Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	beast_n	image_n	worship_v	2,681	5	9.5773	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54031	The consideration of a position concerning the Book of common-prayer as also of some particulars held forth for truths by one Edmund Elis, stiled a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ : with a warning of tender bowels to the rulers, teachers and people of this nation concerning their church and ministry : likewise a few words concerning the kingdom, laws and government of Christ in the heart and conscience, its inoffensiveness to all just laws and governments of the kingdoms of men / by Isaac Penington the younger.	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.; Elys, Edmund, ca. 1634-ca. 1707.	1660 (1660)	Wing P1161; ESTC R28789	24,645	40

found how curiously soever the cup be guilded yet it is but the cup of Fornication which bewitcheth the heart with its golden appearance and then leads it into adultery from the life And the Dragon doth not onely set up a false Church over the Nations in many parts whereof the truth had before appeared Rev. 17.15 but a false Ministry also There 's a false Prophet which deceiveth with Miracles and false appearances of truth advanced in this corrupt state which false Prophet continues and upholds his deceit over the Nations till the mighty appearance of Christ in Spirit and Power do judge him Rev. 19.20 2 Thess 2.8 There 's a Beast with Horns like a Lamb who doth great Wonders so that he maketh Fire come down from Heaven on the Earth in the sight of men and deceiveth them that dwell on the Earth c. Rev. 13.13 14. Insomuch as he drawes the Kings and Inhabiters of the Earth in a Mysterie of deceit into the Bed of Whoredom and false Worship instead of the pure way of Life and pure Worship of the living God in his Spirit and in his truth Rev. 17.2 Is it not further manifest that this false Church and false Ministry set up in the World by the power of the Dragon persecute Gods Witnesses to the truth in all the ages of Antichrists reign So soon as ere the Church was fled into the Wilderness the Dragon forthwith went to make War with the remnant of her seed which kept the Commandments of God and had the testimony of Jesus Christ Rev. 12.17 And it was given unto him to make War with the Saints and to overcome them and power was given him over all Kindreds Tongues and Nations And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World If any man have an ear let him hear Rev. 13.7 8 9. And he had power to give life unto the Image of the Beast that the Image of the Beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast should be killed And he causeth all both small and great rich and poor free and bond to receive a Mark in their right hand or in their fore-heads And that no man might buy or sell save he that had the Mark or the name of the Beast or the number of his Name Rev. 13.15 16 17. Yea the Woman the false Church which the Dragon had set up by his power in the Nations instead of the true was drunken with the Blood of the Saints and with the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus Rev. 17.6 O the misery and lamentable hard usage of the Witnesses of Jesus who have been true Lambs born of the Power faithful to the Power witnessing against every Form and appearance of Religion Doctrine and Worship which hath appeared without the Power even in the daies of greatest profession and highest devotion under the Apostacy from the Power how have these been hunted persecuted devoured by the Wolves in the Sheeps cloathing who had got the outside the garment the Name of Christ and Christianity the profession of Church Ministry and Ordinances but have wanted the life the virtue the thing it self and so have turned against it and kept it down that they might keep up their Form For let but the Power appear the Form without the Power is soon detected to be what it is And this is properly Antichrist and Antichristianisme to wit Not openly to appear in a direct denyal of Christ his Truths and Worship but to set up a way of knowledge and worship without his Spirit Another spirit creeping into the Form that 's Antichrist and the setting up observation and practice of the Form out of the Life and Power that 's Antichristianisme and this is the persecuter destroyer and devourer about Religion Now though the Lord hath suffered this false Church and false Prophet to reign long in the Dragons power and to revile and worry his poor Lambs in every age of Antichrists Reign yet the Lord hath appointed a season to judge this false Church Rev. 17.1 to cast the false Prophet into the Lake Rev. 19. v. 20. yea and to torment with fire and brimstone all the false Worshippers Rev. 14.9 10 11. O how deeply doth it concern England her Rulers her Teachers yea the whole People thereof to consider their Ways to consider their Worship to consider their Church-state to consider their Ministry that they be not overwhelmed at unawars in the bitter wrath of the Almighty before which there is no