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	spirit_n	true_a	2,352	5	4.6188	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47142	George Keith's explications of divers passages contained in his former books as also his free and open retractations of sundry other passages contained in the same, which may at present suffice for a reply to the late, as well as former books of Tho. Elwood, and John Penington, published against me, in respect of the most material things.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1697 (1697)	Wing K163; ESTC R18950	49,736	50

called Mary really and truly according to the flesh And his Birth thus after the flesh as he was born of the Virgin at Bethlem in Judea I did always believe as I do at present so believe was really intended and foretold in these words Gen. 3. 15. And as Mary was the immediate Mother of Christ according to the flesh so Evah who was the Mother of all Men was his Mother remotely But the Allegorical sense of Christ's Birth or Formation in the Saints is warranted both by Scripture and Antiquity By Scripture as Mat 12. 50. Rev. 12. 2. 5. And by Antiquity for Augustin first and long after him Erasmus said If Mary had not born Christ in her heart or soul he could not have been her Saviour tho she had born him in her flesh But this Allegorical Allusion of Christ's Birth in the Saints I did not ground on Gen. 3. 15. but on Mat. 12. 50. and Rev. 12. 1 5. And how and in what sense I understand the Birth of Christ in the Saints I refer to the 4th Paragraph of this Section XX. Page 254. And this is as proper a Death as when a man dieth for when a man dieth his soul dieth not in it self but it dieth unto that Fellowship it had with the body by reason of the Vital Union betwixt it and the body being broken Here Note I acknowledge this passage is not safely worded therefore I retract it For tho I had very safely asserted That the Life af Christ viz. The Principle of the Divine Life in men never dieth in it self but only as to men when they commit great and heinous sins whereby they are said to quench the spirit and crucifie the Son of God afresh to themselves after they had known a divine quickening yet the Union betwixt the soul and body of a man being broken is more properly a Death the other I take to be understood rather figuratively than proper For when the Vital Union betwixt Soul and Body is broken the Soul doth wholly cease to act in that body while it is dead But Christ ceaseth not oft times to act in a dead soul but doth oft act in it by sharp Reproof and Conviction for its sin and also by new and fresh Visitations of his Life and Love in order to quicken and renew it again Moreover the Soul and Body of a Man are so united that they make up one Person but so are not Christ and the Soul united as to be one Person for that would make every Saint to be Christ The Union betwixt the Soul and Body of a Man is a Personal Union whereby every Action of the body is chargable upon the Person according to that true Maxim Actiones sunt suppositorum i. e. Actions are of Persons as what the hand doth the Man whose hand it is is justly said to do it whether Good or Evil. But the Actions of Mens Souls in whom Christ is are not chargeable upon Christ for as Christ is no wise chargeable with the least Sin that the Soul Acteth so when the Soul repenteth and believeth c. That is not Christ that repenteth and believeth in that Soul Christ indeed is the Author and chief efficient cause of true Repentance and Faith in believers but he is not the subject of reception This excellent Union betwixt Christ and true Believers is compared in Scripture to that Union betwixt the Head and the Body the Vine and the Branches the Foundation and the Building but it is better felt by the Faithful than it can be defined by the best of words for it is unspeakable and yet is incomparably short of that Union that is betwixt the Godhead and Manhood of Christ which is a Personal Union So that the Man Christ is God yet so that the Manhood is not the Godhead And the Union betwixt Christ and Believers is by their Faith in him and Love to him by which Faith and Love as they are United to his Spirit and Measure of his Life and Grace in them so thereby they are United to the Man Christ in Heaven and to that fullness of Grace that dwells in him as every Member of the Body as it is United to the Life in that Member so it is to the Head and to the Life that is in the Head and as all the Members in the Natural Body are United both to the head and to each other so all the faithful are United to Christ and to one another The Reader that is willing to know my sense further as to these weighty matters above-mentioned relating to Christs Birth or Formation in the Saints and their Union with him may read if they please my Appendix to the General History of the Quakers by G. Croese Printed at London this present Year 1696. SECT II. Containg diverse Explanations and Emendations of Passages in my Book called The Universal free Grace of the Gospel Asserted