Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	according_a	body_n	spirit_n	5,891	5	5.2175	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51567	The spirit of the hat, or, The government of the Quakers among themselves as it hath been exercised of late years by George Fox, and other leading-men, in their Monday, or second-days meeting at Devonshire-House, brought to light : in a bemoaning letter of a by G.I.	Mucklow, William, 1631-1713.	1700 (1700)	Wing M3035_VARIANT; ESTC R32093	22,482	45

Lord without fear and be found in the Exercise of nothing in the Worship of God but what his pure Spirit leads unto and out of that Truth may spring up in the hearts of thousands by enjoying of this holy Liberty and that God may be exalted in the Earth that the Horn of all Oppressions may be broken and dasht to pieces to the praise of the Name of the Lord that the Light of his Glory may shine in our Temples in its strength and lustre not wanting a proud Lordly Body to rule over us nor a proud wanton lazy Ministry to monopolize his precious Truth from us but that every one may sit under his own Vine without fear and eat his Bread at his own Table And God bears me this Testimony That his Truth as it hath been declared is dear unto me and the Principles delivered my Soul doth own and therefore according to my Measure ought to have a place in the Body but from the Body of Christ and the Unity of his Spirit they cannot exclude me and therefore my Soul is abundantly satisfied and refreshed in my solitary Retirements and desires not to join hands to oppress any nor yet to give up my neck unto the Yoke of Bondage nor my Back to the Oppression nor my Judgment and Eyes to the Body Though I can give my Back to the Smiter and my Cheeks to the pulling off of the Hair yet it is through a patient suffering and not a fordid slavish subjection And altho' they daily exercise the Oppressions before-mentioned yet by their deceitful flatteries they make people believe That they are a harmless innocent and peaceable People suffering and hearing wrong but not doing any or if any persons Write or Speak their Grief that the Publick take notice of they will represent them under such terms as may render them odious and the more effectually to weaken their Testimonies they will fix upon them scurrilous and contemptible Appellation as Scotch-men Welch-men Tinker Taylor c. some of them utterly untrue and to prevent an inquisition into the truth of the matter they would make people believe that they are envious malicious and discomposed Spirits bad dirty factious and ranting Spirits who are gone from Truth and are out of Truth Such is the portion of those that appear in the least against their imperious tyrannical and lascivious Actions and what-ever Man detected the fallacies and destructive Cheats of imperious disdainful men but was thus reproached Must it be justice in them to complain of their Oppressions and Envy and Malice c. in us to complain of ours their years are but few yet verily they have been exceeding expert in learning of the Papists subtilties If I have any interest in a Burial-place and displease the Body by discharging of a good Conscience I shall be deprived thereof and be necessitated to seek a place for my dead else-where albeit the Truth as it hath been declared is dear unto and precious with me for say they Thou opposest Friends who are in the Truth Let the Spiritual Man judge whether this is not a setting up themselves yea let the reasonable Man judge whether this is not to dispose of my Right and Propriety by Will and Pleasure they are like the Pharisees of old who were more zealous to keep up their Traditions than the Law given from the Lord for they are more zealous to keep up their power as a Body than the Truth it self It appears plainly unto the Just and Righteous Man that G. F. and the rest of his Councel have endeavoured to subvert the Royal Law of Liberty and to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government over the Conscience over the Flock of God These are the ravening Wolves which prey upon the little Ones in a Lordly Spirit This is that envenomed spirit which hath tainted their Judgments poysoned their Hearts and blinded their Eyes how hainous it is in the Nature how mischievous in the Effects of it which will best appear if it be examined by that infallible Law To do as we would be done unto This is the Foundation of all Laws out of which they are derived this is the Supream Law and the Health of the People and end of all Laws to which they are designed And how far this Spirit in them stands in opposition to this Law I shall further manifest They pretend and claim an Infallibility in Judgment c. not that I am against Infallibility but that it is in a special manner peculiar to them as they are a Body this I am against yet who more fallible in Judgment than they who more partial in Justice And what can be more dangerous and destructive to the well-being of a People than such a claim without it If they were in it assuredly they would boast less be more humble and chast more self-denying and mortified in their Conversations I shall be liable to transgress by breaking a Law hidden in their Breasts that must be a Crime which they are pleased to say is so all must be error which they please to call so What say they dost thou see dost thou feel that which the Body doth not thou art in an exalted Spirit the Body hath not unity with it if it had been a true motion the Body would have a sence thereof behold the Touch-stone and certainly in their degenerated