Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	eternal_a	holy_a	son_n	7,025	5	5.5036	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62629	Sermons preach'd upon several occasions By John Tillotson, D.D. Dean of Canterbury, preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolns-Inn, and one of His Majesties chaplains in ordinary. The second volume.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1678 (1678)	Wing T1260BA; ESTC R222222	128,450	338

them the unreasonableness of this calumny and that upon these two considerations 1 st That it was very unlikely that the Devil should lend him this power to use it against himself Every kingdom divided against it self is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against it self shall not stand And if Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself how shall then his kingdom stand 2 dly Our Saviour tells them they might with as much reason attribute all miracles to the Devil There were those among themselves who cast out Devils in the name of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob as Origen and Tertullian and Justin Martyr tell us Of these our Saviour speaks and asks the Pharisees by what power they cast them out But they aknowledged that these did it by the power of God and there was no cause but their malice why they should not have acknowledged that he did it likewise by the same power ver 27 If I by Beelzebub cast out Devils by whom do your children cast them out therefore they shall be your judges That is this may be sufficient to convince you malice of to me But if I cast out Devils by the Spirit of God then the kingdom of God is come unto you That is the Messias is come Because he wrought these and other miracles to prove that he was the Messias And then it follows Wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men So that the Pharisees are the persons charged with this sin or blasphemy against the Holy Ghost And their blasphemy was plainly this that when he cast out Devils by the Spirit of God they said he did it by the power of the Devil they maliciously ascribed these works of the Holy Ghost to the Devil And that this is the ground why our Saviour chargeth them with this sin against the Holy Ghost is yet more plain from St. Mark Mark 3.28 29 30 Verily I say unto you all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme but he that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness but is in danger of eternal damnation because they said he hath an unclean Spirit That is because the Pharisees charged him to be a Magician and to have a familiar Spirit by whose assistance he did those works when in truth he did them by the Spirit of God therefore our Saviour declares them guilty of this sin of blaspheming the Holy Ghost which should never be forgiven So that the nature of this sin did consist in a most malicious opposition to the utmost evidence that could be given to the truth of any Religion Our blessed Saviour to shew that he was sent by God and came from him wrought miracles such as did plainly evidence a divine power and presence accompanying of him For in St. Luke he is said to do them by the finger of God Luke 11.20 By the finger of God that is to do such things as were an undeniable evidence of the divine power and presence And this is the utmost testimony that God ever gave to any person that was sent by him And the Pharisees were eye-witnesses of those miracles which our Saviour wrought so that they could not deny them Yet such was their opposition to him and his doctrine that though they saw these things done by him and could not deny the reality of them yet rather than they would own him to be the Messias and his Doctrine to come from God they most maliciously and unreasonably ascribed them to the power of the Devil And this was the blasphemy which they were guilty of against the Holy Ghost And herein lay the greatness of their sin in resisting the evidence of those miracles which were so plainly wrought by the Holy Ghost and which though themselves saw yet they maliciously imputed them to the Devil rather than they would be convinced by them And this is so very plain that hardly any man that considers our Saviours discourse upon this occasion can otherwise determine the nature of this sin especially if he do but attend to those remarkable words which I cited before Mark 3.29 but he that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness but is in danger of eternal damnation because they said he hath an unclean spirit I come now to the III. Third thing I propounded namely in what sense this sin is here said to be peculiarly unpardonable For this our Saviour positively affirms to be in this different from all other sins that it is capable of no pardon I say unto you all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men And to shew what he means by the not forgiving of it he tells us that eternal punishment shall follow it in the other World Whosoever speaketh a word against the son of man it shall be forgiven him but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall never be forgiven him neither in this world nor in the world to come Which St. Mark expresseth more plainly that it shall bring those who are guilty of it to eternal damnation Mark 3.29 He that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness but is liable to eternal damnation So that when our Saviour says it shall never be forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come he does not intend to insinuate that some sins which are not forgiven in this world may be forgiven in the other but in these words he either alludes to the opinion of the Jews concerning the effect of the highest excommunication the sentence whereof they held not to be reversible neither in this world nor the other or else the reason of this expression may probably be to meet with a common and false opinion amongst the Jews which was that some sins which are not pardoned to men in this life may by sacrifices be expiated in the other and therefore he says it shall never be forgiven neither in this world nor the other And St. Mark more plainly that those who are guilty of it shall never have forgiveness but be liable to eternal damnation So that our Saviour's meaning seems plainly to be this that this sin is altogether incapable of forgiveness I know some have endeavoured to mollifie this matter but I think without sufficient reason Grotius understands the words comparatively that any sort of sin shall sooner be forgiven than this against the Holy Ghost and that our Saviour only intended to express the greatness and heinousness of this sin above others in which respect the pardon of it would be more difficult than of any other sin but yet that the case of such a person is not absolutely desperate But if our Saviour had intended to say that this sin was absolutely

