Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	faith_n	ghost_n	holy_a	14,941	5	5.3174	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41383	A discourse of Christianity laying open the abuses thereof in the anti-Christian lives and worship of many of its professors, especially the Romanists : and shewing the way to a holy life in the character of a true Christian / written originally in French by the famous Monsieur de Gombaud ; and now done into English by P Lorrain.	Gombauld, Jean Ogier de, d. 1666.; Lorrain, P. (Paul), d. 1719.	1693 (1693)	Wing G1023; ESTC R14522	47,226	176

acknowledge what is confirmed by Histories viz. That the Bountiful Donations of Emperors and the free Gifts of Lords and Ladies have proved the most dangerous Poison that could ever have been handed to the Church That from that time Piety began to grow cold and make room for the Cares of this World and that all Christian Virtues were soon choak'd by great Plenty and Luxury All those great Benefactors who are so extremely commended to us plainly shew'd that they were not throughly informed of the Will of our SAVIOUR nor of the true Calling of his Ministers when they thus inriched them with Temporal Estates and made of them so many Members and Favourers of the Kingdom of this World This great Wealth that flow'd in upon them all on a Sudden was but an ill omen to the Faithful who easily judged that for the future none but the Ambitious Covetous Wicked and Profligate could aspire to any Office in the Church and that she was going to be reduced to that extream Misery as not to be governed by any but by her worst Enemies XXIX From that time the Corruption has by a strange Permission of Heaven grown to this height that the Clergy are grown worse than the Laity They have received from Men that Authority which in their station they should receive from none but God and if they have taken any care about Spiritual Things it was not to serve but to command to advance themselves to the Highest Dignities and to be made Bishops over other Bishops They have imitated him who despising a Common Joy with the other Angels had the boldness to attempt the raising himself to the highest Pitch of Singularity and Superiority saying in his Heart I will set up my Throne above the Stars and be like the Most High Instead of confining themselves to the Observation of that true Service which God had institued and prescribed himself they have despised its Simplicity would not away with any Devotions but such as were Pompous and Dazling or if you 'l have it in their own Words they have hallowed the Ceremonies of Paganism by admitting them into the Church They could not endure the Purity of the Gospel-Doctrine without adulterating and disguising it a thousand ways and to that end have chosen Doctors and Teachers after their own fancies They have started subtle Questions which they that teach or preach them often understand no better than their Auditors however full of sense they may appear when utter'd from an Eloquent Mouth wherewith both the one and the other seem equally satisfied We have seen wretched Worms that were but a while since come out of the Dust and ready to return to it again have the insolence to assume the Title of God and dare to command Angels as their Ushers and dispose of Heaven and Hell as if they were their own Demain But indeed what likelihood is there for them to be the infallible Trustees of God's Will and the just Umpires of the Faith of the World who owe their Promotion only to Bought Voices Bribes Corruptions Promises Threats Factious Combinations Contracts and Confederacies What Patience would not be tired to see such as are sway'd by no other Spirit than that of self-interest who make of the Church a House of Merchandise and a Den of Thieves should yet be steel'd to that excess of Impiety as to render the Holy Ghost not an Accomplice but a Principal in their Crimes Now if after all the Credit they have in Heaven they would shew themselves a little less concerned for their Earthly Pelf perhaps one might doubt whether their Authority did not as they pretend it does run parallel with the Divine But as they are like Lions for cruelty and violence so are they like Leeches for Covetousness and there is no end of their new Contrivances for the alluring of Men to make vast Contributions to the insatiable Idol they Worship For to pass by so many Excommunications Interdictions Evocations Appeals Suits and Exactions under the pretext of supporting a War against the Enemies of Christendom There is no end with their Reversions of Benefices First Fruits Bulls Indulgences Canons Cases of Conscience Pardons Remissions both of Guilt and Punishment and Supererogatory Satisfactions All which Inventions make not Sins Venial except it be by making them Venal they expose Prayers Sacraments Heaven and God himself to sale and prostitute them to the highest Bidder Horrid Inventions that turn Simon Peter into a Simon Magus and make as far as in them lies a Tyrant of Christ and Hirelings and Brokers of his Apostles What a goodly Divinity is this That all who have wherewith to pay how heinons soever their Sins be may be in a moment deliver'd from the pains of Hell or at least from those of Purgatory which others must swelter through for some thousands of Years unless perhaps Poverty voluntary or perforce Fastings to that excess as to be their own Murtherers Nakedness Hair-Cloth and Scourges do retrieve them thence But besides this Spiritual Merchandizing and Selling of every thing that is Sacred by what Divine Inspiration are they authoriz'd to absolve Men from their Oaths of Allegiance and discharge them of their Obedience