Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	law_n	life_n	sin_n	22,698	5	5.7840	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31664	A brief apology in behalf of the people in derision call'd Quakers written for the information of our sober and well-inclined neighbors in and about the town of Warminster in the county of Wilts. by Wil. Chandler, Alex. Pyott, Jo. Hodges, and some others.	Chandler, William.; Pyott, Alex. (Alexander); Hodges, Jo.	1694 (1694)	Wing C1934A; ESTC R35979	36,422	93

not Life How could his People in all Ages partake of him if he were not present in them Surely this Doctrin don't deserve to be scoft but is most comfortable to those who are sick of Love and thirst ardently after the Enjoyment not Hear-say of him Consider seriously these things which are agreeable to Scripture Ro. 10.6 7 8. 2 Cor. 13.5 Col. 1.27 and with what reason People have derided us for our Belief herein terming it the Quakers Christ as though his manifesting himself in our Hearts were another or distinct from Jesus Christ of Nazareth that is glorified with God the Father in Heaven which we deny For though he be ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God far above all Principalities and Powers yet is not he so circumscribed but that as by him all things were made and created so he is the Life and Fulness Col. 1.16 Eph. 1.23 3.9 4.10 and filleth all in all in his Church and People Is the Divinity and Humanity of Christ divided Is not their inseparable Union the true and intire Christ Can then his God-head be present and he who is the Heavenly Man be absent What think you of him that appear'd to John and gave him his Commission to the Seven Churches whom he describes Rev. Ch. 1. who saith Behold I stand at the door and knock Rev. 3.20 2.23 if any Man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me The same saith I am he which searches the reins and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works Was not this the true Christ the Mediator Act. 17.31 Ro. 2.16 by whom God will judge the World And can he make this near inspection into the innermost part of the Minds of Men so as no Thought can escape his notice if he be not present there What made Paul desire that our Lord Jesus Christ might be with Timothy's Spirit 2 Tim. 4.22 Joh. 1.16 1 Joh. 4.13 if he thought it impossible Do not all acknowledge the Spirit of Christ who is the Anointed to be in his People and is he then absent Is its being a Mystery far beyond our comprehension to conceive how it can be a sufficient Argument that therefore 't is not so Ought we not in such cases to exercise Faith and acquiesce in the Testimony of the Holy Ghost exprest in the Sacred Scriptures rather than interpose with our nice and curious Subtilties prying unnecessarily into things that are too high for us remembring that Secret things belong to God and that those that know most here know only in part the things that are invisible 1 Cor. 13.9 12. and see them but as through a Glass Shall Men that neither know themselves nor have any intuitive knowledge of the Essences even of the meanest things wherewith Nature every-where presents us which are obvious to our Senses aspire to those yet more abstruce and undertake to account for that which is beyond the reach of the most pregnant Wits to penetrate Nor do we thus celebrate Christ's inward and spiritual appearance in the Soul of Man with the least intent to diminish the true value and efficacy of what he did without us or transacted for us as God manifested in Flesh but in concurrence with it and pursuant to it for the compleating the Salvation intended in it neither is it in opposition to him as he is without us but we believe in him as he is inwardly revealed in measure and also as he is in his own immense fulness without us both as he is the one Offering for Sin and also as he is that quickening Spirit and immortal Seed by which we are begotten again and made alive to God and the Author of that Living Faith through which 't is savingly applied to us For though he offered up himself once for all and sat down at the right hand of God yet 't is of absolute necessity that he thus appear and operate in the Hearts of his People through all times or otherwise they can never be happy nor they receive the full advantage of his Death But that he doth thus appear and work is most evident for since he is the alone Saviour and none are saved but those who are Regenerated that Grace or Operative Divine Agent that is the Efficient of true saving Faith and Regeneration must needs be Christ in us our Hope of Glory Wherefore 't is that we so frequently invite People to regard believe in close with and submit to him as he is the true Light discovering Evil thus manifested in their inward Parts for the full accomplishing their Redemption and Restoration that they may taste and see for themselves that the Lord is good and gracious and to Christ within otherwise than thus a measure of the anointing from the Anointed we don't