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
A44811	Truth lifting up its head above slander in an answer to Thomas Jackson, late priest of Stoke in Sussex, his lying paper which he left in the north of England / by Francis Howgill ; whereunto is added something by way of letter from another hand to the said T.J. shewing the reasons why it is meet to publish the same at this time ... ; likewise a brief rehearsal of some remarkable passages out of E.B. his book called Satan's design defeated.	Howgill, Francis, 1618-1669.; Burrough, Edward, 1634-1662. Satans designe defeated.	1663 (1663)	Wing H3186; ESTC R178363	18,130	24

wantonness and then walk after their own ungodly lusts being gone from the grace of God which had appeared unto them which afterwards they turned their backs upon and fell from And the Grace of God which brings Salvation hath appeared unto all men yet all men are not taught by it my reason is not because they want a Teacher neither because Grace is not given to lead them and to uphold them in Righteousness but because they love it not or stand not in his Counsel and so falling from his Counsel fall into ungodliness And furthermore the Apostle saith as concerning Faith and a good Conscience they had put away and made shipwrack of it They could not put Faith away which had none neither make shipwrack of a Ship that never had one And furthermore Christ said unto his Disciples Except a branch abide in the Vine it cannot bring forth fruit no more can you except you abide in me So that it is evident that there is a possibility for a branch to be cut off from the Vine and to wither and also that there may be a coming unto Christ and a bringing forth fruit unto God and yet losing the Power of God the ●ight and life thereof by which they have ability to do the Will of God may wither and die and so become unprofitable Thou bidst me reade the Jesuites Writings if I had so much understanding Thou art more conversant with the Jesuites Writings than I desire to be it may be thou hast waded seven years in the old Popish Colledges in which there are great store of such and what thou hast done since the Light in thy Conscience will let thee see Yet I see before the Jesuites or their Writings and need not to search there in such blackness and darkness And then thou sayest Tell me who thou art like I say I deny them all in the root and in the ground but as for thee and the rest of the Parish-hirelings you are a stem sprung from the same root manifest clearly to thousands in England by very many of your practices which have been made evident in publick and so in that I shall forbear Thou sayest in thy rage I am given over to a mind without Judgment because I said unto thee thou knewest not what the Soul was because thou said and affirmed it was a created thing which thing I bid thee prove which thing thou did not then neither yet hast and yet most impudently hast set it down as a tenent of mine that I should affirm when only I desired thy proof but let the Serpent be blind for me I shall not feed that which is for destruction for thou art not one of those which watch for the Soul to see it brought out of the grave or out of death but for thy gain from thy quarter and for Iniquity Thou sayest Do not Souls go to Hell and can the Eternal Birth go thither I 'le ask thee a Question What was it that delivered David from the nethermost Hell that brought his soul out of the Pit and delivered his darling from the devouring Lion And what is it that tormenteth the wicked in Hell Is it not written If I go up into Heaven thou art there or if down into Hell thou art there Whither shall I go from thy Presence or whither shall I flee from thy Spirit Art thou fit to be a Leader of a Flock who art ignorant of what Salvation is preached to or what it is that wants Redemption I say thou preachest up the report of Christ without the knowledge of him and thou sayest Blessed are those that believe thy report unto whom the Arm of the Lord is revealed Many have heard thy Report and such Reporters as thou and yet know not Blessedness neither is the Arm of the Lord revealed to them or in them Thou preachest him in words but in works deniest him Thou sayest What gracious souls can but bleed to hear how the Offices of Christ are rejected and denied amongst us yea his Blood and Sufferings as to be onely report or signal thing Signal thing is thy own words and it is evident who deny the Office of Christ and who deny his Sufferings for we say He suffered once to take away sin but you say that the dearest Saint of God cannot be cleansed from sin while upon Earrh We say that the Blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin and there is no remission without blood and you say that none is to expect clensing from all sin in this life We say Christ is anointed of God to be a Leader to his People whose lips only are to preserve knowledge and the Law is to be received at his mouth who saith Learn of me and we say the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy and that Christ is to rule as King and where sin rules he ruleth not where sin is acted and brought forth Christ is not King over them But you say the acts of sin or the reliques or remainders thereof must never be subdued while upon Earth or done away wholly We say according to Christ's own words Believe in the Light and this is an Ordinance of Christ but this you call delusion and would make it void So thou mayest take a view of your Doctrines and let thy heart bleed when thou comest to consider how thou rejectest the Office Ordinances Blood and Sufferings of Christ and in a word deniest the very End of his Coming which is to save his People from their sins But thou sayest the Children of the Promise can by Faith glory in him and rest in him for Eternal Life There is none knows Eternal Life but who have the living Faith through which it is revealed And the Life is the Light of men but you deny the Light and so deny the Foundation of Faith and the Author of it and live in a life which is carnal and take up a rest in these things which are invented in the Apostacy by corrupt-minded men which things are polluted which all them that come to know Eternal Life must rise out of for this is not their Rest but their Rest standeth in him who subdueth and putteth under that which hath resisted him in all that believe and then they come to know their Rest. Thou sayest further What is it a cankered way to preach Repentance and Faith and to mortifie the deeds of the body and to have their conversation in Heaven I say Nay But to make people believe that they have repented and have Faith and that they are cleansed and that they are mortified and that they have their conversation in Heaven when they are alive to Deceit and to Unrighteousness and to the Lusts of the flesh and converse with the worldly lusts which make war against the soul I call this Cankered Doctrine and it eats as a Canker where it is received in What art thou out of thy wits or hast thou lost thy understanding Doest thou look that any

