Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	ghost_n	holy_a	part_n	5,261	5	4.5208	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89672	A conference with a theist. Part II. Shewing the defects of natural religion; the necessity of divine inspiration; the rationale of the mosaical laws, and defence of his miracles : together with an account of the deluge, the origin of sacrifices, and the reasonableness of Christ's mediatorship. / By William Nicholls ...	Nicholls, William, 1664-1712.	1699 (1699)	Wing N1094A; ESTC R181001	142,863	328

say that this is only some remarkable saying of Abraham and is therefore in the Jewish Phrase called the word of the Lord. For here is no room for any such kind of Metaphor Here is a particular Dialogue of God and Abraham God said Fear not Abram I am thy shield and thy exceeding great Reward And Abram said Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I go childless and the Steward of my House is this Eliezer of Damascus Then v. 4. is related the reply of God Almighty And behold the word of the Lord came unto him saying This shall not be thy Heir but he that shall come forth out of thine own Bowels c. Now what can be more positive and express of Abraham's immediate Revelation and Intercourse with God than this Relation So again Exod. 2.5 The Revelation made to Moses is related as expresly God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said Moses Moses Then follows the answer of Moses and Moses said here am I. And the Lord said I have surely seen the affliction of my people c. Come now therefore and I will send thee unto Paraoh And Moses said unto God Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Children of Israel out of Aegypt And God said Certainly I will be with thee c. And after this rate the Dialogue continues the full length of the Chapter Now if this be not a relation of an Intercourse with God and a Revelation from him there is no sense to be put upon any words though never so plain there must be no assent given to the literal narrations of Thucydides or Livy but the credit of both those Histories may as well be criticized away as this So again as for the other Prophets when we are particularly told that the word of the Lord came unto them at such a time in such a manner in such a particular Year of such a King's Reign what can possibly be meant less than that God revealed this to them When they are commanded to take rolls and to write as Is 8 1. and Jer. 36.2 and the Prophecies so commanded to be written are there recorded when every Prophecy begins with the word of the Lord or thus saith the Lord when in some of them are particular Interlocutions between God and the Prophet if this be not Revelation the Prophets who wrote these Writings must be the greatest Cheats and Impostours in the World in so often pretending to it when they had not the least share of it But it vexes one to spend time to answer so simple an Objection which is worth no ones notice but that the great Spinosa has taken so much pains in it and other retailing Infidels after him would seem to do some great matter with it 3. Nor are your Criticisms upon the Hebrew Ruach or Spirit more solid Spirit of God in Scripture signifies Revelation by which you would pretend that word does not signify Revelation or Inspiration but only Wind Life temper of Mind and the like But what an unreasonable mistake is this I do not deny but that word in Hebrew has many significations as several other words have in that narrow Language But then on the other side there are a great many places in the Bible in which it can signify only Inspiration or Revelation what think you of Gen. 41.38 Where Pharaoh says of Joseph after he had interpreted his Dream and prophesied of the Years of Plenty and Famine Can we find such an one as this is a man in whom the Spirit of God is Certainly by the Spirit of God here is meant the Inspiration of God or there is no sense at all in it And so again Numb 27.18 The Lord said unto Moses Take thee Joshua the Son of Nun a Man in whom is the Spirit and lay thy hand upon him where by Spirit the Chaldee Paraphrase interprets Prophecy And what else can be meant by that Spirit of the Lord 1 Kings 18.12 which carried Eliah from place to place by which he did such mighty Miracles and so undauntedly uttered his Prophecies but only a supernatural power of God which did continually attend him And so Isa 59.21 God tells the Prophet that it was his Spirit that inspired him with the words that he spoke Saith the Lord My Spirit which is upon thee and the words which I have put into thy mouth c. And so several times in Ezechiel The Spirit of the Lord fell upon me Ezek. 11.5 and the Spirit entered into me Chap. 3.24 And often in the Book of Daniel the Spirit of the holy Gods is said to be in him Dan. 4.8 and 9 5.11 and 14. In short divine Revelation is all over the Old Testament called by the name of Spirit and even that extraordinary Inspiration which was foretold by the Prophet Joel to prevail under the Gospel is called so likewise