Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	answer_v	holy_a	scripture_n	2,886	5	5.5015	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A04641	The gales of grace; or, the spirituall vvinde wherein the mysterie of sanctification is opened and handled. By Thomas Barnes ...	Barnes, Thomas, Minister of St. Margaret's, New Fish Street, London.	1622 (1622)	STC 1476; ESTC S101226	81,318	222

5 and 6. verses with the 18. when he was cast downe with the hand of God so suddenly and violently as he was trauelling with Letters from the high Priest towards Damascus against the Saints had a strong and a strange worke and himselfe into an Angell of light telling the Christian there is a thing like repentance which is not repentance like faith which is no true faith and by this meanes hee driues the poore soule into such a quandary that it can not distinctly tell whether the holy motions which it hath be but meere flashes of ioy of sorrow or whether the holy Ghost be the author of them Seeing then many saints are but yonglings in piety seeing the Diuell seekes by all cunning fetches to blinde their eyes that they may not so plainely see the truth of their graces wee need not account it any strange poynt of Doctrin To hold and affirme that a man may haue the stirrings of grace in him and yet not at all times know that the holy Ghost is the breeder of them Sect. 2. Before I come to the Vse a question must be answered which is fitly occasioned by the Doctrine and this it is Quest Whether a man may haue the worke of Conuersion and not know of it at all To this I answer Answ negatiuely A man cannot be conuerted but he must needes know it some way or other And my reason is this because Conuersion is a change and can a man be changed and not finde an alteration in himselfe Yea but then will some say I contradict my selfe vnsay that which I haue now prooued Not so For though I say a man cannot be conuerted but he must needs know of an alteration in himselfe yet may hee bee ignorant of the trueth of his conuersion for a time to be turned he may finde himselfe but directly to know and to say I am truely turned by the worke of the Spirit hee may possibly not for a time and heerein he may doubt and wauer and though he hath receiued the holy Ghost to renue him yet his condition may possibly be such that he shall say I am not yet renued But to be altered and find no alteration at all in a mans selfe I doe not see what one Scripture doeth warrant it Yes will some say There is Scripture for it Obiect For it is said of some q Acts 19.2 that were in Ephesus who were Disciples of the number of Beleeuers that they had not so much as heard whether there were an holy Ghost or no. For Paul said vnto them Haue ye receiued the holy Ghost since yee beleeued and they answered him Wee haue not so much as heard whether there be any holy Ghost Now if such as beleeued neuer had heard whether there be an holy Ghost then it is likely that they neuer felt the working of the holy Ghost in their conuersion neither one way nor other Answer But to this I answer first of all that it is a bad consequent to conclude that because the Disciples of Ephesus had not heard of the holy Ghost therefore a man can haue no knowledge of his conuersion though he be conuerted Answer Againe besides this we must know that the holy Ghost is taken 3. waies in the Scriptures First it signifieth the substance it selfe or the person of the holy Ghost the third person in the Trinitie secondly it signifieth the sanctifying and inuisible gifts of the Spirit which are conferred vpon the Elect at their conuersion and thirdly the visible spirituall gifts which Christ bestowed vpon the faithfull or some of them in the Primitiue Church Now in this place of the Acts is neyther meant the person of the holy Ghost nor the inuisible sanctifying gifts of the holy Ghost For it had bin a most absurd thing for Paul to haue esteemed those as such as had neuer knowne whether there were an holy Ghost or no or regenerating gifts of that holy Ghost yea or no who were Disciples who had receiued the Baptisme of that Iohn which in his course of baptizing had made mention of such a Spirit and of such gifts when he said r Mat. 3.11 I indeed baptize you with water to repentance but there is one that cometh after me who is stronger then mee he shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire It had beene an absurd thing I say for Paul to haue doubted whether they had knowne of such a Spirit such gifts in neither of those two senses is the place therefore to bee vnderstood but it rather is to be meant of the visible gifts which in those times Christ did powre downe vppon his Church Concerning such gifts therefore Paul asketh the Disciples of Ephesus whether they had receiued them yea or no as the gifts of tongues and prophecie And concerning such gifts they answer Paul also We know not whether there be any holy Ghost wee neuer heard whether euer Christ gaue any such visible gifts vnto his Church as the gifts of tongues and prophecying are So that from that Scripture no such matter can be gathered that it is possible for a Christian neuer to finde a change in himselfe and yet be changed For if a man be conuerted by the Spirit of grace he may know an alteration in himself though he cannot so presently vnderstand that that change in himself is the right change and such as the holy Ghost produceth and causeth and though at sometimes as the Doctrine sheweth the spiritual feeling which he hath within him cannot so directly bee comprehended to come from the Spirit as at another time it is and may be The Vse followeth Sect. 3. Vse To teach the children of God when they haue any feeling in themselues and know not whence directly it is to go and enquire at the word of God at the Priests lips which preserue knowledge or at the mouth of some faithfull brother and to compare their present sense with what that word reuealeth and to open their case plainely faithfully to such a Minister or such a brother telling them how it hath beene with them or how it is with them either in case of sorrow ioy c. intreating them to acquaint them with euidence from the Word whether the griefe which they are sometimes ouerwhelmed withall or the comforts that they are at other times accheerd withall be such as are fruits of Gods sanctifying Spirit For seeing there may be such a feeling in a man and not knowne by him to come from heauen nor whence indeed I thinke that it is very necessary for him to make such an enquiry as I am now perswading vnto Euen as a man therefore that heareth the noyse of the winde abroad that he may know in what corner it lieth from what Angle it commeth whether from the East or from the West c. So when thou hearest a kinde of spirituall sound in thy selfe blowing eyther roughly to humble thee