Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	according_a	scripture_n	spirit_n	3,143	5	5.2045	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54065	Some things of great weight and concernment to all briefly opened, and held forth from a true sense and understanding, for the healing of the ruines and breaches, which the enemy of mankind hath made in mans souls, as 1. Some assertions concerning the principle and way of life, 2. Some further directions to Christ, the principle and fountain of life, 3. The end of Christ's manifestation, His Salvation, and whom He saves, 4. Three questions answered concerning justification, 5. Of the pure, constant, eternal, unchangeable nature of God's Truth / written in the time of my confinement in Alisbury when love was working in me, and the life of God in me travelling and wrestling with the Lord for the salvation of others, Isaac Penington.	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.	1667 (1667)	Wing P1204; ESTC R14964	13,989	22

SOME THINGS of GREAT WEIGHT and Concernment to All Briefly opened and held forth from a true sense and understanding for the healing of the Ruines and Breaches which the Enemy of Mankind hath made in Mens souls AS 1. Some Assertions concerning the Principle and Way of Life 2. Some further Directions to CHRIST the Principle and Fountain of Life 3. The End of Christ's Manifestation his Salvation and whom he saves 4. Three Questions answered concerning Justification 5. Of the pure constant eternal unchangeable Nature of God's Truth Written in the time of my Confinement in Alisbury when Love was working in me and the Life of God in me travelling and wrestling with the Lord for the Salvation of others ISAAC PENINGTON London Printed in the Year 1667. Some Assertions concerning the Principle and Way of Life THat it is a great and hard matter to come into a capacity of knowing and receiving the Truth It is no hard matter to take up any Religion that a man finds in the World To reade Scriptures to believe what a man finds related there according to his understanding of them yea to believe that he hath the Light and help of the Spirit in his reading and understanding to apply himself also to practise and observe what he finds therein required and to aime at Holiness c. This is no hard matter every man that is serious and seeks religion of any kind but in the weight of a mans spirit may go thus far But all this administers not the true capacity but he that meets with it must go further then thus 2. That which gives the true capacity is a Principle of Life from God and there alone and no where else can man meet with it and receive it This principle is the Seed of the Kingdom or Heavenly Leaven with which the mind must be in some measure leavened ere it can come into a true capacity of understanding and receiveing the truth And in this Leaven must it abide and grow up if it abide and grow in the true knowledg c. 3. That from this principle and in this principle not only the true Light and Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and all Spiritual things is given and received but also the true Faith the true Love the true Sanctification the true Justification the true Peace the true Joy c. And what of these is not received and held here is not of the Truth but a garment of mens own forming and not the covering of the Spirit 4. That the Spirit himself sows this principle and is received in this principle And he that receives this principle and is born of this principle receives and is born of the Spirit and he that receives it not nor is born of it neither hath received nor is born of the Spirit but is but in the imagination and self-conceit about the things of God but is not in the truth as it is in Jesus 5. That in this Principle the new Covenant is made with the soul and entred into and he that receives this principle from the hand of God receives Life and enters into the Covenant of Life and feels the pure fear wherein God cleanseth the heart and whereby he keeps the heart clean and feels the Laws of God daily writing there by the finger of Gods Spirit and feels the power and sence of the Spirit to teach and cause obedience so that the yoke which is hard to the transgressing nature alienated from the Life and Power is easy and as I may say natural to him that is born of this nature For being dead with Christ and risen with Christ and changed into the nature of Christ by the principle which is of him through the Power and Spirit of Christ which worketh therein he can say as Christ did when the Lord cals him to any thing Loe I come t is my meat and drink yea my great delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is written in the midst of my bowels 6. Among those who are gathered into this Principle and abide in the Sence Light and Life of this Principle there is great love and unity They are of one mind of one heart of one soul of one spirit of one life gathered into one demonstration of truth and there is no jarriug no doubting no dissenting c. All this is out in the world in the earthly wisdom in the earthly professions and walkings but it is excluded the Principle of Truth and them that