Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	holy_a	scripture_n	word_n	2,805	5	4.1192	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60617	The Baptists sophistry discovered in a brief answer to a late pamphlet entituled The Quakers subterfuge or evasion overturned : wherein all people may plainly see ... / by William Smith.	Smith, William, d. 1673.	1673 (1673)	Wing S4289; ESTC R34257	16,696	24

That the Holy Spirit as he speaketh in the Scriptures is to Try and Judge the Spirits of men and particularly the Quakers Spirit which they call the Light within And here thou hast plainly manifested Deceit unto all who have Eyes to see and thy Meaning will not cover thee And who have any cause to believe thee that canst twist thy words from one thing to another But how do the Scriptures try and judge the spirits of men according to thy Meaning I would understand thy mind more plainly as to this thy Evasion And why must the Quakers Spirit which thou sayst they call the Light Within be particularly tryed and judged by the Scriptures Must the Letter try and judge the Light Wouldst thou make the Greater subordinate to the Lesser for that which is the Original of a thing must needs be greater then that which is manifest from it and the Letter was manifest from the Light for the holy Men of God spake as they were moved by it and it was within them when it moved them to speak and so the Holy Mens Spirit was the Light with which the Quakers have Unity and their words do not try and judge the Quakers Spirit but their words are fulfilled and witnessed by the same Spirit and here the Quakers are before you all who are only in the words as they were once spoken and not in the Spirit by which they were spoken and so you want the Key of Knowledge which opens the Mysteries of the Kingdom and when John bid the Saints try the Spirits whether they were of God he said There were many False Prophets gone out into the World and the False Prophets were in a False spirit which the Saints were to try in the True Spirit and so the True Spirit was the Tryer of all false spirits and false Prophets and the same Spirit is the Tryer of all spirits now and they that live in it hold fast that which is good and know it to be Good though false spirits may call it Evil. 5thly Thou sayst Thou saidst to R. A. that thou wast afraid that the Quakers were deceived and guided by a spirit of Delusion and that it was thy Judgment That all the Sons and Daughters of men ought to be guided by the Scriptures Rep. It seems thou hadst no certain Ground to believe that the Quakers were Deceived and Deluded but only wast afraid and so it is manifest thou couldst not try them either by the Spirit or Scriptures surely Wise Men will be ashamed of thy Ignorance and Folly And for the removing thy vain Fear we are willing to tell thee and thy Brethren That we live in the Blessed Truth where Righteousness Peace embrace and kiss each other And as for thy Judgment That all the Sons and Daughters of men ought to be guided by the Scriptures thou hast given thy Judgment inconsiderately for thou hast not demonstrated any thing as a Ground why it ought to be so but only stated it from thy own Judgment and if thy Judgment be sufficient to bring others to be of the same Judgment then the Judgment of the Pope may plead Authority and so people may as soon be Papists as Baptists and if there be no other Guide but the Scriptures for the Sons Daughters of men to be guided by then what Guide have such as never heard nor read the Scriptures have such no Guide to lead them to fear God and work Righteousness to be accepted of him or must they of necessity perish for want of the Scriptures to be their Guide or whether can such a People be saved thou art here concern'd to give thy Judgment again for there is not yet such a Decision of the great Controversie as thou vainly boasteth 6thly Thou now comest to speak of R. A' s coming to reprove thee and pronounce thee a Leper and that a little time after he confessed he was deceived and was a false Prophet and that the same Judgment was come upon one of his Children and himself Wife and other Children taken with a Restless Pain in their Bodies and that he desired thee to Pray for him and thou and thy Congregation did pray for the removing of that Distemper and Affliction and they were restored to their former Health again which thou sayst R. A. confessed when he came to the Meeting again Ans. It is to be observed That the very Ground of all the Buzzle and Noise which thou hast made against the Quakers is only from the bare and single Confession of R. A. and thy own Consequences and Conclusion from what he hath confessed and said but thy groundless Conclusions do not prove so effectual for thy purpose as thou might'st vainly suppose when thou begun'st thy work for though thou hast made such a Noise against the Light Within and against the Quakers because R. A. might tell thee The Quakers did tell him he was to mind the Light to be guided by it yet the Light is not to be charged with R. A's Miscarrying if he did Miscarry in any thing wherein he concern'd the Light for if he did concern the Light in giving Judgment against thee and then afterwards confest that he was Deceived and was a False Prophet this doth not make the Light to be a False Principle nor those that are faithful to it to be guided by it a Deluded People and if he did confess that he was Deceived it doth not follow that the Light deceived him for there were never any false Prophets in the True Light nor never any True Prophets out of it and so it is very clear that R. A. was not guided by the True Light when he was deceived and was a false Prophet neither doth it appear by all thou hast said that he was guided by the Light and yet he must be call'd a Quaker because he might sometimes have something to say of the Light and against Water-Baptism and suppose this was granted yet it doth not make him any more a Quaker then for a man to speak of Water-Baptism and against the Pope would make him a Baptist and if such a man should do or say something that is a manifest Error would you Baptists take it well that his Error should be charged upon your whole Society and you counted a Deluded People because of such a Miscarriage by that man when he was never taken notice of to be owned by you it may well be concluded That you would be ready to clear your selves both from the man and his Miscarriage and to blame such as should lay his Miscarriage upon you And if you would not be willing to bear such a thing your selves if cast upon you from such a Ground why then do you so much busie your selves to do it unto us Are you doing in this as you would be done by let the Juditious judge For you neither manifest Justice Equity or Mercy towards us in this matter but rather vent your Envy and Malice

