Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	father_n	jesus_n	lord_n	17,123	5	3.7490	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96866	Justification by faith: or, a confutation of that antinomian error, that justification is before faith; being the sum & substance of a sermon / preached at Sarum; by Benjamin Woodbridge, minister of Newberry in Barkshire. May 26. 1652. Imprimatur, Edmund Calamy.	Woodbridge, Benjamin, 1622-1684.	1652 (1652)	Wing W3424; Thomason E673_18; ESTC R207183	23,288	41

be given he is not our God nor we his people for it is in vain for God to give Faith for an end which may be well enough attained without Faith But God promiseth to give Faith that he may be our God and we his people Jer. 31. 33. Heb. 8. 10. Ezek. 11. 19 20. and 36. 25 26 27 28. 37. 23 24 26 27. besides multitudes of other Scriptures I have onely one observation to adde which the most learned amongst the Jewish and Christian Writers do often take notice of and that is this That God is never said to be our God in reference to his giving of the first grace but onely in reference to the blessings which he promiseth to them that have Faith Heb. 11. 16. He is not our God that he may give us Faith but is every where said to give us Faith that he may be our God In times past you were not a people but are now the people of God 1 Pet. 2. 10. And now I might spare the pains of further proof of the position last defended a Viz. That we are in not Covenant before Faith yet to the Scriptures already advanced let me adde a few more Isa 55. 3. Come unto me that is Believe in me John 6. 35. and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you 2. The voice of the Gospel which is the Covenant of Grace is every where Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved in opposition to the Covenant of Works which saith Do this and live Rom. 10. 5. 6. 9. This is the Covenant whereof Christ is Mediator Heb. 9. 15. That they that are called unto Faith shall receive the promise of the eternal inheritance 3. The Covenant of Grace is preached to every man and every man called upon to fulfil the conditions of it that he may receive the blessings of it which condition is Faith Heb. 4. 1 2 10. Is there an absolute promise made to every man that God will give him grace or is it sense to exhort men to take hold of Gods Covenant as the phrase is Isa 66. 4 6. or to enter into Covenant with God if the Covenant be onely an absolute promise on Gods part or to exhort men to be stedfast in the Covenant of God to hold fast the faith and their confidence in Christ as the Scriptures are wont to do Heb. 3. 12 13 14. and 10. 23. or to accuse and blame and damn men for unbelief and rejecting of the Gospel Was it ever known that men should be counted worthy of death for not being the objects of an absolute promise 4. If the Covenant of grace be an absolute promise then no men in the world but wicked ungodly men are in covenant with God When a covenant is fulfilled it ceaseth to be any more a covenant In this life we are properly said to be in covenant with God when we shall be perfected in glory in the heavenly kingdom we cannot properly be said to be in covenant Now absolute promises of grace are made onely to wicked men when grace is given them then is the covenant so far forth fulfilled and so far forth they cease to be in covenant and so none but wicked men shall be perfectly in covenant with God But it is beside my purpose work to follow this pursuit any further Thus then you have with advantage the copy of the Sermon you have often desired to which though it is likely somthing is or will be said which at this distance I am never like to hear of yet sure I am that nothing can be answered consistent with the truth of Scriptures I am sorry for the breaches that are amongst you for the grief of the godly and the hardning of multitudes to their own destruction The God and Father of the Lord Jesus restore you to peace and quiet that spirit of Division that is gone abroad amongst you to his Grace I commend you rest Imprimatur Edm. Calamy May 26. 1652. Yours in the nearest bonds Benj Woodbridge FINIS

no other name given under Heaven Acts 4. 12. that is no other name appointed so Eph. 1. 22. and 4. 11. and a hundred other places In this sense the giving of the Spirit is no more then the sending and as it were the constituting of the Spirit to be by way of specialty the worker and cause of Faith 2. The word give doth sometimes include a receiving and possession of the thing given as in the ordinary use of the word and thus the Spirit is given when we receive him and are as it were possest of him and he becomes ours and dwells in us Thus the Lord promiseth to give the Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11. 13. and we are said to receive the spirit by Faith Gal. 3. 14. and the Spirit is said to dwell in us by Faith Eph. 3. 16 17. with Rom. 8. 10 11. and of this latter way of giving the Spirit is the Question to be understood 2. The Spirit may be said to be given three ways 1. Essentially 2. Personally 3. In reference to his operations The Spirit is not given to us essentially for so he is God and is equally every where nor can he be more peculiarly in one then in another Nor 2. Personally for that cannot be conceived without a personal union which would denominate us as truly to be the Spirit of God as the like union in the man Christ Jesus did denominate him to be the Son of God 3. The Spirit therefore must be said to be given to us in regard of some peculiar operations which he worketh in us which are incommunicable to those which have not the Spirit so that common convictions illuminations humiliations some joys of heart and the like which are transient Works of the Spirit common to them that are saved and to them that perish Heb. 6. 