Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A60206
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To all the inhabitiants of the town of Youghal who are under the teaching of James Wood ...
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Sicklemore, James.
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1657
(1657)
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Wing S3750; ESTC R24541
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13,617
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9
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condemns sin in every mans conscience and to be out of the ministry of God who is light and therefore though he thinks he hath sufficientlie proved his Call to this ministry of God I am sure he is mistaken and his thoughts deceive him for that in his conscience which is of God shal testifie to his face that he is a resister of it walks contrary to it to all who are come into the true fear of the Lord he is known I doubt not but to som of you in whom I know there are simple desires after God he is partly known and seen and many of his practises I know you cannot own let that of God in your consciences speak Yet neverthelesse J.W. hath little reason to desire that dayes work to be brought to remembrance for though he spent much time to tell a story of his inclinations to and qualifications for the work of the ministry from his youth up after such a manner as he never found any of the ministers of Christ boasting for they alwaies denied their former life which he called his inward call yet he told us also of an outward call which was by man as being approved of by man and for all his inward qualifications yet he attributed something to his humane art and learning of which though he spoke slightly seemingly yet he added it to all the rest as a help in the work and after all this large Oration which he made declaring how he was called to the ministry I leave it to you all who were there present to judge whether or no he did prove that his call to be according to the Scriptures which of the ministers of Christ did he instance or bring for an example that was so called though he professed that that should be the Rule to try both his and John Perrots ministry by The Discourse as I very well remember was much upon Pauls Call who indeed was an able minister of Christ and we find that although he was a man who was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel yet in all his speaking of his call to that work he never made mention of it any otherwise then declaring it to be his former life wherein he was zealous in persecuting the way of God and in his preaching also all that wisdom was laid aside for when he came to the Corinthians he came not with excellency of speech nor of wisdom nor with the enticing words of mans wisdom which is the worlds wisdom and if he would have boasted thereof he had much to speak of read Phil. chap. 3. v. 4 5 6 7 8. yet all that which was gain to him formerly he counted it losse for Christ and for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus wherein his Ministry stood neither would he at any time own his call or sending to be of men or by man but by Jesus Christ and by the will of God as you may read Gal. 1.1 and in the beginning of most of his Epistles though J.W. that day did endeavor to prove it to be by man by Acts 13.1 2 3. which is the place also he quotes in his Letter to me who ever can read that place with understanding will see it doth not contradict Pauls saying He was an Apostle not by man though it be alwayes the Priests work to make the Scriptures clash one against another that so they may get money of the people to reconcile them as they say by their moanings and interpretations But this is deceit and the Scriptures are true and agree in one being all given forth by one spirit which doth not contradict it self and by no other spirit can they be read nor understood but to all other spirits are a parable sealed It is there said That such and such who were in the Church as they ministered to the Lord and fasted the Holy Ghost said Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them here the Holy Ghost had called them and the Holy Ghost commanded the separation and the Holy Ghost sent them away as you may read in the fourth verse that they departed being sent by the Holy Ghost and this is one with what is written in the third verse but the unlearned wrest it for the Holy Ghost gave order for their separation and also sent them away And I 'le appeal to you all who were that day present did I. W. prove his call â—o be thus did he name any that were in the Church that were Prophets and Teachers that ministered to the Lord and fasted and as they did so that the Holy Ghost said separate me James Wood for the work whereunto I have called him he did not witness any such thing to us then yea and I question much whether his late ordination and sending was according to that of Paul and Barnabas some of you perhaps might be present you can tell whether that day was spent in fasting and praying or feasting and praying and if you can read with the spirit I defire you to compare Pauls separation in Act. 13. with J. W. his late separation I would ask whether those men who laid their hands on J. W. received an immediate command from the Holy Ghost so to do as those did who ministered to the Lord and fasted And though J. W. tells me that sure I know Paul had preached some years before that and so would fain cover his late sending forth with this practice and excuse it s not being done sooner yet the deceit is seen for the covering is too short for though Paul had been preaching before yet he was returned from Jerusalem with Barnabas having fulfilled their Ministry Acts 12.25 and that being done the Holy Ghost sends them another way to preach for we shall alwayes find that when the work was don in one place they departed to another and staid not in one place many years in a setled outward habitation they went still as they were sent by the Holy Ghost who never suffered them to be idle no not a day was allowed them for their recreation or the exercise of their bodies for their health for this was their daily exercise to be doing the will of him that sent him and Pauls body bore the marks of our Lord Jesus Now either J. W. must make it appear that he hath fulfilled his former Ministry as Paul and Barnabas had or else he cannot plead a right to this sending of Paul and Barnabas in Act. 13. whether he hath done that let that of God in his conscience judge and whether he hath manifested such a thing to any of you let that of God in your consciences speak and declare Nay it s much to be feared that instead of fulfilling his Ministry he is fallen back from much of it witness his sprinkling of infants which once he could not do even since he first pretended a call to the Ministry and his singing of Davids Psalms which once he
