Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	work_n	world_n	worship_n	410	3	6.5175	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54026	Concerning persecution: which is, the afflicting or punishing that which is good, under the pretence of its being evil. Which practice is contrary to the very nature of mankind (so far as it is drawn out of the corruption and depravation) which would be good and do good, and have good cherished, and evil suppressed, both in it self and others. ... Yet this unhappy error will always be committed in nations and governments, until the proper right and just liberty of men's consciences be discerned, acknowledged and allowed. Likewise, there are some answers given to that common objection, against affording conscience in its due liberty, because evil persons may pretend conscience to escape the just punishment of their evil deeds. With a brief account of that supposed stubbornes, which by man is objected against the people called Quakers. ... By Isaac Penington the younger.	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.	1661 (1661)	Wing P1156; ESTC R214723	23,798	32

and Settlement which is the Gift of God until it leave off persecuting God's Israel which are the People whom God calleth out of the world and leave them free for God to enjoy command and dispose of and whatever holds Israel in bondage either within or without must either subject to the Lord or be broken by that Arm of Power which the Lord putteth forth to redeem Israel with 3. By all their Persecutions and Afflictions they shall but increase and cause to grow that which they strive to suppress This is Misery indeed for a man to hazard his soul eternally and his Peace and Prosperity in this world to crush and suppress a People and yet not be able to effect that neither but even thereby occasion their growth and encrease and yet so it is in the day that God putteth forth his hand to redeem Israel The wayes that man takes to bring them back into captivity shall be the means of perfecting their Redemption Come said Pharoah this People multiply too fast they grow more and mightier than we let us deal wisely with them and keep them down by hard labour lest they grow over-numerous and joyn with our Enemies against us when they see their advantage But they grew and spread the more upon his wise plotting and contriving to diminish them And what did he get by striving to keep them from going forth of his Land and Idolatrous Worships to worship the Lord aright but Plagues and Judgements upon himself and his People from the Lord Can the Powers of the Earth withstand God any more now than they could formerly shall not He redeem and bring forth his People from the Land of Babylon His spiritual Israel from the spiritual Egypt Shall He not break the Antichristian Yoak from their Consciences that they may be free in spirit to serve the Lord Can any hinder God from breathing his Spirit upon People and from begetting them in the image and likeness of his Spirit unto Himself And shall not these be the Lord's shall not the same Spirit teach them to worship the Lord shall God call them to worship Him openly and shall they not obey him but worship Him according to man's Inventions and Commandments or not at all publickly Oh ye sons of men be wise do not contend with the Lord be not bewitched by the Cup of Fornications from the pure spiritual Worship of the living God into Man's Inventions which the Lord's Soul loaths nor do not strive to hold any back from the Lord whom the Lord draws after Him but consider his Power wait to know his Work in the world and do not intrench upon his Dominions but be thankful for and content with your own and do not provoke Him against you who can more easily take yours from you than ye can His from Him And consider this Watch-word in that which can open and shew the truth of it The Lord hath put forth his Arm to recover his Possessions from out of the hands of Antichrist and who shall be able to force it back again to make it return into His bosom without effecting what He stretched it forth for Therefore O Magistrates of this Nation do not make use of the Sword to suppress the Plants of God but to cut down that which manifestly is not of God Look abroad throughout this Nation behold how much evil there is to grieve and provoke the Lord and to divert good from the Nation and to bring wrath upon it and the Government thereof strike at that in righteous and true Judgment and with mercy to creatures souls and bodies but that which certainly is of God meddle not with and that which may be of God for ought ye know be circumspect in medling with lest ye engage God against you It were better to let many Tares grow than pluck up one Ear of Corn. Christ hath absolutely expressed it to be his Mind that he would not have that done which may so much as hazard the plucking up of an Ear of Corn Mat. 13. 29. But oh how are the Laws and Governments of this world to be lamented over and oh what need there is of their Reformation whose common work it is to pluck up the Ears of Corn and leave the Tares standing The chief cause of this misery from whence it principally ariseth is men's medling with those things which God hath reserved for Himself and assaying to do that carnally which God once did spiritually and will do spiritually again in his due time when He hath sufficiently shewn how untoward and improper mans hand is to effect it The Christians in the Apostles dayes were of one heart and one mind which proceeded from the Power and Work of God upon them and then they soon came into one Way and Worship but men will have Unity and Uniformity in a way of Religion and Worship before there is one heart and one mind Now this is contrary to the Spirit of God and to the very nature of Religion and the cause of much Cruelty upon mens Consciences and this hath been and will be the constant effect of it even the crushing as much as lies in man of that which is tender and of and for God and the encreasing of that which is formal dead and earthly Now if ever Christ appointed or intended such a Church-Government which naturally produceth this effect let all that fear God and are of sober