Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	church_n	ground_n	pillar_n	16,417	5	10.6783	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A82555	The Quakers confuted, being an answer unto nineteen queries; propounded by them, and sent to the elders of the church of Duckenfield in Cheshire; wherein is held forth much of the doctrine and practise concerning revelations, and immediate voices, and against the holy Scriptures, Christs ministry, churches and ordinances &c. Together with an answer to a letter which was written and sent by one of them to a family of note and quality in the said county, which pleaded for perfection in this life, and for quaking. By Samuel Eaton, teacher of the Church of Christ heretofore meeting at Duckenfield, now in Stockport in Cheshire.	Eaton, Samuel, 1596?-1665.; Waller, Richard, d. 1657.	1654 (1654)	Wing E125; Thomason E719_8; ESTC R9865	69,620	98

Letter that was given me and the Answer which I sent unto it which was directed to his wife together with the Reply that the Quakers made unto it which indeed is too tedious to be read of any who have most time it is such a sottish and senseless piece of stuff and hath so much scurrilous language in it But by it and by the Queries the Saints and World may know what a people these are what little hope there is of any good to be wrought upon them if they would admit of any rational discourse from Scripture some encouragement would be given to spend time that way with them but they can easily evade all with such Answer as this Busie minds give senses to Scripture and are Persons that have nothing to do with Scripture can witness nothing of that they speak of They pretend to speak and act all by the Spirit and if any one will try the Spirit that they speak by their Reply is that such an one can neither witness Scripture nor Spirit and therefore hath nothing to do with such things Yet they deceive many and they increase in number continually but the time will come that they shall proceed no further In the mean time it ought to be sad to every godly spirit that Satan should have such power to work so effectually in and upon many who have been reputed Saints who are drawn into them but God will issue all to his Glory at the last and in this I rest and remain Thine in the Lord Jesus Samuel Eaton THE Quakers QUERIES For some Friends who call themselves Elders of the Church of Christ meeting at Stopport these c. A few Queries to you who profess your selves to be Teachers Pastors and Elders Querie 1. WHether you have the same eternal Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures yea or no Querie 2. Whether the Apostles did give a right meaking to the Scriptures when they gave them forth or left them to you to give a meaning to them yea or no Querie 3. Whether the Plagues be not added to them who add to the Prophesies written in the Book and whether his Name be not diminished out of the Book of Life that diminishes and whether you can witness this Name yea or no Querie 4. Whether you have an infallible Judgement to judge of things eternal yea or no Querie 5. Whether you be above the Apostle and are able to judge his Condition because you say he was not perfect who said he spoke wisdom among them that were perfect Querie 6. Whether you have the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the World was which the Apostle speaks of yea or no Querie 7. Whether you have heard the voice of the liveing God of Heaven and Earth or whether do you not take the Prophets words Christs words and the Apostles words and say he saith it when saith the Lord I never spoke to you Querie 8. Whether a man shall overcome the body of sin while he is upon the Earth yea or no Querie 9. Whether you preach no other Doctrine then that which the Apostles did that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and with our hands have handled of the word of life For this life is made manifest and we have seen it and bear witness and shew it unto you Querie 10. Whether you have this word which was from the beginning and this life manifested to you which was to the Apostles And if it be why do you take a Text from the Letter and Preach from it and shew the People the Letter Querie 11. And shew me where the Prophets did take a Text and preach from it but only Christ read a place and said it was fulfilled who said he was anointed to preach and which of you can witness you are anointed to preach by the living God yea or no Querie 12. Tell me why you sing Davids Conditions and Experiences in Meeter and when you read them hats you keep on and when you sing them hats you put off Querie 13. Whether you have the voice and whether you do know the voice of Christ from the voice of a Stranger My Sheep know my voice saith Christ seing that you are so forward to judge and sit as Judges of the Saints Conditions Querie 14. Whether that which is in you which Judgeth be eternal and infallible yea or no Querie 15. What is the Ordinance which is ordained of God that those which you call Quakers deny and where