pretend whatever People have apprehended concerning us Which truth our very Opposers are obliged to acknowledge notwithstanding they so ridicule it in us We hope it 's no Error to avouch the Power of Christ to be stronger than that of the Devil Gen. 3.15 that he is able really to bind him to bruise his Head and break his Power to dispossess and cast him out to fulfil to the uttermost the end of his coming to destroy the Works of the Devil and to save those from their Sins who shall have true Faith in his Name and Power Surely it 's not inconsistent with Christianity to believe that Christ can or will throughly purge his Floor that he can indeed deliver out of the Prison-house 1 Thes 5.23 and restore Man out of the Fall to God again and give him power to forsake the Devil and all his Works c. We find it consonant to Scripture and the Gospel-dispensation to believe that those who are regenerated and born again of the Spirit Ro. 6.6 7 11. 2 Pet. 1.4 have through the Spirit mortified the first carnal corrupt Nature which cannot please God and if dead Eph. 4.22 23 24. Col. 3.9 10. and slain and buried too surely then it no longer lives but the Mind is at liberty and restored to act in a new Life to walk after the Spirit and fulfil the Righteousness of the Law the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus Ro. 8.2 4. having set them free from the Law of Sin and Death which is its Wages 'T is for want of Peoples experiencing this real Birth of the Spirit brought forth and knowing Freedom in themselves by it which no Duties or Performances in the Will of Man nor entertaining of the most refined Opinions in Religion can administer short of the Law of the Spirit of Christ in their Hearts 't is for want of this that People are so very apprehensive of difficulty even to impossibility of living a Holy Righteous Life which yet is so necessary to our Salvation

things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned and to that end they had received the Spirit which is of God The Light of Nature is occupied about natural Objects those things that are within its own Region acting within its own prop●… Orb but reaches not to that knowledg of God which is Life Eternal except our natural Powers or human Capacity be illuminated by the Rays o● Divine Light for the World by Humane Wisdom knows not God An● Christ saith very plainly and positively 1 Cor. 1.20 That none knows the Father but th● Son Mat. 11.27 and he to whom the Son reveal● him That these strugglings in us should be the suggestions of Satan that he should disquiet and disturb People for their Sins for serving him and put them upon endeavouring to be freed from their vassalage under his power were absurd to imagine no our Saviour puts that beyond a Question when he asks Mark 3.24 27. Luk. 11.21 Can a Kingdom divided against it self stand And by and by saith plainly That whilst the Strong Man arm'd keeps the House his Goods are at peace till a stronger than he comes to bind him c. So that 't is clear it 's not the Devil but the approaches of a Superiour Power that breaks the peace of People for Sin and that follows and condemns them for Disobedience and Transgression and is the same that would and only can redeem their Minds ●●t of that miserable state and bind ●…at Strong Man and break his power ●nd cast him out would they but joyn ●ereto and accept of Deliverance by 〈◊〉 Nor does its being extended to all Men through all Ages from their Youth ●pwards bespeak it to be therefore natural or contemptible but on the contrary of the greater moment to all Men For besides that the Apostle saith 〈◊〉 manifestation of the Spirit is given ●o every Man to profit withal 1 Cor. 12.7 the Bles●ings and Gifts of God are free and valuable from their intrinsick worth God in nature ordained nothing in vain ●ut by how much any thing is of the greatest use to us for sustaining and accommodating our natural Life the more common it is as the Sun that gives Light to all thro' all Ages c. 'T is we fondly rate things according to our Fancies and esteem and prize them more for their Rarity and Curiosity than Usefulness but God bestows most universally that which is of the absolutest necessity to Man Are not all Men that are born Strangers and Enemies to God in the dark and at a distance from him in the State of Nature and must therefore be enlightned Jo. 3.3 5. converted and born again and beco●● Spiritural before we can be reconcile● to him shall not God then that woul● have all Repent and be Saved 1 Tim. 2.3 4. 