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world_n	jesus_n	light_n	light_v	2,353	5	9.9954	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34988	Charitable advice in a letter to the French Protestants, into whatsoever parts of the world dispers'd, by reason of their present sufferings and persecutions, from the hands of the Roman Catholicks / first written for the use of the French Protestants by Stephen Crisp ... ; and since translated out of the French, for more publick benefit.	Crisp, Stephen, 1628-1692.	1688 (1688)	Wing C6926; ESTC R37689	10,838	17

had their more private Congregations What was then become my Dear Friends of your Talent of Knowledge Did ye not know that as ye had received greater Understanding and more Light than others your Lives and Conversations ought to have shined with the greater lustre and to have been the more exemplary for Sobriety Temperance and the Fear of God to the Honour of his Holy Name and confusion of his Enemies For this would have had more efficacy and success in converting your Adversaries than all your Arguments formed by the Help and Rules of Logick Rhetorick or Philosophy These things when the Spirit and Witness of God in your Consciences shall have recalled to your minds and you shall be made sensible of the mis-spence of your past Lives you will see great reason profoundly to humble your selves and prepare your hearts to say as Saul once did to the Lord What wilt thou have us to do And the Lord on his part will not fail to draw nigh to you in a strange Land I mean to those who seek him diligently For all Nations are alike to him since every Nation or People which feareth him and doth that which is righteous is accepted by him through our Lord Jesus Christ and as David saith he teacheth the Humble and instructeth the Meek in his ways Pardon me I pray you dear Friends if I tell you in plain terms that the reason why you are such Strangers to the divine and inward motions of the Spirit of God is because ye are not enough humble and poor in Spirit which renders you insensible of your own wants and necessities so that you choose to you Teachers to please your Ears only whereby you are diverted from a diligent and earnest search into the ways of God and from hearkning to those holy motions of his Spirit by which he reproves you in your hearts II. In the Second Place it is a matter of the greatest consequence to you in the world diligently and attentively to consider what should be the occasion of your falling under so many Afflictions You will tell me perhaps that it was because ye could not in Conscience subscribe to certain Articles as ye were required nor practice certain things which ye did believe to be altogether contrary to the Will of God c. Ye say well but my Friends if Conscience be to be regarded and obeyed in these respects why is there not the same reason to hearken to and follow it in the whole course of our Lives and Conversations If our Consciences are enlightned 't is by the Light of Jesus Christ who lighteth every man that cometh into the World and if our Consciences are governed by this Light and we give up our selves to the conduct of our enlightned Consciences we are by the same Law of Conscience which is Light forbidden the committing any thing that may offend God For the same Light which doth convince my Conscience That it is a sin to fall down and to worship an Idol or adore a Crucifix doth also convince me that it is as much a sin to Lye to Swear to forswear to commit Fornication to speak any vain or idle Words or to let proceed out of my mouth any foolish ridiculous or insolent speeches Oh! what happiness would ye find what peace of Conscience would your hearts enjoy would ye observe this throughout your whole Lives And indeed the same reason should oblige you to it for if the dictates of Truth in the Conscience are as ye confess to be followed in some things why not in all and especially in those wherein we are as equally enlightned and convinced I would also demand of you If there be any one among you who is not fully and intirely convinced in his Conscience that Drunkenness Swearing Lying Hypocrisie and Pride are as contrary and disagreeable to the Holy and Pure Will of God as are the Adorations and Services that are paid to an Image or Crucifix or as are any subscriptions to the most superstitious Articles that can be exacted of you I believe there is not for the same Light of Truth which manifests the one discovers the other also as saith the Apostle Whatsoever is reproveable is manifested by the Light for that which manifesteth it is Light. But by the way it will not be impertinent to put you in mind that there are divers Operations in the Consciences of Men for all men do not make the same Scruples of Conscience in matters of Religion nor are induc'd thereto by the same Reasons and Causes for were it so they would be all of the same Opinion with Christ the Apostles and the Primitive Christians who while they had their Consciences governed by the Spirit of Jesus Christ continued alike and were all of one heart and one mind But there are three things chiefly which divert the