I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophesie your Old Men shall dream dreams and your Young Men shall see Visions Joel 2.28 Where you may particularly observe that the word Spirit is joyned with Prophecy and Revelation And upon this account the Holy Ghost which was the giver of these Prophetick Gifts is in the New Testament called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holy Spirit And so is divine Revelation among the Heathens called by the same name As Dii coeptis inspirate meis and Inspirante Deo It is plain therefore that by the word Spirit in Scripture is frequently understood Divine Revelation which is the effect of the Operation of God's Holy Spirit conveying to the minds of several Prophetical Men whom God has been pleased to choose many extraordinary Truths conducible to the good of his Church Which is a thing so frequent and so plain in Scripture as is not to be bantered away by a little foolish Criticism and is a Truth never to be shaken unless the Infidels have force enough to overthrow the whole Body of the Scriptures Phil. Well we will see Credentius what we can do as to that matter some time or other But in the mean time methinks you outshoot your selves a little in your Notions of Revelation For you generally assert that Revelation is caused by a more immediate and supernatural Application of the divine Spirit to the mind of Man and so does make known to it those extraordinary Truths which indeed is only a Cast of the Jewish Unphilosophical Ignorance For when they poor Wretches could not understand the Natural Causes of Inspiration they were presently for a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for calling in God to help out their sorry Philosophy Every thing which was a little surprizing to them they must needs attribute to the immediate Act of God they were every moment making Mountains as well as Men of God and according to their Philosophy an equal degree of the divine power was requisite as well to

How does the old Levitical Law plainly appear to be but the Sciography or rough draught of the Gospel and the Characters and Lines of one exactly visible in the other For my part I think it impossible for so many though judicious and wise Men without assistance from God to carry any one design with that exactness that the Penmen of the Holy Scripture have but I am sure it is the greatest of Absurdities to assert that such a noble and uniform Design should be carried on through so many Ages by a parcel of wild Enthusiasts So that let the Writers of the Bible be what you please to style them either Inspired Men or Impostors I shall not dispute that now they must needs be Men well in their Wits and what is more Men of good sense Prophets had the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost 2. It is very evident from Scripture That Prophecy proceeded from another Cause viz. the Influence of God's Holy Spirit The innumerable Instances in Scripture of the Prophets and Apostles being in the Spirit of the Spirit 's coming upon them of their speaking things by command and of the Lord of their being caught up into heaven c. are undeniable Proofs of the cause of their Revelation viz. the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of God Indeed it is not easy to give a Philosophical and Notional account of this supernatural Influence or by what means it was conveyed or by what criterion or marks they could distinguish it from a Delusion because we who are not honoured with these supernatural Gifts and therefore can have no Idea of these things as having never been the Objects of our Understandings but it is not to be doubted but these Holy Men had as absolute certainty of the Truth of them as we have of things that do immediately strike our senses and did as perfectly know them to be the word of God as that those things are which we see to be and that they could as little question their Inspiration as we do our Senses For as the Senses are only the ordinary way of God's conveying Ideas to us and these are so clear to us by their familiarity and repeated Trials of their faithfulness that we cannot but rely upon them and cannot but give assent to them so the Inspiration of God to the Prophets by their clear Evidence continually and by their wonted Experience of it left no more doubt in them of the Truth of it than the Appearance of the Sun does leave in us that it is Day or that what we see is really seen by us and is not the Delusion of a Dream To say we ordinary Persons can have no notion of this Extraordinary Influx of God and therefore it cannot be is only to expose our own Ignorance and a Blind Man might with as much Modesty pretend to demonstrate against the Existence of Colours or a Clown laugh at Mathematical Theorems as we pretend to dispute against the certainty of this supernatural Influence which God Almighty has been pleased to give us no notices of Might not God Almighty as well have given us Ten Senses as Five And if he has been pleased to make an extraordinary Impression upon some Mens Minds which his does not on all must we