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	word_n	5,665	5	4.3306	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29317	The rise, spring and foundation of the Anabaptists, or re-baptized of our time vvritten in French by Guy de Brez, 1565 ... ; and translated for the use of his countrymen, by J.S.; Racine, source et fondement des anabaptistes ou rebaptisez de nostre temps. Book 1. English	Brès, Guy de, 1522-1567.; Scottow, Joshua, 1618-1698.	1668 (1668)	Wing B4381; ESTC R62	47,994	64

that God would manifest himself to small and great and that the Church should have children instructed and taught of God as was promised by Isaiah This passage then is very clear behold the Prophet saith They shall no more teach every man his neighbour saying Know the Lord and why because saith he I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their inward parts he doth not reject the external Ministry of the Word but he sheweth that the knowledge of God cometh not properly by the labour and travel of men but it is because the Lord engraveth the Law of his Word in the understanding Ministers by their preaching strike upon mens ears and God by engraving his Law worketh upon and teacheth their hearts as he dealt with Lydia at Pauls preaching Act. 16.14 Therefore it is that Jesus Christ John 6.45 seeing the Jews to murmure and storm against the external Ministry of the Word saith None can come unto me except the Father who hath sent me draw him It is written in the Prophets And they shall all be taught of God whosoever then hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me Christ thereby sheweth that those who have heard and learned of the Father do not disdain and reject the Ministry but they come unto it and receive profit thereby and all this sheweth that we are of our selves altogether indisposed to come unto this knowledge of God for otherwise God would not promise to cause us to walk in his statutes and if it were in our own power so to do and that neither great ones by their wisdom not little ones by reason of their ignorance can mount so high unless by the Holy Ghost they be drawn Behold the true sense of the place so wofully corrupted by these first Anabaptists and all they pretend unto tends not but after they have deprived the Church of the Ministry and the preaching of the Word to open the door unto Visions and Dreams as they already have shewn at Munster and Amsterdam as Muntzer their first father had begun unto them Was it not a pleasing thing to hear this alwayes sounding from their mouths The Spirit hath revealed it unto me The Father hath commanded me and when any brought a testimony of Scripture contrary to their dreams and visions suddenly they replied What have we to do with the dead Letter seeing we have the lively word of God imprinted in a living spirit as if the holy Ghost who is the Author of the holy Scriptures could contradict himself The Apostle Paul foreseeing that such Sects would rise up who would despise the preaching of the Word he adjureth his Disciple Timothy before God and the Lord Jesus who shall judge both quick and dead to preach the Word and to be instant in season c. Satan knoweth that he must take off men from the Ministry of the Word when he will have them at his beck to put into their heads what shall seem good unto him and therefore his labour is to bring men unto this that they might hold nothing certain but that they finally being disturbed and uncertain he might make them despair Thus in the beginning he wrought with our Mother Eve denying the express word of God the Lord had said In the day that you eat thereof you shall dye the death The Devil on the contrary denyeth it and saith No no you shall not dye so now he laboureth to take from our eyes the word of God but what may we look for afterwards but that we may be confounded not knowing what side to turn unto For if we acknowledge no more the Scriptures to be the true word of God which as the Apostle Paul saith Was before time written for us that we through patience and consolation of the Scriptures might have hope what will our estate be certainly we shall be more miserabe then the beasts and we must give up our selves to Dreams and Fables as those who have rejected this light and must perish wofully Of the Dreams of the Anabaptists and how they are condemned by the Word of God MVntzer having thus prophaned and rejected the word of God he preached dreams very goodly revelations Muntzer preacheth dreams and rev●lations which he at his pleasure forged as did the false Prophet Mahomet saying that he had seen Angels and gloried that he had talked with them by this means to cheat and deceive the poor ignorant people but all was feigned and counterfeit to make musick unto poor and inconstant fools and the Apostle Paul giveth warning of such gallants that we should take heed of them saying Col. 2.18 Let no man beguile you of your reward c. Yea the Scripture forbids us lending ear to such dreamers the Lord