Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	life_n	lord_n	sin_n	21,606	5	4.7055	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54052	The scattered sheep sought after 1. In a lamentation over the general losse of the powerful presence of God in his people, since the dayes of the apostles, with a particular bewailing of the withering and death of those precious buddings forth of life, which appeared in many at the beginning of the late troubles in these nations, with the proper way of recovery for such, 2. In some propositions concerning the only way of salvation, where is an answer given to that great objection, that the light which convinceth of sin, is the light of a natural conscience, and a brief account rendred of the ground of mens misunderstanding Scriptures, 3. In exposing to view the fundamental principle of the Gospel, upon which the redeemed spirit is built, 4. And in some questions and answers, by way of catechism, for the sake of the simple hearted, directing to that principle, and fixing in it / by Isaac Penington.	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.	1665 (1665)	Wing P1188; ESTC R18193	27,955	34

by his Spirit draws to the Son and the Son by the same spirit draws to the Father and they both draw by the spirit as he is light as he is their light lighted to that end For as the Father is light and the Son light so that Spirit which draws to them must be light also He is indeed the breath of light eternally lighted to draw to the eternal Image of light and then to the eternal substance which eternally dwels in that eternal Image Q. But how may I know the Spirit and its operations that I may follow him and be led by him both to the Son and to the Father and so come into the everlasting fellowship A. The Spirit is to be known by those motions operations which are proper to him which flow alone from him and from nothing else Q. What are they A. Convincing of sin and reproving for sin which nothing can truly discover and reprove but the light of the Spirit Darknesse ca●not make manifest darknesse but whatsoever maketh manifest is light All the discoveries of darknesse in the hidden world of the heart are from Christ the Sun of Righteousnesse by his Spirit what name soever men may give it who know not this Sun nor its light nor the true names of things in the light but have named even the things of God in the dark and according to the dark apprehensions and conceptions of their own imaginary mind But this I say to such as are so ready to beat their brains and dispute leave contending about names come to the thing come to that which reproves thee in secret follow the light that thus checks and draws be diligent be faithful be obedient thou shalt find this lead thee to that which all thy knowledg out of this even all that which thou callest Spiritual light will never be able to lead thee And when thou art joyned to this light it will shew thee him whom thou hast pierced even so as never yet thou sawest him and open a fresh vain of blood and grief in thee to bleed and mourn over him and work that repentance in thee which thou never wast acquainted with before and teach thee that faith to which yet thou art a stranger and teach thee that self-denyal which will reach to the very root of that nature which yet lives even under that and by means of that which thou callest spiritual light and will lay such an yoke on thy neck as the unrighteou one is not able to bear yea such an one as the hypocrite which is able to hide it self under confessions of sin and forms of zeal knowledg devotion and worship shall be daily tormented and wasted with And then thou shalt know what it is to wait upon God in the way of his judgments and find the powers of life and death striving for thy soul and daily floods and stormes encompassing and attending thee under which thou wilt assuredly fall and perish unlesse the everlasting arm of Gods power be stretched out for thee and be continually redeeming thee And then thou wilt feel and see how sin is pardoned and how it is bound how death brake in upon Adam and how it daily breaks in upon mankind and what that standard is which the spirit of the Lord lifteth up against the powers of darknesse And then thou wilt come clearly to perceive how that which thou hast called religion formerly which flowed not from this principle hath been but the invention of thine own imaginary mind though thou fatheredst it upon the Scriptures as most men do most of their inventions about Doctrine and Worship wherein thou hast been in a dream of being changed and yet remainest still the same in nature and hast had a name that thou hast lived but art still dead a name of being sanctified but still uncleane a name of being justified but still condemned by the light in thine own conscience which is one with him who is thy Judge and who will judge according to it And so as that which is real taketh place in thee so that which hath been but imaginary will passe away A short Catechism for the sake of the simple-hearted Quest VVHat is the estate and condition of all men by nature as they are begotten of the seed of the evil doer and come