the Papist Doctors that there being no Transubstantiation they are as great Idolaters in adoring the consecrated Hoste as any Heathens ever were God of his infinite mercy preserve you from having any Communion with them I shall now end this business as I began with Dr. Thorndick's Judgement thereon He in his Sixteenth Chapter speaking of the Papists praying to Saints saith there was no such thing in use till a good while after Constantine the Emperour who died Anno Dom. 350. so that by this Computation it must be about 400 years And can any one in reason think it fit to venture on so dangerous a practice in Religion unknown to the Church 400 years when Faith was purest Devotion most fervent Sanctity most eminent and when all helps to Salvation were most eagerly pursued yet no praying to Saints practised which is now come to that height as Dr. Thorndick himself there calls it A precipice of horrible danger sor saith he they ask the same things of the Saints and especially of the Blessed Virgin in the same terms in which they are desired of God even in the holy Scripture And this which the Doctor affirms is most evident in their printed Books of Prayer wherein though they sometimes mention the Saints Intercession and this we do to Christ also perfect God yet other times they pray to the Saints and Blessed Virgin directly for the things Thus you see they make no distinction between God Christ Blessed Virgin and Saints in their form of Prayer or things prayed for And is not this Idolatry far greater than to sacrifice to them Bulls and Rams to give them the divinest part of God's Worship Is not this to deifie them in the highest degree Is not this to worship false Gods They make them Gods as much as ever the Heathens made their Heroes Gods for the Heathens believed their Heroes to be mortal Men they knew them living they saw them dying but for their great Virtues believed their Souls were carried up into heaven and

hope you will be no more terrified with Dr. Thorndick's Bug-bear the nullifying of our Church which hath been and I hope will continue a Church professing One God the Creator of all one Lord Jesus Christ the Saviour of all one Faith one Baptism And now I shall set before your eyes no Bug-bear but a just fear of the Romish Idolatry which pious Dr. Thorndick out of a zealous desire of Unity which is impossible would willingly cloak under a milder and less hateful name I am as willing to speak the truth in love as he yet I must not out of love to Unity conceal the truth or palliate falshood but clearly set forth the Romish gross erroneous practice of Idolatry which their Doctors daub over with plausible words and make this heavy sin appear as light as a feather I beseech you read and ponder it well and doubtless your neck and shoulders will tremble at the weight The Papists take it very heinously to be called Idolaters because in Scripture the word Idolatry is applied as they say only to Heathens who denyed the true God and worshipped false Gods But I desire the Papists to tell me whether Solomon was not guilty of Idolatry in worshipping the Gods of his Wives though he himself believed in the true God And who doubts but a Christian believing aright in God and Christ may be guilty of Idolatry as many true believing Christians were in the horrible persecutions under Heathen Emperors meerly out of fear sacrificing unto them and their Gods whom they abhorred in their hearts And certainly the Papists Idolatry is a degree beyond this for they worship the Saints both outwardly and inwardly with their hearts and moreover I may truly say they worship false Gods as the Heathens did for though the Papists do not call them Gods in word yet they make them Gods by deed by their worship as you shall see by and by Idolatry is an act of worship not of belief error in belief is called Heresie or Infidelity error in worship is Superstition or Idolatry And though Idolatry originally taken signifieth the worshipping of an Idol yet 't is commonly taken in a larger sence as to give divine Worship to any Creature Now whether you call this Creature God or not this matters not for 't is not the Name but the Worship given to it makes it Idolatry Covetousness in Scripture is called Idolatry yet no man believes or calls Money a God but in effect makes it a God by trusting in it which is a principal part of our duty to God to trust in him And so a man is said to Idolize his Prince by trusting in his favour and so the Papists are said to Idolize the Saints and Blessed Virgin by praying and trusting to them in time of trouble which God requires of us as due to himself and it were far less sinful nay not sinful at all in some sence to call the Saints Gods than to trust in them and pray to them for our Saviour himself declared out of Scripture that 't was not unlawful to apply the name of God unto men I said ye are Gods And the Heathens who called their Heroes Gods and sacrificed unto them did believe them to be men but of singular Vertue for which after their death they were taken by the supreme God into Heaven and on this behalf the people sacrificed to them gave them divine Worship just as the Papists do now their Saints declared to be so by the Roman Consistory And as the ancient Roman Senate Deified many as Heroes in Heaven who were damned in Hell 't is not altogether improbable I am sure 't is not impossible but that some declar'd by the Roman Consistory for Saints in Heaven may be in the same dismal Dungeon the hearts of men are known only to God the holiest out ward Professor may have a Devil's heart for as the Devil can transform himself into an Angel of Light so may a devillish man As for the Popes Infallibility in the case declaring such a one for a Saint I will not now enter into that dispute I will only ask the question why if the Pope cannot erre in the Case doth he put the Inquisitors of the Rota to that excessive trouble as to make diligent search several years together before he determine the point as if he himself feared however others confidently believe that his pretended holy Spirit may erre in the matter But I return to my business Idolatry then is an Act of wrong Worship not of wrong Belief and as Solomon and other right believing Jews were guilty of Idolatry by giving divine Worship to Creatures so may right believing Papists if they in like manner give divine Worship to Creatures though they do not believe them Gods for he that believes in God a right that believes him to be the Creator of all things cannot believe any thing else to be God in this sence 't is a flat contradiction for that thing would be a Creator and no Creator being created a God and no God Now I pray you observe he that believes aright in God cannot believe any Creature to be God if then it were as the Papists would have it that 't is no Idolatry to worship the Creatures unless you believe them Gods which a right believer cannot do it must needs follow that a right believer let him adore Saint or Angel Man or Devil with all his heart with all his soul yet not believing them Gods which he cannot do is not cannot be guilty of Idolatry was there ever any thing more madly affirmed 'T is evident then as I said before that Idolatry consists not in wrong Belief but in wrong Worship and so to give divine Worship to a Creature consists not in worshipping that Creature with belief 't is a God which a true believer cannot do but in worshipping it with such Worship wherewith we worship God that is by kneeling praying making vows to it and the like which we do and should do to God only we having no other Worship to render to his divine Majesty And this Worship the Papists give to their Saints and are hereby guilty of gross Idolatry let their belief be what it will When the ancient Christian Fathers accused the Heathen Philosophers of Idolatry for giving divine Worship to their Heroes the Philosophers endeavoured to retort it upon the Fathers accusing them in like manner for worshipping Saints and I pray you how did the Fathers wipe off that calumny was it by distinguishing in point of Belief as the Papists now do and saying that they did believe in the true God and did not call the Saints Gods but the Creatures of God and so worshipped them as Creatures only no such matter the Fathers made no such reply but absolutely denied the matter of fact and said they did not at all worship the Saints but God alone and only honoured the Saints as holy men and their fellow-servants of God as you may