Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A60206
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To all the inhabitiants of the town of Youghal who are under the teaching of James Wood ...
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Sicklemore, James.
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1657
(1657)
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Wing S3750; ESTC R24541
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13,617
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9
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To all the Inhabitants of the Town of Youghal who are under the Teachings of James Wood and especially to ye who calls him your Pastor and are Members of his Church I write unto you as I am moved of the Lord and lay these following things before you to be read in the fear of God and seriously consider thereof that you may no longer be deceived but may come to see your own state and condition truly and to know it and the foundation you build upon and the rottenness of it And my heart and soul's desire is That your eyes may be opened that you may see the Deceiver and how you are deceived and may see the way that leads out of Deceipt into Truth which is life to all that know it ON the 23 of the sixth Month 1657. towards the evening hearing that Iames Wood was nigh to the place of my outward being being come thither as I was informed not long after his new Ordination and late sending forth to preach as it was manifest by the sending notice of it abroad among the neighbors amongst whom I was neglected though when any Minister of the Gospel came to my House I gave notice thereof without respect of persons till they refused to come and so had not the convenience of speaking to him as I might have had had not the day been spent I sent a few Lines to him and some Queries desiring an Answer unto them which Letter and Queries I have here inserted and am willing to leave it to that of God in all your Consciences to judge from what spirit they proceeded The LETTER James Wood If I had had timely notice of thy being so near this place I know no other but that I should have seen thy face this day but hearing not of it till this evening I have at this time only sent thee a few Queries here inclosed which I desire thee to Answer before thou goest out of the Country or if that time be too short for thee take them home with thee and send the Answers to him who thinks himself happy if he be found worthy to receive a Minister of Christ into his house called by the name of James Sicklemore Ballinlegane 23. of the sixth Month 1657. The Queries 1. Query What is the everlasting Gospel 2. Qu. Who is a Minister of the everlasting Gospel how is he made a Minister therof 3. Qu. Can any preach the Gospel but he who is made a Minister therof 4. Qu. Hath any Power authority to Preach the Gospel before he is made a Minister thereof is sent if not then tell me 5. Qu. What are those men that have a long time profest themselves to be Ministers of the Gospel and have been preaching of it as they say these 5 or 10 years or more and yet after all this time and Preaching receives Ordination from men and by men are chosen and sent forth to Preach 6. Qu. Whether those who were chosen and sent forth to Preach the Gospel had any certain dwelling place or did abide 3 or 4 years or more in one place 7. Qu. Who made Paul a Minister of the Gospel And who was it that sent him to Preach 8. Qu. What was the maintenance of Christs Ministers who by him were sent forth and what were they to live off 9 Qu. Hath his Ministers in this age any other maintenance and when was their maintenance changed For the sake of the simple these are given forth for whose satisfaction if thou beest a Minister of the Gospel it will lye upon thee to Answer them according to the Scriptures and not to slight it J. S. And although I was willing to give him what time he would desire for the Answering of those Queries and not to press it to him before his return yet he refused to give me any other Answer than these following Lines writ and sent to me in the bottom of my own Letter and so sent me the Queries and my Letter again His Letter followeth Captain Sicklemore I have received the above written and the inclosed and give you only this return That I know not your Rule for sending abroad your Queries nor mine to Answer them they savouring so much of Contention and Contradiction I yet think that I have sufficiently proved my Call to the Ministry before John Perrot and your Self if not to you yet to mine own satisfaction and of many else who I trust fear the Lord in simplicity I sorrow to see your Zeal if so it be so blind You have read surely Acts 13.1 2 3. and yet know Paul had Preach'd some years before But I determine to Answer no more of your Queries or Demands either by word of Mouth or Wrighting till both they and you shall breath out more of the Gospel This is from a servant of the Lord and his people in the Gospel Ja. Wood. Sixth Month 23 day 1657. Let not James Wood think it strange or take it ill That I direct not my speech to him in Answer to his Letter seeing he hath told me that he is determined to Answer no more of my Queries or Demands though I know not that before I desired any such thing from him till such and such a time Yet I cannot cease either from speaking or writing what the Lord hath commanded And this Answer is not to beget Contention as he would accuse me in part of his Letter but to lay open the deceipt of the Deceiver against whom I am a witness that the simple may no longer be ensnared and this for your sakes whose simple desires after God are not yet satisfied In the beginning of his Letter he tells me He knows not my Rule for sending abroad my Queries nor his to Answer them Answ I do not wonder if James Wood be unacquainted with my Rule for sending my Queries to him seeing he is so great an enemy and opposer of him who is my rule and guide Christ Jesus the light of the World who hath enlightned me and every one that cometh into the World and him I professe and no other and his light which shines in my conscience which checks and condemnes for sin do I love and own to be my rule that so by it I may be ruled and guided to do the will of God as it is revealed and manifested in me by his eternal Word and spirit by which spirit I was guided when I wrote those Queries And if J.W. were a Minister of the Gospel of Christ then could he not be ignorant of my rule for all his Ministers have his spirit which is infallible by which all things are seen and tryed and so that which is contrary to it comes to be known so that if my sending those Queries were not from the Lord but from another spirit he would quickly have known it if he had had the same spirit that all the Ministers of Christ had and they that have not his spirit are none of his
