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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	bless_v	lord_n	praise_v	4,649	5	10.4003	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54066	Some things relating to religion, proposed to the consideration of the Royal Society, (so termed) to wit, concerning the right ground of certainty therein, concerning tenderness of spirit, and persecution, a query concerning separation, concerning washing away sin from the conscience, and the garment of salvation, and what it is that is covered therewith : likewise, some questions and answers concerning the church of the New-Covenant, the rock of foundation whereon it is built, and its preservation by and upon the rock : with some queries concerning the scattered and hidden estate of the church, and concerning that church which got up in the view of the world, instead thereof, and was acknowledged by the world as if she had been the true church, though indeed and truth she was not so : whereunto are added, some queries to professors, who speak of high attainments, &c. / written by ... Isaac Penington.	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.	1668 (1668)	Wing P1205; ESTC R13142	15,290	26

that which cries out against separation in this day of the Lord 's dividing and separating but that spirit which would hold back the soul from being gathered to the Lord in the Chains of darkness and in the Land of death and confusion O that men knew that which divides and separates and which is appointed by God to divide and separate both inwardly and outwardly and might feel the full work and effect of it even perfect separation from all that is not of God that so they might be joyned to him and built up in him who is the life rest peace joy and pure breath of the soul for ever The word of God is quick and powerful sharper than any two-edged Sword and what doth it do Why it separates between Nation and Nation between Church and Church between People and People between Cattel and Cattel between Soul and Soul yea between the thoughts and intents of the same heart owning and cherishing all that is of the pure and condemning and destroying all that is of the impure And happy O for ever happy is he who can witness the work of this word perfected in his soul even the Axe of the Lord powerfully laid to and having cut down all that is corrupt in him that the pure plant of God may flourish and bring forth fruit in him in peace without Annoyance or Interruption of the impure Then the River of Life as the Streams of everlasting Righteousness shall flow into his vessel and Jerusalem become in and to him a quiet habitation and nothing be able to hurt or destroy any thing of Life in him who dwells in and abides on the Mountain of God's Holiness O blessed is the Race of Travellers which in the pure Light of the everlasting day are travelling thitherwards even with their hearts and faces faithfully bent towards Sion which is the Holy Spiritual Heavenly Hill of God! And blessed O blessed for ever is the Lord God of Life and Power who is the Faithful Guider Leader and Conducter of all that follow the footsteps of the flock in the way which is Pure True Living and Everlasting Concerning the washing away of Sin from the Conscience and the Garment of Salvation and what it is that is covered therewith There is somewhat appointed by God to wash away Sin which is the Water of Regeneration the Water of Life the Spirit 's Water and the Blood of the Lamb which are known received and felt by Faith in the Light of the Spirit wherein alone his work is wrought Thus now upon believing the Soul is washed The Faith brings in or lets in the Water and Blood which cleanse and purge the Conscience from the Sin which before stained and defiled it And according to the Faith so is the Water and Blood let in and accordingly is the washing And he that is baptized he that is washed by the spirit comes out of the water clean and watching to the Light wherein he was purified witnesseth the powerful word of Life as able to preserve in cleanness as it was to cleanse But if there be not a watch to and Faith in and single-hearted obedience to that which purified and keepeth pure there is that near which will defile where it is hearkned to and let in there is that which will tempt to lust and sin and so draw into darkness and death again And if any man sin afterwards sin defiles again and the stain thereof will lye upon the Conscience till by Repentance and Faith the Water and Blood be let in again and the cleansing vertue from it received and restored again So if any man sin there is an Advocate an Intercessor a divine Helper one who hath the Water of Life and the Blood of Life to wash with There is a Fountain set open for Sin and for Uncleanness for Judah and Jerusalem to wash therefrom But every defilement and pollution sticks until it be washed off Now there are sins of several kinds Some are easily remitted and washed off insomuch as the stain is hardly felt by the Soul the tender Mercy and pure Life doth so readily and naturally flow over them Some again are long held and bound by the Spirit upon the Conscience and often