Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A52724
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Two epistles of James Naylor's
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Naylor, James, 1617?-1660.
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1654
(1654)
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Wing N325; ESTC R32300
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6,339
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10
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away may cause you to watch and search by what Power you stand and so a pure fear may be preserved in you by which you may be kept in the way that leads to the Crown which is Immortal For it is he that overcomes that must wear the Crown wherefore faint not nor think any thing hard the Lord calls you unto nothing must Suffer but that which is to Die that your Souls may Live Oh your light Affliction worketh for you a far more exceeding weight of Glory while you keep your Eye to that which is Invisible wherefore give up your selves to his will in all things Stand in the will of God in your present Condition you are my joy in the Lord let my bowels be refreshed to hear of your Stedfastness and Growth in the Truth Take heed of propounding ends to your selves in any thing for that leads out of the way of God and gives way to your own Wisdom and so you seek to preserve that Alive which is appointed for Death and so you maintain War against God and know it not and in this condition you can have no Peace while the Enemies are in Arms against your Peace Oh! dear Friends you are in my Heart my Prayer to God for you is that you may be kept blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ blessed for Ever My fellow Prisoner and dear Companion in the Lord Salutes you F. H. all Cease not to Pray for us that we may be kept to his Praise who hath counted us worthy to Suffer for his Name we are well and in great Peace kept in our Father's Love above all we are often brought to stand and wonder how we are kept in the midst of the Fire and not Consumed and the more that the Enemy Rages the more are we kept in Peace within Here are strange Devices used to insnare us to get ought against us true or false but all is ordered by a power the World knows not God is our Strength Rejoice with us all dear Friends and Praise his Name for Evermore for he is worthy for his Mercy endures for Ever JAMES NAYLOR A Prisoner at Appleby in Westmoreland for the Truths sake 1653. To all Dear BRETHREN and FRIENDS in Holderness and in the East Parts of Yorkshire DEAR Friends I Rejoice in you as you are entred into the Love of the Truth and have owned the Voice that calls out of the Darkness that is over all the Earth to set your Faces towards Sion the City of Everlasting Light And now mind your Way and the Light that is given to Guide you in the Way to keep your Eye to the Light that it may lead you through all the Visible things of the World and as you pass through you may stand single in the Mind unto God not turning to the right or left Hand where lies the Temptation nor looking back which lays you open to be Assaulted afresh by those Evils you had once escaped from but keeping the Eye towards the Mark pass on leaving and forgetting what is behind and Treading and Trampling under your Feet what the Enemy shall lay as stumbling blocks in your way which your Carnal Eyes or Ears or Hearts would be closing with for the Temptation lies in the Carnal things and there is the Bondage of the Creature to things that are Corrupt from which Bondage from Sin and Corruption the Lord is now Appeared that in the Light he may Redeem and lead out of it all that will own and follow him and this Light and Redemption is in his Son whom he is about to Exalt in which Exaltation a strange and mighty Work is to be brought to pass whereat all that stand not in his Counsel and Fear and to whom he shall not Reveal his Secrets shall be offended for all that is exalted shall be laid low and debased the Wisdom of the Wise shall come to nought and the Understanding of the Prudent ones shall be hid Riches and Honours shall fall to Dust from whence they came and the Worship of the World shall become Filthiness the Gods of the Heathens shall be Famished with looking for Worship but shall get none and the strongest of them shall not be able to deliver himself for the Lord will bring down all Heights and Mountains into the Valleys for in the Valley of Jehosaphat he will plead with all Flesh which hath scattered the Seed of the Covenant And now dear Friends here is your Peace and Blessedness that you Silence all Flesh and cease from your own Wisdom and give over your Imaginations about the things of God come out of the Love of the World and arise out of all Visible things and prepare to meet the Lord cast off all your Idols that have had your Hearts and put off the stumbling blocks of your Iniquities from before your Faces and give up all that will not that he should Reign over them that his Enemies may be your Enemies for in Judgment and Righteousness is he come out to be Avenged upon the