Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	word_n	world_n	zion_n	108	3	8.8189	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90389	An eccho from the great deep: containing further inward openings, concerning divers other things, upon some whereof the principles and practises of the mad folks do much depend. As also the life, hope, safety and happiness of the seed of God, is pointed at; which through many dark, dismall, untrodden paths and passages (as particularly through an unthought of death and captivity) they shall at length be led unto. / Through Isaac Pennington (junior) Esq;.	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.	1650 (1650)	Wing P1163; Thomason E618_1; ESTC R206346	113,201	142

unbelief and then ye shall finde the whole mystery of Salvation both in the type and in the substance to be another-ghess manner of thing then man by his understanding and reason or by that which he calls the assistance of the Spirit of God hath interpreted it to be Hasten thy work O God Let thy counsel stand Fulfil all thy pleasure and do it as speedily as thou wilt Let forth that destruction that desolation which must necessarily precede and make way for Salvation Let the old Covenant devour and bury in her own bowels the fruit of her own womb that the new seed may be conceived formed quickened brought forth and hang upon the brests of the new Covenant whence nothing but the sweetness purity and power of Life can be sucked Live O God live in thy seed quicken thy seed let them cause them to live in thee according to the law and by the vertue of thine own life Finish imperfection weakness sin vanity death dash it out and write thine own perfection and life in the stead and room of it Blot out the name of the foolish vain empty creature and write thine own name every where then shall those that desire and love thee be satisfied with thee when they shall meet none but thee and meet thee every where The way to Life which is through the death of that which we account and press after as life and through the captivity of the Life it self FROM 2 COR. 12.7 8 9 10. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me a thorn to the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me And he said unto me My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake for when I am weak then am I strong IN these words there are divers remarkable passages which he is very likely to meet with who pursueth the purity and height of the life of his spirit 1. There is the excellency of a Christians life the top of it which lieth in Visions and Revelations in Gods opening of himself and spiritual things to the eye of his spirit letting him in to the other world to behold God himself and the state of things there Ye are come to mount Sion to the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first born to God the Judg of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect c. Here is life indeed here is true sight true enjoyment here is the possession of strength he feels nothing fears nothing that may affright or trouble him who is here being wrapt up safe in the bosom of Eternity where mortality cannot seize upon him And the greater the fuller the deeper the more frequent and abundant these Visions are the quicker and stronger is the life by them the more is the spirit elevated through them 2. The danger of this life the danger of these enjoyments they tend to over-exalt him his flesh cannot bear them he is puffed up by them and forgets himself because of them Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations Paul was in great danger of being lift up beyond all bounds by reason of these his strength though it was great and much more then ordinary yet it was no way proportionable to his Revelations God can bear the weight of all his glory he is not at all lifted up with the sight and possession of his own strength and fulness but flesh cannot do so it is lifted up with any thing with every thing that is a little more then ordinary a little above it self and if its life and enjoyments be over-vigorous be much more then ordinary they over-exalt it This is the foolishness of the creature it desires the highest life the best the purest the strongest food but is not able to bear any thing beyond it self nothing but what is suitable to its proportion of life and it onely enjoyeth it self while by eternal Wisdom and Power it is guided and kept within its own bounds The Plants cannot live the life of Sensitives Sensitives cannot live the life of Man Man cannot live the life of God he cannot know as he knows he cannot comprehend as he comprehends he cannot live as he lives We think if we had abundance of sights and enjoyments of God we should live abundantly Alass poor fools Behold the experiment it almost overturned Paul lifted up his flesh so high that it cost him very dear to have it brought down again Exaltation is the worst posture of spirit of the worst nature the most prejudicial to the Creature that can be It is the most unbeseeming posture the most dishonorable to God and that which sets the Creature at the greatest distance from him It is the most unbeseeming posture for what is the Creature Nothing emptiness vanity a lye that which appears but is not a puff of wind that maketh a noise but passeth away and cometh not again Now for this to be lifted