Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	appear_v	spirit_n	zion_n	27	3	8.7683	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54048	A question to the professors of Christianity, whether they have the true, living, powerful saving knowledge of Christ or no? with some queries concerning Christ, and his appearances, his taking upon him our flesh : as also concerning his flesh and blood, and our being formed thereof, and feeding thereon, and an incitation to professors seriously to consider, whether they or we fail, in the true acknowledgment and owning of the Christ which died at Jerusalem : likewise some propositions and considerations concerning the nature of church-worships and ordinances, since the death of the apostles, for the sake of simplicity, which hath been long held captive therein : with the sounding of bowels towards thee, O England : also a faithful guidance to the principle and path of truth, with some sensible experimental questions and answers from the tenth chapter of John / by Isaac Penington ...	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.	1667 (1667)	Wing P1184; ESTC R18236	42,725	54

worshippers out of the true Faith the worshippers out of the Spirit and out of the Life 5. That henceforward since this separation the Believers or true Jews are not to be expected in the outward Court in the worship thereof wherein they were found before this separation but the unbelievers the Gentiles who have not the true Nature but at best but the appearance of the Jew are to be expected there and the true Jew is to be looked for and found more inward 6. That therefore which allureth to look for God there and to wait for him in the wayes and worships of that Court all this time of the separation is not the true Spirit which rightly guideth the simple heart to the place where God appears and where he is to be waited for but the wrong spirit who when he cannot stifle the simplicity and hinder it from breathing and seeking after God waits to draw aside and mislead it 7. That the great way of that spirits misguiding and misleading the honest heart in its breathing and longing state is not by a direct taking it off from seeking after God but rather by pointing it to a way to seek him in wherein he once appeared and was enjoyed but is now withdrawn from 8. He that will keep close to God and not be withdrawn from him must watch to his Spirit and know the leadings of it else he will not follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes but stay behind in some observation or practice which the Lamb is gone out of and so miss of his Leader and meet instead thereof with another Leader even the spirit of Antichrist who enters into the outward Court and outward practises so soon as ever the Spirit of God hath left them 9. That Gods People since his withdrawing inward and giving the outward Court to the Gentiles have been much deceived by the Antichristian Spirit and led captive into Babylon in so much as God when he cometh to overthrow Antichrist with the Babylon of his building finds them there and calls them out from thence For the light growing low and the deceit great and that spirit subtile how can the poor weak innocent Babe espy that spirit and escape his snares when he tempts to those very paths and wayes of worship wherein the Saints had walked and met with God before the Spirit of the Lord departed out of them and gave them up to the Gentiles 10. That there is danger to the People of God of not understanding his Call out of Babylon but abiding there through the subtile entanglements of the false spirit who bewitcheth with the Cup of Fornication to make Babylon appear as Sion her doctrines as the Truths of the Gospel her ordinances and wayes of worship as the true Ordinances and wayes of Worship For the deceit is exceeding deep and the mystery of iniquity very great following that heart close which the Lord is drawing to depart therefrom and if the Lord God were not strong and vigilant who judgeth the Whore she would still keep her hold of the heart and if the heart be not kept very close to the Lord in the Judgement it cannot come out of Babylon but will still be entangled and held in some part or other of the mystery of its deceit 11. Such of the People of God as do not wait to understand and receive the full Call and so do not follow the Lord perfectly out of that City of Abominations but by her subtilties and inward or outward witchcrafts are held captive therein and found in any part thereof when the Lord cometh to judge her such must partake of her Plagues from the hand of the Lord who will not spare her nor the spirits of his dearest People who are found there in the day of his visitation and righteous judgments Therefore come out of her come out of her O ye that love your Souls and the pure Presence and fresh Light of Gods countenance Ye that know what it is to provoke him to jealousy and fear the weight of his hand upon your spirits ye that love the holy Land the holy City and Temple of the living God O come out of that impure building that fleshly building those fleshly wayes and worships which that spirit adorneth to make them appear as if they were spiritual O depart ye depart ye out of your new removes for they are also polluted and not your rest but short of that wherein the Rest the Peace the Presence of the Lord of Life is felt by others and to be found by you And consider this if ever ye will come to the holy City which was once built in the dayes of the Apostles but since the division of it from the outward Court hath been