Selected quad for the lemma: evil_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
evil_n	good_a	know_v	knowledge_n	3,077	5	7.3450	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54075	The way of life and death made manifest and set before men whereby the many paths of death are impleaded, and the one path of life propounded and pleaded for in some positions concerning the apostacy from the Christian spirit and life, with some principles guiding out of it : as also in answers to some objections whereby the simplicity in some may be entangled : held forth in tender good will both Papists and Protestants who have generally erred from the faith for these many generations, since the dayes of the apostles, and with that which they have erred from are they comprehended / by Isac Pennington the younger.	Penington, Isaac, 1616-1679.; Fox, George, 1624-1691. Cause of all error.; Burrough, Edward, 1634-1662. Here follows the testimony concerning the estate of the true church.	1658 (1658)	Wing P1219; ESTC R14864	89,559	110

in this fear and this fear keeps the heart clean from the evil which defiles and preserves the love from the enmity which springs up where this fear is not Now this fear in the Apostacy was lost or else what needed there an especial ministry to be raised up to preach it again Rev. 14. 6. 7 And the estate of Christians every where doth manifest this loss for their hearts are not kept clean which sheweth that the fear which doth keep clean where it is is wanting in them There 's pollution there 's filth there 's deceit there 's high-mindedness self-conceitedness and love of the world and worldly vanities and many other evils to be found in the hearts of those that go for Christians and the purity of heart which comes from the fear and stands in the wisdom is not known They are wise to do evil but want the knowledge to avoid the evil and do the good They are wise to get and enjoy the world but know not the true riches They are wise to gather together many Scripture-words against sin and yet still keep the nature and life of it in the heart and it as a sweet morsel under the tongue They are wise to apply promises to comfort themselves with when sometimes they receive a just wound in their hearts from the righteous one but know not that nature or that estate and condition to which all the promises are made but are yet in that nature and in that estate and condition to which the curse appertains The true righeousnesse stands in the faith in hearing and obeying the word of faith How comes the righteousnesse of the law but by hearing and obeying the voice of the Law And how comes the righteousnesse of the Gospel but by hearing and obeying the word of faith who is preached and the Preacher of righteousnesse in the heart The Apostle Paul makes this comparison Rom. 10. The righteousnesse of the Law speaketh on this wise The man that doth those things shall live in them But how speaketh the word of faith The word is nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart he that doth that he that heareth that shall live in that The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voyce of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Disobedience to the Law is unrighteousnesse and brings death and disobedience to the living word is unrighteousnesse and cannot be justified but condemned and obedience to it cannot be condemned but justified So that when the soul hears believes and obeyes then it is justified then its former sins are forgotten and this is imputed to it unto righteousnesse But when the soul will not hear will not believe will not obey this unbelief is judged in him and his sins retained and not remitted Now is not this a just and equall way of justification O ye sons of men is not your way unequal shall a man continue in the unbelief and rebellion against Christ against the light against the faith and yet be justified by Christ by the light by the faith This cannot be Gods way of imputation will stand but mans invented way of imputation which sprung up in the Apostacy will not stand If we walk in the light as he is in the light the blood clenseth but not otherwise If we walk after the spirit and not after the flesh there is no condemnation and not otherwise The true Baptism is the plunging down of the old thing with all its filth and the raising up of a new thing and it is the new thing the circumcision the baptism which is justified God justifieth his Son and man onely so far as he is bound in his Son The true sanctification consists in the growth of the seed and its spreading like a leaven over the heart and over the whole man By faith Christ is formed in the heart the hidden man in the mistery is formed there and as this seed this leaven this man growes so he makes the man holy in whom he grows The seed of life the Kingdom of heaven is an holy thing and as it grows and spreads it purgeth out the old leaven and makes the lump new But now in Christians that have grown up in the Apostacy this seed is not known this leaven is not so much as discerned but their holinesse consists in a conformity to rules of Scripture received into the old heart and understanding And what a noise hath this made in the world all this night of the Apostacy as if this were the heir and should inherit the Kingdom Nay nay The heir hath appeared by whose presence it is seen that this is not the heir and ye shall not be able to kill him but he shall live to enjoy his inheritance and the inheritance shall not be yours Redemption