Natures as many great enormities have been so greater will be produc'd Lust will become a Law Envy will become a Law Ambition and Covetousness will become Laws What Dictates what Divisions such Laws will produce may easily be discerned by the ●ate Vicissitudes to dispose of all to the maintenance of it self The bounds of the Royal Law they have removed and broken and this mischief must needs ensue in the stead thereof Tyranny establish●d and yet they will tell us It 's for the honour of Truth and its service from the Spirit of Truth What greater dishonour can there be to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth than to pretend ●is Holy Pure Spirit in the practice of Injustice ●nd Oppression and to make use of his great Name and Power to patronize their pride and ex●lted Spirits Such arbitrary courses have an ill Operation upon ●he Spirits of Men it weakens their Hearts and ●ools their Courage and begets in them a slavish Temper and Disposition and where this arbitra●y and unlimited Power is set up a way is open not ●nly for the security but for the Advancement and ●ncouragement of Evil and a means to Increase ●latterers Such Men are aptest to cry up the ●ody in all respects and are the only good Friends ●ut others though exemplary in their Conversations who cannot yield and comply against the light in their Consciences to some of their proceedings are subject to their Jealousie Censure if not an Ejection In days past the Lord raised up a Moses to be a Ruler and Leader to his People Israel who were then under Types Figures and

And although John Osgood cleared himself as is above expressed John Bolton with two or three more had another snare for him namely Wilt thou give a testimony against the Hat-spirit His Reply was to this purpose When he saw it to be an evil he should but at the present he did not and therefore ●ould not give a Testimony against a thing before it ●as manifested in him to be an Evil. This would not satisfie them altho' he again came into their practice in the keeping of it off This Marriage was declared by Rebecca Travers the Elder and J. ● to be of the Lord and John Bolton with not a●ove two or three more did so oppose the passing ●hereof in the name of the Lord that it could not ●e obtained unless he would give a testimony as ●bove and yet almost the whole Meeting was for ●assing of it This will seem prodigious to persons ●gnorant in these affairs He therefore without their Consents appointed a Day to take his Wife and a very considerable number of the Meeting were Witnesses thereof Such was the Severity and Lordliness of J. B. that he in publick disowned Tho. Salthouse for his being there a Witness and for his Moderation These Transactions did so seize upon the Spirits of others that it was exceeding difficult for any to obtain Witnesses in such an affair if the Meeting refused to pass it tho' never so unjustly By what hath been said it may be clearly discerned That the greatest part of the Meeting signifie no more than Cyphers that a few Rule by Will and Pleasure a certain ready way it is to make Hypocrites for what greater temptation can a Man meet withal to reduce him to a conformity against his Conscience than to deprive him of a Person whom he most dearly loves And what greater rigidness can there be to deny the accomplishment of so weighty a Concern for the omittance of so small a Ceremony as the Hat Let this be had in perpetual memory That some of you were Judged Condemned and Executed for no other Cause than the Hat and now they Judge Condemn and Excommunicate for the same Oh greatly to be admired Not that I am against this practice when required of the Lord but against the customary use thereof for this I have known and frequently seen that when a Minister hath ended his Declaration and a general apprehension that he will make a close with Prayer off goes their Hats according to the custom of other Societies and immediately up stands another and begins a new Declaration then as Men ashamed on goes their Hats again Moreover it will happen sometimes for a Man to be overtaken with sleep when the Prayer is begun by some accident or other he is disturbed but before he is well awakned he snatches off his Hat as a Man afrighted Can I judge that those things are any other than a formal Custom Nay assuredly others do not pretend that spirituality of Worship and therefore it is no marvel in them I never could yet understand why the Head may be covered by an Assembly when a Minister shall return high Praises unto the Lord in an elevated fresh and lively Spirit and to be so erroneous as to be Excommunicated for the same in time of Prayer I have been the larger upon this Instance because it proves the greatest part that is here written The next is this M. Boreman and Elizabeth Baily came before the Men's Meeting to express their intentions touching their Marriage the one part declared positively as from the Lord that it was to pass John Nelson Gerrard Roberts and Thomas Briggs were three of them besides many more Tho. Briggs was transported into such an angry Zeal that he told them That it was of the Lord and that they opposed the mind of the Lord But when the other Party came close to the business he did not know whom the Persons were that intended their Marriage to his great shame John Bolton and Sam. Newton were the great Opposers under the same pretence but indeed with more moderation Several went home with grieved and sorrowful hearts whereof John Osgood was one and William Phillips another I could name more but let this suffice