Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	world_n	worship_n	worship_v	1,635	4	8.6836	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33770	Theophilus and Philodoxus, or, Several conferences between two friends the one a true son of the Church of England, the other faln off to the Church of Rome, concerning 1. praier in an unknown tongue, 2. the half communion, 3. the worshipping of images, 4. the invocation of saints / by Gilbert Coles.	Coles, Gilbert, 1617-1676.	1674 (1674)	Wing C5085; ESTC R27900	233,018	224

they shall represent God as a shadow doth the Sun God hath clearly reveal'd himself to us in his Holy Word and you have drawn a veil upon him by your Dysanalogical Images and Pictures you take from the People the Holy Scriptures and teach them by Pictures according to that memorable Saying of a Pope Pictures are Lay-mens Books But God is a Spirit saith our Blessed Savior and Men must worship him in Spirit and in Truth Joh. 4. 24. And ●o by your Pictures of God you determine the Worship and the Imagination of deluded People to the shadow and representation of a Body And because Man is the most excellent of all bodily and visible Creatures you have favor'd God with an human shape whereas the Heathen vile wretches worship him under the shape of an Ox that eateth grass Phil. If God was pleased to manifest himself in an human shape as you have heard Why may not we represent him so to the People Theoph. First there is a great mistake in those Apparitions of God in the Old Testament you make use of them to represent God the Father in a human shape whereas the Fathers generally hold that God the Son assumed those appearances and therefore they call'd them Praeludia Incarnationis the Prologues of his future Incarnation and so they cannot warrant your Picturing of God the Father But to come more close to our present purpose such Visions of God which we read of were transient cited only to the present purpose as in that of Daniel concerning the ancient of days it represented Gods dreadful coming to Judgment as you may read at large the 9 th Chapter Now you would make a standing Representation of God thereby to all ends and purposes whatsoever And again when the Prophet had his Vision it was also revealed to him what it signified otherwise an old Man with white garments and the hair of his head like wool could not have represented God to the Prophet It was no Image that did bear any Analogy or Resemblance of the Divine Nature or of any Person of the Trinity and therefore cannot be made use of by it self to represent God a 3. Dist 9. Qu. 2. Durandus a great School-man tells us Such Forms wherein God appeared in the Old Testament were not assumed into one Person with the Divine Nature as was the Humane Nature of Christ and when the present design was over they were laid aside as we put off our clothes And you may as well make a suit of Clothes the Image of a Man as these Forms the Image of God Suppose any Man should converse with you a day or an hour under a Vizar would he like it if you should take his Picture and the standing copy of his countenance from the Vizar When the Holy Scriptures mention the Eye of the Lord and the Mouth of the Lord his right Hand and his Holy Arm will you take these parts and set them together and make the Image of a Man to represent God and bring these Autorities of Scripture for your warrant This is a ready way to make our People Anthropomorphites to create in them an Imagination that God consists of Parts and Members as a Man and that his Image after which God made Man was imprinted in the Body In the Gatechizing of Youth we find it an hard work to take their minds off from such conceits notwithstanding all the help of Holy Scriptures which expresly declare That God is a Spirit and not flesh invisible and not a Body When we tell them that in such Expressions of Gods Eye and Hand and Mouth c. the Holy Ghost descends to our capacity and speaks of God after the manner of Men That he seeth all things without Eyes he maketh all things without hands for he spake the word and all things were made and yet the Heavens are call'd his handy-work and so the whole Creation because Man performeth several Operations by several Organs of the body therefore for our better apprehension these Members figuratively and by a Trope are ascribed to God altho he worketh all things by himself by the Almighty Power of his will and pleasure Now when we labor to explain these things unto the People they hardly sink into their hearts to take them off from terrene Cogitations of God and much more would they be confirm'd in such low conceits of the Divine Nature if they should constantly behold God pictur'd and worship him under an humane shape Phil. For no other end do we represent God under an humane shape but to descend unto vulgar capacities and our Priests can instruct them as well as you that God is an invisible Spirit Theoph. Such Images which you make of God are not Tropes and Figures to represent him to the minds of Men but real Representations to the Eye and so are apt