Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
cause_n church_n rome_n separation_n 2,430 5 10.6947 5 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A47144 A Farther account of the great divisions among the Quakers in Pensilvania, &c. as appears by another of their books lately come over from thence, intituled, Some reasons and causes of the late separation, that hath come to pass at Philadelphia, betwixt us, called by some of the seperate meeting, and others that meet apart from us : more particularly opened, to vindicate and clear us and our testimony in that repsect, viz. : that the seperation lieth at their door, and they, and not we, are justly chargeable with it : with an apology for the present publication of these things. Budd, Thomas, 1648-1699.; Furnis, Henry.; Keith, George, 1639?-1716. 1693 (1693) Wing K166; ESTC R16901 19,794 24

There are 4 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

the Spirit of Truth in our Hearts that as such Men immediately guilty of these vile Errors some of which no Protestant Christian Society would tolerate neither Episcopal Presbyterian nor Baptist are to be turned away and seperated from so that Society is to be turned away from whoever they be that doth uphold and tollerate them and bring them not to due Conviction and Condemnation after due and sufficient notice is given unto them as there hath been a long time from one Meeting to another as concerning some of them now many Months since past and nothing done effectually to bring them to any Conviction but that it seemeth they are resolved still to support or tollerate them Now the Scriptures that warrant us in this Separation altho' as is said first made by them are these following 2 Cor. 6.14 15 16 17. 1 Tim. 6 3 4 5. 2 Tim. 6.2 3 4 5. Tit. 3.10 Rev. 18.4 2 Thess 3.6 Rom. 16.17 Rev. 2 14 15 20. and the same is expresly confirmed by the Doctrine delivered by R. Barclay in his said Book well approved by good Friends who expresly saith p. 52. We do safely conclude that where a People are gathered into a Belief of the Principles and Doctrines of the Gospel of Christ if any of that People go from their Principles and assert things false and contrary to what they have already received such as stand and abide firm in the Faith have Power by the Spirit of God after they have used Christian endeavours to convince and reclaim them upon their Obstinacy to Seperate from such § 6. p. 52. and § 4. p. 33. he saith The Escapes Faults and Errors of such who own believe and profess the same Doctrine and Principles of Faith with us and go under the same Distinction and Denomination may by our Adversaries justly be imputed unto us if not seasonably and Christianly reproved reclaimed or condemned And therefore we judge that we have equal Ground and Cause of Seperation as well from that whole Society that doth not condemn these Men for their gross Errors in Fundamental Doctrines as we have to seperate from these particular Men seeing they who tollerate them both by Scripture and R. B's Book are guilty with them and the Errors of these Men may be justly imputed to them Note That whereas it hath been said by some That they would have dealt with these Men who have been guilty of those Errors but that G. K. would not go forth being desired to withdraw at the Meeting at R. E 's and at the Quarterly Meeting To this it is answered That G. K. had good reason not to withdraw at both these times because at both these times these who did take upon them to be Judges were his manifest Parties against him and so could not be in Justice his Judges but at the Yearly Meeting he did withdraw at the Meeting 's Desire and yet they did nothing to bring W. S. to Conviction besides it was not G. K. but the Truth it self that the Difference was concerning and they have had sufficient time since to have done it but nothing that we can hear of is done But it is very strange what some have said That no Error in Doctrin or Trespass whatsoever of particular Persons though tollerated by a Society that we were joyned with in the Possession of Truth can be any just cause of Seperation doth equally blame all our Friends in their Seperation from the respective Societies they were formerly joyned in Profession with as some in their Seperation from the Church of Rome others from the Episcopal others from the Presbyterian and Baptists and doth equally blame the Separation of the faithful Martyrs in Q. Mary's days from the Popish Worship in England yet well approved generally by our Friends And surely for People of contrary Principles and Spirits and having a contrary Faith and Perswasion in Fundamental Doctrines to be united together in one Worship would make the greatest Confusion imaginable and be incomparably more like Babylon than the true Church of Christ and so to affirm is contrary to all common Sense of any that hath the least true Notion of a Church that ought to be as a Field or Garden as clean of Weeds as possible for tho' the Tares are to be suffered to grow in the Field of the World yet they are not to remain in the Church according to Christ's Doctrine But at this rate the Weeds shall remain with the good Corn and Herbs in the same Garden yea and exceed them that cannot but greatly hurt the good Corn and Herbs Besides how can the Gardner delight in such a Garden that is full of Weeds and no care to seperate the good Herbs from the Weeds And tho' it hath been said by some That as the Faithful stand in the Power of God they shall have Dominion over the