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
A77147	Something concerning the proceedings of Thomas Willmate, vicar of the parish of Bromsgrove, in the county of Worcester, against me John Boweter, (who am a prisoner for the testimony of Christ Jesus) with a salutation of love to my loving and kind neighbours.	J. B. (John Bowater), d. 1704.	1681 (1681)	Wing B3870B; ESTC R221226	6,599	9

our Law he ought to Dye John 19.6 7. Now some may say Do you compare your selves to Christ I say no otherwise but as Christ our Lord and Master and we his Servants and Followers who said The Servant is not greater than his Lord they have persecuted me and they will persecute you And so that is our Portion from these that exercise Lordship over People that bind heavy Burdens and lay them on mens Shoulders grievous to be born and they themselves not touch them with one of their Fingers And so Friends and Neighbours having something cleared my Spirit I leave it with you to consider well of it and the desire of my Soul and Prayer of my Heart unto the Lord for you is That an understanding may be opened in you And loving Neighbours I desire you in the Bowels of Love and Tenderness That you judge not of things before the Time for the Day will discover all things and bring every hidden thing to Light and then it will be known who are they that serve the Lord and they that serve him not and a separation will be betwixt the Precious and the Vile And in the mean time I do desire to rest satisfied in my condition untill the Lord please to set me Free which I believe will be in his appointed time He who knows our Grief and bottleth up our Tears will Ease the Oppressed and set the Prisoners Free And loving and kind Neighbours I call you Loving and Kind because you have been so to me I take my leave of you and rest your Friend and Neighbour willing in what I may to serye you in Love Worcester-County-Goal 16th of the 8 Mon. 1679. John Boweter POSTSCRIPT WHo goeth a Warfare at his own Charge some may say Are not Ministers to have a Maintenance Were not they that waited at the Altar to partake of the things of the Altar And is not he that preacheth the Gospel to live of the Gospel and he that soweth Spiritual to reap Carnal things To this I Answer He that preacheth the Gospel is to live of the Gospel It doth not say he that preacheth the Gospel shall live of the Law or Sue men at the Law for a Maintenance for the Gospel is a Free Thing which is the Gift of God and received Freely and is not to be bought and sold for Money Acts 8.18 19 20 21. Now the Apostle had a Necessity laid upon him who said Wo is to me if I preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.16 yet he was not limitted but that he might reap Carnal things For the Work-man is worthy of his Meat But it is not reasonable to compel it of them that set them not at work neither own their Work Now he that should come in the Name of the Lord and have the free Gospel to declare and being necessitated I could freely according to my Ability administer of my Carnal or Temporal things to him for his Relief Farewell J. B. VVHere Peace of Conscience from the Lord one Knows A Prison like a Palace is to Those Though Fellons Swear and Goalers Rage And Drunkards Fight and Quarrel True Peace from God outswayes it All Where Truth is truly Follow'd Where Conscience is kept clear to God though Suffering they Endure Christ is to them a Recompence an Inheritance most Sure Though Priest and Rulers may Combine Our weakly Bodies to Confine To Prisons close and Holes remote Asunder Our Rock is Christ in whom we trust he surely will Deliver He is our Captain and hath gone Before Yea sore Afflictions he most meekly Bore Vile Contradictions he Also Of Sinners greatly he did Know. And as a Lamb before the Shearers Dumb So in all Meekness he did Overcome In Glorious brightness he doth sit as King To render a just Recompence to him that suffers Wrong And soon must all before him Come To give an account of all things Done If Well done into Joy and Comfort Sure If Ill done Torment they must Endure This is our Comfort in all our Suffering Christ is our Captain and our blessed King He 's gone before who has in store prepar'd a place most Sure For all that suffer for his Truth and in it do Endure He is the bright and Morning Star That leads unto a day most Clear Who guides the Vpright in his holy Way And is to them a perfect Stay Rejoyce ye Followers of the Lamb that suffer with him in your Day A Crown of Life a day of Joy as ye do follow him alway Although through pain our outward man may weaken and Decay In Christ our Lord our inward man's renewed day by Day Written in Worcester County-Goal the 8th Moneth 1681.

