Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	father_n	holy_a	person_n	23,263	5	5.9853	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60170	A new naked truth, or, The sandy foundation of the Sacramental test shaken, by a warning-piece discharged from heaven against all sorts of persecutors wherein you may hold Christ crucified mystically and sacramentally, upon the cross of the sacramental penal test, with all the rest of the penal laws and tests attending thereon, and contributing thereunto / by Giles Shute ...	Shute, Giles, b. 1650 or 51.	1688 (1688)	Wing S3709; ESTC R11222	67,483	56

is an old trick of the Devil And thirdly and lastly binding over Persons for Worshipping God is a very ancient thing also A Persecutor is one that must abandon all moral Honesty he must do as he would not be done by he must sacrifiee his Conscience and pawn his Soul in the Hands of the Devil for he must persecute Christ Acts 9.4 5. and fight against God Acts 5.38 39. A Persecuter is one that bids Defiance to Heaven and is in open Hostility and Rebellion against the Almighty and he is striking at the Apple of God's Eye Zech. 2.8 For thus saith the Lord of Hosts after the Glory hath he sent me unto the Nations which spoised you do you hear you persecuting Spoilers of the Nation for he that toucheth you toucheth the Apple of his Eye that is of God's Eye Again A Persecuter is worse than the Devil in some Respects for the Devil cannot force a man to sin he can but tempt and suggest to Sin but the Persecutor does both he tempts them to conform to a Religion or Worship that they are convinc'd in their Consciences is not right because it has none of the Sanction of God's Authority upon it and if they refuse then he does what he can to force them by Indictments and Fines and Excommunications and Plundering and Imprisoning them and the like Now this the Devil cannot do himself personally therefore they are worse then the Devil Again Fourthly A Persecutor or one that hath this Cain-like Spirit in him every time he saith the Lord's Prayer he speaks Blasphemy for he does blaspheme the Name of God the Father the first Person in order in the Blessed and Glorious Trinity for he begins it in Blasphemy for he saith Our Father which art in Heaven And the holy Word of God saith That no man can call God Father but by his Spirit for let him that taketh the Name of the Lord in his Mouth Depart from Iniquity and the Apostle saith Know ye not that the Spirit of Christ is in ye except ye be Reprobate And our Lord Jesus Christ told the old Sect of Scribes and Pharisees that were Persecuters as our New-Gospel-Sect of the same Leven are in John 8.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and the Lusts of your Father ye will do He was a Murtherer from the beginning and abode not in the Truth Why So all his Children departs from the Truth when they turn Persecuters they do not do as they would be done by they depart from that Truth which the very light of Nature doth teach us as well as the Word of God. Now can it ever be possible that a Child of the Devil can call God Father without being guilty of Blasphemy at the same time for he saith Our Father which art in Heaven when as his Father is the Devil so that by his Lye he does tacitly and consequentially pull God out of his Throne of Mercy and place his Father the Devil in his room upon the Mercy Seat in Heaven and puts up his Petition to the Devil instead of Praying unto God his Maker And is not this a dreadful Case Nay further in the fifth place for I have not done with ye yet When a Persecuter doth say the Lord's-Prayer he doth say Thy Kingdom come thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven And no Persons are so great Opposers of Christ's Gospel-Kingdom coming as the Persecuters are and none does oppose the doing of God's Will in Earth as it is in Heaven like them of a persecuting Spirit for in Heaven there God's Will is done uninterruptedly by Angels and all other Glorified Spirits there they Praise God in perfect Peace Love and Union there is no Persecuter there nor none to disturb nor make them afraid for there they are all of one Heart and of one Mind But so it cannot be done in Earth by the Persecuters who cannot sleep unless they do Mischief and they do hinder others from doing the Will of God in Earth as it is done in Heaven therefore a Persecuter cannot be sincere and in good earnest when he saith Thy Kingdom come thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Therefore all they of a persecuting Spirit do but dissemble and mock God and tell him a parcel of Lies to his very Face for they do say in Words that God's Will must be done in Earth as it is in Heaven but in Works they do utterly deny it for they Dethrone the Almighty who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords as much as in them lyes And the proud Persecuters do mount God's Throne here on Earth namely the Souls and Consciences of men and say to their Souls Bow down that we may go over They do rob God of his Sovereignty and become spiritual Legislators to make Laws and give Laws unto their Fellow-creatures to Worship God by as they pretend and so do wrest the Government out of God's Hand over the Souls and Consciences of men which is peculiarly belonging to the Great and