Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	ghost_n	gift_n	holy_a	21,083	5	5.7385	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46370	A preservative against the change of religion, or, A just and true idea of the Roman Catholick religion, opposed to the flattering portraictures made thereof, and particularly to that of my Lord of Condom translated out of the French original, by Claudius Gilbert ...; Préservatif contre le changement de religion. English	Jurieu, Pierre, 1637-1713.; Gilbert, Claudius, d. 1696?	1683 (1683)	Wing J1211; ESTC R16948	129,160	215

in refuting all the Reasons whereby he proves that these four Ceremonies are true Sacraments For I should presuppose that he hath look'd on his Reflexions as so many good Proofs and thereby I should wrong his Judgment since he will permit me to say They are but small Reasons And so to do something that may be to purpose I will only say in General upon these Four Sacraments That the Controversie of multiplying Sacraments is not so light as he thinks First They are Ceremonies and when Ceremonies are useless they become very hurtful and do load Religion in a most dangerous manner But as I design to extend this Consideration further in the Sequel I will not at present insist thereon I say then Secondly That Sacraments are the Seals of the Covenant or if those Gentlemen have an aversion for that Word they are Sacred Signs whereby God doth confer and confirm his Grace It s then God's own Affair to institute Sacraments since it belongs to him who makes the Alliance for to confirm it It is his part who gives Grace to settle the Means whereby he is willing to confer it and we cannot keep our selves from regarding it as a great rashness that enterprize of giving Sacraments whereof God is not the Author and whereof he speaks nothing in his Word What might we not say about Marriage to shew how much Reason and Piety do suffer when it is made a Sacrament But that were to prove and that is it we would not do Monsieur de Condom passes with the same swiftness over the Sacrament of Penitence He tells us what it is but he doth nothing towards his design for he doth not shew us that it is a little business and that should not stop us Though he had undertaken it he would find a hard task to effect it It is a great Article and about which we might have many things to say I will not insist on the infinite Difficulties of that Theology which makes of a Christian Vertue a Sacrament nor of the sore task they find in assigning the Matter and the Form thereof But I will say something about the Four parts whereof they compose it except about Satisfaction because we have already spoken of it Confession is a Yoke which God hath not imposed on the Church and which she is not obliged to receive Let them not speak of the good uses thereof for that would oblige us to speak of the wicked Sequels of it to dig up a thousand Stories which would not please and to represent the Questions which are made in their Confessions according to the Directions of Zanche's Emmanuel Sa and other Authors yet more Authorized than those Contrition is an excellent thing but it is a great Mishap that they have put in its place I know not what kind of Repentance whereto they give the Name of Attrition It is a Grief that rises from the sight of the Pains of Hell without any part or motion of Love to God That is to say That this Grief resembles very much that of the Desperate who would wish that they had not committed Crimes when they see the cruel Issues thereof They pretend that this Attrition is sufficient with the Sacrament of Penitence for to be Justified and Saved by consequent So a Man may be Justified and Saved without having made ever any act of Love to God They will tell me That it is the Sense of some particular Men Yea but those particular Men maintain That it is the Sense of the Council of Trent And certainly either we are not capable of seeing any thing or we see clearly that they have reason for the Council saith That this imperfect Contrition which is called Attrition because ordinarily it rises frem the Consideration of the vileness of the Sin or of the fear of the Pains of Hell not only doth not make a man Hypocrite but is a Gift of God and of the Holy Ghost and though it cannot conduct the Sinner to Justification without the Sacrament of Penitence yet it disposes Man to receive the Grace of God in this Sacrament Yet this Attrition whereto the Council doth so much honour is according to it the fruit of the Holy Spirit and of a Grace Supernatural But others have passed so far as to say That it is probable that it is sufficient that Attrition be natural so it be honest It is true will they say but you see also how this Moral is treated at Rome The Bull of Innocent the Eleventh fulminates it I grant it but I see also that the Parliament of Paris have condemned the Book of Amedee and his detestable Moral at Rome they censure the Censure of Paris calling it Rash presumptuous and scandalous And when they condemn that Moral at Rome they will not receive the Bulls thereof in France These Gentlemen may agree when they please about this Article before they invite us to the Reunion For without evasion we declare That we will never re-enter into a Church where they tolerate People to say That Men may be saved without having loved God in their whole life at any time I come to Absolution It is an Article that we will never pass the Tribunal of the Church according to us ought to be occupied by Jesus Christ alone They shall never perswade us to receive any other Judges And never will they make us relish that Crowned Heads should humble themselves at the feet of a Priest and that a Priest who is but a Man should undertake to say to other Men like himself I Pardon thee I absolve thee The Apostles themselves with their Apostolical Rod did never use this Stile of Empire and Soveraignty over Consciences They did proclaim Remission of Sins to the Penitent but we do not read that they gave it with a Soveraign Power Yea our Lord himself was content to say Thy Sins are forgiven Math. 9. 