Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	everlasting_a	reap_v	sow_v	6,865	5	10.5221	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90389	An eccho from the great deep: containing further inward openings, concerning divers other things, upon some whereof the principles and practises of the mad folks do much depend. As also the life, hope, safety and happiness of the seed of God, is pointed at; which through many dark, dismall, untrodden paths and passages (as particularly through an unthought of death and captivity) they shall at length be led unto. / Through Isaac Pennington (junior) Esq;.	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.	1650 (1650)	Wing P1163; Thomason E618_1; ESTC R206346	113,201	142

sown which must have seasons pass over it before it spring up must rot and dye before it live though in its rotting it doth not rot and in its dying it doth not dye and when it doth spring up must grow gradually and undergo many changes before it cometh to maturity There is a double sowing one of Christs another of ours Christ soweth and we sow Christ soweth in us and we sow unto him He sows the seed of life in us and this life in us sows the seed of living motions towards him and of living operations in him it moves spiritually towards Christ it works spiritually in Christ Every motion of life put forth towards Christ is a sowing Every act of faith of love of joy of expectation of contentedness and submission of spirit under his dispose is a sowing He that soweth unto the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth unto the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting To be spiritual to move spiritually to live spiritually is to sow unto the spirit as to be carnal to move carnally to live carnally according to the will and desire of the flesh is to sow unto the flesh Now all these all these motions all these operations this life with all the buddings forth of it must be thrown into the Earth dye there be gone and lost a long season before they come to any thing so that the flesh which had great hopes because of them great delight in them and great desire after them will lose all its expectation be weary of its delight and let fall its desire and will be vehemently perswading the spirit to do so also To what purpose is it to beleeve to what purpose is it to pray to what purpose is it to deny ones self and to suffer in so many kindes All comes to nothing he whose spirit multiplyeth in these multiplyeth sorrow unto himself c. True all these are thrown into the Earth lost and gone for ever to all sight and appearance they come to nothing a great deal of pains and trouble there is but to no purpose And how can it be otherwise seeing the time of reaping nay perhaps of growth is not yet come But wait run the venture as you see the husbandman is fain to do who expects a crop Be ye also patient Follow their example wait and wait long as ye see they do Stablish your hearts Do not give way to frights to discouragements from present pressures which may dishearten you and make your waiting irksom but stablish your hearts to wait It will come it will be worth all your waiting for it when it comes and the longer it stays the more weighty will it be in it self and the sweeter to you Be content then to stay for it and to expect nothing but trouble and misery until you meet with it For the Coming of the Lord draweth nigh It is a great encouragement to wait if one be neer the attaining of what one waits for And this great advantage Faith hath always had to represent things very neer as neer as they can be desired to be The Coming of the Lord is a great way off to the eye of man so far off that he can hardly forbear scoffing at the spiritual man for speaking of it as nigh at hand but close by to the eye of Faith even as near as Faith would have it Faith would have nothing wrought otherwise then it is he that sees every thing with a spiritual eye can dislike nothing it would not have any thing come sooner then it is appointed to come It is the flesh which shall never be saved that is so hasty after Salvation but he that beleeveth doth not make haste but stayeth willingly till Salvation be ripe and till he be ripened for Salvation It is the foolish flesh that thinks it self wise enough to cut out its own season and proportion of deliverance but the truly and spiritually-wise-childe knoweth his degree of wisdom the degree of wisdom allotted him doth not amount high enough for this undertaking and therefore yeeldeth it up to the dispose of the wisdom of the Father The flesh is much troubled that it cannot have things times and seasons at its own dispose the spirit or spiritual childe would not have them at its own dispose if it might The spirit in the spirit of the childe teacheth it contentedly from choyce and with delight to give up it self to the dispose of the spirit in the spirit of the Father Surely it cannot but seem strange to the eye of man that the Apostles should then in their times so many ages ago speak of the coming of Christ as so nigh and that it should yet be so far off but Faith can digest very well Faith sees the certainty of it the suddenness of it yea that it is already in motion Behold he that cometh will come and will not tarry He is certainly a coming and he will come on he will not stay He comes he comes he wo'nt step back again he will come on forward nay he wo'nt stand still he will not tarry Behold he cometh leaping over the mountains skipping over the hills Arise shine thy light is come Lift up your heads your Redemption draweth nigh Howl ye who have thriven and grown rich in