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
A70260	Several tracts, by the ever memorable Mr. John Hales of Eaton Coll. &c. Viz. I. Of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. II. Paraphrase on St. Matthew's Gospel. III. Of the power of the keys. IV. Of schism and schismaticks, (never before printed by the original copy.) V. Miscellanies	Hales, John, 1584-1656.; Hales, John, 1584-1656. Tract concerning sin against the Holy Ghost.; Hales, John, 1584-1656. Tract concerning schisme.	1677 (1677)	Wing H276A; Wing H280; ESTC R14263	61,040	260

in any profession that Conclusion of Truth went by plurality of Voices the Christian profession only excepted and I have often mused how it comes to pass that the way which in all other Sciences is not able to warrant the poorest Conclusion should be thought sufficient to give authority to Conclusions in Divinity the Supream Empress of Sciences But I see what it is that is usually pleaded and with your leave I will a little consider of it It is given out that Christian meetings have such an assistance of God and his blessed Spirit that let their persons be what they will they may assure themselves against all possibility of mistaking and this is that they say which to this way of ending Controversies which in all other Sciences is so contemptible gives a determining to Theological Disputes of so great Authority And this musick of the Spirit is so pleasing that it hath taken the Reformed Party too For with them likewise all things at length end in the Spirit but with this difference that those of Rome confine the Spirit to the Bishops and Counsels of Rome but the Protestant enlargeth this working of the Spirit and makes it the Director of private meditations I should doubtless do great injury to the goodness of God if I should deny the sufficient assistance of God to the whose world to preserve them both from sin in their Actions and damnable errors in their opinions much more should I do it if I denied it to the Church of God but this assistance of God may very well be and yet men may fall into sin and errors St. Paul preaching to the Gentiles tells them that God was with them in so palpable a manner that even by groping they might have found him yet both he and we know what the Gentiles did Christ hath promised his perpetual assistance to his Church but hath he left any Prophesie that the Church should perpetually adhere to him if any man think he hath it is his part to inform us where this Prophesy is to be found That matters may go well with men two things must concur the assistance of God to men and the adherence of men to God if either of these be deficient there will be little good done Now the first of these is never deficient but the second is very often so that the Promise of Christs perpetual presence made unto the Church infers not at all any presumption of Infallibility As for that term of Spirit which is so much taken up to open the danger that lurks under it we must a little distinguish upon the Word This term Spirit of God either signifies the third Person in the blessed Trinity or else the wonderful power of Miracles of Tongues of Healing c which was given to the Apostles and other of the Primitive Christians at the first preaching of the Gospel but both these meanings are strangers to our purpose The Spirit of God as it concerns the Question here in hand signifies either something within us or something without us Without us it signifies the written Word recorded in the Books of the Prophets Apostles and Evangelists which are metonymically called the Spirit because the Holy Ghost spake those things by their mouths when they lived and now speaks unto us by their pens when they are dead If you please to receive it this alone is left as Christs Vicar in his absence to give us directions both in our actions and opinions he that tells you of another Spirit in the Church to direct you in your way may as well tell you a tale of a Puck or a walking Spirit in the Church-Yard But that this Spirit speaking without us may be beneficial to us oportet aliquid intus esse there must be something within us which also we call the Spirit and this is twofold For either it signifies a secret Illapse or supernatural Influence of God upon the hearts of men by which he is supposed inwardly to incline inform and direct men in their ways and wills and to preserve them from sin and mistake or else it signifies that in us which is opposed against the flesh which denominates us spiritual men and by which we are said to walk according to the Spirit that which St. Paul means when he tells us The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh Rom. 7. so that we may not do what we list Now of these two the former it is which the Church seems to appeal unto in de ermining Controversies by way of Counsel But to this I have little to say First Because I know not whether there be any such thing yea or no. Secondly Because experience shews that the pretence of the Spirit in this sence is very dangerous as being next at hand to