Printed 1671. TItle Pag. Proved by many infallible Arguments in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit of Truth Here Note That I had the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit of Truth on my side in diverse of the Arguments I have used in that Book I still believe but whereas on a further consideration and more mature Judgment I find diverse Passages in that Book that need correction therefore I Acknowledge my Weakness and Rashness in ascribing all the Arguments in that Book and my whole way of Arguing on that subject to the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit of Truth and I freely and most willingly retract that clause both here or any where else in any of my Books where I have used it so far 〈…〉 have ascribed any saying or Passage to the Spirit of 〈…〉 that is not according to the Testimony of the Holy 〈…〉 the Spirit of Truth leads into all Truth and into 〈◊〉 but Truth therefore whoever ascribes whether I or any Man else any untruth or Inpertinency or undue Application of Scripture to the Spirit of Truth however unwittingly they so do as what I did was unwittingly they do greatly Err and Sin in so doing And my sin and error herein I freely confess trusting in the Mercy of God for Christs sake for the pardon of that and all my other Sins I. Pag. 4. That God by an Eternal decree hath wholly passed by the most part of Men and left them in Darkness without any Light to shine in their Darkness that can possibly at any time Lead them out of it Doth not this discourage People Here Note That it is this which I mainly opposed in my Book Viz. The decree of absolute reprobation making salvation impossible to the greatest part of Mankind And on the other hand I earnestly plead for the Universality of the Light Word Grace and Spirit of God towards and upon all In a day of Visitation for making salvation possible unto them compared with p. 110. And in this Testimony I remain against that absurd Doctrine of absolute

Math Mark Luke and John the Gospel while they understand it not strictly and barely nor primarily but figuratively by way of Metonimy we should not contend with them as neither in their calling the Scriptures the word of God providing they call it not the only word of God as in opposition to any internal word and teaching of God in Mens hearts And certainly it has been not only an unprofitable but an hurtful and groundless Contention that many called Quakers have raised in denying that the Scriptures should be called the word of God or so much as the written word Clamouring unjustly where do ye read in Scripture of a VVritten word and to call the Scripture words which are many the word say they is a Lie or Nonsense But in Answere we read expressly that a sentence out of one of the Psalms of David recited by our Saviour John 15. 25. They hated me without a cause is called by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The written word nor is it a Lye to call many words the word as it is not a Lye to call many Letters the Letter as the Scripture calleth it and so high did this Groundless contention arise betwixt some called Quakers and other professions that they made this one of the Causes why they did separate from them because they called the Scriptures the word of God and Matthew Mark Luke and John the Gospel whereas themselves commonly call the Books of Matthew Mark Luke and John the Acts with the other following Books and Epistles of the Apostles the New Testament For with such Figurative Speeches the Scripture aboundeth and to charge them to be a Lye or Nonsense is to charge a Lye or Nonsense upon Christ and the Holy Spirit But in a late Book Stiled the Quakers cleared c. By B. Coole given out by approbation of the second days Meeting of them called Quakers at Grace-Church-street they say as they viz. the Scriptures declare the mind of God with respect to us and are his Commands to us they may in that respect be called the word or Command of God and so the Quakers own and esteem them And so indeed do all other Professions in Christendom and not otherwise X. Pag. 64. We are not those Prophets Here Note it is a Typographical Error which should be Corrected thus we are not that Prophet And not only in this but in many or most of my former Books diverse Typographical Errors are to be found which yet are obvious enough to the judicious and unprejudiced Reader to be such as indeed are to be found in most Books and it is very unfairly done by my late Adversaries to charge me with such Typographical Errors as if they were mine as on the other hand to make that a Typographical Error in some of their own Books which is plainly obvious to be no such thing XI Pag. 74. Now the Bowels of the Fathers love stirred in Compassion to the work of his hands that of the pure Creation in Man which tho shut up in Death yet it remained and perished not as to its being it did not become a nothing but remained a being and this is the lost which God sent his Son into the World to seek and to save not to seek and to save