are gathered into and abide therin 7. That all that are not gathered into nor walk nor live in this Principle they are yet in the darkness and error from the pure power of God and stand and walk in slippery places and though their way may seem very right and their estate and condition sure as to God-wards in their own eyes and judgment yet is not really so but they are but in a dream concerning the Truth not in the Truth it self which how strange soever it may seem to them at present to be affirmed concerning them yet they shall certainly feel to be so when the Lord by his powerful voice and bright appearance of his Spirit awaketh them For many things go for truth now with men in the dark which will vanish like smoak before the light of the day and then that only which is Truth indeed shall have the glory and praise of being accounted so and then what will become of those who have mistook about Truth and are not clothed with the pure Wedding-Garment the spotless life and righteousness of the Son but only with that which they have accounted so 8. That to those that see in the light of this Principle the Mountain of the Lords house is discovered and those that abide and grow up therein they know and experience it established above all Mountains and exalted abve all Hils all earthly Knowledg earthly Religions earthly Ways earthly Worships earthly Spirits and Minds c. in their greatest exaltations and glory being far beneath it And here the feast of fat things and Wines on the lees well refined even the fruit of the Vine which gladdeth and refresheth the very heart of God is fed and partaked of by those that dwel here For the Father and the Son and the Spirit is here revealed in the holy House and Tabernacles which are built here and here they make their feast bringing forth the riches of their Nature Spirit and pretious Life on which they feed with the soul and give unto the soul favour and ability to feed with them in which food there is the life strength righteousness and joy of the Kingdome given forth and received 9. That in the heart which discovers iniquity reproveth it witnesseth against it striveth with the mind to turn it from it and to wait for life and power from on high that is this very principle In that is the Divine Nature even the nature of Gods Spirit which was always

him and so bringing forth the holy Fruit the living Grapes the new and righteous Conversation wherein the Life of God shines and is glorified Now it is not knowing or believing or receiving any thing into the old understanding that avails with God or the Reformation which is there wrought but the New Creature alone created of God in Christ Jesus This is born of God this lives in him this is cloathed with him This puts off the old man with his deeds and puts on the newness of the Nature and Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ so that this man is as really in Christ in the Spirit in the new Adam found in him formed in him covered with him as the first man or nature is in the old Adam Therefore this is the main thing in Religion to mind the Seed of the Kingdom the Leaven of the Kingdom its growth in the mind foul and spirit and the minds souls and spirits gathering into and growth in it And here is Faith the true Faith the true Love the true Hope the true Meekness and Patience the true Justification and Sanctification felt and not elsewhere but those that are out of this out of Christ the Seed out of Christ the Word out of Christ the VVisdom Righteousness and Power of the Father are only in a dream concerning these things but know not the truth and real nature of them as they are felt in Jesus by those who are truly ingrafted into Him and livingly grow up in him Three Questions answered concerning JUSTIFICATION Quest 1. VVHat is justifying or Justification with God Answ It is God's owning the state works or actions of a creature either inwardly in his own mind or manifestly to them This is God's justifying of them or his Justification his disowning or disallowing them is his condemnation As for instance God's owning Adam in the upright estate of his Innocency wherein God created him and any thing he did in that state and spirit was his justifying of him and his works Gods disowning and disallowing his hearkning to his Wife and the Serpent and his eating the forbidden fruit upon their temptation was his condemnation thereof Quest 2. What is it God justifies and what is it he condemns Ans That which God justifieth is the Spirit of his Son the Life of his Son the Nature of his Son brought forth in any creature the Faith which is in him and so the creature as it is in the Obedience which is of him and the works that are wrought in him but the fallen estate of Man from him and all that is done by Man out of him God condemns Quest 3. How is Justification received kept and grown up in and what is the Preservation out of Condemnation Answ Justification is only received by receiving him who is the righteousness and justification and only kept by abiding in him and only increased by growing up in him For as every one that is found in him is justified so he that hath more of him more of his Life more