Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	life_n	way_n	world_n	4,036	5	4.7603	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54125	The continued cry of the oppressed for justice being a farther account of the late unjust and cruel proceedings of unreasonable men against the persons and estates of many of the people call'd Quakers, only for their peaceable meetings to worship God : presented to the serious consideration of the King and both Houses of Parliament : with a postscript of the nature, difference and limits of civil and ecclesiastical authority, and the inconsistency of such severities with both, recommended and submitted to the perusal of Cæsar's true friends / by the author of England's present interest, &c.	Penn, William, 1644-1718.	1675 (1675)	Wing P1270; ESTC R18856	19,683	36

would entreat Caesar to consider the sad Conseq●ence of Imp●sition and remember both that God did never ask Man Leave to Introduce Truth or make further Discoveries of ●is Mind to the World and that it hath been a wof●l Snare to those Governments that have been drawn to employ their Power against his Work and People 10thly This Way of Proceedure endeavours to stiffle or else to punish Sincerity for Fear or Hopes Frowns or Favour prevail only with base Minds So●ls degenerated to the third and fourth Generation every Spark of Integrity must be extinguisht where Conscience is sacrificed to Worldly Saf●ty and Preferment so that t●is Net holds no Temporizers Honest Men are all the Fish it catches but one would t●ink they should make but an ill Treat to such as reckon themselves generous Men and what is more Christians too but that which renders the Matter more unjustifiable is the Temptation such Severity puts upon Men not hardy enough to suffer for Conscience yet strongly perswaded they have Truth on their Side to desert their Principles and smo●her their Convictions which in plain Terms is to make of sincere Men Hypocrites whereas it is one great End of Government by all laudable Means to pre●erve Sincerity for without it there can be no Faith or Truth in Civ●l Society nor is this all for it is a Maxim worthy of Caesar's Notice NEVER TO THINK HIM TRUE TO CAESAR THAT IS FALSE TO HIS OWN CONSCIENCE besides raped Consciences treasure up Revenge and such Persons are not likely to be longer Friends to Caesar then he hath Preferm●●ts to a●lure them or Power to deter them from being his most implacable Enemies 11thly There is not so ready a Way to 〈…〉 eism as this of extinguishing the Sense of Conscience for Worldly Ends destroy that Internal Rule of Faith Worship and Pract 〈…〉 t●wards God and the Reason of my Religion will be Civil Injunctions and not Divine Convictions consequently I am to be of as many Religions as the Civil Authority shall impose however untrue or contradictory this Sacred Tye of Conscience thus broken farewell to all ●eavenly Obligations in the Soul Scripture-Authority and ancient Protesta●t Principles Christ may at this Rate become what the Jews would have had him and his Apostles be reputed Turners of the World upside down as their Enemies represented them and the godly Martyrs of all Ages so many Self-Murderers for they might justly be esteemed Resisters of Worldly Authority so far as that Authority concerns it self with the Imposition of Religion because they refused the Conformity commanded even to Death And it may not be unworthy of Caesar's Consideration if from these Proceedings People are tempted to infer there is nothing in Religion but Worldly Aims and Ends because so much Power is abus'd under the Name of Religion to vex and destroy Men for being of another Religion that he hazards the best Hold and Obligation he hath to Obedience which is Conscience for where they are taught to obey for Interest Duty and Conviction are out of Doors By all Means let Conscience be sacred and Virtue and Integrity the under dissenting Principles cherisht Charity is more powerful then Severity Perswasion then Penal Laws Lastly To the Reproach of this Course with wise Men it hath never yet obtain'd the End desired for instead of Compliance the Difference is widened the Sufferers are pitied by Spectators which only helps to increase the Number of Dissenters for whoever is in the wrong few think the Persecutor in the Right This in all Ages having been the Issue of severe Prosecution of Dissenters for Matters of Religion what a Cruel Troublesom Thankless Succesless Office is it for Caesar to be employed in may he take better Measure of his Authority and use his Power to the Encouragement of all the Virtuous and Industrious and Just Punishment of the Lazy and Vicious in all Perswasions so shall the Kingdom Florish and the Government Prosper For Ecclesiastical Authori●y or in plainer English Church-Power which makes up the other Pa●t of this Postscript it will be requisite to consult Holy Scripture wh●re we shall be informed of the Institution and Practice of it among the Ancient Ch●istians and by that Canon all People professing Christianity pretend a Willingness to be concluded CHurch-Power supposeth a Church first It will not be improper therefore to examine first What a Scripture-New-Testament-Church is and next what is the Scripture Power belonging to