Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	flesh_n	righteousness_n	sin_n	6,031	5	5.0958	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41191	A sober enquiry into the nature, measure and principle of moral virtue, its distinction from gospel-holiness with reflections upon what occurs disserviceable to truth and religion in this matter : in three late books, viz. Ecclesiastical policy, Defence and continuation, and Reproof to The rehearsal transpos'd / by R.F.	Ferguson, Robert, d. 1714.	1673 (1673)	Wing F760; ESTC R15565	149,850	362

Commandments of God with a performance of the superadded Duties which respect the Mediator is the qualification required in every one that would escape legal Wrath. And if it were not thus the most wicked might lay claim to Pardon and Salvation as well as the most Holy And the Gospel in stead of being an engagement to duty were an indulgence to sin Christ is the Author of Salvation to none but to them who thus obey him Heb. 5.9 And that we may not here deceive our selves and think that we are sincere when we are not I will only mention two things leaving the prosecution of them to practical discourses 1. That to live in the constant allowed neglect of any duty or prosecution of any sin is inconsistent with sincerity 1 Joh. 3.6 10. Rom. 6.12 14 20. 2. There are some sins which the very falling into argues the heart never to have been upright with God 1 Joh. 5.16 17 18. Secondly Improvement in all habits of Grace and degrees of Holiness with endeavours after a most exact strictness are likewise required of us Be ye perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect see 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7 8. 2 Pet. 3.18 2 Cor. 7.1 And though damnation be not denounced here in case of faileur yet hereupon we miss much comfortable communion with God are liable to the withdrawments of the sense of his love and are exposed to what paternal castigations he thinks fit in his Wisdom to inflict Psal. 89.31 32 33. Thirdly There is provision made in the New Covenant for the promotion of our strength and growth if we be not wanting to our selves There is a fulness of Grace in Christ out of which we have ascertainment of supply providing we attend unto the means appointed for the Communication of it An unshaken Faith in the power of God and in the assistance of the Spirit a watching unto prayer with diligence and constancy Meditation of the ugliness of every sin and amiableness of Universal Righteousness c. are exceeding useful hereunto Here mainly lies a Believers Province and the attainment is not onely possible but easie if sloth negligence love of ease indulgence to the flesh superficialness in Duty unbelief of the promises do not preclude and bar us But then we are only to blame our selves not to slander the provisions of the Gospel Fourthly In the vertue of Gods furnishing us with a principle of Grace the heart is immediatly imbued with a sincere Love to God and becomes habitually inclined to walk in his Laws Obedience is connatural to the New principle And though through remains of indwelling sin and the souls hearkning to temptations we be not so uniform in our Obedience nor at all times alike disposed to Holy exercises yet partly from the struglings and workings of the vital seed it self and partly through the supplies ministred by the Spirit according to our exigences we are so far secured that we shall not disannul the Covenant see 1 Joh. 3.9 Jer. 32.42 1 Cor. 10.13 1 Pet. 1.5 So that now upon the whole Christs yoke is an easie yoke Math. 11.30 nor are his Commandments grievous 1 Joh. 5.3 CHAP. III. 1 The Question reassumed Two Great Instruments of Duty The measure regulating it and the principle in the strength of which it is performed The first of these discoursed in this chap. 2. All that Relates to Religion belongs either to Faith or Obedience so far as Natural Light is defective in being the measure of that so far is it defective in being the measure of this 3. All Obedience refers either to Worship or Manners Natural Light not the measure of Religious Worship 4. An inquiry into the Original of Sacrifices not derived from the Light of Nature nor taken up by Humane Agreement their foundation on a divine Institution justified at length 5. Manners either Regulated by Moral Laws or by Positive Natural Light no Rule of positive Duties 6. As it's subjective in Man not a sufficient Rule of Moral ones 7. Considered as objective in the Decalogue only an adequate Rule of Moral performances not of Instituted Religion § 1. I Cannot think that I have digressed from the subject which I have undertaken while I have been discoursing Principles which have so great an influence as well upon the due Understanding as the right deciding of it These being then proposed and confirmed in the former Chapter We are now not only at leisure but somewhat better prepared for the prosecuting the assertion at first delivered viz. That Morality doth not comprehend the whole of practical Religion nor do'th all the Obedience we owe to God consist in Moral Vertue For the clearer stating and determining of this it must be observed that there are two great Instruments of Duty the measure Regulating it which we call Law