Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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B26666
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A brief charactor of the antient Christian Quakers Written by W.M. A witness for the truth, as it was in the begining.
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Mather, W. (William), fl. 1695.; Crook, John, 1617-1699.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing M1284A
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6,137
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25
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his Works To Pray and Preach without the Spirit is an offence to God not profitable 5. They Met from House to House and sometimes in Orchards and did not limit themselves to Licensed Meeting-Houses and were for Meeting in a great Town rather than in a private Village 6. They did not like to Lye a Night in such a place where the People provided more variety of Food for them than the Family used to do for themselves being very Temperate For Temperance saith the Wise Augments things that are Pleasant and ordinary Fare is made equal in Sweetness to the greatest Dainties 7. They did not concern themselves in giving in their Names or Voices for the Electing of Parliament Men Their Kingdom not being of this World 8. They were come to the Fullfilling of that Scripture Prophesie of Learning War no more so could neither Fight with Carnal Weapons nor hire Men to Fight Trusting only upon God to Deliver them out of the Hands of all Enemies Yea Loved their Enemies 9. They were always true to their Words and Promises unto all Yea when in Prison for Truths sake the Jaylors would sometimes Trust us with the Keys of the Prison though many Fellons there having the same Confidence in us as Pharoah's Jaylor had in Joseph For saith the Wise He that breaks his Promise forfeits his Faith which was the Security and so is become as an Infidel unto him to whom be Promised 10. They when cast into Prison for good Conscience sake or their Goods taken from them for their Testimony greatly Rejoyced that God had counted them worthy to Suffer for his Name without repining against their Persecutors nor durst they ask their Goods again Luke 6.30 nor go to Law to gain them or use Law Tricks to avoid their Suffering trusting in God alone for their Deliverance 2. Cor. 12.9 11. They bore a Conscientious Testimony against the oppression of Tyths and being cast into Prison for the same could not give Money to Lawyers Jaylors c. for Liberty waiting Gods time for Deliverance Nor could they consult with Lawyers to save their Goods from the Claymers of Tyths For in so doing saith R.B. page 209 529. they lose the Glory of their Sufferings by not appearing as the Innocent followers of Christ 12. They durst not use Vain and Idle Words Foolish Jesting nor Wagers either for Money or Goods Their Words being few and Savory Ministering Grace to the Hearers Mat. 12.36 Having a Bridle for their Tongue for God sees all our Actions Prov. 15.3 13. They gave a good Example as to plainness in Apparel accounting such Professors in Religion Proud that wore Party-Coloured Stuff or such as was Striped or Shining or Flowered and that wore Long-Scarfs Silk-Gowns Curled Periwigs High Heads Rich Hats or other costly Array 1 Tim. 9.10 Knowing that such Examples strengthened the Proud Spirit in others which the Lord is about to bring down For Truth saith J. C. made many Burn their Pictures Laces and other needless Attire and Superfluities 14. They bore a Testimony also against such Professors of the Truth as Delighted in Feasting at Marriages c. And that were for Rich Furniture in their Houses Cloathing the Walls in them with Stuff Brass Pewter c. while many poor honest People wanted convenient Cloathing for their Backs For if God has given thee abundance do not cast how to enlarge thy Barn Shop c. but repaire immediately to the Bellies of such as are needy and oppressed with want to such people I mean as are Honest and in want and have not Heares to seek Relief of the Parish and make them the Store-Houses of thine Encrease Whatsoever is given in this kind is not Lost but Lent the Lord himself will Repay thee an Hundred sold so as thou gives it not in Vain Glory to be seen of Men. 15. They durst not give Flattering Titles unto Men or Women to their Faces as my Lord your Worship Sir Master or Mistress except to such as was really their Masters or Mistresses nor much Bowing to them antiently called Worship knowing that it exalted the Proud Spirit in them the more 16. Those of them that were