but in every thing makes its requests known to God by prayer and supplycation with thanksgiving and the Peace of God which passeth all understanding keeps the heart and mind through Christ Jesus Surely the Apostle had learned himselfe when he taught others this in every state to be content He knew how to be abased and how to abound c. O glorious state O pure state of pure Life in the heart And what if I should add O perfect state The Apostle James saith Let patience have its perfect work that ye may be Perfect and Intire wanting nothing or in nothing Jam. 1.3 When Paul had so learned Christ that abundance could not lift him up nor want deject him or cause him to repine or distrust what did he want of this perfect state His next words are If you have no sence of this your state is never the better to be liked Answ Christ led Captivity Captive and the same Power is revealed to lead Captivity Captive in us And truly when God leads our Souls out of Captivity putting his fear within us writing his living powerful Law of Life in our hearts and putting his Spirit into us leading us in the way of holiness and causing us to walk therein we find this a better state then when we were groaning under deep Captivity Further he saith If your Peace and Joy stand in seeing no sin your selfe in your selfe I suppose it should be I shall more then suspect it not to be the Peace and Joy of Paul and all the Saints but a delusion Answ Our Peace and Joy is in him who is without sin and it abounds in us in his cleansing and delivering us from sin and we have found hâ—m remove sin as far from us as the East is from the West and as he removeth transgression from us and bringeth sin and the power of Sathan to an end in us he giveth us of his Peace and Joy And truly we do not only witness him destroying sin and the works of the Devil but breaking the very head of the Serpent casting him out And peirceing Leviathan that crooked Serpent and slaying the Dragon that is in the Sea And though such as he may suspect our peace and joy yet while Christ gives it us and maintains it in us it is very sweet and pleasant to us and the time may come that he may wish from his heart that he might pertake with us therein He concludes the matter thus We are without sin in him but in our selves nothing but sin Answ He spake of delusion just before a greater thâ—n this I do not know For Christ doth make a real change if any man be in Christ there 's a new Creation there 's a real Change The man is not what he was before but he puts off that which is old and puts on that which is nâ—w and so is really changed in his state and in the sight of God and is not what he was before The heart when it is really renewed and washed by the Water Blood and Spirit it is not the old abominable wicked deceitful heart that it was before If this be his knowledg and experience let him keep it to himselfe for my part I desire not to pertake with him therein but to be like Christ my Lord and Master even sanctified throughout in Soul Body and Spirit that I may become wholly his and the Enemy of my Soul have no part in me He saith Christ shall appeare without sin to Salvation Answ I grant it But when and how Doth he not inwardly appear without sin to salvation to those who have waited for hastened and come to the inward day Doth not Christ appear without sin to Salvation inwardly in the day of his own Spirit Is not Salvation then witnessed for Walls and Bulworks Is not the glorious Salvation of the Gospel brought forth in the Gospel-Day And is there not in the Life and Dominion of Grace a pure Defence about all the Glory Is there any sin in the Grace and Spirit of the Gospel which appears and shines in the Day of the Lord And doth not this Grace bring Salvation to them that wait for the revealing of it He seemeth to clear himself of watching for our haltings Answ Had he not watched for our haltings and received things into and considered them in the prejudiced part he could not have writ such a Paper against Truth and Us so far from true Understanding and Judgement as this is But he saith He hath watched for our Repentings Answ If we should repent of having our eyes opened by the Lord and turning to his Truth and receiving his holy Spirit and of having the precious Promises of the Scripture made good to us and fulfilled in us we might justly loose our Portion and Inheritance of Life for ever We have repented from dead Works but we cannot repent of Gods pure Truth and the living Way Spirit and Power thereof But this I can tell him and that from the Lord whose Name I reverence and worship in That the Lord watchâ—th for his Repentings and turnings from that spirit in him which darkneth him concerning and prejudiceth him against the Truth He beseecheth me in Love c. and requireth me to clear my self of Free-Will Falling from Grace denying Election of Persons and Imputed Righteousness Answ What the Lord requireth of me that I must mind and I have divers times exprâ—ssed my heart nakedly in these things The Principle of Life which the Lord hath raised in me in that is the freedom to good and in that am I made free by Jesus Christ my Lord. And I had rather witness him upholding me by his Power than contend about a Notion of Falling or not Falling away And my care hath been about making my Calling and Election sure in him who is sure to those that are of him for ever And I have witnessed the righteoâ—sness of the Lord Jesus Christ revealed in me and imputed to me and my soul cloathed therewith in his sight blessed be his Name O that the Professors of this Age might come to the annointing and see those things in the annointing Then would they know the Truth and harmony of the Scriptures therein But men by the Letter without the Spirit can never discern or find out the mystery of Life but only gather into their mindes and retain a litteral knowledge that killeth He bids me Love the Truth better than a Party Answ The Lord knoweth he hath taught me so to do For had it not been for the evidence and demonstration of Gods Spirit in this People I could never have owned them For O how low was the knowledge they held forth in my eye before the power of the Lord reached to my heart raising up his own Seed in me wherein I knew them And the Lord also knoweth that 't is in him that I love and discern and honour them to this very day Yea I see his Name written on their