Unfaithful But we find no warrant or promise that God will give them Dominion if they obey not his Command which is To Seperate and withdraw from such and not to remain in Fellowship with them for what part hath a Believer with an Infidel 2 Cor. 6.15.17 POSTSCRIPT WE have seriously considered how that of late Years especially many are crept into a bare out-side Form of the Profession of the People of God called in Scorn Quakers and have assum'd or suffered themselves to be called by that Name and have frequented not only their publick Meetings but also their Men and Womens Meetings and some have presumed to Preach and Pray therein that to our certain knowledge by manifested Evidence of Words and Works are not worthy to be reputed Members of a Christian Society or Church of Christ because of their great Ignorance and Unbelief in the first Principles of the Doctrine of Christ whereof some here-away of late have given sufficient proof to the great Scandal of our holy Profession by their plain and express words uttered before divers credible Witnesset and sometimes by their unsound Doctrine published and gross Perversions of Scripture to the Observation of many who are but of weak understanding and some of them have been detected of scandalous Conversation and have not given any convincing Evidence of their true Repentance and that there hath been too much forbearance used by some toward such for their hardning and emboldning themselves against the Truth and faithful Friends and Brethren that by the marvellous Providence of God that hath suffered such things to come to light some have discovered their woful Ignorance Unbelief and gross Errors by their late words without all shame or fear and that some others have appeared too manifestly inclined to cloak excuse and support them which giveth us too great occasion to suspect them guilty of the same or the like things and that things are come to that pass of late that contrary Testimonies are born in Meetings by one against another and yet both pretending to the Spirit of Truth and great Disputes and Contentions have
A farther ACCOUNT OF THE Great Divisions AMONG THE QUAKERS In PENSILVANIA c. As appears by Another of their Books lately come over from thence Intituled Some Reasons and Causes of the late Separation That hath come to pass at Philadelphia betwixt us called by some the Seperate Meeting And others that Meet apart from us More particularly Opened to Vindicate and clear us and our Testimony in that respect viz. That the Seperation lieth at their Door and They and not We are justly chargeable with it WITH An Apology for the present Publication of these Things Rom. 16.17 Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause Divisions and Offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them 1 Tim. 6.3 If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholsom words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Doctrine which is according to Godliness c. v. 5. from such turn away 2 Cor. 6.14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers c. and v. 17. Wherefore come out from ●●●ng them and be ye seperate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you c. Rev. 2.20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezabel which calleth her self a Prophetess to Teach c. London Printed for I. Dunton at the Raven in the Poultrey 1693. An Apology for the present Publication of these Things WE are sorry that we should have occasion to publish such Account of things in the open View of all who may read the following Account or hear of it that may be occasion of Grief to many especially who had better Thoughts of some here-away than the said Account doth give of them and it is too probable the Enemies of Truth and of all true Religion will seek to take Advantage there-from and think themselves greatly gratified thereby so as to rejoyce the more in their Iniquity and glory over the sincere Lovers and Professors of Truth But as on the one hand we have been deeply afflicted with Sorrow to find some so highly pretending to Truth and to the inward and immediate Teachings and Leadings of the Spirit of Truth which they have greatly professed and some of them have Preached for some years so very Ignorant and unsound in some of the Chief and Fundamental Principles of the Christian Faith and Doctrine and so resolute and confident in their Ignorance and Errour that they have from time to time refused and rejected good and seasonable Information and means of Instructions that have been in Love held forth unto them partly in publick Testimonies and partly in private Meetings and Conferences So after our great and deep Affliction of Sorrow on their account and for the sake of many simple people that owned them as Ministers of Christ whom we saw to be greatly hurt blinded and darkened with them but not further enlightned by means of them notwithstanding of their great and high pretences to Light and Life and to the Spirit and Power of God inwardly revealed we can and do sincerely say on the other hand God hath greatly comforted us and we have great Joy and Consolation in the sence of his Love revealed and sealed to us by his holy Spirit in our hearts being perswaded by the same that according to his Soveraign Wisdom Goodness and Power and great Faithfulness he will make these very things to wit the Discoveries that some men have lately given of themselves to work for good to many and we may sincerely and uprightly say They and not We have discovered and made publick