Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A60320
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A sermon preached at Christ-Church in Dublin before the Lord Lieutenant and Council, the fifth day of July, 1674 by Mr. Andrew Sall ...
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Sall, Andrew, 1612-1682.
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1674
(1674)
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Wing S392; ESTC R32075
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51,081
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162
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his time the Divine Office was performed among the Scythians in the German Tongue Origen cont Cess li. 8. p. 402. which was common to them and the Germans Nay Origen affirmeth that in the primitive Churches all publick Offices of Religion were performed in the proper Language of every Countrey Scripture prohibited And lest they should learn in their Houses what they cannot in their Churches they are prohibited to read Scripture in their own Tongues without licence under the hand of the Bishop or Inquisitor by the advice of the Priest or Confessor touching the person's fitness for it and who presumes to do otherwise is to be denied absolution This is commanded in the Fourth Rule of the Index Index li. prohib Alex 7. Rom. An. 665. published by Order of the Council of Trent and set forth by the Authority of Pius the Fourth and since by Clement the Eighth and lately enlarged by Alexander the Seventh Mat. 4.4 This is cruelty to souls Christ declaring the Word of God to be their food And Scripture it self so often inviting us to the reading of it St. Peter thus exhorteth to it 2 Pet. 1.19 We have also a more sure Word of prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as to a light that shineth in a dark place till the day dawn St. Paul commendeth to us the reading of Scripture as written for our instruction and comfort Ro. 15 4. 2 Tim. 3.15 Act. 17.11 and as able to make us wise unto salvation St. Luke praiseth the Inhabitants of Berea in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily The Holy Fathers of the Primitive Church were of the same spirit of exhorting the Faithful to the reading of Scripture for their comfort and direction St. Clement Clement Epist ad Corin. p 58. for remedying a dissention happened among the Corinthians writes thus to them p 61. Look diligently unto the Scriptures which are the true Oracles of the Holy Ghost He addeth after Take St. Paul 's Epistles into your hands p. 68. and consider what he saith and praises them for being skilled in the Scriptures Beloved says he ye have known and very well known the Holy Scriptures and ye have throughly looked into the Oracles of God Ignatius epist ad Philad Policar Epist ad Philip. Clem. Alexand. Strom. 7. p 72. therefore call them to mind Of the same mind was Policarp Ignatius and the other Ancient Fathers Clemens of Alexandria mentioneth the reading of Scriptures among Christians before their Meals and Psalms and Hymns at them What makes the present Church of Rome so vigilant to the contrary in keeping their Flock from reading Scripture One reason they give and another they keep to themselves the reason they give is that Heresies did arise from the abuse of Scriptures Be it so but who were the abusers certainly Priests Monks and Fryars more frequently and of them the most Learned Turn to Records and you shall find it to be so Then if this Argument proves any thing it will obtain the banishing of Scripture from among the Learned and out of all the world Proving so much which is too much it proveth nothing Meat and drink is the ruine of many shall they be banished therefore out of the World No let the creatures of God serve his servants and let the abusers of them have their punishment in the very abuse they commit Let this Heavenly Lanthorn which God set up in his House the Holy Church to guide us in the dark ways of this life shine to all Christians And that weak eyes may not be dazled by the brightness of it let this be the general rule for all to read Scripture Where they find it clear let them embrace it devoutly and frame their lives accordingly where it appears obscure let them humbly pray the Lord he may help them with light to understand it and wait patiently upon his pleasure for doing so In the mean time they may be assured that all necessary knowledge for Faith in God to serve and praise him is fully contained in what is clear of Scripture So St. Augustine affirmeth Aug. de Doctrin Christ. l. 2. c. 9. In iis quae apertè in Scripturâ posita sunt inveniuntur illa omnia quae continent fidem moresque vivendi Whereof St. Paul giveth an ample testimony saying 2 Tim. 3.15 The holy Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus and are profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness That the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works The Holy Fathers do agree with St. Paul in this his Opinion of the profit of Scripture for our spiritua◠instruction St. Basil commends them as the best remedy for all the passions of the mind Basil in Psal 1. St. Chrysostome reflecting upon that great meekness of David in letting Saul go free when he had him at his will in the Den commends to all the memory of that example Chrysost Homil. 1. de Davide Saule saying It is impossible that a mind conversant with this kind of Histories should be overcome with passions St. Jerome saith that infinite evils do arise from ignorance of Scriptures From hence most part of Heresies have come from hence a negligent and careless life and unfruitful labours The reason given by Papists against reading of Scripture being thus confuted would you know what reason it is that they have and keep to themselves Very many say it is for keeping the people blind-folded that they may not see the Ignorance of their Ministers nor the Corruption of their Mysteries It seems they have declared so much themselves in a Council of Bishops met at Bononia for restoring the dignity of the Roman See Conc. de stabilien Rom. fid p. 6 apud Stilling-fleet opere de Idololatria Rom. ecc pag. 201. by Order of Pope Julius the Third the chief advice they gave was that by all means as little of the Gospel as might be especially in the vulgar Tongue should be read in the Cities under his jurisdiction Adding that Book to have been the cause of that great decay of their former lustre and concluding thus And in truth if any one diligently consider it and compare it with what is done in our Churches will find them very contrary to each other and our very doctrine not onely to be different from it but repugnant to it Thus God was pleased they should discover their intention that it should be published for undeceiving the misled by them as written by several grave Authors who I suppose would not publish it but upon sufficient ground And is not this to use Tyranny over souls Third Point Now I will come to the third and last Point proposed of my Discourse which is to conclude from what is said hitherto that the resolution I took
