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	soul_n	think_v	5,441	5	4.8272	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54031	The consideration of a position concerning the Book of common-prayer as also of some particulars held forth for truths by one Edmund Elis, stiled a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ : with a warning of tender bowels to the rulers, teachers and people of this nation concerning their church and ministry : likewise a few words concerning the kingdom, laws and government of Christ in the heart and conscience, its inoffensiveness to all just laws and governments of the kingdoms of men / by Isaac Penington the younger.	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.; Elys, Edmund, ca. 1634-ca. 1707.	1660 (1660)	Wing P1161; ESTC R28789	24,645	40

Minister in the Spirit and in the Power His words must not be such as mans wisdom would teach or as mans comprehension would gather but such words as Gods Wisdom prepares for him and puts into his mouth He that will be a true Minister must receive both his gift his Ministry and the exercise of both from the Lord and must be sure in his ministring to keep in the Power or he will never win others to the Power but in keeping in the Power while he is ministring and standing in the cross to his own understanding and wisdom giving forth the truths which the Lord chuseth to have him speak in the words which God chuseth even in the words which are ministred to him by the Power in thus ministring he shall save both his own Soul and those that hear him even all who in fear and meekness receive the ingrafted Word which is able to save the Soul For alas alas many have received words of Truth and apprehensions of Knowledge whereby they hope to be saved but how few are acquainted with that Knowledge which stands in the Power which alone converts and keeps alive unto God! O how many Souls are to be answered for by them who take upon them to be Pastors from God who have fed the Flock with words with Discourses which they have made and have ruled over them with force and cruelty but have wanted the love the tenderness the Light and Power of the true Shepherd O what will these do when God requires his sheep at their hands O that there were an heart to consider Ye Shepherds of England little do ye know what is towards you Now for those things themselves which he saith he principally endeavours to make known to the sons of men there is a mixture in them which if he could singly apply himself to wait of the Lord in the meek sober Spirit out of the consultations wisdom and confidence of the flesh it might please the Lord to make manifest to him The first particular of those which he layes down for Truths is That the good things of this life honours riches c. unless we make use of them in the service of God are but vanity and vexation of spirit And in no wise any more capable to satisfie or content an immortal Soul than Lime and Ashes and Cobwebs and such like trash are to satisfie and keep in health the bodies of those persons who through the depravedness of their appetite desire to feed on them Answ Christ by his Ministry calleth his Disciples out of the world up to the Father out of the honours riches and what ever else is of the world How can ye believe which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God onely John 5.44 And the rich man he bids him sell all and follow him And the Apostle John saith Love not the world neither the things that are in the world If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him For all that is in the world the just of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world 1 John 2.15 16. He that will be a Disciple of Christ must travel out of the earthly into the heavenly leaving all that is of this world behind him possessing nothing as his portion but him who hath call'd him out of his Countrey from among his kindred and from his Father's house to another Land kindred and habitation So that here they are Pilgrims and Strangers Sojourners and Passengers unknown to the world and of a strange garb behaviour and appearance in it not enjoying any thing as the world enjoyes not using any thing as the world useth not honouring men or receiving honour from men as the world gives or receives honour but honouring men in the Lord and receiving honour from the Lord and what ever they seem to retain of the earthly things they hold as Stewards under the Lord not using or disposing of them as they think good but waiting for the discovery of the Masters pleasure who is to order in his Counsel and Wisdom all that is his own to his own glory The Law required a tenth part to be given up to the Lord the Gospel requires all Soul Body Spirit Goods good Name c. even that the whole possession be sold and laid at the Masters feet and he that keepeth any thing back cannot be a Disciple cannot be a Souldier of Christ but must needs entangle himself with the affairs of this life This is sound and savoury even