such a Church A Scripture-Church is a Company or Society of People believing professing and practising according to the Doctrine and Example of Christ Jesus and his Apostles and not according to the Scribes Pharisees that taught for Doctrine the Traditions of Men They are such as are Meek in Heart Lowly in Spirit Chast in Life Virtuous in all Conversation full of Self-Denyal Long-Suffering and Patience not only for giving but loving their very Enemies a People so effectually redeemed from the Impieties and Vanities of the World he that thought it no Robbery to be equal with God thought it no Disparagement to be Head to and account as his own Body It was upon a Society thus qualified that the Holy Ghost bestows these excellent Names Disciples and Friends of Christ Heirs and 〈◊〉 with Christ Christ's Brethren and Ki●d●●● A peculiar People The p●r 〈…〉 as most p●●ci●us Blood the Redeemed from 〈◊〉 Earth A Royal Priesthood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nation The Church of the First Born Christ's Body and the Lamb's Brid which answers but Christ's own Character of himself Religion and Kingdom which is the most apt Distinction that ever can be given of the Nature of his Church and her Authority viz MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD which well connects with Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar 's and unto God the things that are God 's It was an Answer to a very suspitious Question for it was familiarly bruited that he was a King and came to poss●ss his Kingdom and was by some called the King of the Jews The Jews being then subjected to the Roman Empire it concerned Pilate Caesar's Deputy to understand his pretentions which upon better information he found to center in this My Kingdome is not of this World else would my Subjects fight for me As if he had said these Reports are a meer perversion of my Peaceable and Self-denying Intentions an Infamy invented by malicious Scribes and Pharisees that they might the better prevaile with Caesar to sacrifice me to their hatred and revenge I am Caesar's Friend I seek none of his Kingdom from him nor will I sow Sedition plot or conspire his Ruin no let all Men render unto Caesar the Things that are Caesar 's that 's my Doctrine for I am come to erect a Kingdom of another Nature then that of this World to wit a Spiritual Kingdom to be set up

in the Heart And Conscience is my Throne upon that will I sit and rule the Children of Men in Righteousness and who ever lives soberly righteously and godlily in this World shall be my good and 〈…〉 s and they will certainly make no ill ones for C 〈…〉 Virtue is the end of Government and renders hi● S 〈…〉 more easie safe then before Had I any other Des●g● then ●●is would I suffer my Self to be reproached traduced and per●ecuted by a conquered people were it not more my 〈◊〉 to suffer then revenge would not their many provocation have drawn from me some instance of another Nature then the Forbearance and Forgiveness I teach Certainly were I animated by another principle then the perfection of Meekness and Divine Sweetness I should not have forbiden Peter fighting 〈…〉 ing put up thy Sword or endoctrinated my Followers to bear Wrongs but revenge all Affronts and by Plots and other Stratagems have attempted Ruin to my Enemies and the Acquest of worldly Empire and no doubt but they would have fought for me Nay I am not only patiently and with Pitty to Enemies sensible of their barbarous Carriage towards me for my Good Will to them for their Eternal Happiness I only seek but I foresee what they further intend against me they design to crucifie me and to do it will rather free a Murderer then save their Saviour they will perform that Cruelty with all the Agravation and Contempt they can deriding me themselves and exposing me to the Derision of others for they will mock my Divine Kingship with a Crown of Thorns and in my Agonies of Soul and Body for a Cordial give me Gall and Vineger to drink but notwithstanding all this to satisfie the World that my Religion is above Wrath and Revenge I can forgive them and to secure Caesar and his People from all Fears of Imposition whatever Authority I have and how many Legions of Angels soever I might command both to my Deliverance and the Enforcement of my Message up●n Mankind I resolve to promote neither with worldly Power for it is not of the Nature of my Religion and Kingdom and as I neither assume nor practise any such thing my Self that am the great Author Promoter and Example of this Holy Way so have I not only never taught my Disciples to live or act otherwise or given them a Power I refuse to use my Self but expresly forbad them and warn'd them in my Instructions of exercising any the least Revenge Imposition or Coertion towards any This is evident in my Sermon preached upon the Mount where I freely publickly and with much Plainness not only prohibited Revenge but ●njoyned Love to Enemies making it to be a great Token of true Discipleship to suffer Wrongs and conquer Cruelty by Patience and Forgiveness which is certainly a great Way off Imposition or Compulsion upon other Men. And when I was strongly bent for Jerusalem and sent Messengers before to prepare some Entertainment for me and my Company