Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A85258
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An exhortation, by way of epistle to the friends of Christ, every where.
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Field, John, 1652-1723.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing F863A; ESTC R177041
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7,654
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38
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AN EXHORTATION By way of EPISTLE TO THE Friends of Christ Every Where Jesus said My doctrine is not mine but his that sent me If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self Joh. 7. 16 17. Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them Matt. 18. 20. If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love Joh. 15. 10. London Printed for T. Northcot in George-yard in Lombard-street 1696. AN Exhortation c. DEar and tender Friends Brethren and Sisters whom the Lord in his tender Love hath visited in these latter Days and after a long and tedious Night of Darkness and Time of Apostacy wherein the saving Knowledge of the glorious God and our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ hath been but little known and livingly experienced to you who are now visited with the bright-shining Light of his glorious Day that hath sprung up in this latter Age and are called by his blessed Grace and quickned by his living Spirit raised by his eternal Power to be a People to the Praise of his Grace and to the Honour of his everlasting Name and through the Revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ are made Partakers of God's saving Knowledge in a good degree and in whom the Almighty God our Heavenly Father by his powerful Word hath began his glorious Work of Righteousness Redemption and Eternal Salvation To you O my Friends I feel the Love of God flow and thereby am drawn to send these following Lines not only as a Salutation of endeared Love but as Counsel and Advice on the several Heads following viz. I. To be diligent in waiting upon the Lord. II. And frequent in that Christian Duty in meeting together for that End That you may renew your Acquaintance with him and your Strength in him and be enabled by him in Faithfulness to follow him and may feel your Hearts filled with Love to him Fear towards him Zeal for him and a godly Concern for his Glory the Propagating and Spreading of his precious Truth the Exaltation and Renowning of his excellent Name and in Plainness and Simplicity may be found bearing your Testimony for him in all Respects and not decline it in any That you may have his Blessings enjoy his Presence and be more abundantly made Partakers of the Comforts of his Holy Spirit and Joy of his Salvation And for this End I do in brotherly Love exhort all to be inward in their Minds and to have their Hearts exercised in that Light in which they have believed and that Spirit by which they have been quickened And then you will see your selves know your States be sensible of your Weaknesses and Wants and of the need you have to watch unto Prayer and to wait on the Lord and frequently to meet with his People for that End and to be diligent when met in attending upon the Lord in his Holy Fear that you may feel his Presence renew your Strength and know his Work to prosper and be carry'd on in your Souls But if you neglect this Duty and are not diligent therein altho' you are called you cannot be faithful nor become his chosen People but will grow cool in your Love to God and will slack in your Obedience and will not partake Altho' you may hear of the GOOD of his Land but will become dry baren and unfruitful unto him and altho ' you may retain a Profession of the Truth and confess thereunto yet the Love of the Word and the Cares of it will grow and the Spirit of it will prevail and into the Evil that 's in it you will be drawn and under Condemnation you will fall and be in Danger to bring Reproach upon Truth Dishonour to the Name of God and Scandal upon the Christian Religion and your Holy Profession in your Lives and Conversations and to decline your Testimony for the Lord both in Words Habit and Conversation Oh! therefore my dear Friends prize the great Love of God to you in visiting and calling you by his Light and Grace and consider the End thereof which is that you might be a People to his Praise and to the Honour of his Name and might shew forth the Vertue of him that hath called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light 1 Pet. 2. 9. to serve him with Reverence and godly Fear and to be found diligent in that Practice of Meeting often together and Speaking often one unto another and thinking on his Name Mal. 3. 16. as those that feared him did in the Ages past of whom the Lord said these shall be Mine Oh! that 's precious to know and comfortable to experience that we are HIS his People his Children his Servants his Sons and Daughters then we shall have his Blessing enjoy his Presence know his Care to be over us and feed at his Table partake of his Bread be nourish'd by the Milk of his Word grow in his Grace and the Knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and our Souls will be filled with Love to him Joh. 15. 10 12. and we shall manifest it by our keeping his Commandments and be enabled by him to keep our Testimony unspotted and in Truth and Faithfulness stand Witnesses for him against the World all its corrupt Ways Fashions Customs Religions and Traditions and be preserv'd from touching the unclean thing then the Lord will receive us 2 Cor. 6. 17. and own us stand by and preserve us protect and defend us support and sustain us in and under all we may meet with for the faithful Discharge of our Duty to him and keeping our Testimony for him Then oh then neither the Frowns nor Flatteries the Threats nor Entreaties the Favour nor Displeasure of Men will prevail upon us to decline our Testimony or neglect our Duty But the faithful Discharg thereof above all other things by us will be preferr'd and our Love to Christ thereby manifested as it ought to be for you know he hath said If any man love any thing more than me he is not worthy of me Therefore let us look to him and wait on him and pray to him to carry on to prosper and compleat the Work of Righteousness Redemption and Salvation in our Hearts and Souls And be watchful against all that which would draw away your Hearts and Minds from the Lord into the Earth and earthly Things and the Love and too eager pursuit thereof for that will cooll your Love to God and chill your Zeal and cause a Slackness to your Christian Duty of meeting together to wait upon God and will have a Tendency to bring you into a cold dead formal State and to make you like the Tree that had Leaves only and no Fruit to which Christ said Let no fruit grow on thee And presently it withered and came to
