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A03805 An exposition of certayne words of S. Paule, to the Romaynes, entiteled by an old wryter Hugo. A treatise of the workes of three dayes. Also an other worke of the truth of Christes naturall body. By Richarde Coortesse Docter of Diuinitie, and Bishop of Chichester Hugh, of Saint-Victor, 1096?-1141.; Curteys, Richard, 1532?-1582. Truth of Christes naturall body. aut 1577 (1577) STC 13923; ESTC S114237 61,508 173

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more narrowly nor more nobly of the most noble blessed body of Christ there the word of god doth teach me For our may●●er Christ geueth the same for a rule Searche the scriptures For they beare witnesse of me And truely the aunciente Fathers doe playnly teache that argumentes drawen from the power of God be both very weake and to to daungerous first Tertullian against Praxias the Heretick sayd it is not hard for God to make him selfe both Father and sonne contrary to the course of nature as it was not hard for GOD to cause the barren to bring forth a childe and the virgin an other Certaynly there is nothing harde vnto God but and if we shall vse these presumptions and gesses so abruptly has●ely We may surmise any thing of god that God hath done it because he coulde doe it But not because God can doe all thinges therefore are we bounde to beléeue that God hath done that which he hath not done but it is our duety to serch out by Gods worde whether he haue done it or no Secondly S. Ierome writing to Eustochius of the kéeping of virginity doth say I speake boldly although God can doe all thinges yet can he not rayse vp a Virgin after her fall Thirdly saint Austen against Faustus whosoeuer sayth if God be almighity he can cause that those things which be done be not done he doth not sée that he sayth thus much in effect if God be almightie he can cause that the same things which be true in that that they be true be also false Last of all Theodorete in his thirde Dialogue which is called Impatibilis doeth saye that we ought not to say definitely and absolutely that all things be possible vnto god By the which it appeareth that we may auouch without impechmente of Gods almighty power ▪ that God hath not done all thinges which he coulde haue done neyther doth the word teach that but this God hath done whatsoeuer hee would that is to saye whatsoeuer it séemed good to his wisdome to haue done Thē we are to séeke out whether it be Gods will pleasure that the humayne and natural body of Christ should be in euery place at one time For if Gods will be so it is without all doubt but if Gods will bée not so it is great sinne to teach or thinke the contrary If Gods will be to haue the naturall body of Christ a made body an humayne body and a natural body a body distinguished with partes then Gods will is not that Christes naturall body should be in many places at one time For then it should breake the boundes marckes and limmittes and should leaue to be an humayne and naturall body Nowe nothing can at the sawe time be a humayne body and a not humayne body a naturall body and a not naturall body But you will say you may not leaue to reason in matters of religion Truth it is if the booke of God teach otherwise But the body of Christe hath this peculier and priuate grace to be in many places at once not locally it is as much to say as it hath this peculier grace to be a body and not bodily Wherefore I will goe on thus It can by no meanes be that a thing made should be euery where but the body of Christ is a thing made then it can by no meanes be that the body of Christ should be euery where Basillus the great doth proue the proposition in his booke of the holy Ghost The Aungell that stoode by Cornelius was not the same tyme with Phillip neyther he that spake to Zachary at the Aulter was the same time in heauen But the holy ghost did work in the same moment in Abacuck and in Danyel and was at the same time with Ieremy in the dungen with Ezechiell in Choua● For the spirite of the Lord hath filled the whole world But he that is in all places ● p●esst with God of what nature or condition oughte he to be beléeued to be of that which contayneth all things or of that which is contayned in some perticuler place Vigillius doeth proue the same speaking in the person of Athanasius in his Dialogue in the which the speakers be S●b●llius Photinus Arius and Athanasius Thereby it is playne that the holy ghost is God because it is euery where and is contayned in no place as the Prophete speaketh to God the Father Whether shall I gee from the spirite For to be euery where and in one and the same momente to fill the heauens the earthes the Seas and lowe places belongeth not to any creature but only to God And a little afterward it cannot be in one nature to lye in the bosom of the M●nger and to be shewed by the starres to be subiecte to men and to bee serued by the Aungels to flye frō place to place and to be