in a Village belonging to the Samaritans and it seems the People refused because they apprehended I was going to Jerusalem this provoakt some of my Disciples particularly James and John to that Degree that they asked me if I were willing that they should command Fire from Heaven to destroy those Samaritans as Elias in another Case had done I turned about and rebuked them saying Ye know not what Manner of Spirit ye are of for I am not come into the World to destroy Mens Lives but by my peaceable Doctrine and Example to save them At another Time one of my Disciples relating to me some Passages of their Travails told me of a certain Man they saw that cast out Devils in my Name and because he was not of their Company nor followed them said he we forbad him as if they had thereby served and pleased me but I presently testified my Dislike of the Ignorance and Narrowness of their Zeal and to inform them better told them they should not have forbid him for he that is not against us is for us my Drift is not Opinion but Piety they that cast out Devils convert Sinners and turn Men to Righteousness are not against me nor the Nature and Religion of my Kingdom and therefore ought to be cherisht rather then forbid That I might sufficiently declare and inculcate my Mind in this Matter I did at an other Time and upon a different Occasion preach against all Coertion and Persecution for Matters of Faith and Practice towards God in my Parable of the Sower as my Words manifest which were these The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a Man which sowed good Seed in his Field but while Men slept his Enemy came and sowed Tares among the Wheat and went his Way but when the Blade sprung up and brought forth Fruit there appeared the Tares also so the Serv●nts of the House-houlder came and said didst thou not sow good Seed in thy Field from whence then hath it Tares he answered an Enemy hath done this the Servants said unto him wilt thou then that we go and gather them up but he said NAY lest while ye gather up the Tares ye root up also the Wheat with them let both grow together till the Harvest and in the Time of Harvest I will joy to the Reapers gather ye together first the Tares and bind them in Bundles to burn them but gather the Wheat into my Barn And that I might not leave so necessary a Truth mis apprehended of my dear Followers or liable to any Mis-constructions my Disciples when together desiring an Explanation I interpreted my Words thus He that soweth the good Seed is the Son of Man the Field is the World the good Seed are the Children of the Kingdom but the Tares are the Children of the Wicked One the Enemy that sowed them is the Devil the Harvest is the End of the World and the Reapers are the Angels This Patience this Long-Suffering and great Forbearance belong to my Kingdom and the Subjects of it my Doctrine speaks it and my Example confirms it and this can have no possible Agreement with Imposition and Persecution for Conscience And that I might sufficiently deter my Followers from any such Thing as I profess my self to be their Lord and Master so have I commanded them to love one another in a more especial Manner but if instead therof any grow proud high minded and beat or abuse their Fellow Servants in my religious Family when I come to take account of my Houshold he shall be cut asunder and appointed his Po●●tion among the Unbelievers behold the Recompence I appoint to Imposing Lordly Persons such as count others Infidels and to make them such Believers as themselves will exercise Violence towards them and if they prevail not will call for Fire from Heaven to devour them and if Heaven refuse them will fall a beating

to Ruin and their Persons to Goals Exiles and Abundance of other Cruelties What is this but to confound the Things of Caesar with the Things of God Divine Worship with Civil Obedience the Church with the State and perplex human Societies with endless Debates about Religious Differences nay is not this to erect new Measures to try the Members of Worldly Societies by and give an Accession to another Power then that which is necessary to the Constitution of Civil Government But that which ought to deter wise Rulers from assuming and exercising such an Authority is the Consideration of the pernicious Consequences of doing so For First It makes PROPERTY which is the first and most fixt part of English Government floating and uncertain no Conformity to the Church no Property in the State and doubtless the Insecurity of Property can be no Security to the Government 2dly It makes me owe more to the Church then to the State for in this Case the Anchor I ride by is not my Obedience to Laws relating to the Preservation of Civil Society but Conformity to certain Things belonging to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church to that though I may be an honest industrious English man a great Lover of my Country and an Admirer of the Government I live under yet if I refuse to profess the Religion that either now is or hereafter may be imposed I must neither enjoy the Liberty of my Person nor the quiet Possesion of my Estate 3dly This not only alters the Government by sacrificing Mens Properties for that which cannot be called a Sin against