trodden down and trampled under the feet of the unbelievers even while they have been worshipping in the outward Court which God once built and chose but afterwards withdrew his Spirit from and gave up to the unbelievers I say if ever ye will come to this holy City the holy Land wherein it is built and the holy Hill whereon it is founded ye must pass through the Wilderness be exercised in the Wilderness even till ye are fitted for it and not strive to raise up a building your selves in the likeness of it but wait till God hath hewen and prepared the stones by his Spirit and then by the skil of the same spirit build up his Sion again Therefore in the fear of the Lord consider seriously meekly humbly and brokenly that the Lord may manifest your present state and condition unto you Whether ye have not erred in these things as well as others and have not cause to repent of your forwardness herein and to acknowledge that your buildings have been raised in the forwardness of your own spirits and in the confidence of your reasonings upon Scripture-words without feeling the presence guidance and holy Power of Gods Spirit raising up the Foundation of many Generations and rearing his own pure House upon his own holy Mountain In the Lords hand is the time and season of building his own house David though his desire was approved yet might not build the outward Temple in the time of his choice but Gods time and season was to be waited for both for the first building and for the rebuilding of it There is likewise a season for the rebuilding of Spiritual Sion after the long captivity of it in Mystery-Babylon Now he that is forward building before the time and season of the Spirit buildeth without the Spirit and his building is not of the Spirit but of the nature of Babylon which is wholly to be departed from and left behind in the Souls travels and progress towards Sion And what ever is of the nature of Babylon must at length fall with Babylon in the day of her terrible Judgement if the Lord in mercy do not shake it and cause it to fall before Therefore O all Professor awaken out of the flesh

mans nature nor to be attained by his Art They also know and hear the Voice of the Word nigh in the mouth and heart and follow the Law of his Spirit received from his mouth which none else but his Sheep do or can do for this is given by him and it is given by him only to his Sheep Quest 7. What doth Christ the Shepherd the eternal Word the Wisdom Life and Power of the Father do for his Sheep Answ He doth great things for them which utter who can but happy is he that feels and knows them He gives them a new Nature a new Spirit a new Heart a new Name which none knoweth but he that hath it for it is written on the white stone which none else receives nor none else can read but he that hath the eye which is of him what is written thereon He giveth them eternal Life he leadeth them into the postures of Life he giveth them to drink of the Waters of Life He patteth them forth out of the Prison-house out of the Chains and Fetters out of the Darkness out of the Bonds and from under the burthens of the Soul into the pure Light and liberty of the Spirit where they taste know and enjoy of his freedom and dwell with him and rest with him and lie down with him and rise up with him even in the same eternal Life Spirit and Power wherein his dwelling-place is And all this they enjoy safely hearkening to the Voice of the Shepherd and turning from the voice of the stranger which it is natural to them to do For being turned from man born of that which is immortal and keeping to that that ear which is there received will alone hearken to the Voice of him who is Immortal and the voice of the stranger who speaketh of himself is presently discerned and turned from by him that heareth with the true ear The Lord God who is the Spring and Fountain of all good inflame people with desires after the pure Life and holy Nature which is of and from Christ the Seed his Son and satisfie those desires which are singly and uprightly after him The Conclusion GLorious was the estate of the Church before the Apostacy for Purity of Doctrine for holy Order and Discipline for Love to God one to another and to all men even of Enemies for Faith in God for the Presence and Power of his Spirit among them insomuch as the unbeliever coming among them might find his heart and state reached to and be forced to confess and report that God was in them of a truth for singleness and uprightnesse of Heart meekness and innocency of Spirit and Conversation for zeal for God and his Truth suffering the spoiling of their Goods Imprisonments Stripes and many other wayes both from the Heathen and also from the professing Jews who had been the Church once O what shall I say concerning the beauty and loveliness of that State Ye that would know it O wait to feel it in that which giveth the true sence of it But over this glorious State came a dark thick corrupt night wherein the Kernel was lost and the Shell defaced wherein the House which had been swept and garnished became again recovered and possessed by the wicked spirit And how great hath this darkness been O what a kind of Church hath appeared in the World wherein the spirit of Enmity hath dwelt and acted in men under the Name of Christianity So that instead of loving and seeking the good of Enemies they are ready to rend and tear one another for every little difference and will be Lords over mens Faith requiring men to practise things in Religion before the Spirit of the Lord teacheth them so to do which the