Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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
|
of the Lord c. Rep. How doth the matter appear so undeniable seeing it lies only betwixt R. A. thy self may not a thing be justly deny'd til it can be proved by some others then the Parties concerned and thou hast produced no such Proof and yet say'st it cannot be deny'd and so thou mayst maintain a thing upon any terms if that must be of necessity believed which thou sayst can't be deny'd And if R. A. was led by the Spirit of Falshood what doth that concern the Quakers Must he needs be a Quaker because he was led by such a spirit as thou sayst Surely thou and thy Brethren had need put on more Charity that you might walk in Love for the Quakers never used a shift to help R. A. though falsly charged with it from your dark Conclusion 4thly Thou sayst Thou hast not wronged thy Conscience in all thou hast said nor designed any Evil against the Persons of the Quakers but only to make Discovery of the False Wayes they have chosen that so they might escape from thence and be saved Rep. Thou hast put on a large measure of 〈…〉 fidence that darest justifie thy self in all thou hast said and a 〈…〉 sens 〈…〉 that thou hast wrong'd thy Conscience in any thing thoâ— hast said this manner of boasting gives just cause to suspect that thou castest the Reproof of Christ behind thy back for if it were not so thou wouldst meet with Convictions in thy Conscience for what thou hast said against the Quakers and wouldst be sensible that thou hast wronged thy Conscience in what thou hast said and for any Design of Evil against the Quakers Persons thou canst not hide thy Design under such a Covering for as thou design'st against our Principles we know thou dost not design any good to our Persons and for thy discovery of our false wayes as thou termest them thou hast only discover'd thy own Polly and therefore we shall not forsake our Wayes in which we are sav'd to come into thy ways to be condemned And so stop thy mouth for speaking of our Wayes for thou art a Stranger to them and canst not make the least Discovery of them 5thly Thou sayst Thou dost not pretend to work Miracles and that thou knowest thou Sin'st not in what thou hast published but hast more cause to think thou shouldst have Sin'd in concealing it Rep. Thou hast affirmed a Miracle wrought by the Prayers of thee and thy Congregation and now thou dost not pretend to such a thing If thou hadst Faith that God would answer thy Prayers thou must needs pretend to do the thing according to thy Faith or otherwise thou hadst no Faith and so no such thing done by thee and thy Congregation as thou hast affirmed for no such thing was ever done without Faith and if it was really done what needst thou be ashamed to pretend to it But here thou wouldst go retrogade to cover thy self where thou hast moved too forwardly but this Matter may fall to be answer'd more fully afterwards And as for what thou know'st in not sinning in what thou hast declar'd thou canst not take away the Guilt with thy words for as thou hast concern'd the Quakers and their Principles by declaring against them thou hast sin'd in a high degree and the Lord will not hold thee guiltless And for sinning if thou hadst conceal'd it thou canst not clear thy self from that Guilt 〈…〉 for tâ—â—â—â—ast conceal'd it Eight or Nine Years and so hast sin'd all tâ—â—t time by thy own Conclusion and thou hadst need Repent before it be too late 6thly Thou sayst The Quakers have a faculty to Accuse beyond their Ability to Prove Rep. Take this to thy self for the Quakers are not concern'd in it and hast not thou accused the Quakers beyond thy Ability to prove thy Accusations prove if thou canst what thou hast publickly accus'd them with and if thou canst not do it then is it not an Unmanly Faculty in thee to slander them with thy Accusations Come Ralph thou hast made a Stage to play thy part and thou hast appeared upon it to infest the Nation with thy Infidelity but the Power of the Lord God is ever thee and thy stage and thee must fall together so I have done with thy matter to the Reader I shal now go on as to what thou bringst for Proof to make good thy Affirmation of R. A's being a Quaker and when I have done with that matter as it is scatter'd in thy Book I shall take notice of thy Narrative and some other things which are most considerable wherein thou hast concern'd the Quakers and their Principles for neither thee nor any that have assisted thee that can Discouraged the Quakers in their Innocency and I shall come to the matter I have premised Page 10. Thou sayst But since the Quakers in their Lying-Wonder do so boldly deny that he viz. R. A. was a Quaker hear therefore what is attested in that case June 17. 1672. since the publication of the Quakers Lying-Wonder in the presence of credible Witnesses hereafter named and thou sayst it was demanded of R. A. whether he ever heard the Quakers he answerd Yes he heara them at Lincoln within the Prison about the space of an Hour And then thou sayst It is known by sad Experience that many in as little time as that is have been so leaven'd with their Principles as that they have not been cleansed from the Corruption thereof to the day of their Death Rep. The Quakers might very boldly deny R. A. to be a quaker and thou canst not prove that he was one but thou sayst Hear what is attested in that case in the presence of credible â—â—â—nesses Well we are willing to hear what is attested but we mâ—â—â— ask thee Who did attest it did any other attest it besides R. A. No And what did he attest That he heard the Quakers at Lincoln about the space of an hour Well and what then must he therefore be a Quaker see what he hath attested he did not say He was a Quaker by hearing them the space of an hour But thou sayst It is known by sad Experience c. Come Ralph thou must not thus abuse us by telling us of credible Witnesses and then make thy own Conclusions and hast thou been puttering all this while about proving R. A. to be a Quakers art as far to seek in thy third pamphlet as in thy first for there was as good Proof to what R. A. said in thy first as there is in this and we do not question the credit of the Witnesses in what they might hear R. A. say or confess but we question thy Conclusions That because he might hear the Quakers about an Hour that therefore he must be a Quaker because many as thou sayst in as little time have been leaven'd with their Principles as they have not been cleansed from the Corruption to the day of their Death
