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
A53579	The witch of Endor, or, The witchcrafts of the Roman Jesebel in which you have an account of the exorcisms or conjurations of the papists, as they be set forth in their agends, benedictionals, manuals, missals, journals, portasses, which they use in their churches concerning the hallowing of the water, salt, bread, candles, boughs, fire, ashes, incense, pascal lamb, eggs, herbs, milk, honey, apples, wine, cheese, butter, new baked bread, flesh, font, marrying ring, pilgrims wallet, staff, cross, sword, &c. : proposed and offered to the consideration of all sober Protestants / by Titus Otes.	Oates, Titus, 1649-1705.	1679 (1679)	Wing O62; ESTC R16959	54,855	50

Papists steal away the glory of our Salvation from Christ and give it to Creatures Is Christ's ear so stopped that it can no more hear Is Christ's hand so shortned that it can no more help Ah cursed is that Man that putteth his trust in any Creature and suffereth his heart to depart from the Lord. Moreover They give such virtue to their bewitched Salt that it is able to drive away Devils and unclean Spirits wheresoever and whensoever it be sprinkled O blasphemous Priests When Christ sent forth his Disciples into the World to Preach the Gospel he said that they should cast out Devils by his Name that is to say by his power and might He saith not by the sprinkling of holy Water And St. Paul exhorteth us to put on the shield of Faith and with that to quench the fiery darts of Satan so likewise doth St. Peter saying Be ye sober and watch for your adversary the Devil goeth about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour whom see that ye resist with a strong faith In the History of the Gospel we read that Christ drove away the Devil with the word of God And in another place of the Gospel he speaketh of a certain kind of Devils which are not cast out but by Prayer and Fasting Thus are we taught in the Word of God that by the Name of Christ by Faith by the holy Scripture by Prayer and Fasting the Devil is expell'd and put out But that he is driven away by holy Water we find in no place And in the Prayer that followeth the Popish Conjurer desireth of God that the conjured and bewitched Salt may be unto all such as receive it salvation of mind and body so that whatsoever shall be touched or sprinkled by it may be void of all uncleanness and of every assault of spiritual wickedness Here singeth the conjuring Papist one and the same song as before so likewise here he goeth about to bring salvation both of mind and body to the People from his bewitched Salt when as we have heard all salvation cometh from God alone through faith in the blood of Christ as St. Paul saith By grace are you saved through faith yea and that not of your selves It is the gift of God and cometh not of works because no man should rejoyce If salvation come not unto us through those good Works which we work at the appointment of God but is the free gift of God alone as the same Apostle saith also in another place Everlasting life is the gift God through Jesus Christ our Lord With what face than do our Popish sacrificers attribute the virtue of salvation to a beggerly Ceremony invented by the idle brain of some enemy of God and no where commanded but rather condemned in the holy Scripture as our Saviour Christ saith in the Gospel They worship me in vain teaching Doctrins which are the Commandments of men And whereas the Mass-monger prayeth That whatsoever be touched or sprinkled by it may be void of all uncleanness we shall understand that it is God alone which through Faith purifieth and cleanseth us both in body and soul Therefore David prayeth unto God saying A clean heart create thou in me O God and a right spirit renew thou in my innermost parts And God himself by the Prophet saith I will pour upon you clean water and ye shall be cleansed from all your iniquities yea from all your Idols will I cleanse you And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you c. This clean Water which God promiseth here to pour upon his People is not the conjured Water of the Papists seasoned with Salt but it is the holy Ghost which by Faith is received of the true Christians And are not these the words of blessed St. Luke By faith hath he purified and cleansed their hearts As touching the avoiding of every assault of spiritual wickedness whereby is understood the work of Satan and of his infernal Army imployed unto the destruction of the faithful We have before heard that neither Salt nor Water nor any thing of like condition altho' never so much blessed crossed exorcised conjured and bewitched is of such force that they may be able to resist and so quench the fiery darts of Satan By the Name of Christ by Faith by the Word