THE HOLY Truth Peoâ—â—â— DEFENDED AND Some of the Weapons and Strength of thoâ—◠〈◊〉 of Darkness Broken and Scattered by 〈◊〉 Light and Power of TRUTH In an ANSWER to the Chief Passages 〈◊〉 LETTER Written to me and Replyed to by me 〈◊〉 Imprisonment in this Place where I have been a Prisoner a Year and a half without any Law broken or Cause 〈…〉 part who only came Innocently and Peaceably to visi◠〈…〉 in Prison By me ISAAC PENNINGTON Priâ—â—â—er for the Testimony of Truth For could I have denyed 〈…〉 might have avoided the Snare at Reading Goal The Bowes of the mighty men are broken and they that 〈…〉 with Strength 1 Sam. 2.4 Printed in the Year 16â—â— The Preface A Letter was sent me from a Dear Freind of mine bearing date the fifth of the eleventh Moneth 71. who had long been greatly distressed and could not find relief in the way of her former profession and Church fellowship For whom I greatly travelled with the Lord and towards whom my spirit was made very tender by him I still felt the Seal of Gods Love and Mercy towards her even in her lowest condition deepest despaire and sorest captivity through her great and manifold Temptations And my Testimony to her at times from the Lord on this behalf was sometimes of use to her to bear up her spirit till the day of Gods visiting and Redeeming her with the virtue and healing power of his Salvation which blessed be his name she hath since had sweet experience of and true Peace and Joy in knowing the true Head holding him in the Faith and being held by him Now this Letter of an antient acquaintance of mine which I had answered long agoe one that belongeth to Sr. Henry Vane as she signified in her Letter to me desired she should see which is said to be an answer to a Letter of mine If my answer had gone along with it I should have took no further notice of it But it going without my answer least it should do hurt to those to whom the Lord hath done or is doing good I am ingaged in spirit to reply somwhat to it and to give forth to others what the Lord giveth in to me upon this new occasion How greatly truly and purely I have loved the man I will not boast the Lord knoweth with whose knowledge herein I am content but O that this his paper might not be laid to his charge at the great day which I am afraid it will unless he repent of it For indeed it is not a fruit of Life from Gods holy Spirit but of the growth of Egypt and Babylon It was sent me in the form of a Book as if it had been sent abroad for special service There was no name at it as if it were an arrow to fly in the dark and wound secretly But no weapon formed against the Israel of God shall prosper either from this hand or any other and every tongue that riseth up against them in judgment will God condemn This is the heritage of the despised People and servants of the living God in this our day whose Righteousness is the Righteousness of his Son bestowed upon them wherewith he himself hath cloathed them as the Annointed eye now seeth and all eyes shall one day see and tongues confess to the glory of God the Father THE Holy TRUTH and PEOPLE DEFENDED c. In an ANSWER c. HE excepteth against those words of mine to him in a former Letter of Jun. 24. which I have not here by me that when his eyes are opened by the Lord he shall then acknowledge that we oppose no Truths of the Lord but hold forth what we have received from him To which he thus replyeth Is Redemption by Christs blood no Truth of the Lords Which he chargeth one of us in particular and many others in general with denying Answ We are gathered into that and abide in that in which no Truth can be denyed And are in him that leadeth into all Truth and teacheth to deny no Truth that ever was held forth by the Spirit of the Lord. Some of us may not yet be grown up in understanding into the mysteries of the Kingdom which God hath revealed and made manifest to others But yet we do not deny but own one another in our several measures of knowledg and sence of things and in our several growths And we own and acknowledge in Gods sight the several Dispensations he hath brought forth both before the Law and under the Law and Prophets and in the time of Châ—ists appearance in the flesh and after when he sent his Spirit and all the time the Church was in the Wilderness and now she is coming forth again in the brightness and glory of the Father looking forth as the Morning fair as the Morning clear as the Sun terrible as an Army with Banners Nor do we disowne any thing that is of God in the Professors of this Age But onely that which we know and are required by him to testifie against as being not of him O that they could weigh our words and Testimony in a right Spirit For they would not then be so offended at and speak so against us as now they do And the Lord knoweth we would do any thing that lieth in us to remove the stumbling blocks that lie before them But it cannot be done to that Spirit in them before which God Almighty hath laid the stumbling block that it might stumble and fall and be snared and broken and taken But if they could come into another Spirit and feel unity with and the birth of another Spirit the birth of that pure Wisdom should find no stumbling block or offence in this pretious dispensation of Truth wherewith God from on high hath visited us And as for denying Redemption by the blood of Christ O how will he answer this charge to God when none upon the earth as the Lord God knoweth are so taught and do so truly rightly and fully owne Redemption by the blood of Christ as the Lord hath taught us to do For we owne the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ both outwardly and inwardly both as it was shed on the Cross and as it is sprinkled in our Consciences and know the cleansing virtue thereof in the everlasting Covenant and in the Light which is eternal Out of which Light men have but a notion thereof but do not truly know nor own it And let him consider b fore the time of Antichr st it was a great matter to know and own Christ outwardly as he appeared in that body But since the Antichristian Spirit hath got that the distinguishing knowledge and owning of Christ is to know and own him inwardly The outward knowledge and confession now as it is generally seperated from and held forth in way of distinction from the inward is but the knowledge and confession of Babylon and not the true living knowledge and confession of Christ in and
by the Spirit of the Father which is the knowledge and confession of all the Children of the true and heavenly Mother which is the Mother of all that are born of the Spirit He repeateth â—hose words of mine That we do not make any finite thing our Righteousness but Christ of God is made into us Righteousness This he saith Is well spoken aâ—d wisheth we may alwayes abide on this confession Answ These words arose in me from an inward feeling of him who giveth Righteousness and of the Righteousness given and the Lord preserving me in that Life I shall feel so for ever and confess so for ever And truly I can testifie of no other Righteousness For blessed be the name of my God I feel the Righteousness of his Son revealed in me dayly from Faith to Faith In his name I have been gathered in his name I live and in him I feel Righteousness and indeed there is nothing but Righteousness Holyness Truth Life and Salvation and the like in him And he that is truly in him is Righteous and Holy in him there being in him a new creating of all that are there and a renewing into the holy and heavenly Image which consists in the Righteousness and Holyness of Truth He desireth me to give a plain answer to this Question Is Christ of God made our Righteousness by faith in his blood or in his Spirit Answ A pretended Faith in Christs blood without Faith in his Spirit is but dead and notional Except ye eat my flesh and drink my blood saith Christ ye have no Life in you It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh saith he profiteth nothing Now the Faith must be in