Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	work_v	worship_n	worship_v	125	3	7.6891	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65358	The saints guide, or, Christ the rule, and ruler of saints manifested by way of positions, consectaries, and queries : wherein is contayned the efficacy of acquired knowledge, the rule of Christians, the mission and maintenance of ministers, and the power of magistrates in spiritual things / by Iohn Webster ...	Webster, John, 1610-1682.	1654 (1654)	Wing W1213; ESTC R17627	36,008	50

The Saints Guide OR Christ the Rule and Ruler OF SAINTS Manifested by way of Positions Consectaries and Queries Wherein is contayned The Efficacy of acquired Knowledge The Rule of Christians The Mission and Maintenance of Ministers And the power of Magistrates in Spiritual things By IOHN WEBSTER late Chaplain in the Army LONDON Printed for Giles Calvert at the Black-spread Eagle at the West End of Pauls 1654. To all that love the Lord IESUS CHRIST in Truth and Sincerity Dear Souls BLessed be the God of mercies who hath satisfied my spirit that it is not the power of Argument the force of Dispute or Eloquence nor the efficacy of humane Reason that can more clearly make out the things that are freely given to us of God than they are by that Spirit that searches all things yea even the deep things that are of God in the experience of his Saints as they all witness having the same spirit opening unto them that Record which God gave of his Son Neither are these and poor weak things though we should not despise the day of small things made publick upon any such account but onely as it pleased the Lord to draw forth my spirit to give testimony with those Truths he had sealed in my breast against all the prejudice cenfures and unrighteous judgments of men For that immortal Spirit which raised Ies●s up from the dead and quickeneth the bodies of his Saints by its own light life power wisdom and strength worketh all in all in his people stands not in any need of the weak instrument of ●infull mans carnal and devilish wisdom For it is this Spirit that qu●ckeneth the flesh profiteth nothing Neither are the weapons of a believers warfare carnal but mighty in Christ not in us to the pulling down of strong holds and laying low of every imagination that stands up against Christ And also I have usually in experience observed that in laboring to make out the Truth by the force of our wit and arguments one carnal weapon is but set against another and so doth little else but engender strife and stir up passion so that Truth rather receives damage than profit by it And therefore the Scripture witnesseth that Saints should avoid foolish questions endless Genealogies and contentions with perverse disputings whereof cometh envy strife railyngs and evil surmisings And as the Lord in mercy hath cleared my spirit from these mysts so he hath led me forth to give my testimony with the rest of his Saints in behalf of his Cause and Truth against all perversness and unrighteousness of men For after the Lord about eighteen years ago had in his wonderfull mercy brought me to the sad experience of mine own dead sinfull lost and damnable condition in nature and fully shewed me the nothingness and helplesness of creaturely power either without or within me and graciously led me forth to witness with the Prophet David That he had drawn me forth of the horrible Pit and set my feet upon a Rock and established my goings And then and ever since carried me forth somtimes in much power somtimes in weakness according to the working of his own will to declare unto the sons of men what he had done for my Soul This no sooner appeared in me and others whom it pleased the Lord to reveal his Son in but the power of Babel in the Ministers of Satan transforming themselves into Ministers of Righteousness then in the Episcopal and Prelatical Form poured forth all their malice and spite against the Truth and against all those in whom it appeared then throwing dirt upon us and hotly raging in persecution against us in and under the terms of Puritans Seperatists Grindletonians and Antinomians And also continued the same bitterness in malice in the tail of the Dragon though then disguised under the name of Presbyterians and a new Form of pretended godliness by the former odious ●itles and addition of new as Libertines Blasphemers Sectaries and Hereticks and since hath not ceased under the new devices of Independency and Church-gathering keeping still the same appellations and super-adding of others as Dippers Quakers and indeed what not calling and accounting all others as Hereticks that were not of their Tribe and Trade Form and judgment and so the hierling merchants of Demetrius his Craft do still vociferate and continu it yet notwithstanding all their bloudy malice and insaciable envy the Lord hath delivered me and those that were his through his great mercy from the paws of all these devouring Lions and will still faithfully keep and preserve all his by his mighty power through faith unto salvation And now the Lord hath strengthened my spirit and hand to bear out my witness against all these and to manifest the same to you my dear brethren pertakers of the same heavenly calling and anointed with that spirit that teacheth all things and leadeth into all truth where there is neither Iew nor Greek bond nor free male nor female but are all one in Christ Iesus to the unity of whose Spirit he commends you who remains April 28. 