Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	holy_a	power_n	work_n	5,498	5	5.2790	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55818	A discourse for the vindicating of Christianity from the charge of imposture Offer'd, by way of letter, to the consideration of the deists of the present age. By Humphrey Prideaux, D.D. and arch-deacon of Suffolk.	Prideaux, Humphrey, 1648-1724.	1697 (1697)	Wing P3412A; ESTC R219515	81,417	183

you may suppose him to have aimed at And first the notions which the Jews had of the Messias offered him the highest secular interest that could be attained unto and therefore to be sure when he took upon him to be that Messias had he done it only as an Impostor for a secular interest he would have laid hold of that interest offered and under the character which he assum'd most certainly have claim'd all that which according to those notions the Messias was to have For this was nothing less than a most glorious secular Kingdom the expectations of the Jews being then concerning this matter the same as they have ever since continued amongst them that the Messias was to be a Secular Prince who was to deliver them from their enemies and restore the Kingdom of David at Jerusalem and there reign in great glory and splendour over the whole House of Israel And what greater or more desirable interest can this World afford than such a state of advancement And what is there that is more valued and esteemed in the opinion of all mankind than the attainment thereof And at that time when our Saviour first appeared on his Mission there was the most favourable juncture that could offer it self for his setting up for all this For then the People of the Jews being fallen under the Yoke of the Roman Government and also grown very impatient under it entertained a general expectation of the speedy Coming of the Messias under that character of a Temporal Prince which they had conceited of him to deliver them from this bondage and by conquering those who subjected them thereto again restore the Kingdom of Israel And these hopes had then taken that possession of their minds and they were all so full of them that every one stood in a manner ready and prepared to join with him whosoever should take upon him to be the person as sufficiently appeareth not only from the Scriptures but also from the History which Josephus wrote of those times And therefore had our Saviour by taking upon him to be the Messias aimed only as an Impostor at a Secular interest What reason can be given why he should not with the name of the Messias have also claimed this grand interest of a Kingdom which according to the opinion of all those who expected a Messias belonged thereto or why he should not in so favourable a juncture as was then offer'd for it have possessed himself thereof But he was so far from doing either of these that he waved both and not only omitted this opportunity of possessing himself of this Kingdom but also renounced and disclaim'd the whole thereof For instead of laying any pretence to it he set himself to confute those very notions which gave it unto him and to convince the People that they were mistaken in them and thereby overthrew all that which offered unto him the highest Secular interest which the Men of this world use to aim at And not only so but advanced in the stead of those Errours such Doctrines concerning the Messias as were not only without all manner of worldly interest in them but all levelled directly opposite thereto For he taught them that the Kingdom of the Messias was not a Temporal but a Spiritual Kingdom that he was not to be a Judge and a Ruler over them in the Secular affairs of this World and the pomp and glory thereof but to govern and direct their hearts within by the power of his holy Spirit in order to conform them to that Law of Righteousness which might fit them to reign with him in the Kingdom of everlasting Glory hereafter And therefore when the Jews being convinced by his wonderfull Works that he was the Messias would have taken him by force and made him their King he withdrew from among them to disappoint the design And when interrogated by Pilate he told him his Kingdom was not of this World And had he aimed at any such thing he would never have taught such Doctrines of himself which so directly overthrew all that which gave him the most favourable advantage of attaining thereto Had he offered at more of this World's interest than the Notions of the Jews invested him with if it were possible more could be had than those gave their Messias or if he had joined thereto the enjoyment of carnal pleasure as Mahomet did there might then have been some ground of charging him of differing from those Notions for the serving of his own interest but when the change was on the quite contrary hand and instead of being that reigning and glorious Messias amidst the highest pomp and splendour of this World as the Jews would have had him to be he declared himself only for such a Kingdom as had nothing of this World in it and whose greatest perfection lay in its greatest opposition