that which quickeneth And the Faith in that which quickeneth is Holy and Righteous and the man who is found in it is Justified through that Faith in the quickening Power in the sight of God Thus Abraham was Justified in the sight of God and thus are the Children of Abraham to be Justified even through believing in that holy Power and Spirit which requireth obedience and Justifieth the obedient and condemneth the disobedient for ever Rom. 4.24 He saith He fears a Snake in this green grass when I say from his Life Virtue and Power revealed in us is our conformity to him Answ It were better and safer for him to fear at home For the Snake is in his own grass and many notional high soaring expressions without true knowledge But can there be any conformity to Christ without his Life Vitrtue and Power inwardly revealed what else can conform unto and bring forth in the Image and likeness of Christ He saith He feareth lest I make this Life and Virtue our Righteousness which is indeed the fruits of it .. Answ Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge and runneth out from the Truth into his own imaginations What was Christs Righteousness Was it not the Life the Virtue the Spirit of the Father in him he being one with it in the Faith of it and in the obedience to it And is not the Righteousness of the head and the body the same communicated from the head to the body Are they not all of one and the Righteousness one and the same in both So much of Christs Spirit so much of his Righteousness And out of his Spirit out of his Righteousness for evermore For the Righteousness of the Son is revealed and communicated from Faith to Faith in his Spirit And so Christ is indeed made Righteousness to them that are found in his Spirit and they are covered with the garment of Righteousness and Salvation who are covered with his Spirit He saith Our Righteousness is before this Answ What is our Righteousness before any of the Life Virtue and Power of Christ revealed in us Is God a respecter of Persons Doth he Justifie any out of the holy Covenant before he hath made a change in him How doth this man with his vain imaginations turn the whole way and councel of God upside down He brings a Scripture to prove this The Spirit is life for righteousness sake Answ That Scripture which is Rom. 8.10 speaks of those in whom Christ is and dwels And there indeed The Body is dead because of sin and the Spiritis Life because of Righteousness This is plainly spoken and plainly felt and known as it is spoken O that he had the true sence and understanding of it as it is in Jesus He saith Righteousness is in order of nature before Sanctification Answ That which is holy is Righteous There is nothing Righteous in the eyes of the pure God but that which is holy The Head was really holy and Righteous and they that are in him pâ—rtakes of his Holyness and Righteousness and are really Holy and Righteous in him And Faith which purifies the heart and through which Sanctification is must needs be in order of nature before the Justification which is by it for God Justifieth no unbelievers but believers only Yea the wicked must forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and turn unto the Lord which cannot possibly be without some degree of Sanctification before the Lord will have mercy and pardon the Soul its sins Isa 55.7 and chap. 1.16 17 18. He saith Justification is an act of Grace passed upon us by God freely without respect to us as Godly nay properly reflecting on us in that moment as ungodly Answ I charge this in the sight of God for absolutely false Doctrine and contrary to the Gospel For God Justifieth no man as ungodly but calleth upon men to repent and turn from their ungodlyness and he will have mercy upon them Justifie and save them Now mâ—n are not ungodly in turning from their ungodlyness but changed And so their state is in some measure changed before Justified If Abraham was ungodly when God called him Yet in forsaking his own Country and following the Lord and offering up his Son he was obedient and not ungodly and in that obedience he was Justified A man may have notions of Justification in his mind and accordingly take himself to be Justified when he is not But there is no man Justified by the Lord till he be changed translated into him in whom God Justifieth out of the place of condemnation into the place of Justification For till men are changed by the Spirit and Power of the Lord they are but darkness and in the darkness where no Justification is It is the Believing the Obedient the Children of Light that are Justified by the Lord. He saith Were we godly before or at that time it were no act of Grace to pronounce us Righteous Answ He that witnesseth Salvation in Christ Jesus witnesseth it to be a continued act of Grace Grace appears to the Soul Grace teacheth Grace enableth Grace maketh a change from the ungratiousness of the heart and state and then Grace or God by his Grace in and through Christ Jesus forgiveth the sins that were
scattered up and down upon the barren Mountains before the Shepherd appeared and made himself manifest they could not find He seems to strike at the peace and joy which is of God and to give it a dash Because minds estranged from the Enlightenings and Convictions of God have much peace in their wayes and such are under delusions Answ We do not tell men of the peace and joy we have in our God boastingly but in a faithful way of Testimony concerning and invitation to what we once wanted but now have found under the leadings of the true Shepherd And the peace and joy which he gives is an evidence and assurance in the hearts of those to whom it is given by him And they that have been greatly distressed for want of the Lord and his powerful Arm of Salvation having met with it it riseth up from Life in them to testifie and say to others Lo this is our God we have waited for him and we will be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation And O that â—e also were stripped of this dead notional comprehensive knowledge concerning the Saviour that ye might meet with the Saviour himself and receive that knowledge from him which is Life Eternal And this with the true peace and joy thereof from him ye would find no delusion He speaketh Of suffering loss and of phrases and expressions better saith he to suffer loss in these then themselves to be destroyed Answ Let him apply this home O that he saw how those phrases and expressions and imaginary knowledge which he hath brought forth in this Letter stands in his way to hinder the true knowledge and that he cannot possibly receive the true knowledge without being emptyed of these and parting wiâ—h them for the excellency of the knowledge of the Truth as it is in Jesus And without the true knowledge of Jesus men cannot but perish and be overtaken with destruction Then for being helpful to establish Persons in Grace Answ Such kind of Doctrines as these do not tend thereto They may establish men in such a notion of Grace as he hath formed But they neither tend to lead to nor establish in the Grace it selfe but keep men from it Nay I can truly say it from him that is true that he himself cannot receive