Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	scripture_n	speak_v	word_n	9,140	5	4.5911	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34436	The Quakers cleared from being apostates, ok [sic], The hammerer defeated and proved an impostor being an answer to a scurrilous pamphlet falsly intituled William Penn and the Quakers either apostates or impostors, subscribed Trepidantium Malleus : with a postscript containing some reflections on a pamphlet intituled The spirit of Quakerism and the danger of their divine revelation, laid open / by B.C.	Coole, Benjamin, d. 1717.	1696 (1696)	Wing C6047; ESTC R29716	43,852	97

for being in a perfect Estate but acknowledged he was not so But in another place if you will believe him he tells you We don't think of any Imperfection in us or desire of Forgiveness or to that effect But now L. S. don't pretend to it but wisht he was so Who will Credit such a Sayer and Unsayer But as we are exhorted to Confess our Faults one to another and not to hide our Sins for then we shall not prosper but confess and forsake and we shall find Mercy so the Quakers believe and also practice And if he is Ignorant hereof it 's his Fault and not ours In short Confession we own and know it to be our Indispensible Duty To God for every Sin against him either in Thought Word or Action To Man wherein we have Trespassed against him To the Church wherein we have offended her And when the Lord is pleased by his Spirit to draw forth any of his Servants and Ministers into either an Acknowledgment of Sins past or Desire of Forgiveness or both in the exercise of their Gifts amongst the People they represent and on whose Behalf their Petitions are put up we are so far from disapproving hereof or thinking our selves above it that it is exceeding Comfortable and Edifying to us But this we shall never deny that those inward Pangs of a Penitent Soul those Sighs and Groans as well as Words that arise from a wounded Spirit are more acceptable to God than such a Customary Formal crying out Lord the best of our Performances are Sin yea our Holy Duties are Sin but do thou be merciful to us miserable Sinners and so go and so come from Year to Year as if after such a Confession God Almighty was obliged to forgive not considering that 't is those only that Confess and Forsake that shall find Mercy Then again How often are we scofft and mockt at and compared to the Pope because we assert That Men ought to be Infallibly assured of their Duty to God and that the Spirit of God a measure of which is given to every Man to profit withal is Infallible and if minded will so Infallibly assure them that they shall be beyond doubt which is a tossed but not Comfortable Estate From this 't is common with our Adversaries to say That the Quakers pretend to Infallibility and when once turn'd Quakers are Infallible Now that we pretend to Infallibility is true but 't is as before expressed not placing it in Persons or Opinion but the Spirit of God which they themselves can't deny to be Infallible And as Man is governed by that Spirit he will Infallibly be led out of all that which is Fallible and Erroneous both in Faith and Life Yea they themselves will I hope allow the Scripture to be an Infallible Rule and if so the Spirit of God must be yet much more so since from it the Scripture came For Holy Men of Old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost But for my part I would not give a Rush for that Religion that is only Certain in Vncertainty which is the state of all that hath not an Infallible Rule to walk by Again about the Holy Scriptures how abominably have our Adversaries abused us particularly this Hammerer saying 'T is no Rule to us and that we have Cursed more than a Thousand times those that call the Scriptures the Word of God This needs no Confutation from me since every Body that know the Quakers know also that they use Cursing no more than Swearing yet this is the Man that if he don't speak Truth of us Desires to be Esteemed a Persecutor or the greatest Defamer on Earth c. Now although we do not commonly call the Scriptures the Word of God because we distinguish between them and Jesus Christ who is called in Scripture the Word of God yet it is not in the least to derogate from the Honour and Dignity that is due thereto but because it is an Attribute peculiar to Jesus Christ the Word although as they declare the Mind of God with respect to us and are his Commands to us they may in that respect be called the Word or Command of God and so the Quakers Own and Esteem them and Rejoice in them since they afford such a Comfortable History of the Dealings of the Lord with his People through many Generations and of the Coming of his Son our Lord Jesus Christ his Birth Works Doctrine Miracles Sufferings Death Resurrection Ascention Glorification and present Mediation and of his Coming at the End of the World to Judge both Quick and Dead of the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust with many more Precious and Comfortable Doctrines all which are contained in the Holy Scripture and Writ for our Learning that by Faith in Christ the Man of God through them may be thoroughly furnisht to every good Word and Work And to that end we may have the true and right use of them it is requisite Men apply themselves to the Spirit of God in the reading thereof which never Contradicts its own Testimony in the Scripture but Corroborates it and makes it much more Effectual for Edification and Comfort as said the Prophet I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and keep my judgments c. and to this end we have direc 〈…〉 People to the Spirit of God within them For without the Assistance thereof the Reader hath not the true Comfort of them and therefore it 's false in Fact that the Quakers deny the Holy Scriptures and esteem them but Dirt Serpents Meat Death and Dead Letter as this Hammerer the Snake in the Grass Crisp Bugg c. saith For we sincerely believe the Scripture in it self is very good and profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness That the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works But the Best Instruments in the World put into the Hands of a Fool or one of no Capacity is no more to him than those which are worse unless to do Mischief with but in the Hand of an Artist the Work is excellently done Even so the Capacity for the right use of the Scripture is the Qualification of the Spirit without which the Scripture is not of that advantage though otherways very excellent in it self Now as some part of the Scripture is Allegorically to be understood as well as some other Literally and some both as our Adversaries confess so to turn that to an Allegory which is to be understood Literally is equally Foolish with taking that Literally that is to be understood Allegorically For the right understanding hereof can there be any better Method proposed than for Men to have recourse to that Spirit from whence it did at first flow And in that Gift of the Spirit to wait with patience until the Matter is clearly opened to them and not be hasty to conclude

either with or against the Resolves of Councils and Synods c. but being truly exercised in the Gift of the Spirit in Waiting and Attention on it as well as Prayer and Supplication it 's most certain the Matter will be cleared up and the Doubts resolved as it shall conduce to their Spiritual Advantage In short it 's not so much about plain Scripture Authority we differ but about the Authority of those Councils Synods and Assemblies of Divines so called that have undertaken to Expound Scriptures and Decree Articles of Faith For all our Confessions of Faith and Acknowledgment to the Truth of Christianity in plain Scripture Terms is little with them but Cant unless it be in the Terms of the several Councils or Westminster Divines c. and yet they are the People that cry up the Scripture for their Rule though they make it a meer Nose of Wax to turn to every thing that either Humour or Interest trumps up Thus one Council hath Contradicted what the other hath Determined And another thing in which 't is common for these People to Abuse and Belie us in is about our Lord Jesus Christ which this Adversary saith page 80. That he was the Anointings of God and when Dead his Body turned to Dust and that afterwards the same Anointings were in others But who or when any Quaker said so he mentions not a word and in Answer to it I say he would have as truly represented the Presbyterians as he hath done tho Quakers If he said of them that they held Universal Grace and that there was never any such thing in the World as the Solemn League and Covenant and no such Man as the Bishop of St. Andrews Murthered or that King Charles the First cut off his own Head or that they never Hanged Men only for being Quakers or that their Brethren in Scotland were for Universal Liberty notwithstanding their Barbarity to the Episcopal Clergy and their Design to Excommunicate the last Year all Persons that should Buy or Sell with or Entertain a Quaker which had took effect had not the Clemency of the King interposed to break their Mischievous Designs I say as the Matters and Things abovementioned lye are as true the one as the other so I Charge him for a Notorious Impostor thus to abuse and deceive his Reader and under the specious pretences of speaking Truth to vent such apparent Fals-hoods Now although I positively deny what Anonymus affirms and put him upon the proof which I am sure he can never do yet for the sakes of others that may be deceived by this Lying Spirit I shall freely express our Faith herein since that is the part which affords me the greatest Satisfaction in this Undertaking But if I should not do it in the Terms of the Schools though in never so plain Scripture Terms perhaps it will find but little Credit with our Adversaries notwithstanding the great Talk and Boast they make about the