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power_n punishment_n spiritual_a temporal_a 8,636 5 9.8741 5 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A54111 A brief examination and state of liberty spiritual both with respect to persons in their private capacity and in their church society and communion / written ... by a lover of true liberty, as it is in Jesus, William Penn. Penn, William, 1644-1718. 1681 (1681) Wing P1260; ESTC R32173 13,519 20

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great Orderer of his Church And if I will not comply with him that God hath made an Eye because I am not that Eye or an Hand because I am not that Member my self nor a Party to the Action or Performance of that Member I resist the Lord though under pretence of resisting man for the Lords sake And truly this is the Rock that some of our own time as well as Persons of former Ages have split upon they have not been contented with their own Station in the Body they have not kept to their own Gift nor been taken up with the Duty of their own place in the Church If he that is a Foot would be an Hand and the Hand covets to be an Eye envying others their allotted Station through highth of Mind and walking loose from the holy Cross there can be no such thing as Concord and Fellowship in the Church of Christ Furthermore since the Spirit of the Lord is one in all it ought to be obeyed through another as well as in ones self and this I affirm to you That the same lowly frame of Mind that receives and answers the Mind of the Spirit of the Lord in a mans self will receive and have Unity with the Mind of the same Spirit through another and the Reason is plain Because the same Self-evidencing Power and Virtue that ariseth from the Measure of the Spirit of Truth in ones self and that convinceth a man in his own Heart doth also attend the Discovery of the Mind of the same Spirit when delivered by another for the words of the Second Adam the quickning Spirit through another are Spirit and Life as well as in thy own particular this is discerned by the Spiritual Man that judgeth all things although the Carnal Man pleadeth Being left to his Freedom and it may be talks of being left to the Spirit in himself too the better to escape the Sense and Judgment of the Spiritual Man It is my earnest Desire that all that have any Knowledge of the Lord would have a tender care how they use that Plea against their faithful Brethren that God put into their Mouthes against the persecuting Priests and Hirelings of the World namely I must mind the Spirit of God in my self for though it be a great Truth that all are to be thereunto left yet it is as true that he whose Soul is left with the Spirit of Truth in himself differs not from his Brethren that are in the same Spirit and as true it is that those who err from the Spirit of Truth may plead being left to the Spirit in themselves against the Motion and Command of the Spirit through another when it pleaseth not his or her high Mind and perverse Will for a Saying may be true or false according to the subject Matters it is spoken upon or applyed to We own the Assertion we deny the Application There lies the Snare 'T is true the People of God ought to be left to the Guidings of the Spirit of God in themselves but for this to be so applied as to disregard the Preachings or Writings of Christ's enlightned Servants because by them applied properly to the Preaching or Writing of false Prophets and Seducers will by no means follow I say the Doctrine is true but not exclusively of all external Counsel or Direction therefore false in application where men are allowed to have had the fear of God and the mind of his Spirit and are not proved to have acted in their own Wills and Wisdom or without the guidance of the Spirit of God about the things of his Church and Kingdom Qu. But though this be true which hath been alledged for heavenly Concord yet what if I do not presently see that Service in a thing that the rest of my Brethren agree in in this case what is my Duty and theirs Answ It is thy Duty to wait upon God in Silence and Patience out of all fleshly Consultations and as thou abidest in the Simplicity of the Truth thou wilt receive an Understanding with the rest of thy Brethren about the thing doubted And it is their Duty whilst thou behavest thy self in Meekness and Humility to bear with thee and carry themselves tenderly and lovingly towards thee but if on the contrary thou disturbest their Godly Care and Practice and growest Contentious and exalts thy Judgment against them they have Power from God to Exhort Admonish and Reprove thee and if thou perseverest therein in his Name to refuse any further Fellowship with thee till thou repentest of thy Evil. Qu. But lest I should mistake when thou speakest of true Liberty that it stands in being made Free by the Truth from all Vnrighteousness dost thou mean That no other Persons ought to have the Liberty of Exercising their Dissenting Consciences but that Force may be lawful to reduce such as are reputed Erroniously Conscientious Answ By no means It were a great Wickedness against God who is Lord of the Souls and Spirits of men and ought to preside in all Consciences who as the Apostle saith is the only Potentate and hath Immortalety For though I give the true Liberty of Soul and Conscience to those only that are set free by the Power of Christ from the Bondage of Sin and Captivity of Death yet do I not intend that any Person or Persons should be in the least harm'd for the external Exercise of their Dissenting Consciences in Worship to God though Erronious for though their Consciences be blind yet they are not to be forced such Compulsion giveth no sight neither do Corporal Punishments produce Conviction This we above all People in our Day have withstood in Speaking Writing and Suffering and blessed be God continue so to do with faithlness For Faith is the Gift of God and forced Sacrifices are not pleasing to the Lord. Qu. But according to thy Argument it may be my Fault that I have not the Gift of Faith and upon this Presumption it may be thou wilt inflict some Temporal Penalties upon me Answ No such matter for such kind of Faults are not to be punished with Temporal or Worldly Penalties for whether the Errors be through Weakness or Willfulness not relating to Moral Practice all External Coertion and Corporal Punishment is excluded For the Weapons of our Warfair are not Carnal but Spiritual Qu. But what then is the Extent of the Power of the Church of Christ in case of Schism or Heresie Answ The Power that Christ gave to his Church was this That Offenders after the first and second Admonition not Repenting should be Rejected Not imprisoned Plundered Banished or put to Death this belongs to the Whore and false Prophet Oh! all these things have come to pass for want of Humility for want of the antient Fear and keeping in the quiet Habitation of the Just The Truth in you all shall answer me And this I affirm from the Understanding I have received of God not only that the