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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	life_n	sin_n	23,098	5	4.9745	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54048	A question to the professors of Christianity, whether they have the true, living, powerful saving knowledge of Christ or no? with some queries concerning Christ, and his appearances, his taking upon him our flesh : as also concerning his flesh and blood, and our being formed thereof, and feeding thereon, and an incitation to professors seriously to consider, whether they or we fail, in the true acknowledgment and owning of the Christ which died at Jerusalem : likewise some propositions and considerations concerning the nature of church-worships and ordinances, since the death of the apostles, for the sake of simplicity, which hath been long held captive therein : with the sounding of bowels towards thee, O England : also a faithful guidance to the principle and path of truth, with some sensible experimental questions and answers from the tenth chapter of John / by Isaac Penington ...	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.	1667 (1667)	Wing P1184; ESTC R18236	42,725	54

also of him that appeared in the Body nor only of bodily flesh blood and bones but also of such flesh and bones whereof Christ and his Church consist He is Christ say the Scriptures who is one with the Father who came from the Father in whom the Father was and who was in the Father so said Jesus of himself lifting up his eyes to Heaven and praying to the Father for his Disciples and the Children whom the Father had given him more then once in that seventeenth Chapter of John Yea he is Christ whom a man cannot see but he must see the Father also and whom whosoever seeth the Father seeth who was before Abraham was whom no man could know whence he was even as no man can know whence the Father is Christ granted the Jews that they knew him and whence he was as to his Body and yet for all that he was the Christ who was to come whom no man knew from whence he was What was that Christ called me speaking to Philip Hast thou not known me Philip Hast thou not seen me What dost thou know me after the flesh after the body Dost thou take that for me Have I been so long with you and do ye know me no better then so The body is from below the body is like one of yours only sanctifyed by the Father and preserved without sin but I am the same Spirit Life and Being with the Father We are one Substance one pure power of Life and we cannot be divided but he that sees one must needs see both and he that knows one must needs know both This is the Lamb of God which John bare witnesse of which he said was before him John 1.15 which the body was not Now Friends if ye have this living spiritual knowledge if ye hold it in him that is true then own and acknowledge it as it is expressed in the Scriptures and as God hath now brought it forth in his People that ye may manifest your selves to that which is of God that ye are of him There is an understanding and wisdom of man and there is a Witness of God which Witness gives true Judgment Man at best judgeth but according as things appear to him from the Scriptures but the Witness judgeth of the things of God in the demonstration of the Spirit according as they are felt and known to be in him But if ye have not this knowledge but have long laid out your money and labour for that which is not bread nor can yeeld the true satisfaction O come to the waters and receive that which is given freely without money and without price O sell all for the Pearl for the knowledge which is of Life for the knowledge which is Life I am the Way the Truth and the Life saith Christ this is life Eternal to know And wait to feel the Rock laid as a Foundation in you even the Seed of God the Life of Christ the Spirit of Christ revealed in you and your Souls born of it and built upon it O that ye could come out of your own understandings that ye might feel and receive the love of my Heart and know the travel of my Bowels for you that ye might be born of the Truth and know and receive it as it is in Jesus and as it is felt in the Spirit and in its own pure Power Now a little further to remove Scruple and Prejudices out of the minds of such as sometimes have been touched with the power of Truth and have had the Witness of God reached to in their hearts but afterwards the Enemy hath raised mists and cast blocks in their way stirring up in them hard thoughts against us as if we denyed what the Scriptures affirm in this thing and indeed in effect that Christ which died at Jerusalem and set up a natural Principle within instead thereof To remove this out of the minds of the honest-hearted who in the guidance of God may light on this Paper I shall open my heart nakedly herein 1. We do own that the Word of God the only begotten of the Father did take up a Body of the flesh of the Virgin Mary who was of the Seed of David according to the Scriptures and did the Will of the Father therein in holy obedience unto him both in life and death 2. That he did offer up the flesh and blood of that Body though not only so for he poured out his Soul he poured out his Life a Sacrifice or Offering for sin do not O do not stumble at it but rather wait on the Lord to understand it for we speak in this matter what we know a Sacrifice unto the Father and in it tasted death for every man and that it is upon consideration and through Gods acceptance of this