Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	grace_n	holy_a	lord_n	14,167	5	3.6878	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34991	An epistle of tender love and brotherly advice to all the churches of Christ throughout the world who are gathered into the one living faith, and walk in the light, and therein have their fellowship one with another. From a friend and brother in the same fellowship, who hath long travailed, and still travails for Zion's prosperity, and for the gathering Zion's children out of Egypt and darkness, that they may walk and dwell in the light of Zion's Saviour, which is Christ the Lord; whose outward name is Stephen Crisp.	Crisp, Stephen, 1628-1692.	1690 (1690)	Wing C6929; ESTC R215184	11,866	17

AN EPISTLE OF TENDER LOVE AND Brotherly Advice To all the Churches of Christ Throughout the World Who are gathered into the one Living Faith and walk in the Light and therein have their Fellowship one with another = From a Friend and Brother in the same Fellowship who hath long Travailed and still Travails for Zion's Prosperity and for the gathering Zion's Children out of Egypt and Darkness that they may walk and dwell in the Light of Zion's Saviour which is Christ the Lord Whose outward Name is Stephen Crisp Printed and Sold by A. Sowle at the Crooked-Billet in Holloway-Lane in Shoreditch 1690. An Epistle of Tender Love and Brotherly Advice to all the Churches of Christ throughout the World c. DEarly beloved Friends and Brethren gathered out of the World by the Eternal Arm and Power of the mighty God to bear his holy Name in your Generation my Love and Life in the fellowship of the Universal Spirit salutes you all and my Prayer to God is you may be kept stedfast and unmoveable in the Grace of God and in the Communion of his holy Spirit that ye may bring forth Fruit in abundance according to the abundant Mercy and Grace bestowed upon you to the Glory of God and to your mutual Joy Comfort and Edification And that you may so do let your Eye be kept daily to the Lord and behold and take notice of the wondrous Works that he hath wrought in you and for you since the Day ye were first quickened by his immortal Word and stirred up to seek after him and to wait upon him how good and gracious he hath been to you in bringing you from the barren Mountains where your Souls-languished for the heavenly nourishment where you knew not the Lord nor one another but were without a Comforter or any to sympathize with you in your Mournings Oh how hath he pittied your Groanings and had Compassion on your Sighings and brought you into acquaintance with those that were in the like Exercises and then he taught you to believe on him that was able to help you And those that were thus taught of the Father and felt his drawing Cords of Love prevailing upon them these came to Christ their Saviour and in him began to feel a Unity one with another in the Faith you had received in him whereby you believed he would give you of his Spirit to teach and guide you in the way of Truth Righteousness and Peace and thus was the Foundation of your Holy Communion laid and a lively hope raised in each particular Soul that he that had begun this blessed Work would carry it on and this Hope made you that ye were not ashamed to make a publick profession of his Name before the World but cheerfully to take up his Cross and deny your selves of your former Pleasures Friendships and Delights of this world this Hope hath been your support in many sharp Tryals and bitter Combates you have had with the Enemy of your Soul's peace within and with the Enemies of God's holy Way and Truth without and in all your Conflicts you have found him nigh at hand to put forth his Power on your behalf as you have depended upon him for his assistance and by these Experiences of his goodness your Faith hath been strengthened and by the same Word of Life that quickened you many more have been reached unto so that you have seen a daily addition of strength in the perticular and also an addition to your number to your great Comfort and Incouragement and many have come to wait upon the Lord among you and many are daily Inquiring after the Way to Zion with their Faces thitherward These things are worth your Remembrance and serious Considerations that you may look upon these great Mercies as obligations upon your Souls to walk humbly before the Lord and to be devout and fervent in your Testimony for that God that hath done thus great things for you And Friends consider of the great Works that this mighty Arm of the Lord hath brought to pass in the general as well as in the particular how many Contrivances have been framed and Laws and Decrees made to lay you waste and to make you cease to be a People and how have the Wicked rejoyced thereat for a season crying Ah ha thus would we have it they are all now given up to Banishments to Imprisonments to Spoils and Ruins now let us see if that Invisible Arm they trust in can deliver them Oh Friends how hath your God been your support in the midst of all these Exercises and when he hath pleased how hath he quieted