1653. Yours in the Lord though the lowest and least of all Saints JO WEBSTER To all those that set up Forms and external Worship instead of the spiritual and those that call themselves the Ministers of the Nation Countrey-men IT is far from my purpose to asperse your persons or to condemn any of the least appearances of the Lord Iesus in you much less to oppose any thing that may tend to the building up of the spiritual and new Ierusalem Nevertheless the Lord hath put a few things in my mouth to speak unto you and some things in my spirit to inquire of you which I beseech you to receive in meekness as becometh th●se who have stiled themselves by the dear and precious name of Christians Hath the Spirit of Christ ever revealed in you or the record of his truth taught you that any Form of godliness how exact soever or any external worship or discipline though never so near the model that you may imagine is layd down in the Lette● of the Scriptures doth make a Saint where the life and power is altogether absent Or doth there appear in any of your gathered Congregations or select Forms the evident and pure power of spiritual self-denial and divine love Nay is it not as the Apostle foretels Having a Form of godliness but having denyed the power thereof Doth Pride Covetousness Censuring Envying Condemning nay murthering of others that follow not your Forms declare or evidence the power of godliness Is not he a murtherer that hateth his brother and therefore hath not eternal life abiding in him Or is there none a Brother but only he that is of your gathered Congregation Is this to worship the Father in spirit and truth or rather to worship ye know not what either at Jerusalem or pon some other Mountain The Lord open

your eys and give you spiri●s to discern in what Principle ye stand Was ever the Spirit of Christ in his Saints in any Age a spirit of persecution Or were the Saints accusers of their Brethren by casting upon them any odious Titles Or did they complain of others to any secular Power or labored to punish or imprison any that followed not them and their way Nay doth not Christ teach them not to forbid such And is it not the Rule that Saints should not speak evil one of another for in so doing they judg the Law and fulfill it not And did not God so lead out their spirits that being reviled they did bless being persecuted they did suffer and being defamed they did intreat Nay is it fitting to bring a railing accusation against the Devil No but to refer it to the Lord that he may rebuke him Now whether it be so with you or not let your Consciences and carriage speak Did ever the Spirit of Christ teach you that any actions dutyes performances or any holy exercises of yours were well-pleasing unto God that were not the fruits and effects of his Spirit inhabiting and working in you No although you should give your bodyes to be bu●ned and your goods to feed the poor without the Principle of Divine Love which is Christ working the same in you it would profit you nothing Where is your Charity Where is your Love Doth all that you act in the way of his worship flow from this Spirit Try your selves Examine your selves know you not that Christ Jesus is in you except you be reprobates Must not every Plant which the heavenly Father hath not planted be rooted out And if your Religion and way of worship were of God it would stand without any assistance of man or worldly power that the Gates of Hell could not prevail against it for his Kingdom being not of this world is not upholden by the power or principles of this world but by the Almighty Word of his spiritual power But doth the house of your holiness stand founded upon this Rock of Ages or upon the sandy foundation of mans power and self-righteousness and therefore when the rain descendeth the windes blow ●nd the flouds beat it falleth and the fall of it is great And you that call your selves the Ministers of the Nation did ever the Spirit of Christ teach you to derive your Calling and Mission from man or the power of men Is it not the Lord of the Harvest onely and none but he by his own will and spirit that sendeth forth Laborers into his Vineyard Had you your Mission from him or from Rome from his spirit or from the vain and fruitless imposition of the hands of Bishops or Presbyters who apishly imitated the Apostles action without their spirit gifts or power Is not the calling of a Minister as was Pauls from God immediatly and neither of man hor by man Consider into what Places