4. Matth. 13. 20. and all other works which may either go before or be without Faith these are none of them such kinde of works as that in respect of them the Spirit should be said to be given to us wherefore there being no peculiar work of grace before Faith it self which may not be wrought in a Hypocrite which hath not the Spirit as well as in a childe of God therefore the Spirit is neither given nor received before Faith be wrought but is given and received together with Faith in the same instant of time and not before Indeed as every cause is in nature before its effect so the Spirit also in order of causes is before Faith but that he is therefore given to us in the least atome of time before the being of Faith is a meer non-sequitur and contrary to the received maxime Posita causa in actu ponitur effectus which rule Mr. Eyre hath often abused to prove a Justification immediatly upon the death or resurrection of Christ and yet here he cannot understand it so that as a man doth first build himself an house and then dwells in it So the Lord Jesus by his Spirit doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 3. 3. build and organize and prepare as we render the Greek wood Luke 1. 17. the soul to be a house unto himself and then by the same Spirit dwells in it immediatly And this is that which I would have spoken publiquely in answer to this Argument if Mr. Eyre had not been beyond measure obstreperous Yet here it may be demanded Whether Faith it self be not given to us by vertue of the Covenant made withus Answ Faith is not given to us by vertue of the Covenant made with us but by vertue of the Covenant made with Christ that is God hath promised and covenanted with Christ that if he will lay down his life for the redemption of sinners those sinners shall be drawn to believe in Christ and thereby to partake of the benefits of his death That this is so the Scriptures are plain Isa 53. 10. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for him he shall see his seed He shall see of the travel of his soul by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many so Isa 55. 4. 5. Behold thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the holy One of Israel for he hath glorified thee Psal 2. 8. Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance c. So Psal 110. 3. Matth. 12. 21. And why did the Lord appoint Apostles and Ministers to carry the sound of the Gospel from one end of the earth to the other and subdueth Nations to the obedience of the Faith but that he may accomplish his promises made to his Son such as are recorded in Psal 89. 25 26 c. Now to the words of the Covenant Jer. 31. 31. repeated by the Apostle Heb. 8. 10. This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel I will put my laws into their mindes and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people From whence Mr. Eyre infers That the Spirit and Faith is given by vertue of the Covenant made with us But I answer 1. That if Mr. Eyre will urge the words of this Text rigorously they would prove more then he would have For it is manifest That this Covenant contains a promise of sending Christ into the world and giving him up to death for our sins as the Apostle doth directly prove Heb. 10. 14 15 16. and why then may it not be inferred That the elect are in Covenant with God not onely before they believe but also before the death of the Mediator and so his death was not to obtain all or any of the blessings of the Covenant but onely as the Socinians to declare and confirm to us That we may believe that God of his own meer good will without expecting any satisfaction will do all this good for us for if it be a good consequence We are in Covenant before we believe because the Covenant promiseth to give us Faith Then is this also a good consequence We are in covenant before the death of Christ because the Covenant promiseth to give Christ to death And what answer Mr. Eyre will give to avoid this consequence for I presume he will not grant it and to defend his position that we are in Covenant with God upon the death of Christ and not before notwithstanding the Covenant Promise to give Christ the same Answer will serve my turn for the vindication of my Assertion That we are in Covenant with God upon believing and not before notwithstanding the same Covenant promise Faith 2. But upon a most serious perusual of this Text I finde it so contradictory to Mr. Eyr's purpose that I cannot but wonder what he means to shelter his Opinion under the protection of it If we read the words in Heb. 8. 10. or Jer. 31. 33. and