his absence your delight your content your life your peace your happiness is ended your Sun is set Spring forth with joy and singing ye weak ye sick ye poor faint distressed spirits the Sun of righteousness is risen with healing in his wings he is coming to anoint you with the oyl of salvation and gladness to wipe away all tears from your eyes and so to fill you with joy as ye shall be able to grieve or weep no more He will appear the second time without sin to Salvation ye have been long talking of Salvation when he cometh again ye shall know what it meaneth ye shall feel what it is and it will not be long ere he come he is upon his march already hastening towards you coming on apace the appointed time of his absence is wearing out amain and the time of his return approaching The day is at hand the Coming of the Lord draweth nigh Even so Amen Come Lord Jesus come quickly redeem the time of thy long delay and come quickly yea very quickly The Spirit of the Bride saith Come and he that is athirst saith Come Come O Water of Life or I perish come O Bread of Life or I famish Come Come ERRATA'S Pag. 24. l. 6. r. a new-man P. 30. l. 27. r. doth not onely P. 31. l. 28. r. this is the. P. 74. l. 28. r. lives safe P. 78. l. 23. r. diverts P. 79. l. 1. r. and bonds P. 109. l. 28. r. out of The Contents 1. OF the difference between God and the Creature Pag. 1 2. Of Good and Evil. Pag. 3 3. Of the Devil Pag. 5 4. Of Righteousness Holiness and Happiness Pag. 9 5. Of Redemption Pag. 10 6. Of Faith Pag. 12 7. Of Love Pag. 14 8. Of Self-denyal Pag. 21 9. Of Christ from John 1.1 Pag. 24 10. Of the two Principles Seeds or Creations their different Natures Motions and Ends. Pag. 35 11. Of the New-Birth whence Faith and Love flows and to which Redemption with all the priviledges of it appertain from Joh. 1.12 Pag. 39 12. Of the excellent Nature of this Birth or of the Child thus begotten thus born from Joh. 3.6 Pag. 42 13. Of the excellent Food prepared for this New-born-child to nourish him and cause him to grow from Joh. 6.63 Pag. 44 14. Some Properties which attend this New-born-child in his non-age while he is growing up to his inheritance from Matth. 5.3 c. Pag. 47 15. Of the Fathers care over this Child and his readiness to provide for him every thing he needs from Luke 11.13 Pag. 51 16. A strange Occurrence which may befall this Darling of God and of Christ in his pilgrimage and travel towards his native Country hidden in a Parable John 11. Pag. 53 17. Of the Relation between Christ and his and the Hold they have of each other from Joh. 10.14 Pag. 58 18. Of the New Covenant from Hebr. 8.10 11 12. Pag. 65 19. The way to Life which is through the death of that which we account and press after as life and particularly through the Captivity of the Life it self from 2 Cor. 12.7 8 9 10. Pag. 83 20. The Way to true Knowledg from 2 Cor. 5.16 Pag. 100 21. Of the Seasons varieties and changes in the inward World which answer to the seasons varieties and changes in the outward World which is a map or picture of them according to that description given by that wise Observer of the course of Nature Eccles 3.1 c. Pag. 106 22. The secret hidden most inward voyce and demeanor of Sion in the time of her Captivity from Lament 3.24 c. Pag. 111 23. The Ruine Destruction and utter Desolation of Babylon from Revel 18.21 Pag. 121 24. An Exhortation to such in whom the seed of Life is sown to wait for the growth and happy success of it from James 5.7 8. Pag. 125 FINIS

one the excellent nature of the other expressing his esteem of the one his hatred of the other shewing the different ends of each c. Now how will he come off at last if all this should prove nothing but a flam and one should be as good as the other and both tend but to one and the same end If it should be granted that both shall be swallowed up at last yet doubtless there must be subordinate ends which must have their time and course and may contain in them a larger everlasting or for ever then yet we are acquainted with wherein their difference shall appear and wherein those things spoken concerning them in the Scripture must be fulfilled Of the Devil THe Devil is that created Spirit which God hath fitted with enmity subtilty and strength for the distraction and destruction of his Works God to shew his own Wisdom Strength and Love hath prepared opposition against himself and that they might appear the more clearly he hath so fitted the Opposer as may best try and draw out his own to the utmost The Devil is not an Original Spirit no more then the rest of the creatures but a created a derived Spirit It is the breath of the Lord in his nostrils that gives him life all that he has and is came from the Lord and remains still in the Lord in whom he lives and moves and acts and who lives and moves and acts in him There is but one originally This one is all and in all all in every being all in every motion all in Heaven Earth Hell all in herbs plants beasts birds fishes men devils all in every of their motions Now the work of this Spirit is to destroy to oppose God or if you will that which God intended to work in by and through this created Spirit was to oppose himself to destroy his own Works so far as he saw good God made all good but he did not intend this goodness should stand therefore he provides this Spirit to let loose upon the Creation to eat out the sweetness the beauty the vertue the excellency of it Now that this Spirit might the better accomplish his work he is fitted for it with Enmity Subtilty and Strength 1. With Enmity Hence he hath his name Satan an Enemy An enemy to God to the creature