Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
enemy_n good_a seed_n tare_n 1,657 5 12.7414 5 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A27137 A testimony of truth against all the sowers of dissention, strife and discord, amongst the people of God, by what practice, or under what pretence soever being intended principally for Wales, yet else-where to be disposed by Friends ... Bayly, William, d. 1675. 1667 (1667) Wing B1540; ESTC R16276 4,806 8

There is 1 snippet containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

A Testimony of Truth AGAINST All the Sowers of Dissention Strife and Discord amongst the People of God by what Practice or under what Pretence soever Being intended principally for Wales yet else-where to be disposed by Friends as in the Counsel of the Lord they shall be directed that wheresoever any have made use of my Name upon such an account it may be ordered to do its service Also it s desired that all they whom it chiefly concerns into whose hands it may come that they would read it through with Patience and Moderation and judge of it in the righteous Judgment of Truth Didst thou not sow good Seed in thy field from whence then hath it Tares He said unto them An Enemy hath done this Mat. 13.27 28. And the Lord God said unto the Serpent because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all Cattel and above every Beast of the field Gen. 3.14 Here you may see who is the Father of all the Sowers of evil Seeds London Printed in the Year 1667. A Testimony of Truth AGAINST All the Sowers of Dissention Strife and Discord amongst the People of God by what Practice or under what Pretence soever c. My dear Friends WHereas I understand by a Letter from Wales which came to my hand that some bad People in those parts who are led by a contrary spirit of prejudice and enmity into marks and distinctions of Separation from the faithful Friends and People of God in pursuance of J. P's Law and Curse by keeping on the Hat in Prayer and the like in opposition to the pure Truth and them that live and walk in it have lately made use of my name as if they had some encouragement or strength through me to carry on a design of Division Separation and Opposition against the faithful People and Servants of the Lord. The which being mentioned or as it were laid to my charge more then once I could do no less in the behalf of the Truth and my own Innocency herein but bear a faithful and publick Testimony against all such things expressions or practices whatsoever tending to division amongst the Lords People and also against that unruly spirit from whence any such fruits and effects proceed as having no Unity with it For the Lord knoweth and I doubt not but many hundreds can testify that I am not a man of strife or one causing division or discord among the People of God but on the contrary greatly delighting in Peace and Unity And for this cause do I labour and travel in soul and body that true Love Mercy and Peace may daily increase and abound in among them that the Dominion of the righteous Seed all may witness that have any true breathings begotten in them after the living God and the knowledge of his Salvation whose Garment is without Seam or Rent from the top to the bottom For I can truly say in the uprightness of my heart That I have no greater Joy than to see and feel my Unity in the pure Truth and unfaigned Love of God with them that walk therein and that Strife and Discord is an Abomination to me Therefore far be it from me for ever to Joyn hands with such or any way encourage them that delight to sow discord among brethren by any such practice as before mentioned or under any pretence whatsoever but I do deny and testifie against all whomsoever or wheresoever that shall at any time mention me or make use of my Name upon such an account For the Lord knows who searcheth my heart That it is the Innocent Seed in whom guile was never found which hath long suffered and been oppressed under the bondage of corruption that my Soul daily travels for that it might be raised up into dominion over all the contrary to reign whose right alone it is and for the refreshing and strengthning thereof in the least babe and not at all to encourage or strengthen that in any which doth it oppress For I know right well the Lord hath determined and already begun to break the Oppressour of his Seed in pieces in the particular and in the general And he that gathereth not with Christ the Seed and to him who is the Life and the Truth scattereth abroad from the Truth and from the Life and so from the Unity of it which is kept in the Bond of Peace And therefore I further testify that if at any time either from my Words Declaration or Writing any have so wrested or taken them as to strengthen the wrong part in which lodgeth the prejudice as to oppose or make a party against the Truth and them that walk in it as I perceive some have done that such a thing was not at all the intent of them nor in the thoughts of my heart as the Lord knoweth Though I do acknowledge that about five years ago in the Prison at Newgate I did speak some words unseasonable as in the behalf of J. P. and unadvised not so clearly understanding the difference between Friends and him who kept many things from our knowledge in tenderness to Truth and in hope to have recovered him out of the Snares of the Enemy which words I spake in reply and indeed at that instant in opposition to some words of J. B. but I soon after saw I had not done well in so doing and I consented to the Judgment of the Lord in my heart against them and that hasty inconsiderate part from whence they did proceed though it was as in a kind of tenderness to him upon the account of his Sufferings which I and many more did judge had been very great But J. B's words are fulfilled That he had made a Division amongst the Lords people or to that effect and time and the effects hath made it manifest which hath been so great and wide through him among them that profess the same Truth and the burthen thereof felt so heavy through the stumbling of so many people that I have said in my heart in the true and living sence of the presence of the Lord That it had been good for him and many more that he had hever been born and this I write not in the least tincture of prejudice or enmity against any person whatsoever but in the true Love and Life of God who is blessed for ever Though I am sensible that some may say as I once thought that this is a hard saying concerning one that suffered so much and bore such a Testimony upon the account of Truth and especially from thee who hast been tender toward him and never appeared in such a sharp manner as this against him and his practises before to speak so of him now he is dead and gone and cannot answer for himself as Christ did of Judas which betrayed him and went and hanged himself As in Answer to this I never did delight to upbraid any man or to lay open the nakednes of any if with safety in a clear