in undiscerning Persons to improve the imagination that God is like unto us in our Earthly Members and for this cause among others he hath forbid such Images and you transgress the Commandment of God and endanger the Souls of deluded People in making and expressing such Pictures unto public view and adoration And it is worthy Observation That altho God would borrow a visible shape to appear unto a discerning Patriarch and a Prophet yet he would not do so when he would manifest his prefence to the whole Congregation of Israel he descended upon Mount Sinai in a Cloud in the voice of Thunder and he expresly makes the Observation to the People when he prohibited any likeness of God to be made Take ye therefore good heed unto your selves for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the Fire Deut. 4. 15. Phil. Your worthy Observations must not think to carry the cause against the Traditions and Determinations of the Church Theoph. I do not expect they should when the Commands of God do little move you However to keep others out of the snare we will not spare to represent the ill effects of your picturing God when you usually draw the Image of the Trinity after this manner An old reverend Man with a little Youth and a Dove to represent the Holy Ghost here you conceive you have given us the three Persons but where is the one Substance the one only true God These Images necessarily represent a diversity of Natures and of Substance as well as a distinction of Persons And when you make God the Father ancient and God the Son as an youth you sensibly confirm the Doctrine of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrius who maintain'd That Christ the Son of God was yonger then his Father and that there was a time when the Son of God was net And therefore Abulensis a Cap. 4. Deut. qu 5. Erroris inductivae sunt cum periculo Idolatriae Herefis c. peremtorily determins against making Images of God or of the Holy Trinity

not doubt but stedfastly believe That whole Christ his Body and Blood is contain'd under either Species of the Sacrament And therefore such a custom of giving the Sacrament in one kind introduc'd by the Church and the Holy Fathers and observ'd for a most long time let it be taken for a Law Theoph. The first part is warily penn'd c Tam sub Specie panis quam sub specie vini veraciter contineri We must stedfastly believe that whole Christ is verily contain'd as well under one Species as the other So it may be if it be in neither and so we hold Christ is contain'd in neither singly but he is signified and Sacramentally represented and really and spiritually exhibited by the Sacrament in both kinds unto the Faithful Receiver His Body that was broken for us is signified by breaking of Bread and his Blood shed by the Wine poured out of the Cup and separated from the Bread in the Sacrament and therefore at present we will dismiss this School nicety and by the Councils leave not take it for granted That whole Christ Body and Soul is in either Species Quod nullus Presbyter sub poena Excommunicat communicet Populum sub utraque Specie But the principal motive follows Seeing such a custom of giving the Sacrament in one kind hath been introduc'd and most long observ'd by the Church and Fathers we Decree it shall be taken for a Law which shall not be changed or reprobated without the Autority of the Church b Bin. Tom. 8. Concil Basil Sess 30. Sub qualibet Specie est integer totus Christus landab quoque consuet commun Laices c. The Council of Basil makes and confirms the same Decree upon the same Motives Whole and intire Christ is under either kind and the laudable custom of Communicating the Laity under one kind induc'd by Church and Fathers and hither to most long observ'd and approv'd by Doctors skilful in Gods Law and in the Holy Scripture and in Church Canons long since Let it be a Law c. Phil. Yes The Custom and Practice of the Church should prevail with sober Men not given to Faction especially when confirm'd by General Conncils Theoph. Why should not then the Custom and Practice of the Church which we have prov'd for so many Ages prevail for administring the Sacrament in both kinds especially being exactly conformable unto Christs Institution and Command and Apostolical Tradition Phil. Stay there We absolutely deny any command of Christ or of his Apostles or of the Church representative in a General Council to administer the Sacrament in both kinds and we shew two Councils forbidding it Theoph. You deny but the Scriptures affirm And the reason why no General Council determin'd the Sacrament to be in both kinds was because the Institution of Christ and the Tradition of the Apostles and the practice of the whole Church was so full and express for it It was never put to the Question as I can find until the 13 th Century and from that time when the School-men began to swarm most of them being sworn Champions of the See of Rome The laudable Custom as the Council speaks approv'd by Holy Fathers viz. Monks and Friers crept insensibly into the Church And this must be made a ground of