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have his Spirit put within, caufing to walk in his ways, and to keep his ftatutes, and judgments, and do them; and fo to have union and fellowship with the Lord in that which is pure and living of him, in Chrift the new and living way, which was before the fall, and leads the obedient out of the fall, even beyond Adam's ftate, into himself who never fell, in whom is no fin, nor erring, no not for the wayfaring man, though a fool, who often erred and wandered before he came thither; but there the Father's hand, even the hand of the eternal power, is felt, which none can pluck out of. Oh! that ye knew the infallible leader, and were turned from darknefs to the light (and did believe therein) and from the power of Satan unto God, that ye through his Spirit might undeniably witnefs the mysteries of his kingdom, and partake of and enjoy that which his love, grace, and mercy, plentifully diftributes among his children that wait upon him in one way, under the holy ordering of his Spirit; which was long harped at and longed after by many of us; but we could never meet with it, till the Lord in his mercy caufed the light of his day to fhine into our hearts, which chased away the darkness of the night, and made the things of the day manifeft.

Are ye of the houfe of Jacob? Are ye of the right feed? Are ye of the true breathers after God's holiness, after the life and righteousness of his Sion? Oh! then come ye, know, acknowledge, receive, and wait to walk in the light of the Lord; and do not join to that in you which is feparated from, and knoweth not, the light of the Lord, but opposeth it. And, friends, I beseech you, take heed in this point; for he that denieth, refuseth, opposeth, fpeaketh evil, or thinketh hardly of any thing that is indeed of Chrift, doth it to Chrift himself, in Chrift's account (that is, Christ looketh upon it as if he had denied him, refused him, opposed him, fpoke evil of him, &c.) and it will be so laid to his charge in the day of the Lord. And indeed fuch is my love to you, and fuch my defire after your eternal good and welfare, that I would not have you ftumble at the light and power of life, which the Lord hath revealed and stretched out (in this day of his mercy) to gather and fave with; but feel the gathering by it from all that scattereth from the Lord, with the preservation which is thereby, and the effecting of that in your spirits which it is able to effect, as it comes to manifest itself unto you, and to put forth his ftrength in you. So wait for the gathering unto the light (the light of the everlasting day of God) and into the power which is able to redeem and defend the foul from all that is contrary to God. And when ye are there, be diligent and faithful to the Lord and feel (oh! daily wait to feel from him) the uncloathing of your fpirits from all their own unrighteousness; yea, from all their own righteousness alfo (which is but as filthy rags before the Lord, even of the fame nature with the unrighteousness), that ye may be cloathed upon with the new and living garment, wherein there is neither spot nor wrinkle, nor any fuch thing. For they that are of Chrift, and in Chrift, do as really put

on

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A Query added, with its Answer.

on the nature, the Spirit, the garment of the fecond Adam, as ever they put off the old garment, nature, and fpirit.

did

This is from one, who uprightly and fingly defireth your union
with the Lord in his pure Truth and Holy Anointing, and your
difunion from all that is contrary to him.

ISAAC PENINGTON.

WH

A QUERY added, with its ANSWER.

THAT is the true confeffion of Chrift, even that confeffion which arifeth
from the knowledge which is life eternal?

Anfw. Friends, I witnefs it to be this; A confeffion of his nature, a confeffion of his Spirit, a confeffion of his life, a confeffion of his power. To confefs the prefent living appearance of Chrift, that is to confefs Christ. Behold, faith he, I ftand at the door and knock. He that heareth his voice, acknowledgeth him, letteth him in, fubjecteth to his truth and Holy Spirit, he confeffeth him. But, though a man fhould acknowledge and confefs all that is recorded in the fcriptures concerning him; yet if he know not his knocks, fo as to let him in, and become fubject to his power, he doth not confefs Chrift as he ought to do, and as God requireth of him. Oh! that ye could learn thus to know Chrift, and thus to confefs him! For until ye thus know him, ye cannot thus confefs him! and your knees must first bow at his name, before your tongues can rightly confefs him, to the glory of God. the Father! For if ye will indeed glorify the Father, ye muft bow to the Son, who is the light wherein God dwells, in the fhinings whereof he appears to, and vifits the fons of men. And as the Son himself is fpiritual; fo is the light wherewith he vifits dark man. His law is fpiritual, able to convert the foul of any man in whofe heart it is written, and to make wife (the moft fimple among men) unto falvation. For the law of God, writ in the heart, is from the covenant of life; and delivers and preferves from the law of fin and death, having the light, power, and Spirit of Chrift in andwith it, from whom it comes.