spirits judge 10. The way and means to avoid Persecution Where is the man in whom there is any good who hath any love to Goodness and Righteousness who hateth Cruelty and Oppression over mens outward Liberties and Estates and much more over the Consciences of People that could not with his heart desire to have this grand Enemy removed both from particular persons and also from Governors and Governments that Peace and Settlement might be known Righteousness reaped all Cruelty and Hardness in one man towards another removed and there be no more complaining in our streets either because of Oppressions from men or fear of Wrath from God upon those Governments which oppress And who would not earnestly pray to God for the discovery of that way and those means and be very industrious in the use of them whereby this persecuting spirit and temper might be wasted and dryed up in him Now the way and means whereby the persecuting spirit may be subdued are divers as 1. By a true Awe and Fear of God in the heart The Fear of God teacheth to depart from Iniquity and to seek the crucifying and bringing under of the worldly spirit in a man's self and to wait daily to have God's Will revealed and likewise to be made obedient thereunto Now he that is in this temper of spirit will hardly be drawn to persecute another but rather rejoyce to see a tenderness of spirit in him and true subjection of heart to what he believes to be the Mind and Will of God and dares not so much as

forgive them for they know not what they do and afterward to Saul Saul Saul why Persecutest thou me Therefore in love to those who are at unawares running into this great Error that they may find the good Hand of God stopping them therein for their own good are these things following concerning Persecution Written wherein are manifested First What it is that is Persecuted 2. Who it is that Persecutes or is the Persecutor 3. The Nature of Persecution 4. The Grounds or Causes of Persecution 5. The Ways and Meanes of Persecution 6. The Ends of Persecuting what men aim at therein or rather what that Spirit in men which puts them upon Persecuting of others aims at thereby 7. The Colour or false Pretence of the Persecuting Spirit 8. The Blessedness of the Persecuted 9. The Misery of the Persecutors 10. The Way and Meanes whereby men may come to avoid this great evil of Persecuting others Whereunto in the Last Place are added Some sad Effects of Persecution to kindle in men a Desire of avoiding so great an Evil in its self and so Pernitious an Enemy to all that is good in General and Particularly to the Peace and Welfare of Mankind as the Persecuting Spirit is 1. What or Who it is that is Persecuted The Persecuted in all Ages is that which is born after God's Spirit Gal. 4. 29. He that is new-created in Christ Jesus who is formed in the Image and by the Spirit of God which is contrary to the Image and Spirit of the World and who followes Christ in the leadings and teachings of his Spirit which is out of and contrary to the course fashions ways customs of the world This is the man that is Persecuted in all ages He that is of another Spirit Principle than the World so cannot be as the World is being made otherwise by God nor walk as the World walks nor worship as the World worships being taught and required of God to do otherwise This is the man who is afflicted reproached hated hunted persecuted And so the Apostle laies it down not only as a thing to be in his Age but in after Ages also 2 Tim. 3. 12. Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution Men may talk of Christ profess Christ worship Christ according to the way that is set up in Nations and avoid Persecution but come under the new Principle come into his life live Godly in Him become really subject unto the Power and direction of his Spirit then there is no longer avoiding of Persecution That which comes into the Life of Christ comes presently into a proportion of Suffering from that which is contrary to His Life 2. What or Who it is that persecuteth or is the Persecutor The Persecutor in all Ages is that which is after the flesh That Spirit and Principle in man which is from beneath puts the men in whom it is upon Persecuting the other Principle and the persons in whom it appears Or more plainly thus That which is of the world that which Loves the world and present state thereof that which lies in the darkness is in unity with it loveth it and the corrupt wayes thereof that hates the Light and Persecuteth the children of the Light who are witnesses against and reprovers of the darkness John 3. 20. He that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was after the Spirit So it was formerly so it is also now saith the Apostle Gal. 4. 29. Now there are several sorts and ranks of these as some in the way of open prophaness and wickedness some more civilised and of a more gentle noble and considerate spirit and temper some more religions and devout in worships though not rightly principled and guided but turned aside to some inventions or other of the earthly spirit all which are pleasing to the earthly spirit But all these though they are different one from another and agree not well among themselves but are full of dislikes one toward another yet they all agree in this to wit in a willingness to have that persecuted and subjected which is of a contrary spirit and nature to them all They are all against this more or less though not all against it in the same degree of heat and vehemency 3. The Nature of Persecution or What it is to Persecute Persecution is the opposition of the flesh against the spirit The fretting or dashing of the earthly spirit or spirit of man corrupted against that which is born of God The fighting of the unregenerate and unrenewed spirit in man against the spirit of man renewed by the regenerating power of the Spirit of God The fighting the opposing of this spirit against the other is Persecution What ever any man does in his own will according to his own wisdom and after the inclination of his own heart against another who desires to fear the Lord who waits on Him for the counsel and guidance of His Spirit that he might Obey and Worship Him aright is Persecution The Principle of God teaches to fear the Lord not according to the fear which is taught by the precepts of men but according to the fear which God puts into the heart it teaches likewise to worship the Lord not according as man invents and thinks good to prescribe but as the Lord instructs and requires it teacheth likewise not to conform to the world but to deny it and come out of it Now the hating opposing and punishing of that which is thus taught because of these teachings and its obedience thereto this is Persecution The rising of the heart against such is Persecution in the heart The reproaching scoffing at or speaking evil of such is Persecution with the tongue So Ishmael's mocking of Isaac Gen. 21. 