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	name_n	son_n	14,571	5	5.9519	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39339	Animadversions upon some passages in a book entituled The true nature of a gospel-church and its government written (as it is said by the publisher) by John Owen.	Elys, Edmund, ca. 1634-ca. 1707.	1690 (1690)	Wing E663	4,280	16

Animadversions Upon some Passages IN A BOOK Entituled THE True Nature OF A Gospel-Church And Its GOVERNMENT WRITTEN As it is said by the Publisher By Iohn Owen D. D. Licensed June the 10 th 1688. London Printed and are to be Sold by Richard Baldwin by the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane 1690. ANIMADVERSIONS Upon some Passages IN A BOOK Entituled THE TRUE NATURE OF A Gospel-Church c. Beware of False Prophets which come to you in Sheeps Cloathing but inwardly they are Ravening Wolves Mat. 7. 15. THat the great Name of Dr. Owen may not beget a Prejudice in the Minds of any well-meaning Readers against what is here Written in Opposition to His Schismatical Conceits I shall in the First place Declare That I shall not Contract Him any farther than where I am Confident to do otherwise would be to Contemn the Joynt Authority of these blessed Men which next to the Holy Apostles deserve the Character of the most Glorious Lights of the World St. Ignatius St. Irenaeus St. Athanasius St. Hilary St. Basil St. Gregory Nazianzen St. Gregory Nyssen St. Ambrose St. Chrysostome St. Augustin P. 2. Our First Enquiry says the Dr. Being concerning what sort of Persons our Lord Jesus Christ requireth and admitteth to be the Visible Subjects of his Kingdom We are to be Regulated in our Determination by Respect unto his Honor Glory and the Holiness of his Rule To reckon such Persons to be Subjects of Christ Members of his Body such as he Requires and Owns who would not be Tolerated at least not approv'd in a well Governed Kingdom or Common-wealth of the World is highly Dishonourable unto him But it is so come to pass That let Men be never so notoriously and flagitiously wicked until they become Pests of the Earth yet are they Esteem'd to belong to the Church of Christ To this I answer That our Saviour Requires all Men to be of his Church to submit themselves to his Discipline and to Profess to all the World that they do so by being Baptiz'd in the the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Those that are Baptized He Requires by the Assistance of His Holy Spirit which He continually Offers to them to Act according to their Profession to Love the Lord their God with all their Heart and with all their Soul and with all their Strength and with all their Mind and their Neighbour as themselves He has not declared That it is His Will that Baptism should be Deny'd to any Person or that any one being Baptiz'd should be Depriv'd of the Priviledge of having External Communion with all True Christians but for such Causes which are Exprest in the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England Those who remaining in External Communion with the Church have not the Habit or Fixed Principle of Divine Love in their Hearts Our Blessed Lord doth not Own in such a manner as to receive them into a State of Salvation but He doth Own them or Take them for His people upon this Account That He Graciously Confers on them in an abundant Measure the Means of Knowing what they must do to be Saved He does not Approve or Take any Complacency in that Temper of Mind or Spirit which they are Actually in but he is always Well-pleased with the Capacity He has Graciously Endu'd them with all of attaining to a Divine Temper that is to say Of being Sanctified or having their Wills United to the Will of God in all things And He approves the Ministers of the Gospel in the Administration of the Means of Grace or Sanctification unto them and in Praying for them P. 15. It must be remembred That Communion with particular Churches is to be Regulated absolutely by Edification No Man is or can be Oblig'd to abide in or confine himself unto the Communion of any particular Church any longer than it is for his Edification This is True But from hence it is most Evident That those Men are Guilty of most Abominable Iniquity who Endeavour to Seduce any People from the Communion of the Church of England in which the Fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion are so clearly and fully Exprest and those most Important Expressions so frequently Repeated that Persons of the lowest Intellectuals who do not Rebel against the Light in frequenting our Religious Assemblies may more easily attain to the Knowledge of all things that are Necessary to their Salvation than by Hearing or Reading the best Sermons that have been or shall be Preach't by any of the Non-conformists to the End of the World which Assertion is as Evident as it is That any Illiterate Persons may more easily Meditate on Truths plainly Exprest and frequently Suggested to their Remembrance than Collect the same Truths out of divers large Discourses if they were therein Imply'd So that It can hardly be imagined how any Man can be in any thing more serviceable to the Destroyer of Souls than by Teaching People to Despise our Catechism and Common-Prayer It is now Manifest and shall be so to all Posterity that the Multitude of these Despisers have Encourag'd the Profest Enemies of the Godhead of our Blessed Saviour to Publish their Blasphemies Arise O GOD Plead thine own Cause Remember how the Foolish Man Blasphemeth thee daily P. 20. Few there are who think that any Act or Duty of their own is Requir'd to Enstate them in Church Order and Relation Was there ever such a notorious Falsehood Publish't by any Learned Man Professing himself to be a Christian What shall be done unto thee thou False Tongue Every Child that is Educated in the Church of England can tell him this That it is Requir'd of them that come to the Lords Supper To Examine themselves whether they Repent them truly of their former sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life have a Lively Faith in Gods Mercy through Christ with a thankful Remembrance of his Death and be in Charity with all Men. P. 28. All this Authority in and over the Church is vested in Christ Answer True But he Communicates His Authority to be Exercis'd in Dependance upon Himself to those to whom by the Holy Apostle He requires our Obedience Heb. 13. 