Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	keep_v	peace_n	unity_n	7,015	5	8.9407	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05347	A treatise of the authority of the church The summe wherof was delivered in a sermon preached at Belfast, at the visitation of the diocese of Downe and Conner the tenth day of August 1636. By Henrie Leslie bishop of the diocese. Intended for the satisfaction of them who in those places oppose the orders of our church, and since published upon occasion of a libell sent abroad in writing, wherin this sermon, and all his proceedings are most falsely traduced. Together with an answer to certaine objections made against the orders of our church, especially kneeling at the communion.	Leslie, Henry, 1580-1661.	1637 (1637)	STC 15499; ESTC S114016	124,588	210

the enemies of God where of the land was full would rejoyce at it So your contentions are evill in themselves but the worse because the Papists are in the land who from your strifes take occasion to blaspheme our religion VI. Your opposition hinders the worke of the Gospell and the edification of Gods people for manie of them who admire you make these things wherein wee differ their greatest study and thinke they have Religion enough if they bee but upon your side if they can hate a Bishop and abhorre a Ceremonie Thus the weightier matters of the Law are neglected Matth. XXIII 23. while we contest about Mint and annise and Cummine matters meerely circumstantiall This indeed is Tragoedias agere in nugis I haue heard of a man who came to a Physitian to complaine of the whit-law in his finger and the Physitian looking upon him espyed death in his face for the man was in a deepe consumption whereof hee was nothing so sensible as of the paine in his finger So it is with you you complaine grievously of Ceremonies and orders established and are not sensible of a dangerous consumption even the losse of Charitie which is the life of religion Finally consider unto what dangers you expose your selves and what shall become of you when ye are cut off from the Communion of the Church Ab arbore frange ramum De Unit. Ecclesiae fractus germinare non poterit saith Cyprian A fonte pracide rivam praecisus arescet As a branch cut off from the tree must needes wither and a streame divided from the fountaine must presently dry up so those that are cut off from the mysticall body of Christ must wither and dry up as wanting the vitall influence of Gods spirit and the watering of the dew of grace which is a fearefull judgement expressed elegantly by the Apostle by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. IX 1● Heb● III. from the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth properly to dry up and wither It is said that when Cain was cast out from the presence of God that is from his Church and the place of his worship He went and dwelt in the land of Nod so you when you are cast out of the Church are preparing to goe and dwell in the land of Noddies and it is strange if the sides of one ship can contayne them who cannot be kept within the pale of the Church All these things deserve your consideration and may give you occasion to repent hereafter when it will be too late I thought it therefore my duty to warne you Gen. XLII ●● as Reuben did his brethren beseeching you for gods sake if there bee any bowells of compassion in you towards the Church your mother your brethren your friends your flocke your selves that you would yet lay aside all prejudice and partialitie and the spirit of contradiction compose your selves to peace unitie and love Psal CXXVI 6●7● O pray for the peace of Ierusalem Let peace be within her walls and prosperitie within her pallaces Thinke not that you are wiser then the Church then all Churches 1. Co● XIIII 26. as if the word of God had come onely from you or to you and to none besides but remember that you are men and so may erre that better men have erred have thought no shame to acknowledge the same and retract their error In this life wee shall never bee resolved of all doubts therefore the Iewes had wont to say Elias cum venerit solvet dubia The safest course is where you doubt especially about matters of this kinde concerning Order and Church politie to submit your selves peaceably to the Iudgement of the Church and then Phil. III. 15. Rom. XV. 5. If ye be otherwise minded God shall reveale even the same unto you Now the God of peace and consolation give us that we may be like minded one towards another I. Cor. I. 10. That we may all speake one thing and that there be no dissentions amongst us Eph. IV. ● but that wee be knit together in one minde and in one Iudgement endevouring to keepe the unitie of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Amen AN ANSVVER TO CERTAINE OBIECTIONS MADE AGAINST THE ORDERS OF OVR CHVRCH ESPECIALLY KNEELING AT THE COMMUNION I Was at first somewhat perplexed and doubtfull whether it became me to tkae notice of a late Libell the foolishest that ever was spread abroad in writing praetending to set downe a relation of a certaine Conference betweene my selfe some unconforme Ministers of my Diocese or whether like a noysome snuffe to let it dye out of it selfe as unworthie the treading upon Herein I tooke counsell of the wisest of men even of Solomon but hee left me upon the matter as irresolute as hee found mee Proverb XXVI 4.5 Answer not sayeth he a foole according to his foolishnesse lest thou also be like him And yet immediatly thereafter Answer a foole according to his foolishnesse lest hee be wise in his owne conceipt The reasons are forcible on both sides but I have followed the later advice not because in Solomon secundae cogitationes were saniores but because it fitliest jumpeth both with the exigencie of the time and humor of the men whom I am to encounter lest the fooles grow more wise in their owne conceipt When I first met with this Libell I expected somewhat savouring of wit for I dare pronounce them not guiltie of much judgement but found it a meere fardle of lyes And so much hath beene confess'd by all men of qualitie who were present at the Conference Yea and by some too neither disaffected to their persons nor cause All the most materiall things which I spoke are left out many things fathered upon me which I never thought just as it pleased the Libeller to forge and frame them for his owne advantage and to serve his Reply Chimaeras sibi fingens qua● jugulet sed alijs Chi●aris oppositis Not unlike the fellow in Martial Quod tibi vis dici dicere Fusee foles Violating therein to omit his incivilitie the praescript of humanitie and common honestiet being formerly admonished to transmit unto my selfe their Arguments in writing and in like manner to receive my answers that thus by his or their good allowance I might have acted my owne part in my owne person not under the larve of such a puppet as out of their malice in generall and the particular fatuitie and ignorance of the Libeller they have thought fit to bestow upon me for albeit hee were indeed an Impartialist in his owne cause which no wise man will beleeve yet were it impossible for him either to remember my words or expresse my thoughts so fully as my selfe But he found that having an ill cause he stood in need of all helpes And this sort of men as is well knowne to the world though it bee but the signe of a profligate and

