Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	apostle_n	holy_a	scripture_n	6,970	5	5.7262	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30498	The holy truth and its professors defended in an answer to a letter writ by Lawrence Potts, priest of Staplestown near Catherlough, unto Robert Lacky, a parishioner and formerly hearer of the said priest, occassioned by his forsaking his ministry and embracing the blessed truth herein vindicated / by John Burnyeat [and] John Watson.	Burnyeat, John, 1631-1690.; Watson, John, 1650?-1710.	1688 (1688)	Wing B5966; ESTC R36040	22,397	32

THE HOLY TRUTH And Its PROFESSORS DEFENDED IN AN ANSWER to a LETTER writ by Lawrence Potts Priest of Staplestown near Catherlough UNTO Robert Lacky a Parishioner and formerly Hearer of the said Priest Occasioned by his forsaking his Ministry and embracing the blessed Truth herein vindicated By John Burnyeat John Watson T●●e counsel together and it shall come to nought speak the word and it shall not stand for God is with us For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people saying Say ye Not a Confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say A Confederacy neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid Sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread Isa. 8. 10 11 12 13. Printed in the Year 1688. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER Christian Reader ANother Letter coming to our hands subcribed J. T. the tendency thereof being to beget a dislike in R. L. to whom it was writ to the Principles of Truth as prosessed by us the truly reformed Christians called Quakers and to prevent the writing of more such occasion'd our making thus publick the following Answer to Priest Potts's Letter and the rather understanding the said J. T. saw it and takes no notice thereof in his although it answers the substance thereof excepting in these following particulars 1. His accounting it an Errour in us not to swear Ans. We in short say we have Christs Command for not Swearing Matt. 5. 3 4. Swear not at all and seconded by the Apostle James 5. 12. which we believe ought to be observed by all Christians 2. He charges us with denying the Trinity as he terms it Ans. We do really own the Three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One Joh. 5. 7. and we also own the Three that bear witness in Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood and these Three agree in One as ver 8. and so we do and always did believe according to the holy Scriptures 3. He charges us with denying the Scriptures to be the Word of God. Ans. We believe the Scriptures to be what they call themselves a Testimony or Declaration as in Luke 1. 1. Joh. 5. 39. but Christ we own and believe to be the Word of God according to Joh. 1. and Rev. 19. 13. so we own the Word of the Lord that came unto the Prophets saying as in Ezek. 7. 1. and in divers othes places and we own and believe the Sayings of the Word as recorded in the holy Scriptures so the Word that came unto the Prophets was the Sayer or that which spoke unto them and the Scriptures are the words or sayings which the Word or Spirit of Christ spoke unto and through the Prophets as is evident from the Testimony of the Apostle 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Dublin the 12th of the 9th Month. 1688. J. B. J. W. The Holy Truth and its Professors defended c. Lawrence Pots WE having met with a Paper of thine and finding our selves and others of the people called Quakers concerned therein with our Christian Religion and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which we are called to bear witness unto and contend for were not willing to let it pass without taking notice of thy false Charges upon us and our Religion together with thy weak Vindication of thy self with the rest of the Clergy of your Church in those things which thou hast yet to prove And we find our selves the more concerned because of thy Challenge in thy Paper where thou saist It does become your Teachers to make this plainly appear to you and me from whom they have drawn you and therefore if they can make it out I again challenge it of them and you By the way we would have thee take notice of this that Robert Lacky in his Letter to thee doth acquaint thee that it was the Light or Grace of God that let him see the Evil or Defects in himself and others and so meerly the Love of God that prevailed in his heart so that it was not Man that drew him from thee and thy Teachings but the Lord Jesus Christ the true Shepherd whom the Father promised that by his Spirit of Light and Grace did draw him and so fulfilled the Promise of the Father in Ezek. 34. 