Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	ghost_n	holy_a	mind_n	7,027	5	5.7568	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47127	The benefit, advantage and glory of silent meetings both as it was found at the beginning, or first breaking forth of this clear manifestation of truth, and continues so to be found by all the faithful and upright in heart at this day / writ for the stirring up and encouraging of those more especially who are lately convinced unto the love of them, and diligent improving them unto those ends and uses for which they serve by George Keith.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.; Crisp, Stephen, 1628-1692.	1687 (1687)	Wing K145; ESTC R29891	18,469	27

esteemed as their Glory became now their shame as namely their large Profession and Righteousness and way of Worship which stood in Dead and empty performances in the oldness of the Letter in which they had a Life and which had a Life in them also but it was the Life of Death which Reigned in them and do Reign in all from Adam unto Moses yea and whose Reign is not put down until Christ the Blessed Seed and Life be Witnessed raised and revealed in the Particular and so this Day of God brought Death and Darkness over all that false Life and Light which had Place in them formerly and stained all their false Beauty and Glory even all the Glory of Flesh or of the First-birth in all the Wisdom Counsel and Knowledge thereof and in all its thoughts and apprehensions of God and in all its Words and Works and Practices and Righteousness whereby it came to pass that these who seemed to have and had much Knowledge and understanding of God and Christ but it was according to the Flesh or First Birth began now to See and be Convicted that they were very Ignorant so as even to say surely I am more Bruitish then any Man and I have not the understanding of a Man in me and thus many who were Teachers of others for many years came to be Convinced that they had need to Learn the very first Principles of the Doctrine of Christ and so these who had stood in a long and Large Profession of Words and attained to great Abilities that Way in Doctrine Exhortation and Prayer c. Whether through Education or frequent Practice being come to a true and Living Sence and Convincement that it was all but Carnal and Fleshly or at best stood in a great Mixture having more of Flesh then Spirit in it and more of Death and Darkness then of Life and Light which is hurtful as aforesaid came to be gathered out of all that Bulk and heap of Words into the waiting Place in the Measure of the Light which had Convinced them and given them some Sence of their Conditions so to wait upon the Lord in his Light in all possible stilness and quietness and silence of Mind not only out of all outward Performances and Words but even out of all Thoughts and Apprehensions of God or Christ and all inward motions and Workings which had not the Light or Word or Spirit of God in their Hearts for the Rise and Spring and this they were brought unto through the Ministration aforesaid which pointed or directed them unto this place even silence both as to Words and Thoughts and that both apart and together by which Ministration also they were called to assemble or gather together in the Name of Christ whose Name is the Light the Wisdom and Power of God and the second Adam the quickning Spirit to wait together in this Silence So in this Name they were called and directed to assemble or gather together to wit in the Light Wisdom Power and quickning Spirit of God so they were not to come in their own Wisdom and Spirit or in the Wisdom and Spirit of the first Adam as to Meditate Teach or Pray or give Thanks in the Words which that Wisdom and Spirit did teach them for that had been to meet in the name of the first Adam and not in the Name of the second whose Name is the Light and the Life and the Power and Wisdom of God as aforesaid and so this Wisdom and Power and Name was to furnish them in all they did or spoke in their Meetings or Assemblies and to this the Apostle directed the Believers in his day that whatsoever they did in Word or Deed they should do it in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ if they Taught it should be in his Name to wit in his Light Life and Power and if they Prayed it should be in this and if they gave Thanks it should be in this and then the Words uttered or expressed by them should be Spirit and Life that would both reach unto God for a sweet Savour and Odour before him and also unto his Witness in the Heart of them who heard for what they spoke should not be the Word of Man but the Word of God Christ the Word the Light and the Life speaking in them and through them as Christ said unto the Disciples It is not you that speak but the Spirit of the Father that speaketh in you and according to this Paul said That no Man could call Jesus the Lord but by the Holy Ghost for the Name of the Lord is a living Name and so cannot be named but by the Power and Vertue of his own Life indeed a Man in his own natural Spirit may pronounce the Letter of the Name but the Letter is not the Name for the Name is the Word of God but the Letter is not the Word and so it is one thing to pronounce the Letter or Letters but for another to name or speak the Word of God yea or inwardly only to conceive in it the Mind or Heart which none can do but by the Holy Ghost Now about this time that divers were convinced as aforesaid and gathered together in Divers Places through very Necessity their Meetings came to be Silent for some Time though the First Rice and Ground of their Meeting in Silence was that they were taught it of the Lord forasmuch as there were but few who were then attained unto that Soundness and Clearness of Condition in their own Particulars so as thereby to be fitted and Qualified in the Word Life Power and Wisdom of God to Minister unto others in Divers Places Friends being but very young at that first breaking forth of Truth and so their Works was mostly if not only to joyn together in a joynt Concurrence to wait upon the Lord for the indu●ngs of his Power from on High and to see the Work and Operation of his Word Light and Life in them every one being turned unto the Manifestation thereof in their own particulars For indeed in beginners or those who are but lately turned unto the Light and Life of Truth it hath much to Work through in them and they have many Steps of inward Tryals and Exercise to Pass through in the Light and Life of Truth before they attain unto that Soundness and Clearness in their own Conditions whereby they can safely and Purely Administer the Word and Words of Life unto others without mixture for First a Man must be in a good Measure gathered into the Life and Spirit of Truth so as to be well rooted and fastened in it in his own particular before he be in such a fit Condition as to Minister unto others with safety and advantage and the Word of Life must first have some free passage in a Mans Heart Mind and Spirit before it can have a free passage in the Mouth and it must have got some good Measure of Command