to the life and happiness of both to all that is good and truly excellent And where he throughly prevails he sows all this enmity and begets a child like himself O full of all subtilty and all mischief thou child of the Devil thou enemy of all Righteousness We see enmity in the creatures one against another this is his work from the beginning it was not so all was in peace and love before the evil one sowed the tares of division As all shall be in peace at last the Lion and the Lamb shall lie down together so all was in peace at first This was one part of the goodness that God saw in his works namely the harmony the sweetness the natural unity and subserviency which he beheld in the whole when it came newly out of his fingers 2. He is fitted with Subtilty not with Wisdom that is peculiar to Christ he is the Wisdom of God As God only is Love so God alone is Wisdom There is a vein of subtilty runs through the Devil and through wicked men but it is not wisdom That the Devil might the better do his work he hath abundance of subtilty as well as enmity yea all subtilty bestowed upon him O full of all subtilty said Paul to one who had it but at the second hand from him for he was but the child of the Devil And he is very subtle for though he cannot reach the original Wisdom of God nor can he touch any of his Plot any of his Design which is wrapped up safe in it but he himself is but an engine there yet in his several goings forth in his footsteps and tracks that appear he can there undermine him and dash his enterprises in peeces Thus did he break the whole fabrick of the Creation which God made an excellent sweet beautiful Peece what an heap of confusion misery and vanity is it now become The whole world lieth in him and the whole world is poysoned by him and is become a kind of Devil with him a peece of enmity a tormentor of it self There is nothing in it lives in true love in true wisdom in true peace but in a devilish love and policy There is such a love and wisdom in the world as is in the Devil such peace and good-will among men as is in Hell among devils Thus did he break the spiritual Fabrick of the New-Creation the evil one sowed tares in this field also The Husbandry the building of God was no sooner erected by God but it was presently defaced by him He hath taken possession of this inward world and hath emptied all sorts of Religions of true love and filled them only with enmity and the wisdom that is among them is neither pure nor peaceable but sensual and devilish He appeareth like an Angel of light that he may vent his own wares and his great traffique is in Religion but for all the paint wherewith he coloureth them he that can look into them may see them to be his wares The Devil hath his faith his love his holiness his ways of ravishing and transporting the heart in prayer in meditation in conference c. It is not the sweetness of these it is not the pleasingness of these it is not the warming and drawing forth of the heart in these that can distinguish them There is abundance of this counterfeit stuff abroad in the world the Devil is making use of his time he may be somewhat near playing his master-peece though as yet he needeth not to do it little of truth because now is the time of destruction God giveth the Devil string and he will make use of it to the utmost 3. He is fitted with Strength He is the strong man armed He is strong in himself the world is but a weak thing to him Man is very weak before him yea the renewed man hath nothing of strength comparable to him He is a fountain a Well-head a kind of original so vast that he contains all wicked persons all wicked actions all wicked things all wicked motions within him He hath a Kingdom and is a mighty King and not a King in title but he hath the head and heart of a King he is as fit to be the Head of his Body in his kind as Christ is to be the Head of his Body in his kind He has so much strength in him that no place can be at quiet can be free from enmity while he is there unless it will admit of his peace There will be trouble in Heaven in Earth in each in both till he be cast out of both into the pit and bound up in the pit There

earnest to bring others unto also as being very sensible that it tends both to his and their happiness whereas all other things tend apparantly to the misery and destruction of the creature And herein lieth the excellency of man this is the best he can desire or hope to attain and a Birth to or in this is the best Birth that can be produced by him But this is not the new-birth this is not that which God calls Regeneration this is not the heir but the son of the bond-woman which shall never inherit this is but the fruit but the off-spring of the first Adam which is of the earth earthly not of the second Adam which is the Lord from Heaven heavenly in himself and begetting an heavenly nature All these come from man the nature of man the blood of man the desire and skill of man the corruption of man or at best the excellency of man But the Child here spoken of the Child God delights in the Child he will own as his Son is of his own Seed is begotten by himself is born of him He is of the Seed of Eternity of Immortality and therefore Eternity of right belongeth to him He is the Child of God by a new Nature by a new Life he is the immediate off-spring of his own Son formed by his own Spirit But of God This whole Birth belongs to God 1. It is he that sows this Seed in the heart the seed of this Life his own Seed the Seed wherein the very Godhead is contained and which cannot but grow up into God God hath his Power to generate as well as