Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A41822
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John Baptist's decreasing and Christ's increasing witnessed being a treatise concerning baptism in the type, and baptism in the mystery / by John Gratton ...
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Gratton, John, 1641-1712.
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1674
(1674)
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Wing G1585; ESTC R39439
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23,175
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59
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Commission For Peter did not any where that I can find command That Water-Baptism should be observed to the World's End No no it was the Baptism of Christ Jesus with the Holy Ghost and Fire that was and is and will be to the End established and commanded in Mat. 28. by Christ And though the Apostles did make use of Iohn's Baptism yet they laid no stress upon us that were to come after them to use it neither was it commanded by Christ for them to use But come May not I say that they saw not to the End of Iohn's Baptism though Iohn had plainly said I must Decrease no more then they saw the Coming of the Gentiles till it was shewed by a Vision and that though Christ had said That the True Worship was in Spirit and in Truth yet that they saw not through the Outward Worship and have I not more Ground for it then you have for Paul's NOT ONLY but if you were in the Light you would see that the Apostles did see but in part and no further then it was revealed unto them no more then we do now But though we should say that they did see unto the End of Iohn's Baptism and unto the End of all Visible things as I know they did in Time as I shall prove hereafter yet although they might yet they that were daily added might have stumbled had they denyed them that of Iohn's Baptism except they also had seen into the Mind of God with them in this Matter for they were but Enterers in as little Children and not grown up to man's State at first but went from Strength to Strength in the Spirit of the Lord and so the Apostles could take Liberty for the furtherance of the Gospel to command Iohn's Dispensation bâ—t were above it themselves out from under its Command in the Power of Christ who was greater then Iohn and had all Power now himself and so it could not command Them but they It And so Philip said unto the Eunuch If thou believest with all thy Heart THOV MAYEST not thou must No but if thou believest thou Mayest he would not deny it him though I believe Philip knew that it was the Spirit 's Baptism that must sanctifie and that Water could not reach the Soul of any nor any way saâ—isfie the Spiritual Part of Mankind And yet took that Liberty in the Spirit because of the Weakness of their yet Childish Capacities to submit to their Weakness in many things that belonged unto the Law as well as in this of Iohn's And is it not also clear That the Apostles would not yet seem to lay the Building if I may so call it of John waste until they had laid and builded on a More Sure Foundation nor wholely preach his Baptism useless nor the Law neither until such time as the Gospel had got some hold of the People and then they testified of One Lord One Faith ONE BAPTISM and that by one Spirit they were all baptived into One Body and had been all made to drink into One Spirit and that they were made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit and came not with words Man's Wisdom teacheth but with the Words the Holy Ghost teacheth with which they were now baptized comparing Spiritual Things with Spitritual not with carnal or external or elemental Things with Spiritual as you do No no but Spiritual with Spiritual Now they saw by the Revelation of the Spirit into the Mysteries of God's Kingdom and therefore in Heb. 6. 1. the Apostle comes in with these words LEAVING saith he mark Leaving the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ let us go on unto Perfection Come Friends deal plainly for your own Souls Good and God's Glory and tarry not short of him that makes Perfect and cleanseth from all Iniquity and be perswaded to come and wait for the True Baptism of Christ which is with the Holy Ghost and Fire that ye may be sanctified and refined and made every whit whole for it is in much Love to your Souls that these Lines are written by One that desires your Salvation even as his own and truly breathes for the Prosperity of Zion and the Establishment of Truth and Righteousness But now some may Object and say That the Apostles could not have left them if they had not been in Them or in the Vse of Them I Answer True they had so and had also been in the Use of those things the Law had required but mark All these could not make Perfect The Law made nothing Perfect said the Apostle as pertaining to the Conscience And the Baptism of John say you was but a Type Now if the Type could make perfect then there would have heen no need of the Substance for if Perfection had been by the Levitical Priesthood then verily Righteousness would have been by the Law and now say I If John 's Baptism could have taken or have wash'd away Sin then verily Righteousness would have been by John I mean that men would have been then by it made perfectly and truly Righteous but Iohn himself preached no such thing by himself but said I am not He but behold him the Lamb of God that takes away the Sins of the World This is he of whom I spakâ— one Mightier then I cometh he must Increase of the Increase of his Government and Kingdom there shall be no End And therefore saith the Apostle LEAVING which word therefore seems to entail the fore going words in the Chapter before where he had bin telling them of their Childishness he mentions the Doctrine of Baptisms which cannot prove the Imposing of Water-Baptism any more then all the rest and was now for bringing them on to a further State where they might know Perfection and have Meat that would satisfie True Bread that comes down from Heaven and impowers to be Sons of God And it seems clear to me that there was some Need for those things they had so long lain like Children weak and like Babes in to be left Therefore LEAVING these let us go on to Perfection and saith further This will we do if Godpermit But if they had been commanded by Christ to have been used to the World's End then why should Paul for so I call that Author have been so earnest at that Day which was soon after Christ's Ascension to have had them then to leave them and to go on to a more Manful Powerful Perfect State So that it is very clear to all whose Eyes the Lord hath opened that though the Apostles had by Reason of their Weakness submitted to their Childish Capacities rather then they would lose their hold they had got of them yet this or these things were not the Thing they were driving at But the Aim and End of all they did both in Circumcision Passover Vows and Seven Dayes Purification and Water-Baptism yea and all those things they did concerning Meats and other