and this spirit sees and makes manifest all other spirits and tryes them Here let all the simple-hearted judge by what spirit J.W. is ruled and guided which leaves him in such an ignorant state and condition that if any one come and ask or send so him questions he is forced to confesse he knows not their rule for so doing and thinks that this is excuse enough to get rid of them but the subtilty deceives him for hereby he shuts himself out from having the infallible spirit which sees and discerns and knowes all things and makes manifest the hidden things of Esau and reveals and shews yea and is the good rule and discovers all other rules that is contrary to it and judges them But seeing J. W knows not his rule for Answering my Queries I would desire some of you to enquire of him for if I thould ask him he would not tell me What was his rule for Answering John Browns Queries and sending more to him Did he well or ill in that if well Why may not I send Queries to him expecting an Answer as well as he send Queries to John Brown which were Answered this is not to do as he would be done to But I.W. makes his excuse in framing a false thing which he would have pass currant for truth that is exprest in his next words of his Letter They savoring so much of Contention and Contradiction Answ Surely I.W. hath lost his savour if ever he was well seasoned but it is not to be expected that he which is wanting of that which doth discern and try truly can never be a p … essor of that which savors aright for that which cannot discern cannot savor And there was a generation that did call evil good and good evil and did put darknesse for light and light for darknesse and there is some such now and this is because they cannot truly discern Yet admit this were true as I.W. sayes it is no excuse for his not answering them would he not more have shewed himself a Servant of the Lord and his people in laying them open and making manifest this Spirit of contention and contradiction then in holding his peace for it was the work of the Ministers of the Gospel to labour to beat down that Spirit where-ever they found it and to lay open the deceit of it that the simple may beware of it But though J.W. hath so judged of them it doth not make them so they stand upon record to be examined and tryed by the light in every mans conscience to which I leave them to be judged and with it I desire you all to read them over and see if this be true or false that J.W. accuses them of And although I.W. wil not answer my queries he finding them tending to the enquiring out of the call of the Ministers of the Gospel to the preaching of it and he professing to be in that work himself knows that his mustneeds come to an examination and tryal whether it be according to the Scriptures even by the answering of these Queries if according to the Scriptures therefore he must needs say something which is indeedas good as nothing in vindication of his own Call as you may perceive in the next words of his Letter though neither in my Letter or queries did I inquire of J.W. any thing concerning his own call to the Ministry in particular so that he might have spared these lines Yet he need not boasts for can he have sufficiently proved his Call to the Ministry of God when as yet he is not in that Ministry The Ministers of God had the Seals of their Ministry and they reaped the fruits of their labours And Timothy was Pauls Son and so was Onisimus and he had babes which were begotten by him and little children of whom he travelled till Christ was formed in them Now I would ask of you who have been a long time and are yet under his Ministry How many of you yea is there anie one of you can witnesse a begetting into God by him and can any of you by his labour say Christ is formed in you can you witnesse such a state This is a high state friends and is not a talk and a profession but a possession and must be witnessed in deed and truth Again The Ministry of God was for the perfecting of the Saints and if J.W. hath not by his Ministry brought any thus far he never yet saw the end of his Ministrie neither shall he ever be able to bring anie of you into that state who cannot witnesse such a state himself neither can believe that such a state can be attained to in this life then may not he as good hold his peace as preach But friends be not deceived the Ministrie of God was and is sent to turn people from darknesse to light and he that is a Minister of God is a Minister of light and must minister from the light that so souls may be brought out of darknesse wherein lies imperfection unto the light which is perfect that they may be children of light bringing forth the fruits of the light which none can that hate the light and will not bring their deeds to the light that they may be made manifest And friends when I speak of the light I speak of the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world which John bare witnesse of Christ Jesus which Paul preached and was a Minister of which whosoever follows comes to have the light of life and he that hates it goes into condemnation And this is in every ones conscience checking and reproving him for and convincing him of evil and if they would follow it it will lead from fin and iniquitie which it condemns in all into righteousnesse and holinesse and though this be in every one yet every one doth not love it and follow it for they who are in sin and living in it and in the world and are not redeemed from it but are in the lusts and pleasures of it and customs and fashions of it which are vain are such who act contrary to the light in them which checks them for it And all who are in pride and covetousnesse and in many words which are vain and unnecessarie these are all from the light turned which condemns in the conscience for it whom God will not justifie and none but those who love the light and follow it comes to know redemption and salvation by Christ Jesus who is the light who saves his people from their sins and as many as believe in the light of the world receives power to become the Sons of God and none else But this light J. W. is so far from being a Minister of that he cannot own it to bee of God or from Christ but hath called it natural even that light which is in every mans conscience and so he hath made himself manifest to be an opposer of that which checks and