רוחRuach. Πνεῦμα, Spiritus.SPIRIT. In Hebrew, Ruach; in Greek, Pneuma; in Latin, Spiritus. In Scripture the Word Spirit is taken sometimes for the Holy Ghost, the third Person of the Holy Trinity, who inspires the Prophets, animates good Men, pours his Unction into our Hearts, imparts to us Light and Comfort, in whose Name we are baptized, as well as in those of the Father and Son; lastly, that enlivening Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Gen. vii. 15. Num. xvi. 22. Job xii. 10.At other times it is taken for the Breath, the Respiration, the animal Life, which belongs as well to Men as other Animals: This Breath that God has given us, and which he takes away again, when he takes away our Lives.
It signifies also the reasonable Soul which animates us, and which preserves its Being, even after the Death of the Body. That spiritual, reasoning, and chusing Substance, capable of eternal Happiness.
Psal. x. 7. 1 Kings xix. 11. Psal. xlvii. 8.The Word Spiritus is sometimes put also for the Wind: Thus, Spiritus procellarum. Spiritus grandis & fortis. In spiritu vehementi conteres naves Tharsis, &c. In all which Places Spiritus signifies only a strong Wind.
Spiritus is also taken to signify an Angel, a Demon, a Ghost, a Soul separated from the Body. It is said in the Acts, that the Saducees deny’d the Existence of Angels and Spirits. Jesus Christ appearing to Acts xxiii. 8. Luk. xxiv. 39. Heb. i. 14. 1 Sam. xviii. 10. xvi. 14. xix. 9.his Disciples, said to ‘em; Handle me, and see; for a Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones, as ye see me have. In St. Paul the good Angels are call’d Ministring Spirits. ‘Tis said in the Book of Samuel, that the evil Spirit from God came upon Saul. And in the Gospel the Devils are often call’d unclean Spirits, evil Spirits, Spirits of Darkness.
Lastly, Spirit is sometimes taken for the Disposition of the Heart, or of the Body; because it was presumed, that the good or evil Inclinations of each of these proceeded from good or bad Spirits. Thus is to be understood, Numb. v. 14. Hos. iv. 2. Zech. xii. 10. Luke xiii. 10. Eccl. xv. 5. Isai. xi. 2.a Spirit of Jealousy, a Spirit of Fornication, a Spirit of Prayer, a Spirit of Infirmity, a Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, a Spirit of Fear of the Lord. and such like.
Concerning the Spirit that inspired the Prophets, and which caus’d the Motions and Agitations; see the Article ENTHU- SIASM.
Distinguishing or Discerning of Spirits. This was a Gift of God, which consisted in discerning, whether a Man was really inspired of the Spirit of God, or whether he was a false Prophet and Impostor, who only follows the Impulse of his own Spirit, or of 1 Cor. xii. 10.the Spirit of Satan. St. Paul speaks of the discerning of Spirits, among the miraculous Gifts that God granted to the Faithful, and the first Settlement of Christianity. And St. John in his Epistle; Beloved, believe not 1 John iv. 1.every Spirit, but try the Spirits, whether they are of God: Because many false Prophets are gone out into the World.
To quench the Spirit. St. Paul says to 1 Thes. v. 19.the Thessalonians, that they ought not to quench the Spirit. Spiritum nolite extinguere. The Spirit may be quenched in these two ways; first, by forcing, in some manner, the Holy Ghost to withdraw himself from us, by Sin, by Irregularity of Manners, by Vanity, by Avarice, by Negligence, and by other Crimes that are contrary to Charity, to Truth, to Peace, and to the other Gifts of the Holy Ghost. Secondly, the Spirit is quenched when we do such Actions as make God to take from us his supernatural Gifts and Favours, such as Prophecy, the Gift of Tongues, the Gift of healing Diseases. For tho’ these Gifts were of mere Grace, and that God may communicate them sometimes to wicked People, yet he has often granted them to the Prayers of the Faithful, and took them away again, to punish their Abuse or Contempt of them.
