Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	dead_a	life_n	quicken_v	5,491	5	10.4511	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31664	A brief apology in behalf of the people in derision call'd Quakers written for the information of our sober and well-inclined neighbors in and about the town of Warminster in the county of Wilts. by Wil. Chandler, Alex. Pyott, Jo. Hodges, and some others.	Chandler, William.; Pyott, Alex. (Alexander); Hodges, Jo.	1694 (1694)	Wing C1934A; ESTC R35979	36,422	93

not Life How could his People in all Ages partake of him if he were not present in them Surely this Doctrin don't deserve to be scoft but is most comfortable to those who are sick of Love and thirst ardently after the Enjoyment not Hear-say of him Consider seriously these things which are agreeable to Scripture Ro. 10.6 7 8. 2 Cor. 13.5 Col. 1.27 and with what reason People have derided us for our Belief herein terming it the Quakers Christ as though his manifesting himself in our Hearts were another or distinct from Jesus Christ of Nazareth that is glorified with God the Father in Heaven which we deny For though he be ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God far above all Principalities and Powers yet is not he so circumscribed but that as by him all things were made and created so he is the Life and Fulness Col. 1.16 Eph. 1.23 3.9 4.10 and filleth all in all in his Church and People Is the Divinity and Humanity of Christ divided Is not their inseparable Union the true and intire Christ Can then his God-head be present and he who is the Heavenly Man be absent What think you of him that appear'd to John and gave him his Commission to the Seven Churches whom he describes Rev. Ch. 1. who saith Behold I stand at the door and knock Rev. 3.20 2.23 if any Man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me The same saith I am he which searches the reins and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works Was not this the true Christ the Mediator Act. 17.31 Ro. 2.16 by whom God will judge the World And can he make this near inspection into the innermost part of the Minds of Men so as no Thought can escape his notice if he be not present there What made Paul desire that our Lord Jesus Christ might be with Timothy's Spirit 2 Tim. 4.22 Joh. 1.16 1 Joh. 4.13 if he thought it impossible Do not all acknowledge the Spirit of Christ who is the Anointed to be in his People and is he then absent Is its being a Mystery far beyond our comprehension to conceive how it can be a sufficient Argument that therefore 't is not so Ought we not in such cases to exercise Faith and acquiesce in the Testimony of the Holy Ghost exprest in the Sacred Scriptures rather than interpose with our nice and curious Subtilties prying unnecessarily into things that are too high for us remembring that Secret things belong to God and that those that know most here know only in part the things that are invisible 1 Cor. 13.9 12. and see them but as through a Glass Shall Men that neither know themselves nor have any intuitive knowledge of the Essences even of the meanest things wherewith Nature every-where presents us which are obvious to our Senses aspire to those yet more abstruce and undertake to account for that which is beyond the reach of the most pregnant Wits to penetrate Nor do we thus celebrate Christ's inward and spiritual appearance in the Soul of Man with the least intent to diminish the true value and efficacy of what he did without us or transacted for us as God manifested in Flesh but in concurrence with it and pursuant to it for the compleating the Salvation intended in it neither is it in opposition to him as he is without us but we believe in him as he is inwardly revealed in measure and also as he is in his own immense fulness without us both as he is the one Offering for Sin and also as he is that quickening Spirit and immortal Seed by which we are begotten again and made alive to God and the Author of that Living Faith through which 't is savingly applied to us For though he offered up himself once for all and sat down at the right hand of God yet 't is of absolute necessity that he thus appear and operate in the Hearts of his People through all times or otherwise they can never be happy nor they receive the full advantage of his Death But that he doth thus appear and work is most evident for since he is the alone Saviour and none are saved but those who are Regenerated that Grace or Operative Divine Agent that is the Efficient of true saving Faith and Regeneration must needs be Christ in us our Hope of Glory Wherefore 't is that we so frequently invite People to regard believe in close with and submit to him as he is the true Light discovering Evil thus manifested in their inward Parts for the full accomplishing their Redemption and Restoration that they may taste and see for themselves that the Lord is good and gracious and to Christ within otherwise than thus a measure