Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	law_n	life_n	power_n	7,129	5	5.5274	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40076	Dirt wipt off, or, A manifest discovery of the gross ignorance, erroneousness and most unchristian and wicked spirit of one John Bunyan ... which he hath shewed in a vile pamphlet publish'd by him, against The design of Christianity ...	Fowler, Edward, 1632-1714.	1672 (1672)	Wing F1701; ESTC R8698	59,846	88

his supreme faculty in it's throne c. and saith that they suppose it is within the Power of a mans own soul always to keep Sin out of it self c. But can he think that these words suppose it when 1. Mr. F. makes holiness the effect of God's grace and Spirit not of a mans own power 2. When he doth deny any such thing as perfect holiness in this life p. 27. And 3. When he saith immediately after his Third description that so far forth as holiness is vigorous and predominant in men it causeth them to perform good actions and forbear the contrary All this lamentable stuff is in the two first Pages But I have something else to do than thus to trace him to the end for 't is all alike and therefore I can look for no other should I do so from all wise men than to be call'd fool for my pains I will therefore only take notice of those things that he builds most noise upon After a deal of hideous non-sense and running over the same things again and again he saith in p. 13. That this Righteousness as Mr. F. hath described it is not that which justifieth us before God Because it is our own and tells us that there is the righteousness of men and the righteousness of God But is that Righteousness our own that is wrought in us by God's Holy Spirit Is not that God's righteousness which is the effect of God's grace who sees not that it is And therefore his Citation of Phil. 3. 9. will do him no service for S. Paul meant no other there by his own Righteousness which is of the Law than that which consisted in the observance of the purely Jewish Law which he calls his own righteousness because he could obtain it by his own natural power it consisting of external performances And by the Righteousness of God by Faith in the next verse he means the righteousness of the new Creature wrought in him by God's Holy Spirit through Faith in Christ's Gospel And so the Apostle explains himself in the following words That I may know him and the Power of his Resurrection c. That is that I may know the power of his Resurrection in raising me up to newness of life and of his death in mortifying all my lusts And whereas he abuseth Rom. 10. 3. to the same purpose take notice that their own Righteousness there is no other than that the unchristian Iews gloried in as that by which alone they expected justification and eternal Salvation and 't is the same with that in the Philippians He saith The Righteousness Mr. F. hath described is the Righteousness of the Moral Law only But I say that his general Descriptions take in the Righteousness of the Gospel too 'T is said that 't is such a disposition and temper of the inward man as causeth men to be under the power of all practical principles made known by Revelation and all the Laws of the Gospel I hope are such And Mr. F. abundantly sheweth that this Righteousness is by the Faith of Jesus Christ that is by effectually believing Christ's Gospel in shewing what an admirable instrument the Gospel is to work this Righteousness And this is an answer to the text quoted out of Rom. 3. 21. Mark by the way I. B takes Faith still for nothing else but a bare relying on the merits or righteousness of Christ which any presumptious wretch may do but I will make it good against men of an hundred times his abilities if it be possible any such should be of his mind that the true Christian Faith is such a Belief of the doctrine of the Gospel as implyeth an hearty complyance with all its Precepts whereof that of relying on Christ's merits is one and but one He saith the Righteousness Mr. F. hath described can't justifie before God because of its imperfections and then follows another page within two or three lines spent in proving and Crying out of the corruption of nature in the midst of which he brings Gal. 2. 16. to prove that his assertion where he said 't is By the works of the Law shall no flesh living be justified But I have told the Reader already that Mr. F. never affirmed but absolutely denyeth justification by any thing but the Righteousness of Christ only as a meritorious cause and he holds the true living Faith to justify as a Condition without which no man by the Righteousness of Christ shall be justified And whereas the Apostle saith by the works of the law none shall be justified his meaning is that none shall be justified by the merit of them nor yet in any sence by them considered as opposed to the obedience of the Gospel He Saith the Righteousness which Mr. F. hath described can't justify because 't is not of faith This he proves from Gal. 3. 