Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A27125
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An epistle general containing wholsome exhortations and good counsel from the spirit of truth unto all such as are or may be under the judgment or sentence of banishment, for the testimony of Jesus Christ ... / by ... W.B.
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Bayly, William, d. 1675.
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1664
(1664)
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Wing B1524; ESTC R16452
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13,699
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16
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who shall give glory to God in their behalf So in his Truth the Lord God of all mercies and everlasting blessings keep you all Amen In whose blessed Will I lye down with all the faithful and upright in heart dayly waiting in his pure Light which makes all things manifest to know more of his counsel and to be obedient thereunto in whatsoever he requireth of me in which I exhort some that they suffer not a motion of that spirit of Core or Eliab to rise in their hearts lest thereby they endanger themselves for what was Moses and what was Aaron and what are all that bare a pure Testimony this day for the Name of the Most Holy dreadful God but such as hazard their Lives and are your servants for Christs sake therefore let such be very careful and tender in this matter for cannot we say to them as little to David his brethren Is there not a cause Do not the care and zeal for the honour of the great and holy Name of our God dayly increase in our hearts I Can truly say The zeal of thine house hath even eaten me up That his living Truth and People may be kept blameless and spotless in this great and notable day of Tryal is the travel of my breathing soul day and night and I seek not mine own honour but the honour of him that hath had mercy upon me who hath opened mine eyes and given me of his free Spirit eternal Power and all I have I have received from him and I have nothing to boast of but in the Lord and his Mercies which endureth for ever in whose Salvation I rejoyce and in his fear I delight and Lord let me never forget thy Name nor the multitude of thy Mercyes toward me and toward all thy People but let me ever give thanks to thee in the lively remembrance of them who is setting a Remnant as watchmen upon the walls of Jerusalem who cannot hold their peace for her sake day nor night till she is made the Praise of the whole Earth and so much the more as they see the day approaching though their life is in great stillness and I could be content to be silent but I must obey his requirings or I cannot be clear in his sight And I know to this end hath he preserved me to this day and hour in the secret of his Pavilion blessed be his Name for ever Into whose hand I freely commit my soul and body and all that he hath given me and all his dear people every where to be disposed at his good will and pleasure in which I feele my reward with me and my witness is in heaven and the true joy of the Lord is in my heart as an open fountain which none knows but the redeemed from the earch and yet I am dayly a man of sorrowes and well acquainted with griefs for the redemption of his seed in Captivity and for the whole Creation that groaneth under the bondage of corruption but in all estates I have learned to be content knowing the Lord is with me and hears and in due time will answer the breathings of his own to whom be the glory dominion and praises now and for evermore Amen I am your dear Brother and Companion who suffer with patience for the everlasting Truth of God which must spread over all the Earth and be established on the top of all Mountains in which I bid you Farewel W. B. From Hertford where I remain a Prisoner for the Testimony of Jesus Christ the 26 of the 6th Month. 1664.
every appearance of evil for he will not let slip any opportunity which tends to his advantage that he may thereby preserve continue and uphold his own Kingdom and Interest Now he perceives his ruine approaching and his perpetual downfal at hand who will dwell as long as he can in the two men one possessed but being wholly cast our from thence his last habitation is the herd of Swine whom he hath caused and will cause to run down with violence and perish So my dear Friends be very careful and let your words be sew and your moderation known unto all men and in all things for the Lord is at hand who weigheth the thoughts words and actions intents and purposes of all people with a just Ballance who will not acquit the guilty without punishment wheresoever it is found And keep within the bounds of the feeling of the Seed of God in all your wayes for that is the ancient Land-mark which he that goes beyond transgresseth and take heed of loudness forwardness or hastiness of speech in all your discourses about the things of this world and this I lay upon you from the Lord to whom you must give an account but be dead slow to such things and be lively in Christ Jesus the Truth and yet moderate patient and cool for God requireth stilness yea great stilness and watchfulness amongst you at this day that you may hear his Voice and do his Will and stand in his pure Counsel which the many words without knowledge and meekness of wisdom darkeneth for which the reproofs must come So the Lord guide you in his fear and gentle peaceable wisdom that no folly superfluity or unsoundness may be found among you but that ye may all learn of him daily who is meek and lowly and be kept in his weighty and savoury Life to the honour of his Name and the comfort and edification of one another And mark them that are unruly walk disorderly among you and cause divisions through their unsubjected wills and exalted spirits above the Seed of God which is but one in you all and have no fellowship with them that they may see their shame and yet have no prejudice or enmity rise in your hearts against any but let your upright Life and Conversation daily judge and condemn them that if possible they may be awakened and be sensible of their state and repent and be saved So let there be no strife or contentious amongst you no needless disputations whereby the weak may stumble no foolish jesting no vain jangling but quietness and soberness with gravity and godliness in all reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire and if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and transgressor appear So dear Friends study to be quiet and eat your own bread and wait for it daily and be content therewith and let all your striving be to stand still for herein is your strength encreased and be good examples one unto another and to all people that may come among you to visit you or to behold your order for the holy Name of our God is greatly concerned in this matter and we are now the very people by whom he will be honoured and greatly exalted or else reproached and dishonoured in this our day and generation So grieve not the Spirit of God in your selves or others neither provoke him to jealousie against you but dwell retired and watchful against every motion that would exalt it self above the pretious tender Seed to hurt it so shall ye have peace as ye dwell in the holy Mountain and be justified in the sight of the Lord and be a good favour in the hearts of all sober people whose eyes are towards you for good So mind the honour of God and bear in remembrance the end for which he hath called you out of the world at this day to bear your testimony in sufferings for his Name sake and be circumspect humble and wise in all your wayes that the Lord may be honoured by you and his Witness answered in all People so shall his Seed be raised and the weak be strengthened and your own souls comforted in him that guides his Children that learn of him in the way of Peace And for this is the daily travel of my soul who am one in sufferings with you for the same pure testimony which shall stand for ever And all Friends every where who have or may have any occasion or business to any in Authority in the Nations or who having done any thing in obedience to the Lord as your faithful Testimony to his Name for which ye are or may be brought before any of them or have any motion lye upon you to go and warn them or any particular of them concerning the work they are about or of the day of the Lord that is coming as a Theife upon them or as concerning them that suffer bonds or the spoiling of their goods or sentence of Banishment for the Truth-sake or the like this I lay upon you from the Lord which hath often rise in my heart go not in your own will nor time but wait upon him in stillness and eye his pure presence and power to go with you before you to lead and carry you on in obedience to his own pure motion in which ye will feel strength sufficient and receive the pure wisdom from above as in his Light Dread and Counsel ye abide so to speak that Gods Witness in all may be answered here ye will be a good savour to him whether they hear or forbear So premeditate not afore hand what to speak or answer but singly give up and dwell low and subject to the Lord and keep within the seeling of his eternal Power and sink into it and then ye will be preserved innocent and cool and patient and bold in dominion over all fear and weakness which would be ready to enter and so the Truth being kept clear in you and by you in all things the Lord will be honoured and his Name exalted over all the contary to whom all honour and fear belongs And let none sute or frame themselves to please men but all seek to please the Lord and seek his face and his glory and let his Truth be very dear and pretious to you and amongst you all yea more than your own lives and then by it ye will be preserved to his praise and your own eternal comfort and peace for great hath been the sufferings for its sake and many hath sealed their testimony of it with their blood who have not loved their lives unto death for the joy that was set before them whose faithfulness lives in an everlasting record and can never be blotted out of the hearts of the righteous but is had in eternal remembrance the consideration whereof shall break the hearts of Children that are yet unborn and the life thereof shall raise up thousands from the dead