the Grace the thing it self till he part with these notions And O that he might know the Stone cut out of the Mountaine without hands to dash his Image that the living one who gives Life might be received by him in that measure of Grace and Truth which he inwardly dispences to all that travel out of the darkness of their own imaginations and conceivings upon the Scriptures into his pure Light The maine reason he giveth why he is not satisfied with that which I sent him concerning the sum and substance of the true Religion is because it fights with his notions even a stating of our Righteousness with God according to his imagination which is absolutly a meer dream which he hath dreamt of in the night and not seen in the Light of the day For the cry of the Spirit of the Lord is in the Gospel day Open ye the gates that the Righteous nation which keepeth the Truth may enter in This is the Truth as God haâ—h revealed by his own Spirit in this our day But to say this speaks of our state in him without witnessing it in our selves is but a meer dream And men cannot bring forth fruit to God nor be lovely and pleasing in his eyes but as their fallow Ground is ploughed up the Thornes Thistâ—es Bryers and that which is unclean and unholy removed Christ he saith Is the heavenly man and mansion in whom we are thus blessed and in whom we sit down in a state of Rest and Riconcilliation Heavenly and Divine before and without the consideration of any works of Righteousness which we have wrought c. Answ If he means this concerning the full sitting down in Rest it is directly contrary to Scripture For none sit down in that full Rest before and without consideration of Works of Righteousness wrought by them For that great Judgment is a time of rendering to every man according to his works Rest is the Reward of the Traveller And his Travels are not despised but considered in his Reward Mark every one that improved the Talent had a reward from his Lord. And come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat c. Math. 25. And the Apostle is of the same mind with Christ when he saith It is a Righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you and to you rest c. 2 Thes 1.6 7. So that Persons do not sit downe in eternal blessedness in Christ before or without consideration of any works wrought by them And then for sitting down in an heavenly divine state of Righteousness Rest and Peace in him here It is a glorious State to be travelled to Theâ—e must be a translating out of the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of the dear Son first The Kingdom must first be come and the Soul prepared to enter into it at the Gate which the Spirit opens to him in the way of the Gospel For it is one thing to know somewhat of Christ and to begin to become a Disciple and another thing to learn of him so to deny a mars own Wisdom and will as to come to receive and be born of that which is true and living of him and to learn to wait aright for the opening of the gate and entering into the Kingdom and Land of Life and to be prepared to sit down with him For their is a state of Discipleship wherein a man hardly knoweth a settlement so much as how to watch with Christ rightly and constantly But it is a great matter to be able to dwell and abide with him None can do this But he that can dwell with devoâ—ering fire and everlasting burnings For the pure Word of Life is a fire and he that sits down in the heavenly place in him must sit down in that fire This he Reckons the firm stable state which indeed is no state at all There is not a state in Christ without being in Christ And then the state is according to the Souls being in Christ For then the Work of Regeneration the Work of Sanctification the Work of Justifying c. goeth on and a man is with God according as he is framed and new created in Christ and not otherwise So that the Life and Power of the Lord Jesus Christ is found Judging and Condemning whatever is not of God and Justifying onely what is of God in him For the Soul then comes into the new Covenant which requireth and Justifieth that which is new all that is wrought in God and condemneth all that is wrought out of him And so here is the true sence and knowledg
of sin by the new and pure Law of the new Covenant and the Advocate known and Repentance given by him upon all occasions to those that wait upon him and the Sprinkling of the Blood and Remission upon Repentance This is the new and Living Way of the Lord Jesus Christ which he hath consecrated for all his made known in the dâ—monstration of his Spirit which will stand for ever Whereas mens aprehensions about those things which they have gathered and comprehended of themselves out of the Scriptures in the supposed Light of their natural Reason and Understanding are but Dreams and will vanish even in their own hearts if ever the true Light arise the e. He saith This state can never fall nor be finally fallen from Answ There is a way of coming to Christ and there is a way of preservation in Christ For there is a Power that Redeems and men are preserved by that Power in subjection to it And so every one That thinketh he standeth is to fear and take heed lest he fall And not to boast and say I am in a state of Justifycation which is firme and cannot be moved and it cannot fall nor be finally fallen from For ye are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation Keep to the Power which preserves Hold that fast which thou hast let no man take thy Crown Keep the faith make not shipwrack of it and of a good Conscience O that men knew the right Doctrine and way of coming to Christ which they cannot do till they are taught of the Father Joh. 6.45 and the right Doctrine and Way of standing and abiding in him For truly mens professed coming to Christ believing and standing at this day is generally notional outward without but not in the inward Life and Power it self without which no man can come to him nor stand and abide in him He chargeth us With setting up a Covenant of Works alwayes doing and never done a Covenant to be performed by us for our selves not by Christ for us Answ I would he saw in the true Light how unjust and untrue this charge is For the Lord God of Life knoweth that he himself hath taught us the new Covenant and thereby taught us to wait upon himself in his Son to work all our works in us and for us And this we dayly experience that we can work nothing but as he works in us Therefore our whole course is a waiting on him in stilness to witness him appearing and doing all in us And blessed be his Name we do not wait in vain But if he think all works are excluded out of the new Covenant he greatly erreth For the Works of Gods Spirit are required and have a place therein And God and Christ the King and Shepherd is the Judge of his People in the new Covenant and justifieth or condemneth according to the Law thereof In the faith and obedience he justifieth In the unbeliefe and disobedience he condemns without respect of Persons And it is a pretious thing in the Gosple Ministration to come to God the Judge of all and to witness true judgment set up by God in a mans own heart that by the ministration of the