Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	heart_n	lord_n	soul_n	18,529	5	5.0289	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40006	Some seasonable considerations to the young men & women who in this day of tryal are made willing to offer up themselves, estates or liberty, and suffer reproaches, with other hard usages in the streets of this city, and elsewhere, to bear a testimony for the life, light and truth of Jesus Christ and to all who make a profession of the same, this in the tender love of God is written / by Mary Forster.	Forster, Mary, 1619?-1686.	1684 (1684)	Wing F1604; ESTC R10778	6,261	14

way to this vain Imagination That such small things will not hurt the foolish Heart comes to be darkned the poor Soul that once was raised comes to be enthralled and a good Condition to be lost and it will be harder with such to be restored than it was for them to be brought into the knowledge of the Truth at the beginning And this also hath been known by sad Experience when any one hath let in Grief and joyned the Powers of their Souls with it here the Enemy of mans Peace lays seige sometimes tempting the poor bewildred soul to dispair of the Mercy of the Lord sometimes to Curse God and dye and sometimes to lay violent hands on it self Oh my dear Friends what need is here to stand upon the Watch to keep in the pure fear of the Lord even all the day long for if any Affections or Passion inordinately be suffered to harbour in the Soul the danger is great And yet further what hath been said in these foregoing particulars may be said also of letting in the Worldly Spirit which none ever knew whilst it had rule in their hearts but at the entrance thereof as the Eye of the Mind has been towards the Lord to be kept and preserved from every Evil that would grieve the good Spirit or hinder Communion with it the Lord opens the mysterious workings of this Spirit in the honest Heart and strengtheneth him with all Diligence to keep the Watch and here the Soul escapes this Snare that is so privily laid that many are ensnared and taken and call it good Husbandry O remember the great Love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who hath commanded his Disciples To cast all their care upon God who careth for them and hath given himself for us that he might deliver us from this present evil World And let any experienced one into whose hands this may come consider Have you at any time let in the Spirit of Prejudice more especially upon the account of Religion against any Person Let the cause be right or wrong yet if once it be let in and you converse with it and give liberty to your Thoughts therein how apt are you to receive any Report that may tend to make the Breach wider how ready it is for any prejudiced Person to take wrong Measures of right Actions as thus If any in the pure Love of God that thinketh no evil watch over his Brother for good or the Antients in Israel who are unblameable in their Lives and Conversations who have if the word Rule can be born ruled for God and are truly worthy of double Honour if such knowing the Wiles of Satan as also the Terrors of the Almighty shall propose good and wholsom Methods to keep all within the Church of Christ sweet and clean in which the honest hearted rejoyce yet the prejudiced spirit will cry out presently of Lordships of Laws Church Canons and Imposition though at the same time those who were in Christ before them and by Grace were made Members of that Body of which Christ is the Head declare to such That it s but the godly Care of our Brethren to preserve every Member in its place and good Order Much might be written but I did only intend to hint at these things and beg of the Lord they may be enlarged in my soul as in every honest Heart as there may be any occasion Oh Friends I am deeply grieved in the Consideration of these things and its the cry of my soul to the God of all Grace Arise O Lord and rebuke this Gain-saying Spirit Arise thou mighty God whose Fan is in thy hand and thorowly purge thy Floor O bring down into thy pure fear which makes and keeps the heart clean every one that makes a Profession of thy pure holy Truth And now to conclude with that which was principally upon my heart in the beginning in which let me expostulate again with any or every honest Heart into whose hands this may come that hath but known or experienced any thing of the Power of God to make clean the Vessel and that hath been convinced of the Evil of their Ways Words and Works and in the Light Strength and Power of God hath been made able to judge down every appearance of Evil in themselves that hath not had Holiness to the Lord stamped thereon Oh! why should any such turn again to Folly and build again those things they once pulled down or allow themselves in any thing now which heretofore they durst not live in the Practice of Friends Truth is unchangeably pure and that which it appears against to day it will not allow to morrow Therefore I beseech you in the Love of God try and examine Durst I take a false Liberty in the day of my Espousal Why should I do so now Are not my Obligations greater now than ever now I can say My Maker is my Husband he provideth all things necessary for my Spiritual as well as Temporal Well-being and if I do not depart from him he hath promised He will never leave me nor forsake me Why then should I allow any Evil Spirit to lodge within me any accursed thing to approach his Temple to hinder me in my near Approaches unto him Why should I suffer a wild wanton airy Spirit to get up that will unavoidably make me vain in my Conversation seeing I could not be redeemed there-from by Silver nor Gold or any corruptible thing but with the precious Blood of Jesus Christ Shall I trample under Foot the Blood of Christ or shall my light unsavoury Words and Actions cause any to say It is an unholy thing Shall I deny my Redemption and my Redeemer even to all them that behold by my vain Conversation God forbid Or if at any time there hath been a neglect the Watch has not been kept nor the Prayer offered but as it were for a little time the Soul forgetting that it was cleansed entreth into the Temptation and toucheth with the unsanctifi'd thing yet as the Heart abides honest the pure holy Fear will spring again in such a Breast and that Man or Woman will soon see from whence they are fallen and will cry with David Restore me O Lord to my former Condition take not thy holy Spirit from me set thou a Watch before my Mouth that I offend not with my Tongue O Lord keep the Door of my Lips c. This is the care of the Upright that whether in Eating or Drinking in Speaking or in Silence all might be done to the Praise and Glory of God Friends we above all the Families of the Earth bear our Testimonies to Christ's Appearance in spirit and to that Grace which hath appeared to all men teaching us who have received it to deny Vngodliness and worldly Lusts and to live Soberly Godly and Righteously in this present World And shall we allow our selves in any thing that is justly reproveable God forbid I will