Property nor an Offence to the Nature of Civil Government if any Transgression at all but it narrows the Interest and Power of the Governours for proportionably what Number they cut off from their Protection they cut off from themselves and the Government not only rendering a great Body of People Vseless but provoaking them to be Dangerous to be sure it clogs the Civil Magistrate in his Administration of Government making that necessary which is not at all necessary to him as Caesar It is a Sort of DVVMVIRATESHIP in Power by which the Civil Monarchy is broken for as that was a Plurality of Men so this is a Plurality of Powers and to speak freely the Civil Power is but Lackey to run of all the unpleasant Errands the froward Zeal of the other sends it upon and the best Preferment it receives for its Pains is to be Informer Goaler or Executioner to some of the best Livers and therefore the best Subjects in the Kingdom Oh what greater Injustice to Caesar then to make his Government vary by such Modes of Religion and him to hold his Obedience from his People not by their Conformity to Him but the Church 4thly This is so far from resembling the Universal Goodness of God who dispenses his Light Air Showres and comfortable Seasons to all and whom Caesar ought alwayes to imitate and remote from increasing the Trade Populacy and Wealth of this Kingdom that it evidently tends to the utter Ruin of Thousands of Traders Artificers and Husband-men and their Families thereby increasing the Charges by increasing the poor of the Nation 5thly This must needs be a great Discouragement to Strangers from coming in and setling themselves amongst us when they have Reason to apprehend that they and their Children after them can be no longer secured in the Enjoyment of their Properties then they shall be able to prevail with their Consciences to believe that the Religion which our Laws do now or shall at any Time approve and impose is undoubtedly true and the Way of worshipping of God which shall at any Time be by our Laws enjoyned is and shall be more agreeable to the Will of God then any other Way in which God is worshipped in the World 6thly The Religion we are commanded Conformity to doth not make better Livers that 's a Demonstrative nor better Artists for it cannot be thought that going to Church hearing Common-Prayer or believing in the present Episcopacy learns Men to build Ships or Houses to make Clothes Shoes Dials or Watches Buy Sell Trade or Commerce better then any that are of another Perswasion and since these Things are Vseful if not Requisite in Civil Society is not prohibiting nay ruining such Men because they will not come to hear Common-Prayer c. distructive of Civil Society nor more obedient Subjects If any object Dissenters have not alwayes been so the Answer is ready do not expose them protect them in their Lives Liberties and Estates for in their present Posture they think they can call nothing their own and that all the Comforts they have in this World are hourly lyable to Forfeiture for their Faith Nope and Practice concerning the other World Is not this to destroy Nature and Civil Government when People are ruined in their Natural and Civil Capacity not for Things relating to either but what are of a Super-natural Import 7thly This deprives them of Protection that protect the Government Dissenters have a great Share in the Trade which is the Greatness of this Kingdom and they make a large Proportion of the Taxes that maintain the Government and is it reasonable or can it be Christian when they pay Tribute to Caesar to be preserved in an Vndisturbed Poss●ssion of the rest and that the rest should be continually exposed for the peaceable Exercise of their Consciences to God 8thly Neither is this a Conformity to True and Solid Religion such as is necessary to Eternal Salvation wherein most Parties verbally agree but for a Modification of Religion some peculiar Way of Worship and Discipline All confess One God One Christ One Holy Chest and that it is indispensably requisite to live Soberly Righteously and Godlikely in this present evil World yet is one prosecuting the other for his Conscience seizing Corn driving away Cattel breaking open Doors taking away and spoiling of Goods in some Places not leaving a Cow to give poor Orphans Milk nor a B●d to lye on in other Places Houses have been swept so clean that a Stool hath not been left to fit on nor so much as working Tools to labour for Bread To say nothing of the Opprobrious Speeches Bloody Blows and Tedious Imprisonments even to Death it self through Nastiness of Dungeous that many Innocent People have suffered for their peaceable Conscience only 9thly But this Way of proceeding for Maintenance of the National Religion is of an ill Consequence upon this Account Heaven is barr'd from all further Illuminations let God send what Light he pleaseth it must not be received by Caesar's People without Caesar's Licence and if it happen that Caesar be not presently convinced it is of God at this Rate I must either renounce my Conv●ct●ons and loose my Soul to please Caesar or profess and persevere in my Perswassion and loo●e my Life Liberty or Estate to please God this hath frequently oc●urr'd and may again therefore I