10. where he saith He would deliver his Flock from the mouth of such as fed themselves that they might not be meat for them c. In the first place we observe thou blamest him for saying If he or any other through the Light of Gods Grace in the heart do see Defects in themselves or others that profess that Religion where in they were bred he does not understand how he incurs Damnation by forsaking it c. And so in thy Answer blamest him for confounding Religion as thou sayest with the Carriage of its Professors c. Answer It 's true there may be wicked men Professors of a most holy and pure Religion and therefore for some particulars being of an evil carriage to condemn a Religion is not proper But when a man finds and understands that in the Exercise of his Religion he receives not power against Sin and Temptation in himself nor yet sees the effect of such a power in others it may be not in the very Teachers but that is lived in which answers not the Law of God nor the Life of a true Christian and yet here is no dismembring of such or excluding them from their Church-Fellowship This may justly give ground to suspect a Defect in that Religion and therefore it may be warrantable for a man under these Observations both concerning himself and others to enquire and seek after a Religion wherein Power may be enjoyed from Christ to overcome Sin and withstand Temptation and we do believe thou thy self art not ignorant how that not only many of the people of your Church are of a loose Conversation but diverse of your Clergy also and yet they suffered to abide in their Places and Offices without either being excluded or silenced though the Apostle exhorts to withdraw from every Brother that walks disorderly And again 1 Cor. 5. 11. He writes unto the Church not to keep company with any called a Brother that was a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolater or Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner such thou maist see were to be denied Fellowship in the Church But we have often observed how that in your Church there have been and still are both Swearers Liars Drunkards and men given to other profaneness and yet little zeal appearing to excommunicate or exclude them But when any for Conscience sake could not pay the Priest his Wages though it were but some small matter oftentimes such a one should soon be prosecuted and excommunicated so that by your practices whatever you may profess in words you are

for Pleasure but to get Fish from whence we may groundedly conclude that they used that Imploy for a Livelihood at times when they were not immediately imployed in preaching the Gospel and we challenge thee to prove the contrary if thou canst Concerning thy querying for a Command for keeping the First day of the week or calling it the Lords day We say we meet together on the First day of the week for to meet is our Duty and also upon other days and for this Practice we have both Command and Example the Saints were commanded not to forsake the assembling of themselves together Heb. 10. 25. and we account every day is the Lords and he that regardeth a day ought to regard it to the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it Rom. 14. 6. But what Scripture have ye for all such days as you observe which are called such and such Saints days Thou saist thou hast been the longer on this particular because thou findest it galls us most Answ. When thou hast read our Answer which by reason of thine being so long hath caused ours to be so too thou maist consider of it and of thy impertinency in quoting the Scriptures to prove your Practice which being well observed doth witness against you and then we doubt not but it will prove that which will gall thee and thy Brethren who are so found in such covetous practices as the Scriptures plentifully testifie against and for a further Testimony against your Practices read these following Scriptures of which for brevity sake having been so long already we shall forbear to write the words they that can may read them in the Bible Isa. 59. 9 10 11 12. Jer. 5. 30 31. Ezek 13. 19. Ezek. 34. ch Mich. 3. 5 11. Joh. 10. 12. Tit. 1. 10 11. 1 Tim. 3. 1 2 3. 2 Pet. 2. 14 15 16. Jud. 11. 12 13. In the next place thou undertakest to inform him of some Defects in that Religion he had chosen and first thou saist our Teachers have no lawful Call to preach the Gospel and quotest the Apostles saying Rom. 10. 15. How shall they preach except they be sent that is saist thou how can they preach the true Doctrine of Christ unless they be sent by him or by those Apostles of Christ who received immediate Commissions from him c. Answ. We grant what the Apostle saith How can they preach except they be sent c. But that our Teachers are not so sent thou neither undertakest to prove by Argument nor Scripture although thou hast the confidence to affirm that they have no lawful Call or Commission to preach the Gospel which we turn back upon thee as a false Accusation and demand of thee to prove and make it appear to be true if thou canst for we do believe that none can be true Ministers but such as are sent by Christ and have their Call and Commission from him and also receive the Gospel which they preach and their ability from him for the Scripture is plain that the Gospel-Ministers were sent by him and received the Gospel they preached and ability to preach it from him and not from men as in Gal. 1. 11 12. and in 2 Cor. 3. 6. the Apostle saith they were made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit and in the fo●egoing verse he saith our sufficiency is of God. And Ephes. 3. 7. he declares that he was made a Minister according to the Gift of the Grace of God given unto him by the effectual working of his Power And Peter saith 1 Pet. 4. 