Dread Sovereign Majesty of Heaven and Earth which is to do their Father the Devil's will on Earth as it is done in Hell And not to do God's Will in Earth as it is in Heaven Again Sixthly A Persecuter as often as he saith the Lord's Prayer does in Effect Pray that God would not forgive him his Sins for he saith Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them their Trespasses against us Now a Persecuter cannot say this heartily and sincerely because that instead of praying to God he does imprecate the forest of Judgments upon himself for he saith Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them their Trespasses against us and the Persecuter did not nor yet does not forgive the Dissenters though but pretended Trespasses against them when some Persons have fallen into their hands by their Nonconformity in the matter of Worshipping of God when they have desired them to be favourable unto them and have told them if they did proceed to the Rigour of their Law they would ruine them and their Wife and Children they would not hearken unto them unless they would bow down their Soul unto them that they might go over namely to Conform so that they must Trespass against God or else they would not forgive them their pretended Trespasses against them which made the Remedy infinitely worse than the Disease and so they chose rather to lay their Bodies with the Ground and as the Street for them to go over then that they would sin against God by conforming which was passive Obedience of the right kind therefore the Persecuters do Pray that God would not forgive them their Sins for Christ hath said But if ye forgive not men their Trespasset neither will your Father forgive you your Trespasses Mat. 6.15 Now if the Persecuters did run their Hatred and Malice to the very uttermost Extent of the Persecuting Laws and further too and are now contending to keep the

A NEW Naked Truth OR THE SANDY FOUNDATION OF THE Sacramental Test SHAKEN BY A WARNING-PIECE Discharged from HEAVEN against all sorts of PERSECUTORS WHEREIN You may behold Christ Crucified Mystically and Sacramentally upon the Cross of the Sacramental Penal Test with all the rest of the Penal Laws and Tests Attending thereon and Contributing thereunto By Giles Shute a Friend to Christian Liberty With Allowance London Printed for the Author and are to be sold by George Larkin at the Two Swans without Bishopsgate 1688. A New Naked Truth Or The Sandy Foundation of the Sacramental Test shaken by a Warning-Piece discharged from Heaven against all sorts of Persecutors GEntlemen of England who are of Right all free born Subjects I am sorry that I have so black an Occasion of Addressing my self unto you in this following Discourse in which I must of necessity lay Open and Expose some very horrible sinful Practices that has been among some who profess themselves to be Protestants namely to them which pretend themselves to be the Most Infallible Sort too that are amongst us or else that Practice and Principle of theirs in making all other peoples Spiritual Sheaves bow down unto theirs is very unjustifiable and also unwarrantable from the Law of God and the Law and Light of Nature Dear Friends I humbly beseech you all to read what I shall here offer unto you without prejudice and consider it without partiality and apply it without delay and I shall further more beseech you to hear the whole conclusion of the Matter and do not take it up and read a little and throw it away out of your hands in Contempt and Scorn or with Malice and Rancour of Spirit but be advised by the Wiseman who hath said That the latter end of a thing is better than the beginning And be not prejudiced against the Truth because it cometh naked unto you without the Garments of Rhetorical Expressions or in the Ornaments of Humane Learning For if you be a Lover of the Truth you will imbrace it and find Garments for it in your own hearts you will take it in there and cloth it for there is the best clothing for Truth when all is said and done that can be O my dear Friends set open the Doors and Windows of your Souls to receive this Blessed Light and do not despise your own Mercy because it cometh unto you by an Illiterate Hand for it is said in Dan. 12.3 4. And they that be wise shall shine as the Brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever But thou O Daniel shut up the words and seal the Book even to the time of the end many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased And also I precaution others that shall read this Book that they do not make so unchristian ill use of it as to take up any prejudice against any mans person who through Inadvertency are tardy of what this Discourse will find out and lay open for if you do though I write thus against their Principles and Practices yet I shall be a Witness against ye for I write in Love to their Souls and not in any prejudice to their Persons for that is no contradiction neither is it inconsistent one with the other to love a mans Person and yet at the same time to hate his Evil Principles and Practices It is a great Duty Incumbent upon every Christian so to do Matt. 5.44 But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despightfully use you and persecute you Here you see is an Express Command from our Blessed Saviour and