Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	body_n	sin_n	soul_n	13,963	5	5.3517	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54228	A testimony to the truth of God, as held by the people, called, Quakers being a short vindication of them, from the abuses and misrepresentations often put upon them by envious apostates, and mercenary adversaries.	Penn, William, 1644-1718.	1699 (1699)	Wing P1380; ESTC R220497	18,332	56

Letter whose Praise is therefore not of Men but of God And this Baptism Christ Preferred and Recommended at his Farewel to his Disciples in Reverence and Duty to whom to say nothing of the abuse of Water-Baptism we decline the use thereof Mark 1. 8. Luke 3. 16. John 1. 17. Acts 1. 5. Rom. 14. 17. Rom. 2. 28 29. 1 Cor. 1. 17. 2 Cor. 12. 9. VI. Concerning Breaking Bread c. BEcause we also disuse the Outward Ceremony of Breaking Bread and Drinking Wine which is commonly called the Lord's Supper we are therefore render'd Deniers and Contemners of the Lord's-Supper whereas the Inward and Spiritual Grace thereby signified viz. that Bread which came down from Heaven which Christ prefers to the Bread the Fathers eat in the Wilderness which did not keep them from Death and that Cup which he promised to drink a-new with his Disciples in his Father's Kingdom we not only Believe but Reverently Partake of to our unspeakable Comfort which is rightly and truly the Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ who said Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood you have no Life in you John 6. 53 63. For 't is the Spirit that quickens the Flesh profits nothing It was also his Promise to all those that would open at his Knocks viz. That he would come in and Sup with them which Inward and Spiritual Coming we have both known and testified to feeling the blessed Effects thereof in our Souls and knowing the outward Breaking of Bread and Drinking of Wine in the way commonly Practised is no more than it is declared to be viz. An Outward and Visible Sign Why then should any contend about it and render us Unchristian for disusing what themselves allow to be but an Outward and Visible Sign And that none can reasonably believe to be an Essential Part of Religion as is the Bread from Heaven of which the Outward is at best but a Signification But the Wine that Christ promised to Drink with his Disciples anew is such an Essential that without it none have nor can have Eternal Life Mat. 26. 29. Mark 14. 25. John 6. 41 50 51 58 63. Rev. 3. 20. VII Concerning the Light of Christ BEcause we Assert the Sufficiency of the Light within it being the Light of Christ viz. That if Men live up to the Teaching thereof in all manner of Faithfulness and Obedience they shall not abide in Darkness but have the Light of Life and Salvation and the Blood of Christ shall cleanse them from all Sin Our Adversaries from thence conceive that we undervalue the Rule of Holy Scriptures and all outward Means as having no need thereof since we have such a Means and Rule within us and that this leaves us without any certain Rule and exposeth us to many Blasphemies c. Whereas the Light within or Christ by his Light inwardly Teaching was never taught by us in Opposition to or Contempt of any outward Means that God in his Wisdom and Providence affords us for our Edification and Comfort no more than did that blessed Apostle who said You need not that any Man teach you but as the same Anointing teacheth you all things and is Truth and is no Lye John 12. 46. 1 John 1. 6 7. 1 John 1. 2 27. VIII Concerning the Father the Word and the Spirit BEcause we have been very cautious in expressing our Faith concerning that great Mystery especially in such School Terms and Philosophical Distinctions as are Unscriptural if not Unsound the tendency whereof hath been to raise Frivolous Controversies and Animosities amongst Men we have by those that desire to lessen our Christian Reputation been represented as Deniers of the Trinity at large Whereas we ever believed and as constantly maintained the Truth of that blessed Holy Scripture Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and that these Three are One the which we both sincerely and reverently believe according to 1 John 5. 7. And this is sufficient for us to believe and know and hath a Tendency to Edification and Holiness when the contrary centers only in Imaginations and Strife and Persecution where it runs high and to Parties as may be Read in Bloody Characters in the Ecclesiastical Histories IX Concerning Works BEcause we make Evangelical Obedience a Condition to Salvation and Works by the Spirit wrought in us to be an Evidence of Faith and Holiness of Life to be both Necessary and Rewardable it hath been Insinuated against us as if we hoped to be saved by our own Works and so make them the Meritorious Cause of our Salvation and consequently Popish Whereas we know that it is not by Works of Righteousness that we can do but by his own free Grace is he pleased to accept of us through Faith in and Obedience to his Blessed Son the Lord Jesus Christ Heb. 5. 