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	power_n	sin_n	7,400	5	4.5873	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88247	The resurrection of John Lilburne, now a prisoner in Dover-Castle, declared and manifested in these following lines penned by himself, and now at his desire published in print in these words.	Lilburne, John, 1614?-1657.	1656 (1656)	Wing L2175; Thomason E880_2; ESTC R501	16,915	16

THE RESURRECTION OF JOHN LILBURNE Now a Prisoner in Dover-Castle DECLARED And manifested in these following Lines penned by himself and now at his earnest desire published in print in these words London Printed for Giles Calvert at the Black Spread Eagle neer the West-end of Pauls 1656. THE RESURRECTION OF John Lilburne c. HAving many and strong compulsions from the measure of the light of the Lord now shining clearly within me and raised up now to a good degree of life and power in my soul to make a publike declaration in print of my reall owning and now living in in my present attained to measure the life and power of those divine and heavenly principles professed by those spirituallized people called Quakers at my owning of which all my old and familliar friends in a manner are so much troubled and offended with me for and my great adversaries so jealous of the reall intentions of my heart within me at my so doing and by that measure of the Light of JESUS thining in my soul I am now directed and guided to intitle it as aforesaid and here at this place as an introduction before I come to the main thing of that which through the strength of God I have now to say to insert here the copies of the very two first Letters that ever I writ of note after the great and glorious power of God had seized upon my soul to let in the real beginnings of convincement into my soul of my spiritual blindness deadness and emptiness and by which I came to see a clear glimps of that spiritual fulness that was and really is in the divine and heavenly declared principles of the aforesaid precious people The first Letter being to my wife take in these following words Dover-Castle the fourth day of the tenth moneth 1655. For my deer and loving wife Elizabeth Lilburn at her friend George Wades house a Cook at the Sign of the Sun neer Guild-Hall and Lawrence Lanes end in London these with speed deliver My dear heart WHat in a great measure my temper of spirit was before thy coming to me I in its measure communicated unto thee by the copy of my letter to Luke Howard which I have here inclosed thee at thy leisure to peruse And what distemperedness my earthly spirit was in at and towards thee at thy and my last meeting upon Saturday the tenth of November last I need not to repeat unto thee being I beleeve it is fresh enough in thy own memory And the frame of my heart after thy reconciliation and mine so far as God hath given me the spirit of discerning and searching it I in no small proportion in reallity discovered to thee And since my departue upon VVednesday the 21. of November last setting my self seriously to a deep and weighty consideration of that work that my soul longed for a new to be a travelling in And giving fulness of scope to that divine and heavenly voice of God speaking plainly in my heart unto which I am truly able to se● my seal ●o that it is that spirit or power of the Holy Ghost or true Comforter spoken of Joh. 16. 7 8. that convinceth or reproveth the world or the carnal or first or fallen nature in me of sin and of righteousness and of judgement and is that eternal and everlasting spirit of truth that imbraced and closed with leads my soul by its divine and strong power or attractive drawings step by step in its measure and degree into truth and in my heavenly fathers good time I doubt not but it will establish and build me up in truth Ioh. 16.13 and mould me into a real conformity in life and power in real and substantial injoyment to the wayes of truth of light and life be they never so difficult to the fl●sh carnal man or fallen or first nature in me or never so full of the cross or self-denyall or giving up my own reason understanding will wisdom and affections to be crossed and crucified by the Will and Wisdom of JESUS the annoynted above measure of the Father and to be guided or led on by him the living life light or power in all the sons of men that have the greatest degree or least of sparks of divine or heavenly light shining within their dark in their small degree or measure or inlightned inlivened souls in their larger degree or measure I have since I see thee read extraordinary much of those two volumes which I shewed thee containing both almost seventeen hundred pages of the writings of those preciousest though most contemptible people called quakers the-truly beloved objects of my soul And this at present because I rather now heartily desire to live in the possession power or life of truth in my soul then in the bare profession notion or talk of it I shall and can in sincerity say to thee that my soul hath been amazed and even confounded