Name and Testimony to be increased and that out of that slavish Fear that came over them and from under that Spirit of the World that did then prevail over them they may be brought and by the Lord may be enabled to bear their Testimony in Plainness and Faithfulness against the corrupt World and the Language Ways Fashions and Customs thereof And in that Fear Humility and Modesty that becomes the Followers of our Lord Jesus Christ who was a Pattern of Humility Who in the days of his flesh when he had offer'd up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from Death was heard in that he feared Heb. 5. 7. who was also exemplary in Truth Plainness and Simplicity the which if we would follow his Example let not us exceed and then in Simplicity Plainness and Truth Matt. 5. 37. Ro. 15. 5. Joh. 1. 51. Joh. 3. 3. Joh. 5. 19. he will lead and keep all those in that will learn of and follow him and that are diligent in seeking God and serving him in his Spirit and supplicating the Lord therein in true Faith and the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ There oh it 's there that whatsoever they so ask shall receive and these may be enabled in this Day to stand faithful and true Witnesses for him in the approaching Day wherein we shall meet with Trials and Exercises and therefore as the Exhortation was le ts not forsake the assembling our selves together as the manner of some is but rather the more as the Day approacheth for if such neglect this Duty now they 'll not be able to endure the Exercises and Troubles of the approaching Day Therefore let all Prize and improve the present Time and Seasons of Love in a diligent and frequent meeting together and a diligent and faithful serving God when so met and then the Lord will own us appear among us manifest his presence in the midst of us overshadow our Assemblies with the Wing of his Glory And will cause the Holy Ghost to fall upon us Acts 2. 4. as we meet with one accord fill us with the Holy Spirit and make us partakers of the Comforts thereof of the Life that 's in his Presence and of the Joy of his Salvation and will cause the Showers of his Divine Love plentifully to fall upon us whereby his Heritage will be refreshed his Garden and Plants watered and his People comforted and all grow up fresh and Green in Life in Vertue in Love and Faithfulness to God his Truth and Testimony and one unto another And as all thus grow in Love and Faithfulness and encrease through the Knowlege of him that hath called us to Glory and Vertue and give all diligence they 'll add to that like pretious Faith that they have obtained through the Righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge to Knowledge Temperance to Temperance Patience and Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly Kindness and Charity and if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. 3 5 6 7 8. And therefore my dear Friends it greatly concerns us to wait and attend upon the Lord God in the Spirit of his dear Son and to be frequent and diligent in that Christian Duty that we may sensibly know and livingly Experience an Increase in the Knowledge of God and in these Christian Vertues which if we neglect our Duty of Meeting and Waiting upon God we can never truly know these things nor grow in these Christian Vertues neither can we be true to our Testimony nor keep the same so clear and clean in all things as we ought nor rightly do and observe Christ's Commands endure his Cross and follow his Example in that plainness and simplicity which becomes those that are his Disciples that we may not in any thing decline therefrom under any Colour or Pretence whatsoever either for the Fear of suffering or to please any And then oh then my dear and tender Friends our God will bless us and Christ will love us and we shall love him and to all Men thereby it will be known we are his Disciples in that we love one another John 13 35. This is a pleasant Habitation and safe Dwelling-place Here Fear will be cast out Jealousies will have no place Life will be felt Comfort enjoyed Zeal and Diligence encreased Care and Caution used that we may not justly offend any or give occasion thereof 1 Cor. 10. 31. either to Jews or Gentiles or the Church of God by our unfaithfulness to God Coolness to love and Slackness to do our Duty decling our Meetings and being careless drousie or negligent in waiting and attending upon God therein for one Cause if not the main and great is That some among us have been and are liable to be drawn and are too apt to imitate in their Language vain Fashions foolish Dresses evil Customs and Ways the World or those that do not keep in that Meekness and Lowliness that Christ exhorted to and was a Pattern of And this is through their weakness and Corruption of Heart Love of the World and the Lust of the Eye the Lust of the Flesh and Pride of Life 1 Joh. 2. 15 16. which hath had a Place in them and hath been too much occasioned through Remisness in their Christian Duty of frequently Meeting together in the Fear and Name of God and Jesus Christ and diligently humbly and reverently Waiting and Attending upon him therein and giving up in Obedience to the Call and Requirings of God and being true to the inward Discoveries of his Light and Convictions of his Spirit in their Hearts Oh! therefore all you who shall find your selves in this State and have any Desires to amend your Ways Let me in brotherly Love and in great good Will to your Souls Good earnestly intreat you to be diligent in Waiting and Attending upon the Lord in the Assemblies of his Chosen People and inwardly exercis'd in the precious unspeakable Gift of God's Spirit 2 Cor. 9. 15. and draw near him in Faith and with a true Heart Heb. 10. 22. Then will the Lord draw near to you renew your Strength wean your Hearts and draw your Affections off and from all the fading Vanities foolish Delights sinful Pleasures corrupt Ways evil Customs unprofitable Talk And from whatsoever is either offensive unto God hurtful to your Souls unbecoming the Truth and our Holy Profession and set your Minds upon things above Col. 3. 2. and raise you up by his Power Rom. 6. 4 into newness of Life and redeem you Rev. 14. 3 4. from the World and the Evil of it and bring you into Covenant with God and Vnity with his People and teach you so to live and walk that you may please him escape his Wrath 1 Eph. 6. and be a People to the Praise of his Grace and to the Honour of his Name and to do what you do therein then will your Peace be as a River and your Righteousness like the Waves of the Sea and we shall not only give Honour to God but be a Comfort one to another and be one another's Joy and Crown of Rejoycing in the Lord which that we may be kept in Love and Faithfulness to God and one another to the End Is the hearty Prayer of your sincere Friend and Brother in that most precious Truth which will out-live and last all the Contemners of it and gives Joy in Believing and Comfort in obeying and through them Peace and Salvation to the Immortal Soul as there is an abiding therein George-yard London the 11th of the 3d Month 1696. I. Field Errata p. 8. l. 8. for Word r. World FINIS