Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A26275
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A short description of the true ministers and the false how they differ in their call, ministry, doctrine, and fruits that any that are desirous may know the one from the other : also, something concerning the apostacy ... which was in the Apostles dayes ... : something further concerning the true ministers of Jesus / testified by one that hath been a true witness of all that he has here written, J. Aynsloe.
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Aynsloe, John, d. 1693.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing A4297; ESTC R27199
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9,389
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18
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Spirit having only a Form but denying the Power calling the Letter the Gospel and preferring the Letter before the Spirit and putting it in the Spirit 's place calling it the Word of God saying There is no other Way to cone to the Knowledge of God so are boasting of another man's Lines made ready to their hands and are saying Thus saith the Lord when he never spake to them as the False Prophets did in the dayes of old denying Revelation or any Immediate Call from God as the Apostles had saying There is no such thing to be looked for now that was Extraordinary and is Ceased And are such as are alwayes Teaching and People never the better bringing nothing to Perfection saying There is no Freedom from Sin on this side the Grave And Denying the Light that convinceth of Sin to be sufficient to lead to Life and Salvation calling it Natural and Insufficient like the Unbelieving Jews who said Is not this the Carpenter's Son They say That Sprinkling of Infants upon the Face is Baptism setting up that in the place of the Baptism of the Spirit They call Bread and Wine the Lord's Supper being ignorant of the Bread of Life and the Communion of Saints in the Sanctifying Spirit And thus much in short concerning their Call Ministry and Doctrine Now I shall shew their Marks and Fruits Christ saying By their Fruits ye shall know them They are such as go in Long Robes and have the Highest Place in the Synagogues and are called of men Master and have the Uppermost Rooms at Feasts Matthew 23. Jude's Epistle and have men's Persons in Admiration because of Advantage They Preach for Hire they have Gift and Rewards for their preaching they can't afford it for Nothing having bought it for Money they take Tythes imitating the Priests in the Law they Sue men at the Law that cannot put into their Mouthes they cast men into Prison for the Exercise of their Consciences they stir up the Magistrates to Persecution saying They must Defend their Gospel or else it will Fall using the Carnal Weapon against the Outward Man All which are contrary to the Scriptares of Truth and Practices of the Ministers of Christ in former Ages and in this Age Their Weapons were not Carnal but Spiritual mighty through God to the bringing down of the Strong Holds of the Man of Sin They must have Letters Patent from the Bishop or some other Man or Men before they can or must Preach and then they Read or Preach by the Hour-Glass at a certain Place or Time as they are ordered by Men. They despise Prophecying and if any are moved to go into the Place of their Worship in the Time of their Worship to speak in the Name of the Lord they call that A Disturbance calling to the Officer or Magistrate to take him or her away and sent to Prison allowing none to speak but themselves contrary to the Orders of the Churches of Christ who might all speak one by one They are Changeable as the Powers of the Earth change and are Silenc'd if Man commands them and take away their Gain their Gospel ceaseth and it the Magistrate take away his Shoulder and men were not Forced few would put into their Mouthes By these their Fruits Marks Doctrines Ministry and Call they may very easily be known who they are by any that are desirous to find them out For the Light of the Lord is come and the Glory of the Lord is appeared to discover every False Way and Thing and nothing is hid from his All-seeing Eye and he is making it known to those that believe in his Light and follow him in the Regeneration for the Night is past unto many and the Day of the Lord is broken forth in which Perfect Freedom is known from the Yoak of Bondage Sin being fled away as the Morning Cloud and the Glory of the Lord doth rest upon his Tabernacle and the Sons of the Morning Rejoyce together and Praise waits for the Lord in Sion But this is hard to be believed by most of the Sons of men Night having been their Habitation and Darknes over them so long that they look not for any other state willingly contented in that in which they are in a Receiving of things they preach by a Report of others some believing That there is a God because the Scriptures say so having no desire of further Knowledg or Fellowship with Him and that is the Ground or In-let to all Liberty in Sin and False Worshipping every man's Way seeming Right in his own Eyes he being or at least would be sole Judge in all things that pass in his own Mind and would not admit of any other Judgment or Judge to be near him for to reprove or condemn him for the Evil of his Wayes but would go on without Controle passing away his Precious Time in daily sinning against the Lord taking no notice of any Reproof or Call from the Lord to forsake the Evil of his Wayes And the long continuance in this state hath prov'd very Dangerous that many are got into a Belief That it will not be otherwise with them nor can they believe That it is otherwise with any Which Conclusion ariseth from the Counsel of their own dark Hearts Darkness being as a Vail over the Heart the Eye of the Understanding being blinded by the God of this World O! how sad and lamentable is the Case of all such They would not that Christ should have any place in Heir hearts or they come into Obedience unto him but are like to the Unbelieving Jews who said We will not have this Man to Rule over us and at last did chuse a Barrahas rather then a Jesus and this is the state of many now call'd Christians who choose rather to have their Murdering Lusts to live in them