standing O that they could mourn and pray and wait for the eye of Gods Spirit for his pure Light which searcheth and discovereth all the deceits of Antichrist that they might not be bewitched with any of the wine of the fornication of the false Woman whose heart is snares and nets and her hands as bands to entangle her lovers in and keep them from the pure bed of Life where the Father of Life with the Son and Spirit are enjoyed and worshipped If men consult concerning these things in the wisdom of the flesh they will be entangled and erre for that eye cannot see the Mysteries of the Kingdom or the course either of Truth or Deceit The Gospel the Eternal Truth the true Church the true Ministry are all Spiritual not new shadowes as the things under the ministration of the Law were but Spirit and Substance and they can onely be seen by the spiritual eye of the children of Wisdom The wise Hunters and diligent Enquirers into the comprehending part cannot find the Womb or the way of Life or the way of the Worship of that which is begotten in the Life or Gods way of Ministry which he hath appointed for the feeding and preserving of the Life The Prophets of old could not be known discerned or owned by the fleshly eye of observation in Israel after the flesh but they still rejected them esteeming and magnifying the false Prophets above them how much less can the Prophets and Ministers of the New Testament be seen by mans eye Are they the Prophets and Ministers of Christ which a Nation cries up for such and which the eye of the wise men therein admires and pitches upon or are those they which the renewed eye in the Light of the Lord sees to be fitted sanctified and called forth by Christ unto that service Ah poor England must thou fall into the pit before thine eyes be opened The great Controversie of this Age is about Church and Ministry which must carry it the Form or the Power Whether the Church and Ministry shall take place which was before the Apostacy or that which hath sprung up in or since the Apostacy Whether mans wisdom shall determine which is the true Church and its true Ministry or whether the Spirit of God shall determine it Whether a Nation with the Ministers it sets up

hides it self from all the fleshly wise of every age The Kingdom of God cometh not by observation the wisest Scribes and Pharisees could not know it by all the observations which they could gather out of Moses and the Prophets Writings nor can any now know it by any observations they can gather out of the Apostles Writings but by being born of that spirit whereof they were born and by being formed in that womb wherein they were formed by this means alone is the thing come to be known which they knew He that receiveth the same eye seeth the same thing according to his measure and coming to the life wherein they received the Truth the words which they spake concerning the Truth are easie Thus as they were writ in the Spirit so are they there along truly read and being so read they become exceeding profitable to that which so reads them but man guessing and imagining and reasoning in his carnal wisdom concerning the things of God and so gathering sences and meanings about the words and expressions of Scripture doth but build up a Babel which the eternal Life and Power will throw down when ever he appears with that which built it O that men were wise to wait for the discovery of the true Rock and of the true Builder upon that Rock that that City and Building might be raised in them which God alone can rear that they might not be left desolate and miserable in that stormy day which will shake all Buildings and Foundations and Rocks but our Rock wherein all Professors and Preachers and high Notionists and what ever sort else can be named who have stumbled at Gods living Truth and at the pure appearance of his redeeming Power which in this age hath mightily broke forth after the long dark night of Apostacy to the sight of every eye which is opened in the Spirit shall confess with tears sorrow anguish and shame that their Rock is not in our Rock they themselves being Judges For though all sort of Professors generally own Christ as the Rock in words yet most miss of the thing and the subtile Enemy hath made use of a Notion or apprehension of the thing in the carnal mind to deceive them of the thing to keep them from feeling the eternal vertue the living Power of Life in the heart which is the Arm of Gods Salvation whereby Christ draws mans lost soul and spirit out of the Pit out of the Grave out of Sin and corruption up to the Father But O how are poor hearts deceived who think by a believing of what Christ did of a satisfaction he made for them while he was here on Earth though they lye in the Pit all their dayes though they carry the body of sin about with them to the very last of their time here in the body and have not felt the Arm of God's Power breaking down their spiritual enemies their lusts their corruptions and redeeming them from them yet hope to be saved in the end and to be presented without spot or wrinkle