Now if ye will know these things clearly, certainly, and infallibly; wait to feel fome touches, fome drawings, fome convictions of God's Spirit upon your hearts. And then difpute not against them; but immediately become fubject, fo far as the light and drawings of the Father incline and lead the mind; and then ye fhall fee what he is that draws, and of what nature his drawings are. And if once ye come to feel the preciousness of his ointment; and to partake of it, receiving it and following it, it will

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bring you into the pure virginity, which loves and longs after the name that anoints with the pure living oil.

Friends, I was once where ye now are; and in that day, I alfo (through error and miftake) called the light wherewith Chrift hath enlightened man, natural, as ye now do. But the Lord hath fince fhewed me, that it was not the true birth of life in me which fo called it; and it is also manifefted to me in his Spirit of truth (which deceives not), that it is not the true birth in you, which fo judges of it. Oh! that ye were born of the Spirit, and in it knew the names of the things from their nature, and might be taught of the Father to worship in the Son! which ye can never do, till ye come into the Son's light; and that is the Son's light, even that wherewith he hath enlightened men, that they might believe in the Father through him! The fcriptures (or any words spoken or written) are not the light itself, but teltimonies concerning the light. Now that which ye are to come into, and to dwell and abide in, is the light itself; which light was before any words that teftify of it, and is the fubftance of all the fhadows, and the end of all the teftimonies concerning it. He is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End of the new creation of God. Oh! that ye fo knew

him!

That from which the fcriptures came, is the thing, the life, the Spirit, the power itself; which is able to write inwardly, as well as outwardly. And he that knows the thing, and is led to the thing by the inward writing (which is the testimony of Jefus, the Spirit of prophecy), he by the testimony of Jefus, by the Spirit of prophecy, is led to the Holy Power; which he believing in, it prevails to fave him out of the contrary fpirit and power. And this the Gentiles without the law, the Jews under the law, and the believers under Grace, had spiritually all one and the fame way and path of life unto falvation; and God will be clear and juft in judging them all according thereunto, who had all fome manifeftation of the gofpel and power which faves, according to the difpenfation of the good pleasure of the free giver. And mens perifhing in the time of every difpenfation, is not for want of light and power from God, but from mens withdrawing and apoftatizing from the light and power, which in every dispensation of life ftretched forth its hand and arm fufficiently to gather and fave.

There is ONE THING more in my HEART unto You, at this Time, which is

Concerning applying the PROMISES.

TH

HE Promises of God are great and precious, and give to partake of the divine nature thofe that wait upon the Lord in the faith and obedience of his truth. Now there are eftates and conditions to which they do belong; and there are eftates and conditions to which they do not belong:

belong and if any one apply any promise to himself, he not being in that eftate and condition to which that promise belongs, he deceives his foul, and fucks not in the true sweetness and comfort of the promise, but of his own imaginary apprehenfions concerning the promise.

