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	mean_v	6,969	5	6.7481	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47040	The future state, or, A discourse attempting some display of the souls happiness, in regard to that eternally progressive knowledge, or eternal increase of knowledge, and the consequences of it, which is amongst the blessed in heaven by a country gentleman, a worshipper of God in the way of the Church of England.	Whitaker, Edward.; Jones, George, d. 1704.	1683 (1683)	Wing J941B; ESTC R13197	63,632	160

the Knowledge of it just as the Angels obtain the Knowledge of Our Laws and Government here below And 't is affirmed by St. Paul That 't is by the Church that they attain it That is as I conceive by the Revelations made to the Church and by the Experience that they have of the Obedience that they pay unto them and the Rewards that are consequent thereunto together with the Punishments that attend the Neglect and Contempt of them in which many times they are the Instruments and Executioners 13. And who knows whether many of the Obscure Prophecies in the Old and New-Testament and some other Difficulties in the Inspired Writings may not be Explained Opened and Unfolded after the Same Manner that they were delivered to Men They were spoken by the Prophets according as they were thereunto moved by the Holy Ghost and perchance the Same Spirit that was the Author of them may be the Interpreter and Explainer of them The same Divine Spirit that revealed the Matter of them to the Prophets may open and unfold the Meaning of them to the Blessed 14. The Holy Apostle St. Paul observes some Analogies and Similitudes between the First and Second Creation as is apparent in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians As in the Old Creation God commanded Light to shine out of Darkness so in the New Creation he causes Light to arise upon those that sit in Darkness and in the Valley and Shadow of Death As a Dark and Confused Chaos did precede Light and a Well-ordered World and State of things in the First Creation so a State of Ignorance and Darkness doth precede a State of Light and Knowledge Rectitude and Order in the Second 15. The Analogies Likenesses and Proportions that are observed between these Two Creations by the Sacred Writers are but few But 't is not improbable in my Apprehension but that there may be Very many more than those observed by them and perhaps there may be almost nothing in the History of the First Creation of things which hath not its Likeness Shadow and Resemblance in the Second And who dares to deny that they may be discovered to the Blessed by Extraordinary Revelation 16. The Frame and Fabrick of the Tabernacle and the several Vessels and Utensils thereof had certainly their Meaning and Signification The Epistle to the Hebrews puts that past all doubt and controversie yet I think that there is very little of the Import and Signification of them expounded unto us and set before us in the Holy Scriptures What is meant by the Shew-Bread and by the Candlestick with its several Lamps by the Cherubims covering the Mercy-Seat with their Wings who is able to determine Something the New-Testament hath said for the Explication of Some of them and something other Authors have said to unriddle the Meaning of them But besides what the Scripture hath said thereof we have no security of its Truth All Accounts of the Signification of those things unless such as we find in the Bible are but Conjectures and as they may be True so they may be False for we have no Certain Assurance of their Verity And 't is not impossible but that the Full and Certain Knowledge of them may be reserved for Another World and that the Blessed may know them by Peculiar and Special Revelation 17. Besides what I have said there were many Typical Persons Things and Actions under the Old-Testament and I do believe that no Meer Man either did doth or shall in This World understand them Surely the High-Priest was a Typical Person and very many of those Actions which as a Priest he did perform were also Typical And so I think of many things of which we read in the Old-Testament and particularly the Holy of Holies and the Vail that separated it from the Holy Place David also and Solomon and Isaiah were Typical Persons and something of the Antitypes of them the New-Testament doth inform us of but I think Very little and that Darkly and Imperfectly too And perhaps the full Knowledge of them may be kept in Reserve for the Kingdom of Heaven and the Blessed shall There know it by Inspiration 18. To which I may add the Meaning and Importance of many of the Ceremonial Laws of which we read in the Books of Moses What is the Meaning and Reason of their Institution is not easie to tell It may be reasonably supposed that the Hebrews for whom those Laws were appointed understood the Meaning and Reasons of them better than we do at This Distance of Years especially if we Remember and Consider that we are under no Obligation to Observe them Yet I am much inclined to think that even they themselves never fully understood either the Meaning Ends or Reasons of their Institution 19. Who knows the Meaning or Reason of their several Sorts and Kinds of Sacrifices or can give us any Evidence that the Jews themselves understood them Why were some of them Wholly consumed upon the Altar others only in Part Why was Some Part of some of them eaten by the Priests and Others by the People themselves that made the Sacrifice and Oblation There were many Particularities in the most of their Sacrifices which can hardly be accounted for and I do much believe that the Jews themselves never well understood them And what I have said of their Sacrifices is applicable to Many other of their Laws Some Knowledge of the Nature and Reason of them was to be found among the more Enlightned of them but a full and perfect Knowledge of them I do believe they were Strangers to and possibly may be known by no Means but that of Revelation no in no Place but in the Future State and by the Blessed There 20. In most Ages since the Creation of This World God hath on Sundry Reasons and at Sundry Times made known his Will and Purpose concerning Future Events Thus he made known to Abraham the Servitude and Bondage of his Posterity in a Strange Country for the space of Four Hundred Years and their After Deliverance and Prosperity Thus he made known to the Jews their Captivity in Babylon for the space of Seventy Years and their Deliverance by Cyrus and Restauration to their Own Country And many other things which those that read the Holy Scriptures cannot be ignorant of 21. It may reasonably be conjectured that the Blessed Saints and Angels had the Knowledge of all these Future Events by the Revelations that God made concerning them And I see no reason why many things may not be known by the Blessed in the Heavenly Jerusalem after the Same Manner and that in a Succession of Times and Ages Without End or Period of Duration 22. For whether there may not be a Succession of Worlds to an Indefinite Period of Time whether God may not govern them Much after the Manner of This partly by Natural and partly by Supernatural Laws who can define I know nothing in the Christian Religion

