Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	apostle_n	church_n	doctrine_n	4,033	5	6.2595	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47136	Divine immediate revelation and inspiration, continued in the true church second part. In two treatises: the first being an answer to Jo. W. Bajer Doctor and Professor of Divinity, so called, at Jena in Germany, published first in Latine, and now in English. The second being an answer to George Hicks, stiled Doctor of Divinity, his sermon preached at Oxford, 1681. and printed with the title of, The spirit of enthusiasm exorcised; where this pretended exorcist is detected. Together, with some testimonies of truth, collected out of diverse ancient writers and fathers, so called. By G.K.; Divine immediate revelation and inspiration, continued in the true church. Part 2.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1685 (1685)	Wing K158; ESTC R218958	105,601	220

because they have departed and Apostatised from that Holy Spirit given of old unto their Fathers And therefore was it not also a great glory and honour to the ancient Christian Church to have in it the gift of prophecy or speaking by Immediate Inspiration and would it not be now a great glory and honour to the Church if that gift of prophecy which did anciently flourish in the Church for some Ages after the Apostles days should flourish and spring forth again was not this gift with many others lost by the apostacy of the professors of the Christian Religion and therefore when the apostacy goeth out and people doth return to the sincere worship and obedience of God shall not this excellent gift be restored together with many others Had not the ancient Christian Church after the Apostles days all the Books of Scripture of the Old and New Testament as well as we The Jews also had the Scriptures of the Old Testament which contained all the heads of Christian Doctrine in respect of the substance of Religion a people therefore having the Scripture but wanting the Spirit Immediately teaching leading and inspiring them which both the Jewish Church had and also the Christians after the Apostles days shall be more happy then both these because they want the said Holy Spirit Immediately inspiring teaching and leading them This is a wonderful paradox but most false for the Christians are not more happy than the Jews because out of the Scripture barely they could know the will of God for the Jews had the Scripture also containing all the heads of the Doctrine of their Religion clearly enough But for this cause true Christians are more happy than those Jews that whereas the Jews for all their having the Scripture did need to take long Journeys to consult the Priests to solicite wait for the respouses of the High Priests all true Christians because they partake more largely of the Holy Spirit they need not make these Journeys or travels to consult either Priests or High Priest because they have a most excellent Priest yea an High Priest more high then the Heavens or the Angels that dwell in them to wit Jesus Christ dwelling in their hearts who by his Spirit teacheth them all things and doth clearly and without all doubtfulness answer them i● all things needful to be known by them and who doth also clearly and infallibly expound the Scripture unto them And therefore true Christians have no need to run to these Jewish Priests and High Priests nor unto these Doctors so called and preachers at this day who do not so much as profess to have any thing of the Divine Inspiration and inward Revelation with which the Prophets and holy men of God were of old endued and do not pretend to have any infallible sense or understanding of the holy Scripture or to have received any infallible Judgment of its meaning And so true Christians may spare both their labour and their mony and not spend it nor give it away to such Doctors and Preachers but leaving them all behind as unprofitable let them go unto Jesus Christ the Lord the eternal Priest who liveth for ever by whom they shall be well and sufficiently taught and instructed and that freely without either labour or mony And lastly as to these notable testimonies of the ancients and reformers in Luther's times cited by R. B. in his Apology because the Adversary endeavoureth to elude or evade the form of them after the same manner as he doth the testimonies of the holy Scripture therefore he is the same way refused in both and the answers given in the one will serve in the other the which if I have effectually given I leave unto the ●qual and impartial Reader for to Judge THE Pretended EXORCIST DETECTED In a Brief REPLY TO A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE The University of Oxford by George Hicks stiled Doctor of Divinity in the Month called Iuly 11. 