Jewish Church against sanctifying of the Lords Sabbath justifying his disciples in plucking ears of corn thereon whereas their fore-fathers the Jews were not so much as to gather Manna on that day against fasting and prayer for he justified his disciples in that they did not fast and pray as John did saying how could they while the bride-groom was with them Mat. 9.15 and consider which way the Jews in the state they stood could understand such an answer as this to rest sastified therewith 6. They excepted against his Miracles partly because he did them on the Sabbath day John 9.16 whereupon they concluded he could not be of God for if he had been of God he would have observed the day which God commanded if he wrought them not by the power of God by whose power then must he work them So they concluded He casteth out Devils through the Prince of Devils Mat. 9.34 he hath Belzebub and by the Prince of Devils casteth he out Devils Mark 3.32 and having thus concluded in themselves there was no ear open in them to hear any thing that might be said to the contrary And again partly because he did not answer their wils in giving them such a sign as they required for this was still their tone Master we would see a sign from thee Mat. 12.38 what sign shewest thou unto us seeing that thou dost these things John 2.18 and they more particularly express what sign they would have they would have a sign from heaven Luke 11.18 What sign shewest thou that we may see and beleeve thee John 6.30 We are ready to be convinced we are ready to beleeve If thou would give us sufficient ground of beleiving in thee As for all thy healing people and casting out Devils Belzebub the Prince of Devils may furnish thee with power therewith to deceive and bewitch us from the Law and Ordinances of Moses which we are sure are of God but shew us a sign from heaven or else blame us not for not leaving Moses to run after thee 7. They excepted at the Testimony which the Spirit of God in him gave concerning him When he spake the inward Testimony which the spirit of God gave from within saying I am the light of the world he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life John 8.13 they presently cried out thou bearest record of thy self thy record is not true verse 14. mark his answer It is written in your law that the Testimony of two men is true I am one that bear witness of my self and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me verse 17.18 How would such an answer pass now in these dayes though the same life should speak it would not the wise professors of this age even hoot at it yet the thing is known at this day even the life which the Father begets and the Fathers testifying of it and with it and thou that readest this mightest know it couldest thou wait in the loss of thine own life wisdome and knowledg for it 8. They excepted against his disciples and followers which were women Publicans and sinners the common people yea the meanest the poorest and most Ignorant in their account who were fittest to be deluded and led away Are ye also deceived Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees beleeved on him but this people who knoweth not the law are cursed John 7.47 48 49. the common people the ignorant people the unsetled people such as know not the law such as understand not the Scriptures they run after him and cry him up but which of the Setled ones which of the truly Zealous ones which of the Wise men in the knowledge of the Law and Prophets which of the orthodox Scribes and Pharisees who keep close to Moses which of these beleeve in him whom of them can he deceive As for the heady people who for want of knowledge of the Scriptures are ready to run after every new fangle they are not worth the minding they are accursed and therefore no marvel though God give them up to follow this deceiver to cry up his new Light and forsake the good old Light of Moses the Prophets 9. They excepted against him that he did not rebuke his disciples and the multitude spreading their garments cutting down branches from the trees and strowing them in the way with the children that cried Hosanna to him as he rode on the Asse Colt to Jerusalem but he rather justified them Luke 19.31 and Mat 21.15 16. what a ridiculous and vainglorious peice of pageantry would this seem to the fleshly wise eye 10. That he did not shew sufficient authority for what he did By what authority dost thou these things and who gave thee this authority c. Mark 11.28 Thou takest upon thee great authority over the people of God over their Teachers yea over Gods Temple Sabbath and Ordinances but where 's thy authority so to do Shew us that c. 11. They excepted when he spoke of his sufferings and death We have heard in our Law that Christ abideth for ever and how saist thou the Son of Man must be lift up Who is the son of man John 12.34 Sure he that is to be lift up cannot be the Christ which is to abide for ever and not to die So that here in one breath thou hast overthrown all that thou hast been setting up by thy Preaching and Miracles Now which way could they understand this thing Nay the very Disciples themselves could not swallow it but were startled at it and Christ was fain to hide it a long time from them And yet if there be any thing held forth now in these dayes by the same spirit as concerning light and perfection or other truths which are seen in the spirit because men