remembred to the heart which is apt to backslide Yea there is in some cases a severe judgment and a long waiting on the Lord for his mercy and for his renewing and enlivening of Faith before the Water and Blood which washeth can be again felt For Faith is not in a Man's power nor Repentance neither but they are given of God to whom and when he pleaseth And a man that is in part converted may give ear to the Enemy and let in sin and death upon his soul but he cannot repent again presently nor believe again presently but as God breathes upon him and revives the work of Faith and Repentance in him There were Sins under the Old Covenant and there are Sins under the New or against the Law of the New The Sins of the Old Covenant did lie upon him that committed them until they were expiated according to the Law of the Old Covenant And Sins under the New Covenant lie also upon the Soul and Conscience until they be expiated according to the Law of the New Covenant which is until the Advocate interpose and plead with the Father and give Faith and Repentance to the Soul and sprinkle upon the heart and conscience that Water and Blood which hath vertue in it to wash And if it were not for this after-washing as I may so say no man could be saved But though he were once washed yet sinning again afterwards he would die in his sins and so under Condemnation unless he were again washed O blessed be the name of the Lord for the Water and Blood of the Covenant and for his continual pouring them out upon the souls of his in the Light that is Eternal Now as men come to the truth as it is in Jesus they will find their own apprehensions about these things to have been but dreams wherewith the Enemy hath fed and pleased them while he hath lulled them asleep in the Night of Darkness that he might the better steal away the true weighty knowledg of the things of the Kingdom from them Thus men have dreamed about Justification about Sanctification about Regeneration about Redemption about Faith Hope Love Righteousness Peace Joy c. And have been mistaken about them missing of that Power and Light whereby and wherein they are revealed and made manifest Now he that will rightly know these things must know them in the feeling and true experience And therein he shall find all these are wrought in a mysterious way of pure Life's operation out of the reach of man's comprehension and that no Man can understand them but as the New and Holy understanding is given him nor retain the sense and knowledg of them but as he abides in the new nature and retains

the new understanding So for the Garment of Salvation that is Christ the righteousness of Christ the Nature of Christ the Spirit of Christ This is the holy covering He that puts on Christ puts on this He that wears Christ wears this he that appears before God in Christ appears in this And the Soul puts on this as it puts off the other It is the purified Soul that only puts on him that is pure And as a man is cleansed from the impure so only hath he in him a capacity of receiving and being cloathed with Christ And this now is the work of the true Ministry to wit to preach the Word to reveal the Word and bring the Mind to the Word which changeth it and begets the new capacity and so to begin the work of Life and reconciliation wherein and whereby there is some unclothing of the Old and some clothing with the New and so to carry on this work in the Spirit and power of the Father until it be perfected And this is a blessed work and blessed is the Ministry which is called to and entrusted with this work being faithful in it and blessed are they that witness the truth of and receive the effect of this Ministry and are subject to it in the Lord. For through and under this Ministry there is a receiving of a perfect gift in some measure at first wherein some true union and little acquaintance with the Lord of Life is at first witnessed and some operation of the Light and Power of his Holy Spirit And a grovving up in it unto perfection as the Soul is exercised by it and faithful to the Lord in the exercise under the daily Cross vvhich daily vvorketh against and crucifieth in the Heart Mind Life and Conversation vvhat ever is contrary to God as it is singly vvaited for taken up and subjected to Some Questions and Answers concerning the Church of the New-Covenant the Rock or Foundation whereupon it is built and its preservation by and upon the Rock With some Queries concerning the scattered estate of the true Church and concerning that Church which got up in its stead and made a great show with her Golden Cup for the time while the true Church was scattered Qu. 1. What is the Church of God under the new Agreement or Covenant An. It is a company of Living Stones quickned by God and knit together in the unity and fellowship of his Spirit to worship God together in his Spirit and offer up unto him spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ What was the Church of the Old Covenant Was it not the seed of Abraham the outward Jews the Children of the Old Covenant And what is the Church of the New Covenant Is it not the seed of God the Jews inward the Children of the New Covenant