Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	know_v	speak_v	word_n	9,131	5	4.2861	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27137	A testimony of truth against all the sowers of dissention, strife and discord, amongst the people of God, by what practice, or under what pretence soever being intended principally for Wales, yet else-where to be disposed by Friends ...	Bayly, William, d. 1675.	1667 (1667)	Wing B1540; ESTC R16276	4,806	8

A Testimony of Truth AGAINST All the Sowers of Dissention Strife and Discord amongst the People of God by what Practice or under what Pretence soever Being intended principally for Wales yet else-where to be disposed by Friends as in the Counsel of the Lord they shall be directed that wheresoever any have made use of my Name upon such an account it may be ordered to do its service Also it s desired that all they whom it chiefly concerns into whose hands it may come that they would read it through with Patience and Moderation and judge of it in the righteous Judgment of Truth Didst thou not sow good Seed in thy field from whence then hath it Tares He said unto them An Enemy hath done this Mat. 13.27 28. And the Lord God said unto the Serpent because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all Cattel and above every Beast of the field Gen. 3.14 Here you may see who is the Father of all the Sowers of evil Seeds London Printed in the Year 1667. A Testimony of Truth AGAINST All the Sowers of Dissention Strife and Discord amongst the People of God by what Practice or under what Pretence soever c. My dear Friends WHereas I understand by a Letter from Wales which came to my hand that some bad People in those parts who are led by a contrary spirit of prejudice and enmity into marks and distinctions of Separation from the faithful Friends and People of God in pursuance of J. P's Law and Curse by keeping on the Hat in Prayer and the like in opposition to the pure Truth and them that live and walk in it have lately made use of my name as if they had some encouragement or strength through me to carry on a design of Division Separation and Opposition against the faithful People and Servants of the Lord. The which being mentioned or as it were laid to my charge more then once I could do no less in the behalf of the Truth and my own Innocency herein but bear a faithful and publick Testimony against all such things expressions or practices whatsoever tending to division amongst the Lords People and also against that unruly spirit from whence any such fruits and effects proceed as having no Unity with it For the Lord knoweth and I doubt not but many hundreds can testify that I am not a man of strife or one causing division or discord among the People of God but on the contrary greatly delighting in Peace and Unity And for this cause do I labour and travel in soul and body that true Love Mercy and Peace may daily increase and abound in among them that the Dominion of the righteous Seed all may witness that have any true breathings begotten in them after the living God and the knowledge of his Salvation whose Garment is without Seam or Rent from the top to the bottom For I can truly say in the uprightness of my heart That I have no greater Joy than to see and feel my Unity in the pure Truth and unfaigned Love of God with them that walk therein and that Strife and Discord is an Abomination to me Therefore far be it from me for ever to Joyn hands with such or any way encourage them that delight to sow discord among brethren by any such practice as before mentioned or under any pretence whatsoever but I do deny and testifie against all whomsoever or wheresoever that shall at any time mention me or make use of my Name upon such an account For the Lord knows who searcheth my heart That it is the Innocent Seed in whom guile was never found which hath long suffered and been oppressed under the bondage of corruption that my Soul daily travels for that it might be raised up into dominion over all the contrary to reign whose right alone it is and for the refreshing and strengthning thereof in the least babe and not at all to encourage or strengthen that in any which doth it oppress For I know right well the Lord hath determined and already begun to break the Oppressour of his Seed in pieces in the particular and in the general And he that gathereth not with Christ the Seed and to him who is the Life and the Truth scattereth abroad from the Truth and from the Life and so from the Unity of it which is kept in the Bond of Peace And therefore I further testify that if at any time either from my Words Declaration or Writing any have so wrested or taken them as to strengthen the wrong part in which lodgeth the prejudice as to oppose or make a party against the Truth and them that walk in it as I perceive some have done that such a thing was not at all the intent of them nor in the thoughts of my heart as the Lord knoweth Though I do acknowledge that about five years ago in the Prison at Newgate I did speak some words unseasonable as in the behalf of J. P. and unadvised not so clearly understanding the difference between Friends and him who kept many things from our knowledge in tenderness to Truth and in hope to have recovered him out of the Snares of the Enemy which words I spake in reply and indeed at that instant in opposition to some words of J. B. but I soon after saw I had not done well in so doing and I consented to the Judgment of the Lord in my heart against them and that hasty inconsiderate part from whence they did proceed though it was as in a kind of tenderness to him upon the account of his Sufferings which I and many more did judge had been very great But J. B's words are fulfilled That he had made a Division amongst the Lords people or to that effect and time and the effects hath made it manifest which hath been so great and wide through him among them that profess the same Truth and the burthen thereof felt so heavy through the stumbling of so many people that I have said in my heart in the true and living sence of the presence of the Lord That it had been good for him and many more that he had hever been born and this I write not in the least tincture of prejudice or enmity against any person whatsoever but in the true Love and Life of God who is blessed for ever Though I am sensible that some may say as I once thought that this is a hard saying concerning one that suffered so much and bore such a Testimony upon the account of Truth and especially from thee who hast been tender toward him and never appeared in such a sharp manner as this against him and his practises before to speak so of him now he is dead and gone and cannot answer for himself as Christ did of Judas which betrayed him and went and hanged himself As in Answer to this I never did delight to upbraid any man or to lay open the nakednes of any if with safety in a clear

