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	receive_v	18,187	5	5.7163	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46626	Ad clerum a visitation sermon preached at Beckonsfield in the county of Bucks, April the 9th, 1678 / by John James ...	James, John, b. 1649.	1678 (1678)	Wing J427; ESTC R35427	26,308	47

by Divine Inspiration and none to diminish ought of what he bid them speak for though they enjoyed under Christ the greatest preheminence imaginable in Relious affairs yet they durst not detract from or add to the will of God by Preaching up their own fancies and the imaginations of their own Brains this St. Paul professeth of himself 1 Cor. 2.1 to 7. And both the Evangelists and Apostles do seriously protest that whatever they delivered to the World as to all the main and necessary parts of Doctrine they received it from Christ in Person or by Revelation from the Holy Ghost as we may well believe considering those miraculous gifts and graces which were communicated to them which was an irrefragable demonstration of the Spirit and Power of God by which they spake 't is highly absurd to imagine that their Successors should have greater liberty in the Church of Christ and especially at such a vast distance of time from the propagation of the Gospel and the cessation of Miracles indeed it might be deservedly accounted a Miracle not the least if we should be Soveraign Lords over mens Consciences or have absolute dominion in matters of Faith if our Ambassage should be of an unlimited Nature like the command which Tiberius gave Drusus upon a certain expedition Nullis certis mandatis exre consulturum that every man might have the power of a Plenipotentiary and deliver what seems good in his own eyes when every tittle of our Errand is comprized by God rati●ed and confirmed f●om Heaven and explicitely contained in the grand Charter of our Commission the Records of the Gospel So that as the Civil Law adjudgeth those Ambassadors guilty of High Treason who transcend the bounds and limits of their Commission and both Modern and Ancient Histories Record that such presumption hath received a just recompence of reward the Apostles always accounted it a Sacrilege most horrid and inexcusable in the sight of their Master and loaded that Person with a most dreadful Anathema who should presume to broach his own Inventions and to intermingle them with the Doctrine of the Gospel Gal. 1.8 9. If we or an Angel from Heaven Preach any other Doctrine then that ye have already received let him be accursed which Ap●sto●ical Constitution is of equal Authority in the Church to this very day for in reference to that Text is that gloss of St. Austin Maledictus est qui quidpiam praedicat praeterquam quod in Scripturis Legis and Evangelii recepimus And if these things be true what just indignation may the Master of our Religion conceive against the presumption and boldness of the Church of Rome which advanceth the Pope into His Tribunal and ascribes a like power might and dominion to him as to the eternal Son of God! For though Christ alone can instruct us in the Laws and Ordinances of his Kingdom and by the influence of his Spirit direct us in the way of life though that pretended Vicar of Christ be styled the Minister of our Lord and in his Canons and Decrees subscribe himself Episcopus servus Servorum Dei yet dares he proudly usurp the most proper Offices of his Master and boldly assume the Title of Head of the Church For he as they confidently boast hath received full Authority from Christ to deliver the whole will of God to the World and to decide all Controversies in Religion who according to them is certainly infallible when he acts as Head of the Church whom the Holy Ghost doth continually attend in Council lawfully Summon'd and in his Consistory assists him to Judge infallibly of Spiritual affairs he hath Supremacy over the Souls of Men can dispense with Divine Laws dissolve mens Obligation of obedience to them and secure their Persons from the wrath of God which for their disobedience they justly deserve he can constitute new Articles of Faith and impose his definitions on the whole World as Credentials necessary to mans Salvation the Keys of Heaven are delivered to him for though Chritst alone opens and no man shuts and shuts and no man opens Rev. 3.7 Yet by Succession to St. Peter he dares Sit and Reign as Universal Soveraign by his Papal Authority determining the Conditions of Life and Death and according to mens observation of them adjudging them to the one or other as if he that Reigns in Heaven above and Rules on Earth beneath had ceased to execute his Kingly Office over the Church and had derived it to St. Peter as his immediate Successor and to the Pope as Universal Vicar That these are indeed the Principles of the Church of Rome and not the slanderous suggestion of Protestants is apparently manifest not only from the Writings of their private Doctors but from the decretals of their general Councils and the most solemn Bulls of several Popes in which they have acted so directly opposite to the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Gospel that they have exercised Authority over Christ himself and by their Traditions made the Gospel of Christ of no effect Witness that Decree concerning the Canon of Scripture in the Fourth Session of the Council of Trent Celebrated under Paul the Third wherein it was declared that the Books of Apocrypha and all their unwritten Traditions are equally the Dictates of Gods Spirit with the most Canonical Scripture Synodus Libros Scriptos sine sc traditiones tanquam velore tenus a Christo vel a Spiritu Sancto dictatas pari Pietatis affectu ac reverentiâ suscipit ac veneratur Si quis autem sciens prudens contempscrit Anathema sit and as necessary to confirm any Article of Faith and to prescribe Rules for the regulating of manners and therefore to be embraced with the like affection of Piety and received with the same religious Reverence under peril of the most dreadfull Anathema And now I appeal to the judgment of and sober considerate man whether such Doctrines as these are agreeable to the Tenor of the Gospel and becoming the Ministers of Christ or not rather highly derogatory to the dignity and honour of his Majesty as being palpably erroneous and horridly blasphemous if tried by the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament which are the only Canon of Faith and good manners We have hitherto considered the Doctrine of the Text which was naturally contained in the two former Particulars that the Apostles and all other Persons lawfully Consecrated into their Spiritual Office are the Ministers of Christ and the Stewards of the Mysteries of God Now both the Nature of the precedeing Discourse and the Order of the Method propounded require our consideration concerning the last Particular which contains Two practical Inferences deduced from the truth of the Apostles Assertion One respecting the men to whom these Persons are employed as Ministers and Stewards Let a man so account of Us The other relating to the Persons themselves to whom this Office is committed Moreover 't is required in Stewards