out of the loyns of the first Adam Answ A state of sin and darknesse a state of death and misery a state of enmity against God a state accursed from God exposed to his wrath and most righteous judgments both here and hereafter Q. What brought Adam to this estate and what keeps the sons of Adam in it A. Feeding on the tree of knowledg from which man is not excluded to this day though he is from the tree of life Q. How came Adam at first and how come men still to feed on the tree of knowledg A. From a lustful appetite and desire after the forbidden wisdom sown in their hearts by the envious enemy of their souls who is continually twining about this tree and tempting men and women to eat of it perswading them that the fruit thereof is good for food and indeed it is very desirable to their eye and promiseth fair to make them everlastingly wise but still faileth Q. What is the forbidden fruit A. It is knowledg without life knowledg in the earthly part knowledg acquired from below not given from above This promiseth to make men as God and to give them the ability of discerning and distinguishing between good and evil which is Gods peculiar property Eating of this fruit undid Adam undid the Gentiles undid the Jews undid the Christians they all feeding on the tree of knowledg and departing from the life in their several dispensations Q. How doth this fruit undo man A. The wisdom and knowledg which they thus gather and feed upon perverts them makes them wise in the wrong part exalts them against the life duls the true appetite and increases the wrong appetite in so much as that there is not so much as a desire in them after God in truth but only to get knowledg and wisdom from what they can comprehend By this means whatsoever was afterwards ordained to life became death to man Thus the Gentiles liked not to retain God in their knowledg but fell by their dispensation provoking God to cast them off and give them up to the vanity of their imaginations And thus the Jews whom God then chose fell likewise by their dispensation God for this cause giving them up to their own hearts lusts and rejecting them from being a people And the Gentiles whom God ingrafted into the true Olive in the Jews stead they also after the same manner fell by their dispensation Thus each of these fell by gathering wisdom from the letter but missing of the life in every of these dispensations Q. What is the food which man should feed on A. The tree of life the word which liveth and abideth for ever

the beauty and glory of life what is become of thee how art thou held captive and chained up in Babylon how dost thou lie fullied among the pots how are the wings of thy Dove clipped how art thou covered and polluted with the filth of the whole earth O take up a Lamentation weep O Israel mourn O daughter of Jerusalem bewail thy widdow-hood thy desolation thy loss of Husband thy sad captivity thy banishment out of thine own land and thy thraldom in the land of thine enemy What is become of thy God the mighty God of Jacob whose out-stretched arme hath been able to save and redeem his seed out of bondage What enemy hath been able to stand before him What wild Boar out of the Wood or wild Beast out of the Forrest was able to break into his Vineyard while he kept the fence where is that arm that smote Rahab and slew the Dragon Where is that hook that he was wont to put into the nostrils of the Leviathan Pharaoh is alive the wise Egyptians have power Egypt holds the seed in bondage Gebal Ammon and Amalek the Philistins with the inhabitants of Tire are all able to smite Israel and to stop up the well-springs of life Awake O arm of the Lord and awaken Israel that thou again maist become his Saviour in the sight of all the Nations and let all the house of Israel being awakened mourn in the Spirit of the Lord after the Lord. What is become of thy Messiah the Lords anointed the Captain of the Lords hoasts the Angel of the Covenant of life who was wont to go in and out before thee in fighting of the Lords battels who was the Prince and Saviour in the land of peace and rest who walked in the midst of the candlesticks who was thy King thy shepherd thy temple wherein thou worshippedst and the eternal light of thy life in the Land of the living What is become of that holy spirit which q ickned thee to God and which lived in thee being quickned which kept thee alive in him that liveth and made thee taste the sweetnesse of life continually Where is the anointing which suppled thee all over with the oyl of gladnesse and salvation Where is the comforter that refreshed thy spirit continually and led thee into all truth teaching thee all the things of God according to thy measure of growth in the life Where is the Spirit of thy Father which Spirited thee with thy Fathers nature which begot and brought forth the life power glory majesty eternity of thy Father in thee What is become of Sion the holy Mount whereon thou wast built Sion the fortresse of holinesse where is it What is become of Jerusalem the holy City thy Mother whereof thou wast born What is become of that Covenant of life in whose womb thou wast begotten and brought forth