Ephes. iv. 30.To grieve the Spirit, may be also taken in two ways; either in the Sense of an internal Grace, habitual or actual. Or in the Sense of miraculous Gifts, with which God favour’d the primitive Christians. We grieve the Spirit of God, by withstanding his holy Inspirations, the Motions of his Grace, or by living in a luke-warm and negligent Manner. We grieve him also by despising his Gifts, or neglecting them, by abusing his Favours, either out of Vanity, Curiosity, or Negligence. And in a contrary Sense, we stir up the Spirit of God which is in us, by the Practice of Vertue, by our Exactness in complying with his Inspirations, by Fervour in his Service, by renewing our Gratitude, &c.
The Spirit, as it is oppos’d to the Flesh, is put for the Soul by which we are animated. Gen. vi. 3.” My Spirit shall no longer abide ” in Man, because he is but Flesh. ” I will destroy all Mankind, I will take from them my Breath that I gave them, and the Soul that I infused into them, because they are all carnal, debased by carnal Inclinations, by brutish Passion: Because, in a Word, all Flesh have corrupted their Way upon the Earth; they have in a great measure forgot that they are reasonable Creatures, and have plunged themselves into the State and Condition of Beasts.
Spirit, in the moral Sense, is oppos’d to Rom. vii. 25.the Flesh. With the Mind, or Spirit, I myself serve the Law of God; but with the Rom. viii. 13.Flesh the Law of Sin. And again; If ye live after the Flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the Deeds of Gal. v. 19, 22.the Body, ye shall live. And elsewhere; Now the Works of the Flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, Fornication, Uncleanness, Lasciviousness, &c. But the Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance.
The Spirit of Jesus Christ, which animates true Christians, and the Children of God, and which distinguishes them from the Children of Darkness, who are animated by the Spirit of the World; is the Gift of Grace, and of Adoption, the holy Spirit that is poured into our Hearts, and which gives us Confidence to say to God, Rom. viii. 5.My Father, My Father. Those that are animated by this Spirit have crucified the Flesh, with the Affections and Lusts thereof. Gal. v. 24. Rom. viii. 9.If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. And elsewhere; Ye are not in the Flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. The Spirit of Jesus Christ animated 1 Pet. i. 11.the Prophets, and inclined them industriously to inquire at what Time that should happen, which they had foretold concerning his Passion and Glory.
1 Pet. iii. 18,19,20.Christ was put to Death in the Flesh, but quickned by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the Days of Noah. This Passage has very much perplex’d the Commentators; and indeed there are Difficulties in it that can hardly be surmounted. The Commentators may be consulted, who have treated expressly on this Subject. This is the Sense that to us appears the most simple and reasonable. Jesus Christ, after his Resurrection, by the Power of the same holy Spirit who had rais’d him up, descended into Hell, or into the Prison, into the Place where the Souls of the holy Patriarchs were detain’d, and where they waited for his Coming. He proclaim’d Deliverance to them, and took them out of this Confinement. And as to such Spirits as had been heretofore incredulous in the Times of Noah, to the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who had caus’d the Truth to be declared to them, and who had exhorted them to Repentance in the Time of Noah; Noah; but who would not hearken to this Invitation, and therefore were dead in Hardness and Incredulity; these also were inform’d of the Coming of Jesus Christ, and acquainted with his Descent into Hell; but this News served only to increase their Remorse, their Punishment, and Despair.
Spirits. Apparitions of Spirits. The Notion, that Spirits, Angels, Demons, the Souls of the Dead, sometimes appear to Men, is universally spread among all Nations. It is founded upon an infinite Number of Histories, and Experiments, but chiefly upon the Authority of the sacred Books. The Books of the Old and New Testament are full of the Apparitions of Angels and Demons; and there we may also observe the Opinion, that supposes the Return and Appearing of the Spirits and Souls of dead Persons, in the Story of the raising the Ghost of Samuel by the Witch of Endor, in what is said by Jesus Christ to his Apostles; Handle me, and see, for a Spirit has not Flesh and Bones, as ye see me have: In what was imagin’d by the Apostles, 39.when they saw Jesus Christ in the Night walking upon the Water. Dicentes quia phantasma est. And in the Acts of the Acts xii. 13, 15.Apostles, when St. Peter stood knocking at the Door, they thought it was his Angel, because they knew he had been put into Prison but a little before. And in the Books of the Maccabees, the Highpriest Onias, and the Prophet Jeremiah, appear’d in a Dream to Judas Maccabeus.