Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A60626
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An epistle to all the called and chosen of God by William Smith.
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Smith, William, d. 1673.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing S4297; ESTC R32688
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10,262
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20
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AN EPISTLE To all the CALLED AND Chosen of God BY William Smith Printed in the Year 1672. An Epistle to all the Called and Chosen of GOD. Dear Friends IN the deep Sense of that living Voice which hath called you out of Darkness to the Light of Life there is something upon me to communicate unto you for the furtherance of your Faith and mutual Joy and for the Settling and Establishing your Hearts and Minds in the Power of the Gospel of Christ which hath been and still is preached unto you for Life and Salvation that as the Lord hath called you by his Heavenly Voice so you may all obey from your Hearts that blessed Doctrine which by his Holy Spirit hath been plentifully held forth amongst you unto Conversion Edification and Comfort that through your Obedience you may witness the Lord to make choice of you as a peculiar People to shew forth his Praise and so make your Calling and Election sure For though many may be called yet if they do not obey from the Heart that Spirit by which they are called they may not be chosen and so a Profession of Truth may be held out of the Life and Power of it and you cannot but know what all Professions are out of the Life and Power of Truth For when you were seeking after God in bare Professions you could not find true Satisfaction to your Souls but were cumbred about many things and wanted One Thing that was only needful and now the Lord in his Mercy hath enlightened you with his true Light in which you see the many things and their emptiness and are come to know One Thing which is the Fulness and in which ye have all Life Power and Blessings and so far as ye are come to witness the Substance ye have the true savour of good Things in one Thing where all is contained and it is the Love of God unto you that hath so disposed your Hearts towards himself and as a Cord hath drawn you out of things below which are changeable to a feeling of that which is Immortal and never changeth and as the Love of God is the ground of your change from things below into things that are above so it is a safe and sure Foundation for you to stand upon for in it self it doth not admit of any Alteration but is alwayes firm and sure in its own Nature and Life and as ye are fastened to it and stand upon it you will find it to be a Rock of Strength unto your Feet And what can be more desirable to you then the Thing that ye have sound the Thing which in it self is of an Immortal Nature and yieldeth Immortal Riches can you fix your Eye upon any thing among the many things or upon all the many things to desire after any one or all of them Can you part from your Foundation which is sure and safe and is a Rock of Strength to your Feet to joyn or close with any thing or things which are of a lower degree in nature and quallity Oh! no my Friends your Safety is to stand in that which is safe in it self yea to stand in the Light where the Love of God first reached unto you and by which ye have felt the greatness of his Power working in you in that is your safety as being safe in it self For you may be tried with an Hour of Temptation but as you stand in the Light and Power of God ye will overcome it and so you will feel the Rock to be Strength to your Feet that they may not 〈◊〉 and by the mighty Power of God you will be kept as ye stand and abide in it and the Hour of Temptation wil pass over and so you will not fall into Snares to be entangled but walk in the pleasant Path of Life to you endless Comfort For what were your dayes when ye were cumbred about many things Were they not full of Trouble Grief and Sorrow Did not the Seed Mourn whilst ye were professing God in that nature which gloried in Appearance only And did you not ten go a a People bowed down under the Bondage of Corruption And were not many of you in that time cast down as a People without Hope and were you not brought to lay your Hands upon your Loines for very feebleness And was there not a secret Cry That the Lord would appear and shew you his Salvation and that he would guide and direct you in the Way where you might find his Presence And how wonderfully did God appear for you in that great Streight as having regard to the Cry of the Poor and the Sighing of the Needy And how did he manifest his Light in you to give Light unto you And did he not then send forth the Messengers of his Covenant in the Spirit of first born among many Brethren And did not those Messenger declare the Way of God's Salvation to you and sounded Glad-tidings in your Ears Did they not instruct you into the Way of Life Peace and Truth and preach the Light to be the Way that leadeth unto God And was not their Message a faithful Testimony that reached the Faithful Witness in every Conscience and so laboured to bring all to the Witness in themselves And when this Glad-tidings was sounded in your Ears and that your Ears heard and your Hearts believed did you not begin to see the emptiness of all other pretended Messengers and came to a feeling of God's Witness in your own Consciences and so came to know the Thi 〈…〉 reprovable and to learn of that which reproved And did not the Lord herein shew great Kindness unto you that when you were as a People without Hope in a wearied Condition then to appear to manifest the Way of Life wherein you might find Rest to your Souls And hath not the Lord now shewed you a pleasant Path where Mercy and Truth meets together and where Righteousness and Peace embrace and kiss each other Oh! never to be forgotten Mercies but worthy to be had in Everlasting Remembrance And ye are happy that keep in remembrance the Days and Times past wherein God hath shewed you Favour for thereby you come to feel his Love Mercies and Favours to be more enlarged unto you and as ye are come out of the many things and have found One Thing to be the chiefest so all mind to keep it as a Pearl of great Price For ye have found the Lord's Christ and the Lord 's Christ is become your Strength and Stay and Salvation and this is very weighty to be felt upon every ones Heart That the Living God hath revealed his Son in you and that ye know him to be the Lord 's Christ this is that alone in which your Peace and Felicity standeth immutable and is of far greater worth and value then the many things And as in the Light ye have found the Riches and Treasures of an Endless Life even so to keep in the
