Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	dead_a	life_n	quicken_v	5,491	5	10.4511	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54039	The holy truth & people defended, and some of the weapons and strength of the power of darkness broken and scattered, by the light and power of truth in an answer to the chief passages in a letter, written to me, and replyed to by me, before my imprisonment in this place, where I have been a prisoner above a year and a half, without any law broken , or cause given on my part, who only came innocently and peaceably to visit my friends in prison / by me Isaac Pennington ...	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.	1672 (1672)	Wing P1172; ESTC R23209	36,170	44

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 ●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 a●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 p●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 m●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

midst of them and the fruits of the earth excellent and comely for them And then they that are thus purged shall sit with Christ in the heavenly places there being an abundant enterance ministered to them into the everlasting Kingdom 2 Pet. 1.11 Thirdly He chargeth it with making the obedience and suffering of Christ superfluous except onely as a pattern Ans Christ came to do the Fathers will ●o obey to suffer Totast death for every man to fight with and overcome the devil to offer an holy spotless Sacrifice for all mankind that through him they might witness atonement and acceptance And the Lord saw the use of this and we witness the use of this and find every thing in its proper place and service in him who is Gods Covenant of Life and Peace in us and to us But the work of this day is not to Preach up a notional knowledge of these things the Christian World so called hath been drowned and dead in them long enough but to bring to that measure of the Spirit to that sence of Grace and Truth which is by Jesus Christ wherein the benefit of these things is truly reaped and injoyed And indeed that is the work committed unto us from the Lord who gave us this Testimony to bear whatever men may think or speak of us And whereas he speaks of our laying hold of passages in his Printed Sermons to favour our Cause Answ That is his mistake as to me It was for his sake I mentioned it There was indeed at that time somewhat stirring in him which would have gathered him had he known and obeyed its voice and not run out into lofty notions concerning it He had some sence then of a Glory aproaching which he might have from the true Prophet Though even then he ran out in his imaginations concerning it and did not rightly apprehend nor know how and when it appeared He hath further charges against us Of crying up Works against the workman mans grace and righteousness against Gods Conformity to Christ against Christ Yea to make a Christ of our righteousness a Saviour of our Conformity Answ O what will this man do when the Lord shall shew unto him that he hath charged not so much us as the Spirit and Power and pretious appea●ance of the Lord Jesus Christ with these things We cry up works no otherwise then we are taught of God and as the Apostles and Prophets have cried them up Faith is necessary and Works are necessary in their places And the Justification of each follow them And he that receiveth the Spirit of the Son and therein doth Righteousness is therein est●emed of God Righteous as the Son ● righteous 1 Joh. 3.7 God Justifieth us in his Son and loveth his holy Seed to therein and the Faith that comes from him and all the Works that are wrought in him and out of this holy Root of Life and Power is no man nor his Faith nor his Works Justified Then for mans Grace and Righteousness Where doth he hear us speak of mans Grace O what doth he mean Will he misrepresent the cause of his neighbour or brother to make it bad And for mans Righteousness we do not cry it up or put it on but testifie men must be uncloathed of it And we our selves were fain to part with it and put it off before we could be cloathed with Gods Righteousness But the Works of Life the Works of Gods Spirit the Works of the new creature the Works of the new Covenant these are not mans Works nor unrighteous Works condemned by God but Justified in and through him that works them The Works wrought in us are truely acceptable and we in him who Works them who is our Righteousness And concerning this Peop e these Children of the new Covenant which the Lord hath Begotten and brought forth in this our day that Scripture is fulfilled in them and upon them Their righteousness is of me saith the Lord. Isa 54.17 Well as long as the Lord saith so we matter ●ot though others say that our Righteousness is of our selves and that it is our own Righteousness being assured that Gods Testimony in our hearts as to this thing will stand He aggravateth this charge thus And this to be done by those that have been so far enlightened and that account all the Relig on and Profession in the world below them as carnal Answ Indeed we magnify Truth Life the Anointing the Spiritual the inward appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ to which we have been turned and in it made Spiritual And all other Knowledge Faith Profession Religion which hath not its rise here we cannot but call carnal For the enlightning Spirit of the Lord hath given us this Testimony to bear against all the dead notional Professors of this Age who build from the Letter or rather their apprehensions of the Letter out of the Life all which cry up names of the Foundation and corner Stone but refuse reject d●ny and turn fr●m the corner Stone himself and have neither skill nor patience to try what he is in this his Pure Pretious Living Powerful and Glorious Appearance in the Spiritual Light of his inward day after the long thick Darkness of the foregoing night And wo would be unto us if we did not thus testify For for this cause we were b●rn and brought into the world to testify to the present appearance of our God and of his Christ in this our day Glory to him who hath called and chosen us to and in a true and pretious m●asure and degree of his own pure Life made us faithful therein This saith he is so far from giving us a list nearer heaven that I cannot more properly resemble it then to the coming forth of Amal●ck who met Israel by the way when they were come forth out of Egypt and smot the hindmost of them c. Answ Do not talk of having a list nearer heaven O learn the Way the holy Way the living Way wherein no dead unclean thing can walk Learn to know Gods Spirit in your selves from that which opposeth his Spirit Ye have been long learning after your old conceivings and apprehensions of the Letter O at length come to learn the Truth as it is in Jesus which discovers sin and death and the body of it and crucifies and puts it off and makes room in the heart for him that is true and pure And then for Amalecks smiting Israel O how greatly are ye mistaken ye take your selves for Israel and us for Amaleck whereas if your eyes were annointed ye would see that we have been begotten and born of Gods Spirit through the Word of Life which was from the beginning wherein we have been Circumcised with the Circumcision made without hands that we might worship God in his own pure Spirit and in his living Truth and that our God hath inwardly appeared to us and led us out of Egypts Land and out of Babylon also and all