or when did God command you to observe them As to sprinkle Infants to pray before and after your Sermons as you call them or to set times dayes and hours which was in the Generation which were enemies to Christ who observed such things Querie 16. What these Ordinances of God be which you speak of And where God commanded them and to whom which you say those that you call Quakers do deny mention them in particular and declare them openly in Writing and give over accusing Querie 17. Whether you do not seduce the People to draw them from the anointing within them when as John saith they need no man teach them but as the anointing and the Promise was Eternal Life to him that did abide in the anointing Querie 18. Whether you do not bewitch the people to draw them from the Spirit of God within them to observe these things which God never commanded to tell people of a Sacrament and following your outward Teaching who stand praying in the Synagogues and are called of men-Masters which Christ did forbid Mat. 23. And have the chiefest places in the Assemblies Whether these be not Antichrists which act contrary to the Commands of Christ this yea or no Querie 19. Whether a man shall ever grow up that he need no man teach him under your Ministry yea or no seeing the Apostle saith you need no man teach you and you which have been long Teachers how many have you brought up into this Condition The Church of Christ is the Pillar and Ground of Truth which doth witness the eternal Spirit and if you be the same Church and have the same Spirit Answer me these Queries without any consequences or senses otherwise deny your Eldership and Pastorship and to be no Church of Christ From some Friends in the Truth in Lancashire whom the World calls Quakers An ANSWER to the forementioned Queries brought by one Richard Waller a Messenger of the Quakers and presented by him in the name of them unto the Elders of the Church common-called the Church of Duckenfield now meeting at Stockport in the face and presence of the whole Congregation and an Answer required fromthe above said Elders upon the 5th of Iune 1653. Querie 1. WHether you have the Eternal Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures yea or no Answ We do believe and assert that all Concering the indwelling of the Spirit in the Saints that do

further attainments we ingenously confess that no man is ever like to grow up so high as to need no teaching nor are we our selves come up to such a perfection and we think our selves to be but Children in knowledge in comparison of that which we hope to attain unto in heaven nor do we think it any dishonour to us to confess so much especially while we medicate upon the Apostles expression 1 Cor. 13. 12. Now we see through a glass darkly speaking of the time of this life but then we shall see face to face speaking of the time after this life Nor do we find that Christ himself or the Apostles ever bred up persons to such a condition as these men speak of to need none to teach them in their sense Paul bred up Timothy and to a great height he bred him under his Ministery whom he cals Son because he had been with him as a Son yet he exhorts him to meditate upon such things and to give himself wholly unto them that his profiting might appear unto all 1 Tim. 4. 15. And Peter exhorcs those that he wrote to of whom he Iaith that he did ouly put them in remembrance of things and that they knew them already and were established in the present truth that they would grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 18. The Conclusion that they put to all these Questions is this The Church of Christ say they is a pillan and ground of Truth which doth witness the eternal Spirit and if you be the same Church and have the same Spirit answer me these Queries without any consequencies or senses otherwise diny your Eldership and Pastorship and to be no Church of Christ Answ The Church of Christ is the ground and pillar of Truth and doth witnese the truth of all that is contained in the holy Scriptures and more especially that the mysterie of godliness is gteat viz. That God was manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory And this we assert without any Consequencies or senses many of which if not all you that urge us thus most desperately deny As for your questions we have answered them agreeablyto Scripture and have made such inferences and necessary consequences and have put such senses as cannot be contradicted by any knowing Christian nor indeed by any but those whose design is to destroy all Scripture and utterly to subvert the Faith of the Gospel and to lead men captive after their own delusions and instead of denying a Pastorship and Eldership and our selves to be the Church of Christ we shall pray God to open the eyes of so many of these poor creatures who are thus sold over to delusions that so many of them as belong to Gods Election may be recovered out of the snare of the devil who are led captive for the present after his will A Coppy of a Letter which Richard