Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	life_n	live_v	sin_n	7,486	5	4.8306	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26275	A short description of the true ministers and the false how they differ in their call, ministry, doctrine, and fruits that any that are desirous may know the one from the other : also, something concerning the apostacy ... which was in the Apostles dayes ... : something further concerning the true ministers of Jesus / testified by one that hath been a true witness of all that he has here written, J. Aynsloe.	Aynsloe, John, d. 1693.	1672 (1672)	Wing A4297; ESTC R27199	9,389	18

Spirit having only a Form but denying the Power calling the Letter the Gospel and preferring the Letter before the Spirit and putting it in the Spirit 's place calling it the Word of God saying There is no other Way to cone to the Knowledge of God so are boasting of another man's Lines made ready to their hands and are saying Thus saith the Lord when he never spake to them as the False Prophets did in the dayes of old denying Revelation or any Immediate Call from God as the Apostles had saying There is no such thing to be looked for now that was Extraordinary and is Ceased And are such as are alwayes Teaching and People never the better bringing nothing to Perfection saying There is no Freedom from Sin on this side the Grave And Denying the Light that convinceth of Sin to be sufficient to lead to Life and Salvation calling it Natural and Insufficient like the Unbelieving Jews who said Is not this the Carpenter's Son They say That Sprinkling of Infants upon the Face is Baptism setting up that in the place of the Baptism of the Spirit They call Bread and Wine the Lord's Supper being ignorant of the Bread of Life and the Communion of Saints in the Sanctifying Spirit And thus much in short concerning their Call Ministry and Doctrine Now I shall shew their Marks and Fruits Christ saying By their Fruits ye shall know them They are such as go in Long Robes and have the Highest Place in the Synagogues and are called of men Master and have the Uppermost Rooms at Feasts Matthew 23. Jude's Epistle and have men's Persons in Admiration because of Advantage They Preach for Hire they have Gift and Rewards for their preaching they can't afford it for Nothing having bought it for Money they take Tythes imitating the Priests in the Law they Sue men at the Law that cannot put into their Mouthes they cast men into Prison for the Exercise of their Consciences they stir up the Magistrates to Persecution saying They must Defend their Gospel or else it will Fall using the Carnal Weapon against the Outward Man All which are contrary to the Scriptares of Truth and Practices of the Ministers of Christ in former Ages and in this Age Their Weapons were not Carnal but Spiritual mighty through God to the bringing down of the Strong Holds of the Man of Sin They must have Letters Patent from the Bishop or some other Man or Men before they can or must Preach and then they Read or Preach by the Hour-Glass at a certain Place or Time as they are ordered by Men. They despise Prophecying and if any are moved to go into the Place of their Worship in the Time of their Worship to speak in the Name of the Lord they call that A Disturbance calling to the Officer or Magistrate to take him or her away and sent to Prison allowing none to speak but themselves contrary to the Orders of the Churches of Christ who might all speak one by one They are Changeable as the Powers of the Earth change and are Silenc'd if Man commands them and take away their Gain their Gospel ceaseth and it the Magistrate take away his Shoulder and men were not Forced few would put into their Mouthes By these their Fruits Marks Doctrines Ministry and Call they may very easily be known who they are by any that are desirous to find them out For the Light of the Lord is come and the Glory of the Lord is appeared to discover every False Way and Thing and nothing is hid from his All-seeing Eye and he is making it known to those that believe in his Light and follow him in the Regeneration for the Night is past unto many and the Day of the Lord is broken forth in which Perfect Freedom is known from the Yoak of Bondage Sin being fled away as the Morning Cloud and the Glory of the Lord doth rest upon his Tabernacle and the Sons of the Morning Rejoyce together and Praise waits for the Lord in Sion But this is hard to be believed by most of the Sons of men Night having been their Habitation and Darknes over them so long that they look not for any other state willingly contented in that in which they are in a Receiving of things they preach by a Report of others some believing That there is a God because the Scriptures say so having no desire of further Knowledg or Fellowship with Him and that is the Ground or In-let to all Liberty in Sin and False Worshipping every man's Way seeming Right in his own Eyes he being or at least would be sole Judge in all things that pass in his own Mind and would not admit of any other Judgment or Judge to be near him for to reprove or condemn him for the Evil of his Wayes but would go on without Controle passing away his Precious Time in daily sinning against the Lord taking no notice of any Reproof or Call from the Lord to forsake the Evil of his Wayes And the long continuance in this state hath prov'd very Dangerous that many are got into a Belief That it will not be otherwise with them nor can they believe That it is otherwise with any Which Conclusion ariseth from the Counsel of their own dark Hearts Darkness being as a Vail over the Heart the Eye of the Understanding being blinded by the God of this World O! how sad and lamentable is the Case of all such They would not that Christ should have any place in Heir hearts or they come into Obedience unto him but are like to the Unbelieving Jews who said We will not have this Man to Rule over us and at last did chuse a Barrahas rather then a Jesus and this is the state of many now call'd Christians who choose rather to have their Murdering Lusts to live in them then Christ Jesus the Saviour and following the spirit of Persecution and Sin-pleasing Doctrine for Term of Life rather then the meek and self-denying Jesus his Spiritual Appearance in the Heart in their Self-denyal and taking up the daily Cross which seems to them unpossible to be done choosing rather to please themselves and others with a Talk thereof and if that would serve Christ would have a great many that would follow him the Way being broad giving what Liberty to the Flesh it desires to the fulfilling of the Lusts of it But the Way is Narrow that leads to Life and admits of nothing that is of Self or Flesh or any thing that tendeth to such Liberty but of a Birth born of the Spirit who delights in Holiness and cannot live in Sin who runs with Chearfulness despising the Shame because of the Glory that is set before it Christ Jesus being the Mark of its high calling believing God that its Covenant is order'd aright unto it and sure though it meet with many Enemies Tryals and Hardships by the way and Reproaches and Scoffs not a few even from those that are