to God! Christ had the name Jesus given him because he was to save his People from their sin and no man can truly and livingly know the name Jesus further than he feels the saving vertue of it but he that effectually feels the vertue he indeed knows the name and can bow at the name feeling his lusts and enemies bowed under by the power thereof and that raised up in him which can Worship the Father in the Spirit and in the Truth O that the sons of men knew O that the Teachers and Professors of this age knew what they have so long reviled and trampled upon Surely they would mourn bitterly kiss the Son and escape the wrath Now if the Lord please to smite any ones earthly wisdom and comprehension which is the main thing which stands in the way of the pure openings and revelations of the life and give him the feeling of any thing here written let him in fear acknowledge the Lord sacrificing to his goodness and waiting upon him to be kept in that feeling not magnifying or villifying any of his Instruments but in meekness and humility embracing the instructions of the Almighty from the hand which he pleaseth to give them forth by As for me I am but a Shell and if this party knew me who sets me up so high preferring me above many whom the Lord hath preferred far above me he would soon acknowledge me to be a very poor weak contemptible one yet this I must by no means deny that the pure Liquor of the eternal Life at its pleasure springeth up and issueth out through me though I can also in true understanding say that it issueth out far oftener and much more abundantly through others Let it have its honour where ever it appears and the Lord bring down that in peoples hearts which hindreth the owning and receiving of its virtue A Warning of tender Bowels to the Rulers Teachers and People of the Nation concerning their Church and Ministry THat there was a Fight between the Dragon and his Angels and Michael and his Angels concerning the New-Testament-Church and Ministry is manifest even from the Letter of the Scriptures Rev. 12. That the Dragon and his Angels though they could not get the better as relating to the Power yet that they did get the better as relating to the Form insomuch as that they overcame the third part of the true Ministers and drew them from their standing in the Firmament of Gods Power off to their earthly Ministry and that the Church her self also was fain to fly into the Wilderness from the face of the Dragon for her safety and preservation where she was to be nourished and sed by God all the time of Antichrists Reign this likewise is not onely revealed in the Spirit but is also manifest from the Letter Rev. 12. That after this flight of the true Church and overcoming of the true Ministry the Dragon erected his false Church and Ministry which had but at best the Form without the Power over all Nations Peoples Multitudes and Tongues this is also as evident to them that read the Prophecies of the Revelation in the Light of that Spirit that wrote them Is nor the false woman after the true woman was fled manifestly described Rev. 17. which hath a bewitching Cup of Fornications v. 2 and 4. Mark She hath not the true Cup of Blessing her cup is not filled with the Wine of the Kingdom it is not the Cup of the true Spouse which keeps chast and loyal to the bed of the Husband but the cup of Fornications wherein is a Form of Doctrine and Discipline and Order and Church-Government which leads from the life which be witnesses from the Power which luls asleep in a Form of profession and worship of Christ without knowledge of guidnace by and subjection to his Spirit And this is the Government Ministry and way of Antichrist where ever it is

shall be the Church and Ministry or whether Gods holy Nation which he calleth and sanctifieth by his Spirit and the Ministers which he chuseth and sendeth to gather and build up his in the holy Faith and pure power of Life shall be the Church and Ministry Our eyes wait on the Lord to see this Controversie determined and our hope of help is in his Arm nor are we at all affrighted at the rising of any strength against us our hearts being given up to Gods Truth and to suffer for its Testimony according to Gods will meekly and patiently in his strength but we pitty this poor land yea in the depth of bowels we pitty the Rulers the Teachers and People therein O that they might be humbled and in fear of the great God surrender to him his due before he appear in his strength to force it from them Of the Kingdom Laws and Government of Christ in the Heart and Conscience its Inoffensiveness to all just Laws and Governments of the Kingdoms of men CHrists Kingdom Gods Kingdom the Kingdom of Heaven for they are all one and the same is that seed of Eternal Life which God hath hid in the hearts of the sons of men whereby he gathereth them back unto himself bringeth them under the Yoak of his Government ruleth over them and reigneth in them This Kingdom is likened to a grain of mustard seed for its smalness to a Pearl for its Riches Value and Worth to Leaven for