the sharpest Storms and turned back the greatest Floods and Torrents of Persecution that ever you met and how hath he confounded his and your Enemies and brought Confusion upon the Heads of them that sought your hurt Was not these things wrought by the Power of God Did your Number your Policy your Interest or any thing that might be called your own contribute any thing to these your great Preservations and Deliverances If not then let God have the Glory and Acknowledge to his praise These have been the Lord's doings and are marvellous in our Eyes Again Dear Friends consider how the Wicked One hath wrought in a Mystery among your selves to scatter you and to lay you waste from being a People as at this Day how many several ways hath he tryed raising up men of perverse minds to subvert and to turn you from the Faith and from the Simplicity that is in Christ Jesus our Lord and to separate you from that Invisible Power that hath been your strength and to seperate you one from another and by subtile Wiles to lead into a false Liberty above the Cross of Christ and sometimes by sowing Seeds of Heresie and Seditions indeavouring to corrupt the minds of whom they could with pernicious Principles but Oh how have their designs been frustrated and the Author 's thereof confounded and brought to nought and how have you been preserved as a Flock under the hand of a careful Shepherd even unto this day which ministers great cause of Thanksgiving unto all the Faithful who have witnessed the working of this preserving Power in their own particulars Also My Friends it is worth your Considerations to behold how that by this Invisible Power so many faithful Watch-men are raised up upon the Walls of your Zion that in most of your Meetings there be Men and Women upon whom God hath laid a concern to be taking care for the good of the whole and to take the oversight upon them to see all things kept in good and decent Order and to make due Provision for the Comforting and Relieving the Necessities of the Needy and Distressed that nothing be lacking to make your way comfortable and these have not been nor are brought under this charge by any act of yours but God hath raised up Pastors and Teachers Elders and Deacons of his own Election

and Choice and bowed their Spirits to take upon them the Work and Service to which they are appointed for the Lord's sake and for the Bodies sake which is the Church to whom it may truly be said as in the 20th Chapter of Acts Vers 28. Take ye heed to the Flock of God over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers c. And such ought to be hearkened to in the discharge of their Trust as those that must give an Account to him that called them and gifted them for their several Works and Services in the Church And by these Ways and Means hath the Lord established among you a Heavenly Government and built as it were a Hedge about you that ye may be preserved from Generation to Generation a People fitted for the Glory that is and shall daily more and more be revealed among and upon the Faithful who delights in that Power that called them to be Saints and to bear a Profession for the holy Name of God against the many Names and Ways that men in their changeable minds have set up that the Name of the Lord alone may be exalted And dear Friends and Brethren I intreat you that the Considerations of these great and weighty things which God hath wrought for you and among you may have that deep and weighty Influence upon your Souls that ye may find your selves ingaged to answer the love and mercy of God in your Lives and Conversations and in all you have to do in this World that ye may shew forth the Honour of God in all things that the Light which hath shined in you may shine forth through you unto others who yet sit in darkness that all men may know by your Innocent and Harmless Conversations and by your close keeping to the Lord that ye are a People who are assisted and helped by a supernatural Power which governs your Wills and subjects them to his blessed Will and that guides and orders your Affections and sets them upon heavenly and divine Objects and that gives you Power to deny your own private Interests where they happen to stand in Competition with the Interest of Truth for these and these only will be found the true Disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ who can deny themselves take up a Cross daily and follow him in the guidance of his Regenerating Power which brings Death upon self and crucifies the old Nature with its Affections and Lust and raiseth up a Birth in you that hath a holy Will and desire to serve the Lord and do his Will in the Earth and such as these are Instruments in the hand of God for him to work by to do Works of Righteousness of Justice of Charity all other the Vertues belonging to a Christian Life to the Honour of God and for the comfort and benefit of his Church and People And all you dear Friends upon whom the Lord hath laid a Care for his Honour and for the Prosperity of the Truth and gathered you into the good Order of the Gospel to meet together to