Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A34209
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The Concurrence & unanimity of the people called Quakers in owning and asserting the principal doctrines of the Christian religion demonstrated in the sermons or declarations of several of their publick preachers ... / exactly taken in shorthand as they were delivered by them at their meeting-houses ... and now faithfully transcribed and published, with the prayer at the end of each sermon.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing C5715; ESTC R29314
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126,065
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208
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Lord from day to day to be kept and preserved by him and be retired from the Vanities of the World and live that Life we live in the flesh by the Faith of the Son of God that we may come to say with the Apostle Paul Not I live but Christ liveth in me that we may be united to him He that hath the Son hath Life and he hath Power to as many as received him to them he gave Power Here is a Divine Ability I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me My Friends If every one of you do feel this in your own particular you will come to a Heavenly place to a Kingdom that cannot be shaken and dwell in a sure dwelling and have the Candle of the Lord to shine upon your Tabernacles light is sown for the Righteous and gladness for the upright in Heart they shall have Peace through him that is the Prince of Peace It is the desire of my Soul that you may feel this inwardly in your selves Therefore Dear Friends retire to that strength that is Treasured up for you in Christ Be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his might and let all self Confidence be laid aside and trust in the Lord for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength and he changeth not therefore the Sons of Jacob are not consumed He is the same Yesterday to Day and for ever Let us take comfort in the unchangeable Love of God who hath given us this Promise I will never leave thee nor forsake thee 13. Heb. 5. 6. So that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me Therefore wait to receive strength from Christ from day to day they that build not upon this Power are upon a Sandy foundation they make an outward profession of Religion and have a form of Godliness but that will not avail Obedience is better then Sacrifice and to hearken then the Fat of Rams And our Saviour saith Mat. 7. 22. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them not shall be likened to a foolish man that built his House upon the Sand and the Rain descended and the Floods came and the Winds blew and beat upon that House and it fell and great was the fall of it Wait upon the Lord his strength hath been Revealed and his power made known and his Arm made bare Therefore fix your Confidence in him that so your minds may be established Be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his might and take unto you the whole Armour of God Eph. 6. 13 14. This is the Armour that God hath made known for his Christian Souldiers that are making War against sin and unrighteousness who are fighting the good fight of Faith It was the experience of the Primitive Believers We are more then Conquerours through him that loved us therefore feel your strength fixed upon the Lord retire and wait upon him and be in a watchful frame The Prophet Habbakuk when he saw distress was coming upon the Church says Hab. 3. 16. When I heard my belly trembled and my Lips quivered at the Voice and Rottenness entred into my bones and I trembled in my self that I might rest in the Day of trouble then saith he in the 2 Chap. 1. I will stand upon my Watch and set me upon the Tower and I will watch to see what he will say unto me and what I shall Answer when I am Reproved In this Spiritual Warfare let us be attentive unto Christ the great Captain of our Salvation that maketh War in Righteousness let us hearken one day after another and then there will be a Holy skill and expertness given to us you will be expert in the Spiritual War and you will find strength and power given you from the Lord and he will be a hiding place and a Sanctuary to you you shall come to the Mountain of the Lord where there shall be no distress and the Voice of the oppressor shall no more be heard nor destruction within your Walls Thy Walls shall be called Salvation and thy Gates praise And you that know that Spiritual dwelling where the Spiritual Jews are you are come to sing the Songs of Zion which shall be Sung in the strong City where Salvation is appointed for Walls and Bulwarks where the wicked cease from troubling and where the Flocks lye down at Noon where there is a Shaddow of a great Rock in a weary Land and Rivers in dry places Here is the plenty of all good things which in Gods House is opened to us Now my Friends If you are sitting down in outward forms without feeling the operation of Gods Power and Spirit upon your Souls and be not brought to an inward Conformity the dreadful day will come that the Lord will search Jerusalem with Candles that God before whom all things are naked and bare he is taking a view of the Imperfections of his People he is the searcher of the Heart and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of it whether you fall short of that power and Spirit of true Religion or if there be only an outward Conformity and not inward Obedience The Trumpet of the Lord hath been blown in Sion Lift up thy Voice like a Trumpet and tell the House of Judah of her transgression and the House of Israel of her Sins Where there is only an outward Conformity and not an Inward subjection there distress will overtake you which I have seen in the Vision of the Lord which hath been upon me as a warning to the Remiss and careless ones and it was delivered with a voice full of Power in these words All foundations shall be manifested of what sort they are A watcher from the Holy one with severity shall overtake the unwatchful Therefore let this be a warning to you all that you may not fall under the stroke of Gods severity The Apostle Paul saith Rom. 11. 17. to the believing Romans speaking of the goodness and severity of God And if some of he Branches be broken off and thou being a Wild Olive Tree wert grafted in amongst them and with them partakest of the Root and fatness of the Olive Tree Boast not against the branches but if thou boast thou bearest not the Root but the Root thee Thou wilt say then the Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in Well because of Vnbelief they were broken off and thou standest by Faith be not bigh minded but fear For if God spared not the natural branches take heed least be also spare not thee Behold therefore the Goodness and Severity of God on them which fell to them severity but towards thee Goodness if thou continue in his Goodness otherwise thou shalt be Cut off O my Friends what need is there of a Watchful frame think how necessary it is in your own particular every one of you to be keeping in your Watch Tower the
