Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	godly_a	rejoice_v	simplicity_n	1,031	5	9.5439	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52677	An account from the children of light (to them that askes) in several particulars why we have been kept from joyning to, or worshipping in those formes at law, and formes of worships, that have been imposed upon us against our consciences, in these late years, for denying whereof, we have so deeply suffered, with our lives, liberties, and estates. : Also what we owne as to those things, and can be obedient to for conscience sake, according to truth, and the practise of the church of Christ, and the Scriptures.	Naylor, James, 1617?-1660.; Hubberthorn, Richard, 1628-1662.	1660 (1660)	Wing N256; ESTC R27517	31,099	57

AN ACCOUNT From the Children of light to them that askes in several particulars why we have been kept from joyning to or worshipping in those formes at Law and formes of worships that have been imposed upon us against our consciences in these late years for denying whereof we have so deeply suffered with our lives Liberties and Estates Also what we owne as to those things and can be obedient to for Conscience sake according to truth and the practise of the Church of Christ and the Scriptures For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our Conscience That in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdome but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world 2 Cor. 1.12 LONDON Printed for Thomas Simmons at the Bull and Mouth neare Aldersgate 1660. For as much as many have desired to know the ground in particulars of our differences in faith and worship towards God And in some things as to the outward formes at Law which men have sought to impose upon us in these late yeares and also what we would desire therein therefore is this written following towards the satisfying of every honest desire who loves the kingdome of Christ THere is no kingdome nor people can truely be said to be the Lords and his Christs but as they come to be guided and governed by the Law of his Spirit in their Consciences which Spirit and anoynting all must wait for even from the King that sits on high to the least place of government in any people That with it all may know Judgement and to doe Justice which is of God and not of men That he may be known to be the anoynting of Kings and to Judge among the Judges whose right it is of old and God hath given it to him by an everlasting generation even after the power and order of an endlesse life That in him and in his seed may nations and kingdoms be blessed with peace even through and in his Righteous government for God the Father accepts neither persons lawes nor governments how prudently soever they be made if they be not in him and from him and for him because for him was made all soules that move not onely in earth but in heaven also All signes and seasons types and shadows worship and sabbath was made for him the son of man And no flesh breathing nor Spirits neither men or Angels hath any true power or right but as they receive it in him and so use it to him and for him over any of these things visible or invisible to rule force or order no not over his own body but by usurpation and for the time that he or they shall hold that power and not in him as aforesaid they shall be under the curse of God not established in peace and righteousnesse but in tyranny and oppression with force or with flattery must such rule in their day untill their measure of time and sin be fulfilled In which the vengeance of the Almighty shall remove them far away onely their names shall remain as a curse to those that come after Thus God will plead the Cause of his own seed and overturne and shake nations and kingdoms untill the earth know that the heavens must Reigne and the stout of heart confess that the head of every man is Christ And that God hath made this same Jesus which men hath rejected both Lord Christ which in his time he shall shew to be the onely Potentate King of Kings and Lord of Lords who onely hath immortality dwelling in the light where he sits at the right hand of power till God shall make all his foes his footstoole Now this is that we wait for in every appearance and face of authoritie that comes up to wit the face of Jesus our righteous King and Saviour in whom is no violence nor oppression who when he comes to rule we know will be tender of the tender in Conscience and meeke towards the poore in Spirit and with righteousnesse will he judge and rule on the earth to deliver the helplesse from him that is too hard for him who will drive wickednesse from his throne and the workers thereof into a Corner but will gently deale towards all that travails with righteousnesse and put the Lambs of truth in his bosome for he loves righteousnesse and hates iniquity therefore hath God called him his anoynted and will give him the heathen for his possession and a Priest to God he is to all generations in his dayes shall the upright rejoyce for he shall walke safely in his uprightnesse no nett shall then be spread on the mountaines neither shall he that turnes from iniquitie be made a prey for under him shall every one serve his God without feare in holinesse of life and godlinesse of conversation Now this is he we wait for even the beloved of our soules and we know his birth is come to the nations and his morning towards the people yea to the wise in heart who are yet afar off hath his starre appeared And we know his breaking forth to these Ilands as the bright Sun after the stormy raine even so shall he be after the shakeings he shall be a Covert from the tempest as rivers of waters in a dry place and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land even so shall he be who shall raigne in righteousnesse and by whom Princes shall rule in Judgement This is the Royall seed and he that is of him is the son of Nobles his Princes eate in due season for strength and not for drunkennesse thus shall the Land be blessed who is found worthy to receive the anoynted of God to rule in its borders And this is he whom we have preached to all the severall governments that hath risen ever since God revealed him in us and the glory and peace of his kingdome and we have patiently waited and in great sufferings hath our soules travelled to see if by any meanes we might see any worthy to receive his anoynting and to be borne of his Spirit to governe by his power and with his Counsell to order and be ordered that through him they might be established of God and we have looked through the vail of flesh in all sorts of people and could not bow thereto and by many contrary Spirits have we been evill entreated because we could not owne ●hem for him whose kingdome we seeke in rulers teachers and people And thus have we gone seeking the righteous one through Parliaments and Protectors so called Priests and Rulers of all sorts but his government we have not found nor with his righteous Judgements have we been judged among them but we have been shamefully entreated for his sake and have borne his reproach because of his Spirit in us and his kingdome in our Consciences And many times have been tryed to the losse of