Apostles did not For though they had from God the express knowledge of what was Truth and could certainly instruct and build men up therein yet they were not Lords over mens Faith but if men were otherwise minded then according to what they knew and taught they could wait and bear with them bidding them walk so far as they had attained and God in his due time would reveal the rest also O that men were come to this Spirit again Then they would be Christians indeed and then they might be known to be Christs Disciples by their loving the Brethren and fellow-Disciples But without this love mens Religion is but as a tinkling Cymbal making a noise and sound of somewhat but not having the true Nature or Virtue of Religion in it Now will it not be a glorious Day when the Spirit of the Lord cleanseth away this thick darkness and causeth the Light of his pure Truth to arise and appear again Why there is such a Day to be wherein the true Church which was reproached and driven into the Wilderness is to come out of the Wilderness again and her Witnesses stand on their feet again and her Seed to spring up in the Power of Life following the Lamb who marcheth on fighting with the Sword of the Spirit the words of his mouth conquering and to conquer thereby the corrupted Antichristian World even as he did at first the corrupt Heathenish World The Lord will purifie his Temple and cleanse the World by the Plagues of his Angels which he hath prepared making way for the beauty of his Truth and the Church of his gathering wherein he will bring forth his Righteousness wherein his Power shall appear wherein his Presence shall be made manifest wherein that which shined before in the Primitive Church shall shine again in this new-reared Building of his insomuch as men shall be forced to say This is the Church of Christ indeed God is here of a truth This is the Gospel-Jerusalem indeed which is built upon the holy Hill of Sion in which Innocency Righteousnesse Truth Love Sweetnesse Peaceablenesse and the gentle Nature and Spirit of the Lamb lives and reigns and the Lord bless thee O Habitation of Justice and Mountain of Holiness Now of a truth this Work is begun The times of refreshment are come from the Presence of the Lord. The Lord hath heard from Heaven pittying the cries of his Seed and hath visited their Souls causing the Light of Life even the pure Light of the everlasting Covenant to shine upon their Tabernacles But whoever would know these things and partake of them must come in at the Door by the Guidance of the Spirit through the Light which is with him And he that would enjoy the full Light even the shinings forth of the Sun at noon day must begin with its glimmerings even that in the heart which discovereth and draweth out of the corrupt state of the World towards the Father O hear and live Do not dispute about it but wait to feel it upon the feeling of it despising the shame and taking up and enduring the Cross and so bearing the reproach and sufferings of Christ in thy Age and Generation And as thou obeyest thou shalt know of its Doctrine but out of the pure Faith and Obedience there is no true sound deep rooted knowledge but all of that kind must be parted with for the knowledge which is of the Faith and which is made manifest and increased in the Obedience which knowledge is of a far more excellent Kind and Nature than that which thou art to part with for it The Lord guide thy Mind and stretch forth his Hand to help thee who from the least touch of a true Nature and Spirit desirest after the pure Truth and way of eternal Life Amen This Testimony here held forth is faithful and true and I know the Witness of God in many hearts will answer to it and happy is he that maketh a right use of it For so doing his Soul will not fall short of the pure living Truth nor set up any thing else for Truth which is not THE END

measure of the eternal Rest where we have found that Life that Power that manifestation of the eternal Spirit and that redeeming Virtue which we never were before distinctly acquainted with I say having tasted of this having known this having felt this and come to a real enjoyment of it in some degree in our several measures we could not possibly conceal this Treasure but in bowels of love and in the movings of the Life and Power of the Spirit have been drawn to testifie of it to them who were left behind groveling under the burthen of corruption and crying out because of the sin and bondage from the powers of darkness who hath in a mist withheld their eyes from beholding that living Virtue which is able to save and doth save blessed be his Name therefrom Now this we have often found That this our Testimony hath not been received in the same Spirit and Love wherein it hath gone forth but the Enemy by his subtilty hath raised up jealousies concerning us and prejudices against us as if we denyed the Scriptures and Ordinances of God and that Christ that died at Jerusalem professing him only in words to win upon others by but denying him in reality and substance To clear this latter for my heart is only at this present drawn out concerning that we have solemnly professed in the sight of the Lord God who hath given us the knowledge of his Son in Life and Power these two things First That we do really in our hearts own that Christ who came in the fulness of time in that prepared Body to do the Fathers Will his coming into the World Doctrine Miracles Sufferings Death Resurrection c. in plainness and simplicity of heart according as it is expressed in the Letter of the Scriptures Secondly That