Selected quad for the lemma: blood_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
blood_n	bear_v	spirit_n	water_n	6,714	5	7.5479	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54035	The flesh & blood of Christ, both in the mystery and in the outward briefly, plainly, and uprightly acknowledged and testified to, for the satisfaction and benefit of the tender-hearted, who desire to experience the quickning, healing, and cleansing vertue of it : with A brief account concerning the people called Quakers in reference both to principle and doctrine : whereunto are added some few other things which by the blessing of God may be experimentally found useful to the true pilgrim and faithful travellers out of the nature & spirit of this world / written in true love and tenderness of spirit by Isaac Penington.	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.; Hicks, Thomas, 17th cent. Continuation of the dialogue between a Christian and a Quaker.	1675 (1675)	Wing P1168; ESTC R7890	24,794	63

putting on Christ the Flesh and Blood of Christ c. is very plain to him that reads singly But to make it manifest particularly concerning the Flesh and Blood of Christ I shall recite one Query it is the 33. Query page 29. The Query is thus Is not the true Church Flesh of Christs Flesh and Bone of his Bone Is not the false or Antichristian Church Flesh of Antichrists Flesh and Bone of Antichrists Bone What is the Flesh of the spiritual Whore which is to be stripped naked and burnt with fire Shall ever the Church which is of Christs Flesh be stripped naked and burnt with fire Nay doth not his Flesh make able to abide the devouring fire and to dwell with the everlasting burnings Can this possibly be understood of outward Flesh and Bone is it not manifestly intended of Flesh and Bone in the Mystery yea that I did relate to the Mystery in that very Query out of which he takes the four first words and no more is very manifest by the following words of the same Query It is the 17. Query page 25. The Query runs thus Can outward Blood cleanse the Conscience ye that are spiritual consider can outward water wash the Soul clean ye that have ever felt the Blood of sprinkling from the Lord upon your Consciences and your Consciences cleansed thereby did ye ever feel it to be outward It is one thing what a man apprehends in the way of notion from the letter concerning the things of God and another thing what a man feels in spirit Is it not manifest by the express words themselves that I spake of the inward feeling of the Blood in the mystery Fourthly This Query Can outward Blood cleanse the Conscience c. doth not necessarily nor indeed at all infer that the Blood of Christ as to the outward was but a common thing or useless If I had been to answer this Query my self he doth not know what my answer would have been It was put to Professors to answer inwardly in their hearts who I did believe upon serious consideration could not but confess in way of answer thereto that outward Blood it self or of it self could not cleanse and purge away the filth that was inward but that must be done by that which is inward living and spiritual Then hereby they had been brought to see the necessity of the mystery the spirit the power the life of the Son to be inwardly revealed in them and then had I obtained my end Nor was I their enemy in desiring or aiming at this for them or in setting Queries before them which to my eye as in the sight of God seemed proper and conducible in themselves however they might fail as to them towards the obtaining of this end And if they could once come to this to own the Flesh and Blood in the mystery and so come to partake of its cleansing and nourishing vertue and not fix and appropriate that to the outward which chiefly belongs to the mystery I say if they could but go thus far with me in owning the inward life and power in the sensible feeling and operation thereof I could meet them a great way in speaking glorious things of and attributing a cleansing or washing vertue to the outward in and through and with the inward For I do not separate the inward and outward in my own mind but the Lord opened my heart and taught me thus to distinguish according to the Scriptures in love to them and for their sakes For that was not my intent to deny the outward or make it appear as a common or useless thing There was never such a sense in my heart nor was ever word written or spoken by me to that end which to make more manifest I shall now plainly open my heart how it hath been and is still with me in this respect since it pleased the God and Father of mercies to reveal the mystery of himself and of his Son in me In the first place I freely confess that I do own and acknowledge as in Gods sight Our Lord Iesus Christ his Flesh Blood in the mystery The Apostle Paul speaks of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ Colos 2.2 The Son was revealed in him Gal. 1.16 and so he knew the mystery of Christ and Preached the mystery of Christ Colos 4.3 He was made an able Minister of the new Covenant not of the Letter but of the