Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A60632
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A general summons from the authority of truth, unto all ecclesiastical courts and officers wherein they may see what truth objecteth against their practice and proceedings in cases of conscience / by William Smith.
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Smith, William, d. 1673.
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1668
(1668)
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Wing S4304; ESTC R38258
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21,636
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28
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own perswasion concerning your proceedings you would seemingly clear your selves from persecution But this Covering will not hide you though it be the largest that can be spread over you and if you would clear your selves by it as not being the constitutoâ—s of such Laws then you must needs make the Magistrates guilty and you have no cause at all to do so seeing you reap the Profit and if you would lay it upon them to excuse your selves you requite their pains for you after the worst manner for they are your principal Upholders and Supporters and that breath you live by as to such things you draw it from them and that strength you stand by you receive it from them And have not you or some before you propounded and prescribed such wayes unto them before they have enacted Laws for such purposes And doth not that make you stand originally guilty of the matter And doth not your prosecuting such Laws draw the guilt more upon you though as to what the Magistrates do for you in such cases they are not clear and in time they may come to see it and be weary of it And would you wholly lay your proceedings upon the Magistrates Power and so make them bear the burden of all your work And will that power stand by you in all things you practice or do you not act in many things without their power and do you not thereby plainly do them wrong Now concerning your Steeple-house which you call a Church and bring People into your Courts that cannot pay money towards Repairing it What Law have you in that case And is your Church of that Nature as it must be Repaired with money Will it decay and fall and come to nothing if it be not repaired and upheld with money If that be the nature of your Church as by your proceedings seemeth then People have good cause to absent from it and you have no cause at all to compel any to come unto it for the Church is the Pillar and ground of Truth and it needeth not to be repaired with money because it standeth in the eternal Power and Life which decayeth not and Christ Jesus is the Head and Ruleth over it and is a Husband to it And this is not like an old House that will fall if it be not kept up with money And that is the Church and Church-Government which the Quakers own and submit unto and there needs no outward Law to compel them for the day of his Power hath made them willing and his Love constrains them and so you can neither compel nor restrain them by your Laws for they cannot be compelled to observe that which they know is not true nor restrained from that which they know to be true and whether you proceed against them according to your Law or without Law in such cases it is all one unto them For they do not so much take notice of the outward Law in cases of Conscience as they mind to keep their Consciences void of offence towards God and men So that your proceedings are little unto them whether you render them guilty by a Law or without Law For as their Consciences are void of offence towards God and men so no man can charge an offence to make them gâ—ilty And that wipeth off all your sentences and censures as fast as you give them forth And what Law have you to proceed against people â—or not repairing the fence about the Steeplehouse-Yard and for following honest labour upon those dayes you call Holy-dayes have you not heaped up devices like a Mountain and do not every device bring you some gain and profit and is not that the principâ—l ground why you proceed in them and might their not be a good and sound plea held and maintained against you according to the Scriptures of Truth and might not all your devices be overturned if such a plea could be admitted yea surely your mountain might sâ—on be thrown down if Justice and Equity could but enter therefore you have no cause so highly to lift up your horn seeing you stand upon a slippery place But some may say What is there in all these things which is of concernment as to Life and Salvation for Life and Salvation standeth not in such things but by believing in Christ Yeâ— There is great concernment in these things as to Life and Salvation and they that would come into the true Faith and be a believer in Christ they must deny these things and come out from among them For they that believe in Christ for Life and Salvation they do not yield their obedience to another Power because all Believers obey his commands and not another so here is something of concernment as to Life and Salvation for who are observing such things as Christ doth not command they have not Life and Salvation in him as Believers therefore people are to mind what they obey because they become servants unto that thing and who are obeying any of these things they are certainly in bondage by them and doth not that separate from Life and Salvation in Christ Jesus And unto what do you bring people by your compulsion do you bring them unto Christ or into your own observation And if they cannot bow to your observation then you excommâ—nicate them and cast them into Prison And what command have you for such things according to Scriptures Let us see your Scriptures if you be spiritual men and do not presumâ— above what is written but keep to that which you say is your Rule for the Quakers are noble and search the Scriptures and they find that those things you practice are not so according to Scripture And have not people good cause to be separated from you who erre from the Scriptures and the Power of God And how will you stand by these things in the day when you must give account of all your deeds Will not these deeds appear as evil deeds and will not you appear as evil-doers and what Law will then appear to justifie you before the Judge of Heaven and Earth for you will find him to be a Judge more righteous than your selves and you will not have a plea to hold against him but must bear his Judgement because you have sinned therefore repent whilst you have time and learn to do well And why do you act so furiously against others by the power of the Law and take no notice of your selves by the same Law Is there not a Law for you as well as others Is there not something which the Law taketh notice of as to your selves which properly falleth under the sentence of Excommunication Doth not the Law take notice of Incontenency Usury Simony and Perjury in the Ecclesiastical Courts or Idolatry And doth it not properly relate unto you and brings such things under Excommunication See 5 Eliz. 23. But you here stand silent or rather dead as to any motion and if you say that no such