consists in being bought by the price of the life out of sin out of death out of the earth out of the power of the devil It is a casting off the strong man out of the heart with all that he brought in and a delivering from his power It is a dissolving of the work of sin which the Devil hath wrought in the heart and a setting the soul which is immortal at liberty free from sin and free unto righteousnesse this is the true Redemption But this redemption in the Apostacy is a fained redemption wherein salvation from sin and the Devil and his power is not felt but the strong man is still in the heart and keeps the soul in death and brings forth fruits of death daily The Christians formerly in the first day of the breaking forth of Gods power had Christ in them the living word opened their hearts to him received him in felt him there sound him made of God to them their wisdom their righteousnesse their sanctification their redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. They had the thing that these words signifie and speak of and knew the meaning of the words by feeling of the thing But Christians now in the Apostacy have got several apprehensions from the words without feeling the thing the words speak of and ther lies their Religion And now the true heir being come holding forth the thing they have been all talking of all Sects upon the earth are mad against him and would fain kill him They would not have the living substance which is the heir live and nothing be esteemed life but that but they would have their dead apprehensions from the words live and their dead forms and practises owned and the heir of life must come in their way in the way that they have hoped and waited for him or they will not own him Awake awake O ye Sons of the Apostacy and of the night rise up out of the fleshly wisdom out of the dead fleshly interpretations of Scriptures out of the dead invented forms of worship and bow to the Heir kiss the Son lest ye feel the force of that dreadful sentence Those mine enemies

but much harm tending to the building up of that which God will again destroy But he that begins with the spirit of God giving himself up to that light which comes from him comes to true union with God and to the feeling of his life and so to a true growth and knowledg of the spirit of God whereby he comes to know and understand the Scriptures which came from the same spirit and hereby also he comes to be able to measure the deceit of his own Spirit which formerly led him aside and also to see and measure the spirits of deceivers But he that is in the deceit in the imagination out of the true knowledg he cannot know the deceit of his own spirit or the spirits of deceivers but cals the truth deceit and the deceit truth Object 4. That this light teaches things contrary to the Scriptures Answ That light which comes from the same spirit which the Scriptures came from cannot teach things contrary to the Scriptures But man who hath took the tools of his understanding and formed images and likenesses out of the Scriptures I mean invented meanings and senses and judged these agreeable to the Scriptures he must needs judge that which is contrary to these as contrary to the Scriptures whereas the truth is one in it self and agreeth with whatsoever is true in this age or in former ages and differs onely from that which is not true And we know that there is that true unity with that spirit from which the Scriptures came and with the Scriptures and with one another in that light which the wisdom of man cannot but despise as hath not been in any age since the Apostacy til now Object 5. That this sets up free-wil When persons are exhorted to embrace the light to let in the light and told that condemnation comes for not believing or receiving the light then they cry out can man believe can man receive the light hath man free-wil The wil of man is bound but there is liberty power and freedom in the light which visits man and comes to unbind and save him And man feels this power tasts of this liberty feels somewhat disengaging him from the evil and drawing him from it but he being in love with the evil draws back from the drawing shutting his ears against the wisdom of the light and opening his ears to the reasonings of the Serpent and then the liberty and power which was in the light withdraws with the light and the bonds are strengthned upon him And this is the condemnation not that there was a want of power from God but that he chose the power of the enemy not loving the light wherein the power of life lay God knows the state of man in the fall and knows the strength of the enemy and the Saviour that he sends hath sufficient power against him and the light that the Saviour sends is stronger then the darkness and can overcome the darkness and cannot be overcome by the darkness And if thou joyn with the darkness and wilt not yeeld to the drawings of the father but yeeld up thy self to the drawings and reasonings of the darkness yet the strength of the light remains in it self and though for the present thou hast struck it down and slain it yet it will rise up a strong and living witness against thee and the darkness to which thou hast joyned When a man goes from the light he goes into the wil voluntarily then take and choose in the flesh When a man follows the light the will of the flesh dyeth in him another wil riseth up and chooseth for him there is the true liberty But as for your speaking of free-wil ye do not know what ye speak of for the will