and by whose milk and breath thou wast afterward nourished and brought up Where are all the fruits of the holy Land the pleasant Grapes the sweet Figs the precious Olives that yeelded Wine and Oyl to make the heart glad and to refresh the countenance of the Lord of Life Where 's the joy in the Lord the obedience to the Lord the praying the praising the living the walking in his Spirit the entering into and bringing forth fruit in his pure understanding and in his holy unspotted will and movings in the purified heart Alas alas Babylon hath prevailed her King hath reigned Sion hath been held in bonds and that which hath sprung up under her name hath been the filthy off spring of Babylon the seed of the Mother of Harlots and these have brought forth sower fruit loathsome fruit finely painted to the view of that eye which cannot search into it but loathsom in its nature This hath been the State of the apostacy since the daies of the Apostles wherein that which hath not been of God hath reigned and that which hath been of God hath suffered and been reproached as if it had not been of God and hath panted and mourned after the springing up of the spring of its life and its gathering into it The deep sense of this hath afflicted my Soul from my tender years the eternal witnesse awakening in me and the eternal light manifesting the darknesse all along unto me though I knew not that it was the light but went about to measure its appearances in me by words which it self had formerly spoken to others and so set up my own understanding and comprehension as the measurer although I did not then perceive or think that I did so Thus continually through ignorance I slew the life and sold my self for a thing of nothing even for such an appearance of life as my understanding part could judge most agreeable to Scriptures This the Lord blew upon though its comlinesse was unutterable the life still feeding my Spirit underneath from whence sprang an inward beauty and freshnesse then such a day or rather night of darknesse and distresse overtook me as would make the hardest heart melt to hear the relation of yet the Lord was in that darknesse and he preserved me and was forming of me to himself and the taste I had then of him was far beyond what ever I had known in the purest strains of my Religion formerly And the Lord powerfully shut up my understanding and preserved my life from the betrayer But yet that was not perfectly destroyed in me upon which the Tempter might work and the Lord suffered him to lay a snare and my feet were intangled unawares in so much as the simplicity was betrayed and the fleshly part grew wise by those exercises wherewith the Lord had tried me This poysoned me this hurt me this struck at the root of my life and death insensibly grew upon me The Devil the envious seeds-man cousened me with the Image which before I had had in the truth opening my understanding part by the subtilty of temptation and deceit which the Lord had been destroying and letting that in which the Lord had shut out and then the Lord took away and shut up from that part that which before he had opened to the seed whereby the way of life became stopped and the way of death opened in a Mystery And then I could talk of universal love of spiritual liberty c. and wait for the glorious appearance of life having lost that which formerly gave me the sense of its nature yea at length I could seek to the creatures for what they could yeeld and strive to rub out the time of my misery without the immediate presence of the life of the Creator And as for this despicable people whom I now own in the Lord I could measure them I could fathome them I could own their standing and yet see their shortnesse and could with satisfaction to my spirit write death upon them as the end of that dispensation of life into which I saw them entering and in part entred Here was my

standing when the Lord drew his sword upon me and smote me in the very inmost of my soul by which stroke lying still a while under it my eyes came to be opened and then I saw the blindnesse of that eye which was able to see so far and the narrownesse of that heart and spirit which was so large and vast in comprehending and my Soul bowed down to the Lord to slay this to starve this to make a fool of this yea my desire was to present sence as great after the death of this as after the enjoyment of life in the Lord. And now this hath opened a fresh spring of sorrow in me a mourning over the just one which hath been slain by me O how cruelly how often have I murthered that which came to give me life how often have I sought to have my own understanding my own comprehension my own will and affections in Religion live and the righteous pure immortal principle die though I did not then call it my own as other men do not now but took it to be of God and to be the thing that was to live for I also was deceived and thought the Bastard which was a false conception was to inherit not knowing him to be the Bastard but taking him for the right heir And my soul is exceedingly enlarged in me towards those who at this day lie under the power of the same deceit who