Sacrifice for sin that the sins of Believers are pardoned that God might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus or who is of the Faith of Jesus 3. What is attributed to that Body we acknowledge and give to that Body in its place according as the Scripture attributeth it which is through and because of that which dwelt and acted in it But that which sanctified and kept the Body pure and made all acceptable in him was the Life Holiness and Righteousness of the Spirit And the same thing that kept his Vessel pure it is the same thing that cleanseth us The value which the natural flesh and blood had was from that in its coming from that in its acting in that in its suffering through that Yea indeed that hath the virtue that is it which is of an unchangeable nature which abideth for ever which is pure and maketh pure for ever and it is impossible for a man to touch it but he must feel cleansing by it Now this living Virtue and Power man was shut out from by the fall but through the true knowledge of the death of Christ the way is made open to it again and man brought to it to be baptized washed cleansed sanctified fitted for and filled with life so that this is it that doth the thing this is it from whence Christ had his own flesh and blood for we are taught both by the Spirit and by the Scriptures to distinguish between Christs own flesh and that of ours which he took up and made his which flesh and blood we feed of in the Spirit which they cannot feed on which serve at the outward Tabernacle nor they neither which know onely the outward body but they only that feed in the Spirit Now of this thing we might speak yet more clearly and plainly could men hear our words But if we have spoken to you earthly things in Parables and Figures suitable to your understanding and ye believe not How shall ye believe if we speak to you heavenly things if we should tell you plainly of the Father in whom is all the life of the Son and all the virtue of

measure of the eternal Rest where we have found that Life that Power that manifestation of the eternal Spirit and that redeeming Virtue which we never were before distinctly acquainted with I say having tasted of this having known this having felt this and come to a real enjoyment of it in some degree in our several measures we could not possibly conceal this Treasure but in bowels of love and in the movings of the Life and Power of the Spirit have been drawn to testifie of it to them who were left behind groveling under the burthen of corruption and crying out because of the sin and bondage from the powers of darkness who hath in a mist withheld their eyes from beholding that living Virtue which is able to save and doth save blessed be his Name therefrom Now this we have often found That this our Testimony hath not been received in the same Spirit and Love wherein it hath gone forth but the Enemy by his subtilty hath raised up jealousies concerning us and prejudices against us as if we denyed the Scriptures and Ordinances of God and that Christ that died at Jerusalem professing him only in words to win upon others by but denying him in reality and substance To clear this latter for my heart is only at this present drawn out concerning that we have solemnly professed in the sight of the Lord God who hath given us the knowledge of his Son in Life and Power these two things First That we do really in our hearts own that Christ who came in the fulness of time in that prepared Body to do the Fathers Will his coming into the World Doctrine Miracles Sufferings Death Resurrection c. in plainness and simplicity of heart according as it is expressed in the Letter of the Scriptures Secondly That we own no other Christ then that nor hold forth no other thing for Christ but him who then appeared and was made manifest in flesh Now it would be nakedly inquired into by Professors What is the reason that their jealousies still remain concerning us and why they are still so ready to cast this upon us Certainly if they did know and own the same thing with us in the Spirit and in the Power in the Life and in the Love which is of the Truth this prejudice and these hard thoughts could not remain But if they themselves do not know Christ in the Spirit but only according to a relation of the Letter no marvel though they miss both of the Spirit and of the true intent and meaning of the Letter and likewise be liable to clash against the Truth as it is made manifest in others And indeed the Lord hath shewen me in Spirit several times that they themselves are guilty of that very charge and that he will so implead them at his Judgment Seat which they cast upon us even of denying that Christ which died at Jerusalem to be the Christ For he that owneth the words of Scripture as he apprehends or conceives them in the reasonings of his mind and doth not wait to have them revealed in the Spirit keeping out of his own reasonings and conceivings and waiting patiently till the Lord open the thing in the Spirit he setteth up his own conceivings or an Image in his mind of the mind of the Spirit but misseth of the thing in self which alone is known in the Spirit by them who wait upon the Spirit there to receive it and are not hasty to set up their own reasonings and imaginations concerning the thing in the mean time No man can in Truth call Jesus the Lord but by the Spirit But any man that is any thing serious and weighs the Scriptures in the natural part may so learn to acknowledge his