Consciences of men from this Universal Rule of Holiness Faith and Charity leading them out of the Road of a Holy Life dividing them in their Faith and rendring them cold in their Charity These three Points I will in a few words treat of to the end that every Soul that is willing to search diligently may find some helps whereby he may know if any of them have the Government and Conduct of his Conscience They are these three 1. Education 2. Worldly Interest 3. A blind subjection of the Conscience to the government of another whereby it becomes passionately devoted to his interests and vehemently enamour'd with all his inordinate affections I. As to the first of these we must consider Education in a twofold respect 1. Good and 2. Bad. A good Education has a grand influence upon the Spirit in regard of Doctrines Principles Forms Manners and Ceremonies of Divine Worship Not that this is the only means whereby the Life and Power of Religion are conveyed from the Teachers to the Disciples no that is reserved to the immediate operation of the Power and Spirit of Jesus Christ and it is therefore the Duty of every one how-good-soever his Education may have been and whatsoever pure and solid Doctrines he may have received to desire wait for and entertain this Divine Operation on his heart that he may be thereby rendered pure and holy and fit to bear witness to the Truths that he shall at any time hear delivered by word of Mouth for otherwise all his Religion will be but dead and formal and without any inward Life to animate his Actions and so he may be without any Oyl in his Lamp although his Teachers be never so well provided and yet such a person as this though destitute of the life and vertue of Religion within himself may make great Conscience of this or that formality of Religion and prefer the way wherein he was born and bred before any other whatsoever but will for all this be never the better Christian and it will stand him in little stead in reference to the great and principal end of man which is

CHARITABLE ADVICE In a Letter to the French Protestants Into whatsoever Parts of the World Dispers'd By Reason of their Present SUFFERINGS AND PERSECUTIONS From the Hands of the ROMAN CATHOLICKS First Written for the Use of the French Protestants by STEPHEN CRISP one of the People called Quakers And since Translated out of the French for more Publick BENEFIT Mat. 5.12 Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your Reward in Heaven For so Persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Mark 13.13 And ye shall be hated of all Men for my Names sake But he that shall endure to the End the same shall be saved With Allowance LONDON Printed by G. L. at the Two Swans without Bishopsgate 1688. To the READER THE following Papers though designed only by the Author for the Vse of the French Protestants yet containing in them so much excellent and wholesom Advice I deem'd it would not be altogether unacceptable to make them speak English that our own Countrymen may have before them a fresh Idea of that Poor Peoples Calamities which may at once excite their Charity to them and hearty acknowledgments to Almighty God that still preserves us in prosperity and quietness And no one need suggest to himself from these hints any fear to the contrary For under God we have an Infallible Security a Royal and Gracious Sovereign Promising and Resolving to protect us in the exercise of our Religion in Peace Plenty and Credit for which may he find at the hands of the Lord Mercy and Blessings here and a Happy Life hereafter I have no more to desire of the Reader but that he will pardoning the faults a hasty Translation seriously mind what is here said and heartily put it in practice so that if which God forbid it should chance to be our turn to fall under the like sufferings we may not be ashamed of Christ and his Cross and the Good Cause of our Forefathers but after those blessed Examples may manfully despise and patiently pass through all tribulations in this Life in hopes of that happy share in the Heavenly Mansions which God that cannot lie has promised to such his Servants and Followers And that God will give us his Grace to enable us thereto is the daily Prayer of Thy hearty Welwisher and and Brother in Jesus Christ J. F. CHARITABLE ADVICE By way of Letter to the French Protestants Into what Parts of the WORLD soever Dispers'd c. DEAR FRIENDS 'T IS by the Inspiration of the Spirit of God and the Holy Motions of Love which it produces in my Heart that I am prompted at this time to Write to you And I do by the same Spirit of Love and Charity intreat the good God that it will please him by his invisible Power to open your Hearts to receive this short Word of Advice which I present you with and which concerns only your Everlasting Felicity It is Evident that your Sufferings are great and the noise of them has reach'd many Provinces Kingdoms and Countries by which means a great part of the World has been able to make Reflections upon the Cruelty of your Persecuters and at the same time to lament your Miserable Estate which has so nearly affected most men that they have not