2 Pet. 3.9 cau●… the Light of the Son of Righteou●…ness to shine upon all and give measure of his Grace and Spirit to a●… to assist them in the accomplishment o● that in themselves which they canno● do of themselves and yet is of indi●pensable necessity to our Salvation Wherefore God by his Spirit strive with Man so long as his day of Visitation lasts Since then our Opposers acknowledge the Spirit and Grace of God which also is Light to be in Man unless they can shew it by its manifestly different and superiour nature tendency and operation to be contradistinct from that we have been speaking of we see neither absurdity nor error in concluding it to be one and the same grace and free-gift of God to all which is always the same in nature though it differs in degree and is that Heavenly Treasure which God hath committed to our trust And blessed will they be who rightly employ and improve it Mat. 13.31 32. and give place and room to this seed of the Kingdom in their Hearts where though it may appear at first contrary to the expectation of Man little mean and contemptible scarcely regarded amongst the stuff wherewith Mens Minds are filled yet ●oyn but to it that it may exert its power and energie and 't will grow and increase Mat. 13.33 Luk. 13.21 let but this leaven have its perfect work and 't will leaven the whole lump into its own Nature Be pleased to consider whether we have justly merited the invidious invectives of our Adversaries Jer. 17.10 Ro. 8.27 Rev. 2.23 Amos. 4.13 in believing that the Lord searches the Heart of Man and shews him his Thoughts that he hath and will remember this ●atter Age of the World and hath not forgotten to be gracious in performing those bountiful Promises made in times past to the Off-spring of the Gentiles Jer. 31.33.34 Ezek. 36.26 27. Joel 2.28 29. Act. 2.16 17 18. Isa 54.13 Mat. 11.27 Isa 42.7 and 61.1 ●n placing his Law in our Hearts and putting his Truth in our inward parts ●n pouring out of his Spirit upon all the Sons and Daughters of Men in becoming our Teacher and giving us the knowledge of himself through the Revelation of his Son Jesus Christ who ●s come to open our blind Eyes and to bring us that were bound in darkness ●ut of the Prison-house who hath promised to be with his People to the end of the World Joh. 14.16 17 26. 16.7 in believing that God hath sent us the Comforter the spirit of Truth to be our Remembrancer and to guide and direct us in the way of Truth in attesting the sufficiency and utility of the Teachings of this Holy Unction 1 Joh. 2.20 27. sent into our Hearts in believing that though Christ be in his glorified Body in Heaven yet that he is present also in the Hearts of his People Joh. 14.17 20 23. 17.23 26. Isa 57 15. 2 Cor. 6.16 Prov. 8.31 who is King of Saints and shall he not then rule in them The High and Holy One that inhabits Eternity hath promised to dwell also with the Humble and Contrite to revive and comfort them shall not he whose Presence fills Heaven and Earth be present in the Heart of Man Shall not he that rejoyceth in the habitable parts of the Earth and delights in the Sons of Men reside in his People Are they not Members of him 1 Cor. 6.15 17 19. and he their Head Can there be a more intimate Union and Communion than between the Head and the Body Joh. 15.4 5. the Vine and the Branches The same Spirit of Life that is in the Head is the Life of the Body also and acts it he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit doth not the Life that is in the Root pass to the Branches also and preserve them living Are not all dead Branches in whom this Life is not Whosoever hath the Son of God Joh. 6.56 57. 1 Jo. 5.12 and feeds on him hath Life by him and those that have not Christ who is the Life of his Saints have

Lusts and Affections and bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit adorning the Doctrin of God our Saviour by a Sober Godly Righteous Life are of God 1 Joh. 3.10 for herein the Children of God are manifest from the Children of the Devil Thus have we candidly though briefly exprest our real Opinion and Belief in those Points in which we apprehend our Adversaries have endeavour'd most to expose us which we hope may prove satisfactory to those who are not resolved to think ill of us But to speak fully to every critical trifling Objection were a tedious Task as well as vastly beyond the Extent of our Design We request our serious Neighbours to hear and see for themselves and not take things upon trust from others and judging the things they know not condemn us by hear-say Don't be imposed upon by those whose peevish Humours would have all do like themselves who either look not at all or but very coyly into the Books of those they have taken a Pet against whose Perswasion in some things differs from what they have pronounced Orthodox as tho' Truth were their peculiar inclosure which yet certainly argues either a great deal of Prejudice or a feeble and fleeting Judgment that dares not trust it self Were our Books stuft with such palpable Errors as is suggested surely 't were not so dangerous Reading them Who fears to read the Alchoran But on the contrary 't is a strong indication that they contain much truth for as 't is the proper Object of the Understanding so where it appears with a clear Evidence answering to Peoples own Experience 't is very forcible and prevalent upon the Minds of those who diligently seek it for love of it and willingly deposit all pre-ingagements of Mind in its disquisition Be then