Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	believe_v	holy_a	scripture_n	6,955	5	5.9774	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39305	A further discovery of that spirit of contention & division which hath appeared of late in George Keith, &c. being a reply to two late printed pieces of his, the one entituled A loving epistle, &c. the other, A seasonable information, &c. : wherein his cavils are answered, his falshood is laid open, and the guilt and blame of the breach and separation in America, and the reproach he hath brought upon truth and Friends by his late printed books, are fixed faster on him / written by way of epistle ... by Thomas Ellwood.	Ellwood, Thomas, 1639-1713.	1694 (1694)	Wing E623; ESTC R224514	71,867	130

one of many Instances that might be given of his picking words from their Discourses to Charge them with which in his last Head he Charged me with Forgery for but mentioning But if W. Southbe did account that a doubtful Question is that any more than he himself does What means he when enumerating many Doctrines which he says we hold in common with other Professions Causeless Ground p. 4. he says The deceased Saints have not yet generally received the Resurrection of the Body c. Why generally if he did not either think some had or doubt whether they had or no Must W. Southbe be Unchristianed rendred guilty of holding gross and vile Errors Damnable Heresies and Doctrines of Devils for only calling it a doubtful Question whether the Patriarchs have received the Resurrection and that by him who seems himself to doubt it either of them or some other deceased Saints For his saying the deceased Saints have not yet generally received the Resurrection implies he thinks some have But that W. Southbe does believe a general Day of Judgment and the Resurrection of the Dead at that Day I shewed before from his own Letter where having set forth G. K's Charge against him that he denied any general Day of Judgment and the Resurrection of the Dead but only what every one Witnesseth within here he Solemnly denies the Charge calls that Doctrine Damnable and Athiestical declares that he believes the Resurrection according to the Scriptures and the Antient Doctrine of Friends concerning it which was enough one would think to satisfy a wise Man one especially that pretended to be of the same Communion and Paul himself could not satisfy the Fool about the Resurrection G. K. says T. E.'s Fallacy is the more manifest that in W. Southbe's Confession of Faith recited by him there is not one word concerning the resurrection of the Dead nor of Christ's coming without us to Iudge the Quick and the Dead c. As to the Resurrection he had spoken largely of it in the same Letter before which I suppose to be the reason why he did not repeat it expresly by that Name after Yet in that Declaration of his Faith having mentioned Christ's Ascension into Heaven and his Sitting at the Right hand of the Majesty on High he adds And that every one must appear before his Iudgment-Seat to receive their Reward according to their Deeds done in this Mortal Body even at that great and dreadful Day of a general Account c. G. K. quarrels further with W. Southbe for saying he doth not own the day of Judgment now in or after the same manner as he did when he was a Papist for then he owned it very Carnally and outward viz. That the great Iudgment should be in an outward valley called the valley of Iehosaphat in the Land of Israel and and that we should see with these outward Eyes But says he I believe now it will be more Spiritual This doth not please G. K. who catching hold of his words that when a Papist he owned it very carnally and outward he would slily suggest from thence as if his Belief of it was worse now than when he was a Papist Perhaps indeed his Belief of it when a Papist might best fit G. K's notion of it who I have heard did jump in with the Papists in pitching upon the Valley of Jehosaphat for the Place till a Traveller telling him that Place was too Streight he took wing from the Valley into the Air. But I see no cause G. K. hath to condemn W. Southbe for beliveing it will be more Spiritual than the Papist hold nor to infer from thence that it will not be outward since doubtless it may be more Spiritual than the Papists hold and yet be outward also But I had best have a care how I meddle too far in this matter lest G. K. put me into Inquisition also and bring me upon Examination again which if he should I am like enough to answer him that I believe in this as in other Divine things according to the holy Scriptures and that I doubt would anger him afresh For he makes it the Ground of his Twentieth Perversion that I clear T. L. A. C. S. I. and I. D. by Printing part of a Paper Subscribed by them on behalf of themselves and many others and directed to him and others wherein they say As to Unity in Doctrine so much seemingly profest by you to the amusing of many unwary People we hereby sincerely Declare that we are herein one with our Antient and Faithful Brethren firmly believing what is upon Record