Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	worship_n	worship_v	worshipper_n	4,806	4	12.4611	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47164	The Presbyterian and independent visible churches in New-England and else-where brought to the test, and examined according to the doctrin of Holy Scriptures ... : more particulary directed to those in New-England, and more generally to those in old England, Scotland, Ireland, &c. : with a call and warning from the Lord to the people of Boston and New-England, to repent, &c. : and two letters to the preachers in Boston, and an answer to the gross abuses, lies and slanders of Increase Mather and Nath. Morton, &c. / by George Keith.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1691 (1691)	Wing K191; ESTC R21261	124,580	240

of Truth but the Spirit of Truth they have not and who have it not cannot minister it And therefore Paul imputeth all the good Fruit and Success of his Ministry not to himself but to the Grace of God that was with him and in him 1 Cor. 15.10 How then can a graceless Man have any fruit or success in his Ministry seeing all fruit and success belongeth not to the Man however so well furnished with natural or acquired parts but to the Grace of God It is Grace Grace that maketh a Man's Preaching effectual to the Hearers and that Grace is in the Minister and worketh both in him and with him in the Hearts of the Hearers where God is pleased to concur and give the blessing and increase and thus the Grace of God is like a good Seed and Plant that not only bringeth forth Fruit in that little spot of Earth where it was first planted but spreadeth abroad and filleth many other parts and places with it and hath new Roots and Seeds continually encreasing and multiplying 7. And as concerning the Call to the Ministry It is worthy of great observation how they are pinched and narrowed to give any colourable account of their Call who deny all inward and immediate calling to the Ministry and especially such of them who say The Church of Rome is no true Church but a Harlot and the Pope is Antichrist as the Westminster Cenfession of Faith doth expresly call him cap. 25. sect 6. and yet the Presbyterian Ministers generally derive their Call from him and I have heard divers of them expresly affirm it being questioned about their Call whether immediate or mediate they have answered mediate from the Apostles and then being urged to shew the Line of Succession through which that mediate Call is conveyed unto them they have plainly said The Popes of Rome as one lately a Preacher in New-England said before some Hundreds of People That their Call to Preach was by the Popes of Rome and so according to their own Doctrin by Antichrist Surely these men do not believe that Christ is in them either to call or furnish them in their Ministry who must go so far as Rome to bring it and from him too whom they call Antichrist But they think Rome and the Pope however much distant from them is much nearer than Christ and Heaven from whom the true Ministers have their Call 8. And as all true Preaching ought to be by the Inspiration and moving of the Spirit of God so all true Praying and Singing both in private and in publick for still that is it which the Scripture enjoyneth Ephes 6.18 to Pray always with the Spirit or in the Spirit and no man can say that Jesus is the Lord either in Preaching or Praying but by the holy Ghost And I charge them to produce one Instance where Praying without the Spirit is commanded any where in Scripture or was ever practised by any of the Saints without the Inspiration of the Spirit Do they not grant that all the Prayers recorded in Scripture did proceed from divine Inspiration and Revelation And if their Prayers do not they are quite of a Bastard kind for the true Worshippers Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth and the Father seeketh such to Worship him and none else And whereas some say Then men who neglect Prayer are excusable because they have not the Spirit to move them to Prayer I answer Not they are not in the least excusable for as he that oweth a sum of Mony to his Prince though he hath not wherewith to pay his Debt is still Debtor and yet must not pay with false Coyn but true so he who hath not the Spirit 's assistance and help to Pray is still obliged to Pray but not without the Spirit and that he hath not the Spirit 's help at all seasonable and requisite times for Prayer it is his own default who hath resisted the Spirit and provoked him to with-draw his necessary assistance from him for the Spirit of the Lord is ready to give his seasonable help to all men to help them both in Prayer and Thanksgiving and all other commanded Duties and Performances And as for Singing on a Book and with artificial Musick and notes or tones it is no part of Gospel-worship being no where either commanded or practised in the New-Testament And it is strange that these men should be against Praying on a Book and yet Sing on a Book for if the one be not Spiritual the other is not 9. There are others such as these called Independents and Baptists who deny all immediate