Dictates of the Holy Ghost for which their extraordinary endowments were a sufficient Commission and when those ceased the men returned to their former condition And 't is agreed by all that there are but two ways by which men may enter into the Office Ministeriall by immediate Command from God or mediate Commission from men at the first Plantation of the Gospel those extraordinary Ministers were admitted to their Function by an extraordinary Call from Heaven but because God cannot work in vain and will not multiply Miracles without just necessity that other Method of initiating Church-Officers is by Divine appointment established in the Church I mean the Imposition of hands with the prayers of the Superiour Clergy which Form as 't is more ordinary than the former so 't is sufficient for its purpose and fairly correspondent to the perpetual Rules of a setled and established Religion the former Ministers gave evidence of their Ordination by their miraculous Operations the latter must if at all by the Testimonials of the Presbytery of whom they are ordained therefore I cannot but ask those bold Pretenders by what Authority they exercise those strange and irregular courses and who gave them that Authority that six days in the week they shall labour and do all that they have to do in their Secular employments and behold on the Seventh they sit as Masters of Assemblies or stand forth as Preachers in a Congregation if they receive their power from God let them come forth and produce their evidences let them in the name of Christ do wonders and work Miracles then we will imbrace them as Apostles and give them the right hand of fellowship otherwise 't is certain they are not the Messengers of God if they derive it from men I ask from whom From the Bishops and Presbyters Who are intrusted with the Office of Ordination as being competent Judges of the qualifications of men for Spiritual Ministries If not from them they are Invaders and Intruders into the Offices of the Church and in the language of Christ himself Thieves and Robbers Joh. 10.1 But if they will usurp the Priestly Office which belongs not to them and take the Censer into their hands when Christ forbids them Let them remember that Nadab and Abihu perished by Fire and Corah with his complices were swallowed up alive into the Earth for committing such things and though their pretences may be fair and their designs honest yet Uzzah was smitten for his indiscreet zeal and died though his intent was good And if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every trangression received a just recompence of reward of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall they be thought worthy who have troden under foot the Laws of Christ and counted the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing and done despight to the Spirit of Graces From the Subjects of the Apostles Discourse we proceed to consider the Matter predicated of or attributed to them which was the second Particular delivered from the Words and the other part of the Proposition implicitely contained in them They are the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God the proper intent and purpose whereof is really the same to represent the just Authority of the Ministerial Office yet because 't is a complex Proposition the parts whereof are not in all respects coincident and a reall difference is apparent in them they may justly be severed in our consideration of them and therefore shall be handled apart in our intended discourse upon them the former respects the Authority and Commission of Ministers They are the Ministers of Christ the latter their Office and employment They are the Stewards of the Mysteries of God First Consider the Authority and Commission of the Persons in the Text the Apostles and their Successors are the Ministers of Christ the former ordained by Christ in Person or by an immediate Command from Heaven the latter regularly invested with same Commission by the solemn Prayers of the Church and Imposition of hands by the principal Officers thereof which was the Form of Ordination exercised by the Apostles themselves and other Persons in their Generations as hath been already sufficiently demonstrated the practice whereof must necessarily be a sufficient Authority to Consecrate others in the succeding ages of the Church and all such Persons by virtue of that Apostolical Institution regularly ordained according to the will of Christ and without all controversie acknowledged by him as his Servants and Ministers For as Men and Angels were sometimes employed by God as Ministers and Agents in the delivery of some Message as conveying some blessing to the World before the Incarnation of Christ so our blessed Lord that absolute and supream Monarch of the Church in imitation of his Heavenly Father call'd to his assistance a certain number of Persons to act the part of Ministerial Officers under him the great Diocesan and Bishop of mens Souls and after his departure from the world and Ascension into Heaven poured down the Holy Ghost upon a full Congregation of them as they were Assembled to Solemnize the worship of God Acts 2. By whose descent they were immediately taught from God inspired infallibly to Preach the Gospel to confirm it by Miracles and had a gracious promise that the same blessed Spirit should attend them and their Successors to the Worlds end and accordingly when a compleat body of Religion was perfected and the Scripture finished yea so that that extraordinary work of supernatural Revelation ceased the Apostles in the name of Christ Ordained a degree of men to succeed them in Ordinary in that honourable Function of the Ministry whose it is to Rule under Christ over the several Flocks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to speak unto them the Word of God which account we receive from St. Clemens Bishop of Rome that as Christ was the Angel of God under the second Covenant so the Apostles were the Messengers of Christ who being filled with the Holy Ghost went forth and Preached the Kingdom of Heaven and as the number of Converts increased Constituted the most eminent and worthy Christians to edifie the Church and perfect the body of Christ from hence the Holy Ghost describes these pers●ns by those Phrases and Expressions which denote their relation to Christ to be like that of a Servant to a Master or a Steward to a Lord for so they are styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Messengers that Receive Commission from him to exercise Authority in his name over the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Disciples or followers of Christ as their Lord and Master 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Legates or Ambassadours to deliver some Message from their Heavenly Soveraign to poor distressed mortals here on Earth Parallel to which are those other Appellations of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all which are used with reference to those immediate Officers of Christ who were employed as Commissioners under him andsent with Authority