you have thrust your selves even whither the Lord hath not put nor placed you Nay have you not run when he never sent you Those that are his Disciples chuse not him but he chuseth them and ordaineth them to bring forth fruit But do you not pretend to chuse him to make a Trade of his service when you go and are sent to Academyes to be fitted for that end and to Bishops Presbyters gathered Churches or the power of the Magistrat to borrow authority and thereby to procure a fat Porsonage or Augmentation and then you set up shop to sell and vend your wares as though now you had served a sufficient apprentiship and were Masters of the Craft or Trade when yet God hat●● neither chosen fitted nor sent you forth in the power and demonstration of his Spirit And this appears by the fruits of your pretended Ministry being empty dull dead liveless and onely like teaching of the Scribes and Pharises for indeed men do not gather Grapes of Thorns nor Figs of Thistles and so by the fruits of their Doctrine the tru Ministers are known from the false and so are you Dare you presume to ●ver that you are Christs Ambassadors and know not the Message that you should deliver but have it to frame and hammer out by your study cogitations devices and the working of your carnal wit and corrupted Reason or to scrape and gather up out of this and that Author Father Schoolmen Modern Writers this and that Expositor Commentator and the like Is this to be made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit Those that Christ sends forth have that Unction that teacheth them all things that they need not to ask or inquire of vain Idols that have eys and see not ears and hear not mouths and speak not neither have any spirit of understanding in them at all but they are all taught of God and have received in some measure of that spirit which leads into all truth and need not take thought what they shall answer for it shall be given them in that hour for it is not they that speak but the Spirit of the Father in them and out of their bellies do flow fountains of living waters While in the mean time your broken Cisterns of wit learning and carnal wisdom can contain no water Can you be his souldiers when y●u have no weapons but what are carnal and not those spiritual ones of Christ that are mighty in him to the pulling down of strong holds and the laying low of every imagination that stands up against him and his power The Lord in mercy open your eyes to see your own emptiness and want of furniture to fight conquer and stand in this spiritual and great warfare otherwise none are sufficient of themselves to think any thing of themselves but every Ministers sufficiency is of God Did ever Christ teach you to preach for hire or to make Contracts how much you must have for exercising that Ministry the necessity of which is laid upon you if you be called of God even to preach in season and out of season and woe be unto them that do it not And yet it is your cry No publike maintenance no Ministry Oh hypocrites how can ye escape the damnation of hell Or hath he taught you to remove from place to place where you may have more mony or a greater benefit This is only to preach for hire not for the love of the truth nor out of your sensibleness of the necessity incumbent upon you With what faces can or dare you exact Tythes or pay from poor Labourers by the compulsory power of a worldly Law who perhaps never received any benefit from your Ministry or cry out for a publike maintenance to be established by the Magistrate Is there any other maintenance for a Gospel-Ministry but what those freely give that feel and

Spirit his Rule and Guide and no Law besides whatsoever which is evident from these grounds Because if he be Christs he is led by the Spirit of Christ and if a man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his and it is this 〈◊〉 that teacheth a Believer all things and leads him into ●ll truth 〈…〉 for he is taught of God And this is that Spirit that 〈◊〉 all things yea even the deep things of God which every Beleiver receiveth in some measure and 〈◊〉 the Spirit of the world that he may know the things that are freely gi●●n to him of God So that this Spirit both searcheth out and teacheth those deep things that no Law could ever discover or finde out And it is as clear that the Gospel is his Rule wherein his way is perfectly painted out The 〈◊〉 shall liv● by Faith and without faith it i● impossible to please God and whatso●ver is not of Faith is ●in and the life that a Believer now lives is ●y t●e faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him Th●refore faith being the way ●e should walk in and the Rule he should go by it is mani●est the Law is not his Rule because not of Faith That which teacheth a Believer to de●y all ung●dly 〈◊〉 and not to be conformable to this present evil world but to be perfect as his heavenly Father is perfect and holy as he is holy and to serve him in holiness and righteousness without fear all the days of