of his Faith more of his Nature more of his Spirit more of the pure Obedience more of the Garment of Righteousness and Salvation drawn over him he is more justified For there are degrees of Justification as the soul that is really in the thing and is acquainted with the true nature and dispensation of it from God feels and knows A father is more or less pleased with his children yea with the same child sometimes which is a true figure to man who is come under Gods Teachings And the preservation out of condemnation is by being preserved out of that which God condemns for no man upon the earth that hath the true sence and feeling shall ever find the Holy and Just One justifying him in his sins but as the heart is turned from them and by the power of Life kept out of them He that will be kept in the Justification must be kept out of that which the Justification is not to for there he is not Justified but in his being drawn again out of it and turning again from it his Justification in the tender Mercy of the Lord is renewed Justification under the Law was according to that Covenant and Justification under the Gospel is according to that Covenant He that walkes with God in that Covenant he that walks in and after the Spirit of Christ he is therein justified but he that walks after the flesh and doth any thing that is fleshly that is not justified with God nor he in that but in the Faith which cleanseth and giveth victory over it in that is the Justification from it and the pure Heavenly peace with the Lord God of Life witnessed He that is in Christ and receiveth his knowledge from Christ and is kept in the pure fear and sense of him he understandeth the truth of these things but he that is erred in spirit and holds but up a literal knowledge though from or at least accompanied with some remembrance of former feeling and experiences he errs about these things also and deceit and a lie hath prevailed over him as he will find when the Lord confounds his wisdom and present apprehensions of things by awakening his Witness in him For Religion the true Religion is a Mystery Life a Mystery Christ is a Mystery the Spirit is a Mystery Faith is a Mystery Obedience the pure Obedience is a Mystery Worship the Spiritual Worship in and according to the New-Covenant is a Mystery hid from the eyes of all the wise searchers of the World but revealed to the least Babe that is of God and abideth in the quickned Life of his Son But many that are out of the Mystery of Truth are in the Mystery of Deceit and have a knowledge or profession concerning Christ his Spirit Faith Obedience the Spiritual Worship c in that Mystery of Deceit which they for the present account the true and by it venture to judg disallow and condemn the Truth it self but that is not at all to the hurt of the Truth or such as are in it but rather to their own hurt and great danger For the sparks which man kindles will never light him to God the garments of man's righteousness either according to his apprehensions or the letter of the Law or letter of the Gospel will never cloath him but for all that he must lie down in shame and sorrow when the Truth of God appears in his conscience and all his shadows and deceits flee away Therefore hearken to the Testimony from these whom the Lord hath awakened whom the Lord hath quickned whom the Lord hath led out of the darkness of the night into the light and brightness of the day who have seen Jesus and testifie what they have seen heard felt and handled of that eternal Word which was from the beginning which appeared in flesh and afterwards in Spirit before the Apostacy and hath again appeared since the Apostacy as a Shepherd as a

against sin and ever will so be and in all its appearances testifieth against it and in love to the creature striveth with the creature to convince it of that in it which is contrary to God and to draw it to that strength and divine vertue which stoppeth it beateth it back and worketh it out of the mind and nature of the creature as it can get entrance and is harkned and subjected to For there is no Salvation but by the Cross and Yoke of our Lord Jesus Christ for in that is the power to crucifie the affections and lusts which lead into sin and death and will not cease to tempt and lead aside till the soul be gathered into unity with that and become subject to that which is contrary to them So that this is the main thing in Religion even to know Christ revealed in the soul as a Standard against corruption and to be gathered under his Banner which is the Cross or that living Principle in the heart which resisteth the corrupt principle and he that is gathered hither and continueth faithfully fighting here shall receive mercy help and strength from on high in every time of need 10. That the true and certain way of knowledg of the things of God is in the faith and obedience of this Principle It is not by reasoning considering things in the mind after the māner of men that a man comes to know spiritual things but they are spiritually revealed by God after a spiritual manner to the Believer to the Obeyer and they are revealed to him in his believing in his obeying in his waiting