Qu. 2. How are these Stones joyned together An. By the Spirit of Life which begets them all in one Nature and knits them together in that nature By the inward circumcision cutting off that which causeth Enmity and Disunion and so fitting them to be made one New Lump in Christ By Christ's Baptism which is the Baptism of Fire and of his Spirit which burns up the Old earthly Nature and so Baptizes them into one New Living Body sutable and fitting to their Head which is the Fountain of Life and distributes Life through all the Body according to its capacity need and service Qu. 3. Upon what is this Church built An. Upon the Rock or Foundation of God which God hath laid in his spiritual Sion which Rock is Christ For other Foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ nor other Rock did the Lord ever chuse for his Church to be built upon Nor hath any other Rock sufficient strength to bear up the building against the storms and stress of the powers of darkness which it often meeteth with even every member in its travels after it is once built on the Rock the Gates of Hell press hard upon it but abiding on the Rock it feels the strength and preservation of the Rock For as they cannot prevail against Christ so neither can they prevail against that which is built upon him But if there be a going forth from the strength and preservation there is a liableness to be made a prey And the promise is not absolutely and perpetually to that Person or Congregation which is received or let into the truth but to that Person or Church which abideth and continueth in the truth unto the end The Jews were safe in the Faith and Obedience of their Covenant and the Christians or Christian Churches are not safe but in the Faith and Obedience of theirs For if they walked not humbly with the Lord and in his Fear which keeps the heart from departing from him and in the Faith whereby they stand they were to be cut off from their Church-state as well as the Jews were from theirs as the Apostle Paul expresly tells the Church at Rome Rom. 11. 21 22. Qu. 4. VVhat was Paul An. The Apostle of the Gentiles who Laboured abundantly even more abundantly than all the other Apostles and hath left more instructions relating to the Gentiles than all the Apostles besides and was tender of them in standing for and defending their liberty in Christ when Peter a little warped and was to be blamed Gal. 2. 11. For indeed man cannot be certain and infallible further than he kepeth to and is exercised by the certain and infallible Spirit which he is subject to be tempted to err from further than he stands upon the watch and cannot but err from unless he feel a continual preservation in the Fear and by the Power of the Lord. And the certainty of truth doth not depend so much upon the person from whom it is received as upon the demonstration and evidence to the conscience wherein it is received The Apostles were not Lords over the true Christians Faith but helpers of their joy And Christ did not require his Disciples to believe what ever he knew to be true but prepared their capacities and dropped in according to their capacities And this is the way of the true Ministers to wait on God to beget and on him again to Water the begotten Soul and carry on his work in it to make them know Christ their Master from whom they are to receive Light Life Instruction and Direction and to feel the Head and be joyned to the Head and receive from the Head their knowledg as well the least as the greatest Ebr. 8. What is Paul What is Apollos What is Cephas Were not they carnal that cryed up these one above another Yet the younger ought to be subject to the elder and all to be subject one to another in the truth 1 Pet. 5. 5. Qu. 5. What was Peter An. One of the Disciples of Christ a precious Stone in the building Joh. 1. 43. one of the most eminent Apostles

even the chosen Minister to them of the circumcision as Paul was to the Gentiles But he knew that Christ was the only Rock or Foundation as well as Paul and that Christ alone was able to bear the weight of that building and to defend it against the Gates of Hell and he never had commission nor can it be proved that ever he preached himself the Rock but he preached Christ the Foundation-Stone the Rock of Offence the Rock of Defence c. see 1 Pet. 2. 4. and v. 6 7 8. And if an Angel from Heaven or any Man or Church on Earth so interpret any Scripture as to hold forth any such thing that any else besides Christ is the Rock they plainly shew that they are erred from the truth and that their interpretation is of their own private Spirit and not that publick Spirit which all the Prophets of God and Apostles and Truly-Holy men were guided by Qu. 6. Was the Church alwaies to be a gathered Company or was there a possibility of their being scattered An. There was a possibility of their being scattered yea a certainty if they grew corrupt in Doctrine and Practise and kept not the Faith Rom. 11. For the Lord God intended a pure building a spiritual building fit to offer the spiritual Sacrifices 1 Pet. 2. 5. An Holy People separated from the World 2 Cor. 6. 