Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A47606
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A short confession of faith containing the substance of all the fundamental articles in the larger confession put forth by the elders of the Baptist churches, owning personal election and final perserverance.
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Keach, Benjamin, 1640-1704.
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1697
(1697)
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Wing K86; ESTC R24038
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16,842
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52
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that are necessary for us to know concerning God and our Duty unto him and also unto all Men. That all Persons ought to read hear and understand the holy Scriptures That the Light of Nature and Works of Providence tho they declare plainly there is a God yet not so effectually as the holy Scriptures nor can we know without them how and in what space of time God created all things Neither came we any other ways but by the holy Scriptures to the Knowledg of Christ the blessed Mediator which indeed none can savingly know but by the Word and Spirit of God Of Original Sin VII WE do believe that God having created Man he entered into a Covenant of Life with him upon the condition of perfect Obedience making the first Adam a common Head to all his Seed and that our first Parents being left to the freedom of their own Will fell from the Estate wherein they were created by eating of the forbidden Fruit and that Adam being set up as a publick Person we all sinned in him and fell with him into a state of Sin of Wrath and Misery the Sinfulness of which state consists in the guilt of Adam's first Sin the want of Original Righteousness and the Corruption of our whole Nature from whence all actual Sins proceed as Water out of a filthy and an unclean Fountain So that not only by Imputation all Men became Sinners in the first Adam but also as the same corrupt Nature is conveyed to all his Posterity who descend from him in ordinary Generation By this Sin all Mankind lost the Image of God and Communion with him being liable to all the Miseries of this Life and to Death it self and also are dead in Sins and Trespasses and obnoxious to the Wrath of God and the eternal Pains of Hell for ever Hence we say that all are conceiv'd and born in Sin and are the Children of Wrath even the Elect as well as others being wholly defiled in all the Faculties and Parts of Soul and Body and utterly indisposed and disabled to do any thing that is spiritually good and wholly inclined with a strong propensity to all things that are evil Of Man's Free-will VIII WE believe Man in his state of Innocency had freedom of Will to do good but by the Fall he hath utterly lost all that Power and Ability being wofully depraved in all the Faculties of his Soul there being in the Will and Mind of all naturally much Enmity against God and a total aversion to him and to every thing that is spiritually good loving Darkness and rebelling against the Light But when a Man is renewed by Divine Grace tho there is no force put upon the Will yet it is made willing and acts freely in the day of God's Power tho the Work is not perfect in any Faculty in the Regenerate nor will be in this Life Of Christ the Mediator IX WE believe that God having out of his own meer good Pleasure and infinite Love elected some Persons of the lost Seed of the first Adam unto everlasting Life from all Eternity did enter into a Covenant of Grace with the second Person of the Trinity who was set up as the common Head of all the Elect to deliver them out of the state of Sin and Misery and to bring them into a state of Salvation and eternal Happiness That the second Person in the Godhead being the eternal Son of God Coessential and Coequal with the Father according to that holy Covenant and Compact that was between them both became Man or assumed our Nature and so was and continueth to be God and Man in two distinct Natures in one Person for ever And that he the Son of God by his becoming Man did take unto him a True Body and Reasonable Soul being conceived by the holy Spirit in the Womb of the Virgin and was born of her yet without Sin Of the Offices of Christ X. WE believe that the Lord Jesus Christ who is our Redeemer and the one blessed Mediator between God and Man executeth a threefold Office both the Office of a Priest the Office of a King and the Office of a Prophet First That he executeth the Office of a Priest 1. In his once offering up himself a Sacrifice to satisfy Divine Justice and to reconcile God to us and us to God 2. And in making continual Intercession for us that the Merits of his Blood may be made effectual unto us Secondly That he executeth the Office of a King in subduing us unto himself and in giving us Laws and holy Precepts by which we ought to walk and also in his restraining and conquering all his and our Enemies Thirdly That he executeth the Office of a Prophet in revealing to us by his Word and Spirit the whole Will of God concerning all things that appertain to Faith and Practice Of Christ's Humiliation and Exaltation XI WE believe that Christ's Humiliation consisted in that great Condescension of his in assuming our Nature and being born in a low condition made under the Law undergoing the many Miseries of this Life the Wrath of God the Curse of the Law and the ignominious Death of the Cross continuing under Death for a time And that his Exaltation consisteth in his rising again from the dead the third day and in his ascending up into Heaven in sitting at the Right-hand of God Angels Powers and Principalities being made subject unto him and in his being made Judg of the quick and dead Of effectual Calling XII WE do believe that we are made Partakers of the Redemption purchased by Christ by the effectual Application of his Merits c. unto us by the Holy Spirit thereby uniting us to Christ in effectual Calling And that effectual Calling is the Work of God's Free Grace who by his Spirit works Faith in us who are altogether passive therein and convincing us of Sin and Misery enlightning our Minds in the Knowledg of Christ and renewing our Wills and changing our whole Hearts he doth perswade and enable us to imbrace Jesus Christ freely as he is offered in the Gospel Of Justification XIII WE do believe Justification is a free Act of God's Grace through that Redemption which is in Christ who as our Head was acquitted justified and discharged and we in him when he rose from the Dead and when applied to us we in our own Persons are actually justified in being made and pronounced righteous through the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us and all our Sins past present and to come for ever pardon'd which is receiv'd by Faith alone And that our Sanctification nor Faith it self is any part of our Justification before God it not being either the Habit or Act of Believing or any Act of Evangelical Obedience imputed to us but Christ and his active and