Light and keep your Possession and be not drawn out with any Whimsical Fancies and Conceits to lose your Possession it is the Word of the living God unto you all For the Lord hath shewed great Kindness unto you that ye might glorifie him in your Bodies Souls and Spirits as being his and so to Honour the Lord in all things for the exceeding Riches of his Kindness towards you for it is required of all unto whom the Lord hath shewed Kindness that they be found faithful and so to behold the Lord in his goings and go with him then all will know the things that concern their Peace and things by which they may edifie one another and so be a Help and Comfort one to another even as God is a Help and Comfort unto them For how wonderful is the Work which the Lord hath wrought for you in Egypt and bringing you out of Egypt and carrying you through many Tryals and delivering you from many Enemies for the Deliverer is come to open the Prison Door and set the Captive at Liberty yea he is come who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth Christ Jesus the great Deliverer the only Saviour Preserver Sanctifier and Justifier and ye that know his coming ye are Witnesses of the greatness of his Work and of his Power Might and Strength in working and so ye are sensible into what Root ye are planted by the Right hand of the Almighty and ye know that ye spring up in his Life as his Off-spring and that the Pluckers cannot pluck you out of his Hand for all have been plucking at you but cannot pluck you out of the Hand of your Planter and so he that hath planted you into his Life he keeps you from being pluck't out of it and it is his great Mercy unto you in that he hath planted you into such a blessed Root and raised you up into it and keeps you from being plucked out of it here he gives unto you eternal Life that ye should no perish but live forever and so he hath chosen you and ordained you to bring forth Fruit and that your Fruit should remain for Christ Jesus keeps you by his Power in your Plantation and none can pluck you out of your Plantation Therefore all abide in him who is not of the World but hath chosen you out of the World yea I say abide in him and your Fruit will remain and will not be shaken and spoiled with Storms and Tempests and so you will flourish like the Palm Tree and grow like the Cedars in Libanon for you that trust iu the Lord and whose Hope the Lord is you are as Trees planted by the Waters and that spread out their Roots by the Rivers and shall not see when heat cometh but their Leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the Year of Drought or in the Year of Restraint neither shall cease from yielding Fruit And so the Almighty God hath chosen you in this day to bear the fruits of Righteousness in his Righteous Life and by that Fruit ye honour the God of your Salvation who keeps you in his Life from being plucked out And so all live in the Faith which in the Power of God ye have received keep in the Power that is able to keep you unto the End and so by Faith get Victory over the World and please God and add to your Faith Patience that ye may not think the time long in which your Faith is trying for the trying of your Faith worketh Patience to bring forth Fruit therefore let Patience have its perfect work that ye may be entire lacking nothing and as ye have purified your Souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned Love of the Brethren so let your Love be continued as in the beginning for Brethren that keep the Faith they labour in the Love which edifies the Body and as ye love the Brethren that keep the Faith there will be no entertainment for the Grudger and Evil Surmizer for where that spirit is entertained it corrupts the mind with Evil Thoughts and Self-Conceits and that runs into Self-Separation Division and Distraction but as ye walk in the Light you will feel the Love over all such things and so love the Brethren and one another unfeignedly and that is your Strength by which the Power of Darkness is to be overcome for Unity in the Unfeigned Love is the Strength of the Body and so it is a compleat Body under the Rule and Government of Christ Jesus the Head and he in all things hath the preheminence unto whom all belongs And all walk worthy of the tender Mercies which God hath largely manifested unto you and take heed of giving or taking any Occasion of Offence but all mind your own Conditions and Concernments and let none be Wise in their own Eyes but look upon themselves with that Eye which can prefer another for the lowly Mind that keeps in the Light is preserved in the Love that thinketh no ill and in Love is ready to serve and doth not seek to be a Master for if such a thing doth at any time arise Offences are at hand and that doth much hurt as it is put in practice therefore all avoid such things by living in the True Simplicity and Peaceable Wisdom that ye may all keep the Faith that works by Love and edifies the Body and so all will live as Brethren in a faithful Testimony to God's Glory and there his Presence will be with you and your Joy will be full And all keep down to the Power that keeps in the Life that all your words may savour of Life for the words of Life are Gracious words by which Grace is ministred to the Hearers but where words swell above the Life they only influence upon the Affections which draweth out of the Peaceable and Quiet Habitation and from feeling the weighty Life in its Resurrection and all such Motions run whirling about in the Air and that stirreth up Tempests where all are tossed about with Wind and Waves Therefore all wait to be stayed with the Power of God which is the Anchor of the Soul both sure and stedfast For when the Life rises it rises with weight and all that rise in the Life they are sound and weighty for they stand in the center of Life and are moved by the motion of it and there all are preserved in Wisdom and Understanding and are alwayes nourished with the Nourishment that in the Life is present and so are alwayes living and fruitful in a certain state and here all come to be kept in the true Tenderness and Sweetness out of all Flattery and Feignedness for the Affections move uncertainly and never do establish any in their goings but sometimes will appear as living in the highest degree and then again will fall and dye and be as nothing and that is an uncertain State where none can stand sure therefore all mind the Life and