Land might have become as Sodom and not one have known the Lord nor his word And as it was in the dayes of the false Prophets so hath it been since the dayes of the false ministry for which many have suffered since the dayes of the Apostles for testifying against such as have erred in Spirit forme and doctrine from Christ Jesus and his Apostles And this hath been from the indwelling power of Christ in them and his precious light shining in their hearts and consciences that they have thus been preserved and enabled to beare the testimony of Christ against false worships and worshippers and so it is at this day in all who keepe a pure Conscience towards God in all his word and worship that his true and spirituall worship might not be wholly lost out of the world Also if at any time their Kings or Rulers forgot God or Kings arose who knew not God and then would lay upon them Laws and Commands which was not just an● lawfull for them to doe then by the light of Christ in a pure Conscience they was enabled to withstand it even unto death As that of Mordecai and the Jews who would rather all be destroyed then bow to Hammons pride at the Kings command though Englands people would have said this is but a civill thing and duty and good manners and the like yet Gods Law in their Conscience they preferred above all that the King commanded contrary thereto yea life and all would they lose rather then defile their Conscience towards God or deny his Law there though no Law without had forbidden such a thing Yet in other cases did they appeare true and subject to the King for Mordecai's truth saved the Kings life not long before though from man he had little reward for it Likewise might be Instanced that of Daniels praying contrary to the decrees of the King his Counsell of Presidents and Princes and that of the three children against the fierce Command of Nebuchadnezzar in denying to worship at his will and pleasure likewise that of the Apostles when their Rulers and Priests also charged them straitly not to preach any more their answer before authoritie was we ought to obey God rather then men yea it would be too long to tell how many godly men and women upon the account of a pure Conscience not onely hazarded their lives but lost life and all for the testimony of a tender Conscience as might be instanced But this may be said for all That if they would but have denyed the law of God in their conscience and conformed to the wills of men and their laws not o●e of all the Prophets Apostles or all the holy men of God need to have suffered death or spoyle So now in that any of us by the same spirit of Christ and from his light and law in our Consciences are moved to goe testifie against false Prophets false worships and declare the way of truth to all people against them to their face And if Rulers have been so opposite to this as to make laws against it and to command us to bow and worship at their wills which for Conscience sake towards God we could not for which we have suffered the spoyling of goods long and heavie imprisonments shamefull usings and losse of lives also I say in this we have a cloud of witnesses even the Lord Jesus our Captaine and the whole body of Martyrs who have all gone before us in the selfe same obedience of faith and Spirit and have suffered the same or such like things from Rulers that knew not God and teachers that knew not God in their dayes and all of them in their dayes was counted offenders hereticks or dispisers of Authority or some such reproach was cast upon them by their accusers and persecuters for obeying the law of their God in their Consciences whom the Rulers of the darknesse of this world have not known nor can know till they beleeve his light in their own Consciences So it is not for new things nor strange opinions which was never in the world before for which we suffer though to the world they seeme new and strange but for the very same workes of the same Spirit of light and truth which hath often appeared in a poore contemptible people and hath as often received the same measure from them who professe him in words but in workes deny him by such have we suffered who read and preach the same in words which this eternall Spirit in us now worketh And with such who with words garnish the sepulchres of those whom their fathers slew are we counted great offenders for being found in the same way and practise and in obedience to the same Spirit in that measure as we have received it So we have this added to the testimony of a good Conscience towards God and towards men that we suffer not for evill doing though as evill doers to wit the practise of holy men and the Scriptures of truth which will owne us herein and stand on our parts against all our adversaries and accusers And t●is will be proved so when we come to particulars wherein we differ from the wayes and worships of these present times and for which we are so much hated and persecuted And we know that it will not be found harmfull to the bodyes estates or well-being of any Christian neighbourhood nor of any other people in the nations to practise those things wherein we differ in civill and temporall things nor hurtful to the soules of any In the things wherein we differ in religious or spirituall matters from the severall opinions and formes of worships that are or have been set up in these nations As we shall make it plainly appeare if either Spirit of truth or Scripture of truth or things equall may but be received on our part Now we shall mention some particulars in which we differ for Conscience sake from some of the formes traditions and commands of the men of this present age and the powers that have ruled therein under whom we have therefore suffered as evill doers And first as to those things which some calls civill ANd indeed it may be wondered at by any moderate people that in a nation called Christians any man should suffer so much as to be called an offender for some of the things which I must mention upon this account especially they being layd upon us by the spirit of Christ as matter of conscience and by a people so highly pretending for liberty of Conscience As it hath been layd upon us by the Spirit of Christ to use the same single language to all sorts of people which the Scriptures uses and all the holy men of God therein have ever used that is to say thou to any one person and you to more then one A language sound and true to God and man which the Spirit of God first spoke and gave to man and of man