The next is concerning John Swinton who did write a large Paper by way of Lamentation as being commanded and required of the Lord to publish the same wherein was exprest That the Leaders the Leaders were greatly guilty of the fulness of Dyet fineness in Apparel and of speaking words out of the Life which was a burthen to the Life He justified this for several years though strongly urged to deny it but at last they pursued him so closely that the Meeting at Devonshire-House sent for him out of Scotland in the Winter-time for Him and his Paper to be tryed But before he came there was a meeting at the said place concerning him and there John Bolton Gilbert Layty John Nelson and Charles Harris with many others past Judgment against Him and his Paper A Reply was made by Gawen Lawrey That it was not regular to deal so by a Person and his Writings that was not there to answer for himself to Condemn Him and then to Try him This I bring as a further proof of their unreasonable Tyranny For what Justice and true Judgment could be expected when these Grandees who were his Judges did give Judgment against him before-hand In a short space after John came to London and a Meeting was again appointed He saw the Breach would be great and likewise his Exercise telling divers before-hand The Child must not be divided nor the Seamless garment rent and so when the day came he denied the Paper and the Spirit that gave it forth yea fit for the fire and moreover That it was writ in an hour of temptation and weakness Let the impartial judge whether this Recantation was not done rather in such an hour and whether the things are not true that he declared It 's time to conclude having dwelt long enough upon this Subject with this Counsel and Admonition to the High and Mighty and to the lofty Mountains and aspiring Cedars of this Assembly before spoken of Despise not to take counsel of a Fool nor disdain the advice of the young and weak Ones for 't is possible deep knowledge and yet little esteem may be found together This I have to inform you that though you have reduced many to a sober life the way to keep them and to bring in more into the same Fold is by mildness not setting up a Lordly Judicature over the Conscience for by this all Professions have been split before us and it is observed that when the Spirit of Lordship enters a People over their Fellows the Lord doth disappoint the Undertakers thereof by the withdrawing of his pure Spirit My Soul's desire is That the Spirit of Lordship and Exaltedness which hath entred the Body may be crusht for ever that the little Ones may serve the

within us that we needed not to go forth out of our own Houses having an Holy Anointing within us to supply the wants of our Souls and lead us into all Truth And the Lord did daily add unto the Church and raised up many to go forth in the Power to Preach the Everlasting Gospel whereby the Church multiply'd and encreased to the astonishment of the Nations How low and humble were they in their Spirits how few were they in Words Their yea was yea and their nay nay Ah! let me take up a Lamentation How are the Mighty fallen How have the Stars ceased to give their Light How are the Poor distressed and the Young Ones bruised by the High Mountains and Lofty Cedars whose Habitations were once in Heaven but now upon the High Places of the Earth to impose upon the Conscience and to Establish an Arbitrary Power by a Law these are the armed Beasts and the many Antichrists which break the Unity in Spirit and the Bond of Peace This brings in Divisions causeth Differences contentions and Emulations It roots up the good and eats as doth a Canker whereby the Unity is divided and the Peace broken But the Unity that the Lord approves of is for every one to act according to his measure and growth in the Truth All are not strong therefore all cannot be in the same Exercise no more than a Child can be found in the Exercise of a Man So that the disuniting-Spirit doth not barely lie in being of another Mind and Judgment but in the imposing of its Judgment and Practice which appears plainly by Paul who clearly judged that the ground of the Differences in the Church lay very much in the judging one another in Meats and Drinks c. It 's the great Promise of the Father in these latter Days That he will write his Laws in our Hearts and put his Spirit into our inward Parts to lead us into all Truth and out of all appearances which his Spirit manifests in us to be in the Imitation and after the Traditions of Men. Is it then reasonable for the Spiritual Man to be found in the practice of doing before a Law written but rather wait at the Feet of Jesus till God Reveals And he that walks according to this Rule shall know his Doctrine and be led to behold his Glory and Witness an Unity in Spirit with his Brother though in a different Exercise How doth this differ from the World's and the Foxoman-Unity which is to yield subjection to the Order of the Body so called though no manifestation within And this Unity they glory in by this is their Kingdom upheld from this they are able to boast Who is able to make War with us Who can stand before us Do not all fall that have risen up against us Are not these the high swelling Words of proud Babel whose towri g thoughts must be abased Whose practice hath been to Crush the Tender Ones in their Bodies Souls and Spirits This Language hath mine Ears heard this practice hath mine Eyes seen to the grief and wounding of my Soul This combined Unity I have no pleasure in its Nature is known by its Image its