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	spirit_n	worship_v	6,337	5	9.5072	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44789	A general epistle to the dispersed and persecuted flock of Christ Jesus in the dominion of England and all parts and regions where this shall come who have believed in Christ the Light of the World and now suffers for his names sake / [by] F.H.	Howgill, Francis, 1618-1669.	1665 (1665)	Wing H3161; ESTC R30345	10,851	16

will live Godly in Christ must suffer Persecution for the World loves only the Children of it but alwaies hated the Children of God and them that were redeemed out of it and they bore witness against it and the workes thereof it 's no new thing or strange thing for it's that portion which all the Prophets and Holy Men of God were partakers of Christ and the Apostles and all true Believers in every Age and the nearer any came to be unto God in their life and practice the more they were hated and the more vilefied slandered and evil spoken of sometime by the Jewes sometime by the Heathen and now by the Apostatized Christians for the Nature is one through all Ages and diversities of Names in Profession doth not at all alter Man or Men at the heart the Jews who professed God in words and cryed up the Temple and Moses and the Law in words flew the Prophets and laid false things to their charge Jeremiah when he Prophesied against Jerusalem and spake to the Princes and Rulers when they were revolted from God in the dayes of Zedekiah and denounced evil against the City and People because of Transgression they put him in the Dungeon where his feet sticked in the Mire and said He was fallen away to the Caldeans and did he alienate the heart of the Jewes from them and their Law and despised their Government Christ was accounted a friend of Publicans and sinners and had a devil a Transgressor of Moses Law though he came to fulfill it and an enemy to Caesar and a blasphemer and what not Who said so the Elders the Doctors the Rabies and Rulers of the People and they crucified him as an evil doer though none could convince him of sin the Apostles of Christ as seditious men Ringleaders of Sects Authors of Vproars turners of the World upside down as disobedient enemies to peace as discontented men with the present Lawes and Customs then established and judged as not fit to live And therefore many suffered long for holding out their Testimony faithfully they had received and last of all suffered death not as Saints and Prophets but as evil doers at last some by the Jewes some by the Heathen The Primitive Christians of whom the World was not worthy of were falsly accused by the Romans Heathens and Pagans in the great Persecutions that arose were evil spoken of and falsly represented and rendred odious and as objects of hatred through the envy of the Devil because they opposed his Kingdom of Darkness Tertullian saith the Heathen commonly reputed the then Primitive Christians incestious men killers of Children enemies of all mankind enemies against the Gods against the Emperours against the Laws they made an 0utcry upon them It s not lawful they should live And when any Judgment did befall them Augustine saith it was become a Proverb Our Rain failes us because of these Christians And Eusebius saith the Religion of Christ was called the Heresie of Godless Christians Likewise after the name of Christ and Christian became in repute and esteem many Hypocrites and Formalists took on the Name when it was countenanced by the Kings and Princes of the Earth and then turned against them that were more in the life and power then they as the Bohemians and the Waldences and first Protestants in Germany how were they branded with heresie schisme as seditious factious enemies to the Lawes Church and State and to Princes and how was the hatred of the Pope and Emperour kindled against them and War raised upon them and many suffered death in their account as evil doers who persecuted them Likewise come nearer our own Age in the dayes of Queen Mary how were the best of Men and the best of Christians in that Age censured as Enemies to the Queens Laws and Government enemies to the Church seditious hereticks and such as was not fit to live and therefore many suffered in the cruel flames of fire and did undergo many great torments and sufferings and last of all cruel deaths many suffered and by them called Christians and yet slew him and persecuted him in his Members Last of all God hath brought us forth in our Age to bear witness unto him and unto that life power and light by which we are quickned and raised out of the grave of sin and death to live unto him and serving him in newness of life and to confess unto his holy name and power by which we are saved illuminated and directed and to worship him in spirit and truth according to the manifestation of his spirit to us and in us according to the Scriptures of Truth for the Lord God of Heaven and Earth Judge and all his holy Angels and all just men who are anointed with the holy Unction that knowes truth from error whether we hold any other thing either in Doctrine or practice but that which the Primitive Christians bare witness of and also the Scriptures bare witness unto and that which we are perswaded in our Consciences by the unerring spirit of the Lord which doth give us assurance of his acceptation and peace in our hearts And how often have we declared our selves both by word and writing which is sufficiently manifest unto all who have not wilfully closed their eyes and stopped their eares against us that we are of no other faith hope or Religion but that which Christ and his Apostles and Primitive Christians were of which they did hold forth both in Doctrine and practice as in respect of Worship And how peaceably and humbly we have walked towards all men without seeking the hurt or detriment of any thou Righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth knows and according to the innocency of our hearts do thou judge us and plead our Cause And further we have laboured that sin might be beat down and that all every where might have been turned from it unto the living God and that Righteousness might have been advanced and truth have taken place in all Mens hearts both in word and deed that Christ who is professed in words might have ruled in the hearts of all men that make mention of him that so Gods blessing might have been felt and known by all and the Souls of all saved from the snares of Sathan and out of that which the wrath of God and his Judgments comes upon and Lord God of Heaven and Earth thou knows how our Adversaries have sought occasion against us for no other cause but for the matter of worship of the living God and unto Gods righteous Judgment seat we dare appeal and do thou judge us and reward us according to our deserts if ever we have contrived the hurt of any man or men or have sought to violate any righteous Law of Man which stands to the well governing of a Nation or Country in the things that pertain to the World yet how have we been fasly represented slandered belyed misreported hated backbited persecuted and killed

