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spirit_n ghost_n holy_a sin_n 21,269 5 5.1366 4 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A49334 Catechetical questions, very necessary for the understanding of the principles of religion conformed to the doctrine of the Church of England / by Simon Lowth ... Lowth, Simon, 1630?-1720. 1673 (1673) Wing L3324; ESTC R14549 47,430 154

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the Kingdom to God the Father Q. Why is it said that Christ shall come again Did He ever come before to Judgment A. No. But this word again relateth to Christs first coming by His Incarnation for our Redemption and teacheth us that as He came then in the fulness of time to visit us in great humility so He shall come again at the end of the world in His glorious Majesty to Judge both the quick and the dead Q. Why are quick and dead mentioned in this Article A. To shew that all shall not die before the last day of Judgment but some shall be then found alive and these shall only be changed from corruption to incorruption and shall be caught up together with the dead into the clouds to meet the Lord in the ayr and so without separation of the body and soul by death they shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4.15 16 17. 1 Cor. 15.51 c. Q. In what Article of your Creed do you learn to believe in the Third Person of the Trinity the Holy Ghost who hath sanctified you and all the Elect People of God A. In the 8 9 10 11 12th Articles Q. What do you observe in this part of the Creed A. 1. The Person sanctifying 2. The Persons sanctified Q. VVho is the Person sanctifying A. The Holy Ghost called the Paraclete or Comforter Q. VVhat do you mean by the Holy Ghost A. A Ghost is the same that a Spirit which is pure a incorporeal immaterial substance So by the Holy Ghost I mean the Holy Spirit that is the Third Person in the Sacred Trinity Q. But are there not other Spirits besides the Third Person in the Trinity A. Yes The Angels are Spirits Heb. 1.14 And there are the Spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 which are the souls of the Elected after they be delivered from the burden of the flesh And these are holy too And in general any thin substance in Nature wanting solidity and grossness of matter by way of resemblance and similitude may be called a Spirit But these are created Spirits and to distinguish the Third Person in the glorious Trinity from these we must call Him Uncreated And to make this distinction plain and evident the Fathers in the Councils of Nice and Constantinople have expounded this Article thus I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life VVho proceedeth from the Father and the Son VVho with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified VVho spake by the Prophets Now here Being Lord distinguisheth Him from Ministring spirits Heb. 1.14 and being giver of life proceeding from the Father and the Son being worshiped and glorified together with the Father and the Son communicating with them in their Substance Nature Power Majesty Glory and Eternity and speaking by the Prophets distinguisheth Him from all creatures whatsoever Q. But is not the Holy Spirit said equally of the Father and of the Son too A. It is true both the Father and the Son are a Spirit and both holy also And therefore indeed this Third Person is not distinguished from the other two by His proper name but is called by a name common to the other two And this comes to pass because of our want of words For we can conceive God under no other Names but such as we borrow from created things so far as we can resemble Him to something that is in Nature and no farther And therefore we can call the First and Second Persons by their proper names because the First Person his communicating of His Substance to the Second is like to Generation that is the Act of Generating or begetting in Nature and so the Substance Generating is one Person of the Father and the Substance Generated is another Person of the Son But the Coming or Proceeding of the Third Person from both the other is like to nothing in Nature and therefore we can call the Act of this communicating of the Substance of the other two Persons to the Third by no other but by the general Name of Comeing or Proceeding and therefore the Person Proceeding in such manner as cannot be expressed no nor conceived by any thing that resembleth it must of necessity to us want His proper name and be called by the name proper to the other two Yet whensoever the Holy Spirit though it be the common name of all Three is joyned with the First and Second Person in the Trinity or with either of them by way of distinction then this particularly signifieth the Third Person in the Deity who ineffably inconceivably and eternally proceedeth from the Father and the Son and is Very God Co-eternal Co-equal and Con-substantial to both and to be worshipped with the same Faith and with equal Honor and Adoration Q. But why is the Third Person called Holy as it were in distinction to the other two A. We must not speak of any Person of the Godhead without holiness and all other Attributes of Perfection either expressed or understood And so the Third Person as the First and the Second is Holy ab intra by nature from all Eternity and Co-equal with them in this as in all other Nominal and Real Relative and Absolute Attributes But He is said to be Holy in distinction to Them by an Holyness of His Office ab extra begun in time as He is the Author and Maker of Holiness in us the Giver of Holy and Spiritual life the Sanctifier of all the Elect People of God Q. How doth the Holy Ghost Sanctifie and make Holy the Elect people of God A. 1. He dedicateth us early to Christs service in our Baptism 2. He alienateth us from the allurements of the world by a religious education 3. He acquainteth us with the holy Scriptures and with the Principles of Religion drawn from the same which ●re able to make us wise unto Salvation ●hrough faith that is in Jesus Christ 4. He exerciseth us therein that is 〈◊〉 the Scriptures and those Principles ●hrough the assistance of grace to have ●lways a Conscience void of offence ●oth towards God and towards men Q. How doth the Holy Ghost exercise 〈◊〉 to have a Conscience thus void of sence A. Many ways 1. By moving us to keep and restrain ●●r five outward Senses that sin by ●●em as by open windows enter not in●● our hearts 2. By enabling us to practise the four ●●rdinal moral Virtues 3. By infusing into our hearts the three Theological Virtues 4. By endowing us with the seven guifts of the Holy Ghost 5. By working in us the twelve Effects or Fruits of the Holy Ghost 6. By giving us a heart and power to do the three kinds of good works as also to perform the seven works of Corporal mercy the seven works of Spiritual mercy and the Offices of Christian Justice 7. By propounding unto us as the excitements of holy duties and the reward of our labours all the external internal and