these things for when they heard true and sound Doctrin preached cencerning Christ and the true Faith in him c. they have whispered against it and publickly rejected it which yet hath been greatly refreshing and edifying to us and to many others having felt the Power of Christ accompanying that Doctrine and sealing to the Truth of it in our hearts so that not only we have owned and do own the Doctrin that hath been preached among us of late Times by divers that God hath raised up in a zealous Testimony to the Truth of these Things Denied by some and Rejected by others and meanly esteemed by too many as not Necessary but Indifferent Matters to Salvation to be believed though true but also we have owned and do own the Spirit by which that Doctrine hath been zealously delivered unto us being perswaded it was of God and we do not judge so rashly and uncharitably as some do calling that sincere and godly Zeal that hath appeared in some among us in publick Testimonies Anger and Passion But it is no new thing to hear Light called Darkness as well as Darkness called Light and Good Evil and Evil Good We believe and are perswaded that as to the main it hath been and is a sincere godly Zeal that hath been of God's raising in some of our Brethren both to preach in publick Testimonies this Doctrine so much of late contradicted by some and slighted by others and to defend it with great freedom and boldness in private Conferences and Meetings and at some Monthly Meetings notwithstanding of what humane Weaknesses as to Circumstances might at times on great Provocations attend some that we believe God hath forgiven which have been far greater on their side than on ours wherein some of them have exceeded all bounds of Christian Moderation to the pronouncing Dreadful Woes against the Innocent which none of us have done and giving bad Names to such who did not deserve it thus putting the Sheep of Christ into Wolves and Bear-skins to render them odious and to be the Object of Tongue and Heart-Persecution which too much abounds in this part of the World although by the Mercy of God and the good Laws of the Country Persecution by Violence of the Hands is restrained Now that these men have been the Discoverers of their own Ignorance Error and Unbelief is very apparent because they not only dared to whisper against sound Doctrine in private but only in Meetings appointed to hear these Differences and even at Monthly Meetings they have been so bold as to resist sound Doctrine and shew their Unbelief and the Nature of our Meetings being such especially our Monthly Meetings that too many come to them and sit in them hearing all things there said that are not qualified either with Christian Knowledge or Prudence or indeed with humane Discretion as men to conceal things that are not always seasonable to be published insomuch that scarce any thing hath been said or done in a Monthly Meeting for a long time past but it is soon after publickly known And we desire to reverence the Providence of God and to acknowledge his powerful Hand Wisdom and Goodness and great Faithfulness in this Discovery for we are well satisfied it is far better that the hidden things of Esau be searched and found out than to remain hid for
come to be a just Apology to us for the Vindication of Truth and the sincere Doctrine of Christ that is greatly reviled in divers great and weighty particulars particularly the Doctrine of Christ's being in Heaven in the true Nature of Man and Substance of the Seed of Abraham and David which he took of the Virgin according to which he is called the Seed of the Woman that shoud bruise the Head of the Serpent and which was promised to Man immediately after the Fall and the Faith of him and in him as such its being necessary to our perfect Justification and Salvation His Coming again and Appearing without us to judge the Quick and the Dead in the appointed Time that approacheth and the Resurrection of the Dead and Day of Judgment when all Mankind shall stand before the Son of Man It is dreadful and astonishing to think what Uomit and Filth some of late have cast out against these precious Doctrines and Testimonies of Truth some calling them Popery some Presbyterian and Baptist's Principles but we must not reject all that either Papists or Presbyterians or Baptists profess in words and which our Charity obligeth us to judge that some among them really and sincerely believe as that there is one God and one Lord Jesus Christ and one holy Spirit and many other good and wholsom parts of Christian Doctrine but the greater is the Shame and the Offence and Stumbling-block is the greater in the way of many that divers plain and first Principles of Christ's Doctrine owned by all Christendom or at least for the most part should be either denied or questioned by any among us that make so high Pretences to the Spirit of Christ and yet are so ignorant of the Doctrine of Christ whereas the Spirit of Christ leadeth all who have it to believe and own Christ's Doctrine and honourably and worthily to esteem of it and the true Witnesses of it where ever it is preached And concerning Christ's Coming and Appearance without us even the Man Christ Jesus in his glorified Nature and Body that is not the Godhead but the Temple of it in the Time appointed that is nearer at hand than many are aware of which will be very dreadful to all the Workers of Iniquity and especially to all Unbelievers that do not believe that he will ever so appear although the Scripture Testimony is very