Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	day_n	earth_n	heaven_n	21,069	5	5.4373	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38972	The examination and tryall of Margaret Fell and George Fox (at the severall assizes held at Lancaster the 14th and 16th days of the first moneth, 1663, and the 29th of the 6th moneth, 1664) for their obedience to Christs command who saith, swear not at all also something in answer to Bishop Lancelot Andrews sermon concerning swearing.	Fox, Margaret Askew Fell, 1614-1702.; Fox, George, 1624-1691.	1664 (1664)	Wing E3710; ESTC R20823	23,490	38

THE EXAMINATION AND TRYALL OF Margaret Fell and George Fox at the severall Assizes held at LANCASTER the 14th and 16th days of the First Moneth 1663. And the 29th of the 6th Moneth 1664. For their Obedience to Christs Command who saith Swear not at all ALSO Something in Answear to Bishop Lancelot Andrews Sermon Concerning SWEARING Thus have you made the Commandment of God of none Effect by your Tradition Mat. 15. 6. Printed in the Year 1664. owe Allegiance and obedience to the King of Kings Christ Jesus who hath commanded me not to swear at all Judge That is no answer will you take the oa●h or will you not take it M. F. I say I owe Allegiance and obedience unto Christ Jesus who commands me not to swear Judge I say unto you that 's no answer will you take it or will you not take it M. F. If you should ask me never so often I must answer to you the reason why I cannot take it is because Christ Jesus hath commanded me not to swear at all I owe my Allegiance and obedience unto him Then one of the Justices that committed her said Mrs. Fell you may with a good Conscience if you cannot take the Oath put in security that you may have no more meetings at your house M. F. Wilt thou make that good that I may with a safe Conscience make an engagement to forbear meetings for fear of losing my Liberty and Estate wilt not thou and you all here judge of me that it was for saving my Estate and Liberty that I did it and do I not in this deny my testimony and would not this defile my Conscience Judge This is no answer will you take the Oath we must not spend time M. F. I never took an Oath in my life I have spent my days thus far and I never took an Oath I own Allegiance to the King as he is King of England but Christ Jesus is King of my Conscience Then the Clerk held out the Book and bid her pull off her Glove and lay her hand on the book M. F. I never laid my hand on the book to swear in all my life and I never was at this Assize before I was bred and born in this County and have led my life in it and I was never at an Assize before this time and I bless the Lord that I am here this day upon this account to bear testimony to the truth Then they asked her if she would have the Oath read she answered I do not care if I never hear an Oath read for the Land mourns because of Oaths Judge Then the Judge cryed take her away then thy took her civilly away and asked her if she would give security that she would have no more meetings M. F. Nay I can give no such security I have spoken enough for that Then George Fox was called before Judge Twisden being a Prisoner the Goaler brought him in Judge What do you come into the Court with your Hat on and then the Goaler took it off G. F. Peace be amongst you all and said the Hat was not the honour that came down from God Judge Will you take the Oath of Allegiance George Fox G. F. I never took Oath in my life Judge Will you swear or no G. F. Christ commands we must not swear at all and the Apostle and whether must I obey God or man judge thee I put it to thee Judge I Will not dispute with thee George Fox come read the Oath to him and so the Oath was read and when it was read give him the book said they and so a man that stood by him held up the book and said lay your hand on the book G. F. Give me the book in my ltand which set them all a gazing and as in a hope he would have sworn then when he got the book in his hand he held up the book and said this book commands me not to swear if it be a Bible I will prove it and he saw it was a Bible and he held it up and then they pluckt it forth of his hand again and cryed will you swear will you take the Oath of Allegiance yea or nay G. F. My Allegiance lies not in Oaths but in truth and faithfulness for I honour all men much more the King but Christ saith I must not swear the great Propher the Saviour of the world and the Judge of the world and thou sayest I must swear whether must I obey Christ or thee for it is in tenderness of Conscience that I do not swear in obedience to the command of Christ and the Apostle and for his sake I suffer and in obedience to his commands do I stand this day and we have the word of a King for tender Consciences besides his Speeches and Declarations at Breda and dost thou own the King Judge Yes I own the King G. F. Then why dost not thou own his Speeches and Declarations concerning tender Consciences to the which he replyed nothing but George said it is in obedience to Christ the Saviour of the world the Judge of the world before whose judgment seat all men must be brought that I do not swear and am a man of a tender Conscience and then the Judge stood up Judge I will not be afraid of thee thou speaks so loud thy voice drowns mine and the Courts I must call for three or four cryers to drown thy voice thou hast good Lung G. F. I am a Prisoner here this day for the Lord Jesus that made heaven and earth and for his sake do we suffer and