cannot apprehend them with their carnal understanding and make them agree with their carnal knowledge of the Scriptures what liberty do they take to themselves to speak both against the truth it self and also against them who have seen these things in the spirit and speak them from the spirit Now whosoever becomes a Disciple must wait in the obedience to know the doctrine and not think to enter with that wisdome and carnal reasoning from Scriptures which the Scribes and Pharisees and Professors of that age were shut out with There were many other things which they could not but except against as at his answers to their questions to which sometimes he was silent and gave no answer at all At other times he answered not directly but in Parables and how offensive is this to mans wisdome who requires a positive and direct answer And sometimes his answers might seem quite from the thing as John 12.34 35. His not giving respect to persons for it was a known thing of him that he regarded not mens persons Mat. 22.16 could not be very pleasing to them who loved greetings and sought honor one of
THE JEVV OUTWARD BEING A GLASSE FOR THE Professors of this Age Wherein if they read with meekness and in the true light such of them as have not overslipt the day of their visitation may see their own spirits to their own everlasting advantage and comfort by learning subjection to that which hath power in it to destroy this evil spirit in them CONTAINING Some EXCEPTIONS and ARGUMENTS of the Jews against Christs Appearance in that fleshly form of his in their dayes which the present Professors may view and compare with their Exceptions and Arguments against his Appearance in Spirit in this Age that they may see and consider which of them are the more and the more weighty By Isaac Penington the Younger LONDON Printed by G. D. for Lodowick Lloyd and are to be sold at the Sign of the Castle in Cornhill 1659. The PREFACE THE Lord God of infinite goodness who hath ever dearly loved Mankind yet could never so appear to them since the transgression as to be owned by them till the vail was taken from before their hearts Israel in Egypt hearkened not to Moses because of their anguish and bondage When they were led out they were ever and anon murmuring and picking quarrels against him Samuel they rejected as the Lord laies to their charge though they might excuse themselves and say they had just exceptions against his sons Elijah that mighty man of God the great restorer of Israel and pleader against Baal by fire his life was sought for And though there be not a particular record of their usage of the Prophets about those dayes yet in general he complains that they were all slain but himself 1 King 19.10 Micaiah was smote on the cheek and jeered by the false Prophet which smote him and said which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee And he was commanded to be put in prison and fed with bread of affliction and water of affliction Jeremiah was put in the dungeon even to the danger of his life and by those few that were left that seemed singly to enquire by him concerning the will of the Lord Jer. 42.2 3. disdainfully rejected chap. 43.2 What should I spend time in particular instances What Prophet can I except for though all their bad dealings with them are not related in Scripture yet Christ testifies that they did deal badly with them all some of them they stoned some of them they scourged in their Synagogues some of them they killed and crucified and others they persecuted from City to City Yea saith Stephen which of the Prophets have not your fathers persecuted and they have stain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just one Ye make it such a strange thing that if Christ had been a Prophet ye should not own him why which of the Prophets was owned ye have still some exception or other against us that we are not the Prophets of God and against our message that it is not the mind of God Ye take arguments from one Prophets words to oppose another Prophet with and from one Prophets manner of coming to oppose another Prophets manner of coming If John come neither eating nor drinking ye reject him for his austereness if Christ come both eating and drinking ye reject him for his liberty and freedome in the life Now what is the reason of this Christ himself gives the reason Mat. 11.19 Wisdome is justified of her children Ye are not the children of wisdom ye are not begotten of the life of the spirit of the Prophets and so cannot justifie that spirit Ye have got the Letter of the Prophets â—e are born of that but ye are not born of the life ye are not born of the wisdome And so whoever comes forth in the same birth from the Letter with you him ye can own but if any Prophet come forth with that same spirit him ye cannot own He that is born after the flesh cannot but persecute him that is born after the spirit Jerusalem was all along the persecuter of the Prophets from the beginning to the end And is this nothing to you O ye Professors of this age Search and see who have been the persecuters among you but they who have had the name of the Church and her Prophets Who hath slain the Witnesses The Church of Rome hath slain the Witnesses against her and the Protestants have slain the Witnesses against them About the beginning of these troubles if a man were never so truly zealous yet if he could not conform to the Common-prayer-book and