12. The Law is not of Faith The meaning of that place is the law makes no account of Faith allows no justification but on condition of legal obedience as the following words shew but he that doth them shall live in them But now the Righteousness Mr. F. hath described doth make account of faith it causing men to comply with all Divine Revelations and therefore with the Gospel He saith p. 18. that there are three things essential to Gospel Holiness of which Mr. F's Descriptions are utterly destitute The Holy Ghost Faith in Christ A new heart The Holy Ghost But Mr. F. hath shewn that this Righteousness cannot be obtained without the assistance of the Holy Ghost But 't is false and nonsense to say the Holy Ghost is of the Essence of Righteousuess and therefore that he ought to be put into the definition of it He may as well say that a man is falsly described when he is said to be a Reasonable Creature indued with a Soul and Body because God his Creator is left out of the description As for Faith in Christ I have again and again shewed that it is manifestly contained in Mr. F's descriptions And then for a new heart and a new spirit What difference is there between these and Purity of nature and a Sound complexion of Soul and a Divine or Godlike nature doth not every body know that these are but several expressions of the very same thing P. 23 He inveighs against Mr. F's saying that it was Christ's main errand to effect our deliverance out of that sinful state we had brought our selves into and so to put us again into possession of the holiness that we had lost By this you see he was not ignorant that Mr. F. asserted the corruption of nature for all his base suggestions to the contrary Now saith he I would have the Reader take notice that in this last clause to put us again into possession of that holiness which we had lost is the Summ of all his large Descriptions and the Holiness he contends for is only that which

discoveries of I. B's honesty and ingenuity And who now sees not that the Holy Scriptures themselves cannot be secure from being charged with a great number of impious and blasphemous expressions by this presumptious man should his impudence once rise so high as to deal by them as he hath done by the Sayings of Mr. F. Indeed to serve their own turns of them neither he as I can largely shew nor others like him do stick at so serving the Sacred Oracles and no body can warrant us that they shall never be so fearfully audacious as to make use of the same wicked arts to render them as hateful to the world as they endeavour to make those pious books and men that discover the extreme naughtiness of their Principles and Practices The Apostle hath told us that Evil men and Seducers shall wax worse and worse and if so God alone can tell us where they shall stop If any Reader now expects that I should next proceed to examine the book it self I must tell him I have done enough in all reason to make him perceive without farther assistance how I. B. from the beginning to the end hath bewrayed his ignorance and dishonesty For though he pretends to have confuted effectually the Doctrines he so rageth against this is the Sum of his whole performance 1. Spitting his venome at them all in general 2. Urging wofully silly arguments against several of them 3. Wretchedly misrepresenting many of them putting them into Bears Skins and then rudely baiting them 4. Making Doctrines for Mr. F. which he never dream'● of Setting up men of Straw and then fighting with them 5. Exclaiming and raving at the most horrible rate against Mr. F's Person 6. Intermixing a many non-sensical and wicked opinions of his own 7. Running over and over innumerable times the very same things Now for the First Fifth Sixth I will give more than a taste of them together in the close of all And as for the Seventh viz. his running over and over the very same things it cannot be expected that I should do any more than desire the Reader if he won't believe me to receive satisfaction from his own eyes So that it may be thought there remains now to shew the Second Third and Fourth but the Third and Fourth I have already shewn sufficiently in too many instances for his credit and a great part of his Pamphlet is founded upon those very inventions and misrepresentations of his that have been discovered and for the Second viz. the arguments he urgeth against several of Mr. F's Doctrines they are so miserably Silly that they deserve not to have one sine bestowed upon them But yet because I will chuse rather to offend on the right than on the left hand I will as briefly as may be shew both how unable and unwilling this poor man is to do Mr. F. right in several other particulars and also answer those arguments whereby he opposeth his main Doctrines After he had begun his Pamphlet with a most obligingly civil Address to his beloved Mr. F. which shall be seen anon he next falls foul upon his Descriptions of Holiness and not