in his holy fearing in his distrusting of himself and feeling his own insufficiency either to attain them or retain them but as the Lord God makes them manifest in him and preserves him in the sense of them He that doth my Will shall know of my Doctrine saith Christ This is the way Wouldst thou know what God requires of thee what this or that is which appears in this or that sort as Truth whether it be so or no Mind this Principle in thee mind the pure the holy Light inward touches and leadings of this pure Divine Principle that will make manifest to thee whatever is fit for thee in thy present state to know and thou art not to desire more but as a child to rest contented with that proportion of knowledge and strength which the wise and tender Father judgeth fit for thee and as thy state groweth capable of more he will not fail to administer to thee And what he giveth thee is good seasonable and proper for thee which thou mayest safely feed upon and enjoy in the sense and fear of him But if thou press after what he would not as yet have thee know thou entrest into the will and wisdom of the flesh and there are the disputes discontents murmurings and ill tempers and dispositions of the mind which there will increase and grow upon thee to thy hurt 11. That the mind that is gathered here will find great opposition both within and without insomuch as he shall not easily pass from out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of the dear Son but through many tryals temptations oppositions and dangers many wayes for turning the back on the kingdom of darkness by joyning to the Principle of Life in hearkning and subjecting to the light thereof hereupon the powers of darkness both within and without bestir themselves to hinder the souls progress and to bring it back again into subjection under the will and wisdom of the flesh O how doth the will and wisdom strive within in a mans own bosome What risings of the Impure are felt against the Pure What secret and subtil reasonings to ensnare and entangle the mind and if they cannot draw the soul back from the Lord and the Living-Path then they strive to vex afflict and torment it There is none knows what is felt inwardly by the followers of the Lamb but those that travel with him in the Living-Path they are often sensible of what they meet with in their travels and how hard it is to abide in the path of Salvation insomuch as they understand the truth of that saying If the Righteous scarcely be saved It is scarcely indeed so subtile so strong such a many holds so many stratagems hath the subtile twining crooked piercing Leviathan to ensnare perplex over-run and entangle them with And then outwardly the same flesh the same earthly spirit and wisdom the same crooked hellish will is striving in men without also to bear down and subject the pure Principle in them who are born of God to their devices and institutions decrees wayes customs c. which are of the will and wisdom of the flesh So that as the Apostle said through much tribulation is the entrance of the soul into the heavenly Kingdom and there is no avoiding the many tribulations but by turning aside out of the way which though thereby the flesh get ease for a time it will be to the greater loss and sorrow in the end For the spirit of the world the wisdom of the world the nature religion worship and whole course of the world is contrary to the way of the pure Wisdom and Spirit of God and useth it as its enemy where ever it findeth it and they that will not bow to the spirit wisdom and way of the world must feel the force of its beastly claws For is it not a beastly thing even far beneath the nature of a man to persecute that which is good to hurt reproach and pursue the innocent life of the Lamb and yet this is that which the spirit of the world which is not of God but wise and seemingly just and righteous in another wisdom nature and principle always hath done still doth and will do to the end 12. That there is a glorious Crown prepared for all those who are gathered to the Lamb in this Principle and abide with him faithfull therein to the end hearing his Voice believing the demonstration of his Spirit obeying him in all his motions and requirings undergoing every yoke which is appointed by him to yoke down the fleshly nature and mind and taking up every Crosse of every kind in meekness patience and fear And there is not only a Crown laid up for them at last but the Power of the Lord God is nigh unto them to work all in them to bear them up through and over all and to keep them to and in that Principle whereby and whereinto his tender Mercy and powerful Arm gathered them For as the Power of the Lord began the work for there could never any heart be gathered from under the power of darkness to the Light which leads out of it but by the Power of the Lord for the powers of darkness stand between and would hold and keep their own did not a greater Power appear and put forth it self for the soul against them I say as

