Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	life_n	light_n	shine_v	1,813	5	9.0770	5	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

bad deceit but if in the result it should prove to have been the light of the Spirit and thou all thy life time hast took it for the light of a natural conscience and so hast despised or at least neglected if not reproached it thou wilt then find that this was a very bad deceit 2. I can shew thee by express Scripture that it is the work of the spirit to convince of sin Joh. 16.8 And again that the Law which is spiritual manifesteth that which is corrupt and carnal Rom. 7.14 But where canst thou shew me from Scripture that a natural conscience can convince of sin 3. Let any man give heed to the light in his heart he shall find it to discover his most inward his most secret his most spiritual evils which a natural light cannot do for that which is natural cannot discover that which is spiritual 4. The Apostle saith That it is the grace which hath appeared to all men which teacheth not only godlinesse but also sobriety and righteousnesse Tit. 2.11 12. The light of the falne nature is darknesse can teach nothing of God what any man learns now of the true knowledg of God he learns by grace which shines in the darknesse of mans nature to leaven it with the true knowledg though man being darknesse can by no means comprehend it and so cannot give it its true name Therefore take heed lest through ignorance ye blaspheme the holy light of the pure Spirit calling that natural looking on it with the carnal eye which with the spiritual eye is seen to be spiritual For thou that dost this wilt be be also erring on the other hand calling thy carnal meanings and conceivings about the mind of the Spirit of God in Scripture spiritual And he that thus puts darknesse for light must needs put light for darknesse and then call evil good and good evil and so err from the Spirit of God in the whole course of his Religion even in the most inward exercises of it Man by nature is dead in trespasses and sinnes quite dead and his conscience wholly dark That which giveth him the sense of his death and of his darknesse must be another thing then his nature even the light of the spirit of Christ shining in his dark heart and conscience It is the seed of the woman which not only destroyes but also discovers all the deeds of the Serpent Now this seed this light is one in all though there have been several dispensations of it One to the Heathen in whom it springs up after an hidden manner even as it were naturally from whence it had the name of the Light of Nature though it be the mistery of life and salvation hid in them Col. 1.27 this mistery in the Gentiles it is ill translated among another to the Jews in whom it was more vigorously stirred up by a Law given who by types and shadows and righteous exercises according to the Law were to be awakened to the living principle Mich. 6.8 Another to the Christians in whom it was livelily brought forth to light and life by an especial dispensation of grace in so much as that which was the Mistery in the Gentiles and vailed from the Jews being opened in them was found to be Christ the hope Col. 1.27 But under all these dispensations the generality of men have fallen short of the glory of God and missed of the substance Therefore the Lord God is now bringing forth the substance it self but under such a vail as hides it from the eye of mans wisdome under what dispensation soever he be and how high soever in that dispensation To some it seems natural to others legal to some it seems from the power of Satan or at least they pretend so to others it seems the ministry of John Baptist Thus men guess at it in the wisdome of their comprehensions waiting the true line and plummet to measure it by Now to you who have not waited to learn in the wisdome of God the names of things which there are given according to their nature but in the forwardnesse of your spirits from your gathered knowledg without the living power have ventured to call that natural which in the eternal wisdome is seen to be spiritual and which hath been able to effect that which all that knowledge which ye call spiritual could never do let me propose th consideration of one Scripture to your Consciences in the sight of God The Scripture is that in Job 28.12 to the end Where shall wisdome be found and where is the place of understanding Man knoweth not the price thereof neither is it found in the land of the living The deep saith it is not in me and the sea saith not in me It cannot be gotten for gold neither shall silver be weighed for the price thoreof c. Whence then cometh wisdome and where is the place of understanding seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living and kept close from the fowls of Heaven Destruction and death say we have heard the fame thereof with our ears God understandeth the way thereof and he knoweth the place thereof c. And he said unto man Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdome and to depart from evil is understanding Now consider well First Is this natural wisdome or spiritual wisdome that is thus precious What is this that destruction and death have heard the fame of Is it the wisdome of nature or is it Christ the wisdome of God Secondly Where is the place of this where doth God point man to find this wisdome He points him to the fear Unto man he said he hath shewed thee O man what is good Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding Go to the fear there it is taught that is the wisdom learn by the fear to depart from evil that 's the understanding This is it which is so precious which nothing can equalize or value here is the place of it thus it is to be learned Sin overspreads all the land of darknesse there is no fear of God before mens eyes there there is no learning of the fear there all the wisdom that man can come by cannot teach it he that learneth to fear God to depart from evil must learn of Christ the wisdom of God and must deny all the varieties of the wisdome of men which undertakes to teach it but cannot Thirdly What is that in every man which teachech the fear which teacheth to depart from evil Every man hath in him an eye that sees the evil what is that eye which the God of this world doth so strive to blind and doth so generally blind Every man hath in him an enemy to evil one that never consented to it but still reproves it and fights against it even in secret what is this This is no less then a ray from Christ the wisdome of God out of the seat of the fear in

