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	scripture_n	son_n	10,113	5	5.8747	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29333	Faith in the just victorious over the world a sermon preached at the Savoy in the French Church, on Sunday Octob. 10, 1669 / by D. Brevall ... ; translated into English by Dr. Du-Moulin ...; Foy victorieuse du monde dans les justes. English	Bréval, Monsieur de (François Durant), d. 1707.; Du Moulin, Peter, 1601-1684.	1670 (1670)	Wing B4402; ESTC R2130	23,314	40

of the Son of God to speak strictly can belong to none but him and it is by a metaphor meerly and a kinde of usurpation that it is attributed to others The Scripture doth fully witness it when it says so often that he is the only Son or only begotten of God and when by Excellence it saith in Rom. 5.32 That He is God's own Son and when it says in Hebr. 1. That it is to him alone that God bare this witness in Psal 2. Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And finally that in the 110. Psal it is of none but him that the Father speaks when he says according to the Latin Version I have begotten thee of my bosome Now we find nothing either in Divinity or in the Scripture it self of this great Priviledge and of this proper and particular Title of the Word but the perfection of resemblance that he hath with his Father and which other things have not The holy Spirit it self which proceedeth from the Father as the Gospel teacheth us and who hath the same nature with him yet is not called the Son and it is not said that he is born nor that he is begotten because he doth not proceed formally as Divines teach us by way of resemblance since at the least as they say very rationally the holy Spirit is the production of Love and not of Knowledge so that proceeding from the Will and not from the Understanding of God it cannot have a formal resemblance with its principle Philosophie it self teaching us that resemblance is not an effect of the Will but of the Understanding because it is proper to the Will to carry it self to its Object whereas the Understanding attracts his Object by imprinting on it his resemblance Whence it is that Aristotle says that the Understanding becomes all things not by changing it self into them but on the contrary by changing them into it self Moreover it is from thence that the Production or Term of the Will is called a Weight a Propension an Inclination which does not at all signifie resemblance but the production of the understanding is called Verb Image Representation Therefore Scripture never gives these Names to the Holy Spirit but to the Son only whose Name saith St. John Rev. 19. is The Word of God Now this word Verb signifies either the thought or the word and we know that the thought is the representation of the object that one thinks of and the Word is the Image of the thought it self so that both in the one and in the other sense the word Verb applied to the Son in the Gospel is a name of resemblance But St. Paul willing more clearly to expound himself saith to the Corinthians and to the Colossians That he is the Image of God and to the Hebrews That he is the splendor of his Glory and the figure of his Substance according to the Latin Version or of his Person according to the Greek Original Thus by all these reasons and so many authorities it is properly the second Divine Person that is born of God Yet it is not of that our Text speaks when St. John saith That all which is born of God overcometh the World by Faith for though Jesus Christ who is this Adorable Person hath overcome the World as himself doth witness by the same Evangelist in the 16th chapter of his History verse 33. and though it be also in some manner by means of faith that he hath triumphed yet it is not of him that the Text speaks because it is easie to comprehend by that which goeth before and that which cometh after that it is of them that have faith that these words should be understood and that they cannot belong to Jesus Christ who though he be the Author and Finisher of our Faith as St. Paul calls him in the XIII Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews yet he hath it not formally since he cannot have faith of that which he hath the knowledge the experience of the sight So when St. John speaks here of that which is born of God he speaks but of those which have onely an imperfect resemblance of him differing from that of Nature and yet he speaks not of all sorts for First it is clear that by that which is born of God he means not things meerly material which have only a Trace or Footstep of likeness to him it is true that God having produced them and they representing to us as they do all some of his perfections God may justly be called their Father Job in this sense calleth him the Father of the rain and saith It is be that hath begotten the dew he might say as much of all other creatures though destitute of intelligence and reason since besides that God made them they have moreover this advantage to represent him in some sort in the judgment of St. Paul who saith in the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans the 20. verse that the invisible things of him are clearly seen from the Creation of the world being understood by the things that are made But the end of our Text shews evidently that he speaks not of that sort of creatures although in some respects it may be said they are born of God Secondly neither is it of Angels or Men in the quality of intelligent and reasonable creatures for though the Angels are the least imperfect images of God which gave occasion to a learned man to call them The bright Looking Glasses of the Godhead and though by the right of this resemblance there is nothing in Nature that more justly deserves the title of the children of God then they do and though himself by the mouth of Job calls them so often by this glorious Name yet it is manifest that it is not of them that St. John here makes mention when he speaks of those who are born of God since he speaks of such as are in the world and have sought with it and have triumphed over it by faith which you see cannot be applied to Angels Nor doth he speak of men considered only as reasonable for though reason hath made them fair Copies and illustrious Images of the Divinity to answer what St. Paul highly in their praise saith that they are the Image of the Glory of God and to deserve that the Prophet Malachy should call God their Father by the general right of their Creation yet it is not of them at least in the quality of reasonable creatures only that the text we expound speaks who overcome the world by their faith and not by all the strength of their reason and understanding Then they must needs be either the Just or the Glorified that are here spoken of Doubtless they are not the Glorified for though they have this noble resemblance of Glory with God who doth almost transform them into himself as St. John expounds it in the third of his first Epistle and that they are called in the

