Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A60500
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Anti-christ in man, or, A discovery of the great whore that sits upon many waters wherein is declared what that whore or inward mystery is, together with the destruction thereof, by the powerfull appearing of Christ in us / by Joseph Salmon ...
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Salmon, Joseph.
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1647
(1647)
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Wing S413; ESTC R39105
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36,300
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80
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the new light of God manifested in them O Christian I tell thee thou art a thrice happy man whom the Lord hath made the Lamb a light unto thee this Lamb light is an innocent light a righteous light a pure light a discovering light it is this light that discovers the hidden and obscure whore unto thee it is the light of Christ that uncovers and strips the whore starke naked before thee of all her glory and excellency so that now thou beholdest her out of her purple and scarlet colour even in her very nakednesse and shame And thus you see how Christ in his day in a Christian does first of all discover the whore to him But Secondly in this last day or Sun rising of Christ in a Christian it is the worke of Christ to destroy as well as to discover this whore in us as it is the property of light to destroy darknesse so it is the property of Christ to destroy antichrist in the day of his appearance it will be the worke of Christ by his comming in thee to roote out that spirit of antichrist head and tayle root and branch insomuch that there shall not be left one hoof of the beast in thee when John saw the Angell come downe from heaven endued with great power Revel 18.1 Who inlightned the earth with his glory immediatly he heard this voyce Babylon is fallen is fallen and is become the habitation of divels the hould of every foule spirit and a cage of every uncleane and hatefull bird all which teacheth me thus much that when that Angell of the everlasting lasting covenant Christ Jesus is by the Father sent down into the hearts of his Saints who comes by the power of his Spirit and enlightens the earth or earthly man with his glory when the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord when the glory of this Sun comes to enlighten and beautifie our earthy hearts then is the time of Babylons downfall now is the season of the whores destruction now is the Saints time of Halelujah now rejoyce over her thou Heaven and all the holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her vers 20. The Prophet Malachy tells us chap. 4. That the day comes that shall burne as an Oven this day is Christ Jesus who indeed shall so baptize us with the holy Ghost and Fire as that he shall consume and burne up waste and destroy all the appearances of the Whore the wisdome of the flesh and therefore the same prophet tells us Chap. 3.34 That he shall sit as a Refiners fire and as Fullers Soape and he shall purifie the Sons of Levi that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousnesse this day must burne in us this Jesus must be a refiners fire to us before we shal see the downefall of mysticall Babylon the worke that Christ hath to doe in us is to destroy mortallity and to cloath us with immortality to destroy this corruption and to cloath us with the incorruptible righteousnesse of himselfe After the downfall of the whore Revel 19. John tells us vers 8. That there was granted to the Lambs wife that she should be arrayed in fine linnen cleare and white c. In which I observe first the love of Christ to the Soul Christ did first of all by his blood and passion purchase the Soul to himselfe to the end that she should be a constant Spouse unto him but she hath adulterized from her husband committed harlotry from her first lover and hath taken part with antichrist against him upon which adultery the jealousie of the Lord arises in himselfe and as jealousie is said to be the rage of a man so the Lord as I may say in the rage of this jealousie comes and destroyes this antichrist kils sin in the Christian sheaths the sword of the spirit in the bowels of this spiritual antichrist breakes the head of this serpent in us but yet notwithstanding entertaines this adulterized creature into his love and favour does yet once more espouse her to himselfe by a fresh act and manifestation of love and favour you may see an embleme of this love in Hos 3.1 where God commands the Prophet to go with a message of love to the woman that had played the harlot with him Goe yet love a woman beloved of her friend yet an adultresse though she an adultresse yet I am her friend though she an harlot yet I send love greetings towards her though she hath been unconstant towards me yet I will owne her to be my wife my Spouse my beloved and therefore the text saies that it was granted to the Lambs wife that shee should bee arrayed in linnen clean white which likewise dictates to me 2. In the Second place the purity that this day of burning Christ Jesus in Spirit works in the heart of his People he doth not only take from it the garment spotted with the flesh but likewise Cloathes it with the shinning Robe of righteousnesse he doth not only empty a Soul of its owne corruption but likewise fills it with his glory beautifies it with his own adornings O Faire beautifull amiable creature whose beauty and excellency consists in Christ that divine centre of briâ—htnesse and glory this will send a Saint to the depth of admiration behold what manner of love hath the Father bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God that God should thus by the power of the Spirit consume all this dross and coruption in us and bring us by that divine light to see our vnion with the Father in the Son and to see the glory of our Adoption in Jesus and to behold our selves in the flesh of our elder Brother at the Right-hand of the Father this is mercy past discerning and worth admiration Thus will God in the power of his Spirit Judge this spirituall Whore in us and ease us of the vassallage and servitude we were in to our owne selves thus shall the brats of this spirituall Babylon the wisdome of the flesh be destroyed by that happy man Christ Jesus God saith Jsa 17.12 concerning this destruction of Babylon That hee will make a man more precious then fine Gold or the Golden wedge of Opher this man is Christ who in the day of his power and in the confounding of this Spirituall Babell in us shall be made unto us more precious then the highest creature excellency never till now will the Saints come to value and to prize Christ till they see what he doth in them Now how beautifull upon the mountains are the feete of them that bring glad tidings of good things that publisheth Salvation that saith unto Zion thy God raineth Thy Messenger upon the Mountaines is Christ Jesus who comes Leaping over the mountaines and skiping over the hils of difficulty that lies in the way and appeares in glory to his Spouse or beloved Christian and declares the message of glad tidings to him
