Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A30906
|
Universal love considered and established upon its right foundation being a serious enquiry how far charity may and ought to be extended towards persons of different judgments in matters of religion and whose principles among the several sects of Christians do most naturally lead to that due moderation required ... / Robert Barclay.
|
Barclay, Robert, 1648-1690.
|
1677
(1677)
|
Wing B741; ESTC R22018
|
31,935
|
48
|
a Sect are those that follow the Faith and Doctrines of Christ and receive and believe the same as purely Preached and held forth by him unto them and not as by the recommendation of Man as clouded and encumbred with their interpretations and additions and so are meer Christians and yet true and faithful Ones too yea the most True and Faithful Now which of the several sorts of Christians are to be accounted Sects and which not is a great Question and would take a larger Discourse than is proper to be incerted in this Place truly to enquire into it and therefore it shall suffice me at this time to have Asserted this in General which I judge will be generally accorded to by All and leave the Application to each understanding Reader for the clearing which there may several weighty Observations fall in hereafter Probably this will be almost granted by All and I am sure may be truly affirmed that whatsoever people hold forth and preach Doctrines which in the Nature of them contradict and are inconsistent with true Universal Love Such may truly be termed a Sect which may be easily applyed to those heretofore-mentioned and so consequently who ever hold forth Principles and Doctrines consistent and agreeable thereunto are and may truly be esteemed meer Christians and no Sect. Next the Nature of a People's Society and the Causes drawing them together with the Method of their being gathered does much contribute to evidence whether they are to be esteemed a Sect or not first whose Fellowship stands meerly in Judgment and in that which reacheth the Understanding and so are joyned together in and for one Opinion are only to be esteemed a Sect however true their Notions may be supposed to be for the true Principles and Doctrines of Christ. Albeit they do truly reach the Understanding and require its Assent yet they are of an opperative Nature however they may be held by one or two Members of the Church without working upon their Hearts yet cannot be held nor never was by any entire Society without purifying their Souls and reaching to and working upon their Hearts to a true and real Conversion I mean upon the greatest and most considerable part but false Doctrines may be firmly believed by a whole Society without having any Operation for the gathering of the Apostles and Primitive Christians was an uniting of Hearts and not of Heads only Those three Thousand Converts were pricked in their Hearts and not in their Heads only yea where there may be a Dissent in some things in point of Judgment if there be this Unity of Heart through the prevailing of the same Life of Righteousness yet the true Fellowship is not broken as appeared in the Example of the Apostles themselves Now these People who hold forth the Principles and Doctrines here-after to be mentioned were not gathered together by an Unity of Opinion or by a tedious and particular Disquisition of Notions and Opinions requiring an Assent to them and binding themselves by Leagues and Covenants thereto but the manner of their gathering was by a secret Want which many truly tender and serious Souls in divers and sundry Sects found in themselves which put each Sect upon the search of something beyond all Opinion which might satisfie their weary Souls even the Revelation of God's righteous Judgment in their Heart to burn up the unrighteous Root and Fruits thereof that the same being destroyed and done away the inward Peace and Joy of the Holy Spirit in the Soul might be felt to abound and thence Power and Life to follow him in all his Commandments and so many came to be joyned and united together in Heart and Spirit in this one Life of Righteousness who had long been wandring in the several Sects and by the inward Unity came to be gathered in one Body from whence by degrees they came to find themselves agreed in the plain and simple Doctrines of Christ and as this inward Power they longed for and felt to give them victory over Sin and bring the Peace that follows thereon was that whereby they were brought unto that Unity and Community together so they came first thence to accord in the Universal Preaching of this power to all and directing all unto it which is their first and chiefest principle and most agreeable to this Universal Love as I shall hereafter shew And it is very observable that as those whose gathering and fellowship arises from this meer unity of Notions and Opinions do usually derive their name and designation from the first Authors Inventers and Fomenters of those Opinions as of old the Arians Nestorians Manicheans c. And of late the Lutherans Calvinists Arminians Socinians Monites c. So those people whose unity and fellowship did arise from their mutual sense of this Power working in and upon their souls so that Society derives not their name from any particular Man and therefore are providentially delivered from that great mark of a Sect but as the Ungodly will be always throwing some name of Reproach upon the Children and Servants of God it being observed that through the deep and inward operation of this power in them a dread took hold on them not only to the begetting of God's fear in their hearts but even to the reaching and instructing of their outward Man hence the name of Quakers or Tremblers hath been cast upon them which serveth to distinguish them from others though not assumed by them yet as the Christians of old albeit the name of Christian was cast upon them by way of Reproach gloryed in it as desiring above all things to be accounted the Followers of Christ so they also are glad that the World reproacheth them as such who tremble before the Lord and who work out their Salvation in fear and trembling And truly the Lord seems by his Prophets of old to have fore-told that his Children should be so reproached as Isa. 66. 5. Hear the Word of the Lord ye that Tremble at his Word your Brethren that hated you that cast you out for my Name sake said Let the Lord be glorified and He shall appear to your joy and they shall be ashamed Where a joyful appearance of God is promised to these Hated and Reproached Tremblers or Quakars and Jer. 33. 9. does more clearly Prophesie how this Reproachful Name when cast upon his Children shall be owned and countenanced by the Lord in these very plain and comfortable words And it shall become a Name of joy and praise and an honour before all the Nattons of the Earth which shall hear all the good that I do unto them and they shall fear and Tremble or Duake for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I procure unto it As the nature of a Sect ariseth from the love of Self and its production so in the last place there can be no more signal or certain mark of a Sect then when a People seek to advance and