coming into the World and that he is Lord and King c. and may thus call him Lord yea and kindle a great heat in his affections towards him but all this out of the Life out of the Spirit is but mans Image which he forms in his mind in his reading the Scriptures and observing things therefrom But the true calling Jesus Lord is from the feeling of his eternal Virtue in the Spirit and finding the Scriptures opened to him by the Spirit in a Principle which is above the Reason comprehends the Reason and confounds and brings it to nothing Again There is no true Knowledge of Christ no living Knowledge no saving Knowledge no Knowledge which hath the eternal Virtue in it but that which is received and retained in a measure of Light given by God to the Creature in the Faith which is the Gift in the Grace which is supernatural and spiritual whereas the reasoning part is but Natural And such as have received the Spiritual understanding know it to be distinct from the Natural and we experimentally find a very clear distinction between Scriptures searched out by the reasonings of the mind and so practises drawn therefrom and Scriptures opened by the Spirit and felt in the Life Now that Professors generally have not received their knowledge of Christ from the Spirit or from Scriptures opened in the Spirit and so know not the thing but only such a relation of the thing as mans reasoning part may drink in from the Letter of the Scriptures is manifest by this In that they are not able in Spirit and Understanding to distinguish the thing it self from the Garment wherewith it was cloathed though the Scriptures be very express therein Speak of Christ according to a Relation of the Letter there they can say somewhat but come to the Substance come to the Spirit of the thing come to the thing it self there they stutter and stammer and shew plainly that they know not what it is Now the Scriptures do expresly distinguish between Christ and the Garment which he wore between him that came and the Body in which he came between the Substance which was vailed and the Vail which vailed it Lo I come a body hast thou prepared me There is plainly He and the Body in which he came There was the outward Vessel and the inward Life This we certainly know and can never call the bodily Garment Christ but that which appeared and dwelt in the Body Now if ye indeed know the Christ of God tell us plainly what that is which appeared in the Body whether that was not the Christ before it took up the Body after it took up the Body and for ever And then their confining of Christ to that Body plainly manifesteth that they want the knowledge of him in Spirit For Christ is the Son of the Father he is the infinite eternal Being one with the Father and with the Spirit and cannot be divided from either cannot be any where where they are not nor can be excluded from any place where they are He may take up a Body and appear in it but cannot be confined to be no where else but there no not at the very time while he is there Christ

may now know what the Apostles and Evangelists have said concerning his appearance in a body of Flesh concerning his Birth Circumcision Baptism Preaching Doctrine Miracles Death Resurrection Ascention Intercession c. and yet not know him of whom these things are said Yea they may know what is said concerning the Word which was from the beginning and yet not know the Word the Power the Life it self Since the prevailing of the Apostles Testimony the way of the Enemy hath not been directly to deny Christ but to bring men into such a knowledge of Christ as saves not And as the Enemy did own Christ when he appeared in that body of Flesh saying I know thee who thou art the holy One of God So he hath found it for his advantage almost ever since to own that appearance of his So that this he doth not oppose nor mens knowledge and understanding of Scriptures so as to confirm them in this But the Saving knowledge the True knowledge the Living knowledge the powerful knowledge of Truth that he alwayes opposeth for that alone overturns and destroys his Kingdom in man and brings man from out of his reach Now there is a vast difference between knowing the Relations concerning a thing and knowing the thing related of And there is also a great deal of difference between believing the Relations concerning a thing and believing in the thing which is related of Spiritual things cannot be savingly known but in union with them in the receiving of them A man can never really know the Spirit of God by all that can be said concerning it but he must first feel somewhat of it whereby he may truly know it So the Peace the Joy the Life the Power they pass the understanding and a man can never rightly know them by reading or comprehending never so much concerning them but by coming out of himself and travelling thither where they are given and made manifest he may come into acquaintance with them And if the Peace which Christ gives the Joy the Life the Power cannot be thus known by litteral descriptions How can he who is the Fulness of all the Fountain of them all the Treasury of all Perfection in whom are hid all the Riches and Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge how can he be known by outward and litteral descriptions Now we have travelled through these things We knew formerly what ye know now and we also know now what God hath given us further and what our former knowledge was and what our present knowledge is And this is it which gives