Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	doctrine_n	holy_a	scripture_n	5,857	5	5.8596	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46710	A sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of Norwich at the primary visitation of the Right Reverend Father in God, John, Lord Bishop of Norwich May 18, 1692 by John Jeffery ...	Jeffery, John, 1647-1720.	1692 (1692)	Wing J519; ESTC R1693	21,384	36

declared (d) Quare si solus Christus audiendus est non debemus attendere quid aliquis ante nos saciendum putaverit sed quid qui ante omnes est Christus prior fecerit Cyprian L. 2. Ep. 3. p. 56. de Haer. Bapt. p. 321. Contra Ep. Steph. p. 330. Non est autem de Consuetudine praescribendum sed ratione Vincendum Quir. Fratri p. 332. Sentent Epise de Haer. bapt Castus à Sicca p. 338. Libofus ab Agra p. 339. Felix à Bulacc 342. We are the Servants of Christ and of God and we must follow Him who is the Son of God and the Light of the World (e) Joh. 1.4 9. 12.46 8.12.95 He is the Teacher come from God (f) Joh. 3.2 and was qualified for his Undertaking by his Nature and we who hearken unto Him are all taught of God (g) Isa 54.13 Lactant. l. 4. c. 24. He alone is the Great Teacher who did not learn what He taught and so began to Teach without being first a Disciple (h) Ambrose de Offic. l. 1. c. 1. And the Reason of this is manifest from his Nature forasmuch as He was the Eternal Son of God 'T was in these last Days that He was Born but he is supposed by the Ancients long before to have Appear'd and always to have been the Teacher of Men (i) Iren. l. 4. c. 26 27. Tertul. adv Herm. p. 231 240 395 400 723 725. Orig. l. 6. p. 329. l. 3. p. 119. He manifested God unto Men and of Him it is said by Irenaeus The Father is that which is Invisible of the Son and the Son is that which is Visible of the Father (k) Invisibile etenim filij Pater Visibile autem patris Filius Lib. 4. c. 14. He is called by Eusebius The Chief of Philosophers and the Teacher of Religious Men (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Dem. Evang. l. 3. c. 6. As the Kingdom of God is the Perfection of Religion so He is the Supream Lord of that Kingdom who is the only Author of that Doctrin and the Son of God Incarnate We Christians are not therefore the Disciples of Men but of God and his Son and are Baptized into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost And that Initiation obligeth us to observe whatever Christ has commanded (m) Matt. 28.19 20. V. Grot. ad loc His Ministers did not Baptize into their own Names but into their Masters as S. Paul in the justification of Himself said (*) 1 Cor. 1.14 15. Christ had taught them to call no man Father or which is the same Master upon Earth for that One is their Master even Christ and all they were Brethren 'T is not therefore any Person or Number or Succession of Men that can prescribe unto our Faith There is but One Lord as there is but One Faith and One Baptism and One God (n) Eph. 4.5 6. We know in whom we believe and in whom we confide to whom we subject our Consciences and from whom we expect our Salvation 'T is from that Glorious and Divine Person who is the Son of God and 't is from God manifested in the Flesh (o) 1 Tim. 3.16 Such is the Person and such is the Glory of the Supream Lord. 3. I am to give an Account of the Office of his Inferior Ministers In the same Sense in which this Order and Succession of Men are Ministers of Christ's Kingdom they are Teachers of his Religion and this is the greatest Honor since the Son of God Himself was the Summus Ecclesiastes (p) Erasin de rat Concion l. 1. Matt. 4.17 the Chief Preacher And we according to our several proportions are his Servants and Successors in the Office of preaching the Kingdom of God We are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech Men by us we pray them in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God (q) 2 Cor 5.20 This Office we are to have in high Esteem and to account it our Dignity that this Ministry is committed unto us For to use the Words of that Book call'd the Institution of a Christian Man surely the Office of Preaching is the chief and most principal Office whereunto Priests and Bishops be called by Authority of the Gospel (r) P. 44.2 This is the Means to lead men into all Truth and to communicate to them the knowledge of Heavenly Wisdom to make men Religious and that is to make them Blessed The