2. ARTICLE X. Of the Eucharist of Real Presence and of Transubstantiation I Begin this Article as Monsieur de Condom We are at last arrived to the Question of the Eucharist But he must permit me not to continue like him for he forgets the Laws which he had imposed on himself His Aim obliged him to prove nothing and to refute nothing The Interest of his Cause and of his Party lead him on another part to say nothing or to say very few things in his Explications because that to shew the Dogma's of his Religion on their fair side they must shew thereof but a little Corner In explaining them at large a little it would diswrap them and unfold them and so discover their feeble side Yet was he willing to publish a Writing that should have the extent of a little Book Therefore at every foot he passes beyond the Bounds which he had prescribed himself In this place he enters in earnest into the Dispute to maintain the Real Presence he stands on the Words of Institution This is my Body He

are things that will surprize and which would never have been expected It 's good to observe that the Advertisement was made after the Approbations One may say with some assurance that Italy would not have suffered this Word to pass However it be my Lord of Condom may bless himself here that he hath made an Example He is the first that hath dared to write that and happily that hath dared to say it At least I may assure never to have read it in any nor to have heard it from any person though we see daily some of the most moderate Doctors of the Roman Church It 's true that most of these Gentlemen cannot endure to be accused of Adoring Images Thereupon we tell them You are then more scrupulous than the most Catholick Doctors who say That all Catholicks are agreed against Iconomacks That some Worship and Adoration is to be rendred to Images but that there are diversities of Opinions among them about the manner and nature of that Adoration That though it be true That the Image is not to be ador'd but because of the Original yet must it be adored in it self and properly without adoring the Original That the Images of the Cross are to be adored with Adoration of relative Latria That the Image may be ador'd with that Adoration wherewith its Original is ador'd properly in truth but by accicident that we regard the Image as conjoyned to the Original which is ador'd and that because of that one may adore it by Accident Behold already great Names in the Margin and one might without hyperbole add an hundred thereto But we will go on and say You are more scrupulous than the Writers of Port-Royal who are not accused to be Superstitious nor excessively Catholick They make one of their Devouts speak thus I kept my Bed for seven days since that time except that I rose thrice a day to go and adore the Crucifix You are more Catholick than the Popes themselves and than the Books whereof they are the Authors More than the Roman Pontifical which in the Chapter of the Benediction of a new Cross since that the Bishop bending his knees before that Cross adores it devoutly and kisses it More than the Missal which on Holy Friday saith of the Cross Come and let 's worship it In fine we add that this Scruple of not being willing to use this Word of Adoring in speaking of the Service of Images is a refined way unknown to the Councils which have establish'd this Service for the Second of Nice saith clearly by the Mouth of Tarasius That all those that will reverence Images and yet refuse Adoration to them are accused of Hypocrisie by the Holy Father viz. by Anastasius whose Testimony he was just then relating This Council in gross writing to the Emperours Constantine and Irene speaks thus to them We believe c. that Men must adore and salute the venerable Images of our Lord Jesus Christ of the Virgin pure Mother of God and also of the glorious Angels and of all the Saints And if any one be of another Spirit and questions whether Men must adore the holy Images this holy and venerable Coucil doth Anathematize him We see some Authors who being convinced sufficiently that since 800 or 900 years no question hath been made of using this term of Adoring to express the Worship given to Images are willing yet to use it but they distinguish and assure us That they do not worship Images as gods It 's that we willingly believe Happily among the Vulgar are found some stupid and simple Souls that do not well distinguish the Worship given to the Image from that which is to be rendred to God We cannot forbear saying That they who have established this Service of Images shall answer it to God for these Mistakes of the Vulgar