being rationally and Christianly principled and nothing averse to Piety till coming to the later Proposition That it became the wisedom and goodness of Christ to appoint a visible Judge Infallible upon Earth to determine Controversies He replied mildly we had reason to go warily in censuring the wisedom and goodness of God if this or that thing seeming to us expedient were not done in the government of the World for who can pretend to know the depth of the wisedom and knowledg of God Rom. 11.33 to search into his judgments and find out his ways This most rational advertisement took deep root in my heart ever thirsty of reason and open to receive it Neither did the modesty of the Proposer diminish but rather augment the weight of it It was in truth the first shock that touched me to the quick striking upon the very root of that Engine of Infallibility I leaned upon Reflecting upon the matter in my solitudes I perceived the weakness of the ground I built upon I saw that in like manner we may say it belongeth to the goodness wisedom and power of God not to permit that his Holy Law should be transgressed by vile creatures and his supreme dread Majesty offended by despicable vermine Nor that Pastors of Souls especially the Roman Pope deemed a Vice-God upon Earth should fall into errours and scandalize with wicked life the people And alas it is but too well known he permits this Shall we therefore waver in the Opinion of his goodness power and wisedom God forbid Why then should we think it a failure in his providence or goodness if besides Holy Scriptures abounding in all light and Heavenly Doctrine to such as are not wilfully blind he did not appoint some visible Judge universal for our direction St. Paul saying 2 Tim. 3.16.17 that Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works That Foundation alledging the necessity of a Judge visible universal and Infallible being thus weakned I proceeded to examine what right the Pope or Church of Rome could pretend to such infallibility the support of all their Incredible Doctrine And first the very inconstancy of their pretence to this priviledge and great dissention of their Authors in asserting it was to me a main reason of suspecting the truth of all and a concluding argument that they cannot be certain of having it Vide Bel l. 4. de Rom. Pont. c. 2. For some will have the Pope himself alone as Pope or as teaching from his chair to have this Infallibility of Doctrine Others will not allow it him but in conjunction with a Council either general or particular of Cardinals and Divines Others only attribute it to him in a General Council Others neither separately nor conjunctly and will only allow the Church Universal to be Infallible And finally others of the most Learned affirm even the Church Universal S. Tho. Turre â—â—â—mata Alphonâ—us a Cactâ—o apud Candi 4 〈◊〉 c. 4 concl 2. to be capable of a Material Errour by Probable Ignorance though not of a Formal and Heretical one which in substance is to allow the Church no more Infallibility than Origen Tertullian or any other particular true Christian Believer hath though subject to errors which Opinion if extended to make the Universal Church fallible even in Points Essential to saluation is false And upon so great an uncertainty of their Infallibility they will have us to build a certain Infallible Belief of all they please to teach us which is to build a house incapable of falling upon a sandy and ruinous Foundation Now for their grounds for this pretended Infallibility what is their warrant for it Divine Scripture they say for who but God could give such a Priviledge and what warrant have they for believing he Scripture saying so to be Divine and Infallible The Infallible Testimony of the Church say they again their own Roman Church they mean So they believe the Scripture is Infallible because the Roman Church doth testifie it and this Church to be Infallible because the Scriptures Testimony is for it A circle in reasoning which Logicians would hiss out of their Schools Neither may Becan's escape avail him that they deal with Christians who believe the Scripture for no Christian but such as they will make blind can believe that there is any Scripture favouring their case in this particular without clipping or corrupting it to serve their purpose For example Their main pillar for this Infallibility fetcht out of the 24th chapter of St. John John 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth Their own Disciples who ordinarily know no more of Scriptures than what they are pleased to shew to them for their several purposes may think that Text to be pertinent for their pretentions But who will take the liberty to read the Context before and after will clearly find out that the very same Text destroyeth their whole design and taketh away all certainty of the Holy Ghost his assistance for rendring their Decrees Infallible The Text restored to its integrity saith thus in their own Bible If ye love me keep my commandments Mundus id est remanens amator mundi cum quo nurquam est amor Dei Gloss interlin Non habent spirituales oculos quibus Spiritum sanctum videant muâ—â—i amaâ—â—res Gloss ordinaria and I will ask my Father and he shall give you another Paraclete that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive By the first words you may see this to be a conditional promise limited to such as love God and keep his Commandments by the later words you see worldly and sinful men expresly excluded from receiving that gracious assistance of the Spirit of Truth therefore to be sure that the Pope and his Council have the assistance of the Spirit of Truth we must be sure that they love God and keep his Commandments but of this we cannot have security their own Histories relating and the world knowing enormous vices in them What they alledge out of St. Paul writing to Timothy Tim. 3.15 that the Church is the pillar and ground of Truth we freely admit it as due to the Universal Church not to any particular but less to one found guilty of so many and great errours such as the Romish is whose ambition in claiming and appropriating to it self all the commendations delivered of the Church Universal is no less reprehensible than as if the Scribes and Pharisees persecuting our Saviour should appropriate to their Synagogue all the praises given to Moses and Aaron Would not you wonder that their chief Champion Cardinal Bellarmine Bellar de sum Pâ—n l. 4 c 2. should bring for proof of the Pope's Infallibility that in the Old Law