Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A54122
|
A commentary upon the present condition of the kingdom and its melioration
|
Penn, William, 1644-1718.
|
1677
(1677)
|
Wing P1268; ESTC R32305
|
33,126
|
47
|
God they are Spiritually discerned where we may observe that Contrariety which Logicians call Contradictoriè opposita Our Saviour also very diligently seperats them ye cannot serve God and Mammon bidding us take no care What we shall Eat or What we shall Drink or What we shall Put on But bids us in opposition to these things seek First the Kingdom of Heaven and its Righteousness and all these things shall be added I might be large in Collecting to this purpose but let it suffice to observe That we cannot imagine the Scripture to be more express then it is supposing it had been in the Mind of the Law-giver to make us fully sensible of the Contrariety and Inconsistency of outward enjoyments with the Purity of a Christian life and had he not designed to Caution us diligently in this respect it were impossible there should be found such expressions in his Will revealed But here it must be noted that the opposition is not of that nature as that he that hath the Blessings of Wealth or Honour must presently throw them away but he Must throw them out of his mind thâ—t his heart and affections be not set upon them which may be obtained by earnest Prayer and doing some good to others with the Enjoyments we possess We must note farther that if there be a Divine Command for forsaking of them as in Abraham and the Apostles or what is Equivalent thereto as suffering the Will of God in times of Persecution they must be actually forsaken and thrown away Farther we must note as to our present designe that this opposition so far prevails as that it will be hardly or not at all possible for us to partake of this Heavenly Life and be true Disciples of Christ if we make it our designe and business to seek after and fill our selves with earthly enjoyments if we use them to the oppression of others to an unjust Dominion over our Brethren if they are made the chiefe thing in our aime sought with Care Deceit Flattery Lying Freeing c. If we prostitute all our Actions and Conscience it self for an empty Tittle and transient Revenue And Generally in the words of Solomon he that maketh haste to be Rich cannot be innocent So that then this Contrariety between Flesh and Spirit between Religion and the World is such as they exclude each other The man whose mind is taken up with Religion values not the World nor any thing therein he wants them not he desires them not he seeks them not The man whose mind is taken up with the Affairs of the World values not the things of Christ they are foolishness unto him Which thing also may be evinced by natural Light or Reason For we see men that are given to Vices run on without Deliberation or regard of any other thing to that immense degree after satisfaction in their Vices as not only to consume their Patrimony though a Princely Revenue but the Health of their Bodyes and even the World it self to be satisfied in their desires thus the desires of Drunkenness and Lust being infinite and never to be satisfied but rather irritated by the fulness of Enjoyment the desires tending vehemently to the fruition the fruition giving birth to new desires That if men were permitted to act in their full carier and prosecute these Vices without restraint of Divine and Humane Laws how soon would it run the World in Confusion and Ruine and yet not a stop put to these desires for they are Infinite Thus the Covetous man desires to gain more and more from others and inclose to himself all things till at length all things else if his desires be fulfilled must perish for want of subsistance So the Ambitious man will have all things subjected to himself and if the whole world be his Vassallage yet his desires carry him still to grasp more Power and Dominion as is reported of Alexander Thus we see Vice in its true nature tends to the destruction of all things and consists in an inordinateness of the mind whereby its desires are infinite and not to be satisfied The mind having forsaken God and set up it self in its place will thus have all things subservient to it and is carried forth infinitely to obtain this end And this inordinate mind and unlimited desiring and Lusting after that which it takes to is that Corruption which was brought in by Adam's Transgression which we call Oâ—iginal Sin which is no other then this inordinate mind forsaking God and lusting infinitely after its own fancies and devices Now to help lost man and free him from this Slavery of an inordinate mind was the business of the second Adam who came down from Heaven took our Nature upon him in the form of a Servant suffering upon the Cross that he might destroy the works of the Devil and establish an ordinate regular mind in those that believe in him That is the Divine Nature whereof he was partaker by his taking our Nature is communicated to all Men that believe which rescues them from this slavery of their inordinate mind and by virtue of which they subdue all those desires which were introduced by Adams transgression where we must take notice that we said Christ in the Divine Nature was united with our Nature and that by virtue of this Union it is communicated to all Men that believe in opposition to Adam whose transgression redounded to all by not believing or disobedience in which it must be farther noted That it being a Divine Nature united to Christians by Faith 1. It is no other than the third Person in the Trinity the holy Ghost which proceedeth from the Father and the Son because he operates this work in us Observe 2dly That we cannot do any good work of our selves for our Regeneration and new Life is this Union of the Divine Nature the holy Spirit in our hearts our good actions coming from the Principle of Life must also be from him who is that life Now we may see clearly what our Saviour says they that worship the Father shal worship him in Spirit and in Truth even in the Spirit which is communicated to all Flesh by the union of the Divine and humane Nature To speak all in a word Adams transgression lusting after the forbidden Fruit opened the dore to a lusting and inordinate mind in all his Posterity tending to subvert all things This was taken away by the word becoming Flesh uniting the Divine and humane Nature and thereby communicated to all men that believe that the Sons of Adam in the power thereof might become the Sons of God In the strength of this Divine Nature to them that ask it they are able to subdue those inordinate insatiable desires of the mind which are propagated from Adam to all Posterity Now we see what Religion is even an imploring the Gracious Spirit to subdue these Corruptions we were addicted to and a living in the exercise of this strength and power
