Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A47190
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Truth and innocency defended against calumny and defamation in a late report spread abroad concerning the revolution of humane souls : with a futher clearing of the truth by a plain explication of my sence, &c. / by George Keith.
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Keith, George, 1639?-1716.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing K224; ESTC R6443
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17,150
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20
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that hath for its Object the Man Christ Jesus our alone Mediator without us in whom the Fullness dweâ—eth as well as the â—â—â—ature â—f him inwardly revealed in us and without this Faith in God the Father and in the Man Christ Jesus without us and in the Fullness that is in him as the greatest and most principal Object of our Faith I can own none to be true Christians or Believers in Christ Jesus who are the Children of God by the Free-woman Jerusalem from above let their Pretentions be ever so great to Christ as the Light in them As for Justin Martyr his calling Socrates a Christian Socrates might have had the Faith of Christ according to the Substance of it then but obscurely revealed and so might Pythagoras and Plato who conversed with Jews for the least measure of the Light of Christ in every true Christian to whom the Gospel Day of Châ—iâ—â— is dawned doth most necessarily draw and lead the Soul's Faith Love and Devotion to the Man Christ without them and to God the Father as dwelling in him most abundantly and gloriously that so God out of Christ our alone Mediator may continually supply us aâ— out of a most rich Treasury and Store-house with all new and fresh Supplies Aids and Assistances of his divine Grace Light Life and Spirit to serve him acceptably and to enjoy the indwelling of God the Father and of the Son and of the holy Spirit in our own Hearts and Vessels daily more and more abundantly as our Faith Love and Devotion is thus daily and continually exercised upon him Nor is there any real danger by so believing or by so preaching to draw the Minds of People from the Gift of Christ in them this at most is but the Abuse or evil Use of this Doctrine as the best of Doctrines have been and may be abused which all ought to watch against but indeed the real proper and necessary direct tendency of such Doctrine rightly improved is to bring People still more and more to the Gift of Christ in themselves and to the more abundant enjoyment of him as the Scripture Testimony and the Experience of Thousâ—nds and ten Thousands do sufficiently confirm But such who preach Faith only in the Light within calling that Light Christ as they have learned by hear-say or reading and yet are ignorant of that great Mystery of Christ without us they neither know Christ within nor believe in him as such for though Christ the true Light be in all men both Believers and Unbelievers yet only true Believers in him who believe in him as he dyed for us and rose again and is ascended c. truly know him the Light and Life in them and have the true Comfort and Enjoyment of him every way and of all his Blessings and benefits and such Preachers and Ministers who have this Faith of Christ wholly and Fully it is no indifferent thing to them to have it or preach it for as they daily live by it so they daily labour in Word and Doctrine to preach it for the Hearers Salvation and for bringing them to know Christ in them as Thousands can witness with me that had we not believed in Christ without us aâ— he dyed and rose again and had we not been perswaded that Christ dyed for us and rose again that God and Christ might dwell in us and that we might receive the inward and spiritual blessing and Benefit of him in our hearts we had not believed in him nor known him as in us And such Preachers who say as some do whom I have heard to my grief and sorrow That men may be saved in Gods ordinary way aâ— for Example the Indians here in America or any else-where without the Faith of Christ as he dyed for us and rose again by their honest and sober Living according to the Reâ—uirings or Dictates of the Light in them and that not only so as to witness a beginning but a perfecting the work of Christianity and Salvation in them They are not like to be at great pains to preach Faith in Christ crucified and raised from the Dead either to Indians or any others or to encourage others to do it for this Faith not being necessary where or to whom it is not preached the effectual way to make the Faith of it wholly an indifferent and unnecessary thing is not at all to preach it but bury it in Oblivion as some would do and so to bring our Posterity to be Indians or Heathens and as it was almost quite buried and forgot by too many â—igh Pretenders to the Light within And if God in his infinite Mercy in those American Parts where we have but few Bibles and very few other Books perused by many among us that teâ—ch the necessity of this Faith had not raised a Godly Zeal in some to revive and raise up this most precious and necessary Doctrine concerning the Faith in Christ both Without us and Within us the Faith and Reâ—â—membrance of it would have been in probability lost in many Families in a little time especially iâ— being rarely preached by many high Pretenders to the Light within and if at any times mentioned by them not hold forth as the necessary Object of Faith but rather as occasional as other Historical-Things of Scripture and â—o this the Conceit that some have that the Scriptures are not Instrumental to our Faith and Knowledge the Light or Spirit being the only means c. as some say and to preach Christ without us is to lead People to know Christ after the Flesh and to bring them from the Spirit to the Letter but the great and indispensible Necessity of Preaching it is that it may be believed to Eternal Salvation for it is not only necessary to be believed because preached but because it is necessary to be believed universally in some measure therefore it is necessary to be Preached so that the very cause of its Preaching is the Necessity of the Faith it self in order to finish the Work of mens Salvation universally even as men gather Materials of Stone and Timber to build and the Building is not necessary for Materials but the Materials are necessary for the Building This as the necessary Effect That as a necessary Antecedent in an ordinary way 4 thly And thus it manifestly appeareth how there is no Contradiction nor Contrariety betwixt the present Doctrine I Preach or Print and any of my former printed Books nor betwixt my dear and worthy brother and Friend R. Barclay nor any of my dear and worthy Friends and Brethren who have said That Pious and Conscienious Gentiles are not excluded from Gods Mercy or Salvation who have not had the express Historical Knowledge and Faith of Christ revealed to them by distinguishing first betwixt the Express Knowledge and Faith of that great Mystery and the Implicit Faith and Knowledge of it for to deny the Necessity of the express Faith c. is to affirm the