its spreading nature and many other Parables did Christ make use of to discover it by as to a piece of Silver which the woman that lost it lighting the candle sweeping the house and searching it diligently at length found it even there where she had lost it Man fallen from God is become lost as to the Lord and as to his own happiness in the Lord being driven from his blessed presence and divine Image Life and Spirit into the earthly Spirit Image and Life which he chose Yet in this Earth in this Field of the World God hath hid somewhat even the everlasting Pearl which when man is awakened to seek and findeth in the living Breath in the Eternal Light of Life it is able to redeem him it is able to overspread he becoming subject to the Laws Leadings Teachings and Power of it and leaven him into the Likeness and Image of the pure Life and Spirit Or not men knew the Gift of God O that men knew the purchase of the blood of Christ O that men knew that Spiritual good thing which Christ who died for them hath given to Redeem them by that in that they might be united to Christ and so by him be Renewed and Restored to God For as the Father receiveth none but through the Son so the Son receiveth none but in that Gift which he bestoweth from the Father He owneth no Faith no Love no Hope no Repentance no Obedience but what springeth from that and standeth in that Now as man is Born of this is Leavened by this as he becomes a fool in his own earthly wisdom and excellency of the fallen Spirit and becomes a Babe a Child Simple Innocent c. so he enters into the Kingdome being ingrafted into the Root through the virtue of this which is given him from the Root and so grows up in this and this in him And here 's the new Nature the new Life the new Heart the new Spirit in which the Unity and Fellowship with God is again known and the Disunion with the World the Wisdom the Interests the Fashions the Customs the Fears the Hopes the Delights the Joys of this World and whatever else is of it For Christ as he is not of the World so he calleth men out of the World and they which follow him and become his Disciples go out of the World after him that is travel in Spirit and Conversation from what is of the Earth from what ever is not of the Father but of the World They are not of the World even as I am not of the World saith Christ concerning his Disciples John 17. therefore the world hateth them The Laws of this Kingdom are given forth in the Kingdom from the Covenant of life which is made there in Christ They are written in the heart in the mind as far as it is renewed There the fear is put there the eternal Wisdom is opened there is Sion known and the Jerusalem which is from above and the Laws of eternal life issue fresh from it and are revealed by the life in the heart which is turned towards the life There sin is reproved and everlasting Righteousness manifested in the Light which cannot deceive and as the heart is made subject under the yoke so sin is wrought out and Righteousness brought in and under the Cross or yoke of life the blood of the everlasting Covenant runs through the vessel to keep it pure sweet clean and fresh in the life This then is the Government of Christ to be subject to his Spirit which appears and opens his will in the gift of grace which comes from him to feel his living breath by which the heart is begotten to God out of the Region of darkness to know the movings the stirrings the leadings the steps of the Lamb who is the Captain of our Salvation and to follow him where ever he goes doing all things that he commands forbearing all things that he forbids without murmuring without disputing Who ever will be of the inward Israel the spiritual Israel which Christ redeems out of the spiritual Egypt and leads through the spiritual Wilderness into the Land of Rest must know his Leader must receive his Spirit and follow it faithfully If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his he is none of the spiritual Israel and if any man follow not the Spirit of Christ through all the travels in the Wilderness but either sits down by the way or lyes overcome by any kind of enemies and comes not to the end of his journey finishing the warfar and fight of Faith he falls short of the rest O that men were awakened to consider of things as indeed they are for Religion is not such an outward Form of Doctrine or Worship of any sort as men generally whose poor Souls are deceived through the subtilty of the powers of darkness are too apt and willing to apprehend but it consists in Spirit in Power in Vertue in Life not in the oldness of any Form which passeth away but in the newness of the Spirit which abideth for ever in being born of the Spirit in abiding in the Spirit in living walking and worshipping in the Spirit yea in becoming and growing into Spirit and into eternal Life for that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit O that the sons of men would hearken that they might tast of the sweetness and riches of the goodness which the Father in his free love hath opened in the