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	scripture_n	19,615	5	6.1818	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38061	A preservative against Socinianism. The first part shewing the direct and plain opposition between it, and the religion revealed by God in the Holy Scriptures / by Jonath. Edwards.	Edwards, Jonathan, 1629-1712.	1693 (1693)	Wing E217; ESTC R24310	65,484	89

believe Socinus Lib. supra cit eodem cap. And indeed it is no wonder it should hinder men from going to Heaven if it be true that Volkel tells us that this doctrine of the Trinity is not an Error that is owing to the ignorance and mistakes of Men but to the delusion of the Devil That it is a blasphemous Doctrine as another of them saith hatched in Hell and from thence fetched by the Son of Perdition and obtruded upon the Church And if this be so I I must profess my self to be of the same mind with Smal. and to hope with him that this absurd and most false doctrine as he calls it will shortly be chased and hissed out of the World But farther particularly concerning Christ they tell us that he had no existence before his formation in the womb of the Virgin and the being which he then had was purely humane and therefore what is said of the Divinity of Christ is a mere fable owing to senseless and absurd interpretations of Holy Scripture The Account of his Eternal Generation is a meer Romance false impossible a plain contradiction the contrivance of some idle trifling persons who had nothing else to do but to invent such absurd and incredible notions Here by the way I must desire the Reader to take notice not only of the impiety but likewise of the unparallel'd impudence and scurrility of these blasphemers and consequently whether it be fit to entertain any favourable opinion of the doctrines of these men and much more to have their Persons and Writings in admiration 2 ly Concerning the Spirit of God they tell us that he is not a Person as the Church of God hath hitherto vainly imagined but only a quality an accident sometimes taken for the Innate power and virtue residing in God and sometimes for the operations that proceed from that virtue and faculty Crellius hath written a particular Treatise de Spiritu Sancto and therein he tells us that the word spirit in its first and proper signification denotes that breath which is expired out of the mouths of Men or other Animals and from the resemblance that is to be found between them it is transferred to signify that divine virtue in God which we call the Holy Ghost and therefore when Christ Joh. 20. 22. breathed on his Disciples and thereby conferred upon them the Holy Ghost he did thereby give them to understand that the holy spirit was an Emanation from God not unlike a vapour or breathing At this rate the Holy Ghost should it seems be a subtile and tenuious substance contrary to what he asserts cap. 1. where he plainly tells us that the Spirit of God is not properly a substance but a quality therefore called in the Scripture the power of the most High virtus proprie qualitas est p. 466. But forasmuch as many things by his own acknowledgment are affirmed of and actions ascribed to the Holy Ghost which cannot well agree to qualities but must suppose the thing to which they are ascribed to be a substance such as are Local motion Bodily shape division and the like to reconcile therefore these seeming differences he is of Opinion that the Spirit of God consider'd abstractedly in it self is a meere quality but yet this vertue may be impressed upon and conveighed into some subtile and coelestial matter ejus naturae valde congruae which is agreeable to its nature Ibid. As we find the vital energy of the Soul communicated first to the Animal Spirits and by them to all the other parts of the Body and as we find the influences of the Coelestial Bodies and qualities of Terrestrial ones Heat Light and Odors conveighed in some subtile effluvium's from the Bodies in which they are into the Air and some other subjects at a great distance So saith he by the Spirit of God is sometimes meant that tenuious matter which contains a divine quality in it and by which it is conveighed into the minds of men and in this sense he conceives the spirit of God may be called a Corporeal substance which hath extension and is capable of division as other Bodies tho spiritual are And by this notion he thinks he hath found out an easy way to solve the former difficulties concerning the Local motion of the Holy Ghost and particularly his descent upon our Saviour at the time of his Baptism and upon the Apostles in the day of Pentecost Of his being poured out of his being given sometimes in measure and sometimes without it of his being divided and distributed and the like which tho we interpret of the gifts he doth of the nature and essence of the Holy Ghost which according to this account he gives of it may like other steams and vapors be carry'd here and there and may be divided and distributed in greater and lesser quantities as there is occasion And thus God took some part of this Coelestial matter which contained that divine virtue with which Moses was endued and put it into the 70 Elders Numb 11. 25. and in the same sense Elisha had a double portion of the Spirit of Elias that is of that divine steam and vapor which enabled him to do wonders Now if we shall further enquire what that Coelestial matter is by which this divine quality which he makes to be the Holy Ghost is conveighed and distributed among men he hath not determined but hath left it to the Readers discretion to conjecture tho he hath given sufficient intimation how he would have him govern his Opinion For in the other instances which he produces the quality and the effluvium's proceed from the same subject and he gives you no limitation no caution in the least to think otherwise in this case it is plain that some of his friends as he tell us were of that Opinion that the Spirit of God was nothing but an Emanation a tenuious steam flowing from the very substance of God as the breath doth out of our mouths and nostrils quam sententiam saith he in medio relinquimus he will not give you his Opinion in this case it being but fit that in matters of Religion every man should be left to his own freedom and therefore he fairly leaves you to your own It is plain if he were not himself of that Opinion yet he thought there was no harm in it otherwise he would have given his Reader some caution about it which he hath not in the least done And now we are come to the Bottome or if you please to the very dregs of Socinianism and that which is the true cause and sourse of all those extravagant and indeed Blasphemous Notions which these men have of Allmighty God who in their most refined and exalted speculations cannot raise their thoughts to conceive any substance above matter It is true they call God a Spirit but it is as certain that they mean

