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book_n	great_a	see_v	word_n	2,798	5	3.6685	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41067	A touch-stone, or, A perfect tryal by the Scriptures, of all the priests, bishops, and ministers, who have called themselves, the ministers of the Gospel whose time and day hath been in the last ages past, or rather in the night of apostacy : they are tried and weighed by the Scriptures of truth, and are found out of the life and power of the scriptures, and out of the spirit and doctrine of them that gave them forth, and quite contrary to their principle and practice, both Papists and Protestants : unto which is annexed, Womens speaking justified, &c.	Fox, Margaret Askew Fell, 1614-1702.	1667 (1667)	Wing F639; ESTC R7178	82,431	96

If thou wilt walk in my Statutes saith the Lord and execute my Judgements and keep all my Commandments to walk in them then will I perform my word with thee which I spake unto David thy Father 1 Kings 6. And Hezekiah that good King of Judah when he was sent to from Sennacherib King of Assyria by Rabshekah and others with a great hoast who came up against Jerusalem who threatned the King and the whole City as you may read 2 Kings 18. And Hezekiah King of Judah sent Eliakim and Shebna and the Elders of the Priests covered with sackcloth to Isaiah the Son of Amos so the servants of Hezekiah came to Isaiah and Isaiah said unto them Thus shall ye say unto your Master thus saith the Lord Be not afraid of their words c. Chap. 19. And accordingly the Lord sent an Angel and cut off all the men of Valour and the Leaders and the Captains of the King of Assyria and the Lord saved Hezekiah and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hands of the King of Assyria 2 Chron. 32. Also Josiah that good King when he heard the words of the Book of the Law read he rent his Cloathes and commanded Hilkiah the Priest and several of the Elders of the People saying Go ye and enquire of the Lord for me and for all the People of Judah concerning the words of this Book that is found for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us because our Fathers have not harkred to the words of this Book and they went and enquired of the Prophetess to Huldah as you may read 2 Kings 22. 2 Chron. 34. This you see was the practice of the four principal Kings of Israel and Judah Moreover I am clearly convinced and am assured that the Bishops as they are called and those of their Order and Coat or indeed any that have taken upon them that Function of the Clergy these many hundred of years that they are not according unto Christ Jesus nor unto his Disciples nor the Apostles and the Saints in the Primitive times but are gone quite contrary according to what the Scriptures of Truth hold forth and that in all these particular heads following First Their Titles Secondly Their Estate or Condition and Qualifications Thirdly Their Call Fourthly Their Doctrine and Worship Fifthly Their Practise in matters of Controversie Sixthly Their Maintenance Seventhly and lastly Their Garbe and Habit. All which we shall prove not only not according but quite opposite and contrary to Christ Jesus his Example and his Apostles and disciples Now they being men not only professing Christianity but also taking upon them to be Actors Leaders Teachers Preachers and Feeders of the Peoples Soules and that in and with Christianity there can be no sound reason to the contrary but that they should be men principled fitted and furnished yea and filled with the same Spirit as was in the Apostles whose words they take upon them to declare and to make a Trade of and to get their Living by since they make poor people believe that they have their souls in cure and so by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple and so keep them ever learning but they never come to the knowledge of the Truth But to proceed to the First viz. Their Titles This is clear contrary to the Doctrine of Christ for when the Mother of Zebedees Children came unto him concerning her two Sons that one might sit on his right hand and the other on his left Jesus answered and said ye know not what ye ask and when the other ten heard it they were moved with indignation against the two Brethren but Jesus called them unto him and said ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise Dominion over them and they that are great exercise Authority upon them but it shall not be so among you but whosoever will be great among you let him be your Minister and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his Life a ransome for many Matth. 20. Likewise again when he told them That one of them should betray him they began to enquire among themselves which of them it was And there was also a strife among them which of them should be accounted the greatest mark that you great Lords And he said unto them the Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and those that exercise Authority on them are called Benefactors but ye shall not be so but he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve c. And again when he said unto them Let these things sink into your eares the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of men And again they began to reason among themselves who should be the greatest And when he said unto them Behold we go up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man shall be delivered unto the chief Priests and unto the Scribes and they shall condemn him to death Even then did James and John come to desire to sit one on his right hand and the other on his left But Jesus again reproved them for it and said unto them Ye know that they that are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and their great ones exercise Authority upon them but it shall not be so with you c. Mar. 10. Nay he said unto his Disciples Be not ye called Rabbi for one is your Master even Christ and all ye are Brethren Neither be ye called Masters but he that is greatest among you let him be your servant and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased and he that humbles himself shall be exalted Mat. 23. And I do not find that the Apostles either Timothy or Titus who were Bishops indeed were ever called Lord-Bishops but the Apostle when he writes to the Thessalonians saith Wherefore when we could no longer forbear we thought it good to be left at Athens alone and sent Timotheus our Brother and Minister of God and Fellow-Labourers in the Gospel of Christ to establish you and to comfort you concerning your Faith This was the Title that the Apostle gave them which was not Our Reverend Father in God Lord Bishop c. And the Apostle when he writes unto Timothy calls him His Son in the Faith 1 Tim. 1. And when he exhorts him he saith If thou put the Brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ nourished up in the word of Faith and to good Doctrine whereunto thou hast attained Chap. 4. And in his second Epistle that he writes to Timothy he calleth him His dearly beloved Son and that he greatly desires to see him and he saith Thou my Son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus And he bids him endure

