Selected quad for the lemma: diversity_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
diversity_n	gift_n	member_n	spirit_n	1,045	5	6.6845	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50608	The Memory of that servant of God, John Story, revived shewing what manner of man he was from his youth to his grave, by the testimonies of several friends, to whom he was well known, and by whom, for his work sake in the truth, he was greatly beloved : to which is adjoyned something written by him, &c., in his latter years, wherein his judgment is shewn concerning some particular things, and his great desires for love, unity, concord, and peace in the church of Christ.	Wilkinson, John, d. ca. 1683. Brief relation concerning the life and death of John Story.	1688 (1688)	Wing M1702; ESTC R19789	42,298	47

Man Nought but thy Lord give Satisfaction can Some things both Old and New they are but vain Truth ' gainst Tradition well thou didst maintain Of Innovation thou Prophetick saw Rules made by Men last turned into Law Yet Truth resist's hence Church Divisions grow Hence Persecutions flow Hence Gospel Teachings put a stop unto J. C. Charles Harris his Testimony AS for John Story he bore the Countenance of a Man of God and was a Preacher of Righteousness in his Day both in Doctrine and Conversation and as such was esteemed by thousands for many years yet he went not to his Grave under that Sentence Viz. Wo to you when all Men speak well of you For he met with such Exercise as Holy Paul did from some that could once have pull'd out their Eyes to Serve him afterwards became his Enemies saying his Speech was Centemptible seeking a Proof of Christ speaking in him and he had some share with that Beloved Disciple that saith in his Epistle to Gaius on this wise Viz. I wrote unto the Church but Diotrephes who loveth to have the Preheminence among them Receiveth us not prating against us with malitious Words and not content therewith neither doth he himself Receive the Brethren and forbiddeth them that would and casteth them out of the Church or declared out of Unity or thrust out of the Congregation I have known him for many years and never found but that he was a Man of Peace it hath been frequently reported he was a Tyth-Payer Let the Reader observe he never stood in such a Capacity all his Days never Keeping House or Occupying any Land being a Single Man and as to his Judgment concerning Tythes it may be seen in what follows under his own hand So whether it be better to Judge of a Man by his own Words and Deeds or by ones own Imaginations called Sense let the Charitable Reader Judge He has also been termed Of a Dividing Spirit Let his Epistle speak for himself some say his Ministry was dead which I say if they had lived in that time that the Disciple John was led to the Church and said not much more but Little Children love one another it may be they would have said he was Dead and Formal It is to be observed J. S. was much spent before his Departure having been a Preacher from his Youth so had not strength of Voice to utter himself as formerly but still what he said was of this tendency Viz. That if Friends did believe in and wait upon God in the Manifestation of our Lord Christ he would in due time answer all the Immortal Longings of their Souls and preserve them to his Glory and Kingdom And indeed to them that loved him he was in their Eye the same Man to his death that he had been all along still growing in the same Truth And as for the Divisions that sprang up both North and South it is well known that it was not he that caused them I well remember how it was Westward till some Persons went that way and stirred up the People into Parties one Day they will feel the Burthen of it In what follows there are two Queries proposed to Friends at Drawell with their Answers If all would but keep to it accordingly there would be no Strife and as for that way that is taken by some to defame every man by endeavouring to take away his Good Name both as a Man and Christian that is not Conformable to some new sort of Church-Government and Discipline so called Though for a time they may seem to Reign as Kings upon Earth they shall dye like Men and it shall be known in the end that the Peace of the Church and Love to Brethren is of more value than all Sounding Brass or Tincling Cymbals So blessed are all such true Preachers that look upwards for their Reward in that World that is to come Amen C. H. As to what follows if thou canst believe that Men mean as they speak Read on if not stay till thou hast Charity Two Questions proposed by J. W. and J. S. to Friends of the Meeting at Drawell and their Answers Viz. Question I. WHether or no we and all Gods People ought not to be left in all Matters of Faith and Discipline so far as Discipline may become Matter of Faith to the Manifestation of Gods Spirit and Truth in our own Hearts and to speak and act therein as we are thereby Instructed and Perswaded and not otherwise Question II. 2dly Since there are Diversities of Talents and Gifts given by the Spirit of God and received by Men Whether the Judgment of Truth it self given forth through a Part of the Members of Christ's Body can become a Bond upon any other Part of the said Body further than their Vnderstandings are illuminated thereby Answer To the first Question we say Yea and Nay to the second Question with that true and simple Sense that the Words import and Friends have been used to understand them but not to strengthen Prejudiced Spirits who have made that their Plea for their Separation and against Truths Authority in our Monthly and Quarterly Meetings nor yet to Justifie any that are Ignorant through their own Sloth and Unfaithfulness or to excuse them that would not be accounted Weak but Strong Wise and as Pillars The Judgment of J. W. and J. S. concerning the Five Heads on which the 44 Articles exhibited against them were grounded which was publickly read in the Meeting at Drawell as followeth ON the whole Matter in the Fear and Presence of the Almighty God we declare That we do approve of Monthly and Quarterly Meetings for the necessary Service of the Truth so we farther say that as those or any other Meetings of Friends in Truth shall be continued to answer those Services we believe that as it now is it also will become our Duty to be at Unity with our Brethren in the Services thereof and that though one of us Viz. J. W. did condescend to Subscribe to a Paper for the Erecting a Womans-Meeting in the Country to answer the ends the Paper proposed which he testifies he then did in singleness of Heart for Unity-Sake yet according to that inward sense we now have there appears to us no absolute necessity to continue Womens-Meetings in the Country distinct and separate from the Men and therefore do Conscientiously forbear to assent or Incourage any to lay the Intents of Marriages before them yet that Inward Sense and Heavenly Understanding we have received from God hath and yet doth confirm us in this Judgment that 't is not agreeable with the Line of Truth to oppose others in the Exercise and appointed Service of the said Meetings as heretofore and now are settled and agreed upon who being Conscientious therein are otherwise Minded than we are and if any of our Words or Actions have had any tendency to oppose c. which we are not Conscious of but if we were

