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	receive_v	18,187	5	5.7163	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45901	The innocent cause of the people called Quakers in the north of Scotland, who are under great sufferings, laid open and presented to the King and his council in Scotland, and to all inferiour magistrates, judges, and rulers, who have a hand in our present sufferings.		1677 (1677)	Wing I205; ESTC R215418	5,624	1

world and therefore it is no Enemy to the Kingdoms and righteous Governments of this world and if they incroach not upon this Kingdom he will not only permit them but bless prosper and promote them whereof many examples can be given out of the holy Scripture Now for this cause it is that we cannot in Conscience own the worlds Teachers to be the true Ministers of Christ Jesus nor concur to hold up or countenance their Ministry even because they neither preach the true Doctrine nor live the true life of Christ and his Apostles and therefore it is that their Ministry their Preaching and Praying is so barren unfruitful and unprofitable unto their Hearers They preach not Christ Jesus to be the true Life and Light of all mankind as he doth inwardly appear and is revealed of the Father to quicken and enlighten them who is the true Light that doth enlighten every man that cometh into the world and by his divine Illumination in the heart of every man doth convince and reprove of all unrighteousness and perswade to all righteousness yea and by his power his spirit and life powerfully move and encline all unto it and so should attain to Everlasting Salvation according to Scriptures testimony But the worlds Teachers deny the saving universal Illumination of Christ Jesus in all men and tell the People that the Light in them is not of a saving nature nor able to lead them unto God although they should follow it never so diligently and so they deny the true universal free grace of God also they deny the immediate Revelation and Inspiration of the spirit of Christ Jesus in these days and the immediate teachings of God which is contrary to the nature and substance of the new Covenant wherein the Lord hath promised that all shall be taught of him And although they preach sin and the Devil to be in men and that the Devil hath his false Prophets whom he doth inspire yet they deny that God hath his true Prophets whom he doth divinely inspire with his divine inspirations in our days or since the Apostles times contrary to the promises of God and the experiences of the Saints in all Ages And they preach Christ only without and his Righteousness without only and so they preach only an outward foundation and outward rule and guide an outward word and call whereas the true Apostles and Ministers preached Christ within as well as without and preached the Law and Word in the heart and an inward call and they witnessed the life of Christ made manifest in them and from this life they preached and prayed and gathered the Churches and they ministred according to the measure of the heavenly gift given unto them of God they spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost And their preaching and teaching was not with words of mans Wisdom nor stollen from the Mouths and Lives of other men but in the demonstration of the spirit and power of God as he spake in them and gave them utterance and as they freely received so they freely gave and forced none to maintain them and did take of none but such as were worthy and having food raiment therewith were content In all which the Worldly and National Teachers are contrary unto the true Ministers of Christ Jesus And they plainly declare they know not Christ within them they have heard nor seen nothing from the Lord nor received any inward or immediate call from him to preach or teach but derive their call generally from the Church and Bishop of Rome as is manifest out of their own mouths and printed Books Now how can we own such teachers who know not Christ in themselves nor his spirit nor his life nor his power in their hearts For the Lord hath brought us to know Christ in us and feel and savour and taste of his Life and Power and we have received of his spirit and the same spirit hath taught us the living knowledge of God and of Christ and by the same many of us have received a living Ministry and living words of life to speak unto people that minister Life and Grace unto the Hearers and they give a certain sound and direct people to a certain and infallible thing to wit the principle of the divine Life and Light of Christ Jesus that is in the hearts of all men that all men may believe in this join to this and give Obedience unto it and whoever do so they receive the spirit of Christ and it becometh in them a Well of living water springing up unto Eternal Life as many witness at this day blessed be the name of the Lord for his unspeakable gift And having found the Fountain of living waters we can go no more to these broken Cisterns that can hold no water to wit the dead and dry Ministry of the worlds Teachers that has no life in it because they preach not from any feeling of the life of Christ in their hearts And many other things there are which we have to charge upon the worlds Teachers as reprovable and contrary to the sound Doctrine of the Gospel as witnessed in the Scriptures And certainly if they were indeed spiritual men and able Ministers of the New Testament they would have confidence enough to overthrow us and overcome us if we were such as they alledge by their spiritual weapons and would not so trouble and weary you in crying out to help them against the Quakers with your outward coercive power as they cryed out of old help men of Israel And if it would please the King or His Counsel to cause any of these Teachers openly to meet with us and appoint such as might fairly and equally hear us we doubt not but by the assistance of Christ we should prove them to be no Ministers of Christ and their Doctrine in the most weighty and material things and also their Worship to be contrary unto the Doctrine of Christ and the Apostles and unto the Worship which Christ set up which was in spirit and in truth And seeing we are at least thus perswaded in our Consciences why should the King or any in Authority under Him seek to force our Consciences to a way that is contrary to our perswasions we are as true Subjects and as ready to obey the Kings just Laws in all civil and temporal respects and to pay Tribute as any others we hope in the Nation And being faithful to God we cannot be unfaithful to the King but if we should prove unfaithful to our God and for fear of suffering defile our Consciences and act contrary thereunto we might justly be the more suspected as not like to prove faithful unto men Therefore let us have the free exercise of our Consciences as Christians as well as our liberty and freedom as men for which cause we are most willing to do all things that belong to us as good and true Subjects For even the Emperour of the Turks giveth unto the Christians in his Dominions the free exercise of their Consciences they paying their Taxes unto him and also the Jews were permitted to have their Meetings by Augustus and at this day are permitted by divers Kings Princes and Common-wealths And then why should not we have the same liberty by and from them that profess the same God and Christ We have no Idolatrous principles nor practices nor are we holders forth of any strange God or Christ nor preachers of any other Doctrine but the same abundantly witnessed by the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament And why should we be hindered to preach and pray in our Meetings only because we have not a Licence from the Bishop of the Diocess we question the Bishops own call and do not believe that it is of God nor can he instruct it any other way but by the Popes and Bishops of Rome which all true Protestants should deny as they did at their first coming forth He that hath my word said the Lord let him speak my word faithfully he doth not say provided he hath a Licence from the Bishop of the Diocess but the Lord hath given unto us his word and it hath been as a fire in our bones therefore we could not but speak it and judge ye your selves whether we should obey God rather then men not only the Scriptures testimony but the testimony of most famous and eminent for Piety and Learning hath been against using force in the matters of Religion This work that is begun among us is certainly of God and therefore ye cannot overcome it no more then ye can hinder the Sea to flow or the day to spring therefore O that ye would be wise and follow Gamaliels counsel that ye fight not against God for none that fight against him can prosper Given forth from the suffering people of God called Quakers Prisoners at Aberden in Scotland 16. 11 mon. called January 1676 7. A Coppy of this was delivered into the Kings one Hand