thereto he that will say that there was any thing of this World in his thus stripping himself of all the pomp and glory of it or that there could be any design of interest for himself where all manner of self-interest is thus renounced must reconcile contradictions and make the nature of one extreme to consist in the other which is most directly opposite thereto Had he when he took upon him to be the Messias done it only for a worldly interest this great interest of reigning so obviously offered it self unto him under that character that it cannot be conceived how he should ever have avoided it The power and glory and riches of a Kingdom are too great baits of allurement to the worldly-minded Man ever to be refused by such an one after he had assumed that character which in the generally-received Notion of it invested him with them Or can it be imagined since these are the only things which could make that character at all desirable to an Impostor why any Man should run the great hazard and trouble of being such in the assuming of it but for the sake of them All those false Christs who have been real Impostors and have in several Ages started up to delude the World with this pretence have ever with the name of the Messias claimed also this Kingdom which the Jews ascribed thereto and that in every such scene of deceit which hath opened in the World hath always appeared to have been the bait which allured those wretches to act that part therein And had our Saviour been such an one as they he must certainly have taken the same course For to do otherwise would have been to do the wickedness without the temptation and to run the hazard without that which was to reward the success But he having been so far herefrom that he did not only renounce this Kingdom but all manner of other worldly interest whatever this plainly shews he could have no design upon this World by that Mission which he undertook or had any other reason for his entering on it as the Messias but

or Good Spirits never work those Wonders but in subserviency to the Will of God for the promoting of Truth and Righteousness but the Devil and his Evil Spirits only for the promoting of Errour and Wickedness 2. Angels or Good Spirits never co-operate in the production of those Wonders with any Prophet or Teacher but such only as being sent of God are good and righteous Persons but the Devil and his Evil Spirits only with such as not being sent of God are Evil like themselves 3. Angels or Good Spirits never exert their Power to work these Wonders but in things serious and grave whereby either the Good of Men or the Honour of God is promoted but the Devil and his Evil Spirits do it mostly in things mischievous both to God's Honour and Man's Good or else in such trivial and foolish matters as are beneath God or his holy Angels to be concerned in And by the same Marks also may we distinguish God's Miracles from the Devils Juggles and those wonderfull Works which the Hand of the Almighty really effecteth from those false Appearances which the Devil makes in imitation of them to put a cheat and a delusion upon us Which Particulars being premised the Answer to the foregoing Objections will be as followeth 1. We do acknowledge that abundance of very wonderfull Works may be effected by Powers lower than the divine and that not only by Good Spirits but also by Evil. 2. That therefore such Works alone are never sufficient proof of a divine Mission unless corroborated by such concurring circumstances as prove them not to be from Evil Spirits but only from Good 3. That where-ever such wonderfull Works are done at the word of a wicked Man or to a wicked purpose i. e. either to influence to a wicked practice or to give credit to some false doctrine or else in such mean and trivial cases as are beneath the Majesty of God or his Ministring Spirits to be concerned in there we may be sure that he that doth those Works how much soever he may pretend to a divine Mission is only a false Prophet and that it is not by the Power of God or his Good Spirits but only by the Power of the Devil and his Wicked Spirits that they are wrought and against those Wonders is it and the Workers of them that Moses warneth the Jews and Jesus Christ his Disciples that they should be aware of them 4. Where they who work those Wonders are holy and righteous Men and do not teach any Doctrine contrary to the certain Dictates of Natural Religion or the Revelations of God afore given unto us and the Wonders which they work are in such serious and grave Matters as are not unworthy of God or his Ministring Spirits to be concerned in there we have no reason to suspect Satan's Power in the effecting of them and therefore such Works may although not of themselves alone yet with these concurring circumstances be sufficient proof of the truth of any Doctrine which they give testimony unto For although they cannot be proved to be immediately from God because produceable by inferiour Beings yet with these circumstances accompanying them they must at least appear to be the Works of his Ministring Spirits who