Selected quad for the lemma: day_n
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A40299
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To the ministers, teachers, and priests (so called and so stileing your selves) in Barbadoes by George Fox.
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Fox, George, 1624-1691.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing F1957; ESTC R36426
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49,015
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79
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will he not learn Righteousness c. O! it is not the work of Christ's Ministers to fall upon the Righteous and persecute the Innocent and let Swearers Drunkards Whore-Masters and Adulterers go free And do you not pronounce the Blessing of God to be upon them and Peace be unto them all in the State and Condition wherein they remain unconverted For are not the words general in the close of your Service And is this the best Entertainment you can afford Strangers viz. To Slander and Belye them Is this the best Provision you have for them in your Houses Surely these are very course Complements from such Persons as are lookt upon by others and by themselves too as Men of no small Breeding But this is no good Breeding nor manifests good Education but bespeaks the Educator not to be of Christ nor of God and this is the Production and Fruit of your Studdyings Is this to follow the Apostle's Advice who exhorts To Studdy to be Quiet 1 Thes 4.11 And 2 Tim. 2.15 16. Studdy to shew thy self approved of God a Workman that needeth not be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of Truth but shun Prophane and Vain Babblings for they will encrease to more Ungodliness c. And saith Solomon Prov. 12.22 Lying Lips are an Abomination to the Lord but they that deal truly are his Delight And in chap. 10.18 He that hideth Hatred with Lying Lips and he that uttereth a Slander is a Fool. And Psal 101.5 Who so privily Slandereth his Neighbour him will I cut off Read Rom. 1.28 29 30 c. And consider you that call your selves Ministers Are the Scriptures of Truth of no value of no use with you nor with your People which saith That whosoever is angry with his Brother without a Cause shall be in danger of the Judgment And whosoever shall say unto his Brother Racha shall be in danger of the Council But whosoever saith unto his Brother Thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell Fire Mat. 5.22 Now do you not know what this means Ought not this to be more seriously heeded by you Priests and your Hearers as you would not undergo the Penalty or how can you How dare you bring your Gift to the Altar before you be reconciled to your Brother And you that persecute or go about to persecute are you not of the number of those that mingle their Sacrifices with Blood O! what will become of you that persecute and speak all manner of Evil against God's People for Christ's sake Hesaith Blessed are the Merciful for they shall obtain Mercy But what then will likely be your Portions who ate Cruel and Unmerciful Further he saith Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the Earth What then will become of you who are Furious and Envious Again saith he Blessed are the Peace-Makers for they shall be called he Children of God Then what will become of you who stir up to Contention Dissention and Persecution this is no Gospel no Glad-tidings How can you say the Lord's Prayer Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us So mark you are no more forgiven then you do forgive Mat. 25. Depart you Cursed into Everlasting Fire c. Why what 's the Matter For saith he I was an Hungred and ye gave me no Meat I was Thirsty and ye gave me no Drink c. But you may answer and say Lord When saw we thee a Hungry or a Thurst or a Stranger c Then will he say Insomuch as you did it not unto the least of these you did it not unto me And these shall go into Everlasting Punishment There you see the Sentence is given already you have heard it and you may read it there about the latter end And Mark If he dealt so with those then that did no good how much more sorer Punishment shall be inflicted on those that persecute such c. And so you that do profess and make a Trade of Christ's words for Money and persecute him where and in whom he is made manifest are not you made manifest in the sight of the Son to be the very Antichrist's professing Christ and yet are found Enemies to him and acting perversly against him and to be in the number of those inwardly ravening Wolves in Sheep's Clothing Christ speaks of in Mat. 7. and those evil Trees and evil Ground that bringeth forth nothing but Thistles Bryars and Thornes wherewith to rend and tear and prick the Lambs of God And are you not of the number of those who build up and adorn and garnish the Tombs of the Righteous even Christ's Sepulchre and observe his days and their dayes and yet persecute him and the Saints Where do you read that Christ or any of the Apostles gave any Command unto you for to observe dayes unto them And where was it ever the practice of any of the People of God all along the Bible either to keep Christmas-day or Candlemas-day or Childermas-day or All Saints-day or Michaelmas or Lent c Had you not all these from the Popes And how can you cry out against Popery and yet live in the practice of those things which you have from them and that they have set up If you will have a Mass for your Candles why not as well a Mass for your Cows and your Horses your Sugar-Canes and your Potatos We do not read that Isaac observed his Father's day or Jacob observed Isaac's day or did the Jews observe Joshua's or Moses's or Aaron's day or that any of the Saints did observe the Apostles dayes and called them Holy-Dayes Yea did the Apostles observe Christ's day or Stephen's day or James's day or any of the Apostles and Disciples of Christ and called them Holy-dayes Let us see the Scripture for it For you pretend the Scriptures to be the Rule for your Practices and yet how dare you say so and act quite contrary to the Scriptures of Truth For did not the Apostle leave the People of God to their Liberty in Rom. 14.4 5 6 7. concerning observing of days He that observed a day he was to observe it to the Lord and he that did not regard the day to the Lord they were not to judge one another about such things but you have thrown away this day also that do act contrary in judging and persecuting one another upon this account And doth not the Apostle judge and reprove the Galatians for observing dayes and tells them That they were Bewicht and calls them Fools Gal. 3.1 O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth And chap 4.10 11. Ye observe Dayes and Times and Moneths and Years I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you Labour in vain How came you to be so wise as to observe them and compel others to observe them do you not make your selves wiser then Christ or any of the Apostles What Wisdom is this think you that you should by it