Universal Love CONSIDERED And established upon its Right Foundation BEING A serious enquiry how far Charity may and ought to be extended towards persons of different Judgments in matters of RELIGION AND Whose Principles among the several Sects of Christians do most naturally lead to that due moderation required Writ in the Spirit of Love and Meekness for the removing of Stumbling-blocks out of the Way of the Simple by a lover of the Souls of all Men. Robert Barclay 1 Joh. 4. 16. God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God 1 Jo. 5. 2. For this is the Love of God that we keep his Commandements Printed in the Year 1677. The CONTENTS Sect. I. THe Introduction giving an account of the Authors experience in this matter with the Reasons moving him to treat thereof p. I. Sect. II. The nature of Christian Love and Charity demonstrated the consistency of true Zeal therewith its distinction from false Zeal p. 4. Sect. III. The Controversie stated with respect to the different sort of Christians how it is to be fetcht from the nature of their Principles and not from the practice of particular persons p. 9. Sect. IV. An Examination of the Principles of several sorts of those called Christians compared with this Universal Love and found defective As 1. Of Papists 2. Of Protestants in general 3. Of Socinians p. 14. Sect. V. Some Principles of Christianity proposed as they are held by a great body of People and whole gathered Churches in Great Brittain and Ireland which do very well agree with true Universal Love p. 30. The Reader is desired to Correct with his Pen these Mistakes for the better understanding of the matter PAge 3. line 28 for pretented read pretended p. 7. l. 22. for sar r. far l. 29. for Saul David r. Saul David l. 36. for dâ—ffers r. differ p. 8. l. 35. for so that r. so but that p. 11. l. 27. blot out in p. 13. l. 16. for necessary r. necessarily l. 26. for Improved r. disapproved p. 14. l. 2. for practices r. practice p. 15. l. 6. for has r hast p. 16. l. 7. for thinking r thinking p. 12. l. 21. for necessarity r necessary p. 18 l. 14. for bassis r bases p. 11 l. 5. for hinders r binder l. 6. for hath r have l. 14 for Comodies r Comedies p. 22 l. 31. for hut r but p. 23. l. 10 for is r he is l. 15. for has r. have p. 24. l. 14. for is r are l. 23. for Chaty r Charity p. 31. l. 3. for incerted r inserted 32. in Margent 2d line r. as well in doctrines l. 5. r external band p. 33. l. 12. for Monites r Mentionites p. 35. l. 21. for Now r. Nor p. 36 l. 1. for recideth r. resideth p. 39. l. 12 for they r. it Books lately Printed for a general service to the Truth ISaac Penningtous Naked Truth or Truth Nakedly manifesting it self in several particulars for the removing of hindrances out of the way of the simple hearted that they may come to true Knowledge Life Liberty Peace and Joy in the Lord through the vertue and power of his precious Truth revealed and working in them by way of Question and Answer The Flesh and Blood of Christ both in the Mystery and in the outward testified to by I. P. R. Barclay's Truth cleared of Calumnies The Staggering Instability of the Pretended Stable-Christians discovered by R. B. against William Mitchel An account of a Dispute between the Students of Divinity of Aberdeen and the People called Quakers by R. B. G. K. Quakerism confirmed in Answer to Quakerism canvassed The Anarchy of the Ranters and other Libertines the Hierarchy of the Romanists and other pretended Churches equally refused and refuted in a two-fold Apology for the Church and People of God called in derision Quakers by R. Barclay G. Fox to all the Kings and Princes and Governours in the whole World The Spiritual Man Christ Jesus the Blessed Seed Light of Life Purger of Conscience by G. Fox Christian Liberty commended and Persecution condemned A small Treatise concerning Swearing its use in the Law and end in the Gospel by G. Fox The beginning of Tythes in the Law and ending in the Gospel A Testimony to all Masters of Ships and Sea-men by G. Fox Thomas Bayles Testimony to the Universal Love of God in Christ Jesus to the Sons of Men. A Warning against the Deceit of setting up Man's Reason as Judge in Spiritual matters Translated out of Low Dutch by Stephen Crisp. Immediate Revelation not ceased by G. Keith The Universal free grace of the Gospel asserted by G. Keith Quakerisme no Popery by G. Keith Universal Love c. SECT I. The Introduction Giving an account of the Authors Experience in this Matter with the Reasons moving him to treat thereof ALbeit it were very desirable that Man could from his very tender Age upwards receive so living an Impression not only of the truest and surest Principles of the Doctrines of Christ but also of the Life and Power of Godliness to leaven the whole Mind and Affections unto the pure and holy Nature of Jesus yet seeing that this Happiness befalls to few most of Men being by the prejudice of Education either pre-possessed or defiled with wrong notions or else those who come to receive even at first a right Impression in their Understandings as to Opinion or Principle do either by the power of inward Corruption working upon their Natural Complexions or by other Temptations from without oftentimes fall exceeding short of this pure Life the best way to Redeem the Time and to repair that Loss is from the experience we have had of the Evil and the Memory we retain of how far we have been wrong to confirm and strengthen our selves in the good now revealed and imbraced which by the powerful working of God's Infinite Goodness turning all to the advantage of those that love and follow Him makes the Ministry of such the more effectual as in the example of Paul and others was manifest It being then so that the condition of my life hitherto Albeit I as yet am but a young Man gives me experience more then perhaps to many others to treat of this subject Therefore finding a true freedom and liberty in my spirit I have willingly undertaken for the sake of some to write something briefly and yet I hope clearly thereof that my experience herein if the Lord will by His Blessing may be made useful to others My first Education from my Infancy up fell amongst the strictest sort of Calvinists those of our Country being generally acknowledged to be the severest of that Sect in the heat of Zeal surpassing not only Geneva from whence they derive their Pedigree but all other the Reformed Churches abroad so called so that some of the French Protestants being upbraided with the fruits of this Zeal as it appeared in Jo. Knox Buchanan and others do besides what is peculiar to their Principles