for him do I stand this day and if my voice were five times louder yet should I sound it out and lift it up for Christs sake for whose cause I stand this day before your Judgment-seat in obedience to Christs commands who commands not to swear before whose Judgment-seat you must all be brought and give an account Judge Sirrah will you take the Oath G. F. I am none of thy Sirrah I am no Sirrah I am a Christian art thou a Judge and sits there to give names to Prisoners thou ought not to give names to Prisoners Judge I am a Christian too G. F. Then do Christian works Judge Sirrah thou thinkest to frighten me with thy words and looked aside I am saying so again G. F. I speak in love to thee that doth not become a Judge thou oughtest to instruct a Prisoner of the Law and Scriptures if he be ignorant and out of the way Judge George Fox I speak in love to thee G. F. Love gives no names Judge Wilt thou swear wilt thou take the oath yea or nay G. F. As I said before whether must I obey God or man judge ye Christ commands not to swear and if thou or ye or any Minister or Priest here will prove that ever Christ or his Apostles after they had forbidden swearing commanded men should swear I will swear and several Priests being there

he hath quoted in the time of the Law and before the Law and the Angels swearing in the Revelations do not prove that Christians may swear and we do grant ye the time before the Law men did swear and also the Angel swore But Christ is come the first begotten whom God hath brought forth into the world and saith Let all the Angels worship him And this is my beloved Son hear ye him saith God And Christ saith how that in the old time men was to perform their Oaths to the Lord these were their true oaths which they were to perform and they were not to swear falsly but to perform their Oath to the Lord so here Christ in his Doctrine lets them see the false oaths and the true oaths in the old time and that was the true oath to swear by the Lord and to swear the Lord liveth And every tongue should swear and Abraham and Isaack and Jacob and Joseph and the Prophets sware but Christ is the end of the Prophets and doth fulfil the Law reigns over the house of Jacob Joseph before Abraham was I am saith Christ And so though they sware before the law and under the law and the Angel in the Revelations sware the Angel that sware sware by the Lord as the oath was in the time of the Law and before the law and this was the oath that Christ minds them on in his Doctrine here that they were to perform to the Lord yet now mark his Doctrine which he himself lays down and commands But I say unto you now swear not at all c. Matthew 5.24 In the Hebrew language it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But let your Communication be yea yea nay nay whatsoever is more then these cometh of evil in the Hebrew its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And further proof see how Jamse lived in the same Doctrine and practice and held it forth to the 12 tribes which was the Jews who had the oath of God and was to swear in the time of the law see his general Epistle in the 5th Chap. and also speaking in the second Chapter of such as drove them before the Judgment-seat but in the 5th Chapter this is his command above all things My brethren swear not at all neither by heaven nor by the earth in the Greek its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This you may call creatures or made things But mark James goes further and faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay be nay lest you fall into Condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark the danger now and whether we have not ground enough in the fear of the Lord God to obey Christs commands and the Apostles Doctrines Lest we fall into condemnation an● evil we have set some words down in the Greek tongue that those it most concerns may see the original but the Spirit is ours and the commands of Christ and the Apostles doctrine to be obeyed in what tongue soever it be written in but we would Query the thing with any whether the Apostle James who wrote to Jews and not to Gentiles did not write in the Hebrew tongue and not in Greek and if so then his words to them in this particular are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pricks Points and Accents and the plain and naked interpretation of the Hebrew word we have left for them it most concerns to adde Secondly As for all the Scriptures he brings against rash swearing and false swearing it would rejoyce our hearts to have the Priests do that and the Magistrates punish it for a couple of Railing Priests come the other day and sware before our faces lightly and vainly and justifyed it when they had done it would become Magistrates and them better if they did not suffer an oath to be heard in the Towns or Markets or Ale-houses or Streets you that have power not to suffer those things for you would have work enough to restrain such things and such persons and not to fall upon the innocent which in obedience to Christs commands and the Apostles doctrine cannot swear for Conscience sake For imprisoning such emboldens people to swear and would it not be better for people and would ye not shew forth more Christianity to keep to yea and to nay in all their Communications according to Christs commands and the Apostles doctrine Thirdly There was Bond in the old time by oath but Christ he looses from the Bonds and brings to peace and liberty and makes free and saith swear