John Baptist's DECREASING AND CHRIST's Increasing WITNESSED Being a Treatise concerning Baptism in the Type AND Baptism in the Mystery By John Gratton Well-Wisher of the Anabaptists c. Printed in the Year 1674. TO THE Friendly Unprejudic'd READER Friend IT is no Desire in me that because so many have appear'd in Print that therefore I would be one also that should be accounted Eminent But having been one of the greatest Sinners upon Earth and therefore have through infinite Love and free Grace much forgiven me my Love is so much to him that is Lord of all that I am not a little grieved to see his Pure and Precious Truth so strongly on all hands incountered with and fought against its Comfortable and Glorious Appearance in the Lord 's poor despised People called by the scornful World Quakers And seeing that this of Water-Baptism hath been and is a Thing they that are not only Adversaries to Truth but to their own Souls have so publickly made use of to fight us with I having both been an Eye Ear-Witness of the same have been not a little exercised in Mind about this Matter but have seriously considered and tryed all their Arguments that I have been acquainted with for this thing and I find them so far contrary to Truth and the Mind of Truth that a Necessity fell upon me to write what it pleased the Pure Eternal God to communicate unto me by his Spirit so that what is according to Truth sound Iudgment thou wilt here find written as to the Tenor and Substance of the Matter from the Spirit of God in me and so is not mine but his to him be the Glory wholely given forever But if there be any circumstantial Defect for want of Heed or Exactness which may either fall upon me or upon the Printer charge it in its right Place and lay it not upon the Spirit of God Having given thee this Caution I desire thee to observe in the next place my End in the publishing this little Treatise which is First To clear Truth of Scandals in this Point laid to our Charge 2dly To strengthen the Owners and Lovers of it 3dly To acquaint or inform them that are mistaken about it And lastly That I might so aswer that Love so greatly bestowed upon me as to be clear of all Men and stand single unto God whose Servant I am through Mercy and might bring Glory Honour and Praise unto his Holy Name forever So now before I leave thee I shall only acquaint thee of the great Differences amongst men about this thing and then take leave The Presbyterian saith Water-Baptism belongs to Children of Believing Parents and therefore they examine the Parents of their Faith Now if the Parent be an Vnbeliever then his Child is not to be accepted to this Ordinance as they call it From which I shall only now observt this That if this be so then is the Child a Sufferer for the Sin of the Father's Vnbelief which God hath said shall never be The Child shall not suffer for the Sin of the Father nor the Father for the Sin of the Child but the Soul that sins it shall Dye 2dly The Episcopal saith The Child is by this regenerated and born again sanctified and changed and made a new Creature and therefore if a Child be in Danger of Death great Haste is made to get it sprinkled And if this be true What further need of a Saviour 3dly The Baptists say Believers only have Right to Water Baptism I grant Believers are only they that are Truly Baptized but that they are injoyn'd or commanded to observe this Water Baptism they now so differently observe I find not But I hope if thou readest what follows with a single Eye thou mayst come to see all these Dippers and Sprinklers and their Shortness in this and gain some Acquaintance with the Lord's Mind as thou waitest in his pure Light which makes all things manifest to which I beseech thee to turn thy Mind and believe in it that thou mayst be a Child of Light and then thy Fellowship will be with us who are Children of it and so we may Praise the Lord together who is Light to whom be all the Honour and Glory forever and ever Written by one of the Least of all yet one of the Lord 's Chosen Ones unknown to many yet known by the Name of Iohn Gratton Monyash the 4th of the 3d Moneth 1674. A TREATISE Concerning BAPTISM THey that are baptized into Christ have put on Christ live in him and are One Spirit with or in him are all united by One Spirit into One Body and are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones and of his Fulness receive Grace for Grace and know One Lord One Faith One Baptism and are One in him and he in them and so are come into the Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End the First and the Last He whose Name is called The Word of God by which all things were made in Heaven and in Earth to him be Glory forever Now the Baptism of the Spirit is One in all and all that are baptized by the One Spirit are baptized into One Body and are all made to drink into One Spirit and these have no Confidence in the Flesh but are they that worship God in the Spirit and are truly led and guided by the Spirit hear and know his Voice and are acquainted with his Operations Life Power and Vertue and can do nothing acceptable to God but what they do in it and so it rather may be said as in Truth it is That it is the Gift or Grace of God in them and by them that works both to Will and to Do of his own Good Pleasure Now all other Baptisms whatsoever that are not in the Spirit are of no Profit for the Substance of all is come I say of all those Shadows Figures and Types which had their Day and in their Day were appointed to be used according to the Appointment of the Father but were but for an appointed Time until the Seed came to whom the Promise was made who is the Heir in whom all Fulness dwells mark that that in all things he might have the Preheminence for he alone of himself is sufficient and able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him him only without the Help of any outward Washings outward Offerings Oblations or whatever may be named or hath been named either of things in Heaven or in the Earth they are all to give place for him only hath God highly exalted and given him a Name above every Name that at his Name every thing though it hath been never so highly exalted should bow and that in all things he only who is Heir of all should rule as a Son over his own House for all these were but as Servants and were not to abide forever I say All those Types and Shadows and