Spirit or mystery and so he Preached the wisdom of God in the mystery or Spirit 1 Cor. 2.7 2 Cor. 3.6 Colos 1.25 26 27. and he had great conflict to bring people to the rich knowledge and acknowledgement of the mystery Chap. 2.1 2. He was sent to turn men from darkness from the power of Satan which is a mystery and works in mens hearts in a mystery to the light to the Spirit and power of God which is a mystery also and remission of sins is received in and through this mystery Act. 26.18 And I desire every serious and tender heart to consider whether this knowledge of Christ in the mystery was not that which he called the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ his Lord Phil. 3.8 Certain I am that the knowledge of God and Christ in the mystery is the most excellent knowledge and no less then life eternal inwardly revealed and felt from God in the heart And here no legal righteousness no self-righteousness can stand but the vertue and power of Christs Death and Resurrection inwardly revealed and felt in the mystery subdues and destroyes it all Indeed self-righteousness may be given up in way of notion or seemingly destroyed as to mens apprehensions without the revealing or working of the mystery but it cannot be destroyed in reallity but where this is felt But where the mystery is known is received and throughly works self-righteousness can have no place there Now the Apostle who was acquainted with the mystery of Christ he speaks of his Body Flesh and Bones in the mystery Eph. 5.30 And if there be Flesh and Bones in the mystery is there not also Blood in the mystery yea the Apostle John speaks of Spirit Water and Blood 1 John 5.8 Now consider seriously are all these of one and the same nature or are they of a different nature the Spirit of one nature the Water and Blood of another nature Blessed be the Lord the birth which is born of the Spirit and is spiritual knoweth the nature of the spirit which begat it and knoweth water which is inward and heavenly and blood which is not at all of an inferiour nature to it And Jesus Christ our Lord and Teacher speaketh of Flesh which came down from Heaven which Flesh is the Bread of life which he that lives feeds upon and none can feed upon but they that live And by this it is manifest to all to whom God hath given understanding in the mystery that his Flesh and Blood in the

which is the inward rule of the inward Israel This was the way of Peace from the beginning this is the way of Peace still and there is not another To be new Created in Christ Jesus to be ingraffed into him to abide in him to have the circumcision of the flesh the body of the sins of the flesh cut off by the circumcision of Christ made inwardly in the heart without hands and to walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit even in the newness of the Spirit he is life and Peace rest and joy for evermore The Lord of his tender mercy give men a sense of it and lead men into it more and more Amen The Conclusion of the Whole THere is a Birth which is born not of Bloods nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God John 1.13 And this Birth which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Chap. 3.6 Now this Birth which is born of the Spirit and is Spirit hath a life and way of knowledge suitable to its nature and being which is very far above man It 's life is in the Spirit its walking in the Spirit and its knowledge is after the way of the Spirit very far above mans way of conceiving or comprehending The Birth it self is a Mystery to man and it's way of knowing is a way altogether hid from man It is indeed in the evidence and demonstration of Gods Spirit in the shinings of his light in the heart In thy light shall we see light The Birth knows what this means There is a wise and prudent part in man from which God hides the sight of his Kingdom and the Heavenly glory thereof but there is a Babe to which God reveals the Mystery thereof Flesh and Blood cannot reveal but the Father can and doth to his Children who is the Teacher of them all from the least to the greatest in the new and living Covenant There is mans day and there is Gods day There is mans day of gathering knowledge after his fleshly manner of comprehending and there is Gods day of giving knowledge by the shinings of the light of his own eternal Spirit In mans day how doth wise and prudent man beat his brains and labour in the fire for very vanity but in Gods day how doth the knowledge of the Lord cover the Earth as the waters cover the Sea When the day-spring from on high visits inwardly when the Lord lighteth the Candle inwardly O how clear is the knowledge of the Lord and how doth it abound then O what a difference there is between mans apprehensions and conceivings concerning Christ and Gods revealing him inwardly and between mans coming to Christ according to his own apprehensions and his coming to Christ in the Heavenly drawings and teachings of the Father Joh. 6.45 O that the begettings of Life and Birth thereof were felt in mens hearts that in it men might know the day of God and the Kingdom of