up as if it were somewhat as if it were substance nay as if it were all as if it knew all as if it alone were and none besides it what more uncomely thing And yet such is the foolishness of the creature that let God but open himself a little to it it presently conceits it self to be as himself let him but open himself in it it in himself and it presently is God as truly as fully as himself let him but open a little of his bosom a little beyond what it hath formerly seen and it presently sees as himself and so certainly that things cannot possibly be otherwise then as it now sees O uncomely Spectacle O how my Soul loaths the creature lifted up O how sordid is the creature aspiring to assuming and clothing himself with that greatness state and majesty which belongs not to him and which he can in no wise manage O God thou must needs destroy and prepare a grave to bury this uncomeliness in It is the most dishonourable to God intrenching most upon his Glory who is all who fills all who can endure nothing to be or appear where he is in his own Life and Fulness The creature never lifts up it self but it throws down God as much as in it lies it robs him and prides it self with what it hath stollen as if it were its own it defloureth his Beauties his Excellencies by making them appear unlike his and as if they were not his it raseth his Name out of that wherein he hath written in

earnest to bring others unto also as being very sensible that it tends both to his and their happiness whereas all other things tend apparantly to the misery and destruction of the creature And herein lieth the excellency of man this is the best he can desire or hope to attain and a Birth to or in this is the best Birth that can be produced by him But this is not the new-birth this is not that which God calls Regeneration this is not the heir but the son of the bond-woman which shall never inherit this is but the fruit but the off-spring of the first Adam which is of the earth earthly not of the second Adam which is the Lord from Heaven heavenly in himself and begetting an heavenly nature All these come from man the nature of man the blood of man the desire and skill of man the corruption of man or at best the excellency of man But the Child here spoken of the Child God delights in the Child he will own as his Son is of his own Seed is begotten by himself is born of him He is of the Seed of Eternity of Immortality and therefore Eternity of right belongeth to him He is the Child of God by a new Nature by a new Life he is the immediate off-spring of his own Son formed by his own Spirit But of God This whole Birth belongs to God 1. It is he that sows this Seed in the heart the seed of this Life his own Seed the Seed wherein the very Godhead is contained and which cannot but grow up into God God hath his Power to generate as well as man and the other creatures he hath his Seed to sow as well as they and his Seed doth a truly and fully contain his Nature as their seed doth theirs He is the great Sower that sows his own grain in his own Vineyard He is the great Builder that lays the foundation of his own House He hath begotten us again c. 2. It is he that quickens the Seed and causeth it to grow And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2. He casts a vail of death upon Eternity upon Immortality for a season he maketh it as it were to rot in the heart that he may quicken it again that he may cause it to grow up in its own shape and fulness And when it shoots forth it is he that causeth it to thrive and flourish Paul may plant and Apollos water but God giveth the increase This Life floweth only from God and groweth up only by the breath of God 3. He doth this by his own Power by his mighty Arm He puts his whole strength to it It doth not cost him nothing to sow this Seed to beget this Son but it costs him the very Power and strength of the Godhead even an exceeding greatness of Power he works with the very might of his Power when he begets this Child when he brings forth Faith in this Child even with the very same strain of strength that he exercised upon Christ when he raised him from the dead and exalted him above all other power Ephes 1.19 20. 4. He does this also by his own Will The other births are by the power of man by the will of man this is as by the Power of God so by the Will of God He is not at all moved to this by any thing in the creature by any thing from the creature but meerly by his own Will of his own Will begat he us He soweth his Seed according to his Nature as other things do theirs according to their nature Lo this is the New-Birth The Spirit breatheth where he listeth No man knows whence this breath comes no man knows whither this breath goes but it keeps within its own Circuit which is only known to it self Thus is every one that is born of God Of the Excellent Nature of this Birth or of the Child thus begotten thus born FROM JOH 3. Vers 6. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit SPirit denotes excellency purity strength durableness of nature its constitution is more excellent more clear more strong more lasting then that of flesh Flesh is weak corrupt fading hath little loveliness it and that loveliness quickly perishing the Egyptians are men and not God and their horses flesh and not Spirit Spirit is a sublime an excellent kind of nature both in its inwardness and in its outwardness its way of Being of motion either within or without of generation far exceeds that of flesh and so doth the Child begotten this way it is of the same nature with that which begets it That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit That which is begotten by the Spirit is of a spiritual nature of the same nature with himself of the very divine nature who hath made us partakers of the divine nature He observes the Law of Generation which is to beget and encrease his own nature and kind to multiply himself So that this Child is divine what ever is in this Child what ever flows from this Child cannot but be divine its Faith its Love its Hope its Joy its Meekness Sweetness Holiness Righteousness are not such as grow in Natures garden but in the Paradise of God and from a more inward and spiritual seed then is sown in nature That which is born of the flesh is flesh All the excellency that man can attain to all the Faith Hope Love Joy c. that man can have from any of the Births fore-mentioned is but fleshly but weak corrupt fading but that which is born of the Spirit that which flows from this Life that which grows out of this Seed is spiritual and hath the Spirit of Life Eternity and Immortality in it The flesh profiteth nothing Christ speaks that to persons who were bending their whole strength to understand him all this avails nothing The greatest fleshly desire moves not God the greatest fleshly industry and endeavour furthers not the creature What ever is thus received what ever is thus understood what ever is thus obtained is but fleshly and will not avail All the faith in God all the love towards God all the desire after God or delight in him all the obedience unto God thus gained thus put forth hath no true life in it and must needs wither and come to nothing The fleshly understanding of any thing revealed by Christ is of no value It is the Spirit that quickeneth It is the spiritual part in the Word the spiritual part of the Word engrafted by the Spirit in the heart that quickeneth it at first or causeth it afterwards to thrive and grow This Child hath a generosity a nobility an height an aspiringness in him He can never rest out of his own Country nor out of his own place of habitation in his Country He cannot endure to live beneath himself He must possess and enjoy God to the full or he is not satisfied He must live

at the full height of Majesty Power Greatness and Glory or his Life does not please him he will hardly own it as Life till it arrive at that It is the seed of the Kingdom and it will never leave shooting up till it grow into the Kingdom till all the Light till all the Life till all the Power Glory Greatness and Majesty of God that was sown in it spring up in it flourish and expatiate it self to the full And then when this Spirit comes to its full stature when it is so united to the Lord as to become perfectly one with that which begat it it will come to it self be it self and enjoy it self Having attained to that whereunto it was appointed and to which its nature did aspire and continually reach towards it will enter into perfect rest into that rest which is prepared for it only and which it alone is capable of comprehending Of the Excellent Food prepared for this New-born-Child to nourish him and cause him to grow FROM JOH 6. Vers 63. The Words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life EVery thing that hath life given it hath food likewise prepared for it to nourish it and cause it to grow Man lives by bread though not by bread only The New-Man hath his bread also whereupon he lives It is Christ in him that is born who is the New-Man and it is Christ that Christ feeds upon Christ is the Bread of Life by eating and digesting whereof the New-Man encreaseth his life He hangs upon the mouth of Christ from whence he came for the continuation and growth of his life it is his Word he feeds upon and lives by it is the nourishment by which he is sustained and by which he grows in life as new-born-babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby As it was the Word whereby he was begotten of his own Will begat he us by the Word of Truth So it is the Word whereby he lives As he is born of water so he hath water administred unto him to nourish him up to eternal life As he is formed of the flesh and blood of Christ so he eats and drinks the flesh and blood of Christ and he that desireth not this food he that knoweth not how to eat and digest this food hath no life none of this life in him As it is by sowing and quickening the seed of light of life in us that we come to live So it is by adding of the same light of the same life unto us that we come to live more abundantly The principle of this life is within but the food it gathers it receives from without as every life else also doth It s Being its subsistence is from what God hath formed in it its life and growth is from what God pleaseth to add unto it of the same nature and kinde with it self from his food which food is the Word of Christ Man hath the Principle of Knowledg in him but he is trained up by Instruction and learns no more but as he is taught either by the dilating of that Principle in himself or from men So is it with this new Nature The new-man learneth what it teacheth him within or what Christ teacheth him from without from