we own no other Christ then that nor hold forth no other thing for Christ but him who then appeared and was made manifest in flesh Now it would be nakedly inquired into by Professors What is the reason that their jealousies still remain concerning us and why they are still so ready to cast this upon us Certainly if they did know and own the same thing with us in the Spirit and in the Power in the Life and in the Love which is of the Truth this prejudice and these hard thoughts could not remain But if they themselves do not know Christ in the Spirit but only according to a relation of the Letter no marvel though they miss both of the Spirit and of the true intent and meaning of the Letter and likewise be liable to clash against the Truth as it is made manifest in others And indeed the Lord hath shewen me in Spirit several times that they themselves are guilty of that very charge and that he will so implead them at his Judgment Seat which they cast upon us even of denying that Christ which died at Jerusalem to be the Christ For he that owneth the words of Scripture as he apprehends or conceives them in the reasonings of his mind and doth not wait to have them revealed in the Spirit keeping out of his own reasonings and conceivings and waiting patiently till the Lord open the thing in the Spirit he setteth up his own conceivings or an Image in his mind of the mind of the Spirit but misseth of the thing in self which alone is known in the Spirit by them who wait upon the Spirit there to receive it and are not hasty to set up their own reasonings and imaginations concerning the thing in the mean time No man can in Truth call Jesus the Lord but by the Spirit But any man that is any thing serious and weighs the Scriptures in the natural part may so learn to acknowledge his coming into the World and that he is Lord and King c. and may thus call him Lord yea and kindle a great heat in his affections towards him but all this out of the Life out of the Spirit is but mans Image which he forms in his mind in his reading the Scriptures and observing things therefrom But the true calling Jesus Lord is from the feeling of his eternal Virtue in the Spirit and finding the Scriptures opened to him by the Spirit in a Principle which is above the Reason comprehends the Reason and confounds and brings it to nothing Again There is no true Knowledge of Christ no living Knowledge no saving Knowledge no Knowledge which hath the eternal Virtue in it but that which is received and retained in a measure of Light given by God to the Creature in the Faith which is the Gift in the Grace which is supernatural and spiritual whereas the reasoning part is but Natural And such as have received the Spiritual understanding know it to be distinct from the Natural and we experimentally find a very clear distinction between Scriptures searched out by the reasonings of the mind and so practises drawn therefrom and Scriptures opened by the Spirit and felt in the Life Now that Professors generally have not received their knowledge of Christ from the Spirit or from Scriptures opened in the Spirit and so know not the thing but only such a relation of the thing as mans reasoning part may drink in from the Letter of the Scriptures is manifest by this In that they are not able in Spirit and Understanding to distinguish the thing it self from the Garment wherewith it was cloathed though the Scriptures be very express therein Speak of Christ according to a Relation of the Letter there they can say somewhat but come to the Substance come to the Spirit of the thing come to the thing it self there they stutter and stammer and shew plainly that they know not what it is Now the Scriptures do expresly distinguish between Christ and the Garment which he wore between him that came and the Body in which he came between the Substance which was vailed and the Vail which vailed it Lo I come a body hast thou prepared me There is plainly He and the Body in which he came There was the outward Vessel and the inward Life This we certainly know and can never call the bodily Garment Christ but that which appeared and dwelt in the Body Now if ye indeed know the Christ of God tell us plainly what that is which appeared in the Body whether that was not the Christ before it took up the Body after it took up the Body and for ever And then their confining of Christ to that Body plainly manifesteth that they want the knowledge of him in Spirit For Christ is the Son of the Father he is the infinite eternal Being one with the Father and with the Spirit and cannot be divided from either cannot be any where where they are not nor can be excluded from any place where they are He may take up a Body and appear in it but cannot be confined to be no where else but there no not at the very time while he is there Christ