things cometh the Wrath of God upon the Children of Disobedience Now consider all you that call your selves Ministers and others in Christendom so called Christ Jesus is the Seed's-Man and he sows the good Seed which is in Man's Heart now some Hearts be a High-Way and those Fowls in them that are bred by the foul spirit take it away and some is sown upon Stony Ground where 's not much Earth but is scorch't by the heat of Persecution and some again is sown upon the Thorny Ground Thorny Hearts where it grows a while and then the Thornes the Cares of the World choaks it but that which is sown upon Good Ground brings forth good Fruit abundantly to the Glory of God and Christ the Seed's-Man Now Christ in a Parable 〈◊〉 speaks of a Housholder that sowed good Seed in his Field and his Servants said Didst thou not sow good Seed whence then hath it Tares He answered An Enemy hath done this They replyed Wilt thou that we go and gather them up Nay saith he lest ye gather the Wheat also let both grow together till the Harvest The Field is the World the Good Seed are the Children of the Kingdom of Christ the Tares are the Children of the Wicked One the Enemy that sowed them is the Devil the Harvest is the end of the World and the Reapers are the Angels So Christ he would not suffer his Disciples to gather the Tares lest c. Now what 's the matter with you and others who will be Gatherers when Christ hath forbidden you lest you pluck up Wheat instead of Tares seeing it is the Angels Work to sever the Wheat from the Tares and the Wicked from the Just And therefore whose Servants have you been in all Christendom who will venture the gathering of the Tares and instead of them have been plucking up the Wheat as witness all the Martyrs and Bloody Persecutions since Christ's time but these Tares at the End of the World the Angels shall cast into the Fire where shall be Weeping and Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth c. And Luke 9.55 When Christ sent to a Village of the Sameritans to make ready for him and they did not receive him his Disciples said Lord Wilt thou that we command Fire to come down from Heaven to consume them even as Elias did but Christ rebukâ—t them saying Ye know not what spirit ye are of the Son of Man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them Now mark If the Disciples of Jesus Christ did not know themselves what spirit they were of who would have had Fire to come down from Heaven upon such as would not receive Christ how do you know what spirit you are of and all those since the Apostles dayes that do persecute people about Religion by Imprisoning them c Now had they and you known what spirit you are of you would not Persecute but seeing you do not therefore it is you will have the People of God persecuted and so are under the Rebukes of Christ who came to Save and nor destroy And therefore since you do not know what spirit you are of your selves we cannot trust our Bodies nor our Souls nor Spirits in your hands And you see you have no Command from Christ or the Apostles to persecute for Christ saith All Power is given to me both in Heaven and Earth c. What to do To destroy the Devil and his Works the Enemy the Adversary and Destroyer of Mankind Christ he is so far from that that he commands us To love one another and to love Enemies but this Command hath been little regarded in Christendom Christ spake to such as built the Sepulchres of the Prophets and garnisht them whom their Fore-Fathers had killed and yet these Builders killed the Son Have not we the same Builders now that would kill him and persecute him where he is revealed in his People Truly ye bear witness that you allow the Deeds of your Fore-fathers who did kill them and their Children built and garnisht their Sepulchres that so all the Righteous Blood from Abel to Zacharias yea to this very day will come upon this Generation of Persecutors whereof in our dayes we have seen sad Examples how the Lord hath cut several of them suddenly off who have been found persecuting his People and Beloved Ones his dear Lambs And saith Christ The Servant that says in his Heart My Lord delays his coming and begins to smite his Fellow-Servants and Eat and be Drunken the Lord will come in a day when he looks not for him when he is not aware of it and will cut him assunder and will appoint him his Portion with Unbelievers Mat. 12. And therefore take ye heed who smite the Servants of God and Hand-Maids of God lest the Lord come in a Day or in an Hour when you are not aware and cut you assunder with his sharp two-edged Sword and appoint you your Portion with Hypocrites and Unbelievers and therefore the People of God are alwayes to be in a readiness waiting for the Appearance of the Lord Mat. 24. And Blessed is that Servant that the Lord finds so doing he will make him Ruler over his House that gives them their Meat in due season Now consider you Strikers this and all you Smiters and Persecuters you do not watch for Christ's coming no no but you put the Day and Hour afar off and you do not know how soon either of them may come of cutting assunder and of your Weeping Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth and your Portion which you are like to have with Hypocrites And Christ further saith Luke 19.27 Those mine Enemies which would not that I should Raign over them bring hither and slay them before me Now consider this you that will not have Christ to Rule and Raign in his People no nor in your selves Do you think that you shall escape the Sword of his Judgments and of his Mouth and the Wrath of the Lamb And did ever Christ though he was called a Blasphemer and as Belzebub and that he had a Devil and a Deceiver yet though he had all Power in his Hands given to him in Heaven and in Earth yet he did not persecute any of them but rebuk't his Disciples Neither did he give any such Command or Advice to his Apostles but rather the contrary viz. That they should love one another and love Enemies Now then who hath given you this Power to persecute and beat another mans Children and Servants Let us know your Original and your Antiquity Now whereas you may say That Lay-men and Mechanick Men are not to meddle with the Scriptures but you onely that have got the Original of Hebrew Greek and Latine I Answer Was not the beginning of the Originals in Babel For was not all the Earth of one Language before And had not Pilate these Originals when he crucified Christ And did he not write a Title upon his Cross in Hebrew Greek and Latine