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	holy_a	jesus_n	15,155	5	6.0417	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70537	The character of the true church In a sermon preach'd at the French church in the Savoy, upon these words, How goodly are they tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel, Numb. XXIV. v. 5. By A. D'Astor de Laussac, formerly a prior and an archdeacon of the church of Rome.	Dastor de Laussac, Antoine.	1700 (1700)	Wing L623C; ESTC R221680	22,752	35

other merit but that of his blood This is doubtless the Church of Christ since all is founded upon his word all is edify'd by his doctrine all is referr'd to his glory 'T is not so with the Church which Papal authority has set up which would needs force Christianity to follow it as the Church of Christ How many rules of faith how many acts of piety which have no solid foundation in Holy Writ That 's a building wherein Christ's hand appears much less than those of the builders since in it the authority of the Scripture gives way to that of the Ministry as if that were become the original source of Divine Revelation One wou'd think our Saviour who knew all things had a mind to prevent the errors whereinto men were like to fall by taking a Church of men's setting up insensibly upon Earth in the name of Christ for that which he had founded himself in the fulness of time and indeed he does prevent it by the precautions he takes in the establishment of the Apostolical Ministry which he associates to the building of his Church He chooses for Apostles men of the lowest rank of the people ignorant unlearned self-interested fearful in a word men who were no way proportionate to the work they were design'd for Why did he leave them in this state of infirmity till the coming down of the Holy Ghost but that the tryal of their weakness might make them sensible 't was Jesus Christ who acted in them at the very time they were building up his Church that so they might not arrogate to themselves the success of it tho their hands were employ'd in the Structure Why was our Saviour pleased to particularize the failings and infirmities of his Apostles but as a precaution to posterity which might have attributed to them the glory of having edifyed his Church His wisdom having discover'd to them their natural insufficiency leaves no room in them for presumption by shewing them they had no vertue but what came from above it characterizes the Church of God by Christ's hand alone that built it I am not ignorant how that the Evangelical Ministry must last to the end of the world how Christ promis'd his Apostles he wou'd be always with them and how this promise is to be fulfill'd in the Succession of the Ministry But divine wisdom uses the same caution in the succession as in the establishment thereof What character does he give to the succession of the Ministry no other than the succession of his doctrine I send you as my Father has sent me Go and teach all nations Mat. 28 baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the World These last words include a promise made to the Ministry and a condition imposed in order to partake of the promise teaching them as I have commanded you that 's the condition on which he promises to be with them They are sent by Christ as Christ was by the Father Christ sent by his Heavenly Father makes the truth of his mission appear by the transcendency of his miracles which are so many proofs of his Divinity by the apparition of the Holy Ghost that declares him to men for the beloved Son of God But he does not impose the necessity of believing his Doctrine otherwise than as it is conformable to the Father that sent him Whence proceeds this admirable conduct But from this reason that the Evangelical Ministry was to be excercis'd by men the gifts of the Holy Ghost were to longer to accompany the Ministry than was requisite to establish the Faith after that the Church was to be directed by the Holy Ghost Jesus Christ was to be with the Ministry but after an invisible manner If the visible succession of the Ministry had been a sufficient proof of its mission then some hypocrite or other sitting in the Apostolical Chair might have pretended to have acted by the spirit of God when there was no such thing The faithful might have been impos'd upon unless Christ had promis'd his Apostles to be with them setting them this Law withal to teach as he had commanded them and unless he had charactariz'd the ministry by the succession of his doctrine so that every ministry that teaches not what the Apostles have taught or that sets for a rule of saith another thing than they taught is not look'd upon as the Apostolical Ministry Boast he never so much of having succeeded St. Peter unless he have the succession of the Doctrine he has no right to it he must not impose The truth Christian Religion obliges us to believe came to us from the Father by the Son from the Son of God by the Holy Ghost from the Holy Ghost by the Apostles by their Successors Now to know whether they be the true Successors of the Apostles is but to examine whether the truth they profess the Religion they propose flow from the primitive Spring How goodly are the tents O Jacob How great must our happiness be who live in the bosom of a Church which holds it for an axiom of faith to be conformable to God's Holy Word which is so happy as to be directed by a Ministry that may without controversy say the Religion we preach comes not from our selves we are not the Authors of it 't is the very same the Apostles left us in the Gospel the Apostles receiv'd from the Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost deriv'd it from the bosom of the word incarnate the word incarnate from the bosom of the Heavenly Father Thus by the Authority of the word of God is the