you may much easier guard your self from the Open Hostility of a professed Enemy than from the Treachery and falshood of a pretended Friend To prevent therefore if it be possible and I hope it is not too late to Attempt it the Growth and Progress of that Infidelity which is to be found in many That Coldness and Indifference about the Great and Sacred Mysteries of our Religion which is to be observed in others All which are the blessed effects of Socinianism and which seem to have diffused themselves among all Orders and Ranks of men among us beyond the Example of former times It hath bin Judged an advisable course to shew the plain and direct opposition that is between the Doctrines of Socinus and those which are revealed by the Spirit of God in the Holy Scriptures and especially in the Writings of the New Testament And this among such especially who have not extinguished all Regard for Religion may as it is hoped be of some good use to fortify them aaginst the Infection of these pernicious Errors which have already spread like a Gangrene Our Writers generally have bin Employed and that very Commendably and for the most part with great success in vindicating our Holy Religion from the Bold and Impudent Cavils of these Hereticks and so have stood upon the Defensive part Now it may be thought for many good Reasons advisable to make an Offensive War upon these Infidels and to bring it into their own Territories That is that the charge of Vnreasonableness and Impiety which they with Equal Falshood and Impudence have laid at the door of the Christian Religion should be retorted upon their New and dangerous Opinions which upon Examination will be found to be Opposite to Piety Repugnant to plain Reason and in the conclusion such as will conduce to the Overthrow of all true Religion And to discover this which I hope in some measure is done in them is the design of these following Papers viz. That the Religion of Socinus as opposed to Christianity is both Impious and Absurd So that fairly to represent Socinianism will be the best method that we can take to Consute it and rightly to state the Controversy will be the speediest way to put an end to it I confess as to the point of Reason the Socinians have laid such a claim to it as if they did intend to Engross and Monopolize that to themselves which yet tho' in several degrees is the Right and Inheritance of all mankind And for their attainments in this they have so magnified themselves and have bin so undecently as well as unjustly magnified by others that many innocent and well meaning men have bin afraid to enter the Lists with these Sons of Anak these Champions of Infidelity But I dare venture to assure the Reader he needs not fear to encounter these Gyants upon the plain square of Reason notwithstanding all their Boasts and Brags of it And I think it may be easily made out that in Opposition to some Important Articles of our Faith upon pretence of their Repugnance to Reason they have advanced some other positions so contrary to Reason that when they come to be compared I believe it will be found that there is scarce any thing in Popery not excepting that Gross Fulsome Doctrine of Transubstantiation which contains greater Absurdities more opposite to and incomprehensible by natural Reason Particularly what they say concerning the Factitious Divinity of Christ is by far more unconceivable then what the Papists aver of the change of the Elements in the Eucharist And any man that hath abilities to judge of these matters will upon enquiry find that it is less Absurd and Impossible if there are Degrees of Absurdity in Contradictions and of difficulty in things that are Impossible that a piece of Bread should be Transubstantiated into Flesh than that a man should be Transformed into a God In short tho Reason be the Idol of these men yet I must desire to be excused if I do not stand in any great awe and admiration of it and truly for my own part I should much rather fear the Malice then the Reason of a Socinian at any time And I am afraid that if ever these men Quod avertat Deus should gain strength and numbers among us they would prove one of the most Cruel and Sanguinary Sects that ever yet disturbed the peace of the Church It is not to be denied but that they have in their Writings advanced some parts of Christian Morality to a great height and have spoke many and deservedly great things concerning forgiveness of injuries and patience under them in complyance with the commands and in Imitation of the Example of our Blessed Saviour But I should be loath to trust a Socinian for all that and if we were forced to make the Tryal tho I hope we are in no danger of the experiment I doubt not but we should find the forgiveness of these Men more Implacable than the Revenge of others and that their meekness and moderation would have more terrible effects than the rage and fury of the Arians and Donatists in ancient times And that the Reader may not think I utter this without ground tho I have a great many I will at present offer but one reason for my conjecture and that is taken from their Boysterous Impudent Scurrilous way of treating the great and adorable mysteries of our Religion which shews what usage the professors of them would in all likelyhood meet if they ever had them in their power The Blessed Trinity is by some of them styled Triceps Cerberus and the doctrine concerning it they have ascribed to the Invention of the Devil and tell us that it was fetched from Hell Sometimes they will speak very honourably of our Saviour but at other times and upon other occasions so reproachfully of his divine nature that they treat him worse then either the Jews or Romans who condemned and Crucified him And tho they pay Divine Honour and Adoration to him yet that doth not take off the guilt and impiety of their Sacrilegious denyal and as far as in them lies Despoiling him of his Divinity but herein they transcribe the Copy which the Roman Souldiers before mentioned set them after his Condemnation by Pilate who put a Crown upon his head and a Scepter into his hand and yet at the same time they Spit in his Face and Buffeted him One would think that the great and venerable mysteries of our Religion entertained by all the Wisest and Learnedst and best Men and Churches in all ages ever since Christianity was first planted in the World tho they had bin Errors yet had deserved to be treated with a little more Civility and Respect than these men have shewed in their Writings who have wanted something else besides a good Cause to defend for they have wanted Modesty and Civility in the Defence of a very bad one have wanted the Candor and Ingenuity of