Christ our Redeemer hath to Reign over us yet many will not let him Reign nor let him Exercise his Dominion What do you think of these What will become of them Our Lord Jesus Christ was in the World he spake a Parable to the Jews I will repeat it and I would have you all consider it whether the application may not be made to Christians that Rebel against him Luke 20 9. c. A certain man Planted a Vineyard and let it forth to Husbandmen and went into a far Country for a long time And at the season he sent a Servant to the Husbandmen that they should give him of â—ahe Fruit the Vineyard but the Husbandmen beat him and sent him away empty And again he sent another Servant and they beat him also and entreated him shamefully and sent him away empty and again he sent the Third and they wounded him also and cast him out Then said the Lord of the Vineyard what shall I do I will send my Beloved Son It may be they will Reverence him when they see him but when the Husbandmen saw him they reasoned among themselves saying This is the Heir come let us Kill him that the Inheritance may be ours So they cast him out of the Vineyard and Killed him What therefore shall the Lord of the Vineyard do unto them He shall come and destroy these Husbandmen and shall give the Vineyard to others If I should apply this and bring it over to Christians how dreadful would it be the Lord turned the Rebellious Jews out of their Country and overthrew their City the City of Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple and left not one Stone upon another Now consider the Lord Jesus Christ he hath Planted you a Vineyard I will give you Scripture for it if you please The Vineyard of the Lord of Hosts was the House of Israel I mean the Children of Men It was not an Outward Vineyard The House of Israel was his pleasant Plant Now as the Lord looked for fruit from them so he expects fruit from us The Lord hath sent his Servants in one Age and in another Age and how have Christians treated them they have thrown them into Goals and Prisons and evil intreated them and they have boasted and in effect said the Inheritance is ours We have Ordinances we have these Accomplishments and Gifts and Graces we need not such a silly sort of People to come to us and Preach Christ and the Light wâ—erin us there is no need of that but you must â—â— Christians and come to Chruch to this Meeting and the other Meeting I do not speak by way of Reflection but I would do it to open your Understandings in the Mistery of the Kingdom of God and true Religion The Faithful Servants of the Lord have had hard treatment in this Countrey and other Countries in this present Age as well as in former Ages but that is not all The Lord of the Vineyard the Great Almighty God hath sent his Son among you Will you reverence him and bring forth fruit to him What do you say Have you fruit for him I cannot say of a wicked People they have fruit for the Lord for their fruit is untimely Fruit their Fruit is Iniquity and Transgression but the fruit that is acceptable to the Lord is Holiness and Righteousness this is the Fruit that God expects from you Let me tell you Friends If you will not reverence his Son Jesus Christ you will be as desolate in the day of Judgment as the Jews were you may possibly escape the Judgment of God in this World but not then Friends Countrymen and Citizens be you found bringing forth fruit unto the Lord and be not joyned to that which is evil be not govern'd by the power of the Prince of the Air you know where his Rule is he would Rule in your hearts if you should give way to him but resist the Devil and let the Kingdom of Christ and his Holy Government be set up in every one of your Souls then you will be found bringing forth fruit unto God which will be acceptable to him in the days of old the Prophet takes notice of it where he saith I found Israel as Grapes in the Wilderness I found them so in their innocence in their upright State in their Primitive Condition your Fathers were a kind of First-Fruits to me they were as the first ripe Fruits of a Fig-Tree before the times they separated themselves and bowed to Baal Men and Women in their tender days before they came to act evil with violence they were in better esteem with the Lord they were then pleasing to him as the first Fruits of a Fig-Tree when they were in their innocence and uprightness and many People have come into this good frame of Mind and Spirit and yet afterward have gone and separated themselves from the Lord from the Power and Spirit of Christ they have gone from it just as many did that were called Christians of old in the Apostles time there were some Christians that took this course they were acceptable to the Lord for a time they did run well for a time and pray how did they begin which way did they go They began in Obedience and in Subjection to Christ and his Spirit but they separated themselves afterward and the Apostle writers to them do but consider it O Foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth why what is the matter before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth Crucified among you are ye so foolish having begun in the Spirit are you now made perfect by the Flesh So I may say to many called Christians that live in this Land and obey not the truth but live in ungodliness oh Foolish People who hath bewitched you you begun in the Spirit and then you looked like Quakers as some might upbraid you So that you see it was above Sixteen Hundred years ago that the Apostles did Preach this truth Preached the Spirit what have you done ye did run well when ye were first convinced you began in the Spirit how in the Spirit the Spirit of Christ did rule and govern you there was a right beginning there was a right Christian Life do you now think to be made perfect by the Flesh So we have abundance of such Christians in the World that have rejected the Spirit and it is no part of their Religion to walk in the Spirit they have given it an hard name an ill name they have frighted People out of it Take heed of the Spirit that you be not deceived by it and misled by it you pretend to be led by the Spirit take heed of it say they but this was the Foundation of the Gospel Preaching and Ministry in the Apostles times they laid this foundation I believe an hundred instances might be produced out of the Holy Scriptures to assert this Doctrine you know our Lord Jesus Christ