SOME Seasonable Considerations TO THE Young Men Women Who in This DAY of TRYAL Are made willing to offer up themselves Estates or Liberty and suffer Reproaches with other hard Usages in the Streets of this City and Else-where To bear a Testimony for the Life Light and Truth of Jesus Christ And to all who make a Profession of the same this in the tender Love of God is written By Mary Forster LONDON Printed and Sold by Andrew Sowle at the Crooked-Billet in Holloway-Lane Shoreditch 1684. Some seasonable Considerations to the Young Men and Women who in this Day of Tryal are made willing to offer up themselves Estates or Liberty to suffer Reproaches and other hard Usages in the Streets of this City and else-where to bear a Testimony for the Life Light and Truth of our Lord Jesus Christ c. FRiends Consider your Calling 't is High 't is Holy 't is out of the World its beggarly Rudiments its false Ways and Worships its Customs and Fashions with all the Abominations Prophanations Sports and Pastimes Into what even the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God to be made conformable unto Christ our Head to be in him Holy as he is Holy then to be Heirs with him joynt Heirs with Christ and to sit with him in the heavenly places O blessed Exchange unspeakable Love What manner of Persons ought we to be saith the honest Heart Oh! let none of us walk unworthy of such Mercy but keep a living sence thereof upon our hearts continually watching over our Thoughts Words and Works that we in all may glorifie the Lord our God who is worthy to be Loved Feared Reverenced and Obeyed from henceforth and forever The matter chiefly upon my Heart is this That as there is now a more publick Testimony born to Gods blessed Truth than when we had liberty to assemble our selves together in our Meeting-houses so now let our care be more to answer our Profession for we are as a Candle in a Candlestick not under a Bed or Bushel yea as a City set upon a Hill publickly taken notice of to be of that number of them who dare not omit the Assembling our selves together as the manner of some is but we must confess him before men who we know will not deny us before his heavenly Father we must bear our Testimony to the blessed Truth he hath made us Partakers of though in such Hazards Let this my dear Friends engage our Souls to all Circumspection in our Lives and Conversations that we give no occasion to the Enemy to blaspheme or speak Evil of that holy Profession we are called to hold forth in the midst of a perverse and crooked Generation amongst whom we ought to shine as Lights that men seeing our holy chaste Conversation coupled with fear may glorifie our Father to this surely every honest Heart cannot but say Amen Amen as saith my Soul Friends the Enemy of our Souls is busie both within and without yea the Devil still goes about as a roaring Lyon seeking which of us he can devour and he may suffer us to make a Profession even in the strictest manner whilst he endeavours to spoil us of our Possession he will not disturb us if he can but draw into looseness or lightness 't is possible you may speak the plain Language without interruption if you will but use it in foolish Talking and idle Jesting and although you do not appear in the Superfluities of this wanton Age in your Apparel but in plain Cloathing yet if you do suffer your Hearts to be in the Nicities Costliness and Curiosities and let them be as like the World as may be Lace only excepted if you can but escape the Reproofs of them who abstain from every appearance of Evil and hate the Garments spotted with the flesh then the Soul's Enemy will indulge you therein and you may for a time possibly in this day of Tryal come frequently to Meetings stand in the Streets bear the Gain-saying of Scoffers and the haling before Magistrates but if any of you indulge a loose careless Spirit such make void their Suffering invalidate their Testimony and fall short of the Reward and Comfort of the Vpright and so will not hold out to the end This I write not to accuse any particular but do beseech all to stand upon their Watch that they suffer not this Spirit to prevail in them or if it have any place in any that makes a Profession of Gods pure holy Truth to give no rest to their Eyes nor slumber to their Eye-lids till they are turned to the Light of Christ Jesus in their Consciences and listen to its Reproofs which now as heretofore bears a faithful Witness against every evil Word and Work and as it is heard believed in and obeyed will give strength to overcome all and every thing that is of that Nature Oh my Friends press forward in the holy Warfare for of a truth Victory may be obtained if you run well and continue to the end you shall have a Crown of Glory Friends Let me expostulate the matter a little with you I know there is many that when the Enemy of mans Soul comes to tempt to any gross Sins can have no entrance their Souls abhor this or the other Abomination so as to gross Enormities he may come and have nought in Thousands but the great danger lies here in little things and they think their Souls may live in this little Zoar if they escape the Sins of Sodom and such like But here 's a Snare here 's a Rock that many are split on taking liberty in little matters in Decency till Pride sits in the Chair in excessive Merriment which some call Cheerfulness till it come to such vain and immoderate Laughter as the wise men call Madness appears in their Conversations They must not be too demunitive some will shy they must be friendly to all free to discourse with any and this may be good in its place but for want of taking up the daily Cross and not being upon the Watch they become one with the idle Talker and foolish Jester and so in many other cases As We may be Angry and sin not which is true but letting themselves loose here the Enemy takes an Advantage and in the Night sows his evil Seed and the wrathful hasty spirit gets up grows strong till that which is tender meek and lowly in themselves and others they converse with is grieved and groans under the Oppression And from this Spirit there 's no deliverance till they come again to learn of him that 's meek and lowly as they did at their first Convincement when after great and sore Travels they did find rest unto their souls in him that was meek and lowly And it s at these Breaches the Enemy being entred the more grosser and grievous sins enter and so even the old Iniquity is revived and the sin that so easily besets gets up again and by giving