the spiritually living are ingrafted As the Father is the Husbandman so is not the Son the Vine And hath not this spiritual this eternal Vine in it juice and sap of an eternal Nature and is not this sap its blood Quer. 28. Is there not a choice Vine to which the Foal and Asses Colt of the Seed of Judah is tyed and are not the Garments and Cloaths of the true Jews washed in the Wine and in the Blood of the Grapes of this Vine Gen. 49.11 Quer. 29. What is that which the earthly Nature slayes and what is the Blood which the earthly Nature shall disclose and the slain which it shall no more cover Quer. 30. What are the Robes which are washed and made white in the Blood of the Lamb and how are they washed and made white therein and what is the Blood of what Nature earthly or spiritual wherein they are washed and made white Quer. 31. What is it to have or how come we to have fellowship with Christ in his death and to suffer and be crucified with him Is it by having our natural Bodies crucified on the same Cross of Wood or some such like one as his Body was crucified on or by having the fleshly Nature crucified subdued and worn out of our Souls Minds Spirits c. by the Power of the Spirit Rom. 8.13 Now if the flesh we are to put off be of such a nature and kind to wit inwardly and spiritually corrupt must not the flesh of Christ which we are to put on instead thereof be of as deep inward and spiritual a Nature What is the flesh whereof we are to be uncloathed before we can be cloathed with Christ Is it outward or bodily And what is Christs flesh we are to put on is that any more outward or bodily then that which we are to put off Quer. 32. Is not the flesh and blood which they that have eternal Life feed on and which nourisheth them up to Life eternal they continuing to feed thereon and not feeding afterwards on strange flesh and strange blood I say is not this flesh and blood Spirit and Life For that is it which profiteth John 6.63 Is it not the flesh and blood of the Word Was not the Word made flesh and did not the Word who was made flesh dwell and appear in a Tabernacle of flesh and cause the Glory of his own divine Flesh to shine through that earthly flesh O read and consider that ye who have stumbled and murmured against the Truth may stumble or murmur no more but now at length receive the pure and pretious Doctrine thereof and so come to witness the fulfilling of that Promise Isa 29.18 v. 24. and praise him who giveth understanding Quer. 33. Is not the true Church flesh of Christs flesh and bone of his bone Is not the false or Antichristian Church flesh of Antichrists flesh and bone of Antichrists bone What is the flesh of the spiritual Whore which is to be stripped naked and burnt with fire Shall ever the Church which is of Christs flesh be stripped naked and burnt with fire Nay doth not his flesh make able to abide the devouring fire and to dwell with the everlasting burnings Quer. 34. What is the pure Milk of the VVord which is milked out to the Babes from the pure Breast and what is the Breast from which it is milked out is it of the flesh of Christ or no Quer. 35. Are not the wicked of the seed and flesh of the Serpent Is not that the Body of flesh of sin of death which is to be put off And are not they who are renewed in spirit of the Seed and Flesh of Christ is not that the Body or Garment of Holiness of Righteousness of Life which is to be put on Quer. 36. Is it not as necessary that the eternal VVord be made flesh inwardly that so the Children may feed on him as it was for him to take on him an outward body of flesh to suffer and die for them and to fulfil all Righteousness both of the Law of the Letter and of the Law of the Spirit in Quer. 37. Is there not that which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt and do not they which dwell there instead of eating Christs Flesh and drinking his Blood put his flesh to pain crucifying it in and to themselves trampling under foot the Son of God and counting the Blood of the Covenant an unholy thing Read the Figure Did not outward Israel suffer in outward Egypt Did not just Lot suffer in Sodom Doth not the spiritual Seed suffer in and by spiritual Egypt Doth not the Flesh of the Holy and just One suffer in and by spiritual Sodom Quer. 38. What is that which the Gentile-Christians who are not Jews inward circumcised in heart and spirit who know not the inward Temple the place of the true Jews worship where they worship the Father in Spirit and Truth but only worship in the outward Court which God hath cast off and left out of his measure Rev. 11.2 I say What is that Holy City which these Gentiles tread under foot forty two months Is it the Church which is of the Flesh and Bones of Christ or no He that knoweth the substance the Seed of the Kingdom the Birth of the Spirit knoweth the Flesh and Blood which is of the Seed And this Flesh is Flesh indeed this Blood is Blood indeed even the Flesh and Blood of the Seeds Nature but the other was but the Flesh and Blood of our Nature which he honoured in taking upon him in which he did the Will in which he offered up the acceptable Sacrifice but yet did not give the honour from his own Flesh and Blood to it For the Flesh and Blood of our Nature was not his own naturally but only as he pleased to take it upon him and make it his But that whereof he formeth us and which he giveth us to eat and drink is the Flesh and Blood of his own Nature And this was it wherein was the Virtue and wherein is the Virtue Life and Power for ever Happy O happy is he who is of it who is taken out of and formed of him as Eve was of Adam and so becomes Flesh of his Flesh and Bone of his Bone Then will he know the Mystery of Life feed on the thing it self and not stumble about appearances and expressions as those that are out of and from the thing it self do through the darkness of their mind and because of their ignorance of the thing spoken of in the Scriptures An Incitation to Professors seriously to consider Whether they or we fail in the true acknowledgment and owning of the Christ which died at Jerusalem WE who are commonly called Quakers being a People whom the Lord hath gathered out of the wandrings out of the many Professions out of the several scattered estates and conditions wherein his Eye pittied us and his love found us out into a