11. If any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any man minister let him do it as of the ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified c. And so from him we say we have received our Call by his eternal Spirit and do wait upon him to receive our ability daily that what we do may be by the Gift of the Grace of God given unto us that God in all things may be glorified And if this be not according to the Scripture and the way of God do thou in thy next shew what is and prove your way of being bred up at Schools and learning your Tongues and taking your Degrees there and observing your Ceremonies in your Ordination and coming forth according to your Traditions and then looking for a Benefice the greatest you can get and then settling in a Parish for so much a Year until you can hear of a Place with a greater Benefice and then remove for greater Gain and Preferment and while you stay in a Parish take such Lordship upon you that none of your Church or Hearers may have liberty to speak or preach but such as are so ordained as you are Clear these things in thy next to be according to Scripture if thou canst In the mean while we charge this method and these doings not to be according to the Rule of the Gospel or Example of the primitive Ministers that this is your practice we believe thou canst not deny But in the true Church this Order and Liberty was ordained by the Apostle as in 1 Cor. 14. 30 31 32. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace for you may all prophesie one by one that all may learn that all may be comforted and the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets But this Liberty which the Apostle ordained you do not admit of no more than you do of other things which were the practice of the true Church and Christs Ministers but instead thereof are gone into things which are of Mans ordaining and setting up And therefore Robert Lacky and all in whom God hath opened an understanding to see you aright have reason enough to forsake you and your Church and as for those Scriptures thou quotest to prove a successive Power to send others they make nothing for your method of Ordination at all for Matth. 28. he said he would be with them c doth not say they should send others In Acts 1. the Apostles desired one in the place of Judas to be numbered with them and he was chosen by lot so here was the Lords lot And in Acts 14. 23. it is said they ordained Elders in every Church Now how these Scriptures do prove a true Succession to your Call and Ordination let all that are wise in heart judge Secondly Thou saist we have no Sacraments administred in our Religion neither that of Baptism whereby people are admitted into the Christian Church nor that of the Lords Supper by which they are strengthened and preserved in it Ans. First we demand whence thou hast this Term Sacraments and what is the proper signification of it we are sure thou hast it not from Scripture And secondly We put it upon thee to prove whence you have your Authority for

Protestants in England and Ireland profess Christ in Words but in Works deny him Ans. This is evident from their doings as is before proved so that it is no hard matter to make that Charge good against them Do thou clear them if thou canst When he saith as far as he understands our Principles and Practice are according to Christs Institution which he doubts not but we will make good upon occasion thou in answer saist thou knowest our Practice well enough which if true and if so bad as thou endeavourest to make people believe of us why hast thou brought none of them to make good thy Charges against us And as for our Principles thou saist thou never heardst we had any Then thou must needs be ignorant of our Way and Religion and therefore in thy speaking evil of it thou speakest evil of things thou understandest not and so art of that Generation spoken of 2 Pet. 2. 12. And as for our Faith and Principles they have been published to the world both by Words and Writing they have not been hid in a corner so that any that had a mind to concern themselves against us and yet as wise men would not judge without an understanding lest like thee they should speak evil of the things they did not understand might easily be informed what our Principles are However we are a people that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and that the Father sent him into the world to lay down his Life a ransom for all men that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have eternal Life that he was crucified without the Gates of Jer. salem and so became a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole world and that after he had suffered and was buried God the Father raised him again by his eternal Spirit after which he shewed himself unto many Witnesses and then ascended into Heaven and is glorified with the Father with that Glory he had with him before the World was made And we further believe that he is the Light of the World and that he ought to be followed according to his own words John 8. 12. and that he lighteth every man that cometh into the world according to John 1. 9. and that this Light wherewith he lighteth every man all ought to believe in that they may be Children of the Light according to Joh. 12. 36. and so we believe in his spiritual Appearance according to his Promise who said He would pray the Father and he should send them another Comforter even the Spirit of Truth according to John 14. 16 17. and this was his own Spirit for he is the Truth and of this the Saints were Witnesses as the Apostle saith Gal. 4. 