with the freedom of it either stands in the image and power of him that made it or in a contrary image and power While it is in the image and power of him that made it it is free unto good and not to evil while it is in the image and power of him who corrupted it it is free unto evil and not to good The wil is not of it self but stands in another and is servant to that in whom it stands and there its freedom is bounded and comprehended For there is no middle state between both wherein the wil stands of it self and is free to both equally but it is a servant and under the command of one of these powers If it be under the command of sin of the power of darkness it is free from righteousness and if it be under the command and power of righteousness it is free from sin but such a free will as men commonly speak of is a meer imagination and hath no foundation in the true state of things And this may answer another objection which lies as a great block in the way of many who feel a conviction but are withheld from obedience under a pretence of wanting power whereas the power lies in that light which convinceth and is received in the obedience and in the cross As the power of the enemy crept in in hearkning to him So the power of truth is received in hearkning to and receiving the reproofs of truth That which checks the evil that which stands against the minde smiting it in its course of vanity and pleasure in the fallen state in that is the power That comes from the power goes forth in the power and the power is in it and cannot be severed from it So he that lets that in le ts in the power and he that shuts that out shuts out the power And in this state a man may complain all his dayes for want of power and not meet with it for how can he when he refuses it in the way wherein the power seeks him and waits for it in a way wherein it is not to be found The appearance of the power at first is smal and contemptible to the eye of the fleshly wisdom and it is not received in any such great overpowring way though that also is known afterward as man is apt to expect but all lies in one little seed where the day of smal things is known The light the life the power the purity the wisdom c. lies hid there and in receiving that little thing all is received and in the groweth of that all grows up But by being tempted by the enemy to neglect this and wait for some great power and appearance of God the soul is held in the bonds of iniquity and kept from the life as strongly as by the grossest form Object 6. That this sets up a covenant of works for a man is bid to do bid to obey the light and when he does when he obeys he has peace and when he obeys not he has not peace Answ This sets not up the works of the Law but it leads through the works of the Law to the righteousness of faith When the commandement came sin revived

Object But hath there been no true Religion since the daies of the Apostes no true rule no true worship no true faith no true love no true hope joy or peace no true repentance conversion regeneration no true wisdom righteousnes sanctification and redemption no true Church no true Ministry What hath become of all our fore-fathers did they all perish And hath not this ministry converted many to God were not yee your selves converted by it Nay have not many of them been Martyrs and witnessed to the truth of God And though some of them are bad yet are not many of them zealous and conscientious Preachers of the Word at this day By such reasonings as these the wisdom of man much strengthens and hardens it selfe against the truth Answ The rule in Nations the worship in Nations the faith love hope joy peace repentance conversion regeneration c. which have been cried up in Nations for the truth the Churches in Nations the Ministry in Nations all these have been corrupted and never recovered their true state to this day There have been changes from one thing to another but the restauration hath not been known The whorish spirit hath been hunted puriued and so run out of one form into another traversing her way and changing her ground and garments but hath not been taken and judged to the death and the true spirit hath not been able to find the bed of her husband but hath wandered from mountain to hil all the time of this cloudy and dark day forgetting her resting place Yet though the whole earth was corrupted and false doctrine and worship set up every where among the Nations which continued the fornication and whoredom from the spirit of life in the publick wayes and national worships notwithstanding this even all this while God reserved a seed to himselfe which he caused to spring up in a remnant and which he moved and carried on to witnesse against somewhat of these corruptions in their several ages and generations And as fast as the beast killed and knocked down these God raised up more yea though the whorish spirit in some Nations painted her self curioussy leaving some of the grosse Doctrines and Worships of Popery and got into a more refined way yet God raised up witnesses against her there also and still doth into what form soever she gets for though of late she hath decked her self very pleasingly as she think and covered her selfe round with scripture-words and professions and practises as like as ever she can form them to the practises of former Saints yet quick and lively is the spirit of God that searcheth after her who hath found her out and raised up witnesses against her there also Now this seed this remnant though they were