To all the Inhabitants of the Town of Youghal who are under the Teachings of James Wood and especially to ye who calls him your Pastor and are Members of his Church I write unto you as I am moved of the Lord and lay these following things before you to be read in the fear of God and seriously consider thereof that you may no longer be deceived but may come to see your own state and condition truly and to know it and the foundation you build upon and the rottenness of it And my heart and soul's desire is That your eyes may be opened that you may see the Deceiver and how you are deceived and may see the way that leads out of Deceipt into Truth which is life to all that know it ON the 23 of the sixth Month 1657. towards the evening hearing that Iames Wood was nigh to the place of my outward being being come thither as I was informed not long after his new Ordination and late sending forth to preach as it was manifest by the sending notice of it abroad among the neighbors amongst whom I was neglected though when any Minister of the Gospel came to my House I gave notice thereof without respect of persons till they refused to come and so had not the convenience of speaking to him as I might have had had not the day been spent I sent a few Lines to him and some Queries desiring an Answer unto them which Letter and Queries I have here inserted and am willing to leave it to that of God in all your Consciences to judge from what spirit they proceeded The LETTER James Wood If I had had timely notice of thy being so near this place I know no other but that I should have seen thy face this day but hearing not of it till this evening I have at this time only sent thee a few Queries here inclosed which I desire thee to Answer before thou goest out of the Country or if that time be too short for thee take them home with thee and send the Answers to him who thinks himself happy if he be found worthy to receive a Minister of Christ into his house called by the name of James Sicklemore Ballinlegane 23. of the sixth Month 1657. The Queries 1. Query What is the everlasting Gospel 2. Qu. Who is a Minister of the everlasting Gospel how is he made a Minister therof 3. Qu. Can any preach the Gospel but he who is made a Minister therof 4. Qu. Hath any Power authority to Preach the Gospel before he is made a Minister thereof is sent if not then tell me 5. Qu. What are those men that have a long time profest themselves to be Ministers of the Gospel and have been preaching of it as they say these 5 or 10 years or more and yet after all this time and Preaching receives Ordination from men and by men are chosen and sent forth to Preach 6. Qu. Whether those who were chosen and sent forth to Preach the Gospel had any certain dwelling place or did abide 3 or 4 years or more in one place 7. Qu. Who made Paul a Minister of the Gospel And who was it that sent him to Preach 8. Qu. What was the maintenance of Christs Ministers who by him were sent forth and what were they to live off 9 Qu. Hath his Ministers in this age any other maintenance and when was their maintenance changed For the sake of the simple these are given forth for whose satisfaction if thou beest a Minister of the Gospel it will lye upon thee to Answer them according to the Scriptures and not to slight it J. S. And although I was willing to give him what time he would desire for the Answering of those Queries and not to press it to him before his return yet he refused to give me any other Answer than these following Lines writ and sent to me in the bottom of my own Letter and so sent me the Queries and my Letter again His Letter followeth Captain Sicklemore I have received the above written and the inclosed and give you only this return That I know not your Rule for sending abroad your Queries nor mine to Answer them they savouring so much of Contention and Contradiction I yet think that I have sufficiently proved my Call to the Ministry before John Perrot and your Self if not to you yet to mine own satisfaction and of many else who I trust fear the Lord in simplicity I sorrow to see your Zeal if so it be so blind You have read surely Acts 13.1 2 3. and yet know Paul had Preach'd some years before But I determine to Answer no more of your Queries or Demands either by word of Mouth or Wrighting till both they and you shall breath out more of the Gospel This is from a servant of the Lord and his people in the Gospel Ja. Wood. Sixth Month 23 day 1657. Let not James Wood think it strange or take it ill That I direct not my speech to him in Answer to his Letter seeing he hath told me that he is determined to Answer no more of my Queries or Demands though I know not that before I desired any such thing from him till such and such a time Yet I cannot cease either from speaking or writing what the Lord hath commanded And this Answer is not to beget Contention as he would accuse me in part of his Letter but to lay open the deceipt of the Deceiver against whom I am a witness that the simple may no longer be ensnared and this for your sakes whose simple desires after God are not yet satisfied In the beginning of his Letter he tells me He knows not my Rule for sending abroad my Queries nor his to Answer them Answ I do not wonder if James Wood be unacquainted with my Rule for sending my Queries to him seeing he is so great an enemy and opposer of him who is my rule and guide Christ Jesus the light of the World who hath enlightned me and every one that cometh into the World and him I professe and no other and his light which shines in my conscience which checks and condemnes for sin do I love and own to be my rule that so by it I may be ruled and guided to do the will of God as it is revealed and manifested in me by his eternal Word and spirit by which spirit I was guided when I wrote those Queries And if J.W. were a Minister of the Gospel of Christ then could he not be ignorant of my rule for all his Ministers have his spirit which is infallible by which all things are seen and tryed and so that which is contrary to it comes to be known so that if my sending those Queries were not from the Lord but from another spirit he would quickly have known it if he had had the same spirit that all the Ministers of Christ had and they that have not his spirit are none of his