again When they call to mind that He Supports their Beings and Faculties and Furnishes them with Suitable Objects for their Imployment and Delight They do Immediately infer the great Necessity of Loving and Serving this Great and Good God 3. If the Vnderstandings of the Blessed were Infinite I think they would have no Vse of Ratiocination But forasmuch as they are certainly of Limited and Definite Nature I cannot understand how they will be able to perform that Duty and exercise those Affections upon God without it which all Men confess are the Imployment and Happiness of the Blessed Can they Love God without Consideration of his Transcendent Excellencies and Amiable Perfections Can they Obey Him without considering his Rightful Soveraignty and many and Great Benefactions Or is not this Consideration and Love and Obedience consequent sequent thereunto a manifest Ratiocination and Use of their Discursive Faculty and Power 4. That some things in This World are more Obvious and better Known than others cannot be denyed and I believe were so to Adam whil'st he remained Innocent I doubt not but that the First Principles of Things were more plain to his Vnderstanding than the numerous Conclusions deduced from them as well as they are to Ours 'T was more obvious to him that the Several Lines drawn from the Center of a Circle were equal among themselves than that all the Sides of an Aequilateral Triangle are the Radii of Equal Circles with many others that might be mentioned if the thing were not plain beyond all Reasonable Doubt or Scruple And if it be thus on Earth and were so even Before the Fall why may it not be so in Heaven 5. If from Moral Principles the Blessed do infer Morael Conclusions which I think cannot be denyed why may they not do the like from Natural If from the Being Goodness and Providence of God they do infer Love Fear and Obedience why may they not infer from such things as are Natural and Well Known those things that are Vnknown yet Naturally consequent unto them And indeed as I see no reason to deny it so I am much Past Doubt of the Truth of it I cannot but believe that the Blessed will Conclude that they are able to Move To and Fro with Incredible Swiftness because their Bodies are Spiritual and many other Conclusions of like Nature will they infer from like Premises 6. The Conclusions that in this weak and imperfect State have been made from some few Principles in every Art and Science are almost Infinite Who can number the Conclusions that have been made from the Principles of Natural Philosophy Metaphysick and Geometry How many vast and almost numberless Volumes have been written concerning them And when will they make an end ' Those Sciences have been studied and polished by Heathens and Chritians for well night two Thousand Years and yet every New Writer pretends to say something that was not said before and to add to the Advancement Increase and Perfection of them 7. Some think the Inferences and Deductions that are made from the Principles of Geometry alone may be capable of Everlasting Increase and Augmentation and truly he that considers the Numberless number of Propositions that are in the several Branches and Dependencies of that Science will find no great difficulty in believing it How numerous are the Propositions that are to be sound in Geometry properly and strictly taken in Astronomy Algebra Musick Opticks Dialling and the Art of Navigation And how Few and Simple are the Principles from which they have been Inferred and Deduced What daily Additions and Increases are made to them by Learned Men Every day almost Books are Published and Printed in which something is added towards the Perfection of those Sciences 8. And as Numbers may be perpetually and to all Durations Increased by Addition so I am very much inclined to believe that the Propositions in Mathematicks neither are or ever will be so Numerous but that they may be Increased And those that are Skilled in them and do observe how they Generate each other will I am perswaded think as I do and Modestly affirm That it may be continued to Infinity 9. In the mean time I will not affirm That the Study of Geometry will be any part of the Imployment of the Blessed Perhaps there will be NO Vse of it or Occasion for it There Some Arts and Sciences will expire with our Dissolution because the Vse of them will then determine All the Mechanick Artifices by which Men support Themselves and their Families will receive their Period with our Lives The Arts of Plowing and Sowing of Building and Planting of Passing the Seas and Navigating into Forreign Countries will end with This Life because there will be No Vse of them in the Other And perhaps so it may be with all Mathematical Learning and Science 10. But if the Principles of one Single Science may be Productive of almost Infinite Conclusions much more may the Principles of all Sciences And that some Science will be of Vse in the Other State few doubt or deny The Science of Natural Philosophy will remain There The Blessed shall understand the Nature of their Own Bodies and all Others that they Converse withal and are Presented to their View How can they give God the Praise of them if they do not Know them nor cannot penetrate the Abysses of them And how far this Knowledge may extend who is able to divine 11. Besides it is not improbable that the Future World may furnish many Species and Kinds of Bodies to our Contemplation The Earth and Sea and Air have their peculiar Kinds of Corporeal Essences yea every Climate almost hath something peculiar to it self And what hinders but that the Highest Heavens may have multitudes of Peculiarities the like whereunto our Eyes have never Seen nor our Ears Heard Yea give me leave to say That I am much past doubt of it Surely that Blessed State will present many Glorious Objects and Excellent Beings to our View and our Knowledge will be much Increased and Enlarged thereby 12. Moreover we cannot doubt but the Science of Metaphysicks will also be continued There The most Glorious of all Reasonable Creatures are of Spiritual and Metaphysical Nature Such are all the Holy Angels and Blessed Saints Whether there be any thing Material in their Constitution whether they be Imbodied in Pure and AEtherial Vehicles I will not here dispute but all do grant that there is something in their Essence that is Spiritual and without all doubt the Blessed will have some Knowledge of it They will not remain so ignorant of the Nature Powers and Capacities of Spirits as now they are Somewhat they will Vnderstand of them and the Manner of their Operations as also what Gradual Differences there are among them and what Diversity in their Accomplishments and Perfections For as there are very Many Differences I mean Gradual among Bodies so there may be among Spirits for