1680. the which Sermon is called The Spirit of Enthusiasm Exorcised CHAP. I. UPon my reading of this Authors Printed Sermon which is called the Spirit of Enthusiasm exorcised I find the said Author very unskilful and unacquainted with the true notion of Enthusiasm as it is owned and received among the People called in derision Quakers with all possible moderation And though he hath been pleased to cite my Book of Immediate ●evelation and R. B. his Apology and Theses yet I can hardly believe he hath been at any pains to read and consider throughly what is said by us on that Subject for had he but read and well considered what we have said or writ in that matter he would have ●●●●e fairly and genuinely stated the controversy betwixt us and our opposers as to this particular In my answer to Io. Bajer the Lutheran Doctor in Iena so much is already said as less needs be added for a reply to what this Author hath brought against us As for the word or term Enthusiasm as I have already said in my answer to the Lutheran Doctor we do not plead for it or affect such a name or title for it being no Scripture phrase or expression we can and do very well declare our Faith in the thing we intend without it Yet we cannot altogether reject the term when thrust or cast upon us by opposers on purpose many times to render us odious because the Etimology of the word Enthusiasm according to the best and most approved Greek Lexicons signifieth Divine Inspiration And whereas it hath been used by heathenish writers to signifie the inspirations or inward suggestions of Daemons and evil Spirits yet this hath rather been an abuse and improper signification of the word then a true and genuine acceptation of it and notwithstanding of this abuse of the word among heathenish writers and Poets yet divers of the Fathers use● it in a good sense and as applicable to good and sincere Christians Yea this Author himself with respect to the Prophets and Apostles and others their successors for 3 or 4 hundreds of years owneth the term Enthusiasm and that in the Apostles times and downwards to the 4 or 5 Century there were some real and sincere Christians who had Enthusiasms and were enthusiastically acted and moved by the Spirit of God for thus he saith Pag. 12. Edit 3. of this sort of Enthusiastical confidence with which the Spirit filled the minds of men is that place to be understood Math. 21. vers 21. and Pag. 14. he saith prophecy may be taken as it is often in the Old and New Testament for praising of God by inspired Hymns and Psalms for inspired persons did usually spend their Enthusiasm in composing of Hymns and Spiritual Songs And Pag. 16. he saith the groanings wherewith some inspired persons prayed in the Apostles days according to Rom. 8. were the effect of those supernatural raptures and Enthusiasms with which the Spirit filled the souls of those inspired Orators so we see how this Author

to obtain their Revelations Or did God use no means when he did communicate unto them those Revelations and Inspirations Did he not always use their Souls and Minds at least as means and instruments when he did inspire them as he did use their Tongues and Lips to speak forth and their Hands to bring forth in writing their Prophecies Vissons and Revelations For that the Souls and Minds of the Prophets and their Intellectual Faculties or Powers were not altogether passive and suppose they had been passive altogether yet they might be accounted passive means but were partly active is clearly enough manifest from the diversity of style and phrase of speaking and writing that doth occur both in the Prophets and Apostles For Isaias doth after another manner of style express his Visions and Revelations than Amos And among the Apostles Paul and Matthew and Iohn do differ in their style and manner of expression The which diversity of style and manner of speech did proceed from the different qualifications and endowments of their minds for as the spirit of God findeth any man furnished or endued with gifts whether natural or acquired so he worketh upon him accordingly sanctifying those gifts and making use of them as means in his work and service Again that the Souls and Minds of the Prophets might be rendred apt and fit to be used by God as his instruments and means both to receive and convey the Revelations of his Will how many and how great preparations and purifications did they require all which might be called means Yea with what watchings fastings prayers and wrestlings against all inward impurities and evil and unclean suggestions and temptations of the Devil did they labour both day and night How soberly how holily how chastly how purely how obediently behoved they to walk and have their conversation in all Gods commandments both in respect of the inward and outward Man that they might be approved Ministers and Prophets of God And therefore never any Prophet of God who was true and faithful whom God inspired immediately but used divers sorts of means And did not some of the Prophets under the Law make use of Minstrels as means to fit or dispose them to prophecy in that legal and shadowy dispensation And David at sundry times when he considered the Heavens and the Stars and other excellent works of God did fall into most excellent and noble Visions and Prophesies as may be seen Psal. 8.104 107 c. And therefore the right and lawful use of means whether of Scripture in reading or hearing preaching or praying meditating or waiting singing or thanksgiving or any other appointed of God doth not in the least hinder that the illumination and revelation of God in the hearts and souls of his people be immediate and properly so to be accounted For the Sun shineth as immediately while the Husbandman doth labour in his Field using many sorts of means as when he doth nothing and oft-times the Divine Sun of Righteousness which is in Christ doth as immediately shine in the hearts of the