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 h●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 th●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 n●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 watch●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 expr●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 righteo●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

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 p●ace Then the Soul is careful for nothing

wherein I am renewed in him is my Acceptance with the Father he is my Advocate he is my Hope and Joy for ever He hath destroyed that in me which was contrary to God and keepeth it down for ever He is my Shepherd his Arm hath gathered me and his Arm encompasseth me day by day I rest under the shadow of his Wings from whence the healing virtue of his saving health droppeth upon my Spirit day by day Oh I cannot tell any man what he is unto me But blessed be the Lord I feel him near his Righteousness near his Salvation daily revealed before that eye which he hath opened in me in that true living sense wherewith he hath quickened me And now ye that have high Notions and rich comprehensive Knowledge concerning these things but not the thing it self the Life it self the Spirit it self the new and living Covenant and Law of Life it self wherein alone Christ is livingly revealed Ah how poor miserable blind and naked are you in the middest of all your Traditional Knowledge and pretended Experiences concerning these things Come be quiet a while and cease from bitterness of Spirit and reviling the Work and People of the Lord For the Lord knoweth and will make manifest both who are his and who are not his All the living Stones are his but the great Professors of the Words of Scripture without the Spirit and Life of the Scriptures are not his nor never were nor never will be owned by him Come learn to distinguish from God by his Life by the Anointing by the everlasting infallible Rule and not by words without Life where the great error and mistake hath been in all Ages and Generations The great Way of Deceit hath long been and still is a by Form of Godliness without Power Be sure ye be not thus deceived for if ye miss of the Power which saves ye cannot but p●rish for ever And what if the Appearance of the Spirit and Power of our Lord Jesus Christ Inwardly which is that which saves be as strange to your Sence Understanding and Judgement as his Outward appearance was unto the People of the Jews Take heed of their Spirit take heed of their Judgement who judged according to the appearance of things to them which they imagine and conceive from the Scriptures but judged not the true and righteous Judgement which only the Children of the true Wisdom can A Post-script THERE are four or five things very pretious which were generally witnessed in the dayes of the Apostles among the true Christians which are all mentioned together Heb. 6.4 5. First They were truly enlightned The Ministers of the Gospel were sent by Christ to turn men from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God Act. 26.18 1 Joh. 1.5 and they were faithful in their Ministry and did turn men from the darkness and power of Satan to the Light of Gods holy Spirit and they were enlightned by it and received power through it and so came to be Children of the Light and to walk in the Light as God is in the Light Secondly They tasted of the heavenly gift What is the heavenly gift which Christ gives to those who come unto him and become his sheep He gives them Life Eternal Life Joh. 10.27 28. He brings them out of death and gives them a savour and tast of the Life which is Eternal This was it which the Apostles testifyed of even of the Life which was manifested in that body of flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1.2 and they that turn from the darkness to his Light he gives them a tast of the same Light Thirdly They were made pertakers of the holy ghost The Gospel is a day of bringing forth the Spiritual Seed and of pouring out the holy Spirit upon them The Law State is a State of Servants the Gospel of Sons And because true believers in Christ are Sons God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts to cry Abba father And God cannot deny his own Spirit to his Children that ask it of him he knoweth how absolutly necessary it is to the state of a Son And whosoever truly receiveth Christ Christ doth give him power to become a Son which power is in and with and cannot be separated from his Spirit Yea the Spirit of Christ is so necessary and inseparable from him that is Christs that the Apostle expresly affirms That if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Fourthly They tasted of the good word of God Of that Word from which the gift comes of that Word which was in the begining of the Word which is ingrafted into the hearts of those that truly believe Which Word is able to save the Soul Fifthly They tasted of the powers of the world to come Of the power of the endless