Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	evil_a	good_a	see_v	2,875	5	3.5208	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A94718	The naked truth laid open, against vvhat is amiss: or, may be mis-interpreted, in those two bookes: the one, entituled, The foot out of the snare; and the other, The snare broken. Together with a word of invitation to all who are estranged to the true faith, that they would hear and receive the word of truth, which makes free the Israel of God. / Set forth by me John Toldervy.	Toldervy, John.	1656 (1656)	Wing T1769; Thomason E868_13; ESTC R207736	12,904	17

extent of which deed I saw as to me little evill in for that I had discovered my Witnesse according as I have before related in which if well considered there was no advantage for them or any that might affect them Neither could I see his Judgment to be true in some things concerning those who appeared with me in that he concluded them as one with me in what I had done as privy to what was contained in the Title or the Epistle Now these things being so by what I knew concerning their knowledge of the Title or the Epistle or could apprehend concerning the other I was much troubled concerning him and that work he appeared in upon which I considered with my self what I were best to do if to return an answer or if to let it rest silent in which consideration my spirit being moved I was perswaded to return an Answer for as yet I was displeased in that I saw my designs were wholly broken in many things which in obscurity I had discovered with purpose to advance the truth though I would scarcely have been seen in so doing and so I was presented as a person unworthy and my work as confusion though other things spoken in more plainness appeared for me as a true Witness Now having some advantage for the effecting of this work and the more by some clouded expressions which yet being discovered as my mind that the Just might not be condemned I was therein satisfied and so directed in a dirtle anger against the person James Naylor though at the present I thought I was guided therein by obedience to the Just in me in that I made some provision to secure the people and their way though I judged his person and condemned his deed But when after what I had thus done was published to the world my mind being setled in reading one of them seriously I was smitten in my judgment and much reproved for that I saw an envious spirit had appeared in me Then was there given me clearly to see the right mind in which James Naylor was led in the answering what I had discovered by which I saw truly much of what he spake to be another thing then what I formerly apprehended and his Judgments in a great measure to be established in truth for in that I spake in obscurity I saw I laid a stumbling block before the truth and in that I engaged others this my obscurity became a snare to those by whom they were affected and so I receiving their testimony though not one with them in the thing nor they one with me yet in respect of the end which is effected by their means I was overcome and so became one with them in that end which the thing it self doth condemn And thus through my vanity we all became secret smiters against the truth which things being made known I could do no less but discover that the burden of my spirit might be removed and that the Just might not suffer by my meanes knowing there is a time in which all secrets shall be laid open and every deed shall receive its own reward Therefore have I rather chosen to own the Condemnation that the truth might have its free course without interruption and to pass by what reproach might be cast upon me for that I have appeared herein knowing that unto the truth I am made manifest by whom I am witnessed that if by any means I could have put by this work I should have been much glad with respect to my self therein But where the blame is my due I must receive it from all as my due and therein rest silent And for that deed of engaging the Ministers I am sorry as I have said that I should be so foolishly led forth as I was therein both in respect to them and also to the thing in hand by which my whole purpose having appeared something in obscurity generally became void and so deceived my self and them also But now I would freely speak my mind and utter words in knowledge that the just might receive its own due yet not in the least envy with respect to one or the other but in plainnesse as I have received Therefore my desire is that none would receive to themselves any offence in this work but if in any as I have before said in what formerly I have done for verily as I have spoken often-times I was diligent in seeking in those ways which the primest Professors of these Times who were led by the Letter were guided in I ran from one to another from Mountain to Hill I sought to find but could not onely I increased in wisdome the work of my own labour and this wisdome being of the flesh was pleasant and delightful and so I thought it was the Mystery of the Spirit But yet still this wisdome was unto me but little satisfaction though I laboured very strictly in obedience to what I had learned from the Law of the Letter which was the end of that Ministry by which I was guided for there was something yet in me that was unsatisfied which lay under a great burthen which all the wisdom and knowledge in my self and in those my Learners was not in the least able to satisfie Yet in that time I could not see the cause of these things but when after I came to hear those people who are called of men Quakers in a short time I was clearly convinced and given to see the end of all my former labours and the cause of my troubled spirit for they being redeemed out of the wisdome out of the imaginations of the brain which is sensual and of the flesh c. they spake by and from that Spirit of Life in them by which they were redeemed and so their words being from the Life reached to the Life the Seed of the Righteous which lay under the dark Mind burdened and groaning for a deliverance And here was that Mystery that is of God which ministers to the Spirits in Prison Which being made known I was not in the least able to gain-say And then I saw indeed that Word of Faith which reveals the everlasting Gospel to be near in the Mouth and in the Heart and that Circumcision which is of God was of the heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise was not of Man but of God But now for any to judge that all or any of those distractions and workes of deceit which are delcared by me as the effects of my disobedience to the light I say for any to judge of them otherwise than they are and to cast them as a reproach upon the light it is vain and evill and a thing contrary to my whole mind for that as I have spoken I dare not neither can I say but that the whole cause of all those evils was of my self But though my sufferings was great when after I came in this way yet I saw much good was the end