manage the Affairs thereof Take heed that you have a single Eye to the Lord to do the Lord's business in the leadings of his Spirit which is but one and brings all that are given up to be governed by it to be of one Mind and Heart at least in the general purpose and service of those Meetings although through the diversity of Exercises and the several degrees of growth among the Brethren not every one may not see or understand alike in every matter at the first propounding of it yet this makes no breach of the Unity nor hinders the Brotherly-kindness but puts you often upon an Exercise and an inward travailing to feel the pure peaceable Wisdom that is from above to open among you and every ones Ear is open to it in whomsoever it speaks and thereby a sence of Life is given in the Meeting to which all that are of a simple and tender mind joyn and agree But if any among you should be contrary minded in the management of some outward Affair relating to the Truth this doth not presently break the Unity that ye have in Christ nor should weaken the Brotherly-Love so long as he keeps waiting for an understanding from God to be gathered into the same sence with you and walks with you according to the Law of Charity such a one ought to be born with and cherished and the Supplications of your Souls will go up to God for him that God may reveal it to him if it be his Will that so no difference may be in Understanding so far as is necessary for the good of the Church no more than there is in matters of Faith and Obedience to God For my Friends it is not of absolute necessity that every Member of the Church should have the same measure of Understanding in all things for then where were the duty of the strong bearing with the weak then where were the Brother of low degree where would be any submitting to them that are set over others in the Lord which all tends to the preserving Unity in the Church notwithstanding the different measures and different growths of the Membes thereof For as the Spirit of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets so are the Spirits of all that are kept in a true subjection to the Spirit of Life in themselves kept in the same subjection to the sence of Life given by the same Spirit in the Church and by this means we come to know the one Master even Christ and have no room for other Masters in the matter of our obedience to God and while every one keeps in this true subjection the sweet Concord is known and the Oyl is not only upon Aaron's Head though it be poured on thee but it reacheth the Skirts of his Garment also and things are kept sweet and savoury and ye love one another from the greatest to the least in Sincerity and as the Apostle saith without Dissimulation and this Love excludes all Whisperings of evil things all Back-biting Tale-bearing Grudgings and Murmurings and keeps Friends minds cleane one toward another waiting for every oppertunity to do each other good and to preserve each others Reputation and their Hearts are comforted at the sight of one another and in all their affairs both relating to the Church and to the World they will be watchful over their own Spirits and keep in the Lords Power over that nature and ground in themselves that would be apt to take an offence or construe any Word or Action to a worse sence than the simplicity thereof or the intention of the other concerned will allow of And whereas it may often fall out that among a great many some may have a different Apprehension of a matter from the rest of their Brethren especially in outward or temporal things there ought to be a Christian Liberty maintained for such to express their sence with freedom

to give a Sentence of right between Friend and Friend take heed that neither Party get possession of your Spirit aforehand by any way or means whatsoever or obtain any Word or Sentence from you in the absence of the other party he not being yet heard there is nothing more comly among men than Impartial Judgment Judgment is a Seat where Interest nor Affection nor former Kindnesses may come we may make no difference of the worthiness or unworthiness of Persons in Judgment as we may in Charity but in Judgment if a good man being mistaken hath a bad case or a bad man a good case according to his case must he have Sentence It was a good saying He that judgeth among Men judgeth for the Lord and he will repay it Therefore let all be done as unto the Lord and as ye are willing to answer it in his presence and although some may for a time be discontent thereat yet in time God shall clear up your Innocency as the Sun at Noon-Day and they that kick at sound Judgment will find but hard work of it they do but kick against that which will prick them and however such through their wilfulness and their abounding in their own sence may hurt themselves yet you will be preserved and enjoy your Peace and Satisfaction in the discharge of your Consciences in the sight of God And as concerning practical Charity ye know it s supported by Liberality and where Liberality ceaseth Charity waxeth cold yea so far ceaseth where there