and the Principle in the strength of which it is to be performed which we call Power That directs and instructs us about it this adapts and qualifies us to the performance of it By the first we are furnished with the means of knowing it and by the second with strength to discharge it Both these were at first concreated with subjective in our Natures There resided in us Originally not only an ability of mind of discerning the whole of our Duty which the Law of Creation exacted of us but a sufficient power to fulfil it Whether since the Fall we abide qualified as to either of these is yet farther to be debated The first we shall Discuss in this Chapter having designed the following for the examination of the other We have already demonstrated the Law of Creation commonly called the Law of Nature to be the alone Rule and measure of Moral Vertue This is granted by a late Author The practice of Vertue saith he consists in living suitably to the Dictates of Reason and Nature Eccl. Polit. p. 68. Now the Law of Nature may be considered either as 't is Subjective in man or as 't is Objective in the Decalogue As 't is Subjective in man 't is vulgarly stiled Right Reason The Light of Nature The Philosophers who were the primitive Authors of the Term Vertue knew no other Rule by which it was to be regulated but Reason This they made the alone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of vertues Mediocrity The Mediocrity of Vertue saith Aristotle is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Right Reason dictates Eth. lib. 3 cap. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue is a Habit measured by right Reason idem Eth. lib. 4. cap. 3. Other testimonies to this purpose we have elsewhere produced viz. cap. 1. Now I affirm that the Law of Nature is no sufficient Measure of Religion and consequently that all Religion consists not in the meer practice of Vertue but that there is something beyond the bounds of Moral Vertue besides Chimera's and flying Dragons Eccl. Pol. p. 69. def and continuat p. 338 339. ibid. p. 315. And that the Christian Institution is not a

Natural Impotency and that the impotency under consideration is such were easie to demonstrate from what our Divines have proved against the Papists viz. That Grace was Natural to man at first not Supernatural 2. As the strength and malignancy of a Disease is best known by the powerful remedies which are necessary to conquer it So the quality of our inability will be best understood by considering the Nature of the means which can relieve us against it That inability then which Moral means are not sufficient to relieve us against is more than a Moral inability Now that Moral means are not sufficient to relieve us against the impotency we labour under might be easily proved by producing the arguments for Inward Efficacious Grace against those who admit only a Moral Suasion but this I suppose sufficiently done against Pelagian Jesuits and Arminians and in the matter both of the necessity of efficacious Grace and the way in which it is wrought we have both Amyrald and Truman harmonizing with us 3. Let us measure our thoughts by the report which the Scripture makes of our inability and we shall find abundant cause of judging it a Natural Impotency For the better clearing of this we may observe that in order to our readier conceiving our ineptness and indisposition to the things of God the Lord is pleased to represent it under such Metaphors and Similitudes as are of a familiar and easie perception and to wave others which possibly may be more Emphatical I shall only take notice that the Holy Ghost upon this occasion frequently stiles us Blind Now Blindness properly is affirmed of the eyes of the body and thence transferred to the Soul As we do not call him blind who wants a visible object Intellectus humanus non est id qu●d in oculis corporis est facultas videndi cui satis est si lux ex●erna offeratur Muscul. in Isa. 42. Caecitas est privatio Luminis interni cui tamen deest externum privatur quidem actu videndi cui vero internum deest privatur potentiâ videndi quantum ad organum spectat Strang. de Volunt Dei lib. ●4 cap. 8. or who wants an enlightned medium nor yet who wilfully shuts his eyes in the Meridian shine but him that wants an Organ so in spiritual things we are not to stile him Blind who by shutting his eyes precludes the light but he only is so that wants the faculty of seeing Other arguments to this purpose I supersede at present for the pursuing of this controversie is not that which we are much concerned in And indeed while such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is on all hands acknowledged which only the immediate inward efficacious working of the Spirit of God can relieve us against other debates are of small moment Only seeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature requires that words be adapted to Conceptions not Conceptions moulded to words Dionys. Halicarn I will always prefer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a clear expression to that which is doubtful and equivocal which I reckon Moral Impotency to be § 15. The necessity of Grace for the succouring us under and relieving us against this impotency is pleaded by all