Call to the Ministry and yet betake themselves to as poor and shiftless evasion about their Call as the former They say They have the Call of the Church But still the question is Whence had the Church her Power either immediately or mediately And then the former difficulty returneth for they cannot say their Church hath been visible from the Apostles days and besides the Church is posterior to the Ministry for by true Preachers and Ministers people come to be converted and so to be made fit Members of a Church and therefore the Ministers by whom their Church was first raised or gathered cannot have their Call from the same for that were to put the Effect before the Cause or to say the Church called the Ministers and the Ministers called the Church is to run into a Circle as to say the Egg bringeth forth the Hen and the Hen bringeth for the Egg to wit first of all which is impossible 10. And as concerning true Gospel-Maintenance to the Ministry any Maintenance that may be necessary to any that are poor and have not of their own according to the Scripture it ought to be free and voluntary without force of human Law and compulsion for the Scripture saith He that Preacheth the Gospel should Live by the Gospel It doth not say by human Laws and straining of mens Goods and Cattle as the Preachers both of Old and New-England have done and they ought to relie upon the gracious Care and Providence of God that never suffered his Ministers to want for when Christ sent forth his Disciples without Bag or Scrip at their return they said they wanted nothing Secondly there should be no bargaining in the case betwixt the Minister and the People for that is altogether mercenary and proveth them to be Hirelings and the Servants of Men who have so hired them Thirdly they should receive only to supply their present Necessities and labour with their Hands as honest Paul did that he might make the Gospel of Christ without charge who would not abuse his Power in the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.18 and 2 Cor. 11.9 I was chargeable to no Man And 1 Thes 2.9 Because we would not be chargeable and 2 Thes 3.8 For why may not Ministers when they do not Preach or otherwise labour in the ministerial Work work with their Hands to supply their Necessities to

all inward new Revelation of the Spirit but one Man must take up all the time and preach over the People one Year after another and the people ever learning and yet never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth as was the manner of false Teachers in days past who had the Form of Godliness but denyed the Power thereof who were to be turned from 2 Tim. 3.5 6 7. And concerning the trying and knowing of Spirits as well as Doctrins the Apostle John writ in his General Epistle 1 John 2.1 Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God Now this ability to try Spirits is greater than barely to try whether a Man's Doctrin be true or false for it is possible a Man may Preach for an hour or more words of Doctrin that may be true and yet his Spirit not be of God And that which gave them this Ability to try all Spirits as well as Doctrins was the Vnction or anointing from the holy One which they had received 1 John 2.20 But ye have an Vnction from the holy ' One and ye know all things And vers 26 27. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you i. e. seek to seduce you But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any Man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things c. 5. But because it is taken for granted and laid down for a Fundamental among Presbyterians and Independent Teachers as well as many others That all inward divine Revelation and Inspiration such as Believers had in the time of the Apostles is ceased therefore they lay no claim to any of these spiritual Gifts and plainly confess they have them not and also that they have no Infallible discerning or knowledge what Men are truly gracious and holy and living Members of Christ's Body and what not And therefore when these and other places of Scripture are brought that declare how true Ministers of Christ had spiritual Gifts of Ministration some in a lesser degree and some in a greater they alledge all these Gifts are now ceased and the reason they give is because all inward divine Revelation and Inspiration such as the Saints formerly had is altogether ceased Whereas if they did grant that inward divine Revelation did continue they would also readily grant that these spiritual Gifts of Ministry did continue and a spiritual discerning and ability whereby to know Infallibly who were indeed indued with the Spirit of God and who did preach and pray by the Spirit or sing by the Spirit and who not And the like concerning the Ministerial Call if they did grant that divine inward Revelation and Inspiration did continue in the Church as the common Priviledge of all true and sound Believers as being given to all and every one of them to lead them into all Truth they would readily enough grant that Ministers had an inward Call to preach and exercise other Ministerial Services and Performances as these Ministers