particularly known to us when they are committed and consequently it is impossible that we should particularly repent of them And therefore in this case there can be no doubt but that God doth accept of a general repentance as he did from David when he made that humble confession and prayer to him Psal 19.12 Who can understand his errours cleanse thou me from secret sins 3. They are afraid their obedience is not sincere because it proceeds many times from fear and not always out of pure love to God For answer to this It is plain from Scripture that God propounds to men several motives and arguments to obedience some proper to work upon their fear as the threatnings of punishment some upon their hope as the promises of blessing and reward others upon their love as the mercies and forgiveness of God From whence it is evident he intended they should all work upon us And accordingly the Scripture gives us instances in each kind Noah moved with fear obeyed God in preparing an Ark Moses had respect unto the recompence of reward Mary Magdalen loved much And as it is hard to say so it is not necessary to determine just how much influence and no more each of these hath upon us It is very well if men be reclaimed from their sins and made good by the joint force of all the considerations which God offers to us To be sure Love is the noblest and most generous principle of obedience but fear commonly takes the first and fastest hold of us and in times of violent temptation is perhaps the best argument to keep even the best of men within the bounds of their duty 4. Another cause of doubting in good men is from a sense of their imperfect performance of the duties of Religion and of the abatement of their affections towards God at some times They have many wandring thoughts in prayer and other exercises of devotion and they cannot for their life keep their minds continually intent on what they are about This we should strive against as much as we can and that is the utmost we can do but to cure this wholly is impossible the infirmity of our nature and the frame of our minds will not admit of it And therefore no man ought to question his sincerity because he cannot do that which is impossible for men to do And then for the abatement of our affections to God and Religion at some times this naturally proceeds from the inconstancy of mens tempers by reason of which it is not possible that the best of men should be able always to maintain and keep up the same degree of zeal and fervour towards God But our comfort is that God doth not measure mens sincerity by the Tides of their affections but by the constant bent of their resolutions and the general tenour of their life and actions 5. Another cause of these doubts is that men expect more than ordinary and reasonable assurance of their good condition some particular revelation from God and extraordinary impression upon their minds to that purpose which they think the Scripture means by the testimony and seal and earnest of the Spirit God may give this when and to whom he pleases but I do not find he hath any where promised it And all that the Scripture means by those phrases of the testimony and seal and earnest of the Spirit is to my apprehension no more but this That the Holy Spirit which God bestowed upon Christians in so powerful and sensible a manner was a seal and earnest of their resurrection to eternal life according to that plain Text Rom. 8.11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you But then who they are that have the Spirit of God is only to be known by the real fruits and effects of it If we be led by the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh then the Spirit of Christ dwelleth in us But this is very far from an immediate and extraordinary revelation from the Spirit of God to the minds of good men telling them in particular that they are the children of God I know not what peculiar favour God may shew to some but I know no such thing nor ever yet met with any wise and good man that did affirm it of himself And I fear that in most of those who pretend to it it is either meer fancy or gross delusion 6. As for the case of melancholy it is not a reasonable case and therefore doth not fall under any certain rules and directions They who are under the power of it are seldom fit to take that counsel which alone is fit to be given them and that is not to believe themselves concerning themselves but to trust the judgment of others rather than their own apprehensions In other cases every man knows himself best but a melancholy man is most in the dark as to himself This cause of trouble and doubting is very much to be pitied but hard to be removed unless by physick or by time or by chance One may happen to say something that may hit the humour of a melancholy man and satisfie him for the present but Reason must needs signifie very little to those persons the nature of whose distemper it is to turn every thing that can be said for their comfort into objections against themselves Thirdly But besides those who mistake their condition either by presuming it to be better or fearing it to be worse than it is there are likewise others who upon good grounds are doubtful of their condition and have reason to be afraid of it Those I mean who have some beginnings of goodness which yet are very imperfect They have good resolutions and do many things well but they often fall and are frequently pull'd back by those evil inclinations and habits which are yet in a great measure unsubdued in them These I cannot liken better than to the Borderers between two Countries who live in the marches and confines of two powerful Kingdoms both which have a great influence upon them so that it is hard to say whose subjects they are and to which Prince they belong Thus it is with many in Religion They have pious inclinations and have made some fair attempts towards goodness they have begun to refrain from sin and to resist the occasions and temptations to it but ever and anon they are mastered by their old lusts and carryed off from their best resolutions and perhaps upon a little consideration they repent and recover themselves again and after a while are again entangled and overcome Now the case of these persons is really doubtful both to themselves and others And the proper direction to be given them in order to their peace and settlement is by all means to encourage them