Commands That so under you we might be godly and quietly governed within and without But if yet it must be so that your distance be so great that with one heart we cannot obey you both then whether it is better to obey God or men with the light of God in your own consciences judge you therefore if we can but keepe peace with the one of you we chuse to keepe our everlasting peace with God and that saving saith that 's held in a pure Conscience And our prayers to the father of lights is for our whole body of Christs Church and every member thereof that our hearts may be kept single to him alone what ever we suffer from men for so doing Now to those things which some call religious THough in our selves we make no such distinction it being that our Consciences are to be exercised in the light and Spirit of Christ in all we doe towards God and towards man and every particular action towards men God requires that it be done as to him and to his glory and not in our own wills nor in mens wills nor after their wills manners and customes and commands but in the will of God alone revealed in Christ Jesus in Spirit and in his motion and leadings which if we misse in and serve eyther men or our selves therein and not God we are accountable to him as though we had erred in that which the world calls Religion therefore what ever we do to God in Christ to us is his service and pure religion and undefiled before God if we keepe but our conscience unspotted from the world though it be but in visiting a fatherless childe or a widdow in their affliction or any other thing which the Spirit of truth justice and mercy leads us to and requires of us But as the worship of God it selfe hath relation to him alone who is a Spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and in truth betwixt him and every particular creature onely known in matter measure and manner time and place And knowing that the onely wise God who gives the kingdoms of the earth to whom he will yea and may set over them the basest of men as well as the most vertuous without controule if he please so to deale in judgement towards any Nation yet this hath he reserved as an eternall Scepter in the hand of Jesus our Lord and by an everlasting Covenant hath he sworne once for all concerning him Thou art a King for ever over the holy people and his throne is established in their consciences by a perpetuall decree to all generations therefore was it never known that ever he trusted or titled any earthly Prince with Lord over the faith and consciences of his owne people This was ever the S●ns prerogative above the Kings of the earth and he alone is to be Judge and Law-giver and correcter and leader in that invisible spirituall work of worship towards God for he onely knowes the way and none comes to the Father but by him It s true the Pope hath taken upon himselfe such authority under pretence of the Apostles even over the faith and consciences of people and with it hath shed much innocent bloud which lyes upon his seat and his line till God come to enquire for it and for that end hath set up inquisitions c. And others after and from that have erected Courts and Synods with their fines and prisons and tortures to force the faith and Consciences of people and they pretend the Apostles also for this worke But this we know that the Apostles was no such men nor used any such weapons but deny them therein both the Pope and they that are risen since And expressely deny to be Lords over Gods heritage or over their faith neither did they preach themselves Lords and Masters but Christ Jesus alone the Lord and themselves servants for Iesus sake as both their owne words practise doth testifie for saith Paul Not for that we have dominion over your faith And saith Peter Not for filthy lucre neither as being Lords over Gods heritage but as examples to the flock So we know that from Peter they had it not nor from Paul nor from any of the true Ministers of Christ for their weapons was not carnall but spirituall nor did they wrestle with flesh but with spirit so all they can get from the Apostles either in word or practise is this That if they be troubled with errors or profanenesse in their Churches Then if they have the Spirit and power of the Lord Iesus then to deliver such a one up to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the soule may be saved and body also in the day of the Lord And this is not to goales or gallowes or inquisitions or tortures or fires now had they this spirit and power they would know that which would convert in deed and truth and not make hypocrites or else kill them but the false Church having not these weapons nor this spirit and power is builded with oppression and upholden with bloud And in her are found the bloud of all the holy Martyrs of Jesus as saith the Scriptures yea even now is she drunke with bloud Revel. 18.24 17.6 So now this is the thing we say as to the worship of our God and to the order of it In all things it belongs to Christ Iesus our Lord and to him as sole King Lord thereof we cōmit our selves even the whole man soule and body as to all things of that nature And though there may ari●e power after power and seeke t● stop us of this liberty and freedome by acting force and violence upon our outward man yet are we free by birth in Christ Iesus and our inw●rd man they cannot bind nor can we ever while we abide in that see●e give up the right of Christ unto any of them but this we testifie in all we doe or suffer that the right is Christs over our Consciences and over our worships and to him alone we confesse before men and he hath the name in us And though for a time or times we yet suffer yet we know the end must come And the Lambe must take the kingdome and we know him that is true and faithfull whom the Father hath sealed and anoynted to be head of the ●hurch which is his body and to him must the Nations account And therefore we say to all the severall powers that comes upon us we may not deny the Lord in our Consciences to bow to or worship in what men shall set up or command but he that saves us dayly from our sins he shall leade us in our worship and to him we must give the obedience of faith who gives us faith and power by his Spirit to obey and who hath wrought all our workes in us and for us and by whose vertue