of God by Prayer and Fasting is this brought to pass so that by this means we obtain and get glorious Victories over all Spiritual Wickedness as it is written O Hell I will be thy destruction O Hell where is thy victory God be thanked which hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Moreover As they handle the Salt so do they likewise the Water They bless they sanctifie they exorcise they conjure they charge they command they charm they bewitch the Water speaking unto it as a thing having life on this manner I conjure thee thou Creature of Water in the Name of God the Father Almighty ✚ and in the Name of Jesus Christ ✚ his Son our Lord and in the virtue of ✚ the holy Ghost that thou be a conjured Water to expel all Power of the Enemy and that thou maist be able to root out and utterly to displace the Enemy himself with his Apostatick Angels by the virtue of the same our Lord Jesu Christ who shall come to judge the quick and the dead and the World thro' fire As before in the Conjuration of the Salt the Exorcist and Conjurer went about by charming to make it of sufficient virtue to expel and drive away Satan and all his Ministers so likewise doth he here in the exorcising of the Water But how wickedly and foolishly he doth this we have before sufficiently heard In the Prayer unto God that followeth immediately after the Conjurer is more mad and as one out of his wits he prayeth God that his bewitched Water may be of such virtue and strength that whatsoever this Water shall sprinkle in houses or places of the faithful may be void of all uncleanness and delivered from harm That no noisom spirit remain there nor no corrupt air but that they may avoid all the laying in wait of the privy Enemy and that if there be any thing that is contrary to the health and quietness of the Inhabitants it may through the sprinkling of this Water depart away c. And in the Prayer which he maketh after he hath mingled the Water and Salt together he beseecheth God that wheresoever this Water thus conjured be sprinkled all noisomness of the unclean spirit may be cast out and the terror of the venimous serpent expelled far away and the presence of the holy Ghost may vouchsafe to be present And in the next Prayer following he desireth of God that he will grant by the sprinkling of this bewitched Water health of mind safety of body conservation of health security of hope and strength of faith Who seeth not how this Popish Exorcist

Spirit and traiterous Offendor and chargeth him not in the name of Robinhood or little John nor yet in the name of Fryer Tuck and maid Marion but in the name of God the Father Almighty and in the name of Jesus Christ his Son and in the vertue of the Holy Ghost That he with all his false Subtilty and Wickedness and with all his crafty Falshood depart from that creature of Incense or Perfume There is no remedy but the Devil must now needs trudge being so straitly Conjured But it is marvellous that such Perfumes should make so sweet savours if the Devil were in them as the Popish Conjurer fancieth If one Devil be in so little portion of Incense what a number of Devils be there in all the Apothecaries Shops that are in Bucklersbury and elsewhere I wonder how they can sleep in the night season having so many Devils in their Houses If the Doctrine of the Papists be true it were high time yea and more than time that these Conjuring Priests were sent for and set a work to Conjure such unclean and foul Spirits yea and such traiterous Offenders lest they make havock of all Apothecaries and Grocers Houses and all others also wheresoever any Incense myrrhe or any other Perfume is If Incense were possessed with the Devil as the Papists teach I much marvel that the Holy Ghost would by the mouth of the Psalmist compare Prayer unto it Again if Incense were possessed with so foul and unclean Spirits it is much to be marvelled that it should have so sweet a savour seeing the Devil corrupteth all things that he possesseth But let us consider why this Papist taketh so great pains to Conjure the Devil out of the Incense Some urgent grave weighty and necessary cause moveth him thus to do otherwise he would never be so earnest in the matter Forsooth Sir and it please you The cause that moveth him to take all these pains in Conjuring and dispatching the Devil is that this Creature of Perfume or Incense may be sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ yea and that unto this end That all they who taste touch or smell it may enjoy the virtue and help of the Holy Ghost so that wheresoever this Incense or Perfume shall be the Devil in no wise may be bold to approach near nor presume to make any hurly burly but that he with all his crafty Falshood fly and depart far from thence O notable Virtues O wonderful Works