as all the day long and reputed we are as not fit to live in our Native Land neither to enjoy our own Wives and Children a thing common to all men Christian and Heathen neither to breath in the common air And how many grievous things hath been heaped and are daily upon our backs that we are factious seditious enemies to Magistrates to the Ministers of Christ Plotters Conspirators against humane Government enemies to the King disobedient to the Lawes broachers of heresie authors of sedition enemies to the Church and State And this the Devil who was a lyar and a murderer and a slanderer from the Beginning he hath put a Lying spirit in the mouthes of some and it s entred into the hearts of others And thus by them are the Powers of the Earth stirred up and the Rulers to persecute us without any just cause but this must not be counted persecution for all the aforesaid things and many more he hath perswaded them we are guilty of and therefore all that comes upon us It must be reckoned as just and is an equal reward for our offences and as just punishment for our transgression and disobedience and so is no persecution at all and he hath winesses enough to testifie against us as he had against Christ all the Scribes and Pharisees and the Leaders and Rulers of the People with the high Priests Judas and all to testifie against him that he was not fit to live but all cry away with him Even so now he hath all the Rabbyes and Elders and all the time-serving Hirelings who serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellyes and all formal professors who profess him in words but denyes him in works and despises his cross with all Drunkards Lyars and Swear●rs all proud and covetous all wanton and riotous and all that loves the pleasures of sin for a season all these will give their verdict against us There was and is a Generation that called darkness light and light darkness and good evil and evil good the judgment of all such is false and must be judged and God who hath Immortality and dwells in the Light with whom is no darkness at all judgeth not as these men therefore let us never heed the censures and judgment of fallen men who erre in their judgment who cannot judge for God or his people but against them let us count it a light thing to be judged or condemned by man seeing the Lord justifies us in his work and service whereunto we are called and all the aforesaid crimes falsly laid to our charge he cleares us off and we can with a good conscience and pure heart bid defiance to all the powers of darkness and all the enemies of God and the Lord will clear us more and more as his power glory and light appears in the Earth and brings forth our Righteousness as the Noon-day before our enemies notwithstanding all the false aspersions and reproaches cast upon us in the mean time If we be crowned with reproaches as Christ was with thorns and evilly intreated for his names sake let us bear all things and endure all things with patience and hope to the end And though they cover us with bare skins and with draff as the Heathen did the Primitive Christians and so let all the wild beasts upon us let us give up our bodies as a sacrifice unto the Lord and for a witness unto his name and truth that so we all may witness eternal rest unto our Souls and Everlasting joy in his Heavenly habitation where all Persecutors and evil doers are shut out Dearly Beloved of the Lord I write not these things unto you because you many of you do not know them but because you know them to put you all in mind and to stir up your he●rts to the holy consideration of these things in these perilous and trying times and in very truth whatsoever doth lye within my view that might conduce to any or all your good I cannot withhold it from you because I know it is not only my duty but I can truly say the love of Christ constrains me for my soul heart and life is knit unto you in the everlasting Covenant of life above all the Families of the Earth and the more you are hated the more I love you and the more you are despised and set at naught the more I prize you and the more you are compassed about on every side with tryals and afflictions the more my soul is poured forth unto the Lord for you that you may be kept stedfast in the faith and hope in the Lord unto the end that you may receive his rewa●d the Crown of Glory which is laid up for all them that love the Appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Faith do overcome And blessed and happy are all they that keep their Garments clean in this polluted time wherein wickedness walkes with open face and ungodliness with an outstretched neck and is exalted in great heigth and doth corrupt many and the Earth is growing ripe with wickedness for destruction for the proud are counted happy and they that work wickedness is admired and gloryed in as the only brave men of these times which they make evil through yeilding themselves servants unto sin and their lusts ease and worldly enjoyments and immediately drop down into eternal perdition And its time for the Lord to arise and plead with all Flesh for Men make void his Law and goes about to establish their own in opposition thereunto for violence cruelty and hardness of heart and persecution are the forerunners of desolation and destruction rhese things do generally abound all is secure and at ease hardness of heart is generally over people and clearly to me it doth presage Judgment tenderness of heart and spirit is generally lost among people and the most have made shipwrack of all their Hope Faith and Professi●n to please the time and men of this Generation who is perverse and froward they have been treacherous to God and to their own Souls and cannot do good to his people Keep as much as in you lies out of their spirit and manners for they corrupt And though Gods Judgments be abroad in the Land and his Anger kindled and broken forth yet few enquires the cause or saith what have I done but if any do enquire it is generally in that dark spirit that leads them to evil which God hides his councel from and will not be found of and yet they make conclusions and gives judgment as the Heathen of old if any Pestilence Famine or drought or Judgment came upon them they said the Christians was the cause and so stirred up Persecution against them the like the Dreamers of this age in their mock-fasts and humiliations they say heresie is the cause and because all does not conform and are not willing to submit to the changable institutions of Men though never so repugnant to the Law