Waller a Quaker sent to a Gentlemans Family near Stockport in Cheshire in which both he and his wife had been formerly servants Wherein he pleads for an absolute perfection and for Quaking Dear Friends MY dear love in the Lord presents it self unto you all in the power of the truth desiring the Lord to establish you all in the truth it self that you may grow and become faithfull unto the Lord to bring forth much fruit that the Lord in all things may be glorified by you Dear friends I did long stand in opposition against a company of people by the World called Quakers So it pleased the Lord in his time to let me see my condition So that I did plainly see that I had got the Saints words to talk of before I came to witness the Saints condition Now the Scripture saith Jesus Christ was made manifest to destroy the works of the Devil Whosoever can witness Christ manifest in him can witness sin destroyed But he that saith Christ is manifest in him and committeth sin is a lyar For whosoever is born of God sinneth not 1 Job 2. 4. For his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God Now the Priests of the World tell us we cannot be perfect here So they leave a hole for Satan here contrary to Scriptures and when will they have him cast out As for me I deny all the Teachers of the World For I can really witness that I have found my Teacher within me which is a mysterie to all the World Now I and the rest that can witness that Christ is made manifest in us we are hated of the World for we disown the Worlds ways Worlds worships and Worlds Customs and they disown us Now the Scriptures saith He that is a friend to the World is an enemy to God The World calls us witches and mad men they did so by Christ they said he was a Devil and they said Paul was mad and Stephen spoke Blasphemy It is just so now as it was then they Jear and say Never any of the Saints Quaked and Trembled Read these Scriptures at your leasure and you may find them lyars Heb. 12. 25 26. Ezra 9. 3 4. Heb. 12. 21. Moses quaked and trembled David trembled Psal 119. 120. Psal 18. 7. Heb. 3. 16. When I heard my belly trembled my lips quivered Jerem. 23. 9. Isa 66. 2. Ezek. 32. 10. Dan. 10. 7. and 11. Daniel Trembled Acts 9. 6. Joel 2. 10. Job 26. 11. Amos 8. 8. Jer. 30. 6 7. Acts 13. 40. 41. See here is a Cloud of Witnesses against them And whereas they deny that perfection is to be attained here they are found lyars See Phil. 3. 15 Let us as many as are perfect be thus minded Col. 1. 28. Col. 4. 12. 2 Tim. 3. 17. Heb. 6. 1. Heb. 10. 14. He. 12. 23. Heb. 13. 21. Jam. 1. 4. Col. 4. 12. Deut. 18. 13. Joh. 17. 21. I in thee and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one I plainly see the Priests taught deceit and we believed them But the Lord hath discovered their deceit to his and he will teach all his himself Oh therefore wait upon the Lord and cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils and mind the light of God in you which discovers deceit and the peace of God be with you all and keep you all in the sense of him staid in your minds that you may be kept in his feare which keepeth the mind clear and pure and open to receive his teachings and to forsake the evil and choose the good and so bring you into obedience and it will suffer you to joyn with nothing but what is of it own nature pure and clear and it will keep you from the evil of the World The Lord cause you all to grow up as trees of Righteousness and stablish your hearts in the living truth that his name in all thing may be glorified

witness that you are made free from the Law for the Law hath power over a man as long as he lives The Saints that did witness they were made free from the Law by the body of Christ witnessed this quaking and trembling which you with your serpentine wisdom would give senses upon them and despise but he shall not enter into the Kingdom Did not Habbakuks lips tremble and his belly quake And did not the Prophets knees knock together and quake David and Ioh their flesh trembled and so must all proud flesh he laid low and the loftiness of man be brought down and your imaginations and God alone be exalted the power that makes you to quake and tremble is now made manifest which you know not for if you did you would not give so many senses upon the Scripture and the same Power is now made manifest as ever was praised be the Lord for ever As they that saw the outside of the Vision as you speak so you see the outside of the Letter and would flie from them who have the power of the Letter as Daniel had so you see the outside but not the inside as Daniel did if you did you would not utter forth your solly ignorance and weakness the same Christ they do witness to be made manifest that makes proud flesh to tremble and the same operation and death to be brought conformable to Christ they witness but this power working in them as thou sayest thou knowest not and whereof you speak that you know them whom God spake to by Angels and Visions whom he wrought wonders by but only by a history-knowledge