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spirit_n corruption_n flesh_n reap_v 5,289 5 10.9811 5 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A40299 To the ministers, teachers, and priests (so called and so stileing your selves) in Barbadoes by George Fox. Fox, George, 1624-1691. 1672 (1672) Wing F1957; ESTC R36426 49,015 79

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TO THE Ministers Teachers AND PRIESTS So called and so Stileing your Selves IN BARBADOES BY GEORGE FOX Printed in the Year 1672. To the Ministers Teachers and Priests so called and so stiling your selves in BARBADOES COnsider seriously what a Charge you take in hand do you not pretend to watch for and over Peoples Souls and to present them to God Have you presented any to God Nay Can you present any to God unless you be in the same Power and Spirit the Apostles were in which is an Immortal Power Spirit to present the immortal Soul to the immortal God Do you pretend to watch for the spiritual and everlasting Good of the People but do not you watch more whatever your pretences are for their Goods which you call your Revenues then for that O! how is it that there is so much raging which wars against the Soul amongst you yea such abundance of Fleshly Lusts and Fleshly Talk in the Hearts and Mouthes of People Do you not pretend to cure their Souls and to be the Curates of them And if so can you make the Soul Perfect If you present them to God must they not be perfect here For will you present an unperfect Offering to a perfect God Do you not pretend that you Plough in Hope And have you the Spiritual Plough that turns up the Fallow Ground And if so how comes it to pass that there are so much Weeds upon your Ground and that your Land lies fallow in that there 's so little Fruit brought forth to God Look upon your Field every one of you or whether are you idle and do not plough but beat the Air and so do not you pretend that you thresh in Hope Now have you the Spiritual Flayl and if so How chances it that there is so much Chaff And do you not plead for Imperfection and a Body of Sin and Death that people must necessarily have while they live upon Earth Then do you not plead for Chaff and not for the Wheat And look upon your Fields and look upon your Vineyards and see what abundance of Chaff there is Have you not been the Seeds-men of the Flesh who sow to the Flesh and not the Seeds-men of the Spirit who sow to the Spirit For he that sows to the Flesh must of the Flesh reap Corruption and so look what a goodly Crop you have and he that sows to the Spirit he reaps Life Eternal But do you believe that every one hath a measure of the Spirit for you to sow to And do you believe that every one is enlightened by Christ Jesus the Light and their Saviour that you may turn them from Darkness to the Light and from the Power of the Devil to God or rather that you turn them from the Power of God to the Devil and from the Light to Darkness Examine your selves and consider for you must give an Account to God Have you heard Christ's Voice and God's Voice immediately from Heaven Hath he sent you to Preach or have you ran before you were sent And have you not spoken and yet God never spoke to you and say Thus saith the Lord as those did who were reproved in Jer. 23.21 or Have you been called of God as Aaron was or Have you taken that Honour upon your selves having a Call of Men and not as Aaron had And Christ saith to his Apostles Go and teach all Nations and else-where he saith The Gospel must be preached amongst all Nations Mark 13.10 Now did Christ set his Apostles down in Parishes for so much a Year that the People should be like a Free-hold and that the People should be Tenants for Life or until they could hear of a bigger Benefice Is this your Practice or theirs to wit the Apostles of Christ Now consider Christ I say saith Go teach all Nations Have you obeyed his Commands or have you heard his Voice as was said before or are you of those that have climed up another way and what doth Christ call such And if you be Ministers of Christ are you not Teachers of Blacks and Taunies to wit Indians as well as of the Whites For is not the Gospel to be preached to all Creatures And are not they Creatures And did not Christ taste Death for every man And are not they Men And was not he a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World as well as for the Saints And so consider if the Gospel was to be preached unto all according as Christ commanded why do you not teach the Blacks and Taunies here You may it may be say There is nothing to be gotten of them What have they not Souls for you to watch over and to cure Are they not part of your Parishioners if not the greatest part And why do you find fault with the Quakers so called for teaching of their Families and instructing them to wit the Blacks and Taunies and Whites Does not the Lord say That Abraham he knew would instruct his Family And were not all his Men-Children to be Circumcised And are not all Men and Women now to be Circumcised with the Spirit of God But it seems your Blacks c. are taught to Swear and to Curse and to say God Dam them and many of them do Swear almost at every word which they have been taught and learned here among you called Christians for they learn no such kind of Speech in their own Country And is not this sad that Christians who profess Christianity should have such things amongst them For Christ saith You must not Swear at all in Mat. 5. and in Jam. 5. who taught them true Christianity And is it not the Duty of every Master of a Family that so these may come to know their Duty to God and to Man Now first Consider your own Lives and the End of your Preaching whether you do not preach your selves and for your selves and seek theirs you preach to and not them Examine your Hearts truly before God for to him you must give an Account Have you not laid aside this Command of Christ namely Freely you have received freely give and to invite the People To come for Wine and Milk without Money and without Price Isa 55.1 Now can you do so without Hypocrisie How can you say so and not blush when you will do nothing without Price nor give any thing without Money but will have so much a Year of every one in your Parish or else No Penny No Pater Noster The Apostle saith He coveted no mans Silver nor Gold nor Apparrel but laboured with his Hands to supply his own Necessities and the Necessities of others and that he might be an Example to all that followed him remember the words of our Lord Jesus how that it is a more Blessed Thing to Give then to Receive Acts 20.33 34 35. Now do you follow the Apostle Paul herein and is he your Example What do you think the People have no Eyes in their Heads to see