the Truth of Jesus as it is known and felt in the renewed Spirit but his Words if he measure them in the pure Light of God he will perceive not to have sprung thence but to have been formed in the earthly wise part even in that wisdom understanding and comprehension which is shut out of the Mysteries of Gods Kingdom For his second That nothing but the enjoyment of God the Fountain of all Goodness can truly and really content an immortal Soul And for his third That no man can enjoy God but he that loves him with all his heart and with all his Soul and for his sake his Neighbour as himself I own both the things themselves and these words and I felt a good savour in them at the reading of them onely let me say this if he put men upon striving after these things without pointing them to the gift where the strength is received to perform and where the waiting is to be for the strength he cannot preach them profitably to his hearers To his fourth That though every sincere Convert or regenerate person loves God continually with his whole heart as to the habit or root of holy love yet whilst he is in the body he may sometimes fail of the Act or fruit of it and may offend God through the love of the creature Which Truth so much opposed in these dayes is clear and manifest in the holy Scriptures particularly in the Records of the hainous sins of the Prophet David and Peter the Apostle Answ The Lord Circumciseth the heart of Believers under the New Covenant to love the Lord their God with all their heart that they may live he causeth the Plant to spring up out of the dry and barren ground which he watereth with his Blessing and he layeth his Axe to the Root of the old Tree hewing at it even till he hath cut it up he engrafteth the Eternal Word into the heart and by it is daily purifying thereof fulfilling the good pleasure of his goodness therein and carrying on the Work of Faith with power and the Ministry which he gave was for the perfecting of the Saints Ephes 4.12 13. which Ministry exhorted and encouraged Believers from God's Promises of his presence and powerful operation of his Spirit in the hearts of his Sons and Daughters to cleanse themselves from all

filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 Now that the corrupt Tree shall never be cut down whilst man is in the body that the heart shall never be throughly circumcised to love the Lord but be in danger of offending God through the love of the Creature this doctrine and belief springeth not from the pure Fountain of Life and Power but the reasoning part hath gathered it from it's conceivings beneath the Power The Seed of God cannot sin for as he is pure which begetteth so is that pure which is begotten of him nor can man sin who is born of it and abides in it and if God please to perfect the Birth and the work of Circumcision What can hinder a man from being wholly born of it from abiding in it Indeed a man that strives in his own strength either against sin or towards holiness may well doubt of ever having it accomplished but he that feels the Eternal Power beginning the work and carrying it on daily cannot doubt but he can perfect it yea and is encouraged by the feeling thereof to hope and wait on him for the perfecting of it As for his instances of David and Peter they reach not the thing For though David and Peter did fall yet both David and Peter might attain an higher state before they went out of the body then they were in before they fell David was a great Prophet and Peter a pretious Disciple but yet there was an higher Estate to be administred even the receiving that which the Prophets prophesied of and which the Disciple was to wait for The Disciples who had known Christ and had been taught by him and had received a Commission from him to whom all Power in Heaven and Earth was given yet were to wait for a Further and Higher State even for receiving the Promise of the Father the Power from on High that he that was with them might be in them John 14.17 John was as great as any Prophet and yet he that was least in the Kingdom was greater then he Read the Acts of the Apostles behold what a pretious people was brought forth even in the beginning of the Apostles Ministry how full of Faith how stripped of the world how single-hearted to God and one towards another Acts 2.42 c. and Acts 4.32 c. What would these be abiding and growing up in the Vine The cutting off of sin is necessary while in the Body but to make the committing of sin necessary while in the Body is a great Derogation to the Power of Gods Grace and to the Mystery of Faith which overcometh the evils of the Heart and the Worldly Nature within purifieth the Conscience from dead works and is held in the Pure Conscience O that men knew the Power and the Faith which stands in the Power For then would not they judge it so impossible to be cleansed by the Faith through the Power O that Light that Light that Pure Light of the Spirit wherein the Living Blood runs which cleanseth from all sin