give countenance to imposture and abuse which is a thing sufficiently seen and acknowledged both by the Papist and Protestant Party as it appears by this that though both pretend unto it yet both upbraid each other with the pretence of it But the Spirit in the second sence is that I contend for and this is nothing but the Reason illuminated by Revelation out of the written Word For when the Mind and Spirit humbly conform and submit to the written Will of God then you are properly said to have the Spirit of God and to walk according to the Spirit not according to the Flesh This alone is that Spirit which preserves us frō straying from the Truth For he indeed that hath the Spirit errs not at all or if he do it is with as little hazard and danger as may be which is the highest point of Infallibility which either private Persons or Churches can arrive unto Yet would I not have you to conceive that I deny that at this day the Holy Ghost communicates himself to any in this secret and supernatural manner as in foregoing times He had been wont to do indeed my own many uncleannesses are sufficient reasons to hinder that good Spirit to participate himself unto me after that manner The Holy Ghost was pleased to come down like a Dove Veniunt ad candida tecta Columbae Accipiet nullas sordida Turris Aves Now it is no reason to conclude the Holy Ghost imparts himself in this manner to none because he hath not done that favour unto me But thus much I will say that the benefit of that sacred Influence is confined to those happy Souls in whom it is and cannot extend it self to the Church in publick And if any Catholick except against you for saying so warrant your self and me out of Aquinas whose words are these Innititur fidei natura revelationi Apostolis Prophetis factae qui Canonicos Libros scripserunt non autem Revelationi siqua fuit aliis Doctoribus factae It being granted then that Churches can err it remains then in the second place to consider how far they may err I answer for Churches as I did before for

Vera effigies doctissimi Viri D. IOHANNES HALES Colleg. Eton. Socii et Eccles. Colleg. Windesoriensis Canonici SEVERAL TRACTS By the ever memorable Mr. JOHN HALES Of Eaton Coll. c. VIZ. I. Of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper II. Paraphrase on St. Matthew's Gospel III. Of the Power of the Keys IV. Of Schism and Schismaticks Never before printed by the Original Copy V. Miscellanies Printed in the Year 1677. A TRACT Concerning the SIN Against the Holy Ghost By the ever Memorable Mr. JOHN HALES of Eton Colledge c. LONDON Printed for John Blyth at Mr Playfords Shop in the Temple 1677. A TRACT concerning the SIN against the HOLY GHOST MAny have Written of the Sin against the Holy Ghost and in defining or describing of it follow their own zealous conceits and not the Canon of Holy Scriptures The more dreadful the Sin is the more fearful we must be in charging it upon any special crime or particular person In defining a sin of so heynous a nature direct and evident proof from Scripture is requisite It is not enough to consider as many do what sins are most desperate and deadly and therefore to conclude such sins are against the Holy Ghost Thus indeed the Schoolmen have done who have made six differences of this sin V. in fine without any ground or warrant from Scripture for so doing And Bellarmine is so liberal in bestowing on such as he calls Hereticks that his opinion is that a Man can scarce be a learned Protestant without committing the sin against the Holy Ghost Neither are the Papists the only Men that are mistaken about this sin but too many Divines of the Reformed Churches have started aside from the Scripture and have given us such intricate and contradictory definitions of this sin as tend only to the perplexing the tender Consciences of weak Christians To make good this Censure I will briefly set down so much touching this sin as I conceive is warranted by the Word of God and humbly submit to the judgment of the Learned The Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost was an evil speaking of or slandering of the Miracles which our Saviour did by those who though they were convinced by the Miracles to believe that such Works could not be done but by the power of God yet they did malitiously say they were wrought by the power of the Devil In this Definition these points are observable 1. I forbear to call it the sin against the Holy Ghost but the Blasphemy for though every Blasphemy be a sin in general yet our Saviour Christ terms it the Blasphemy And the Evangelists do all agree to give it the same term and 't is now here in holy Scripture called the sin against the Holy Ghost and yet it appears both in St. Mathew and St. Mark that there was just occasion offered to our Saviour to call it so where he compares it with the sin against the Son of Man but he forbears to call it any thing but the Blasphemy thereby no doubt to teach us it consisteth only in cursed speaking and Blaspheming A serious consideration of this point may teach us so much moderation as to confine our selves to that term which our Saviour in the three Evangelists hath prescribed unto us I cannot find that any Man that hath writ upon this Argument hath made any observation or noted this phrase and term used by the Evangelists in pronouncing the dreadful sentence of our Saviour against the Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost I will cite these Texts where it is named Math. 12. 