Ceremonies how was he persecuted A Non-conformist a Separatist a Brownist an Anabaptist though owning the same Christ in his very heart and soul yet because his practise was a testimony against the false Church-worship of the common Protestant must be hunted up and down to Courts imprisoned fixed banished And to this day the Lord can bring forth no birth of his Spirit but the zealous Professor hates reviles and seeks to destroy If the Lord lay any Law upon the Conscience if it be not suitable to their apprehensions from the Letter how do they reproach disdain revile and endeavour to render such odious to the Magistrates and to the People But why should we wonder at these things There is no new thing under the Sun The state of the world is just as it alwaies was The power of Truth in every age hath been still opposed by those who cryed up the Form It were a wonder if it should be otherwise I should much more wonder if the Teachers and Professors of this age should own Truth than that they fight against it and persecute it Well friends and brethren be strong in the Lord and faithful to his Truth in the power of his might bear the reproach the afflictions of this age the persecutions of this your day Verily your eyes shall see that there is a reward for the righteous and your hearts shall be satisfied with it when the children of the Kingdome of this age as well as of Christs and all former ages shall be shut out in utter darkness where shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Some Exceptions and Arguments of the Jews against Christ's Appearance c. THE Jews were once the only outward visible People of God who were chosen by God for a peculiar People who had the Promise of and expected the Messiah whose faith and hope of Salvation was in him yea and at that very time they were looking for him yet when he came he was a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to them and they could by no means receive him They were full of reasonings and doubts and contendings about it but could never with all their wisdom from the Letter determine that that was he Though he lived as never man lived though he spake as never man spake though he did what never man did yet still some exception or other they had from the
good works they stoned him They reply very confidently for a good work we stone thee not but for Blasphemy and because thou being a man makest thy self God vers. 32 33. And when he said If a man keep my saying he shall never see death John 8.51 Then said the Jews unto him now we know that thou hast a Devil Abraham is dead and the Prophets are dead who makest thou thy self vers. 53. Were not Abraham and the Prophets holy men had not they the sayings of God and did not they keep the sayings of God yet they are dead Such a kind of speech as this must needs be from the Devil Now thou makest manifest from what Spirit thou speakest Now know we that thou hast a Devil And indeed how could the professors of that age digest such things being so contrary to what appeared to them to be certain truth in the Scriptures And there were many other things as hard to them though the exceptions which might or did arise in their minds are not particularly mentioned as when he saith I am the door of the Sheep All that came before me are thieves and robbers but the Sheep did not hear them John 10.7 8. How offensive must this Doctrine needs have been to them going carnally to understand and reason about it What were all the Prophets and holy men before thee thieves and robbers did the truth never come till thou broughtst it What became of our Fore-fathers in former ages were they none of them Gods Sheep did none of them find the door for thou saist thou art the door and thou hast been but of late And whereas thou saist the Sheep did not hear them that 's utterly false for they did hear Moses and they did hear the Prophets and we have their writings and will keep to them for all thee let who will be thy Sheep When he said that he came not to send peace but division Mat. 10.25 How readily might they reply that his own mouth discovered him not to be the Messiah the Saviour the peace-maker but the worker of divisions the causer of breaches in families setting three against two and two against three Luke 21.51 When he said whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin John 8.34 Might not they well except against this as condemning the whole generation of the righteous and making null the way of sacrifices which God had appointed for sins committed at any time by his people which could not but presuppose their commission of sin did not Abraham Isaac David Moses the rest of the Prophets all commit sin and were they servants of sin He taught also that the children of the Kingdom should be cast into utter darkness Mat. 8.12 Oh how harsh would this sound in the ears of the zealous professing Jew who was waiting and hoping for the Kingdome So in his Doctrine there seemed many contradictions to the fleshly understanding for one while he said I Judge no man for I came not to condemn the World and yet was he not continually judging and condemning the Scribes the Pharisees the Priests the Lawyers and that whole generation of professors So again he came to seek and save that which was lost to preach the Gospel of peace and yet another while he saith he came not to send peace but a sword and to kindle a fire and to set men at variance c. Again