by them not as Herod by Iohn Baptist preachings was for fear of eternal wrath or loss of his Tetrarch-ship by or for his sins which to avoid made him reform and amend many things Mark 6.20 but of real breakings or shame of soul that so glorious a Talent as my Lord and Master by the clear lively and powerfull breakings in of his divine and heavenly light into my heart long and many yeers ago bestowed upon me should by me or my first and carnal wisdom be most ungratefully and unfaithfully like a lighted candle put under a bushel or hid or buried in the earth in me in obscurity and darkness Or that my soul should by the will and wisdom of the first nature ambitiously Adam-like eat a new upon the tree of Knowledge of good and evill and thereby covet to be esteemed something amongst the sons of men more then the Divine Wisdom would have me with that measure or degree I had attained to and therewith be with it like the unbelieving Jews the type in the flesh or the first or mean in its degree or measure to what I ought to have thirsted after out-goings of the divine and heavenly teaching and instructing spirit or voice of God in or unto my soul willing and content to sit down in the wilderness or journeying way to Canaan and not with precious Ieshua and Caleb the spiritual anti-types in that particular or in another particular the outward types of the spiritual travelling anti-types the seed of God under the Gospel into Gods spiritual rest in himself be willing longing and desirous by faith in the strength of God resting as the old Israelites after the flesh ought to have done in his faithfull and powerfull promise of carrying me on through all difficulties self-denyals crosses and hardships whatsoever to travell into the spiritual Kingdom or heavenly Land of Rest that God in the naked injoyment of himself hath prepared for and at this very day I beleeve hath experimentally and really bestowed the clear injoyment of upon many of his

Ransomed ones contemptibly and scornfully called quakers I say unto thee the real and close applyed home unto my soul by the spirit and power of life from God that now aloud again speaks within me consideration of the premises or that which is foregoing and that people afar off yea ignorant ideots fools and prophane * * As is clearly proved by the printed speeches of severall of the prisoners in Northhampton and Eversham Goals ones in comparison of my being so nigh at hand so many years ago to the clear and full possession of the spiritual Land of Canaan should enter into the glorious Kingdom of God or that clearness of Rest Peace and Union in and with him that now clearly to my spiritual understanding they injoy and there bring forth the ripe fruits of spiritual old age in comparison of me of Praises Honor and Glory to the Lamb and to the ancient of Dayes that clearly sits upon the Throne in their hearts as having judged down conquered and overcome within them all their sinns or spiritual enemies and caused them to triumph over them as in his strength divine and heavenly power reigning and ruling as King and Lord over them O I say unto thee again the real sight in its measure and degree and spiritual consideration of these things since I last see thee for divers hours in several nights one after another when my God denyed sleep unto my outward eyes and caused my soul to be awake with himselfe and to be really exercised in an interchange of Divine conference contemplation or parley with him hath even caused my soul to weep sigh and mourn within me before him and in his strength and almighty power to indent with him and now in good earnest to ingage in my soul or spiritual man to be obedient to his heavenly and divine voyce speaking clearly in me and to follow him least I should now by any longer resistance totally quench his divine drawings through the denyall of my own or naturall reason will wit wisdom desires and affections with a real weanedness from worldly or fleshly honor applause glory riches or creature-fulness yea even to a final denyal of father kindred friends my sweet and dearly beloved by me babes or thy own self who viz. thy self for many yeers by past I must avow it before the Almighty in sincerity and truth hath been to me the greatest and dearest of all earthly delights and joyes And now therefore look about thee in good earnest and see what thou hast got to thy self as to the flesh by thy eager desires and strong indeavours to bring me back again into England for the day of thy real strong and full temptation and triall never came upon thee till now if God give thee not by degrees the fulness and compleatness of spiritual and heavenly strength and ability to bear it and go through it For my part I am now in reallity and truth in the clearly lively or evident seeing of the wisdom and loving hand of a tender and indeared eternal Father in stripping me naked of all earthly and created excellencies and taking my outward estate and profitable imployments and all my worldly glory from me and graciously and supportingly