Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A53750
|
A true and lively representation of popery shewing that popery is only new-modell'd paganism, and perfectly destructive of the great ends and purposes of God in the Gospel.
|
Owen, Thankfull, 1620-1681.
|
1679
(1679)
|
Wing O830; ESTC R18583
|
46,596
|
82
|
Imprimatur March 12. 1678 9. Guil. Jane R. P. D. Henr. Episc Lond. a Sac. Dom. A true and lively REPRESENTATION OF POPERY SHEWING That Popery is only New-modell'd PAGANISM AND Perfectly destructive of the great Ends and Purposes of God in the Gospel Jer. 10.2 Learn not the way of the Heathen Gal. 5.1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not intangled again with the yoke of bondage LONDON Printed by R. Everingham for W. Kettilby at the Bishops Head in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1679. A true and lively Representation of Popery THAT there is but one true way to Salvation is readily acknowledged by all that profess themselves Christians but whether this way lye on the right hand or on the left whether through the Church of Rome or in the Reformed Religion that is made a Question And though the Romanists with confidence enough vainly arrogate this to themselves as if there were no way to Heaven but by associating and joining in Communion with their Church and will hardly unless in a good mood allow a dying Protestant to be saved yet I doubt not but I have sufficiently made it appear by such evident and clear Demonstrations as are within the sphere and comprehension of an ordinary Capacity not only that the Reformed Religion is hugely agreeable and subservient to those Grand purposes of God in the Gospel for the Salvation of Mankind but that Popery is infinitely prejudicial and destructive of them And although considering the various Artifices and subtle Stratagems the Popish Emissaries make use of not only in gaining but confirming their new Proselytes I cannot hope to recover such as are already ensnared by them yet I may reasonably suppose that these few sheets if they chance to fall into the hands of some one or other who desires impartially to seek and embrace the Truth where-ever he meets with it or by what hand soever it be brought to him may be so fully perswaded and satisfied of the Goodness of the Protestant Religion and of the gross Impiety and Wickedness of the Popish as that whatever censure he pass upon this yet of the other he may say that God is in it of a truth 1. I consider therefore that the great End and Design of the Christian Religion is to form in men the sacred life and nature of God for so S. Peter assures us That those glorious and inestimable Promises which God through Christ was pleased to make to the World were designed to recover men from their Sins and Corruptions into a participation of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 And that we may not conceive and think this to be a mere airy Notion and an insignificant sound of Words our blessed Saviour himself expresses it by the name of The new Birth Except a man be born again And his Holy Apostle S. Paul styles it the New Creature Joh. 3.3 All which being of a like signification and respect denote a certain state and condition of life Gal. 6.15 to which men are brought by the Power and Grace of God in the Gospel whereby their hearts and minds are tuned into an universal Consent to Gods holy will That state of sin and misery into which all men by their first Prevarication and Rebellion are involved is nothing of the true nature of our Souls but an Extraneous and Adventitious thing a meer Usurpation upon the Lords Inheritance whereby the minds and spirits of Mankind are preternaturally forced against their proper bent and inclination and God by the Gospel comes to free them from this heavy Pressure and Bondage and quickens and invigorates their decayed Powers with a strong and potent endeavour towards a Restitution and Freedom And this Conatus or Effort whereby they endeavour to throw off their uneasie load is expressed and decypher'd in the Holy Scriptures by the Name of Spirit as in Rom. 8.1 where the Apostle puts an opposition between the Flesh and the Spirit and says they are two several Laws and States of Being the one tending wholly to the abasing and dishonouring and captivating the Soul to vile and low purposes and making it drudge like a Slave to promote an Animal and sensual life but the other being nothing but a Law of Holiness and Righteousness and consequently connatural to it endeavours the freeing it from all that violence and force used upon it And this very same active and enlivening Principle shall be so far quickned and invigorated by the assistance of God's Holy Spirit that it shall at last through his benign and powerful Influence break into a Flame and consume all Terrestrial Dregs and Incumbrances and immortalize these our dull and sluggish Bodies So the Divine Apostle tells us If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you Rom. 8.11 he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by the Spirit that dwelleth in you Now that this blessed frame and temper of mind may be raised and renewed in us God sent his Son into the World and he incites and encourages us to the attaining of so desirable a State by mighty and stupendious Promises suited and adapted to our best and highest Capacities and that we may not think the participation of the Divine Nature or the new Creature that is that constitution of mind and soul which the Gospel came to implant in us to be a thing which we can have no rational Idea or Conception of I shall give such a brief and comprehensive Character of it as that Eternal Wisdom has legibly engraven in the frame and contexture of the Christian Religion Thus therefore I conceive of it That it is a Holy Principle of Life and Power implanted in the Soul by the Spirit of God bringing every Thought Word and Action into conformity and obedience to the Divine Will and begetting such a natural and genuine sense of what is Holy and Righteous that it is as hard for a man truly possessed of this excellent nature to act contrary to it as to suffer a Discission of his bodily life and though we bear this precious Treasure in Earthen Vessels and it be surrounded with the frailties and infirmities of flesh and blood yet does it fill our minds with comfortable hopes and assurance that our mighty Saviour and Redeemer who expressed the greatness of his love by dying for us will perfectly release and set it free from the heavy pressure of those Earthly Bodies and at last Crown it with such a body of Light and Glory as he himself is possessed of in the highest Heavens This is indeed the main end and scope of the appearing of the Grace of God to the World and that the Son of God might take possession of his own Inheritance and effectually and fully accomplish the recovery of Mankind from the cruel Bondage of Sin and Satan into this so desirable a state of Liberty and Freedom wherein