us satisfaction Our knowledge is in a Principle wherein we receive our capacity of knowing and wherein the Father from whom the Principle came teacheth us And this is his way of teaching us to wit by making us one with the thing he teacheth Thus we learn Christ by being born of him by putting him on Thus we know his Righteousness his Life his Wisdom his Power by receiving a proportion of them which giveth an ability to discern and acknowledge the fulness And in this we receive the understanding of the Scriptures and know the Seed of the Woman which bruiseth the Serpents head by receiving the Seed by feeling its growth in us and its power over the Enemy Then we know the thing likewise we know the VVoman that brings forth this Seed after the Spirit which is the Jerusalem above and we know also and singly acknowledge the bringing forth of it outwardly after the flesh This Seed we know to be the Seed of Abraham the Seed of David after the Flesh and the Seed of God after the power of the endless life And we are taught of God to give the due honour to each to the Seed of God in the first place to the Seed of David in the second place There was the Seed that wrought the thing which Seed was the Life and the Seed in which he wrought it which was formed into a Vessel like ours but without sin in which the pure Lamb appeared in the pure Power of Life which kept the Vessel pure and so he who was to be the first Fruits had the honour above all his Brethren being anointed with the Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows But we also are born of the same Seed He is formed in us we are formed of him we are as well of his flesh and blood as he was of ours And by being thus formed and feeling him grow up in us and receiving an understanding from him and in him thus we come to know him and to understand the words of Scripture concerning him By feeling and knowing the Lamb in our Vessels we know also what was the Lamb in his Vessel Thus we know things in the certainty and demonstration of Gods Spirit even in the Light which shines from him and in the Life which he begets and we speak of things as they are and as we feel them to be in the true Life which the Spirit of Christ hath begotten in us And we can truly say concerning the Scriptures that now we believe not so much because of the relation of things concerning Christ which we have found in them but because we have seen and received the thing which the Scriptures speak of and find it to be the very thing indeed the very Christ of God the spotless One the living Garment of Righteousness and Salvation wherein God findeth no fault and in which the Soul appears without blame before him And concerning this can we speak words of its Nature words of its Virtue words of its Life Power and Righteousness which that which is of the flesh cannot hear but that which is born of God naturally owneth and understandeth Why so Because it knoweth the nature of the thing and receiveth them in the savour thereof Can Life deny Life Can the Birth of Life deny that which springs out of the same Womb No no. The Children which are born of Wisdom do justifie Wisdom in its several sproutings forth and appearances but that which denies it is a birth after the Letter a birth after the litteral and outward knowledge of things a birth of the comprehending Wisdom that indeed reproacheth and blasphemeth the incomprehensible wisdom in its incomprehensible wayes and would restrain life to what they apprehend or can comprehend by the Letter concerning it And this may be a great evidence to Professors that they know not Christ indeed Christ in his Nature Spirit Life and Power because they speak not of him as Persons who feel the thing and speak from the present sence of it and acquaintance with it but only as persons that bring forth a Notion they have received into their understandings And yet they fail therein also for they speak not of Christ according as the Scriptures hold him forth compared one with another but as they have grosly apprehended concerning him from some Scriptures as the Jews outward did For the Scriptures speak not only of a Body but

the spiritually living are ingrafted As the Father is the Husbandman so is not the Son the Vine And hath not this spiritual this eternal Vine in it juice and sap of an eternal Nature and is not this sap its blood Quer. 28. Is there not a choice Vine to which the Foal and Asses Colt of the Seed of Judah is tyed and are not the Garments and Cloaths of the true Jews washed in the Wine and in the Blood of the Grapes of this Vine Gen. 49.11 Quer. 29. What is that which the earthly Nature slayes and what is the Blood which the earthly Nature shall disclose and the slain which it shall no more cover Quer. 30. What are the Robes which are washed and made white in the Blood of the Lamb and how are they washed and made white therein and what is the Blood of what Nature earthly or spiritual wherein they are washed and made white Quer. 31. What is it to have or how come we to have fellowship with Christ in his death and to suffer and be crucified with him Is it by having our natural Bodies crucified on the same Cross of Wood or some such like one as his Body was crucified on or by having the fleshly Nature crucified subdued and worn out of our Souls Minds Spirits c. by the Power of the Spirit Rom. 8.13 Now if the flesh we are to put off be of such a nature and kind to wit inwardly and spiritually corrupt must not the flesh of Christ which