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
A63486	A faithful and true witenss to the light of Jesus Christ, or, Word of faith within in the heart and conscience proving that God alwayes did, and doth reveal himself in it, and through it to the sons and daughters of men, that they may believe and be saved ... : also a postscript in answer to some base lyes and reflections cast upon me by William Haworth, an independent preacher / Christopher Taylor.	Taylor, Christopher, ca. 1615-1686.	1675 (1675)	Wing T264; ESTC R25802	11,574	18

such who are at present wilfully bent and set to oppose the Light Here is Law and Gospel to be revealed spiritually in the Light the Promise witnessed the promised Seed the Power of God to Salvation made manifest the same witnessed in this Light that both kills and makes alive the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus that makes free from the Law of Sin and Death Oh blessed are they that believe in this Light that they may be the Children of it through the true Judgment that is in it they will come to know the Mystery of Eternal Salvation and rest with the Lamb for everm●re But some perhaps will object and say Why did Christ Jesus say to his Disciples he would send them the Comforter if he went away from them in that bodily Appearance which should convince the World of Sin Righteousness and Judgment if the Manifestation of the Spirit was already in the World to convince them of Sin Righteousness and Judgment and to comfort true Believers I answer surely none will or can deny who profess Christianity but the Apostles in some Measure before Christ's outward Departure from them had the Comfort of the holy Spirit in them and were both Believers and obedient Children in their Measure when he sent them forth in his Name before his Departure and they returned rejoycing because the Devils were made subject c. to that living Authority they were sent forth in and the World was also convinced of Sin Righteousness and Judgment in Measure before the Promise of this sending and great pouring forth of the Spirit but this was a fuller Ministration promised of Gospel-Glory both for the further and fuller Convincement of the World and also the fuller Revelation of this great Mystery to them Christ within the Hope of Glory for their exceeding great Satisfaction and Increase of that Comfort and Faith which in some Measure they had before and gifting and impowering them for that great Work whereunto they were appointed And therefore all the World may see that are not wilfully blind that it alwayes was and is and will be the same forever that reveals the Comfort of the Holy Ghost to such as are true Believers in Christ Jesus and also convinces the World of Sin Righteousness and Judgment the Principle is one the Spirit of Truth the Light the VVord of Faith the same forever in all Ages and Generations according to its Manifestation that all through it believing and by the Means of it may know the Lord and his Sufficiency forever for by what Means do People come to see when they are tempted or when Evil is presented in their Hearts and a Consent of Heart is pressed unto by the Enemy doth not this Light of Christ in the Heart immediately give them VVarning and by believing and hearkning to the Counsel of its Teaching are they not preserved even in Heart from Consenting and is not this an Act of true Faith through the vertuous Blood of Jesus and is not this the Presence of God's Power in Christ made manifest in the Light that gives Ability to resist and is greater in such to preserve out of Evil then the Power of Darkness to prevail and lead into it Oh that People would consider what belongs to their Peace and know the great God near them with his Light within the Ground both of their Sight and Strength to let them see Evil in its first Appearance and give them present Power and Help against it and that all may be ashamed who have lift up a Weapon against the Power and Sufficiency of its Teaching and repent is the true Desire of him who is a Lover of true Righteousness Christopher Taylor A Postscript FOrasmuch as VVilliam Haworth an Independent Preacher makes mention of my Name in his Reply to the Book written by John Crook and VVilliam Bayly in Answer to his called The Quaker converted and it is there printed in his Epistle That I called the Doctrine of Election a Devilish Damnable and Blasphemous Doctrine which is a most wicked and notorious Lye from the Father of Lyes which is the Devil who hath got such Power and Head in VVilliam Haworth's Heart that he is grown desperate and Fool-hardy But I affirm that W. H. in the hearing of Jeremy Swift of Hartford and another Man in his Prison-Chamber there we falling into Dispute about the Doctrine of Election and Reprobation and I asking him in these Words Whether God ordained People to be wicked before they were born answered Yes and did affirm it which I might perhaps Justly call a Devil●sh Damnable and Blasphemous