the light the everlasting Arm the living power is felt and the Anchor being felt it staies the soul in all the tossings troubles storms and tempests it meets with afterwards which are many yea very many 4. Faith through the hope works righteousnesse and teaches the true wisdom and now the benefit of all the former trouble anguish and misery begins to be felt and the work goes on sweetly All unrighteousness is in the darknesse in the unbelief in the false hope faith in the light works out the unrighteousnesse and works in the righteousnesse of God in Christ And it makes truly wise wise in the living power even wise against the evil and to the good which no man can learn elsewhere 5. In the righteousnesse and in the true wisdome which is received in the light there springs up a love and an unity and fellowship with God the Father of lights and with all who are children of the light Being begotten by Christ the light into the nature of the light and brought forth in the Image there is an unity soon felt with God the Father and with those who are born of the same womb and partake of the same nature And here is a willingnesse and power felt in this love to lay down the life even for the least truth of Christs or for the brethren 6. Belief in the light works patience meeknesse gentlenesse tendernesse and long suffering It will bear any thing for God any thing for mens souls sake It will wait quietly and stilly for the carrying on of the work of God in its own soul and for the manifestation of Gods love and mercy to others It will bear the contradiction and reproach of sinners seeking their good even while they are plotting contriving and hatching mischief laying many subtil snares and longing thereby to entrap the innocent 7. It brings peace joy and glory Faith in the light breaks down the wall of darknesse the wall of Partition that which separates from the peace that which causeth the anguish and trouble upon the soul and so brings into peace Christ is the skilful Physitian he cures the disease by removing the cause The unskilful Physitians they heale deceitfully crying peace peace while there is no peace while that which breaks the peace is standing but Christ doth not so but slaies the enmity in the heart by the blood of his crosse so making peace And this is true peace certain peace Now finding the clods of earth removed the enemy the disturber the peace-breaker trodden down the sin taken away the life power present the soul brought into the peace here 's joy unspeakable joy joy which the world cannot see or touch nor the powers of darknesse come neer to interrupt Here 's now no more crying out O wretched man and who shall deliver c. but a rejoycing in him who hath given victory and made the soul a conqueror yea more then a conqueror Wait to feel that thou who art now groaning and oppressed by the mercilesse powers of darknesse And this joy is full of glory which glory increaseth daily more and more by the daily sight and feeling of the living vertue and power in Christ the light whereby the soul is continually transformed and changed more and more out of the corruptible into the incorruptible out of the uncircumcision the shame the reproach into the circumcision the life the glory Q. Doth the light do all this A. Yea in them that turn towards it give up to it and abide in it In them it cleanseth out the thicknesse and darknesse and daily transformeth them into the image purity and perfection of the light And this nothing can do but the light alone Q. What makes men generally so averse from the light A. Their unity with the darknesse which the light is an enemy to discovering and disturbing it Q. But wise men knowing men men who are looked upon as having most light they also are enemies to this light and speak hardly of it A. Was it not alwayes so Did any of the Rulers or wise Scribes and Teachers of the Law believe in him formerly and is it any wonder if such believe not in him now Q. What may be the reason why the wise men formerly have not and now cannot believe in the light A. There are two great reasons for it 1. Because they cannot comprehend it They can comprehend the knowledg which they can gather out of the book of Nature or out of the books of the Law and Prophets or out of the books of the Evangelists and Apostles but they cannot comprehend the light which all these testifie of so that such a kind of knowledg they can receive but the light they cannot for it is not to be comprehended but gathereth into it self and comprehendeth 2. Because it is an utter enemy to them It will not wink at the closest of their evils nor speak peace to them therein Their own gathered knowledg may speak peace to them but this will not Thus the Jews could speak peace to themselves from their Temple Ordinances and Sactifices though they walked in the stubborness and uncircumcision of their hearts resisting the checks and motions of the holy spirit there thus the Christians can speak peace to themselvs from a belief and hope through Christs dying at Jerusalem though they know not him in them and are at a distance and not one with that in their hearts which is of Christ and in his power and authority checks and reproves for sin but the light will not speak peace so but only where the vertue of the living blood is felt cleansing away the sin Q. But there are many professors strict professors who without doubt have once tasted of the living virtue what makes them such enemies to the light for there are none speaks more against it then they A. 1. Because they are fallen from what they once had for if they were in that living principle which once gave them a true taste of life through the Scriptures they could not but know own the light which was the thing which gave them the taste and would have preserved their relish had they known how to turn to it and abide in it 2. The light is a witnesse against all their knowledg and religious practises imitations from the Scripture which they hold practise out of the light in the unrighteousnesse even in that part which is not to know or be the worshipper And can ye blame them that when the light is so great an enemy to them that they also turn head against it How is it possible that having slain and murdered the just one in themselves they should acknowledg and give him his due honour in others Q. But have the strict professors who pretend great things in honour of Christ murthered him in themselves A. Yea verily as really as the Scribes Pharisees and people of the Jews put him to death at Jerusalem for what they do