not able to recover the possession of the life and power that was lost yet they had a true taste of it and their testimony which they gave out from that taste was true and so far as they kept to this testimony in the faith and in the patience which they had learned and received from God though but in a low measure they were accepted of him So that all were not lost in this night of darkness but such as feared God and knew and hearkned to his voice had the testimony of his presence with them and tasted of his life and power in measure God was not an hard master to them but tender and gentle and contented to reap what he sowed But the appearance of God in this dark time was weak and low and easie to be made a prey of And this is very observable that so long as the simplicity ran pure it was preserved but so soon as ever the spirit of man was tempted either into any old or into any new invented form the wisdom of the flesh got in with it grew up more than it and when it had gathered strength corrupted the vessel betrayed the simplicity and lost the life Thus many pretious beginnings and buddings forth of life have been betrayed in these late daies There was a pretious thing stirring in Queen Maries dayes the life whereof was more hurt and suppressed by that dead form of Episcopacy succeeding afterwards then by the foregoing persecution The persecution did clear and brighten it but the fleshly form of Episcopacy brought death over it And the forms of Presbytery Independency Anabaptism have been little lesse then graves to bury and keep down the life How many spirits that had a precious savour in them at their entrance into those forms did soon become fleshly earthly and very unsavory loosing the quicknesse and freshness that was in them before and falling into the deadness of the form withering with it And as touching the Ministry though in it self it was evill being in the degeneration from the true Ministry all this time of the Apostacy and the persons therein for the most very corrupt being brought up to it as to a trade and making use of it as a trade yet I do believe that there was a simplicity of heart in some persons among them which did cause them in some degree of faithfulnesse to seek the Lord his service and the good of souls And in the time of ignorance and darkness it pleased God to wink at and over-look the evill and to cause good to passe from the good in them to the good in others through the evil that hung about both And this was the great tenderness of the Lord in pitty to his poor creatures who were very destitute to help in the thick night of darkness and should not now be made use of to justifie and keep up the evil Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unkind Because his mercy and goodness extended to you notwithstanding the evil which might have hindered will ye make that an argument to keep up the evill and to oppose the light which discovers it Because God causeth light to shine through the darkness and visiteth man in the dark wil ye therfore set up the darkness as his proper way of ministration The corrupt way call and exercise of the corrupt ministry could not keep out the tender love of God but he had respect to the simplicity of some who were found in it and to the simplicity of others who waited on him for instruction there and did please to give some answer to both And will ye make this uningenious use of it to interpret it as his approbation of that ministry which sprung up in the Apostacy from him among those that were apostatised and is a great dishonour to him and the abhorring of his soul A ministry of Christ a ministry set up by his spirit is precious but a ministry made by man according to his will and ministring in his wisdom the soul of the Lord beareth as a burthen and is pressed with it and as he raiseth up his own life wil ease himself of it And what do they minister from but the literal

stirrings of the spirit of God And this is the best way for man in this state to know them by That which discovers that which is evill that is good that which discovers that which is spiritually evill that must needs be spiritually good for evll is darkness and cannot make it self manifest That which discovers that which is undoubtedly pure and inclines to it that must needs be of God Now to know this and be joyned unto it is a joyning of the creature unto God by some what of him that comes from his spirit and so is a true beginning of life eternal 7. That whereby the spirit of God convinceth of sin is his light shining in the conscience Fallen man is darkness The light shines in the darkness and shews man the evill which otherwise would ly covered in him Man fel from God lost the image of God and became wholly darkness but the spirit of God is light and shines in the darkness and strives with man to reduce him back again to that light from which he fel. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God c. 2. Cor. 4. 6. Where did the Apostles and Christians in those dayes meet with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in Christ God shined it in their hearts He that made the light to shine out of the dark deep Genes 1. 