Shadow follows the Body as it moves so when any person hath God propitious to him at the same time all the Angels and blessed Spirits are likewise his Friends In like manner Lactantius says that God hath his Ministers whom we call Angels verum hi neque Dii sunt neque Deos se vocari aut coli volunt quippe qui nihil praeter jussum ac voluntatem Dei fatiant i. e. but these are neither Gods nor would they be called Gods nor worshipped forasmuch as they only execute the Will and Command of God Add to this that the Papists make their Saints particular Presidents and Regents of Countries Cities Religious Orders of Beasts and of the Elements Fire Water c. and appoint to them distinctly and by name several Opitulations So Caecilius in Minutius Felix says of the Heathens that each particular Nation had its own Municipal Gods which they worshipped And Arnobius tells the Gentiles Lib. 2. adver Gentes that with them Dii certi certas habent tutelas licentias potestates neque eorum ab aliquo id quod ejus non sit potestatis ac licentiae postulant i. e. Certain Gods have certain Guardianships Licences and Powers neither do they ask from any of them that which is not in their power and gift Accordingly the Papists have distributed several Offices to several Saints whose assistance they implore for those particular things to which they are appointed as for example S. Apollonia for the Tooth-ach S. Otilia for Bleer-Eyes S. Rochus for the Pox S. Blasius for the Squinancy S. Petronella for Feavers S. Wendeline for Sheep and Oxen S. Anthony for Hogs S. Nicholas is the Patron of Mariners S. Clement of Bakers S. Luke of Painters and S. Afra and Magdalen of Whores For S. Austin says that Varro maintained C. D. l. 4. c. 22. it was profitable to know the power and working of every God in particular that men might be able to sue unto them according to their several Offices for every distinct or particular benefit lest otherwise they might ask water of Bacchus the God of Wine or Wine of the Nymphs the Goddesses of the Water And this is so plain and evident that it could not but extort this honest Confession from Ludovicus Vives one of their own In Com. C. D. l. 8. c. 27. Multi Christiani c. Many Christians err in a good matter in that they worship He and She-Saints after the same manner that they worship God nor can I see in many things what difference there is between their Opinion of the Saints and that which the Heathens thought of their Gods For what other account did the Pagans make or in what did they do honour to their inferiour Deities which Papists do not express to their Saints Did the Pagans consecrate Temples to their Demons so do the Papists to their Saints Do they appropriate several offices and imployments to their inferiour Gods the same do Papists to their Saints Have they Altars built to them so have the Saints Do the Heathens offer Sacrifice to their Deities so do Romanists to the Saints Had they Images erected to them so have the Saints Were the Demons invoked before their Images so are the Saints Did they make Vows to the Demons so do Papists to their Saints Do they make those Middle Powers Mediators and Intercessors between the Supreme God and them it is no more than what Papists ascribe to the Saints Now what these Mediae Potestates or Middle Powers were we learn from Apuleius that they are inter terricolas De Deo Socratis calicolasque Vectores hinc precum inde donorum qui ultro citroque portant hinc petitiones inde suppetias ceu quidam utrinque Interpretes Salutigeri i. e. a kind of Carriers between the Inhabitants of Heaven and Earth that travelling to and fro carry from hence Prayers and bring from thence Blessings from hence Requests and Petitions from thence supplies and aids or a certain kind of Interpreters or Messengers and Internuncii between both And 't is a great sign that the more understanding Papists were long ago sensible of this because in their Expurgatory Indices they take special care that such expressions as these should be blotted and razed out of those Authors that speak against their wicked Practices viz. that God alone is to be adored that the Saints are to be honoured but not Religiously worshipped that Angels are not to be honoured with Religious Worship And because when Protestants cite such notoriously blasphemous and idolatrous forms of prayer allowed in the Popish Church wherein they beg of their Saints and especially of the Virgin Mary no less Boons than remission of sins preservation from the assaults of the Devil a safe conduct through the hazards of the World to eternal life comfort and assistance at the hour of death and the possession of Eternal Glory in the life to come The Vulgar Papists amongst us are taught that these forms of prayer are no more than an Ora pro nobis and all one as to say Holy Apostle or Blessed Lady pray for us which yet is Idolatry it is certain that many of them are made in other expressions and likewise are direct Addresses to such and such Saints upon account of what is peculiar for them to help them in The prayer to S. Agnes is not Ora pro nobis but te exoro precibus I pray you to keep me in the right Faith or grant you that all may serve God in perfect charity And the prayer to S. Brigit is By your safe guidance bring us to the reward of everlasting life Can any man in his right senses say that this is no more then O Brigit pray for us The Belgick Expurgatory Index commands these words to be razed out of Fabricius which are not much unlike this subterfuge of our Jesuits O all ye Saints pray to God for me is all one as to say I wish all the Saints would pray to God for me adding this reason for in very deed we invoke the Saints not only wishing but requiring their prayers which cannot be excused from Idolatry The account which Chemnitius gives of the Introduction of this piece of Paganism into the Christian Church is to this purpose That in the Primitive Church until two hundred years after Christ Exam. Concil Trident. p. 3. this Doctrine and Practice was utterly unknown then about the year 370. it began to be spoken of in Publick Assemblies by Basil Nyssen and Nazianzen upon occasion of their Panegyrical Orations at the same time when by the same Persons Monkery was brought out of Egypt and Syria into Greece But notwithstanding this it was not generally and universally received in those times for about the year 400. S. Chrysostom interposed and laboured against it Afterwards he shews out of Nicephorus that Petrus Gnapheus condemned for Heresie in the fifth Universal Synod was the first Author among the Grecians of mixing