pure judgment there the Soul may come to learn Righteousness of the holy Teacher and Shepheard even the Lord Jesus Christ who is just and faithful under his Fathâ—r in the impartial Ministration of the new Covenant Hereupon several charges he brings against us through his own mistakes and misapprehensions of us As First That our Doctrine imployes Free Will and power in the creature Answ We have never experienced Free Will nor Power as of our selves but as we have bin turned to Gods Power and received it from him nor did we ever testifie to others that they could receive and embrace Truth in their own will by their own power O that this Person had true discerning of and were severed from that Spirit which thus chargeth us For whoever receives this Testimony concerning the inward Light of our Lord Jesus Christ shall never find himself able to do any thing therein by his own will and power But there witnesseth Gods begetting him out of his own will by the Life and Power of Truth Secondly He chargeth it That it maketh the Election of God altogeâ—her frustranious Answ Election of the Seed in the Seed it doth not at all make frustranious But mens wrong apprehensions concerning Election out of the Seed the true Doctrine of Election doth not conâ—â—â—â— with He hath chosen us in him so that in him to wit in Christ the choice is and he that will make his Election sure must make the Seed sure to him growing in the nature thereof wherein the Election is to the truely obedient He saith Our Righteousness with God is the Foundation Answ But is there not somewhat which is the Foundation of our Righteousness with God And can we be Righteous with God til we come to that Foundation and be made Righteous by it Must we not first believe in him And is not faith a gift which comes from the holy Root and maketh a change in them in whom this gift is found Doth not Faith make a difference between them that believe and them that believe not So that so soon as ever there is true faith and it thus works the State is changed And there is no Justification before faith For in the unbelief is the condemnation for ever He that believeth not is condemned already And what is he justified there too at the same time Was Abraham our Father justified in the unbelief and disobedience Or in believing and obeying God for what saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for Righteousness That which I spoke of he saith Is but the fruit and superstructure Answ When Christ directs men to the Seed of the Kingdome doth he direct unto the fruit and superstructure I spoke there of the Seed of the Light of the holy Spirit of the quickening Virtue Is that the superstructure Or is that the fruit of mens being made Righteous Nay must they not turn to that receive that believe in that even in the Light of Gods Spirit for they are the true and right believers before a man can come to be made Righteous or accounted Righteous in the eyes of the Lord For none are Righteous but in him And all are out of him till they be gathered into him He instanceth in one passage of mine in a Book entituled The Sum or substance of our Religion who are called Quakers the words are these This is the sume of all even to know and experience what is to be brought down into death and kept in death what to be brought up out of the grave to live to God and Reign in his Dominion and what to be kept in subjection and obedience to him who is to Reign Now to experience it thus done in the heart the flesh brought down the
Seed of Life raised and the Soul subject to the pure heavenly power whose right it is to Reign in the heart in and by the Seed this is a blessed state indeed For here the work is done c. these were my words Now mind God is the Teacher in the new Covenant Now he that hath learned this of him hath he not learned the true Religion And is not this a full sum and substance of Religion Whâ—n the Apostle saith Pure Religion and undefiled before God is to visit the fatherless c. Alass might this Spirit have said against the blessed Apostle that is not the pure Religion not the sum or substance of pure and undefiled Religion that is but a fruit or superstructure O that men had true sence and understanding That they might favour the words that come from Gods Spirit and the words that come from their own Spirit and might not be offended at that which is true pure and living of him But having disliked this sum he giveth one of his own in these words following I say the sum and that which first and mainly imports us to know as the Lord hath taught me is that the old man is crucified with Christ and brought down into his grave and that we are risen together with him by the faith of the opperation of God and from this faith to be work ng with God to mortifie our members that are on the earth Answ Doth not Christ send his Apostles to preach the Gospel and give them this mâ—ssage that God is Light and to turn their minds to the true Light that they might be enlightened by it Doth it not import men first to know that whereby they might be Crucified before they can know themselves Crucified thâ—reby So that Christ did judge this as the first thing necessary to be known in the preaching of the Gospel and bid men p each the Light and turn men to the Light and to the inward appearance and voice of Gods Word in their hearts And what are men risen together with him by the faith of the opperation of God while they are yet in their sins in their ungodly state And how can any witnâ—ss the faith of the opperation of God in this state Now it had been better he had forborn affirming that the Lord taught him thus For truly the Lord never taught any thus This is not truth from God nor will it be owned by the Lord as his Truth when he comes to appear before him And he should have took it to himself and not have put the Name of the Lord to it But against this his own Doctrin he raiseth an objection in these words Shall we mortifie that which is mortified already His Answer is The old man which is crucified together with Christ is the state of the flesh and of enmity This is past away and in this is the Concern of our Righteousness and Justification properly That which remains to be mortified are our members upon earth which are the fruits of that evil state and in the mortifying of these is the concern of our Sanctification The will of God is done in heaven c. Answ Paul speaks of the Law of sin in his members and he also speaks of the body of death and cries out against that O wretched man that I am saith he who shall deliver me from the body of this death He felt somewhat that nuorished and gave strength to the Law of sin in his members and looked upon himself as wretched tiâ—l he could meet with deliverance there-from Now some are of opinion that there is no being delivered from the body of sin while in this Life Dost thou look upon it to be done in Christ for us without us but never to be don by Christ in us Let me tell thee if ever thou come to witness the pure eternal Light of the Lord Jesus Christ revealed in thee that will not find out some members on earth onely but the very body thereof and shew thee the necessity of the puting off that body