to take notice of the failure of sense in his Setting down the Second and Third as not deserving the name of faults in this man he claps in between the Third and Last one of his own devising You farther saith he call it a Principle or habit of Soul originally dictates of humane nature Profound sense believe it But to pass this by too he cites p. 8. for it But what is there said is only this that the Divine Moral laws are either those that were first written in mens hearts and originally dictates of humane nature or necessary conclusions and deductions from them So that Holiness and the Moral laws are with him the same This I will not also charge I. B's dishonesty but on his woful ignorance You see he is so used to talk and scrible non-sense that he cannot easily write sense when prepared to his hand and therefore we may guess how well he understands it Is not this a right goodly Tool to make a Preacher of But who so bold as blind Bayard Next observe that From Mr. F's Descriptions of Holiness by an Healthful Complexion of Soul and the Purity of the humane nature he would make us believe he hath asserted that mens natures since the fall as I have already intimated continue sound and whole and thereupon cryes out that no man by nature hath any soundness in him and sets himself to prove the corruption of nature and a mighty bawling he makes about this But doth not Mr. F. affirm that men by their Apostasie from God and sinking into Brutish sensuality have sadly dispossessed themselves of this most excellent temper and are become like the beasts that perish This he doth presently after his Descriptions of Holiness Nay does he not suppose that this soundness and Purity is lost in making it the design of his Book to demonstrate that it was Christ's grand business to restore it He saith that this Purity and Healthful Complexion are things a great way off from the Spirit of grace and the gracious workings of the Spirit A fine chime But doth not Mr. F. in the very first Page say that the holiness he so describes is a complication of all the vertues whereby he understands what the Gospel doth by vertues viz. the graces of Gods holy Spirit And doth he not say in his Descriptions of Holiness that 't is such a temper of the inward man as causeth men to be actuated by all those good principles that are made known by Revelation that is to obey all the Laws of God and are not all the graces of the Spirit virtually contained in such a temper as causeth men so to do He saith it must be concluded that the Divine Nature Mr. F. talks of is no other than the dictates of humane nature If this Fellow were now at my Elbow I would know of him what the word Dictates means 't is plain that a Goose understands that Phrase as well as he and therefore he infers that non-sense from Mr. F's Descriptions But who sees not that that which is to be concluded from them in this good sense viz. That a Divine Nature doth enable him that is indued with it according to the measure he hath of it to obey not only the dictates of Nature but also whatsoever laws are made known by Divine Revelation I. B. could not but know this if he ever considered those descriptions and if he did not what a sad Creature is he to undertake I won't say to confute but to inveigh against them After he had spent almost another Page again in crying out of the Corruption of nature and bringing Scripture to prove it as if Mr. F. had most plainly denied what he as plainly asserts as words can do it he comes to these words in one of the descriptions keeps

s. book so that the bare shewing how wofully he hath performed that one undertaking would have been a sufficient confirmation and defence of it But though I have not found so much as one thing in it that deserves to have a serious reply made to it I have so far denyed my self as not only to say enough to undermine but also to give an utter overthrow to the whole of it And to shew that so far as it opposeth The Design of Christianity 't is composed of nothing else but the most horrid absurdities belyings and revilings of that Treatise Nay it fully appeareth from what I have written that never did any writing more flatly that is in more evident consequences oppose the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ Iesus than this that he stileth a defence of it And that were Mr. F. a Iulian Celsus or Porphyry an utter enemy to Christianity as he wickedly accuseth him he could never have wished to have a greater dishonor done unto it than this man in his book hath done So that should I have considered every absurd and base passage from one end to the other of it and given it its due remark I should have made my self a most unmerciful drudg and swelled these leaves to a large Volume and been guilty of the most profuse and unaccountable expence of my time and Paper For I sedately and consideratively profess that I never read that I remember any thing that was half so full thrapt and crowded with both