Doctrine and his I noted down in Writing and afterwards writ a Paper and sent to the afore-named Jeremy Swift one of the Members of his Church so called wherein was mentioned this wicked Doctrine with other of the same kind but that ever I said the Doctrine of Election was a Damnable Doctrine I utterly deny and he knows in his own Conscience he notoriously belyes me for in all our Reasonings about such Things I affirmed both the Doctrine of Election and Reprobation according to Scripture but that God ordained People to be wicked before they were born let him prove that damnable and wicked Doctrine if he can or else own himself to be a wicked Heathen and a Ranter for if so then God is the Author of all Wicked●ess Also he said That I with others of my Fellow-Prisoners contended against Original Sin unto which I answer That I alwayes affirmed that the Devil alwayes was and is the Original of Sin in Mankind who obey him it was alwayes my Judgment that Adam sinned by hearkning to the Devil and disobeying the Counsel of the Lord but how there can be any other kind of Sinning then through Vnbelief and Disobedience to God's Law and Gospel I know not that is how Innocents or Infants in the Womb of their Mothers can sin or be guilty of Sin until they have transgressed the Law of God and contract●d Guilt by that Means I understand not Therefore this Doctrine of concluding Infants in the Womb Transgressors before they have done Evil either in Thought Word or Work is a cruel unnatural Doctrine and he ought to prove his Charge of Evil or Sin against them or else be ashamed and charge Innocents no longer until they have done Evil for Thousands and Ten Thousands by this Vngodly and Vncharitable Doctrine are condemned who are Innocent Again whereas he saith how often did I hear this Man repeat in his Preaching do this and Live hereby insinuating as if I pressed People to the Observance of Moses's Law only in the Letter for Life and did not press unto the Obedience of Faith in Christ Jesus Vnto which I answer That he never once heard me repeat so but a lying Spirit hath possessed him and from the Heart so possessed proceeds Lyes but I alwayes directed to Christ Jesus the true Saviour and his Light within that through Faith in

Generations the Lord hath afforded the Means of Salvation even in the Dayes of the greatest Ignorance that ever was in the World which he is said to wink at yea amongst the Gentiles that which might be known of God was manifest in them for he shewed it unto them Rom. 1. 19. even the Light of his Son Christ Jesus that true Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World which was the Cause of the Revelation of the Wrath of God from Heaven against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men who held the Truth in Unrighteousness Rom. 1. 18. For the very Gentiles were l●st without Excuse because when they knew God they glorified him not as God c. Ver. 21. Here therefore is the Means to all Mankind in general the Word of Faith in their Hearts that they may believe and understand what God requires of them in their Day and Time and they in all Ages that have feared God and eschewed Evil so far as they were convinced in their Hearts by this Principle of God's absolute Requirings and joyned their Hearts to this Principle trusting in it and refusing the Evil though they did not know the Name of it in such Clearness as we do in this Day yet in Measure they were Believers and Partakers of the Vertue of it by Means whereof they received Strength and were kept from Evil and were God's Witnesses and reproved the Wickedness of the Times they lived in and in that they knew not so much of God as after-Generations had revealed unto them yet they wore accepted in their faithful Obedience to what they knew in their Day and was necessarily required of them So that the Word of Faith was testified unto by Moses in his Day Deut. 30. 11 12 13 14. And it was the same Word of Faith which the Apostles preached Rom. 10. 6 7 8 c. And therefore it was the same in the Day of Moses the Word of their Faith that they might believe and obey the Lord's Commands and in all Times Ministrations and Dispensations it was the same and it was God's spiritual Witness in the Apostles Dayes when they preached their Spiritual Powerful and Heavenly Gospel there was a Witness in Peoples Consciences when they preached their Gospel mark that they had their Witness in every Man's Conscience which evidenced and witnessed the Truth of the Apostles Doctrine though they rejected it and therefore with this Light they were condemned for their Unbelief and the Apostle was clear of their Blood and of the Blood of all Men because they would not hear or regard the Gospel preaching though they were capacitated by this Word of Faith to have believed and obeyed it but they whose Hearts did not believe to Righteousness were such as loved their Evil Deeds and hated the Light and it was their Condemnation O the malicious