Of this Exorcism we learn that so many as taste touch or smell of this Perfume or Incense do enjoy the virtue and help of the Holy Ghost To taste that is to say to eat of Incense or any other Perfume is rare but to touch or to smell thereof is daily and common But that this should bring the virtue and help of the Holy Ghost is of all things most rare and almost incredible To have the Holy Ghost is the meer and only gift of God as he himself testifieth by the Prophet saying I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh and your Daughters shall Prophesie Again he saith I will pour clear Water upon you and ye shall be clean yea from all your uncleanness and from all your Idols shall I cleanse you A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put into you c. I will give my Spirit among you and cause you to walk in my Commandments to keep my Laws and fulfil them And our Saviour Christ saith If ye being evil can give good Gifts to your Children how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Ghost to them that ask it of him Again I will pray my Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive for it seeth him not neither hath it known him Here have we in manifest and plain words that the Holy Ghost is the gift of God only and that it cometh not unto us by Conjured Incense and and other bewitched Perfumes but by Prayer alone which God hath appointed the mean to obtain his blessed Spirit Moreover in this Exorcism or Conjuration the Exorcist or Conjurer attributeth so much to these bewitched Perfumes that they be able wheresoever they be kindled or set on Fire to drive away the Devil with all his Craft and Falshood This is an old jugling of the Papists so to esteem their Sorceries that they may be able to move Mountains yea to drive Devils away But we have before heard that the Devil is more mighty and of greater force and strength than that the smoak of a little Incense can be able to drive him away We have heard also that by Faith Prayer Fasting and by the Word of God Satan is expelled and put out and not by dumb Ceremonies For this purpose saith St. John hath the Son of God appeared even to dissolve loosen break and destroy the works of the Devil In the Prayers that follow the Sorcerer prayeth God that the Incense may be to his Servants or Handmaids a Defence and Safeguard that the Enemy the Devil enter not into their bowels nor have any entrance or seat in them Again That all Diseases and deceits of the Devil feeling the savour of this Incense may flee away so that the People be not hurt through the biting of the old Serpent but that it may expel and drive away all phantastical assaults of unclean Spirits and expel all Infirmities Sicknesses and Diseases and in fine health being restored smell to the Lord our God a most pleasant odour with perpetual sweetness The Papists sing always one manner of song that which only is due to the Creator they attribute to Creatures after they have once exorcised conjured or bewitched them But we have before abundantly heard That no man can be delivered from the assaults of Satan and other wicked Spirits and from sicknesses and diseases nor obtain any health but only by the power of Almighty God as it is written Neither Herb nor Emplaister hath healed them O Lord but thy Word which healeth all things And whereas they will have their Perfumes to be a sweet savour in the Nostrils of God we know that there is nothing that smelleth sweetly before God but the Sacrifice of Christ's death As the Apostle saith Christ loved us and gave himself for us an Offring and a Sacrifice of a sweet savour unto God Again By Christ do we offer up Sacrifice of praise always to God that is to say the fruit of those lips which confess his Name After these solemn Prayers the Exorcist devoutly looking upon his new bewitched stuff speaketh on this manner The blessing ✚ of God Almighty ✚ the Father ✚ the Son ✚ and the holy Ghost descend and come down upon this Creature of Incense Myrrh and Perfume and abide upon it alway Amen These things dispatched he putteth some of the new Perfumes in