Canons to establish the Communion in one kind and forbid the Cup and declare a Curse upon all those that shall dispute it And now when I shall declare the reason I hope your goodness will excuse that great trouble to my self and you in those numerous Quotations and Testimonies I have brought to prove the practice of the Church for 1200 Years in giving the Sacrament unto the People in both kinds It was chiefly upon this design to manifest the gross absurdity of those two Councils Constance and Basil who as you have heard do ground their Decree for one kind upon the laudable custom of the Church taken up not above 100 Years before against the Institution of Christ and the conformable practice of the Church for 1200 Years And withal to manifest their impudence in calling that a custom rationally introduc'd when such a Diutissime obs trifling Motives are brought to establish it And in saying it was diutissime observata for a long time observ'd when they cannot shew one clear Instance save in the Age immediatly before That the Sacrament was administred in public in one kind in any Christian Church Phil. It doth not become your Prudence and Moderation so to undervalue General Councils Theoph. Alass Those two pitiful Councils of Constance and Easil you may call them Oecumenical but you give no more Autority to them then you think fit As far as their Decrees suit the Genius of the Court of Rome they are confirm'd and no farther a Part. 2. Tom. 7. pag. 1134. Exparte Approbatum in iis quae consra Wicclesum c. Binius in his Notes upon the Council of Constance tells us It was approv'd in part in those Decrees against Wicliff Husse and Jerome of Prague But in the determination of the Autority of a General Council above the Pope it was abrogated by two General Councils of Florence and the Lateran b Bin. Tom. 8. S●ss 34. C●n● Basil Tan suum Sim●niacum perjurum incorig Scismaticum fide devium injurium bonarum Ecclesi●e p●●ditor●m So the Council of Basil deposing Eugenius the 4 th from his Papacy As a Simoniacal and per● jur'd Man an incorrigible Schismatic erring from the Faith injurious and betraying the Goods of the Church And choosing Amadeus Duke of Savoy Pope called Felix the fifth and Declaring That a Council is above the Pope and hath its Power immediatly from Christ Alas for these things this poor Council is hist off the Stage of the World c Sess 11. Bin in notis in Concil ●asil p. 526. Conciliabulum Schismat c. And in the Lateran General Council under Leo the 10 th It is call'd a Schismatical and Seditious Conventicle and altogether of no Autority And yet these are the Councils upon whose Aurority you so much depend to establish your half Communion and pronounce us all Heretical and Contumacious for not submitting our Reason and our Consciences thereunto even against the Scripture and against the Fathers of the Church Phil. But the General Council of Trent hath no Exception being held 18 years and confirm'd by Pope Pius the fourth and subscrib'd by his Cardinals as appears by the Bull of Confirmation See the Council of Trent set forth in Latin by John Gallemart D. D. and Professor at Douey Theoph. Of the Council of Trent read the History of Father Paul a Frier at Venice a Man of Learning Judgment and Piety beyond compare and there you will find what just cause the World ●ath to decline the Autority and Decrees of that Cabal That great Ecclesiastical Body whose Soul and Spirit was at Rome receiving day by day Orders and Directions and

Scriptures might behold many Historical passages of Scripture carv'd and limn'd and represented to the Eye As to see in a Picture our Blessed Savior wrap'd in Swadling-clothes and lying in a Manger and the Wise-men worshipping and presenting Gifts So his Circumcision his Baptism his Scourging and Crucifixion effectually represented in Pictures may more sensibly affect the Heart then bare reading the Histories in the Gospel Theoph. But what is this to the Historical Image of God Christs Picture is taken as he is Man Phil. Bellarmin explains himself as to that In that Historical passage of Gods appearing to Adam and Eve in the midst of the Garden Gen. 3. after they had eaten of the forbidden Fruit to paint a Man walking in amidst the Trees of Paradice and our first Parents hiding from his presence is to represent God Historically Theoph. Or rather falsly and unwarrantably For the Text saith not that God did appear in an humane Shape but only That Adam and Eve heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the Garden in the cool of the day and bid themselves ver 8. How God was pleased to manifest himself to them is not express'd they must draw the Image of a voice to represent aright that History Phil. But there is another instance more opposite of those three Men who appeared to Abraham at his Tent door in the plain of Mambre Gen. 18. It is expresly said in the first verse The Lord appeared to Abraham as he sat at the Tent door God therefore was represented by one of these three Men who afterwards as we read ver 17. staid and communed with Abraham when the other two went to Sodom Now to draw three waifering Men turning in to Abraham's Tent and entertain'd by him whereof two departed towards Sodom and the third communed with Abraham would be Historically to represent God under the Image of a Man Theoph. We deny not that three Men may be drawn coming towards Abraham and all the sequel of the Story but we deny that either of these thus pictur'd would be the Image of God representing him God afterwards manifested himself to Abraham in communication in means unknown to us whereas under the similitude of a Man he was altogether unknown to the Blessed Patriarch You may as well say a Cloud is Gods Image because he appeared to Moses and the Israelites in a thick Cloud upon Mount Sinai Exod. 19. 