faithful and inspire and inlighten them when they are exercised according to the Will and moving of God in the use of means as reading hearing meditating and the like as when they are not so employed but only silently waiting upon God which also may be called a mean CHAP. V. WHat doth now remain of Controversie or Debate betwixt our Adversary and us in the matter of inward and Immediate Revelation and Inspiration Perhaps he will say in this That we affirm that God doth in many things inlighten and inspire us without making use of the Scripture Means But he pleadeth that none of the Faithful is inlightened or inspired in any particular without the concurrence of Scripture To this I answer First the Controversie of Immediate Revelation is more large and general than to be restricted to that without Scripture For it is one question whether Divine Revelation be received without all means and another question whether without the means of Scripture But secondly If it were granted which yet I do not grant that no man hath any inward illumination or Inspiration or Revelation in our days without the conveyance and concurrence of Scripture used either in reading and hearing or meditation all this should not hinder the said Illumination or Inspiration to be immediate because the Scripture in that case is a continued mean or medium most closely and nearly conjoyned with that Illumination as doth sufficiently appear from what is above said Moreover it may be affirmed that as to those who from their Infancy and Childhood or from their first Conversion have been instructed and exercised in reading and hearing the Scriptures and meditating upon them that they have been a remote means at least and continue so to be in respect of their knowledge of Divine Things to wit by disposing and fitting or preparing their Minds and Hearts through the secret operation of the Holy Spirit unto true Piety Purity and Holiness and to the begetting those Divine Vertues in them whereby at length the Soul and Mind may be raised up to behold Divine Things and God and Christ himself far beyond and above the reach and measure of words which as is already said are not the Divine Things themselves but the signs and shadows as it were of them and so to see God in Christ without these veils and coverings of words We do therefore greatly esteem and value the use of the holy Scripture when it is joyned with the inward operation and illumination of God but if the use of the Scripture be separate from the said inward illumination and operation as it happeneth most frequently among the most of these called Christians it doth nothing profit but is only a killing Letter And seeing the Adversary doth acknowledge that the Gentiles know many things of God and some things that are Divine by General Revelation and these inward notices of Truth planted in them by God without Scripture whereby that which may be known of God is manifest in them therefore many things are also revealed unto Christians of God and Divine Things by General Revelation For the said General Revelation is as large or indeed more large and full in true Christians who have the Scriptures as in those Gentiles which have them not because the General Revelation commune to us with the Gentiles by virtue of Special Revelation and the doctrine of the Scriptures is much improved and perfected in true Christians yet retaining its Nature of General Revelation Even as Natural Reason and other Natural Gifts of the Soul are much improved and perfected by the operation of the Holy Spirit and yet retain their Nature as such And if we except these Doctrines and Heads of General Religion common to us with the Gentiles which are revealed both to them and us without Scripture of all which notwithstanding the Scripture doth abundantly testifie all other Doctrines and Heads of the Christian

Religion which is a special Religion more perfect and excellent than the General and perfiting the said General Religion in true Christians are made known unto us by the Scripture means the Holy Spirit inwardly inlightning and inspiring us that we may understand the Doctrines declared in the Scripture and may savingly apply them with true and sincere Faith to the salvation of our souls And what more any can require of us to establish the due use of the Scripture or of any other means I do not understand And as concerning the aforesaid experimental and sensible knowledge of God that is only manifest or obvious to the inward and supreme sences and powers of the Soul as they are opened and awakened in us by the work of Regeneration and Renewing of the Holy Ghost although the Scripture words do not immediately concur in the formal act of such a Divine and Intuitive Knowledge as the words of a mans name do not make me see the man yet the Scriptures do witness abundantly concerning such an experimental and spiritually sensible knowledge of God which is perceived in a most inward union and communion of the Soul with God and in a certain Intellectual or spiritual contact or touch of which not only Plato and Plotin and others among those called Philosophers but the Apostles among the Christians have largely made mention And after the Apostles Athanasius Gregory Nazianzen Clemens Alexandrinus Origen and many others among the Grecians and Augustine and Ierome with many others many Ages ago among the