Baptism A. No. I being by nature born in sin and the child of wrath was thereby made the child of Grace Q. Are all they that are Baptised partakers of Grace and so in the state of Salvation A. Yes This is plain because they are thereby made the members of Christ the children of God and the inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven and so there is no condemnation to them are thus in Christ Jesus so long as they walk not after the flesh but after the spirit that is till they commit some actual sin Q. Did you undertake nothing when you ●ad this grace bestowed upon you in Baptism A. Yes For Baptism is the answer of a good conscience towards God 1 S. Pet. 3.21 It is a mutual Stipulation wherein there must be a promise made on both sides Q. What did you then promise to God A. I promised and vowed three things 1. That I should forsake the Devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of the wicked world and all the sinful lusts of the flesh 2. That I should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith 3. That I should keep Gods holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of my life Q. Did you make this promise then A. Yes Q. How could that be possible when as you knew not any thing that was then done A. I promised and vowed this by my Godfathers and Godmothers Q. Was it your promise then that they made at your Baptism A. Yes Q. How cometh this to pass A. Because they promised and vowed for me in my name and therefore I must be supposed to have made that promise and vow my self though not with my own mouth yet with the mouth of my Proxies and Sureties who did not then so much engage themselves that I should hereafter do it as speak in my stead by way of substitution representing my voice and taking upon them an Obligation for me whom they then personated and acted Q Do you think then that you are bound to do and to believe as they have promised for you A. Yes verily or else I must solemnly disclaim and renounce and really and effectually forfeit all my part in the grace of God and the benefit of Baptism Q. Will you therefore take that charge upon your self A. Yes I will and I do freely acknowledge the engagement to be mine since which my Godfathers and Godmothers undertook for me at Baptism Q. Do you think that you received any great benefit at Gods hand then in Baptism A. Yes and hereupon I bow my knees unto God and heartily thank our Heavenly Father as for all outward and temporal things because in him I live and move and have my natural being so much more for that he hath called me to this state of Salvation and hath made me the member of Christ the child of God and an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven Q What moved God to be so good and gracious to you A. No worth nor merit nor desert in me but only his own love and mercy towards me in by and through Jesus Christ our Saviour Q. Do you think that you are able to perform this vow and promise that you have undertaken A. Not that I am sufficient of my self to think any thing of my self but my sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5 And it is he that worketh in me to will and to do Phil. 2.17 and so his grace is sufficient for me and by his help I can and will do all things through Christ that strengthneth me Phil 4.13 Q. How will you attain Gods help and find grace in time of need A. I will pray without ceasing unto God to give me his grace his preventing and his following or co-operating grace that I may not only begin but also grow in grace and continue in the same unto my lives end Q. What if a man do not perform these conditions A. Then his state will be worse than theirs that are not Baptised because he hath not only disobeyed Gods Commandments and done those things that in themselves are evil and unjust but also he hath broken his Oath Promise and Covenant with God therefore his condemnation shall be the greater Q. But is not sin to be forgiven that is committed after Baptism A. Yes If a man can repent God will forgive any sin at any time yet a man is not so renewed by penance afterwards as he was at Baptism For Baptism taketh away sin whether it be Original as in children or both Original and Actual as in men of age that are Baptised according to both the guilt and the punishment except only Concupiscence or natural corruption which is the punishment of Original sin But repentance after Baptism taketh away indeed the guilt of sin and so the final condemnation yet not always the temporal punishment which sometimes must be suffered as Gods correction sometimes may be prevented or mittigated by Praying Fasting Alms and Corporal afflictions Q. How shall a man do to perform the first part ef his Promise which is to forsake the the Devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of this wicked world and all the sinful lusts of the flesh A. That is done at first in the very act of abhorring abjuring renouncing and forsaking the Devil the World and the Flesh and resolving then against them in Baptism But the performance is afterward compleated and perfected by keeping the other two parts of a mans promise in the continued acts of Faith and Obedience And this I conceive to be the reason why the Church in her Catechism repeateth nothing of this part of our promise after the mention of it in Baptism but only tells us of the act of renouncing and presumeth that it is not or if men do their duty need not be reiterated but by the performance of the other two which being carefully observed sin cannot reign in our mortal bodies that we should obey it in the lusts thereof or follow it and be led by it OF THE CREED Q. VVHat do you mean by the Articles of the Christian Faith A. I mean the Apostles Creed Q. Why are they called Articles A. Articulus is the diminutive of Artus and it signifieth a little Joynt Lim or Member and therefore they are called Articles because they are the Joynts and Members of our Faith containing all the particulars thereof that are necessary to Salvation For as the Members of the Body are distinguished by Joynts so in the Confession of Faith whatsoever is to be believed distinctly and severally by it self in difference to another point is rightly and fitly called an Article Q. What is Faith A. Faith is a gift of God and a light whereby man being illuminated doth conceive firmly assent and cleave unto those things which the consent and authority of the holy Church proveth to be revealed and delivered to us by God in holy Scripture Faith respecteth not the order of Nature nor trusteth