we are to put on instead thereof be of as deep inward and spiritual a Nature What is the flesh whereof we are to be uncloathed before we can be cloathed with Christ Is it outward or bodily And what is Christs flesh we are to put on is that any more outward or bodily then that which we are to put off Quer. 32. Is not the flesh and blood which they that have eternal Life feed on and which nourisheth them up to Life eternal they continuing to feed thereon and not feeding afterwards on strange flesh and strange blood I say is not this flesh and blood Spirit and Life For that is it which profiteth John 6.63 Is it not the flesh and blood of the Word Was not the Word made flesh and did not the Word who was made flesh dwell and appear in a Tabernacle of flesh and cause the Glory of his own divine Flesh to shine through that earthly flesh O read and consider that ye who have stumbled and murmured against the Truth may stumble or murmur no more but now at length receive the pure and pretious Doctrine thereof and so come to witness the fulfilling of that Promise Isa 29.18 v. 24. and praise him who giveth understanding Quer. 33. 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 Quer. 34. What is the pure Milk of the VVord which is milked out to the Babes from the pure Breast and what is the Breast from which it is milked out is it of the flesh of Christ or no Quer. 35. Are not the wicked of the seed and flesh of the Serpent Is not that the Body of flesh of sin of death which is to be put off And are not they who are renewed in spirit of the Seed and Flesh of Christ is not that the Body or Garment of Holiness of Righteousness of Life which is to be put on Quer. 36. Is it not as necessary that the eternal VVord be made flesh inwardly that so the Children may feed on him as it was for him to take on him an outward body of flesh to suffer and die for them and to fulfil all Righteousness both of the Law of the Letter and of the Law of the Spirit in Quer. 37. Is there not that which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt and do not they which dwell there instead of eating Christs Flesh and drinking his Blood put his flesh to pain crucifying it in and to themselves trampling under foot the Son of God and counting the Blood of the Covenant an unholy thing Read the Figure Did not outward Israel suffer in outward Egypt Did not just Lot suffer in Sodom Doth not the spiritual Seed suffer in and by spiritual Egypt Doth not the Flesh of the Holy and just One suffer in and by spiritual Sodom Quer. 38. What is that which the Gentile-Christians who are not Jews inward circumcised in heart and spirit who know not the inward Temple the place of the true Jews worship where they worship the Father in Spirit and Truth but only worship in the outward Court which God hath cast off and left out of his measure Rev. 11.2 I say What is that Holy City which these Gentiles tread under foot forty two months Is it the Church which is of the Flesh and Bones of Christ or no He that knoweth the substance the Seed of the Kingdom the Birth of the Spirit knoweth the Flesh and Blood which is of the Seed And this Flesh is Flesh indeed this Blood is Blood indeed even the Flesh and Blood of the Seeds Nature but the other was but the Flesh and Blood of our Nature which he honoured in taking upon him in which he did the Will in which he offered up the acceptable Sacrifice but yet did not give the honour from his own Flesh and Blood to it For the Flesh and Blood of our Nature was not his own naturally but only as he pleased to take it upon him and make it his But that whereof he formeth us and which he giveth us to eat and drink is the Flesh and Blood of his own Nature And this was it wherein was the Virtue and wherein is the Virtue Life and Power for ever Happy O happy is he who is of it who is taken out of and formed of him as Eve was of Adam and so becomes Flesh of his Flesh and Bone of his Bone Then will he know the Mystery of Life feed on the thing it self and not stumble about appearances and expressions as those that are out of and from the thing it self do through the darkness of their mind and because of their ignorance of the thing spoken of in the Scriptures An Incitation to Professors seriously to consider Whether they or we fail in the true acknowledgment and owning of the Christ which died at Jerusalem WE who are commonly called Quakers being a People whom the Lord hath gathered out of the wandrings out of the many Professions out of the several scattered estates and conditions wherein his Eye pittied us and his love found us out into a

A QUESTION TO THE Professors of CHRISTIANITY Whether they have the True Living Powerful saving Knowledge of Christ or no With some Queries concerning Christ and his appearances his taking upon him our flesh as also concerning his flesh and blood and our being formed thereof and feeding thereon And an Incitation to Professors seriously to consider whether they or we fail in the true acknowledgment and owning of the Christ which died at Jerusalem Likewise some Propositions and Considerations concerning the nature of Church-worships Ordinances since the death of the Apostles for the sake of the simplicity which hath been long held captive therein With the sounding of Bowels towards thee O England Also a faithful Guidance to the Principle and Path of Truth WITH Some sensible experimental Questions and Answers from the tenth Chapter of John By Isaac Penington Prisoner in Alisbury who