man and the other creatures he hath his Seed to sow as well as they and his Seed doth a truly and fully contain his Nature as their seed doth theirs He is the great Sower that sows his own grain in his own Vineyard He is the great Builder that lays the foundation of his own House He hath begotten us again c. 2. It is he that quickens the Seed and causeth it to grow And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2. He casts a vail of death upon Eternity upon Immortality for a season he maketh it as it were to rot in the heart that he may quicken it again that he may cause it to grow up in its own shape and fulness And when it shoots forth it is he that causeth it to thrive and flourish Paul may plant and Apollos water but God giveth the increase This Life floweth only from God and groweth up only by the breath of God 3. He doth this by his own Power by his mighty Arm He puts his whole strength to it It doth not cost him nothing to sow this Seed to beget this Son but it costs him the very Power and strength of the Godhead even an exceeding greatness of Power he works with the very might of his Power when he begets this Child when he brings forth Faith in this Child even with the very same strain of strength that he exercised upon Christ when he raised him from the dead and exalted him above all other power Ephes 1.19 20. 4. He does this also by his own Will The other births are by the power of man by the will of man this is as by the Power of God so by the Will of God He is not at all moved to this by any thing in the creature by any thing from the creature but meerly by his own Will of his own Will begat he us He soweth his Seed according to his Nature as other things do theirs according to their nature Lo this is the New-Birth The Spirit breatheth where he listeth No man knows whence this breath comes no man knows whither this breath goes but it keeps within its own Circuit which is only known to it self Thus is every one that is born of God Of the Excellent Nature of this Birth or of the Child thus begotten thus born FROM JOH 3. Vers 6. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit SPirit denotes excellency purity strength durableness of nature its constitution is more excellent more clear more strong more lasting then that of flesh Flesh is weak corrupt fading hath little loveliness it and that loveliness quickly perishing the Egyptians are men and not God and their horses flesh and not Spirit Spirit is a sublime an excellent kind of nature both in its inwardness and in its outwardness its way of Being of motion either within or without of generation far exceeds that of flesh and so doth the Child begotten this way it is of the same nature with that which begets it That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit That which is begotten by the Spirit is of a spiritual nature of the same nature with himself of the very divine nature who hath made us partakers of the divine nature He observes the Law of Generation which is to beget and encrease his own nature and kind to multiply himself So that this Child is divine what ever is in this Child what ever flows from this Child cannot but be divine its Faith its Love its Hope its Joy its Meekness Sweetness Holiness Righteousness are not such as grow in Natures garden but in the Paradise of God and from a more inward and spiritual seed then is sown in nature That which is born of the flesh is flesh All the excellency that man can attain to all the Faith Hope Love Joy c. that man can have from any of the Births fore-mentioned is but fleshly but weak corrupt fading but that which is born of the Spirit that which flows from this Life that which grows out of this Seed is spiritual and hath the Spirit of Life Eternity and Immortality in it The flesh profiteth nothing Christ speaks that to persons who were bending their whole strength to understand him all this avails nothing The greatest fleshly desire moves not God the greatest fleshly industry and endeavour furthers not the creature What ever is thus received what ever is thus understood what ever is thus obtained is but fleshly and will not avail All the faith in God all the love towards God all the desire after God or delight in him all the obedience unto God thus gained thus put forth hath no true life in it and must needs wither and come to nothing The fleshly understanding of any thing revealed by Christ is of no value It is the Spirit that quickeneth It is the spiritual part in the Word the spiritual part of the Word engrafted by the Spirit in the heart that quickeneth it at first or causeth it afterwards to thrive and grow This Child hath a generosity a nobility an height an aspiringness in him He can never rest out of his own Country nor out of his own place of habitation in his Country He cannot endure to live beneath himself He must possess and enjoy God to the full or he is not satisfied He must live

