Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	letter_n	scripture_n	word_n	8,209	5	5.0930	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88036	A letter to Mr. Tho. Edwards the dedication of the letter to our much suspected friend, Mr. T. Edwards, Scavenger Generall, throughout Great-Britaine, New England, and the united Provinces, chiefly Amsterdam, and Munster, and indeed by vertue of some faire pretences, intermeddler in all the states of Christendome, principally there where any thing of the spirit of Christ in the Saints appeares, trenching upon the honour, dignity, and preferment of the old man. The grand reformer, (alias reducer) of the free born sons of God, into the chaines of the their old Babilonish captivity, under the pretence of a Jus Divinum. At his dwelling in Club Courtbetween the Pope and Prelate, a little on this side the fagot in Smithfield, (or if in his monthely Pilgrimage) in the suburbs of Canterbury, at the knowne house of Mistris Gangrena Triplex, where conscience and he (but for a time we hope) shook hands and had each other farewell. Where he was lately discovered by many eye-witnesses: and where you may be sure at any time to meet with him. Published by authority.		1647 (1647)	Wing L1721; Thomason E378_3; ESTC R201373	8,538	13

you brand him in your booke you could not deny to his face but acknowledged him to be cleare in fundamentals wherein was his charge and that he was not the man you took him for This you confest yet perhaps out of purpose to forsweare when time may serve you refused to discourse before his friend though he offered you the liberty of yours Wee would aske you what godly Minister or Gentleman or Friend that was that told you that ungodly lye of that godly Lieutenant who you say was thrown out of the Army because a godly Presbyterian when hundreds can testifie he was casheerd by a Councell of warre for drunkennesse and swearing God dam-mee c. wee could with a little paines but lesse pleasure dig up those filthy dunghils and send home your bastards to their proper parents Truly Sir our wonder is the lesse that your births are so Monstrous when we finde the contributions have been so adulterous Flectere si nequeas superos Acheronta movebis To carry on the designe you doe well to usher in a forraigne force The Netherlands have done you good service The Munster Brigade bearing the Van hath made the most desperate assault and yet through a narrow watch and diligent inspection the gust thereof is broken the Leader on and Charger being found a stranger is not an enemy However Sir be not discouraged if you dare the cause is still the same as bad as ever rally once more and bring in againe you are good at that your weather-beaten forces give not up at the first repulse you know whom fortune doth usually favour Send againe to the Reformed Churches and see if any more aid may be expected thence Search Amsterdam once more if you please with candles or any other corner of the world so farre as the Covenant by you so wyar-drawn will reach where ever you can heare of a Saint and let something be done towards so honourable a worke Go on Sir in this gallant service if conscience or prudence will give you leave and hug the world as the world seemes to hug you untill their turne be served and tell us then for then you will speak truth if ever whether's more tollerable Nick-nam'd Heresie or Malignant-Prelacy that seven headed ten horned beast which for a little time hath withdrawn and changing his form in such furious persons as you are appears again acted directly by the same spirit speaking great things against God and his Saints and differing onely in the Number of his name Sir you with your Gangrene have been waighed and are found too light and verily your expected Kingdome is departing while you are beating your fellow servants and your Sect triumphing over us and ours a third hath surprised both and all are posting into captivity againe shift for your selfe and selves as well as yee can and in your brick and no straw remember who were once the Taskmasters Wee do believe the Thumbs and Toes of Adonibezecke will one day lye before you For our parts we know whom we have believed and our feet being shod with the preparation of the Gospell we doubt not but we shal be able to tread upon the Lyon the Adder to play upon the hole of the Aspe Wee know that an Idoll is nothing in the world neither are we careful to fall down before Nebuchadnezzar or his God though the furnace be seven times hotter then ordinary cost us what it will Truth we know will pay its owne charges Every institution and truth of God though slanderously reported we honour and imbrace but for that golden calfe that nec jus humanum nec divinum neque sacrum nec politicum neque sanum nec Christianum that selfe contradicting groundlesse lifelesse spiritlesse Image of jealousie whose externall brightnesse is excellent and the forme thereof very terrible the head of gold the breast and armes of silver the belly and thighs of brasse the legs of iron the feet or foundation part of iron and part of clay this we have beheld and beholding shall expect untill that little stone cut out of the mountaine without hands shall smite head and foot and over-turning the foundation thereof it selfe shall fill the world we are thoroughly assured that not by might nor by power but by the spirit of the Lord which is both might and power which you have so desperately denyed if not despited shall Anti-Christ be unvailed and by the same spirit of burning shall every thing that is Anti-Christian be destroyed what say you Sir have you not faith enough to believe this know you not who saith the weapons of our warfare are not carnall why then as men distracted cry yee out so loud for Magisteriall externall force but mighty through God to the pulling downe of STRONG HOLDS casting down IMAGINATIONS and EVERY HIGH THING that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity EVERY HIGH THOVGHT or OPINION to the OBEDIENCE of CHRIST Dare you not trust God on his word but deny the Scripture not in the letter onely but in the spirit of it also who is the Sectary and the Hereticke now Sir A spirituall man would judge that the SHIELD of FAITH the SWORD of the SPIRIT the GIRDLE of TRVTH c. whose very anoyntment and ordination is to that very office might do as gallant execution in the hand of the spirituall champion a Minister of the Gospell and make as successefull an advance upon spirituall wickednesses in high places as Errours and Heresies are as all the unsutable Incongruous unapoynted provision of your carnall Artillery yee war indeed but 't is after the flesh and no wonder your conquest is no more for the spirit of the Lord we feare is departed from yee You stand quarrelling away your time and wasting your little strength in a company of frothy ulcerous Pamphlets vilifying the upright and slandering the innocent wholly neglecting your work which you would make men believe is the Ministry of Christ which you indeed either wholly wave or grossely pervert and to backe your unsound interpretations produce the authority of a company of forsooth Fathers of the Church as Bernard c. men though lights in their darke Generation and in many things sound in the faith yet in others as palpably hereticall as any of your damnable Sectaries viz. the suffrage of Saints departed prayers for the dead the reall presence in the consecrated Hosts c. Sir save your relfe this labour of searching these corrupt records wee pin not our faith on the sleeves of any though never so ancient or Authenticke with you Your suborning of witnesses makes us suspect the Scriptures are not your friends we professe except your braines be intoxicated or your naturall reason be intranc'd or which is worse then both you make it your designe with Sophistry to cheat your proselites wee know not what to thinke of your impertinent ridiculous unschollar-like argumentations a baculo ad angulum from the Jew to

A LETTER TO MR. THO. EDWARDS The Dedication of the Letter To our much suspected friend Mr. T. Edwards Scavenger Generall throughout Great-Britaine New-England and the united Provinces chiefly Amsterdam and Munster and indeed by vertue of some faire pretences Intermedler in all the states of Christendome principally there where any thing of the Spirit of Christ in the Saints appeares trenching upon the Honour dignity and preferment of the Old man The Grand Reformer alias Reducer of the free born Sons of God into the chaines of their old Babilonish captivity under the pretence of a Jus Divinum At his dwelling in Club Court between the Pope and the Prelate a little on this side the Fagot in Smithfield or if in his monethly Pilgrimage in the Suburbs of Canterbury at the knowne house of Mistris Gangrena Triplex where Conscience and he but for a time we hope shook hands and bad each other farewell Where he was lately discovered by many eye-witnesses and where you may be sure at any time to meet with him Published by Authority LONDON Printed for Tho. Veere and are to be sold at his shop at the upper-end of the Old Bayley near New-gate 1647. A LETTER TO MR. EDWARDS Sir Worthy Sir Reverend Honoured Grave Deare Friend Father Good Master WEe cannot wonder at the loftinesse of your lookes nor at the exuberant tumor of your spirit when we finde you so wofully bespatter'd and courted from every part of the Kingdome where Sathan we feare hath his throne with so much honour so much worth so much Sir so much reverence c. But reverend Sir if we may be but as bold and as plaine as your late correspondents have been false and flattering give us or rather take you the advantage of a short but serious warning And truly Sir in the entrance of our