can bear testimony to nothing but what is from God whose Will they are in all things subservient unto 5. As such Works which the Devil and his Evil Spirits can do are not of self-sufficient proof to a divine Mission so neither are such which he can by juggle or delusion imitate because Men may be deceived by the one as well as the other and therefore the same concurring circumstances are necessary to these also and by the same Marks are they to be tried whether they be of God or no. 6. But where the Works are such as no created Being can either really produce or by juggle or delusion imitate there those Works do of themselves alone prove a divine Mission and give an authentick Seal of undeniable Truth to every Doctrine thus revealed unto us 7. Although therefore it should be allowed that some of the Miracles which Christ and his Apostles wrought might be produceable by Powers lower than the divine yet since they who did them were most holy and righteous Persons and did not teach any Doctrine contrary either to the Dictates of Natural Religion or the Revelations of God afore given unto Men and the Miracles themselves were not in such mean and trivial cases as are related of Apollonius Tyanoeus and others like him with these circumstances they sufficiently appear to be if not immediately from the hand of God yet at least from his Ministring Spirits and their Works since all done in subserviency to the divine Will do as thoroughly prove a divine Mission where-ever they evidently appear to be theirs as those of God himself That Christ and his Apostles were most holy and righteous Persons and taught no Doctrine which was in the least contrary to the Dictates of Natural Religion hath been afore shown and how far their Miracles were from being in mean and trivial matters the Works themselves make evident And it is as certain that no Doctrine of theirs ever contradicted in the least any divine Revelation afore-given unto Men. For Jesus Christ and his Apostles every-where allow both the Law and the Prophets to be from God Had they taught any thing which would have charged a falsehood on either they must then indeed have been said to contradict divine Revelations afore-given and would thereby have fallen under that character and mark of false Prophets which I have above laid down but they were so far from this that the Law and the Prophets were the ground-work which they founded all their Doctrines upon For the Law contained in Types and Shadows and the Prophets in their Prophecies and dark Sayings what-ever the Gospel hath in substance and reality since clearly delivered unto us and laid down all that in the first Rudiments which Christ and his Apostles afterwards built up into perfection in that holy Religion which they have given unto us And therefore although the Gospel hath abolished the Law it was not by contradicting or condemning it but by perfecting and fulfilling it in that manner as all the Prophets fore-showed that it should 8. But the Miracles of Jesus Christ and his Apostles were most of them undeniably such as could not be produced but by the immediate hand of God himself as necessarily requiring the creating Power to effect them and also of that permanency as allowed no room for juggle or delusion to take place in them For what other Power but that of the Almighty could raise a Man who had been four days dead again to life Or what other hand but that of the Creator himself could make him see who had been without the natural organs of Sight from his very birth Or what but the same Power which first formed Man of the dust of the Earth could

will but consider these following Particulars 1. Miracles are works done which are strange and amazing to us as being brought to pass out of the ordinary road and in a manner which we cannot comprehend and these are of two sorts 1. Such as exceed only the Power of Man to effect them and these we call signs or wonders And 2. Such as exceed the Power of any created Being whatsoever and these only are properly Miracles 2. Where-ever such Miracles are wrought as are of this last sort God alone must be the Author of them and therefore where-ever such are found they manifestly prove the Power of God co-operating with the Persons at whose word they are done and with whomsoever it doth thus cooperate it necessarily demonstrates their Mission from him and puts such an Authentick Seal to the Truth of the Doctrines which they teach as cannot be denied 3. Where-ever a creating Power is necessary to the effect produced or the stated Laws of Nature are altered there it is certain none but God himself can be the Author of the Work done For he alone is able to create and he having created all things according to his infinite Wisdom and given to each their proper Essence and Operations he allows none but himself to alter the Natures of them or change that Course which he hath put them into 4. But within the Laws and Powers of Nature there are abundance of things which exceed the Power of Man to effect and therefore seem as Miracles to us which may be produced by other created Beings