9 10. is called Persecuting of him Gal. 4. 29. 30. The smiting fining imprisoning of such c. in relation to any thing that they do from this Principle is Persecution with the hand or lifting up of the power either of a particular Person or of a Magistrate against such 4. The Grounds of Persecution or what are the things that cause the one Spirit and Principle to Persecute and the other to be Persecuted The Grounds and Causes which expose the one to Persecution and kindle the heat of Persecuting in the other are chiefly these three ensuing 1. The enmity of the birth of the Flesh against the birth of the Spirit There is enmity in the Serpent against the Woman and in the seed of the Serpent against the seed of the Woman That which is born of the corrupt Principle cannot endure that which is born of the pure Principle That which walks and worships in the will and according to the inventions of man's wisdom and in shadows and fleshly Forms pleasing to the flesh cannot endure that which worships in Spirit and Truth 2. The contrariety of that which is born of God and drawn out of the world to that which

being and inward state of the true Church and instead thereof set up an earthly Image agreeable to the earthly spirit in Nations but burthensom to that which is innocent pure and spiritual The Lord God suffered this to stand all it s allotted time and to have power to keep down the Visibility of His Truth and People but the Lord hath appointed a season to raise up his own Building again and to throw down this Image Now this I say to all men in the Fear and Dread of the Almighty Stand still and mark if all the power of man be able to keep down God's spiritual Building which he is raising up or to keep up any part of the earthly Image which He is throwing down The spirit of man in various wayes hath shewed what it judgeth best to have down and to have up and hath put forth its strength to accomplish its will and counsel Stand still a while and ye shall see that the Spirit of the Lord will also shew what He would have down and what He would have up and He will also put forth His strength to accomplish His Will and Counsel It is the Glory and Honour of the Lord to carry on His Work in the midst of all the Oppositions of man and against the full current of his strength and will This will make it to appear to be of God and cause the Glory of his Name to shine O that men could fear the Lord and bow before Him that He might be honoured in them and see good to honour them in the carrying on of His Work and so might not be forced through their hearkening to the dark spirit and because of their ignorance of and disobedience to the Light of his Spirit to get Himself a Name by overturning their strength and Councils and causing his Glory to shine over them We have been a poor oppressed People from the day that the Power of the Lord brake forth upon us and his Light sprang in us even until now And now we are brought lower than ever and are in greater danger to the eye of man than ever Yet our confidence is still in our God and this we are certain of that our Principle and Practices there-from shall stand and man shall not be able to prevail against it for God will preserve his People in his Life and Power and the heads of all that wait upon Him in his Fear shall be lift up above all the swellings of the Waters yea a song of Praise is already prepared in the hearts of God's Chosen against the day of his Deliverance We look not out but give up our backs to the smiter as if their stroaks were never to have an end and yet we wait on our God and hope in Him as if Deliverance were springing up every moment And Oh that God would smite the spirit of Enmity and Darkness in Men and Powers and then there would be Love Peace pursuing after God and Righteousness and no more persecuting and smiting of God's People for the Uprightness of their hearts and for their Obedience and Faithfulness to Him But be it known throughout all the Earth We are the Lord's and we must worship and serve Him He hath redeemed us even all of us in some measure who have known Unity with His living Truth in soul in body and spirit and they must all be His in the first place and cannot bow to man in the least against His Will or contrary to the Law of his pure Life and Leadings of his Spirit in the heart Here is our standing in the strength of our God whatever become of us And here we stand in love and good-will to mankind yea to these present Powers however they judge of us and have been praying for them and mourning over them while they have been smiting of us And when they have drawn the Hand of the Lord upon themselves if the Lord shall please to open their eyes to see what we have been towards them and how fain we would have had them set footing there where they might have stood firm and have been preserved they will bewail as much their dealings with us as what will befall themselves The Lord will manifest all things in his Time and give his Truth a passage in the Earth and his People a quiet habitation therein how black soever the face of things now appear as relating to them O how happy will the Day be when the Lord shall have wrought down the selfish spirit in man and shall have raised up His own Noble and Equal Principle Then shall Righteousness spring up and spread abroad throughout the Nations and the work of Righteousness shall be Peace and the effect of Righteousness Quietness and Assurance for ever THE END