succession and purity of Faith preserv'd in the Christian World Such is the necessity of this grand principle that no sooner came the Church to forget it but it fell into a most deplorable condition Look back into those all at once happy and unhappy days when Peace succeeding that persecution which the Church had so long groan'd under corrupted Christianity which all the subtilty of Hereticks and cruelty of Tyrants were not able to oppress The Church became great in wealth and dignity but at the same time small in virtue the salt of the earth vanisht away all fell into corruption Both Pastors and Flock had much at the same time a general disgust for heavenly things the sacred fire of the Altar went out by degrees whilst no other burnt thereon but that of Lust and Ambition The Children of Eli made it their main business to encrease the rights and advantages of Priesthood the Church of a Heavenly Kingdom became a Temporal Reign the Apostolical Chair became a Throne whereon the Apostles Successors were not ashamed to exact those Divine Honours the Apostles themselves had rejected and the Holy Scripture the authority whereof had till then govern'd the Church became itself Captive to the

to pass that Christians who in the golden days of the Church were lookt upon as so many Gods come down from Heaven are now so much altered how comes their Religion to be so earthly They formerly carried Christ in their hearts they express'd these mysteries in every action of their lives and now they think Christ can hardly be found but in Images of him so frail so corrupt is their piety that they wou'd think themselves without any Religion were they once without their Images and Relicks were they once deprived of the privledge of procuring themselves Patrons among the Saints Whence comes so deplorable a change Can we look upon the Church in this condition as that new Jerusalem St. John saw coming down from heaven paepared as a Bride adored for her Husband Revil 21.2 Alas if it be the same Jerusalem it shares in the same fate with that whose sad condition Jeremiah bewailed and we may say with him how doth the city sit solitary that was full of people Lam. 1 How is she become as a widow She that was great among the Nations and Princess among the Provinces how is she become tributary Such was the fate of Christ's Church It was formerly full of worshippers who worshipp'd in spirit and in truth but after it was gone to decay there were hardly seen any Christians but such as were carnal idolatrous or superstitions Christ her Spouse had indeed promis'd to be with her till the end of the world provided she taught that Doctrine he had deposited with her but her Ministers were backward in performing the conditions impos'd they follow'd not so much the Scripture as the interpretations they gave it according to their particular interest and designs therefore Christ abandon'd them They preach'd the imaginations of their hearts they set them forth as rules of faith by means of that authority they usurp'd over mens Consciences Hence came the deplorable state of the Church which was found insensibly burden'd with more precepts and ceremonies than the Synagogue hence it was that the Church which had triumph'd over the world became herself tributary in the flock tributary to ambition in the ministry tributary to those superstitions which ignorance or slackness of piety had introduc'd into the flock You need not wonder at the strangeness of this proceeding God suffer'd it to be so the better to display his incomprehensible wisdom By permitting disorder and corruption to invade the Church occasion'd by the pretended infallible authority the ministry had assum'd over the word of God He wou'd make Christianity sensible of the indispensable necessity of submitting the Ministry to his Holy Word as he had order'd it The Church is represented to us as terrible as an Army drawn up in battel array For what makes an Army terrible to the enemy but good order and discipline What made the primitive Church so powerful and glorious Terrible it was to the world because the truth and efficacy of its doctrine submitted the flesh to the spirit terrible to Tyrants because it plac'd the pleasures of this present life far belew the glorious advantages of a future state it became terrible to error because it submitted reason to faith tradition to revelation the authority the Ministry has over the people to the authority the word of God ought to have over the Ministry God saith St Paul has set some Apostles some Prophets some Pastors and Teachers for the edifying of the Church that the faithful might not be like Children toss'd up and down with every wind of doctrine Acts 20. The Holy Ghost saith the same Apostle has set some overseers to feed the Church of God which he has purchas'd with his own blood We own this ordination to be by God's appointment we respect this Ministry upon that account but the Ministry is of the nature of relative beings it is not set up for it self the Ministry has a relation to God who establish'd it and for that reason all that it teaches in Religion must be referr'd to the glory of God Now that relation does not appear and is not made good when that faith the Ministry would set up has too great a relation to its own particular interest Acts 20. the Holy Ghost has appointed Overseers and Pastors to govern the Church of God 't is true their flock must listen to them in order to be instructed but then they themselves must listen to the Holy Ghost John 16.13 14. who speaks by the word of God When the spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you Here is as it were the finger of God pointing out the subordination of the Ministry to the Holy Ghost who guides it the Holy Ghost does not speak of himself he glorifies the Saviour that sent him by receiving