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

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 Pennington When Ephraim spoke trembling he exalted himself in Israel but when he offended in Baal he died And now they sin more and more c. Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud and as the early dew c. Hos 13.1 2 3. Yea his spring shall become drie and his fountain shall be dried up ver 15. We have all been as sheep going astray but blessed be the everlasting Arm which hath gathered any of us to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls O come to the fold O scattered Sheep come to the fold Wander no longer from mountain to hill but remember your resting place the ol● resting place of Israel even the m●untain of the Lords house where Israe● may lie d●wn and feed in peace and no ravenous beast can disturb O house of Jacob let whoredome wine and new wine no longer stea● away your hearts but come let us walk in the light of the Lord. LONDON Printed in the Year 1665. The PREFACE MY people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the Fountain of living waters and hewed them out Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no water This was ever and anon the complaint of the Lord concerning Israel from the beginning to the end The Lord did delight to beget nourish and bring up that people for himself but they were almost continually revolting from him and rebelling against him He did mighty things for them but they still forgot him He redeemed them by his outstretched Arm he fed them he defended them but they knew him not Isa 1.3 but decked themselves with the ornaments which they had from him and then lift up the heel against him Ezek. 16.7 c. Deut. 32.15 In plain terms they got what knowledge they could from him into their own vessels and then they could set up for themselves live of themselves without fresh bublings up of life from the spring from whence their knowledg came the Priests said not Where is the Lord but could handle the Law and teach the knowledge of it without him and the Prophets could prophesie by another Spirit Jer. 2.8 And thus the Lord God of life lived not in them but they lived upon such things as once came from the life but being separated from the spring were dead and nourished but the dead part in them the part estranged from God And thus though their professions were great and they multiplied prayers and sacrifices and fasts and drew nigh to God with their lips yet their hearts were far from him They had forsaken the Fountain they drank not of the waters of the spring of the rock that followed them but they drank of the waters of their own Cisterns They set up that knowledge of the Law for their light which they had hewed out with the tools of their own understanding without that spirit that wrote it This was Israels error of old they drank very zealously of the waters of the Law but they drank it not from he spring but out of the Cisterns which themselves had hewed And as it was thus with Israel of old so hath it been with Israel since The Christian Israel hath been alwaies back-sliding alwaies forgetting the Lord still getting what they could from him to live of themselves but refusing to live on h m getting what knowledge they could from the Scriptures without him getting what they could from their exercises and experiences but neglecting the sp●ing of their life And so this Israel also dies this Israel likewise withers and becomes a scorn to the beathen for though they speak great words of their God yet they themselves are but as the heathen uncircumcised like them unacquainted with the vertue power of life like them alwaies striving against sin in that which cannot conquer and so they also are slaves under their lusts and corruptions like the heathen and know not the truth which makes free indeed Exceeding great hath been the apostacy of this age Mighty was the appearance of God inwardly in his peoples Spirits mighty was the appearance of God outwardly in the Nation many waies and great hopes there was of a thorow reformation But how suddenly was the pure Spirit of the Lord forgotten and departed from and his work overturned both within and without inwardly in his peoples spirits and outwardly in the Nation whose revolting was but a type of the inward And how hath the Spirit of the Lord mourned after his people often reproving them for their back-slidings but they have been as Israel of old like the deaf Adder justifying themselves and complaining against the witnesses of God as Israel did against his Prophets who from the Lord testifie against them And it cannot be otherwise for the dead waters in Israels hewen Cisterns will never agree with the waters of the living Fountain but will withstand their testimony How shall the charmer charm wisely enough to make apostate Israel hearken to his voice I have not back slidden saith one in one form I have not back-slidden saith another in another form I am not back-slidden saith one in one notion I am not back slidden saith another in another notion I am believing hoping and waiting in what the Lord hath already revealed and following on to know him This hath been thy manner from thy youth that thou obedst not my word but still hast been justifying thy self as if thou hadst obeyed And yet your back-slidings are written upon your foreheads as with the point of a Diamond for who among you retains his freshnesse an evident demonstration that ye are departed from the spring and hold your knowledge experiences and h pes in the dead part and your chiefest prop of comfort is the remembrance of what ye once had Ah poor barren dead souls is this your best support Return return enter into the house of mourning and let the living lay it to heart A Lamentation with a call to mourning and Lamentation c. O Israel the royal seed the plant of renown the living off-spring of eternity O daughter of Sion who didst once shine with