9. and 12. 14. X. Of Christ's being our Example BEcause in some Cases we have said the Lord Jesus was our great Example and that his Obedience to his Father doth not excuse ours but as by keeping his Commandments he abode in his Father's Love so must we follow his Example of Obedience to abide in his Love Some have been so ignorant or that which is worse as to venture to say for us or in our Name that we believe our Lord Jesus Christ was in all things but an Example Whereas we confess him to be so much more than an Example that we believe him to be our most acceptable Sacrifice to God his Father who for his Sake will look upon fallen Man that hath justly merited the Wrath of God upon his Return by Repentance Faith and Obedience as if he had never sinned at all 1 John 2. 12. Rom. 3. 26. and 10. 9 10. Heb. 5. 9. XI Concerning Freedom from Sin BEcause we have urged the Necessity of a perfect Freedom from Sin and a thorough Sanctification in Body Soul and Spirit whilst on this side the Grave by the Operation of the Holy and Perfect Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Testimony of Holy Scripture we are made so Presumptious as to assert the fulness of all Perfection and Happiness to be attainable in this Life Whereas we are not only sensible of those humane Infirmities that attend us whilst clogged with Flesh and Blood but know that here we can only know in part and see in part The Perfection of Wisdom Glory and Happiness being reserved for another and better World John 8. 24 25. Heb. 13. 20 21. Heb. 6. XII Concerning Worship to God BEcause we say with the Apostle that Men ought to Pray Preach Sing c. with the Spirit and that without the Preparation and Assistance of it no Man can Rightly Worship God all Worship without it being Formal and Carnal From hence Ignorance or Envy suggests against us that if God will not compel us by his Spirit he must go without

may be bound and his Goods spoiled his Works destroyed and Sin ended according to 1 John 3. 7. For which end says that Beloved Disciple Christ was manifested that all things may become New New Heavens and New Earth in which Righteousness dwells Thus thou wilt come to glorifie God in thy Body and in thy Spirit which are his and live to him and not to thy self Thy Love Joy Worship and Obedience thy Life Conversation and Practice thy Study Mediation and Devotion will be Spiritual For the Father and the Son will make their abode with thee and Christ will manifest himself to thee for the Secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him And an Holy Unction or Anointing have all those which leads them into all Truth and they need not the Teachings of Men They are better Taught being Instructed by the Divine Oracle no bare Hear-say or Traditional Christians but fresh and living Witnesses Those that have seen with their own Eyes and heard with their own Ears and have handled with their own Hands the Word of Life in the divers Operations of it to their Souls Salvation In this they Meet in this they Preach and in this they Pray and Praise Behold the New Covenant fulfilled the Church and Worship of Christ the Great Anointed of God and the Great Anointing of God in his Holy High Priesthood and Offices in his Church XVI Concerning the Resurrection BEcause from the Authority of Holy Scripture as well as right Reason we deny the Resurrection of the same gross and corruptible Body and are neither over Inquisitive nor Critical about what Bodies we shall have at the Resurrection leaving it to the Lord to give us such Bodies as he pleases and with that we are well pleased and satisfied and wish all others were so too From hence we are made not only Deniers of the Resurrection of any Body at all however Spiritual or Glorified but Eternal Rewards too Whereas if it were true as it is notoriously false we were indeed of all Men most Miserable But blessed be God it is so far from being true that we most stedfastly believe that as our Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the Dead by the Power of the Father and was the first Fruits of the Resurrection so every Man in his own Order shall arise they that have done well to the Resurrection of Eternal Life but they that have done Evil to Everlasting Condemnation And because we are a People whose Education hath not afforded us an Accuracy of Language some Passages may perhaps have been mis-express'd or improperly worded as for Instance One of us hath denied in his Book the Soul to be Finite by which he plainly meant Mortal or Final to die or have an end which Finis signifies from whence Finite comes our uncharitable Opposers have concluded we hold the Soul to be Infinite and consequently God Whereas the Words before and after as well as the Nature of the things shews plainly he only meant that it is Eternal and so not Finite that is not Terminable or that which shall come to an end And also because we have not declared our selves about Matters of Faith in the many and Critical Words that Man's Wisdom teacheth but in the Words which the Holy Ghost teacheth we have been esteemed