from thee and that circumcision whereby it is to be done which is the circumcision of Christ Mark the promise of the new Covenant I will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart that thou mayest live Is not this the circumciosin of Christ Doth not this cut off the body of the sins of the flesh in the particular where this is witnessed This is the Truth as it is in Jesus even To put off the old man with his deeds It doth not say the body is put off in Christ without us and men must onely put off the members or deeds but they must put off the body and come to witness in themselves the very Nature Spirit Root and Principle from whence they proceed cut down and destroyed in them They must feel the Axe laid to the root of the corrupt Tree and it cut down in them not think it enough to say it is done in Christ for them yea they must also witness the Lord arising to shake teribly the earth in which the Tree grew that so the place of Dragons and Serpents where each lay in times past may hence forward become the place of holyness where grass may grow and the new plants and flowers of the Paradise of God And how is the will of God done in heaven Is it done in heaven after this manner Have Mercy and Righteousness the Preheminence the leading of the Van they are his own words and said to go before and look down from heaven after this manner the body of sin being put off in Christ there are there not those here on earth who dwel in heaven Whose conversation is in heaven even the Witnesses to Gods holy Truth who are ascended up above the Spirit of this world and dwell in Gods holy Spirit and who walk in the Light as God is in the Light Hell is not far from the wicked nor is Heaven far from them who are renewed in the Spirits of their minds and who witness the passing away of the old things and the new Creation in Christ O that he could look back in a true sence and see how he hath wrested those Scriptures Psal 85.9 10 11. Isa 4.2 and Ephes 2.6 afer his own imaginations And indeed in this Spirit men cannot but turn the pretious Truth of God into a lye that is as to themselves as to their own knowledge of it It is known how the Branch of the Lord is beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth excellent and comely and in what day it is so which day is When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Sion and shall have purged the blood c. by the Spirit of judgment and by the Spirit of burning Isa 4.4 Then every one that is left shall be called holy and the Branch of the Lord shall be glorious in the
Land He addeth I firmly believe and so have all the Saints that have gone before that Christ is a Person and his Spirit is a living Principle in the hearts of all the faithful but it is not the Spirit or Principle in us that did redeem us but the man Christ Jesus Ans If he mean by the man Christ Jesus The second Adam the quickening Spirit the heavenly Man the Lord from heaven he who is one with the Father the Word which was in the beginning which created all things I grant him to be the Redeemer for it was he who laid down his glory wherewith he was glorified before the World was and made himselfe of no reputation but took upon him the form of a servant and came as a servant in the fashion of a man to do the will But if he distinguish Christ from this Word and Spirit and make the Mans Nature the Saviour and the God-head only assistant to him as he seemed to word it before and as these his words seems to imply that I utterly deny For so testifieth the Scripture I am the Lord and besides me there is no Saviour I am a just God and a Saviour c. So that Christ is the Saviour as he is one with God It was Gods Arm and Power revealed in him that effects Salvation Yea if I may so speak his obedience was of vallue as it came from the Spirit and it was the offering it up through the Eternal Spirit that made it so acceptable to God So that we must not attribute Redemption originally to him as a man but as he came from God and brings the honor all back to the Spring and Fountain from whence he had all that God may be all in all and the very Kingdom of Christ may endure and abide for ever in the Root of Life from whence it came And so he is not a Foundation or the Corner-stone distinct from God He as the Foundation was and is the Rock of Ages the Spiritual Rock both before and since he took upon him the body prepared for him It is the Spirit the Life which was revealed in that Man by which he did his Fathers will which was and is the Foundation whereupon all the living Stones are built There is a Foundation of Death and that 's the wicked Spirit There is a Foundation of Life and that 's the holy Spirit by which Christ himselfe was led and guided in that his appearance in the flesh which descended upon him and he was annoynted with and all his are to be annoynted with and live in the same Spirit And he that knows Christ in this Spirit he hath the true and abiding knowledg of him and no otherwise And though the names Messiah Jesus Christ Saviour Annoynted c. were given to him as in the flesh or as man they most properly and originally belong to him with respect to the Divine Life and Birth in him as the sent one And only Begotten Proceeding from the Father the Brightness of his Glory c. for he as the Eternal Son of God was the Spiritual Rock before he took upon him that Body which was prepared for him which expresly was called the Body of Jesus and which he called This Temple and distinctly he being called Jesus Christ come in the flesh which every Spirit that confesseth not is not of God but is that Spirit of Antichrist 1. Joh. 4.3 He speaketh of sitting on the Throne of David Ans It is a great matter to know that Throne which Davids Throne signified and Christ sitting thereon His Kingdom his Throne are not of this outward worldly nature but inward and spiritual and his Throne is in his Kingdom and Temple where he reigns and is worshiped He that knoweth Sathan disthroned and cast out knoweth also Christ come in and sitting on his Throne O that men did give over their dreaming about the heavenly Glory and come thither in the leadings of Gods Spirit where it is revealed Was that Scripture written in vain concerning the glorious state of the Gospel But we all with open face beholding as in a Glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 He putteth up a prayer for us That the Lord would awaken us and make us do our first works and return to our first Love Answ Ah poor man how is he blinded not discerning how the Lord hath don this for us and much more but it is he himselfe that hath lost his first love and doth not do his first works but is found short of that tenderness quickness and savour that once was in him O that he might see it and return to him whose quickening virtue restores and heales He concludeth with the words of the Prophet Jer. Chap. 13. ver 15 16 17. Hear ye and give ear be not proud for the Lord hath spoken Give glory to the Lord your God before he cause darkness and before your feet stumble upon the dark Mountains and while ye look for Light he turn it into the shaddow of death and make it gross darkness But if ye will not hear it my Soul