Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	heart_n	light_n	shine_v	8,936	5	9.6862	5	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

is but when Christ cometh no man knoweth whence he is He is not holy strict and zealous according to the Law say others but a loose person a man gluttonous and a Wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and sinners one who teacheth not his Disciples to fast and pray as the Pharisees did theirs and John who was generally looked upon as a Prophet did his but justifieth them in plucking the ears of Corn on the Sabbath Day and so thereby rather incouraging them to break it then strictly to observe and keep it according to Gods Law He is a Blasphemer say some speaks most horrid blasphemy making himself equal with God He reproacheth the most strict and zealous men that we have even our Teachers and Interpreters of the Law and Prophets calling them Hypocrites painted Sepulchres blind Guides c. and pronounceth Wo upon Wo against them And those that are the Children of Abraham he calls the Children of the Devil and saith He that committeth sin is the Servant of sin But if the Son meaning himself make you free ye shall be free indeed And if we will have life in us we must believe in him and eat his flesh and drink his blood Did ever Moses or any of the Prophets teach such Doctrine Again he saith If a man keep my saying he shall never see death whereas Abraham and the Prophets who believed God and kept his sayings are all dead This made them even conclude he had a Devil John 8.52 So how could they understand him when he said He was the good Shepherd and the Door c. and that all that ever came before him were Thieves and Robbers Would they not look upon this as witnessing of himself and endeavouring to set up himself And when he said Verily verily before Abraham was I am Were they not ready to stone him for speaking a false and impossible thing as it seemed to them he manifestly being not yet fifty years old But suppose it to be true that he was before Abraham how then could he be the Messiah who was to come of Abraham and out of the loyns of David according to the Scriptures And then for his Miracles having beforehand concluded that he was a bad Man a Sinner a breaker of the Sabbath a Blasphemer a deceiver of the People c. How easie was it for them to harden themselves against them and to infer that he wrought not these things by the power of God but by the aid and assistance of the Devil to overthrow the Laws and Ordinances of Moses and to set up himself and his new Doctrine by Indeed many and some seemingly strong and unanswerable were the exceptions which the wisdom and understanding in them which was out of the Life and Power of Truth formed against Christ whereby they justified themselves in their refusal of him who was Sealed and sent of the Father and so excluded themselves the Kingdom and the Righteousness thereof This is past and they can condemn them now who themselves are acting over again the same thing in spirit It pleaseth the Lord thus to suffer things to be still so to give forth the dispensations of his Life as they alone that are in some measure of his Life can discern them And the same spirit under a new guise still opposeth Truth in its present appearance and dispensation and stirreth men up to flight and blaspheme that holy Name and Power which they that believe in are saved and sanctified by Well what shall I say to you O that ye could discern Spirits O that ye could see what spirit ye are of and whom ye serve in opposing the present dispensation of Life O that ye could see how ye read Scriptures out of that which wrote them and bend them against that which wrote them making your selves wise and strong in a wrong Wisdom and Knowledge against the Lord and against his Christ whom he hath set upon his holy Hill of Sion and who appeareth there though ye see it not For Sion is not now literal or after the flesh the Day is come the Shadows are gone But Sion is the holy Hill of God in Spirit upon which the Heavenly Jerusalem is built which is revealed come down and coming down from Heaven and many of the Heavenly Citizens dwell there already and more are coming thither to dwell for even from the East West North and South shall the gathering be to sit with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom which cannot be shaken which Kingdom was received by the Christians formerly before the Apostacy and is now received again blessed be his Name who lives and reigns in Power over all the spirits of darkness and deceit maintaining his pure Life and Truth in the hearts of his Children in despite of them all But why should ye thus err in Heart from the pure Truth Why should ye not open to him that knocks in his holy Power and in the demonstrations of his Spirit to your Consciences Why should a subtile device of the deceiver be let in and hugged by you to cause you to thrust him back from your hearts who is the Word of eternal Life and with whom are the words of eternal Life The Lord God discover the deep deceits of the Enemy to you whereby he captivateth your hearts and understandings that it may not be alwayes said of you as it was of the Jews He came unto his own and his own received him not But to as many as received him he gave power in the day of his flesh and he giveth much more power to them that receive him in Spirit in the Day of his Spirit to become Sons of God And because they are Sons he poureth out abundantly of his Spirit upon them And he that hath the Spirit hath the Son and he that hath the Son hath Life But he that hath not the Son but blasphemeth the appearance and light of his Spirit hath not life but is yet in that Wisdom and Knowledge which is death and which keeps him dead Now the Lord of his tender Mercy make you sensible of and pardon your opposing and resisting his Truth and also cause the Light of Life to shine in your hearts quickening and guiding you thereby out of the Land of Death and Darkness into the holy Land of Life that all that sincerely breath after Truth may through the faithful travel come to sit down dwell and feed together in it in the one Power in the one Life in the one holy Spirit where is pure Rest and Peace perfect Joy and Satisfaction for evermore Amen 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 Query 1. VVHether there was not a necessity of Christs taking upon him our flesh for the redemption of those that had sinned and the satisfaction of the justice offended Quer. 2. Whether the Father did not accordingly prepare 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

