Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A60556
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An apology for the innocency and justice of the Quakers cause And a short elucidation of their principles. With some reflections upon J. Ives his papers. Written in the behalf of the Christian religion. By William Salmon professor of physick.
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Salmon, William, 1644-1713.
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1674
(1674)
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Wing S421; ESTC R222357
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30,083
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114
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AN APOLOGY FOR THE Innocency and Iustice OF THE QUAKERS CAUSE AND A short ELUCIDATION of their PRINCIPLES With some Reflections upon J. IVES his PAPERS Written in the Behalf of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION By William Salmon Professor of Physick Non enim possumus quicquam adversus veritatem sed pro veritate 2 Cor. 13.8 Thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory through Our Lord Jesus Christ London Printed in the Year 1674. TO THE READER OMnia Flumina properant ad Mare nec tamen Mare impletur Although all was written which might be written yet would not the Enemies of the Truth be satisfied should an Angel appear from Heaven with an evident Demonstration of the Justice of this Cause the Adversarys would hardly be enduced to confess their Error although the Evidence thereof be crowned with their own belief Such an Impression has the Spirit of the Enemy of Mankind the Devil made in their Souls that they had rather at present lose the Salvation of them than embrace that which would Eternally make them happy and only because it is our Friend and has had mercy upon us But my Counsel and Advice is that they would while there is a day and time lay hold of the Truth if not for our sakes or the Truths sake yet for their own Souls sake there would be more Comfort found in one hours enjoyment of the sweet Influences of that holy Spirit although in the ministration of Condemnation than in many days and months years living senceless thereof or in opposition thereto People may feed themselves up with Fables put their trust in broken Reeds the strength of the Aegyptian Hosts but shall at length come to know it may be when it is too late what they have dispised and how they have slighted and done dispight to that which only and alone was able to save them It is them that walk in disobedience to the Holy Spirit and make a mock at its reproofs which Crucifie the Lord afresh and put him to open shame this did our Enemies but seriously consider might put a stop to their slanderous Tongues if they made never so little inspection into their own Lives and Conversations A small reflection upon themselves by the Light of the Divine Spirit would strike their Souls with horror for that they should go to tax others with Denying the Lord and themselves his daily Murtherers I have only one small Objection to remove out of the way and that has relation to my self that whereas the following Papers are written in the Plural Number and I have put my self in that Discourse into the Body of that People this is to inform in the first place that I there speak what I know is the Truth according to the faithful perswasion of my Soul and so abstractly consider the cause according to the Justice thereof that only and simply for the real Truth sake But in the second place knowing the equity of their Cause the Excellency Glory and Power of that Truth which they hold I also put that Discourse in the aforesaid stile as being really one satisfied therein and so having by that conjunction a just cause to appear in their vindication and so the Adversary may take me if he pleases if not in the other sense But which way soever let him charge only me for what I have writ as being immediately concerned and responsable for the same and I have hope I shall approve my self to that holy and just Spirit of Truth in Faithfulness thereunto and by the Power and Assistance thereof not only maintain and defend that Truth which in the following Lines I have appeared in vindication of but take a part and portion with that and them from hence forth and for ever Fastend of Pauls neâ—r the Free-School William Salmon AN APOLOGY FOR THE Innocency and Iustice OF THE QUAKERS CAUSE I. Of our Religion and Faith in general 1. IT was an eminent truth which was delivered by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that the Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord if they have called the Master of the House Beelzebub how much more them of his Houshold It is the Portion of the little Flock to suffer Persecution which the Devil and his Instruments were ever ready to present them withal not only by exquisite tortures of their Bodies and ruine of their Estates but also by the wounding of their Reputation if possible through the detraction of slanderous and malitious Tongues But as we have learned of our Master to go through good report and evil so that holy and Christian Spirit has taught us to rejoice and be exceeding glad when Men speak all manner of evil of us falsly for its name sake And indeed there is little reason to be given why we should not be partakers of his Portion who enduring the Cross despised the shame and suffered the contradiction of sinners since we expect to be sharers with him in his glory How have Men incensed themselves with madness and sury against our Religion and taken up a resolution to condemn us without so much as hearing the reasons we offer for our defence And think that all the Calumnies slanders and abuses which Ignorance and Envy can heap upon us to be infinitely less than what we deserve Be pleased then to take this following refutation in Paper since you are dull of apprehension or will not understand it by word of mouth This truth which we profess and defend seeks no favour at your hands since we are without hope to meet with any better measure than what her Enemies have formerly given Our Religion drawing its Original from Heaven is indeed a Stranger upon Earth where we conclude it must meet with as many Enemies as the Author thereof all that we desire is that it might not be condemned unknown which if any shall refuse they will not only stand charged with manifest injustice but may be justly suspected to act wilfully against the secret witness in their Consciences 2. It is Ignorance of the truth we profess which makes your Censures against us unjust you say we are no Christians but it is because you know not what Doctrines we hold it is that which blinds your eyes which renders your Judgements faulty were it a thing which ought to be hated yet nothing is more unjust than to speak evil of it before it is known It is not the evil of the thing but a Mans knowledge thereof which gives him a right to condemn it till when we fall not under the lash of your Judgement Did you know our Religion the holiness and Piety thereof you could not but embrace it unless you wilfully should refuse the offers of the saving health We our selves when ignorant as you are believed as you do but when we became informed we were necessitated to hate what we formerly loved and the Progress which truth hath made in our Souls has forced us to