6. And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father And thus was Christ in the Saints the Hope of Glory according to Col. 1. 7. And thus believing and witnessing the Truth of the Scripture we wait upon God for his Spirit that we may worship him therein according to the Institution of his Son Christ Jesus as in John 4. 23 24. and that we may pray with the Spirit and sing with it according to 1 Cor. 14. 15. for the Apostle exhorted the Saints to be filled with the Spirit Eph. 5. 18. and the Saints were to pray in the Holy Ghost Jude 20. So our Faith stands in the Power of God which is that the Apostle laboured that the Saints Faith might stand in as thou maist see 1 Corinth 2. 5. believing that there shall be a Resurrection both of the just and unjust they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation according to John 5. 29. Here we have given thee some account in short of our Faith Principles and Practice and proved them to be according to the Scripture whereby thou maist see if Prejudice and Self-Interest do not blind thine eye that Robert Lacky in turning from thy Teaching to Christ the true Light and his Teaching according to Gods Promise under the New Covenant who said they shall be all taught of the Lord which according to our Principle we direct people to wait for is no unsafe way to Heaven nor as thou falsly accusest us a pursuing such ways as are directly contrary to holy Scripture which thou in some measure promisest thou wilt make appear but hast it yet to do Thou saist because thou art fully satisfied we cannot make this out therefore thou wilt shew him how he has incurred not only the Displeasure of God for the present but the Damnation of his Soul hereafter unless he repent and return by this his departure from the Religion he was bred in Ans. Thou maist see thy Satisfaction is without ground as also thy confident presumption in thy passing such a Sentence upon him concerning his present and eternal estate And surely thy Judgment herein is groundless rash and vain as all may see who have any true Christian understanding and discerning and do but observe what is brought forth under your Teaching in your Religion for we understand no reason thou assignest for thy Judgment but his leaving of your Religion which we have before proved he had good reason so to do and therefore neither he nor any other need be afraid of thy threatning upon this account because from what is before written it is clear that there are great defects in the Principles and Exercise of the Religion he was bred in if he was bred in yours and so not according to Christs Institution as may be seen if compared with the Scripture And that there are no such defects in the Religion he now embraceth but proved in the Principles and Exercise of it to be of Christs Institution according to the Scripture and herein thy Challenge we have answered and endeavoured to make it appear both to thee and him according to thy demand but if thou hatest to be informed it shall lie at thy own door and thou shalt answer for it thy self So it is plain he may have changed out of a Principle of Conscience and pure Love to God and his Soul and not out of Interest Humour Passion or Prejudice as thou seemest to accuse him And as for thy assuring him upon thy word that it is not for any temporal advantage that thou seekest to reduce him but only in love to his Soul as thou hast to all mens as thou saist Ans. We think he hath no reason to believe that thou and the rest of your Clergy have such a love to the Souls of all men as to be the only reason of your coming amongst them to be their Teachers for your Practice which is a surer evidence than your words speaks the quite contrary in that you do leave any people where you are to go to another place for an Augmentation and higher Preferment so that it 's evident it is not the good of peoples Souls nor the Glory of God that chiefly moves you in this concern whatever may be pretended to And so to the Consciences and Understandings of wise men we refer these things to be considered of with our hearts desire to God for you all that he would open your Understandings and let you see the errour of your ways and bring you to a Reformation that the people you may lead in Errour no longer We conclude and remain Desirers of the Good of all men Dated the 13th of the 4th Month. 1688. John Burnyeat John Watson THE END

that which thou callest Baptism by which thou saist people are admitted into the Christian Church viz. sprinkling Infants We deny that you have any Authority from Scripture either by Command or Example for it for we never read in all the Scriptures of either baptizing or sprinkling Infants there is no such thing in that Scripture by thee quoted therefore thou art in a great mistake in charging this to be a defect in the Quakers Religion not to have such a Practice which is an unwarrantable human Invention and it is a great defect in your Religion to perswade people that when you have sprinkled a little Water on the Head or Face of a Child and signed it with the sign of the Cross it is thereby admitted into the Christian Church and call it Baptism when it is but sprinkling and therefore a defect throughout But thy Charge upon the Quakers Religion that we deny that of Baptism by which people are admitted into the Christian Church we affirm to be false for we own that Baptism according to what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 12 13. