Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
doctrine_n	church_n	true_a	unity_n	3,533	5	9.7285	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49752	An answer to a book published by Richard Smith of Westchester wherein the people of God called Quakers (more particularly in this county of Cheshire) are cleared from the wrong, injustice, and false accusations by him charged upon them / written for the information and satisfaction of the sober-minded by Alexander Lawrence.	Lawrence, Alexander, d. 1682.	1677 (1677)	Wing L649; ESTC R25714	13,255	21

other Faith or at least did bear with such as were weak in the faith yet he they had Power to judge and reject Gain-sayers and Opposers and so have his true Church now we do say such as keep to the Doctrine and Practice which was first amongst us and continue in the unity of the Spirit which first united us but that thou leavest forth such ought not nor are not by us accounted Makers of Division c. but a man or men and people may hold both the doctrine and practice and yet be forth of the unity of the Spirit as thou art and divers more before thee in our day and time have been and are so thou mayst mourn for thy self for time will come thou must mourn for this and other of thy doings as well as several have done who are gone to their place and once bigned themselves and stiffned their Necks against us as much as thou now dost but when they came to lie upon their Dying Bed it was otherwise with them and then they could take the shame to themselves and clear the Lords Truth and them that abode faithful thereunto and this was God's Love unto them and this thou must come to sooner or later or it will be worse for thee whether thou wilt hear or forbear In my Answer to thy 3d Query thou endest pag. 31. And against such the Spirit and Power of the Lord is c. in mine there is thus much further God is and doth judge as I with many more through God's Goodness am a living Witness and had such a living Testimony in my heart from God against that dividing separating spirit upon occasion that it left such a seal therein which I hope through Gods Grace I shall never forget In thy assertion in thy latter-end of thy Query thou art too confident as upon occasion may appear Now why thou shouldst do thus in my first and this also except to cover that separating spirit from the Testimony that many can give against it I know not In thy Reply p. 31. thou sayst If you had continued in that where true unity was you would not have innovated such things as would have broke it or infested the Church and disturbed her Peace Here thou settest thy self a Judge over us all to censure us to be gone forth of that in which the true Unity was so makest thy self guilty of that which thou wouldst charge upon us viz. to be Lords over others faith as thou didst in thine of the 21th of the 5th moneth 1676. to me in which thou wrotest It had been better those words had not been writ meaning those of the 27th of the 3d moneth 1675. or being writ that we would recal them so as I wrote in answer to thee we must not write or speak that which is upon our spirits upon good ground as I to thee there signified but by thee be censured it were better they had not been writ or being writ to recal them and now further by thee be censured to be gone forth of that in which the true unity wa● so as W. Penn wrote to thee instead of querying thou judgest us but that is known and felt in our Men Womens Meetings in which our Unity was and doth continue blessed be the Name of the Lord and it is not some going from us now as others have done before that can break our Unity as in the Power we keep though it may be and is cause of godly Sorrow to us to see such things Neither do honest godly Women Meetings infest or disturb the Peace of the true Church it is a bad saying from thee and thou must repent of it it is that dividing spirit which would be Lord though it pretends a great deal of Humility that seek to infest and disturb her Peace but the Lord hath hitherto preserved it and will do to the end as his keep faithful to him against all that hath or may rise to break it either from amongst our selves or others And for thee to say Setting up of Womens Meetings runs parallel with the Bringers in of Circumcision amongst Believers Not at all for the Apostle preached Circumcion down though he had no Scripture for it and said Gal. 5.2 That if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing but he never spoke against Womens Meetings when he went where they used to pray but rather encouraged them exhorting the Elder Wowen to teach the Younger neither did Moses that Man of God speak against or forbid Miriam and all the Women went out after her Exod. 15.2 here were women apart from the men and questionless a great assembly or meeting this was for doing what they did he might have said have not I sung with the Children of Israel unto the Lord and what need you women go apart to sing but he was not of such a spirit as to stop or gainsay any thing that was good in which there could be no hurt or tendency of evil nor in our Womens Meetings But thou wilt be ready to say This was upon another account then to take care of the Churches business it is true but this part of our womens business in their Meetings to praise the Lord for his goodness and Deborah was a Judge in Israel the Children of Israel came unto her for Judgment Judg. 4.4 5. and Israel was the then Church of God This may serve for answer to that in thy Reply to my Answer to thy 4th Query p. 33. where thou sayst it lieth upon our part to prove that ever Females were intrusted to look after the Government of the Church which I have here done to wit that a Female was intrusted with the Government of the Church In my answer to thy 4th Query thou endest and there was the first breach of unity in mine there was this further As many can witness whose Testimony I hope thou wilt not deny So have I shewed wherein thou hast either added to or diminished from all or most of my answers for what end is known unto thy self and as a Conclusion there was written before I subscribed my Name Thus have I in plainness according to what was in my mind given thee an Answer and if herein thou be not satisfied I leave thee to more abler Brethren for further satisfaction but this I know Richard were the Truth and the simplicity thereof kept unto there would not be so much a do about honest Womens meeting together for the end before-mentioned and I am really sorry upon serious consideration that thou which hast been a strength unto others should now become a weakner of the weak not only in this but also and more particularly in other things of weighty concern which I desire may in the measure of that blessed Spirit of Light and Life be seriously by thee considered and amended that so the Vnity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace may be truly known From thy real Friend and Welwisher Alexander Lawrence And for thee in thy Reply to my fourth Answer so to make use of my words as that I should say That the Scriptures should so far differ pag. 34. from that Spirit that gave them forth as to be compared to Babel 's Builders because I compare the● thereunto who wilt one while have an instance from Scripture for what we do and another while have not others a measure of Gods Spirit to direct them what to do and what to leave undone this I said lookt like Babel's Builders and for thee to make such use of my sayings as aforesaid is little less then wilful Wickedness But what Scripture had John for his Baptism or Paul for his preaching down Circumcision Priesthood Tythes Temple Offerings c. and setting up new Institutions so that which was once done and set up by and according to the Command of God was afterwards by the Revelation of the divine Power preached down and another thing set up by which it is plain that the holy Spirit in all Ages was the Rule of God's People which was before Scripture was and was Abel's Rule Enoch's Rule Noah's Rule Abraham's Rule c. and this is the Rule of his at this day for it is the everlasting unchangeable Rule and unto this have our hearts bended and by it been broken blessed be his holy Name and unto this must thou bend by it be broken more then yet thou art or it will be worse for thee and this holy Spirit leads none to preach any other God Christ Spirit Gospel Truth c. then what the holy men of God that gave forth the holy Scriptures preached and testified of as thou reflectingly upon us writest pag. 26. yet the Scriptures speak of another God and Spirit viz. the God of this World the spirit that ruleth in the hearts of the Children of disobedience and this is the ground of Division Thus having for the Information and Satisfaction of the sober impartial Reader given a short account of the truth of things and also hinted at some of thy Wrestings and Perverting of our Words and Doings knowing it would be tedious both to the Reader and my self to trace thee through them all I leave the issue of all unto the Searcher of hearts knowing it is not he that commends himself but such as God approves that findeth acceptance In the Title Page line 9. for Cheshire read Chester pag. 7. lin 2. for no read to THE END