not at all And so though we be in outward Bonds it is for Christ Jesus sake and the word of God is not bound Fourthly And though Moses sware in the time of the law and Abrahams servants sware yet Christ the Son saith swear not at all and we are to hear him in all things the great Prophet Fifthly And as for the ceremonies of the oaths Christ is the substance of all ceremonies that saith swear not at all Sixthly And though David sware he that David called Lord saith swear not at all and he is upon his Throne Seventhly And where he saith thou shall swear by the Lord and swear the Lord liveth they were not to swear by them that were no Gods nor creatures nor by the earth nor by heaven or by the hand or by Jerusalem now what are the oaths that all Christendom swears both Papists and Protestants whether it be the oath that was amongst the Jews and whether or no they practise the oath that they do now and whether or no is that ceremony now used if not when did God alter it where about in Scripture and in what place of Scripture is it that he sets this way and ceremony of swearing in Christendom both amongst Papists and Protestants which is to swear by the book and by the Evangelists is this beyond the Jews swearing by the City or by Head or by the Temple which Christ forbid and not only those oaths but the oath of God which the Jews was to swear by Answer these things Eightly And as for Zedekiahs oath to Nebuchadnezar and Josephs oath to Pharaoh this was in the time that oaths were to be Performed amongst the Jews and Patriarchs and what is this to Christs doctrine which forbids oaths which oaths was before Christ came 9thly And as for the oath of Supremacy the other it is to acknowledge the King of Eng. and Allegiance to him which things hath been manifest and practised by us but not by such as sware Allegiance to the Kings father and swore the one way and the other way and hast not thou and many of you taken the oath against him and such as have sworn one while for him and another while against him how are they in Allegiance to him that swears one way and another way and cannot there be in truth and faithfulness Allegiance to the King without swearing for now how should we

against me except I be a trangressour the law is made for the lawless and trangressours and except I be a transgressour ye have no law against me neither ought you to have indicted me for being that the Church-Wardens did inform my question is what matter of fact they did inform of for I was sent for from my own house from amongst my Children and Family when I was about my outward occasions when I was in no meeting neither was it a meeting day therefore I desire to know what this first foundation or matter of Fact was for there is no law against the innocent and righteous and if I be a transgressour let me know wherein Judge You say well the Law is made for transgressours but Mistress do you go to Church M. F. I do go to Church Judge what Church M. F. To the Church of Christ. Judge But do you go to Church amongst other people ye know what I mean M. F. What dost thou call a Church the house or the people the house ye all know is Wood and Stone but if thou call the people a Church to that I shall answer as for the Church of England that now is I was gathered unto the Lords truth unto which I now stand a witness before this Church was a Church I was separated from the general worship of the Nation when there was another set up then that which is now and was persecuted by that power that then was and suffered much hardship and would you have us now to deny our faith and our principles which we have suffered for so many years and would you now have us to turn from that which we have born witness of so many years and turn to your Church contrary to our Conscience Judge We spend time about those things come to the matter in hand what say ye to the Oath and to the indictment M. F. I say this to the Oath as I have said in this place before now Christ Jesus hath commanded me not to swear at all and that is the only cause and no other the righteous judge of heaven and earth knoweth before whose throne and justice ye must all appear one day and his eyes sees us all and beholds us all at this present and he hears and sees all our words and actions and therefore every one ought to be serious for the place of judgment is weighty and this I do testisie unto you here where the Lords eye beholds us all that for the matter or substance of the Oath and the end for which it was intended I do own one part and denies the other that is to say I do own truth and faithfulness and obedrence to the King and all his just and lawful demands and commands I do also deny all plotting contrivings against the King and all Popish Supremacy and Conspiracy and I can no more transgress against King Charles in these things then I can disobey Christ Jesus his commands and by the same power and vertue of the same word which hath commanded me not to swear at all the same doth bind me in my Conscience that I can neither plot nor contrive against the King nor do him nor no man upon the earth any wrong and I do not deny this Oath only because it is the Oath of Allegiance but I deny it because it is an Oath because Christ Jesus hath said I shall not swear at all neither by heaven nor by earth nor any other Oath and if I might gain the whole world for swearing an Oath I could not and what ever I have to lose this day for not swearing of an Oath I am willing to offer it up Judge What say you to