did of old So that indeed this their Doctrin That inward divine Revelation is ceased in the Church and in Believers is the foundation of many other false and pernicious Doctrins yea almost of all the false and erroneous Doctrins they have among them And since it is so that they have no Belief of having the Spirit of God inwardly inspiring them and revealing in them the things of God and inwardly teaching them the Mysteries of the Kingdom What is their Ministry or Church or Ordinances All made things of Mans making and inventing and setting up a Man-made Church Man-made Ministry Man-made Ordinances and a Man-made Worship And though they say they hope they have the Spirit and seem at times to lay great stress and weight upon it and the need of it not only to believe but to do all good and acceptable Works and Performances yet their blind Doctrin and Unbelief that all inward divine Revelation is ceased doth so blind and darken them generally and make them so spiritually stupid senseless and benummed that they plainly confess They have no infallible assurance or infallible knowledge that they have the Spirit of God or any of these gracius Motions and Operations of the holy Spirit For according to their blind Doctrin and Faith all the motions and operations of the Spirit are only effective but none of them objective and any Illumination that they have is only effective and not objective that is to say is no immediate object of their knowledge or feeling or spiritual perception the Spirit only works in them so to speak as fire or heat works in Stone or Iron or Wood but the Stone Iron or Wood hath not any inward sense or perception of it for if they did grant true spiritual sense and spiritual feeling or perception they would grant infallible knowledge of these things even as our outward senses when sound and duly qualified and within due circumstances give us an infallible knowledge of outward things for is not every sensible Child infallibly sure that it both seeth its Mother and feeleth her when the Mother is handling the Child and feeding it And doth not the Suckling on the breast surely know the Milk that it sucketh and can well distinguish the breast that hath Milk in it from that which is dry and empty But as the Epistle to the Hebrews saith Things made to wit the things of Mans making without the Spirit and Power of God inwardly revealed are all to be removed Heb. 12.26 27. Yet once more I shake not the Earth only but also Heaven And this word yet once more signifieth the removing of these things that may be shaken as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain Let them consider this who seem to themselves to have a Church Constitution Ministry Discipline Worship far above others as Heaven is above Earth as the Presbyterian Church thinks she is above the Episcopal the Independent Church thinks she is above the Presbyterian the Baptists think themselves above both and yet all these as well as others are open and declared Enemies to the holy Spirit his inward Revelation and Inspiration by which alone the true Church is a living Church and the Ministry a living Ministry and every true Member a living Member and all truly Religions Duties and Services are living But made things of Mans making are all dead things and therefore must all be shaken and removed not the made Earth only but the made Heavens also of Mans making made Faiths made Worships made Ministers made Covenants all things of Mens making without the Spirit and Power of God inwardly revealed must all be removed and every plant that is not of the heavenly Fathers planting must be plucked up But if any of them say Our Churches our Ministry our Faith our Worship our Covenant is not so for we have the spirit of God assisting

so a Church or Assembly of People only professing the true Religion but having nothing of the true Life and Spirit of Christ and whose outward and bodily Services and Works have no inward and spiritual Virtue and Life in them which is that Salt that maketh them savoury and doth recommend them unto God so that he savoureth a sweet savour in them cannot be truly and justly accounted a true Church of Christ For we no where find in Scripture any Society or company of People called the Church of Christ who had nothing but the Profession of the true Religion and although Hypocrites and meer Formalists did outwardly at times mingle or mix with sincere Christians and did assume the same outward Profession with them in former Ages as such were among the Churches of Corinth and Gulatia c. Yet these Hypocrites and meer Formalists who had only the Form but had nothing of the Power and Life of true Religion were no part of the true Church no more than Chaff or Tares that are mixed with Wheat are any part of the Wheat or Dross that is mixed with Silver is any part of the Silver or old Leaven that is mixed with the new Dough is any part of it And therefore it ought to be the work of all the true Members of the true Church to purge out the old Leaven and to be a separate People from all these that have only a Form and Profession of Religion but have nothing of the Power of it 