Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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B02147
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Christendom; or, The nature of Christ's kingdom opened, and the chiefest difficulties in divinity cleared in order to ending the controversies among Christian philosophers, scool-men [sic], and divines of all parties.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing C3933; ESTC R171319
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44,677
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48
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Principal is that by Faith in the Hearts of all the Regenerate in various Degrees and there is no other Special and Principal Divine Revelation since Adam's Fall. Eph. 1.17 and 4.5 2 Cor. 4.13 2 Pet. 1.1 4. Fundamental Truth is not by way of Number but by way of holy Likeness to God who is simply one and simply one is above Number and not reducible to it The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are three truly divers and distinct yet not three by way of Number Order and Dependence common to us and Heathens but by way of unsearchable Diversity not to be understood savingly without Christian Faithâ— which Heathens have not They who hold that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son do not mean that he proceedeth from them as from two Firsts for there cannot possibly be two Firsts in God Rev. 22.13 And they who hold that he proceedeth only from the Father do yet hold that he is by Nature very and eternal God and the Spirit of the Son and that the Son doth from the Father send the Holy Ghost the Comforter This supposed the Difference seems to be but in Word and not in Substance of Matter 5. It is evident from Job 13.7 Heb. 1.1 2 3. and from the Nature of the thing that there is the Person of God. For God is an intelligent Being though infinitely intelligent and increated and every intelligent Being must needs be a Person Gen. 14.21 Jon. 4.11 Numb 31.28 Now they who hold that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are three distinct Persons do yet hold that they are but one God. And if they who hold that as they are but one God so they are but one Person do yet hold that the Person of God the Father unbegotten and not incarnate as such is not the Person of God the Son begotten and incarnate in my opinion they both hold the same fundamental and necessary Truth and do but differ in Word The common School-Doctrine that in the Trinity there is alius alius but not aliud aliud And in Christ aliud aliud but not alius alius I conceive to be an Errour For aliud aliud must needs mean either Contrariety or Diversity If it mean Contrariety then it is false that there is Contrariety in Christ If it mean Diversity then it is false that there is not Diversicy in the Trinity So the common distinction of the Works of God within God and without God ad intra adextra is certainly an Errour For every Work of God is an effect simply dependent upon his free Pleasure Eph. 1.11 But no dependence can be in God all in God is simply independent And as there cannot be a Creature without a Creator so there cannot possibly be a Work of God without God Joh. 1.3 And look as it is said of his own Will God begat us Jam. 1.18 So equally it may be said of his own Will he made all Things and themfore not of Nothing For God's Will is not nothing but it is the prime Cause and the prime Cause is superlatively material to our Faith. CHAP. XX. Of Sin and particularly of the Sin against the Holy Ghost 1. SIN is the Transgression of the Law the Wages whereof according to legal Justice is eternal Damnation or it is the Undoing of Body and Soul for ever in Hell if God's Grace in Christ prevent not by giving Repentance and Pardon Look as all in God is God so all in Sin is Sin. With respect to human Judicature Sin is an Effect and Man's Will is the true Cause of it With respect to Divine Judicature it is no Esfect and therefore it can have no Cause but all that sin transgress without Cause Psal 25.3 Joh. 15.25 As to human Judicature Sin is an Accident a thing that comes to pass in time and is distinct from Man's natural Substance and is truly evitable As to Divine Judicature it is no Accident For from Eternity it was future it hath Dominion over the Ungodly and as never repented of it abides in the Conscience for ever and breeds the never-dying Worm This cannot be affirmed of an Accident quod subjecto inest quod potest adesse vel abesse absque subjecti Interitu For nothing eternal can be accidental It is one and the same thing which is both Sin and Guilt but not in the same respects Sin as pleasant ungodly Men do naturally love but as Guâ—lt doth intrinsecally go along with Sin and gripe their Conscience and fill them with legal Terrour so they do naturally hate and flee from it They love Sin but not Hell. 2. The Holy Ghost in Scripture is taken two ways either for God the Holy Ghost and so we are baptized in his Name Or for an Effect produced by him Hereof there are two Kinds principal and subservient principal is that Divine and Holy Nature which God doth plant in the Hearts of all the Regenerate in the instant of their Pardon and Justification by Faith. Eph. 1.13 14. The Holy Ghost in this Sense none of those now in Hell did at any time partake of Considered as a subservient Effect so it was eminently poured forth on the Apostles upon the day of Pentecost and was common in that first Age of the Christian Church It consisted in the Gift of Tongues of Healing of casting out of Devils and other miraculous Distributions The Holy Ghost in this Sense many never Regenerate might partake of and afterward totally fall away perish eternally And this for ought I know is the meaning of the Holy Ghost in that much controverted Scripture Heb. 6.4 5 6. compared with Mat. 7.22 23. and 12.24 to 32. Act. 2. and 8.17 and 10.44 45 46. and 19. 