Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	adam_n	fruit_n	tree_n	1,436	5	7.9708	4	false

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

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

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