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

while he was here on Earth yet was not excluded from being in Heaven with the Father at the very same time as he himself said concerning himself The Son of Man which is in Heaven John 3.13 Nor was the Father excluded from being with him in the Body but the Father was in him and he in the Father whereupon he said to Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father What did every on that saw that Body see the Father also Nay not so but be that saw Christ the Son of the living God whom flesh and blood revealed not but the Father only Mat. 16.16 17. he saw the Father also O Friends look to your knowledge of Christ and to your Faith and Knowledge of the Scriptures and to your Prayers also for it is easie missing of the living substance in all these and meeting with a shadow which may please and make a great shew in the earthly part in the natural understanding and affections but satisfieth not the Soul or that which is born after the Spirit but still the cry there goes out where the Soul is awakened after Truth Substance Life Virtue from Gods Spirit in the Spirit which it alone can feed upon These four things following I am certain of which he that cometh into the true Light shall infallibly experience them there First That nothing can save but the knowledge of Christ even of that very Christ and no other who took upon him the prepared Body and offered it up at Jerusalem Secondly That no Knowledge of Christ can save but the living Knowledge Not a knowledge of him after the Letter which the carnal part may get much of and value it self much by but a knowledge of him in the Spirit which is only given to that which is begotten and born of the Spirit and only retained by that which abides and remains in the Spirit and runs not out into the fleshly reasonings imaginings and conceivings about the things mentioned in the Scriptures Thirdly That that man who knoweth not Christ in Spirit nor keepeth close to him in Spirit but through darkness and misguidance of the spirit of deceit calleth the shinings of his Light his reproofs his checks for that which is evil and his secret motions to that which is good natural This man though he seem to own Christ never so much according to the Letter yet in Truth denies him Fourthly He that denies Christ in his knocking 's and visitations of him in his own heart and before men in the Truths which he holds forth by his Servants and Ministers of his Spirit him will he deny before his Father in Heaven O I beseech you do not trifle about these things for they are exceeding weighty lest ye perish from the way for missing of the Saviour ye must needs also miss of the Salvation O that ye knew your state as God knows it to be and as it is ceatainly known and felt in the measure of his Life and holy Spirit by those whom God hath gathered together and whose eyes he hath opened and preserveth open there Glory be to his Name therefore Yea Glory Glory Glory and everlasting Praises be sung to him throughout all the holy Land yea in the very heights of Sion by the Souls of the Redeemed from henceforth and for evermore Amen whose Mercy Love Grace Wisdom Power and rich Goodness remaineth and endureth for ever by and in which the Redeemed live to his Praise who have overcome by the Blood of the Lamb whose Blood they know what it is and none else knoweth it but they who feel the sprinkling and virtue of it Lo this is our God we have waited for him and how can we but be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation O let all that live by the breath of thy Power and drink of thy Streams sing praise unto Thee and exalt thy great and wonderful Name for ever and ever Some Propositions and Considerations concerning the nature of Church-Worships and Ordinances since the dayes of the Apostles for the sake of the Simplicity which hath been long held captive therein HE that would know the true state of the Church and Ordinances thereof must wait upon God in fear and humility of heart who alone is able to give the true knowledge and understanding of these things And he that cometh to the Spirit waiteth in the Spirit and receiveth the true Light from the Spirit he shall be able to measure Ages and Generations past as with a span and see clearly in that Light how things were before the Apostacy while the Church was in the Wilderness and how things shall be again after the Apostacy when the Church cometh out of the Wilderness She her self is the same in all but her state is different according to the wisdom and good pleasure of him who variously disposeth of her One while she is cloathed appearing in the beauty and glorious dress which the Lord had put upon her Another while she is stripped of her outward Garments and the Harlot dressed therewith and appearing therein After which season she is adorned again as gloriously if not more gloriously then before but whether ever she appears more in those Garments wherein the Harlot had been dressed and wherein she had long appeared even all the time of the Apostacy the Lord would be enquired of and waited on to know Now to help the tender and upright hearts towards the true sense of these things the Propositions and Considerations following are given forth which he that sincerely waiteth on the Lord from him may receive the true understanding and right acknowledgment of 1. That upon the coming of Christ and the change of that outward Covenant the distinction betwen the outward Jew and Gentile fell they becoming all one as in relation to Christ and then another distinction arose in relation to the Faith Believers becoming Jews now and unbelievers Gentiles 2. That these true inward Jews had not only the inward Faith the Life the Power the Spirit but also a Ministry Ordinances and gifts of the Spirit relating to their present state 3. That there was a time after a long and sharp fight between the true Ministers who appered in the true Light and Power of the true Spirit and the false Ministers who also appeared as Ministers of Righteousness and as in the Power of the Spirit but were not such indeed but instructed by Satan to transform themselves into a resemblance and likeness of Ministers of Righteousness For though they said they were Apostles and seemed so in appearance yet their Spirit being tried was found not to be the Spirit of the Apostles I say there was a time when there was a division or separation made between the inward Temple and the outward Court 4. That when this division was made the outward Court was given to the Gentiles not any longer reserved by God for the true worshippers who worship in Spirit and Truth but given to the unbelievers the