Life whereof Christ is the Minister and according to which he ministers Life in that Holy True Living Inward Spiritual Temple which he pitcheth and reareth up for an habitation to God in his own Spirit Now in the Apostacy and night of darkness which hath come over the Christian state these things have been greatly lost For there hath bin none that have bin found able to turn people to that Light which the Apostles directed to None could tell men where the Light is to shine and where men were to expect it and wait for it None were able to direct men to the Seed of the Kingdom within to the Word of Faith the Word of the Kingdom nigh in the heart and mouth Much less were they able to instruct men how they might know and distinguish it from all other Seeds and the voice of the Sheepherd from all other voices Here it came to pass that though at times God visited and opened mens hearts a little warming them by the breath which came from himself yet they not knowing how to turn to the Lord and wait upon him for preservation in the gift and measure of his own Grace the good hath soon been stolen away from them and the building which hath been raised up in them hath not been a building of Life according to the Spirit but a building of Wisdome or Knowledge concerning the things of God according to the flesh and so the building that hath been raised up in mens Spirits hath been Babylon in stead of Sion But the Lord hath had a remnant all along the Apostacy who felt some begettings of Life and had in measure some sence and tast of the heavenly things These mourned after that state which was once enjoyed and felt their want of it travelling from Mountain to Hill seeking their resting place which none could rightly inform them of Now for the sakes of these God hath at length appeared How appeared may some say Why thus He who is Light hath appeared inwardly causing his Light to shine inwardly causing his Life to spring inwardly So that he who is Light who is Life who is Truth is felt and known in his own inward visits breakings forth and appearances For God who is a Spirit his appearance is Spiritual his day is Spiritual his kingdom is Spiritual his Light is Spiritual his Life is Spiritual his day-star is Spiritual and his day dawneth and his day-star ariseth in the heart Thus The Day-spring from on high did visit us who satt in darkness and in the region of the shadow of death And here we have met with what the Apostles met with the very same Light of Life the very same enlightning Spirit and Power and have been enlightned by it and tasted of the same gift The very same grace that appeared to them and taught them hath appeared to us and taught us and of it have we learned the same lessons in the same Covenant of Life wherein they learned and now can we seal to their Testimony in the same Spirit wherin they gave it forth and witness to the same eternal Life and the same holy oyl and anointing our eyes having been opened and being kept open by it And though their be great disputes about our Testimony in this our day and the present Professors rise up against us as the former Professors did against them yet let but any man come rightly to distinguish in himself between that which God begets in the heart and all other births and let that speak and judge in them that will soon confess that our Testimony is of God and given forth in the authority and by the commission of his own Spirit True wisdome is justified by the Children that are born of her It is the other birth that doth not nor can own her The other birth can own former dispensations according to the Letter of them but not the Life and Power of the present I have known the breaking down of much in me by the powerful hand of the Lord and a parting with much though not too much for Christs sake The Lord hath brought the day of distress and inward judgment over my heart He hath arisen to shake terribly the earthly part in me yea what if I should say that the powers of heaven have been shaken also That he might make me capable to receive and bring me into that Kingdom which cannot be shaken And now that which God hath shaken and removed in me I see others build upon and they think it shall never be shaken in them But such know not the day of the Lord nor the terrible searching of his pure Light nor the opperation of his Power which will not spare in one what he hath reproved condemned shaken and overturned in another He that knows the Living Stone within and comes to him as to a Living Stone and as built upon the revelation of his Spirit Life and Power revealed inwardly against the power of darkness is not deceived all that otherwise build I mean upon an outward knowledge concerning Christ and not upon his inward Life their building will not be able to stand in the day of the Lord. I wish they might have a sence of it in time that they might not perish for ever but experience that Life and Power of our Lord Jesus Christ which redeemeth and preserveth out of the perishing state for ever and ever Amen THE END