in the Holy Scriptures concerning God concerning our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ both with Respect to his appearance in the Flesh and to his appearance in the Spirit concerning the Holy Ghost the Resurrection-State and Eternal Judgment which though offered unto you to the same purpose and that several times yet was rejected as insufficient by you And so it seems it is now too For he objects against it First that it is two short as being but about Eleven Lines So that it seems a multitude of words would have pleased him better But I thought in things of this Nature Especially he would have regarded weight rather than Number of words And as few Lines as this is contained in I know not whether that called The Apostles Creed be much longer He thinks much to be put off with Eleven Lines of a Confession of Faith And I do not think Eleven Volumes would satisfy him unless they were of his own writing But he that shall heedfully read these Eleven Lines shall find they comprehend the Principal Doctrines about which he pretended to be dissatisfied But it is not the Brevity only that troubles him He is offended that they say they Firmly believe what is upon Record in the Holy Scriptures At this he huffs saying so will every Papist say every Socinian say and every Mugletonian for it is a common Fallacy that the Vilest of Hereticks use whereby to deceive People to tell them they Firmly believe all that is Recorded in the Holy Scriptures concerning God Christ c. I know not whether Tertullus who accused Paul to Felix Acts 24. were a greater Orator than G. K. but I am perswaded he was not so great a Sophister nor so void of common Charity Neither would the Apostle have gon off as he did had G. K. been then and in Tertullus his place when Paul said He believed all things that were written in the Law and the Prophets ver 14. G. K. asks why have the People called Quakers Separated from the several Professions of Christianity upon the account of Errors in Doctrine which they did charge them with seeing all these Professions in general terms say as much as we that they Firmly believe what is upon Record in the Holy Scriptures I answer First That the People called Quakers did Separate from other Professions not only because of the Errors in

A Further DISCOVERY Of that Spirit of Contention Division Which hath appeared of late in George Keith c. Being a REPLY to Two Late Printed Pieces of his the one Entituled A Loving Epistle c. the other A Seasonable Information c. Wherein his Cavils are Answered his Falshood is laid open and the Guilt and Blame of the Breach and Separation in America and of the Reproach he hath brought upon Truth and Friends by his late Printed Books are fixed faster on him Written by way of Epistle and Recommended as a further Warning to all Friends By THOMAS ELLWOOD Prov. 22. 10. Cast out the Scorner and Contention shall go out yea Strife and Reproach shall cease London Printed by T. Sowle at the Crooked-Billet in Holy-well-lane Shoreditch and near the Meeting-House in White-hart Court in Grace-Church-street 1694. A Further DISCOVERY Of that Spirit of Contention Division Which hath appeared of late in G. Keith c. Dear Friends WHO have received the Truth in the love of it and have kept your Habitation therein unto whom the Truth is exceeding precious and who desire the Prosperity thereof above all things Unto you is the Salutation of my endeared love in this blessed Truth in which the Fellowship of the Faithful stands In this it is I desire to know you to be known by you and to have Fellowship with you earnestly breathing to the God of Truth the Father of Spirits that he will be pleased to pour forth more abundantly of his good Spirit into all our Hearts and fill us with the blessed Fruits thereof that there may be no room for the Enemy to enter to break this holy Fellowship But that all who profess to believe in the Light may so walk therein that a clear sight they may have thereby and a true discerning between things that diffe●… and may be able to make a right Judgment what is of God and what is not that so the Design of that Spirit by whatsoever Instrumen●… it works which would break or disturb the Churches Peace and cast Reproach up●… the Heritage of God may be so discovered and laid open that all may see and shun it As this is the Exercise and Travel of my Spirit so it is the Service I have been of late and am at present engaged in For Friends It is not many Months since I saluted you with an Epistle wherein my Spirit was drawn fort●… ●…fly to Commemorate the gracious Dealings of the Lord with his People and as in a general way to remind you of the many Attempts the Enemy hath made by Force and Fraud to hinder the Work of God from going on So more particularly to Warn you to beware of that Spirit of Contention and Division which hath appeared of late in George Keith and some few others that join with him who have made a Breach and Separation from Friends in some parts of America In writing that Epistle I did not consult Flesh and Blood neither had I an Eye to my own