Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	great_a	scripture_n	write_v	2,669	5	5.3981	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54024	The axe laid to the root of the old corrupt-tree, and the spirit of deceit struck at in its nature from whence all the error from the life, among both papists and Protestants hath arisen, and by which it is nourished and fed at this day, in a distinction between the faith which is of man, and the faith which is of God ... / by ... Isaac Penington the younger.	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.	1659 (1659)	Wing P1152; ESTC R228095	43,395	52

hath not the Son hath not the true faith which immediately receives him and so is no Christian but hath stoln the name from the letter having never received the nature from the Spirit to which alone the name belongs X. He that hath Christ or the seed of eternall life which is Christ formed in him which seed the Spirit alwayes dwels in and utaer is absent from which is the same Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures he is a capacity of understanding those Scriptures which that Spirit gave forth as that spirit leads him into the understanding of them But he that hath not received that which is like the grain of mustard seed and so hath not Christ nor his Spirit what ever he may pretend to he by all his studies arts languages reading of expositors conferences nay experiences can never come to the true knowledge of the Scriptures for he wants the true key which alone can open He may have got a great many wrong keys none of which can open but wants the true key of the true knowledge and so is shut out of that and only let into such a kind of knowledge as the wrong key can open into And with this kind of knowledg the marchants of Babilon have long traded but their day is expiring apace and their night of lamentation and howling hasteneth XI Though he can understand the Scriptures as the Spirit leads him into the knowledge of them and can set his zeal to the truth of them yet he cannot call them his rule for having received the life for his rule and knowing it to be so he cannot call another thing it He that hath received the new covenant into his heart with the laws of the life thereof written there by the Spirit of life who doth write them there even in the least of all that beleeve as wel as in the greatest he knoweth that this living writing is his rule The Scriptures give relation where the covenant and law of life is writ and if I will read it thither must I go whither the Scriptures point me I must go to Christ the book of life and read there with that eye which Christ gives if I read the things of life And the Scriptures are willing to surrender up their glory to Christ who was before them and is above them and shall be after them but there is a false spirit which hath seated it selfe in a litterall knowledge of the Scriptures and hath formed images and likenesses of truth from it every one after the imaginations of his own heart and all these fall if Christ the life appear and so this Spirit cryes up the Scriptures now in a way of deceit just as the Jews cryed up Moses It was a good remove to withdraw the ear from the false Church and to listen to the true testimony which the Scriptures give of Christ but it is the seducing spirit which tempts to stick by the way and to rear up buildings and forms of knowledge from the letter of the Scriptures and not to come to feel after unity with and live in Christ the life And unlesse ye come to this your reading of the Scripture is vain and all your gathering rules of practise and comforts from promises will end in vanity for untill ye know and have received the thing it selfe ye are at a distance from that to which all belongs A lively and glorious testimony of truth hath God held forth in this age at which all that stick in the letter cannot but stumble and there is no possibillity of knowing or receiving it but by feeling the true touch of the inward life of it Wisdome is justified of her children but they that are not born of her cannot justifie her womb or birth To the Jews who were an outward people there was an outward rule given a law of commandements statutes judgements and ordinances proper to that state wherein they were and to that thing to which the ministry was But all this was to be done away and to end in that which all this represented So that to Christians Christ the substance being come which is the end of all these shadows the true Jew being raised in the immediate life now there is a necessity of the immediate life for the rule To them under the Gospel to them who are come to the substance to them who are begotten and born in the life there can be norule proportionable to their state but Christ the substance Christ the life here he alone is the light the way the truth the rule the Spirit is here the rule the new creature the rule the new covenant the rule all which are in unity together and he that hath one of them hath them all and he that hath not them all hath none of them So that directions taken out of the Scripture cannot be the rule to him who is the true Christian but the measure of grace the measure of light the measure of the Spirit the measure of the gift received into the living soule from the spring of life this is the alone rule of life But Christians in the degeneration have lost this and so have taken up words for a rule which were not given to that end and so with deductions by the earthly part they feed the earthly part What is fed by mens Scripture knowledge but the earthly understanding the earthly will heated the earthly affections warmed and of the fruits of this earth they bring sacrifices to God and they are angry that God hath raised up Abel their younger brother who offers up the Lamb of God to God and serves the living God in his own living spirit and with the faith that comes from him Abels religion stands not in that part wherein all other mens religion stands but in the death of that part and in the raising up of another part wherein life springs Can ye mildly receive these gentle leadings do not provoke the the tender heart of the Lamb against you who also hath the voice of a Lyon and can roar terribly out of his holy mountain against the enemies of his life and Spirit A Necessary warning and of very great importance to all that call themselves Christians and hope for a share in the book of life and the escaping the damnation of hell which is their portion whose names are written in the booke of death and blotted by God out of the book of life though they hope to find them written there Here and consider IT is recorded Rev. 22. 18 19. If any man shall adde unto these things God shall adde unto him the plagues that are written in this book And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy City and from the things which are written in this book Great are the plagues that are written in this book even the powring out of eternall