full and plain thereto and will be very refreshing and full of Comfort to all that believe in him and believe and wait for him that he will so appear and that the time hasteneth We Warn all not to make light of it for it is a great and necessary Doctrine of the Christian Faith highly conducing to true Christian Piety and Godliness that he will come again and appear without us to judge the Quick and the Dead lest they be found among such and numbred with them concerning whom he spoke with relation to that very time when he should so come to raise the Dead and judge the World Luke 18.8 Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh shall be find Faith on the Earth Some Reasons and Causes of the late Separation here at Philadelphia THE first cause of the Separation betwixt them and us was this That at a Monthly Meeting held at Philadelphia the 29th of the 11th Month last T having openly in the face of the Meeting accused G. K. for denying the Sufficiency of the Light and promising to bring his Evidence the next Monthly Meeting or then that he would acknowledge he had done amiss And at the next Monthly Meeting being required to give his Evidence he brought W who was known to be a prejudiced person against G. K. and so could be no sufficient Evidence against him besides that divers were present at the Place and Time where and when W alledged he heard G. K. deny the Sufficiency of the Light c. that cleared him That they heard him both then and at all occasions that he delivered his Mind on that Subject always bear Testimony to the Sufficiency of the Light to Salvation And at the said Meeting being the 26th of the 12th Month T having said in the Meeting in Answer to a Question put to him by G.K. That he had not learned that Lesson whether the Body of Christ that was nailed to the Cross crucified buried rose and ascended c. was the Godhead or somewhat that Christ took of the Virgin At which man● were greatly oftended to find him so ignorant having been so l●●g a Preacher And after much discourse about these Matte●s the M●eting did adjourn with unanimous Consent of them that staid which was the far greatest part and also with the consent of T himself and these who went away before the adjourning of it said nothing against it nor was the Meeting understood to be broke up before the adjournment only some few did go away it being cold Weather and growing dark the adjourning of the said Monthly Meeting was to the next Day about the 8th Hour at which time they met in the School-house where the Meeting used to be kept at times in the Winter Season And after much discourse concerning T in the said Meeting he being required to prove his Charge and to condemn his great Ignorance and Unbelief but refusing to do either though he said publickly in the Meeting If he did not prove his Charge against the next Monthly Meeting he would acknowledge his Errour and yet did neither and going away from the Meeting the Friends of the Meeting some that were present that were not in the Profession of Truth removing at the desire of Friends did give a unanimous Judgment concerning T. a true Copy whereof here after followeth And the said Judgment being desired by Friends that gave it to be recorded in the Monthly Meeting Book at the next Quarterly Meeting that happened within a few days after a Party in the Meeting did withstand it and denied them that gave Judgment to be a true Monthly Meeting and consequently their Judgment was void And by this it plainly appeareth the Breach was on their side for there is no Equity or Reason why they having denied us to be a Meeting that we should own them seeing we were really a Meeting lawfully adjourned consisting of at least Sixty Persons most of which used to keep Monthly Meetings and owned to be Friends in the same Profession with them And at the same Monthly Meeting on the Sixth Day W. an antient Preacher having renewed his former Accusation against G. K. charging him openly in the face of the Meeting That he Preached Two Christs because he Preached Faith in Christ within and in Christ without us c. and on the next day at the Meeting adjourned he being sent for by the Meeting to make his Charge good or else condemn his Ignorance and Error but he refusing to come the Meeting did also give a unanimous Judgment concerning him not one Dissenting in either of the
was declared That G. K.'s Doctrine concerning Christ within and Christ without to be One Lord Jesus Christ was true and that therefore W. S. was blame worthy and yet after all this W. S. persisted in his false Charge against G. K. and hath been greatly excused and supported by many that this hath given such deep Ground of Offence to all of us with other things concurring that because to this day nothing hath been done it being now above a Year since Complaint was made against W. S. by these of the other side who meet in a Separation from us either to bring W. S. or T. F. to Condemnation but suffer them to continue to Preach and Pray in their Meetings therefore we do justly judge That the whole Meeting that meet in a Separation from us that owneth these Men and tollerateth them in their great Error and Trespasses are guilty with them and accountable for their Errors and therefore according to Christs Command recorded in the holy Scripture we ought to be separate from them altho ' as hath been sufficiently proved they began the Separation and they having begun it we cannot in Conscience unite in Meetings with them here at Philadelphia until they give satisfaction