and these are evil spirits as well as good 5. To the producing of these effects evil spirits as well as good are enabled two manner of Ways 1. By their greater Knowledge of the Powers of Nature And 2. By the greater Agency which they have to apply them to effect For 6. There are a multitude of things in Nature that those Spirits know the Nature of which we do not For their Abilities of knowing are vastly above ours as not working by the dull Tools of Earth and Clay as we do and their Experience exceedingly greater as having known the Works of God from the beginning and by long Observation pried deep into the Secrets of them If a Chymist or a Mathematician by his Skill in the Powers of Nature can do many things which to the ignorant and unlearned shall seem as Miracles as we often find how much more can those knowing Spirits do so whose Knowledge of the Powers of Nature is vastly more above all ours put together than the highest and perfectest of ours is above that of the most ignorant that lives among us But 7. As those Spirits have a vastly greater Knowledge of the Powers of Nature than we can have so also have they a vastly greater Power to apply them to effect For they are of a much greater agility in their motion of a much finer substance to penetrate into things and actuate them into operation and also of a much stronger agency or power to work than we have and which no doubt they are endowed more or less with according to the different orders and degrees in which God hath created them and by both these together that is their greater Knowledge of natural Causes and their greater Power to apply them to effect can they do a great many things within Nature's limits which exceed all the Powers of Men to effect and seem as miraculous and wonderfull unto us when ever brought to pass 8. Good Spirits never work those Miracles but in subserviency to the divine Will as they are necessary for the effecting of those things which God hath ordained by their Ministry to bring to pass And to them those Miracles mentioned in Scripture which exceed not the Power of such created Beings may be referred as the immediate Authors of them it not being likely that God would interpose his immediate Power excepting only in such cases as where there was need of it For why should the Lord himself put his hand to that work which may as well be discharged by the Ministry of his Servants 9. Evil Spirits having in a great measure the same Knowledge of Natural Causes as the good and the like Power to bring them to effect can also work the like wonders and by God are often permitted so to do both for the trial of Men and also for other good Causes which to him of his infinite Wisdom seem fitting and we have a plain instance of it in the Case of Job 10. Evil Spirits have not only this Power of working the like Wonders which Good Spirits do but also another which Good Spirits will never make use of that is by juggle delusion and deceit to imitate those true and proper Miracles which none but God himself can really effect And thus by the delusion of the Devil was a cheat put upon Saul in the raising of Samuel to him from the dead For really to raise Samuel from the dead none but God could and therefore that appearance which Saul saw was no more than a false appearance contrived by the Devil to put a cheat and delusion upon him And of this same sort may we reckon the Miracles which Jannes and Jambres wrought in imitation of Moses For to turn a Rod into a Serpent and Water into Blood or to cause Frogs to come up upon the Land in which three Particulars they did the same thing by their inchantments that Moses did by the hand of God are Works which if really done require the creating Power to bring them to effect which none but God hath and therefore in this case the Devil acted for them not by his effecting but only by his deluding Power And such Miracles the Scripture calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Lying or false Miracles which are not really wrought but only made so to appear by the juggle and delusion of Satan 11. Those cheats and delusions of the Devil whereby he imitates the true and real Miracles of God which he cannot work are only in transient Effects like those of Jugglers upon a Stage never in such as are lasting and permanent And where the Effect is totally transient God's Works are often so far above the Devil's Imitation that even in these there will be still a multitude of Particulars wherein he can have no power as much as by juggle or delusion to do any thing like unto them 12. Whatsoever signs or wonders are wrought by Magicians or false Prophets must be referred to one of these two Heads that is that they are either the Devil's Works or the Devil's Delusions and the Scriptures which tell us of Magicians and false Prophets working such signs and wonders do in many places referr them hereto 13. Those signs or wonders which are really wrought by the Devil and his Evil Spirits are to be distinguished from those which are wrought by the Power of Angels or Good Spirits by these following Marks 1. That Angels