persecuted in the foregoing age and under the profession of those words and practises have hid their spirit of persecution There is a remnant only among Professors to be saved the generallity of them have still been persecuters creeping into the form getting that for a cover upon their backs and then fighting against the life and power O wait on the Lord in his fear that ye may be found worthy to know the persecuted truth on the one hand and the persecuting spirit on the other hand in this day of large profession and also of bitter persecution Now what might be the cause or how could it come to pass that the zealous Worshippers of that age should thus err in their zeal and be thus heady and rash against him whom they looked for to be their Saviour How came they thus to err in vision and stumble in judgment in so weighty a matter Shew unto us the cause that we may see whether the same cause be not in us for undoubtedly if it be it will produce the same effect and so we may ignorantly draw upon our heads the same heavy wrath in our day that they did in their day Answ. The causes were very many I may mention some few of the principal ones which if they be seen into and removed by that power which is able to do it such as are of a more inferiour influence will not be able to stand 1. One cause of their blind zeal and bitterness against Christ was Their ignorance of the Scriptures and of the power of God If they had known the Scriptures in the true light they could not but have known Christ from whom the Scriptures were given forth And if they had known the power of God they could not but have known him who came in the power yea who was the power They had knowledge enough of both these one way that is in the Letter They knew the words of Scripture they could make large expositions of them they knew what was said in Scripture concerning the power of God but they knew not the thing it self and so turned against it and made use of the words which came from it and testified of it against it 2. A second cause of this their sad miscarriage in their zeal was Their putting the Law and Ordinancee and Writings of the Prophets out of their proper place They exceedingly magnified and cryed them up in that carnal way wherein they apprehended and practised them but understood not the right end and use of them And by these means practising the shadows in the carnal mind they lost the substance which the proper use of the shadows was to have pointed them unto 3. Their high conceits of the goodness of their state in relation to God and of the certainty of their knowledge of the truths of God from Moses and the Prophets They were confident that they knew God aright and that he was their father and that they were his children and people And so Christ appearing in a seeming contrariety to these notwithstanding all his powerful preaching and miracles they made no question but they might boldly conclude him not to be of God 4. Christs coming in a way that they looked not for him They had concluded from the Scriptures how Christ must appear and he coming in a far different manner they could not own him but looked upon him as a Deceiver one that pretended to be Christ but was not like to what the Scripture said of Christ So what the Scripture saith of Christs second coming is hid as much from the carnal eye of professors in this age as what was said concerning his first coming was hid from them in their age and he will steal upon them as a Thief at a time and in a way and after a manner that they expect not 5. Which is the main one and the cause of all the former Because they were from the light within from the true light in their own hearts and consciences The light within is the great Ordinance of God and the proper means to give the knowledge of him 2. Cor. 4.6 without which it was never received under any dispensation for the light that shines abroad or from without can alone be known and received by the light that shines within Christ himself opens this in a Parable The light of the body saith he is the eye if therefore thine eye be single clear without beams or moats thy whole body shall be full of light Mat. 6.22 But if that be evil if that be dark if that be closed by the God of the world all Moses words all the Prophets words yea all Christs and his Apostles words cannot give thee light Can I see the light of the Sun Moon or Stars or of any fire or candle if I have not a natural eye and if that natural eye be not open So neither can I see the light of any dispensation of life if I have not an eye within me open wherewith to see it So that that which gives me the sight of the things of God is the eye which God hath given me By that may be read the eternal power and God-head in the creatures in the Books of Moses and the Prophets in the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles as the spirit leads and opens Yea the same spirit that opened to these without Books may again open to any of us without Books at his pleasure and will not be limited to Books and we then may read also as they did even within in the spirit and in the immediate life but without this can none of the things of God be read aright Now the God of this world had blinded this eye in the Jews yea they themselves had stopped their ears and closed their eyes c. they would not see this way they would not be converted and healed this way They would keep up the knowledge which they had gathered from Moses and the Prophets without this eye and with that they would see or not at all Thus being from the light within they could not see the place of life within where life is to be received they could not see the wombe of wisdom which is within and so could not enter into it and be born again And being not born of the wisdome how could they justifie the wisdome being not born of the light how could they know or own Christ whose coming and appearance was in the light For that appearance of Christ the life in that body of flesh could not be discerned by all mens wisdome in the letter the Disciples themselves came not so to know it but my Father which is in Heaven hath revealed it to you And mark it the Disciples who were illiterate and not so knowing of the Scriptures that were written of Christ yet they knew Christ and the Scribes and Pharisees which were very skilful in the letter could not know him What was the reason The reason lay in the difference
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
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