Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	spirit_n	testimony_n	witness_v	1,787	5	10.0023	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75414	An Answer to a scandalous paper, wherein were some queries given to be answered. And likewise, therein is found many lies and slanders, and false accusations against those people whom he (and the world) calls Quakers. Dated from Dorchester in New-England, August 17. 1655. subscribed, Edward Breck, which was directed to a people at Rainforth in Lancashire, which he calls, A church of Christ. The truth is cleared of his scandalls, lies, and slanders, and he found to bee a reproacher of the Church of Christ. His paper and quæries answered by those people called, Quakers.		1656 (1656)	Wing A3345A; Thomason E875_4; ESTC R206566	30,171	38

Apostles and all the Holy men of God that ever was taught by the Spirit of God all that is guided by that one and the same spirit we do witness and own and all that have that same spirit to lead and guide them to the living God who is a Spirit wil own and witness us to be of God and our Testimony to be true and this shall be answered by that of God in all consciences And whereas thou speaks severall times of the Institutions and Ordinances of Christ answer The Ordinances and Institutions of Christ we own and witness and honour and his Commands arc not grievons but joyous but thou that speaks these words hath made thy self manifest to deny the Ordinances of Christ and his Institutions and art ignorant of them what they are when thou cometh to name them thou names Sabboths and Sacraments and for the Ministry and Magistracy which thou speaks of we have answered that before yet this I say to thee more That those Ministers which were ordained by Christ did not preach for Hire Christ Jesus bare witness against the Hireling and called him a Thief and a Robber now see if thy Ministers which thou speaks for be not such and then see if thou do not blaspheme Christ in saying that he ordained such as he called Thieves and Robbers which are Hirelings which flies because they are Hirelings those whom he ordained and sent forth were sent forth freely who had received freely of him and freely they did give they did not go in the way of Cain to envy nor run greedily after the error of Balaam for gifts and rewards Now see if those Ministers which thou speaks of be not such where did ever Christ ordain them or when did they receive a Commission but whom he ordained did preach the Gospel freely to every creature and had a Commission from him to baptize all Nations in the Nome of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost doth thy Ministers that thou speak of so Read the Scriptures honestly and see whether Christ ordained any but such as had an immediate command and Revelation from him and such received power from above to go teach all Nations Now see whether these Ministers thou speaks of will own this commission or witness it and if they cannot then thou art he that blasphemeth Chritt and defames his Truth which is pure which will not admit of any decit nor guile And for that thou speaks of Sabboths here thou art denying Christ for where he is known and witnessed to be come he is the end of the Sabbath and the rest of his people and what Scripture hast thou which saith that Christ ordained a day to be kept as a Sabbath wilt thou belye Christ Jesus to say he hath ordained a Sabbath-day which he putteth an end to Here let all read the Scriptures and try thee and thy Ordinances that thou pleads so for the Son of man is the Lord of the Sabboth If thou have an ear thou may hear or an eye thou may see but thou art blinde and yet hath eyes and deaf and yet hath ears And for thy Sacraments which thou calls an Ordinance of Christ this is an Ordinance of thy own making which thou hath no Scripture for at all wilt thou say that Christ ordained a Sacrament when there is no Scripture for it Oh that thou should be so blinde and yet will take upon the to exhort as thou saith the Church of Christ but surely the Church of Christ knows the Ordinances of God better then thou dost for thy Ordinances is beggarly Rudiments which are but commandments and doctrines of men but it is little with thee to call them the Ordinances of God who art so far by the Truth as thou art in all thy Paper throughout But those who are dead with Christ from the Rudiments of the world cannot be subject to thy Ordinances for the Apostle exhorts from them and saith Touch not tast not handle not which are all to perish with the using of them and his exhortation we own and cleave to and keep his Ordinances as he delivered them to us and thine we do deny but the Ordinances of Christ Jesus we live in according to the Scrptures and all the Saints in Light that ever went before us for heis our peace who hath made both one and broken down the partition Wall betwixt us and hath abolished in his flesh the enmity even the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances for to make himself of twain one New Man so making peace and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the Cross having slain the enmity thereby but where this enmity stand unslain which is far off and not washed and made nigh by his blood here the Ordinances of men is set up and called the Ordinances of God who are without Christ being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and Strangers from the Covenant of Promise not being washed and cleansed and purged by his blood which maketh nigh and taketh away the partition-Wall and makes of twain one New Man Now if thou or any of you do witness this condition then do you know and live in the Ordinances of Christ but if you be dead in your fins and the uncircumcision of your flesh then hath he not blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances and hath not taken it away nailing it to his Cross Now see whether ye be here or no or else ever talk of the Ordinances of God but let them be as indeed and in truth they are the Ordinances of men and in the mean time so long as thou art ignorant of these things and of the workings and operation of the living Spirit and power of the living God so long as thou knows nothing but what thou knows naturally beware how thou speaketh of trances and quakings and such expressions least thou blaspheme against God for the living God nor his power nor working thou knows not therefore be silent and beware how thou judges with evill thoughts that which thou knows not for in that thou corrupts thy self and art found to be one of those filthy dreamers which defiles the flesh despiss dominivn and speak evill of dignities and so as I said before bring thy self under the wo. And so beware and fear and dread the living God who is a consuming fire to his Enemies and before him thou cannot stand with thy filthy stuff which thou hast raked together his jelousie burns like fire and this wil be as stubble before him Therefore see what thou hast that will abide the fire for nothing will stand in his presence but what will answer to the fire and this thou shalt eternally witness to be truth and love to thy soul And the spirit which speakcth in us is one and the same yesterday to day and for ever and that spirit which doth not speak the same we do deny and the judgement which thou judgeth we do deny