in the name of our only Mediator Christ Jesus To believe that our sins shall be forgiven us if we ask in Faith and in fine to take upon us a new life and above all things to take heed that we fall no more into a lewd life lest the last be worst than the first and so this common Proverb be verified of us The Sow being washed is returned to her wallowing in the mire and the Dog unto his vomit But afterward the Papist maketh it more plain and desireth of God that so many as shall sprinkle those Ashes upon them for the redemption of their sins may receive health of Body and Safeguard of Souls Here is a plain Doctrine of the Papists That by sprinkling those Ashes upon them they believe to have redemption of their sins What is Blasphemy if this be not Blasphemy What is it to work ignominy and dishonour to the precious bloud of Christ if this be not Who denieth the Lord that bought them if the Papists do it not Is it come to pass now that Ashes work the redemption of our sins We hitherto believed that Christ alone hath wrought our Redemption by his Passion and Death For so are we taught in the Word of God Christ saith St. Paul died for our sins and rose again for our justification Again there is one God and one Mediator the man Christ Jesus which gave himself a Ransom for all Likewise saith St. John The Blood of Jesus Christ purgeth us from all sin Also in another place Christ hath loved us and washed us from our sins by his Bloud and hath made us Kings and Priests to God his Father To him be praise and rule for ever Amen And as concerning health of Body and safeguard of Soul who knoweth that they come not from Ashes but from the Mighty God of Israel from whom every good and perfect Gift cometh as we have before heard Of him therefore must we ask whatsoever good thing we intend to obtain But we shall note also that in the prayer which followeth it is plainly declared That the Popes Captains suffer the Ashes to be laid upon their heads to this end That by that means they may deserve to have forgivness of their sins when notwithstanding we have before abundantly heard that forgivness of sins cometh only from God through Faith in the name of his Son Christ and not by reason of any work although commanded in the Law of God much less by any ceremony invented by man as it is written Be it known to you ye men and Brethren that through this man Christ is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and that by him all that believe are justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the Law of Moses Again Why tempt ye God that ye would put a Yoke on the Disciples necks which neither our Fathers nor we we were able to bear But we believe that through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved c. And in the Service after Salisbury use as they term it we read these words Grant that through the Invocation of thy holy name all they that bear these Ashes upon their heads for the obtaining of thy mercy may merit of thee to receive forgivness of all their Trespasses Are not these words all one in effect with the other which we heard before Verily there is neither barrel better herring Whether use we follow both rob Christ of his glory After these benedictions and sanctifications these Ashes must be sprinkled with Holy-Water to make up the matter Which thing dispatched certain Anthems must be sung and in the mean season the Ashes must be received of so many as are present First of all the Priest that shall say Mass must have the Ashes laid upon his head by another Priest if he be present But if there be no more Priests then must he kneel down meekly before the Altar and lay Ashes upon his own head Afterward must the other Ministers come if any be present and kneeling down before the Altar receive Ashes of the Priest They being served the Brethren and Sisters shall come bini bini two and two together like Fryers of one Cloyster and meekly kneeling upon their marrow bones before the Altar receive Ashes in like manner of the Priest And in distributing these Ashes the Priest must say to every one of them on this wise Memento homo quod cinis es ✚ here must the Priest make a Cross with the Ashes upon the top of the Crown if he be a Man but if a Woman upon her forehead in cinerem reverteris That is to say Remember man that thou art Ashes and into Ashes thou shalt return These Ashes in times past through the wicked Doctrine of the most wicked Papists have been counted of the common People to be of so great virtue that the receiving of them brought unto them Gods favour and a worthy preparation unto the forgiveness of their sins And contrariwise that without them neither Confession Contrition Pennance Absolution Fasting Prayer nor any other good work profited them any thing at all O lamentable blindness Of hallowing Incense Myrrhe and other Perfumes NOw that we have passed over Salt Water Bread Candles Boughs Flower Fire and Ashes we are at last come to our Perfumes as Incense Myrrhe c. Neither are they so sweet nor their savours so pleasant but that the Papists find fault in them so that they also have need of their Exorcisms Conjurations Sanctifications Benedictions Crossings and Blessings Therefore in falling in hand with that matter the Popish Priest beginneth to Conjure in this manner speaking to the Devil as one not unacquainted with his doings I Conjure thee thou most unclean Spirit and every phantasy of the Enemy in the Name of God the Father Almighty and in the name of Jesus Christ his Son and in the virtue of the Holy Ghost That thou with all thy false Subtilty and Wickedness go forth and depart from this Creature of Perfume or Incense that this Creature may be Sanctified ✚ in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all they which taste touch or smell it may enjoy the virtue and help of the Holy Ghost so that wheresoever this Incense or Perfume shall be thou in no wise be bold to approach near there nor presume to trouble But what foul Spirit soever thou art thou with all thy crafty falshood flee and dapart far from thence being straitly charged by the name and virtue of God the Father Almighty and of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ who in the Holy Ghost shall come to judge the quick and the dead and thee thou traiterous Offendor and the World through Fire Amen Here is much work and little help The poor Devil is here so handled and so straightly Conjured that he knoweth not whither to turn him First of all this Conjurer rateth him beyond all measure and calleth him most unclean Spirit foul

Sanctifications and Consecrations with his Blessings and Crossings with his Gapings and Breathings with his Oylings and Creamings To make the Water more holy But who can make the Water more holy than God himself hath already made it To make the Sacrament of the more efficacy virtue and strength But Christ instituting the holy Mystery of Baptism maketh no mention of all these trifling Ceremonies which without all doubt he would have done if he had thought them necessary for the due administration of Baptism When John Baptist baptised in the Wilderness he used simple and natural Water without blessing or crossing So likewise did the Apostles of Christ as Philip when he baptised the Eunuch and others Many years also after Christ's ascension the holy Fathers of Christ's Church baptised with Water simply without any addition of such Consecrations and Blessings The more simple and the nearer to Christ's Institution their Administration of the Sacrament was the better was it allowed of all true Christians They knew not this pomp this pride this magnificence and this solemnity that is now used in Popish Churches The Devil and the Pope that Antichrist of Rome invented all those trifles and thrust them into the Church of Christ unto the great obscuring and utter defacing of the purity of Christ's holy and blessed Mysteries And notwithstanding into such ignorance and blindness are both the Priests and People come through the wicked traditions of men that if any of the least of these frivolous Ceremonies be left out they think the Baptism to be nothing worth and the Children not to be christned O lamentable blindness But let all true Christians persuade themselves that pure and simple Water coupled with the Word maketh the Sacrament of Baptism sufficient and perfect as St. Austin saith The Word is joyned to the Element and thereof is made a Sacrament As touching the Consecrations Blessings Crossings Gapings Breathings Oylings Creamings Perfumings and such other trifling Ceremonies they are the drousie dreams and foolish fancies of Hypocrites and therefore not to be regarded nor frequented but rather to be neglected and omitted as things nothing appertaining unto the substance and matter of Baptism But let us consider certain things used of the Papists in the Consecration of their Font. First the Priest desireth God to command that all unclean Spirits may depart out of that Water and that all the wickedness of the Devils deceit may stand far off c. There is no Creature that ever God made be it never so pure and clean but if it come once into the hands of these sacrificing Papists it is straight-ways not only unpure and unclean but also full of Devils and wicked Spirits When notwithstanding God at the beginning pronounced the Water as all his other Creatures to be very good and no evil in them yea the Lord our God so esteemeth this Creature of Water that by it he hath not only wrought many wonderful Miracles but also in his holy Scriptures compareth his holy and blessed Spirit to this Element of Water One also of the principal and chief Mysteries which he hath left to his holy Congregation for their comfort and to express therein his singular good will toward them is set forth in Water as an Element most apt to set forth our Regeneration and New Birth in Christ But the Papists as we have before heard find fault not only with the Water but with Salt Bread Wax Fire and what not But this their doing is well known to be nothing else than plain jugling St. John Baptist knew no Devil nor evil Spirit in the Water when he baptized in the Wilderness Christ's Apostles judged the Water pure and clean and the good Creature of God when they baptized Philip baptizing the Eunuch used the