themselves be overcome by this shameful passion reserving in despight of God's prohibition all that was precious in the spoyles of the defeated Army Was it not Interest that corrupted a Disciple in the very Family of Jesus Christ and transported him to that Sacriledge to sell and betray his good Master Hath not this passion daily the same power Is it not for Interest that so many in the World continually betray the Son of God Do not all men almost prefer their Interest before his Glory as St. Paul complain'd in his time They seek their own things not the things of Jesus Christ My Brethren examine what is done among Christians ev'n of the best Reformed Churches what fierce desires have we daily to become richer and how much coldness to become holier and better men let us consider what is done at Rome upon the Throne of splendid Holiness you will quickly find that the same passion that heretofore made Judas sell Jesus Christ makes the Pope's Officers sell the Holy Ghost every hour for they sell Archbishoplicks Pardons and Forgiveness of Sins with the entry into Paradise and many other like Graces whereof the Holy Ghost alone must be the Distributer as he is the Principle of the same It is not from the resentments of an altered man that I speak so within these two years there have been Experiments enough to make the World acknowledge that of all those that have been converted perhaps I am one of the most moderate but I speak that which is to the purpose and which all the World knows But though Pleasure and Interest had not strength enough to corrupt our Innocence Ambition alone would have more then needs for that it is not impossible to find some Souls neither voluptuous nor interessed but I know not where to find any whom Ambition hath not corrupted it is that properly which we may and ought to call the weak fide of man He was yet in his state of original Innocence above all the assaults of Interest and Pleasure yet at the first onset of Ambition he let himself be overcome without resistance the Devil who himself had proved the force of this temptation made use of no other bait to seduce the fair innocent souls of Adam and his Wife This Tempter was too crafty not to know that it was the only part whereby he might take hold of them and certainly if there had been a stronger temptation he would not have failed to have made use of it in such an occasion whereon depended the salvation or total fall of all Mankind Since that unlucky moment it hath been too much justified that nothing is so powerful as Ambition to make us undertake all things against the respect and obedience that we owe to God All Histories both holy and prophane are full of examples of this Was it not that enraged passion that made Absalom rebell against his father the best father of the World Was it not the same passion that made Athalia the Murderess of her own Children after the death of Ochosias her Husband the tenderness of a Mother being incapable to take away her ambition to be a Sovereign was not the ambition of another woman cruel when going to take possession of the Throne she made her Coach and Horses to go over the body of her father that was newly slain here is too much my Brethren to manifest the power of this inhumane passion since it choaks the tenderest and strongest sentiments of Nature it self insomuch as St. Basil calls it in one of his Letters The most wicked of all Devils Conclude then with me That the World which according to St. John and according to our daily Experiments is nothing but Pleasure Interest and Ambition is a very powerful and almost invincible Enemy and consequently if ever we get the Victory over it it is an infinitely glorious Victory we must fight before we can overcome such terrible Enemies as these and if it be true which a Philosopher sayes and Tertullian after him That a man fighting with the same fortune that Job had to wrestle with on his Dunghil was a spectacle worthy the eyes and attention of God Is it a less worthy sight when one man alone fights all the Forces of the World when he is assaulted on all sides by the most tender and charming delights and yet the sweetness of those pleasures doth not corrupt the integrity of his heart nor the innocence of his life Christians what a wonderful sight is this to see a man sollicited by the strongest temptations of Interest by all the splendor of gold and silver and all the delight of being rich and his soul not cast down by the violence of this assault In Conclusion what a Miracle is it what a Prodigie to see a man whom Ambition tempts with the hopes of greatness yet remaining firm in his humility and modesty not dazled with the glistering of Thrones Scepters and Crowns triumphing thus over the World and all its glory O how well may the Apostles and all the just who have thus triumphed say with St. Paul We are the spectacles of God of Angels and of men Spectacles of complaisance in respect of God of admiration in respect of Angels and of astonishment in respect of men O what a glorious Triumph is obtained by them that are born of God since they are Conquerors of a World so difficult to be overcome we must not doubt but that those who are born of God have in effect got this Victory since the World we speak of that is Pleasure Interest and Ambition can get no advantage with all his Forces over those that have the honour to resemble God as children resemble their father and this Adoption that he hath made of them being a spiritual generation we must not doubt but that he doth impart his Spirit unto them because it is according to the Spirit that they are his children and that being filled with his divine Spirit it is easie for them to triumph over all that is contrary to its Maxims and the purity of its Sentiments This is it which made our Apostle say immediately before the Text That the Commandments of God were not grievous to them that were born of him as he explains himself soon after for in truth what Commandment did God ever make whereunto the obedience is not easie to any that is become holy in some sort like him by this mystical Regeneration and by this communication of his Spirit what difficulty will they find to obey him when they are Masters and victorious of all that hinders their obedience to him our Pleasure our Interest and our Ambition being as they are the greatest obstacles of our fidelity to his commands no doubt but when we have overcome these three powerful Enemies of the Law of God all the obedience that lieth upon us proves easie to us for commonly all the pains we find in doing Gods Will is that Pleasure Interest or Ambition