compare them with other places of Scripture we shall finde three things of distinct consideration the conclusion of which is the only support of this feeble Argument 1. There is the matter and blessings of the Covenant on Gods part I will be their God and they shall be my people In which words as many blessings temporal and eternal are promised so peculiarly pardon of sin mentioned in the words next following for which the Covenant on Mount Sinai to which this opposed made no provision and therefore when the Apostle mentioneth this Covenant again he leaves out those words I will be their God c. and takes notice of the great blessing contained in them namely Pardon of sin Heb. 10. 17. 2. There is expressed the bond and condition of it on our part and that is Faith which is confessedly signified in those words of putting Gods Laws in our mindes and writing them in our hearts In these two things is the tenor and formality of the New Covenant They that believe the Lord will be their God and they shall be his people and this is the Covenant so long before promised but most expresly Enacted in the days of the New Testament But thirdly There is also a Promise and Declaration that God will work this condition by which men shall have an interest in this Covenant and a right and title to the blessings thereof I will put my laws into their mindes that is I will give them Faith which Faith is not promised as an effect of the Covenant already made but as the means by which we are brought into Covenant and thereby invested in a right to all the blessings of it So that the words are in this sense This is the Covenant which I will make with the house of Israel when I shall write my Laws in their hearts I will be their God c. I do not herein give the Grammatical Translation of the words though if a man should read the words thus This is the Covenant which I will make saith the Lord that giveth his Laws into their mindes and writeth them in their heart c. he would be so far from offering violence either to the Greek Translation of the LXX which the Apostle follows or to the Hebrew Text in the Prophet as that he might justifie it by many examples But the matter is of no consequence at all to either side You see the sense which I give of the words And that this is the true sense of the place is most evident if we compare it with other Scriptures where this Covenant is mentioned For example Jer. 24. 7. I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God for or when they shall return unto me with their whole heart where we have the very same Arguments as here viz. The blessings promised I will be their God The condition on the peoples part which is their returning with their whole heart and the cause of this return I will give them an heart The Apostle is yet more distinct Heb. 10. 14 15 16 17. He proves that Christ hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified whereof saith he the holy Ghost is a witness to us for after that he had said before This is the Covenant that I will make with them I will put my laws into their heart And their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more Before which last words must be repeated these Then he saith or Then it followeth and so the whole sentence runneth thus For after he had said before I will put my laws into their hearts then he saith Their sins and their iniquities I wil remember no more which clause as is already observed is one of the special and noble blessings contained in that general promise I will be their God and they shall be my people from which distribution of the words of the Covenant we may as before observe 1. Where begins the grand promise of the Covenant to wit in those words I will be their God and they shall be my people 2. The Qualification of the persons to whom this promise is made They are such in whose hearts Gods Laws are written that is such as believe 3. The efficient cause of this their Faith and that is God himself I will write my laws in their hearts The same Covenant is delivered in other terms in Scripture in all which the giving of the first Grace is promised not as a part of the Covenant but as the means and qualification on mans part for his entrance into Covenant as Ezek. 11. 19 20. I will put a new spirit within them that they may walk in my statutes and do them and they shall be my people and I will be their God which is the sum of the Covenant on Gods part so in Ezek. 36. 25 26 27 28. Again the Lord promiseth That he will cleanse and purifie them and so they shall be his people and he will be their God Ezek. 37. 23. which is the grand promise of the New Testament as the context makes it manifest And after he had promised that they should walk in his judgements and observe in his statutes it follows Moreover I will make a Covenant of peace with them it shall be an everlasting Covenant which in sum is this I will be their God and they shall be my people verse 24. 26 27. The premises being considered it is an easie matter to take the elevation of all the strength which our opponents can gather out of this Text If they will argue rightly they must cast their Argument into some such form as this They concerning whom God hath promised that he will give them Faith they are in Covenant before they believe But concerning the elect God hath promised that he will give them Faith Ergo. Here the major is utterly untrue for the promise of Faith which in reference to us is rather a Declaration de futuro of what God will do then a promise is the promise of the condition by which we are brought into Covenant and therefore though God hath declared that he will give Faith it will by no means follow that we are in Covenant before Faith But let them frame their Argument how they please it concerns not me to be solicitous about that I shall advance one Argument against them from this their place of refuge and pass on If God be not the God of any nor they his people before they believe then none are in Covenant with God before they believe But God is not the God of any before they believe Ergo. For the proposition he is destitute of common sense that shall deny it The being of the Covenant consists in that properly which God hath in us and we in him The Assumption is proved thus If God promise to give Faith that we may be his people and he our God then till that Faith