therefore assert this as impossible because we who do not experience it do not perceive it Must all Men be blind because we are so Or must every Man be Mad and Enthusiastical that hath better Eyes than we I am sure this is a very mad way of Arguing and yet there is no more reason for Men to question the Truth of the Revelation of the Prophets than blind Men have to question our sight Nay the miraculous power which did usually attend Prophecy was more undeniable Evidence to the Beholders of their Divine Influence than the joint assertion of the generality of Mankind can be that there is such a Thing as Sight or Colours to a Blind Man Because Sensation is a greater degree of Evidence than Testimony and because a Man will sooner believe his senses than a Thousand Witnesses A Blind Man cannot believe there are Colours but only by being told so but when I see a Prophet doing Miracles I am sure he is influenced by God because I see he does works above the power of Nature 3. You are very much mistaken Prophecy not inconsistent with Wisdom when you assert that prophecy is inconsistent with Wisdom and that Men of good sense such as Solomon Kalcol Heman c. were no Prophets but only poor Shepherds Women and other Persons of mean parts were endowed with that Gift One would wonder how Men could lay down an Assertion which is so easy to be confuted as this is Pray what must be thought of Moses to whom there arose not since in Israel a Prophet like unto Does his noble Genius his invincible Courage his sagacious Prudence his vast Depth in Philosophy argue him a Man of mean parts Methinks the Heathen Longinus his Character of him that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No mean Man should be enough to free him at least from his share in this Calumny What do you think of Nathan Israel and Daniel who were bred up Courtiers and made a great figure in the Ages when they lived and the Writings of two of them shew them to be Men of fine parts But I think you have a little outshot your self in the instance of Solomon in denying him to be a Prophet For it is recorded in Scripture that God revealed himself twice unto Solomon First at his Entrance upon his Kingdom when he asked Wisdom of God 2 Chron. 1.8 Secondly upon his finishing the Temple 2 Chron. 7.12 Nay what do you think of David who was a Prophet as well as a King And as for your Instances of Kalkol and Heman those great Masters of Musick as if they were Men of too good sense to be Prophets if you please to turn to 1 Chron. 25.5 you shall there find that one of them viz. Heman is there expresly called the King 's Se●● or Prophet Prophecies no● variable according to the Prophets Passions 4. You lay down also another very false Supposition that the Prophecies vari●d always according to the different Passions and Dispositions of the Prophets and therefore would hence conclude that their Prophecy was only Imagination But this is very false and very Illogical First it is false For Moses who is Characterized to be the meekest of all Men did Prophecy as dreadful judgments against the Israelites as any of the Prophets Vid. Lev. 26.14 Isaiah his Prophecy is in the several places very different sometimes he Prophesies joyful at other times very dismal things And even Jeremiah the most mournful Prophet of all does foretel the Jews joyful deliverance from their Captivity as well as the Captivity it self And Daniel at that very time when he was mourning and fasting in Sackcloth and Ashes had revealed to him by the Angel

a Heathen should come at a sight of that Book or at least a Relation out of it For Trogus Pompeius who wrot the History which Justin Epitomized was a Retainer in the Family of the Great Pompey who Conquered Judea and therefore in the Expedition of his Master there without doubt he picked up this imperfect Relation of the Jews either by reading their Books and afterwards forgetting or mistaking them or by mixing the True History with the Fabulous reports of some Neighbouring Gentiles So that in short the Scripture-History must regulate his report And then see how finely This does agree with it He makes the Jewish Original to be from Damascus and that Abraham was King of that place where Arathes the Wife of Syrus one of their ancient Kings was worshipped That after Damascus who gave name to the City succeeded Azelus and then Adores and then Abraham and Israel which Israel divided his Kingdom among his Ten Sons but made them all to be called Jews from his Son Judah That Joseph was Israel's Youngest So● and that Moses was Son to him That the Jews were drove out of Aegypt for being Scabby that they were followed after by the Aegyptians because they had stolen some of their Sacra and that the Aegyptians were forced to return home by a Tempest That they were forced to fast seven days in the deserts of Arabia which occasioned the Institution of the Sabbath That the Memory of their being drove out of Aegypt for their scabbiness made it a part of their Religion not to converse with strangers lest the Knowledge of their Infirmity should render