unto the Hearers and are a Sweet and Precious Savour and Odour unto God even a Sacrifice of a sweet Smell and so they witnessed the Promise fulfilled unto them upon the matter though the many Tongues and Languages with other circumstantial things be not as the Disciples did who were commanded to tarry at Ierusalem and wait for the Promise of the Father which was the pouring forth and effusion of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit and Life of God upon them and they wait so it came to pass that on the day of Penticost being assembled together with one accord they were filled therewith and began to speak forth the wonderous things of God as they felt them in their Hearts and as the Spirit gave them utterance And seeing they were not commanded to Speak Preach nor Pray nor Sing but in the Name of Christ that is in his Life Spirit and Power as it moved them it is manifest at times the Disciples or Christians in the Primitive Times had Silence among them as we now have seeing they were not to Speak but when the Life moved and surely there were among them who did not always feel the motion of Life to Speak nor were always in a Capacity or Condition for Speaking and though now since the glorious increase and growth of Truth few Meettings have some or other to whom a Ministry in Words is given more or less so that seldom or rarely Meetings are under a necessity to be wholy Silent from first to last yet because of the great Advantage and Benefit and Glory that is found in them Friends are many times willing and desirous to sit down and feed together in Silence upon the heavenly and invisible Life so as to reach unto one another in the Communications of Life and feel the States and Conditions of one another therein in Silence and enjoy that secret and hid Fellowship together which the World knoweth not so as even to be silent though both a Liberty and Ability in the Life may be present with divers where no pressure no pressing occasion is found to utter Words which indeed hath a great Glory in it that People should Converse together in Spirit and deep Silence and without all Words Now among divers great an 〈…〉 d Advantages and Benefits which they who came to be Convinced did find in the sitting down together to wait in silence there were some that in the silence their Minds being turned towards the Light and Life of God which had appeared to them they came to find their Mindes stayed therein and thereby for a great and mighty Power broke forth in the Light unto which their Minds were turned and did gather their Minds into it more and more whereby they came to know a being Planted and Grounded and Rooted and Setled and Established in the Truth and in the Light and Life and Spirit and Power thereof and so they came to be gathered out of all the Tossings and Waverings of Mind and out of all the Incumbrances and Wandrings into Stability and Steaddiness in the Truth which was even as to be delivered from a Stormy and Tempestuous Sea and brought to dry Land and thus also they came to be gathered out of all their own Thoughts and Imaginations and uncertain Conjectures and Guessings concerning the things of God and Religion into the clear and certain manifestation of Truth by which also they came to receive an inward discerning so as to distinguish make a difference infallibly betwixt things and things in them as to see and know and feel what was of God and what was not of him but of Man or of Satan and so as they waited in this silence their minds being turned towards the Lord they could discern the right and wrong Spirit and the Work and motion of each and came to see what was to be Kept and Spared and what was to be Denied what was to be preserved Alive and Cherished and Nourished and what was to be Slain and Famished and Starved and so in the Silence they came to find the pure Judgment of the Lord to pass over and through all in them as the Refiners Fire which purifieth the Glod and Silver but consumeth the Dross and maketh a clear Separation and the Power of the Lord God was found and felt to work mightily in them for the breaking down and Killing and Consuming and Destroyed every Evil Thing and Work which had place in them and removing and taking out of the way whatever Clouded or Vailed or Burthened the pure Life to arise and shine forth and so the Mountains which were raised over the Seed and burthened it came to be shaken yea the Earth and the Heavens by which these bodily Quakings and Tremblings did also seize upon divers and from this the Name Quakers was in scorn cast upon Friends that the Mountain of the Lord might be raised up a top of them all and so through the mighty working of Gods Power which was revealed in the Light to which their minds were turned in silence they came to be brought out of the mixture wherein they stood formerly into a clearness and soundness of Condition in the Truth both as to Spirit and Judgment in their own particulars and so they came to a clear and sound understanding of the things of God of Truth Religion and the way of Worship and to have clear and sound Thoughts and Apprehensions of them which did purely and clearly arise in the Light in which their minds became stayed and so in due time a pure and clear ministration in Words was given unto many of them so that they preached pure sound clear Doctrine in a pure and clear manifestation of Life unto which pure Ministration many came to be brought who had a Ministration formerly among People of divers Sects and Opinions which stood in the mixture aforesaid that was not clear Grain and Food and therefore hurt both themselves and others but being gathered together unto thi● pure Ministration which they received by sitting down to wait upon the Lord to learn together in silence with all subjection the pure and clear and perfect knowledg of things they came both to be saved themselves and to be made instrumental to save many others And so in silence they came to receive these many precious openings and discoveries of Truth and Religion and the Scriptures were largely and purely opened unto them concerning these many things which are the matters of Difference between the Friends and Children of Truth and the Priests and Professors and these together with many precious and excellent Gifts of the Spirit and also much inward Peace Joy Refreshment and Consolation in the holy Spirit and much increase of Life and Grace and Righteousness and much Beauty and Glory and Dominion in the Life were among the Blessed and Glorious Advantages they received in meeting together and waiting together upon the Lord in pure Silence and Stilness and which are all