Authority of the Scripture But however let them do as they please I hope we shall not receed from the Testimony of Holy Scripture As to the Heresies of the Socinians and Sabelleans which he endeavours to fix on the Quakers since so much has been said already in Confutation thereof so to reassume the Argument and give it a fresh Confutation would swell this beyond my Intentions but besides many others that has done it I shall refer to one that in this Author's Esteem is both Honest and Ingenuous whose word I hope then he will not question and that is G. K. in his Way Cast up which was Written in Defence of us and our Principles to which I refer the Reader for though G. K. hath changed his Mind since that time the Quakers have not and therefore his Arguments in Defence of our Principles are as much in force against our Adversaries as ever since we did then and do now approve of them whate'er we may do by the Man for many a Man has declared the Truth and turned from it afterwards but Truth is not to be denied because of that In short besides G. K. and the many Quakers that has Writ on that Subject the Quakers believe the Substance of the Nicene Creed as truly as any of their Adversaries which cuts up all this Hammerers Allegations at the Roots as it is reported by Socrates Scholasticus in his first Book of the Ecclesiastical History Chap. 5. Page 222. which I shall insert the Substance of save also the Curse at the latter end of it upon them that held contrary Opinions WE Believe in One God the Father Almighty Maker of all things visible and Invisible and in One Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God the Only Begotten Son of the Father that is of the Substance of the Father by whom all things were made both the things in Heaven and the things in Earth Who for us Men and for our Salvation came down and was Incarnate He was made Man He Suffered and Rose the third Day He ascended into the Heavens He shall come to Judge both the Quick and the Dead And we Believe in the Holy Ghost Now though we chuse rather to express our Faith in plain Scripture Terms than in the Terms of any Council whatever yet where Matters of Faith are laid down in plain Scripture Terms by them we never were so cross-grained to refuse an Assent because it was the Determination of a Council But though the above abundantly clears us from his false and wicked Charges of denying the Divinity and Humanity of Christ and the Trinity yet we have more to say for the sakes of those whose Innocency has been destroyed by such Impostors as this Adversary Know then that as the Holy Scripture declared the Divinity of Christ so we as Faithfully believe it according to Micah But thou Bethlehem Ephratah though thou be little amongst the Thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel Whose going forth have been from of old from Everlasting or the Days of Eternity Again In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God The same was in the Beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made Again Who is the Image of the Invisible God the First-born of every Creature Again for by him were all things Created c. Who was the Root and Off-spring of David the Bright and Morning-Star The Heir of all things the Brightness of God's Glory and the Express Image of his Substance who upholds all things by the Word of his Power And by whom also all things were Created And for his Humanity according to the Hebrews Forasmuch then as the Children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that

not Belie or Abuse the Quakers if he do let him be accounted the greatest Defamer upon Earth c. But that they the Quakers do not understand it to be Conscience he himself has proved quoting Ro. Barclay calling it Vehiculum Dei whose Book is approved by the Quakers and contains their Faith and Doctrine in the Points Controverted and thither I refer the Ingenious Reader for a more full and ample satisfaction but since that Book is large and this being part of our present Controversie in pursuing this Hammerer I shall freely declare first Negatively That by the Light we never understood it to be Conscience since Conscience is liable to be corrupted and hardened as said the Apostle but this Principle of Divine Light is not obnoxious to any alteration or change from its own pure and holy Nature to any degree of Corruption whatsoever nor is it natural Reason for there is an apparent depravity come thereupon But secondly I declare Positively That by the Light we understand a glorious Beam or Ray proceeding from Christ the Fountain of Light displaying it self into our Souls for the enlightning of our Understandings and to put us in a Capacity to distinguish between Object and Object for as a Blind Man cannot discern the difference in Colours for want of his sight so all Men in their natural Estate are in as great a degree of Spiritual Blindness until by this Light they are in a degree enlightned hence it is that all