without in this sence though his Teachings are inward Christ speaks within but he speaks from without He doth not onely draw forth that life within but from without he adds more life As he does give out of himself the seed and principle of life whereby he comes to be sown and grow up in another so he gives out of himself likewise that food that vertue that nourishment whereby that life lives thrives flourisheth The Word of Christ upon which the new-man feeds is without is distinct from him as our food is from us until it be eaten concocted distributed and so made perfectly one with him Christ is the Word of God and Christ hath his Word too God teacheth Christ Christ teacheth us God teacheth Christ by writing his Nature in him Christ teacheth us by writing his Nature in us As there is the Nature of God in his Word so there is the Nature of Christ in his Word As God teacheth Christ by opening his Life and Spirit in him So Christ teacheth us by opening his Life and Spirit in us God taught him by anointing him and he teacheth us by anointing us Ye have an anointing which teacheth you all things As Christ is Life and Spirit so he speaketh nothing but what is living and spiritual The Words which I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life and where ever they enter they convey spirit and life Indeed every one cannot receive them as these here could not they thought to comprehend them by their natural fleshly understanding which is a principle beneath them and cannot reach up unto them As well may a brute understand the wisdom the reason of the words of a man as a man understand the spiritual wisdom of the words of Christ But mans words may have reason in them though the brute understand them not and Christs words have spirit and life in them though man perceive it not Christs words are like unto him truly spiritual and living what ever they appear to man If he prescribe a way to man it is a spiritual a living way If he open any thing of God it is a true a spiritual opening If he speak peace it is peace indeed But there must be a principle within to receive this or else it falls to the ground There is a two-fold Word of Christ a generating a creating Word and a fructifying Word The former there needs no principle to receive but there he speaks life where there was no life he onely sends forth his voyce saying Let there be light and there is light Let there be life and there is life But the fructifying the thriving Word onely takes place where a principle of life is first sown That cannot be blessed with encrease and multiplication which is not which hath not a Being Quarrel not therefore O Man against the Scriptures in this respect because they speak not life to thee that may be because there is not life in thee or at least that life at present may be so nipped that it may be altogether unable to go forth for or receive in its sustenance The Words which I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life This food is spiritual food living food pure food perfect food eternal food food that never wastes never corrupts but abides the same for ever This seed this childe is spiritual eternally living and such is his food it grows up with him and in him to eternity the water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of water springing up to Eternal Life It is food of a quickening nature comes from a quick and living Spirit enters into a quick and living spirit is spiritual

all the vigour of its life shall not find it self able to live out of God when the time of its remove and separation comes and the other for all its weakness shall find it self able to live in God when it is taken into him There is nothing so weak so imperfect but God can make it taste of strength of perfection There is nothing so strong so perfect but God can make it taste of weakness and imperfection There was nothing ever born planted built up c. but may have a time to dye to be plucked up to be thrown down c. There was nothing ever deaded plucked up rased out but may have a time to be quickened to be planted to be written in again All things are brought forth in weakness the inward world as well as the outward All things under the Sun there are vanity are to have but a vain course and to end in vexation of spirit God indeed is perfect in every motion of his both in the inward and in the outward world I know that whatsoever he doth it shall be for ever nothing can be put to it nor any thing taken from it Vers 14. But man is weak man is vain the outward man vain the inward man vain every motion of his comes to nothing He seemeth to be wonderous wise to have motions of great weight even of Eternity upon him but alas he cannot reach Eternity he is but a vain empty cipher which stands for nothing He hath purposes in him but his purposes are poor shallow things and there is a season for them wherein he takes his swinge in them but these seasons must blow over too and the time must come wherein man must be ripped up with all his hurdle of vanity from the very begining to the end and then both he and it blown away with the wind an eternal puff will quickly set them all packing What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth O God Let others treasure up but I abhor I throw away every inward motion that ever hath sprung up from me I will have nothing to delight in nothing