and keepeth clean them that abide and walk in it If this were but a little felt such Doctrine as these which are gathered in the comprehension from words read without being let into the thing it self would soon vanish and find no place in the Heart where the Power dwells nor in the understanding which is renewed preserved and fed by the Power For the things of God are to be known and held in the understanding which is given of God which understanding is of the Spirit and is Spiritual and not wirh the natural understanding which cannot receive the things of the Spirit but onely a carnal apprehension and sence of the words of the Spirit according as a man can beat them out with and comprehend them in his reasoning part To the fifth That the Souls of the faithful are alwayes growing in grace whilst they are in the body and at the instant of death or separation from the body our Lord Jesus shall present them to the Father without spot or blemish Answ Christ presenteth to the Father when he hath purified the heart and mind and made it fit for Gods pure life and presence He hath received the fulness from the Father and hath freely given of his grace and of his truth to the sons of men to regenerate them to cleanse and sanctifie their hearts and make them fit for God to dwell in He sitteth in his Temple as a Refiner and Purifier of Silver who is like a Refiner's Fire and like Fuller's Soap and when he hath purified his Disciples his Children his Levites he presenteth them to the Lord for the Lord to Tabernacle and dwell in when he hath throughly consecrated them he presenteth them as Kings and Priests to his Father to offer up an Offering for Righteousness and to reign with him in his Kingdom Mal. 3.3 Rev. 1.5 And there were some so purified by the leaven of the Kingdom which purgeth out the old leaven by degrees even till at length it hath made the lump wholly new that to them all things were pure Titus 1.5 There were some come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Moderator of the New Covenant and to the Blood of Sprinkling Heb. 12.22 23 24. Thus it was before the Apostacy yea and after the Apostacy there were some found standing on Mount Sion again such as had learned the New Song such as were redeemed from the Earth such as were not defiled with Women with any of the false Churches or their false wayes of worship but had kept their Virginity in the Wilderness If ye would know who these were they were the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb after the Apostacy who were throughly cleansed by the Spirit of burning insomuch as in their mouth was found no guile but they were without fault before the Throne of God Revel 14. v. 1. to 6. The Work of the Spirit of Christ in the heart is an inward work and doth not consist in outward time or seasons but in spiritual degrees and seasons which when they are finished the heart renewed the spirit changed the work wrought out then the glory of the Father is revealed the entrance into the everlasting Kingdom Ministred and then there is a sitting down in the everlasting Mansion even with Christ in the Heavenly places which he hath prepared where they that are redeemed and purged and sanctified sit together with him and as the body cannot hinder his entring into the spirits of his Saints and his dwelling in them no more can it hinder their entring into him and dwelling in him Now there are several exercises of Spirit several measures

hides it self from all the fleshly wise of every age The Kingdom of God cometh not by observation the wisest Scribes and Pharisees could not know it by all the observations which they could gather out of Moses and the Prophets Writings nor can any now know it by any observations they can gather out of the Apostles Writings but by being born of that spirit whereof they were born and by being formed in that womb wherein they were formed by this means alone is the thing come to be known which they knew He that receiveth the same eye seeth the same thing according to his measure and coming to the life wherein they received the Truth the words which they spake concerning the Truth are easie Thus as they were writ in the Spirit so are they there along truly read and being so read they become exceeding profitable to that which so reads them but man guessing and imagining and reasoning in his carnal wisdom concerning the things of God and so gathering sences and meanings about the words and expressions of Scripture doth but build up a Babel which the eternal Life and Power will throw down when ever he appears with that which built it O that men were wise to wait for the discovery of the true Rock and of the true Builder upon that Rock that that City and Building might be raised in them which God alone can rear that they might not be left desolate and miserable in that stormy day which will shake all Buildings and Foundations and Rocks but our Rock wherein all Professors and Preachers and high Notionists and what ever sort else can be