presēt in euery place to dwel in Earth and not to leaue 〈…〉 auen To cōclude Cirillus proueth it thus if God fill all places and that by the holy ghost the holy ghost is God and not a creature These may be briefely knit vp thus according to Basill the body of Christ or ther is of that nature and condition which contayneth all thinges that is to say diuine or God or of that nature and condition which is contayned in some perticuler place But it is not the diuine nature or God therfore it is contayned in some perticuler place According to Vigill if it be euery where and contayned in no place it is God but it is not god therefore it is contayned in some place According to Cirillus if it fyll all places it is not a creature but it is a creature therefore it doth not fil all places I grant say you that a creature should be God if by the owne power it could be euer where but the body of Christ hath not that of the selfe but by the maiesty of the Godhead adioyned to it The hereticke graunted the same of the holy ghost and therefore the aucthority of these ancient Fathers doth presse you as much as them No save you I doe not speake of the body of Christ as of a simple and common creature but as of a creature coupled to the godhead by vnion or oning of person and the same also being glorifyed by resurrection and ascention which I saye hath by force of the godhead this grace geuen to it that it should be in euery place present with the Godhead and neuer parted from it and so cannot be comprised in any one place Then heare what Theodorete doth say in his secōd Dialogue The body of our Lord is risen againe frée from corruption and destruction and is impatible and immortall and glorifyed worshipped of the heauēly powers and yet it is a body and hath the same circumscription which it had before Here Cirillus in his second booke of the Trinity if the Trinity
then it had it before I wyll not speake of chaunging in tyme because that is bredde of the two first For nothing can be chaunged in tyme but it must be chaunged eyther in forme or place If therefore it shall appeare that God can be changed neither in forme nor place Then it wil be most certaine that GOD is altogether vnchaungeable We shal easily proue that God is not chaunged according to the chaunging of place if we proue that he is euery where For that which is euery where is in euery place And that which is in euerye place cannot go from place to place There be many profes that God is euery where And fyrst our owne soule the which both reason doth playnely fynde that it is a symple substaunce and sence doth proue that it is dispearsed through all that which doeth quicken the bodye For whatsoeuer parte of the quick body is hurte it is one spirite to the which feeling of ech payne is caryed the which coulde not be if the one and the same spirite where not dispearsed thorow the whole If therefore the reasonable spirite of man being symple is dispearsed thorow the whole bodye which it guydeth it is not conuenient that that creating spirite which guydeth and possessetth all things shoulde be tyed and bounde to some one place but rather shoulde be thought to fyll all places For the very mouinges of all thinges which doe run euery where with so certayne and reasonable moderation doth shew life quick within Yet may not we in any case beléeue that as the spirite of man is personally ioyned to the body which it quickneth that so ech creating spirite to be coupled personaly to the body of this sensible world For God filleth the world one way and the soule the body an other The soule fylleth the body is conteyned in it bicause it maye be compassed about God fylleth the world but is not conteyned because being presente euerye where he cannot beholden any where ❧ The sixteenth branch FUrthermore sythence we sée the effect of God his power to be wanting no where why shoulde we not thinke that the same power of GOD is in all thinges And if Gods power be euerye where and if also God his power and God be all one it is most playne that God is euery where for God doeth not néede any others ayde to doe any thing as a manne doeth for man often tymes doth that by the helpe of another which he cannot do by his own power Whervpon after a certaine maner of spéeche man is oftentimes saide to doe a thing in that place where it is manifest that he is absent bodily As the king oftentimes making hys aboade in his owne citie is reported to fyght in another place with his enimies and to ouercome or be ouercommed bicause the kings souldiours vpon his pleasure or commaundement doe fight do ouercome or be ouercommed Likewise when a man hitteth with his staffe or with a stone a thing farre from him the man is sayd to hit that which his staffe or stone did hit There be many of this sorte but none of these be spoken properly because that which the one doth is ascribed to the other But God which thorow his own vertue by his own selfe doeth all thinges wheresoeuer he is presente in worke