2 3 4 5 6. Luk. 10.20 Joh. 7.39 3. The Sin against the Holy Ghost is therefore simply unpardonable because the Person guilty of it is justly forsaken of God given up to a reprobate Sense to final Obduration in Sin and to strong Delusion to believe a Lie and so he cannot but be finally impenitent and incurably graceless It seems to be a Degree of that kind of implacable Enmity against God and his holy Image which is in the Devil himself The Devils believe and tremble they cannot but have an inward Sense and Conviction that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the World and the Judg of all both quick and dead and that the Religion contained in the Bible and sincerely professed by Abel Moses Peter Paul and the rest of the Elect in all Ages is the only true Religion And yet being eternally forsaken of God and left to themselves they have no power evangelically to repent they cannot but implacably hate God and his holy Image blaspheme his Truth and pure Religion and endeavour the utter Extinction of it and the eternal Ruin of every Man. 4. I was before a Blasphemer and a Persocuter and Injurious But I obtained Mercy because I did it ignorantly in Vnbelief 1 Tim. 1.13 This implies that had he done it wilfully and knowingly against the inward Belief and Conviction of his Conscience his Case had been very perilous In my Opinion the safest and easiest way to understand what is the Sin against the Holy Ghost is to make the Devil himself the Standard of it Though all ungodly Persons be the Children of the Devil yet as they are not all Atheists Murderers Adulterers Sodomites Perjured Traitors so they are not all guilty of the Sin against the Holy Ghost They who make Conscience of their ways and fear to sin against God may be sure they have not committed this unpardonable Sin. They who have been convinced and perswaded of God's true Religion and have solemnly covenanted and engaged their Souls to God in Christ Jesus and have professed the way of Truth if afterward they shall renounce the true Religion and blaspheme it and persecute the sincere Professourâ— of it and shall suffer themselves to be deluded so as to believe Lies contrary to the true Religion I think the Case of such is very perilous 5. We are to pray for all Men now living and that shall live hereafter but not for those whom we know to have committed the Sin against the Holy Ghost 1 Joh. 5.16 For the Rule of Prayer is not God's unsearchable Prescience what will be but God's Law obliging us to love our Neighbour as our selves and in Token thereof to pray for him while there is any Hope Now of all Ungodly Men while in the World there is humaâ— Hope which is a kind of middle State between the Godly in whom is Divine Hope of Salvation and the Damned in Hell and Persons guilty of the Sin against the Holy Ghost of whom there can be no Hope at all As for such as teach that we must pray for all sorts of Men but not for all of every sort pro generibus singulorum sed non pro singulis generûm it seems to be vain deceit Col. 2.8 For bare Generals as distinct from all the Individuals and Particulars is a meer Chimera Christ as Man prayed for all and in this he is our Patern Christ as God the Son incarnate did not pray for all but did omnipotently intercede for those only whose Salvation was future and for none else so as for them In this he is not our Paternbut infinitely above us Joh. 17.9 20. Luk. 23.34 FINIS ERRATA Pag. 6. line 39. read Counterprice P. 22. l. 27. r. Exigencies P. 25. l. 21. r. these P. 27. l. 39. f. Decree r. Graece P. 28. l. 8. r. to P. 29. l. 2. r. indelibly P. 32. l. 2 1. Index P. 34. l. 17. r. principal and. P. 37. l. 26. r. which makes
yet not contrary thereto Things related are simul naturâ intrinsecally together not in Place outwardly but in Truth and Reality inwardly above both Time and Place Only this is to be noted that though the Manhood of Christ be sole Supream under God over all both Angels and Men as he is exalted at God's right Hand yet only elect Angels and Men be his Loyal and Obedient Subjects There are who hold some things necessary to the Integrity of the Sacrament but not to its Essence as breaking the Bread. But the Scripture hath no such distinction and indeed it is repugnant to the Nature of God who is an infinite Essence and in him is infinite Integrity Therefore there cannot possibly be Essence and not Integrity Therefore breaking the Bread is to be reckoned among those things which are not intrinsecally necessary to the Being and Integrity of the Lord's Supper As to which the general rule is to observe the way and custom of the Church where a Man shall come and abide But as to the Cup no power on Earth may deprive the People of it CHAP. XIV Of Divine Worship and Idolatry 1. THat there is a God and that he is to be worshipped as God is indelebly written in the Heart of every Man for every