and Ceremonies what Reference have they Unless it be to amuse the mind and frame a beliefe in men that Religion quite contrary to the nature of it consists in externalls whereby to the destruction of Religion the mind shall be drawn forth into external appearances to cause it delight in that Pomp and Vanity which it should forsake and by this means it will be blinded so much as not once to look within it self but thinks all is well where there is nothing but rottenness and Corruption If you say that these externals are representations of the Internal work and serve to lead us to them I answer it is a Preposterous and indirect means for what is so near me as I am to my self And why cannont I descend into my own mind every moment without taking that for an advantage which brings ruine with it As Crosses Garments c. For Ceremonies are not only needless but mischeivous cheating and blinding the World whereby they let go the substance and embrace the shaddow 3. Ministers or Bishops have no concern in publick Affairs or in Secular Jurisdiction their business is to press Faith in Christ both in themselves and others to remove the Corruption fallen upon mens minds what duty then lyes upon them for Secular business or what claime have they to it The nature of their Profession and Doctrine does divest them thereof as much as is possible being quite opposite to it forbidding even too much concerne for their Private Affairs in the World which shews that it is their extravagancy and degeneracy when they thrust themselves into publick Imployment which has such tendency to overcharge their minds with that which they should be altogether cleansed from as we have before shewed 4. It is almost needless here to say there is no such Power of Excommunication as is now in use being made to uphold a lye and an unjust usurpation in Secular Affaires to lacky after Fees and to serve the Secular Interest of the Clergy which according to the Truth of their Imployment is none at all we have shewed before what this Excommunication is And certainly the true Church as well as the Government thereof being Internal and Spiritual not External and Secular all the Acts of its Jurisdiction must be agreeable thereto 5. That Method of Preaching is a prejudice to the Life and Power of Religion wherein men set forth themselves by Studied Discourses with Ornaments of History Rhetorick subtile Disputations nice Distinctions c. For by these things the mind is taken up with things that are Circumstantial and External and thereby le ts slip those things that are Internal and of nearer Concernment and therefore has a stamp of of the Beast upon it tending to inhance the value of all other External things which men ought to deny causing them to love and embrace what they should cast away to desire more earnestly such things as they should be mortified unto and consequently they will run more swiftly then before to the pit of Destruction where Antichrist and the false Prophet is So that at the end these men are worse then at the beginning they might have been had they not been trained up in such a Religion as this and it were better for them not to have known the way of Truth then having known it to make it the Instrument of more enlarged wickedness and of going yet farther from God then at first 6. The Minister or Bishop takes no honour to himself all that he is or hath he hath received it it is the purchase of the the blood of Christ exhibited according to the word in the second Covenant to all that belive he seeks not reward nor laboureth for gain having devested himself of Worldly and outward things He Governs the people â—e is set over not with force but meekness he useth no means of Compulsion but draweth them gently he pretends not power over their Wills but an Office to perswade but if men will destroy themselves he is guiltless doing what is suitable to his Office to reclaime them alwayes willing to help them alwayes with open Arms to receive such as come to the Church and restore such as are fallen Lamenting and Praying for such whose Miscarriages are from their own Wills and not in his power to help 7. The last thing we observe from what is said before is that it is impossible there should be any Difference or Sect in the Christian Religion and if you find any amongst them say assuredly Inimicus homo fecit hoc it is a stranger to the Truth aâ—d proceeds from some other cause The reason is plain for what occasion can be imagined of Division or Schisme amongst those who all conspire only in this to keep their minds Pure and clean from Corruption by Faith in Jesus Christ and in the power of that Holy Spirit which is one in all of them From which oneness divided through many members there must needs be unity But you will say the present time testifies the Division that is among Christians I answer that such as are Christians in pretence only may divise a hundred more Sects and Parties They are men that will inspite of the Scriptures serve two Masters God and Mammon the Lord and Baall Men who are Christians by the halfes that will serve the Lord yet not without a Babel of their own setting up In Briefe the Presbyterians Independants Anabaptists c. Will add to the Scriptures something that is meerly of their own fancies imagining the Scripture to sound according to their prejudice and preconception Now if one man will set up one thing and say this is according to Scripture another man with the same reason may set up another thing of his own hatching and framing and say the like and so we may go on in Infinitum If the Bishops say such and such Ceremonies are to be used in the Church seeming to them decent and according to Scripture The Presbyterians are not obliged to think as they do nor take the same measures of Decency as they do and therefore may claim Priviledge as well as the other of a second Constitution which perhaps will not so well agree with Independants and therefore with as much Right may they set up a third and so every man as his Fancy leads him In the mean time this difference is not in Religion it self but in the Braines and Fancies of men that love to cloth and dress Religion according to their own fashion and there cannot be a unity till men shall come to throw away all these their delightful Imaginations and return to the obedience of that Spirit of Life and Truth which proceedeth from the Father and the Son and is only able to make us wise unto Salvation There is no unity but in this the occasion of our divisions was by departing therefrom and our returning to it will be our advancement to our right minds to live in unity in love in Peace in