Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A60626
|
An epistle to all the called and chosen of God by William Smith.
|
Smith, William, d. 1673.
|
1672
(1672)
|
Wing S4297; ESTC R32688
|
10,262
|
20
|
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
will feel what the Lord makes up to himself and what he casteth out that must not come within the Borders of his Land nor within the Gates of his City nor within the Doors of his Houshold and Family but is separated and cast out as an unclean thing which with his Jewels he will not make up For it is in the Seed that he planteth and buildeth and maketh up his Jewels and so he fitly frames his Building together and iâ— Him it grows unto an Holy Temple and there is the Habitation of God through his Spirit and so the House is built upon the Rock and not upon the Sand and the Houshold are fed with Bread of the finest Wheat and not with Husks and Chaff and he is Lord and King in his own House to Rule Order and Govern his Houshold and his Houshold live in Order and not in Confusion and here ye will all have Rest and fulness of Joy Therefore be Faithful to the End in all things that ye may Serve Worship and Honour the God of all Power and Greatness that by your Faithfulness his Power and Greatness over all the Earth may be exalted and his Name set above every Name in its own Excellency And so in every good Word and Work be ye all Fruitful and walk in a Holy and Blameless Conversation that he who is Life may be known to be the ROOT and TREE by the Fruit of Righteousness who is to Day as Yesterday and the same for ever And Friends Be Careful to Honour God in all things for he Honoureth those that Honoureth him And take heed that none Dishonour God by fond Affections one towards another for if any go fondly together upon the account of Marriage they Dishonour God and hurt themselves And none to be busie in making Motions between Party and Party or to perswade any to change their Conditions in which they themselves are satisfied to continue and abide but let every one feel the Truth in themselves and the Movings of it in their own Hearts to dispose them in such a Weighty Concernment and then the Ordinance of God will be known in the Covenant of Life and such a Marriage will Honour God as being Honourable in the Undefiled Seed And all keep your Judgment in the Power Life and Wisdom that judgeth Righteously that you may be able to discern and try spirits whether they are of God and let no fair Shew or Appearance out of the Life come over you to vail your Judgment and Discerning nor no feigned Love or Humility sway your Affections for if any let in such things by letting out themselves to comply or joyn with them they will let Darkness over their Judgment and lose their Judgement and then they cannot put a Difference between the Precious and the Vile in a sound Judgement and so may be taken and snared with a smooth formed spirit in Carriage or Words Therefore all be mindful and careful to keep Sound Judgment that not any thing contrary to the Spirit and Life of God may come over you but keep the Judgment of Truth upon all and set true Judgment over all and do not set a Byass upon your Judgment to turn or wrest you aside in Judgment but all Judge in Truth and Righteousness in which you will also feel the Mercy And all keep in the Stayed Sollid Life and let not your Minds run after New Things to draw you from the Sound and Weighty Truth which you have seen and heard and believed but what is manifested unto you either by Word or Writing let the Heavenly Truth be Received and Embraced and Lived in and none to run after new things to forget the old and so you will all keep in mind the Sound and Wholesome Doctrine which hath plentifully been delivered by Faithful Brethren both by Word and Epistle and the Doctrine will abide and remain in you and you will abide and remain in the Doctrine For the preaching of the Grace of God by Jesus Christ is the Sound and Wholesom Doctrine which all are to receive and believe and whether it be preached by Word or Epistle it settleth and establisheth the Heart and Mind of those that receive it and believe in it and they come to grow in Grace which is the Doctrine preached unto them and by them received and believed And so Sound Doctrine maketh a Sound People and you that have received it and believe in it you are made Sound by it and whatsoever is manifest of that Nature as a renewing of the Testimony it doth more confirm you in the Doctrine which ye have already received but never draweth you from it and so you keep the Doctrine from first to last and do not forget any part of it And you do well that keep in mind the Sound and Wholsom Doctrine of the Gospel and the Sound and Wholsom Exhortations with which ye have been exhorted into Obedience and Faithfulness in things pertaining to the Gospel-Doctrine and so keepeth in the Gospel-Fellowship and Order yea I say ye do well who are thus mindful of that Doctrine which in and by the Spirit of God hath been preached unto you ye keep in that which is Sound and Wholsom aud out of that which Putrifies and Corrupts and so come to live in the ingrafted Word that is able to save your Souls And all Friends Keep your Meetings in the Faith and hold fast the Profession of your Faith in all Meetings and keep in mind the great Refreshment with which ye have been refreshed in Meetings and which still remains with all the Faithful and watch against that spirit and nature which at any time bringeth Heaviness and Drousiness upon you in Meetings and when you feel such a thing coming upon you do not give way to it to be overcome by it but with the Power of God resist it in time and so you will feel the Power as a Spring of Living Water to refresh your Souls Oh! let your Dilligence be improved in Watchfulness and Perseverance that ye may all feel the Power and Life over that which would at any time vail you from beholding the excellent Glory and from pertaking of the Heavenly and Living Vertue that so you may all feel the Arm which preserveth and drink at the River which Refresheth and Nourisheth that ye may be Strong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might and so be able to resist and overcome the Enemy in all his Appearances And in all your Meetings be tender over the Good one in another that ye may be a Comfort one to another and so in the Peaceable Wisdom to live and Glorifie God And Friends Do not run into Superfluities in Meats Drinks or Apparrel to come under the Power of any but all wait to be preserved in Sobriety Temperance and Humility And do not fashion your selves like unto the World in their Novelties and new Fashions for they know not what to eat or drink or put on and so are from that which should lead them into Comliness and Modesty and follow that which leadeth them into Vanity and Folly but do you dwell in the Heavenly LIGHT by which you may Adorn the Blessed Gospel and Honour the Lord God of all your Mercies Finally Brethren Fare-ye-well Live in Peace and Truth and Holiness and Righteousness and Godliness and Love and the God of Love and Peace and of all Heavenly Vertues and Graces will be with you into whose Everlasting Arms I commit you and in the Love of his Life I am dearly with you all The 7th Moneth 1672. William Smith Let this EPISTLE be read among Friends in the Power and Wisdom of Truth THE END