Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A30284
|
Proofs of God's being and of the Scriptures divine original with twenty directions for the profitable reading of them : being the sum of several sermons desired by many hearers / by Daniel Burgess.
|
Burgess, Daniel, 1645-1713.
|
1697
(1697)
|
Wing B5711; ESTC R25953
|
6,174
|
17
|
him A. 4 The Beginning of this material World witnesses to me there is a God For Testimony I have that it was not from Eternity Aristotle says the Philosophers before his time were of opinion that it had a Beginning And better Witnesses are not to seek Reason also I have which convinces me that the World was not from Eternity but was at a certain time made as the Chaldeans the Greeks and Latin Poets and Philosophers held it to be For could it make it self That is as impossible as for a House to build it self And if it be supposed to have been from Eternity why hear we of nothing that is six thousand Years old How comes it about that it is not yet inhabited all of it yea and over-stock'd too But if it was ever made there must needs be a Maker that is a God If there be no God how came there to be a World If no Builder how came there to be so large a City A. 5 The excellent Contrivance of all things in this World witnesseth to me that there is a God For there is not one Blot in the whole Volume of this Work In the Heavens on the Earth in the Sea we have nothing but Wonders of Wisdom The Returns of Night and Day of Winter and Summer the Production of Minerals the Growth of Plants the Generation of Animals And the admirable Instinct by which they are all inclined and enabled to preserve themselves and their Young The apt Disposition of the several Parts in all Bodies for their proper Vses How astonishing are these all And unto what Cause can they be ascribed If there be no infinitely wise God from whence rose all this Exactness From whence is this so God-like Work Regular Work and worthy of a God whose Way is perfect A. 6 The Human Nature especially witnesseth to me that there is a God For such a Son could never have been without such a Father What a Body is Man's Galen a Man little inclined to Religion was driven to acknowledg a Deity by his consideration of this Body Of Parts so numerous various beautiful and durable And almost all the internal ones unknown to the Fathers of our Flesh And as for the Soul what is like it What a Mind what a Memory what a Conscience c. has it In a word what a Principle hath it inclining it to seek well-being What another Faculty to judg of the Nature of things fit to serve him or to disserve him And another to chuse and prosecute things accordingly How like is the Human Spirit to the Father of Spirits And what is to be thought of the inexplicable Vnion betwixt our Soul and Body Our thinking Spirit and our shining Clay If there be no God how came there to be such a thing as Man A. 7 The Continuance and the Quietness of the things of this World witnesseth to me that there is a God For what is it that holds the Heavens above us the Earth under us the Life in us Why are not all the Lamps of Heaven burnt out Why is not the Earth that hangs upon nothing long ago fallen down How is it that not one Species of Creature is yet lost That of the vast Army of them none do so mutiny as to destroy them that are most contrary to them That the Fire doth not make the Air too thin for our Use boil and consume the Water scorch and make a Brick of the Earth That the Water doth not drown the Earth and all things on it That the Earth doth not drink up the Water If there be not a God and Lord of Hosts how stands the World and the Host of jarring Creatures keep their Ranks and Orders so sweetly as we see A. 8 The Works of Providence concerning Mankind do witness to me there is a God Both the common ones which accompany vertuous Actions and vicious ones with Rewards and Punishments These make it plain that there is a God that judgeth in the Earth Yet highly reasonable it seems to me that a Supreme Ruler and absolute Soveraign should sometimes try his Servants by Hardships and with long suffering endure his Enemies to insult for a while Insomuch that the very Prosperity of Sinners and Adversity of good Men is also an Argument to me that there is a God who governs all things Again the extraordinary Dispensations of Providence in delivering of Josephs out of Prisons and Daniels out of Lions Dens and young Saints out of fiery Furnaces And in raining Fire from Heaven upon Sodomites striking dead an Ananias and Saphira smiting a swelling Herod with an Angel and the like these do proclaim aloud that there is one in the Heavens who neither slumbers nor sleeps If there be no God how is it that ordinarily it goes well with the Righteous And they who say there is no God have their Sorrows multiplied How is it that Wonders are wrought for Saints and against Sinners A. 9 Miracles do witness unto me that there is a God For can these be wrought without a Power superior to any that Mortals can