and Duty to their Lawful Kings and Princes whom they rather endeavour to terrifie with their Thunderbolts than to make them truly devout or can that horrid and abominable Inquisition which makes them stop their Ears to the just Remonstrances of those that long for a Reformation be called an Imitation of the Tenderness and Bowels of our SAVIOUR and not rather of the Cruelty of Herod who caused so many Innocent Babes to be be put to Death for fear only of missing Him who was Innocence it son XXX O GOD how long wilt thou bear with the Usurpation of the Children of Pride to whom Religion serves but for a Cloak and a Pretext and who make use of thy Name only to entice people to give more willingly How long wilt thou suffer that horrid Scandal which on their account those Nations do receive with whom there still remains at least some Shadow of Respect for that Law thou didst pronounce thy self and who seeing the Objects of thy Jealousie those Images set up in Churches those Festivals appointed in honour of them and that Religious Service paid to them fancy all this is done by the command of thy CHRIST and that Christians do indeed Worship as many Men and Women as the Heathens ever did Gods and Goddesses How long wilt thou forbear destroying with the Breath of thy Mouth all those who with so much insolence and hypocrisie thus impose upon the People by their juggling Delusions which both Jews and Atheists flock to see that they may discover the cheat of them and be confirmed in their aversion to that Religion that endeavours to justifie and maintain it self by such lying Miracles For redress of which abuses there is no other way but to apply our selves to thy Supream Power for it is

make known to us that they may rashly dive into those which for a time he would have hid from us Without too indiscreet a presumption and a Curiosity not only needless but pernicious I shall never disturb the publick Peace nor raise new Doubts either about the two Natures the two Wills or Substance of JESUS CHRIST and without a too great Love of my self I shall never pretend to be the COMFORTER with Montanus nor the SAVIOUR of Men with Menander I will live as a Believer with Believers and neither scandalize my Brethren by any private Opinion taken up of my own head nor by a general undervaluing of the Opinion of others XXVI So long as the Weakness of Men shall introduce into the Church no other Scruples save about the difference of Meat and have no other Ornaments but Pictures and not provoke God's Jealousie by Graven Images So long as there shall be only some superfluous Ceremonies which in the Judgment of many will pass sometimes for indifferent and at other times be thought necessary though indeed an Error that seems but small at first is commonly a step to a greater So long as its Purity shall be if not altogether such as it might be wish'd yet at least such as is tolerable I will not depart from its Communion But I must and will withdraw from any Assembly where I shall be forced to conform with the outward actions of Superstition and Idolatry and pay a Religious Honour and Worship not only to Saints and Angels who are Fellow-Servants with us but to Wood and Stone where the Sacraments are not entire and where the Commandments of God are made void by the Precepts of Men. Neither shall I think this is any Schism where there is so just a reason of Separating and an impossibility of doing otherwise For what else should be the meaning or use of these Words that command Believers to go without the Camp Heb. 13.13 and to come out of Babylon Rev. 18.4 which going out is not meant of the Spirit only but of the Body too seeing that both are equally to be consecrated to the Glory of the Creator And when we shall see the abomination of Desolation set in the Holy Place Dan. 9.27 must not we fly into the Mountains Mat. 24. Or if once Antichrist be seated in the Temple of God must he therefore be obey'd and what he pleaseth to injoyn be called the Commandments of the Church CHAP. VII XXVII WHen therefore I saw the universal Division of so many Sects which all of them had their Doctors and some of them their Prophets too I thought that upon this account the necessity of Prayer was very urgent that there was great occasion for us to humble our selves and consult not the uncertain Imaginations of Men but those infallible Rules which God himself has laid down And this I desired with so much the more care to do because the Word of God tells us that not only many Antichrists will arise in the Church and one above all the rest but also that in the time of the Apostles themselves the Mystery of Iniquity began already to put forward and consequently must be by this time grown to a great height notwithstanding their blindness who have no minds to see it and think they are safe enough whilst they can find some pretence or other for their wilful Ignorance I therefore suspected all Religions which are not purely Evangelical and Divine which are mixt with Human Inventions meddle with Questions too high and too difficult to be resolved and the Controversy whereof is too subtle and fine-spun I had also an ill Opinion of those that are brought in by the Sword and Tyranny which are so little assur'd of themselves that they are afraid of a Communication with others and to that end keep their Followers in a Brutish Ignorance In like manner I mistrusted all those that comport with the several interests of the World and put in for a share in its Government whatever pompous Title of the Church they may assume because they overthrow the Order of CHRIST's own Appointment and rashly change that into a Time of Glory which is appointed for the