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
A47125	The arraignment of worldly philosophy, or, The false wisdom its being a great hinderance to the Christian faith, and a great enemy to the true divine wisdom / by George Keith.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1694 (1694)	Wing K143; ESTC R1585	27,083	30

and seeing also according to Scripture the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are this One only most High and Supream Infinite Being or Godhead It must needs be confessed That this Divine Spirit in the Saints that hath its measures higher and lower is not the Godhead of either the Father the Son or the Holy Spirit but the Mediatory Spirit of the Son as above-mentioned in which the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit dwelleth as in a most glorious Temple or place of Habitation called in Hebrew Schechina i. e. Tabernacle And because the Godhead of Christ and the Holy Ghost dwelleth in the same whose Godhead is the same with the Godhead of the Father most immediately therefore it is that it receiveth and beareth frequently the Name of the Son and also of Holy Ghost and is called the Spirit of the Father and also the Spirit of the Son But it is not to be supposed or thought that this Middle Being is more immediately near to us than the Godhead as with respect to God's Essence or Being for that doth most intimately or immediately penetrate all things and is most immediately present in all things but with respect of Manifestation and Revelation that infinite Being of the Godhead is such that no created understanding or mind of Men or Angels can see or behold his glory therefore He is said to be such in Scripture whom no eye hath seen or can see and dwelling in the Light which none can approach unto for no man hath seen God at any time to wit as He is in Himself but the only begotten Son of God who dwelleth in his bosome hath declared him who is the Image of the invisible God the brightness of his glory and the express Image or Character of his Substance And seeing both the Scriptures Testimony and the Saints experience doth prove that somewhat really divine by way of influence and emanation doth come into the Souls and Hearts of the Saints from above even from the glorified Man Christ Jesus that is glorified in Heaven called in Scripture Grace Life Light Spirit Power Vertue and is compared to Rain Dew Water Wine Oyl Milk Honey and is called Metaphorically by these Names It is certain this Divine Being and Substance that doth so descend from Christ in Heaven into the souls of men here on earth must needs be some Middle Nature betwixt God and us for the Godhead of Christ and of the Holy Ghost which is one and the same Godhead with the Father filleth all places and is in all places and so cannot ascend or descend or move from one place to another therefore that divine vertue and influence of Light Life and Grace that descendeth and floweth down from above out of the fullness that dwelleth in the glorified Man Christ Jesus is not the Godhead but some Middle Being called by some Vehiculum Dei i. e. the Vehicle or Chariot of God that is a real substance and no accident or bare quality seeing according to the best and truest Rules of Philosophy Accidens non migrat de subjecto in subjectum Accidents do not move from one subject to another And if Grace were a spiritual Accident or Quality it could not be taken from one and given to another as the slothful Servant's Talent was taken from him and given to him that had ten Talents VII There is another great error held by many called Professors of Philosophy both among Papists and Protestants viz. That the Souls of pious and holy men have no higher Faculties or Powers but such as are Rational or discursive whereby the Reason or rational Faculty of man's Soul draweth conclusions from certain Premisses the which Premisses are either the conclusions of other Premisses hanging together like the Links of a Chain or some Maxims or first Principles of the Humane Understanding But many such Maxims called first Principles are false and unsound Notions from which must needs proceed false and unsound Conclusions and with such that called Natural Philosophy doth abound But some of the Antient Philosophers as the Platonists and particularly Plotinus did hold That there was in the soul of man a power or faculty above that which is discursive whereby being assisted by the Divine Light it could erect or elevate it self into God and be joyned to him he appearing to the Soul having neither Form nor any Idea or similitude as Porphirius relateth of Plotinus that so it happened frequently to him and once so to Porphirius himself the which high attainment and experience they declared came to be witnessed by the Souls passing through certain degrees of purification illumination and abstraction from all worldly things and fleshly desires and affections yea and by the Souls being raised above all its natural powers and faculties of Imagination or Ratiocination and the actings thereof to contemplate God alone and be joyned to him by this one higher power of the Soul which Plotinus the Platonick Philosopher doth so distinguish from Reason that he calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. greater than Reason and before Reason Ennead 6. lib 9. cap. 10. The which divine enjoyment he calleth a silent touch of the Soul whereby it toucheth God cap 9. and whereby the Soul retiring it self from all multiplicity as if a large circle did contract its Rays and Circumference to a small Point or center into unity becometh one and joyneth Center to Center viz. the Soul's Center to God its Center and this he calleth the fleet or flight of the one to the one cap. 11. By which it appeareth how much more dark and ignorant the late Schoolmen and Professors of Philosophy are than these ancient Plaronick Philosophers were who professed such a divine attainment fruition and enjoyment of God not only without all Words and external Objects but even without all internal Form Idea or Image of any worldly thing which so high attainment of divine knowledge must needs be granted by all intelligent men to have proceeded from some real degree of internal divine revelation and inspiration a thing so much generally now opposed and by none more than by them that are reputed great Scholars and Philosophers But whether these above mentioned Platonick Philosophers who did soar more aloft in an High Profession of divine knowledge than all other Sects of them called Philosophers did really experience and enjoy what they did profess I think it not propor in this place much to dispute I shall only at present freely declare my Judgment That I think it is very probable that at times when it was best with them they might have had some divine touch taste and relish of a real divine enjoyment But it was not permanent nor abiding with them for had it been so it would no doubt have brought them further than they arrived and would have cleared and freed their Minds of those gross errors that generally they were clouded and entangled with even the best of them for the best of them