pretend unto If there be no Almighty God how were ever the Dead raised The Winds and Seas checked The Sun made to stand still and to go back A. 10 Prophecies Fulfilment witnesseth to me that there is a God For who but an Omniscient God can possibly foreknow such future things as in their Circumstances are most contingent But of such there have been many plain Predictions at very many years distance as the Heathen History as well as Christian doth attest Thus Cicero of old did argue there being such a thing as PROPHECY there must needs be a Deity If there be no God how came so many future things to be foretold A. 11 Particularly the State of the Jewish Nation witnesseth to me that there is a God If not by what means hath it been with that People for sixteen hundred Years as it was foretold And so as it never was with any People since the beginning of Time Out of their Land they have been driven particular Place of abode as a Nation they have had none Scattered over all the habitable World they have been And scorned and hated in every place Not mixed with other Nations so as to be lost among them but still kept up as a distinct People kept as a standing Memorial to the World of the Divine Wrath for their Rejection of the Salvation of God and Consolation of Israel If there be no God whose Wrath is it that is come upon the Jews to the uttermost A. 12 The being of such a Book in the World as that of the Scripture of Old and New Testament witnesseth to me that there is a God For if there be no God who made that Book which is as much more wonderful than Mens Books as the Works of the Creation are more wonderful than Mens Works I can as soon believe that a poor Carpenter raised the Roof of the Heavens as that any Mortal ever endited the Holy Scriptures The Design of them is too glorious the Doctrine too sublime the Precepts too wise and too impartial the Threats too awful the Promises too rich for Creature to invent If there be no God what Original hath that Godlike Word CHAP. II. The Arguments by which the Holy Spirit doth confirm his Servants Minds in the Perswasion that the Scripture of Old and New Testament is the Word of God are principally these Arg. 1 ITS Antiquity commends it to me for God's Book Novelty might occasion Jealousy But reasonable it seems that pleasing to have a Book in the World God should order his own Book to have the Honour of being the first And this his Book was surely the First in the World as the Jews his People of old were the first Nation Homer's Writings Chronologers make six hundred Years after Moses and Orpheus his Writings five hundred A. 2 It s Penmens Sanctity doth commend it to me for God's Book For of unquestionable Holiness they were all of them Humbly they confess their own Faults and impartially tell the Faults of their dearest Friends Powerfully they preach all manner of Holy Conversation Teaching that of every idle Word there must be given an account one day And as they preached they lived A straiter Gate than the World 's they entred and a narrower Way they walked in Of many things lawful they denied themselves And of the common Enjoyments of Mankind many were deprived Bonds and Afflictions abiding them for their Doctrine Doctrine which exposed them to nothing in the World but Pains active and passive What then beside the Spirit of God acting them could possibly make them so to write What but the Holy Spirit kindling in them a Fire which they could not suppress Exprest in that Saying We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard A. 3 The vast Distance of these holy and harmonious Writers of the Scripture doth commend it to me for God's Book The Distance of them from one another as to Place and as to Time For they were of distant Countries many of them And lived at very distant Ages From the first Writing of Moses to the last of St. John were about two thousand Years Tho all their Writings seem to be drawn but by the different Pens of one and the same Writer Insomuch that it 's utterly impossible that they should have ever conspired together to deceive the World Or should have wrote so harmoniously but that they were acted all by the same Spirit of harmonious Truth and Goodness A. 4 The Miracles wherewith it has been confirmed do further commend it to me for God's Book Moses wrought about seventy six The Prophets in the time of the first Temple wrought about an hundred and fifty Our Saviour wrought innumerable And the Apostles an abundance And such that the most spiteful Enemies could never detect any the least Imposture in them but were forced to confess the Evidence What then Can any but God's Almighty Power work Miracles Or would that work them to confirm Cheats If not the Holy Scripture must be God's own Book A. 5 The Accomplishment of its Prophecies doth commend it to me for God's Book From its first publishing it hath ever been a Prognostication of things to come And as the Events have shown an infallible one Yea and an universal one For nothing good or bad befel