conceived there was no evill in the not performance thereof And in respect of which things onely I my self did separate from them which things were none other but a denial of those things which generally is called Civil Carriage to Civil Persons These four grounds being the chiefest ends of my purpose in writing I was wel satisfied in what work I had done though yet I appeared a transgressor in respect to my self for which cause having received knowledge that my ends are generally frustrated I am constrained as I have said in this further appearance to the world Now that transgression in respect to my self was thus in the consideration of what condition I had brought my self unto since first I became affected with those people who are called of men Quakers My minde was directed as I have said for the answering of those ends which I have related in which work I was glad in that I was of any sufficiency to appear therein but yet I would scarcely have appeared to the world as one who should discover himself in such a work that I might not be looked upon as one my self with those people amongst whom I was lest the same reproach and losse of friendship from men c. which once was my reward for the obedience of that faith which the world knoweth not I say lest self should thus have bin destroyed I sought secretly to discover my minde something in obscurity but yet I made provision that such who were not ingaged but would read and understand my witnesse with a single eye that such might see the end of my minde according as before is discovered which thing was unto me for the present a satisfaction in what I had done But yet further considering the strangeness of that Relation which declares of those delusions which the evill spirit in me guided me in subjection unto and also considering what prejudice had befallen me by those many reproaches which hath passed abroad concerning me since my departure from those people together with what losse of kindred and acquaintance had befallen me since I came amongst them considering these things I was much provoked time after time to seek for some help now in this my appearance to the world but seeing this provocation was from the tempter I was fully perswaded for some time after I had writ that none should have the least sight of what I had done untill it was discovered to the world but upon a further consideration that I might not appear ridiculous to men of serious mindes because of the strangenesse of what I had related I was perswaded to desire a credible witness of what I had so spoken from some persons of sober minds whose moderation was something known to me though some there are whose Names were made use of against my good-will but that the people for their sakes might not understand and otherwise then I intended I was led forth to discover more plainly the cause of those distractions which I then declared as the effect of the evil One in me Before which discovery I spake again of the darknesse and the emptinesse of that Ministry which is of the outward Law of the Letter under which Ministry I could never enjoy a true peace c. for which cause I said I departed from that way and Ministry having received knowledge where the truth indeed was to be found which knowledge I received from those people before named and so having related the effects which this knowledge should have wrought upon me I came to discover how I erred from that work of Faith wherein I was called which first began with the Creatures Joy and Covenant and forward zeal which ran before the fear and so led forth before the true light by which darknesse was brought in in which Darknesse the Disputer was raised to life and exalted above the light of the Sonne formed in the shape of a true light and so delight got the power by which the true obedience was lost and so the Simple was deceived and having thus done I concluded in the praise of that way in which those people are led forth in which leads to the perfect Truth which way and truth is but one which the world knoweth not neither can they know untill they come to walk in it These things being laid open my Judgment was that although those names were used in my book yet the people would have considered the thing as it was discovered from me and not in a generall sence as a thing proceeding from their Judgments whose Names were unto it and so another thing than it speaks But now I am mistaken in my Judgment and on the contrary a Division amongst men concerning the thing such who are affected in the way of those whose Names appear in what I have done they and these who have appeared receive to themselves a satisfaction of that which the thing speaks not of but condemns as also it condemns them and their way A second sort there are in whom there is no prejudice unto the one or unto the other but receives the thing as it is singly and they give witness that surely a thing could not have appeared more in such a case as this was on the behalf of those people who go under the name of Quakers than that did And a third sort have been unsatisfied not knowing whether it speaks for the one or for the other These things I received knowledge of time after time from divers whose mindes were thus different in the thing but in the consideration that there were such who saw my minde and meaning as it was and so received my witnesse I aboad hitherto silent judging that if such who were ingaged would leave their vanity they might see and understand as others did and that such who say they could not understand the true meaning thereof might leave the thing as it was Now James Naylor that person from whom there was discovered in answer unto the thing by what I now am given to understand was otherwise minded in respect of some things than what I at first understood of him which was thus When having read his Book and seeing much of the Spirit of Judgment upon me and all those who appeared with me and that we were by him united in one as such who were joyned in enmity against the light of Christ and that he looked upon them as one with me and I with them in the whole of what was discovered and so secret smiters against the truth the thing being something in obscurity-Seeing these things I was moved and sought to finde what should be the cause why he appeared in such a Spirit for I saw that either he was much mistaken or else I was greatly deceived in what I had done but when having searched again and again I could not see that his judgment was true upon me except in that of my receiving other witnesse to what I had discovered than my own the