of Hosts speaking in the book of Jeremiah saith thus Jer. 23.16 21 22 26 27 28. Hearken not unto the words of the Prophets which prophecie unto you c. we shall have intelligence of this in these last dayes are they not in a dead sleep who will not be awakened by the noise of this strong hammer of the word of God which breaketh the stones in pieces who can be cleansed by such dung and what truth can come forth out of a lye dreams have deceived many and those have fallen who have trusted to them These words of God are true and sufficient to entangle all our dreamers and ravers with all their celestial visions whereof they do falsly and out of a certain malice vaunt Let us then reject such cheaters and follow the counsel of God in his word and we shall alwayes finde it to be a strong buckler against all assaults Prov. 30.5 Isai 8.19 20. The Lord sends us to the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no morning-light in them And when Dives desired that the living might be taught by some other means besides the word of God it was answered That they had Moses and the Prophets let them hear them Moreover Muntzer cometh from thence to grapple with the sacrifice of the Son of God to vomit out his stinking blasphemies against it saying Ministers are lyers when they say That Jesus Christ hath satisfied for us Muntzers denial of Christs satisfaction Justification by faith and that we are justified by faith alone without works thus speak these Scribes when they mince unto men These are his words as they may be read in his Books But I pray you is not this filthily to blaspheme the Son of God it will not only follow that the Ministers are only delicious and mincing and make mens Consciences drousie Act. 10.43 Jer. 11.3 but also all the Prophets For thus spake Peter in the house of Cornelius the Centurion All the Prophets bear witness unto Jesus Christ That whosoever shall believe on him shall receive remission of sins through his name Joh. 1.29 36. Yea John Baptist held up

babish and childish thing They say It is the Spirit of God but it is plain mockery so to speak For they must needs grant us that the Apostles and the faithful in the P●●mitive Church were inspired by the Spirit of Christ yet none of them durst contemn the Word of God and the holy Scriptures but rather each of them had them in very great reverence as we may see it by their writings which are furnished with many testimonies from the Old Testament and certainly thus was it promised by God through the mouth of the Prophet Isa 59.21 where we see that the Lord joyned these two together his Word and his Spirit wherefore should we separate what God hath by an inviolable bond conjoyned Moreover Paul who was rapt up into the third heaven 2 Cor. 12.4 and there heard things unlawful for man to utter notwithstanding gave not over diligent reading nor profiting by the Books of the Old Testament Commanding Timothy to bring with him the Books which he had left at Troas with Carpus 2 Tim. 4.13 2 Tim. 3.15 1 Tim. 4.13 Yea he exhorts Timothy who though he was an excellent Teacher and well instructed in the holy Scriptures to give himself to reading and what praise doth he put upon the Scripture 2 Tim. 3.16 I would ask these men whether they have received another Spirit then our Saviour promised to give his Disciples they will not dare to vaunt of another spirit now what Spirit our Saviour promised to send unto his Disciples he sheweth plainly when he saith John 14.26 This Spirit shall not speak of himself but should bring to their remembrance what they had formerly heard of him It is not the Office of the holy Spirit that which Christ promised to dream of dreams of new and unknown Revelations or to hold forth new Doctrine but it is the work of the Spirit of God to confirm us in that which he hath already spoken by the Prophets and Apostles seeing also that the Lord promiseth not to send us another Doctrine saying Hold fast that which thou hast untill I come Revel 2.24 Gal. 1.8 9. whereby it appeareth that we ought diligently to travel as well in hearing as in the reading of the holy Scripture if we will feel the benefit and fruit of the Spirit of God Luke acknowledgeth the diligence of those of Berea in searching the Scriptures Acts 17.11 To this purpose tend these Scriptures 2 Pet. 1.19 John 5.39 Luke 4.21 Matth. 