9. The same reason holds for the Holy Ghost descending upon Christ in the shape of a Dove the Dove was no Image of the Holy Ghost had no similitude or representation of the third Person of the Blessed Trinity who is the Eternal Spirit and cannot be represented by Picture If you saw the Picture of a Dove you would not say This is the similitude or Image of the Holy Ghost Phil. The whole Scene of Christs Baptism being represented in a Table and among the rest a Dove descending upon Christ it would put us in mind of the Holy Ghosts descent upon him Theoph. So the Rain-bow in the Clouds puts us in mind of Gods gracious Promise never to drown the World a second time These are Signs but not Similitudes or Images Answer me this Question Would you worship one of them as God If we saw the Baptism of Christ represented in Images would you worship the Dove pictur'd therein or would you worship the shape of fiery Tongues in Picture descending upon the Apostles Phil. I am not concern'd to give an Answer to such Impertinencies Theoph. Well if you will not be put out of your road proceed and shew what Bellarmin means by an Analogical Picture of God Phil. He tells us a Vt supra Potest aliquid pingi ad explicand c. That things may be represented and painted and their nature explicated not by an immediate and proper similitude but by Analogy or a Metaphorical and Mystical representation Theoph. Alas with how much difficulty doth your great Doctor express himself Fain he would say somwhat to the purpose but knows not what and therefore he involves himself in a cloud of mystical terms and notions very well suited doubtless to the capacity and for the Instruction of the People I must needs acknowledg I comprehend him not and much doubt whether he understood himself Phil. Your doubts and no understanding must be no rule to us Bellarmine well explains himself by following Instances As we picture Angels saith he with youthful and fair Countenances and with wings to shew their speed in Gods service and their flourishing state alwaies in the spring of youth as Christ is pictur'd in the form of a Lamb to represent innocency and meekness after this Analogical way Man is the Image of God even extra historiam and we may picture God under an humane shape Theoph. Your Doctor deriv'd this deep Theology from the Pythagoreans or rather from the old Idolatrous Egyptian Priests who were much taken with Hieroglyphics But I pray observe how his Instance in Man as the Analogical Image of God is the worst chosen of all the rest For all Lambs are meek and patient and so may Hieroglyphically represent the patience and meekness of Christ But most Men are evil like the Beasts that perish as Lions and Tigers and Wolves devouring one another as Swine and Goats for Lust and so are become rather Images of the Devil And notwithstanding all this must the single Image and Figure of a Man without any other thing to determin it represent God and become his Analogical Picture and let me observe to you how they deal worse with God then with the Angels for these they picture fair and youthful to represent their florid incorruptible state but they picture God as the ancient of days whom we read of in the Prophet Dan. 7. 9. with a grey Beard and antique Countenance as if he had one foot in the Grave Phil. That form sitly represents Gods Eternity Theoph. Any thing that shall please the fancy where there is no ground in Reason or Religion to determine it The Heathen Poets made prodigious Deities and so do Christian Painters But what Analogy can there be between the Divine Nature and an Image the one is Infinite the other finite the one a Spirit the other altogether material An Hieroglyphic or Image which represents God in one respect must be infinitely defective in many other The Egyptians Analogically represented the great Deity of the World by the Hieroglyphic of an Eye to signifie his All-seeing Providence But alas the Eye seeth but doth not fore-see It is the Mind that is provident not the Eye And then where is the Power and Justice and Mercy of God represented by that Emblem If all were an Eye where is the Body saith the Apostle And if an Eye shall be the Image of God where is the Hand of Power and the Scepter of Government and the Scale of Justice and Thunderbolt of his Wrath Put all the Emblems in the World together and