that for Christ's sake and therefore can I with boldness appeal to Gods Witness in all Consciences whether an Insinuation into the Brests of any that I am a Strenth to such a Spirit and Meeting as aforesaid be not the Work of the Old Enemy And since 't is so that I have been credibly informed that you who formerly Assembled together in one Meeting to manage the Outward Concerns of Truth relating to the Poor c. have for some time past Assembled for the aforesaid Service in two distinct Meetings and that this is accounted an Occasion of Stubling to some I have a Concern on my Spirit thus to write unto you First I am satisfied in my Conscience from sufficent Knowledge or Evidence that the Day was wherein you met together in a Sweet Union and Fellowship to manage the Outward Concerns of Truth relating to the Poor c. Secondly That such your Union and Fellowship had acceptance with the Lord and was owned by his Presence amongst you Thirdly That during such your Fellowship every one concerned in that Service acted from a ready and willing Mind according to that Perswasion and Manifestation which was given of God without being Imposed upon by any Man or Men or endeavouring to Impose each on other contrary to what the Lord Evidenced by his Spirit in your Consciences Fourthly That though it was so that particular Persons in persuance of the Counsel of divers Antient and Honourable Brethren some of whom are fallen asleep were chosen for that Service of the Poor c. out of the particular Meetings held for the Worship of God yet I never understood that any designed to exclude any Member or Members of the Church of Christ who had or might have a Concern upon their Spirits from Sitting or Acting amongst them whil'st any such Member or Members though not chozen behaved themselves Men of Peace good Order and in Unity with the Faithful Friends chozen for the Management of the Affairs of the Truth relating to the Poor c. in such Meeting and as in Charity I dare not reflect on these Antient Brethren in whose Advice for the holding such Meetings there seems to be room for Cavelling Spirits to call them Narrow-Spirited in advising to those certain Persons for that Service which seems a kind of Limitation yet I am also satisfied that those Antient Brethren who first advised to choose Faithful Brethren for the aforesaid Service would have endeavoured an exclusion of all such if any such had then been who should from time to time have appeared as disorderly Troublers of Israel and Imposers on Tender Consciences Fifthly That though it hath been reported that those of you who are by some called a Separate Meeting have been so Narrow Spirited as that you will not joyn with the Brethren in the aforesaid Service c. unless they will assent that others not formerly chozen may be excluded from acting with you or if they have ought to offer to the Meeting then to be admitted to offer the same and so depart which Report as it is said is grounded on a Paper Subscribed by several of you and my self and is by some accounted the Foundation of the aforesaid Meeting called the Seprate Meeting yet I always understood that it was not intended by any of the Subscribers to exclude any from Sitting amongst you or Joyning with you in the Common Service of Truth usually transacted amongst you in the Spirit of Love and Unity who in the same Spirit of Love and Unity would accompany you and had a Concern to add a helping hand and this sense I do now solemnly declare to be my sense and that at the time I Signed the Paper aforesaid it was my sence neither am I yet convicted that if the Subscribers of the said Paper interpret for themselves which of right they have the liberty to do there is any thing therein contained which doth oppose the same sense Now Friends I have this further to say that I have more than ordinary ground either to know or at least believe that this my sense in the aforesaid five Particulars is the real true State of the Case but do certainly know that it contains in some measure the State of Truth as it ought to have been amongst you and therefore my Counsel and Exhortation to you is laying aside all vain Janglings and Repititions of former Things that have tended to Strife and Debate contrary to the Truth ye be Reconciled each unto the other in the Lord saying in your Hearts before the Lord and in his Fear Let the Time past be sufficient and for time to come let us study Peace and Assemble together in the Antient Christian Love Vnion and Fellowship which was amongst us before the Occasion or Offences were either given or taken and that you Unite and Meet together to manage the Outward Concerns of Truth relating to the Poor c. With this Godly Unanimous Intention of Heart that if for the future any shall come in amongst you and appear as disorderly Troublers of Israel contentious Persons in Matters not approved by you and the Assemblies of Gods People amongst you or Imposers upon tender Consciences contrary to what hath been Received Believed and Owned by you and the Assemblies of Gods People amongst you when you and they were preserved in a sweet Union and Fellowship in the Truth you then declare that such Persons are not worthy to sit among you to act in the Affairs of Truth and that upon a serious and godly acknowledgment unto this Sound and Certain Truth That all Gods People ought to be left in all Matters of Faith and Discipline so far as the Discipline becomes Matter of Faith to the Manifestation of Gods Spirit Truth in their own Hearts and to speak and act therein as they shall be thereby Instructed and Perswaded and not otherwise because since there are diversities of Talents and Gifts given by the Spirit of God and received by Men the Judgment of Truth it self given forth through a part of the Members of Christs Body cannot become a Bond upon any other part of the said Body further than their Vnderstandings come to be Illuminated thereby This Sound and Certain Truth unto which I exhort your serious and godly Acknowledgment I and many if not all of you do know was at the Meeting at Drawell fully assented to to be Truth and that by an Answer to two Questions wherein it was fully Stated and rightly Answered and therefore since I am truly sensible that the Cause of your Differences hath sprung from that which hath led from this Sound and certain Truth I may reasonably expect that my Counsel to Re-unite may have place with you Thus it is with me to write unto you and that the more freely too because there are some do apprehend that I am more capable to Re-unite you than some others are who now may see my Endeavours are not wanting and that