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body whether we be Jews or Gentiles c This we own to be Christs Baptism and we also own Johns Ministration of Water to have been Gods Ordinance in its day but yours we leave for thee to prove from whence you had it Secondly Thou saist Nor that of the Lords Supper by which they are strengthened and preserved in it Ans. Let all that are wise in heart consider whether that which thou callest a Sacrament which you take hath such a great effect in it as to strengthen preserve in the Christian Church which is Christs Church for the Protestants do account it no more than a Sign of an inward spiritual Grace But we are satisfied concerning what Christ did as in that Scripture thou quotest Luke 22. for he had regard to the fulfilling of the Law and his time drawing near that he was to be sacrificed and so the true Passover as Paul saith 1 Cor. 5. 7. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us had a desire to eat the figurative Passover with his Disciples before he suffered as thou maist see Luke 22. and in eating the Passover he took the Cup and gave thanks and gave it to them and bid them divide it among themselves and likewise took Bread and brake it and gave it to them and after Supper again he took the Cup and gave them and thou maist see what he said both of the Bread and the Cup the one was his Body which was given for us the other was the Cup of the New Testament in his Blood which was shed for us which words import that his Body which is broken for us is the substance of that unleavened typical Bread and his Blood which was shed is the substance of that Cup not that the Bread and Wine was his Body and Blood for that was but typical though some do ignorantly imagine that ho meant the outward Bread and Wine was his real Body and Blood as the Jews thought he had meant the Temple made with hands when he spake of the Temple of his Body For we read that when the Passover was instituted they were to have a Lamb without blemish and unleavened Bread and the Door-posts were to be sprinkled with the Blood of the Lamb which Passover was certainly a Type of Christ the immaculate Lamb whose Body is the true Bread that nourishes the Soul to Life eternal and his Blood sprinkles the Concience from dead works to serve the Living God. This is that we have an eye to that which was broken for us and shed for us and we think by thy Writing thou art not of the Papists mind for the Real Presence and if not then consider what that Bread and Drink was that was broken and shed for us which he spake of though he was then eating the Passover with his Disciples and then come on and see what the Apostle saith to the mystery of it which was that which he preferred in the Church at Corinth 1 Cor. 10. there he tells them of the Fathers viz. the Church in the Wilderness and saith they did all eat of the same spiritual Meat and did all drink of the same spritual Drink for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. So here thou maist see the Meat was spiritual and the Drink was spiritual and the Rock was spiritual that they drank of and that was Christ So the Apostle speaking to wise men bids them judge what he saith as in ver 15 and in ver 16. saith he The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ and the Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ and ver 17. For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread. The Judgment of this thou seest the Apostle referred to wise men and we know wise men will judge that it is this spiritual Meat and Drink that strengthens and preserves in the Church of Christ whatever thou maist say to the contrary and so thou wrongest the Quakers in saying that we have not the Lords Supper administred in our Religion for we greatly delight in the Lords Supper to eat and drink that which strengthens and and preserves us in the Church of Christ and for your Practice that you use in your Church we demand your Example for it and whence it did arise for thou maist see that Christ in the Figure did eat the Passover with his Disciples according to the Law and gave them the Cup both before and after Supper as aforesaid Thou pretendest thou hast other notorious defects in our Religion but forbearest to bring them forth only one thou saist thou canst not omit which is so great a one that it renders the generality of the Quakers almost no Christians at all and thou saist most of us are guilty and that is a defect in the very badge and mark of a Christian Disciple which saist thou is Love and Charity and so quotest Christs words Joh. 13. 35. By this shall all men know that you are my Disciples if ye love one another Ans. Thou dost in this as thou hast done in other things before charge us to be guilty but dost not bring one Proof or Argument to prove the Guilt upon us from matter of fact unless thy saying it is so be either Proof or Argument which no wise man will understand to be so Thou saist perhaps we have charity among our selves we love one the other who are of our Perswasion However that is well so far it answers this Text of Scripture which thou hast quoted we wish we might say in truth so much for all of your Persuasion But thou goest on to shew how we should love Enemies c. and tellest us what John