saith he we according to his promise looke for new Heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse although this old foundation and Fabrick shall be dissolved and Christ that day of the Lord shall come even as a thiefe in the night and deprive us of all the excellency of our present station waste destroy and burne up all our Gold Silver and precious stones consume all the Glory of our present being yet sayes hee here is one comfort wee looke for a new Heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse God never confounds the old but he brings a new the manner of Gods new creation is to new modelize the heart to new mould the creature to create a new Christian as it were to spirituallize the Christian in a word it is to swallow up the soul in himselfe to drown confound and bring to an end all creature glory in his own incomprehensive excellency So that the Saints are said to bee that new Jerusalem that came down from God deckâ— and adorn'd with the Glory of God only as 〈◊〉 Bride adorned for her husband They are called new because Christ in them hath created a new world this new Jerusalem had no temple in it of it selfe but the Lord God and the Lamb were the temple of it truly that soul in whom the Lord God hath madâ— this desolation of creature excellency and hath created all things a new this new Jerusalem or new Christian hath no temple but Christ Iâ— typicall Jerusalem there was a temple but Christ prophesied That there should not be one stonâ— left upon another that should not be throwne downe Matth. 24. Even so when God creates all things new in a Christian he will demollish all that was in his stead before he came to establish his new creation and he will make himselfe the temple of a Christian what ever the soul sees in any outward things as Formes Ordinances Worships and the like yet Christ will destroy and throw downe and bring to nought these things and make himselfe all this and much more to the Christian and thus you may see the day of Judgement in a Christian here you may see Christ sending his spirit into the worldly heart of man convincing it of Judgement because the prince of this world is judged in him I proceed now to the third discovery of the last day which is namely The distruction of Antichrist or the downfall of the whore which doth yet further manifest to us that this last day is in us the comming of this day of Jesus and the appearance of this Star in us is the last day of the whore in us no sooner doth Christ appear but downe falls the Kingdome of the serpent our fleshly wisdome and therefore if thou wouldst know how this Antichrist shall be destroyed the Apostle tells us 2 Thes 2 8. That the Lord shal consume him with the breath of his mouth and the brightnesse of his comming This bright comming of Christ in us shall dispell that darkness discover that fogge that with-holdeth or hinders the revelation of the whore Christ will then put aside this veile which is before this varlets face namely all her specious pretences and shewes of glory Christ is that mountaine spoken of in the 25. Isa In whom God shall destroy the veile of the covering that is cast over all people but this must be fulfilled when this mountaine Christ Jesus shall be established upon the top of the mountaines in our souls or when Christ by his owne power hath seated himself in us above every high thought and vaine imagination when the child Jesus is given to us and hath gotten the government upon his shoulders this is the time of the whores demolition in us I say it is the worke of Christ by his comming in a Saint to discover the Whore to him to take away that veil of flesh and those mists of obsurity which this harlot hath interposed between her selfe and the soul when the day dawnes the darknesse vanisheth away even so when this day Christ Jesus dawnâ—s in thy heart when day breaks as I may so say in thy soul then begins the darknesse in thy heart to flee away and now thou commest to be one of the Children of the day In a word now thou canst see discerne and distinguish and before thou couldesâ— not alas sirs a poore soul that walks in darknesse and sees by no other light but by the blaze of selfe and by the sparks of his own fire he may be compared to a man that sees by candle light who cannot discerne one colour from another even so it is with all naturall men they are not able to see what 's good from evill or what 's light from darknesse O the palpable blindnesse of all poore creatures in whom this day Christ does not appeare this it is to have eyes and see not eares and heare not This sad obscurity of a man that walkes not in the light may fitly be compared to that darknesse which might be felt the soul feeles many times what his blindnesse is how it deprives him of the beatificall vision of God brings him to wander from the way Christ Jesus causes him many times to stumble at that stumbling stone and all this is because the day is not dawned as yet but now when the Sun of righteousnesse arises in the Soul why then here comes light to them that sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death and now this light guides the soul into the way of peace It is said of new Jerusalem Revel 21. That it needed not the light of the Sun or of the Moone for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb was the light thereof all which in me is thus much when God comes to create a new Heaven and a new earth in a Christian when he comes by the power of that regenerating spirit to make his Jerusalem a new Jerusalem in this new estate he will give her new light to walke by so that now the Saints shall have no need of the old Sun or the old Moone no need of the old light of reason and nature but her 's new light brought forth now in the soul the new light is Christ or the Lamb who by the radiant beames of his splendor fills the soul with the glory of the Father and destroyes or distinguishes all other inferiour lights in the soul We live in a generation wherein both Presse and Pulpit doth cry down new lights and truely I cannot much blame them that so doe because as yet they walke in the light of the old Sun and Moone and are to be comprehended under the notion of old Jerusalem but tell me now when the Spirit of Glory hath darkned this Sun and turned this Moone into blood quite confounded brought to nothing the highest sphere of this naturall excellency in them when this old Jerusalem comes to bee made new then you shall heare a new voyce crying up