to glory in nothing to hope from before thee Do thou gather them up and save them as they are thine as thou hast been and appeared in them but as mine let them pass away for evermore Let there be no profit of all my labour and travel Do thou reap the travel of thy Soul and be satisfied but for my part I have long turned and still do and cannot but turn from all the works of my hands all the delights of my spirit even in the inward world and with as perfect irksomness and tiredness of spirit as ever Solomon did from his in the outward He hath made every thing beautiful in his time Every thing is beautiful in its season and nothing is lovely out of its season There 's a beauty in life O how lovely is the spring both in the inward and outward world The life of the flesh the life of the spirit each shoots forth with a grace And there 's a beauty in death it is comely to see things dye when the season of death comes There is nothing so black but there is beauty written in it nothing so evil but it hath goodness engraven on it Nothing so bad but it is good in its own place order season course nothing so good but it is bad out of its place There 's a beauty in killing and a beauty in healing a beauty in weeping and a beauty in laughing c. in their seasons but of their seasons they are very deformed All the motions of God both in the inward and in the outward world are very exact They have all reference one to another the outward to the inward the inward to the outward every motion in each hath an universal aspect and referrence there is a strain of Eternity in every motion There is the very Nature and Excellency of God in every thing that God doth every thing as it comes from him savours and tastes of his own Perfection Man hath but a poor sight of things either the outward or inward man and after that manner that he sees he doth not see either from the beginning or to the end of any thing The outward man seeth not any outward thing so nor doth the inward man see any inward thing so And indeed God hath so set the world in mans heart that man cannot be left free and unbyassed in observation and judgment There is such a desire planted in man to grasp and enjoy what ever is discovered every thing in the outward world there is a desire in the outward man to possess every thing in the inward world there is a desire in the inward man to possess that man cannot addict and apply himself to understand things to observe the motion and operation of God in things from the beginning to the end There is nothing seen in the root either as it lies in the root or as it springs out of the root or as it returns into the root Man hath only a bruitish knowledg of things or of the motions and actions of God in and about things seeing only a present appearance of this or that but not knowing what it is whence it came what it means or whither it tends And this also is beautiful in its season Darkness becomes the night spiritual darkness the spiritual night as light becomes the day and shadows and lyes are as proper for the night as Truth and substance is for the day While the night remains it is as suitable that the shadows should remain also as that when the day dawns the shadows should fly away Now here is the Excellency of Christ of Sion of the holy Seed They are not exempted from any varieties or changes either in the inward or outward world but in their running through them they still remain the same They are like God Every where in every thing what ever their clothes what ever their appearances be yet their Substance their Life is still the same The inward man shall be befooled all his light be put out and he made to see and confess that he knoweth nothing as well as the outward it is the spiritual man only whether in the seed or grown up that shall live and flourish And for the coming of this day my Soul after its own hidden way and manner waiteth and longeth the breaking forth whereof is alone able to afford my spirit rest and satisfaction The secret hidden most inward Voyce and Demeanor of Sion in the time of her Captivity FROM LAMENT 3. Vers 24 c. The Lord is my Portion saith my Soul therefore will I hope in him The Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the Soul that seeketh him It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his

even his own garden of delight Wise man could never know God could never learn the way to God could never be acquainted with the Life of God that which he calls so is vanity But Gods fools shall know him Those that are indeed stripped and made naked by him shall indeed be clothed with him Those whose old life old eye old heart is slain dead and buried shall be raised with a new life a new eye a new heart and that life shall live in God that eye see God and that heart embrace God This feed which hath so long layn dead in the grave when it is raised by that Almighty Power which slew it shall love the Lord its God with all its heart and live Therefore Say not O Jacob nor complain not O Israel saying My way is hid from the Lord God takes no notice of what befalls me My Judgment that Salvation which God himself hath judged suitable to my condition is passed over by my God for he will shew himself as skilful to vent his mercies and compassions which all miseries tend to stir as he hath been to cause grief As he hath been exceeding skilful in