been content only to be touched with the greatest Compassion for you but have stretch'd forth their Hands to lift you up and assist you in your Necessities shewing themselves thereby truly affected to Christianity it being the indispensable Duty of all Christians to do what good they can one to another or in the Phrase of the Apostle To do good unto all Men but especially to those of the Houshold of Faith. These Motives prevail'd upon me to visit you in this your Day of Tribulation with a few Lines of Counsel and Advice which you will do well to accept with a sincere Heart and Humble Spirit for you cannot but reap some Advantage from them I. To begin then Consider seriously in the first place what could be the cause of your Sufferings and why the Lord permitted these times of Tryal and Affliction to come upon you Where by the Way I would not have any Man think me so presumptuous as to pretend to judge you or to conclude That God is always angry with those whom he suffers to lie under the greatest Afflictions No God forbid For who ever underwent such Afflictions as the most dear Children of God But though many have born severe Sufferings for the Tryal of their Faith and to be thereby Purified and prepar'd either to serve as Witnesses of God's Holy Name among the Sons of Men or to possess his Heavenly Kingdom into which nothing that is filthy and unclean can enter Yet nevertheless it cannot be denied but that there are many who suffer for having provok'd the Lord to Anger by their Disobedience Now which of these Reasons was the Subject of your Sufferings you cannot better understand than by that Light of Truth which shineth in your Hearts and manifesteth it self in your Consciences For doubtless whoever of you will set your selves seriously and attentively to consider your Ways and Manners in times past will quickly find how it stands between GOD and your own Souls For the Lord God hath a Faithful and True Witness in the Consciences of every one of you which hath Enregistred and kept in Order all the Actions you have done from your Childhoods This Witness will help you to Recollect how you walked with the Lord in the days of your Prosperity and Liberty in your own Countrey when ye sat every Man under his Vine and every Man under his Fig-tree How little have you answered the Kindnesses and Bounty of God to you How little did ye prize that Light of Understanding which God gave to you in greater measure than to your Countreymen So that although it were as offensive to the Eyes of God for you to follow and obey the Lusts and evil Passions of your Hearts as for your Neighbours to be Prostrated to and Adore their Images of Wood and Stone Yet how great were your Luxuries your Debaucheries your Quarrels and Jealousies one against another How did the greater Part of you content your selves with a Religion differing indeed in Form from that of the Countrey but in Life and Conversation almost the same giving your selves full Career and Liberty in all sorts of unlawful Pleasures Vanities and Concupiscencies of the Flesh Was it not a thing most disagreeable to the Spirit of God to see you at that same time call upon him with your Lips and Dishonour him by your scandalous Lives which yielded Occasion to your Adversaries of reproaching you and your Religion And it has been a great while the Observation that most Travellers into your Countrey have made that there was little Difference between the Protestants and Papists of France as to matter of Life and Conversation unless it were that the latter frequented the publick Churches and the others

the Sanctification of his Soul and Reconciliation of it to God to have been only a professor of such points of Doctrine though they were never so pure holy and orthodox Because they that have had a bad Education and have been brought up in ways of darkness and full of the errors and corruptions of this World invented by sinful man have also a Conscience though stain'd and defil'd by the aforesaid Darkness and the ill precepts of their Teachers they pride themselves in their Errors and would fain have them pass for so many Truths embracing Darkness instead of Light and walking by the Light of that fire which they themselves have kindled crying aloud Thus did our Forefathers and alleadging Antiquity for a Cloak to cover their Errors and Abominations All which nevertheless is far from justifying them for on the contrary it renders them the more blame-worthy But this is not all these Consciences thus deceived have most commonly this property That they employ their utmost endeavours to make every mans Conscience comply with theirs and when they cannot compass their designs by perswasion nothing is more grievous to them as they also esteem it the greatest piece of Religion to persecute and destroy all who will not be of their perswasion All which is a manifest token that they are the Children of the Destroyer and are about his work of such our Saviour Christ prophesied truely when he said They shall think they do God good service when they kill you And yet even these men will plead their Consciences for what they do but alas they make it appear