2. by his spirit he by the same spirit made the light of the knowledge of life shine in their dark hearts and there it is also that the work of conviction is wrought by the same spirit He that perfects the good work in the heart the same is he that begins it there and his beginning is by reproving and convincing of sin and so turning the heart from it unto God and unto the obedience of that righteousness which he makes manifest And he that meeteth not with the spirit in the beginning of his work or slinketh back and goeth not on with him but smothereth his reproofes not forbearing that or parting with that for which he is reproved is never like to meet with him in the end And then it will be too late for him to blame that Religion wherein there was only a dead form but not the living power of God He that will come to life eternal must be translated out of his dead understanding and all his dead wayes and worships which please that understanding into a living principle and keep in that principle and then he shall know life indeed and the true food of that life and the true worship and service from that life and the reward belonging to all 8. That this light convincing of sin shineth in every conscience He hath shewed thee O man what is good Micah 6. 8. The life which was in Christ was the light of men Joh. 1. 4. Christ is the light of the World Joh. 8. 12. God as he loved the World so he manifested his love to the World by sending his light into it to enlighten every man that cometh into the World that with the light they might see his Son and as many as receive him to them he gives power to become the Sons of God As God would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth So he hath given that light to all which may bring to the knowledge of the truth which saveth He is the true light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the World Joh. 1. 9. The grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men c. As the enemy got possession of every mans heart by filling it with darkness so Christ pursueth and seeketh to dispossess the enemy by the light which he sendeth after him into every man And this is the condemnation of man not that he wants a light to witness against and draw him from the enemy but that he loves the enemy and chuseth to be one with the enemy but hates the light and turns from it Joh. 3. 10. 20. He hearkens to the reasonings of his minde against the light and so smothers and choaks it but does not turn to the light to have all the reasonings and strength of his minde subdued by it and subjected to it 9. The true way to life eternal is by believing in the light of the spirit which shineth in the conscience Man is in darkness which keeps him in death and there is no way to come out of the death but by coming out of the darkness and there is no way to come out of the darkness but by following that light which discovers it and cals forth from it And he that doth follow that cannot remain in the darkness but must needs come out There is an evil principle in man calling for evil and there is a good principle calling from the evil to the good Now he that follows the good cannot follow the evil but departs from it I am the light of the World saith Christ he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life Joh. 8. 12. But this is that which undoes man he loves the darkness he loves the world the course of the world the worships of the world He loves his own understanding and his own will and so hates that light which crosseth these which teach would him by the denial of them to crucify that nature from whence they spring and to which they are sutable And from hence it comes to pass the love to sin within being strong and Satan the strong man keeping the house that the motions of Gods spirit are easily overborn either by reasonings of the understanding or by perversnes of the will But if man durst trust himself to them he would quickly finde of what nature they were by the strong opposition of the strong man against them It is indeed a strait and narrow way into which no flesh can enter and walk And yet it is the only way for there is no life in God no peace with God while the enemy lives in the heart But when the light is received and turned to then the power begins to work which slayes the enemy in the heart and that being done there is no more war but peace Then the true peace which passeth understanding fills and refreshes the heart where as the peace which was in the soul before was but the peace of the enemy and will abide no longer then the enemy is suffered to keep possession quietly 10. That believing in the light of the Spirit which shines in the conscience unites the soul to God and opens the springs of life to it Belief in darkness which is unbelief towards God disunited the soul and closed up the springs of life from it belief in the light which is sent to lead from the darkness unites again and opens the springs again God is light he dwels in the

gown up to age and able to defend his portion from his elder Brother who otherwise would be ready to seize on it and waste it upon harlots again Therefore lie stil and bear the indignation of the Lord against that which hath transgressed til he judg it and deliver from it and lead into the innocency and righteousness and then he wil find a time to arise and plead the cause of the innocent and give the crown of immortal life to that which he hath prepared for it Therefore think not the race long nor the battel hard nor be weary of the afflictions and chastisements in the way but follow the Captain the guid the leader whose light strength courage and wisdom wil overcome all and bring the soul which abides in it into his own throne Now as you thus wait taking up the Cross and keeping in the feeling so the corrupt natural the mortal wherein Satans throne and power hath been wil wither