Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n
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A42158
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Light from the sun of righteousness discovering and expelling darkness, or, The doctrine and some of the corrupt principles of the people called Quakers briefly and plainly laid open and refuted ... / by H.G.
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G. H.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing G2022; ESTC R31734
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42,467
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every one of you for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost c. I shall only mention one passage more upon this account and that is concerning the Preaching of Paul and Silas to the trembling Jaylor who thought the Prisoners had been fled Sirs said he What must I do to be saved Acts 16. 30. they forthwith direct him what he should do but not to turn to the Light within but to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that was the Doctrine these true Ministers and Servants of God preached to this poor Jaylor and those that were in his house the way to be saved is not to do this and thou shalt live or be obedient to the Law or Light in thy heart but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ roul thy Soul upon him apply the virtue of his Blood and Merits and obtain through precious Faith his perfect and compleat Righteousness and thou shalt be saved And thus you may clearly perceive That these Preachers of and to the Light in all do publish to the World such a Doctrine and give such counsel and directions to poor Sinners that never was preached by the Prophets John Baptist Christ nor his Apostles That God in Man hath placed a Light or given a Guide within to lead all men to eternal life and that alone men are to turn to and look to that for Life and Salvation and that no other means rule or guide man doth need or ought to have respect unto or look after Object To this I know some of your judgment have replyed That the drift and tendency of all the Teachings and Directions of the holy Men of God Christ and the Apostles was to turn People from Darkness to the Light to the knowledge of God and Christ which is Spiritual and therefore within For What may be known of God is manifest within Rom. 1. And Paul said God who commanded the Light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts c. 2 Cor. 4. Answ To this we Answer First by Concession Who doth deny that holy Men did in all their preaching endeavour to turn men anâ— women from darkness to the light to leave their sins to turn from all their wicked abominations and unfruitful works of darkness and to turn to God and Christ and to imbrace the Gospel But was this God Christ and Gospel hid in their hearts or do those Scriptures hold forth that the Apostles did send them thither to find the will and mind of God did they bid them look within for therein the Controversie doth consist Because those who are truly converted have the Spirit of Christ in them and so come to see and behold the shining forth of the glorious Light of the Gospel in their hearts doth it follow that that Light was hid in them before or that the saving Light of Christ is in the hearts of carnal and unconverted men or because 't is said they turned to the Light do you suppose it must needs intend and signifie the Light within which you speak of I know not why you should so conclude unless there was no other Light to turn unto but what is in the heart of Men. Alas before God sent the Gospel and commanded the Light to shine into their hearts they were in darkness and without God in the World But whereas it is objected Rom. 1. What may be known of God is manifest in Men. The Apostle speaks there of the knowledge of God as Creator and what is required by God according to the Law of the first Covenant what may be known of God upon this account is mamifest in them by the visible things of the Creation and Light of their Consciences or Law which God hath implanted in their hearts Who having not the Law are a Law unto themselves shewing saith he the works of the Law written in their hearts c. and thus men who are in the night of Darkness of Heathenism and Unbelief void utterly of the saving knowledge of the Gospel and of a crucified Jesus may have the Law or Light of the Moon to guide their paths by which they are taught their Duty to God in Morals but understand nothing of that glorious Mystery of the Gospel of God's intent and eternal purpose in saving poor lost Man by the blood of Jesus Christ which by the Sun or glorious Ministration of the Gospel is revealed to us For I ask you or any amongst you this Question Whether that whatsoever may be known of our Lord Jesus Christ or of a crucified Jesus that died without the Gates of Jerusalem is taught unto Heathens and Infidels that never heard the sound of the Gospel by the Light within of which you speak which if not then whatsoever may be known of God in Christ is not manifested in them And this I further do affirm That there is none amongst you nor in the World that can make appear that ever any Heathen Ethiopian or Infidel in any remote parts that never heard the Scripture nor any man speak of it to him that had no extraordinary Miracles or Revelation that ever did attain meerly by that Light within which all men have to the knowledge of one Jesus of Nazareth that was Crucified without the gates of Jerusalem where lived that Heathen Moor or Infidel I say that meerly by the help and guidance of that Light within which came to find out so much as the Name or historical knowledge of a crucified Jesus I have heard what some persons have affirmed viz. That they should have known all that they now know of Jesus Christ and what he did and suffered if the Scripture never had been written how to believe them I know not But I shall only ask this one Question of such and shall pass on viz. What things and other Signs were those which Jesus did that are not written See Joh. 20. 30. and Chap. 21. 25. If you say you know not or 't is not revealed to you So in like manner I say you would have been as ignorant of all those things concerning Christ and his Sufferings which are written if you never had had the knowledge of the holy Scripture notwithstanding the Light within In the next place you say Assuredly that Prophet which Moses said God would raise up whom we must hear in all things he preaches in our hearts and we know his voice and follow him Answ Christ may speak by his Spirit I do grant in the heart of a Saint as well as he doth by the written Word yet never contrary to it but I do deny That the Light which is in all men is that great Prophet which Moses said God would raise up as you seem to imagine Because it is expresly said by Moses That the Prophet which God would raise up should be raised up of their Brethren and also like saith he unto me Acts 3. 22. Now how can this be said of the Light in all