Tradesmen having got sufficient to maintain themselves strived not for much Riches knowing it to be a Snare left their Trades or the most part thereof to the Younger or their Apprentices Not at all saith I. C. affecting great things for themselves nor to get a Name in the Earth but to stand approved in Gods Sight which they valued beyond the judgment of the Wise and the Honourable in the Earth or of any of the Sons of Men is also fully known to them that were Converted in the beginning See also Chap. 13. Sect. 7 and 8 in No Cross no Crown 17. They could in much Love begin and finish all concerns relating to their Society as to Marriages Relief of the Poor Admonishing Evil Persons end Differences c. to prevent Suits at Law At the end of their Religious Meetings a Religious Meeting being a Church Rom. 16.3 5. Col. 45. where the least esteemed of in the Church had Liberty to Judge 1 Cor. 6.4 Leaving every Meeting to their own Power See W. P's Rejoynder to John Faldo But of latter times some have swerved from the said good Order in the Churches which caused another worthy Man an Antient Labourer in Christs Vine-yard to give in his Testimony amongst others part thereof is as follows viz. We Believe in his Name Christ Jesus and he only is our Lord Lawgiver and the Shepherd of his Sheep and they hear his Voice and the Voice of a Stranger they will not follow These Sayings are professed by us all but I find but a few in the practise of them I might mention the Doctrine and Practise of the Apostles and a Cloud of Witnesses both before and since that they neither did Command nor Compel Conformity in matters of Conscience relating to Church-Discipline but I shall upon this occasion and at this time rather mention the Truth which we received in the Begining The breaking forth of it was very Glorious after so long a Night of Darkness Oh! How acceptable was it to my Soul with many more It can never be forgotten How contrary was Compulsion and Driving into Conformity to it Even as Light is contrary to Darkness Oh! How did Love and Vnity abound amongst us that received the Truth in the Love of it Every one sitting under his own Vine and Drinking of the Fountain of Life which the Lord hath opened in us and walking in that Liberty wherewith Christ had set us free Not a Word of Conformity or Church-Discipline for many Years then we Loved one another even as Christ had Loved us freely for his Name sake and went hand in hand together serving the Lord and one another and the least breathing that was after God in any How glad were we to see the Faces one of another And how did our Harmony sound in all
A Brief CHARACTER OF THE ANTIENT CHRISTIAN QUAKERS Written by W. M. A Witness for the Truth as it was in the Begining LONDON Printed for S. Clarke in George-Yard in Lombard-Street 1695. A Brief CHARACTOR Of the Antient CHRISTIAN-QVAKERS FIrst In the North of England there was a few Religious People that could find no Satisfaction to their Immortal Souls amongst the several Will-Worshipers having been amongst them Met often together to wait upon God with frequent Prayers unto him That they might attain to that Holyness of Life the Saints Injoyed Recorded in the Holy Scriptures Crying unto God as did Holy David Psalm 42.1 As the Hart panteth after the Water-Brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God And it pleased God to satisfie their Thirsting and Breathing Souls by giving them more Grace which was Purchased for us all by the Sufferings and Death of his dear Son our Saviour Christ Jesus which descovered the way of Truth unto them whereby they were enabled to walk in the delightful Path of Righteousness to pleas God and so received power through the alone help of this Inward and Spiritual Grace to overcome all the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil Yea the Lord discovered unto them so much of his Divine Power and Love in their Assemblies that their Bodies was made to Tremble as Moses Habakkuk c. at the power of Gods Presence which some Rude People Seeing called them in Scorn Quakers Isa 66.5 Jer. 33.9 2. About the Year 1653. God sent some of them to Declare to People what God had done for their Souls Declaring sometimes in Market-places sometimes in Steeple-Houses and Meettings and many Thousands were Converted to the Truth as it is in Jesus That a worhy Man in the South who was Converted to the Truth through the power of their Ministry Write a little Book which he called The Principles of Truth saith in p. 14.15 c. By this Gift of God in our Hearts we further Believe That Christ Jesus Rose again from the Dead according to the