Selected quad for the lemma: peace_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A60626
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An epistle to all the called and chosen of God by William Smith.
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Smith, William, d. 1673.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing S4297; ESTC R32688
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10,262
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20
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the weighty savory words of Life that with the Life every one may be truly refreshed comforted and stablished Oh Friends Be ye all watchful to the Heavenly Light to be preserved in the feeling of Eternal Life that ye may all follow the Lamb in his goings and not go into any thing that is contrary to him for that draweth a vail over the Life and obstructeth the Vertue and then the pettish part is ready to be exceptious and streighten the Life and the Unity in it and so the evil Eye comes to be opened and the Whisperer and Reporter to be let at liberty and then the Enemy works into parties to spoil the Heritage of God and it is set much upon me by the Spirit of the Lord to warn and exhort all Friends To be very circumspect in all their wayes and to keep to the Light by which they were first convinced and in which true Love aboundeth that none may run out and grieve the Spirit of the Lord and bring Grief one upon anothet but all keep in the good Unity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace and so all will understand what to joyn unto and what to stand at a distance from for a good Understanding keepeth good Order and they that have attained to it they speak with the Spirit and with an Understanding and pray with the Spirit and with an Understanding and sing with the Spirit and with an Understanding and with the Spirit and with an Understanding God is glorified and unto his Blessed Name and Power be Glory forever Amen And Friends Be very mindful in all things wherein you are concerned to answer the Lord in Obedience and Faithfulness to the End that your Hearts and Minds may be constant to persevere in the Way of Godliness that in the Light you may feel the Strength and Power of Life to do the Will of God and so the Lord will keep you in his Way as a People that are ordered and disposed in his Counsel and you will be as a Holy Generation and a Royal Priesthood to offer a living Sacrifice of Praise upon his own Altar For the Lord is exceeding good to all that faithfully love him and serve him he is nigh to help them wherein his Name and Truth is concerned for his Power is as the Wings of an Eagle and where his Power beareth up there is no fainting but a Faithful Continuing with Joyfulness to serve Him unto the End Therefore all keep in the Light which the Messengers of the Covenant first preached unto you and by which your Hearts were touched and turned unto God abide in that as being the one and only in which the Love Life Spirit Power and Wisdom of God resteth for all resteth in the Light and in the Light all comes to be witnessed in one Nature and Beeing and whatsoever would draw your Minds from the Light under any Colour or Pretence let it not prevail over you but stand in the Light and resist it as your Enemy For as the Light is only true so there is to be an abiding in it for all that go from it to find any thing true above it they err from the Faith and wrong themselves or who go from the Light to embrace the World they enter into the House of Bondage and where the Enemy so prevaileth over any it is because there is not Faithfulness to the Light For if there be Faithfulness to the Light the Wiles of the Enemy are discovered and Dangers prevented for the Light lifts up it self as a Standard against the subtil Worker And so with the Light the Faithful are preserved in their Faithfulness to walk with God and do his Will and there they grow in Grace and Godliness by which the Truth is Honoured And herein the great Love of God is manifest to all the Faithful who are indeed his Chosen and unto whom his Arm is stretched forth for their Preservation he only is the God of their Salvation and in his Life he causeth all his tender Plants to grow and with his Vertue he gives them Nourishment to make them live and be fruitful yea it is He and none Else he whose Name endures forever and all that wait upon him his Grace falls upon them Therefore trust ye in Him whose Name is I am The Lord Strong and Mighty The Everlasting Immortal God The Power that is able to subdue all things to it self by which ye may all feel the Resurrection of the Immortal Seed and of the Seed to be born again and so as Heirs of Life to inherit Life and in Life to live that the Alpha and Omega the Beginning and Ending may be your Rest And as ye all dwell in the Light you will be sensible of the Drawings and Leadings of his Hand since the Day in which he first Appeared to you and how he hath driven back Enemies before you and brought you forward into a Wealthy Place yea a Place where ye have found durable Riches and keeping in the Weighty Power you will have a weighty Life and so be found as such that walk worthy of the Vocation unto which God hath called you and there you will know the goings on from one degree of Godliness to another unto the Perfect State in Christ Jesus and so you will not hastily flye up into the Air but learn your Goings by degrees and walk safely and there your Way will be pleasant to you and your Reward a Crown for who overcometh the Lord will Crown the Overcomers must wear the Crown as a Token of their Victory over all things contrary to Truth and Purity and also as their Glory before him who sets the Crown upon their Head and such Honour have all the Saints And so in the Power of God all get Victory and Overcome that ye may wear the Crown And all be mindful wherein ye are concerned one towards another in all things that the Peace of God in all your Hearts may rule and that the pure Movings of God's Power ye may all know in your Understandings that every one may know their going forth and coming in as the Power ordereth and then the Order will be kept and not broken for if the true Power be not understood in its Movings but that another thing moveth and acteth that thing breaks the Order and none do keep the Order of the Gospel but who live in the Power and understandeth the Motion of it and so all are to wait upon God to understand his Counsel and do his Will and not follow their own Counsel and do their own Wills for if any do so they will run into Confusion aud come to nothing but who stand in the Counsel of the Lord and do his Will they serve him in the order of his own Life by which he hath Glory And so all is to be kept down with the Power that nothing may be seen or heard but the pure Seed in its own pure Life and then you
