Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	spirit_n	witness_n	witness_v	2,015	5	9.4809	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54066	Some things relating to religion, proposed to the consideration of the Royal Society, (so termed) to wit, concerning the right ground of certainty therein, concerning tenderness of spirit, and persecution, a query concerning separation, concerning washing away sin from the conscience, and the garment of salvation, and what it is that is covered therewith : likewise, some questions and answers concerning the church of the New-Covenant, the rock of foundation whereon it is built, and its preservation by and upon the rock : with some queries concerning the scattered and hidden estate of the church, and concerning that church which got up in the view of the world, instead thereof, and was acknowledged by the world as if she had been the true church, though indeed and truth she was not so : whereunto are added, some queries to professors, who speak of high attainments, &c. / written by ... Isaac Penington.	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.	1668 (1668)	Wing P1205; ESTC R13142	15,290	26

SOME THINGS Relating to RELIGION Proposed to the consideration of the Royal Society So termed to wit Concerning the right Ground of Certainty therein Concerning Tenderness of Spirit and Persecution A Query Concerning Separation Concerning washing away Sin from the Conscience and the Garment of Salvation and what it is that is covered therewith Likewise Some Questions and Answers concerning the Church of the New-Covenant the Rock or Foundation whereon it is built and its preservation by and upon the Rock With some Queries concerning the scattered and hidden estate of the Church and concerning that Church which got up in the view of the world instead thereof and was acknowledged by the world as if she had been the true Church though indeed and truth she was not so Whereunto are added Some QUERIES to Professors who speak of high Attainments c. Written by one whom it hath pleased the Lord of his great goodness and tender mercy to lead out of the darkness into his marvellous Light known among men by the name of ISAAC PENINGTON Printed in the Year 1668. To the Royal Society so termed FRIENDS I Have heard that ye are seeking after the excellency of Nature and Learning I am not for discouraging any Man in endeavouring after that which is good useful and excellent in its kind and place But it is the advantage of everything to know and abide in its place and to honour and serve him from whom all good Gifts and Endowments come Man hath but a moment in this world and he is here no more and then the spirit returneth to God that gave it to give an account of the Talent which he gave it and its improvement thereof to the Glory of him that gave it and to the salvation of its own soul Now this Talent is of an higher kind than Nature and will lead higher than Nature giving a man to partake of that wisdom from which Nature came and teaching him to order all that is natural to its right end For God is not an Enemy to Nature but to the corruption and disorder of Nature I desire ye might know and partake of the true wisdom and feel union with God in the principle of his own Life and in the incorruptible and Heavenly seed of God receive dominion over the earthly and corruptible For this end singly in the love springing up in my heart towards you as it often doth both towards particular persons and Societies For I am a friend to all and a lover of all sincerely desiring the good of all and the right guidance of their souls to happiness have I proposed these things following more particularly to your view though they concern others also that ye thereby might be awakened to search after that which is most excellent in you and be acquainted with the vertue and precious effects thereof to the full satisfaction and compleat joy of your souls in that which alone is able fully to satisfie and give them ground of durable joy and rejoycing in that which is not of a perishing nature but which was and is and will be the same for ever From a friend to the everlasting Peace of your souls and a desirer of your welfare and prosperity in this world ISAAC PENINGTON Of Certainty and rightly grounded Assurance in matters of Religion THERE is a Witness of and from God in every Conscience which in his Light Power and Authority witnesseth for him and against that which is contrary to him as he pleaseth to move upon it visiting and drawing the hearts of the sons of men by it From this Witness proceeds the true and well-grounded Religion in the mind towards God For this Witness both testifieth and demonstrateth that there is a God and also inclineth the mind to desire and seek after the right knowledg and true worship of him And such who keep to this Witness and wait upon God therein are taught by it the true spiritual worshp the true and pure fear of the Most High the Faith which he giveth to his Saints the Love which is chast and unseigned the Hope which purifieth the mind and Anchors it on the eternal Rock the meeknesse patience gentleness humility c. which is not of man's nature but the gift of God and the Nature of the Heavenly Giver And then for exercises of Religion as praying to the Father of Spirits hearing the Heavenly voice reading in the Spirit and with the renewed Understanding Singing and making melody in the heart and also with