Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A27125
|
An epistle general containing wholsome exhortations and good counsel from the spirit of truth unto all such as are or may be under the judgment or sentence of banishment, for the testimony of Jesus Christ ... / by ... W.B.
|
Bayly, William, d. 1675.
|
1664
(1664)
|
Wing B1524; ESTC R16452
|
13,699
|
16
|
AN EPISTLE GENERAL CONTAINING Wholsome Exhortations and Good Counsel from the Spirit of Truth unto all such as are or may be under the Judgment or Sentence OF BANISHMENT FOR THE Testimony of Jesus Christ which is held in a Tender Conscience throughout the Nation of England As also Unto all them that are yet at Liberty to be faithful to the Lord and meet often together in the fear of his Name and not to fear Man that shall be made as Grass and to all in Bonds Prisons and Holes every-where throughout the World who are bearing and suffering for the same Testimony of Truth and Righteousness which the Lord hath decreed shall prosper and spread over all the World till the Kingdoms thereof are become his Kingdoms and he shall Reign for ever and ever Amen With a few Words of Advice to all who have or may have any Message or Business upon the account of Truth to such as are in Authority in the Nations By a Servant of the Churches of Christ Jesus W. B. Printed in the Year 1664. AN EPISTLE GENERAL Containing Wholsome Exhortations and Good Counsel from the Spirit of Truth unto all such as are or may be under the Judgement or Sentence of BANISHMENT for the Testimony of Jesus Christ c. MY dear Friends and Brethren who for your testimony of truth and obedience to the God of Abraham are or may be caused to wander as some of our Fathers have done from your Native Countries and to be exposed to the want of a certain dwelling place in the Earth and to forsake All for the Name of Christ that is neer and dear in the World and be liable to great Jeopardies and Perils by Sea and Land among Strangers and in strange Countries why take ye no thought for your Life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink or wherewith ye shall be clothed or for your Relations and Families what they shall do in your Absence for the Lord for whose sake ye suffer will provide both for you and them as ye faithful to him abide whose tender bowells of compassions are open toward them that fear him and pittieth them even as a Father pittieth his Children But consider how great and weighty a Work and Service the Lord at this time hath called you unto and how greatly the Honour and Glory of his holy Name is concerned therein the Lord my God give you a clear understanding thereof and direct you in his Counsel in all ye take in hand that in it ye may stand faithful and be preserved in his pure Fear in meekness and wisdom to his praise for it is the faithfulness of his people in their patient sufferings and circumspect humble sobe just wise upright harmless conversation that will answer the Principle of God in all Nations and preach his Kingdom come nigh unto People among whom-soever they may come or be scattered for his Name-sake and by this Gospel which is everlasting shall thousands be converted unto God and multitudes be gathered into his Name and many through his knowledge shall be justified which must cover the Earth as the Waters cover the Sea as was prophesied in dayes past Therefore my dear Friends be ye not at all discouraged in your sufferings but look at the End for which the Lord hath called you thereunto which is the exaltation of his Name and the gathering of his pretious Seed out of Captivity where they have been scattered in all quarters in the cloudy and dark day that they might come to inherit rest in their own Land and partake of the glory which was before the world was and consult not with flesh and blood in any thing for ye have need of great watchfulness this day that no reasoner may enter you to the betraying the Innocent into the Sinners hands so that Spirit will sell the Lord that bought them to save self and the things of this Life But flesh and blood must not inherit the Kingdom of God for 't is prepared for that blessed innocent Seed only which hath no Kingdom in this World out is a stranger in the Earth So let your pure breathings be manifest unto the Lord that ye may receive power from him be preserved in his truth out of all the snares of this World and commit your cause and all ye have freely and wholly unto him and be purely resigned and subject to his heavenly Will eying his Glory in all things at all times and in all places for the Work is his and the Cause ye are engaged in is the Lords and not your own ye are but as Servants or Instruments in this great Work which the Lord hath begun and is causing to spread and prosper throughout the Earth that he may get himself a great and glorious and dreadful Name to the ends of the World who shall be made to bow down and worship at his foot-stool and confess that we are his People and that the Everlasting God is with us is on our side and sights for us who cannot strive nor fight for our selves nor avenge our own cause but leave it to him who judgeth righteously and this shall be an evident token that our Kingdom is not of this World unto all people Therefore my dear Friends and Brethren faint not in your minds neither be ye discouraged as concerning the greatness of the Trials ye have to undergo but cast your burthen in this matter upon the Lord for the weight of your sufferings herein he hath pondred and it 's come near unto him and to the hearts of his dear Children whose secret Cries and tender Breathings are uncessantly poured forth into his bosome in your behalf in the tender yearning bowels of his everlasting compassions that ye may stand faithful in his counsel and so walk that his glorious Name may be exalted and his Truth glorified in you and by you and by all that make mention thereof else to what end is all our sufferings and profession of his Name in the World Surely surely the Lord is chusing a Remnant to himself to walk with him in faithsulneses that shall greatly honour him and magnifie and reverence his Holy Name and bring praise unto him in this his day and such only will the Lord my God honour with everlasting dominion and beautifie with his Eternal Salvation and Peace Oh happy is the man and happy will be that soul whose lot falls in this ground and verily it s but a little while and he will wipe away the reproach of this his chosen Remnant and plead their cause with all their Oppressors when the measures of the iniquities of his Adversaries are filled up and our Faith and Patience sufficiently tried and proved and made manifest to the World for of this great controversie now in hand the tender Seed of God is very sensible through Nations which gives many People to see and discern an absolute difference of Spirit and a great gulf fixed between us and our adversaries