discourse we must tell you our thoughts are extremly divided your folly hath been so manifest to all men that we know not well whether to looke upon you under the blindnesse of a deluded brother or the perversnesse of a resolved enemy having once we once believed received the knowledge of the truth Wee will put our charity on the Tenters as you have put the Covenant and if through too much indulgence wee force it beyond the line of its conscience wee hope you 'l pardon us The over-acting of your zeale and the so violent advance should we looke no further hath made us jealous yea confident that the fire that hath kindled and consumed the sacrifice was not from heaven But Sir In the so desperate carreer give us leave sadly to aske you whence and whither so fast Is it so long since you came out of the house of your Bondage that you have forgotten your anguish and your sorrow there and will needs be posting backe againe was their yoke so easie and their burthen so light that you can so freely bow-down your necke and your backe and rejoyce in your approaching slavery Is your late and your present mercy your halfe hours silence in heaven so uncouth and unsavoury that nothing but the Onions and Garlick of Egypt will satisfie the lustings of your soule Is the affliction of Joseph so smal in your eie that like Hammon all your enjoyments are nothing while Mordecai sits in the gate of the King and will not bow the knee and nothing else shall cool the tip of your tongue but the irons and fetters the whips and imprisonments the confiscation the blood the death and the ruine of the Saints God shall smite thee thou whited wall that thus in the pride of thy heart flyest in his face and strikest at the very apple of his eye If divine justice shall suffer thee without checke or controule to run on for a time adding Iniquity to Iniquity and treasuring wrath against the day of wrath confident we are when thy soule shall sit upon thy trembling lips and thy two last years provocations and persecutions wherein thou so much gloriest shall be set in order before thee and thy conscience awakened to behold thy guilt thou wilt appeare a spectacle of as much horror and amazement as ever the Sun beheld In the meane time come forth and appear in your colours and let the world see whither you have acted the part of a Christian or of a Jew of an English man or a Turk of a Saint or of somwhat worse lay aside the squint eyed by assing respects of this adulterous Generation and let conscience speake once in your dayes if you can tell truth who under God have been the pillars and onely supporters of a reeling tottering State At the price of whose bloud for some yeares have you eaten your bread in peace and injoyed every thing that is sweet and pleasant who hath stept between death and you and for you have offered themselves so gallantly in the high places of the field yet once againe if conscience will be but true whom hath God honoured as with his power so with his spirit in an exellent measure This we know is the rocke of offence And yet here will the asse whom you ride rise up and unplead the blindnesse of his master Take the common people that have neither God nor goodnesse but meerly acted by you and your party setting aside the Malignants and the fore stall'd and scarce any but will acknowledge a spirit of Gospell-sweetnesse and that of a truth God is in those people And Sir are these the onely objects of your scorne and contempt and the rage of your retinue that rude and Godlesse Generation Are these to be trampled under foot and not fit to live in a Kingdome In whose faces no dirt nor dung is too filthy to be throwne Had wee a desire to gratifie that grand accuser to publish through Gath and Askelon and to make the uncircumcised to Glory in your shame we could present the world with farre more and more faire testimonies of the notorious villanies not in matters of judgement which is your charge for therein their grosse Egyptian ignorance takes care but in matters of fact among the rest we could tell the world and you a truer story of the late Prankes of Mr c. whose name you know but we will spare of his late supplanting the Merchant and getting his espoused Mistris with childe which act with its circumstancies we finde not in all your gangrene paralleld and of his publique penance and acceptation we could give you in another of the same name order and crime in a neighbour-Parish in London and both we must tell you as popular as Reverend as Orthodox and as Covenant-engaged as your selfe we could bring in a bed-roll of those halting sonnes of Eli but we professe it not our trade and we will not intrench upon yours Wee could trace you through the unhallowed paths of your Antipologie and your ungodly gangrenes first second and third and throw many a lye in your face That businesse of Mr. Bachelors wherein though