must néedes be there also presente in Godhead Now if any man would aske howe God being a symple substaunce can be euery where He is to vnderstand that the spirite is called symple one waye and the body simple another way For the body is called simple for the littlenesse but the spirite is called simple not for the littlenesse but in respecte of the vnity or onenesse Therfore the maker both is simple because he is one and euery where because he is god And being in euery place can be holden of no place for fylling all thinges he doth cōt●me and is not conteyned Therefore because he is in euery place he cannot be moued from place to place and because he is holden in no place he is not locall But the chaunging that is according to forme is eyther meresed or deciesed or altered But none of these canne be found in the nature of God which the seuerall discourse of each will make playne Whatsoeuer groweth or increaseth taketh some thing besides it selfe And whatsoeuer taketh any thing more thē that which is in it selfe must néedes take it from another For nothing can geue to it selfe that which it hath not And of whome can the maker of all thinges take any thing that it hath not seeing that euery thing that is commeth from him Then he cannot increase because he cannot take any thing more then himselfe Neyther can he decrease or be dominished For whatsoeuer can be made lesse then it selfe is not truely one For that which deuideth it selfe in seuering was neuer the same in commiction Therefore God to whome it is all one to be that which he is can by no meanes be made lesse thē it selfe Neyther therefore the perfectnesse of God can be increased nor the vnity deminished nor the immensity comprehended nor he that is present in euery place can be chaunged from place to place Now I am to teach how God cannot be altered and because the altering of bodyes is one the altering of spirites another and because also it is playne by that which is sayd before that God is no body but a spirite si●● we intreat of God it is néedelesse to speake much of the alteration of bodies and yet I will much the same briefely because I may more commodiously come to the alteration of the spirites The alteration of the bodies doth consist in the compounding of the parts and mutuall chaunge of the qualities The alteratiō of spirite is by knowledge and affection The spirits be chaunged according to affection in becomming somtimes merry sometimes sad according to knowledge to be sometimes more and sometimes lesse wise There be two thinges chiefely which alter the affection of the worker eyther if he hath done any thing heretofore to be repented of or doe appoynt to do any thing hereafter out of order But that God doth nothing to repent of doth this vnchaungeable course of thinges plainly proue which do so kéepe by a perpetuall law the order of their fyrst appoyntment And that God doth purpose or couet to doe nothing out of order Doeth the reasonable sequell proue which in the whole body of nature doeth in no poynt disagrée vnto it selfe Therefore God his will is vnmoueable because he doth neuer chaunge eyther his councell of that which is past or his purpose of that which is to come so we ought to beleeue that God is vnchaungeable in knowledge ❧ The seuententh branch MAns knowledge doth chaunge three wayes By increase decrease and ech after other By increase when we learne that we know not By decrease when we forget that we know Ech after other happeneth iiij wayes Substaunce
first daye is feare the seconde is truth and the thirde loue The day of feare is the daye of power and the day of the father The daye of wisedome is the daye of truth and the day of the sonne The daye of loue is the day of mercie and the daye of the holye ghost Surely the daye of the father and the daye of the sonne and the day of the holye ghost is all one in brightnesse of the Godhead but in lightening our minds the father hath one daye the sonne an other and the holy ghost the thirde Not that in any respect we ought to beleeue that the trinity which in substance cannot be seuered in working maye be seuered but that the distinction of the persons maye be vnderstoode by the difference of the workes When the consyderation of the Almightie power of God doth stirre our hartes to prayse God it is the day of the father But when the wisdome of God doth light our harts with the séene knowledge of the truth it is the day of the son And when the mercy of God consydered doth fyre our hartes with loue it is the day of the holy ghos● Power doth terrify Wisedome doth lighten Mercy doth glad In the day of power we die by feare In the daye of wysedome we be buryed from the noyse of thys worlde by the contemplation of truth In the day of mercie we rise agayne by the loue and desyre of eternall ioy For therefore Christ died the sixt day laye in the graue the seuenth daye and rose agayne the eyght daye that in semblable maner first power in that day by feare should outwardly kil vs