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	love_n	love_v	5,814	5	7.1381	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46850	A visitation of love to the tender plants of Gods vineyard given forth by Henry Jackson ; also two generall epistles, given forth by William Caton.	Jackson, Henry, fl. 1662-1700.; Caton, William, 1636-1665.; Scostrop, Richard.	1664 (1664)	Wing J71; ESTC R11245	15,342	21

A VISITATION OF LOVE To the tender Plants of Gods VINEYARD Given forth by HENRY JACKSON Also two Generall Epistles given forth by WILLIAM CATON LONDON Printed in the Year 1663. A visitation of LOUE unto the tender plants of Gods Vineyard DEar and tender plants of my heavenly Father the salutation of my love dearly doth greet you all in the spirit that giveth life by which you are brought afresh to my remembrance even at this present time in these my present bonds for the word of God and the testimony of Christ Jesus and that not without living breathings ariseing in my heart unto the Lord for you that the God of all life vertue and living refreshment may daily water and nourish you with his heavenly life love and vertue causing you to abound in all the fruits of righteousnesse to the everlasting praise of his great and glorious Name that so you being fully rooted fixed and established in the root of life the stem and off-spring of David may grow up as plants of righteousness and flourish as Willows by the water courses that your branches may never wither nor your fruit perish but that the vertue of your leaf may be for the healing of the Nations and your fruit may remain in the winter stormes and tempests to the everlasting praise and glory of the Lord God of the vine-yard who hath planted and watered you and who also hath and will give an encrease unto all you who exalt not above the root nor lift up your selves against the other branches but abides in the true vine and keeps your place in the ground and root of life into which the Father hath implanted and grafted you that ye never may be plucked up nor cut off as withered and unfruitfull branches but that the vertue of the root of life may put forth it self through you and in the vertue and life thereof you may grow up fructifie and abound in all the fruits of righteousness thankesgiving and praise to the everlasting glory and renown of the Lord of the vineyard who is God over all blessed for evermore And dear and tender plants this is with me further to signifie unto you that it was purposed in my heart to have visited you in the bowels of eternall love with my dear and honorable Brother and companion in the Lord W. D. But Sathan hath hindred us who in Ages and Generati●●s past sought to withstand the servants of the most high God and even ●●w also worketh mightily in the hearts of unreasonable and wicked men ●eeking to stirre up wrath against us and to cast our bodies into prison thereby intending to let and hinder the work of the Lord and to stop the wells of Iacob by depriving the heritage of the Lord of those pretious and refreshing oportunities which our God hath afforded us in our holy assemblings and comings together to wait upon him to be strengthned and refreshed by him and to build up strengthen and comfort one another in the most holy saith even with the same strength vertue and consolation wherewith we our selves are strengthned comforted and refreshed of our God And glory be to the Lord God for ever concerning this I am fully assured that the expectation of the wicked one herein shall be frustrated and that the God of all comfort and consolation hath and doth answer the request of our soules concerning you who abide faithfull to him in the light of his everlasting covenant in that he will manifest his heavenly vertue with you whether together or assunder as outwardly and open the spring of eternall life in you and therein make you as a well-spring of living refreshment one unto another And though he hath permitted the adversary so far to prevaile against us or to exercise his rage on us as to cast our bodies into prison is he did the very dearest Saints and servants of the God of Heaven în th● dayes past yet herein also I am fully confident that the wrath of men shall be turned to the praise of our God and the remainder thereof he will restrain and so concerning this I am fully satisfied and rest in peace in the will or rather permission of our God believing assuredly that this also shall work for our consolation that the depth of the riches of Gods love unto us ward may more abundantly be made manifest both in the preservation and deliverance of us in his own appointed time untill which we rest in the will of our God being singly given up that that may be done by us and fulfilled in us In which rest yee with us my dear friends for though in bodily presence we are seperated from you and letted from visiting of you for a little season yet in spirit we are with you in the bowels of eternal love our hearts are enlarged towards you much more then what is needfull to be expressed in lines of this kind seeing in the word of the Lord God you may read us and feel us near unto you and with you all even as in an epistle written in your harts to be seen and read by you all Wherefore in that receive ye a visitation of tender love from him that travels in spirit although outwardly in bonds for your preservation growth and prosperity every way in Gods pretious truth by which you were at first convinced for there is not preservatian growth nor any true prosperity in or by another then in that which hath been declared of unto you from the beginning even the light of Christ Jesus the word of the gospel of truth by which at first your hearts were opened and turned towards the Lord and repentance given unto life never to be repented of and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ and fervent love begotten in your hearts one towards another by which word of the Gospel my heart is enlarged unto you in an abundant manner and therein also let me inlarge my self a little by writing a few lines unto you in simplicity and truth though you need it not who are taught by the anoynting that dwelleth in you in all things and your hearts established in righteousnesse yet seeing all a●e not come so farre that are convinced of the truth of God bear with me a little ye that are strong if I write a few words in generall by way of caution or to put you afresh in remembrance O you dear and tender plants of my Father that ye be watchful at all times and take heed of that which would exalt you above your root or draw you into highnesse and loftinesse of minde above the feeling of the daily crosse kept over and above the earthly or fl●shly part for that is to be beat down and kept in subjection or else it will cause you to wither and dry up at the root if that be nourished and cherished in you which the Lord God hates and resisteth but he giveth grace to the humble wherefore my dear friends in lowlinesse