then Christ Jesus the Saviour and following the spirit of Persecution and Sin-pleasing Doctrine for Term of Life rather then the meek and self-denying Jesus his Spiritual Appearance in the Heart in their Self-denyal and taking up the daily Cross which seems to them unpossible to be done choosing rather to please themselves and others with a Talk thereof and if that would serve Christ would have a great many that would follow him the Way being broad giving what Liberty to the Flesh it desires to the fulfilling of the Lusts of it But the Way is Narrow that leads to Life and admits of nothing that is of Self or Flesh or any thing that tendeth to such Liberty but of a Birth born of the Spirit who delights in Holiness and cannot live in Sin who runs with Chearfulness despising the Shame because of the Glory that is set before it Christ Jesus being the Mark of its high calling believing God that its Covenant is order'd aright unto it and sure though it meet with many Enemies Tryals and Hardships by the way and Reproaches and Scoffs not a few even from those that are
Lord he is wiping away her Tears and the Time of her Mourning is coming to an end and now the Woman doth appear which John saw in the Spirit to be clothed with the Sun having the Moon under her Feet and now is as a Bride preparing for her Husband and she is the true Church the Bride the Lamb's Wife to her I bear my Testimony to be known and in being again and a Son of this Woman I profess my self to be and of none other of her Faith and Doctrine of her Life and Practice who hath no Power upon the Earth to take her part to defend her Faith and Doctrine but the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is her Defence Covering and Shield for evermore And thus in Faithfulness have I wrote these few things as the Lord put them into my heart for the sake of those that are inquiring after Sion with their Faces set thither ward that all Stumbling-blocks may be removed out of the way of the Simple and that in Singleness of heart every one may close in with that holy Appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ in the inward of their hearts by his Light Spirit and that none may resist the Day of their Visitation but haste out of Babylon and Egypt from the Flesh-Pots Garlick towards the Land that flows with Milk and Honey where there are Vineyards ready planted and Wells ready dig'd the free Flowings forth of the Father's Love unto their Souls Something further as a Testimony concerning the True Ministers of Jesus Christ THat there are True and Faithful Ministers of Jesus Christ as were in the dayes of the Apostles in this Day and Generation that do I witness and bear Testimony unto in the Name of the Lord who are Ministers of the Spirit and have ministred the Spirit and Spiritual things unto many who have not fed themselves with the Fat but have fed the Lambs of Christ having the Word of Reconciliation committed to them and have not been slack in dividing it aright judging that which was for Judgment but tender in Love and Compassion towards the Poor and Needy lending a Hand to the Helpless and turning many to the Light and Power of God which aboundeth in themselves being as Trumpets in the hands of the Lord giving a certain Sound that many have heard and believ'd through their Word They have not sought themselves but the Glory of God and the Good of all People and God hath been with them and made them successful and to see the Travel of their Souls and be glad And God hath given them Power to lose on Earth and it is losened in Heaven and to bind on Earth and it is bound in Heaven And they have Power over Unclean spirits and their Poison cannot hurt them Their Weapons are Spiritual mighty through God to the pulling down of the Strong Holds of the Devil they War not with Flesh and Blood but against the Spiritual Wickedness in the High Places of the Heart their Sword is the Sword of the Spirit their Armour is the Armour of Light their Breast-plate is the Breast-plate of Faith and their Helmet is that of Salvation and having put on the whole Armour of God are furnished against all the Powers of Darkness They preach not but as they are moved by the Spirit and Power of God being ordered of him when to Speak and when to be Silent They serve not themselves and their own Bellies but the Lord Jesus Christ and his Followers not striving who should be Greatest but serving one another in Love Into this Ministry was I called of God in the year 1657. and ever since the Lord hath continued me in that Work and Service that he set before me requiring of me no more but Faithfulness in that I had receiv'd and through great Tryals Tribulations and Exercises hath he preserv'd me Faithful unto this day Glory to God Peace on Earth and Good will towards Men Amen Amen Postscript SOme may say There are several sorts of Professions who have Ministers and all of them hold forth some of these Doctrines or have some of these Marks and bring forth some of these Fruits dost thou conclude them all to be False Ministers To which may be Answered They that are not against us are with us as Christ answered those that came to complain of some that preached and walked not with them But these have all appeared against the Lord and his People in this the Day of his Spiritual Appearance and have joyned together either in Word or Deed Publick or Private as one Man making up one Great Image Head Gold Breasts Silver Thighs Brass Feet part Iron part Clay to withstand the Little Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands but it hath and will prevail against the Image And these are the Sons of one Woman differing only in Speech and Complexion having all one and the same Nature as Experience hath shewed For all have Persecuted and stirred up to Persecution and the most from those that had the greatest Profession as largely may appear by the Sufferings of the People of the Lord called Quakers both in this Nation and else-where several of them being Imprisoned by the Priests till Death and others put to Death in New-England only for the Exercise of a Pure Conscience Such things the Ministers of Christ never did neither do but were and are so done unto These with several other Reasons makes me conclude them all to be False Ministers John Aynsloe THE END