making such a wound in thee as none can administer any thing to heal or mitigate the smart of so he will likewise approve his skill in providing balm himself and in applying it to effect a perfect cure None could grieve thee but he none could touch thy life but he he hath touched thy life to purpose so as thou never suspectedst None can refresh thee none can restore thee but he stay wait see what he will do and if he do not satisfie thee with life and Salvation spare not to blame him The Ruine Destruction and utter Desolation of Babylon FROM REVEL 18. Vers 21. And a mighty Angel took up a stone like a great milstone and cast it into the Sea saying Thus with violence shall that great City Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all BAbylon is the chief fabrick the great master-peece of the spirit of man the City that man buildeth to dwell with God in to enjoy God in yea the great City which all the will wisdom and power of man have contributed towards to the utmost to make it glorious and sumptuous to make it pleasing to and taking with the spirit of man The City that God builds is Sion the City that man builds is Babylon The City that God erecteth is spiritual he doth it by his own Spirit with his own spiritual Wisdom The City that man erecteth is carnal from and according to the measure of his own carnal mind That which he sets up for the Will of God for the Worship of God is but according to his own carnal apprehension and imagination That which he worships for God is not God but Bell or Merodach his own Idol an Idea which his own wisdom hath framed which he sees and apprehends to be God with the eye of his understanding but will prove but emptiness and vanity in the presence and light of the true and living Substance In this Babylon in this great City there are many streets and in them many houses and in them many rooms of several heights or stories There is much beauty much riches much sweetness much pleasure Their worship of their Idol is glorious their enjoyments high their pleasure great their raptures sweet There is somewhat in one street or other in one room or other to allure and entangle the spirit of man in what dress soever it be she hath wares suitable to the spirit of man be it in what state or posture it will and hereby she prevails to draw the whole Earth after her In Sion there 's a God a Will a Worship a Light a Purity that will not bend one jot to humour the will or wisdom of man in the least and therefore the ways of Sion mourn poor Sion is desolate But Babylon is suited to the wisdom and will of man there is somewhat in her to take every one with and therefore all the trade and traffique runs that way O the beauty of Babylon O the excellent order in Babylon to the eye of man the unity the uniformity the harmony the decency Sion is a poor mean thing not worthy to be compared with Babylon nay hardly worthy to be the footstool of Babylon But O the filthiness of Babylon O the confusion of Babylon to the eye and in the light of God! and O how beautiful is Sion there In Babylon there are two eminent things to be taken notice of There 's their own Image their own way their own worship their own knowledg their own light adorned beautified presented as very taking and enforced upon all all must acknowledg and do reverence to this Image some way or other They must worship in some street in some house in some room though not all in one and the same And then there 's the holy Seed and the vessels of the House of the Lord in Captivity the true Life the true Power is hampered and kept under there The people of God lie there among the pots defiled besmeared made slaves and put to nothing but drudgery in the Land of their enemies No loveliness appears in them but all the glory shines in and about Babylons brood They appear poor and wretched the rich ones the great ones are the children of Babylon Sion mourns pants fetches breath for life is destitute afflicted tormented Babylon hath pleasure lives deliciously lightsomness is in her countenance and sorrow far from her heart I fit as a Queen saith she and shall never see widowhood The Babylonians they have a glorious God and a glorious Worship all things magnificent But Gods people they are like lost sheep like sheep turned away upon the mountains like sheep running astray having none to take care of them God doth not look after them now so as he did while they were in their own Land nor do they know how to find out their God but wander up and down from mountain to hill having forgotten their resting place In the destruction of Babylon there will be the Redemption the rescue the delivery of this Seed the defacing of all her glory the discovery of her paint and the lothsomness of that underneath which she thus painted and the clothing of Sion with Life and Salvation with true Beauty and Glory She Babylon shall have torment in stead of pleasure How much she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her The voyce of the Bridegroom and of the Bride shall be heard no more at all in thee Darkness in stead of light The light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee Howling in stead of musick The voyce of Harpers Musicians c. shall be heard no more at all in thee Desolation in stead of such abundant traffique No Crafts-man of whatsoever craft he be shall be found any more in thee and