are called Children of Wrath and that there is none that doth good no not one nor can it be otherwise for although Custom and Tradition may influence Men to do what they think they ought to do and deter them from what they have been taught to avoid yet till by a degree more or less of this Light they are enlightned it 's a Blind Zeal and Will-worship which is not at all acceptable to God but is Iniquity as is the Plowing of the Wicked though otherwise in it self an inoffensive Exercise so that the sight and knowledge of what makes for Man's Everlasting Happiness depends upon this Divine Light for without it we have no sight and consequently no Spiritual Knowledge since Man's Natural Reason is so depraved that he can no more search into and behold the glorious things that relates to the Kingdom of God and his Immortal State they being too Sublime for him than 't is possible for a Man to look into and search out the Matter and Nature of the Sun with his Bodily Eyes which if he attempts is soon Convinced of his Folly by being blinded by the inaccessible transcending Glory and Light thereof so that as the Apostle said 1 Cor. 2. 11. For what Man knoweth the things of a Man save the Spirit of a Man that is in him even so the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God And in Verse 14. But the natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned I say then since Man in his Natural Estate is not able to know the things of God it is most certain that he must if ever he know them come to it by the help not of a Natural but Divine Light and such a Divine Light God who is in Christ Reconciling the World to himself the Father of Lights has sent his Son the Light of the World to bless the World withal that by believing in him Men may come out of Darkness and be turned every one of them from the Evil of their Ways It 's true he was a glorious Light in his Life Ministry Miracles Sufferings Death and Resurrection and as such there is no Dispute but we are obliged to believe in him and then we shall not abide in that Darkness and Unbelief the Jews c. are now in but that it should be restricted to that we deny since himself promised to come again and to be in his and with his to the end of the World to lead them into all Truth to Comfort as well as Convince them and in fine to dwell with them and in them according to Jo. 14. 16 17 18 21 23. and 15. 26. and 16. 7. with many more in the New Testament so that notwithstanding a Belief of Christ's Coming in the Flesh and Suffering and therein becoming a most Compleat Sacrifice for Remission of the Sins of the whole World Men may live and die in an unreconcileable State and fall short of that Salvation Jesus Christ has by his Blood purchased for them for a bare Belief and Consent to the Truth hereof doth not Entitle any Man to the Salvation therein offered unless he lives conform to the Will of God viz. Repent of his former Life and Vanity Believes viz. has Faith in God and Christ and that holy Spirit sent forth to purif●e his Heart and submits to the Work of it and leads a Life of Godliness and Honesty for time to come these are terms upon which Christ the Saviour is offered to every Man and they that perform these Conditions have the Benefit of the Sacrifice of Christ and for his sake God will look on them as if they had never sinned at all Now since to come to this Qualification where the Righteousness of Christ is truly to be imputed requires a real and effectual Change from Nature to Grace from Darkness to Light how is it possible that this Change can be effected without a steady adhering to this Divine Light which as it is obeyed in all its Manifestations leads out of all Darkness and Death into the Marvelous Light of Life nor doth this Principle of Light that manifest whatsoever is reprovable Eph. 5. 13. to that end it may be relinquished contradict the Light in the Scriptures for the Commands of the Holy Ghost in Scripture are made by this Light much more Effectual and Obligatory upon us for we do not place the Authority of Scripture only from its being esteemed Canonical but also from the Testimony of the Divine Light in our own Hearts which would have obliged the Believers therein to have believed the Holy Scriptures Sacred and of Divine Authority if no such Canons had past to put a Sanction on them How Unjust Uncharitable and Wicked then are our Adversaries that stick not to say We debase the Scripture to set up our own Light In short by the Light within we understand not Conscience nor Natural Reason but that Light which from the Son of Righteousness Jesus Christ the Light of the World shines into the Hearts of the Sons of Men to give them the Knowledge of the Glory of God or that Spirit of Truth that was promised should Convince the World of Sin and lead into all Truth or that Word nigh in the Heart and Mouth to be heard and obeyed or that still small Voice that saith This is the Way walk in it when turning to the Right