own Opinion better then another man Hast thou not much mistaken thy self in thy Assertion for there may be a better Testimony in this case then a man 's own Confession because a man may make an Ignorant Confession of his own Opinion in relation to the Principles of other People whereas another that duly observes the course of his Life and Conversation may be more able and fit to testifie how he answers their Principles and such a Testimony is far beyond the Party 's own confessing his Opinion and so it will unavoidably follow That whatsoever R. A. hath confessed or said in relation to the Quakers according to his own Opinion doth not make him a Quaker And where thou speakest of the Impossibility for you to prove what Conversation in all respects he had with us because remote from him and not concerned in our Congregations we do believe it for how is it possible for you to prove a thing to be that never was for he never had his Conversation with us at any time in any respect neither did he frequent our Meetings or Congregations at all and so it is not possible for you to prove it And thou ask'st this Question Whether a man 's own Confession for matter of Opinion being attended with th●se Demonstrations of the Matter of Fact hereby observed be not a cogent Proof to satisfie indifferent men and here thou ask'st a Question after thy Affirmation for thou first saidst Nor can we have a better Testimony then a Man 's own Confession in this case and now thou queriest Whether a man 's own Confession be not a Cogent Proof and so it may well and safely be concluded that thou affirmest a thing that lies doubtful in thy own Judgment and that ever R. A. confessed that he was a Quaker is beyond thy skill to prove by Undeniable Evidence and therefore thy Folly is manifest giving him a Name which no Man or Woman did ever know him by before for there is nothing more certain but R. A. would soon have been called a Quaker by several of his Neighbours if he had received their Principles and been acted by their Spirit as thou wouldest have it and thou mightest have had the Evidence of several concerning his Alteration from the Wayes Customs and Fashions and Traditions of the World and of his bearing a Testimony for God in the Quakers Spirit but seeing it never was so nor by him confessed to be so thou art left as a Naked Man without any Covering And thus thy Subterfuge is overturned and thou art without a Hiding-Place and thy own Lye is turned upon thee in calling R. A. a Quaker who never was known to have Fellowship with them or they with him and so the Quakers not at all concern'd in R. A's Errors if he did err as thou wouldst fabulously impose upon them I shall now take notice of some Passages in thy Narrative which seem to reflect upon the Truth and to justifie Error and thereby thou mayst see how darkly and ignorantly thou hast manifest thy Judgment and how vainly thou hast endeavoured to make R. A. a Quaker 1st Thou sayst That R. A. came to your Meeting and was convinc'd and said He did believe that Baptism in Water was an Ordinance of God Rep. It seems he was convinced at your Meeting and confessed his Belief to your way of Water-Baptism and did you own him as a Baptist because he confessed his Belief of that which you hold and maintain to be of such absolute Necessity Now here are two things more considerable to make him a Baptist at that time then any you have brought in all that he has confessed can make him a Quaker and yet it may be supposed that you did not at that time own him as a Baptist notwithstanding his Convincement and confessing his Belief to your Water-Baptism as an Ordinance of God 2dly Thou sayst That before he came again he met with the People called Quakers who told him as himself confessed That he must not look upon those outward Ordinances for they were low but that he must mind the Light Within and be guided by it and not by the Scriptures for they were a Dead Letter Rep. It is to be observed that thou didst not know whether he met with any of the Quakers or no but as he confessed and yet he must be a Quaker in Print Would ever any man that had the right use of his Wits have spread such Stories abroad as thou hast done and have no certain knowledge of what thou writest And your outward Ordinances as you call them are Temporal and may be seen and the Apostle would not have such things looked at and they that will not be guided by the Light and follow it they disobey the Doctrine of Christ and abide in Darkness and they that abide in Darkness do not know the Scriptures nor the Power of God and this is testified upon Truth 's account whatever R. A. might say unto thee 3dly Thou sayest That when R. A. came again to the Meeting he much contended against the Baptism of Water and said That now they were to be Baptized with the Baptism of the Spirit and not with Water Rep. As for R. A's Contention if he did so it doth not concern the matter in hand and you Baptists do not so well agree in all Points of your Belief but you can sometimes contend one with another and if thee and R. A. could not agree it doth not follow that he was a Quaker and if you be not Baptized with the Baptism of the Spirit how are you One Body for it was by one Spirit that the Saints were Baptized into One Body whether Jews or Gentiles And if you can you may demonstrate which of you all have a Commission from God to be an Administrator of Water in order to Baptize any 4thly Thou sayst that R. A. said The Spirit was to try the Scriptures and not the Scriptures the Spirit And then saith that thou saidst Thou believed'st the Scriptures were to try the Spirit and not the Spirit to try the Scriptures Thus in thy first Narrative Rep. If you discoursed on this manner you were both at work in your Imaginations for the Spirit and Scriptures agree and do not Try each other and thou hast sufficiently manifested thy Ignorance both of the Spirit and of the Scriptures who would have the Scriptures to try the Spirit Canst thou produce a Scripture to make good thy Belief but in thy last Narrative thou seem'st to state the matter otherwise and so would'st alter the case to cover thy self where thou hast over-shot thy self and some other Alterations which thou hast made in thy last which I shall wave at present And why hast thou altered this matter and put thy Meaning to it For thou sayst in thy last That thou believest the Scriptures were to Try the Spirits and not the Spirits to Try the Scriptures meaning sayst thou as before is said