But it is withal too true that under the most specious pretences of it there is nothing more meant by some but our Natural faculties or at most the Objective assistances of the Holy Ghost in the Gospel That all the Jesuits and Arminians intend in effect no more were easie to demonstrate if that now lay before us All that we intend on this head at present we shall reduce to three conclusions First The operation of the Holy Ghost upon our faculties is always in agreement with and in conjunction with the Word We allow no man to pretend to the guidance of the Spirit who cannot justifie what he pretends to be conducted in by some Scripture-Text The inward energy of the Holy Ghost presupposeth the outward teaching of the Scripture There is always a sweet harmony betwixt the subjective and objective teaching of the same Spirit Jam. 1.18 Rom. 10.17 As upon the one hand tolle Spiritum a verbo remanet mortua litera so on the other hand tolle Verbum a Spiritu non amplius remanet Spiritus Dei sed Sathanae potius Take away the Spirit from the Word and the Word is but a dead Letter so take away the Word from the Spirit and it is not the Spirit of God but of Sathan rather Heming in Rom. 11.27 And therefore we require both an assiduous study of the Word and an examination of all impressions by it 1 Joh. 4.1 1 Thes. 5.21 As less will not secure us from unaccountable impulses so there is no fear of Enthusiastick phrenzies where this method is attended to Secondly There are th●se arguments impressed on the Scriptures as are every way fit to sway our Rational minds The Spirit doth not hurry us against Light and Reason but leads us by discovering a prevailing evidence in the things that it frames and moulds us to There is conviction goes along with the Spirits efficacy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power 1 Cor. 2.4 When-ever the Holy Ghost by a vital presence perswades the soul to disengage it from sin and attract it to holiness he doth it in a way that is congruous to our Nature the soul divorceth that and espouseth this upon plenary conviction Flecti● Deus voluntates non invitas sed volentes August He doth not reduce us to himself by overthrowing our Wills but by the irradiations of truth and efficacy of Grace he makes us willing The Spirit when he comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he will convince the world of Sin and of Righteousness c. Joh. 16.8 He will manage it in way of demonstration Now the Topicks of these Arguments are partly the precepts of the Word which are all holy just and good agreeable to the Dictates of Reason and the distinguishing taste we retain of Good and Evil. Approving themselves to our understandings if they be not enslaved to our lusts and sensual appetites Courting us to our interest as well as obliging us to our duty Arguing the Mercy of the Legislator as well as his Soveraignty Partly the promises of the Word which as they are in their Nature suitable to the immaterial quality of our souls and in their duration to their perpetuity and immortality So they are propounded to us upon the strongest grounds and motives which can engage our hopes and faith namely the Promise and Oath of God the death and merit of Christ the earnest and pledg of the Spirit Partly the threatnings of the Word which as they are dreadful in reference to things they denounce whether we consider the Nature of them or their continuance so they are unavoidable unless we repent and believe Thirdly There is an immediate powerful operation upon the Soul it self by which our Opposition is conquered

intellectual faculties nor are they disposed for the Exexcise of the acts of Reason about objects of Religion Whereas persons disentangled from the tyranny of Lust and Passion have not only their animal spirits purer and finer for the exercise of the noblest acts of Reason but their minds are emancipated from many prepossessions prejudices that sensual persons are in bondage to Two things indeed the persons reflected upon do openly affirm and declare first That if Moral Righteousness be trusted to and relyed on for the acceptation of our persons with God and acquisition of a title to life that in such a case it will not only infallibly hinder submission to the Righteousness of the Gospel but that it will directly overthrow it Secondly That divers men brought to an observation of the Duties of Morality raise their whole expectation of Salvation from thence and both these they are ready to demonstrate the truth of from Scripture The first being also evinceable from Reason and the second from Experience Thence it is that they advise men not to think it enough that they are blameless before the World but that they would look after the being reneued in the spirit of their minds towards God Thence also they earnestly entreat them not to place their affiance in Moral Righteousness and withal tell them that there is more hope of scandalous Sinners than of such for as much as those will sooner be prevailed with to leave their sins than these to renounce their own Righteousness in which they take Sanctuary to a neglect of the Righteousness of Christ by Faith This I confidently affirm to be the sum of what is to be met with relating to this matter either