How absurd art thou in thy Conclusion for if all that have heard the Quakers one hour or two must therefore be Quakers because of such time hearing them then should we be many more in number then we are but there are several have heard the Quakers many hours who are not Quakers from such their hearing if some in less time have receiv'd the Truth by them declared Must it needs follow that R. A. did so Is this an Infallible Conclusion that R. A. was a Quaker And whereas thou sayst It is known by sad Experience I ask thee Who ever came to thee to make known their Sad Experience after they had received the Truth of the Gospel by the Quakers declared Instance any if thou canst that we may know the Sad Experience of such as have been exercised therein But these are terms of thy own forming to lay a Stumbling block in the way of the Simple and we know that a little Leaven leaveneth the whole Lump and whosoever receive the Quakers Principles to be leaven'd by them they are cleansed from Corruption and are not corrupted as thou concludest in thy vain mind for is the Light of Christ Corruptible or doth it corrupt such as receive it and live in it But we certainly know the True Seed in thee and many more of you is in Bondage to Corruption and that the Lord of Life is crucified in spiritual Sodom and Egypt Thou sayst That R. A. further shewed that before he was at the Meeting at Lincoln and after also he had discourse with the People called Quakers Forty times touching their Principles and after he had been with the Quakers he went to the Meeting at North-Willingham many times to Contend against the Baptists more then for any thing else Rep. What dost thou stand telling us what R. A. shewed for it is not hearing the Quakers an Hour or discoursing with them Forty or a Hundred times touching their Principles that makes him a Quaker no more then several Jews hearing Christ and his Apostles and discoursing with them touching their Principles made them Christians and if he came to contend with thee and you at your Meeting what doth that concern the Quakers this is poor stuff to come forth in Print from a pastor Thou sayst That he R. A. declared without any Inquiry that the Reason why he went to pronounce thee a Leper arose from the Consideration of a Passage Num. 12. and that he looked upon the People called Quakers to be as eminently owned of God as Moses so he was perswaded God would send the same Judgement on thee for contending against the Quakers as he sent on Miriam for contending with Moses Attested sayst thou by Christopher Foster William Skine John Walesby Robert Trigg Richard Horton Rep. Dost thou infer from this Matter that Richard Anderson was a Quaker Canst thou or any man rationally draw such a Conclusion For though he might without any Inquiry declare all this thou speak'st of yet it doth not make him a Quaker according to the Blessed Truth in which they live And for his Perswasion concerning the Judgment coming upon thee for contending against the Quakers it was only to himself and the Quakers cannot be charged with it nor he made a Quaker by it But still to strengthen thy own hands thou tell'st us The last Passage Richard Anderson did again relate almost word for word in the Presence of Christopher Foster aforesaid and three Strangers which came out of Oxfordshire to have Satisfaction concerning the Narrative at which time also being asked by these Strangers concerning the Truth of the Narrative he said As to the Substance of it it was all Truth and that he would own it before any man And this thou sayst is subscribed by The Oxfordshire Strangers William Greenwood John Scuchbury John Grammar and by Christopher Foster as Ear-Witnesses Rep. What is there in all this to make R. A. a Quaker Must his saying or confessing That the Substance of the Narrative was all Truth make him a Quaker Truly the Oxfordshiro Strangers could not receive much Satisfaction from what R. A. said or confessed if they desired to know and be satisfied whether he was a Quaker Thou sayst The same general Testimony of the Truth of the Narrative or the Substance of it he the said R. A. did deliver at another time a few dayes before the last-mentioned in the Presence of Christopher Foster William Skine John Walesby Robert Trigg Richard Horton Rep. Thou bring'st the old Witnesses again to the general Testimony of R. A. to the truth of the Narrative or the Substance of it but I perceive thou darest not say the whole Narrative and what the Substance is thou hast not mentioned But however he hath not at any time testified before those Witnesses That he was a Quaker or that the Narrative was all true neither have they testified any such thing from what thou sayst he declared to them or from their own Knowledge and yet thou sayst Thus it appears that R. A. was a Quaker but if this be all thou canst make it appear by there is no cause for any to believe that he was a Quaker and so thou hast left thy self as a man without Credit for it s now well perceived that thou hast none to stand by thee that is able to testifie for thee from their own knowledge and so R. A's Sayings and Confessions are thy chief Pillar And to make it good thou sayst Nor can we have a better Testimony then a mans own Confession in this case for he must needs know his own Opinion better then another man nor is it possible for us to prove sayst thou what Conversation in all respects he had with them because remote from him and not concerned in the Quakers Congregations And then thou queriest Whether a man 's own Confession for matter of Opinion being attended with those Demonstrations of the matter of Fact thereby observed be not a cogent Proof to satisfie indifferent men thou sayst thou must leave the Sober Reader to judge for his own satisfaction Rep. Well Ralph I perceive thou art come to an end of proving R. A. a Quaker and if this which thou hast brought be all thy Evidence as may well be supposed then R. A. must either stand by thee or else thou must unavoidably fall for thou hast laid the very stress of the matter upon his single Evidence and so hast forgotten or otherwise wilfully omitted the Testimony of Scriptures for the Scripture saith that In the Mouth of Two or Three Witnesses every word shall be established and thou wanting this sure Evidence on thy part there are not any of thy words can be established for thou hast neither Three Two nor One Witness to evidence the Truth of thy matter and so all thy words are as Wind and cannot be established But thou sayst Nor can we have a better Testimony then a man 's own Confession in this case he knowing his