There is a ftate of wounding, of judging, of God's pleading with the foul, because of fin and tranfgreffion. Now he that breaks and wounds, he alone can bind up and heal; and the Lord is to be waited upon in the way of his judgments, until he fee meet to bind up and heal. Now the Lord heals by the fame Spirit and power wherewith he wounds; but it is hard to lie under the judgment, to bear the indignation of the Lord, and so keep the wound (which he makes) open, till he pour in the oil, and heal. For there is that near, which will be offering to heal before the season, and will be bringing in promifes and applying promises, otherwife than the Spirit of the Lord intendeth or applieth them. Now this is diligently to be watched againft, that the hurt of the foul (judged and wounded by the Spirit of the Lord) be not healed flightly, and peace spoken to it (and an expectation and hope raised in it) which is not of the Lord. But this is the right way, even to give up to feel that which wounds, and to receive the woundings of thy foul's friend, and lie low before him in the wounded state, waiting upon him in the way of his judgments and righteous indignation; till the fame that wounded, fpeak peace. For the fame is to speak peace, and not another; I the Lord wound, and I heal; I kill, and I make alive. Judgment is mine, and mercy is mine; and they both iffue from my lips, (See Ifa. xii. 1.) So every one, that would not be deceived about, nor mifapply the promises, wait to feel that in you, which leads into the condition to which the promise belongs, and to be led into and kept in the condition by it. And then, the fame that leads into the condition, will apply the promise to him who is in the condition, the ear being open to him, hearkening to the Lord, waiting what he will speak, who fpeaks peace to his people in his feafons; and having the ear fhut against the voice of the unrighteous troubler of the fouls of God's heritage. Yea, he that applieth the promises to the foul (having brought it into the state to which they belong) he also will lead and bring unto the fulfilling of the promises, even to the receiving of the good things promised and waited for; fo that the foul fhall witness the gospel to be a glorious ftate indeed; a ftate of life, a ftate of liberty, a state of power, a ftate of dominion, a state of holiness, a kingdom of righteousness and peace, wherein there are everlasting manfions and dwelling-places in Chrift Jefus, for the feed of the righteous for evermore. The Lord God of everlasting mercy, life, power, and rich goodness, caufe the light of his own Holy Spirit to fhine into your hearts, guide you thereby into and in the true way, even in the pure living path (which was and is but one for ever), that ye may come into the true pof session, and full enjoyment, and infallible witneffing of these things.

23d of the Second Month, 1668.

There

There is another QUERY, of great Concernment, which

Query.

I

fpringeth up in Heart towards you.

my

S not the Spirit, or anointing, the great gospel-promife, and the great gofpel-ordinance? Is not he truth, and no lie, and the leader out of all lies and deceits into the truth, and the preferver of the mind and fpirit therein? Little children, faid the fame apoftle, who had directed to the anointing, keep yourselves from idols. Is there any poffibility of being kept from images and idols, but by him? Can any understand the things of the Spirit, or the words fpoken by the Spirit concerning fpiritual things, but by him? And then, is not every apprehenfion, that ye take up from the fcriptures concerning fpiritual things, which ye have not from him (but comprehend and gather of yourselves), an image, or conceiving of your own, concerning that thing, and not that true knowledge and understanding of the thing which he alone can give? Oh! that all the chambers of imagery were thrown down in you, and every idol of the heart and mind discovered to you, and broken down by the light and power of the Lord; that ye might come to that which is pure and living, and by its purifying know the pure heart, the pure mind, the pure confcience, and offer up the pure perfect offering; not the lame, blind, imperfect, &c. which were not accepted (in the figure) under the law, nor acceptable under the gospel, Mal. i. 11. 13. and chap. iii. 3.

Friends, ye must know that which is pure from God, and ye must come into it (out of that which is impure, into that which is pure). Now that ye may do fo, ye muft know the purifying; for nothing that is impure, can enter into that which is pure. Yea, ye muft become priefts to God, and wear the priest's garment, the pure garment, the living garment, the fine linnen, without mixture of the woollen. Ye must be born of the innocency, be cloathed with the innocency. The ftony, hard, defperatelywicked heart must be taken away, and the tender heart of flesh received, the mind renewed to God, the fear put within (which cleanseth and keepeth clean), the law writ within, the Spirit of the Lord put in the inward parts, and felt powerfully operating and changing there. Yea, and the infide muft not only be clean, but the outfide alfo; for ye must be cloathed with the Spirit, cloathed with the Lamb's righteoufnefs and holiness; and thus ye must appear before the Lord in his temple, which is the beauty of

holinefs, whofe house holiness becomes for ever; where ye are never to appear in your own filthy rags, but in the nature, Spirit, righteousness, and life of Chrift. And thus ye are well-pleafing to God, even in that which is of God; being born of that, formed of that, found in that, appearing in that. But in his own, no man can be accepted, for it is determined of

God,

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