beget a true Repentance in thee But like evil men and seducers thou growest worse and worse deceiving and being deceived still continuing in thy old course of backbiting railing and secret smiting the Innocent And because the Judgment of God hath reached thee in some measure according to the Word of the Lord by his Servant aforesaid in his said Answer even so as thou canst not now vent thy devilish Persecution openly in a Pulpit yet still as I have heard thou takest occasion by creeping into houses and corners when thou canst but get together a company of silly women laden with sins and led away with divers lusts then thou takest opportunity to vent thy old Lies and Blasphemies afresh against God his Name his Truth his Tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven calling the Truths of God Popish Tenents and they that hold the same Hereticks when as it is thou thy self and thy Presbyterian Brethren that do hold such things and not the innocent People of God called Quakers As witness 1. Your denying the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles which they held forth preached up pressed after and attained unto in this life viz. A freedom from sin and Perfection As these Scriptures following do testifie and bear witness unto How shall we saith the Apostle that are dead to sin live any longer therein Rom. 6. 2. knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin ver 6 7. Being then made free from sin ye became the servants of Righteousness for when ye were the servants of sin ye were free from Righteousness but now being made free from sin and become Servants to God ye have your fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting life ver 18 20 22. What can be more plain And then again He that committeth sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the beginning For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God 1 Joh. 3. 8 9. And so for Perfection Be ye therefore Perfect saith Christ even as your Father which is in Heaven is Perfect Mat. 5. 48. We speak Wisdom among them that are Perfect saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 6. And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers what to do why mark for the Perfecting of the Saints for the Work of the Ministry for the Edifying of the Body of Christ till we all come in the Unity of the Faith and of the Son of God unto a Perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes. 4. 11 12 13. And this was the end of the Apostles preaching to present every man Perfect in Christ Jesus Col. 1. 28. And this is the end of all Scripture even that the Man of God may be Perfect thorowly furnished unto all good works 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. For the Law made Nothing Perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did viz. Christ by the which we draw nigh unto God Heb. 7. 19. For by one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10. 14. What can be more plain And ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto the City of the living God and the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven and to GOD the Jvdge of all and to the spirits of Just men made Perfect Heb. 12. 22 23. But your denying of this Truth sheweth you have made a league with Sin Death and Hell for as long as you live you teach others to do so too telling them they must not look to be free from corruption and sin while they live here The Consequence of which Doctrine of yours must in the end bring in that Popish Tenent of Purgatory For if Perfection and freedom from sin is not attainable unto in this life as you say on the one hand Nor no unclean person or thing can enter into Heaven the Kingdom of God in the life to come as the Scriptures of Truth say on the other hand Eph. 5. 5. Rev. 21. 27. Then tell me when and where must the time and place of cleansing be must it not be in a middle place and a middle time between Earth and Heaven and between this life and the life to come and so equal to the Papists Purgatory If this be not the Consequence of this your Doctrine let the wise in heart judge Again witness 2. Your maintaining the lawfulness of Swearing now under the Gospel against the express words of Christ and his Apostles to the contrary who saith But I say unto you Swear not at all what more full neither by Heaven for it is Gods Throne nor by the Earth for it is his Footstool neither by Jerusalem for it is the City of the great King Neither shalt thou swear by thy head because thou canst not make one hair white or black But let your communication be yea yea nay nay For whatsoever is more then these cometh of evil Mat. 5. 34 35 36 37. And the Apostle James saith But above all things swear not neither by heaven neither by the earth neither by any other Oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest you fall into condemnation Jam. 5. 12. which is plain without all exception And whether is not that an Antichristian and Popish Tenent to put constructions and meanings upon plain places of Scripture contrary to the mind of Christ and his Spirit which wrote them which are so plain that none that are simple-hearted can oppose or evade Again witness 3. Your former taking and now pleading for and justifying that Popish maintenance of Ministers by Tythes which in its first Institution in the time of the Law when it was in full force was appointed for the Levite because he had no part nor Inheritance among his brethren and therefore he was not to be forsaken nor forgotten and for the Stranger and the Fatherless and the Widow that they might eat and be satisfied Deut. 14. 27 28 29. and so there was no lack among them But you plead for it now under the Gospel and that by the same Law which Law Christ hath since ended and also changed that Priest-hood and disanulled that Commandment by which it was both taken and given Heb. 7. And the Stranger and the Fatherless and the Widow have little or no benefit by it at all from your hands neither are our streets free from Beggers and besides they are taken by you who have great Inheritances in the Land and yearly Revenues besides Again in the first Institution of Tythes they were all