Unrighteous Seed and now stand in the Light that a seperation may be made in you the Precious from the Vile that a true savour may arise that you may know your Calling and Election what is called and what you are to come out of left you stay in any of that to which the Plagues is for this is the cause of your Suffering not discerning in the pure Wisdom what that Antichrist or exalted Spirit is that is got into the Seat of God and shews himself to be as God whose Kingdom stands in the Wisdom Glory and Riches of the World whereat all that knows not the true God in Spirit ask Counsel therefore dear Friends look not out into the Visible things for there he is ready to present to you false Voices and Visions Lying-wonders to lead out the vain Mind into the Liberty and Boasting of high things in Words without Power but while such speak of Liberty they are in Bondage in Mind to Corrupt and Fading things and while these are Head in the Creature there is not Redemption For the Bonds of Iniquity are unloosed and the pure seed is oppressed and the Plagues must pass upon that Nature therefore sink down into the Sufferings and Death that you may find the Door whereat to Enter for there is a Vale of Tears to pass thorow you shall find your Well-springs in him where you shall drink of the Water of Life and find Refreshment and grow from Strength to Strength till you come up to Sion Stand fast take heed of Words without Life spoken from the Comprehensions for that Feeds not the pure Seed but Feeds the Wisdom which is above and the Itching Ears and so the pure is covered with Earth and the Fowls of the Air is fed and no Fruit is brought forth to Perfection and take heed of that Nature that would know more than God is willing to Reveal for you shall find that
unwilling to obey what it knows and take heed of that which desires to appear before Men to be commended for that seldom deserves Praise of God and let a Godly Conversation declare what is within and know one another in Spirit and not in Word and meet often together and wait upon God for his Teaching alone in a Cross to your own Wills for therein is the Secrets of God Revealed Let Love abound in you one towards another without being Partial and I beseech you by the Love of God that you halt not between God and the World but as you Profess that you are not of the World so let your Conversation be out of its Fashions Customs and Traditions and Covetous Practiles that it may appear you are marked out for the Lord's and that you are not ashamed to own that which differs and so walk as not to cast an offence on the Gospel that you become not a scorn to Fools but let Wisdom be justified of her Children and take heed of that which would be exalted above others Teaching and Talking of things without Life and you that would be counted somebody let such first learn to wash the Feet of them they would be above and he that would be Greatest let him be Servant to all for it is the Humble and not the High Spirits that are Taught of God and such so walk as their Lives and Practises Teach and Judge all Vain Light and Heighty Spirits and mind how you grow out of the Earth and out of that which is in the Enmity and until you be brought out of the Love of all Visible things and wholly infolded into the Love of God you cannot witness Redemption nor receive the true Joy that ariseth in the Manifestation of the Love for it is only he that is brought up out of the Death to Reign over it whose Heart is come out of the Unrighteous Mammon who is entred into the Kingdom of Righteousness Joy and Peace and as you arise out of the Earthly Bondage you shall witness the glorious Liberty and so come to know your own Measures every one in particular to improve it and not to boast above it in another Man's Line and so you will come to see by what Power you stand in your Warfare how far you are Conquerors and who is your Enemy at present and so be able to give an Account in your selves of your Faith and how you grow from Faith to Faith And dear Friends watch over one Another Exhort Reprove Admonish in pure Love and Meekness of Spirit least you also be Tempted and all know that you are set as a City on a Hill as Signs to this Generation therefore lift up your Light to all the World that all Mouths may be Stopped and Hearts Convinced so that all that see you may see you to be Children of Light and being Judged by you may be ashamed of their deeds of Darkness for great is the work of the Lord and Blessed are they that are found Faithful in it in what is committed to them Farewel dear Hearts and the Lord God Almighty Bless Prosper and Preserve you Pure and Clear unto his Kingdom Amen My Love in the Lord Salutes you all and if my Father please I shall be glad to see your Faces in the Flesh but his Will is my Peace who is Blessed for Evermore Written from Nuby the last Day of the Seventh Month 1653. A Lover of your Souls JAMES NAYLOR The Work of the Lord is great in those Parts and he carries it on with a High Hand having got himself the Victory Praise the Lord with us all that know him who is worthy even him alone for Ever FINIS Printed in the YEAR 1654.