by the Counsel of the Lord hath chosen rather to suffer Affliction with the despised People of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a se●son London Printed in the Year 1667. Reader By reason of the Authors absence from the Press these few faults have escaped which thou art desired thus to amend Page 12. line 29. reade For we were as shy P. 33. l. 21. r. gathered thither P. 36. l. 12. r. How while the Church P. 46. l. 19 r. effects not the thing now P. 50. l. 24. r. which who can utter THE PREFACE THis is life Eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Whom did the Father send Did he not send the Son of his Love From whence did he send him Did he not send him out of his own Bosom Whither did he send him Did he not send him into the World to take upon him a Body and glorifie the Name of the Father doing his Will therein He laid down his Glory stripping himself of the form of God and appearing in habit as a man in their Raiment with their Garment upon him in which as a Servant the Seed the Heir of all served the Father And now his work being as good as done he looks back at the Glory which he had laid down for the Fathers sake looking up to the Father for the restoring of it to him again I have glorified thee on the Earth saith he I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do And now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the World was John 17.4 5. Now having sought and travelled from my Childhood after the true knowledge of God and of his Christ and having been satisfied with nothing else that ever I could meet with and having at length through the tender mercy of the Lord and guidance of his Spirit met with this and been satisfied therewith finding it to be the eternal Life the true Food the living Power the pure Rest the Joy and Salvation of the Soul I cannot but testifie it to those that lay out their Money for that which is not Bread and their labour for that which satisfieth not We some of us at least laid out as much of our money as others who now despise us have done and as much of our labour And I may speak it in the fear of the Lord and in true sence without boasting some of us had as much of that which they feed on call bread as they have now Yet when the Lord brought us to the true Ballance we found it not to be bread nor able to give the Soul true satisfaction The bread was not that which we then called bread but that which we overlooked and wist not what it was But the eternal Life which was hid with the Father is manifested in the Son and made known to the Soul as the Son is manifested to it and revealed in it that is bread indeed that is meat which perisheth not but will endure when all litteral and outward knowledge of God and Christ fails and will fall short of satisfying that hunger of the Soul which is after the substance it self Now to draw mens minds to a sence of Truth to a sence of that which is the thing that they might know the Bread indeed that they might know the living Waters come to them and drink thereof and find Christ in them a Well of Water springing up to eternal Life therefore was it in my heart to give forth this Question and the ensuing Queries which he that rightly answers must know the thing and he that doth not know the thing by his inability to answer may find that he doth not and so may wait upon God that he may receive the knowledge of it and come to it for the eternal Life which it freely giveth The Jews were puzled with a literal knowledge of the Law and Prophets and about the Messiah to come according to their understanding of the Prophesies concerning him and so were kept from the true knowledge thereby Most sorts of those that now profess Christ are puzled about a knowledge concerning the outward Body flesh and blood of Christ according as they apprehend the Scriptures to speak and so the vail is over their hearts likewise and they cannot see the eternal Life and Substance no more than the Jews but by an outward litteral knowledge are kept back from the thing as the Jews were Now the breathing of my heart to the Lord is to take away the Vail from all hearts that sincerely desire after Truth and to open the true Eye in them that they may see the desire and beloved of their Souls and may be led by him into the true travel out of self towards the Kingdom yea into the very Land of the living where the food of Life is fed upon where the living Springs flow where are Vineyards which we planted not and dwelling places which we built not where the fruit of the Vine of Gods planting the Wine of the Kingdom is drunk of even new in the Kingdom with the Father and Son in the Spirit who are one and all there The Lord give a sence and understanding that the ear of the Needy the afflicted in Spirit the Mourners the Captives the bowed down may hear and may be drawn to touch that which hath the virtue in it and which effectually redeemeth those that wait upon it from all that boweth down and oppresseth A Question to the Professors of Christianity Whether they have the true living powerful saving Knowledge of Christ or no THE Question is not Whether they know what is said of him in the Scriptures but whether they know it savingly truly livingly powerfully Yea they may know what is said of him and yet not know him of whom those things are said As it was with the Scribes and Pharisees they knew what was said of Christ in the Law and Prophets but they knew not him himself when he appeared in that body of Flesh So men