the indictment M. F. What should I say I am clear and innocent of the wronging any man upon the earth as my little Child that stands by me here and if any here have any thing to lay to my Charge let them come down and testifie it here before ye all and if I be clear and innocent you have no law against me Then Colonel Kirby and the Sheriff whispered to the Judge and I looked up and spoke to Colonel Kirby and said let us have no whispering I will not have so many Judges one of one side and another of another here is one Judge that is to be judge and the judge said no no I will not hear them and then I calsed to Colonel Kirby and said if thou have any thing to lay to my charge or to speak against me come come down here and testifie against me and I said the judge represents the Kings person and his power and I own that Judge Jury take notice she doth not take the Oath M. F. This matter is weighty to me whatsoever it is to you upon many accounts and I would have the Jury to take notice of it and to consider seriously what they are going to do for I stand here before you upon the account of the loss of my Liberty and my Estate Secondly I stand here in obeying Christs commands and so keeping my Conscience clear which if I obey this law and King Charles commands I defile my Conscience and transgresseth against Christ Jesus who is the king of my Conscience and the cause and controversie in this matter that you all are here to judge of this day is betwixt Christ Jesus and King Charles and I am his servant and witness this day and this is his cause and whatsoever I suffer it is for him and so let him plead my cause when he pleafeth And the Judge said to the Jury are ye all agreed have ye found it and they said for the King M. F. Then spoke to the Judge and said I have counsel to plead to my indictment and he said he would clear them afterward in arrest of judgment so the Court broke up that time and after Dinner when they came again they intended to have called us at the first and they had called G. F. out and was calling of me and I stepped up to the Bar and desired the Judge that he would give us time till the next morning to bring in our Reast of Judgment and the Judge said at the first we should and I was stepping down to go my way and the Judge called me back again and said Mistress Fell you wrote to me concerning your Prisons that they are bad and rains in and are not fit for people to lie in and I answered the Sheriff doth know and hath been told of it several times and now it is raining if you will send to see at this present you may see whether they be fit for people to lie in or no and Colonel Kirby stood up and spoke to the Judge to excuse the Sheriff and the badness of the room and I spoke to him and said if you were to lie in it your selves you would think it hard but your minds is only in cruelty to commit others as William Kirby here hath done who

things c. And so he goes on and lets them see what was in the law committing Adultery was forbid under the law but in the time of Christ looking upon a Woman and lusting after her was committing Adultery And he sets forth in the justice of the law an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and shews how that in the time of the law thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of judgment but I say unto you that whosoever shall be angry with his Brother without cause shall be in danger of judgment and so he tells both swearing and killing to be in the old time and said except the Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven Fifteenthly And as to that of the Apostle speaking in the 1 Thes. 2. God was his witness that he did not make Covetousness his Cloak Answ. It were well if the Priests could say so now but this doth not prove that he swore and there are many men that takes man to be his witness and that is not an oath surely is it Thou understands that And if this were an oath why do you cast friends into prison Sixteenthly And that of the Galatians Chapter 1. 2. There is nothing in that place like unto an Oath which he brings Seventeenthly And as for the 2 or 4. 23. Verse there are not so many Verses in that Chapter And as for the Ephesians th 4th and 15th which he brings for Christians to swear which he says we are bound at all times to speak truth to our Neighbours Answ. He doth not say we are to swear truth at all times but to speak it at all times Eighteenthly And that which he brings in Acts 23. 3. How the Apostle reproved the High Priest that caused him to be smitten contrary to law Answ. Here the Apostle was preaching the Gospel and Christs doctrine to them to the Priests that had the Law and outward things this was nothing to the purpose that the Apostle should swear or that Christians should swear And in the 14th Verse which he quotes Answ. Those were the bad people that bound themselves with a Curse that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul that preached the Gospel this is nothing at all that Christians should swear Nineteenthly We say there were Heathens oaths annd Jews oaths which were to swear by the Lord which Christ calls the old time which they were to perform which oath Christ ends and saith swear not at all for in the time of the law the Jews were to deny all false oaths and heathenish oaths and they were not to swear by Baal but the true oath which Christ ends And did not the Christians suffer in the Primitive times because they could not swear by the Prosperity of Caesar and was not that oath