Redeemer to love the Persons of our Enemies but yet we are not to love their sinful Practises and Principles for we cannot do that but in the very Act we must sin against God for we are commanded to hate every abomination and every false way We are to hate what is evil in our own selves yet it would be a sin for us to hate our own Persons If I had an own Father that was a Drunkard or Whoremonger I ought not to love his Drunkenness and Whoredom yet I must not hate my Fathers Person though I hate his Practice therefore I do not write this to incense people against any mans person though I must contess this has been a Reigning Sin among the Persecuters And indeed there is a proneness in the best of men to this sin Christ's own Disciples themselves were not clear of this sin when they would have prayed for fire to come down from Heaven to destroy the very persons of those churlish Samaritans that refused to give entertainment to our Saviour Christ they were for destroying their Persons and therefore Christ rebuked them saying Ye know not what spirit ye are of I bless God I have a higher and nobler End and Design in what I shall here write than to draw out prejudice against any mans person however I may be censur'd for it I can appeal to God in sincerity and uprightness of Heart in this matter for I would not that any man should be wronged of a Hair of his Head by what I shall here Declare to the World but to awaken all to Repentance For the Lion hath roared who will not fear The Lord God hath spoken who can but prophesie Amos 3. I am not for Diminishing any Gentlemans Title of Honour or Dignity where it is properly due Fear to whom Fear is due and Honour to whom Honour is due Though I must confess my Ignorance in this Matter at the same time I cannot understand the meaning of Spiritual Lords because I can find no Scripture Authority for it at all but rather against it Matt. 20.25 26 27. But Jesus called them unto him and said Ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise Dominion over them and they that are Great exercise Authority upon them but it shall not be so among you but whosoever will be Great among you let him be your Minister and whosoever will be Chief among you let him be your Servant 1 Pet. 5.2 3. Feed the Flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy Lucre but of a ready Mind neither as being Lords over Gods Heritage but being exsamples to the Flock Our Saviour Christ does singnifie unto us that this Lording Spirit did proceed from the Heathen Idolatrous Gentiles and that it was a usage among them and therefore in my Opinion it is pity that any Christian Ministers or Pastors should take it up and exercise it among them And the truth on it is It is a very dubious point with me to determine or conclude whether the true Ministers of Jesus Christ can be Spiritual Lords or whether these Spiritual Lords can be true Ministers of Jesus Christ because I cannot find that it was so

defend and secure them in all their proper Rights and Priviledges belonging unto them both as Men and Christians that they might not be ruined and undone by cruel oppressing Laws and have no Party in the House to oppose them and to speak a Word for them How unreasonable a thing is it that such a vast body of People as the Dissenters of all sorts do make in England should be Excluded the Government I will appeal to God Angels and Men of the Injustice and In-equality of the thing And thus you do see the Scope and Drift of the Letter and how this great East-Countrey-Gentleman has trick'd upon us Therefore I am apt to think and am jealous that they themselves do not give Liberty for Christian Liberty's-sake that is they do not give it so much for God's sake as for their own For if they give Christian Liberty for God's-sake or for Christian Liberty's-sake then to be sure they would be as willing to have it granted in other Countries as in their own and if so then they would not fill our Ears with din as they do but they give Liberty of Conscience out of civil Policy and not so much religiously or for Religion's-sake for the end and design Crowns the Action for a Man may do a good thing but yet it may be to a bad End and that marrs and spoils all not that civil Policy is to be condemned if it be to a civil End. And the Truth on it is whether this Liberty they give may be properly called Christian Liberty or whether it may not as well be called Licentiousness is a great Question with me Or Whether it may not fall much about equal between both Whether there be not as much Liberty and Indulgence given to Sin and Lust as there is given to a well-ordered Christian Liberty of Conscience For I cannot tell whether they ever told the World that Conscience ought not to be restrained in things that relate to Matters of meer Religion and Worship as his Gracious Majesty hath done Thus you see in part how Persecuters do Depopulate Kingdoms and Nations and Destroy Trade and Commerce and Impoverish the People and are the Dogs that hunts the Burroughs and brings out the Game for others to take as well as themselves and are the greatest Enemies that Princes and their good Subjects have under the Sun. They may mock and scoff at poor Captives that are willing to have their Yokes and Snares broken off and taken away by accepting of