from carnall desyres and then wisedome the next daye shoulde inwardly burie vs in the graue of contemplation And last of all mercie in that day should cause vs quickned to arise agayne by Fayth and by the desyre of the loue of god For that the sixt day is the day of labour the seuenth day the day of rest and the eyght daye the daye of rysing againe ❧ A Prayer SHyne we beséech thée O almighty and mercifull God of our Lorde Jesus Christ that father of glory vpon our minds and hearts with the beames of thy heauenly grace and geue vs the spirite of wisedome and vnderstanding thorough the knowledge of thee that the eyes of our heartes being lighted we may knowe what is the hope of the calling and howe riche is the glory of the heritage of thy sayntes and that excellent greatnesse of thy power towardes vs which beléeue according to the might of the force of thy strength which thou shewed in Christ whē thou diddest raise him from the dead and diddest set him at thy right hand in heauen farre aboue all Empyre power aucthoryty and dominion and euery name that is named not onely in this world but also in the world to come Graunt this moste mercifull father for thy best beloued sonnes sake our onely aduocate and sauioure Christ Jesus So be it ❧ Whether the naturall aud glorifyed body of Christ is in all or manye places at one and the same time NIc●pherus doeth write that Vtiches and Dioschorus the greate enemyes of the councell of Calcedon went to Alamordaru● a King of the Saracenes a little before conuerted to the fayth and babtized to infect him with their herisyes But the good King well instructed and strongly propt vp with the grace of God contynued a zelous and constant professour of Christ At the last when by no meanes he could rid himselfe of the crafty and importune souldyours of Sathan he fayned that he must needes goe speake with certayne straungers soone after retourning to Vtiches and Dioschorus tould them that he had receaued strange newes that Michaell the Archaungell was dead Vtiches and Dioschorus cryed out and sayd they were lyes For it was vnpossible that an Angell should dye Then sayd the King what mad men be yee that confesse that Christ was crucified and dead and yet denye that he was a man. The same in déede though not in euery respect falleth out with them which graunt that Christ hath a natural body but deny that the same body is comprised in one place Vtiches denied that Christ was a mā but he doeth not denye that he was crucifyed and dead These doe denye that Christes body is bounded or in one place but they doe not deny that it is a naturall body I doe not therefore sée how they can shifte their selues of the ●utikian heresy or the confounding of the two natures in Christ which take away place and circumscription from the naturall body of Christ In worde they say that the two natures in Christ be distincte and that the seueral properties of ech of the natures be distinct but in déede they confound them all in trāsferring the whole force of the Godhead into the body Truth it is that the glorifyed body is moresubtill and nimble then the not glorifyed body as S. Augustine doeth wel say But yet a body and a body boūded with the boundes of place Aristotle doth say and very truely that euerybody muste needes be as it were hedged about with a place the same S. Austen writeth to Dardanus take away spaces of places frō bodyes and they shal be no where and because they shall be no where they shall not be at all But if the nature of the body of Christ be weighed by it selfe it is so as you say Notwithstanding if you looke to the power of God by that and from that it may haue force to be euery where For who can set any bounde to the power of God which made the heauens the earths the seas of nothing The aunswere is easie no manne calleth in question the strength and power of God but we inquire what his will is our question is not whether God coulde haue the naturall body of Christ to be in euery place at one time but whether God woulde haue it so Wherefore that I maye be frée from al quarels and slaunders euen at the dore of my spéeche I doe openly and plainely protest that we doe not thrust or binde the bodye of Christ into any straight prison of the Firmament but that we beléeue and confesse that the same is in the most large and noble Countrie of the lyuing farre aboue all the heauens subiect to the sences Also that we do not part the manhood frō the Godheade or the Godheade from the Manhood but that we doe most certainly beléeue that these two natures be euer knitte and lincked together in one parson of Christ perfyte God and perfyte man Thirdly that we doe not in any respect diminishe that great and infinite power of the great and mightye God but that we do honour him as god almightie and eternall And yet we are loth to be reckned in the number of those which the Poet Horase doeth speake Whilst Fooles doth auoyde one faulte they fall into another I meane that I would neither speake