Birth by the exercise of its Power My Friend Observe What difference is there in these things between George Fox and the Papists The one saith No Liberty out of the Church The other No Liberty out of the Power Saith the Papist What Liberty to the Sectary No What Liberty to the Heretick No. And George Fox saith What Liberty to the Presbyter No What Liberty to the Independant No What Liberty to the Baptist No. Liberty saith he is in the Truth The difference lies only here The one hath greater Power to compel than the other The Papists say Believe as the Church Believes So likewise saith G. Fox But I say Nay I am not to believe a thing barely because the Church believes it but because it 's manifested in me else I am to wait till God Reveals it I was told the abovesaid by two there present The Church of Rome claims a Power of Excommunication of them that will not submit to their decent and comely Order though in it self the thing be meerly Circumstantial Ceremonial or as they term it indifferent and their reason is It Judgeth the Power and smites at the Authority and say they it 's an Inlet to Division and thereby is Unity violated Behold a resemblance thereof it hath been often said unto me The Hat is nothing but it is out of the comely Order it judgeth Friends who are in the Power who testifie against it and it breaks the Unity and therefore we cannot suffer such to Marry or Bury nor to partake of any Priviledge as a Member of the Body and this is in the substance Excommunication For Excommunication chiefly lies in a Man's being deprived of the Benefits and put out of the Protection of the Law as also from being a Member of the Church The Severity is the same with us for where could I Marry or Bury if we were an intire Nation Or how can I take a Wife without a Witness Or how can I have a Witness if to be one is lyable to the same Misery Selected Bodies ought to be found in the Exercise of Moderation Tenderness and Mercy as if they were a Nation I always find when once such put forth their Hands to afflict for Conscience sake as their Power groweth strong so doth their Oppression But perhaps they would say We do not eject for Conscience sake but because of an obstinate Will which opposeth Friends The Papists justifie themselves by saying of the same I remember a Judge likewise made the same reply when a Friend mentioned Conscience Certainly it cannot be an Evil in one and Right in the other no more than it is Cruelty in the Papists Persecutions and Just in the Protestants It will be a noble Example in those that stand upon the Advantage-ground to Act in Moderation Tenderness and Mercy And although it is the Policy of the World's Churches c. under a pretence for Unity not to hear the tender Conscience yet the Church of Truth will and where they are found will account them as Brethren and not to think it a sufficient ground to refuse them after Admonition if they persist but to wait till God perswades them And this is the Royal Law of Liberty the other is the Yoke of Bondage from which we are not to be entangled after the Traditions of Men. This great Charter of Liberty is violated and greatly broken in many particulars If I have a Cause before the Elders but especially if I am a Dissenter it 's frequently urg'd give it to Friends if I do not a farther Snare is offered namely Dost thou believe Vs to be in the Power of God If I say Yea then What wilt thou not leave it to the Power of God in Friends Thou art in confusion to believe Vs to be in the Power

Shadows and the Lord spake to his People by his Servant Moses But another Administration more glorious is established to wit The Dispensation of the Son of God whom Moses prophesied of who speaketh from Heaven who is the end of all Figures Types and Shadows he who is the substance of all Types c. is now the Great Captain and Leader of his People make use of and lays by what Instruments he pleaseth reveals his Mind sometimes to one sometimes to another without respect to Persons or Bodies as he pleaseth That there may be no glorying but in the Lord He abaseth the proud and exalteth the humble hides his mind from the High and Mighty from the Wise and Prudent and reveals himself unto Babes and therefore he needeth not a Fox nor a Body to conveigh his Will unto his People he being himself their Teacher and hath planted his Laws in their Hearts and given them an holy Anointing to know the Spirit of Truth from the Spirit of Error And albeit the Kings of the Earth exercise Lordship and Authority over their People yet it ought not to be so among the Disciples of Christ being all Brethren But for the greatest to be well contented to serve in the meanest employment if the Lord requires it as to be served to hearken and submit to the Voice of his Spirit in the least Babe as in the greatest or as in the Body And I affirm the Lord did not raise them up to bring us off from the barren Mountains to feed upon them who are now become a Desart nor from under our Oppressors to turn Oppressors themselves Let them remember the Army it is their Figure and if the Lord's anger waxed hot against them for their Unfaithfulness what will be the Portion of these who have so deeply Apostatized fram clearer Manifestations Many of the most Eminent have had potent Impulses to give forth solid and sound Arguments for Liberty of Conscience and have pleaded strongly for the same yet George Fox was heard to say in a selected great Assembly thus Though many Friends have writ for Liberty of Conscience I never lik'd the Word it is not a good Word no Liberty to the