Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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B05222
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A dissenter from those (by some) called Foxonian Quakers, having lately put forth a paper for the exaltation of the Lord's Christ, &c. which a certain person having read over again and again, and hoping it may be profitable to many, hath caused it to be reprinted as following, that so it may be more universally spread abroad for its further service.
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M. S.
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Wing S113A; ESTC R183120
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A DISSENTER from those by some called Foxonian Quakers having lately put forth a Paper for the Exaltation of the LORD 's Christ c. which a certain Person having read over again and again and hoping it may be profitable to many hath caused it to be reprinted as following that so it may be more universally spread abroad for its further Service A Tender SALVTATION of endeared LOVE to all that sincerely believe in and unfeignedly love our Blessed LORD and for ever to be admired SAVIOVR and adored Advocate JESUS CHRIST With something of Christian Advice and seasonable Counsel for the encouraging of the Faithful to be Noble in their confessing to and owning of their glorious Captain and to contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints Mat. 10.32 Whosoever said Christ shall confess me before Men him will I confess before my Father which is in Heaven But whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my Words of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels Mark 8.38 Dear Friends IN a deep Sense of the unspeakable Love of GOD through his dear Son Christ JESUS are you often brought before me and in the lasting Fellowship and glorious Gospel of Life and Salvation are you right dear and near unto me and in true Humility of Soul there is many times a weighty Concern and Exercise upon my Spirit that we may travel on all together being stedfast in the precious Faith of our Elect and Holy Head glorious Advocate and everliving High Priest who is for ever worthy to be dearly owned and reverently confessed unto as being the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all them that do obey him And indeed He is most worthy of all our Love who with a victorious Patience endured from Sinners those wicked Scoffings and reproachful Revilings His most pure Head being crowned with a Crown of Thorns His undefiled Hands and Feet nailed to the Cross His lovely Face spit upon and His precious Side pierced through with a Spear bearing our Sins in His own Body died the most reproachful and shameful Death His Enemies could either imagine or inflict and so He that was wholly without Sin and was and is the immaculate Lamb of GOD was made a Curse for our Sins according as it 's written Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a Tree Gal. 3.13 It is He who hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons which is by Faith in Him who laid down His precious Life for us For as said the Holy Apostle Ye are all the Children of GOD by Faith in Christ Jesus And the Scripture hath concluded all under Sin that the Promise by Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe And surely we may well say with the Evangelical Prophet Isa 53.4 5. He hath born our Griefs and carried our Sorrows He was wounded for our Transgressions He was bruised for our Iniquities the Chastisement of our Peace was upon Him and with His Stripes we are healed The living Commemoration of these things in the opening Power and Spirit of GOD in the Soul is truly very precious and comfortable and many times arises in a daily renewed Sense thereof a holy Admiration of the unspeakable Height and Depth of the Riches of the Love of GOD in Christ Jesus which Saints and Angels will admire to all Eternity And dear Friends it is my earnest Desire that we may be an inward retired People to the Measure and Manifestation of the Spirit the Apostle spoke of in his Day which is given to all to profit with and to keep in the daily Exercise of it and so grow in the Grace of GOD and in the experimental Knowledg of our blessed LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ that our Understandings may be opened more and more savingly to know and understand the great Mysteries of GOD and of CHRIST as they are revealed and discovered by the Divine Light of the glorious Son of Righteousness the great Enlightner of all Mankind For it is in His Light we shall see more Light and by a diligent keeping to it and following of it it will lead to the glorious Sun which is in Heaven even as certainly as a Beam or Ray of the Natural Sun in the Firmament if it be followed by the Light of the outward Eye will lead naturally to the body of the Sun it self which as it cannot be confined to any one particular Place here upon Earth but universally sends forth its Inthences of Light and Heat to all the World so cannot this be contained in any one place And as none can have a true discerning where the outward Sun is but by his own Light so none can have any true spiritual Sight of the Celestial Sun but by a Divine Beam and Ray of his own Light that shines into the Souls of all and flows from that rich Fulness which is in the Man Christ the one only Mediator betwixt GOD and Men who is gone into Heaven and is on the right Hand of God in the glorified Nature of Man Angels Authorities and Powers being made subject unto Him and by His Death and Sufferings and shedding of His precious Blood without the Gates of Jerusalem together with His most perfect Obedience Patience and Resignation to the Will of GOD and by His glorious Resurrection Ascension and Intercession He hath both procured and also doth dispense all Good unto us and all Blessings spiritual and temporal that we enjoy It is for His sake and through and by HIM that we receive them and are conveyed to us who is our great High-Priest that is passed into the Heavens which is touched with the feeling of our Infirmities And this Man viz. Jesus the Son of GOD because He continueth for ever Heb. 7.24 25. hath an unchangeable Priesthood wherefore He is able also to save us to the uttermost that come to GOD by Him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for us Therefore as He is the true and proper Object of Faith He is most worthy to be owned and confessed unto and it is those that confess Him before Men that He will confess before His Father which is in Heaven This was spoke by Him concerning those that should confess to Him as he was and is an undivided Christ and reverently own Him as he was and as He now is and as He is to come and daily do express their sincere Love towards Him by keeping of His Commandments which He doth injoin all his Disciples to according to that Saying of His If ye love me keep my Commandments and ye are my Disciples if ye do whatsoever I command you Telling them also how they should be enabled to keep them by the Comparison He made of the Branches abiding in the Vine or else they could not bear Fruit No more said he can you unless ye abide in me And