in the Writings or Sermons of sober Non-Conformists and I challenge the Author of the Ecclesiastical Polity to deduce Logically from hence any of those scandalous Propositions which with so magisterial a confidence he affixeth to them Thirdly Men as well destitute of the Word as of Grace may by a due attendance to Natural Light and a careful improvement of first Notions proceed likewise far in performing the substantial part of the immediate Duties of the first Table Now the Duties of the first Table being such as refer immediatly to God they either arise from the consideration of his Nature or the consideration of his benefits bestowed upon us Of the first sort are Veneration Fear Humility Trust Submission to the Divine dispose upon the account of the Soveraignty of God Of the second sort are Prayer Gratitude Patience under the loss and withdrawment of temporal enjoyments c. It is true no man in the alone strength of Natural abilities either will or can perform any of these or of the former with all that dueness of circumstances as to obtain therein acceptation with God yet with respect to the Material part of the Duties they may be performed by men in their own strength without any special assistance of the Grace of God If the Disciples of Epicurus though they neither admitted God to be the Author of the World nor the Governour of it did yet plead a veneration to be due to Him for the alone excellency of his Nature Have we not much more cause to believe that those Philosophers who not only acknowledged his excellent perfection but withal confessed him to be the Maker Preserver Rector of all things would be thereon induced to adore his Omnipotent Power and Infinite Sapience c. If no other Homage were to ensue on the cogitation of the Infinity of the Deity admiration attended with humility would naturally flow from it Nor did Socrates by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intend any thing else save a due sense and acknowledgment of our meanness in the consideration of the infinite perfection of God The Philosophers seem to have distinguished the perfections of God into Moral and Physical The first kind may be expressed by Optimus the second by Maximus Now the consideration of the perfections of each of these sorts in God did no question influence the Heathen Philosophers to performances in some degree sutable Mercy Truth Justice Holiness c. are conceived in God under the Notion of Moral Vertues and the most refined of the Philosophers made it their design to imitate God in respect of those Moral perfections 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assim●lation to God in these things was their scope and dr●ft They reckoned that no man honoured God who did not thus imitate and resemble Him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocl in carm aur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God ought in all things to be our Rule and Pattern saies Plato de legis lib. 4. It were easie to enlarge on the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we meet with in some of the ve●y Heathen and which the consideration of the Moral perfections of God led them to Power Immensity wisedom Soveraignty c. are conceived in God under the Notion of Physical Perfections and though these be not imitable properly by us yet a due consideration of them beget's an impression of trust Subjection Resignation c. in the mind And men by the very conduct of the Light of Reason and in the strength of Natural Abilities may arise high in operations correspondent to a belief of such properties in God That of Epictetus is remarkable to this purpose you are to believe saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concerning the Gods That they are and that they wisely and Righteously Govern the World and that therefore they ought to be obeyed and submitted to cheerfully in all things Seeing every thing is administred according to excellent counsell Enchir cap. 38. There are others Duties referring immediately to God which formally respect and arise from the consideration of his benefits and these as I intimated before are Prayer Gratitude Patience under worldly losses and the like And here as a firm perswasions that whatsoever we either are or have proceed from the Divine Bounty and Goodness will affect us with resentments of Love Thankfulness so the same perswasion will induce us in all our straits to make our wants known by prayer to God nor is there any consideration more adapted to quiet our minds under losse than this likewise is I do not now say that any of those duties no more than the former can be performed as they ought without the special assistance of Grace but this I say that not only men destitute of Grace but without the Revelation of the word have been found in the exercise of many of them and may be said to have discharged the material part of them instances with respect to divers are at hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Never say thou hast lost any thing but that it is returned Is thy son dead he is only restored Is thy inheritance taken from the that also is returned Epict. enchi cap 15. And elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let every thing be as the Gods think fit cap.