either Ignorant or Equivocal and Unsound Whereas it is really Matter of Conscience to us to deliver our Belief in such Words as the Holy Spirit in Scripture teacheth and if we add more for Illustration it is from an Experience of the Work of the same Spirit in our selves which seems to us the truest way of Expounding Scripture in what concerns Saving Knowledge XVII Concerning Separation c. BEcause we are separated from the publick Communion and Worship it is too generally concluded that we deny the Doctrines received by the Church and consequently introduce a new Religion Whereas we differ least where we are thought to differ most For setting aside some School Terms we hold the Substance of those Doctrines believed by the Church of England as to God Christ Spirit Scripture Repentance Sanctification Remission of Sin Holy Living and the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust to Eternal Rewards and Punishments But that wherein we differ most is about Worship and Conversation and the Inward Qualification of the Soul by the Work of God's Spirit thereon in Pursuance of these good and generally Received Doctrines For 't is the Spirit of God only Convinces and Converts the Soul and makes those that were Dead in Trespasses and Sins and in the Lusts Pleasures and Fashions of this World alive to God that is Sensible of his Mind and Will and of their Duty to do them and brings to know God and his Attributes by the Power of them upon their own Souls and leads to Worship God rightly which is in his Spirit and in Truth with Hearts Sanctified by the Truth which is a living and acceptable Worship and stands in Power not Formality nor in the Traditions and Prescriptions of Men in Synods and Convocations but in the Holy Spirit First in shewing us our real Wants and then in helping our Infirmities with Sighs and Groans and sometimes Words to pray for a suitable supply for which we in our Meetings wait upon God to quicken and prepare us that we may worship him Acceptably and Profitably for they go together Now because we are satisfied that all Worship to God and Exhortations to Men as Praying Praising and Preaching and every other Religious Duty ought to be Spiritually Performed and finding so little of it among Professors of Christianity the Spirit of God having not that Rule and Guidance of them in their Lives and Worship as It ought to have and seeing them too generally satisfied with a Ministry and Worship of Man's making being not qualified nor led by God's Spirit thereunto we cannot find that Comfort and Edification our Souls crave and want under so cold a Ministry and Worship And for this cause and no presumptious Contempt or selfish Separation or worldly Interests are we and stand we at this day a separate People from the Publick Communion and in this we can comfortably Appeal and Recommend our selves to God the great and last Judge of the Acts and Deeds of the Sons of Men. Lastly BEcause at the time of our Friends first appearing in this Age there were a Sect of People newly sprang up and truly called Ranters that were the Reverss to the Quakers for they feared and quaked at nothing but made a mock at Fearing of God and at Sin and at Hell who pretended that Love made Fear needless and that nothing was Sin but to them that thought it so and that none should be Damned at last whose extravagant Practices exactly corresponded with their Evil Principles From hence some ignorantly and too many maliciously involved us and ours with them and many of their Exorbitances were thereby placed to our account tho' without the least Reason

Suffering for being a Son he learned Obedience has obtained Mercy of God his Father for Mankind and that his Obedience has an Influence to our Salvation in all the Parts and Branches of it since thereby he became a Conqueror and led Captivity Captive and obtained Gifts for Men with divers Great Promises that thereby we might be partakers of the Divine Nature having first escaped the Corruption that is in the World through Lust In short we do Believe and Confess that the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ Jesus affects our Salvation throughout as well from the Power and Pollution of Sin as from the Guilt He being a Conqueror as well as a Sacrifice and both through Suffering Yet they that reject his Divine Gift so obtained and which he has given to them by which to see their Sin and the sinfulness of it and to repent and turn away from it and do so no more and not wait upon God for daily strength to resist the Fiery Darts of the Enemy and to be Comforted thro' the Obedience of Faith in and to this Divine Grace of the Son of God such do not please God nor truly are in a state of true Christianity and Salvation Woman saith Christ to the Samaritan at the Well hadst thou known the Gift of God and who it is that speaketh to thee c. People know not Christ and God whom to know is Life Eternal John 17. because they are Ignorant of the Gift of God John 4. 10. viz. a measure of the Spirit of God that is given to every one to profit with 1 Cor. 12. 