Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	earth_n	heaven_n	world_n	5,455	5	4.3686	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36890	A few vvords of truth from the spirit of truth to all who are convinced of the truth, and stand in opposition to the cross ... also a few words to all the litteral professors, who can own the ministration of Christ without them but deny him within them and to those that have their dependance upon the teaching of men, in oppostion to the ministration of the spirit within : together with a short discovery of the Presbyterian government, and some reasons of dissenting from it / William Dundas.	Dundas, William, fl. 1665-1673.	1673 (1673)	Wing D2612; ESTC R17235	15,054	23

it to me In the mean time my Correspondent Gawen Lawry Merchant of London according to Orders sent me a Box with about Three Pound Sterling worth of Books and to give me notice of it to call for them in a Ship of the Preston Pannes for the which End he writ me a Letter by the Post which they getting in their hands I never knòwing any thing of it till I going to visit my Cousin Preston Grange his Wife told me That their Priest called a Minister one John Oswald had taken a Fox full of Books from a Ship of that Town of Preston Panne● which was directed for me which did a little surprize me I never hearing of it yet it behoved me to content my self knowing That what once cometh into their Hands which is called th● Kirk is not easily recovered So that I sent for the same Books again which were also seized upon by one Boswell a Earmer of the Excise Office whereof I hearing did make Application to him and I being a Stranger to him and he not knowing the Difference that was betwixt the Priests and me nor what Acts had been emitted against those which they called Sectary Books I did so capitulate for them that I had them again but in the process of time the Lord ordered it so that when the English came into Scotland I did demand my Books from the said Oswald the Priest which did not a little sc●re him and he to save his own Head told me That Warriston had them by Order of the Comm●ssion of the General Assembly from whom I desired one of his Friends to require them to whom he reply'd That they were in his Closet and he durst not deliver them me without an Order yet if I would send some Souldiers for them they might have them which I did But when I had the Box I found many of them wanting and knew not whom to challenge they passing through so many corrupted Channels but as they began with s●btil and undermining Falshood so they ended with Theft though it is like that these Bab●●onish Merchants by trading with them Books were helpt to spin out their Hour-Glass upon my Charges though they were well paid otherwise All this did so vex the Serpent that he knew not how to be avenged of me but by thrusting forth his Venemous Sting of Excommunication against me though it was but like a Dog that shews his Teeth when he cannot bite but only bark and this vexed them the more seeing m● so to slight it and tread upon it by my Letter to the Commission of the General Assembly and seeing none to regard their Sentence by keeping a Distance from me made their Act the more Contemptible so as they were willing to heal up the Wourd again as they said to my dear Friend John Swinton whom they intreated That he would desire the Sentence of Excommunication to be taken off again To whom he replyed That as he was passive in laying of it on he should be so in bearing of it To whom they replyed If ●e will not be active in seeking it we wi● be active in doing it And so I standing in this Case they did only with me as their Fore-Fathers the Priests did to the Blind Man who though naturally Blind yet spiritually he had more Sight then themselves So I being cast out by them Christ did hold me up and they remain in their Blind Condition to this day in their Egyptian-State where I leave them groping after their dark Principles and blind Imaginations of their Persecuting spirit and I to remain in the Land of Goshen enjoying Christ the Light and Life of man who enlightens every man that comes into the World for they have Eyes and see not for the Light shineth in Darkness and they comprehend it not Ears they have but hear not but to the sweet Enchantings of the Serpent do they hearken and bow who creeping upon his Belly feeding upon the Dust of the Earth though I do not include all under this predicament and category for I have more Charity to some of them Yet though in all this time I had a further Sight of the light then themselves yet there was a Gulf botwixt the Elest Children of the Lord called Quakers and me for I saw further then I was willing to embrace for there was such a high Principle of the world in me that the noble Principle of Light and Life was looked over by me yea I lived in my own will wit and wisdom which was accursed Preferring that wisdom before that wisdom of God which would have made me a Child and a Fool to the World thinking that I might gain two Kingdoms at once to keep the Possession of the Earth and the Kingdom of Heaven also and I being out of the pure Will and out of the Cross to my own Wisdom I was judged by the eternal Spirit of Truth and stood as condemned out of the Life because I being out of the Obedience and insomuchas I could not lose my Life I did choose Death for mans Life in this World is in Visibles unwilling to be separated from the World's Fashions and Customs and vain Religions Honour and Profit and all things which I stood upon was a false corrupt Ground whilst I thus stood in the Alienation Upon the Consideration of all this the Lord was pleased to dart in upon my prodigal spirit to call me home from the Husks that I was feeding upon to my Father's House and whilst the Door of Mercy was open he put a stop to the unlimitted Pleasures of the Flesh and then I came to hear the calm and still Voice of the Spirit that was stirring in that contemned people called Quakers and the first stirring in me of that Nature which I did eminently take notice of was As I was riding from Edinbrough in a Winter Evening to my own House I did hear a Noise of some men as it were Fighting so that I bid my Man ride up in haste to see what it was which my Man doing he called to me and said That there was two Men on Horse-back beating of another Man going on Foot so that I ridingup to them I did see them beatiug him and he still keeping them off saying What did I say to you but bid you FEAR GOD so that presently I did perceive that it was a Quaker reproving sin in the other two so I asking his Name which he telling me I knew the man by Name though not by Sight and I was so offended with the other two that I fell to beat them with my Rod and ordered those that were with me to carry them to the next Prison but he the said Quaker did intreat me to let them go which after taking notice of their Names and Places of Abode I did let them go And a Week after the said Quaker was telling a Relation of mine what a Curtisie I had done to him in a manner to save him