God and the Treasures of wisdom which are hid in Christ and will ever be so but as Christ is inwardly revealed and formed in the heart Many may have notions of Christs being formed in them Ah but to feel it inwardly ther 's the Sweetness ther 's the assurance ther 's the life ther 's the Peace ther 's the Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and ther 's the joy of the true Christian for ever Come O come all sorts of tender Professors out of your selves into Gods Spirit into Gods truth that ye may know what it is to be in the Spirit and in the Truth and what it is to live there and to know things there to worship there to have fellowship with the Father Son there The poor receive the Gospel the poor receive the Kingdom the poor receive the power the poor receive the Righteousness and Salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ Ye are too rich in your comprehensions and gathered knowledge from your own litteral conceivings to learn to wait aright to receive of him his Gold his Raiment and his eye-salve What pleasure is it to us to testifie against you Were it not for obedience to our God and love to your Souls we would never do it We are content and satisfied to be of the little despised Flock which the Shepherd feeds giving to every one his proportion of daily nourishment Life Peace Righteousness and Joy It is our love to you that we would not have you lay out your Money for that which is not Bread and your labour for that which will not satisfie the truly hungry and awakened Soul but might come to feed on substance on the life it self on the sweetness and fatness of Gods house where nothing that any of the children can need or long after is wanting O that ye had the sense of our love If ye had the true understanding and sense of Gods love ye could not but have a sense of our love also for it comes from him and it flows towards you in his will and tender movings Do ye love God are your hearts circumcised to love God if not ye do not truly love And if ye loved him that begets ye would love them that are begotten by him Your love is to your own notions and apprehensions of God not to his nature For if ye loved his nature that holy Heavenly spiritual nature as it is in him ye could not but love it in his Children also Well our God is Love and our God hath given us Love and taught us to Love even our Enemies and to wrestle with our God for them that if it be possible the Lord may remove the Scales from their eyes and give them Repentance to the acknowledgment of the Truth as it is in Jesus where it is more living and powerful more effectual and operative inwardly purifying sanctifying yea and justifying also then any but onely those that are born of God and kept alive by him yet ever knew or can know A POST-SCRIPT Containing a few Words concerning the doings and sufferings of that despised People called QUAKERS which are both mis-understood and mis-represented by many with an Exhortation to true Christianity FIrst their doings are looked upon by many to be from a natural Principle and according to a Covenant of works and not from the free grace and gift of Gods Spirit Now concerning this I can speak somewhat faithfully as having been long exercised in the Principle and as having had experience of the grace and tender mercy of the Lord from my Childhood And indeed thus it hath been with me from my Childhood what ever hath been done in me or by me that was good I have felt to be from Gods grace and mercy to me and have cryed grace grace mercy mercy to the Lord continually therefore And when I was turned to his truth in the inward parts I found it was Gods grace and tender love to me to turn me to it and to preserve me

mystery is intended by him in that he saith He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him John 6.56 This dwelling in each other is an effect of the mystery and is witnessed by none that know not the mystery And to this effect Christ himself expresly expoundeth it ver 63. It is the spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak to you they are spirit and they are life As if he had said I am speaking of the Souls food I am speaking of the Heavenly bread I am speaking of spirit and life I am speaking of the mystery which ye look upon and understand as outwardly intended by me and so miss of the mystery of the spirit wherein is the quickning vertue and look only at the outward Body or Flesh which without the spirit profiteth not nor ever can profit any man Secondly I confess further that I have the sense experience and knowledge of this also that in the mystery is the quickning vertue the cleansing vertue the nourishing vertue unto life eternal The spirit the water the blood inwardly sprinkled inwardly poured by God upon the Soul inwardly felt and drunk in by the thirsty earth do cleanse do feed do nourish do refresh Doth not God promise to sprinkle clean water upon his Israel in the new Covenant and they shall be clean and to pour water on him that is thirsty and Floods upon the dry grounds is it not by the spirit of judgment and burning that God washeth