4.4 Eph. 6.16 Mat. 22.19 Luke 24.27 John 2.22 And Paul would have a Bishop to hold fast the faithful word Titus 1.9 c. Apollos was mighty in the Scriptures c. Acts 14.24 28. If it were otherwise how could we take heed to the deceits of Satan who daily transformeth himself into an Angel of light whereupon should our faith rest we should be carried to and fro without any stability Object But they do alledge It were a great absurdity to subject the holy Spirit unto the Scriptures to whom all things are to be subjected Answ As if it were a shame and ignominy to the holy Ghost to be alway like unto himself and to be constant in the same word without wavering at all If any should reduce the Spirit to an Humane or any other Rule it were debased yea brought into servitude but when we say That the holy Ghost having once spoken is not mutable and changeth not discourse now speaking one thing and then another as men are wont to do who will say that we offer any injury to the holy Ghost Object But they say He is by this means examined which belongeth not unto men to do Answ It is very clear that it is such an examination as he hath pleased to establish in the Church that we may not receive the spirit of Satan instead of him wherefore it must needs be that the Spirit abide for ever such as once he hath revealed and manifested himself to be in the holy Scriptures It is no shame nor opprobry to the Spirit for any to say of him That it is no dishonour for him not to be mutable nor to renounce himself As for that which they tax the Ministers to be Ministers of the dead letter one may plainly see the Lords taking vengeance upon the outrage offered unto his holy Word smiting them with a spirit of giddiness for having despised the true and only means of coming unto God which is the Scripture and the Word of God In the passage of the Corinthians where Paul saith The letter killeth and the Spirit quickeneth let any closely consider against whom the Apostle disputeth 2 Cor. 3 6. and they will understand his drift It is very evident that Paul in this place had to do with false Apostles who preached and extolled the Law without Christ and caused the people to recoil from Salvation purchased by Christ and the grace of the new Covenant whereunto the Lord had promised to write his Law in the heart of the faithful Jer 31.33 Ezek. 11 19. Ezek 36. Heb 8.10 the Law then being separated from Christ as a body without a soul and nothing cometh from it but death to those that are under it it doth nothing but beat and strike the ears without any quickening the soul until by faith we are sent from it unto Christ as from the Usher unto the Master and then the Law will be found such as David sings it The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Psal 19 8. the testimony of the Lord is faithful making wise the simple the commandments of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart c. Thus must we understand how it is said The Letter killeth Paul calleth the Law The killing Letter and saith The Spirit quickneth i. e. The Ministry of the Gospel which he opposeth unto the naked Law and he himself calleth his preaching The Ministry of the Spirit we must not understand this place as those dreamers who as often as they meet with an obscure place that maketh against them say The Letter killeth i. e. According as they say to understand the meaning of this Scripture this killeth but we must come to the Spirit i. e. to forge Allegories Paul never thought of such fopperies Luk. 24 27. as we may see in reading the same Chapter 2 Cor. 3.8 It is then wretchedly and wickedly done to cast off the Scripture upon such pretence of the Spirit seeing our Lord giveth us his Spirit to understand his word as we see Christ opened the understanding of the two Disciples not by making them wise in themselves nor setting them to look for a new kinde of word or natural and innate in them in rejecting the Scriptures but that they might understand the Scriptures After this manner the Apostle Paul exhorteth the Thessalonians not to quench the Spirit he would not have them fly in the air after vain and unprofitable speculations without the word of God but consequently

he addeth despise not prophecie thereby shewing that then the spirit is quenched and suffocated when Prophecie is rejected Psal 119 105. what will those poor Soules answer who have rejected the lanthorn which God hath given to be a light unto their feet We confess that the external word preached by men of it self nor alone cannot convert the heart but the Spirit of God must work internally to beget faith in us now this is done in good order by the preaching of the Gospel as appears by Lydia the Purple-seller Act. 16.14 she heard Paul preach but the Lord opened her heart to understand the things which Paul spake for this cause the preaching of the Word is called seed we know that if seed fall upon a spot of ground which is desert and not tilled it is lost without producing fruit but on the contrary Luk. 8.15 falling upon soil tilled and well manured it brings forth fruit in abundance So the word of God if it fall upon the hard and rebellious brain it remaineth without fruit as upon stony soil but upon a heart prepared by the operation of the Holy Ghost then it brings forth much fruit and as the Husband-man when he hath sown his feed he can do no more he cannot make his grain to grow but leaveth it to God so must the Ministers do when they have preached and sown the Word of God they cannot make it grow they must commend it unto God as the Apostle saith He that planteth is nothing Cor 3.7 and he that watereth is nothing but it is God