31. Mark 3. 28 Luke 12 10. 2. A second Observation is That Blasphemy is a speaking against another as both St. Mathew and St. Luke expound the word for in the Original it is a blasting the Fame or blaming of another for from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both the French Nation and our English by contraction have made the word blame 3. To pass from the Name to the Thing it self we may observe by the coherence of the Texts that Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost was spoken of by our Saviour concerning the Scribes and Pharisees It was saith St. Mark because the Pharisees said he had an unclean spirit and that he cast our Devils by Belzebub c. This speech of the Pharisees whereby they slandered his Miracles wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost is properly the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost How transcendent a crime it was to traduce that power by which our Saviour wrought his Miracles may appear from the end for which these Miracles were wrought which was to prove to the people that saw them that he was the Messias which is evident from the places of Scripture wherein he appealed to his works 10 Joh. 37. 38. 14. Joh. 11. 11 Math. 4. 4. Joh. 29. These and other places shew that the working of Miracles was an act of the most glorious manifestation of the power of God by which at the first view the simplest people were led by their outward sense to the great mystery of inward Faith in Christ their Redeemer Therefore for those men that were eye-witnesses of those Miracles which did make them know that Christ was a Teacher come from God to Blaspheme that power by which these Miracles were wrought and to say they were done by the help of the Devil was the most spightful and malicious slander that could be invented for thereby they attempted as much as in them lay to destroy the very principles of Faith and to prevent the very first propagation of the Gospel to the universal mischief of all Mankind And though these Pharisees were no Christians and therefore could not fall away from faith which they never had yet they did know and believe that Christ was a Teacher come from God for so our Saviour tells them 7 Joh. 28. Ye both know me and whence I am They did not believe him as a Saviour but as a great Prophet from God as the Mahometans do at this very day they trusted to be saved by their Law and because he taught such things as did abrogate their Law in which they so much gloried they were so malicious to his Doctrine which they did not believe that they spoke evil of his Miracles which they did believe least the people by approving his Miracles should believe his Doctrine 4. Observe that it s said to be Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost because by the Holy Ghost the Miracles were wrought Math. 12 28. 1 Cor 12. 10. 5. The Blasphemy against the Son of Man was when men considered Christ as a mere man and did disgracefully tax his conversation by saying behold a glutton a bibber of Wine a friend to Publicans and sinners But the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost was when Men beholding Christs Miracles did enviously ascribe them to the Devil which they knew and believed to be done by Gods power 6. The Texts formerly cited out of the three Evangelists being

greater Deliverance which was now working for them and therefore where they saw the one they should expect the other Sch. I believe you have guessed right But what say you to the Verse which follows Or else how can one enter into a strong mans house and spoil his Goods c. It looks like another Argument which Christ useth in his own defence against this Calumny of the Pharisees but I confess I do not yet apprehend it Mast It is not unlikely but anon you will This is indeed a third Argument of Christs and it toucheth to the quick for whereas his other two served onely to convince certain men this comes to the very thing it self and quite overthrows it There have been saith Christ who have cast out Devils through Beelzebub it may be so but this hath been without any harm or loss from the one unto the other it hath not come to spoiling of Goods to extirpate out of the minds of men any of their sins but rather to encrease them this hath been nothing but a meer collusion and cheat But when I cast out Devils you may see I spoil them to the purpose I rob them of their power for I plant in the minds of men such Doctrine as will admit of no vice and wickedness to be near it wherein the Power of the Devil does consist and therefore you may well imagine that I am in good earnest for I bind him and