Scriptures and Sits at Gods Right Hand in a Glorious Body and we Believe That our low Estate and humble Bodies shall be made like unto his Glorious Body through the working of his Mighty Power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself and that this Mortality shall put on Immortality For though we Believe that Christ Jesus hath Lighted every Man with his Light whereby Man may come to know himself Lost and Vndone as before is said yet therefore is not every Man Saved though the Grace that appears to all Men is Sufficient in it self but some have the Grace of God bestowed upon them in vain not liking to retain God in their Knowledge though something within them shews them what is Good but they reject the Councel of God within or against themselves to their own Destruction Luke 7.30 see the Margin and yet it doth not follow that the Grace is Insufficient of it self no more than it follows that Christs Death is Insufficient because he tasted Death for every Man and yet every Man is not Saved Neither doth Regeneration or the Believing in the Light of Christ within make void the Death and Sufferings of Christ without at Jerusalem no more than Believing the Scripture Testimony without concerning Christ's Death make void the Work of Regeneration and Mortification within But as the Apostle saith in another Case so I say in this For as the Man is not without the Woman neither is the Woman without the Man in the Lord Even so is not the Death and Sufferings of Christ without at Jerusalem to be made void and of none effect by any thing within neither doth the Light within make that of none effect without but both in the Lord answer his Will For though there is and may be a Knowledge and Belief of what Christ Did and Suffered without the Gates in his own Body upon the Tree and yet Sin alive in the Heart and the Work of Regeneration not known yet it can't be so where the Light within is believed on and obeyed so as to have its perfect Work in the Heart to Regenerate and make all things New and to be of God this Man can never make void what Christ hath done and suffered without and yet this New-Birth or Christ formed within and dwelling in the Heart by Faith doth not limit or confine Christ to be only within and not without also but both within and without according to the Good Pleasure of the Father to Reveal and make him Known For he Fills all things and the Heaven of Heavens cannot Contain him and yet he is at Gods Right Hand far above all Heavens in a Glorious Body By JOHN CROOK an Antient Labourer in Christs Vineyard yet on this fide the Grave to the Joy of many Souls To which I add the Poets Verses ETernal Love ought to be our Chief ame Life in our Saviors Death we duly clame In his dear Merits all our hopes must be Zone of our Everlasting Life is he A Bright Meridian of Eternity But how came this great Mistery to pass Eternal Wisdom the prime Author was The thing is deep and Mortal Minds are lost Heaven knows alone what this dear Blessing cost Consider then and let us still Adore Omnipotence which our weak Nature bore Compassioning us he lay'd a side Known Glory and dispising shame he Dy'd Sov'raign o're Death with Death he yet Comply'd But to return They for their faithful witnessing to the Truth Suffered many Stonings Finings and Imprisonments from Cruel Men yet God never forsook them so that they Sung Praises unto his Holy Name when in Dungeons 3. Their Message and Labour was to turn Peoples Minds to the Gift or Talent of Light or Grace in their own Souls the way to Life that it might be every ones Chief Teacher and Leader into all Truth Neh. 9.20 John 1.9 Tit. 2.11 1 Cor. 12.7 Rom. 1.19 Which caused the said J. C. to Write What unwearied Pains Truth made many to take to run too and fro to Inform and Fore-warn their Relations and Acquaintance least they should neglect the Day of their Visitation and they knowing the Truth should be Guilty of their Blood because they had not fore-warned them is known to many Witnesses See Truths Progress 4. They waited upon God in Silence in all their Meetings their Minds fixed on Gods Grace and out of Earthly Thoughts And none Spake until Gods Spirit Moved any one to Speak Durst not Pray or Preach mearly from Head Knowledge For sayeth the said J. C. How careful were those that came to Witness the Truth at the begining to keep Low and Humble that they might not be drawn from their Own Measurs least their Own Words should become their Burthen and they be Condemned in themselves for uttering that as in the Name of God which came not from the Spirit of the Living God And saieth R. Barckley in Page 453 in