non-sensical and wicked stuff To conclude if any Reader is now able to think that there needs more than I have written or so much either to wipe off the dirt that is flung upon the Design of Christianity I must be so free with him as plainly to tell him that he is honor'd far beyond his merits in having one wise word bestowed upon him A Catalogue of some few of the abundance of absurd and most wicked Doctrinals and Assertions that are contained in John Bunyans Pamphlet against the Design of Christianity 1. HE calls this Paul's definition of a man There is none righteous no not one there is none that understandeth c. page 4. Mark as he most absurdly calls this Paul's definition so he calls it too his definition of a man not of a wicked man And sutably to this fine doctrine 2. He makes no real distinction between the humane Nature and Sin p. 3. As if Sin were not the corruption of our nature but essential to it 3. He Saith that of mans supreme faculty the Scripture teacheth that man in his best estate is altogether vanity Psal. 39. 5. p. 5. When as David speaks there only of mans bodily frailty But I might have spared this as being but a peccadillo in this man 4. He saith that the Command of the Law was not the great and principal argument with Christ no not in its first and highest principles to do or continue to do it p. 14. Then the first reason of our Saviours obedience was not the Command of God 5. He interprets those words of the Apostle of moral duties viz. They speak of the world and the world heareth them 1 John 4. 5. p. 19. 6. He saith that the new man is dead to the Law as to principles of nature and interprets that of the Apostle you are become dead to the law of the moral as well as Ceremonial law and further saith that a man must first be dead to your principles both of nature and the law If he will serve in a new spirit if he would bring forth fruit unto God p. 22 The only sense of which sayings whatever he meant by them is this that a man must cease to be a man and turn beast nay and Devil too before he can bring forth fruit unto God 7. He interprets those words in 1 Cor. 15. 46. and after that which is Spiritual of Spiritual holiness p. 23 Whereas the words are only spoken of an immortal body 8. He saith that the holiness of Adam in his best estate even that which he lost and we in him it was no other than that which was natural even the sinless state of a natural man p. 24 Thus he makes Adam a mere Brute as to holiness but in this he contradicts himself elsewhere as hath been shewn 9. He saith that even the inward holiness that is in Saints it is none other than that which dwelleth in the person of the Son of God in heaven p. 27 Then there are no graces of the holy Spirit wrought in us then our holiness is perfect and infinite and then according to his rate of arguing with Mr. F. p. 66. Christ's righteousness is by Faith in himself and an imputative righteousness 10. He saith that Christ dyed to put us into a personal possession of pardon before we know it p. 33 He that hath read his or this Pamphlet knows his meaning in this saying viz. that Christ dyed to put men into a personal possession of pardon while they continue in their wickedness 11. He Saith that for Christ to come to establish this righteousness viz. the righteousness which we have lost is all one as if he should be sent from Heaven to overthrow and abrogate the Eternal purpose of Grace which the father had purposed should be manifested to the world by Christ. p. 37. Let the Reader match me this Saying for the horrid wickedness of it out of any other books than this mans if he can 12. The wrath that the Law is said to work Rom. 4. 15. he interprets to be murmure and anger against the Lord. p. 39 Whenas the next words shew that the meaning is it renders men for their disobedience to it lyable to the judgment of God 13. He saith that that Repentance which hath its rise originally from the dictates of our own nature is called the sorrow of the world and must be again repented of p. 40. So that to be sorry for my sins because my reason tells me that they are an unworthy requital of Gods goodness to me is the worldly Sorrow condemned by the Apostle and must be again repented of 14. He saith that he that looks to or seeks after that holiness we have lost is as sure to be damned and go to hell as he that transgresseth the law because that is not the righteousness of God the righteousness of Christ the righteousness of faith nor that to which the promise is made p. 42. So that according to this devilish doctrine to endeavour to bring our hearts to the love of God above all and to the hatred and abhorrence of all sin is as ready or sure a way to hell as living in disobedience to all Gods Commandments And take notice that it is Proved that that is the Righteousness of God of Christ and of Faith 15. He saith That it is a foolish and an heathenish thing nay worse to think that the son of God should only or especially