one while he said I and my Father are one another time my Father is greater than I one while he bid men do as the Scribes and Pharisees taught another while he bid men beware of the Leaven or Doctrine of the Prarisees and Saduces Mat. 16.12 But to what purpose should I heap up any more instances O thou that readest this wait to know in thy self the ear that cannot hear Christs Doctrin and while thou condemnest the Jews do not run into the same error of unbelief and gain-saying but wait to know the voice of Christ in this day and to receive the ear that can hear it for though thou shouldest be willing to hear yet thou canst not till thy ear be opened Nicodemus who could acknowledge Christ a teacher come from God yet could not receive the doctrine of the new birth from him John 3.4 and there were many things the disciples themselves were not able to bear for when at a certain time he spake of giving his flesh to eat not only the Jews John 6.52 but they also stumbled ver. 61. and who is there among professors that can now bear it or receive Christs own interpretation of it who saith that the flesh which they understood profiteth nothing but the flesh which he meant was spirit and life ver. 63. 5. At his practises and conversation How is it that he eateth and drinketh with Publicans and sinners Mark 2.16 Behold a gluttenous man and a wine bibber a friend of Publicans and sinners Luke 7.14 This man if he were a Prophet would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him for she is a sinner Luke 7.39 At the Publicans and sinners drawing nigh to hear him the Pharisees and Scribes were offended and murmured saying This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them Luke 15.1 2. and when he went to Zacheus house they all murmured saying that he was gone to be Guest with a man that is a sinner Luke 19.7 Again because he healed on the Sabbath and justified his disciples in plucking of ears of corn on the Sabbath they were filled with madness and communed what they might do to him Luke 6. ver. 3. and ver. 10 11. and took counsell how they might destroy him Mark 3.5 6. Another time the Ruler of the Synagogue spake with indignation about it Luke 13.14 Yea the Jews did persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because he had healed a man and bid him take up his bed and walkon the Sabbath day John 5. ver. 8 16. and some of them made it a strong argument against him this man is not of God because he keepeth not the Sabbath day John 9.16 What come from God and be a breaker of his Ordinances Can these two stand together Read and consider what more strict Ordinance of God under the Law than the Sabbath What one Ordinance more conducing to the honour and worship of God Did not their whole religion and worship much depend upon it How could this possibly but be a great offence to them in that Spirit and Litteral Wisdome from the Scriptures wherein they stood Yet Christ in his fleshly appearance was Lord of the Sabbath and in his spiritual appearance he doth not lose his dominion Again they excepted against him that he did not teach his disciples to fast and pray as John did Luke 5.33 but could suffer them to transgress the traditions of the Elders Mat. 15.2 he was not strict after the Jewish way of devotion not strict after Johns way neither but against the traditions of the godly Elders of the
him knew the father also So we now witness that the way to know Christ is to know the Spirit and that he that knoweth the Spirit knoweth Christ also with whom Christ is one and from whom he cannot be seperated And as for imputed righteousness it is too pretious a thing to us for to be denyed by us That which we deny is mens putting of it out of its place applying it to them who are not in the true faith and walk not in the true light for in the true light where the fellowship is with the Father and the Son there alone the bloud cleanseth 1 John 1.7 and there alone the righteousness is imputed to him who is cleansed by the bloud in the light and not to him who knows it not And as for inherent righteousness we meddle not with that word but this we say That our life exceedingly lies in feeling the righteousness of Christ wrought and revealed in us and we wish men could come out of the reasoning about it into the feeling of the same thing with us for then we are sure they would not so sharply nor so long contend 3. That we deny the Ordinances and means of Salvation Answ. We deny nothing that the Apostles or Christians formerly practised nor do we deny any thing that any now practise in the light and in the faith but the setting up of such things in the will that we deny or the imitating these without the command of the Spirit that we deny also And this we testifie that Antichrist crept in here and that they are his great cover to keep men from the life and therefore warn men to mind the life and to take heed they be not kept from the substance by the shadows where Antichrist lies lurcking to bewitch from the substance And we are sure that these in Antichrists hands are not the means of Salvation but keep from the sight of the holy City where the life and Salvation is And we read that the outward Court was given to the Gentiles who trod under foot the holy City Revel. 