the voice to the Lord as his life is felt and the spiritual blessings and treasure received all these and whatever else is judged necessary for the soul are taught by this Witness of God in the Conscience as the Soul groweth up in the Light Spirit Nature and Holy Power thereof But now when the Lord reacheth to his Witness in men and is teaching their hearts by it then the Enemy the other Spirit whose seat is in the other part keepeth a noise there to overbear the voice of the Witness and to make men take up Religion in another part which is shallow and reacheth not to the depth and weight of truth which is in the Witness of God and which the Witness of God gives to them that come thither Thus the Enemy stirreth up Reasonings Imaginations and Consultations about God and his Worship wherein he raiseth up the vain shallow mind forging and bringing forth somewhat pleasing and suitable to the earthly understanding taking up the mind therewith and engaging the heart in some such practises therefrom as may quiet and satisfie that part in men For the wayes that men take up in their reasonings and understandings satisfie their reasonings and understandings and so they walk in the light of the sparks and warm themselves by the fire of their own kindling But all this answers not the Witness of God in them nor will be approved by his Light in their own Consciences when it comes again to be revealed and made manifest in them This was the ground of the error both of the Jews and Gentiles The Gentiles were enlightned by God with his true light what might be known of God suitable to their state and capacity being manifested in them insomuch as it is witnessed concerning them in the Scriptures which are a true record and testimony That they knew God But when they knew him they glorified him not as God but became vain in their imaginations and so their foolish heart was darkned concerning him and they worshipped him not as the Witness taught them he was to be worshipped not according to the manifestation of his Light in them but according to their own foolish imaginations and reasonings which taught them to make Images of him and so to worship him in and through creatures according to their own inventions which is not the true worship Rom. 1. 21 22 23. So likewise the Jewes not keeping to the manifestation of his Light within them to the Word or

the new understanding So for the Garment of Salvation that is Christ the righteousness of Christ the Nature of Christ the Spirit of Christ This is the holy covering He that puts on Christ puts on this He that wears Christ wears this he that appears before God in Christ appears in this And the Soul puts on this as it puts off the other It is the purified Soul that only puts on him that is pure And as a man is cleansed from the impure so only hath he in him a capacity of receiving and being cloathed with Christ And this now is the work of the true Ministry to wit to preach the Word to reveal the Word and bring the Mind to the Word which changeth it and begets the new capacity and so to begin the work of Life and reconciliation wherein and whereby there is some unclothing of the Old and some clothing with the New and so to carry on this work in the Spirit and power of the Father until it be perfected And this is a blessed work and blessed is the Ministry which is called to and entrusted with this work being faithful in it and blessed are they that witness the truth of and receive the effect of this Ministry and are subject to it in the Lord. For through and under this Ministry there is a receiving of a perfect gift in some measure at first wherein some true union and little acquaintance with the Lord of Life is at first witnessed and some operation of the Light and Power of his Holy Spirit And a grovving up in it unto perfection as the Soul is exercised by it and faithful to the Lord in the exercise under the daily Cross vvhich daily vvorketh against and crucifieth in the Heart Mind Life and Conversation vvhat ever is contrary to God as it is singly vvaited for taken up and subjected to Some Questions and Answers concerning the Church of the New-Covenant the Rock or Foundation whereupon it is built and its preservation by and upon the Rock With some Queries concerning the scattered estate of the true Church and concerning that Church which got up in its stead and made a great show with her Golden Cup for the time while the true Church was scattered Qu. 1. What is the Church of God under the new Agreement or Covenant An. It is a company of Living Stones quickned by God and knit together in the unity and fellowship of his Spirit to worship God together in his Spirit and offer up unto him spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ What was the Church of the Old Covenant Was it not the seed of Abraham the outward Jews the Children of the Old Covenant And what is the Church of the New Covenant Is it not the seed of God the Jews inward the Children of the New Covenant Qu. 2. How are these Stones joyned together An. By the Spirit of Life which begets them all in one Nature and knits them together in that nature By the inward circumcision cutting off that which causeth Enmity and Disunion and so fitting them to be made one New Lump in Christ By Christ's Baptism which is the Baptism of Fire and of his Spirit which burns up the Old earthly Nature and so Baptizes them into one New Living Body sutable and fitting to their Head