have slain the Lord of life as well as I and in whom the contrary nature lives under a covering who cannot possibly see that this which now lives in them is not the heir until the same eye be opened in them The life that was stirring at the beginning of the trouble of these Nations was very precious it did unite to God it did unite to one another it kindled an universal sence of the captivity of the bondage of the great oppression of Israel and a joynt cry went up to God for deliverance And God heard the cry and arose to deliver and did begin to break the yoke both outwardly in the Nation and inwardly in peoples spirits But then the tempter did also set himself at work again to intangle Israel For this end he brings forth likenesses of that which Israel desired and was seeking after He brings forth several forms of worship to allure some with several sorts of notions to allure others with several fresh appearances of life of love of liberty to tempt the people of God aside from following that spirit which rose up to deliver Thus comes he forth and prevails he divides in Jacob and scatters in Israel drawing one part to this form another part towards that form one to this Notion another to that Notion one to this inward Image another to that spiritual Idol and all from the life all from the power all from the Saviour all from the deliverer and so the work stops It stops in the Nation and it stops in peoples spirits and men generally wheele about and center again and apply themselves to make Images like the Images they had destroyed and so the Captivity returns Israel is turned back into his bonds and the Spirit which oppressed him before again crusheth him and rules over him And so great hath the breach been upon Israel that the Spirit of the world is become hardened and thinks there 's an end of this work of God and now they may venture again to settle both Church and State upon the old Principles of that wisdom which the Lord was shaking And now where is the people whom the Lord was redeeming where is the praying people the panting people the mourning people the people that could have travelled from sea to sea to have had the will of God revealed are they not run into the earth is not the spirit of the earth come over them are they not dividing the spoils The inward Jew the renewed nature is sunk lost made a prey of the Gentile the Heathenish Spirit hath risen up and seated it self in a form of worship or in some high Notions of knowledge on which that Spirit which knows not the Tree of life loves to feed Some are stark dead no sence at all in them but life quite swallowed up of death Others perhaps are still pressing towards the Kingdom but in the wrong nature in that which shall never obtain and they may there meet with some enjoyments but not enjoyments from or of the true thing but of the likenesse which the enemy hath painted to deceive them with and they may also wait and hope that the Kingdom will come and yet be out of that which knows its coming and can alone prepare the heart for its appearance Yea some are got so high that they are even in the Throne They have the love the life the liberty the joy the peace of the Kingdom as they imagine They can reign as Kings without us without that nature and principle wherein our life lies But these mighty ones these Princes the Lord will pull from their seat and raise up the humble the meek the low in heart the beggar from the dunghil and give to him the Throne of his glory Now this my life in love saith to you all as the proper and only way of your recovery and redemption come to that which can judge you Sion is to be redeemed with judgement and her converts with righteousnesse If Sion be redeemed if the seed be again raised that Spirit which hath got up above it and keepeth it down must be judged and brought under by judgement How was Israel of old to be recovered from her idolatries and whoredoms but by owning and coming to that light in the Prophets which manifested and judged it Ye also have worshiped Idols ye also have run a whoring from the Lord and have been inflamed with Idols under every green Tree Every new Idol every fresh appearance every lively likeness hath tempted you aside from the living God When one way of worship hath been dry and barren ye have left that when some notions of things have appeared empty and shallow ye have been weary of them but the next new Idol under the next green Tree hath drawn you aside into the bed of whoredom where ye have lost true fellowship with the true God of life and have been betrayed of the seed of life which he began to quicken and raise from the dead Now come to that which judgeth the Idol the Idol-maker the whorish Spirit which tempteth aside from the true husband and that Spirit which is liable to be Tempted and let these be cut down by the judgment and then the true seed of life will spring and flourish again There is no other way be not deceived That must be awakened in you which can judge you and must bring forth its judgment in you unto Victory if life in you ever rise and get the dominion over death And that Spirit which now rules in you and keeps the life