them contemptible That Moses his Son's name was Arvas i. e. Aaron who was an Aegyptian Priest who afterwards succeeded Moses in the Kingdom and from hence came the custom that the Jewish Kings were always Priests Now what a foolish and contradictious account of the Jewish History is this Report of Justin Who ever heard of the names of Azelus and Adores in the Jewish story When was such a Goddess as Arathes worshipped generally by the Jews who were always fam'd for the worship of one God where by the way this is only a simple mistake of the Author to say Arathe for the Astarte or Astaroth of the Sidonians Here is again Abraham mistaken for the Father who was the Grand-Father of Israel Here are Israel's Ten Sons set down for his Twelve his little Estate mistaken for an Empire and the Twelve Tribes for Ten Kingdoms Here is Joseph taken for Jacob's Youngest Son who was his eldest by another Venter and Moses passes for Joseph's Son who lived Three or Four Hundred Years after him Here is the name of Jews said to be imposed by Jacob which was not known till the time of the Captivity a Thousand Years afterwards Here are the Plagues which Moses inflicted upon Aegypt altered for the scabbiness of the Jews as if those heavy judgments came only by infection and the spoiling of the Aegyptians of their Bracelets Ear-rings c. turned into the running away with their Sacra Here is the History of the Manna and Quails confounded with the Institution of the Sabbath and their Injunction of not communicating with the Nations attributed to the foolish Fable about their Itch or Leprosy And besides here is again Aaron Moses his Brother mistaken into his Son and turned from a Jewish into an Aegyptian Priest here is the same Aaron made King of the Jews who was never otherways than Priest and that said to be the original of the Custom of the Jews having their Kings their Priests when never any such Custom obtained amongst them but only the Author has blundered the History of the Maccabees Government into this Fable So that Philologus I would have your Gentlemen for shame leave of to abuse the Jewish Nation with false stories out of Heathen Historians that knew so very little of their Country and are guilty of so many mistakes about it For in this short account of Justin you see there are almost as many mistakes as words whether they are willful and malicious or no I shall not determine but I am sure the account we find in Scripture to all reasonable Men must be ten times less liable to exception Phil. These are but small things Credentius for us to make many words about but I am afraid you Inspiration Men are guilty of a very great fundamental Errour in taking that for some supernatural Revelation of God which is only Natural Reason For I cannot be brought to think that the Prophets or other Writers of the Bible which are said to be inspired had the Mind of God revealed to them any other way than by the common natural way of reasoning and Knowledge For Natural Knowledge is but the Revelation of God wherein God reveals to our minds the natures of things which were unknown to us before so that God may he as well said to speak to us by our reason as by the Scriptures and Natural Knowledge may be allowed to be divine as proceeding from God as well as they And I doubt not but that it was the Hebrew way of using the word God that has betrayed both Jews and Christians into the fancy of Inspiration and Revelation in the modern sense when formerly nothing but pure natural Knowledge was meant by it For the Hebrews had always a very Religious and Devout way of talking and attributed almost all Natural Actions to God if they had gotten Money by their industry they would say it was given them by God if they had a good thought they would say God put it into their Hearts and the like So a great many other things were said to be divine or to come from God which were only natural but wonderful or extraordinary Thus the mountains of God is only another name for great mountains they Sleep of God for a deep sleep and the Sons of God Gen. 6. are but great Sons or Giants Now it would be a mad way of Interpretation to say all these things were inspired because they have God's name added to them Therefore why should we suppose that those Men who are called Prophets in Scripture had any divine and supernatural Revelation only because they are called the Men of God or are said to have the Spirit of God For this is only an usual Hyperbole to denote that they were extraordinary Men Men of sound Reasoning and notable parts and exquisitely gifted to move and perswade the People And this is no more than what the Greeks and Latins mean by Divine or Godlike i. e. extraordinary only because the Hebrews made use of Genitives instead of Adjectives they called him the Man of God which the Heathens would have called a divine or extraordinary Man So when the Prophets are said to have the Spirit of God what needs I pray of coyning an Inspiration or Revelation of divine Truth to explain this by For the Spirit of God has so many senses and those so very