which is the Fountain of Life and distributes Life through all the Body according to its capacity need and service Qu. 3. Upon what is this Church built An. Upon the Rock or Foundation of God which God hath laid in his spiritual Sion which Rock is Christ For other Foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ nor other Rock did the Lord ever chuse for his Church to be built upon Nor hath any other Rock sufficient strength to bear up the building against the storms and stress of the powers of darkness which it often meeteth with even every member in its travels after it is once built on the Rock the Gates of Hell press hard upon it but abiding on the Rock it feels the strength and preservation of the Rock For as they cannot prevail against Christ so neither can they prevail against that which is built upon him But if there be a going forth from the strength and preservation there is a liableness to be made a prey And the promise is not absolutely and perpetually to that Person or Congregation which is received or let into the truth but to that Person or Church which abideth and continueth in the truth unto the end The Jews were safe in the Faith and Obedience of their Covenant and the Christians or Christian Churches are not safe but in the Faith and Obedience of theirs For if they walked not humbly with the Lord and in his Fear which keeps the heart from departing from him and in the Faith whereby they stand they were to be cut off from their Church-state as well as the Jews were from theirs as the Apostle Paul expresly tells the Church at Rome Rom. 11. 21 22. Qu. 4. VVhat was Paul An. The Apostle of the Gentiles who Laboured abundantly even more abundantly than all the other Apostles and hath left more instructions relating to the Gentiles than all the Apostles besides and was tender of them in standing for and defending their liberty in Christ when Peter a little warped and was to be blamed Gal. 2. 11. For indeed man cannot be certain and infallible further than he kepeth to and is exercised by the certain and infallible Spirit which he is subject to be tempted to err from further than he stands upon the watch and cannot but err from unless he feel a continual preservation in the Fear and by the Power of the Lord. And the certainty of truth doth not depend so much upon the person from whom it is received as upon the demonstration and evidence to the conscience wherein it is received The Apostles were not Lords over the true Christians Faith but helpers of their joy And Christ did not require his Disciples to believe what ever he knew to be true but prepared their capacities and dropped in according to their capacities And this is the way of the true Ministers to wait on God to beget and on him again to Water the begotten Soul and carry on his work in it to make them know Christ their Master from whom they are to receive Light Life Instruction and Direction and to feel the Head and be joyned to the Head and receive from the Head their knowledg as well the least as the greatest Ebr. 8. What is Paul What is Apollos What is Cephas Were not they carnal that cryed up these one above another Yet the younger ought to be subject to the elder and all to be subject one to another in the truth 1 Pet. 5. 5. Qu. 5. What was Peter An. One of the Disciples of Christ a precious Stone in the building Joh. 1. 43. one of the most eminent Apostles

Commandment nigh in the mouth and heart to which Moses directed them which would have taught and enabled them to have kept to the Law of the Letter without them they also ran into the Nature and Spirit of the Heathen and fell into imaginings and reasonings which led them to worship like them Insomuch that they also changed their glory into the image of an Oxe that eateth grass Psal 106. 20. Now from this part in man ariseth all the uncertainty and doubts and dissatisfaction about Religion And hence arise the Opinions and Judgments and Reasonings in the minds of men Yea indeed the best of Mens Religion here is but an opinion or judgment which the breath of God's Spirit will shake and dissolve every where sooner or later All flesh is grass and all the beauty of men's Knowledg Religion and Worship here will wither like grass All the buildings and Churches that are raised here how beautiful soever are but Babylon built by man's understanding by man's knowledg by man's comprehension by man's wisdom by man's skill and indeed in man's will and time And their standing beauty strength and glory is but from man and in man's day and will fade away like a Flower But the true certainty is in the day of God from the Light of his spirit shining into man's spirit from God's inward reaching to his heart by his power and testifying his truth there And this all the powers of darkness cannot prevail against in it self no nor against that man that is kept to it For it is the Rock the only Rock upon which the whole Church is built and which cannot fail to preserve every member of the Church which is built upon it Ye then which would come to certainty in Religion observe the way which is made manifest from God in this our day blessed be his name which is this Mind the Witness of God in thy heart and come to and build upon the Light thereof Dwell not in reasonings take not up thy Religion in reasonings of the mind but pass through them pass beyond them into a light of an higher nature Wait to know the birth which is from God and the light