17. In which he might dwell and walk ver 16. If therefore any Church depart from the Spirit and Life and Power of the Apostles and mix again with the World losing their own proper pale which fenced from the World they soon lose that which maketh them a Church of God and so become a Synagoge of Satan Now it is in my heart also to propound a few Queries concerning the scattered and hidden estate and condition of the Church and concerning that Church which got up in the view of the World and was acknowledged by the World instead thereof afterwards Q. 1. Whether the true Church did retain her Ministry outwardly and her outward Ordinances and way of worship of the outward Court after her scattering or whether the false Church which appeared in her room as if she had been the true caught up and appeared in the outwardness of these The grounds of this Querie are these following 1. Because upon God's measuring of his Temple and Worshippers the outward Court consider well what that is and how far it extends was left out of God's measure so that he intended to reckon it no longer as his but given by him to the Gentile-Christians such as were Christians or Jews in Name but Gentiles in Spirit and Nature Rev. 11. 2. Because in the Last days when that strange Generation of Christians was to spring up who should be Lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy without natural affection truce-breakers false-accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traitors heady high-minded Lovers of pleasures more than Lovers of God Yet these should have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof 2 Tim. 3. 1 to 6. Now mind The Temple wherein was the Power God had removed with the true Worshippers but the outward Court wherein was the appearance or some kind of a form of Church Ministry and Ordinances those had got and were found worshipping in it in the midst of all this great wickedness and abomination of spirit 3. Because the Jews who were the type while they were in captivity in Babylon could not sing the Songs of Sion nor had the Worship of the outward Jerusalem there And can the spiritual Jews sing the spiritual Songs of spiritual Sion in mysterie Babylon No there they are but witnesses to that Life and Power which the true Church enjoyed and flourished with in her built estate Q. 2. Whether this is not an infallible mark and most certain demonstration of the false Church her sitting upon many Waters which Waters are Peoples Multitudes Nations and Tongues Did not the Spirit of the Lord thus mark her out to John Rev. 17. 15. Did the true Church ever sit upon many Waters Was not the Church a gathering out of the Nations into the Power and Life which the Nations persecuted But the false Church sits over the Nations with a form of Godliness but without the true Power thereof Then if this be a mark that God hath set upon her let every one wait to read it aright that he may know thereby which is she and praise the name of the Lord for discovering her to him Q. 3. Whether this false Church be not rightly called Babylon even an heap of confusion in a mystery as to God's eye though to man's eye her appearance may be orderly and decent And whether she be not justly termed by the Spirit of the Lord the Great Whore both for largeness in bulk and for the greatness of her fornications having whored from the bed of the Husband and entred into the bed of a Stranger and having taught and compelled others to acknowledg and worship in her forms which thus held forth and maintained by her are not only without but also against the true Power Q. 4. Whether Antichrist be not entred into and become the head of this false Church and whether he doth not sit there ruling in it even as Christ was Head of the True and sate ruling in the True And whether Antichrist doth not keep his hold of this Church and possess his seat in it for many Ages and Generations even from the time he got in after the days of the Apostles till the very coming of Christ in his Power and Brightness 2 Thes 2. Q. 5. Whether the great Plagues Woes terrible Thunders and Cups of God's Indignation spoken of in the Book of the Revelations are not to be poured in their several orders and degrees upon this false Church and upon Antichrist her beloved Head and King even till she be stripped naked made desolate and her Flesh burnt with Fire and her Head bruised and destroyed by Christ the true Head and King of the true Church Q. 6. Whether the people of God such as feel somewhat of the Power and bow to the Lord in Spirit and Truth in some measure yet these if they mind not his call out of this Babylon and come not fully out of her but abide in any part of her observing any of her wayes or worships till the time of God's controversie with her and judging of her whether they also shall not partake of her Plagues Rev. 18. 4. Q. 7. Whether all people have not great reason to fear before the Lord and to look to their wayes and worships lest they be found in any thing therein which is not of him but contrary to him and so bring upon their Souls and Bodies that wrath and sore Judgment from God which they are not able to bear Rev. 14. 9 10 11. Q. 8. Whether it was not the great Love and