ought not to be wise above what is written And that a human Tradition or Custom ought not to be regarded but that it is sinful and abominable We believe also that Baptism is only rightly administred by Immersion or dipping the whole Body in Water into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit according to Christ's Institution and the Practice of the Apostles and not by sprinkling or pouring of Water or dipping some part of the Body in Water after the Tradition of Men. And that it is the indispensible Duty of such who are baptized to give up themselves to some particular orderly Church of Jesus Christ and to walk in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless Baptism being an initiating Ordinance Of a true Church XXII WE believe a true Church of Christ is not National nor Parochial but doth consist of a number of godly Persons who upon the Profession of their Faith and Repentance have been baptized and in a solemn manner have in a Holy Covenant given themselves up to the Lord and to one another to live in Love and to endeavour to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace Among whom the Word of God is duly and truly preach'd and Holy Baptism the Lord's Supper and all other Ordinances are duly administred according to the Word of God and the Institution of Christ in the Primitive Church watching over one another and communicating to each other's Necessities as becometh Saints living Holy Lives as becomes their sacred Profession and not to forsake the assembling themselves as the manner of some is or to take leave to hear where they please in other Places when the Church is assembled but to worship God and feed in that Pasture or with that Church with whom they have covenanted and given up themselves as particular Members thereof Of Laying on of Hands XXIII WE believe that laying on of Hands with Prayer upon baptized Believers as such is an Ordinance of Christ and ought to be submitted unto by all such Persons that are admitted to partake of the Lord's Supper and that the end of this Ordinance is not for the extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit but for a farther Reception of the Holy Spirit of Promise or for the Addition of the Graces of the Spirit and the Influences thereof to confirm strengthen and comfort them in Christ Jesus it being ratified and established by the extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit in the Primitive Times to abide in the Church as meeting together on the first Day of the Week was Act. 2. 1. that being the Day of Worship or Christian Sabbath under the Gospel and as Preaching the Word was Acts 10. 44. and as Baptism was Mat. 3. 16. and Prayer was Acts 4. 31. and singing Psalms c. was Acts 16. 25 26. so this of laying on of Hands was Acts 8. ch 19. For as the whole Gospel was confirmed by Signs and Wonders and divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost in general so was every Ordinance in like manner confirmed in particular Of the Lord's Supper XXIV WE believe that the Holy Ordinance of the Lord's Supper which he instituted the Night before he was betrayed ought to be observed to the end of the World and that it consisteth only in breaking of Bread and drinking of Wine in remembrance of Christ's Death it being appointed for our spiritual Nourishment and Growth in Grace and as a farther Engagement in and to all Duties we owe to Jesus Christ and as a Pledg of his eternal Love to us and as a Token of our Communion with him and one with another And that due Preparation and Examination is required of all that ought to partake thereof and that it cannot be neglected by any approved and orderly Member without Sin Of Church-Officers XXV WE do believe that every particular Church of Christ is Independent and that no one Church hath any Priority or Super-intendency above or over another and that every Church ought to be Organical that an Elder or Elders a Deacon or Deacons ought to be elected in every Congregation according to those holy Qualifications laid down in the Word of God and that the said Elders and Deacons so chosen ought solemnly to be ordained with Prayer and laying on of Hands of the Eldership That such Churches as have not Officers so ordained are disorderly there being something still wanting Of Prayer XXVI WE believe Prayer is a holy Ordinance of God and that it ought to be performed by the Help and Assistance of the Holy Spirit and that not only the Prayer Christ taught his Disciples but the whole Word of God is to be our Rule how to pray and pour forth our Souls unto God and that it is the indispensible Duty of all godly Families and others also as well as private Christians daily to pray for all things they need and to give Thanks every Day for all good things they receive and that the Omission of this Duty is a great Scandal to Religion and a great Evil when it is carelesly or negligently performed Of singing of Psalms c. XXVII WE believe that singing the Praises of God is a holy Ordinance of Christ and not a part of Natural Religion or a moral Duty only but that it is brought under Divine Institution it being injoined on the Churches of Christ to sing Psalms Hymns and spiritual Songs and that the whole Church in their Publick Assemblies as well as private Christians ought to sing God's Praises according to the best Light they have received Moreover it was practised in the great Representative Church by our Lord Jesus Christ with his Disciples after he had instituted and celebrated the Sacred Ordinance of his Holy Supper as a commemorative Token of Redeeming Love Of the Christian Sabbath XXVIII WE believe that one Day in seven ought to be solemnly observed in the Worship of God and that by Moses's Law the Jews and proselyted Strangers were to keep the seventh Day but from the Resurrection of Christ the first Day of the Week ought by all Christians to be observed Holy to the Lord that being called the Lord's Day and the first time the Church met together after Christ's Ascension was on the Day of Pentecost which was the first Day of the Week as Tradition hath handed it down and on that Day the Church also met together to break Bread and make Collections for the poor Saints and no mention is made that any one Gospel-Church kept the Jewish Sabbath in all the New Testament And we believe that an Apostolical Precedent is equivalent to an Apostolical Precept in this case Of Ministers and their Maintenance XXIX WE do believe that every Brother that hath received a Gift to preach having first pass'd the Probation of the Church and being regularly called by the same