shall weep in secret places for your pride and mine Eyes shall weep sore and run down with Tears because the Lords Flock is carried away Captive Answ How doth this man mistake in his sight and applycation of Scriptures Seeing and applying in a wrong Spirit It is true the Lord hath spoken but he himselfe and many such as he is have not given eare And what is the reason but because they are exalted above the pure Principle of Life in their own hearts And are not such proud Hath not he brought forth these weapons the e false charges and reasonings in this paper against the heritage of God in the pride of his heart As for us the Lord God hath humbled us and taught us who have learned and dayly learn of him in the humility and in humility and fear do we give forth our testimony though also in the Authority and Majesty of our Masters Name whose Name stands over and is exalted above every Name and his Mountain and gathering is in the pure Authority and Power of his Spirit above all other Mountains and gatherings whatsoever And as for Gods causing darkness let him and such as he is look to it for God doth not nor will cause darkness to them whom he hath gathered into the Light of his Spirit but saith to them Arise shine for thy Light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee O City and dwelling place of the living God But those that know not or turn against his appearance and cry up former dispensations of the same Life and Power but reproacheth and blasphemeth the present on them doth he cause the gross darkness to fall and cover them And this which he thretneth us with is already fallen upon himselfe for his feet are
fallen upon the dark mountains and whilst he looks for Light he ha h lost that which once he had and his very Light as he esteems it is become obscurity and gross darkness as this dark paper of his from the dark Spirit and Principle makes manifest to all that shall read it in any measure of true sence or discerning And truly my oul doth weep in secret for his pride and height of Spirit in opposing the Lord his Truth and People And for this cause shall those who have looked upon themselves as the Children of the Kingdom and flock of God be laid wast and know that as it was a dreadful thing to oppose Christ Jesus the Lord in his appearance in flesh so it is also dreadful to oppose his appearance in his Spirit and Power wherein he is arisen to set up his Kingdom and to throw down Babilon which is built in the likness of Sion but by and in another Spirit Those in whom there is any tenderness towards God and true breathings after him left the Lord give them the sence and true understanding of this inward spiritual appearance of his Son and of what they have been doing and are doing against it that they may not continue to fight against the the Lord and kick against that which is able to wound and prick to their own hurt and eternal ruine For there is not Salvation in any other name then in that which is now revealed Blessed are all they that trust therein it being not another but the same that ever was To His POST-SCRIPT HE beginneth it with the justification of that passage of his in a foregoing letter of his to me wherein he said Christ is Heaven and I am Hell Answ When God visiteth man he finds him in union with Hell Death and darkness and the man is Dead is Dark is of an hellish Nature and Spirit in that state But when the Lord hath converted him cut him off from that root leavened him with the Spirit and Nature of his Son is he Hell still Ye were Darkness saith the Apostle but now are ye Light in the Lord. And such were some of you but ye are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God A man can be but Hell before he is washed before his filth be purged away by the Spirit of Judgment and Burning before the old leaven is purged out and he sanctified and made a new lump but after the Lord hath thus changed him and new created him in Christ Is he still Hell He saith He doth not call the new Creature Hell but there is an Old Man an Outward Man as well as the New Man the Inward Man Flesh as well as spirit in the Regenerate Answ What doth he mean by the Outward Man the Sinful Body The Body of Flesh is within The outward Body that 's not Hell that 's the Temple of God where the heart is Sanctified And the pure Word of Life Sanctifies throughout even in Soul in Body in Spirit those that are subject to it Know ye not that your Bodies are the Temples of the living God and your Spirits much more for God is a Spirit and he dwels in a Spiritual Temple and his Temple is holy He addeth And unless your attainment be beyond Pauls he found that in him that is in his flesh dwelt no good thing and the Flesh lusting against the Spirit so that he could not do the thing that he would Answ Paul did once experience such a state that he felt himselfe Carnal Sould under Sin when he did not find how to perform that which was good but did what he hated the Law of Sin being strong in his members against the Law of Life in his mind which state he calleth A state of captivity to the Law of Sin in his members and calleth it a wretched state Rom. 7.23 24. But did Paul never experience another state Did he never witness the virtue and power of the new Covenant even the Law of the Spirit of Life and the Power thereof freeing him from the strength and captivity of the Law of Sin in his members There were young men John speaks of who were strong and had overcome the wicked one Did Paul himselfe never attain to that state He bid others be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his might and shewed them how to resist in it so as to overcome Did he never experience and witness it himselfe He said He had fought a good fight and was more then a Conqueror What was he then a captive to the Law of Sin in his members and did he then cry out Who shall deliver me from the body of this Death He said He could do all things through Christ that strengthened him was not that a state different from that other wherein he found only to will And could not do the good he desired but did the evil he allowed not but hated And blessed be the Lord there are many at this day who witness a farther state of redemption and deliverance from Sin and the Law thereof in the members then that state of captivity was which Paul there expresseth his former groanings and complainings under For he was not in that state of captivity when he writ that Epistle but knew the Dominion of Grace over sin and bid that Church be subject to the Grace and not give way to sin but yeeld their members servants to Righteousness unto Holiness Ch. 6. For that other place Of the Flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh Gal. 5.17 He doth not there speak of himselfe but of the Galatians who were in a weak low and indeed fallen state from the Spirit and Power of the Gospel having let in that which was contrary thereunto And so he strives to gather them into the Spirit again and bids them Live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and so they should not fulfil the lusts of the flesh For in the new Covenant man is taught of God the holy lesson of ceasing from evil and doing good and taught in the virtue and power of the Covenant so that he learns daily and grows daily out of Deceit into Truth until he come to be a true Israelite in whom there is no Guile And so in the spiritual War The house of Saul grows weaker and weaker and the house of David stronger and stronger until Sauls Kingdom be at length overturned and wholly destroyed and the Kingdom of David established in Righteousness for ever and ever Then Jerusalem the holy building the City of the living People the City of Righteousness the Habitation of Righteousness and Mountain of Holiness is known and Jerusalem is witnessed a quiet habitation there being peace in all her borders Then the mind is fully stayed upon the Lord in all conditions and he keeps it in perfect pâ—ace Then the Soul is careful for nothing
