Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A40299
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To the ministers, teachers, and priests (so called and so stileing your selves) in Barbadoes by George Fox.
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Fox, George, 1624-1691.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing F1957; ESTC R36426
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49,015
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79
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the Scriptures of Truth c. This is to inform you That all our Books and Declarations that for these many years have been published to the World do clearly testifie to the contrary but yet for your sakes this is now given forth That God who is the Only Wise Omnipotent and Everlasting God we do Own and Believe in who is the Creator of all things both in Heaven and in Earth and the Preserver of all that he hath made who is God over all blessed forever to whom be all Honour and Glory and Dominion and Praise and Thanksgiving both now and for evermore And that Jesus Christ is his Beloved and Only Begotten Son in whom he is Well-pleased who was Conceived by the Holy Ghost and Born of the Virgin Mary in whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the Forgiveness of Sins who is the express Image of the Invisible God the First-born of every Creature by whom were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in the Earth Visible and Invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers And we do own and believe that he was made to be as Sin or an Offence and Curse for us who knew no Sin and was Crucified for us in the Flesh without the Gates of Jerusalem and that he was Buried and Rose again the Third Day by his own Power for our Justification and we do believe that he Ascended up into Heaven and now sitteth at the Right-Hand of God And that this Jesus is the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and our Foundation so that there is no other Foundation to be laid but what is laid even Christ Jesus and that he tasted Death for every man and shed his Blood for all men that he is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for our Sins only but for the Sins of the whole World For saith John the Baptist of him Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World John 1.29 And we do believe That he is our Alone Redeemer and Saviour even the Captain of our Salvation who saves us from Sin as well as from Hell and from the Wrath to come and destroyes the Devil and his Works who is the Seed of the Woman that bruises the Serpent's Head to wit Christ Jesus who is Alpha and Omega the First and Last That he is as Scriptures of Truth say our Wisdom Righteousness Justification and Redemption neither is there Salvation in any other For there is none other Name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved it is he alone who is the Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls he it is that is our Prophet whom Moses long since testified of in Acts 3.22 23. A Prophet shall the Lord our God raise up unto you of your Brethren like unto me him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you and it shall come to pass that every one that will not hear that Prophet shall be Destroyed from among the People He it is that is now come and hath given us an Understanding that we may know him that is true and a Rule in our Hearts even his Law of Love and of Life in our Inward Parts which makes us free from the Law of Sin and Death And we have no Life but by him For he is the Quickening Spirit the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven by whose Blood we are cleansed and our Consciences sprinkled from Dead Works that we might serve the Living God by whose Blood we are purchased And so he is our Mediator that makes Peace and Reconciliation between God offended and Us offending being our Surety of the New Testament and the Oath of God the New Covenant of Light Life Grace and Peace the Author and Finisher of our Faith Now this Lord Jesus Christ the Heavenly Man Emanuel God with us we all own and believe in whom the High Priests raged against and said He had spoken Blasphemy and the Chief Priests and Elders of the Jews took Counsel together and put him to Death the same whom Judas betray'd for Thirsy Pieces of Silver which he had from the Priests who gave a Large Sum of Money to the Souldiers to broach a Horrible Lye namely that they should say That his Disciples stole him away by Night whilst they Slept And after he was risen from the Dead you may see in the Acts of the Apostles how that the chief Priests and Elders Persecuted the Disciples of this Jesus for preaching Christ and his Resurrection this we say is that Lord Jesus Christ whom we own to be our Life and Salvation Now concerning the Holy Scriptures We do believe That they were given forth by the Holy Spirit of God through Holy Men of God who spoke as Scriptures of Truth say As they were Moved by the Holy Ghost in 2 Pet. 1.1 and that they are to be Read and Believed and Fulfilled and he that fulfils them is Christ And are profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction and for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all Good Works 2 Tim. 3.16 and are able as Divinely Inspir'd to make us Wise to Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus And we do believe That the Scriptures are the Wordâ— of God for it s said in Exod. 20.1 God spake all these Words saying c. meaning the Ten Commandments given forth upon Mount Sinai and in Rev. 18. saith John I testifie unto every man that heareth the WORDS of the Prophesie of this Book if any man addeth unto These and if any man shall take away from the WORDS not Word of the Book So in Luke 1.20 Because thou believest not my WORDS and John 5.47 15.7 14.23 12.47 So that we call the Scriptures as Christ and the Apostles call'd them and as the Holy Men of God call'd them namely The WORDS of God Another Slander and Lye they have cast upon us is namely That we should teach the Negars to Rebel A Thing we do utterly abhor and detest in and from our Hearts the Lord knows it who is the Searcher of all hearts and knows all things and so can witness and testifie for us that this is a most Egregious and Abominable Untruth For that which we have spoken and declared to them is to exhort and admonish them To be Sober and to Fear God and to love their Masters and Mistresses and to be Faithful and Diligent in their Masters Service and Business and that then their Masters and Overseers will Love them and deal Kindly and Gently with them And that they should not beat their Wives nor the Wives their Husbands nor multiply Wives nor put away their Wives nor the Wives their Husbands as they use frequently to do and that they do not Steal nor be Drunk nor commit Adultery nor Fornication nor Curse nor Swear nor Lye nor give Bad Words to one another or unto any