3. The Church of Christ is called his Body frequently in Scripture and every Member thereof is called a Member of Christ and his Body is a living Body and every Member a living Member and that which maketh both the whole Body and every Member thereof living is Christ Jesus the Life living and indwelling in every Member and together with Christ both the Father and the holy Spirit do dwell in every Member of the true Church even as Christ promised it should be John 14.23 If a Man love me he will keep my Words and my Father will love him and We will come unto him and make our abode with him And this WE is the Father the Son and the holy Spirit who are three and one indwelling in every true Member of the Church of Christ and according to this Paul said to the believing Corinthians Know ye not that your Bodies are the Temples of the holy Ghost which dwelleth in you And the holy Ghost which dwelt in them together with the Father and the Son did work every good Work in them and move them in all holy and religious Services and Performances whether to Preach Pray or give Thanks or to meditate and wait upon the Lord in silence And they knew by the inward Teaching and Revelation of God's holy Spirit the proper and fit times when to speak and when to be silent when to preach and when to pray and when to begin and when to make an end they had no Hour-glass to measure out the Time unto them nor an outward Bell hanging in a Steeple to call them together but the Gospel-Bell did ring and sound in their Hearts and this gathered them together in a living way and manner and of this the outward Bells Ex. 28 34 35 that did hang at the High-Priest's Garment with the Pomegranats were Types And this is the living Word even Christ whose inward Voice and Call in the Soul and Heart giveth a joyful sound to that Ear which is opened to hear it and of such it is written Blessed are they that know the joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the Light of thy Countenance Psal 89.15 4. Moreover the true Church and every Member thereof is said to be of Christ's Flesh and of his Bones and they two are one Flesh Ephes 5.30 31. And they are one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 For Christ he is both the Head and Life of the Church which is his Body from whom the whole Body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every Joynt supplyeth according to the effectual working the Greek hath it Energia in the measure of every part maketh increase of the Body unto the edifying of it self in Love Ephes 4.16 And that which thus knitteth all the Members both unto Christ the Head and one unto another is the Spirit and the Unity of the Spirit is the Bond of Peace for by one Spirit they are all baptized into one Body and do all drink into one Spirit And this is the true gathering of a Church or Churches of Christ that is far beyond all Profession of true Religion or outward Signs or Ceremonies as that of water Baptism which Presbyterians and others use to Initiate or enter People into their Church or outward Covenants and Contracts or Bonds which these called Independents use to initiate or enter People into their Church all which outward things are but Mens Inventions as they are now used whereby to gather and make up Churches And all this is but Mans gathering and work made Things Likenesses and graven Images of heavenly things which the Lord hath forbidden saying Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image nor the likeness of any thing in Heaven above c. Exod. 20. For whatever Men make or set up whether it be Church Ordinance or Service without the Spirit and Power of God inwardly moving assisting teaching leading guiding and ordering them so to do is but Man's work a thing of Man's making and all such made Things made Faiths made Churches made Worships made Ordinances without the Spirit and Power of God inwardly revealed are to be abolished shaken and removed and the Voice of God will do it whose Voice of Old did shake Mount Sinai and the Lord hath said Yet once more I shake not the Earth only but the Heavens also And this Voice of the Lord uttered from Heaven hath both shaken abolished and removed many things of Mens making already and in the Lords due time will remove them all and every Plant that is not of the Father's planting he will pluck it up and throw it away And this is a warning unto you O ye Churches and People of New-England altho' Babylon like ye sit as a Queen or have at least so sate some few Years ago and did say in your Heart ye shall see no Widdowhood and have preached it as Doctrin that the sounding of God's Voice from Heaven is althogeter ceased in these days Let this be told unto you it hath not ceased to sound but still doth and shall and the sound of it shall not only shake but utterly remove undo and destroy all your Babylonish buildings And this the Lord will do not by Might nor Power viz. of man but by his own Spirit and the time hastneth and blessed shall he be who receiveth warning and hearkneth unto the counsel of the Lord he who hath Ears to hear let him hear 5. And the true Church is in God the Father and in