ease and quiet as outwardly for I had no reason to expect rest from so restless a Man nor fair Treatment from one who in his late Writings and personal Debates hath so notoriously let loose his Pen and Tongue to an unbridled liberty of Railing and Reviling But I cleared my Conscience in discharging my Duty to God and to his Church and therein have that Peace which all his Abuses cannot disturb After that Epistle of mine had been sometime abroad G. K. published a Sheet of Paper which he called A loving Epistle to all the moderate judicious and impartial among the People called Quakers c. In that Sheet he charged me with Fifty Perversions Forgeries and false Accusations which he said he had noted in my Book but left his Proofs behind to come after in another Book which he then threatned should be published if my Book was not called in and disowned Some Weeks after the publishing of that Sheet he hath now sent forth his threatned Book pretended to be an Answer to that Epistle of mine and containing his Proofs such as they are of the Charge he had made publick so long before As soon as I had notice of the coming forth of his last which he calls A Seasonable Information c. I gave direction for the stopping what I had before written and sent to London in Answer to his other Sheet chusing rather to make but one work of it than to multiply Books as he does who notwithstanding his alledging that the Scripture says Of making many Books there is no end seems to have an Itch to writing and a Pride in Printing He begins his Epistle with a double or two fold Boast One of his Labours and Services in the Truth to which perhaps I may say something hereafter The other of the considerable Number of those that he says he has Experience are in true Unity with him To which at present I shall only say If that were true the more were the pity But as I am far from believing it to be true So I wish for his own sake as well as others he may be as much misstaken concerning the number of his Favourers as those few that do favour him are concerning his Sincerity His second page and part of his third is in a manner wholly filled with Railing at me He says I labour to take from him his Innocency and Christian Reputation and Testimony Of all which I think he brought but little if any into England What stock of each he carried with him into America he has I fear made Shipwrack of there He charges me with a sordid way of Sophist●…l Wrangling Perversions Forgeries and false Accusations to the number of Fifty and upwards This Charge he sent abroad in his Printed Epistle in general Terms without instancing the Particulars which he kept in reserve to furnish out another Book But was not this a sordid way of Sophistical Wrangling in him thus to Charge without making Proof How often and highly does he complain in several of his former Treatises of being charged in generals without producing particular Proofs In his Plea of the Innocent p. 8. He with others of his Party say Seeing their Accusations against G. K. lye much in bare generals we see no cause further to take notice of them but to shew that for want of particular matter against him they thus labour to defame him in bare generals a way says he common to all Sophisters and false Acc●…ers Did he not then take the way which he says is common to all Sophisters and false Accusers when he accused me in bare generals without producing the Particulars Did he not take the most deceitful way he could when he accused me in bare generals seeing himself says p. 17. of his Plea Nothing is more deceitful than bare generals It will not excuse him that he has now at length in another Treatise set forth the Particulars of his Charge that being but

also relating to Conversation which that Man well knows I know of him and have both privately and publickly reproved him for some of them But as for G. K.'s saying that my speaking against that Person gave offence to Hundreds it is not to be regarded it being his way and words of course with him when he has a mind to magnify his matter by Numbers to use the word Hundreds at a venture So he does here thrice in one page gave great Offence to Hundreds whose Ministry was well owned by Hundreds Hundreds hear Witness c. now that these are but words of course with him and used only to deceive may be seen in this last Instance of his Hundreds of witnesses by taking notice what he says they bear witness too viz that my Ministry says he is both refreshing and edifying to them and is burdensom to none but to the Ignorant and unfaithful c. If his Hundreds of witnesses could have witnessed truly that his Ministry is refreshing and edifying to them Yet if they will take upon them to witness that it is burdensome to none but the Ignorant Unfaithful and prejudiced it is an Hundred to one if one in an hundred believe them But by this hint it may be seen what little weight there is in his talk of Hundreds both in this and his other Books He complains of me for accusing his innocent true words as savouring of a Boasting Spirit because says he I humbly and modestly did