Water that was next at hand If Christ had known the Devil to be in the Element of Water he would never have made it a Sacrament of Regeneration St. Paul doth so greatly esteem this Mystery of Baptism which partly consists of Water and partly of the Word that he calleth it the Fountain of the new Birth and renewing of the holy Ghost And in his Epistle to the Ephesians he hath these words Christ loved the Congregation and gave himself for it to sanctifie it and cleansed it in the Fountain of Water through the Word to make it unto himself a glorious Congregation without spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blame Doth not our Saviour Christ say plainly That except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God If Devils or wicked Spirits had been in the Water as the Papists dream the holy Ghost would never have beautified this Element of Water with such praises and commendations in the holy Scriptures And who knoweth not that of all the four Elements none is more necessary than Water neither have we any in more use God give us grace to use this and all other Creatures unto his glory with thanksgiving Amen Now let us see to what end the Papists would have the Devil and all wicked Spirits driven out of the Water It is forsooth that it may be an holy and an innocent Creature free from all invasion of the Enemy and purged from all wickedness And that it be a living Fountain a Water that regenerateth and begetteth a-new a purifying Water c. The Creature of Water is already Holy sanctified of him who is Holiness it self and therefore hath no need of the Popish sanctifications and hallowings It is also of it self innocent and harmless created of God for the use and commodity both of Man and Beast as all other Creatures of God are If at any time we be plagued either with Water or Fire or with any other Creature of God the fault is not in those good and innocent Creatures of God but in our selves who through our manifold wickedness provoke God unto anger as we may see in the Histories of the Flood and of the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah c. Whereas they desire of God that it may be a living Fountain a Water that regenerateth and begetteth a-new c. we grant that Baptism is an holy Sacrament but that the outward Water giveth life begetteth a-new and purifieth the heart we utterly deny It being not in the power of a lifeless Element to do this It is the work of the Holy Ghost alone as our Saviour saith It is the Spirit that quickeneth and maketh alive When Christ talked with Nicodemus of our regeneration and new birth he made mention not only of Water but of the Spirit also to declare that the chief worker of our regeneration and new birth is the Holy Ghost without whose Grace and secret Inspiration the outward washing profiteth nothing Judas Iscariot Simon Magus Ananias and Saphira with divers others were Baptized with the outward Baptism of Water and yet are they now damned Souls in Hell Fire They had the Water but they had not the Spirit Their

Bodies were outwardly washed but their Souls were not cleansed by the Holy Ghost their hypocrisie so deserving Now if the Water of Baptism by it self were of such virtue and power that it could give life purifie and beget a-new then should all false Christians and Hypocrites become the Children of God and Heirs to Everlasting Glory But it is truly said of St. Paul They that are led with the Spirit of God are the Sons of God If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Though the blessed Apostle calleth Baptism the Fountain of the new birth yet he immediately addeth the renewing of the Holy Ghost declaring hereby That although Baptism be the Fountain of the new birth that so many as be washed with that Water have put off Adam and be born a-new in Christ yet that our renovation cometh by the Holy Ghost He alone quickneth and maketh us alive in Christ Jesus He alone regenerateth and begetteth us a-new Without this outward washing many have been and are daily saved but without the inward washing of the Holy Ghost no man can be saved As St. Paul saith If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Not to the Water therefore ought the Papists to attribute the virtue and power of making alive in Christ of regenerating purifying c. but to the Holy Ghost whose Office alone it is to work all these good things in the hearts of Gods Elect and chosen People Moreover Whereas the Priest turneth him to the Water and saith I bless thee thou Creature of Water by the living God by the true God by the holy God c. Yea I bless thee by Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord c. Who seeth not his madness Will any man count him sober or in his right mind that shall speak to a thing without life This do the Popish Priests