away the filth of the Daughter of Sion c. Esay 4.4 Doth not the live coal from the Altar purifie and take away the iniquity Esa 6. O read inwardly O wait to be taught of God to read inwardly that ye may know what these things mean Why should ye quarrel at the precious and tender openings of truth in love to your Souls Thirdly I have likewise this sense and have also had this knowledge and experience that the outward without this cannot avail A man is not cleansed by notions or apprehensions concerning the thing but by the thing it self Let a man believe what he can concerning the blood of Christ and apply to himself what promises he can yet this will not do O how grievously do men mistake herein but he must feel somewhat from God somewhat of the new Creation in Christ Jesus somewhat of his light shining from him the Son into the heart somewhat of his life somewhat of his power working against the darkness and power of the enemy in him Now a man being turned to this joyned to this gathered to this standard of the Lord translated in some degree out of himself into this here somewhat of the mystery is revealed and found working in him and so far he is of God and hath some true sense and some true understanding from him And here also he hath right to Christs Flesh and Blood in the outward and to all the benefits and precious effects that come thereby For by owning the mystery and receiving the mystery we are not taught of God to deny any thing of the outward Flesh and Blood or of his obedience and sufferings in the Flesh but rather are taught and enabled there rightly to understand it and to reap the benefits and precious fruits of it Fourthly The Lord hath shewn me this also very manifestly and clearly That in former times in this Nation as well as elsewhere before Professors ran so into heaps I mean into several wayes and forms of Church fellowship so called they had more inward sense of the Mystery than now they have and were a great deal more tender both unto the Lord and one towards another than now they are For then grace in the heart and the inward feeling was the thing that was most minded among the stricter sort They did not mind so much bare reading or hearing or praying or any outward observation whatsoever as what they felt therein Let men have spoken never so many glorious words concerning the things of God yet if they had not been spoken warmly and freshly by him that spoke them there was little satisfaction to the Soul that hungred after that which was living but rather an inward grief and dissatisfaction felt So that in that day there was an inward sense of the mystery though not a distinct knowledge of it which was pretious in the eye of God and very savoury inwardly in the heart But now in so long time by looking so much outward and beating their brains and disputing about the outward many have very much if not wholly lost the sense of the inward and are found contending for the outward against the very appearance and manifestation of the inward and so are in danger of being hardned and sealed up in that which is dead and litteral out of the limits of that which is living and spiritual It is a dreadful thing to fight against the living God and his living appearance in the hearts of those whom he chuseth in any Age or Generation The Lord hath been pleased to bring us a poor despised remnant back to that which first gave us life in the dayes of our former profession O that ye were brought thither also that that might remove the vail hardness darkness and deep prejudices from you which can never be removed while ye stick in litteral apprehensions without the light and teachings of Gods spirit Now as touching the outward which ye say we deny because of our testimony to the inward I have frequently given a most solemn testimony thereto and God knoweth it to be the truth of my heart and that the testifying to the inward from which the outward came doth not make the outward void but rather establish it in its place and service God himself who knew what vertue was in the inward yet hath pleased to make use of the outward and who may contradict or slight his wisdom and Council therein Glorious was the appearance and manifestation of his Son in Flesh pretious his subjection and holy obedience to his Father his giving himself up to death for sinners was of great esteem in his eye It was a spotless Sacrifice of great value and effectual for the Remission of sins and I do acknowledge humbly unto the Lord the Remission of my sins thereby and bless the Lord for it even for giving up his Son to death for us all and giving all that believe in his name and power to partake of Remission through him And seeing it is thus with me seeing the Root of the matter is in me O how can any man that hopes to be redeemed by my Lord and Saviour reproach me for speaking of the mystery without the least Derogation to the outward or what was done by him in the outward But if I should speak vehemently concerning mens neglecting the mystery and setting up that which is outward instead of it and without it I should not be condemned but