Sottishness of some professed Preachers of that they call Gospel who are notorious Wicked against the Truth and in my hearing have called this blessed Light of Jesus Flesh and altogether Darkness whither will not Malice transport People so that what Blasphemy will they not utter who hate the Lord 's Christ and his blessed Appearance Oh Rebellious Teachers and Blind Leaders of the People who drag the People into Mischief instead of bringing them unto Christ or turning them to his Light that they may believe and be saved the Hand of the Lord is against such vain Bablers and filthy Teachers who deny the Lord that bought them and tread his precious Blood under their wicked Feet and will neither enter themselves into the Gospel-Faith that they may be saved nor suffer others to enter whom they can hinder I speak this of such wicked shameless Zealots as have sold themselves to do wickedly and are not ashamed in the Face of the whole World to oppose the Light within in Malice and Hypocrisie whatever it costs them yea they are as wicked as the worst of Christ's Enemies ever were who cryed Away with him Crucifie him his Blood be upon us and our Children with what Force have they endeavoured in like Manner to destroy the Truth and quench the Spirit Breath and Life of it And it may be some of those in former Times were by this very Principle they so perfectly oppose convinced of Sin and then had some Sence of the VVeight of their Iniquities upon them and in that Day there might be some Tenderness wrought in them and they might have Openings of Light and Truth so far as to let them see there was a Necessity of separating from the Sin of the Times they lived in and from their VVayes and VVorships and the Lord owned them as they feared him and were an enquiring People after him then and they had some of them Openings of further Discoveries at Hand and glorious Times to come and they would speak of the Teaching of the Spirit within and a VVork within and were a breathing People and there was some Greenness amongst them and they were in Measure hated and persecuted and all this and if they had had a Thousand Times more Experience of God it was by and through this Light and pure VVord of Faith as God opened to them in it but departing from this Inward Light and Teaching and sitting down in the Form of that which in some Degree they had had some Tast of and not waiting in Tenderness in that Light and Spirit which opened good Things unto them and let them see that blessed Things were at Hand to be revealed and further Manifestations of God in Christ they fell from their State and departed from the Light and Spirit within and lost their Strength to withstand the Enemy and so he got Power over them and in Heart they have backslided and in that State they have rebelled against the Lord and his Truth in their own Particulars and found out a VVay to excuse themselves by calling themselves Believers in a State of Sin and Christ dyed for them and they are the Elect of God and the like and God imputes Christ's Righteousness to them and sees no Sin in them but looks upon them in Christ though the Enemy bears the Rule and p●ss●ss●s the Heart a meer Cheat but if they had stood in God's Heavenly Light and Counsel he would by his Eternal Almighty Power soon have subdued Sin under them and they would have witnessed Christ in them the Hope of Glory greater then he that is in the World and have known the VVork of true Regeneration and Peace and not have needed such vain Covets and Beggarly Shifts as now they are got into and with the Pharise●s say they see and yet their Sin remains in their Hearts spiritually persecuting the dear Lord Jesus yea if they had kept to their first Integrity and waited in the Light they would have been able to have read God's pure living Dispensations with his People in this the Day of his pure Power but it is hid from the Eyes of

against the Evil in all Ages and Generations and for the Good and to every Dispensation and Ministrarion of God that in whatsoever Time they lived they might know how to chuse the Good and refuse the Evil and through this Inward Light Abraham knew the Voice of God that spake to him and that it was the Voice of God and that it was not a Delusion when he was called out of his own Country he had Power waiting upon God in this Principle to try the Spirits and to discern the Voice and Teaching of the true Spirit of God he had no other Teacher but the Lord in this Light and God commanded him to offer up his Son Isaac and he obeyed and had Power so to do in this Light so that the Word of his Faith was nigh him even in his Heart and Mouth to obey the Precepts and Commands of God in it so that Christ was then his Teacher whom he believed in and obeyed and was the Shepherd and Bishop of his Soul whose Day in the Light he saw and rejoyced for God's Manifestations and Heavenly Operations were all then in and through Christ and Salvation then was in him and in no other for God