the Old Adam that Birth of the Serpents begetting but to destroy it For it is not capable of Gods salvation Here Note that I said that which Christ came to save is the work of Gods hands that of the pure Creation in Man to wit the Soul of Man that is a Created being and that I called it That of the pure Creation I did not mean that it had not been defiled by Sin but because of its great worth in respect of its Original and Primitive State and its near capacity to be Cleansed and Purified And this is said not only agreeable to mystick Writers that have distinguished betwixt the Soul of Man and the impurity of the Serpent or Serpentine Seed and spawn that became mingled with the Soul of Man by Transgression and have called the true Soul of Man the nucleus i. e. The kernel but that of the Serpent or of the Devil in Man since the entrance of Sin the Cortex and Putamen i. e. the Shell and Husk and the Impurity of Belial but also in agreement with the Holy Scripture that plainly distinguisheth betwixt the Wheat and the Tares the good and the bad Seed good and bad Fish the Silver and the Dross the Sheep with other clean Animals that the Scripture calleth clean and Dogs Swine and other unclean Animals And as a Sheep how much soever defiled with dirt is called a clean Animal and a Dog or Swine how much soever washed is called an unclean Animal so the distinction holds good in a Mystical and Allegorial sense betwixt the true Soul of Man that may be said to be pure Comparatively tho defiled in respect of the Serpent impurity that cleaves to it the which when separated from it the Soul is simply and compleatly pure and after this manner the People of Israel in respect of the Heathen Nations are called in Scripture the Holy Seed tho even then they had great defilements also tho the Nations before Christs passion were called unclean yet afterwards by virtue of his Passion they are forbidden to be called common or unclean as the Lord said to Peter in the Vision Acts 11. VVhat Gods hath cleansed Note cleansed call not thou common This was only comparatively And briefly all Souls of Men that belong to Gods Election and shall be saved are called in Scripture the Good Seed the VVheat c. But these that shall not be saved are called the bad Seed the Chaff Tares Dross XII Pag. 75. That which Christ came to save is that of God which proceeded from him The Seed of God in Man the Seed of Abraham whereof Abrahams old decayed Body and Sarahs Barren womb was a Type Here Note that I call the elected Souls of Men that shall be saved and belong to Gods Election the Seed of God is to be understood only in a secondary sense according to diverse places of Scripture as Isaiah 53. 10. and 59. 21. and Rom. 4. 16. and 9. 8. Mal. 2. 15. The Hebrew hath it Seed of God See the Margin and that I call it the Seed of Abraham is only by an Allegorical Allusion to the Spiritual and Divine Birth in the Faithful signified by Isaac the Son of the free Woman which Allegorical Allusions is grounded on Gal. 4. 24. But this was never intended by me to lessen or obscure that great Truth of the Gospel That the Man-Christ is the promised Seed of Abraham in the true literal sense and without all Allegory as he was Born of the Blessed Virgin In whom all Nations of the Earth are Blessed And that promised Seed of the VVoman that should bruise the Head of the Serpent XIII Pag. 87. Through him viz. Christ not at a distance

part of them Viz. Whom they had lost and from whom they were separated by their Sins as if I had taught for Doctrine that Christ came to save God and Christ that they were lost or as that God or Christ needed Salvation whereas my following words plainly show my real sense Viz. That God had not lost himself nor Christ had not lost Christ but Men had lost both by their Sins XVI Pag. 126. And therefore said Paul 1 Cor. 2. 2. I determined not to know any thing among you in you save Jesus Christ and him Crucified he Preached every where Christ Crucified that he might be Raised up in them Here Note Tho the Greek words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can be Grammatically Translated in you yet they will not always admit of that Translation otherwise in many places the sense would be marred as 1 Cor. 15. 12. How say some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It cannot be with good sense Translated in you but among you And as to that place 1 Cor. 2. 2. and Coloss 3. 1. Both these places are to be understood of Christ as he was outwardly Crucified And but consequentially of his inward appearance and the true sense of Pauls words is this that he determined not to show himself wise or skillful among them in any other Knowledge or Wisdom but in the Knowledge of the Crucified Jesus how he is the gift of the Fathers Love to poor Sinners to save them from Sin and Wrath and what the great Benefits and Blessings are we have by him and by his Death and Sufferings Resurrection Mediation and Intercession for us in heaven which doth include his inward appearance consequentially so that I freely Acknowledge my Weakness and Shortness in understanding in training these and some other places of Scripture to prove what they did not so directly and properly prove the which und●● application of both these places 1 Cor. 2. 