committed the Oracles of God Therefore Epiphanius proves Epiph. de men● pond the Bookes of Wisedome and Ecclesiasticus not to be Canonicall because they were not kept in the Arke And S. Augustin calls the Iewes our Librarie-keepers who are so zealous of the Old Testament that they will rather loose their life then one line of it So carefull also hath the Christian Church beene of both Testaments that many Martyrs have chosen to give their Bodies rather then their Bibles to bee burnt Neither doth it onely belong to the Church to keepe the holy Bookes but also to discerne betweene true Scripture and false And so shee is the Defender of the Scripture to which purpose the Spirit of Christ is given unto her whereby she knoweth the voyce of the Bridegroome Here the Church of Rome hath abused her power and betrayed her trust inserting into the Canon diverse Apocryphall bookes which were not written by divine inspiration nor received by the Church in S. Ieromes dayes And as she is the keeper and maintainer of the holy Records So she is as a Herauld Common-cryer to publish notifie propound and commend these Records as the Word of God unto all men For this cause is the Church called the Pillar of Truth because shee beareth up the Truth by her publicke ministery and sheweth us the holy Bookes So that the Testimonie of the Church is an excellent meanes to know the Scripture to be from God even the first motive and occasion of our faith The Key which openeth the doore of entrance into the knowledge of the Scriptures The Watchman that holds out the light in open view and presents the shining beames thereof to all that have eyes to discerne it The guide that directs and assists us to finde out those Arguments in Scripture wherby the Divinitie of it is proved And so like the morning starre introduces that cleare light which shineth in the word it selfe But the testimony of the Church is not the onely nor the chiefe cause of our knowledge nor the formall object of our faith As the Samaritanes at first believed for the saying of the woman Ioh. IV. 39. but afterward because of his own word saying Now wee beleeve not because of thy saying for wee have heard him our selves And as Nathaneel was induced to come to Christ by the Testimony of Philip but was perswaded to beleeve that he was the Messias by what he heard from himselfe as may appeare by his confession Rabbi Ioh. I. 45 4● thou art the sonne of God so men are first induced to beleeve that this Booke is the holy Scripture by the Testimony of the Church but after they receive greater assurance when their eyes are opened to see that light which shineth in the Scripture To use a more familiar similitude If a man bring you a letter from your father and tell you he received it out of his owne hand you beleeve him but are better assured when you consider the seale subscription forme of Characters and matter contayned in the Letters So are we perswaded of the divinity of the Scripture The Scripture is an epistle sent unto us from God our father The Church is the messenger and tells us that shee received it from him Wee give credite unto her Report but when we peruse it and consider the divinity of the matter the sublimity of the style the efficacy of the speach we are fully perswaded that the same is from God indeed In a word the Church commends the Scripture to be Gods word not by her owne authority but by the verity of the thing it selfe and arguments drawne out of Scripture which proveth it selfe to be divine even as the Sunne manifests it selfe to bee the Sunne a learned man proveth himselfe to be learned and as Wisedome is justified of her children for which cause the Scripture is called a fyre a hammer a word that is lively mighty in operation a light shining in a darke place All which sheweth that it hath a certayne in-bred power to prove manifest it selfe without any outward testimony And therefore the Authority of the Scripture in respect of us doth not depend vpon the voyce of the Church And yet is the Church bound to give testimony to the Scripture we are bound to heare her Testimony Further as the Church is to propound Sect. 16. so to expound the Scripture apply them by preaching and administration of the Sacraments Wee are all of us so blinde in heavenly mysteries that we may say with the Eunuch of Ethiopia Act. V●ll ●●4 How can I understand except I had a guide God hath appointed us guides to expound unto us the Scripture and to apply the same for doctrine for confutation for Correction for Instruction These bee the uses of Scripture II. Tim. III. 16. and it is The man of God that is the minister and Pastor who is to expound the Scripture and apply it unto these ends In the II. of Haggai vers 12. the Lord sayth Aske now the Priests concerning the Law And Malach. II. 7. The Priests lips should preserve knowledge and they should seeke the Law at his mouth To them it belongs to teach preach labour in the word divide the word exhort confute rebuke as the Apostle directs his two Sonnes Timothie Bishop of Ephesus and Titus Bishop of Creta When Christ was to remove his bodily presence he established his ministry upon earth when he ascended up on high he gave gifts unto men He gave some to be Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastours and teachers Eph. IIII. 11. He sent forth his disciples with the like commission as he receaved from his father saying As my father s●●t me even so I send you And agayne Goe teach all Nations baptizing them c. Matth. XXVIII 19.20 That this is the office of the Pastors is manifest and acknowledged by all but they must remember that they expound Scripture by Scripture and according to the meaning of the Law-giver comparing spirituall things with spirituall things and adding nothing of their owne Herein the Church of Rome hath abused her power assigning unto Scripture what sense she pleaseth even that which will make most for her owne turne This is ingenuously confessed by Cusanus Apud Illy● Clav. Script p. ● Tract 7. that the Church may expound the Scripture one way at one time another way at an other time still fitting the sense of the Scripture to the practise of the Church As they have done touching these words in the institution of the Sacrament Drinke yee all of this which by the auncient Church sayth he were so vnderstood that even the people were to receave the cup By the moderne Church in another sense But howsoever they have betrayed their trust let us not despise the Iudgement of the Catholick Church in expounding the Scripture For as the Scripture is the perfect rule of faith so the Iudgement of the Church