But however we impute it not to the Roman Church that they worship Images as gods And I know not whether there ever were any People in the World to whom it may be attributed for I can hardly believe that there hath been any Religion brutish enough to give Divinity to Images of Wood Stone or Mettal These are the Colours that Men have hitherto diffused upon this Worship to render it tolerable to us We serve Images by relation to Originals said they We well know that Figures of Wood Stone and Mettal have no Divinity at all and are in no way worthy to be served What Service we give them is because of Jesus Christ the Holy Virgin and other Saints which they represent My Lord of Condom speaks not thus We serve not Images saith he God forbid You are not then of the Religion of the Second Council of Nice nor of that of the Council of Trent which confirms what was defined by the Decrees of Councils and particularly of the Second Council of Nice against those that opposed Images which saith expresly That Men must have in the Churches the Images of Jesus Christ of the Virgin Mother of God and of other Saints and render to them the honour and Veneration due Which adds in speaking of the said Images We kiss them we salute them we prostrate our selves before them All that is not to serve Images if we believe my Lord of Condom We see every day before our eyes that Images are cloath'd anew on Feast-days that some are carried in Pomp that Men prostrate themselves before them that they kiss them that they burn to their honour both Incense and Torches that they place them on Altars and after all that they tell us with an air of Assurance We serve not Images God forbid God be witness of the Justice of our Complaint and of the sincerity of this Justification My Lod of Condom saith but one word of Relicks I will not say much more He may turn this Worship of Relicks as pleases him but he shall never make us relish the adoring of Ashes Bones Linnens Wood and such other things I would not pretend to be nicely quarrell'd about that word of Adoring I use it in the same sense that the Gentlemen of Port-Royal who are exact enough in the choice of Terms They say in justifying the Religious Nuns That my Lord Bishop of Toul hath thought good they should follow the Devotion of the People and of many Persons of Condition which came and are still coming to adore this Holy Thorn They relate of a Religious of Maisen Dieu at Vernon That she would be carried to Port-Royal to adore that Holy Thorn And of one Madam Durand That she was cured of a Vomiting which had troubled her for Two years Ten months after having adored and kissed the Holy Thorn They conclude at last It suffices to say That if God did not make his help to be felt or hoped there are no Human Considerations that could carry so many Persons to come to the Towns end to adore this Holy Thorn in the Church of

that she pleases Methinks it is very unjust to wrangle with People and impose it for a Crime on them that they will not believe but God alone speaking in the Scriptures and by the Pen of his Prophets and Apostles With what Justice would they have us to regard as a small business that Enterprize to have taken away the Word of God in the Book thereof from the hands of the People Is not that a Capital Affair Where shall Knowledge be drawn if the Spring thereof be shut up Where shall Men learn to know God aright if they rob the People of that Book where God himself makes himself known When I see that they say with Confidence That it is not true that they have forbidden the Lecture of the Word of God that dismays me and drives my Patience to the utmost I know not how Men can contradict so a Publick Authority It is true that there are some in the Roman Church which condemn that Prohibition made to the People of Reading the Holy Scripture and I could wish no fairer Discourse thereon than what hath said the Author of the Dialogues between the two Parishioners of Saint Hilary du Mont. But what was said of those Persons They say they have borrowed the Weapons of Hereticks and have brightned them the more They accuse them to oppose the Sentiments of the Church because that the Church conducted by Gods Spirit permits not indifferently the Reading of Holy Scripture to all Persons without the Advice and Explication of Ecclesiastical Superiours for fear lest the Difficulty or Obscurity of Understanding in some places should produce Scruples and Errours in Mens Spirits It being certain that all Heresies which are born in its bosom have always their foundation and their defence in the Words of the Holy Scripture ill understood It is the Lord Bishop of Ambrun who speaks in his Ordinance against the Traduction of Mons. I think he knows what he saith for the least thing that may be granted to an Archbishop it is that he should know Religion And indeed doth not all the World know that the Rules which are at the Head of the Index Expurgatorius forbid the Lecture of the Holy Word of God excepting those who shall have permission from their Ordinary of the Curate or the Confessor It is not a Decree of the Council of Trent will they say No but it is the Spirit of the Council They are Theologians deputed by the Council of Trent that speak it It is Pope Pius the Fourth who presided in that Council and who possessed the Spirit thereof Sixtus the Fifth and Clement the