doth not rightly hope and without the true Knowledg the right Faith and Hope how can any man be saved Therefore awake awake O weary thirsty souls Come to the spring of Life come to the living Waters Become little that ye may learn of Christ wait to have your eyes anointed that ye may see him and your hearts opened that ye may know and receive him O wait for the manifestation of this Seed in you be abased before him joyn to him receive his checks receive mourning and repentance from him wait for the Light and Faith that he gives and the Power that issues from his Throne and ye shall find him the bruiser of the Serpent head which none else is able to do and the breaker of the bond of Iniquity which keeps down the Just and lets the Unjust at liberty till he dissolve it And this is sufficient to manifest against all the disputes of the mind that this is He and no other by his doing that which none else can do This demonstration he gave to the Jews in flesh in his appearance in flesh and this demonstration he giveth now to the Jews in Spirit in his appearance in Spirit whereby he satisfieth their hearts and putteth them out of doubt that it is he And we must profess to the world as our hearts are drawn and guided by the Lord to give forth the testimony we have received of him that we look not yea we cannot look for another Whom should we look for besides the Lamb besides the Word which was in the beginning besides him who is one with the Father and hath the Eternal Life Wisdom Righteousness and Power of the Father and manifesteth it in us We look for indeed more of the same and the more universal and powerful breaking of it forth but another thing another Christ another Life Spirit Power c. we cannot look for And this we further testifie that whoever receives this Testimony in the truth and uprightness of his heart waiting on that which discovers sin to him and in simplicity joyning and giving up thereto and walking with him in forsaking the evil and cleaving to the good in the faith of him and of his power he shall witness the same thing with us and all the reasonings imaginations and strong holds of his mind shall be battered down and come to nothing before the vertue power and life of him who thus is pleased to appear and manifest himself after the Apostacy even as he did before even in an inward Principle an inward Seed an inward Light an inward Life an inward Word an inward Power And Friends and People mark in your minds and learn to put a right difference betwen that which stumbles you and that which draws and convinces you What makes any of you own Truth at any time is it not an inward lively powerful touch and demonstration of Gods Spirit what makes you afterwards doubt and question is it not another thing of a different nature from this is it not a subtil reasoning whereby the enemy twines into your spirits and begets first a doubt concerning then a prejudice and at last a great strength against that which before ye had some sence of and some unity with in the teachings and quickenings of the Spirit of the Lord. And what spirit is it in you that thus worketh in your minds and whither doth he lead you by these workings and subtile reasonings Oh that ye might see Oh that ye might feel the snare and know with us the Preserver there-from for we have met with much of this and had we not been helped by the Lord and given up to him we had been entangled to this very day as ye are And he that hath helped us waits to be gracious to you and O that you would not reject his help that he might deliver you also that ye also might bless his Name in feeling the benefit and joy of his preservation And this is written in true bowels and tender yearning love that ye might be a little stirred up to wait to know the Fathers house and might feed on the bread which abounds therein and drink of the waters which makes fresh and living to God and be clothed with the raiment which the Master of the family gives to his Spouse Children and Servants The end of Christs Manifestation his Salvation and whom he saves CHRIST came and is manifested in the hearts of those that receive him to destroy the works of the Devil and to set the soul free from sin and whom he maketh free are free indeed Is the Liberty which the Son giveth inferiour in this Life in its kind to the captivity and bondage of the Enemy in its kind Which of them is stronger the Enemy to enthrall or the Lord Jesus Christ to set free from his Thraldom Yes the Lord Jesus Christ the Captain of our Salvation the mighty Saviour who is more able to save than the Enemy to destroy delivereth his Israel out of the hands of their Enemies and so mightily and powerfully delivereth them that they are able in the power of his Might to serve him without fear of them any more in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of their life It is true there is a state of darkness sin and death wherein Satan reigns and there is a state of weakness wherein Satan much prevails if the watch be not strictly kept to him who is the everlasting strength and there is a state of fighting and groaning under the body of sin and death and crying out who shall deliver from it But there is also a state of growth in the Life and of Victory through the Life over that which captiv'd and caused to cry out There is a treading down of Satan under the