that must give the increase he doth not therefore reject him that planteth nor him that watereth that is to say the external Ministers for he soon addeth We are co-workers or labourers with God ye are Gods husbandry ye are Gods building It appeareth that the Ministers are joyned in the work with God inasmuch as God maketh use of them as instruments and he worketh by his word by giving vertue in the internal man one may see as plainly as day-light the errour of Muntzer the first father of these Anabaptists and that there is no reason in his speech Our Mennonists have condemned their Father in this point notwithstanding there be others who maintain this opinion or rather blasphemy as some strange spirits the disciples of Sebastian Franque who this day do renew the question yea some little space of time since one of the chief of that Sect whose name I shall forbear to declare in the City of Frankfort before several honest people told me and with might and main maintained with divers of his disciples That the earth never bare a more abominable Idol then that which is called the Bible and that all the World doted upon it looking therein for the word of God whereas we should look for it in our hearts and one of them redoubled it and said in the presence of Mr. Alosco and of us all What do you talk so much of the Scripture I assure you on my part I have learned more by seeing a Hen or a Capon killed then ever I learned by all the Sermons and Lectures of the Books that ever I read Unto whom I answered It must needs be that you eat often of Hens and Capons seeing you have learned so much by their death but I pray you said I What good did you ever learn thereby he answered That he had learned to know the obedience which Jesus Christ rendred unto God his Father upon the Cross and that as the fowl was slain without making resistance and that for the good and life of man so was Jesus Christ slain for the life of mankinde it was said then unto him How do you know that ever there was such an one as Jesus Christ and that he died for man do you finde that written in the Capons belly the Turks also do kill Capons but they cannot reade there that Christ was their Saviour In the end they were very angry and like people deprived of their sences when they were hampered by the word of God and by their own reasons What man is there that would not wonder at such foolish and irrational discourse is it not just that such people should be so handled seeing they have rejected the word of the living God which the Angels themselves desire to pry into that they should be sent to School unto the bruit beasts Further I come to the Proposition of Muntzer who saith That the Ministers are much deceived thinking that Faith cometh by hearing and that it is written Brother shall not teach Brother any more saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest of them being all taught of God Answ If Ministers be Rom. 10.14 17 deceived by so thinking then was Paul also deceived for he thus spake How shall they believe c. yea he saith that the doctrine which was preached was the word of faith But one may easily see their pretence which is Totally to make void the Scripture and the Ministry of the Gospel to come unto Revelations We have already shewed that God will instruct men by Ministers Rom. 10.8 the Eunuch is sent to Philip Cornelius to Peter Paul to Auanias c. As for that passage of the Prophet where it is said Brother shall not teach brother c. the Lord would not hereby banish from out of the Church the Ministry of the Word God forbid to draw men after Visions and Revelations Now they fail in that they do not narrowly look into the place for the Prophet doth not say totally that they shall not teach no more but these are his words They shall teach no more saying Know the Lord as if he should say Ignorance shall not possess the judgements and understandings of men as formerly when they knew not who the Lord was yea even in this restauration of the Church the true knowledge of God should become so common and vulgar that all should know how that the Son of God who is the lively image of the Father is descended here below upon earth to be united unto us being made our Brother to guide us unto eternal life We know there is a double use of Teaching one is for those who are altogether ignorant to whom the first rudiments as points of Catechism are to be held forth there be others who being entred in must make further progress Seeing then that none hath so pr●●●ted but that he hath need further to be taught so it is the greatest part of our wisdome to become teachable Paul sheweth how we should profit by teaching if we would be Christs Disciples Ephes 4.11 saying That God hath constituted Pastors and Teachers c. that we be not unstable children tossed to and fro with all winds of strange doctrine c. whereby it appeareth that the Prophet never intended to bereave their Church of an ornament so preaious and necessary The Prophet onely would tell us