as there are besides things many which they take up as occasions ag●inst us as covers for their wickednesse and these things are not without the Lords permission who will try his Jewells as Gold that is seven times purified and the more that we keep our Consciences void of off●nce towards him and man the more precious we shall be in his sight but if we should love our Liberties our Estates or Lives more then him who hath said Swear not at all and for the saving of these should swear conttary to his command we should not onely neglect answering his end in forbidding of it but incurre his displeasure against us and while through doing that which he forbids we may think to save our Liberties estates and lives we might even in a moment loose them all for we know they are uncertain therefore let us answer the Lords end in shewing us the evil of this also and in being faithful in this and in all other things we shall find life riches and liberties which the world can neither give us nor take from us Moreover Friends as concerning your Return again to the Steeple-houses and unto which some would force you at this day but alas shall not he that sitteth in the Heavens laugh at their folly for doth not the least amongst you know that was not the Lords end in bringing you out of them I mean that you should return to them again neither needed you have suffered upon this account by that generation that continues in them if God had not determined to have tryed you out of them and that by the suffering which comes and will come upon you for not repairing to them yet neverthelesse if you would rather answer the Adversaries will by your returning to them again then the Lords end in calling you out of them then you might suddenly free your selves from suffering upon this account but I doubt not out you are otherwise minded yea resolved to answer the Lords end in his calling you out of them notwithstanding your Adversa●●●s present threatnings forcing and compellings which is not of from by nor through the Spirit of the Lord God therefore in the Spirit with patienec must you bear what the Lord suffers to come upon you upon this count for I testifie unto you it is not for the destroying of any though it may tend to the proving of many Wherefore my dear friends let none be discouraged nor terrified at what the Lord suffers to come upon you by reason of your meetings by reason of your not swearing by reason of your not going to their publick worship or by reason of any other particular thing as in relation to the truth of our God for while suffering comes upon you onely by reason of the truth you need not be ashamed of it neither will the Lord leave you comfortlesse in it for he is ready to succour such as for conscience sake suffer by reason of these things even as thousands who have found it by experience can testifie In the mean time comfort ye one another in the bowels of love and be ye tender affectionated one to another and regard not the present threatnings of men nor look not at the present tribulations but regard the truth in your selves and look unto the Lord and hear what he saith and if he speak peace be not ye troubled though men speak and prepare war against you but hold ye alwaies fast the word of Gods power and patience which is able to preserve and keep you in all your sufferings and tribulations even unto the day of salvation and unto this do I commit you all my dearly beloved friends as unto that which is able to save you all to the utmost so the peace and blessing of the Almighty be with upon and among you all for evermore I suppose many of you have heard of my bonds how that after God of his mercy had delivered me out of a mighty violent storm at Sea I was cast in here where they in Authority have shewed themselves to be worse to me and the friends with me then the Barbarious people of Melita was to Paul and them that were with him who shewed them no small kindnesse for they received and lodged them courteously but these that are called Christians shewed themselves to be barbarous rather then courteous in that they broke up our Meeting with many Souldiers and afterwards committed us to prison and in stead of shewing us much kindnesse they have been so cruell to us as that sometime it was difficult for us to get water and bread and so were farre from courteously entertaining of us or with honouring of us with many honours as the Barbarians did them before mentioned howbeit the Lord is with us and their cruelty hath been little to us for we know that our God will in his own due time deliver us out of their hands when our testimony is sufficiently born amongst them but of this I am very sensible that with the baptisme of suffering under this spirit of persecution in the Nation many are to be baptized into the fellowship of the Gospell with the Saints in light and blessed and thrice happy are they and will they be that continue faithfull unto the end for they shall be saved Farewell in the Lord in whom I remain Your dear friend and Brother WILLIAM CATON My fellow Prisoners salutes you all This for Friends to be read in their Meetings Yarmouth the 14. of the 11. Moneth 1663. DEar Friends Brethren and Sisters who are called to follow the Lamb wh●thersoever he goeth my very soul greeteth you all with the salutation of my unfeigned and entire love in and through the eternal spirit which the God of our strength and comfort hath sent into our hearts through which I am made to share with you not only of your sufferings which you meet withall through your following of the Lamb but also of your consolation which you find in the midst of your suffering and truly my heart rejoyceth in this fellowship with you and my soul claims a part with you of all your sufferings and consolations which you meet withall in this your return to Zion and my heart is affected with the dealings of the Lord with you and with his infinite love and mercy unto you and often doth my spirit intercede unto him with strong sighes and groans which cannot easily be uttered on your behalf whom he loveth though the world hate you whom he hath respect unto though the world despise you whom he careth for though the world trample upon you whom he hath brought into fellowship with himself and with his Saints in light though the world excommunicate you wherefore then should any of you be afraid of their threatnings or regard their excommunications which in my heart I have considered of and pondred upon And this I have seen in the light of the Lord that they that cannot bring people from under the power of