that so the true distinction may be let into the mind and not a foundation layed of so great a mistake in a matter of so great concernment 1. A man may beleeve the history of the Scriptures yea and all the doctrines of them so far as he can reach them with his understanding with this faith which is of man As by this faith a man can believe an history probably related to him so by this faith may he beleeve the historyes of the Scriptures which are more then probably related As by this faith a man can receive doctrines of instruction out of Philosophers books so by the same faith he may receive doctrins of instruction out of the Scriptures Reading a relation of the fall of man of the recovery by Christ that there is no other way to life c. This faith can beleeve the relation of these things as well as it can beleeve the relation of other things 2. This being believed from the relation of the history of these things this naturally sets all the powers of man on work kindling the understanding will and affections towards the avoiding of misery and the attaining of happinesse What would not a man doe to avoid perpetuall extremity of misery on soul and body for ever and to obtain a crowne of everlasting blessednesse This boils the affections to an height and sets the understanding on work to the utmost to gather all the rules of Scripture and to practise all the duties and ordinances therein mentioned What can the Scripture propose to be believed that he will not believe What can it propose to be done that he will not do Must he pray he will pray Must be heat he will hear Must he read he will read Must he meditate he will meditate Must he deny himselfe and all his own righteousnesse and duties and hope only for salvation in the merits of Christ he will seeme to do that to and say when he has done all he can he is but an unprofitable servant Does the Scripture say he can doe nothing without the Spirit he will acknowledge that too and he hopes he has the Spirit God hath promised the Spirit to them that aske it and he has asked long and asks still and therefore he hopes he has it Thus man by a naturall faith grows up and spreads into a great tree and is very confident and much pleased not perceiving the defect in his root and what all his growth here will come to 3. This being done with much seriousnes and industry there must needs follow a great change in man his understanding will be more and more enlightened his will more and more conformed to that to which he thus gives himselfe up and to which he thus bends himselfe with all his strength his affections more and more warmed he will find a kind of life and growth in this according to its kind Let a mans heart be in any kind of study or knowledg applying himselfe strictly to it he gathers understanding in his mind and warmth in his affections so it is also here Yea this being more excellent in it selfe must needs produce a more excellent understanding and a more excellent warmth and have a greater power and influence upon the will 4. Now how easie is it for a man to mistake here and call this the truth First he mistakes this for the true faith and then he mistakes in applying to this all that which belongs to the true faith and thus entring into the spirit of error at first he errs in the whole course of his religion from the beginning to the end He sees a change made by this in him and this he accounts the true conversion and regeneration This leads him to ask and seek and pray and this he counts the true praying the true seeking the true asking This cleanseth after its kind his understanding will and affections and this he takes for the true sanctification The justification which is to the true beleever he also aplyes to this faith so he has a peace ● satisfaction a rest here and an hope of happinesse hereafter Thus he receives what is already revealed he waits for what may be further revealed which he can embrace and conform to turning still upon this center and growing up from this root And he that does not come hither in religion falls short of the improvement of mans nature and of the faith that grows there which naturally leads all the powers of nature hither and fixes them here which is but dead And now this man is safe he is a beleever he is a worshipper of God he is a Christian he is an observer of the commands of Christ when the overflowing scourge comes it shall not touch him all the judgements plagues threatnings in the Scripture belong not to him but to the unbelievers to them that know not God to them that worship not God to them that observe not the commands of Christ thus by his untempered morter from his false faith he has built up a wall against the deluge of wrath which wall will tumble down upon him when the wrath comes The growth of this faith and great spreading of it into all this knowledg zeal and devotion hath not changed the nature of it all this while but it is the same that it was at the beginning even a power of nature in the first birth and all these fruits are but the fruits of the first nature which is still alive under all this All this can never kill the principle out of which it grows but feeds it more and fattens it for the slaughter Thus far this faith can go But then there is somewhat it is shut out of at the very first There is somewhat this faith cannot receive beleeve or enter into What is that It is the life the power the inward part of this Though it may seem to have unity with all the Scriptures in the letter yet it cannot have unity with one Scripture in the life for its nature is shut out of the nature of the things there witnessed As for instance it may have a litterall knowledge of Christ according as the Scripture relates of his birth preaching miracles death resurrection ascention intercession c. Yea but the thing spoken of it knoweth not The nature of Christ which is the Christ is hid from that eye So it may have a litterall knowledg of the blood of Christ and of justification but the life of the blood which livingly justifieth that birth cannot feele but can only talk of it according to the relation it reads in the Scripture So it may have a litterall knowledge of sanctification but the thing that sanctifieth it cannot receive into it selfe So for redemption peace joy hope love c. it may get into the outward part of all these but the inward part the life the spirit of them it is shut out of and cannot touch or come neer nor can it witnesse