and this shall arise and break the hearts of thousands who are yet afar off when they shall hear of your patient innocent sufferings only for your tender Conscience and the Worship of your God to whose Name and Power many shall confess as the King in Daniels day that he is the Living God and stedfast for ever and his Kingdom that which shall never be destroyed and his Dominion shall be even to the end he delivereth and rescueth and he worketh signs and wonders in Heaven and in Earth And thus is our God who is the same doing at this very day though the ungodly see it not as shall hereafter be confessed and published as this was after the beloved Daniel was tried and proved and not before mark that and then woe will be to your Persecutors as it was to his when the Seed shall arise in the Nations and witness for you and against them who shall curse the hour in which they were born and the moment in which they breathed in the World and the womb that bare them that ever they should be so blind to bring swift destruction upon their own heads for the lucre of a moment of pleasures Therefore my dear Friends let your minds be stayed and your hearts fixed on the Lord that ye may be alwayes kept and preserved in the pure sence of the weight and ponderousness of this his great and honourable Work which he hath called you into that so ye may be patterns and pure examples of righteousness gravity truth and holiness to the Nations even as Lights in a dark place and as a City set on the Everlasting Hill of God above all the fury and rage of your enemies or their most subtillest Temptations or provocations which ye may meet withall in your Travails and dayly exercises From which my God deliver you and keep you stedfast in watchfulness wisdome and fear to the end that ye may be preserved out of all the snares of the Enemy to the honour of his great Name and the comfort and peace of your own souls for its the endurer to the end that shall be saved And dear Friends Take heed and beware of letting in the spirit of this world into your hearts which naturally draws from God into its own Center to look after the riches ease and glory thereof for it was not in vaine that the same Spirit that now dwels in his Children exhorted his Disciples in Ages past to take heed and beware of Covetousness for a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things of this world which he may possess For whosoever shall let forth his mind after these things and imbrace and entertain those subtill Contrivances which may arise in the mind as Temptations and shall follow the whisperings thereof and so let that be his Guide which leads to seek self his own honour riches and glory and not the things of Jesus Christ the Truth and its glory only such a one will be destroyed and not preserved And this I have received from my God to warne you of it in tender love to your souls and to the honour of his everlasting Name which must and will be exalted over all the Earth And though a Thousand should fall on the right hand and ten Thousands on the left hand yet the Lord shall be glorified and all people be left without just excuse So the Lord God of Heaven direct you and preserve you chast and single unto himself for his Name sake and for his tender Seeds sake which is very dear and precious to him in every Nation And this is the breathings of my heart and soul for you all in the true and living sense of the marvellous work and wonderfull things he is bringing to passe in these latter dayes for its the Life must confound Babel as in the dayes of old and build up Zion whose walls is salvation and gives praises for evermore Therefore in the retired watchfull pure light and life of God it self all dwell alwayes eying his eternal power and presence to go before you this was Moses's mind Carry us not hence except thy presence go with us for that is it by which the Lord wrought wonderfull things and preserved his people in all ages who were obedient thereinto and this hath preserved us who hath been led and guided thereby to this day and will preserve us to the end as we are faithfull to obey its requirings and no otherwayes can any be preserved or saved out of Temptations and from the wrath to come And this I do affirme from certain experience For Transgression against Gods requirings was and is the Ground and cause of the separation and alienation from him and from his Covenant of promise and is the breach of the peace and unity between God and man So that there is no peace to the wicked neither can there so long as the whoredomes and witchcrafts of Jezabel remains and disobedience is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is Iniquity and Idolatry so that none can enjoy perfect peace with the holy God but them whose feet are guided by his light and holy Spirit in the way of peace which all the world that lye in wickedness in Transgression are ignorant of the way of peace they know not But the Children of the Lord shall be all Taught of him and great shall be the peace of his Children So my dear Friends mind the Light of the Lord and let it be your Guide and Teacher and your dwelling place for them of the Nations that are saved must walke in the Light mark though they are saved yet they must still walke in the Light of the Holy City and to it shall the gathering of the people be who shall stock thereunto as the doves to the windowes as was prophesied and is now fullfiling in this our day blessed for ever be the Name of the Lord. And take good heed to your Wayes Words and Carriages amongst all people where-ever you come as ye love the honour of God and the peace of your own soules in whose Name in bowells of love I lay it upon you all for many will be the eyes that will be sharply fixed upon you both for good and for evil even to mark all your steps in every path which you shall tread with your feet Therefore keep your feet in the way of peace and walk with God as Enoch that ye may be more and more translated and taken up out of the sight of all that watch for your halting so shall ye have the Witness in your selves that your Wayes please the Lord as he had and as many of his dear children have at this day with whom ye will have pretious Unity as ye walk in the same steps and mind the same things that are eternal And walk in lowliness in the fear of God and in love and tenderness one towards another that men seeing your good Works blameless conversation may glorifie the