which he gives to that birth What is the birth Is not the birth of and from the second Adam And what is the Heavenly birth's light Is it not the light of the second Adam Is it not in nature and kind above the light of the first Adam Where is the seat of reasonings Is it not the earthly mind the fallen mind Here lies man's strength Here is man's wisdom Here is man's life It is so indeed But the wisdom of Christ the light of Christ the life of Christ the power of Christ is a cross to this finds it in the enmity against God crucifies it slays it brings it to nothing and he that will become wise as to God must become a Fool unto all this a Child a Babe entring the Kingdom without this and must there remain naked as to this and never put it on more Now observe ye that have understanding and true sense the difference between the Religion which God hath taught us and led us into and the Religions of all men upon the Earth besides Our Religion stands wholly out of that which all their Religion stands in Their Religion stands in the Comprehension in a belief of a litteral relation or description Our Religion stands in a Principle which changeth the mind wherein the Spirit of Life appeareth to and witnesseth in the Conscience to and and concerning the things of the kingdom where we hear the voice and see the express Image of the invisible One and know things not from an outward relation but from their inward nature vertue and power Yea here we must profess we so know things that we are fully satisfied about them and could not doubt concerning them though there had never been word or letter written of them though indeed it is also a great comfort and sweet refreshment to us to read that testified of outwardly which through the tender mercy of our God we feel and enjoy inwardly And in this our whole Religion consists to wit In the silence and death of the flesh and in the quickning and flowing life of the spirit For he who is of the new-Birth of the new-Creation of the second Adam the Lord from Heaven is as really alive to God and as really lives to him in his spirit as ever he was really dead in trespasses and sins in the time of his alienation and estrangement from God Of Tenderness of Spirit and Persecution He which is born of God he who is of the Love and dwells in the Love cannot but be tender He who is born of the earthly Wisdom who taketh up and holdeth forth a Religion there cannot but persecute Why so Because he cannot but judg that any man may take up Religion as he hath done and so by reasonings may come to acknowledg and take up what he hath taken up and holdeth forth or else he is wilful and stubborn as he judgeth But now he that is born of God and hath received his Light Knowledg Religion and way of Worship from him He knoweth that no man can rightly receive them but the same way to wit from God by the Light which he causeth to shine into the heart at his pleasure and in the Faith which he gives So that God's free and powerful spirit is to be waited upon for the working of all in his people and not any forced to act beyond or contrary to the Principle of his Life and Light in them A Query concerning Separation Quer. Whether after the Apostacy from the Spirit Life and Power of the Apostles and the getting up of the Antichristian state Church and Worship there must not of necessity be a separation from all these before there can be a recovery of the Life and Power again and of the true Church-state which was brought forth in the daies of the Apostles Must there not be a perfect coming out of the corrupt state in the whole nature several parts and degrees of it before there can be a restoration to and witnessing of the true and pure state Must not the Christians now come out of all the Antichristian Inventions and Churches as well as the Christians of old came out of all the Heathenish worships yea out of the Jewish worship and Church which once was of God before they can become an holy building and habitation to God in the spirit Yea doth not the same spirit which cryed to the people of God then Come out from among them and be ye separate c. call and cry now Come out of her my people out of Babylon out of the false Church out of all the Antichristian buildings which are reared up after the several forms and waies of mens inventing but out of the spirit life and power which alone is able to build up in and unto the Lord And what is

even the chosen Minister to them of the circumcision as Paul was to the Gentiles But he knew that Christ was the only Rock or Foundation as well as Paul and that Christ alone was able to bear the weight of that building and to defend it against the Gates of Hell and he never had commission nor can it be proved that ever he preached himself the Rock but he preached Christ the Foundation-Stone the Rock of Offence the Rock of Defence c. see 1 Pet. 2. 4. and v. 6 7 8. And if an Angel from Heaven or any Man or Church on Earth so interpret any Scripture as to hold forth any such thing that any else besides Christ is the Rock they plainly shew that they are erred from the truth and that their interpretation is of their own private Spirit and not that publick Spirit which all the Prophets of God and Apostles and Truly-Holy men were guided by Qu. 6. Was the Church alwaies to be a gathered Company or was there a possibility of their being scattered An. There was a possibility of their being scattered yea a certainty if they grew corrupt in Doctrine and Practise and kept not the Faith Rom. 11. For the Lord God intended a pure building a spiritual building fit to offer the spiritual Sacrifices 1 Pet. 2. 