so just to us and kind to your selves as to relinquish all Prejudice and Prepossessions and impartially examine the truth of these things search the Sacred Scriptures diligently with an inclination rather to find and embrace Truth than to support a received Opinion try whether 't is so or not comparing it with your own Experiences and the Witness of God in your own Hearts Though our Belief in some of these Particulars don 't exactly quadrate to that of our Opposers it don't therefore necessarily follow 't is not agreeable to Truth and Scripture Nor can they give us any infallible assurance that their Conceptions are a true Standard of Truth notwithstanding they vend their Apprehensions as the only Orthodox yes and are displeased too with those that can't be determined by them We have no Design carrying on behind the Curtain howsoever our Sober Demeanour may be uncharitably not to say maliciously insinuated as only a Cover of Sheeps Cloathing upon the Wolves Nature and our most Solemn Declaration of our Belief in several Religious Points being undeniable Truths construed and suggested by some Men as only a fair Cover wherewith we guild over our Poyson that it may pass the less suspected and be the more glibly swal●owed What think you is not this ●he heighth of Prejudice and Envy in ●he abstract Would they themselves be content to be thus interpreted We have no intent to decoy and tra●an People that we should walk under a Disguise which Intreagues usually have interest at one end of them which can't be our case who neither give nor take Money for Preaching so that the increase of our Numbers won't fill our Coffers We have no other Interest to promote but the Advancement of True Piety and Christianity And having Love and Good-will to all People more especially to those whose Minds are awakened and Hearts warmed having true fervent Desires and living Breathings towards God thirsting after a nearer and more satisfactory knowledge of and acquaintance with him than barely a profession and hear-say of him and therefore what we have found advantageous assistant and satisfactory to us in our unwearied pursuit after Peace with him that we recommend to others We call People home to the Gift of God in themselves which only can do them good that every one may know the good Shepherd and Bishop of Souls for themselves and hear and know his Voice in them from that of a Stranger and learn of him and follow him who is pure and ever leads to Purity and Holiness that so his offering up of himself for them may be of benefit to them and they experience the great Salvation of God For impress this upon your Minds and take it along with you That notwithstanding our Saviour hath paid a Ransom for us and made an Atonement through the precious Blood of his Cross yet if we experience not the end of his Coming and Death effected and answered in our selves it shall avail us nothing except we know him a Saviour and Supporter near except we know a Principle of Divine Light and Life to illuminate our Minds to revive and warm our languishing Hearts to beget and increase true Love to God and the living Faith that gives Victory to convert us and govern our Thoughts to renew and regulate our Wills and limit our Desires and bridle our Tongues to excite holy Inclinations and keep up a due Heat in our Christianity and strengthen our Minds in that which is good and well-pleasing to God Except we know these things in and for our selves all our outside shew of Religion is but vain and our profession of Christ shall profit us nothing but we shall lye down in sorrow at last For none are Christ's Ro. 8.9 14. but those that have his Spirit and are influenced by it nor are any Children of God but those that are led by the Spirit of God which begets in the Mind a detestation of Sin and Evil and a love to Purity Goodness and Vertue Wherefore laying aside all Strife and Animosities all Envying and Evil-speaking let us abhor that which is Evil Ro. 12.9 and cleave to that which is Good and address our selves with a due and humble Application to the accomplishment of that most concerning and important Affair of our Lives the working out our Salvation And let every one follow the Lord faithfully according to what is made known to them knowing that we shall be judged according to our Knowledge and that 't will be happy for those whose Wills and Performances correspond with their Understandings in that Day when all must stand before the Judgment-seat of Christ and give an Account of their Deeds done in the Body and receive a Sentence thereafter either Come ye blessed or Depart from me ye workers of Iniquity It won't be then of what Congregation or Confession of Faith or of what Perswasion amongst the many wast thou Among all which there will then be but Two sorts the Sheep and the Goats those that heard the Shepherd's Voice and followed him who were guided and governed by the good Spirit of God in their Hearts and those who wrapping their Talent in a Napkin stifled Convictions and