from him what he teaches the Apostles And must not this order last for ever Is it possible there shou'd have been a time when the Ministry had power to decide by its own authority when it might be dispenc'd from glorifying the Holy Ghost by taking out of those Sacred Writings he himself dictated those rules of faith it would impose upon the flock If this subordination had lasted if the Ministry had been in every particular rul'd by the word of God wou'd the worship of Images have been set up so expressly contradicted therein wou'd not the hand of Ezekias that broke down the Brazen Serpent whereby the people were led to Idolatry have taken away under the Gospel a worship that proves so often a rock of offence to Christians Wou'd not the Angel that took up the body of Moses lest divine honours shou'd be paid him have hid the relicks of Saints in their Graves rather than have permitted them to be carry'd in pomp about their Churches and upon their Altars there to receive such honours and adorations as are only due to God If the Gospel had been consulted wou'd Christians that pretend to works of supererogation be otherwise thought of than unprofitable Servants Wou'd the Supper of the Lord have been taken for the real and substantial body of Christ rather than for the virtue and efficacy thereof if regard had been had to the style of the Gospel that always gives to the sign the name of the thing signify'd and oftentimes attributes to the effect the name of the cause that produces it If Christ has edify'd his Church by himself or his Apostles how comes it that the Gospel makes no particular mention of Transubstantiation of the Sacrifice and worshipping of the Sacrament The first of these is a continual Miracle the Sacrifice of the Altar is one of the essential parts of piety the worshipping of the Sacrament is such as must necessarily if of divine institution make men that neglect it guilty of the

Christians to which of these two Ministrys think ye shall posterity attribute the spirit of God to Jesus Christ after having put the Pastors to this trial does not seem to have wholly abandon'd the flock to persecution to shew that his arm is not shorten'd and that notwithstanding the corruption of the present age the strength and purity of faith had still been preserv'd in that very Communion Rome made such slight account of 'T was by faith Abraham left his Country obeying the voice of God tho he knew not whether he was to go By that same faith it is this people have left their Country to follow the voice of Christ tho they knew not how divine providence shou'd dispose of 'em 'T was by faith Abraham sacrific'd his Son 'T is by faith that fathers expose their children to death by the hazards they run in a long Voyage rather than let their children imbibe so pernicious a doctrine By faith Moses preferr'd the reproaches of Christ before the pleasures of a great Kings Court By faith so many persons as remarkable for their birth as their piety have been willing to forgo their rank estates and hopes of advancement to bear our Saviours Cross in all the hardships of a voluntary banishment By and upon the account of Faith so many Christian Souls have suffer'd imprisonment the Galleys and submitted to the rigour of a shameful death they might have redeem'd their lives and liberty but they would not fully perswaded they shall sind a better in the Resurrection preferring the Cross of Christ before the enjoyment of those temporal advantages they must have bought with the price of their Religion How goodly are thy Tents O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel How glorious is it for Reformation to be at odds with the World and yet so far above its reach by Jesus Christ that encourages and fortifies it But how shameful for those of the Church of Rome who think they may do any thing under the specious pretence of extirpating Heresy to have cast off the weapons of the Spirit that St Paul recommends and to make use of an unheard of violence which was but an occasion for those very Christians Rome lookt upon as Hereticks to spread the good odour of Christ and his Doctrine among those pretended Hereticks some knew how to dye for the Faith tho they knew not how to dispute concerning the Faith others knew how to sacrifice all to their Faith because they knew by the Gospel they had no other Country but Heaven no prize but their Soul nor any other treasure but their Religion Does not that Invisible and Almighty hand that bears up these sufferers by displaying in them the spirit and virtue of the primitive Christians make those of the Church of Rome sensible they were in open war with God when they thought they were only acting against rebellious children Let them hide themselves under the bushel and expose upon the Candlestick a Christian Society they in vain endeavour to suppress Do not they who so much boasted of having triumph'd over the Reformation perceive they bury their own Church under this pretended triumph How can they think a Christian and impartial posterity will look upon their Religion as Christ's so long as they fill the Christian world with so many thousand barbarities they have us'd against them contrary to the spirit of the Gospel Can they boast of having augmented the flock of Christ with those whom fear interest or hypocrisie hath forc'd into their Communion and not their own choice How shall they be able to justifie before God and men the profane destribution of the Sacrament to so many timerous and unworthy Christians whom they know to have comply'd only with the time and not with the truth But lastly tho that Religion God so visibly protects shou'd still be for a long time unknown to the Christian world yet it will be never the less true What matters it if that mysterious fiery pillar that guides Gods people in