from England was returning for England of whom I desired Passage in his Company which he freely granted me and so came to England with his Convoy But I have omitted all this time to shew you that the High Places as yet were unbroken down in me but that some Groves were as yet left standing notwithstanding all the Wonderful Mercies the Lord had bestowed upon me in carrying me and my Wife upon the Wings of his Providence in our Wilderness Condition which would spend more time to relate then some it may be would bestow upon the reading of it yea and I dare say that none could well understand nor believe but those who have trod in the same Pathes as we did But I being so long in Egypt and I so habituated and leavened to their Fashions and Customs I was like Joseph that could Swear by the Life of Pharoah and had not come to that Plainness of Language which God doth require but could Complement with their Fashions and Words And I had Thoughts that all was well with me till I came to a Tryal in England again so that the Face of Friends did strike a Dread and Terror in my Heart when I thought that all was well till the Spirit of the Lord running through others of his Vessels did awaken me for I was Upright in my own Judgment but the Lord searched me For I could come with Confidence to Meetings and frequent the Assemblies of the Lord yet I durst not own the Name of Quaker I not being Faithful to the Measure which I had receiv'd for now it was become so far high for me as before my Obedience I had esteemed it low and after that I would willingly by Wisdom have made void the Obedience into such things as Matters of Indifferency and accounted them but Circumstantials and Foolish to put any Weight upon the doing or not doing it became so burthensome to me that I could have undergone the greatest Strait Imaginable rather then omitted it and as I became Obedient there I felt Strength and Power and a more real Content did spring up in me and in this Light and Power of the Spirit that hath visited me did I feel Strength to wait and know further his Will and Mind for in the height of this Exercise I found my self overcome and my self not my own but the Lord's to do with me what he pleased to require of me what Service he would I should be willing to obey in his Strength and if the Lord never show me any more I feel Contentment in his Will earnestly desiring that I may never stop the course of his Spirit for I find that there is nothing can nor is able to satisfie my thirsty Soul short or beneath the Lord of Life In the Fire as Gold tryed I was Till Consumed was the Tin and Dross And then I knew what was come to pass That I did not suffer any Loss Postscript FRIENDS THere are a few Words which I have to add to you The Litteral Professors who can own the Ministration of Christ without you but deny him within and who raise up Jealousies and Prejudices against us as if we denyed the Scriptures and Ordinances of God and Christ that dyed at Jerusalem professing him in Words but denying him in Reallity and Substance and you to be the only Owners of Christ and yet ye forget your own Principles who have been all your time praying for the Spirit of the Lord and now when he comes to you in his Spirit ye will not only be shie and scare off him but ye will persecute all that will not own him after your Form though we really in our hearts own that Christ in the Flesh which in the Fulness of Time did offer up that Body prepared to do the Will of the Father according as it is expressed in the Scriptures of Truth Neither do we hold any thing for Christ but him who appeared and was made manifest in the Flesh I cannot believe that Doctrine of you the Litteral Professors who recede from your own Principles of the Literal Profession of the Letter which saith Is not Christ within you except you be Reprobates and Christ in you the Hope of Glory I know that some of you will say That it is the Vertues and Graces of Christ But I would willingly know of you How Christ's Vertues and Graces are separated from himself This seems a setting up of your own Conceivings or an Image in your Mind of the Mind of the Spirit and miss the Thing it self which alone is known by the Spirit For we find experimentally a clear Distinction betwixt the searching out by the Reasonings of the carnal Mind and Scriptures opened by the Spirit and felt in the Life Therefore it were better for you to examine really your Knowledge of Christ your Faith and Knowledge of the Scriptures and your Prayers also lest ye miss of the Substance and meet with a Shaddow which is only able to please the Natural Part but justifieth not the Soul I desire that you let not this my Christian-Expostulation with you displease you but rather set you home to sink down to that which is only able to make you clearly discern whether you or we are the Truest Owners of Christ seeing ye cannot make it appear by Scripture which ye say is your Rule to walk by that the Outward Application of Christ bringeth Salvation without the Inward Manifestation of the Spirit O! Blessed be the Day forever That it pleased the Lord to come Me from the World to sever Unto the State of some Who have past through the Seas Unto the High and Glorious State Of all that have the Spirit of these That pass by Tophet's Gate Unto the Port of Heaven Where all the Saints have Rest Which the only Lord has given To the Seed that he has Blest For when I was in Egypt's Land Wanting Straw I did make Brick And ready at the Command Of the so called Kirk To Work all the length of the Day Without the Sense or Sight Of which I ever should Obey The Shining of the LIGHT That would have taught me the Way From Dead Formal Duties that 's without Unto the LIGHT Within I say Who lives in LIFE and has no doubt The Promise to Obtain Which none at all can have In the State that I have been And would not TRUTH receive Oh! that all those as do this read Would come and feel the same That they may know with all the Seed The true Abode of the I AM Who is the only Great JEHOVAH And Rules in the Hearts of Men Praises Honour and HALELUJAH To him be sung of all the Seed AMEN Given forth the 10th of the 3d Moneth by a Lover of the Souls of all men but especially to the Faithful of the Infallible and Only Everlasting Truth William Dundas THE END