Eighth Successours of Pius the Fourth ought to have had the Spirit of the Church Methinks it is they that say That by the Command and Use of the Holy Inquisition Romaine Universella the Power of permitting the reading or retaining the Bible in the Vulgar Tongue both of the Old and of the New Testament hath been taken away from Bishops Inquisitors or Superiours of the Regulars Let Men but read the last Writings which have been made thereabout upon the occasion of the Version of Mons the Ordinances of my Lords of Paris and of Ambrun the Writings of Father Annat and all the Apologies which have been made for the Defence of those Pieces and Men shall see whether it be true That the Reading of Scripture be permitted and ordained to all the World I must remit those that will be instructed in this Matter to the Book of Monsieur Mallet where Men shall see the Councils Popes Cordinals Bishops Faculties of Theology and the Theologues agreeing in this Article It is That the Reading of the Word of God is dangerous when it is permitted to all the World But is there need of Proofs for a thing that is seen Where is there a Reading of the Word of God in favour of the People Is it in the Church If they Read any part thereof it is in a strange Tongue it is no more for Instruction It is for Prayer as said a Franciscan in the Council of Trent Is it in Private Houses But in what Country doth the People know the Word of God of himself Certainly in Spain and in Italy the Bible is that of all Books that the People knows least of In France some honest Persons read it but their Number is very small It is not charged as a Duty upon any Person happily there are not of a Thousand One that hath cast his Eyes upon this Sacred Book Thence comes the profound Ignorance of most People even of those who distinguish themselves by their quality or by their Character We must not flatter our selves We shall never regard that Conduct as coming from the Spirit of God and we shall never re-enter into a Church which treats Holy Scripture with so much Injustice ARTICLE XV. Of the Church AS for the Authority of the Church it cannot be an Affair of little Importance seeing the Question is whether the Tribunal of it shall be lifted up above the Holy Scripture Monsieur de Condom cannot be ignorant that this Controversie of the Infallible Authority of the Church is an Article so Capital that thereon depends all the Re-union whereto they invite us Whilst that the Roman Church shall call it self Infallible she will shut the Door against all Reformation and as long as she shall refuse all Reformation she cannot hope that we shall return into her Bosom This Doctrine of Infallibility is the most dangerous that could ever enter into the Church because it opens the way to all sorts of Errours and Superstitions and takes away all liberty of Examining those things which Use or Authority have once established A Church that calls her self Infallible boldly establishes boldly what she wills and what may be found useful for its Interest And after that there is no more any Means to return We must also be permitted to say That this is an Affair of the highest Importance seeing the Foundation of the Faith of our People depends thereon They would not have us to establish it on the Holy Scripture which is the Stay and Pillar of Truth and they would have us to knowledge all that we must believe as from the Church without being able to tell us which is this Church and where are the Titles of its Infallibility These Gentlemen do thrust us very hardly upon the Authority of Scripture the diversity of its Senses upon the liberty whereof they accuse us as given to Women and to Artificers to interpret it after their manner and to make themselves a new Religion if it seems good to them But I know not how they mind not that with all their Maxims of Submission and blind Obedience for their Interpretations of the Church they must cast the Faith of their People into an incertitude greater a thousand times than that wherein they say that we are It is the Church say they to whose Interpretations we must cleave I will but let them

That in the Letters of Mission whereof the Churches do charge the Deputies which go to Synods there be a Clause of Submission in these Terms We promise before God to submit to all that shall be concluded and resolved in your holy Assembly being perswaded that God will preside by his Spirit c. To that Monsieur de Condom adds a Fact drawn from the Synod of Saint Foy Anno 1578. where some Overtures were made of Reconciliation with the Lutherans and deputed Four Men to whom was given an Absolute Power to terminate that Affair as should seem good to them Behold say they where ends the false delicateness of these Gentlemen They will not receive the Decisions of Councils they make no difficulty to put their Faith into the hands of Four Men who would be weary to be obliged to answer so many things that come to nothing What doth all that I pray you Doth that prove that we hold the Church for an Infallible Judge All that Monsieur de Condom says returns to this Reasoning or it returns to nothing Those who give their Synods power to judge Soveraignly of Points of Faith who promise Submission in the assurance that the Holy Ghost presides there and who retrench from the Communion of the Church those that would not submit to their Decision give to these Synods an Infallible Authority but the Calvinists do that therefore they give to to their Synods an Infallible Authority This Argument supposes false and concludes ill 1. It supposes false for it is not true that we promit our Synods a blind Submission What is said to them That we are perswaded that God will preside in the midst of them by his Spirit is a Clause of Civility whereof the Terms are not to be abused That signifies nothing but that we wish and hope that the Holy Ghost will direct them It is not true neither that the Synod of Sainte Foy have put the Faith of the Protestant Churches of France in deposito into the hands of Four Men for what was committed to them was not to make new Articles of Faith but only to compose a Formulary in general Terms which all the World might receive And they did not so far refer themselves wholly to their Judgment but that they reserved liberty not to follow them if they should chance to make some false Advance 2. This Argument concludes ill for from what Power we give to our Synods to Judge of the Points of Doctrine and do cut off those that will not submit to their Judgment Monsieur de Condom concludes that we attribute to them an Infallible Authority This Reasoning is worth nothing or this is good The Bishops and Archbishops do give Ordinances Councils Provincial and National in the Roman Church decide Points of Faith and cut off those that will not submit therefore they believe themselves Infallible I do not therefore think that the Bishops neither separately nor in their whole Body out of a General Council esteem themselves Infallible Must then the Priviledge of Infallibility be had to have the Power to Judge of a Point of Faith There would then be none but the Pope or the Council that could Judge thereof There must be an Order Every Society is in right of Judging of Controversies which arise in its bosom and that Member thereof that will not submit to that Judgment may be cast out of the Body Therefore we do properly complain That the Roman Church having pronounc'd against us in the Council of Trent after that did cast us out of their Body They used in that the right which appertains to every Society but we complain that they have unjustly condemned us The Question touching the Rights and Authorities of Councils and Synods deserves an Examen much more ample we will leave it as an Incident which Monsieur de Condom hath brought into his Book without necessity and only to entangle the state of the Question It imports nothing at the bottom what Authority Synods may have to know whether the Roman Religion is far distant from the Protestant which is properly the Affair here in agitation ARTICLE XVI Of the POPE and of his Authority I Follow the Order of Monsieur de Condom I finish by the Head of that great Body into which they would have us re-enter that is the Pope Here also after him a Point whereof we have made a stumbling Block without any reason What is the Pope It is the Principle of Unity the Cement of Union It 's a Head whereto all the Members have a relation and who makes the Uniting of the Church for Men know there is no Goverment more solid and that contributes more to the Conservation of States than the Monarchical What hurt then can there be to set upon the Body of the Church a Spiritual Monarch a Visible Head that may watch for its Conservation and may govern it Must not People be very Captious to make of that a cause of Separation I will regard well this Article at first under the same face that Monsicur of Condom doth The Pope is a Visible Head a Spiritual Monarch but who hath appointed this Monarch Is it possible that Men do not feel that this puts a prodigious difference between the Religion of Protestants and the Roman Religion To make it appear I suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ would have the Government of his Church should be Aristocratical and that he hath put it into the hands of such whom he hath called Bishops and Priests whom he hath invested with equal Power I know well that this Principle is contested but once more I am not oblig'd to prove any thing in this Work I am permitted to suppose my Principles and in supposing them I must shew how they are incompatible with those of that Church whereunto they would have us return If then the Lord Jesus Christ hath setled a Government Aristocratick in his Church this kind of Government is of Divine Right and if it be of Divine Right none must be permitted to change it under whatsoever pretence The kind of Government is so much of the Essence of a State That the State changes absolutely loses its Name and its Form when the Government is changed All the World knows that a Kingdom which by a general Revolt shakes off the Yoke of its legal Master and then a Popular Government a Republick which by the violence of an Usurper becomes a Monarchy are no more what they were before and they would that without ruining the Church they may make a Monarchy thereof against the intention and design of Jesus Christ We do not understand that Suppose we also that this Soveraign Power exercised at Rome be an Usurped Power It is the Principle of Protestants Selon ce Principe is it possible that they would oblige us to submit to an Usurped Power If a Tyrant or Rebel had taken the place of the Legal Prince were it not extream baseness and a Crime of