Fathers by his Prophets but hath in these last dayes spoken to us by his Son who is Heir of all things by whom the World was made c. For as the Apostle saith Acts 3.22 that Moses said A Prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you of your Brethren like unto me him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you And so now we do witness that God hath raised him up and him we do hear and so I say we do witness the Teachings of God by his Son Jesus Christ the Anointed of the Lord So that we are not now without a Prophet and a Priest nor without a Shepherd and a Bishop nor a Minister And we do certainly know That the Son of God is come and he hath given us an Understanding that we know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ and this is the True God and Eternal Life 1 John 5.20 and he hath given us an Understanding so that we now find that Wisdom and Satisfaction in him which we could never purchase neither for Gold nor Silver nor for Pearls the beginning whereof is the Fear of God and departing from Evil as you may see in John 28. at large And therefore the Apostle saith Heb. 12.25 See that you refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven And in Heb. 3.7 To day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts as in the Provocation in the Day of Temptation in the Wilderness c. So we are to hear his Voice that speaks from Heaven yea and that while it is to day and not to put it off till to morrow Now you that do so and say that there is no hearing of God's Voice nor of Christ's Voice now adayes and that there 's no speaking from Heaven now adayes are not your Hearts hardened and have you not hardened them to the purpose do not the Fruits of your Hearts bespeak it with a loud Voice And if God's and Christ's Voice be not to be heard now adayes I would willingly know of you how he doth exercise his Offices in his Church namely his Kingly Office as he is sole Head of his Church and his Prophetical and Priestly Offices and his Office of a Bishop and Shepherd who feeds them with Life and over-sees and rules them by his Power and Spirit Now do not say He doth not exercise his Offices in his true Church because you do not feel the exercise of them in yours who lies knocking at the Door of your hearts as a Priest and a Prophet c. and you will not let him in if so how then can he exercise his Offices and how can you hear his Voice when you harden your Hearts and like the deaf Adder stop your Ears and will not hearken to the Voice of the Charmer charm he never so wisely And how can you see him when you close your Eyes Pharisee-like so that you are not like to see him exercise his Offices but the Blind lead the Blind into the Ditch which is a corrupting place and there they corrupt and plead for their Corruptions for term of Life Whereas we can and do now hear his Voice and obey it and so can love our Enemies in Obedience to Christ's Command and love one another And we know the Lyars who say they Love God and yet Hate their Brother He is a Lyar saith the Apostle For he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 John 4.20 And he that hates his Brother is a Man-Slayer And we know that no Man-Slayer hath Eternal Life abiding in him For as the same Apostle saith We know the Message which we have heard from the Beginning That We love one another not as Cain who was of that Wicked One and slew his Brother And wherefore slew he him Because his own Works were Evil and his Brother 's Righteous Marvel not my Brethren if the World hate you 1 John 3.11 12 13. And so 't is no Wonderment to us that the World hate us for saith Christ the Heavenly Man It hated Me first And this Cain was the first Persecutor about Religion and where-ever this Persecuting is we know that is of Cain of his Spirit of his Nature Seed and Off-spring from whence is the Reprobation since the World began in the Devil and old Adam out of Christ since I say the World began whereas the Election is in Christ the Seed of the Woman by whom the World was made who was glorified with the Father before the World began But the Reprobation I say is in the Devil and old Adam that seed where all the Vessels of Dishonour are Whereas they are the Vessels of Mercy and of Honour that have received Christ in whom is the Election only And therefore as we said before Marvel not if the World hate us as the Reprobate Seed hated the Elect Seed Cain hated Abel and Esau Jacob and this you may see in 1 John 3.10 In this the Children of God are manifest from the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not Righteousness is not of God neither he that loves not his Brother And in Heb. â— 10 where the Apostle sets forth the Children of the New Covenant saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their Mind and write them in their Hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People Now these are God's People of his Elect Seed and he is their God who hath written his Law in their Hearts c. and this we witness praised be the Lord for evermore for his New Covenant and Work in us And in the next Verse saith he You shall not teach every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother saying Know the Lord for all shall know him from the Least unto the Greatest c. And so we know that the Knowledge of the Lord shall cover the Earth as the Waters cover the Sea For the Lord saith Look unto me and be saved all the Ends of the Earth Here all are invited to Salvation And in another place saith he I will give him for a Covenant of Light the Glory of Israel and he shall be my Salvation to the Ends of the Earth And so now the Church is coming out of the Wilderness the Bride the Lamb's Wife and the Bride saith Come and the Spirit saith Come Here is the Call to Christ the Saviour who is the Way to God and there is no other Way to the Father but by him neither is there any Salvation by any other Name under Heaven but by the Name of Jesus in whose Name we are gathered and there is no other Foundation to be laid but what is laid even Christ Jesus who is the Top and