Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	word_n	world_n	write_v	1,079	4	5.2206	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76783	St. Paul and St. James reconcil'd. A sermon preach'd before the Vniversity of Cambridge, at St. Mary's Church, on Commencement-Sunday in the afternoon, June 30. 1700. ... / By Offspring Blackall, D.D. Chaplain in ordinary to Her Majesty..	Blackall, Offspring, 1654-1716.	1700 (1700)	Wing B3050A; ESTC N36965	18,049	16

Reconcil'd A SERMON PREACH'D before the Vniversity of Cambridge At St. Mary's Church on COMMENCEMENT-SVNDAY In the Afternoon June 30. 1700. St. JAMES II. 24. Ye see then how that by Works a Man is justify'd and not by Faith only By Offspring Blackall D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Her Majesty The Third Edition LONDON Printed and Sold by Hen. Hills in Black-fryars near the Water-side For the Benefit of the Poor St. JAMES ii 24. Ye see then how that by Works a Man is justify'd and not by Faith only IF it was an usual thing to take two Texts to a Sermon I wou'd subjoyn to the Words which I have now read to you those in Rom. iii. 28. or some other Text out of some of St. Paul's Epistles to the same purpose Therefore we conclude that a Man is justify'd by Faith and I wou'd read them both together as the Theme or Subject whereon I intend to discourse at this time For this is indeed my present Design not to handle these Words of St. James by themselves that is as laying down a Notion of Justification to appearance contrary to what St. Paul teaches in that other Text But to shew that St. Paul and St. James tho' they differ in Words and Expressions do yet really both teach the same Doctrine That neither doth St. Paul in excluding Works from having any thing to do in our Justification mean to exclude such Works as St. James here declares to be necessary neither on the other side doth St. James in asserting the Necessity of good Works together with Faith and as the effects of it mean to attribute more to them than St. Paul does But before I proceed to shew how these two Apostles may as I think be fairly reconcil'd it may not be amiss to premise this one thing viz. That if that Solution of this Difficulty which I shall by and by propose should not seem clear and Satisfactory and if we cou'd not think of any other way whereby these two Divine Writers might to our Apprehension be reconciled together and made to speak the same thing it wou'd nevertheless in that case be reasonable to stick to the Words of St. James in their strict and most natural Signification and to suppose that S. Paul is to be interpreted by him rather than he by S. Paul and consequently to take for granted that the Doctrine which we are here taught in express Words by St. James viz. that Works are necessary as well as Faith to render us such as God will approve of and justify at the last Day is undoubtedly true altho we cou'd not tell which way St. Paul's Words might be fairly interpreted in the same Sense This I say appears reasonable upon several Accounts As namely 1. Because we have an express Testimony of Scripture that in St. Paul's Writings there are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest to their own Destruction 2 Pet. iii. 16. And 'tis probable that those Places wherein he treats concerning Justification by Faith only may be reckon'd in that Number And this St. Augustin says expresly viz. That the chief Difficulty of all in St. Paul 's Epistles is his so much Commendation of that Faith which he says does justify by which ignorant Men understanding nothing else but only an Assent of the Mind to the Truths of the Gospel which indeed is the prime and most proper Notion of the Word do thence infer that a good Life is not necessary to justify and save a Man And indeed if St. Peter had not made this Observation concerning the Obscurity of some of St. Paul's Writings 'tis nevertheless no more than what every one that reads the Bible must needs observe viz. that the Epistles of St. Paul especially where he handles Controversy are the hardest to be understood except perhaps the Prophesies that are not yet accomplish'd of any parts of the New Testament And on the other side it is no less obvious to be observ'd that the Epistle of St. James and this Chapter of it in particular is to appearance very plain and clear and that both in the Conclusion which it lays down viz. that we are justify'd by Works and not by Faith only and also in the Arguments whereby this Conclusion is made good from the 14th Verse of this Chapter to the end Now if the Case be thus as it plainly seems to be nothing can be more unreasonable than to interpret this Place of St. James by those of St. Paul that is a plain Place by an obscure one and on the other side nothing can be fairer than when we meet with any crabbed or difficult Place in any Autho to see whether his meaning be not elsewhere express'd more clearly and if it be to conclude that the intricate Place hath the same meaning with the plain one altho' we know not how well to reconcile the Words and Phrases thereof to it And this is the Case here For tho' St. Paul and St. James were different Writers yet the Author of both their Epistles was the same viz. the Holy Spirit of God by whose Inspiration they both wrote Their Writings are consequently both of them Parts of that one everlasting Gospel by which God will judge the World and they do both of them contain only in different Expressions the Articles of the same Covenant between God and us It is reasonable therefore in this Case to observe the same Method that we do in other the like Cases viz. to put such a Sense and Interpretation on any difficult or ambiguous Passage that we meet with any where therein as to make it agree to and consist with those other Passages in the same Book or Writing which seem to be more plainly expressed and of the meaning of which there can be less Dispute 2. Another Reason why I think if we could not easily reconcile St. Paul with St. James we ought rather to embrace the Literal Sense of St. James than that of St. Paul and to conclude with him that good Works are necessary to our Justification and Salvation as well a Faith is because as is observ'd by several of the Ancients this Epistle of St. James as likewise the first of St. John the Second of St. Peter and that of St. Jude was written on purpose to rectifie the Mistakes that some had fallen into through their Misunderstanding of some of St. Paul's Writings v. Grot. in Jam. 2.21 Now if this be so we may reasonably conclude that St. James designing this Discourse of his concerning Faith and Works as a Commentary upon or an Explication of what St. Paul had written before upon the same Subject was very careful to avoid all that Obscurity and Ambiguity of Expression which had occasion'd the Writings of St. Paul to be so grosly misunderstood and wrested to such ill purposes as St. Peter observes they had been by some ignorant and perverse Men and consequently that St. James uses