Patience of the Saints XXVIII Besides if we will believe universal Experience Every thing that is under the Government of Men is like them subject to Alteration Mutability and Corruption and soon or late follows the Way of their Inconstancy Children do not willingly continue in their Fathers or at least Ancestors Belief and Faith is not hereditary as the Title of a Family or an Estate is For the most part they have nothing left of it but an outward Profession to which they being no otherwise engaged but by Birth or Custom they easily abandon what their depraved Nature neither incline them to know or love so that if they have begun with good and sound Doctrine a bad one is their Portion at last Thus we see that the purity of the Gospel wheresoever it hath been received has been seldom transmitted to the third Generation and the Apostles were yet alive when in the very Churches they had planted Error crept in insensibly into the room of Truth God threaten'd them already with the removal of their Candlestick giving them to understand that Faith was no more the peculiar Priviledge of any one Place Family or People and that the Church being become Universal could not be subjected to the Jurisdiction of one King only or the Administration of one single Priest 'T is in vain for Men to pretend to lay the Foundation of a permanent State or to find a Supreme Good here in this Life They are not able to bear Prosperity long and the surest way to undo them is to grant them their desires If our first Parents though in the State of Innocency could not among the Flowers and Fruits of a most pleasant and delightful Garden resist the suggestion of the Evil Spirit who to tempt them took no other Form than that of a Serpent nor offer'd any thing but an Apple how is it possible for those who are Sinners by Nature to withstand him especially when he transforms himself into an Angel of Light and offers them all the advantages their Hearts can desire It is indeed in a Paradise of Pleasures that the Devil for the most part tempts Men to precipitate them into Hell and on the other hand it is in a Hell of Sorrows and Afflictions that God trys them in order to raise them up to the Glory of Paradise Riches are so hurtful to those that possess them that like a heavy Burthen they hinder them from mounting up to Heaven And so incompatible are they with the Profession of the Gospel that even he to whom they all belong and who could use them without the least abuse did of his own accord become Poor that he might trace us the way of Eternal Salvation and by his Poverty we might be made Rich. Indeed all good Men do

their Hopes They have it always in their Mouths or in their Thoughts and their greatest trouble is that they cannot impart it to those who mistrust it and keep themselves as industriously from it as they would from a Snare who fear it as much as the Singing of Mermaids and whose abominable Wickedness make them incompatible with its Purity A Spirit of discerning is a Gift so few are blessed with that none but the true Elect know how or what to choose none but they that are truly Spiritual know how to try all things and hold fast that which is good 1 Thess 5.21 They are not disturbed that so many false Prophets who rashly assume the Name of God boast themselves to be the Dispensers of his Word make it serve their wicked ends and explain it as the Devil did when he was so daring as to tempt the Son of God himself as he still does those who make it their profession to follow him XLIII In short the Hurries and Intrigues of the World are none of their Concerns they slight them and for that reason are slighted too Nay they are not only vilified and contemned upon this account but hated and persecuted as if their manner of Living as well as their Belief was a Reproach to that of others They do not willingly engage themselves in any Party unless the Service of God or the Good of their own Country obliges them thereto And if they are called to any Office or Dignity 't is not in their Nature to canvas give bribes or use any underhand-dealings to obtain Mens Votes or Favours for it Neither is it their Practice to encrease their Wealth to the prejudice of Faith and Charity These Common Sayings To get an Estate To make one's Fortune To raise one's Family are none of their usual Talk tho' indeed their Ambition may be said to be greater than that of others forasmuch as no Worldly Grandeur can set bounds to it They are not ignorant what the lawful use of Things is nor what Advantages Decency and Necessity allow them who are possessed of Honours and great Places But they do not understand for whom they labour who never grow weary of heaping up Riches who raise such high structures undertake so vast designs that they can never expect to live long enough to see the end of them They think no Man can be call'd Judicious or Rational but he that seriously applys himself to the knowledge of his Supream Good and they look with pity upon the miserable Occupations of them that are as much ty'd to the Earth as if they had no Pretensions at all to Heaven They behold with grief and horror the insolence of those who deny nothing to their Senses or Appeti●es and make no other use of their Riches and Power than to commit all manner of crimes and to tyranize over their Neighbours with the more freedom and impunity They withdraw themselves as far as they can from the conversation of the Wicked and as they are no flatterers so is their company less pleasing to others They cannot without great reluctancy be complaisant to such whose Manners are displeasing to them or to give their approbation to so many Errors and Vanities They cannot