Christian Liberty while we are labouring in the Fire to accomplish it when God in his Infinite Wisdom and Goodness by the Hand of his Gracious Majesty does offer it unto us to compleat it by their Exposing of us by their Ridiculous Painted Chariot But they may assure themselves that there is a fiery Chariot hangs over their Heads and will certainly come down upon them without a very speedy unfeigned Repentance and thorow Reformation As safe and secure as they think themselves to be they may sport and play like Leviathan with Painted Chariots and slight and despise the great and wonderful Providences of God but they will have other Apprehensions of things in a little time Look for it Expect it and Prepare for it and that quickly too Again Secondly Persecuters separates the tender Parents from their beloved Children and the affectionate Husband from his dearly beloved Wife It may be the Father or Husband is in a stinking nasty Prison and his House Rifled and Plundered and his poor Wife laid upon a fick Bed if she have one left with Grief and Sorrow occasioned by these Cruelties and the poor Babes crying for the absence of their Imprisoned tender Father and for the Affliction of their grieved Mother and it may be the poor Children are crying for Bread also And what Heart but that of Stone will not relent and be grieved at this O Sirs I would have all you that are of a persecuting Spirit amongst us here and also those East-Countrey-Gentlemen that are stickling against our Christian Liberty there for they are all of a persecuting Spirit with these here even tremble to think what will become of you for though they brag of giving Liberty of Conscience at home yet they are against it abroad which is an infallible Argument with me that they do not give Liberty of Conscience upon a right generous Christian Principle That is thus They do not give it so much for God's sake as for their own as I said before Thirdly and Lastly Persecution is the Father of Rebellion and the Mother of Wars James 4.1 2 3. From whence comes Wars and Fighting among you Come they not henèe even of your Lusts that war in your Members Ye Lust and have not Ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain Ye Fight and War yet ye have not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your Lusts And Solomon saith That Oppression maketh the Wise Man mad And no Man can be said to be truly wise but him that is really good and they are generally such as are the Subjects of this kind of Oppression which is the greatest Oppression of all for there is nothing dearer in the World to a good Man than Liberty to serve and worship God according to his Light and Knowledge that God has given him But here is a wise man and therefore a good Man and yet a mad Man And what made him so Why the Text tells us that it is Oppression Well! And what is a mad Man And what does a mad Man do Why First A mad Man is one that is besides himself he hath lost his Reason as to the Exercise of it which ought to be his Rule to walk by that is withdrawn and he does that which he would not do if he was himself And Secondly He grows resolute and desperate And Thirdly and Lastly He betaketh himself to undue Means for his Relief perhaps he flies to an arm of Flesh for to ease himself instead of flying to God and relying upon him and this is the Fruits and Effects of Persecution and therefore all the Wars and Rebellions that have been among us ought to be charged principally to the foot of the Persecutors Account Fourthly and Lastly A Persecutor is one that is an incarnate Devil for this is that Devil that doth cast the Saints and Servants of God into Prison that we read on in Rev. 2.10 Fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer behold the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison Shew me a Person that is a Persecuter and at the same time I will shew you an Incarnate Devil Fourthly This great Truth informs us that all those that are afraid to part with all those Penal Laws and Tests that keep men out of Government upon account of Religion and that for fear of Popery are more afraid of uncertain future suffering then of continuing under certain present sinning against God for they do

think now Dear Soul Hast thou any room left to despair of the Mercies of God A second Instance is that of Persecuting Saul whom God in Infinite Mercy Pardoned and made a Preaching and Praying Apostle Paul afterward Acts 9.3 4 5 11. 1 Tim. 1.13.14 14 15. There Paul acknowledged the free Grace of God in Pardoning of him who was before a Blasphemer and a Persecuter and an Injurious Person Acts 22.4 There he confessed himself a Bloody Persecutor yet as Vile as he was all his Sins were pardoned in the Blood of Christ A third Instance of Gods free Grace and Pardoning Mercy in the Blood of Christ was that of the Cruel sturdy Jaylor Acts 16. And a fourth Instance of Gods Pardoning of most notorious Vile Sinners that was found Guilty of that filthy notorious Bed-Roll of the Sin of Sodomy and Idolatry and Whoredom and Drunkenness and Theft is in the 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. And there was Mary Magdalen a very hainous Sinner yet she was washed in the Blood of the Lamb of God that taketh away Sin and she was made a precious Saint And there was some of