of the anointing from the Anointed we don't pretend whatever People have apprehended concerning us Which truth our very Opposers are obliged to acknowledge notwithstanding they so ridicule it in us We hope it 's no Error to avouch the Power of Christ to be stronger than that of the Devil Gen. 3.15 that he is able really to bind him to bruise his Head and break his Power to dispossess and cast him out to fulfil to the uttermost the end of his coming to destroy the Works of the Devil and to save those from their Sins who shall have true Faith in his Name and Power Surely it 's not inconsistent with Christianity to believe that Christ can or will throughly purge his Floor that he can indeed deliver out of the Prison-house 1 Thes 5.23 and restore Man out of the Fall to God again and give him power to forsake the Devil and all his Works c. We find it consonant to Scripture and the Gospel-dispensation to believe that those who are regenerated and born again of the Spirit Ro. 6.6 7 11. 2 Pet. 1.4 have through the Spirit mortified the first carnal corrupt Nature which cannot please God and if dead Eph. 4.22 23 24. Col. 3.9 10. and slain and buried too surely then it no longer lives but the Mind is at liberty and restored to act in a new Life to walk after the Spirit and fulfil the Righteousness of the Law the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus Ro. 8.2 4. having set them free from the Law of Sin and Death which is its Wages 'T is for want of Peoples experiencing this real Birth of the Spirit brought forth and knowing Freedom in themselves by it which no Duties or Performances in the Will of Man nor entertaining of the most refined Opinions in Religion can administer short of the Law of the Spirit of Christ in their Hearts 't is for want of this that People are so very apprehensive of difficulty even to impossibility of living a Holy Righteous Life which yet is so necessary to our Salvation

and homely and consisted more i●… Power and Divine Love than outward Observations Which in process of time was so drest and garnished that its August Splendour becam● inviting to others Under this Degeneracy in degree sprung up Infant Baptism a meer Humane Invention without any Scripture-authority either by Precept or Practice wherefore for those who don't use Baptism as 't was instituted under its proper Dispensation to upbraid us for neglecting it is absurd and unreasonable But that which makes the loudest Out-cry of all is our Dis-use of the Sacrament so called of Bread and Wine 't is this is that pestilent mortal Error that in our Opposer's Account renders us worse than the Papists whatever 't is that makes us the Spawn of the Jesuites which with several others are Epithets that to be sure were calculated tho' unjustly to render us as odious as may be to the People and carry a great deal of Rancour in them and savour of too much Gall to proceed from the meek Spirit of Christianity that teacheth to be at Peace with 2 Tim. 2.22 and have Charity for all that call on the Lord out of a pure Heart But whether upon the whole Matter we deserve this severe bitter Censure or whether those that so liberally bestow it upon us have a just right to cast the first Stone is what we desire our sober Neighbours to consider and not judge us also meerly from an implicit Belief of what others say of us We are not ignorant of the great Noise and Stir there hath been about this in Christendom to the scandalizing Christianity among both Jews and Turks The Papists have improv'd it to downright ●dolatry affirming 't is the real Body and Blood and as such adore it one would think 't were better let a●one Others that Christ is in it though they know not how One faith t is this another 't is that while they all seem to expect that from it which ●t doth not necessarily administer for want of distinguishing between that Bread of Life that came down from Heaven Joh. 6.51 56. that Flesh and Blood of Christ that giveth Life to all that fee●… thereon by which they dwell in him and he in them and that Supper which was eaten by the Primitive Christians in Commemoration of his Death and Sacrifice which are not so con●… next as that the one necessarily in cludes the other as Experience abundantly testifies would People but b● true to themselves herein how man● are there that receive this from Yea● to Year who yet complain all thei● Lives of Deadness Dryness and Leanness of Soul and want of Power no● receiving that renewing of Life and Spiritual Strength that is proposed i● it and so but an empty Shadow indeed For how can they in truth expect to feed on Christ Spiritually i● their Hearts Joh. 14.20 21 23. who will not admit tha● he really dwells in his Saints but esteem it an Error in those that do However we believe all People ough● to be well perswaded in their ow● Minds and seriously considerate in thes● and other Religious Practises and no● take up things meerly traditionally because others do it nor ought they to be