Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A30068
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A testimony to the power of God being greater than the power of Satan contrary to all those who hold no perfection here, no freedom from sin on this side of the grave / which doleful doctrine is here testified against by Richard Baker.
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Baker, Richard, d. 1697.; Baker, Mary.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing B541D; ESTC R28337
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19,678
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50
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our day hath brought mighty things to pass which many will not believe though it hath been often declared It hath wrought the same Works now as it did in the Apostles days in teaching to deny Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and also to live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World Tit. 2.12 And there be many Witnesses that have been raised from the Dead or out of the Spiritual Death who do declare of it who were once dead in Trespasses and Sins But the Goodness of the Lord hath led them to Repentance and raised them to Life Now the Reason why many will not believe is because they love their Evil Deeds Therefore they hate the Light and will not bring their Deeds to it lest by it they should be Reproved For this is the Condemnation That Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather than Light and such have ignorantly called the Light Darkness But they that love the Light and know what it is they do bring their Deeds to it that they may be made manifest that they are wrought in God John 3.19 20 21. For the Light makes all things manifest yea the hidden things of Esau are made manifest by the Light My Advice and Counsel to thee is in the Fear of the Lord Bring thy Deeds to the Light if ever thou intendest or desirest to be Everlastingly Happy Let not the Enemy of thy Soul deceive thee any longer For it is better to Suffer Affliction with the People of God than to injoy the Pleasures of Sin which are but for a season though they be never so much applauded by the Sons and Daughters of Men. Such as Men sow they must reap They that sow to the Flesh must of the Flesh reap Corruption and they that sow to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life Everlasting Gal. 6.7 8. Consider well those words ye Proud and Haughty Ones and be no longer joyned to the Spirit of this World For the Lord God hath a Controversie against it And he hath determined the Downfal of the Man of Sin which many have witnessed already fulfilled in themselves And the Lord is now fitting and preparing them for himself For it is not the Devil 's right to rule in Man But it is the Lord 's right alone to rule there and he will have no Sharers with him in his Government Let none put the Day of the Lord afar off for this is the Day of the Lord And unless thou knowest him to rule in thee now who alone can destroy the Devil and his Works thy believing he shall rule hereafter if Satan continues to rule in thee here will stand thee in little stead fot that Belief will not purifie thy Heart and it is only the pure in Heart that can see God Mat. 5.8 Heb. 12.14 For Christ Jesus was made manifest for this very End that he might destroy the Works of the Devil 1 John 3.8 And although the Men of this World have set themselves in Opposition against this Truth of the Lord and have pleaded for the Continuance of Sin and therein for the Devil's Power yet we know in whom we have believed and in the Light of the Lord they are seen and their Fruits have made manifest whose Servants they are For his Servants they are to whom they obey whether of Sin unto Death or of Obedience unto Righteousness Rom. 6.16 And tho' many of them have promised or others have promised for them to forsake the Devil and all his Works and to keep God's Holy Will and Commandments all the days of their lives yet they are ready to cry out Blasphemy when they are told Whosoever is born of God doth not commit Sin tho' they are the plain words of Scripture 1 John 3.9 So Zealous are they for their Master's interest Reader if thou art one who hath been taught for Doctrine Mens Precepts as too many now are let me perswade thee to come to the Witness of God in thee and try which is the best Teacher For that Inward Teacher teacheth safe and sure neither can it be removed into a Corner And if thou turn'st to the right hand or to the left thou shalt hear a Word behind thee from this Inward Teacher saying This is the Way walk in it Isa 30.21 This is the plain Man's Path wherein though a Fool in the Worlds esteem he shall not err Isa 35.8 What tho' the Lord leads his People in a way contrary to the Wisdom of the World which makes them the Scorn and Derision of the World Be not discouraged for how can it be otherwise it being the same way which the holy Men of God walked in in Ages past But our Rejoycing is this The Testimony of a good Conscience And we do know as God's faithful Servants did of old The Reproaches for Christ are greater Riches than any there are in Egypt's Land which is a Place of Darkness But we have known the Lord to Redeem us out of that Bondage and deep Captivity and now we can sing Praises and Thanksgivings unto our God who is over all both in Heaven and in Earth blessed for ever and for evermore Friendly Reader I have here out of Love and Good Will to thee and to all Mankind declared unto thee the Goodness of the Lord unto my poor Soul that thou mayst be incouraged to walk in the Light of the Lord which he hath made manifest in this our day For it concerns thee most to know the Lord's Work in thy day that thou mayst have a sense of the Operation of the Power of God on thy Heart before thou goest hence O let not the Enemy of thy Soul prevail with thee to plead for the continuance of Sin term of Life Did Men but know how they do thereby advance the Kingdom of the Enemy of their Souls they never more would open their Mouths on Sins behalf unless they are like those of old who said We have made a Covenant with Death and with Hell are we at an Agreement Isa 28.15 For they who deny Perfection or Freedom from Sin deny the very End and Purpose for which Christ came and was manifested in the Flesh which was to destroy the Works of the Devil 1 John 3.8 which all who profess Christianity do agree is Sin And his Name was therefore called Jesus because He should save his People from their Sins Mat. 1.21 Not In their Sins mark that thou Unbelieving Professor Why should this be thought Impossible seeing All things are possible with God Mat. 19.26 It was the Command of the Lord to Abraham Walk before me and be thou perfect Gen. 17.1 And to incourage him thereunto he brings it in with these words I am the Almighty God The holy Apostle said Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the Lusts of the Flesh Gal. 5.16 And I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Phil. 4.13 And As many as are led by the Spirit of God