Sins and Vices attained to a state of blessedness joy and rest with God and did never return to live again in the body Others holding That after some long Tracts of Time Souls might decline from their state of Felicity in the Divine Fruition and so descend into humane bodies again But these Opinions are contrary to the holy Scriptures which plainly inform us That this visible world had a beginning and that mankind had a beginning in Adam and Eve and that the Years of the World from Adam to Christ's coming in the flesh are about 4000 years by Scripiure Chronology And as this visible world had a beginning so it will have an end as the Scripture doth plainly inform us But it is not to be judg'd That the end of this world will be an anmhilation or reducing of it to nothing as some imagin but only a change as the Scripture calleth it Nor can it be proved either from Scripture or Reason That this visible world had its beginning from nothing or of nothing but since about 5000 years and some odd hundreds For it is evident from Scripture that this visible world did not take its rise or beginning from meer nothing but from that which Moses calleth Gen 1. 2. tohu va bohu which the Septuagint Translation rendereth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Invisible and the Epistle to the Hebrews c. 11. calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is things not appearing 8. Divers called ancient Philosophers as well as some now held the Soul or Spirit of man to be a part of God's Essence or that there were but one great soul or spirit acting in the bodies of all men both good and bad And of this gross and vile Error some Ranters and vain Notionists are guilty who yet profess to own the Scriptures but the Scripture is against them in this and all their other gross Errors and Imaginations For the Soul or Spirit of Man is a created being or substance according to Is 57. 16. And it is a most gross and false Opinion contrary both to Scripture and all sound understanding to imagin that the soul of man that sinneth and is defiled with sin can be a part of God For God is holy and perfect Beside it is not proper to say that God hath any Parts it being contrary to the Nature of his infinite Perfection to be compounded of parts or divisible into parts wherefore when the Scripture speaketh of his Face and back parts that is to be understood only by way of Allegory in condescention to the weakness of humane understanding This gross and vile Error viz. That the Soul is a part of God's Essence or that there is but one great Soul or Spirit acting in the bodies of all men both good and bad taketh away all distinction of Vertue and Vice and consequently all future Rewards and Punishments it is lately much revived by them called Hobbists and Deists 9. As many or most of those called Ancient Philosophers held absurd and false Principles and Doctrines both concerning the Body and Soul of Man so many of them did grosly err concerning the glorious Being and Attributes of God some holding him to be Corporeal some denying his Omnipresence and limiting him to some remote place above the visible Heavens and Stars Others denying his Omniscience and universal providence over all his creatures All which gross Errors being so generally condemned by all sound and sincere Christians and being so plainly contradicted by the Testimonies of holy Scripture I shall not at present be at pains to refute it sufficing to my present purpose to have named them as sufficient instances to prove That the Worldly Philosophy is a great hindrance to the Christian Faith and opposite to the Doctrine of the holy Scriptures that have proceeded from the divine Wisdom and Spirit to which the wisdom and spirit of this World is contrary 10. Some of these called Ancient Philosophers did conceit that there were in God passions of grief and anger such as there are in men upon emergent occasions and that God could change his mind or will and purpose concerning men and things as some ignorant Persons do so conceive at this day imagining that not only anger and grief is competible unto God but repentance also too litterally and carnally understanding that Place of Scripture that it repented God that he had made man not well considering that the Scripture speaketh frequently of God in condescension to our weakness by Metaphors Figures and Allegories as when we read of his Eyes Ears Mouth Hands c. And the Scripture saith God is not as man that he can repent and his gifts and calling are without repentance And seeing in God there is no variableness nor shadow of change as both Scripture and good Reason teacheth how can it be conceived that there can be any change of his mind will and purpose concerning either persons or things And as for Anger and Grief they may be said to be in God effectively but not subjectively not as accidents inherent in their subject for no accidents can have place in God who is an infinitely perfect Being God's Anger being his most holy and righteous will to pun●sh transgressors and his Grief being an utter aversion from sin and hatred of it 11 Some also have imagined as the Manichees and Gnosticks of Old That God could be wounded and bruised or oppressed by mens sins and that his Life or Spirit could be killed and slain in men by their sins misunderstanding and perverting some places of Scripture that if they be understood of God himself cannot be otherwise construed but to be spoken figuratively as when he is said to have repented But if by the Life and Spirit of God be not meant God himself as oft it is but a life and spirit begotten or formed by the living Power of God in the Saints from a Divine Seed sown in them called in Scripture the Seed of God it ought to be granted That this formed Life Birth or Plant may and doth suffer in men by their sins and the tender Seed of God is burthened grieved and so to speak wounded in men by their sins But this Seed is not God himself but somewhat that is emanated and that proceeded from him and doth belong to the Mediatory Spirit of Christ and is a measure thereof the fullness of which dwelleth for ever in the Man Christ Jesus and out of whose fullness to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ as the Scripture declareth 12. The high and mysterious Doctrine of the Election and Predestination of the Saints by the way of grace and holiness to bring them to glory and happiness everlasting and how God hath chosen all the heirs of salvation in Christ Jesus their elect Head Root and Foundation both unto holiness as the means and everlasting happiness and life as the end is a thing that the wisest of the World's