it is plain as by many Scripture-Testimonies so also the true Believers in Christ Jesus have Experience that all Evangelical Fruits of Righteousness and Holiness are brought forth by the Virtue and Power of Christ and that whatever Obedience any may bring forth by the Light within or be found in from a bare Conviction of Sin which is from GOD's Love and first Dispensation to all Mankind and is a Preparative for the second and more glorious Ministration yet it is all but legal and as from the Servant's State and it 's said The Servant abideth not in the House for ever but the Son Wherefore said the Apostle Gal. 3.24 25. the Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by Faith But after that Faith is come we are no longer under a School-master And the Law of old altho it was truly observed and strictly kept yet we know that made not the Comers thereunto perfect as pertaining to the Conscience but the bringing in of a better Hope did which Hope is Christ which was to the Antients as an Anchor Heb. 6.19 most sure and stedfast and was the Ground and Foundation of the Faith of all the Generations of the Just from rightcous Abel unto this very Day and it was in this Faith Abel offered to GOD a more excellent Sacrifice than Cain And when the Author to the Hebrews had mentioned many of the Worthies of old which Time would fail to mention but says he They all died in the Faith not having received the Promises but having seen them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them with Joy Heb. 11.13 as faithful Abraham did who by the Eye of Faith saw the Day of the fulfilling of them for it is said that he rejoiced to see Christ's Day and he saw it and was glad And says he ver 39 40 All these having obtained a good Report through Faith received not the Promise GOD having observe provided or foreseen some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Which is to be witnessed in and by our blessed Redeemer Christ Jesus and through the powerful Operations or his Divine Spirit in the Hearts of all sincere Believers And as it was of absolute Necessity and of great Benefit and Comfort to all GOD's People that were before our Blessed Lord Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary to look forward to his outward Coming Death and Sufferings for the Remission of Sins Peace and Reconciliation c. So is it likewise now no less necessary for all true Believers to look back with the Eye of Faith unto the blessed Day that the Lord Jesus Christ offered up himself freely once for all as a most acceptable and all-sufficient Sacrifice of Atonement unto GOD for our Sins and Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World by which his Wrath was appeased and divine Justice satissied For it was by his own Blood He obtained eternal Redemption and having made Peace through the Blood of his Cross by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself whether they be things in Heaven or things in Earth by which Blood He hath made us night to GOD who sometimes were afar off and by the Merit and Virtue of which precious Blood of the immaculate Lamb even that which was shed without the Gates of Jerusalem are we both justified and sanctified as we come to have a living Faith therein and as the divine Virtue and Efficacy thereof is opened and applied to us by the Holy Spirit For GOD commended his Love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us Much more then being now justified by his Blood we shall be saved from Wrath by HIM Rom. 5.8 9. Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the People with his own Blood suffered without the Gate c. Heb. 13.12 It is indeed a Mercy greatly to be prized that we have the Knowledg of these things as they are left upon Record in the Holy Scriptures which were written for our Instruction and Learning the Spirit of the LORD also in our Hearts evidencing to the Verity thereof by which they are made very useful and comfortable to us in our serious diligent reading of them which ought to be preferr'd before all other Books whatsoever Let us therefore as with one Mouth bless the LORD and say with holy David Psal 103.1 2 3. O my Soul bless the LORD and all that is within me bless His Holy Name Bless the LORD O my Soul and forget not all His Benefits who forgiveth all thine Iniquities who healeth all thy Diseases c. Let us remember all His Mercies and tender Dealings and His manifold renewed Tokens of His Love and fresh Visitations by which we have been encouraged to travel on towards that everlasting City of eternal Repose where all Tears shall be wiped away and all Sighing shall come to an end there the Wicked cease from troubling and there the Weary be at Rest Job 3.17 We have cause to say with his Servant of old THOV hast granted me Life and Favour and thy Visitation hath preserved my Spirit Job 10.12 We are under great Obligations to walk with all Circumspection before Him adorning the glorious Gospel of our Blessed LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ in Holiness of Life and Conversation that so none may have any just Occasion to speak evilly of us but if they will through Prejudice or Malice let it be for JESUS sake who said Blessed are ye when Men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of Evil of you falsly for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your Reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you And as He hath graciously promised He will also faithfully perform it to all His true Followers who have no sinister or by-end in professing Him but sincerely love Him and have Him in their Hearts and that in all Respects in all his Offices as He is King Priest and Prophet in Heaven without us as well as he is within us owns both his outward and inward Appearance they dare not divide the one from the other nor set the one in opposition to the other which GOD in His insinite Wisdom hath so necessarily joined together as the great Means of the Salvation of Mankind And upon Christ thus undivided even upon the same Jesus of Nazareth whom the Jews slew and hanged on a Tree and whom GOD by His mighty Power raised up again the third Day even Him whom GOD hath exalted with His right Hand to be a Prince and Saviour for to give Repentance unto Israel and Forgiveness of Sins I say on this Jesus who was crucisied for us and is now sat on the right Hand of the Majesty on high in the Heavens do they depend as all sincere-hearted Christians do for Life and Salvation and not upon any Works of Righteousness or even any Obedience or the