Relations would be contented but that is the most contemptible Religion in the World and laden with Reproaches O see the Deceit of the wicked Enemy and avoid it as I did by keeping to the Measure of the Grace of God in my self And as my mind was turned inward to consider and see what the Lord had done for me this sprang up in me as a Defence against the Enemy If I have not done those mighty works for thee which no other could do believe me not else believe me for my works sake Then did the Enemy vanish at the Brightness of the coming of the Lord who hath preserved me out of the Mouth of the Lion and out of the Paw of the Bear and out of the hand of that uncircumcised Philistine that once had encompassed me about Praises be given unto the Lord for ever O Friend Let me beseech thee let not the Enemy of thy Soul deceive thee under what pretence soever though he should guild his Bait and cover his Temptations over with never so many Scripture-words But keep thou to that true Light in thee which makes all things manifest And by taking heed to that pure Witness of God in thee thou wilt come to see Satan's Devices which they of Old who were led by the Spirit of God were not ignorant of as such now are not And now I have this Testimony to bear for the Lord with many Thousands more That Perfection or Freedom from Sin is to be obtained on this side the Grave through Faith in Christ Jesus And I do Testifie and Declare That in this Life is the time of working out our Salvation For where the Tree falls there it shall lie and in what State Death leaves a Man in that State Judgment will find him For in the Grave there is no Repentance Now true Repentance through a godly Sorrow is a Change from Sin and Iniquity to serve the Living God in the New Life or in the Newness of Life Not in the Oldness of the Letter which too many are found in at this day but in the Newness of the Spirit For it is the Spirit that giveth Life the Flesh profiteth nothing John 6.63 Reader If thou are a stranger to Truth and to the right Way of the Lord and hast been led Captive by the Enemy at his Will as I was while ignorant of the Light of the Lord in me and art now come to a sense of the Burden and Weight of thy Sins and hast a desire to be Redeemed from them To thee and for thy sake chiefly are these Lines written that thou mayst here see the Mysterious Working of the Prince of Darkness and take Warning in time whilst the Spirit of the Lord strives with thee For the Spirit of the Lord will not always strive with Man But be not discouraged at the Greatness or Number of thy Sins For all Power in Heaven and in Earth is given to Christ Jesus Only Faith in him and Faithfulness and Obedience to what he makes manifest is thee is re-required of thee And if thou hast Mountains of Sin thou shalt see them in the Faith to vanish away For it is The Willing and the Obedient shall eat the good of the Land And if thou are one that has known in any measure the Work of the Lord carried on in thy Heart I have this further to say for thy Incouragement from my own Experience That thou hast to do with a Tender-hearted Father who gently leads those that are but young in the Truth and his Lambs he will carry in his Arms and will lead thee no faster than thou art able to follow But be sure whatever he maketh manifest to thee to be Evil Give up to the Lord in Faithfulness and Obedience and the Lord will give thee Power over it For the End wherefore the Lord doth manifest Sin to be Sin is that he may Redeem out of it And as thou are faithful in the small thing thou wilt be made Ruler over more And as thou standest in that Faith which is the Gift of God thou wilt find nothing too hard or difficult for thee but thou wilt be able to say as the Servants of God did in Days past and do now in this Age All things are possible with him with whom we have to do And thou wilt feel the same Power to work and beget the same Faith in thee as it did in them For without Faith it is impossible to please God whatever Men may pretend to in words There are many Pretenders in our day to the Worship and Service of God as there were in Ages past But what avail their Pretences or Performances while they are fain to confess their Worship ends in Imperfection and that their best Duties are Sin or they Sin in performing their best Duties Sin in Praying Sin in Preaching Sin mixt with their most holy Duties That it is so with them I do not deny But my Heart is grieved at their Captivity Bondage and Misery because they believe it never can be otherwise And indeed it never will be otherwise with them so long as they content themselves with large Confessions of their Sins and come not to forsake them Would they content themselves that the time past is sufficient that they have wrought the Will of the Gentiles there would be some ground to hope that they were as willing to forsake their Sins as to confess them and so might come to have Faith in the Gift of God with whom all things are possible which thing many have formally in words acknowledged who in works have denied it But I testifie If they who make such large Confessions of their Sins do not come to that Gift of God in them which can enable them to forsake their Sins their Condition is no better than his who knew his Master's Will and did it not who was to be beaten with many Stripes For the Lord hath made manifest his Unerring Way and he is daily calling and inviting the Sons and Daughters of Men to walk therein and to be reconciled unto him that they may know their Sin blotted out For the Lord hath no delight in the Death of a Sinner of which I am an Instance and a Witness but is willing that all should Repent Return and come to the Knowledge of his Truth and be saved For he hath not Ordained Men to Reprobation so that they cannot be saved Neither hath he so absolutely Elected a certain Number of Persons to Salvation that what Evil soever they do they cannot miss of Salvation as many do falsly believe Which dangerous Doctrines have on the one hand thrown many down to the Bottomless Pit of Despair And on the other hand raised too many up into a Presumptuous Security Reader my desire is that thou wouldst come to the Witness of God in thy self that thou mayst see and learn the Mystery of these things For the Grace of God which hath so manifestly appeared in this