in the presence of God his blessed Angels and of his holy Congregation If this stuff had been spoken in a known tongue as it was uttered in a strange Language the People many years ago would have hissed those Antichristian Sacrificers out of their Temples and not have suffered themselves to be deluded and mocked by them But what needeth this Popish Priest to bless the Water by the living God by the true God by the holy God and by Jesus Christ the Son of God seeing that the blessed Trinity so many hundred years past hath already sufficiently and abundantly blessed the Waters O the vain dreams of men After these things the Priest in a Prayer whispered out by him desireth God to bless those Waters with his mouth Verily this is a new kind of blessing as blessing is commonly taken among us Men use and the Papists themselves also use to bless with their fingers and not with their mouth When the simple People see a Bishop riding gorgeously upon his Mule more like to Simon Magus than to Simon Peter they use to cry out My Lord your blessing My Lord your blessing for St. Charity thinking to receive some great benefit by that means both to their Body and Soul when notwithstanding in my Countrey the Bishops blessing would not go for Horse meat Doth the Bishop gape upon them or rather doth he lift up his hand and so bless them But wherefore would the Priest have God to bless those Waters Verily that besides the natural cleansing which they shew in washing the Bodies they may also be of strength to purifie the Minds That the natural property of Water is to cleanse the Body and all outward things no man that hath reason will deny But that Water although never so much Consecrated Sanctified and Blessed purifieth the mind Soul Spirit or inward Man neither reason nor Scripture doth allow For what is it to purifie the mind but to forgive sins to give the Holy Ghost to engraff new and spiritual motions to alter the whole man and to be cloathed with Holiness Righteousness and Truth This is not the work of any man in Earth nor yet of any Angel in Heaven much less of a Creature that is without all sense and feeling If the Water sanctified by Man purifieth the mind much more should the Man that sanctifieth the Water do the same But Man doeth it not neither is it done by the Water It is God alone by his holy Spirit that purifieth the mind and searcheth the reins and hearts Man is the Minister Water the thing ministred but God is he that worketh all as the Apostle saith Paul planteth Apollo watereth but God giveth the encrease Therefore neither he that planteth nor he that watereth is any thing worth but God which giveth the increase It is truly said of St. Cyprian Whether Judas or Paul Baptizeth Christ washeth and putteth away the sin St. Ambrose saith To forgive sins in Baptism and to give the Holy Ghost is the Office of God alone If therefore God giveth the effect of health there is no glory of man in this behalf For we know that the Holy Ghost is given of God without imposition or laying on of hands and that he who was not Baptized obtained remission of sins Hereto agreeth the saying of St. Austin As concerning the visible Ministery both good and bad do Baptize but he doth inwardly Baptize by them whose both the visible Baptism and invisible grace is Therefore both good and bad may Baptize but none can wash and purifie the Conscience but he only who is always good Hence it follows that the Papists teach false Doctrine when they hold that the Sacraments give grace purifie the mind wash the Conscience and change the whole man Indeed the Sacraments represent and preach these things to the outward man but it is God alone that giveth these things by his holy Spirit that he which rejoyceth might rejoyce in the Lord. Now as touching the foolish Ceremonies which the Popish Priest useth in the Consecration of the Font as making Crosses dropping Candle into the Font dividing the Water with Candle putting Oyl and Cream into the Water breathing into the Font and such like beggerly Trifles they are more worthy to be derided than confuted being indeed nothing else than childish Plays and apish Toys Thus much concerning the Popish consecrations of the Font. Of hallowing the Marrying-Ring FOr hallowing the Womans Ring at her Wedding this Prayer following is appointed to be said of the Priest Thou maker and Conserver of mankind Giver of Spiritual grace Granter of Eternal Salvation Lord send ✚ thy blessing upon this Ring that she which shall wear it may be armed with the virtue of Heavenly defence and that it may profit her to Eternal Salvation Another Prayer Hallow thou ✚ Lord this Ring which we bless ✚ in thy holy name that what Woman soever shall wear it may stand fast in thy Peace and continue in thy Will and live and grow and wax old in