Doctrin of our Religion is delivered in the Gospel of our Saviour and the History of Christ is the Institution of a Christian The Office of the Ministers of the Gospel is to teach men the Knowledge and to conduct them in their Imitation of Christ that by such help Christians may Learn of Christ to Live that they may be Happy This is such a Provision for the advancement of Wisdom and Virtue as never was among any sort of men but Jews and Christians where whole Nations are taught to Live and no greater Benefactors can there be unto Mankind S. Augustin justly Objects against the Gods of the Heathens That they never delivered Rules of Living to their Votaries But on the contrary debauch'd them by the Immoralities of their Worship (s) Ang. de Civ D. l. 2. c. 6 2 28. Let them shew says he in what places Officers were appointed to teach the Precepts of Virtue and where the People were assembled to Learn them among the Gentiles as it is in the Churches ordained to this purpose wherever the Christian Religion does obtain (t) Aug. de C.D. l. 2. c. 6. From the Infernal Toke and Penal Society of Vnclean Powers men are delivered by the Name of Christ and wicked and ungrateful Men slaves unto the Accursed Spirit complain that others are translated from that Night of pernicious Impiety unto the Light of Life and Godliness They complain that Men gather unto our Churches that they may Learn to Live well here that they may live happily for ever In those places the Holy Scriptures the Doctrin of Righteousness sounds from on high in the presence of all and they that obey Hear unto Life and they who obey not Hear unto Judgment (u) Aug. de C.D. l. 2. c. 28. He that understands the History of Jesus Christ He that Reverences God and Loves men must magnifie this Office For by it we are made Wise and Holy unto Salvation Go teach all Nations c. (x) Matt. 28.19 20. was the Commission our Lord gave unto his Apostles and in the performance of their Duty He promised to be with them unto the end of the World The whole of their Office and of all Ecclesiastical Ministers is comprehended by the Apostle in Prayer and the Ministry of the Word (y) Act. 6.4 and to this Office they are separated by their Ordination Through this Ministration the Churches of Christ compared with other Assemblies of Men are as

A SERMON Preached in the Cathedral Church OF NORWICH AT THE Primary Visitation of The Right Reverend Father in God JOHN Lord Bishop of NORWICH May 18. 1692. By JOHN JEFFERY M.A. Minister of S. Peter's of Mancroft in Norwich LONDON Printed by Samuel Roycroft for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1692. IMPRIMATUR Ra Barker Jul. 27. 1692. A SERMON Preached in the Cathedral Church OF NORWICH 2 Cor. IV. 5. For we Preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your Servants for Jesus sake GOD is the Supream Absolute and Universal Governour of the World and acts as such by the immediate Influences of his Wisdom Goodness and Power a Salv. de gub Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isid Ep. 123. Those Influences have their proper and full effect according to the Divine Will upon all Creatures Animate and Inanimate Rational and Irrational But the Government is most perfect where Rational Natures are the Subjects Those Rational Natures are Angels and Men and among Men those who are Truly Religious are most eminently Subjects of this Kingdom And therefore the State of Religion especially in the Days of the Messias is called the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God (b) Vid. Grot. ad Mat. 3.2 Dan. 2.44 7.13 14. That Kingdom is no other than the Empire of Reason and Religion in the Souls and Lives of Men by which so far as it prevails they are made Wise and Good and Happy (c) V. Erasm Paraphr Mat. 4. p. 125. Jam enim instat Regnum coelorum c. Luc. 22 p. 217. Nolite tale c. Mat. 20. p. 133. Illic enim qui c. And the Son of God to whom the Father has committed all Power came down from Heaven and assumed our Nature and was born and lived and died and rose again and ascended into Heaven and became the Author and the Pattern of the Religion and of the Happiness of Men. This is the glorious Doctrin of the Gospel and this is the True Notion of Jesus Christ This was sincerely declared by the Apostles and this is easie to be understood by all Christians Their Office the Apostles were separated unto by the Son of God and they were