leading me through the valley of Baca Psal 84 6. or Tears outward Dangers and Death for now almost four yeers together and separating from me for a long time that wonted delight that used to be betwixt thee my old and real Idoll and me and at my coming to this place clearly unto being me of all and every one of my old Friends and familiar Acquaintance that were any way fit or able to do any thing for me and therby hedging up my way that I must whether I wil or no in spite of my teeth once again give ear to the serious and plain voice call or counsel of the Most High speaking in and unto my soul And so in much mercy and indeared loving kindness as he did in my great straits in the Bishops time provided and sent unto me a poor disspised yet understanding Priscilla to instruct me in or expound unto m●●h way of God more fully or perfectly whom I am compell'd now to tell thee I shall love and respect therefore the longest day I live upon the earth let her continue by whomsoever to be judged never so rigid or contemptible so here at this place he hath also provided for me an 〈◊〉 being a contemp●ible yet understanding spiritually knowing single hearted Shoomaker to do the same now to my spiritual no small advantage refreshment benefit by means of all which I am a present becom dead to my former busling actings in the world now stand ready with the devout C●n●u●ion or Captain spoken of Act. 10. to hear and obey all things that the lively voice of God speaking in my soul shal r●quire of me upon the further manifestation of whose glorius presence my heart with a watching fear and care desires to wait to walk faithfully and tenderly and humbly in that measure of Light already received and out of the strength of indearedness of love and tenderness of affection that hath long in times by-past dwelt in me towards thee and of late in much sincerity is renewed unto thee again I have with the same eternal wel-wishing of thy spiritual happiness as I do my own-ordered Giles Calvert to send unto thee several of those printed pieces of the quakers that in the serious reading of which have been most convincingly instructive unto my soul amongst which I have judged in the first place Iames Naylor that strong or tall man in Christ his Something in answer unto thy and my indeared friend John Jackson that tall Cedar in great profession of Religion his book called Strength in weakness which book the last Post I received from thee in the reading of which piece of Iames Naylors I must set my seal to it that there goes along in the breathings out of it a great deal of the quickning life power of the spirit of God unto it are annexed several pieces of that precious and divine soul VVilliam Deusbury the Lords now or late glorious prisoner in Northampton common goal to whose precious and heavenly spirit although I never see his face mine indearedness of love is glued unto whose book is called The discovery of the great enmity of the Serpent against the Seed of the woman and his discovery of mans return have been pieces in my reading of them seriously that by the power of the Almighty hath spoken home to my soul I have ordered to be annexed unto them as I remember as many as makes them ten in number and then twelve more in another volume principally for answering Objections I have ordered to be sent unto thee which I hope thou wilt receive before this come to thee bound up in that method that J have directed And now my dear love for whom my soul travells with God

further from the blinde eyes of my soul that they may be further opened and that a power therewith may come in to my soul from the Holy Ghost which may inable me in the strength thereof to redeem my lost and misspent by-past precious time and not now to consult with flesh and blood in my daily taking up the Cross of Christ and following him whithersoever he shall by his call or heavenly Divine voice within me lead me I say I am compelled from a power within me at this present time in brief to tell thee these things and to require thee from God to give ear to that true convincing light that clearly speaks in thy conscience and by the assistance thereof to strive with the first or fallen nature yet ruling in thy soul and lay aside that greatness of wit and earthly wisdom that thou hast attained to and in that measure of Light that long since thou hast received withdraw into thy private Closet and seriously meditate upon these brief lines And being thou in my late conversing with thee told me thou hadst read or hadst sent me down from London most of the Quakers Books Let me in love to thy soul earnestly intreat thee with seriousness to read over strong and tall in Christ Iames Nayler his sheet of paper intitled Something further in answer to John Jacksons book called Strength in weakness which Iohn Iackson is my indeared friend and old and long acquaintance and a greater professor of Religion now then ever thou thy self in all thy zeal once was therefore in him thou mayest plainly read thy own condition and that precious prisoner of