his life that same is his Rule and his Guide but it 〈◊〉 clear that the Gospel and Grace of God ●eacheth 〈◊〉 things and there●ore they are his Rule and Guide for the Scripture sayth Let every 〈◊〉 that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity for the grace of God that bringeth salvation unto all men hath appeared teaching us to deny ungodly lus●s and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world and therefore is the grace of G●d in he Gospel that teacheth these things the Rule and Guide of a Christian That which discovereth to a Believer the fruits of the flesh and likewise of the Spirit is his Rule and Guide but the Gospel 〈◊〉 this clearly and not the Law as sayth the Apostle now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery ●ornication uncleanness lasciviousness 〈◊〉 witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions he●●sies ●●vyings murders drunkenness and such like But the fruits of the Spirit are love joy peace long●suffering gentlenes● goodn●ss fa●●h meekness temperance against such there is no Law That which discovereth that to be sin and sinfull which the Law did nor is the Rule and Guide of a Believer but the Gospel teacheth that infidelity is sin and that he which beluveth 〈◊〉 is condemned already and this the Law neither did not could do and therefore the Gospel not the Law is the Believers Rule and Guide And ●urther that which 〈◊〉 those things which the Law did and others higher and deeper is the Rule of a Believer and this is the Gospel not the ●aw for it sayth Ye have board that it was sayd by them of old time thou shalt not commit adultery but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her h●●h committed adul 〈…〉 Whether ●ught the Gospel to be preached as 〈◊〉 ghest and chiefest Light for discovering the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 or not seeing we now live under a 〈…〉 Whether are all holy and godly actions of Sain● dutye or privi●edges and do flow from an inward 〈◊〉 of Divin● love rather than from an external prec●pt of ●ear o● rewa●d or not Whether Faith Repentance and all other Grace● mentioned in the Gospel though in form of speaking layd down as requisite du●yes be not free gifts and gracious mercyes And if they be free gifts and graces why do men press them legally and not hold them out freely and Evangelically Whether do men that press Faith and Repentance as conditions or qualifications build upon the principles of Calv●● or Armini●● Of the calling and enabling of 〈◊〉 That Christ by his Spirit mani●esteth the mystery of the Gospel unto such as in his own purpose and decree he hath separated for the Ministry and sends them ●orth in the power and evidence of the same Spirit and all that men have done in appoin●ing and se●●ing up of a Mi●istry is of man and not of God one●y those that have had experi●nce of the same truth have somtime used to give their evi●ence or wi●nels to the truth in others which was not their calling but a testimony from others that such were already called And no humane power hath any legal right to forbid or hind●r that such may not speak what God hath revealed in them and unto them It ●s plain that God chuseth Instruments and they not him 〈…〉 vea● his Son in me that I might preach him among the heathen immediat●y I conferred not with fl●sh and blou● Neither went I up to Ierusalem to them that were Apostles before me No he was an Apostle not of man nor by man but by Iesus Christ neither was he taught it but by the revelation of his Spirit and so are all those that are truly called of God for there is nothing but Christ by his Spirit onely that maketh men able Ministers of the New 〈◊〉 not of the Letter but of the Spirit for men as men are not sufficient to think any thing of themselves but their sufficiency is of God For though there be diversityes of gif●s yet it is the same spirit that gives them and though there be differences of administrations yet it is but the same Lord that doth administer in them all and though there be 〈◊〉 of operations yet it is the same 〈◊〉 that worketh all in all and one Spirit that giveth out all these as it pleaseth And as he calleth them enableth them and setteth them apart so he onely sendeth them forth and the authority they have is only from him not from man For in the same manner that he was sent which was in the power of the Father and not in nor from the power of man so sent he them and therefore sayth pray ye therefore the Lord of the Harvest that he would send forth Labourers into his Vineyard It was not to pray Princes nor Magistrats Bishops nor Presbyters 〈◊〉 nor Congregated Churches to send forth Labourers but the Lord of the Harvest onely Unless we should a fly imagine that the Lord of the Harvest that hath ordained the Wheat to be gathered into his own Barn and is that dear loving and provident Father that taketh care for all his nay though a mother may forget her childe yet will he not forget his should take no care of besowing planting watering