O R,

TRUTH nakedly manifefting itself,

In SEVERAL PARTICULARS,

For the Removing of Hindrances out of the Way of the SIMPLE-HEARTED,

THAT THEY MAY

Come to true Knowledge, Life, Liberty, Peace, and Joy in the LORD, through the Virtue and Power of his precious Truth revealed and working in them.

Given forth by Way of

QUESTION and ANSWER.

Whereunto are added,.

Some EXPERIENCES, with fome SCRIPTURES, very fweet, and necessary to be experienced in the Gospel-State.

A S ALSO,

A few Words concerning the TRUE CHRIST;

AND

A few Words in the Bowels of tender Love and Good-will to my NATIVE COUNTRY.

By a long Mourner and Traveller after, but at length an happy Experiencer of, the Truth, as it is in JESUS,.

ISAAC

PENING TON.

Blessed are the eyes which fee the things that ye fee. LUKE X. 233

THE

PREFACE.

TRU

RUE knowledge and true experience, especially cencerning things of neceffity, and great concern to the foul, is very precious. As; to know the true foundation, the corner-ftone, which God lays in his fpiritual Sion; and the heavenly Jerufalem, which is the mother of all that are born of God; and the gathering out of the fpirit of this world (with the vanity and falfhood thereof) into God's Spirit, which is truth and no lye; and the building up of the holy temple, in which God appears, and is worshipped; and the heavenly communion with the Father and Son, in the one pure light which fhines from them into the heart; and the one faith, the one circumcifion, the one baptism, the one holy mountain, the one feast of fat things made thereon; the one water of life, the one bread, the one cup of falvation, &c.

Now the things of the kingdom are all at the difpofal of the king thereof. To him all power is given, in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; he hath life in himself, and he hath life to difpofe of, and dispense to his. He gives the true knowledge, which is life eternal; he gives repentance, and remiffion of fins. He teacheth to believe in the Father, and he giveth faith alfo. He is the Shepherd of the fheep, who by his voice quickeneth, and maketh alive, and leadeth, and preferveth, and nourisheth up to life eternal. Therefore, whoever will understand aright, must receive understanding from him; and whoever will repent aright, must receive repentance from him; and whoever will believe aright, muft receive faith from him; and whoever will hear and fee aright, must receive an ear and eye from him; and whoever will come unto him, and receive him, muft witness that new heart forming or formed in him, wherewith and whereby he is received. Men greatly mistake and err about the gofpel knowledge and religion, by beginning therein without the gospelSpirit and power.

There

Therefore that man that would not be deceived, and lofe his foul for ever, let him take heed how he begins, how he ftands, and how he proceeds in his religion. The Jews ftood in the revelation of God's Spirit and power outwardly; and the ftate of the Chriftians, the new-covenant state, ftands in the revelation of God's Spirit and power inwardly for none can beget a new-birth to God inwardly, but his own Spirit and power working inwardly in the heart. *

Therefore, thou that wouldst live with God for ever, and not perish from the presence and glory of his power, mind these three things:

First, God's inward vifiting thee, and making a real change in thee. I do not mean a change in thy mind from one notion to another; but a change in thy heart from one nature and spirit to another. This is the great work, which nothing but the mighty power of God, which raised Jesus from the dead, can effect in the hearts of the children of men. Now that this may be wrought out in thee, wait for the appearing and working of that power, which (by its appearing and working) doth effect it daily more and more in those that unite to it, and give up to its operations. Oh! wait to feel the power begetting fomewhat of its own nature in thee, leavening thee into its nature by the pure heavenly leaven wherewith God waits to leaven thy heart! Thus feel thy beginning from the true root, from the holy principle, from the feed of the kingdom; and then wait to feel that grow up in thee, and to grow up therefrom, that as the beginning is pure, fo the growth may be pure alfo. For after God hath vifited thee, and begotten fomewhat in thee, and leavened thee in fome measure, so that there is true life, true sense, true hungerings, true breathings after the Lord and his righteousness, after the fountain of living waters, then (in the next place) mind and wait to learn of the true teacher how to come to the true waters, that thou mayeft drink thereof, and of no dirty puddle, of thy own or any other's forming. Where are these waters difpenfed, and where are they to be found? Why in the new covenant, which God makes with the hungry and thirsty fouls, as they come to the Shepherd, and hear his voice, and learn of him, and follow him. Therefore thou must wait to diftinguish spirits, and the knocks of spirits in thy own heart. Thou must know when the Shepherd knocks, and when the stranger knocks; and let in the Shepherd when he knocks, and not let in the ftranger when he knocks. Thus, by knowing him, inclining thine ear to him, and hearing his voice, thou comeft to have the everlasting covenant made with thy foul, even the fure mercies of David, wherein the union with God is fure, the teacher fure, never more to be removed from thee; the fear which God puts into the heart fure; the law of the new life fure, being fo written in thy heart by the finger of God's Spirit as none can blot out; the love of God fure, his preservation fure, the inheritance of life fure. O fweet covenant! O holy covenant! O bleffed covenant! and bleffed are all thofe fouls with