to Truth in these weighty things The Second Cause of the Separation which also we lay at their Door is That whereas in the Monthly Meeting in the first Month last a Proposition being made to change the Meetings both at the Centre and in the Town and some being for the said Change and others against it and having good Reasons why they were against the said Change yet a Party in the Meeting contrary to our declared Mind and Assent assumed a Power over them that dissented to change the said Meetings a thing we have not known formerly allowed by Friends any where in their Monthly Meetings that one Party suppose equal or greater in Number than the rest should assume a Power to appoint or change Places and Times of Meetings without the Consent of their Brethren for things of that Nature especially use always to be done with unanimous Consent and not by Plurality of Votes which is not the way of Truth and because we were not free to stand to the Arbitrary and rash Determination as to that Change therefore we met at the ordinary Meeting-place as formerly practised and they began the Separation in keeping a publick Meeting in the Afternoon at the Bank contrary to our declared Sense and Mind only some of us met at a private Family Meeting in the Evening at the House of G. K. that could be counted no seperate Meeting for that day And afterwards we finding they were resolved to continue in their way of Separation and that some had endeavoured to lock us out from Meeting at the Bank in the Forenoon this put us upon seeking a new place to meet in in case we had been disappointed of the other and tho' some of us did declare our sincere Intention and Sense that it were good but to have one Publick Meeting on first Days to end about the second hour and the remaining part to be used for private Meetings in Families yet their keeping up their publick Afternoons Meeting hath given us just occasion at present to have a Publick Afternoons Meeting as well as they for we hope they shall not have any cause to say against us that we are short of them in our Zeal for good Meetings Things being thus far advanced and the Separation being begun and carried on so far by them and justly chargeable upon them some of them having desired us to make some Proposals or Expedients for healing the Breach and uniting again as formerly after some time we sent some Proposals to them that we were satisfied in our Consciences were most equal and just and such as the Truth required of us but they are so far from being satisfied with most of them that they have the more blamed us some insinuating as if we had transgressed the Law but we are not afraid of any such thing provided true Liberty of Conscience according to the just and due bounds of it be allowed to us and for our part we are so well satisfied that all our Proposals to them in that Paper signed by Fifteen of us are just and equal that if they please we shall freely consent to their Printing of them The sum of which Proposals doth principally consist in these two things first That all such of the Ministry among them whom we can prove Guilty of the Preaching false Doctrine or of falsly accusing the Innocent or excusing and defending the Guilty and contending against some sound Principles of Truth in Meetings appointed for hearing these Differences may be brought to Cnviction and Acknowledgment of their Error and Trespasses And 2dly Seeing by a marvelous Providence that hath discovered it that our Monthly Meetings bere-away have consisted of a mixt Number of some Believers and some Unbelievers or of some Men unsound in the Christian Faith that we agree together to put Robert Barclay's Doctrine well approved of by the best of our Friends in England and particularly by G. F. and G. W. into Practice in his Book called The Anarchy of the Ranters c. see § 4. p. 32 33. and § 6. p. 48 49 which is To declare our Faith and Perswasion in certain Fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Faith and Religion that by the same as well as by a good Life and Conversation it may be known who are quallified to be Members of our Church and that every one owned to be a Member of our Church declare his Faith and Perswasion in every one of these Fundamentals which is a secondary Bond of our Union the Spirit being the principal which may be easily done by answering to some plain Questions with Yea or Nay And now a Third and main Reason that we give for this Separation well warranted both by Scripture Testimony and command of Christ Recorded in Scripture and the truth of it sealed to us by the Spirit of Truth in our Hearts that whereas there are divers of them guilty of most gross Unchristian Errors against the Fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Faith who are Publick Preachers among them and whole Ministry they sit under and some encourage them others tollerate and suffer them and that others even of their Preachers are guilty of other gross Errors and other Trespasses that render them altogether unqualified for the Ministry and to uphold or tollerate them is to bring Reproach to Truth and our Holy Prosession and to the Body of our faithful Friends with all whom we remain in dear Unity in all parts of the World hoping that Faithful Friends and Brethren that have an impartial account and information of us and do rightly and duely consider and examin the Righteousness of our Cause will encourage us therein to the Disappointment of such who affirm the contrary but we being principally supported and encouraged by