every heart to lead into the fear where the Law of departing from eniquity is learned and so this ray being harkned unto and followed in the fear brings up into the love into the life into the light into the wisdome into the power Do not shut your eyes now O ye wise ones but open your hearts and let in that which knocks there which can and will save you being let in and which alone can save you For it is not a notion of a Christ without with multitudes of practises of self-denyal and mortification thereupon which can save but Christ heard knocking and let into the heart This will open the Scriptures aright yea this is the true key which will truly open words things and Spirits but he that opens without this key is a Thief and a Robber and shall restore in the day of Gods Judgment all that he hath stollen and woe to him who when he is stripped of what he hath stollen is found naked The Scriptures were generally given forth to the people of God part to the Jews part to the Christians He that is born of the life hath right unto them and can read and understand them in the Spirit which dwels in the life But he that is not born of the Spirit is but an intruder and doth but steal other mens light and other mens conditions and experiences into his carnal understanding for which they were never intended but only to be read and seen in that light which wrote them And all these carnal apprehensions of his with all the faith hope love knowledge exercises c. which he hath gained into his Spirit hereby with all his prayers tears and fasts and other limitations will become loss to him for he must be stripped of them all and become so much the more naked when God recovers his Scriptures from mans dark Spirit which hath torn them and exceedingly prophaned them with his conceivings guessings and imaginings and restores them again to his people The Prophets and Apostles who wrote Scripture first had the life in them and he who understands their words must first have the life in him He that understands words of life must first have life in himselfe And the life from which the word came is the measurer of the words and not the words of the life And when the Scripture is interpreted by the life and Spirit which penned it there is then no more jangling and contending about it for all this is out of the life from and in that Spirit nature and mind where the lust the enmity the contention is and not the unity the love the peace But this is it which undoeth all the dead spirit of man reads Scripture and from that wisdome which is in the death not knowing the mind of the Spirit gives meanings and from believing and practising the things there spoken of which death may do as well as speak of the fame gathers an hope that all shall be well at last for Christs sake though it feel not the purification the cleansing the circumcision which cuts off the body of sin and death here for it is not to be cut off hereafter and so gives an entrance into the everlasting Kingdom where the King of righteousnesse is seen known and worshiped in spirit The Fundamental Principle of the Gospel This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you That God is light and in him is no darkness at all 1 Joh. 1.5 This was the message which Christ gave his Apostles to make way into mens hearts by This is the first thing that is proper for the mind to receive which lyes in the darknesse namely that there is no darknesse in God nothing but light Darknesse is excluded from him and the mind that lies in darknesse cannot have union or fellowship with him Therefore he that will be one with God and partake of his life must come out of the darknesse which hath no place with God into the light where God is and in which he dwels The work of the Son is to reveal the Father and to draw to the Father He reveals him as light as the spring of light as the fountain of light and he draws to him as light When he gives to his Apostles the standing message whereby they were to make him known to the world and whereby men were to come into fellowship and acquaintance with him this is it That God is light and in him is no darkness at all Christ Jesus the Son of God he is the image of his substance the exact image of this light the light of the world who is to light the world unto this substance So that as God the Father is to be known as light so Christ the Son also is to be known as light He is the only begotten of the Father of lights the alone image wherein the eternal substance is revealed and made known And he that receives this image receives the substance and he that receives not this Image receives not the substance Now there is a breath or spirit from this substance in this Image which draws to this Image thus the Father draws to the Son and the Image again draws to the substance thus the Son draws to the Father And so hearkning to this breath the mind and soul is led out of the darknesse into the Image of light which is the Son and by the Image into the substance and here 's the fellowship which the Gospel invites to Joyning to this breath being transformed by this breath living in this breath walking in this holy inspiration