Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	believe_v	heart_n	lord_n	3,740	5	3.8388	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35125	An epistle to all that profess the light of Jesus Christ within to be their guide by John Crook.	Crook, John, 1617-1699.	1678 (1678)	Wing C7206; ESTC R29662	7,227	14

AN EPISTLE TO All that profess the Light of Jesus Christ WITHIN To be their Guide BY JOHN CROOK Printed in the Year 1678. To all that Profess the Light of Jesus Christ within to be their Guide Greeting Dear Friends Brethren and Sisters THat believe in the inward and spiritual Grace which is the Light of our Lord Jesus Christ I salute you all desiring that as we received Christ Jesus the Lord we may all so walk in him In order hereunto let us all watch and be mindful how we received the truth at the beginning which is the subject matter upon my heart by this Epistle to signifie unto you For you know many of us before we received the Truth as it is in Jesus felt some stirrings of life and therefore separated in our Judgments and Opinions from the generality of our Neighbors and Country men where we dwelt because of an inward cry from a deep want in our Souls and hungering after the constant enjoyment of that which we with many others professed but could not find in any thing under the Sun So poor and needy were we that the dealings of God with our spirits in that day in some sense may be said to resemble Gods proceedings with Adam when he set all the creatures before him before he gave him a meet-helper that when he saw he could find out no fit helper for himself amongst them all he might make the more account of the meet helper that was after given him of God So it was inwardly with us until that Trumpet sounded which directed our minds to the light of Christ Jesus in our own hearts and Consciences which when we believed the report and made tryal of its sufficiency we soon found the meet-helper for our souls to wit the arm of the Lord to be revealed in it and made so bare that we knew it to be the Lords own arm which brought deliverance to us But not from all our enemies at once yet so that we understood plainly by certain experience that the tendency thereof and the end of its being made bare was in order to deliver us out of the hands of all our enemies that being delivered we might serve God without a tormenting distrustful fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives And the way thereunto was by the working of this arm of power in our inward parts to make a separation within between the precious and the vile within and between our own spirits and Gods Spirit between our own wills and Gods will between our own thoughts and Gods thoughts and our own ways and Gods ways c. So that we found the great business of regeneration and restauration was to be wrought within us and what sorrow what trouble what horror what distress what Warrs and rumor of warrs was within us many knows and what earthquakes was in divers hearts which might occasion the name QUAKER to be given to some of us those that were eye-witnesses from the beginning are not ignorant of these things O what carefulness what watchfulness what circumspection what awfulness of God and what dread of his power was upon our spirits lest we should speak our own words work our own works walk in our own ways or think our own thoughts so diligently did we keep a watching and over our own hearts being conscious to our selves that we should give an account for every idle word which caused us to learn a bridle for our tongues that our words might be few and savory ministring grace to the hearers How solid were our looks how grave were our countenances how serious were our carriages and how exemplary our behaviours and conversations amongst all that we conversed with lest we should give occasion for any to speak evil of the blessed truth of the Living God And if any though but newly convinced thereof walked disorderly or that took up their rest in a bare convincement and came not to be converted to the life and power of God in their own particular which at the beginning was soon discovered by that spirit of discerning which in the light we received from God How conscienciously solicitous were we to admonish instruct advise and counsel them to take heed of a false rest or running into or doing any thing by bare imitation from others Yet how tender were we of bruising hurting stopping or hindering any stirrings of light and life lest the lame should be turned out of the way or the seeble be left behind The spirit of Holy David was in our hearts who would not consent that the sore and weary ones that could not get over the River Bezor should lose their part of the prey because they tarried with the stuff but made it a Law and a Statute in Israel for ever that they should have part alike And how did we love and pity those that took pleasure in the stones of Zion and favoured the dust thereof what carefulness was upon us for them and if we found any but like the young man in Mark 19.22 that had been religiously inclined from their youth how did we love them watching for opportunities to communicate some spiritual advice unto them As if the new kindred that Christ speaks of Mat. 12. to wit Whosoever shall do my Fathers will the same is my Mother Sister and Brother was now discovered again and the beauties of holiness were now made manifest with the many glorious priviledges enjoyed thereby as to see clearly and know certainly the living God for hereby came we to know that we knew him because of the beauties of holiness in keeping close to his Commandments whereby our love to God and one to another was manifest unto all For we durst not let in distrustful thoughts of God nor one of another Faith in him then becoming our Law so that our care was stedfastly and constantly to believe in the light by which we had seen him and to dwell in a holy fear lest we should transgress the Law of Faith by which Christ was then kept dwelling in our hearts and all boasting of SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS was utterly excluded But with how much difficulty we kept that Faith you only know who like valiant Souldiers have endured hardship in the good sight of Faith whereby we our selves were preserved and kept by the power of God through Faith that we might in due time receive the end of our Faith for we had nothing else in our eye but to be saved from sin to wit the salvation of our souls And then because we believed in the power as we were moved of it we spake by it and such words like Jonathans bow never returned empty but wounded the Hypocrites like the man that shot the arrow out of simplicity which smote disguised Ahab between the harness so that he died according to the word of the Lord by Micaiah You may remember also how like Ephraim at first we were as little children and spake trembling saying