Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	abide_v	spirit_n	teach_v	1,767	5	6.6141	4	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

THE HOLY Truth Peo●●● DEFENDED AND Some of the Weapons and Strength of tho●● 〈◊〉 of Darkness Broken and Scattered by 〈◊〉 Light and Power of TRUTH In an ANSWER to the Chief Passages 〈◊〉 LETTER Written to me and Replyed to by me 〈◊〉 Imprisonment in this Place where I have been a Prisoner a Year and a half without any Law broken or Cause 〈…〉 part who only came Innocently and Peaceably to visi● 〈…〉 in Prison By me ISAAC PENNINGTON Pri●●●er for the Testimony of Truth For could I have denyed 〈…〉 might have avoided the Snare at Reading Goal The Bowes of the mighty men are broken and they that 〈…〉 with Strength 1 Sam. 2.4 Printed in the Year 16●● The Preface A Letter was sent me from a Dear Freind of mine bearing date the fifth of the eleventh Moneth 71. who had long been greatly distressed and could not find relief in the way of her former profession and Church fellowship For whom I greatly travelled with the Lord and towards whom my spirit was made very tender by him I still felt the Seal of Gods Love and Mercy towards her even in her lowest condition deepest despaire and sorest captivity through her great and manifold Temptations And my Testimony to her at times from the Lord on this behalf was sometimes of use to her to bear up her spirit till the day of Gods visiting and Redeeming her with the virtue and healing power of his Salvation which blessed be his name she hath since had sweet experience of and true Peace and Joy in knowing the true Head holding him in the Faith and being held by him Now this Letter of an antient acquaintance of mine which I had answered long agoe one that belongeth to Sr. Henry Vane as she signified in her Letter to me desired she should see which is said to be an answer to a Letter of mine If my answer had gone along with it I should have took no further notice of it But it going without my answer least it should do hurt to those to whom the Lord hath done or is doing good I am ingaged in spirit to reply somwhat to it and to give forth to others what the Lord giveth in to me upon this new occasion How greatly truly and purely I have loved the man I will not boast the Lord knoweth with whose knowledge herein I am content but O that this his paper might not be laid to his charge at the great day which I am afraid it will unless he repent of it For indeed it is not a fruit of Life from Gods holy Spirit but of the growth of Egypt and Babylon It was sent me in the form of a Book as if it had been sent abroad for special service There was no name at it as if it were an arrow to fly in the dark and wound secretly But no weapon formed against the Israel of God shall prosper either from this hand or any other and every tongue that riseth up against them in judgment will God condemn This is the heritage of the despised People and servants of the living God in this our day whose Righteousness is the Righteousness of his Son bestowed upon them wherewith he himself hath cloathed them as the Annointed eye now seeth and all eyes shall one day see and tongues confess to the glory of God the Father THE Holy TRUTH and PEOPLE DEFENDED c. In an ANSWER c. HE excepteth against those words of mine to him in a former Letter of Jun. 24. which I have not here by me that when his eyes are opened by the Lord he shall then acknowledge that we oppose no Truths of the Lord but hold forth what we have received from him To which he thus replyeth Is Redemption by Christs blood no Truth of the Lords Which he chargeth one of us in particular and many others in general with denying Answ We are gathered into that and abide in that in which no Truth can be denyed And are in him that leadeth into all Truth and teacheth to deny no Truth that ever was held forth by the Spirit of the Lord. Some of us may not yet be grown up in understanding into the mysteries of the Kingdom which God hath revealed and made manifest to others But yet we do not deny but own one another in our several measures of knowledg and sence of things and in our several growths And we own and acknowledge in Gods sight the several Dispensations he hath brought forth both before the Law and under the Law and Prophets and in the time of Ch●ists appearance in the flesh and after when he sent his Spirit and all the time the Church was in the Wilderness and now she is coming forth again in the brightness and glory of the Father looking forth as the Morning fair as the Morning clear as the Sun terrible as an Army with Banners Nor do we disowne any thing that is of God in the Professors of this Age But onely that which we know and are required by him to testifie against as being not of him O that they could weigh our words and Testimony in a right Spirit For they would not then be so offended at and speak so against us as now they do And the Lord knoweth we would do any thing that lieth in us to remove the stumbling blocks that lie before them But it cannot be done to that Spirit in them before which God Almighty hath laid the stumbling block that it might stumble and fall and be snared and broken and taken But if they could come into another Spirit and feel unity with and the birth of another Spirit the birth of that pure Wisdom should find no stumbling block or offence in this pretious dispensation of Truth wherewith God from on high hath visited us And as for denying Redemption by the blood of Christ O how will he answer this charge to God when none upon the earth as the Lord God knoweth are so taught and do so truly rightly and fully owne Redemption by the blood of Christ as the Lord hath taught us to do For we owne the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ both outwardly and inwardly both as it was shed on the Cross and as it is sprinkled in our Consciences and know the cleansing virtue thereof in the everlasting Covenant and in the Light which is eternal Out of which Light men have but a notion thereof but do not truly know nor own it And let him consider b fore the time of Antichr st it was a great matter to know and own Christ outwardly as he appeared in that body But since the Antichristian Spirit hath got that the distinguishing knowledge and owning of Christ is to know and own him inwardly The outward knowledge and confession now as it is generally seperated from and held forth in way of distinction from the inward is but the knowledge and confession of Babylon and not the true living knowledge and confession of Christ in and