Latines and in latter Ages Bernard Thauler and Thomas a Kempis and the Author of the German Theology unto whose Book Luther did write a Preface and did much commend it All these and generally these called Mysticks and Writers upon Mystick Divinity so called do Preach and hold forth a certain Knowledge of God which is received without all words by a certain inward gust taste and touch and inward feeling of God and Divine Things in the souls and hearts of those who have attained unto that due state and degree of purity and holiness requisite in order to such a knowledge and enjoyment And hence it is that they distinguish Theology or the knowledge of God into discursive on the one hand and mystick or intuitive and contemplative on the other and they say the former is had or received by words and verbal discourses syllogisms propositions premisses and conclusions gathered and collected from Scripture which yet without the Spirits inward illumination and operation is not effectual to the salvation of those who have it but that this latter is obtained by a naked and simple perception and intuition of God and Divine Things as the mind is purified and cleansed and denuded as it were from all images and similitudes or signs of words or outward things whatsoever That we may therefore put a conclusion to the forming the state of the controversie aright which is the most principal thing if the question be made concerning doctrinal and discursive Theology or knowledge which require words propositions definitions reasons arguments and conclusions we shall readily grant that the Scriptures are a General Principle of the same but Secundary the Holy Spirit inwardly inlightning and inspiring mens souls and hearts being still the Primary and Principal and that by means of the Scriptures in reading and hearing and meditating upon them and as they are preached and opened and used by men spiritually gifted and fitted of God we attain to the knowledge of the said discursive and doctrinal Theology and most especially the Scriptures are of service unto us when we turn or convert the words of them that do most nearly respect Holiness of Life and Manners such as the precepts and examples of Christian Vertues into good works and deeds and into a good and Christian Life But in the experimental and mystick or intuitive and contemplative Theology not the Scripture words but the things themselves signified by the words to wit God Christ the Holy Spirit the Life Light and Power of God the Love Peace and Joy of God and the Kingdom of God which Christ did testifie to be within us reveal and demonstrate themselves to the souls and hearts of the faithful by themselves nakedly in their own proper and native light glory and evidence without words even as the outward things and riches of this visible world and the beauty glory and vertue of them reveal and discover themselves unto our outward senses without words and far beyond the force or reach of words And if outward things without words are continually presented to our outward senses it followeth that inward things to wit the things of the Divine and Heavenly Kingdom which is in us are presented to our inward and spiritual senses without words seeing these inward and spiritual things are as near to our souls yea much nearer ' as those outward things are to our bodies And thus the state of the Controversie being rightly framed and brought to a period I shall have little difficulty to answer the following Paragraphs or Sections of the Adversary seeing in all things almost he goeth without or beyond the state of the Controversie and so contendeth not so much against us or R. B. as his own shadow or thoughts CHAP. VI. WHat the Adversary saith in his Ninth and Tenth Paragraphs are of the same tendency with the things he had formerly mentioned belonging to the state of the Controversie In his Eleventh Paragraph he saith the Controversie is not of any sort of Revelation but that of Immediate And in his Twelfth he affirmeth that Revelation considered in it self doth prescind or abstract from that which is Immediate and Mediate And he assenteth unto R. B. his five Propositions pag. 9. of his Apology and that Divine Revelations remain to be the formal object of the Saints Faith but he denyeth them to be Immediate To whom I answer that he granteth with us That he inward illuminations and operations of the Holy Spirit are altogether necessary to beget true and saving Faith in men and that these inward illuminations are objective or by way of Object Par. 32. and Par. 34. So that the act of Faith is occupied or exercised and doth finally stay in God himself revealing as the Object And what he subjoyneth That God revealing as the formal Object in whom the Vnderstanding stayeth or resteth and the Divine Revelation consisting of the external signs are not to be opposed Because when God the revealer by outward words Preached or Writ moveth the Vnderstanding to acknowledge them to be as a Divine Revelation it cannot be denyed that the Vnderstanding doth so rest in God revealing as the formal Object So that it doth also regard these signs depending on God by which that Revelation doth consist meaning the words All this is granted both by me and R. B. yea that is it for which R. B. pleadeth viz. that God inwardly illuminating and moving the Understanding to the assent of the