by Paper and Ink and there you shew your selves to be lyars for them whom you do accuse which you call Quakers the wonderous Works of the Lord are made manifest among them though that Christ wrought Miracles among the people yet they said he did it by Belzebub the Prince of Devils and thou shewest thy self to be in the same Adulterous Generation that the Scribes and Pharisees were which would have a sign or a wonder but there in none shall be shewed to thee but the sign of Jonas for an adulterous Generation seeks for a sign and there thou art Friends you say there is nothing in all the Scriptures makes out of the people meeting together as concerning trembling did not the Corinthians tremble when Titus came to preach among them and did not the Assemblies that came to Ezra tremble there is nothing in your minds of God born up in your understandings to judge withall so in your'own conceits you are satisfied and doth not the Lord say I will shake all Nations and let all the Inhabitants of the Earth tremble so ye shew forth the ignorance of the form for the power of it you cannot own nor believe where it is operating and working Friends you have uttered forth many lyes and slanders and scandalous speeches lay your hands upon your mouths blush and be a shamed who art in Cains nature murdering the righteous ones in your hearts and spewing forth your venome against a harmless people was it not the practice of the Saints to wait alone upon God for counsel for wisdom for grace and for the Spirit and being guided by the light of God they waited upon God and the Apostle exhorts them that they should take heed to the light within them until the day dawn and the day-Star arise in their hearts and no Prophesie of the Scripture came by the Will of man so it was of no private Interpretation but Holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost this moving you speak not from neither know therefore as dogs fnarle and bite them who are guided by the same Spirit and wait for the same Spirit by which we have unity with them in the same Spirit and you shew your selves to be in the number of them who use their tongues and say he saith when saith the Lord I never spoke to them but you speak a vain divinatition of your own brain and not from the mouth of the Lord gathering your selves together against the Lord and against his annointed but I am satisfied that I see your folly and weakness uttered forth which doth blind many but God is raising up a light which will discover you the Doctrine of God they own but your Doctrine which is of man they deny And if these be your Ordinances which you speak of as sprinkling Infants and telling people of a Sacrament these we deny for God never commanded them and if you draw people to these things which God never commanded you bewitch them for the Galathians were bewitched which were drawn to act these things God had not commanded when the substance was come so you do bewitch them to follow your Traditions from the sight of God within them And as touching Magistrates you are false accusers which the Scripture speaks of which have the form and not the power For all who are brought into the Truth do labour with singleness of heart unto God and not with eye-service and their souls are subject to the power of God and Justice they own and honour in their soul which cuts down filthiness and corruptions which are alive in you which makes you to give forth so many false accusations upon a harmless people who wait for the restoring of the Kingdom and the overturning the World and the Kingdoms of it and the Image of the Devil defaced in man and the Image of God renewed in Righteousness and man brought into his being from whence he was fallen and so you are yet under the dominion of Satan judging truth errour and blasphemy as ever they did which had the form and not the power in whose steps you walk seeing you have uttered forth your folly so and filthiness and call your selves the Church of Christ his Church is not a sinful Church for that you stand up for but his Church which he hath purchased with his blood is without spot or wrinkle or any such and yours is but an imitation therefore slander not the Church of Christ as they which say they are Iews and are not but are Synagogues of Satan and there you are I charge you by the Lord that you read this among all your Churches as you call it and as you will answer it before the Lord for to that in your Conscience do I speak From some Friends in the Truth whom the World calls Quakers in Lancashire Annotations upon this Reply and an Extraction of the unsavory passages contained in it THe greatest part of this Reply contains nothing but reproachfull and villifying expressions and is extremly censorious of us as of persons who have nothing but darkness in us and is self-magnifying as conceiving themselves onely in the light and having themselves and they onely the spirit And some small part of it makes mention of the very self same Scriptures which Richard Wallers Letter doth contain and of some few