the deserts of this life be darkness to the Egyptians provided it give light to the Israelites tho the whose world should conspire the ruin of the Church wherein Christ has reviv'd the purity of the faith what can Israel fear since they are under the protection of the Almighty that makes the blindness of mens hearts instrumental to the designs of his providence and stops the current of mens passions when he pleases Balak has no power over Balaam's heart because God had suspended his desires Balaam tho never so ill affected cou'd never curse Israel because God had not curs'd him and why shou'd you Christians fear the World If you are the blessed of God not all mankind together can bring a curse upon you Wherefore Sanctify your selves in that state his providence has plac'd you in omit nothing in order to be a holy people consecrated to the Lord that same God who made Balaam bless Israel may one day force blessings from those very persons that now curse you the Arm of the Lord is not shorten'd He is able to make your faith to Triumph and have you not many instances of this already who daily see Proselytes come among you converted to the Faith by having oppos'd the Faith the very enemies of your Religon become the Professors and Assertors of it how unspeakable a joy it is What comfort for a Church to derive so glorious a fertility from that state flesh and blood lookt upon as in its last agony There is but one simple thing Christians can stop the blessings God so abundantly showers upon your Church which is the being unfaithful to your vocation 'T is not you properly who made God your choice by forsaking all for the faith 't is God himself has made choice of you in the Christian World to maintain the glory of his name and display the Spirit of Christianity in your Communion but alas how deplorable wou'd it be if after having begun with the Spirit you shou'd now think of ending with the flesh How sad a thing wou'd it be if your heart listening to the suggestions of nature shou'd be led away towards that Earthly Country you have once sacrificed to your faith St Paul saith those ancient Patriarchs I mention'd to you dwelt very contendedly under Tents notwithstanding the hardships attending that condition opportunities of returning into their Country were not wanting but their minds did not run that way because they desired a far better that is a heavenly one therefore God was not asham'd to be call'd their God You have indeed opportunities and are at liberty to return into your Country but is there any thing can possibly tempt you your dear Zion lies in the dust the ways of Zion do mourn her her Priests sigh her Virgins are affliected and she is in bittenrness wou'd your hearts now be less mov'd at this deplorable sight which your eyes formerly could not bear Cou'd you be so bold as to tempt the Lord after you have been convine'd of your weakness by your flight cou'd you promise your selves he wou'd support you in those danges your slackness of piety wou'd expose you to so many thousand Christians who long to be in the same happy circumstances with you are now engag'd with the enemies of your Salvation and theirs Why wou'd you damp their courage by your inconstancy Israel is fighting with Amaleck let us endeavour to lift up pure and undefiled hands to Heaven to bring down upon him blessings from above A Christian Life is nothing but a Pilgrimage there is no place upon earth proves a banishment to him Heaven is the only Country we ought to long after purity of Faith and the liberty of professing it is the most solid and only happiness a Christian can meet with in this World cou'd you be forgerful of that excessive love where with Christ has so highly favour'd you And who of us ought not out of a deep sense for so singular a favour cry out with the Apostle who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or famine or persecution or nakedness No sure in all these calamities the elect always remain victorious through the assistance of him that loveth them If the Lord be my light if the Lord be my strength I may boldly say I am sure neither life nor death nor things present nor things to come shall ever separate me from the love which is in Christ Jesus One day within the Courts of his Church is better than a thousand in the Tents of the ungodly What can shake my faith in a Church where of Christ is the foundation the master-builder and the head Has the World any thing that can strike me with terror whilst I am in a Church wherein Christ turns all to the glory of his Children and confusion of his enemies Christ is gain to me whether I live or dye But I shall not dye I am certain I shall live to sing the infinite mercies of that Almighty God who having made known to me the beauty of Israe upon earth shall through his mercy introduce me into the Heavenly Jerusalem to which place God of his great mercy bring us all for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with