there 's an unity with the Father and the Son who themselves dwell in th●● breath from whom this breath comes in whom this breath is and in whom all are who are one with this breath This breath purgeth out the dark breath the dark air the dark power the mistery of death and darknesse and fils with the breath of light with the breath of life with the living power with the holy pure mistery Now as the Father is light and the Son light so this breath this spirit which proceeds from them both is light also And as the Father who is light can alone be revealed by the Son who is light so the Son who is light can alone be revealed by the spirit who is light He then who hears this message that God is light and feeleth himself darknesse and in darknesse and is willing to be drawn out of the darknesse into fellowship with God who is light This is requisite for him to know namely how he may be drawn out who it is that draws and which are the drawings that he may not resist or neglect them waiting for another thing and so misse of the true and only passage unto life Wherefore observe this heedfully None can draw to the Father but the Son none can draw to the Son but the Father and both these alone draw by the spirit The Father

which is in the midst of the garden of God which word was made flesh for mans weaknesse sake on which flesh the living soul feeds and whose blood the living spirit drinks and so is nourished up to eternal life Q. But had Adam this food to feed on and was this to be the food of the Gentiles Jews and Christians in their several dispensations A. God breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living soul and nothing lesse then life it self could satisfie his soul at first nor can to this day Every word of God that cometh fresh out of his mouth is mans food and life And God speaketh often to man shewing him what is good but he cannot relish or feed on this but desireth somewhat else through the error and alienation of his mind And what God speaketh now to man if that be mans life Adam had much more of it before his fall And for the Jews Moses tells them the word was nigh them in their heart and in their mouth and Paul also tels the Christians so So that the word is not far from any man but mens ears are generally stopped against it by the subtilty of the serpent which at first deceived them Q. But did not the Jews seek for eternal life in reading and studying the Scriptures under their dispensation and do not the Christians now seek for life and to feed on life A. Yea they did and do in their own way but they refuse it in Gods way Thus Adam after he had eat of the tree of knowledg would have fed on the tree of life also but he was shut out then and so are Christians now And if ever they will feed on the tree of life they must loose their knowledge they must be made blind and be led to it by a way that they know not Q. This is too misterious for me give me the plain literal knowledg of the Scriptures A. Is not the substance a mystery is not the life there The letter of any dispensation killeth it is the spirit alone that giveth life A man may read the letter of the Scripture diligently and gather a large knowledg therefrom and feed greedily thereon but it is only the dead spirit which so feeds but the soul underneath is lean barren hungry and unsatisfied which when it awakes it will feel Q. But may not the dead spirit ar well imagine mysteries in every thing and feed thereon A. Yea it may and the error here is greater then the former but in waiting in the humilty and fear to have the true eye opened and the true mystery revealed to the humble and honest heart and in receiving of that in the demonstration of the spirit out of the wisdom of the flesh here is no error but the true knowledge which springs from life and brings life Q. How may I come at this mystery A. There is but one key can open it but one hand can turn that key and but one vessel but one heart but one spirit which can receive the knowledge Q. How may I come by that heart A. As thou being touched with the enemy didst let him in and didst not thrust him by with the power of that life which was stronger th●n he and nearer to thee Even so now when thou art touched and drawn by thy friend who is nigh and thereby findest the beginning of vertue entering into thee give up in and by that life and vertue and wait for more and still as thou feelest that following calling and growing upon thee follow on in it and it will lead thee in a wonderful way out of the land of death and darknesse where thy soul hath been a captive into the land of life and perfect liberty Q. But can I do any thing toward my own salvation A. Of thy self thou canst not but in the power of him that worketh both to will and to do thou mayst do a little at first and as that power grows in thee thou wilt be able to will more and to do more even until nothing become too hard for thee And when thou hast conquered all suffered all performed all thou shalt see and be able understandingly to say Thou hast done nothing but the eternal virtue life and power hath wrought all in thee Q. I perceive by what is said that there is a Saviour