never revealed or wrought any Work without him and the holy Men of God then were made holy by no other Power but the Power of Christ revealed in the Light so that by this Light and the Manifestation of the Spirit within they knew how to distinguish betwixt the true and false Righteousness in all Ages and the true and false Spirit and what they both led and moved unto and so the Holy Men reproved the Wicked in all Ages and were God's faithful Witnesses for they feared him and waited upon him and he poured forth of his Spirit upon them and they received the Gift of it in all Ages so far as God was pleased to make it manifest and they were impowred with it to do the Lord's Will and they were a spiritual People and led by the Manifestation of the Spirit of God in their Wayes and Works and there were spiritual Jews in measure which worshipped God in the Spirit and their Confidence was in God and not in the Flesh or in the Arm of it David in measure knew God's Spirit and Power in that Dispensation and it was the Lord that guided him and conducted him in his going out in his Name against Goliah without Sword or Spear for he went out in the Faith and Strength of God and prevailed and he knew the Lord was with him by the Word of his Faith wherein God shewed him his great Authority and Power which he should stand in and overcome that Goliah and the Spirit of God came upon many and they did and suffered many wonderful Things by the Help and Assistance of God in the Light so that they were Witnesses of the living God and Power of Eternal Salvation or of that Eternal Word that became Flesh so that in those ancient Dayes what God revealed to his People or Prophets it was in the Light within and Principle we now direct People to and never was there any Revelation or Dispensation of God or Operation of his Power but it was in his own Light both before the Law under the Law and in this Day of his more spiritual Appearance and in Christ was the Acceptation in all Ages as People feared God and wrought Righteousness so that they in their Day that worshipped God in the Spirit so far as God was pleased to reveal himself and strictly require of them were accepted and the disobedient rejected and the true Worshippers among the Jews had their Acceptation in Christ whereby they were impowered with a Measure of his Spirit to offer their Hearts to God and when at any Time they offered the Offerings required under that Dispensation with a perfect and true Heart in the Fear and Love of God they were accepted because they rightly and honestly obeyed the Lord in such his Requirings and such grew into further inward Discoveries of the Substance whenas on the contrary they that were sinful and hypocritical though in the Letter and Form of that Worship they might offer and do the same Thing in Shew and Appearance yet it was abominable they not being the true People of God but only made a Shew then of being so were then the hypocritical and false-hearted Jews their Offering and Service not proceeding from a pure but a polluted Mind and Heart rejecting the Counsel of God in the Light or Word of Faith in their Hearts which convinced them of Sin and in which the Lord set before them Life and Death which Counsel they rejected and lived then in the bare Form of Godliness but not in the Power so in that sinful Nature living though in the Dayes of Christ the Pharisees flourished exceedingly in the Profession of that Dispensation of Moses according to the Letter or Form of it that when Christ the Substance came they opposed him and so were made manifest to be of the Devil because they loved their Evil Deeds and hated the Light and in that Mind and State of sinful inward Hypocrisie they did as naturally oppose the Lord Jesus in his Appearance in that Body at Jerusalem as they did that Manifestation of his Appearance in their own Consciences which convinced them of Sin and called them out of it So they that fear'd God in the Dayes of Moses were led within to the Substance of all those Types and Shadows and outward Representations whatsoever and by the Interpretation and Teaching of the Word of Faith in their Hearts they were instructed in the Mystery of Salvation it self the better Hope the Power of God and came to see what those outward Shadows signified under the Law and whereunto they served as Christ said to his Disciples after he had spoken forth Parables to the People they inquiring the Meaning of the Parables To you saith he it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom but to others in Parables So to them under the Law who feared God and attended to the Word of Faith within to them it was given to know the true Meaning of those Types and what they signified and served unto and their true and right Vse and they were his true People then serving the Lord according to the Revelation of his Will under that Dispensation and they were inwardly made Holy by the inward Power of Christ and were accepted there in their Holy and Evangelical Faith and Living so far as the Lord was pleased to open that great Mystery in them and to them for without Faith in Christ then the Substance who was to come in that bodily Appearance at Jerusalem it was as impossible to please God as now and by that Faith they were sav'd and accepted for the bare Observance of the Letter of the Law made nothing Persect Now this is the Sum of what I have to say in this Matter in all Ages and

