Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	heart_n	spirit_n	word_n	8,255	5	4.2520	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25351	One blow at Babel in those of the people called Behmenites whose foundation is not upon that of the prophets ... but upon their own carnal conceptions begotten in their imaginations upon Jacob Behmen's writings &c. ... / by John Anderdon.	Anderdon, John, 1624?-1685.	1662 (1662)	Wing A3082; ESTC R28293	8,016	9

which seemed most suitable to your judgments and understandings which were darkned and by how much the more zealous and real ye were in your intentions by so much the more firmlie ye stand united and joined to that waie which in your ignorance ye have chosen and it may be somewhat the more fastened to it because it may challenge a prioritie of images set up in these latter days wherein the Mysterie of Iniquitie hath wrought under so many divers colour and forms of Heavens and Heavenlie things And do ye think that when ye made choice of this your Religion which ye now hold that the Spirit of this world the Prince of the power of the air had not the greatest interest and over-ruling power in you Or were ye come to know the voice of the true Shepherd in you from the voice of that false prophet which sate in God's Judgement-seat in your hearts and perverts the right waies of the Lord if ye are not through God's righteous Judgements upon the Prince of this World in you come to discern and know the true voice of God's Eternal Spirit from the Spirit of Error and Delusion in you which presents it self when God's work is to be done to draw the mind after it to follow after shadows instead of substance how can ye have confidence that ye are in the right waie and are not deluded and drawn awaie with the error of the wicked And being built upon that foundation the more abominable your profession is it being a branch also of Mysterie Babylon the Mother of Harlots who sometimes appears in the dresse of the true and chast Spouse but all to this very end to hide her Hypocrisie and Deceit the filthiness of her hearts Fornications and Whoredoms And what is all the talk and profession of Religion in the world without the present teachings and motion of God's Spirit but dead works and the covering of Antichrist And all your talking of God's Kingdom of Salvation and Redemption by the Blood of Christ while sin and iniquitie lodgeth in your hearts is no better than to account the blood of Christ an unholy thing to cover the Serpent's Head in you And the Devil can say that Christ is the Son of God and this hurts not his Kingdom but when the Ax comes to be laid to the root of that tree in man which bringeth forth evil fruit then all the world is an uproar and the Devil rageth against this Work with all his strength and subtilties for this strikes at the root of his Kingdom and whosoever knows the destruction thereof in them by the power of God which is Christ Jesus the Light of the world they must know many sore combats and bitter conflicts and the righteous judgements of the Lord God must be poured out upon the man of sin in them that through the Cross of Christ the power of God man may be made willing to forsake the Devil and all his works and so being brought from under Satan's power into the power of God they may come to know that Seed raised in them which bringeth forth fruit unto God it being that which redeems out of the fall from under the curse and is blessed for evermore Verily Friends the work of Regeneration is not an easie work to flesh and blood but is to be known through much sore travel of soul yea such pains and pangs doth truly accompany that Birth as the pangs of a woman in travel and this is not a notional thing onely but truly and really to be felt in the creature and through death life is to be known Therefore deceive not your selves to think that ye are the people of the Lord and in a good state and condition when it is otherwise with you think not I say that ye are come to the substance but are catching after shadows which will not profit your souls And this is my testimony to you from the Lord That ye are not in the truth of God but out of the way of his salvation yea in that which grieves his Spirit under Death's power ye are what images or likenesses soever ye frame to your selves and bring forth and what services soever ye perform and not from the present teachings of God's Spirit are but abomination in the sight of the Lord. And the more ye do struggle and strive in your unregenerate nature and utter words without knowledge the more are your understandings darkned and alienated from the life of God and the Common-wealth of Israel and are enemies to God in your minds by reason of wicked works and the spirit of bondage is over you which crucifies the just Therefore repent and return from the evil of your waies that you may be redeemed from the vanity of your minds and know a change wrought in your hearts by the Word of God which is quick and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder between the soul and the spirit the joints and the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart which Word liveth and abideth for ever And think not I say that your imaginations from Jacob Behmen's Writings about baptizing of Infants have any more authority or ground from the Scriptures of truth given forth by the Spirit of God neither is it of more advantage to you than the Crosses set up by Papists in the High-ways and on the top of Steeple-houses are to destroy sin and save your souls which were set up in the daies of Apostacie from the truth for here is the rise and ground of Images when men went from the truth of God within then the Devil which draws the mind into visible things of this world where he works perswades them to set up some likenesses without which may please the carnal and sensual part to feed that Birth which is of the flesh and stands at enmity against God and so in the apostacie when people forsook the Cross of Christ the power of God that destroys sin in the flesh then instead of that up comes all sorts of Crosses without and so the like of other pictures and images set up and worshipped by men of corrupt minds and instead of the new birth spoken of in the Scriptures which is of Water the Spirit without which none can be saved which is irksome grievous to such as are grown old in sin and iniquitie therefore a more easie invention is found out to make children Christians by sprinkling a little water upon them before they know the right hand from the left and so under the Name of Christians live in the abomination of Heathens all the daies of their lives which profiteth them so much as the talking of God's salvation doth profit him that lives in sin and iniquitie which is onely so much as for a man to have a name that he lives while he is dead And as for your Mediums that you work by they are little less then new