Lord. Christ was once here in this World in a fleshly body like ours causing the glory of the Godhead which dwelt in his Spirit to shine in it and through it as he pleased conversing with men but more especially with his own going in and out before them as the shepherd doth before his sheep He came unto the world and he came unto his own He made an offer of himself to the world he enforced himself upon his own or which is all one made them willing to receive him in the day of his power Now after he had thus lived a while he went away again appeared thus no more was to be seen or known thus no longer The Comforter was to come to sustain their hearts until the coming of Christ again but Christ himself was to be seen no more until his return from that far Country into which he then went when he took his leave of his dearest ones The Seed of God they are the Spouse of Christ and their life consists in the presence of their Husband If they might have the Spirit of God dwelling in them never so fully it will not serve their turn they must have Christs company There is that foundation layd in the spiritual Nature between Christ and them that neither could enjoy God with content without the other neither can they enjoy themselves any where without one another They cannot enjoy themselves in the earth till they enjoy Christ there nor can Christ enjoy himself in Heaven till he enjoys them there Their content their life their happiness is bound up in one another and there alone can they reap and possess it The Coming of the Lord. Christ is gone removed out of the world from the eye of flesh a cloud hath taken him out of our sight He is hid in God even where he was hid before he was manifested in the flesh and thither is he retired again whither no eye can follow him whither I go ye cannot come and there must he stay the appointed season But he is to come again he will come again he shall come again He that shall come will come If I go and prepare a place I will come again and receive you unto my self There are two things comprized in the Coming of Christ two great effects of his coming which make it on the one hand so terible to some and on the other hand so desirable to others There is the death of the world in it and the life of his people He will come to Judgment to reveal declare and execute Judgment And this is the Judgment which he hath already pronounced though not in the same way as then he will he hath but talked of it yet but then he will make good what he hath hitherto held out but in words viz. Death to the old earthly man he will strike him at the very root and in all his branches and fruit wo to every thing that hath sprung from him wo to him in every thing wherein he hath appeared and acted Life to the new spiritual man Destruction to Babylon everlasting destruction Salvation to Sion everlasting Salvation Your God will come with vengeance even God with a recompence he will come and save you He will come with gloominess with darkness over-spreading all the light of the Creature but he will come with the light of life to you Because he lives ye shall live also He will cover all the glory of the Creature with shame but he will cloath you with glory It doth not yet appear what we shall be but when he appears we shall appear with him in the same glory wherein he himself appears His absence is your death your misery your torment but it is the joy happiness and life of the world they cannot live nor enjoy any thing nor rejoyce in any thing in his presence Ye shall weep and lament but the world shall rejoyce why what is the matter O! very great cause for both Christ hath left the Earth and now the men of the Earth can enjoy their life very quietly that which disturbed that which interrupted their joy their life their peace is removed But it was that which fed the life of his people therfore they weep and mourn But saith Christ chear up your spirits poor hearts your grief and sadness shall have a better issue then their mirth and jollity your seed-time though it be very troublesom and boysterous though ye sow in tears and deep anguish of spirit is better then their harvest your sorrow shall be turned into joy when their joy shall be turned into sorrow I will turn the scales one of these days I will see you again and your heart shall rejoyce and your joy none taketh from you O how will the heart of the People of Christ leap at the sight of Christ who is their full and onely joy And if he remain always with them as he then will their joy can never be taken from them more Be quiet therefore be patient wait but till this time till the Lord come and you will finde amends made for all your misery Then ye are to have your happiness then ye are to reap and enjoy and ye shall reap and enjoy that which will give you full content if ye can but stay your time But before the coming of the Lord expect it not If in the mean time ye may have but so much of the Spirit allowed you as may help you to rub on as may keep you from sinking under your burdens and miseries it is well but as for any enjoying of life or sweetness it is not till then to be had Be patient therefore Therefore Because your happiness your life your content will be so compleat so full and satisfactory then because ye shall be so full of joy so abound with true riches when they who have hitherto been rich shall mourn over the loss of all when the world shal lose all their life all their substance all their hope all their joy then shall ye enter into the possession of yours which shall be as full as lasting as your hearts can desire Be patient therefore Be content to be without it a while and to feel misery and anguish under the sense of the want of it ye now therefore have sorrow ye must sow in tears before ye reap in joy and be content to do so to go forth weeping to sow your precious seed and stay for your crop till the harvest it will be worth your staying for Be patient therefore Behold the Husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the Earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain Ye see it ordinary in the course of Nature Precious things take time to grow and the Husbandman doth not expect to reap so soon as he hath sowed but waits the season waits for the former rain and after that waits again for the latter The Kingdom of Heaven is like seed