AN EPISTLE To all the CALLED AND Chosen of God BY William Smith Printed in the Year 1672. An Epistle to all the Called and Chosen of GOD. Dear Friends IN the deep Sense of that living Voice which hath called you out of Darkness to the Light of Life there is something upon me to communicate unto you for the furtherance of your Faith and mutual Joy and for the Settling and Establishing your Hearts and Minds in the Power of the Gospel of Christ which hath been and still is preached unto you for Life and Salvation that as the Lord hath called you by his Heavenly Voice so you may all obey from your Hearts that blessed Doctrine which by his Holy Spirit hath been plentifully held forth amongst you unto Conversion Edification and Comfort that through your Obedience you may witness the Lord to make choice of you as a peculiar People to shew forth his Praise and so make your Calling and Election sure For though many may be called yet if they do not obey from the Heart that Spirit by which they are called they may not be chosen and so a Profession of Truth may be held out of the Life and Power of it and you cannot but know what all Professions are out of the Life and Power of Truth For when you were seeking after God in bare Professions you could not find true Satisfaction to your Souls but were cumbred about many things and wanted One Thing that was only needful and now the Lord in his Mercy hath enlightened you with his true Light in which you see the many things and their emptiness and are come to know One Thing which is the Fulness and in which ye have all Life Power and Blessings and so far as ye are come to witness the Substance ye have the true savour of good Things in one Thing where all is contained and it is the Love of God unto you that hath so disposed your Hearts towards himself and as a Cord hath drawn you out of things below which are changeable to a feeling of that which is Immortal and never changeth and as the Love of God is the ground of your change from things below into things that are above so it is a safe and sure Foundation for you to stand upon for in it self it doth not admit of any Alteration but is alwayes firm and sure in its own Nature and Life and as ye are fastened to it and stand upon it you will find it to be a Rock of Strength unto your Feet And what can be more desirable to you then the Thing that ye have sound the Thing which in it self is of an Immortal Nature and yieldeth Immortal Riches can you fix your Eye upon any thing among the many things or upon all the many things to desire after any one or all of them Can you part from your Foundation which is sure and safe and is a Rock of Strength to your Feet to joyn or close with any thing or things which are of a lower degree in nature and quallity Oh! no my Friends your Safety is to stand in that which is safe in it self yea to stand in the Light where the Love of God first reached unto you and by which ye have felt the greatness of his Power working in you in that is your safety as being safe in it self For you may be tried with an Hour of Temptation but as you stand in the Light and Power of God ye will overcome it and so you will feel the Rock to be Strength to your Feet that they may not 〈◊〉 and by the mighty Power of God you will be kept as ye stand and abide in it and the Hour of Temptation wil pass over and so you will not fall into Snares to be entangled but walk in the pleasant Path of Life to you endless Comfort For what were your dayes when ye were cumbred about many things Were they not full of Trouble Grief and Sorrow Did not the Seed Mourn whilst ye were professing God in that nature which gloried in Appearance only And did you not ten go a a People bowed down under the Bondage of Corruption And were not many of you in that time cast down as a People without Hope and were you not brought to lay your Hands upon your Loines for very feebleness And was there not a secret Cry That the Lord would appear and shew you his Salvation and that he would guide and direct you in the Way where you might find his Presence And how wonderfully did God appear for you in that great Streight as having regard to the Cry of the Poor and the Sighing of the Needy And how did he manifest his Light in you to give Light unto you And did he not then send forth the Messengers of his Covenant in the Spirit of first born among many Brethren And did not those Messenger declare the Way of God's Salvation to you and sounded Glad-tidings in your Ears Did they not instruct you into the Way of Life Peace and Truth and preach the Light to be the Way that leadeth unto God And was not their Message a faithful Testimony that reached the Faithful Witness in every Conscience and so laboured to bring all to the Witness in themselves And when this glad-Glad-tidings was sounded in your Ears and that your Ears heard and your Hearts believed did you not begin to see the emptiness of all other pretended Messengers and came to a feeling of God's Witness in your own Consciences and so came to know the Thi 〈…〉 reprovable and to learn of that which reproved And did not the Lord herein shew great Kindness unto you that when you were as a People without Hope in a wearied Condition then to appear to manifest the Way of Life wherein you might find Rest to your Souls And hath not the Lord now shewed you a pleasant Path where Mercy and Truth meets together and where Righteousness and Peace embrace and kiss each other Oh! never to be forgotten Mercies but worthy to be had in Everlasting Remembrance And ye are happy that keep in remembrance the Days and Times past wherein God hath shewed you Favour for thereby you come to feel his Love Mercies and Favours to be more enlarged unto you and as ye are come out of the many things and have found One Thing to be the chiefest so all mind to keep it as a Pearl of great Price For ye have found the Lord's Christ and the Lord 's Christ is become your Strength and Stay and Salvation and this is very weighty to be felt upon every ones Heart That the Living God hath revealed his Son in you and that ye know him to be the Lord 's Christ this is that alone in which your Peace and Felicity standeth immutable and is of far greater worth and value then the many things And as in the Light ye have found the Riches and Treasures of an Endless Life even so to keep in the