17. Obey them that have the Rule over you P. 40. Every individual Person hath the Liberty of his own Judgment as unto his own Consent or Dissent in what he is himself concern'd To this I answer That every Person who in Matters Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Acts according to his own Private Judgment viz. without a due Regard to the Judgment of them that have the Rule over him Acts contrary to the Mind of Christ P. 88. If the World doth not dwell with Power in us it will not pass with Power from us This is most horrible False Doctrine and of mischievous Consequence to the Souls of Men making them to Conceit That the Efficacy of Sanctifying Truth Depends upon the Sanctity of the Preacher thus Assisting the

Devil in his Temptations in the Minds of the Hearers wholly to Neglect or to Lessen their Attention to those Sanctifying Truths that come to their Notice from the Tongues or Pens of such Persons whom truly or falsely they suppose to be Irregular in their Lives whereas we are bound by our Christianity to Love whatsoever is of GOD in whomsoever we find it from whomsoever we receive the Notice of it This I conceive to be so plain a Truth That there is no need I should Insist any longer on it but only to beseech the Christian Reader by the Mercies of God by all the Love he bears to the Truth of the Gospel That he would Beware of the Sophistry of all sorts of Schismaticks And that he would be more Ardent in his Devotions than ever yet he has been Praying thus with all True Christians Give Grace O Heavenly Father to all Bishops and Curates That they may both by their Life and Doctrine set forth thy True and Lively Word and Rightly and Duely Administer thy Holy Sacraments We grant that our Communion with the Church-Catholick Chiefly and Principally Consists in this That we have all one and the same God and Father as Dr. Owen speaks pag. 242. one Lord Jesus Christ one Faith and one Doctrine of Faith one Hope of our Calling or the promis'd Inheritance one Regeneration one Baptism one Bread and Wine United unto God and Christ in one Spirit through the Bond of Faith and Love But then we Declare to all the World That those Persons who own an Aversion from the Communion of the Church of England are Guilty of a most Heinous Violation of the Bond of Christian Love and Separate themselves from the Church-Catholick in Separating from the Publick-Worship of so Sound a Member of It there being nothing Requir'd as a Condition of this Communion but to make Publick Confession of that Faith which was once Delivered to the Saints which none but the most Execrable sort of Hereticks can any way Disgust And to Use those Words in Publick Prayer which are as certainly Expressive of the Power and Virtue of all Holy Desires as it is certain that our Saviour is the Only Wise GOD and to Receive the Blessed Eucharist in both Kinds according to Christ's Institution in such a Posture of the Body as best suits with the Humility of a Devout Soul Adoring the Majesty of Her Crucified Redeemer P. 285. Unto the Communion of all particular Churches in the World there is nothing requir'd but a Belief of the Scripture to be the Word of GOD with a professed Assent unto all Divine Relations therein contain'd To this I Answer That since there sprung up a sort of Creatures who pretend to Prove by Scripture That our Blessed Saviour is not the True and Eternal GOD it became Necessary for the Conservation of the Purity of Christian Communion That all who Profess Christianity should make Solemn Confession of their Faith in such Terms as Manifest their Belief of this Fundamental Truth contain'd in the Holy Scriptures That Jesus Christ is the True and Eternal GOD. This Assertion Dr. Owen does in Effect Consent unto in these Words Altho' any Society of Men should Profess the Scripture to be the VVord of GOD and avow an Assent to the Revelations made therein yet by the Conceptions of their Minds and mis-understanding of the Sense of the Holy Spirit therein they may embrace and adhere unto such Errors as may Cut them off from all Communion with the Catholick-Church in Faith Very well But does it not follow from what he has here said That a Profession of Belief that the Scripture is the Word of GOD c. is not sufficient to Enstate us in External Communion with the Church-Catholick since some of the most horrid Enemies of the Church make the same Profession My Charity prompts me to Believe That if this Man had Lived to see Socinianism shew its Head amongst us as it does in these Days it would have Frighted him into a better Opinion of the Church of England Here I shall most Earnestly beseech the Christian Reader seriously to Consider and with all his Heart and with all his Strength to Abhor and Detest the Phanatical Contempt of the Order of the Church of England for the Use of the Lords-Prayer since 't is so Notorious That it has been the Inducement to so many Blasphemies The Author of a Book Entituled Essays towards a Union between Divinity and Morality pag. 73. Despises the Order of our Church for the frequent Use of this most Perfect Form of Prayer and in the 84 and 85. pages he openly Blasphemes GOD the Son and GOD the Holy Ghost I will not here Recite the Words But I shall most Earnestly Beseech all True Christians to use their utmost Endeavours to procure such a Mark of Infamy to be fixt upon this most Execrable Book which the University of Oxford has lately fixt upon the like Essay of Satanical Impudence I cannot but fore-see the manifold Cavillations and Wranglings that will be raised against this Paper But Blessed be GOD I fear not the Reproach of Men nor am afraid of their Revilings Daily and Hourly pondring in my Heart the weighty Sense of those Sacred Words Rev. 22. 20. He which Testifieth these Things saith Surely I come quickly Amen Even so Come Lord Jesus FINIS