ready to say as the Jews did We have Abraham to our Father yet this Birth Immortal having receiv'd the Blessing of the Dew of Heaven is not discouraged though they that have the Fatness of the Earth for their Portion make more Noise and greater Shew in this World labour what in them lieth to stir up Enemies against this Blessed Innocent Seed and to Persecute all those where its Apperance is But this is my Testimony concerning it They shall never prevail no Weapon formed against it shall Prosper their striving against it is to no Purpose they only making themselves Manifest what spirit they are of For the Lord God Omnipotent hath raised it up in this the Day of his Power that it may bear witness to his Name through his Faithful Witnesses in whose Hearts God hath raised it up by his own Mighty Power and Out-stretched Arm after a Long and Dark Night of Apostacy since the Apostles dayes which soon after the Apostles did creep in only having the Form without the Power lost the Life of Religion and Motion of the Spirit of Life in the Inward Man which was to be Guide unto all Spiritual Worship and Obedience unto God according to Christ's Saying The Time cometh and now is that he that worshippeth the Father must worship him in Spirit and in Truth This being lost by many since the Apostles dayes and never known by others hath been the great Cause Ground and Rise of the many Sorts and forms of Religion made in man's Will and he giving way to his own Self-will the Enemy of his Soul did easily prevail with him to be of that Form of Religion which most suited the Inclinations of his Heart blinding the Eyes of his Understanding and made him Insensible of the many inward Strivings of the Lord with him and although Reproved in secret yet not regarded or at least not believed it to be the Grace Light and Spirit of God so that the Continuance of the Apostacy and Unbelief that came in by it were from one Generation to another out of the Remembrance of the Appearance of the Lord of his being near to man or of Jesus Christ Within they grew into the Subtilty of the Serpent and having eaten of the forbidden Fruit got unto himself Coverings of his own making serving only himself and his own Interest that he could turn to be of any Form of Religion to save himself Thus Painted Jezebel got up and the False Church did begin to flourish with her False Teachers False Doctrines and False Worships Then she held forth a Golden Cup full of Abominations unto all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People and they drank of the Wine of her Fornication and were drunk with it and then the False Church got up and False Prophet began to ride upon the Beast and they made War with the true Woman and the Remnant of her Seed that remain'd upon the Earth and they prevailed for a time and the Woman the true Church fled into the Wilderness where she had a Place prepared her of God and the Man-Child was caught up to God and there she remained as a Widow alone and as a Dove without a Mate according as it is written until the time of her Mourning and Widdowhood should be accomplish'd and all this while the Harlot the false Church bore Rule both within and without and all that would not receive the Mark of the Beast and of Antichrist on their Fore-heads and on their Right-hand should be put to Death or should not be suffered to Buy or Sell. Then was set up Outward Force to Compel all to bow to their Worship for the Power and Spirit of the Lord that was in the Apostles days was lost that made peoples hearts tender and gather'd them to God into his Spiritual Worship and the Form without the Power was set in its place and so fell short of the Power and of the Order that was in the Spirit Then Humane Learning Arts and Inventions got in the Powers Place thinking to supply what was wanting which an Immitation of the true Church and the Order that was in the Apostles dayes could not do But finding their shortness both in Doctrine and Conversation that Sin and Evil had Dominion over them and that erring from the Spirit they could not be without sin then they set it up as a Foundation Doctrine That no man could be without Sin and Corruption on this side the Grave and this they have desended as well as they could by Word and Writing but where that fell short they made their Inquisition Fire and Faggot and Strong Prisons to make it out with the rest of their False Doctrines and Practices resolving their Tryal by Outward Force and Compulsion and if any Eye were in measure opened to see beyond any of their Dark Doctrines or Ceremonies and so could not bow unto them then were they branded with the Name of Hereticks and if they would not put out that little Sight which God had given them and become as Blind as they were then they Persecuted them and put them to Death This hath been the Practice of the False Church for several Hundred Years and Examples thereof were before and in Queen Mary's days and since But now the Time is come That Babylon is come up in Remembrance before the Lord and as she has done unto others so will the Lord do unto her for Strong is He that is risen to judge her And he hath made an Entrance into her Borders and is laying waste her pleasant Pictures and discovering her Whoredoms and drying up the Tongue of the Egyptian-Sea so that many begin to suspect her and others do see she is but an Harlot not withstanding her being cover'd with Scarlet-coloured Robes so she shall not deceive the Nations much longer and as she had a time of Rising so must she have time to Fall and surely the time is at hand and her Overthrow is witnessed in many Hearts and as it hath been within so must it be without And this hath been the Ground of the many Testimonies that have been born against her in this Day and Generation wherein the Lord hath appear'd in his Might and Power beyond what hath been in times past and revealed himself unto many by his Light and Spirit and hath made known the Way of Life and Salvation as in the Apostles days and the Man-Child is come down from God again and she that fled into the Wilderness and was Childless is now coming out leaning upon the Breasts of her Beloved according as it was written of her Rejoyce thou Barren that didst not bear and break forth into Joy thou Virgin Daughter of Jerusalem for more shall be the Children of the Barren then of the Married Wife and this is the Lord 's bringing to pass that he may take away her Reproach For many have brought forth though a false Birth while she has been barren for none could give her Children but the