him the true Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World People might be saved and be obedient to the Gospel of Peace and come to witness the good Work of Regeneration and enter God's Kingdom but he told me as several can witness That though a Man was regenerate and born again and so might enter God's Kingdom yet this was not sufficient nay he call●d this Work of Regeneration Legal Righteousness and a Man 's own Righteousness but this is so abominable and wicked a Doctrine that surely none but Hypocrites and Infidels will believe It is such Nonsence that greater was never uttered that a Man should come into such a State through Faith in Christ Jesus without which it cannot be as to be regenerate and enter God's Kingdom and yet this is not sufficient then let him tell me what this Man entered into God's Kingdom and so possessed of an Everlasting Inheritance in Christ Jesus is further to do or believe for Sufficiency is he not now a Possessor of the Everlasting Inheritance in Christ Jesus Tell me what State is greater and beyond this nay this he said was Legal Righteousness what a Traytor is this Man to God and his Gospel who hath seemed in Words and Profession thus far to hug and to love Christ and the Scriptures and with his feigned Lips to betray him into the Hands of the vilest of Men and call this his most blessed Work of Regeneration Legal Righteousness and a Man 's own Righteousness thus betraying his most blessed Image into the Hands of Sinners to be trampled upon and vilified and abused under the Name of Legal Righteousness and a Man 's own Righteousness and so as filthy Rags Isa 64. 6. and so consoquently Christ to be no more a Saviour upon this Account then the Jews accounted him who only reckoned him the Carpenter's Son and a Deceiver for indeed Man is meerly cheated of his Salvation if this Work of Christ be no more but Legal Righteousness and Christ's Coming by this Means is made of no more Sufficiency then to bring forth Legal Righteousness but this Man bears false Witness by his Lyes and Blasphemies as any who are truly Christians may easily perceive And as for his saying W. Penn told one of his Friends that George Fox was as good a Prophet as Isaiah I have spoken with W. P. and he saith that he never made such a Comparison to any of his Friends either directly or indirectly to the best of his Knowledge and that he telling me of it I affirmed the same which I do not well remember but however what Absurdity can there be in the Comparison to compare a blessed Gospel-Minister with a blessed Prophet of the Lord read Rom. 10. 15. where the Apostle quotes the Testimony of that blessed Prophet Isa 52. 7. How beautiful are the Feet of them that preach the Gospel of Peace and bring glad Tidings of good Things but G. F. that blessed Minister of Jesus Christ preached and yet preacheth the Gospel of Peace and hath brought and yet doth bring glad Tidings of good Things and this though neither he nor such as he can believe yet we know it and affirm it so that he hath been and yet is a blessed Instrument in the Hand of the Lord. And as in one Part of his Book he saith He asked me whether the Man Christ Jesus was in me and that I should affirm he was Vnto which I answer That I never knew any other Christ Jesus but one the same Yesterday to Day and forever who in the Scripture is called the Son of Man whom I witness to be in me in Measure by his Spirit and Power my Saviour to take away my Sin and preserve me from it as I am kept in the true saving Faith of God's Elect but if he would here insinuate as if I should say That that Body was in me in which he then appeared that is a gross Lye neither do I believe he did believe I meant so because he hath often heard from me to the contrary how I alwayes affirmed Christ's Spiritual Appearance in me c. So this in short I have answered at present to correct a lying Tongue and to bear my Witness against an Anti christian Teacher for so he certainly is and will appear to be still more by what he may bring forth notwithstanding all his Pretences to Christianity except he repent and his Deceit and his Hypocrisie is sufficiently manifest to such as fear the Lord and further I may decipher this Man in Answer to his next Appearance if he be not yet satisfied and he had never been thus publick from my Pen if himself had not been the Cause of it but I have more against him then what I have here set down or at present am willing to write concerning him except necessity requires Christopher Taylor