Qualified for it by the Divine Spirit They performed it with all Simplicity and Faithfulness and they were accompanied with Assurance and Success Therefore says S. Paul Ver. 1 2. Seeing we have this Ministry we faint not But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty not walking in craftiness not handling the Word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the Truth commending our selves to every man's Conscience in the sight of God This Doctrin the Disciples of Christ were obliged to believe and profess In such Teachers as the Apostles they might intirely confide and Nothing could hinder the Conversion of Men to Christianity but vicious Principles and infernal Delusion Ver. 3 4. But if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this World hath blinded the Minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them Such is the Fidelity of those who Preached the Gospel of the Kingdom And such is the case of those to whom it was preached As a Mark of their Fidelity to whom the publication of this Divine Doctrin was committed They did not assume unto themselves but ascribe all unto Christ And had no other Design upon Men but to minister to the Conversion and Salvation of them For we preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your Servants for Jesus sake They published the Gospel of the Kingdom That Jesus Christ alone was the Supream Lord That themselves were only his Inferior Ministers That in setting up this Spiritual Kingdom in the Souls of Men they were Servants of Christ and of them This is the great Truth I am to discourse viz. Doctrin That the Son of God Incarnate is the only Supream Lord That the Teachers of Christianity are the Inferior Ministers of his Spiritual Kingdom For Explication of which Truth I shall give some Account 1. Of the Nature of the Spiritual Kingdom 2. Of the Glory of the Supream Lord 3. Of the Office of his Inferior Ministers 1. I shall give an Account of the Nature of this Spiritual Kingdom Since the Original degeneracy of Man there has been a gradual advancement of the State of Religion In the first Ages of the World it did subsist in dispersed Individuals till some Assemblies began to Call upon the Name of the Lord (d) Gen. 4 6. Afterwards God set up an Empire among the Jews peculiarly for the interest of Virtue and a whole Nation professed the True Religion as they were taught by supernatural Revelation The Government of that Holy Nation was a Theocracy and the Laws of their Polity as well as of their Religion were Divine (e) 1 Sam. 2.12.8.7.10.19 Judg. 8.23 In allusion to this Sacred Empire God foretold unto that People the Perfection of Religion that should be in the Days of the Messias under the Notion of His Kingdom which should be Universal and that all Kings should fall down before and all Nations serve Messiah the Prince (f) Psal 72.1 Dan. 9.25 The submission of all Orders and Nations of Men to be Subjects of this Kingdom is demonstration that the Nature of it is Spiritual For that Subjection was to be by voluntary and chearful Consent as Men accept what they account their Glory Agreeable unto this was the Declaration of Christ who disowned all Secular Power and said His Kingdom was not of this World (g) Joh. 18.34 signifying that it was such as GOD had exercised from the beginning but with extraordinary manifestation and effect It was indeed the Empire of Religion or the Effectual and Universal prevalency of it by which Men of all Nations who became Christians should become Like God in Wisdom and Goodness (h) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hiero. ad v. 67. p. 290. This the Jews call'd the Kingdom of Heaven and this the Gentiles call'd Philosophy Which according to Plutarch is the Institution of a Virtuous Man (i) Plut. de lib. Educ Hieroc Praes For among the Gentiles Religion was no such thing as it ought to have been but rather the consecration of Vice than the practice of Virtue (k) Quid mirum si ab hâc gente universa flagitia manarunt apud quam ipsa vitia religiosa sunt Eaque non modo non vitantur verum etiam coluntur Lactant. l. 1. c. 20. Aug. de Civ D. lib. 2. c. 4 5 6 7 8 10 14 16 22 25 26. and their Philosophers and Lawgivers (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hiero. p. 309. not their Priests taught Men to Live Hence the Christians speaking of our Religion to the Capacity of the Gentiles called it Our Philosophy (m)