decay and grow weak daily and the tender plant of God the immortal seed will shoot up and gather strength daily and you will come to a will in God and an understanding in God and that which is of God wil manifest it self and you wil come to know and desire and take delight in the things of God Then the soul which is immortal wil come to hear and receive and feed on the immortal word which is the bread of life and which alone is able to preserve and nourish up to eternal life Then ye wil know what it is to tremble at this word and to have all the powers of nature melt and fail before it Then ye will know the faith which gives the victory and the knowledg which lets into life and the fear which keeps the hearts clean and the hope which anchors the soul immortal in the immortal God and the patience which wins the Crown And so ye wil come to witness the several conditions of the Saints in Scripture at ye grow up into them wil not need men to give you meanings of Scriptures from their brain-studies and acquired arts and understandings but wil know the meaning from the thing felt in your own hearts and hear the words from the living voice of that spirit that first spake them who alone is able to interpret his own mind and open the words which he himself spake And then ye wil know and love life and need no more exhortations to depart from all dead corrupted and corrupting forms which ever were and ever wil be enemies to and be traytors of the life And to the peace of God the rest of God the true Sabbath of God the everlasting light and life of God wil come to be your own and enjoyed by you past all gain-saying or dispute in you while the natural understanding in others is reasoning contending and disputing about them but can never know while they are from the thing within for that mind is not the heir nor must not inherit the kingdom of God A Postscript TO those who have had a seriousness and depth in their Religion who could not sit down in empty forms and shadows of things but have been pressing after the living substance and missing of that through error of judgment the true eye being not fixed in the head have come to a loss and so are returned to overgrown with and hardned in the old nature and have taken up a pittiful rest and centre in the earth having let fal the pursuit of their spirits after the true center of rest in the life a word to such from the love in the life There was a spirit soul or image of God brought forth and standing in his life before the fall This soul was brought into death under the burthen and bondage of corruption out of its proper centre and resting place by the fal Now as there is in this state a true loss so there is in this spirit a sensibleness a groaning under the burthen a feeling the bitterness of the captivity and a panting after redemption and restoration to its former state Now though the whorish part which seduced from the life make a great noise in the flesh about Saints words and tempt to pleasures of the outward part and pleasures in the mind and draw into forms and religious worships and frame deep centres of satisfaction in the understanding perhaps from true openings of the life quenching it and so seek to quiet the soul and stil the cry yet the lost state remaining the soul being not truely redeemed but a false rest taken up by the way in the false part this wil fail and the sense be again renewed in the day of tryal and sore trouble For the soul by any imagination or notion or feeling of a centre in the corrupt mind cannot be healed or restored but onely by having the true life raised up again in it and it brought into its proper place and mansion in the fountain of life There have been in the shakings of this Nation great stirrings the seed springing up and great openings to the seed the spirit of prophesy hath been enlarged in us above what many of our fore-fathers felt but the way into the spring of life hath not been known where the preservation is so the whorish part the corrupt part the understanding which was not purified brought into subjection unto the truth this harlot caught the openings and prophestes of the true spirit conceived with them and brought forth children to the flesh bringing for a more inward apprehension of things a more spiritual kind of knowledg as of God to be all all to be good and in God and all sin and evil done away there c. and so such a centre for the fleshly mind as it were in him as was not known before And now the redemption is forgotten the pantings after life slain and the flesh can lie down quiet in the un-redeemed estate and say it is his wil it is good and it can rest satisfied there in that wil of his which is good Thus the great abomination from the subtle flesh sprung up which made many hearts desolate of very precious springings up and buddings forth of the true life and power of God But after this great loss and betraying of the life in them it hath pleased God to raise it up in others and to discover the hammer the sword the fire which can knock down cut down burn up this whorish part and thither the whore is brought when she comes to betray again and the springings up of life shrink back and lie safe in the centre while the whore is burning And as the whore is burnt the heir comes up and the Spirit which is the portion of his inheritance descends and rests upon him and by this he is known and that which is in union with him knows him Therefore if you will live come to that hammer that sword that fire which flesh dreads and let the flesh