Fore-heads and them brought forth in the glorious Image and heavenly Life of his Son though it be hid from the wise Eye of the Professors of this Age and in the true Light with the true Eye which God hath opened in me have I seen it He speaks of Clinging together and keeping up a Party against all right Answ Nay nay This is the gathering of the Lord Jesus Christ by his Spirit and Power after the long night of darkness and we are kept up by the same Spirit and Power and Life of Truth which gathered us He saith It is not a calling for a Work within which will give you Authority to lay wast Christ and the Gospel in the most Fundamental and concerning Truths thereof and those above mentioned c. And above all the rest denying the person of our Lord Jesus Christ and making him but a Light or Notion or Principle in the heart of Man Answ This is but his own mistake not a true and just Charge against us as he will one day see The Lord hath not taught us to lay wast nor do we lay wast any Truth of the Gospel but own every thing in its place And though our Religion do not lie in Notions concerning him but in the Principle of Life it self evâ—n in the Grace and Truth which is by Jesus Châ—ist which is a measure of Light from him the full Light yet we do not learn thereby to deny the full Light but the more to acknowledge it And we own him to be the true and full Light and his outward appearance in that Body in the fulness of time to fulfill the Fathers will therein and his appearance in Spirit and Power in the hearts of his People in the Day of the Gospel and his setting up his Spiritual and glorious Kingdom there where he reigns as King on the Throne of David over the Spiritual Israel of God Come consider seriously do not ye your selves fall short of not only the Principle and Power of Life but also the true knowledge of things according to the Letter He confesseth There is too little Power and without it profession is little worth Answ O that the Professors of this age knew the Scriptures and the Power of God and had that knowledg which comes from and stands in the Power For then that evidence and demonstration of Truth would be witnessed which puts an end to the disputes and reasonings of the mind And then the great care would be to live the life of that which God makes manifest and requires in the New Covenant He saith To pull down the Pillars and Principles of the Gospel is the work the Divel imploys his Power in Answ I grant what he saith is true and wish he knew how rightly to apply it but there is a great error and mistake in his judgment about it For the Lord is pulling down that which men have built up which they may in their mistaken judgments call Principles and Fundamentals and is building up that which men have trampled on even the Tabernacle of David which hath long been fallen down and the City of the living God which hath long been trodden under foot of the false Christians and the Power of the Devil is greatly at work to oppose this appearance and mighty work of the Lord in this day Let him take heed of blaspheming the Lords Power calling it the Devils and owning the Devils Power for Gods He concludeth thus Come to the poynt what singular thing do you more then Moding and Wording it save only that out of you have risen men that have more audatiously lifted up a Standard against the Sealed and Experienced Truths of the Gospel then ever I have heard or read of any before you You talk of words and boast of perfection I tell you an humble sence of a mans nothingness driving him out of himself to live and glory in Christ alone is more then all such boasted perfections a thousand times Sir accept my zeal for your Soul Ans We are a People many of us who have gon through great distress for want of the Lord our God and exceedingly waited and long'd for his Living and Powerful appearance And for my own part this I can say that had not this appearance been in Power and in the evidence and demonstration of his Spirit to my Soul reaching to and answering that which was of him in me I could nâ—ver have ownâ—d it so deeply was I jealous of it and prejudâ—ced against it And since my mind hath been turned to the pure Word of Life even the Word which was in the begining I speak as in the Lords presence it hath had singular effects on my heart The Light hath so searched me as I never was searched before under all my former professions and the Lord hath given me a true and pure discerning of the things of his Kingdom in the Light which is true and pure and singular quickenings have I met with from his Spirit and the faith which stands in his heavenly Power and giveth victory and dominion in him blessed be his name And the love which he hath given me is not notional but ariseth from his circumcising my heart and answereth his Nature springing forth purely and naturally towards him and those of his Image and all his Creatures yea towards those who are enemies to me for his Names sake I might mention the patience also and faithfulness to his Truth with the longsuffering Spirit which cannot be worn out which his Spirit testifieth in me to be of a singular nature with many other things Nor am I alone or the chiefest but have many equals yea there are such as far exceed me in the Heavenly and Divine Image of my Father And the fruits are according to the Root of Life in us and so acknowledged by all who look upon us with the true Eye with the Eye of Gods giving and opening Now the same that hath wrought thus inwardly in us the same hath required some outward behaviour and expressions from us which are foolish and weak to the eye of mans wisdom but chosen of God to hide the Glory of his Life from that eye which diâ—cerns it not but dispiseth thâ— day of small things And though this be the least part of our Religeon yet subjected to because it is of God who we dare not disobey in the least yet the Spirit which is contrary to God casteth this upon us as if this were all or at the least the main wherein we differ from others Some call the living words of Truth from us when God according to his good promise giveth them us but Canting and thou callest all that is singular in us but Moding and Wording of it Alass it is in the main we differ from you we holding our Religion as we receive it from God in the Light and Life of his Spirit you as you apprehend it from the Letter Christ is our Rock and Foundation as