whom

whom God makes this covenant, and who are kept by him in the fenfe and enjoyment of it!

Now, laftly, after God hath made this covenant with thee, and spoken peace to thee, and given thee of the power, righteoufnefs, and joy of the kingdom, and fet the holy hedge of his power and wall of falvation about thee, thou must take heed of going forth after any luft, after any defire of the flesh, after any temptation of the enemy; thou must keep within the holy limits, and not touch any dead or unclean thing, left thou be defiled, and fo in degree feparated from him who is pure.

The occafion of what follows was briefly thus:

There was a controverfy between me and another about many of these things, towards whom my love was in a travail; and having a fenfe on my heart that the enemy makes ufe of the wrong apprehenfions and mistakes he begets in mens minds about these things, contrary to the true knowledge and experience which God giveth to the children which are born of the heavenly womb, who indeed alone can rightly plead for and justify their mother, in this day of great ftrife and contention about the kingdom, and the right heir thereof; I fay, having this fenfe on my heart,and these things naturally springing up and opening in me upon this occafion, I was drawn in love, and in the motion of life, thus to give them forth to others, hopeing that the Lord may thereby open the minds of fome towards, and confirm the minds of others in, the fenfe and belief of the truth, and the inward manifestation of his Spirit, which discovers and strives against the darkness, lufts, and corruptions in them. The Lord give people the sense of the ftrivings and reproofs of his Holy Spirit inwardly in their hearts, and join their fpirits thereto, that they may receive light, life, virtue, and ftrength from his Holy Spirit, and thereby witness, the overcoming and keeping under the enemy of their fouls, that they may know what it is to have the feed of the woman, bruise the ferpent's head in their own particulars, that fo the holy child Jefus may be exalted (his horn exalted in them) and he may reign, and exercise his government in them, and they may become kings and priests to God, and reign in him over all that his power is ordained to break and keep under, yea, utterly confume and deftroy, in the hearts of those that fubmit themfelves willingly to him, and walk in the light and leadings of his Holy Spirit. Amen.

NAKED

NAKED TRUTH.

Given forth by Way of

QUESTION and ANSWER.

I. Concerning understanding the Holy Scriptures truly and aright. Quest.

HETHER the Scriptures can be understood aright, without the light of God's Holy Spirit fhining inwardly in the heart, and giving the true understanding of them?

Anfw. No, not poffibly. For as the outward eye cannot poffibly fee without the fhining of fome outward light, no more can the inward eye fee without the shining of the inward light. God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, caufeth the light of his Spirit to fhine in the hearts of people according to his holy pleasure, and thereby they come to fee. God feeth all things in his own light, in the light of his pure eternal Spirit; and in his light do the children of light fee light. The things of God's kingdom are holy mysteries, and the words which he speaks concerning those holy myfteries none can understand, but as he pleaseth to open and reveal them. He hath given us an understanding to know him that is true, i John v. 20. The infpiration of the Almighty giveth understanding, (Job xxxii. 8.) without which, man is dead, and can neither hear, nor fee, nor understand any of the things of God's kingdom.

II. Concerning the illuminating Spirit, and fanctifying Spirit.

Queft. Whether the illuminating and fanelifying Spirit be one and the fame Spirit or no? because it is affirmed by fome (and written by one to me as a found diftinction of divines, which diftinction be faith he hath a mind I should learn) that there is a Spirit of fanctification, and that is peculiar to the godly; and VOL. II.

D d

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