at liberty to sift the ore from the dress An instance of this we have in the old law Eli a Priest of Israel was cast off in the sight of God the Priesthood was transferr'd upon Samuel's head and yet Eli and his Children exercis'd the functions of it till such time as God had prescrib'd Samuel to officiate in who liv'd in the Temple tho neither Eli nor the people knew any thing of what God design'd him for Thus he left the Scribes and Pharisees in Moses's Chair Thus he left the Arian Bishops in the Chair of Orthodox Christians and if he has preserv'd the true Israelites under the Ministry of the Law faithful Christians under the Arian Ministry may not he have preserv'd the purity of Primitive Christians under the corruption of the Roman Ministry And if God permitted at last the division of this Ministry under which he had till then preserv'd his Church can any one doubt of the same individual Church being still in one of those two Ministries that has reviv'd the purity of the Faith which was in the primitive Christians without being drawn away by that Flood of human traditions wherein Ambition Interest and Superstition had a greater share than Religion Can any one doubt of Christ's Church's being in that Ministry whereof the particular character is the grounding of Christian Faith and Worship upon what Christ and his Apostles edify'd If God suffer'd Christianity for many ages to be bury'd in ignorance and superstition 't was a just punishment which he was willing to inflict upon an unfaithful Spouse whom he had in a manner left to herself for despising his Laws He had establish'd his Church in the early days of Christianity after having left Mankind a long time involv'd in the clouds of Idolatry and Jewish traditions he re-establish'd it once more by opening the eyes of the Christian World to see the a buses and vanities of human traditions and made it unexpectedly shine forth like the Morning Sun rising all of a sudden from the bosom of a dismal night that so many ages of obscurity had been forming how great soever the corruption of Christianity had been yet the Gates of Hell did not prevail against it But was it not enough for Almighty God to have preserv'd a single Spark of that sacred Fire that was almost extinguish'd upon the Altar of the Church Was it not enough for him to have kept some hidden Fountain of that Water that springs forth into Life Eternal But that great God who can give life and take it away as he pleases who leads to the chambers of death and is able to bring back seem'd to have suffer'd the Gates of Hell to prevail a while against his Church only to make that same Church more gloriously to triumph over them He suffer'd it so to be that the strength of his arm might be as conspicuous in the re-establishing of his Church as in the setting of it up If the progress of Reformation be but consider'd which all of a sudden open'd the eyes of the world to the vanities of human traditions who can doubt but that it was the hand of God alone that wrought it That the number of Gospel-Ministers has been seen to multiply whilst the Ministry was loaden with Riches Honours and Dignities is not at all to be wondered at the spirit of the world alone is sufficient for that but that the number of Gospel-Ministers has been seen to multiply when the Ministry was destitute of temporal advantages nay when to desire the Ministry was to desire an occasion of Martyrdom this is not certainly the Spirit of the World 't is the Spirit of God alone who induces men to embrace such a party That the Christian people have been seen wholly addicted to the practice of human Traditions and Superstitions is the consequence of the corruption of so many successive ages of ignorance But that all of a sudden part of Christendom has been seen to awake from a deep lethargy to embrace a worship wholly spiritual destitute of all worldly pomp closely pursu'd by envy and persecution in a word to make up so numerous a Communion tho it were by some accounted folly and to others prov'd a shunbling block sure it must be the virtue of his spirit and the efficacy of his word that ●…ound the advancement of the new reviv'd Church as it did that of the primitive one Who can sufficiently admire the conduct of divine wisdom which has preserv'd two Ministries so directly opposite in the bosome of the same Church as it formerly preserv'd Eli and Samuel in the same Temple or rather who can choose but admire the wisdom of God in preserving in the bosom of one and the same Church these two Ministrys as it formerly preserv'd Jacob and Esau in the bosom of one common Mother This is like the two Nations that shared the World between them This is something very nearly resembling the division made between these two Brothers wherein the transferring the Birth-right upon Jacob stirs up in Esau an implacable hatred against him Herein appears the wisdom of God who having observ'd how the primitive Church was faln into corruption in the midst of Peace exposes the reviv'd Church to continual persecutions to keep up its purity and distinguish the spirit that animates it from the spirit of the Ministry that uses all endeavours to oppress it In the Communion of Rome I observe a Ministry that banishes Christians from the Church of Christ meerly for being conformable to his word a Ministry that uses a temporal power to suppress Christians whose only crime consists in preferring the Scripture before Tradition Is this the spirit of Christ who made his word the sole judge of controversies Is this the spirit of St Paul who pronounces cursing against the Angels and against himself if he preach any thing but the Gospel Is this the spirit of St Peter who meekly submits to what remonstrances and oppositions St Paul us'd against him Or is it not rather generally indiscreet zeal of the Apostles when they wou'd have had fire to come down from Heaven not knowing what Spirit they were of Here I see Pastors dispers'd faln Victims to the authority of the opposite Ministry who animated with the Spirit of St Paul say after this great Apostle You think your selves wise in Christ and we are accounted as fools for the glory of Christ you are strong and we are weak You are in pomp and magnificence and we for preaching the Gospel are forc'd to wander up and down expos'd to hunger thirst and nakedness You curse us and we return blessings you excommunicate us and we pray for you Is it the spirit of the world that makes this Pastor take up with so vile and despicable a condition No that inspires nothing but vanity 't is not the spirit of the flesh that inspires nothing but softness 't is not the spirit of the Devil it breathes nothing but vengeance Now