Man is either Godly or Ungodly To be Godly is to be a worshipper of God in Spirit and Truth To be Ungodly is to have an inward Sense and Conviction that there is a God and not to worship and glorify him as God. 2. The true God is God the Father not incarnate God the Son incarnate God the Holy Ghost not incarnate the Saviour of all Men specially of them that believe Any other God is an Idol and not the true God. To worship this true God is penitently to confess our Sins to call upon His Name and pray unto him for spiritual and corporal Blessings to give him Thanks for his Mercies to swear by his Name to vow and covenant our Souls to him to believe his Holy Word to trust in him for Life Eternal to walk as in his Sight and Presence to esteem him incomparably Excellent to prefer his Favour Honour and Glory and the doing of his Will before our Life and Friends and Estate and all worldly and temporal Things to have clean Hearts and pure Consciences and in all things to make it our chief care and business to please him and to obtain eternal Reward and Blessedness by righteous sober and godly Conversation In the Worship of God the Soul is Principal and the Body is Instrumental and the same thing is essentially both Act and Object For there cannot be the right Worship of God without Self-denial according to that of the Psalmist Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be all the Glory For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things Psal 115. 1. Rom. 11.36 Now Self-denial is both Act and Object Accordingly in all Idolatry the Soul is Principal and the Body is Instrumental and the same thing is both Act and Object For in every Idolater there is regnant Self-esteem Self-will Self-love and Self-confidence repugnant to heavenly Self-denial and Holy Trust in God. The Idolater putteth trust in his own Heart that tho he give the Glory due to God in Christ only to another tho he worship God in and by meer Creatures and not in and by Christ only yet he shall be saved and God will accept him This is Self-delusion and false Trust and Self-delusion and Self-confidence is both Act and Object 3. An Idol is nothing in the World 1 Cor. 8.4 That is as I conceive set aside the inward ungodly Lust and false Belief which is in Man's Heart and there is no such thing as an Idol nor can be Every Creature of God is Good Man is a special Creature of God and therefore must needs be specially Good. The Goodness of Man consists in the inward Rectitude of his Mind and hevenly dependence upon god and Resignation to his Will and trust in him for Life eternal When contrary-wise Man refuseth to be guided by God as to Life eternal and putteth trust in his own Heart and not in God for Life eternal and loveth himself rather than God now Man comes to have Idols in his Heart and committeth spiritual Whoredom and Adultery Some make the Belly their God some Idolize Money some worldly Glory some Beauty some Learning some their Errours some Angels and departed Saints some Images These are various ways of Idolatry but still it is the mind within as ungodly which makes the Idol and all Idolatry whatsoever is a transcendent Vice the worship of a false God and is repugnant to Holy Belief in God. As God is not two a material God and a formal God So Idolatry is not two material and formal but all Idolatry is a breach of the first Commandment and repugnant to godly Sincerity No Man doth or can in the commission of Idolatry intend to commit it but really he doth commit it he doth that which by the Divine Law is Idolatry The commission of Idolatry and intention to commit it differ specifically and cannot possibly concur in one and the fame indivisible Act as one and the same indivisible Act cannot possibly be two Acts. 4. The substance of Divine Worship is unalterably fixed by God and all addition to it and all diminution from it is Idolatry a Deifying of Man's Understanding and Will and setting it above the Understanding and Will of God. But there are many things respecting the outward Mode and Order of God's Worship about which the Scripture gives only general Rules the fitting whereof to particular Cases is left to Man's Wisdom and Discretion dependently upon God as Judg of all the World. Touching the substance of God's Worship nothing is a Duty but what hath a Divine Command and plain Warrant in God's Word Touching Things in themselves indifferent and variable nothing is sinful but what is plainly forbidden by God what is not forbidden is of it self Lawful 5. Religiously to invocate Angels and departed Saints is very Idolatry but bare desiring their Prayers I conceive is not Idolatry Superstition it is vain and erroneous Desire it is but tho all Idolatry be Superstition yet all Superstition and vain Desire is not Idolatry But if Superstition reign then it is Idolatry before God tho not before Men. And then doth Superstition and Errour reign when Persons lay their Salvation on it and trust in their Errour for Life Eternal Bare desiring the Prayer of Angels and departed Saints is not Prayer and Invocation in the strict sense and therefore I conceive it is not Idolatry Tho all Prayer be Desire yet all Desire is not Prayer in the strict sense Bare desiring the Prayer of Angels and departed Saints doth suppose them to know what indeed they do not know and so it is erroneous and vain Desire but it doth not necessarily suppose them to be simply