of joy any more than of grief or any other passion Because this would be to imagine some new accession to his pleasure and happiness which being always infinite can never have any thing added to it And therefore we are to understand this as it relates to God in the same manner as we do infinite other passages of Scripture where humane passions are ascribed to him to be spoken by way of condescension and after the language and manner of the sons of men and to signifie only thus much to us that the conversion of a sinner is a thing highly pleasing and acceptable to God As it refers to Angels and other blessed Spirits I see no inconvenience why it may not be understood more strictly and literally that they conceive a new joy at the news of a sinners repentance and find a fresh pleasure and delight springing up in their minds whenever they hear the joyful tydings of a sinner rescued from the slavery of the Devil and the danger of eternal damnation of a new member added to the Kingdom of God that shall be a companion and sharer with them in that blessedness which they enjoy There seems to me to be nothing in this repugnant to the nature and happiness of blessed Spirits in another world For it is certain that there are degrees of happiness among the blessed From whence it necessarily follows that some of them may be happier than they are And it is very probable since the happiness of Angels and good men is but finite that those who are most happy do continually receive new additions to their blessedness and that their felicity is never at a stand but perpetually growing and improving to all eternity and that as their knowledg and love do encrease so likewise the capacity and causes of their happiness are still more and more enlarged and augmented So that it is reasonable enough to suppose that there is really joy among the Angels and Spirits of just men made perfect over every sinner that repenteth II. Who are here meant by the just persons who need no repentance That our Saviour in this expression gives some glance and reflection upon the Pharisees who prided themselves in their own righteousness and instead of confessing their sins to God stood upon their own justification as if they needed no repentance is very probable because this Parable was designed to answer their murmurings against him for conversing with publicans and sinners and by the by to give a check to those who were so conceited of their own righteousness as if they had no need of repentance And this is very suitable to what our Saviour elsewhere says to them upon the like occasion that the whole have no need of the Physitian but the sick that he came not to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance But yet though our Saviour expresseth himself so as that the Pharisees might with reason enough apply it to themselves that there was more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over ninety and nine of them who were so conceited of their own righteousness that they thought they had no need of repentance for indeed our Saviour delivers himself so as to leave room for such a severe application yet I think there is little doubt to be made but that he intended something further and that supposing the Pharisees were as just as they pretended and were really righteous men so as to stand in no need of such a repentance as great sinners do yet our Saviour affirms there was more joy in heaven over one penitent sinner than over ninety and nine such just persons But are there any persons in the world so just as absolutely to stand in need of no repentance No there was never any such person in the world him only excepted who said this our blessed Saviour who had no sin neither was guile found in his mouth And therefore this phrase of needing no repentance is to be understood in a qualified sense and with some allowance otherwise our blessed Saviour had supposed a case which never was of a great number of perfectly righteous men And our Saviours meaning in this is sufficiently explained in the last Parable of this Chapter concerning the prodigal Son Where the prodigal son is the sinner that repented and his elder brother who had always observed and obeyed his father he is the just person who needed no repentance So that by him our Saviour plainly designs those who being religiously educated and brought up in the fear of God had never broke out into any extravagant and vicious course of life and so in some sense had no need of repentance that is of changing the whole course of their lives as the prodigal son had Not but that the best of men are guilty of many faults and infirmities which they have too much cause to repent of as our Saviour sufficiently intimates in that Parable For certainly it was no small infirmity in the elder brother to be so envious and to take so heinously the joyful welcome and entertainment which his prodigal brother at his return found from his father But yet this single fault and sudden surprize of passion considering the constant duty which he had paid to his father throughout the course of his life did not make him such a sinner as to need such a repentance as his brother did which consisted in a perfect change of the whole course of his life And of such just persons as these and of such a repentance as this it seems very plain that our Saviour intended this discourse III. But the main difficulty of all is with what reason it is here said that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance Is it not better not to offend than to sin and repent Is not innocence better than amendment and the wisdom of prevention to be preferred before that of remedy Is it worth the while to do amiss to make way for repentance and is not this almost like sinning that grace may abound And if repentance be not better than righteousness why is there more joy in heaven over the penitent than over the righteous nay over one penitent sinner than over ninety and nine just persons Do not the blessed always rejoyce most in that which is really best Here is the difficulty and it requires some care and consideration clearly to remove it In order to which be pleased to consider these three things which I think to be very material to the clearing of it I. That the same thing considered in several respects may in some respects have the advantage of another thing and for those reasons be preferred before it and yet not have the advantage of it absolutely and in all respects Moral comparisons are not to be exacted to a Mathematical strictness and rigour To this purpose I have observ'd in a former discourse that