of all Peace and Rest in Spirit according to the measure of Grace received which I never could see or attain unto by all those means and in all those ways which formerly I was led forth in But to speak in truth that the Just might receive its own wherein I have at any time with-drawn from that grace I then lived in therein I have refused the good and chose the evill which works I must acknowledge as the works of my self in the hour of judgment And now I hope that none will judge of me as an Offence to the Law of Righteousnesse but as one that establisheth the Law in Righteousnesse though much against my own self-will and have I chosen to acknowledge that thing which is rejected of amongst men because my Conscience beareth me witnesse and seals to the truth thereof I hope men will not be so vain to deny but that I have most reason in thus doing I honour and respect all men as they are men but should I honour and respect that in man either in their Ministry or Practice which I know assuredly in my own Conscience is not of God but of themselves I say verily should I do so I should be condemned of my self and for that deed of mine in engaging other persons then my self in what I formerly did I looked otherwise upon the thing then it did effect my mind was principally to receive a civill favour from them with respects to my self as I have before spoken and not for the dishonour of the wayes of Truth And for that I appeared in enmity to those things discovered by James Naylor against that end which their appearance with me hath accomplished for that I so appeared I was mistaken For now I see his mind was one and the same with what first was in me wherefore I can no less but deny that my mistake and receive the Judgment which I did for so doing cast upon him as due unto my self and did I in displeasure call him a false Prophet Corruption and a body of deceit c. I must unspeak what I so spake and deny my self therein Yet however my mind was what I so called him to extend no further then the thing in hand for I knew another life in him whose name is true by whom the whole body of darkness in all the ways of self-worship amongst men is seen judged and condemned and for those things of which I spake in my first book though in obscurity with purpose that I might be excused in the sight of men which were discovered in judgment upon me by one of those people amongst whom I was by which I was denied as one of them when first I departed from them that the light of truth might be left inexcusable I must confess the judgment in a great measure there in was true I was fallen from that by which I was convinced which was the life of righteousnes in spirit in power which being seen by those who abode in the faith I was refused in so doing though yet unto that eye with which the Professors of the world are led I should not have appeared a transgressor and when it was seen of me that light in my Conscience unto which was discovered was made manifest was one with the greatest part of the thing discovered so that I had not a word for my self when the witnesse was made known unto me Yet as to those things which I called the fruits of Civility and indifferent things in which I declared there was no sin I saw not at that time neither do I yet see if used in moderation that evill is the cause in the practice of them yet however seeing my weakness I will not be much confident concerning them though my Conscience at the present may not condemn them neither would I that any should follow my example therein except they see a freedom in themselves for a time was when all the world could not have perswaded me in the practices of any of them my Conscience being my witness in defence against all the perswasions of man now whether I have erred or no I know not When first I layed them down it was in the observation of others and not by any Command I saw in my selfe but when after some time of my continuance in the way and work whereunto I was called I was verily perswaded that all those things I layed down in the imitation was not then performed in the imitation but by a Command from the witness raised in me in my own Conscience but when I was guided to take them up again as I have spoken I considered the first cause by which I was led in the laying of them down and finding the deed was wrought in my will being in the imitation I was a little provoked to take them up again and the rather because I saw no place of Scripture which directly condemned them though I could not see any practice of them by any who appeared in Scripture which perswasion for the present for what I can say was out of knowledge though at fifth I laid them down in the imitation but when I had taken them up for a little time my spirit was free in the using of them as though I never had denyed them and now if I have done well I know not but if evill I must once again know the Judgement These things was I moved to write not out of evill with respect to one or unto other person or thing yea truly I have not in the least been partiall towards my self but my whole minde were directed that I might remove the burden of my spirit and freely out of good will towards men and that for the sake of truth whose light is made known that men might see and understand the things that belong unto their peace now in this day of everlasting love And now what shall I say of my self have I appeared an evill example one tossed to and fro led aside by vanity a burden to the Lord and his wayes of truth and righteousnesse a stumbling block to the simple an offence to all have I thus done I am disquieted with my self and good had it been that these things had not been so but now in that I have thus done as I deny my self therein so also I should desire that none would therein receive me but in that I have here spoken the words of truth as they are in the truth though much against my will suffer me a little that I may prevail in that I have thus done The Scriptures they declare of the minde of God and of the practice of the Saints in which there is made known the whole Law by which so far as men are subjected unto it they are found in the moderation in temperance in chastity in a degree of faithfulness to God and to man and this is good but yet man being fallen from God is not redeemed by this obedience of the