them very Persons that had their Hands Imbrued in Christ's Blood we read on in the Acts of the Apostles yet they were washed in Christs Blood and pardoned in his Merits and saved by his Grace Thus you see here is encouragement enough for the Vilest of Men that have been Sacramental Mystical Crucifiers of Christ and Persecuters and Whoremongers and Drunkards and Thieves and Idolaters to come unto Christ for Pardoning-Grace and Mercy And whosoever doth so come to Christ while he is upon the Mercy-Seat He hath said that He will in no wise cast out Secondly I Exuort all you that were Test Makers and Test Givers and Test Takers in this Sacramental way and manner not to flatter your selves with the hopes of ever getting that Predominating Persecuting Power again But be contented with your share and proportion of the Government with all other free Dennisons of England that have every whit as much and just Right unto it as your selves remember Covetouseess is the Root of all Evil God will not trust you with the sole Management of the Government of the Nation any longer to be a Scourge to your honest peaceable Neighbours Nahum 1.7 8 9. The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him But with an overflowing flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof and Darkness shall pursue his Enemies What do ye imagine against the Lord He will make an utter end affliction shall not rise up the second time God is speaking this unto us at this time as I Humbly conceive by his Anointed Servant the Kings Majesty for he saith That he is resolved to make an utter end of all Persecuting Penal Laws and Tests whatsoever and that they shall not rise up a second time to afflict his Subjects any more And God is a pursuing his Persecuting Enemies at this time in this dark Providence and Dispensation to them by the Just Proceedings of his Gracious Majesty in calling them to an account for all the Moneys and Goods which they have taken from the Dissenters of all sorts of late years and he is giving them a Purge and a Vomit too which God hath prepared in his Word for all them that have this foul Stomach O! Sirs do not strive to be Rampant and Exalt your selves above your Neighbours and to get the Whip in your hands again for God will not trust such Unjust Stewards as you have been with so great a Betrustment But God is a calling you to an Account for your Stewardship for you may no longer be Stewards for now your Stewardship is ended as to Persecution your Account for Plundering beginneth the Robbery of the Wicked shall destroy them because they refuse to do Judgment O! Sirs do not Delude your selves for it is the Just Lord that loveth Righteousness and that hateth Robbery for Burnt-Offering that does all these things Do you not see that God is calling you to an Account for your Violence done to himself for as he that Persecutes Christ's Flock Persecutes Christ himself so also they that Rob God's People Robs God himself Mal. 3.9 Ye are Cursed with a Curse for ye have Robbed me even this whole Nation This was spoken to the Jews for he that toucheth Gods People by Violence doth touch the Apple of Gods Eye by Wickedness Zech. 2.8 And God hath sent his Servant unto you that spoiled his People to call you to an Account for it O! Friends I beseech ye to Eye the Just Hand of God in all this for until then you cannot make a right Improvement of these great Providences as you ought to do and Justifie God and Condemn your selves and do not entertain hard Thoughts of his Servant which is the Instrument in his Hand by which he doth it for it is God that does all these things it is he that putteth down one and seueth up another These great things does not come by luck or chance Affliction it self does not rise up out of the Dust for if a Sparrow that is but of half a Farthing Price cannot fall to the Ground without Gods Providence Mat. 10.29 30 Much less can such wonderful great Providences and Dispensations as we have seen and yet shall further see come without the Hand of our Heavenly Fathers putting it into the King his Servants Heart to do it among us Psal 75.6 7 8 9 10. For Promotion cometh neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South But God is the Judge he putteth down one and setteth up another for in the Hand of the Lord there is a Cup and the Wine is Red and full of Mixture and he poureth out of the same but the Dregs thereof all the Wicked of the Earth shall wring them out and Drink them But I will dealare for ever I will Sing Praises to the God of Jacob all the Horns of the Wicked also will I cut off That is All their Persecuting Power and Strength But the People of God viz. That is all them that truly feareth God and worketh Righteousness their Horn shall be Exalted O Sirs Do not you that are of a persecuting Spirit imagine that God will ever permit you to get up unto your Old Trade of Plundering and Spoiling and making Havock of the Churches again after so great a Rebuke from Heaven for those many Heaven-daring Abominations that you are and have been Guilty of do but consider well what you have been doing For you have been Plowing Iniquity and sowing Wickedness and therefore now you must Reap Shame and Contempt For the Hand of the Lord is lifted up against the Spirit of Persecution and is falling upon