Light which reproves for sin and believe in it and it will certainly take away my sins and therefore you caution me not to open my mouth at any time against the true Light which lightneth every man that cometh into the world O my Sister how doth it grieve me to think how blind and deceived thou art to believe that the Light which is in all men even in the natural hearts of Heathens and Infidels is the true Christ and Saviour of the World and that there is not another nor need of another and that men ought to hearken to it as that which doth not only reprove for sin and so condemn but is also able of it self to cleanse from sin save and redeem them who walk up to it without respect to the glorious Redemption purchased by another viz. Jesus of Nazareth Now how false this is may appear to thee by what followeth for though I do not deny but really believe and alwayes did that the Lord Jesus as the Eternal Word and Creator of the World hath given Light or enlightneth all Men and Women that come into the World yet do I utterly deny that this Light which all men have from the glorious Creator is the true Saviour or is a saving Light and the alone and only Teacher which thou seemest to affirm The Light which is in the hearts of all men Paul sheweth clearly is but the substance of the Law of the first Covenant God hath given man a Spirit or formed a Spirit in him Zach. 12. 1. which is called the Candle of the Lord by the means of which Law Candle or Conscience in Man and help of the visible Creation mankind may come to understand there is a God and it will teach them also their Duty in some respects as he is their Creator and they his Creatures and convince them of divers sins and teach them to do unto all men as they themselves would be done unto If Heathens and wicked men do mind and follow the light of this Candle or the Teachings of their own Conscience they would notwithstanding they are void of the saving knowledge of the true Saviour shine forth in the Principles of Morality or just living between man and man as I do judge many of the Quakers do civil honesty being the greatest glory of the best of those of that Religion if I may call it so Now you with others judge because that this Light doth convince of sin and shews man his evil thoughts it will also cleanse and take away his sins and eternally save his Soul it being a Light flowing from Christ you judge it cannot be weak nor insufficient in any respects whatsoever Which is my Sister your great ignorance Did you instead of hearkning to these Seducers with care and diligence search the Scriptures you would find that that holy Law which God gave to Israel which was written and ingraved in two Tables of Stone was a Light and precious Law flowing from God and a more glorious Ministration than this which is in every man or else what advantage had the Jews above the Gentiles Rom. 3. 1 2. That Law dear Sister was a Light of Christ and did convince of Sin more clearly than the Light doth which is in every man yet the Apostle sheweth plainly Gal. 2. it would not give life nor take away sin For what the Law could not do saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 3. in that it was weak through the Flesh God sent his own Son c. This Doctrine of yours concerning the Light within brings in again and seems plainly to establish the Covenant of Works Do this and live be obedient to the Law or Light in the heart and thou shalt be saved This agrees with the expressions of one of your Teachers and he no mean one neither speaking of Rom. 2. 13. Not the Hearers of the Law are just before God but the Doers of the Law shall be justified From whence saith * See Pen's Sandy Foundation shaken Page 26. he how unanswerably may I observe that unless we become doers of that Law which Christ came not to destroy but as our Example to fulfil we can never be justified before God nor let any fancy that Christ hath so fulfilled it for them as to exclude their Obedience from being requisite to their acceptance but only as their Pattern We do not say Christ fulfilled the Law so as to exclude our obedience yet was his Obedience and Suffering Meritorious and more than a Pattern or Exemplary Doth not this Doctrine of yours make void the Righteousness which is of Faith which speaks on this wise Believe and thou shalt be saved By the deeds of the Law shall no Flesh be justified The Law and Light in all which is one in substance gives man the knowledge of his sins it convances him that he is a sinner but leaves him like the Priest and Levite in his blood and wounds without any help or healing until the Lord Jesus that good Samaritan takes compassion on him for we are justified freely by God's Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ Rom. 3. 24. Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness mark for the Remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God vers 25. We grant and believe that holiness and obedience is required and they are the effects and fruits of saving Faith but it is not our obedience nor holiness which doth redeem us or is the meritorious efficient and procuring cause of our Salvation and acceptation with God muchless our obedience to the Law or Light in our Consciences as those of your mind affirm Oh! take heed therefore and beware of that poysonous Doctrine the tenor of which clearly holdeth forth That Jesus Christ our Saviour and Mediatour died in vain For I pray consider If by works of Righteousness done in our own persons by walking up to the Law or Light within we may be led out of all sin cleansed from it and eternally saved what need was there then of the Man Christ Jesus to fulfil the Righteousness of the Law and to shed his precious Blood to atone and make peace and appease the wrath of God for us May I not say with Paul Gal. 2. 21. If Righteousness came by the Law Christ is dead in vain The Jews as I shewed you before had the advantage of the Gentiles every way Rom. 3 1 2. they had more light than the Heathen Gentiles had having the Oracles of God committed to them yet it left them in their sins and under Wrath and the Curse that Law nor the Light which is in every man that cometh into the World cannot give life For if there had been a Law given which could have given life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law Gal. 3. 21. Therefore all such whether Jews or Gentiles who seek for Righteousness and Acceptance with God through their