by their Deeds who has the government and conduct of their Consciences They cannot be so impudent as to say 't is the Lovely and Sweet Spirit of Jesus Christ but must needs confess it to be the force of a corrupted Education nourished and kept up by the continual inspirations of the Devil II. The next thing that is apt to get dominion over the Consciences of men is worldly interest those who are led away by this are such as do not heartily embrace any Religion but take the liberty to form in their imagination such an idea of Conscience as may best suit their Profession and contribute to their Worldly Profits Pleasures and Advantages so that it is plain they are Christians without a Cross and consequently no true Disciples of Jesus Christ who did in express Terms Deny all those to be his Disciples who would not deny themselves and take up their Cross and follow him But alas How difficult is it to such men to make any Scruples of Conscience or to be faithful to their Consciences who if any worldly Loss happen to them or any danger threaten their Gains or Pleasures what earnestness and care will they not make use of to force their Consciences to comply with any Side What Methods will they leave untry'd What Way will they not turn themselves though all their carnal Arguments cannot make them believe otherwise than they do in Effect believe Yea moreover they do oftentimes for Interest-sake force themselves to Profess such things as they do not nor cannot believe which is certainly the highest Abomination in the Eyes of God. Such Men are most commonly Encompassed with the thickest Darkness and Abandoned to a reprobate Spirit because for worldly Ends they preferr'd Darkness before Light and must therefore expect to dwell therein for ever III. The third and last way by which Men's Consciences are deceived is When they give up their Consciences to the Governance and Management of others Such may be said Not to have the free Exercise of their Consciences because they are engaged to another Man besides they ntirely inca●pacitate themselves to receive any Illumination by the Inspiration of the Spirit of God in their Hearts and so continue Vassals and Bondslaves to him whom they have subjected themselves unto and from him they receive their Precepts and Instructions though he may prove to be the most wicked Man in the World. They do not Consider that the Lord heretofore complain'd in this wise The Way which they should walk in to come unto me is taught them by the Precepts of Men from whence it is plain They ought rather to have chosen God himself for their Teacher But Oh! In what a miserable Condition are these poor Souls And with what Uncertainty do they follow that which Abandons them to the Government of another who must order and direct their Thoughts their Faiths their Lives and Actions Not considering that if he fall into a Ditch they must fall also with him But this is not all he who has thus blindly submitted himself to another's Conduct is no more Master of himself nor free in the Lord but Servant to another Man and so we may see that Error Darkness and Blindness are far from that Spirit which Jesus Christ sent according to his Promise To guide his People into all Truth and which he said the World could not receive For we see Men do all they can to hinder themselves from coming and hearkning to the Instructions of his Spirit chusing rather to build their Faith upon a Priest's or Fryar's Sleeve than trust themselves in God's Hands though all the while they do not own these men to be Infallible either in their Doctrines Lives or Actions For every Day one may observe their base Failings and Mistakes their Wicked Life their Cruelty their Hypocrysie and their Pride But how should it be otherwise with them when they will not preserve themselves from and Watch against the Ambushes of Satan who is their principal Director How can any Man be so Blind and void of Understanding as to think he can have Pardon and Remission of his Sins from such an one who is not able to deliver himself but suffers himself dayly to be led away by the Suggestions of the Devil to Evil Lusts and Concupiscences and who has himself as much need of another and he again of another Ghostly Father Ah! Where now is the pure Light of Christ in the Conscience which should govern it in one Man as well as in another to teach them to keep their Consciences void of Offence towards God and towards all Men O! Would to God Men would hearken to and seriously reflect on these things O that they would not forget to deal with the Holy Spirit as God hath appointed them 'T is this that would nourish and fortifie all the good that has been Implanted by a good Education and would moreover cause all the Knowledge we can acquire to flourish in Vertue and good Manners This would chase away and banish all the Evil that has been sown by a bad Education This would teach you to quit all Wordly Interest and give up your selves intirely to the Lord to be taught and directed by the Spirit and Light of Jesus Christ which would so open your Eyes that you would become more Learned and Knowing than your Teachers in the Mystery of