but the Lord God is feared and the Dragons arm withers and the head of his pollicy whereby he ensnared intangled from the life is crushing glory to the endlesse power of life for ever and for ever Be wise now therefore loose not your share in the immortal Crown Take heed how ye be found fighters against the Lamb in the wisdom power of Babilon which is to fall Painting will not passe now That bloud of the Lamb is felt which washes off the whores paint even all her painted notions of the blood of christ of sanctification and redemption c. the whorish nature being discovered underneath all these Ye have got the name of Church the name of Christians the name of ordinances c. by the whores help but the nature of life ye want and the living power is come to recover the name from you and we his living witnesses testifie to your faces that ye shall not enjoy it but the name and the thing shall go together and he that hath not the thing shall also loose the name Yea your eyes shall see that ye have been the sacrilegious ones who have stoln holy names and tirles which ye never received from the hand of God but the whorish spirit which out of the life and an enemy to the life hath handed them to you And this is told you in dear and tender love that ye might not perish but have eternall life abiding in your hearts and the new name written by the Spirit of life on your foreheads which all that know the writing of the life may be able to read and acknowledge There are severall touches of these things in diverse of of the Epistles of the Apostles but the full relation is given forth in that book of the Revelation which was penned by the Spirit of God to be read in the light of the Spirit and so to be a preservative against the overspreading contagion of Antichristianism Adn it is said at the entrance into it Blessed is he that readeth they that hear the words of this prophests ke●p those things wch are written therein But men having lost the Spirit have not been able to read it and having lost the right ear they have not been able to heare the words it speaks and how then could they keepe the things written therein He that doth ●ot understand what he is warned against how is it likely he should be preserved by the warning The Spirit of God judged this warning necessary but the spirit of deceit cryes it is a deep thing not to be medled with Now this is a plain demonstration that men generally are overtaken with the whoredom and drink of the whores cup submit themselves to the beast and exalt his horns and receive his mark and some or other of his names because they have not the knowledge of that which discovers these things and was given by the Spirit of God to forewarn and so to preserve out of them He that knoweth not the mistery of iniquity working under a form of godlines may not he easily be deceived with the mistery of iniquity He that knoweth not what is become of the true Church ministry and where to look for them may not he easily own a fall Church and ministry He that knoweth not the Spirit of the Scriptures which the Church carried with her when she left the letter behind her may not he easily set up the letter for his rule He that knoweth not the living mark and name of a Christian with which the Spirit of life seals all the Lambs of Christ in the life may not he easily give this name to himself and to others who have not this mark but the beasts mark He that knoweth not the true faith the true love the true hope the true joy the true peace the true rest the true consolation in Christ the life the true meeknes and patience of the S●ints c. may not he easily set up shadows or liknesses of these which he gathers from the letter of the Scriptures and the promises thereof receiving the knowledge of them into the wrong part applying them to the wrong thing instead of these Ah poor hearts The book of the Revelation is easie to that Spirit that wrote it and it was not given forth to be laid by as uselesse but to be serviceable in the hand of the Spirit for the ages after the dayes of the Apostles and in the true light it is easily read and they that can read it can see that in it which they that cannot read it cannot beleeve And this is plainly seen That the●e is but the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of deceit but the Lambs wife and the whore which hath whored from the Spirit which hath made use of the lotter to run a whoring from that Spirit that wrote it that there is but the true Church and the false Church but life and death but form and power but Christ the mistery of godlinesse and Antichrist the mistary of iniquity but God and the dragon God in the Church or Temple in the Wildernesse and the dragon in the worlds churches and temples appearing there as if he were God giving sorth lawes and ordinances like God and all the world falls down before him and worships him as if he were God and hopes by this worship which they perform to him and by their faith and hope which they receive from him to be saved at last I say there are but these two and he that is joyned to the one of these is not joyned to the other Let him that readeth understand which he may easily doe by the wisdome of the Spirit but never can by the wisdome of the letter For though we know how to join these two in the life yet there is a necessity of seperating them at present till the letter be gained out of the hands of the whorish spirit which hath built up severall forms of knowledge religion and worship in mistery-Babilon by the letter without the life all which must fall with Babilon AN Exhortation relating to the workings of the mistery of Iniquity and the mistery of godlinesse in this present age ALL people upon earth who love your souls and have any true secret pantings after God look to the nature of your Spirits and look to the nature of those things ye let into your minds least ye take in death for life error for truth and so sow to your selves corruption and rear up a fabricke in mistery Babilon which will be turned into desolation and utter ruins by the power of life from Sion Strong is the Spirit of deceit that is entred into the world and glorious and very taking are his images and likenesses of truth which will deceive all but the very elect who were chosen from the foundation of the world and whose eyes are opened to see the foundation of life which was before the foundation of the world It