Lost man upon him God layed the iniquity of us all and since that sin could not be purged but by blood therefore his blood upon whom the Iniquity was laid 2 Cor. 5.21 1 Pet. 1.19 was only thought meet to be the offering of the attonement who having a feeling of our Infirmities now ever liveth to make intercession for us Heb. 7.25 39. What hold you of the Resurrection If the dead rise not our Faith is vain and we are of all men most miserable But there is a Resurrection both of just and unjust the one to Salvation who shall shine as the Stars in the Firmament 1 Cor. 15.14 Rev 20.12 John 5.29 the other to Condemnation and wrath But if any man ask with what bodies the dead shall arise with the Apostle we answer The body that is sown is not the body that shall be but God giveth it a body according to his own pleasure to every Seed it s own body suppose it be grain as Wheat or the like the grain that is sown is not that which arises but a new body yet it is its own according to the kind it is sown Wheat it is raised Wheat again not Barly Pease or the like so we in the Resurrection shall exist in our own form not that of Beasts Fish or Foul we only change an Earthly Tabernacle for a Heavenly a Carnal for a Spiritual a corruptible for an Incorruptible and a Mortal for an Immortal and so the Body is sown in Corruption and raised in Incorruption it is sown in Dishonor it is raised in Glory it is sown in Weakness it is raised in Power it is sown a Natural body it is raised a Spiritual 1 Cor. 15.53 but if any object that this Mortal must put on Immortality to that we answer it is spoken by a Synechdoche of the part wherein the Immortal part is included and so the Soul being invested with mortality is said to bear that denomination which when the Earthly house of this Tabernacle shall be dissolved shall be invested in a Building of God a house not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 2. for which cause saith the Apostle Paul We sigh desiring to be cloathed with our house which is from Heaven But though it does not yet fully appear what we shall be yet without any farther curiosity we are satisfied that when he shall appear we shall be like him and that we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 Who shall chang our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working of his mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3.21 and with whom we shall obtain an Inheritance Immortal and Undefiled which fadeth not away reserved in Heaven even for as many as are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation prepared to be shewed in the latter times 1 Pet. 1.4 40. What say you to the last Judgment and the Everlasting Life We say that all must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every man may receive according to the deeds done in the body whether they be good or evil 2 Cor. 5.10 11 15 16. Rev. 20.12 13. and therefore knowing the terrors of the Lord we perswade men in which we are made manifest unto God and to mens Consciences that they henceforth live not unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose again that walking in newness of life they may become Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Christ of an Eternal Kingdome in which there is the fulness of Peace and Joy for ever more The words of Dr. Moor in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may serve for a Conclusion to this Book The drift of this whole Book is to stir men up to take into their thoughts these two main points the hearty good will of God to mankind even in the life of this world made of the Commixture of Light and Darkness that he will through his power rescue those Souls that are faithful in this their Tryal and prefer the Light before the Dark that he will I say deliver them from the power of Living Death and Hell by that strong arm of their Salvation Jesus Christ the Living God Enthron'd in the Heart of Man to whom all the Genij of the Vniverse be they never so goodly and glorious shall serve they and all their Curious Devises and Inventions shall be a Spoil and Prey and a Possession to him that is most just and shall govern the Nations in Righteousness and Equity And that besides this Happiness on Earth every Holy Soul hereafter shall enjoy a never fading felicity in the invisible and eternal Heaven the Intellectual world which if it be not true I must needs confess it seems almost indifferent whether any Creature be or no. For what is it to have lived suppose seventy years wherein we have been dead or worse above two third parts of them Sleep Youth Age and Diseases with a number of poor and contemptible Imployments swallow up at least so great a portion that as good if not better is he that never was than he is that hath but such a glance or glimpse of passing life to mock him There are continually on Earth such numbers of men alive that if they lived well it would be an Heaven or Paradise but yet a scant one to every particular man whose days are as nothing So that the work of God seems not considerable in the making of this world if Humane Souls be exstinguished when they go out of it There is nothing considerable in the Creation if the Rational Creature be Mortal What design therefore can there be in God in the making of this World that will prove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worthy of so excellent a goodness and wisdom but the tryal of the immortal Spirit of Man It seems the deepest reach of his Counsel in the Creation and the life of this world but a prelude to one of longer durance and larger Circumference hereafter And truly it is nothing else but the heavy load of this body that keeps down our minds from the reaching of these so high hopes from a certain sense and feeling of that clear and undisturbed state of Immortality Charity and Humility will certainly make us meet Eternal Mansions for the ever-living Deity But without these Mans Soul after this life becomes but a Den of Devils a Dungeon of dark and restless Phantasms being incorporate into the ever gnawing and corroding Spirit of Hell Now unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the Only Wise God our Saviour be Dominion Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen SALMON THE END Courteous Reader BEcause of the great Abuse that J. Ives has Publickly Proclaimed in Defamation of W. Salmon I have Inserted as a Post-script the very Discourse of S. Newton and Tho. Plant that thee mayst see how grossly they have Abused S. Newton on the one side and the unjust Contumelies cast on the Conversation of the Other The Substance of what Discourse happened between Tho. Plant and S. Newton at the Change HE asked me whether we owned William Salmon to be a profest Quaker my answer was I did not know him but if he was a Quaker I did not question but that I should know him but did believe he was no Quaker but I said we took it kindly from him or any other that would appear to plead our Innocent Cause against the Wrongs they did us his answer was we had good reason so to do he also said that they intended to write against him as a Quaker but now they would not And farther I said at parting that he might take for granted that he was no Quaker Samuel Newton THE END