spoil him which no one Devil ever yet did unto another or ever will Schol. I shall desire to put you to no more trouble in this Verse If you please let us pass unto the next Mast As I take it that is this He that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad Schol. Truly as the words stand alone I should not trouble you at all with them for to my thinking they are easie enough but as they follow upon what went before I see not what our Saviour Christ might intend by them Mast Having declared himself to be so far from casting out Devils in the name of Beelzebub that He laboured to bind even Beelzebub himself and to spoil him of all his power which he exercised in the hearts of wicked men He carries the consideration of this Enmity between the Devil and Himself to such a height as that He will not admit of any Neutrality in any other Man professing that whosoever is not the Devil's enemy is his according to that Axiom of the Wars Medii habentur pro Hostibus All indifferent men are Enemies And if all this be not enough to shew how far He was from operating by the help of Satan surely nothing can be And therefore having said this conceiving he had said as much as Man could say He adds Wherefore I say unto you vers 31. that is seeing it is evident by these Reasons and Arguments that all the Signs and Miracles which I do I do by the Power of God and not by the help of the Devil Consider what a wretched punishment you draw upon your selves that thus do slander and bely me This Connexion St. Mark does teach us plainly Ch. 3. 30. where he says Because they said He hath an unclean Spirit And yet it is to be considered that our Saviour Christ proceeds not meerly upon the strength of his own Arguments but as knowing their Thoughts as St. Matthew tells us in the 2● th verse of this Chapter that is He saw in unto them and He knew that They verily believed that the Miracle which he wrought was wrought by the Power of God but yet he saw that they would rather invent any Lye or asperse him with any slander though they knew it well enough to be a Lye and slander then to suffer the People to forsake their Chair and to follow Christ Schol. I thank you Sir for this pains which you have taken to prepare me for the understanding of my great Doubt which now methinks I begin to have a little glimpse of but desire you to give me better Light Mast I shall But first I would gladly know what you conceive of those words in the 31. verse All manner of Sin and Blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men because by understanding of what sin shall be forgiven you will the more easily understand me when I tell you what manner of sin shall not Schol. Why Sir I understand any manner of sin whatsoever and I understand the sin of the Holy Ghost to be the only sin which shall never be forgiven Mast I did fear as much and therefore I did ask you But you must know that you are much mistaken both in the one and in the other opinion For First It is to be considered that Christ speaks not of all sin but of that sin which is Blasphemy or Calumny for there are many other sins which will never be forgiven as well as the sin against the Holy Ghost And therefore in the next Verse he saith Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man that is whosoever slandereth or calumniateth any other man it shall be forgiven him And in those words he expoundeth what he means by Sin and Blasphemy Secondly It is to be considered that when he saith All manner of Sin and Blasphemy shall be forgiven there is an Hebraism in those words which is often met withall in Scripture as in the 5 Chap. of St. Matthew Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Words shall not pass away that is Heaven and Earth shall sooner pass away than my words shall pass away and so St. Luke reads them not that Heaven and Earth shall ever pass away but that if it were possible they should sooner pass away than his Word shal The meaning therefore of the words is onely this All manner of Calumnies and Slanders are heavy sins and shall hardly be forgiven to those that do commit them but they will be more easily forgiven than that Calumny which he knows to be a Calumny who doth commit it and this Christ calls Blaspheming of the Holy Ghost which was the Case of these Pharisees who calumniated the Miracle which our Saviour wrought as proceeding from the Devil which their own Conscience told them issued from the Holy Spirit of God Sch. I confess Sir this is very plain and easie and I pray proceed to the 33. verse Either make the Tree good and his Fruit good c. saith Christ The dependance of those words is this You say I work by the Devil saith Christ But you do not see any other work of mine besides this Miracle which looks like a work of the Devil You see I go about doing good I exhort People to Repentance I shew them the way to Heaven These are no works which the Devils use to do Therefore either say that I do all this in the name of Beelzebub too or else acknowledge that I do my Miracles by the Power of God for Men judge of