then imposed upon them And by the good fortune of the Emperour was not that another oath And did not many Christians then suffer because they could not swear read the ten persecutions which was a long time before the Pope got up and then did not the Pope when he had got up over the Churches give forth both Oath and Curse with Bell Book and Candle And was not the ceremony of his oath to lay three fingers a top of the book to signifie the Trinity And two fingers under the book to signifie Damnation of body and soul if they sware falsly And was not there a great number of people that would not swear and suffered great persecution as read the Book of Martyrs but to Bonners days and its little above an hundred years since the Protestants got up And they gave forth the Oath of Allegiance and the Oath of Supremacy the one was to deny the Popes Supremacy and the other to acknowledge the Kings of England So we need not to tell you of their form and shew you the ceremony of the oath it saith kiss the Book and the Book saith kiss the Son which saith swear not at all and so cannot Allegiance be to the King in truth and faithfulness as was said before without an Oath yea and more then many that swears So you may see to deny swearing is no new thing for it was the practise of the Christians in former times to deny it both in Heathens and the times of Popery before Protestants and so it is in obedience to the command of Christ that we do not swear in our loves to him if we say he is Lord Master and do not the thing that he commands that is but deceit and hypocrisie And so rash and bad swearing that was forbidden in the time of the Law it was not that which Christ came to fulfill but true Oaths and the true Types Figures and Shadows and he saith swear not at all Twentiethly And as for Acts the 13th there is nothing spoken of swearing there as all people may read 21thly And whereas the Apostle often speaks and taking to witness a Record upon his own soul by his rejoyeing in Christ Jesus what is all this to swearing and taking an oath or where did ever the Apostle take a solemn oath or command the Brethren and Churches to do the same for often he speaks of the witness our of the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established And the Bishop often brings the 1 Cor. 15. 31. By our rejoycing which I have in Christ Jesus I die daily This place cannot be brought for a proof that the Apostle sware If so when thou saist by thy meat thou art refreshed and by the fire thou art warmed and people tells thee thou must go by such a lane to such a Town they all swear then do they not 22thly As for the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishop says its never used but in an oath only Answ. And what is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is it not truly as also the Primitive word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies yea and is not that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the aforementioned 5th of Matthew and 5th of James where swearing is denyed for is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek yea in English and is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek truly in English and if every man that says yea and truly sweareth then the Bishop proves his Assertion And is not there a difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So in Meekness and Love read this over in that from which it was sent POST-SCRIPT Christ Jesus who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the Beginning and Ending First and Last him by whom God will Judge the World in Righteousness WE Quaery of you whether he or any of his Apostles after they had given forth a Command that none should Swear but keep to yea and nay in all their Communications can any Minister or Teacher prove this in express words out of the New Testament that they ever commanded to swear or did swear that will satisfie that will end all But that we should be cast into prison for our obedience to Christs command by you that professes your selves to be Christians and own Christ Jesus as you say is not right And he commands you to love Enemies if you did obey his commands and love one another for they that are Christians and own Christ Jesus they should love one another For this was a mark by which they were known to be Disciples learners of him And so they that are lovers of him own him and obey him and his doctrins so though we do suffer here by you all the Sessions or Assizes we do commit our cause and you that do persecuters to the General Assizes and terrible day wherein God will Judge the world in Rightconsness by the man Christ Jesus whose commands we obey in tenderness and there we know we shall have true Judgment without respect of persons there our Hats will not be looked at before the Almighty but the action and transgression and who hath served God and who hath not served him for Christ hath told you before hand what he will say to them that visits him not in prison where he is made manifest in his Brethren Then what will become of them that casts them into prison for tenderness towards God for obeying his Dctring and keeps to yea and nay in their Communications according to his words And so those things we leave to the General day Though we can say the Lord for give you that deth thus persecute in if it be his will freely from our hearts for we do you nor no man harm but seek the good and peace of all men and for this cause for obeying the truth we do suffer G. F. THE END