the Lords in Northampton Goal VVilliam Dewsbury his two books the first and excellentest of which is called The discovery of the great enmity of the serpent against the seed of the woman his other book is intituled The discovery of mans Return and the Lord by his almighty power set them home to thy soul I heartily desire to return thee my hearty thanks for all thy kindness and tenderness manifested to me at Jersey in our passage from thence and at thy own house so with my hearty salutations presented to thee and all thy friends that were with me at thy house at Weymouth I desire to let thee know that by my moral honest carefull and industrious old Nurse Elizabeth Crome who by reason of shortness of money with me I am forced and compelled to part with I have writ thee a few lines in her behalf intreating thy countenance and favourable respect to the old and real serviceable to me in my great distress in Jersey woman in case in things that are just and righteous before God she desire thy favour and what thee or thy friend and mine Edward commonly called Lievtenant Tucker in that particular doth for her I shal thankfully look upon as actions done to thy souls Faithful hearty and real wel-wishing friend Iohn Lilburn From Dover-Castle being a place wherein God hath more clearly then ever before opened the eyes of my understanding the 4. day of the 10. moneth 1655. With which fore-mentioned main or principal thing that I have now to say I thus proceed and go on with it here in the especial presence of the Lord declare that by that present measure of light now born up in my understanding and moving in my soul at this very time I am here compelled to let the Reader whosoever he be to know that as I have long understood from my wife the original of my fore-going Letter to her she conveyed to the hands of Oliver Cromwelhimself and at his Son-in Law 's desire Charls Fleetwood my old and somtimes much familiar greatly obliged friend gave him a copy of it and notwithstanding the clear declarations of a sincere changed in measure heart in the said Letter at the penning of which I had then lost all manner of ability to consult with one grain of Machivel or humane deceitful policy having then the very dreadful and aweful immediate convincing judging and burning up power of God upon my soul yet upon my said writing and my wifes disposing as aforesaid of my said Letter many and great jealousies arise upon me at VVhite-hall at the strange politick contrivance of my largely reputed by them politique heart in my turning quaker of which I had several wayes exact information which it seems out of humane fear took that powerful impression upon my poor weak wife as that as I judged by her Letters to me troubled the poor afflicted Woman at the very heart and compelled her by writing in a vehement manner to press me to sign such an ingagement as George Fox did the Copy of which I have seen and read and sent it up to Oliver Cromwel to secure him from his pretended fears of my politick indeavouring to draw the temporal sword against him unto which for many reasons having then no manner of freedom in the earth to do it George Fox though even then a precious man in my eyes his particular actions being no rules for me to walk by unless I lived in the very same life and power of Spiritual injoyments that he did and had the very self-same motions in spirit from God that led him to a freedom and ability to do such and the like particular actions I therefore then ceased it and did it not and if I had then done it for my own particular human ends as to avoid further persecution and the like I had in so doing been an outside pharisaical imitator and the greatest and basest of hypocrites which sin alone is the height of Gods a Mat. 24.51 Rev. 3.15 16. See Mat. 6.5 33.13 14 abhorrance for although I must before the Lord now truly avow that the said Letter was a true and faithful without fraud or guile declaration of as real and spirituall a power of God in its measure seising upon my soul for my conviction of my spiritual blindness and sinfnlness as ever seized upon Paul declared in the 9 of the Acts or any mans that ever breathed upon earth yet betwixt the Winter-storms and fierce tempests of conviction or rather the beginning of it and the pleasant Sunshine dews and springing days of growth into a measure of refreshment there is a vast difference and therefore then the true occasion or real ground of all outward war and humanc busling contest being not taken away or absolutely crucified or subdued at the very Root in my soul if then I had signed such an engagement I had clearly gone beyond my souls then living and real attainments and there by ran presumptuously and wickedly beyond my measure and so had tempted the Lord my then present Leader and spiritual guide and abominably sinned against him But now in my already attained growing up measure having the experimental witness of God within my b 1 Joh. 5. 10. self that I am already truly and really attained in substantial and witnessed within me