Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	holy_a	speak_v	word_n	18,876	5	4.5025	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28592	A reply to Mr. Edwards's brief reflections on A short discourse of the true knowledge of Christ Jesus, &c. to which is prefixed a preface wherein something is said concerning reason and antiquity in the chief controversies with the Socinians / by S. Bold ...	Bold, S. (Samuel), 1649-1737.; Bold, S. (Samuel), 1649-1737. Short discourse of the true knowledge of Christ Jesus.	1697 (1697)	Wing B3486; ESTC R4215	40,346	69

from what I had said that I must hold that the assenting to this Proposition that Christ Jesus is God is necessary to make a Man a Christian and whether I have in effect positively said as Mr. Edwards doth phrase it that the believing of more than that one Article before mentioned is absolutely requisite to make a Man a Christian I leave the Reader now to determine But for my own part I am not sensible that I have yet contradicted the Proposition I had laid down which is the thing Mr. Edwards is still upon In another Place saith Mr. Edwards speaking of the Account which the Scripture gives of the Holy Spirit viz. That he is God he adds that a true Christian is as much obliged to believe this as to believe that Jesus is the Christ pag. 40. Answ What my words are may be seen in the Page referred to But certainly I did not say that a Person is as much obliged to believe that to make him a Christian as he is to believe that Jesus is the Christ to make him a Christian See here saith Mr. Edwards the force and energy of Truth it will make its way through the Teeth of those who oppose it Answ Let the Reader consider my words referred to before and then conclude whether the Force and Strength of Prejudice doth not appear so great as to prevail sometimes with People to oppose Truth in spite of their Teeth and Lips yea and Eyes too Mr. Edwards saith I have plainly and professedly contradicted the Proposition I had laid down for this saith he is the Case If a true Christian be as much obliged to believe one as the other then it is certain that Christianity is as much concerned in the Belief of the one as of the other and if so then a Man cannot be a Christian without this Belief Answ The former part of that Speech may be true or otherwise according to the Sense in which the term Christianity shall be understood But there is no consequence at all that because one who is a Christian may be as much obliged to believe that Truth or Doctrine as the other therefore the Belief of it is so necessary that a Man cannot be a Christian without it It is as necessary for me to believe that Jesus was at Cana of Galilee and turned Water into Wine there as it is that he was Crucified without the Gates of Jerusalem because I have the same Evidence for the one I have for the other But I cannot say it is of as much importance for a Man to know the one as it is to know the other much less can I say that no Man can be a Christian till he knows and believes that Jesus was at Cana in Galilee c. And tho I cannot submit to this non-sense that a Man can be a Christian tho he believe not those things without which he cannot be a Christian Yet if any Man will call this non-sense viz. That a Man may be a Christian without the explicit Belief of several Articles which after he is a Christian he may be obliged to believe I can submit very easily and with a great deal of Reason to it Mr. Edwards having thus concluded his Proof of my self-Contradiction is pleased in the next Page to set down these words Tho he appears in the Form of a Preacher yet he hath said nothing answerable to the specious Title of his Sermon The true Knowledg of Christ Jesus but on the contrary hath said very ill things to the lessening and impairing yea to the defaming of that Knowledg and Belief of our Saviour and of the Articles of Christianity which are necessarily required of us Answ If Mr. Edwards had affirmed that I had said nothing answerable to what he would have said on that great Subject The true Knowledg of Christ Jesus had he undertaken to discourse of it I should readily agree to it But seeing he saith I have said nothing answerable to the Title of my Sermon it would not have been unfair to have set down the true Title of my Sermon which was A short Discourse of the true Knowledg c. And if I have said nothing answerable to the Subject yet the Sermon is something answerable to the Title for then it must be acknowledged short with a Witness If I have said as Mr. Edwards affirms any thing to the lessening impairing or defaming of the Knowledg and Belief of our Saviour or of any Articles in the New Testament I cannot be sorry enough for it I am sure I had no Design to say any thing of that Nature or Tendency I think I have expresly asserted that all the Doctrines in the New Testament are of Divine Authority that being known by Christians to be taught there they must be believed by them that Christians are obliged to use their utmost endeavours to know them and that Peoples attaining to a Knowledg of them before they are true Christians may contribute much to the bringing of them to be true Christians Indeed I did not assert that the Belief of them all is indispensably necessary to make and constitute a Man a Christian but did declare it was my Opinion that the right Belief of this one Article That Jesus is the Christ or Messias doth constitute and make a Man a Christian Now whether the Belief of this one Article alone or of more Articles be indispensably necessary to make a Man a Christian doth not depend on my Judgment nor on the Judgment of any other Man That must be learned from Christ and his Apostles If they have determined for more than the one before mentioned then more are necessary let who will say the contrary If they have determined for the one abovenamed then that alone is indispensably necessary to the purpose spoken of tho all the World should oppose it and say it is not sufficient for that end but more Articles must necessarily be believed to make or constitute a Man a Christian Every honest and good Man who discourses of the Point will speak according to the best of his Judgment And if any Persons differ in their Judgments about this recourse is to be had to the New Testament to see who accords best with what Christ and his Apostles have said upon the Matter Now this I am certain of that Jesus Christ and his Apostles do insist upon this one Article to be believed to make Men Christians and that they have taught many other Doctrines in order to their being known believed and made use of Upon the best Inquiry I have been able yet to make I cannot find that they have required the Belief of any of those other Doctrines as absolutely necessary to make a Man a Christian The Reverend Mr. Edwards and many other very Learned and Godly Persons whom I very greatly honour and reverence for their Labours Piety and extraordinary Accomplishments do think they perceive that Christ and his Apostles did teach and deliver