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	holy_a	receive_v	7,630	5	5.5906	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44211	An account of the spirits working upon the minds of men in the several ages of the Christian church in a visitation sermon before the Right Reverend Father in God, Henry Lord Bishop of London, at Burntwood in Essex, Septemb. 14, 1680 / by Richard Hollingworth.	Hollingworth, Richard, 1639?-1701.	1680 (1680)	Wing H2485; ESTC R26432	13,861	26

and violent particles which had they no superiour powers to give Laws to their motion would like Phaeton set this world of Man on fire No no the great design of this Spirit is to mend that Soul which Christ died to purchase the life of and certainly when ever any man experiences its genuine operations he finds a vast alteration in the state of his mind his apprehensions of things are far different from their former selves when he was under the command of lust and prejudice he then better sees the nature of things and those several excellencies that are in them he pitches upon objects which are every way more agreeable to the delights as well as necessities of his soul than the husks he formerly fed upon And that love he has for God is not founded in the temperature of his body in some present glowings which arise from Rhetorical descriptions but in a deep consideration of the Divine Attributes and perfections of those displays and communications that he bountifully makes of himself to the world and his affections to the Lord Jesus are not fixed upon him barely upon the score of his Priesthood because he fondly and fancifully expects to be saved by him but he honours and loves him as his Lord and King and testifies the truth of his love by submitting to his Authority and resigning up himself to his will and pleasure and the Mans delight in God is bottomed in those rational satisfactions he hath had in a true performance of those duties through which God communicates himself to the intellectual and rational part of Man Alas those touches upon the animal spirits are but flashes and vanish in a moment upon which score we read of several persons in the late confusions who for a time made a great noise and pretended to give as great a light to the world in a moment after the spirits flagged and the course of their bodies altered sunk into the dregs of Atheism and Prophaneness and drolled upon Religion as the product of a few melancholy vapours from the head and not of a rational consideration from the mind Whereas had these men been brought to Religion by the exercise of their minds and reason about the Doctrins and Truths of the Christian Religion and by the help of Gods good Spirit which never fails to raise and heighten the faculties and to enlighten the object to such laborious men they had continued constant to their profession notwithstanding all discouragements for rational satisfaction conviction of mind and judgment cannot be laid aside but by great degeneracy and apostacy of mind or else by something that out-weighs it in point of satisfaction to the contrary And this was the way the Bereans took for though there was the greatest spirit in the World there yet it is said they searched the Scriptures whether those things were so or no Act. 17.11 that is they made use of their Reason to compare Prophesies with events and thereby got the name of being more noble and no doubt furnished themselves with a more full satisfaction Act. 17.2 And St. Paul as his manner was he went unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures that is he appealed to their judgments and understandings and not to their or his own private spirit whereby he intimates that that is the great method of conviction and that the work of the Spirit of God when such things are offered to our reason is to incline us to consider and pause upon the evidence that is in those arguments and to six our thoughts in such a manner as not to ramble from what is proposed but to look into the strength and force such and such Arguments are attended withal I say this this is the great work of the Spirit and to judge of the truth of the Spirits morions by the warmth of our affections and not by the true light of our understanding is to get into a Labyrinth out of which we cannot extricate our selves but by being guided by the clue of our Reason and there is nothing under such delusions as these but a return to a mans self to an exercise of his intellectual powers can save him and prevent his being plunged over head and ears in sin and Heresie And therefore let warm Enthusiasts cry down the use of Reason in Religion as long as they will and call us carnal Preachers for advising men to understand the reason of their Religion Yet for all that I dare desire all those who read these Papers to think themselves Christians upon no other account than that they are convinced their Religion is the best in the World both as to its grounds and as to its design and I dare assure them that if they improve their minds by pains and diligence they shall find constant strength infused into their souls by this good Spirit of God 3. Another thing I lay down concerning this Spirit is this that there is now nothing done by this ordinary Spirit of God which works upon the minds of diligent men which contradicts and gain-says whatsoever was said or done by the extraordinary Spirit in the Prophets and Apostles for the Holy Ghost is God and so is Truth it self and cannot lie and for any man to pretend he comes by vertue of a commission received from him and at the same time to spread abroad propositions of faith or rules of life which are not agreeable to what hath been already delivered down to the world he ought to be rejected as a monstrous Blasphemer a most vile Imposttor one that would thrust the notion of a God out of the world by rendering him contradictory to himself changing his mind upon all emergencies and making that matter of duty to day which not long agoe he declared against with the greatest severity And though one would think such a thing should never be done by any person that wears a mans head yet God knows those loose and scandalous times in which our Fathers and we have lived give us too sad experience of it What do you think of those who pretend to be governed by nothing else but a light within them and yet vent such Doctrins of Devils as these are to wit That Jesus Christ is not God That he died to be our example and not a Sacrifice That they themselves attain to such a perfection of degrees as to live without sin And that which wants not its aggravation namely That the Magistrates have nothing to do to hinder them in spreading these loose and desperate Principles And though I could name other Parties of men who come not much behind in some bad Principles yet I am resolved seeing I am vindicating the true Notion of the Spirit that descended in the likeness of a Dove to do it without any gall whatsoever Let me therefore intreat you if at any time such thoughts arise in your souls as are flatly contrary to Scripture or the like