11.2 And we have found by experience that while we our selves were crying up the outward Court we did trample under foot the holy City though we then knew it not Their exceptions against our Persons are that we are ignorant illiterate and also unsetled Persons who have still been seeking up and down c. Answ. What Persons are fittest for God to make use of towards the recovery of his People out of the Apostacy Doth not God chuse that which is weak and mean and contemptible that his glory might the more appear Is not this a more likely way for him to steal upon the World then if he appeared in the wise and learned ones And among whom is his appearing to be expected among those who are setled upon their lees in the Apostacy or among those who have mourned panted and sought to come out of it and could not be setled without his appearing to them and fixing of their feet upon the Rock But have we been unsetled since God hath fastned us on the living Foundation Nay here is no more going out but he that abides faithful remains a pillar in the house of God Men except likewise against our practises as that we shew not respect to persons and that we are not strict after their manner in duties c. Answ. We have heard that voice Fear God and give Glory to him Revel. 14.7 not only as it is written there but in Spirit and where the Lord is exalted the glory of the creature falls read Isa. 2. how all falls in that day that God alone might be exalted And we cannot in this mighty day of the Lord any longer give to man that honour which he hath gathered in the fall and which pleaseth the fallen nature and not that which is borne of God And for duties we have bewailed in the sight of the Lord our former running into duties without his Spirit and we must confess we can only pray in the Spirit sing in the Spirit wait in the Spirit speak in the Spirit as that gives utterance and not of our selves or when we will but as we feel life strength and power from on high leading and assisting us And our religion consists neither in willing nor running but in waiting on the Spirit and power of the Lord to work all in us and for us All these things we look upon to be our duty and practise them It is likewise excepted against us that we do not work Miracles Answ. We point to that which wrought all the outward Miracles formerly and which now worketh great inward Miracles in spirit and we are sure the same power which we have received the Gospel in is of the same healing virtue But that power worketh according to the purpose of its own will and not according to the will of man yea though Paul had the gift of healing yet he left Trophimus at Miletum sick 2 Tim. 4.20 neither was the will or wisdome of man satisfied in all those Miracles which Christ and the Apostles wrought It is enough for us to feel and live in the moving of the power in which we rejoyce and are more satisfied that by it our names are written in the Book of Life then we could by any such outward and visible appearance and manifestation of it But if we did work outward Miracles yet if thou hadst not an inward eye to see them with thou wouldst not be able to distinguish by what power they were wrought To what purpose should I mention any more particulars Is it not enough O fear before the Lord and do not lose the present dispensation of life through mistake or because ye cannot have things suited to your corrupt wills but know the Gospel which is an inward dispensation and doth not consist in outward shadows but in inward virtue life and power for the Kingdome of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Spirit Come to wait for that to feel that to unite there and then we shall not differ about that which is outward But it is Antichrists way by the Magistrates power to force an agreement about the outward which destroyes that tenderness of conscience which prefer vs the inward And now let me put one Question to you Where is the deceit of the ages after Christ to be expected Did the Jews deny Moses and the Prophets Writings or Ordinances nay were they not very zealous for these and were not these their cover under which they persecuted Christ and vented all their malice against him So can it be expected now that the Deceivers of this age should deny the Apostles writings or the practises therein mentioned Or is it not rather to be expected that under their crying up of these they should hide their enmity against the life Search and see hath not every after-age of Professors took up the words and practises of them who were
of the eye or light wherewith they looked the one looked with an outward eye the other with an inward eye And a little inward light wil do that which a great deal of outward light will not do And this I can certainly affirm that all the light that men can gather from the Scriptures cannot give them the knowledge of Christ as he hath appeared in this age nay nor as he hath appeared in any age since the daies of the Apostles but a little true inward light will give the knowledge of this thing and open those Scriptures infallibly in its season which all the Generations of wise and learned men have been controverting and disputing about in that wisdome and searching spirit which is never to understand them This then is the main and full reason of this deep error of the Jews and their desperate splitting upon the rock which would have saved them They were begotten of the Letter which was given forth in former ages but not of the life which was raised up in their age and so they knew not how to turn to the light within which alone was