conscience I could possibly cover it but rather if I may so speak have been too favourable in that respect but the Lord knoweth my end and aim in all things to whom I do appeal And as for that which is dead I have little to say one way or other I look not at the person of any either dead or living in that respect though I know there are vessels of Honour and of Dishonour which are different but it s that which lives in them makes the difference And Judas people may say is dead and Cain and Nimrod and Esau and why do we mention them now they are dead and gone and rake them up out of their Graves as I. P. said foreseeing by the Witness of God what would follow though he was gone from it And I testifie in the Fear holy Power Name and Authority of the Lord that Judas nor Cain never did so much hurt and mischief amongst the Lords people as he hath done as to the divertting of the minds of many from the Truth and laying stumbling-blocks in the way of others which would have been easily gathered into the Love of the Truth and Fellowship of his Children And Judas had part of the Ministy and eat in the same Dish with the Disciples who were the true Ministers of Christ and yet he lifted up his heel against them as he hath done in a greater measure And as for his Sufferings I leave it as not worth mentioning in comparison of the unrighteousness which hath proceeded from him and the wickedness which was in his heart for I can produce a Letter of his which I lately found by accident which I never saw before which I do believe that Judas nor his brethren before mentioned did ever write the like which is Abominable and a shame to mention yea the very Heathen that know not God would blush to hear it against which at the reading and consideration of the ground and effects it would produce if such a thing should be received as a Principle among people the dreadfull power and holy zeal of the Lord did arise in my heart beyond expression even against the Root that bore it as an unclean depth of Atheism and Ranterism as ever I heard of in all my dayes the which had I formerly known that such a thing would have proceeded from him I could have done no less then have bo●n a publick testimony against him long ago But however it s not to late to obey the motion of the Pure God when he doth require it for the Truths sake and the sakes of some who have ignorantly followed him in that character of division before mentioned who may happily loath and detest it and testifie against him and it in their heart and practice when they shall hear consider and believe these things concerning the Author of it who gave it forth as a Law under the penalty of a curse Though some there are so far given up to the spirit of Enmity that it will be very hard if ever for them to come into the one holy peaceable Spirit of Truth and Love unfeigned in which the Saints Fellowship is and ever was which if they repent not in time will perish for ever in their gainsaying And therefore I exhort all who have any tenderness in them towards God and his Truth to beware of letting in Prejudice or Enmity against any or to slight such as God hath blessed with his Everlasting spiritual Blessings but rather look well to their own goings and keep clean hands and shut their eyes from seeing of evil that they may dwell with the Everlasting Burnings for there is a Generation that would be plucking out or at least espying a Mote in their brothers Eye even while there remains a Beam in their own and such the Son of God calls Hypocrites whose hearts assuredly Fearfulness will surprise in a Day of Tryal And therfore I say again in the Love and Fear of the Lord take heed of entertaining the least thought of that Root of Bitterness which will defile and hath defiled many but judge it out in its first appearance for it tends first to seperate from the feeling and enjoyment of the blessed presence of the Lord by which the Soul is refreshed and nourished and has dominion over its Enemies and so from that Life in which the Saints Unity stands and so from having Fellowship with them and so professing the same Truth without the enjoyment of it and acceptance with it makes such like Cain who envied his Brother and therefore said John Let us love one another not as Cain who slew his Brother here he mentions Cain in that day upon such an occasion as an example knowing that a little prejudice would eat like a Canker and said James What a great matter a little fire kindleth and will yet kindle if it be not quenched by the Water of the Life of the Lamb which was slain from the Foundation of the World that lies in wickedness in which Life is our Fellowship which gives us dominion over all the Beasts of the Field and Raging Waves of the Sea which cast up mire and dirt and cannot rest But in Christ the Everlasting Seed all the upright in heart have Peace which God by his mighty Hand and Arm is exalting over all that Truth and Righteousness may have the Dominion and Kingdom in the hearts of people that he may Reign whose Right it is and all the contrary be subdued and trodden under foot for ever and every imagination that would rise in opposition against him be confounded and every Weapon that is formed and every Tongue that riseth up against him may be destroyed for ever that his Government may be from Sea to Sea and the knowledge of his Glory cover the Earth This is the work which the Lord hath begun and he will accomplish it and bring it to pass that Everlasting Praises Honour and Glory may be given to his Great and Glorious Name over all for ever and ever for he is worthy So this short Testimony in the Truth and for its sake was on me to give forth and to clear my own Innocency that the Truth may appear to the satisfaction of all faithfull Friends and tender People where any such Report shall come concerning me in this Particular and also to discourage that part or spirit in any that lusteth to Envy and Prejudice against the Truth and them that walk in it This 7th moneth 1667. William Bailey THE END