5. An Holy People separated from the World 2 Cor. 6. 17. In which he might dwell and walk ver 16. If therefore any Church depart from the Spirit and Life and Power of the Apostles and mix again with the World losing their own proper pale which fenced from the World they soon lose that which maketh them a Church of God and so become a Synagoge of Satan Now it is in my heart also to propound a few Queries concerning the scattered and hidden estate and condition of the Church and concerning that Church which got up in the view of the World and was acknowledged by the World instead thereof afterwards Q. 1. Whether the true Church did retain her Ministry outwardly and her outward Ordinances and way of worship of the outward Court after her scattering or whether the false Church which appeared in her room as if she had been the true caught up and appeared in the outwardness of these The grounds of this Querie are these following 1. Because upon God's measuring of his Temple and Worshippers the outward Court consider well what that is and how far it extends was left out of God's measure so that he intended to reckon it no longer as his but given by him to the Gentile-Christians such as were Christians or Jews in Name but Gentiles in Spirit and Nature Rev. 11. 2. Because in the Last days when that strange Generation of Christians was to spring up who should be Lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy without natural affection truce-breakers false-accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traitors heady high-minded Lovers of pleasures more than Lovers of God Yet these should have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof 2 Tim. 3. 1 to 6. Now mind The Temple wherein was the Power God had removed with the true Worshippers but the outward Court wherein was the appearance or some kind of a form of Church Ministry and Ordinances those had got and were found worshipping in it in the midst of all this great wickedness and abomination of spirit 3. Because the Jews who were the type while they were in captivity in Babylon could not sing the Songs of Sion nor had the Worship of the outward Jerusalem there And can the spiritual Jews sing the spiritual Songs of spiritual Sion in mysterie Babylon No there they are but witnesses to that Life and Power which the true Church enjoyed and flourished with in her built estate Q. 2. Whether this is not an infallible mark and most certain demonstration of the false Church her sitting upon many Waters which Waters are Peoples Multitudes Nations and Tongues Did not the Spirit of the Lord thus mark her out to John Rev. 17. 15. Did the true Church ever sit upon many Waters Was not the Church a gathering out of the Nations into the Power and Life which the Nations persecuted But the false Church sits over the Nations with a form of Godliness but without the true Power thereof Then if this be a mark that God hath set upon her let every one wait to read it aright that he may know thereby which is she and praise the name of the Lord for discovering her to him Q. 3. Whether this false Church be not rightly called Babylon even an heap of confusion in a mystery as to God's eye though to man's eye her appearance may be orderly and decent And whether she be not justly termed by the Spirit of the Lord the Great Whore both for largeness in bulk and for the greatness of her fornications having whored from the bed of the Husband and entred into the bed of a Stranger and having taught and compelled others to acknowledg and worship in her forms which thus held forth and maintained by her are not only without but also against the true Power Q. 4. Whether Antichrist be not entred into and become the head of this false Church and whether he doth not sit there ruling in it even as Christ was Head of the True and sate ruling in the True And whether Antichrist doth not keep his hold of this Church and possess his seat in it for many Ages and Generations even from the time he got in after the days of the Apostles till the very coming of Christ in his Power and Brightness 2 Thes 2. Q. 5. Whether the great Plagues Woes terrible Thunders and Cups of God's Indignation spoken of in the Book of the Revelations are not to be poured in their several orders and degrees upon this false Church and upon Antichrist her beloved Head and King even till she be stripped naked made desolate and her Flesh burnt with Fire and her Head bruised and destroyed by Christ the true Head and King of the true Church Q. 6. Whether the people of God such as feel somewhat of the Power and bow to the Lord in Spirit and Truth in some measure yet these if they mind not his call out of this Babylon and come not fully out of her but abide in any part of her observing any of her wayes or worships till the time of God's controversie with her and judging of her whether they also shall not partake of her Plagues Rev. 18. 4. Q. 7. Whether all people have not great reason to fear before the Lord and to look to their wayes and worships lest they be found in any thing therein which is not of him but contrary to him and so bring upon their Souls and Bodies that wrath and sore Judgment from God which they are not able to bear Rev. 14. 9 10 11. Q. 8. Whether it was not the great Love and