2. and Gal. 3. 1. Both here and where-ever they may be found in any other of my Books particularly Universal Grace p. 43. I retract and correct as above-mentioned Yet I would not have any to think that I relinquish my Testimony to Christs Inward appearance in the Souls of Men and Gods Inward Revelation and Teaching by his Spirit in Men for I remain in the same Testimony as to the main and I hope so to do while I live in that and in all other parts of it relating to essentials of Christianity and Spiritual experiences and all openings of Truth at any time given to me of the Lord and delivered by me in this or any other of my Books therefore let none Judge amiss of my free and Christian Acknowledgement in this or any other mistakes that upon a further discovery I am made free to acknowledge retract and correct XVII Pag. 137. Then they would turn their Backs upon them and their Colledges would become like the Abbacies at this day Here Note The great Rudeness and Unmannerliness I saw in many of them called Collegians and other unchristian Behaviour in our Meetings and in other places drew this passage from me yet let none from this conclude that I either then was or now am against Schools of good I earning either of Divine or Natural Things but it is the Abuse and Irregularity of them that I then was and now am against And I do not think that true Divinity can either be truely taught or truely learned without God's inward teachings and illumination and that there are but too few that are so taught it is but too apparent Yet that many called University-men have had and may now have a good measure of true spiritual Knowledge I dare not be so uncharitable to deny And I cannot omit to mention the great benefit I had by reading the truly pious books of several pious English Writers and also of some of my Native Countrey before I came among the Quakers not only John Wickliffe who was an Oxford Scholar but Luther and most of the first Reformers from Popish Darkness Idolatry and Slavery were University-men and the English Martyrs Cranmer Ridley Latimer c. XVIII Page 230. The Historical Knowledge and Faith viz. of Christ's outward coming in the flesh birth life death c. is not an essential part of true Religion but an integral Here Note That by the Historical Knowledge and Faith I did understand that Knowledge and Faith that respecteth the History of Christ's Birth Life Miracles Death Resurrection Ascension c. with all the Circumstances of Times Places and Names of Persons as related by the four Evangelists which elsewhere I have called the express or explicite Knowledge and Faith which many of the Faithful never had But the Doctrine of Christ simply considered is one thing and the History or Historical Revelation of the many Circumstances of times places and persons c. Relating to that Doctrine is another thing The Knowledge and Faith of the first may be had and was had by many without the second and as the first I call express or explicite with other Christian Writers so the other may be called Implicite and is Implyed in the other the explicite I hold not to be Universally necessary to Salvation but to whom an opportunity is given to have it made known but the Implicite I hold is Universally necessary to all that shall be Eternally saved And I know not any thing to be found in all my former Writings to the contrary notwithstanding of the attempts of my ignorant Adversaries who affirm it and whom I have sufficiently Answered in diverse of my Late Books particularly that called The Anti-Christs and Sadducees detected However upon supposition that any such thing can be found in my Books I retract and renounce it And I had far rather contradict any unsound assertion ever held by me than contradict the least truth warranted by Holy Scripture Nor is it properly to be guilty of a Contradiction for a Man to correct his former Errors but my Adversaries are guilty of foul Contradictions who both together affirm and deny the same things as if two Contradictories could be both true at once which no Sober or sincere Men will allow XIX Page 20. And thus Christ according to his spiritual birth in the Saints is the Seed of the Woman for that the Saints are the Woman that bring him forth after the spirit and are his Mother as Mary brought him forth after the flesh and after the spirit also Here Note That I call Christ with respect to his being formed in the Saints according to Gal. 4. 19. The seed of the Woman It is plain from the whole Series of my discourse in that place both before and after for some Pages that I did understand it but Allegorically and by way of Allusion and never intended it that Christ was not the Seed of the Woman in the true and proper sense of the words without all Allegory as he was made of a Woman and was born of the Virgin