one which hath virtue life and power in him to save but how may I meet with him A. Yea he that made man pittieth him and is not willing that he should perish in the pit into which he fell but hath appointed one to draw him out and save him Q. Who is this Saviour A. He is the Tree of Life I have spoken of all this while whose leaves have virtue in them to heal the Nations He is the plant of righteousnesse the plant of Gods right hand hast thou ever known such a plant in thee planted there by the right hand of God He is the Resurrection and the Life which raiseth the dead soul and causeth it to live He is the spiritual Manna whereupon the quickned soul feeds Yea his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed which he that is raised up in the life feeds on and findeth the living vertue in them which satisfieth and nourisheth up his immortal soul Q. But hath not this Saviour a name What is his name A. It were better for thee to learn his name by feeling his vertue and power in thy heart then by rote Yet if thou canst receive it this is his name The light the light of the World a light to enlighten the Gentiles that he may convert and make them Gods Israel and become their glory And according to his Office he hath enlightned every man that cometh into the world though men neither know the light that cometh from him nor him from whom the light comes and so notwithstanding the light is so near them remain strangers to it and unsaved by it Q. Why dost thou call him the light are there not other names every whit as proper whereby he may as well be known A. Do not thus let up the wise and stumbling part in thee but mind the thing which first puts forth its virtue as light and so is thus first to be known owned and received Yet more particularly if thou hast wherewith consider this reason We call him light because the father of lights hath peculiarly chosen this name for him to make him known to his people in this age by and hath thus made him manifest to us And by thus receiving him under this name we come to know his other names He is the life the righteousnesse the power the wisdom the peace c. but he is all these in the light and in the light we learn and receive them all and they are none of them to be known in spirit but in and by the light Q. How are the other names of Christ known in and by the light

to the least appearance of his light in their hearts they do it unto him Yea our Lord Christ at this very day is as really crucified in their spiritual Egypt and Sodom as he was without the gates of Jerusalem and his righteous blood cries as loud against the professors of this age as ever it did against the Jews and they are hardned against him by a conceited knowledg which by their imaginations they have gathered from the Scriptures just as the Jews were but the eye in them can no more see it then the eye in the Jews could Q. Surely if they knew the light to be the only living way they would not be such enemies to it A. Yea I believe concerning them as was said concerning the Jews that if they knew it they would not crucifie the Lord of glory for I bear many of them record that they have a great zeal though not according to knowledg But at present very sad is their state for the God of the world hath blinded that eye in them which alone can see the truth and with that eye wherewith they now strive to see they shall never see with comfort Yea so exceeding gross and thick are many of them become and their hearts so fat that in stead of feeling the want of the spirit of God in themselves and mourning after it they can mock at the appearances of it in others and speak contemptibly of a light within where Christ saith the light is For saith Christ Take heed that the light which is in thee be not darknesse for if c. Q. But will not they reply that they do not oppose much less mock at the light of the spirit but only that which ye ignorantly call the light of the spirit A. If we have found it to be the light of the spirit and to work that in us and for us which no other light ever could do not blame us for giving in our testimony that it is that light And take heed how ye reproach us with ignorance seeing many of us have passed through all that which ye call knowledg but our light is a new and strange thing to you and ye are not yet able to judge it Q. But may not men obtain eternal life by reading the Scriptures without knowing or owning this principle of the light A. The true end of mens reading the Scriptures is to turn them to the light The Scriptures contain messages concerning God concerning Christ concerning the Spirit the end whereof is to turn men to the power and life which can do the thing for them which God which Christ which Spirit fill all things and are within in the heart as well as without The word is nigh thee in thy heart and in thy mouth saith Moses to the Jews saith Paul to the Christians And to what end do they tell them it is there but that there they should wait upon it to hear its voice and to obey it Now mark though men could practise and perform all things mentioned in the Scriptures yet not being turned to this they are not in the way