THE NAKED TRUTH Laid open Against vvhat is amiss OR May be mis-interpreted IN THOSE TWO BOOKES The one entituled The Foot out of the Snare And the other The Snare Broken Together with a Word of Invitation to all who are estranged to the True Faith that they would hear and receive the Word of Truth which makes free the Israel of GOD. Set forth by me John Toldervy Rom. 9. 31 32 33. But Israel which followed after the Law of Righteousness hath not attained to the Law of Righteousness Wherefore because they sought it not by Faith but as it wore by the works of the Law for they stumbled at that stumbling stone As it is written behold I lay in Sion a Stumbling stone and a Rock of Offence and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed London Printed for G. Calvert at the Black-spread Eagle at the West-end of Pauls 1656. The Naked Truth laid open against what is amiss or may be mis-interpreted in these two Books The one entituled The Foot out of the Snare And the other The Snare broken FOrasmuch as there hath appeared some secresie in me in that work which first I appeared in to the World entituled † The Foot out of the Snare By which the true end and scope of my purpose in the greatest part of what I have discovered is much clouded in obscurity from the general sight of men and also for that I have stood up in the Defence of this my Vanity in that of † The Snare broken By which much prejudice may attend that work which the Prince of Righteousnesse is now in this our day bringing to passe that his Name might be known in the Earth a Deliverer from the Bonds of Iniquity a Leader Captivity Captive a Redeemer of ●i● Chosen which hath long lain in Death by the disobedience of a Rebellious people I say having not been found faithfull to that Witnesse of God in my own Conscience which condemneth all deceit and being much rebuked and condemned for what I have done I am constrained in this further Discovery that the Simple might be undeceived and the Envious might be reproved When first I was perswaded to write I had principally 4. things in my Eye First my design was to discover the emptiness and the vanity of all that Ministry and of all those Ways and Forms of Worship which generally is upheld amongst us by the dark mind of those who are blind in their understandings by which the people who are in darknesse are mourished in that condition and the Seed of the Righteous which creates a new heart and redeems out of sinne is kept in bondage And for this purpose I began with a Discovery of what I was and how I was led before I came amongst those people who go under the name of Quakers where I say I was for divers years full of zeal led forth in love to seek after the knowledge of God and Christ for which cause I sought if that I could find those wayes and those means which were most useful for the clearing of my Conscience that I might walk in unity with God by a holy and innocent life to which end I said in my perswasion I was led forth with much fervency of spirit after those teachers which were esteemd of amongst the primest Professors as men inlightned with the spirit of God in which way I laboured had there been a possibility to apprehend the true knowledge and mind of God but not finding a possibility in that way to apprehend the thing sought for but instead thereof unstability and diversity of Opinions confusion in Societies things which are at perfect enmity with God who is one Spirit and cannot be divided I said I left them as they were and all that ever I received from them and sought further if that I might find the way of Redemption from under that heavy burthen which lay upon me in which seeking as I have spoken I found such who declared against all sin whose order and manner of teaching and Duties were united compleat in one they being the fruits of one Mind by which they were joyned in one Spirit and so judges and witnesses for God against all those false Christs and false Prophets who were going forth into the world whose doctrine was of Man who having slain the Witness knew not the Word of Life therefore uncapable of edifying the People and so Ministers of the Letter and not of the Spirit Here my purpose was to extinguish them who are ever learning the people and themselves and yet never able to know the truth and withall to confirm those who appeared in such a Witness against all sin whom I concluded were the people of God whose doctrine and life I have not denied by words in any particular of all what I then discovered except in those things of civil Expressions and Carriages which otherwise I called Ceremonies A second thing which my mind was directed in was to invite or perswade such who were strangers to those people and their ways who are called of men Quakers That they should inquire after that Truth which is professed by them for which end I discovered them as such who were united in one mind and so acted on in their duties whose Ministry was one being guided therein by one Spirit c. and then I relate a Discourse ministred by one of those people with the effects which that Discourse wrought upon my Spirit together with what I had received before from those people as the Discourse holds soul also of my orderly forbearance untill I had received a more cleare understanding before I complyed with them in which time I received a further Witness And so I go on discovering of their Judgment without which knowledge there is none can ever come to see the Redemption of their Souls These things being considered I was perswaded that something of that end might be effected for which purpose they were discovered Having thus laid open my Understanding I began in the third place to give warning unto all who may be perswaded to receive the Word of Truth that when convinced in their understandings where that Word of Life which redeems out of sinne is to be found That they consider and examine in themselves where withall they are led that they run not before they are sent but to abide in the watch that so they lose not their Guide and bring in Darknesse upon their Spirit And for this cause I discovered what evill attended me through the hastiness of my mind in that I gave not heed to that obedience whereunto I was called which evill I wholly took upon my self as being the work of myself with purpose therein to unvail that Darknesse which was upheld in many by their mis-understanding of the cause of those things which generally had passed abroad concerning me A fourth end was to discover those things practised by those people who are in that way in which I