Something concerning the Proceedings of Thomas Willmate Vicar of the Parish of Bromsgrove in the County of Worcester against me John Boweter who am a Prisoner for the Testimony of Christ Jesus with a Salutation of Love to my loving and kind Neighbours MAny have been the Troubles of the Righteous but the Lord hath been their Deliverer who said I will not leave you Comfortless He hath been a Comfort unto us in the time of our Affliction who hath made a Prison like a Palace unto us as in faithfulness we have given up all for his Name-sake and suffered the spoiling of our Goods chearfully we have not lost our Reward we have had peace in the Lord when our Adversaries have been tormented and the Promise of Christ in the World to come which is Life Everlasting And the Apostle Paul who had a part in sufferings said I reckon the Sufferings of this present Life is not to be compared to the Glory that shall be revealed This is that which makes our Sufferings comfortable unto us this Recompence Moses had an Eye unto who refused the Glory of Aegypt chusing rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a season counting the Reproach of Christ greater Riches than all the Treasure of Aegypt But some may say Ye Quakers thrust your selves into Sufferings What matter of Conscience is it to detain your Tythe from a Minister To this I Answer Some years ago Thomas Willmate Vicar of the Parish of Bromsgrove a profest Minister of the Gospel but not in the Practice of the true Gospel Ministers in the primitive Times in which Parish I have had my abode from my Childhood he sending to me to demand Tythe I not being satisfied in my Spirit concerning paying Tythe in these Gospel times I went unto him expecting he might have satisfied me or he have been satisfied with my Proposal which was this If he could prove himself a Minister of the Gospel and Tythe a Gospel Maintenance I would pay him Tythe But being he neither did nor could make out to me by the Scripture I refused to pay him because Christ who is a Priest unto God and hath put an end to that Priesthood that Tythe was to be paid unto said Every Plant that my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up Mat. 15.13 I never read in the Scripture of the New Testament that Christ ever ordained Tythe to be a Maintenance for his Ministers neither was Tythe established by his holy Apostles for a Maintenance for Ministers but rather in the time of Popery when that Apostatizing Spirit was entred of which Jude spoke Jude 11. Who run greedily after the Error of Balaam for Reward who were not content with such things as were set before them stirred up the Rulers to make Laws to compel a Maintenance being departed from that purity that was in the primitive Church and so not content to receive freely of the Lord and so to administer freely but in the steps of those Christ spoke of That should come in Sheeps Cloathing but inwardly ravening Wolves Tythe was not a Maintenance appointed by Christ nor his Apostles for Ministers for it belonged to the Tribe of Levi in the time of the Law who were for the offering up of Sacrifices they were to set open their Gates that the Widdow Fatherless and Strangers might be relieved But Christ being come and offered up became the compleat Sacrifice to God for us and a Reconciler betwixt God and Man and so no need of that Priesthood now The Priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change of the Law also Heb. 7. But some may say Did not Christ say in Luke 11.42 Ye Tythe Mint Rue and all manner of Herbs these things ye ought to do Answ This was not spoke to his Ministers nor to Christians to establish Tythe amongst them but to those that were under the Law and were boasting of their Righteousness under the Law for Christ said Wo unto you Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites for ye pay Tythe of Mint Annis c. and omit or neglect the weighty matters of the Law Mat. 23.23 These were not Christians but were under the Law which Law Christ came to fulfill and did fulfill the Law which was a Shadow of the good things to come Now Christ who is the Substance being come the Shadows were to pass away And so Christ being the end of the Law for Righteousness sake to every one that believes Rom. 10.4 Who being nailed to the Cross became a Sacrifice acceptable with the Father And so this acceptable Sacrifice being once offered up for all there is no need now of those former Shadows nor Ceremonies that were in the time of the Law No need now of those Priests to offer up Sacrifices No need now of offering as formerly for Christ is the Offering acceptable with God whom God raised up from the dead he hath led Captivity captive and given Gifts unto men by which Gifts of his holy Spirit many were furnished for the Work of the Ministry and were faithful Labourers in the Work and Service of the Lord not seeking their own Honour but the Honour of God and the Good of Souls Not coveting any mans Silver Gold or Apparel but labouring to bring them unto the Lord These freely received of the Lord and as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God administred freely these did not seek after the Fleece but to gather the Flock and to Feed the Flock of God taking the Oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy Lucre but of a ready Mind not as Lords over Gods Heritage but Examples to the Flock But there were some in those dayes began to creep in amongst the Apostles such as Christ spoke of That should come in Sheeps Clothing but inwardly were ravening Wolves whom the Apostle said were Enemies to the Cross of Christ whose end was Destruction whose God was their Belly whose Glory is their Shame who mind Earthly things And the Apostle Peter in 2 Pet 2.23 said There were false Prophets amongst the People even as there shall be false Teachers amongst you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresie even denying the Lord that bought them who with feigned Words and fair Speeches and through Covetousness make Merchandize of you as the said Thomas Willmate hath of me in hunting after me with Writ upon Writ and hurrying me from Prison to Prison who contented not himself in keeping me a Prisoner in Worcester-County-Goal about a year and a half because I for Conscience towards the Lord could not pay him Tythe and Offerings to the Value of Six Shillings I could not so far deny my Lord and Master to be come in the Flesh as to pay Tythe and Offerings now in these Gospel times Christ being come who is a Priest forever and the Offering acceptable with the Father But this Merciless man hath removed me to London to the