is no Contribution there is no Distribution where the one is sparing the other is sparing and therefore let every one nourish Charity in the Root that is keep a Liberal Mind a heart that looks upon the Substance that is given him as really bestowed upon him for the support of Charity as for the support of his own Body and where People are of this mind they will have a care of keeping back any of God's part for he hath in all Ages in a most singular manner espoused the Case of the Poor the Widow and Fatherless and hath often signified by his Prophets and Ministers a special charge upon Rich Men that had this World's Goods that they should look to it that they were faithful Stewards of what they possest and that they might be found in good Works and might not suffer their Hearts to so cleave to uncertain Richs as to neglect the Service God had given them the things of this Life for either to give them up when called for in a Testimony for his worthy Name or to Communicate of them to those that were in necessity Now as concerning the necessities of the Poor there is great need of Wisdom when ye meet together about that Affair for as I said before tho' the worthyness or unworthyness of Persons is not to be considered in Judgment yet in this it is and you will find some that God hath made Poor and some that have made themselves Poor and some that others have made Poor which must all have their several Considerations in which you ought to labour to be unamious and not one to be taken up with an affection to one Person more then another but every one to Love every one in the universal Spirit and then to deal out that Love in the outward manifestations thereof according to the measure that the Lord in his Wisdom working in you shall measure forth to them And as to those who by Sickness Lameness Age or other Impotency are brought into Poverty by the Hand of Providence these are your peculiar care and objects pointed out to you to bestow your Charity upon for by them the Lord calls for it for as the Earth is the Lord's and the fulness of it he hath by his Soveraign Power commanded in every Dispensation that a part of what we injoy from him should be thus imployed The Israelites were not to reap the Corners of their Feilds nor to gather the Gleanings of the Corn nor Vintage it was for the Poor and in the time of the Gospel they were to lay a part on the first Day of the Week a part of what God had blessed them with for the Relief of those that were in Necessity nay they did not Confine themselves in their Charity to their own Meetings but had an universal Eye through the whole Church of Christ and upon extraordinary occasions sent their Benevolence to relieve the Saints at Jerusalem in a time of need and all that keep in the guidance of the same Universal Spirit will make it their Business to be found in the same Practice of Charity and Good Works to do Good and to Communicate Forget not saith the Apostle So they that forget not this Christian duty will find out the Poor's part in the Corners and Gleanings of the Profits of their Trades and Merchandizings as well as the old Israelite did the Corners and Gleanings of his Field and in the distribution of it will have a regard to comfort the Bowels of such who are by the Divine Providence of God put out of a capacity of Injoying those outward Comforts of Health and Strength and Plenty which others do injoy for while they are partakers of the same Faith and walks in the way of Righteousness with you submitting themselves patiently to the dispensation of Gods providence towards them they are of your Houshold and under your care both to visit and to relieve as Members of one Body of which Christ Jesus is Head and he that giveth to such Poor lendeth to the Lord and he will repay it But there is another sort of Poor who make themselves poor through their sloth and carelesness and sometimes by their wilfulness being heady and high-minded and taking things in hand that are more than they can manage and make a flourish for a season and then through their own neglects are plunged down into great Poverty these are a sort the Primitive Churches began to be troubled withal in the early days of the Gospel for the Apostle took notice of some that would not work at all and sharply reproved them and said They that would not work should not eat and these are commonly a sort of Busie-bodies and meddlers with others matters while they neglect their own and runs into a worse way than the Unbelievers while they profess to be Believers yet do not take a due care for those of their own Houshold The Charity that is proper to such is to give them Admonition and Reproof and to Convince them of their Sloth and Neglience and if they submit to your Reproof and are willing to amend then care ought to be taken to help them into a way and means to support themselves and sometimes by a little help in this kind some have been reclaimed from the Snares of their Soul's Enemy But if they will not receive your wholsom Counsel and Admonitions but kick against it either in their Words or Actions Friends will be