mention my Thirty Years Labour in the work of the Ministry and God having blest my Labours with great Success in being an Instrument to the bringing many into the blessed Unity c. And he appeals to all that have a true savour whether these words savour of a boasting Spirit he as he says only using them by way of argument to perswade some that had a wrong jealousy of him that he intends no breach among faithful Friends His modesty and humility is pretty well seen and known by this time And had not this boasting Vanity been deeply rooted in his Nature the gentle Touch I gave him in my former Epistle p. 70. upon this passage now recited of his setting forth his Thirty Years Labour in the work of the Ministry and his Great Success therein c. might have taught him to think more modestly and humbly of himself But he was so far from taking warning by that that he begins his Epistle which he writ since much after the same manner thus Notwithstanding that I find some of whom with respect both to my former Labour of love and Service in the Truth towards them and to my present Service in the Truth c. I might have expected better things so deeply prejudiced c. What else doth this bespeak but a fond Conceit of his own Doings Many I believe who have deserved more have less sought Commendation for their Services And had he been in the true Humility and in that Charity which va●…nteth not it self and is not puffed up 1. Cor. 13. 4. he would have followed the Apostle's Counsel not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think Rom. 12. 13. But if it might have becomed him at any time to have spoken so highly of his own Services Yet his doing it now is as unseasonable as if a Cow that had given a good soop of Milk should boast of the goodness or quantity thereof after she had spilt it by kicking down the Pail I have no inclination to render his former Services Cheap which I think he hath but too much done himself though he sees it not by coupling them with his present Doings And I give but a Touch on this not doubting Friends that ye will observe in those Expressions of his A Vein of Spiritual Pride which he in vain endeavours to cover by pretending he used them by way of Argument to perswade some that he intended no breach among Faithful Friends Which yet could be but a weak Argument to them that know and consider that Others before him some of whom had laboured long in the Work of the Ministry and perhaps as successfully as he have turned aside as well as he and made Breaches among Friends of which he himself seemed formerly sensible Thus Friends I have gone through his Fifty Charges And said more to them than either they or he deserved of me Which I have done for Truth 's sake and yours more than for my own For I dare trust to the Goodness of the Cause I have undertaken and the Innocency of my Intention in undertaking it an Evidence of which I have no doubt to find in the Heart of Faithful Friends But my Desire and Care is so plainly and nakedly to lay open before you what Spirit he is of and is acted by and the mischievous Design thereof that none may be longer deceived by him nor any by seeming to countenance him may strengthen and harden him in his Opposition to Truth to their hurt and his Ruin I confess I cannot treat him as a Friend because I find him an Enemy to Truth Yet none could be more glad than I to see him return to a right mind For then he would see himself to be what you and I see him to be and would be more forward to condemn himself than to quarrel with others But I must needs say I have little hopes to see so good an effect wrought on him because I cannot find sincerity in him I gave many Instances in my former Epistle of his Insincerity and double Dealing Since which he hath sent forth First That Sheet single by it self which he calls a Loving Epistle but without any spark or appearance of Love in it He directs it to all the Moderate Judicious and Impartial among the People called Quakers intimating thereby that in his Opinion the Quakers as a Body or People are not Moderate Judicious or Impartial I dare say should any one of those that have appeared most favourable to him but thwart him in his way or reprove him for his Unruliness and disorderly Doings he shall forthwith reject such an One and rase him out of his Roll of Moderate Judicious and Impartial Ones And I am perswaded should all Friends deal so with him which they have just cause to do he would reject them all and not own one Moderate Judicious or Impartial among us Do ye not see Friends how he Slights Rejects and casts off not only Persons but Meetings at his pleasure if they answer not his mind The Second Day 's Morning Meeting consisting mostly as ye know of Ministring Friends he Derives and Scoffs and Represents it as mannaged by Parties The Yearly Meeting he represented in his former Paper called The Causeless Ground c. as divided For which I tax'd him in my last In his Epistolary Sheet he doth not vouchsafe to acknowledge it for a Yearly Meeting but when he speaks of it says That which he called the Yearly Meeting p. 4.