Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	deny_v	teach_v	ungodliness_n	4,302	5	11.7286	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70779	A treatise of oaths containing several weighty reasons why the people call'd Qvakers refuse to swear : and those confirmed by numerous testimonies out of Gentiles, Jews and Christians, both fathers, doctors and martyrs : presented to the King and great council of England, assembled in Parliament.	Penn, William, 1644-1718.; Richardson, Richard, 1623?-1689.; Parker, Alexander, 1628-1689.; Whitehead, George, 1636?-1723.	1675 (1675)	Wing P1388; ESTC R17219	94,426	174

another Doctrine The Lord hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do Justly to love Mercy and to walk Humbly with thy God For this End hath the Grace of God appeared unto all Men as speaks the Apostle Paul to Titus that they should be taught to deny Vngodliness and Wor●dly Lusts which entering over-running the World made way among other Expedients for that of Oaths so that to live that Life which needs No Oath man is both requir'd and impower'd And as it is only his Fault and Condemnation if he doth not so certainly there can be no Obligation upon him who liveth that Life of Truth and Intetegrity to perpetuate that which rose and therefore ought to fall with Falshood and Perfidiousness the Reason of the thing it self excuses him for he that fears Untruth needs not swear because he will not lye to prevent which men exact Swearing And he that doth not fear telling Untruth what is his Oath worth He that makes no Conscience of that Law that forbids Lying will he make any Conscience of Forswearing Veracity is the best Security and Truth speaking the Noblest Tye and Firmest Testimony that can be given This we declare to you to be both our Judgment and Attainment We speak not Boastingly but with Humility before the Great Lord of Heaven and Earth to whose alone Power we do unanimously asscribe the Honour He hath taught us to speak the Truth the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth as plainly and readily without an Oath as with an Oath and to abhor Lying as much as Perjury so that for us to swear were to take his Holy Name in vain Nor are we therein singular for that not only Christian Fathers Mar and Doctors but also Jews and Heathens have had this Sense of the Rise and Use of Oaths as will hereafter fully appear II. Our second Reason why we refuse to comply with this Custom and our Superiours ought not to impose it is this It would Gratifie Distrusts Humor Jealousies and Subject Truth and those that love it to the same Checks Curbs and Preventions that have been invented against Fraud whereby the Honour of a Nobler Profession the Power of a veracious Example and the just Difference that ought to be made betwixt Trustiness and Diffidence Integrity and Perfidiousness are utterly lost How is is possible for men to recover that ancient Confidence that good men reposed in one another if some don't lead the Way and hold forth to the World a Principle and Conversation beyond the Necessity of such extraordinary Expedients At present People lie all in a Heap and the Greatest Truth finds no more Favour then the greatest Fraud Fidelity must wear the Shackles worldly Prudence hath made against the Evil Consequences of Couzennage and subject her self to the Customs brought up through Fraud or go to Gaol Be pleased to consider that Trustiness did not all at once quit the World nor will it return universally in the Twinkle of an Eye Things must be allowed their Time for Rise Progress and Perfection And if ever you would see the World planted with Primitive Simplicity and Faithfulness rather cherish then make men Sufferers for Refusing to Swear especially if they offer the same Caution to the Law with him that will swear We dare not Swear because we dare not Lye and that it may appear to the World that we can speak the Truth upon easier Terms then an Oath For us then to be forc'd to swear is to make us do a needless thing or to suspect our own Honesty The first we dare not because as we have said it is to take God's Name in vain and we have no Reason to distrust our selves being no wayes conscious of fraudulent Purposes Why then should we swear But much rather why should we be imposed upon It is a Saying asscribed to Solon That a good man should have that Repute as not to need an Oath that it is a Diminution to his Credit to be put to Swear It becomes not an Evangelical Man to Swear was a primitive Axiom but more of that anon In the mean while please to remember you have a Practice among you to exempt your Lords in several Cases placing the Value of an Oath in their bare Avouchment upon their Honour supposing that men of those Titles should have so much Worth as that their Word might be of equal Force with a Common Man's Oath And if you will please to understand Honour in the Sense of the most ancient and best of Philosophers to wit VIRTVE your own Custom gives Authority to our Reason makes you to say with us That Virtue needs not Swear much less have Oaths imposed upon her to tell Truth the only Use of Oaths It was Evangelically spoaken of Clemens Alexandrinus That a Good Life is a firm Oath which was memorably verified by the Judges of Athens who though Heathens forbad the Tendering of Xenocrates an Oath because of their great Opinion of his Integrity which was Three Hundred Years before Christ came in the Flesh III. Our third Reason for Non conformity to your Custom is the Fear we have lest by Complying we should be guilty of Rebellion against the Discoveries God hath made to our Souls of his ancient holy Way of Truth consequently of concealing his Goodness to us and depriving him of that Glory the World of that Advantage this honest Testimony may bring to him them He has redeem'd us from Fraud 'T is he only that hath begotten this Conscientiousness in us and we dare not put this Light under a Bushel neither can we deny his Work or him to have the Honour of it We intreat you take this Tenderness of ours into Christian Consideration IV. Oaths have in great measure lost of the Reason of their primitive Institution since they have not that Awful Influence which was and only can be a Pretence for using them on the contrary they are become the familiar parts of Discourse and help to make up a great share of the A la mode Conversation and those who decline their Company or reprove their Practice are to go for a sort of Nice and squ●amish Conscienc'd Men. These Swear without Fear or Wit yet would be thought Witty in Swearing Fearless they can't Some are curious in their Impiety Old Oaths are too dull for men of their Invention who almost shift Oaths with their Fashions Nay the most judicial Oaths are commonly administred and taken with so little Reverence and Devotion to say nothing of the Perjuries that through Ignorance or Design are too frequently committed that we can't but cry out Oh the great Depravity that is in the World How low is Man faln from the primitive Rule of Life Well may the Prophet's Complaint be ours for If ever Land mourned because of OATHS with great Sadness we say it this doth And what more effectual Remedy can any People