admire that which God condemns nor afford a pleasant look to those Objects that grieve their Hearts But notwithstanding all the constraint and unca●ness they suffer in this troublesome commerce and the great aversion they have for these things yet is their severity always less than their Charity Under pretence of forsaking the World they do not defraud their lawful Heirs neither do they strive to grow rich by the ruin of others they know they should be worse than Publicans did they not take care of their own Families and that according to the Divine Rule They that will not work must not feed 2. Thess 3.10 Upon which account Working Days are no less welcome than the Days of Rest is Sacred to them But they are so far from minding nothing else but their Temporal Concerns that they will ever and anon cry out with their Master Lo I come I delight to do thy will O my God Psal 40.9 And though they live or rather languish in this World as being out of their own Element though they are as it were alone in the midst of a Multitude and as Strangers to their Mothers Children though their Purity and Holiness be accounted Foolishness and their Strength look'd upon as Weakness in them yet that does not give them the least trouble they are very little concerned to see themselves Evil spoken of for well doing 1 Pet. 3.17 and to lose their Credit provided they keep but their Consciences They know very well that if they would be Men-Pleasers they could not be God's Servants That it is impossible to believe in him and at the same time be so eager in the pursuit of the glory of the World which most infallibly becomes bitter to them to whom Christ begins to be Sweet They are well aware that this Life is but a Passage a Place of Trial or rather a Field of Battle where such as will not fight ought to expect neither Honour nor Reward XLIV Now how to reconcile the Learning of so many Doctors with their obduration in this Case I am quite at a loss I cannot Imagine how they can think of the Gospel and never think of their own Conscience I am astonished that so much Light as they have should not oblige them to know themselves and cry out Certainly we are in Error and our Profession is quite contrary to that of Christ and his Apostles It is Written that all those who will live godlily in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution Where is the Persecution we suffer We are the Darlings and Favourites of the World both Princes and People are for us We enjoy the pleasures of the Earth and our lot falls always in the best place If this be not the Kingdom of this World pray tell me what is Shall we cast into this account the Vows of Poverty Fastings Austerities and Mortifications of some of our own Party But so far are they from being blamed hated or persecuted therefore that they are honoured of Men and so receive their reward And after all these voluntary Afflictions are of Human Invention and of the Nature of those concerning which the Scripture thus expostulates with Men Who has required these things at your hand Isa 1.12 Indeed I am astonished that the Pharisees of this Age do not sometimes reflect upon these Matters since Affliction is so certainly annex'd to the Profession of True Christianity that I doubt whether they may be said to have once began to be Christians who were never persecuted For if in some Countries in the World the Blessing of Heaven which perhaps favours the zeal of some Generation suffers Religion to flourish and as the Scripture speaks possess the Gates of her Enemies Gen. 22.17 and 24.60 presently Abuses and Insolence that are commonly the Attendants of Prosperity the Practices of the Devil and his Emissaries are apt to alter and corrupt her and inspire her with an emulation of Worldly Religions and a Contempt of her Primitive Simplicity Would we have the Servants greater than their Master and partake of his Consolation and Glory and not of his Sufferings and Patience No no they must find Joy in the midst of Sorrows and be as a Rose among thorns And the same must happen to them as befell Joseph who was made greater by his Exile and whose Elevation was from a Dungeon and as Job whose Youth was renew'd through Affliction They ought with St. Paul to look upon it as a singular favour That unto them it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake Ph. 1.29 and still think their sufferings are very small in comparison of what they hope for Hope and Charity are the inseparable Companions of Faith all three together constitute a Believer and are the infallible Characters by which he is known I don't mean that Faith that is obscure blind weak and staggering which depends upon Birth Opinion Custom and Tradition which is always doubtful and apt to be scandaliz'd at every thing which does not mortifie the Affections nor forsake the World is a stranger to Self-denial and sinks under Persecutions I do not mean that Faith which does not follow Christ but for its own convenience and which of all his Miracles chiefly eyes that which multiply's the Loaves But I speak of a Faith that is clear certain and constant which proceeds from the Virtue of the Holy Spirit from the Word of Eternal Life from Prayer and Humility which is not acquired but revealed and which does not enter the hearts of those that have but a Human Faith I speak of that Faith that rids us of the Cares of transitory things that ravishes us into an admiration of the Divine Graces that surpasses all human discourse and reasoning and engages us to glorifie Him who gave it us with groans that cannot be uttered Rom. 8.26 WHICH Precious Gift the FATHER of MERCIES vouchsafe to us all through JESUS CHRIST Our Lord. AMEN