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

the Lands whereinto we have been scattered in the cloudy and da●k day And that this is Amalecks spirit in you several sorts of Professors through your dark imagina●ions and conceivings about the Letter which riseth up against us and this Spirit in you feareth not that God who hath appeared and by his own holy Arm of Power hath led and is leading us So that we may take up the complaint of the Prophet in this day Who hath believed our Report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord Revealed For though we speak what we have heard seen and felt of the Life which is Eternal and of the Word which was in the beginning yet ye are so far from the Witness of God in your own hearts that ye cannot receive our Testimony but oppose it with your dead dry notional conceited imaginary knowledge which will stand you in no stead at all when ye come to appear before God Then he proceedeth complaining against us thus Ah Sir In stead of clapping us on the back and ministring to us in our journey you clog our March and fall upon our Rear In stead of serving the Kingdom of Christ which the Church is now in Travel of you deny the first Principles of the Gospel and wholly d●●own the hope of Christs second Appearing and Kingdom knowing or acknowledging as no other Saviour so no oth●r Kingdom but a Principle or a Light in your selves Answ God is Light and in him is no darkness at all And this is the message of the Gospel 1 John 1.5 And Christ who is one with the Father he is one and the same Light with him and we confess we look not for another besides him nor for another Kingdom besides the Kingdom which is revealed in him for the Kingdom which is revealed and manifested in and by him is the Spiritual Eternal Everlasting Kingdom and there is not another We do not say the Fulness or that the full Glory of the Kingdom is now revealed or enjoyed nay we confess we have but the earnest in comparison but a mea ure a proportion but this is the same in nature and kind with the Fulness it self And all that is of Christ of his Spirit of his Nature is saving the least measure of his Grace that appeareth in any heart bringeth Salvation with it the least touch of his Finger hath pure Life and saving Virtue in it Yet this is not distinct nor s●parate from the Fulness and so it is not another though it be not the Fulness But whereas thou complainest of our not ministering to you in your Journey but clogging it Oh that ye knew what your Journey is and whither ye are marching and traveling in that present spirit wherein ye act We acknowledge it Gods great Love and Mercy to us to deliver us from that spirit and from that way of Knowledge Religion and Worship wherein ye still abide And what we have seen and known from the Lord that are we required of him to testifie to you and if your eyes were opened by the Principle of Light from him in the holy Anointing ye would bow to the Testimony But judging of it in a contrary wisdom and spirit ye not only turn from it but fight against it and reproach and slander us for our faithfulness to the Lord and good will to you which the Lord make you sensible of and forgive you that at length ye may know and receive him who is the desire of all Nations in his pure living inward and spiritual appearance And as for denying the first Principles that belongs to your selves for do ye not deny that Light which is the foundation of all and wherein and whereby all the misteries of Gods Kingdome are seen and instead thereof set up a notional comprehensive knowledge of your own conceiving comprehending and gathering from the letter whereas no man can understand the letter but as he comes into the abid●s in the Light This we have experienced in our selves formerly for we were but guessing at and imagining concerning the Letter until and further then we were turned to and our minds gathered into and comprehended in the Light of Gods Spirit And as for disowning the hopes of Christs Kingdom the Lord knoweth that is far from us for we our selves bless him for what of his Kingdom is already appeared and wait and hope for the further and fuller appearance thereof But this we confess another Spirit another Christ another Light another Life another Power another Kingdom besides him who hath already appeared we do not expect For he is our King and Kingdom both and the least proportion of his Life and Spirit received bought with the loss of all and so purchased and possessed is no less then a Pearl of great price and an heavenly Kingdom to him that enjoyeth it He addeth further If Christ be but a Principle then we are no other and onely Principles shall be saved and no Persons Is this your Gospel Answ Christ is the promised Seed to which all the promises are in which Seed all the families of the Earth are Blessed as they are gathered unto and grafted into Him But he is not only the Seed but the seeds-man also who soweth of his Life of his Nature of his Spirit of his heavenly Image in the hearts of the Children of men He giveth a measure of the Grace and Truth unto them the fulness whereof he hath received of his Father Now this measure of the Light Eternal is very pretious and is that wherein he appears and manifests himselfe Yea indeed glorious things are both spoken and witnessed of the Seed of Life of the Seed of the Kingdom of the Grace and Truth which comes by Jesus Christ But we never said that this Seed or Measure of Life is the Fulness it selfe but that which the Fulness imparts to us and brings Salvation home to our doors by And if any man will receive Ch●ist he must receive that from Christ wherein he manifests himselfe There is a difference between the Light which enlighteneth the fulness of Light which giveth the measure of Light the measure of annoynting to us and the measure or proportion which is given the one is Christ himselfe the other is his gift yet his gift is of the same Nature with himselfe and leavens those that receive it and abide in it into the same Nature so that not onely the gift is one with him but we also are one with him in the gift Come be not thus wise after the flesh nor do not strive so in thy wisdome and knowledge out of the Truth to Triumph over the Truth and Truths Testimony in this the day of Gods great Love and glorious Arm of Salvation revealed in the midst of his People which he hath gathered out of Babylon and the dark knowledg thereof into the Light and Kingdom of his own dear Son where he giveth them Eternal Life and of the fruits of the Good and Heavenly