feet by the God of Peace insomuch as not only the Elders but the very young-men in Christ overcome and triumph over him feeling the enterance ministred to them abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom into which no unclean thing can enter Oh! wonderful is the travel to the holy Rest of the pure Life Happy are they that meet with the true Leader and faithfully follow him till they have travelled through and overcome all that stands in their way for to them and to them alone is the promise of the possession of the everlasting Inheritance and such find and feel the Lord to be their God indeed and themselves to be his Children brought forth in his holy Life and Nature which to feel in truth and certain knowledge is more than tongue can utter Christ saves only those that come unto him and believe in him and so are born of his Spirit by the faith and through the strength and vertue of his Spirit overcome the wicked one his works snares and temptations in their hearts And these feel in themselves the Root of his Life the holy Seed of his Kingdom springing up in them into which they are ingrafted and become one with

Gatherer as a Seeker-out and Preserver of his wandring Sheep who were driven from Him in the cloudy and dark day And if ye would hearken aright breath to the Lord in that which desires and longs after him that he would circumcise the heart and open the right ear in you that the ear may hear his witness in you that so ye may indeed know the voice of the Shepherd and in true understanding sense and constant experience bear witness to that true Testimony which Christ spake in the dayes of his flesh My Sheep hear my Voice and follow me but a stranger they will not follow for they know not the voice of strangers Of the pure constant eternal unchangeable Nature of Gods Truth TRuth is of God and was with God and in God before any thing else had a being Truth was before Error or Deceit for it was from the Truth that the Error was and it was about Truth that the Deceit was There was somewhat which erred from Truth and brought in Deceit into the World and hath propagated Deceit in the World but Truth remains the same that it was keeping its pure eternal unchangeable nature and is not nor ever was nor ever can be defiled or tainted with any Errour or Deceit but testifieth against it reproveth it and condemneth for it draweth out of it and delivereth from its bands and captivity all those that hearken and cleave to it in the Faith which is of its nature and begetting The Father the Fountain of Truth is the same The Son his express Image whom he fills with himself and in whom he appears is the same The Spirit the Anointing who is Truth and no Lie is still the same The Principle or Seed of Truth is still the same The Doctrine and Way of Truth is still the same for it was the same Truth which was preached in shadows under the Law the substance whereof appears and is witnessed in the Gospel and it was the same before the great Apostacy in the latter dayes from it and all the times of the Apostacy and again after the Apostacy It hath the same nature still the same properties the same operations and effects and gives forth the same Testimony in the ears and hearts of all that are open to it Indeed the minds of men and the states of men may often change in relation to Truth but Truth it self changeth not but is equal fair and just to all men upon the Earth in all Ages and Generations alwayes condemning that which is unjust erroneous and deceitful and alwayes justifying what is pure holy and righteous Now is not this a Pearl nay is not this the Pearl indeed the precious Pearl of price Who would not buy it who would not sell all for it who would not dig in the Field where this Treasure is hid until he find it The Field is near thee O man which thou are to purchase and dig in and must feel torn up by the Plough of God in some measure before this Pearl or Treasure appear to thee and thou must take up and bear the Yoke and Cross of Christ until all be bowed down and crucified in thee which is contrary to its nature before it be polished in thee and thou come to behold and enjoy its riches and ever lasting fulness O happy are they that are begotten and born of it happy are they that know its voice and give up to it to be gathered and redeemed by it out of all deceits out of all errours out of all that entangles and on snares the soul in sin misery and utter perdition for destruction and misery everlasting is out of it and Life and Salvation is alone to be found in it There is a Witness in every heart which knows these things and will testifie it to their faces when the Light of God is opened in them and its tongue speaks therein to them O happy they that wait for know hear and subject to the heavenly Voice while he day of their Visitation and reclaiming lasteth wherein they may travel from Sin to Holiness from Death to Life by its help and guidance O why should Man perish ● why should Man hearken to that which hates him and seeks his destruction and stop his ear against that which loves him and warns him of his danger in the dearness of love and in tenderness of bowels towards him THE END