A General Summons FROM THE AUTHORITY of TRUTH UNTO ALL Ecclesiastical Courts AND OFFICERS Wherein they may see what Truth objecteth against their Practice and Proceedings in Cases of Conscience By WILLIAM SMITH And I will punish the World for their Evil and the Wicked for their Iniquity and I will cause the Arrogancy of the Proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible Isa. 13.11 London Printed in the Year 1668. The Epistle to the READER Reader WHere Knowledge is heaped up concerning Truth and the Truth not obeyed and practised it makes the World like a Wilderness or the height of Babel for all People are out of order that do not obey and practise Truth And by how much their Knowledge is large even so much the more Confusion aboundeth because that Knowledge pusseth up the fleshly mind with false notions and conclusions and whatsoever Worship is set up from such a knowledge it only receiveth Life from the Power of Temporal Laws and all such Worships either live or dye as the Law favours them or is against them and such things are gotten up among the apostatized Christians who are gone from the Spirit and Power of God And so Bishops Pastors Vicars Curates and People do erre and go astray from his wayes like lost Sheep as they confess And what is to be expected in such a Worship where the Spirit and Power of God is wanting And what is to be expected from such Bishops Pastors Vicars and Curats as erre and go astray from his wayes like lost sheep Do not such erre and go astray as walk in their wayes who walk not in the way of God And notwithstanding there is a confession of erring and going astray yet People are driven forward in such wayes by the force of Temporal Laws and so People must either erre and go astray or come under the punishment of such Laws Now let the wise and moderate Reader consider whither such are going as erre and go astray from the way of God are they not going to the Chambers of Death and Destruction And is there any cause why People should be forced by Temporal Laws to walk in that way Oh that it might be seriously layd to heart for such as erre and go astray like lost sheep have more need to forsake their wayes that to compel others to walk with them for Christ hath sheep that hear his voice and follow him and those sheep do not erre and go astray from his wayes but feed in his Pasture and rest under his Shadow and he saves them from the Wolf and Beasts of Prey And all such as confess they erre and go astray from his wayes they must turn unto him and follow him who is the Light of the World and Way to the Father and then they will not erre and go astray like loss Sheep but be gathered into the Fold and into the Pasture and there is neither Bishop Pastor Vicar or Curate that can come into this state but as they come to the Light with which Christ Jesus enlightens them for who be from the Light are in Darkness and that is the cause why they erre and go astray like lost Sheep And can any be true Worshippers of God whilest they erre and go astray from his wayes And is not God worshiped in his own way And yet such as confess they erre from his wayes would force others so worship with them but such are seen in the Light and their end is manifest and many are delivered out of such wayes and gathered into the way of God and so he is known to be a Spirit and worshipped in the Spirit and in the Truth which is his own way for his Spirit doth not lead astray from his wayes and they that have received his Spirit and live in it they live in the Truth and they that be in the Spirit Life and Power the outward Law can neither give Life nor bring Death upon their Worship because it standeth in the Substance which endures for ever So Reader be thou mindful to obey the Light with which Christ Jesus enlightens thee and that will keep thee from going astray like a lost sheep for that which goeth astray is a wanderer from the Light which is the Guide in the way of God and they that erre and go astray are following and worshipping the Beast and false Prophet whose habitation is full of Persecution by which the Saints and houshold of Faith are afflicted But now the Lamb sits in Judgment and the Beast and the â—hore and the False Prophet are judged and their House will fall over their heads and those that sit with them and they will feel the â—urden of their house upon them and there will be none to take the burden of Therefore whoever thou art that readest mind that which giveth Understanding that thou mayest be a follower and worshipper of the Lamb and not of the Beast and the Whore and False Prophet for of 〈◊〉 Truth the Lamb and the Saints must have the Victory W.S. A General Summons from the Authority of TRUTH unto all Ecclesiastical Courts and Officers c. Friends YOU have taken upon you a Work of great concernment but how you are qualified and fitted for it is the thing to be considered for there are several Objections may arise against you and this is not the least Whether you be in such a Spiritual capacity as to judge of Spiritual matters or fully to determine cases of Conscience from a spiritual discerning and understanding for many are unsatisfied concerning the proceedings in such cases and it is not without some ground when your practice and proceedings in such cases are truly examin'd and rightly compared with the practice and proceedings of Christ and his Apostles who had power and authority in the true Spirit to try and judge of all things pertaining to the Conscience and though you pretend the same thing and have given your selves the title of Spiritual Men and your Courts Spiritual Courts and so sit to try and judge of things pertaining to the Conscience yet you are not found upon the true Judgment Seat neither do your proceedings in such cases run in a true Line of Spiritual Men before you So that the precept of the Spirit nor the president of Christ and his Apostles are not your Rule for where did they set up Courts to try and judge in such cases And who did they summon to appear before them and who did they Excommunicate for not Hearing their Service or for not appearing to their Summons or for not Baptizing their Children or for not Receiving the holy Communion or for not Repairing Steeple-houses which you call Churches or for not paying Tythes and who did they Imprison or cause to be cast into Prison when they had Excommunicated them Compare your practice and proceedings with theirs and then see if there be not good cause to Object against your practice and proceedings in such cases For