of salvation for the way of salvation is not a particular path or course of Ordinances and duties prescribed in the Scriptures but it is a new way a living way a way that the wisest professors out of it never knew I will lead them in paths they have not known So that while men know not nor are not turned to the light and power whereof the Scriptures testifie all their reading of the Scriptures praying and practising Ordinances and duties there mentioned are but in vain and in the end will prove but a false covering and not the covering of the spirit Q. But how did men do formerly for this is but a late notion about the light have none ever been saved that have not embraced this notion A. I speak not of embracing a notion but of turning to the thing it self whithout which none ever was or can be saved for it is that alone can save and it saves only them that are turned to it Now if any man so read the Scriptures as thereby to learn to turn to this he may feel that which will work salvation in him though he know not its name For as darknesse being turned to works death in a mistery though its name be not known but it may appear and be taken for light so light being tu●ned to works life in a mistery although he in whom it works should not be able to call it by its name Q. Then by this a man may be saved though he should not know the litteral name Jesus or the litteral name Christ c. A. The names are but the signification of the things spoken of for it is the life the power the being transformed by that that saves not the knowledg of a name And Christians mightily deceive themselves herein for they think to be saved by believing a relation concerning Christ as he appeared in a fleshly body and suffered death at Jerusalem Whereas Christ is the same yesterday to day and for ever and the saving knowledg reveals him not only as he was then but as he was the day before and as he will be for ever And this knowledg is also revealed in the Scripture but they are so drowned in the Letter wherewith the carnal part is so filled that the spiritual eye cannot open in them to see and so that which was ordained for life becomes death to them and they perish they perish just as the Jews did for their eyes are with held by a wisdom which they have grown up in from the Letter from the beholding the mistery of life in the spirit which alone can work out and save from the mistery of death Q. But did not God formerly work life in men by their reading of the Scriptures and by the preaching of such godly Ministers as are now despised and counted Antichristian A. When men read the Scriptures formerly in the times of thick darknesse and when some of those who were not made Ministers according to the order of the Gospel preached in the simplicity of their hearts according to the best light of their feeling and experience the Lord pitied the simplicity of their hearts and secretly refreshed this principle in them by such reading and by such preaching But now this principle is made manifest their reading and setting up a knowledg of the Scriptures without this which was the thing even then from whence they had their life yea in opposition to this this increaseth their death and bondage and shuts them out of life Q. Well I will keep to the Scriptures and wait for light there let who will follow this new light A. Wilt thou keep to the Scriptures in opposition to that light which alone can give thee the knowledg of the Scriptures what kind of knowledg wilt thou gather from the Scriptures Not a knowledge which will humble thee and cleanse thy heart but a knowledg which will puff thee up and fit thee for the slaughter While thou art from the light thou canst not know the Scriptures nor the power of God but art exalting thine own imaginations conceivings and reasonings about the sense of Scriptures And this thou wilt one day know with sorrow when God calls thee to an account for thy boldnesse in putting senses and meanings upon his words without his light Q. I am almost startled A. Many have fallen and more must fall for the sharp Axe of the Lord is preparrd to cut down every professor with all his profession and religious practises imitations from Scripture which stand not in the pure life Happy art thou if thou now fall by that hand which now strikes at many in great loving kindnesse and mercy that he might raise them up again and fix them firm on the true foundation But miserable are those whose eyes are withheld till the day of their visitation be overslipt and so they continue keeping their corrupt standing and confidence in their fleshly knowledg of Scriptures for they also must fall but their fall will be otherwise Mind therefore this my single hearted advice Let thy Religion be to feel the pure principle of life in the pure vessel of life for the eye must be pure that sees the life and the heart that receives it And faith is a pure mystery and it is only held in a pure conscience Know that in thee that purifies thee and then thou knowest Christ and the Father and the Spirit and as that lives and grows up in thee so shalt thou know their dwelling place and partake of their life and fulnesse THE END