Saviours which ye have begotten in your carnal imaginations and reasonings about the things of God not knowing him who is the way the truth and the life who is that Bread which came down from God out of Heaven upon which he that is born of God feeds and is nourished up unto eternal life but that which is born of the flesh savours the things of the flesh and feeds upon that which must die and come to an end and comes not to know the bodie and blood of Christ to be meat and drink indeed and except ye eat his flesh and drink his blood ye have not life in you But this is too hard a saying it may be for you who have sed so long on Husks upon that food which perisheth that ye cannot relish that food which liveth and abideth for ever And have you that life in you or else ye are dead in sins and trespasses And is that Fountain of water opened in you that springeth up unto everlasting life Or else ye are drie and barren and without fruits unto God And do ye eat his flesh and do ye drink his blood and are ye lead by his spirit Or else ye are none of his And where then is the Man Christ the Bodie prepared to do the will of God Or else you are using your Mediums as dead works to attain this new and living waie and so seek the living amongst the dead to get qualifications into your souls as Simon Magus would give money for the gift of the Holy Ghost a corrupt price for a heavenlie purchase And is the Bodie and Blood of Christ too hard for you and unsuitable to that birth which ye are of and therefore is most agreeable to that ye feed upon Bread and Wine and plead for Bread and Wine as those that know no better food but that which feeds that birth which is after the flesh and must die and lives upon shadows after the substance is come And what birth do you feed with your bread and wine is it not that which lusteth and ought not to be satisfied For that birth which is of God hungers and thirsts after the living presence of the Lord is therewith onely satisfied Therefore trie and examine wel this matter whether ye are in the Faith of God and elect in that nature which pleaseth God or else your eating and drinking and sacrificing is no better than the plowing of the wicked which is sin And as for your Mediums and working-Instruments that ye use as necessary for the conveyance of God 's Grace and vertue into your souls introduced by waie of example from the Miracles done by Moses and the old Prophets by Christ and the Apostles by outward means ye being not in the same power of God by which the noble acts of the Lord were done In you it tends to no other end but to set or keep up somewhat of men 's inventions above the present teachings and power of God which is the beginning of false worships and leads to set up the Creature above the Creator and to exalt that birth which is after the flesh above that which is of the Spirit for whence comes all the worshipping of Saints and the Heavenly Host as they call it amongst the Church of Rome as the means and way to get into God's favour but from him who first taught people to worship strange gods and to set up the traditions of men above the Commands of Jesus Christ who saith Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will refresh you he who faith I am the way the truth and the life appointed of God unto salvation and there is not another Name under Heaven whereby men can be saved But in days of old there was a people that disigently searched the Scriptures which testified of him and thought therein to find life but would not come unto him who hath the words of eternal life that they might receive life from him but would have it in their own way from the Scriptures as their Mediums And what is the end of all their attainments but onely this they grew wise to do evil and crucified the Lord of life And what can ye with all your Mediums do as to the destroying of sin saving your souls more than the sons of Sceva the Vagabond Iews the Exorcists could do to cast out Devils by way of imitation in the name of that Jesus whom Paul preached whom they knew not to be the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes and there is not another Mediator between God and Man but Christ Jesus the Light of the world unto whom ye must all come as to that Original Fountain of Life from whence all good doth flow and wait to know his voice in you which will teach you the way of God more perfectly and not to boast of other mens lines but to come down out of all your imaginations in the silence of flesh to wait to hear his voice who is able to instruct you in the way of life and teach you to do the will of God in earth as it is in Heaven and whatever ye do without him it 's no better than Cain's Sacrifice which finds not acceptance with God And all your treasuring up of wisdom and knowledge in your unregenerate nature which is not from the present teachings of God 's Spirit who knows what is fit for you will profit you no more than the Israelites gathering of Manna beyond God 's command did profit them and it is no better than the treasuring up of wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of God 's just Judgements upon all ungodly men who hold the truth in unrighteousness Therefore come down to him who is meek and lowly in the heart unto the appearance of Christ Jesus in you who is come a Light into the world and follow him who reproveth the world of sin that by it ye may be lead into all truth And know assuredly that until ye come to the Light to walk in the Light ye are not the children of God but abide in darkness and the Prince of this world rules in your hearts as in other the children of disobedience And let not the shame of the Cross affright you also from the Crown of the Kingdom which cometh not by observation but is within you and the Word nigh in the heart and in the mouth which discovereth to man his thoughts wil onely shew you the way and unless ye come to know Christ in you the hope of glory all other hopes are but as the hope of the hypocrite that shall perish And as to the necessity that ye seem to place in your Mediums of Water Bread and Wine as if a man could not be saved without them by way of Query something farther proposed 1. Whether ye own Transubstantiation and judge it to be the body and blood of Christ which cleanseth from all sin and so set up the Creature above the Creator 2. Or whether ye use them as signs and figures of good things to come as not knowing him come who is the Substance 3. Or whether ye use them as helps to salvation accounting the blood of Christ the Light of the world insufficient to destroy sin and to save your souls 4. Or whether ye have notset up an imagination in your minds about the way of God's Salvation and resolve to have salvation in your own way and to oppose that which is contrary to it as men do that know not the present teachings of Gods Spirit 5. Or whether do you think that Christ hath left the work of God's salvation to any Creature and is not the same yesterday to day and for ever the alone Saviour of the world 6. Or whether the Mysterie of Gods Kingdom be hid from you and so it s beyond your Capacities and therefore with them that perish you 'l feed upon mortals upon that which must dye and reject him who is the Word of God that liveth and abideth for ever that Bread which came down from God out of Heaven Christ Jesus the Light of the World the onely way to the Father Try and examine well these things and let the witness of God in your own consciences be answerd in every particular that so you may no longer live under Death's power but repent and be converted unto the power of God which is onely able to destroy sin and save your souls as witnessed by your Friend in truth Iohn Anderdon Bridgewater the 26. of the 7th Month 1661. FINIS