7. which reveals Christ and God to the Soul Flesh and Blood cannot do it Oxford and Cambridge cannot do it Tongues and Philosophy cannot do it For they that by wisdom knew not God had these things for their Wisdom They were strong deep and accurate in them but alas they were clouded shut up and set farther off from the Inward and Saving Knowledge of God because they sought for it in them and thought to find God there But the Key of David is another thing which shuts and no Man opens and opens and no Man shuts And this Key have all they that receive the Gift of God into their Hearts which opens to them the Knowledge of God and themselves and gives them quite another Sight Taste and Judgment of things than their meer Education or Traditional Knowledge afforded them This is the beginning of the New Creation of God and thus it is we come to be New Creatures And we are bound to declare there is no other way besides this by which People can come into Christ or to be true Christians or receive the Advantage that came by the Death and Sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ Wherefore we say and upon good Authorities even that of our own Experience and that of the Scriptures of Truth Christ will prove no Saving Sacrifice for them that refuse him for their Example They that reject the Gift deny the Giver instead of denying themselves daily for the Giver's sake O that People were wise that they would consider their latter End and the things that make for the Peace thereof Why should they perish in a vain hope of Life while Death Reigns Of living with God who live not to him nor walk with him Awake thou that sleepeth in thy Sin or at best in thy Self-righteousness and Christ shall give thee Life For he is the Lord from Heaven the quickning Spirit that quickens us by his Spirit if we do not resist it and quench it by our Disobedience but receive love and obey it in all the Holy Leadings and Teachings of it Rom. 14. 15. To which Holy Spirit we commend the Reader that he may the better see where he is and also come to the true Belief and Advantage of the Doings and Sufferings of our Dear and Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who saves from the Power and Pollution as well as Guilt of Sin all those that hear his knocks and opens the Door of their Hearts to him that he may come in and work a real and thorough Reformation in and for them And so the Benefit Virtue and Efficacy of his Doings and Sufferings without us will come to be livingly applied and felt and fellowship with Christ in his Death and Sufferings known according to the Doctrine of the Apostle which those that live in that which made him suffer know not though they profess to be saved by his Death and Sufferings Much more might be said as to this matter but to conclude this Subject we wonder not that we should be mistaken misconstrued and mis-represented in what we believe in order to Salvation since our Betters have been so treated in the Primitive Times nor indeed is it only about Doctrines or Principles for our Practice in Worship and Discipline have had the same Success But this is what we earnestly desire that however bold People are pleased to make with us they would not deceive themselves in the great things of their own Salvation That while they would seem to own all to Christ they are not found disowned of Christ in the last Day Read the 7th of Matthew it is he that hears Christ the great Word of God and does what he enjoyns what he commands and by his Blessed Example recommends that is a Wise Builder that has founded his House well and built with good Materials and whose House will stand the last shake and Judgment For which cause we are often plain close and earnest with People to consider that Christ came not to save them in but from their Sins and that they that think to discharge and release themselves of his Yoke and Burden his Cross and Example and secure themselves by Complementing Christ with his having done all for them while he has wrought little or nothing in them nor they parted with any thing for the love of him will finally awake in a dreadful surprise at the sound of the last Trumpet and that irrevokable Sentence Depart from me ye workers of Iniquity I know you not Which terrible End may all timely avoid by hearkening to Wisdom's Voice and turning at her Reproof that she may lead them in the Ways of Righteousness and in the midst of the Paths of Judgment that their Souls may come to inherit Substance even durable Riches and Righteousness in the Kingdom of the Father World without end XV. Of Scripture Satisfaction and Justification BEcause we with many others have denied that Ridged Satisfaction which some hold as that God could not Possibly save Men any other way than by Condemning and Punishing his Innocent Son unto Death with the utmost Justice and Severity and that his Wrath or Justice is now so fully Satisfied for Sin past present and to come as that he will now Look upon Man holy for Christ's sake tho' unholy in himself and as if he was in Christ tho' not a new Creature We are made