where it was written in Isaiah 61. 1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the Captives and recovering of sight to the blind and set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and he closed the Book and gave it again to the Minister and sate down and he began to say unto them This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears And all bear him witness and wondred at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth And they said Is not this Josephs Son Luke 4. Now this was he that the Prophet Isaiah prophesied of and therefore when he began to preach he turned to this Scripture to let them see that this Prophesie was fulfilled and so closed the Book But when he preached among them and taught as ye may read through all the Evangelists as first in Mat. 5. and in Luke 6. He opened unto them the Law and also told them That whosoever did break one of the least Commandments should be called least in the Kingdom And taught the Disciples saying Let your Light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven Think not that I come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill For verily I say unto you till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled For I say unto you except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of God This was the manner of his preaching and teaching And so he goes on and opens unto them the Law and tells them it had been said so in the old time Ye have heard it hath been said in the old time thou shalt not forswear thy self But I say unto you swear not at all And it hath been said unto you in the old time An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say unto you resist not evil He that smites thee on the one cheek turn the other And thus he goes on in opening of the Law of which he was to fulfill every jot and tittle and also opening unto them the Mysteries of the Gospel which is Love even to Enemies and which the Apostle saith is the fulfilling of the whole Law And he told them that so they might be the Children of their Father which is in heaven for he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends Rain on the just and on the unjust Be ye therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect Here is the perfect Ministry indeed of the true Circumcision which makes the true Jew indeed inward which circumciseth the heart with his holy Spirit The Apostle saith Now I say unto you that Jesus Christ was a Minister of the Circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the Promises unto Abraham and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy and so the blessing of Abraham may be upon all Jews and Gentiles All that are in the Faith are blessed with faithful Abraham And this is he of whom the Apostle to the Hebrews saith We have such an High Priest who is set on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in Heaven a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord hath pitched and not man Heb. 8. And as he was a Minister of the same Sanctuary which God hath pitched so also were his Apostles they preached by his holy Spirit For as God is true saith Paul the Apostle so our word to you-wards was not yea and nay for the Son of God Jesus Christ who was preached among you by us even by me and Sylvanus and Timotheus was not yea and nay but in him was yea for all the Promises of God are in him Yea and in him Amen 2 Cor. 1. And by this Spirit and Power of the Lord Jesus did Steven who was full of Faith and Power do great wonders and miracles among the People and when the false witnesses came to accuse him before the high Priest and those that sate in Council looking stedfastly on him saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel Then said the high Priest Are these things so And he said Men Brethren and Fathers hearken And he began at Abraham and he opened unto them the Royal and Holy Seed throughout the Scriptures until he came to Christ Jesus whom he said they had crucified and slain And he said Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resist the holy Ghost as your Fathers did so do ye Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers Persecuted and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers When they heard these things they were cut to the heart and gnashed on him with their teeth but he being full of the holy Ghost looked stedfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and he said Behold I see heaven open and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God And they cryed with a loud voice and stopt their ears and ran upon him and cast him out of the City and stoned him and they stoned Steven calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit Acts 7. Also Paul when he came to Antioch and went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day after the reading of the Law and the Prophets the Rulers of the Synagogue sent to him and his company and said Men and Brethren if ye have any exhortation to the People say on Then Paul stood up and beckoned with his hand and said Men of Israel and ye that fear God give audience And he began to declare how God brought their Fathers out of Egypt with a high hand and how they were in the Wilderness and how he destroyed the Nations of the Land of Canaan and how they were governed from that time unto Christ and how that Christ care of the Seed of David and likewise how the Rulers of Jerusalem dealt with Christ and though they found no cause of death in him yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him they took him down from the Tree and laid him in a Sepulchre but God raised him from the dead and afterwards he preached unto them his Resurrection as may be read at large throughout Acts 13. and how the Gentiles also should partake of his-Resurrection but the Jews contradicted and blasphemed against their Doctrine Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said It was necessary that the word of God should first have been preached to you Jews but seeing ye put

obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ Therefore brethren stand fast and hold the Traditions which ye have been taught whether by Word or our Epistle 2 Thes 2. This Scripture the Papists and many others make a Cloak and a Covering for teaching their Traditions because the Apostle bids them hold fast the Traditions that they had taught them by their Gospel which in the words before he saith was to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ the which they had good reason to hold fast for if they let that go they were not like to attain to such another But there is no comparison between these and the Traditions of the Priests in the Apostacy either Papists or others for through their teaching of their Traditions they have done nothing but brought people into a body of darkness and into a heap of ignorance keeping them ignorant both of the Scriptures and all that is good For if people had but liberty to look into the Scriptures they would soon be wiser then their Teachers and see their gross darkness But they tell them they cannot understand them they must be expounded by learned men and so will not let the Light of Christ arise in Peoples hearts nor never direct their minds to it but keep them in darkness and make a Trade of the Scriptures for their own advantage and so deceive poor peoples souls And these Scriptures may serve to prove this Particular of the fourth Head which is concerning their Worship which is their matter and manner of Preaching The second particular of that head is their Prayer which is also contrary to Scripture-example they having Prayars formed and made by men as all their other Worship is and so read their Prayers in Books and set any fellow or school-boy to read it if he have but the name of Curate or Clark if he read but that in the Book they account it Praying And if any of the greater sort as Bishops Deans Vicars or Parsons if they pray they either pray in a Book or else they have a Prayer formed up and made and prepared before hand that they pray And many times they set wild and wanton Boyes with Priest and Clark and all the People to sing their Prayers and this they account and call Praying When Christ Jesus was in his Sermon in the Mount that he was teaching the People several things as was said before as concerning Alms and many other particulars in which he bad them not to do as the Pharisees did he also spake to them that they should not pray as they did for they prayed standing in the Synagogues And saith he When ye pray use not vain repetitions as the heathens do Be not ye therefore like unto them for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask After this manner therefore pray ye Our Father which art in Heaven c. And so he giveth them several particular heads what they should pray for and after he had done that he rehearseth these words again If ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you but if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses Mat. 6. And again he saith unto one of his Disciples who desired him to teach them to pray He said unto them When ye stand praying forgive if ye have ought against any that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses but if you do not forgive neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses Mark 11. 25. Now how the Bishops and all their Officers which they imploy under them forgive those that trespass against them is manifested by their Courts they keep as also all the Papists Bishops Priests and Jesuites that make this Prayer be said over so often by their People how they forgive those that trespass against them is also manifested by their Inquisitions Wracks and Tortures and yet this Prayer they make their ground for all their Forms and forming up of prayers which is quite contrary to the Apostle's practice and doctrine for he saith We are saved by hope but hope that is seen that is not hope but if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it Likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered and he that searcheth the heart knoweth the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the Will of God Rom. 8. And this Spirit is he that knows the minde of Christ and the will of God and therefore the Apostle saith I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with understanding also 1 Cor. 14. For the Spirit saith he searcheth all things even the deep things of God for what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man that is in him even so the things of God knoweth no man save the Spirit of God for the natural man knoweth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him because they are spiritually discerned So how can these natural men that read a Prayer in a Book pray unto God that know not the things of God and what effect can such Prayers have Indeed David saith That the Prayers of the Righteous avail much if they be fervent But can their Prayers avail that are unrighteous and know not the things of God neither have any fervency in them But the Apostle saith We know the mind of Christ and therefore he saith Be kindly affectioned one towards another with brotherly love in honour preferring one another not slothful in business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord Rejoycing in hope patient in tribulation continuing instant in Prayer Rom. 12. 12. And again Peter saith As every man hath received the gift even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God if any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any man minister let him do it as of the ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified 1 Pet. 4. So here is a great difference between this sort of praying that the Apostle here mentions and that which is called the Common-Prayer which indeed is common and may be common to any that have eyes and can read it as also all the Paternosters and Ave-Maries of the Papists though they call that which Christ taught his Disciples the Paternoster but he did not call it so though they patter it over and teach all People to patter it over but he did not so with those he taught it but he told them they should not use vain Repetitions nor vain bablings and he taught them in the holy Spirit of the Lord and so directed them that they might learn it in that