down knows this very well and therefore endeavours all it can to keep you from owning judgement He would faine keep the light in others from judging you Do not judge saith he All judgement is committed to the Son True but shall not the light of the Son judge shall not the light of that candle which the Lord hath lighted in one heart discover and judg the darkness in another heart Light doth make manifest and its manifestation is its judgement the uttering of the words are but the declaration of what the light in the heart hath done before and cannot but do for as long as it is light where ever it come it will and cannot but discover and judge the darkness it meets with though the darkness cannot owne either its discovery or its judgment but must needs except against it Now if he cannot do this which is utterly impossibly for the dark spirit to do then in the next place he fortifies and hardens the heart as much as he can from receiving the judgement by perswading him to look upon it as the judgement of another spirit like his own and not as the judgement of the light And so what Paul said concerning mans judgement that it was a small matter to him to be judged by mans judgement the same will he say concerning this judgement And yet as the greatest judgement of man in the highest strain of the comprehending part shall fall so the lowest judgement of the light in the weakest child shall stand and all the exalted ones of the earth shall in due time fall before it though now in the present elevation of their minds they may rise high above it and trample it down Therefore be not afraid to judge deceit O ye weak ones but be sure that the light alone in you judge and lie very low in the light that that part which the light in you judgeth in others get not up in you while the light is making use of you to judge it in others And now ye poor lost souls who find the need of judgment and any willingness within you to embrace it wait first for the rising of the Judge of Israel in your hearts and in the next place wait for the joyning of your hearts to him both which are to be done by his eternal light which manifests and gives his life In the lowest shining of this light there is the judgement and there is the King himself who is not severed from the least degree or mersure of his own light bow down to him kiss his feet know the nature of the thing and subject to it worship him here in his humiliation receive him in his strokes in his smitings and observe and turn from that in your selves which smites him and ye shall one day see him in his majesty in the power of his love in his everlasting healings and embraces And know assuredly that that which will not worship him here will not be fit to worship him there nor shall not but shall only tremble at the dread of his majesty and be confounded at the sweetness of his love but not be able to bow down to it in the true life For that Spirit which is out of the life is shut out in its highest desires hopes attainments enjoyments seemingly spiritual rest universal love liberty and peace as well as in its darkest and grossest paths of pollution Therefore wait to know the nature of things that ye may not be deceived with the highest choicest and most powerful appearances of death in the exactest image of life not stumble at true life in its lowest and weakest appearance And this ye can only attain to by a birth of and growth up in the true wisdome which slaies that spirit which lives on the same things in the comprehension and gathers a stock of knowledge and experiences in its own understanding part These are words of tender love and they will also be words of true life where the Fathers earth opens to drink them in to whose good pleasure and blessing my soul commends them Some Propositions concerning the only way of Salvation 1. That there is no way of being saved from sin and wrath eternal but by that Christ alone which died at Jerusalem There is no name vertue life or power under heaven given by which lost man may be saved but his alone 2. That there is no way of being saved by him but through receiving him into the heart by a living faith and having him formed in the heart Christ saves not as he stands without at the door knocking but as he is let in and being let in he brings in with him that life power and mercy which breaks down the wall of partition unites to God and saves The Jews could not be saved formerly by belief of a Messiah to come with the observation of all the Laws and Ordinances of Moses nor can any now be saved by belief of a Christ already come with observation of all that the Apostles Commanded or Practised but alone by the receiving of him into the heart who there works out the Salvation 3. That there is no way of receiving Christ into the heart and of having him formed there but by receiving the light of his spirit in which light he is and dwels Keep out the light of the spirit keep out Christ let in the light of the spirit let in Christ for the Father and the Son are light and are alone known and received in the light but never out of it 4. That the way of receiving the light of the spirit into the heart and thereby uniting with the Father and the Son is by hearkning to and receiving its convictions of sin there The first operation of the spirit towards man lying in the sin is to convince him of the sin and he that receives not the convincing light of the spirit the work is stopped in him at the very first and Christ can never come to be formed in him because that light whereby he should be formed is kept out And then he may talk of Christ and practise duties pray read and meditate much and gather comforts from promises and run into Ordinances and be exceeding zealous and affectionate in all these and yet perish in the end Yea the Devil will let him alone if not help him in all this knowing that he hath him the surer thereby he being by the strict observation of these kept out of the danger of his condition which otherwise perhaps he might be made sensible of Object But I may be deceived in hearkning to a light within for while I think that I therein hearken to the light of the Spirit it may prove but the light of a natural conscience Answ 1. If it should be but the light of a natural Conscience and it draw thee from sin which separates from God and so prepare thee for the understanding believing and receiving what the Scripture saith of Christ this is no very

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