Presbyterians no Liberty to the Papists no Liberty to the Independants no Liberty to the Baptists c. Liberty is to be only in the Truth and saith he no Liberty out of the Power In Answer unto this Truth gives Liberty unto the weak yet no weakness in the Truth Since the Spirit is withdrawn they do greatly boast the Power is as much and as fresh as ever if so they would be more refreshed with it and less with Sleep in their Assemblies and their Unity as entire as ever Yet verily sharper Contentions are seldom sound amongst any People To prove this I will set down two notable Examples it is between four famous and eminent Elders First Tho. Salthouse and John Bolton T. S. be●ng a man of some Moderation and Tenderness used his endeavours to beget a Reconcilement between the Practicers and Forbearers of the Hat in Prayer and to receive each other as Brethren though they differ in that particular thing but that high and hot-spirited Elder J. B. called him false Prophet reputed him worse than the Forbearers and opposed his Ministry untill with much ado a Reconcilement was made by a condescention on both parts The other is between G. Fox and Sam. Newton who being a man of some Honesty and Cleanness in his Spirit was against having of a Person to Act in their behalf as in relation to Sufferings whose Conversation Preached not Righteousness but G. F. opposed him with so much wrath and violence that some there present thought he would have strucken him he being a person so rightly qualified and accomplished for George's Interest Such is the swelling Pride of this Luciferian that he gave forth a Paper That his Marrirge wit● Margaret Fell was a Figure of the Marriage between Christ and the Church I may more justly believ● it to be a Figure of the great Apostacy from th● Truth and barrenness in the Truth He likewise declared That his Marriage was ●bove the state of Adam in his Innocency in the stat● of the second Adam who never fell This Pape● was so ill Resented and so much dislik'd that i● was called in again and a rare thing it was to ge● a sight there of albeit through an accident I ha● a View of it The abovesaid Samuel Newton and John Bolton to give them their due have not taken a littl● Pains Labour and Travel to bring to Light an● to Judgement such unheard of Practises of beastly wantonness and filthy uncleanness that it is hard to believe the excess thereof But John Bolton hath or had a Confession in Writing from one or two of the Female Persons concern'd of the Debauched Actions to declare the truth thereof yet notwithstanding they met with such great Obstructions and Opposition that they cannot accomplish a thorow Examination of it because it toucheth many Eminent Ones in the Ministry who from day to day resorted unto them and giving them these Appellations Innocent Lasses and Daughters of Sion Sometimes it comes to pass that two approved of in the Ministry will oppose and Judge each other in publick Assemblies in the Name of the Lord but to prevent the evil effects therof the next day Persons shall be appointed to declare the Greatness of their Unity and the Oneness in their Spirits But least there should be a misapplication of what I have Written when I express the Body I do declare my meaning is The Second Days Meeting at Devonshire-house with some other Principals in other Countries who are their Abettors and not the whole Body of the People called Quakers for I am assured and well know that very many have not bowed to this Golden Image with whom my Soul hath Unity and with whom I am Refreshed And moreover I meet with many who will freely open their Hearts to me with grieved and sorrowful Spirits to behold what Domineering and what partial Judgment is practised what Severity and Tyrany is Exercised at this Meeting but especially against Dissenters But say they it is out of our Power to Redress it until God doth Change their Hearts or give us more Power reckoning themselves at present too weak to grapple with these Goliah's unless the little Stone be given them to smite them on their Foreheads or Words to this purpose Let us trust in the Lord and wait upon him with patience in Faith which overcomes the World that he will thresh the Mountains and rebuke the High and Mighty who are Exalted above their Measures and exalt his Truth over all that Justice and Righteousness may flow as a River to the rejoycing of his Oppressed People and to the Praise and Glory of his Name for ever From a deep Mourner in Israel to behold how the Earth is filled with Violence and the Righteous Seed Oppressed Dear Friend It hath pleased the Lord to raise thee up to bear a Testimony against an Adulterous Tyrannical and an Hypocritical Generation let the Word of the Lord therefore have a free passage in and through thee and Consult not with Flesh and Blood Watch against the Enemy left he darken thy Understanding that thou canst not distinguish between the Precious and the Vile Mix not thy own Thoughts with the Motions of the Spirit keep in the Fear and in the Humility that an exalted Spirit may be kept out Build thy House upon the Rock of Ages and stand in the unchangeable without wavering that thy Conversation may be without Blemish thy Judgment withot Error and thy Love unto the Truth without Dissimulation Be Faithful unto the Lord's Requirings that Disobedience may not enter Rember the Root bear● the Tree and the Tree the Branches if the natural Branches were cut off through unbelief and thou with thousands grafted in be not high-minded but fear From a Little hidden One of the Flock of Jesus