able to give them the true and certain knowledge of the things of God Now consider these things well O ye Professors of this age and take heed that ye do not fall after the same example of unbeleif Be not high minded but fear Be not so confident of what you have gathered by your wisdom for truth from the Scriptures after the manner that they were of what they had gathered by their wisdome but fear lest ye should be mistaken as they were and wait for the opening of that eye in you which was shut in them even the true eye in the true Light by the holy anointing where there never was nor can be any mistake The Jews fell by unbeleif unbeleif of what They beleeved the Scriptures they beleeved according to that knowledg they had gathered from the Scriptures but they did not beleeve in the living word They had a knowledge abiding in them which they had gathered from the Scriptures but they had not the living word abiding in them and so their faith was but unbeleif for the living faith stands in beleif of the living word in the heart which the Scriptures direct to without the knowledge of which all knowledge of words is vain and without faith in which all faith is vain also Now saith the Apostle to the Gentile-Christians Thou standest by faith Rom. 11.20 by what Faith By Faith in that word in the heart which they neglected and turned from Rom. 10.8 for Moses had taught them after the Laws and Ordinances about worship and sacrifices that the word that they were to obey and do the word that could give them life and make them obedient to all the commandements without was in their heart and mouth Deut. 30.14 and so the Prophet Micah when they proposed sacrifices and Oil to please God with he brings them to this which was given to them in common with mankind Mich. 6.8 for all Ordinances and Laws and observations and practises without are but to bring to the life within which is to be found again there where it was lost and still lies slain and hid even in the feild or house where it was lost And he that seeks abroad never finds it but when the candle is lighted in his own house and he searches narrowly in the feild in his own heart and the eternal eye begins to open in him then he cries out God was in this place and I was not aware of it Ah how the enemy bewiched me to run from mountain to mountain and from hill to hill and hath hereby covered my eye from beholding the mountain of the Lords house and from feeling the spring of my life which I further and further ran from all the while I was seeking abroad Therefore O ye Professors be not so conceited like the Jews and running after them into their desolation and misery but learn wisdome by their fall Do not you set up your Ordinances and Scriptures after the manner that they set up theirs for this is your Danger for this I clearly in the Light of the Lord testifie to you that if ye gather a knowledge and wisdom from the letter of the Scriptures after the manner that they did without knowledge of the word within and without a light within from that word ye lose the living faith ye are but dead branches and all your knowledge of Scriptures and practises and Faith and Duties c. that ye here hold and observe are but for the fire and the flames of eternal wrath shall kindle more fiercely upon you because of them then upon the Jews for ye stumble at the same stumbling stone at which they stumbled and fell and it will fall upon you also And as you have more Scriptures then they had and the experience of their fall to warn you so your destruction will be exceeding dreadful if ye neglect so great salvation where of at this day there are so many living powerful witnesses as they are known and owned to be in the light of the Lord though despised in your exalted and conceited wisdom Now to help any honest and single hearts among you over this great stumbling block of a light within consider these few things 1. That all the knowledge all the true knowledge that ever ye had of God was from a light within I do not deny that ye might receive your knowledge through the Scriptures and some warmth formerly in those things which ye call Ordinances and duties but that whereby ye received the knowledge was the light within the eye that God secretly opened in your spirits This was the way ye then came by it though ye perhaps might feel the thing but not know how ye came by it even as a Babe may see truly but doth not understand its own eye or knows how it sees 2. While this eye was kept open in you your knowledge was true in its measure and serviceable to you and did draw you neerer to God making ye truly tender meek sweet humble patient loving gentle and full of pretious breathings towards God and after righteousness O how lovely were you to God in this state when Israel was a child I loved him God remembreth at this day the kindness of your youth and is seeking after you O why do ye so harden your hearts against him 3. That wherever this eye is shut the vertue of the true knowledg is lost and the sweet fruits thereof wither The outward part of the knowledg may be retained yea perhaps much increased but the life is gone and the pure sweet Savouriness to God vanished And if this eye were but a little opened again in you your death and unsavouriness might be soon seen and felt by you in all your knowledge duties ordinances yea in your very graces and experiences You have a faith still yea but it wants the savour of