named who have stumbled at Gods living Truth and at the pure appearance of his redeeming Power which in this age hath mightily broke forth after the long dark night of Apostacy to the sight of every eye which is opened in the Spirit shall confess with tears sorrow anguish and shame that their Rock is not in our Rock they themselves being Judges For though all sort of Professors generally own Christ as the Rock in words yet most miss of the thing and the subtile Enemy hath made use of a Notion or apprehension of the thing in the carnal mind to deceive them of the thing to keep them from feeling the eternal vertue the living Power of Life in the heart which is the Arm of Gods Salvation whereby Christ draws mans lost soul and spirit out of the Pit out of the Grave out of Sin and corruption up to the Father But O how are poor hearts deceived who think by a believing of what Christ did of a satisfaction he made for them while he was here on Earth though they lye in the Pit all their dayes though they carry the body of sin about with them to the very last of their time here in the body and have not felt the Arm of God's Power breaking down their spiritual enemies their lusts their corruptions and redeeming them from them yet hope to be saved in the end and to be presented without spot or wrinkle to God! Christ had the name Jesus given him because he was to save his People from their sin and no man can truly and livingly know the name Jesus further than he feels the saving vertue of it but he that effectually feels the vertue he indeed knows the name and can bow at the name feeling his lusts and enemies bowed under by the power thereof and that raised up in him which can Worship the Father in the Spirit and in the Truth O that the sons of men knew O that the Teachers and Professors of this age knew what they have so long reviled and trampled upon Surely they would mourn bitterly kiss the Son and escape the wrath Now if the Lord please to smite any ones earthly wisdom and comprehension which is the main thing which stands in the way of the pure openings and revelations of the life and give him the feeling of any thing here written let him in fear acknowledge the Lord sacrificing to his goodness and waiting upon him to be kept in that feeling not magnifying or villifying any of his Instruments but in meekness and humility embracing the instructions of the Almighty from the hand which he pleaseth to give them forth by As for me I am but a Shell and if this party knew me who sets me up so high preferring me above many whom the Lord hath preferred far above me he would soon acknowledge me to be a very poor weak contemptible one yet this I must by no means deny that the pure Liquor of the eternal Life at its pleasure springeth up and issueth out through me though I can also in true understanding say that it issueth out far oftener and much more abundantly through others Let it have its honour where ever it appears and the Lord bring down that in peoples hearts which hindreth the owning and receiving of its virtue A Warning of tender Bowels to the Rulers Teachers and People of the Nation concerning their Church and Ministry THat there was a Fight between the Dragon and his Angels and Michael and his Angels concerning the New-Testament-Church and Ministry is manifest even from the Letter of the Scriptures Rev. 12. That the Dragon and his Angels though they could not get the better as relating to the Power yet that they did get the better as relating to the Form insomuch as that they overcame the third part of the true Ministers and drew them from their standing in the Firmament of Gods Power off to their earthly Ministry and that the Church her self also was fain to fly into the Wilderness from the face of the Dragon for her safety and preservation where she was to be nourished and sed by God all the time of Antichrists Reign this likewise is not onely revealed in the Spirit but is also manifest from the Letter Rev. 12. That after this flight of the true Church and overcoming of the true Ministry the Dragon erected his false Church and Ministry which had but at best the Form without the Power over all Nations Peoples Multitudes and Tongues this is also as evident to them that read the Prophecies of the Revelation in the Light of that Spirit that wrote them Is nor the false woman after the true woman was fled manifestly described Rev. 17. which hath a bewitching Cup of Fornications v. 2 and 4. Mark She hath not the true Cup of Blessing her cup is not filled with the Wine of the Kingdom it is not the Cup of the true Spouse which keeps chast and loyal to the bed of the Husband but the cup of Fornications wherein is a Form of Doctrine and Discipline and Order and Church-Government which leads from the life which be witnesses from the Power which luls asleep in a Form of profession and worship of Christ without knowledge of guidnace by and subjection to his Spirit And this is the Government Ministry and way of Antichrist where ever it is