then for evill doing for Jesus Christ hath suffered the just for the unjust that he might bring us unto God And for this Faith do we contend which was once delivered to the Saints and are willing to lay down our lives and to seal the testimony of our Consciences with our blood and this our faith is not to beleeve lies as thou doth which is manifested in thy Paper sufficiently and this is that faith which overcomes and gives victory over the world and beleeves in the Truth as it is in Jesus And thou begins and reckons from the Maryan-times the Generations of men famous as thou saith who stood for Faith and Holiness and the profession of true Religion I answer Thou may see what thy profession of true Religion ends in who art now in thy old age beleeving lyes and false accusations which thou hast no true ground for and are accusing and slandering the pure innocent Truth of God which is clear in the sight of God of these slanders which thou hast cast upon it for which the Just God will plead with thee when thy talking of a Faith will not serve thee nor thy profession of a true Religion when thou art persecuting and detaining the pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father this is to visit the Father less and the Widow in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted of the world But thou art found in the desilement and casting thy filth of lyes and slanders upon Religion and therefore art thou found in the world one of them Therefore now repent of the evill of thy doings while thou hast time and turn thy minde to that measure of God in thee which tells thee thou should not lye nor slander nor accuse falsly there is something in thee that tells thee these things ought not to be there is that of God in thy conscience which tells thee thou ought not to beleeve lyes nor to take reports from the mouths of slanderers and to cast them upon the innocent who was ever reproached and slandered by the world and so in this thou art become one with the persecutors that ever persecuted the appearance of God where ever it was made manifest So let that of God in thy conscience now examine and search what thou art doing who art slandering those whom thou knows not nor hath nothing to lay to their charge but what thou hath by hear-say and consider whether this be as thou would be done by But in this thou hast manifested thy ignorance of God and of his pure Truth which leads to do unto all men as they would have men to do unto them and here thou art found out of the Truth and out of the Life that gave forth the Scriptures who takes the Scriptures but for a cloak to cover thy nakedness withall but art ignorant of that spirit that spoke them forth as thou makes it manifest in thy next words where thou saith Those men gave not their mindes with Balaam to look out for visions to curse Gods people Here thou hast manifested thy ignorance of the Scriptures for when Balaam looked out at the temptation of Baalack he would have cursed them but he did not look then to the vision of God which said he should not curse them And so all who wil but read that Scripture may see thy confusion and ignorance for in that Vision and Prophesie Balaam did see and know the people of God and could not curse them while he kept to it untill he did hearken and look out at the temptation of Balaack And so here read thy ignorance in Scripture Besides in this thou speaks against all the Holy-Men of God as Moses Samuel Nathan Daniel Isaiah Paul Peter Iohn c. and all that ever was taught by the immediate Spirit of the living God was taught by Vision and Revelation and this thou exhorts those whom thou calls the Church of Christ from Therefore let all that reads thy words mark thy Blasphemy and ignorance of God and of his eternall living Truth as it is in Jesus the only begotten Son which now the Father is revealing in this his day and the Son likewise is revealing the Father Glory and Praises be to the living powerfull God for ever And thou speaks of railing against Magistrates and Ministers which is a false accusation for railing we do deny but we speak the Truth in Christ and lye not our consciences also bearing us witness in the sight of God And the Ministers of Christ we own who are Ministers of the Spirit and not of the Letter for the Letter killeth but the Spirit maketh alive and those who have the Ministration of the Spirit which quickens we own and have unity with them who is made not by the will of man nor the will of the flesh but by the wil of God according to the Promise of life which is in Christ Iesus who have not received their Gospel by man but by the Revelation of Iesus this Ministry we own and this Ministry we witness But that Ministry which is received from man who teacheth for Doctrine the Precepts and Commandments of men which are found in the steps of the Scribes and Pharisees which Christ cryed wo against who sit in Moses seat who are sayers but not doers who bindes heavy burthens grievous to be born but will not themselves move them with one of their fingers but all their works they do to be seen of men love the uppermost rooms at Feasts the chief seats in the Synagogues are called of men Master who devour widows houses and for a pretence make long Prayers who are blinde guides such as Christ Jesus cryed wo against who is our Lord and Master and Shepherd of our souls but who are found acting in those things which he cryed wo against we do deny and turn from them for Christ Jesus hath left us a Rule to know them by their fruits which makes them manifest to be the ravening wolves inwardly which Christ Jesus speaks of who have the Sheeps clothing the Saints words and profession but their ravening wolvish nature appears by their persecution and tyranny which they exercise in this Nation of England as most Goals in this Nation can witness who have many of the innocent harmless people of God shut up in Dungeons and Holes for no other cause but for bearing witness for the living God against the deceit by which they keep poor people in blindness and ignorance of God who are the same as ever the Lord sent his true Prophets to cry against who bear rule by their means and commit the horrible and filthy thing which the Lord sent Ieremiah to cry against And who seek for their Gain from their quarter and preacheth for Hire which the Lord sent Isaiah to cry against who feed with the sat and clothe with the wool which the Lord sent Ezekiel to cry against And such as make the people to erre that bite with their teeth