vehemently prest to or against things not absolutely essential to Salvation in which their Understandings are not clear Nor should any be scoft or reproacht for those things which to them are Matter of Conscience and therefore Sacred though to others it may appear of less moment a Practice that ●…s a great Shame among People professing Christianity Nor do we judge and condemn those that are found in the Practice either of this or Water-Baptism as 't was primitively used whose Sober Christian Circumspect Lives witnesseth to their sincere Intentions herein who may be conscienciously tender in it and fearful to omit it till they are otherwise fully perswaded But for us to whom the bar●enness and emptiness of these outward visible Things are manifest we cannot continue therein they yielding no true Soul-satisfaction nor administring any ●nward Spiritual Grace to us 1 Pet. 2.2 3. Wherefore having tasted that the Lord is good and gracious we wait for the sincere Milk of that Word by which we have been begotten to God that we may receive strength thereby 2 Pet. 3.18 and grow in Grace and the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and a greater Acquaintance with that true inward Spiritual Communion and Fellowship with him wherein he sups with his Saints and they with him Rev. 3.20 and receive Life by him who dwells in them and they in him as the Members are joyned to the Head Eph. 5.30 Joh. 15.5 and partake of its Life and live by it or the Branches to the vine which receive Life Vertue and Nourishment from him whereby Fruit is brought forth to the glory of God and well-pleasing to him 'T is not sufficient that we participate hereof once a Month or Quarter but as the Jew● had their Manna Exod. 16.21 fresh every Morning so ought we to receive a daily Supply and renewing of Strength in our inward Man by eating that Heavenly Bread that nourisheth up to Eternal Life and drinking plentifully of that Well of Living-Water Joh. 4.14 which in the Saints springs up to Life Eternal for as in God we live move and have our very being so is Christ the true and proper Life of the inward Man by which it truly lives to God nor can it live but by him Those that are begotten to God by the Word of Life and are born again of the Spirit are prlvileged thus to feed on Christ and enjoy him which none can do that are not first quickened and made alive by him none can receive Life Sap and Vertue from him as Head and Vine that are not first joyned to him as Members and Branches of him nor is it sufficient to make People Members of Christ and give them admittance to feed on him in that they were sprinkled when Infants c. as we have already express'd though they should eat Bread and drink Wine all their Days Since then we no less enjoy the Substance without the Sign why may we not omit it as either being but temporary or not of absolute necessity as well as our Opposers do that which was instituted to use their own term at the same time and with as great solemnity and greater formality and was no less positively commanded under the same pretence Why may not the same Authority absolve us from the use of this and exempt us from being chargeable with the breach of a Command of Christ as discharge them from washing one anothers Feet Jo. 13.4 5 8 14 15. and secure them from the like censure As also that of the Apostles Acts 15.20 29. concerning things strangled and Blood and that of James Jam. 5.14 15. anointing the Sick with Oil Why should they be thus partial Have we not good reason to conclude that if

love him as for the future to live a holy Circumspect Christian Life and obey his Commands thereby continuing in his love Which Holy Life so much Celebrated and strictly kept to in the Primitive Ages of Christianity that whosoever named the Name or took the Name of Christ upon them were to depart from Iniquity we believe ought to be inseparable from a true and faithful Christian as ever accompanying a true living and active Faith and it seems was thought no less necessary by those who composed the promise that should be made in behalf of Infants before they were admitted into that once sacred Catalogue to wit that as they came to Years of discretion Tit. 2.11 12. they should forsake the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World Luk. 1.75 and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh and keep Gods holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all ●he days of their lives Ro. 6.18 19.22 2 Cor. 7.1 Eph. 4.24 1 Thes 3.13 4.7 Heb. 12.10.14 1 Joh. 4.4 This we be●…eve to be the bounden Duty of Man●ind and though our Opposers have ●coft us and branded us with error for holding Perfection because in plead●ng for a Holy Righteous Life as that which is well-pleasing to God and avouching his power to be stronger in Man as Man believes and cleaves to it ●o rescue him from under the power of Satan than is that of the Devil to retain him in Thraldom we have sometimes made use of the Words of Christ and his Apostles as be you perfect Mat. 5.48 Col. 4.12 1 Joh. 3.3 as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect he that hath this Hope in him purifieth himself even as he pure c. Yet have we never pretended to a Moral Perfection beyond what is contained in the above Promise which is sound and true in it self and is that which God requires of us and therefore 't is that we frequently press it's necessity and fervently exhort People to its performance Neither do we expect to be exempt from Temptations while we inhabit these frail Tabernacles Heb. 4.15 which is no Sin provided we consent not Christ himself was likewise tempted yet he Sinn'd not for tho both Good and Evil is presented to our Thoughts yet we appropriate neither but as we entertain and embrace it So that tho the number of Thoughts may sometimes press us and the nature of some grieve us yet they don't otherwise affect us or is Sin thereby conceived i● our Wills don't close with and joyn to them by assenting but if we consent we are culpable in the sight of God tho it proceed not to an open immorality And as we can't prevent the forming of some Thoughts so we can't wholly avoid the presentation of some Evil ones while our common Enemy is busie with his Baites but yet the more we resist and the more the Lusts and Affections of the Flesh which is the part that entertains them is mortified the more their Habit is weakned their Assaults Feebler and we the less infested by them And notwithstanding we have hence been falsely accused that we expect to be saved by our own works as being Meritorious yet we don't acknowledge a Holy Life as the Efficient and procuring Cause of our Salvation which we no less than you totally refer to the free Grace Eph. 2.8 and Mercy of God in Christ without any Merit in Man but we esteem it as a constant Companion thereto James ● 18 to the end and a necessary ●ondition on our part in complyance with God's gracious Offer without which we may not obtain it Heb. 11.6 Ro. 12.1 2. being ●nseparably annext to that Faith which only pleaseth God and is but our reasonable Duty And we believe that although Christ thus offer'd up himself once for all Heb. 2.9 10.12 for the Sins of all Men to the end of the World thereby rendring Repentance and Amendment of Life prevalent with God yet that the Traditional Belief of that alone is not sufficient to entitle us to that common Salvation that comes by him but that 't is of necessity that we truly Repent and be Converted from the evil to the good Act. 3.19 and therefore 't is no less necessary for us now than 't was for Believers in the Apostles Days and 26.18.20 that we be turned from Darkness to Light or in other terms from the dark power of Satan to the power of God who is light that thereby we may every one know the work of Redemption and Salvation wrought in and for our selves For 't is not enough to believe that Christ died if we feel not the blessed Effects of his Death who came to save us from our Sins and bless us by turning us from our Iniquities Mat. 1.21 Act. 3.26 and gave himself for us Tit. 2.14 that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good works Gen. 2.17 Ro. 5.12 2 Cor. 5.14 Gen. 6.5 Ro. 7.5 For we believe such to be the natural State of Man in the fall that by Nature we are dead as to God at a distance from him prone to Evil and to gratify the Desires of our Sensual Minds sway'd by the corrupt and sinful Lusts of the Flesh Eph. 2.2 and under the power of a strange King rul'd by the Prince of the Power of the Air 2 Tim. 2.26 so that our inward Man being thus Dead from God we cannot exercise our Spiritual Senses towards him nor can this natural Man perceive know or savour the things of God 1 Cor. 2.14 which only are Spiritually discerned Wherefore notwithstanding our Saviour died for us we are yet by Nature in a miserable undone condition in Captivity to our Souls Enemy 1 Cor. 15.45.47 Eph. 2.1.5 Col. 2.13 Ro. 8.11 Eph. 5.13.14 Joh. 1.9 Eph. 2.3 5.6 except we know the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven that quickning Spirit to quicken our Souls and make us alive to God again that being restored to the use of our inward Senses we may by the assistance of his Divine Light wherewith for that end he hath blest all the Sons and Daughters of Men see our selves in ●his sad and lost state under the wrath ●f God and abhor our selves therefore ●nd under this living Sense wherein ●hings will appear with another aspect ●han before cry to God for delive●ance therefrom 2 Cor. 7.10 with such an inward ●earty Sorrow as works a true Re●entance for the same 'T is not our ●eing sprinkled when Infants that will make us true Christians convert us ●rom being Children of Wrath Joh. 1.12.13 Ro. 8.14 to be●ome Children of Grace and Sons of God and Members of Christs Church and invest us in an Interest in him 't is not learning our Catechism and subscribing to certain Articles of Faith though never so Orthodox and being educated in a