demonstrated that the said Doctrine doth expresly without any far-fetcht Consequences contradict some Article of the Christian Faith the which remote and far-fetch't Consequences are not allowable among vulgar Christians however sincere because there may be a Fallacy or at least a great uncertainty in them but an Error in the Antecedent to wit That the Gospel and Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ as he was crucified for our sins and rose agian for our Justification and is our Elder Brother and high Priest in Heaven without us making Intercession for us is not necessary to be preached to the Nations for Remission of Sin and eternal Salvation to finish and perfect it is a most vile and abominable Heresie most worthily to be detested by all sincere Christians and the Assertors and Abettors of it most worthily to be judged No Christians yea worse than honest Heathens who have never had Christ preached unto them A further clearing of the Truth by a plain Explication of my Sence when I say That Faith in Christ Jesus not only as the Light in us but as he was and is Man without us and as he dyed for our sins and rose again for our Justification is necessary to perfect Justification and finishing the work of mens Salvation universally and by which I show and demonstrate That my present Doctrine concerning the Faith of Christ is well consistent with all my former printed Books and with R. Barclay's printed Books and particularly his Apology and with the Doctrine of our sound Friends and Brethren both aentient and lately raised who have declared their Charity towards all Pious and Conscientious Gentiles to whom the Gospel was not outwardly preached by the Ministry of men That they were not or are not excluded from Gods Mercy and Salvation although they have not had the express Historical Knowledge and Faith of Christ as Man without them either outwardly preached or inwardly revealed to them THe Explanation of my sence in this weighty matter I deliver in the following particulars viz. 1 st By Faith in the Man Christ Jesus without us which I assert to to be universally necessary to mens eternal Salvation I do not understand an express distinct Faith in Christ as being so necessary to all whereby all that were or shall be saved must necessarily have such a Knowledge and Faith of him as to these great and weighty Passages and Cases delivered prophetically concerning him in the Old Testament and Historically in the New Testament that were a fulfilling of the Prophecies of him such as 1 That he should come in the Flesh as such a precise Age or Time of the World 2. That he should be born at Bethlem 3. That he should be the Son of Abraham and David according to the Flesh 4. or That his Mothers Name should be Mary or his own Name Jesus 5. That the place of his Death should be Golgotha without the City of Jerusalem in Judea 6. That the manner of his Death should be by being crucified his Hands and Feet pierced and his Side pierced with a Spear 7. That he should be betrayed by Judaâ— and sold for thirty pieces of Silver and sentenced to Death by Pontius Pilate and accused and slain by the Jews and crucified betwixt two Tâ—iâ—ves whereof the one should be penitent and dye believing in him 8. That he should be laid in Sepulchrs where no mans ever lay that belonged to Joseph of Arimathea 9. That he should rise on the third Day and after forty days ascend into Heaven 10. And lastly That he should appear to the Women first of all after his Resurrection These and many other very weighty and great Cases Passages belonging to his outward Coming Death and Sufferings Resurrection and Ascention I do not say are necessary to be known and believed universally to mens eternal Salvation and this I have called in my former printed Books The Express Clear and Distinct Knowledge or Faith of his outward Coming see my Book called The Vniversal free Grace of the Gospel asserted pag. 117. printed in the Year 1671. and R. B. in his printed Apology and Theses printed in the Year 1676. calleth it as I do the distinct outward absolute Knowledge i. e. the perfect Knowledge of the outward History see his Latine Apology Thes 6. the which Doctrine as laid down by him in his 6 th Thesis he calleth an Hypothesis in that very place and others of our antient Friends who have writ in defence of the People called Quakers have called it the Historical Knowledge viz. as containing the knowledge of the above-mentioned Historical Passages and others the like for as concerning these great and weighty Passages Cases fore-told by the Prophets and Historically declared to be fullfilled by the Evangelists and Apostles concerning him many of the faithful knew or believed few or none of them before Abraham's Time and even after Abraham to whom Christ was promised to be his Seed and to come out of his Loyns the Doctrine concerning the Time and Manner of his Coming Death and Sufferings Resurrection and Ascention was gradually revealed to the Prophets from Moses to Samuel and from Samuel to David and from David to these who followed after as Isaiah Jeremiah and others and still the nearer the Time approached of Christs coming in the Flesh the Prophets did Prophecy the more clearly and expresly concerning him 2 dly I do with great Assurance and Freedom affirm as God hath perswaded me and opened it out of the holy Scriptures to me That the Faith of all the Faithful from the beginning of the World was in Christ as he should be that Seed of the Woman that should bruise the Head of the Serpent and whose Heel the Serpent should bruise which was the first Gospel Promise that the Lord himself preached to our first Parents after the Fall and though this Promise was not committed to writing so far as we know until Mosâ— who was the first â—on man of holy Scripture yet it was without all doubt faithfully delivered and preached by Adam to his Children and by the faithful of their Children such as Seth to their succeeding Posterity even until Noah and if it was lost again it was restored to Abraham for we have good cause to believe that the Church of God from the beginning of the World hath never failed in the Earth universally to this Day nor will to the end of the World however at times it hath been much obscured and hid both under the Old and New Testament And by this Seed of the Woman is to be understood the Man Christ with the spiritual inward blessings of Grace Light and Life flowing from him and though the outward Name Jesus and Christ is sweet and comfortable to every true Believer by the Spirit of Christ that knoweth it yet it is no more simply necessary than the other above-mentioned weighty Circumstances concerning him the Saviour and Redeemer of the World who should be born