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	spiritual_a	7,986	5	6.3875	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42882	Stimluus [sic] orthodoxus, sive Goadus redivivus A disputation partly thological, partly metaphysical, concerning the necessity and contingency of events in the world, in respect of Gods eternal decree. Written above twenty years since by that reverend and learned divine, Thomas Goad, doctor of divinity, and rector of Hadleigh in Suffolk.	Goad, Thomas, 1576-1638.	1661 (1661)	Wing G904; ESTC R216465	22,144	30

according to the natural and eternal customs Even so if according to the opposite Tenet God hath ab aterno prefixed an irresistible tenor and method agreeable to which all things should for ever necessarily come to passe God might ab aeterno also from the same instant He made His Decrees let all things alone according to Epicurus his conceit * For our Opposites say Quae Deus decrevit sponte flu●nt seeing all things must come orderly to pass by vertue of His Decree though he slept all the while Object 2 But our Doctrine they say contradicteth the Scriptures our Saviour telleth the Apostles that the hairs of their head were numbred that not so much as a contemptible Sparrow falleth without his Father Therefore the pettiest matters in the world are determined by God Himself I remember the Marginal Note indeed in the Protestant Italian Bible upon Matth. 10.29 upon these words Yet not one of them falleth to the ground without your Father saith thus Che nou ' intra venga it decreto ela volenta sua c. i. e. But so that His decree and will came between But this gloss is impertinent The meaning of the place is this Not one of them falleth without Gods privity and permission The scope of our Saviour was to comfort and encourage his Disciples whom he was now sending abroad into the world as sheep among wolves to this purpose he tells them that the hairs of their head were numbred c. the number of them was known to God without whose permission they could not lose one of them That not so much as a Sparrow falleth without their Father c i. e. without the knowledge and permission of Him who was their loving Father And therefore he bids them not to be afraid seeing if such trifles could not be without Gods permission doubtless God who was their more special observer would not suffer men to meddle with them more than should be for His glory and their good So that it cannot without absurdity be hence concluded that God hath made any speciall decree concerning Sparrows for as St. Paul saith Doth God take care for Oxen so say I Doth God take care for Sparrows Here it is worth the observation that the Arguments for the most part which our Opposites produce for the necessity of all events and their kind of particular providence are such which as one saith Aut nihil concludunt aut nimium conclude either not so much or more than they would have them being much like the garments which were made for the Moon either too big or too little for their conclusions for either they are drawn from particular examples and prove nothing at all as when Calvin proveth that there ariseth no wind without a special decree from God because he caused the South-wind to bring the Israelites Quails and sent the tempest which caused Jonas to be cast into the Sea or else they are deduced out of such reasons and Scriptures which as they handle them prove God to be the Author of sin and so a great deal more than they are willing they should Object 3 But our opinion may seem to patronize the proud error concerning Free-will for if God doth not Necessitate our Actions but leave them to our inclinations so that it is in our power to work or not work we have freedom of will to do or not to do whatsoever we do contingently Solution These words which we do contingently are well put in for we say many things are done contingently in respect of God yet many we say are done by Gods special determination But 't is most certainly true that good duties properly so called to which we are tied pro hoc statu are never performed without choice and freedom Which therefore amongst other priviledges of Christs purchasing are restored under the spiritual Jubilee of the Gospel and instated on us by the holy Ghost as one special part of our Redemption If the Son make your free then are you free indeed And Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty In answer then to the Objection I say That for our natural actions as eating walking c. I believe that ordinarily we perform them freely and contingently in respect of God Likewise I doubt not but as the antient Heathens Aristides Socrates Cato Fabritius so many now a days perform many things civilly and morally good being left alone * I do not reject the opinion of restringent grace if it be well expounded to their contingent educations and complexions But for matter of grace and salvation I confess to the glory of God that in us being dead in sins and trespasses dwelleth no good That we cannot so much as think much less do any good unless the holy Ghost giveth us the power both to will and to do it Adam before his fall * The opposite Tenet alloweth not Adam Free will in his innocency as I could easily prove and is partly affirmed already by the third Argument was equally poised between perseverance and defection but he falling by the freedom of his choice lost those perfections which made him free so that if his posterity do any thing truly good it is from God not from themselves whatsoever bad they do it is from themselves not from God Here it may be noted that we may do many things contingently in respect of God which yet we do not freely but necessarily in respect of our selves as our sins are contingent in respect of Him because he never imposed any necessity of sinning upon us yet they are necessary in respect of our selves seeing we being left to our selves cannot but sin So many things which are contingent in respect of our nature may be in some sort necessary in respect of our persons as those things which our complexions or customs and habits necessitate us to But this is an impertinency Object 4 They say moreover that our opinion contradicteth both Scripture and Philosophy 1. For Scripture it is said Act. 14. that in him we live move and have our being by which words we are taught that all our motions of what kind soever either natural or moral vital or rational are not onely guided but also caused by God Himself 2. Both in Logick and Metaphysicks there are divers Rules consonant to this Scripture as Causa causae est etiam causa causati causa secunda non agit nisi meta à prim c. Therefore man doth no kind of thing but God is the first cause of it and consequently whatsoever we do we do necessarily in respect of Him Answ This is one of the Arguments which proveth more than our Adversaries would have them and by these Rules have I formerly in the second Argument proved that they make God the Author of sin for if causa causae be causa causati as doubtless it is while they make God the cause of all those actions which either are sins or the causes