Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	command_v	light_n	shine_v	3,772	5	9.8711	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53720	Pneumatologia, or, A discourse concerning the Holy Spirit wherein an account is given of his name, nature, personality, dispensation, operations, and effects : his whole work in the old and new creation is explained, the doctrine concering it vindicated from oppositions and reproaches : the nature also and necessity of Gospel-holiness the difference between grace and morality, or a spiritual life unto God in evangelical obedience and a course of moral vertues, are stated and declared / by John Owen ...	Owen, John, 1616-1683.	1676 (1676)	Wing O793; ESTC R16093	721,250	620

the Apostle when he sent him to Preach the Gospel was to open the Eyes of Men and to turn them from Darkness to Light Acts 26. 18. not a Light within them for Internal Light is the Eye or seeing of the Soul But the Darkness was such as consisted in their blindness in not having their eyes open To open their Eyes and turn them from Darkness Ephes. 5. 8. Ye were sometimes Darkness but now are ye Light in the Lord. What is the Change and Alteration made in the Minds of Men intended in this Expression will afterwards appear But that a great Change is proposed none can doubt Col. 1. 13. Who hath delivered us from the Power of Darkness as also 1 Pet. 2. 9. Who hath called us out of Darkness into his marvelous Light And the Darkness which is in these Testimonies ascribed unto Persons in an unregenerate Condition is by Paul compared to that which was at the beginning before the Creation of Light Gen. 1. 2. Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep There was no Creature that had a Visive Faculty there was Darkness Subjectively in all and there was no Light to see by but all was objectively wrapt up in Darkness In this state of things God by an Almighty Act of his Power created Light vers 3. God said Let there be Light and there was Light And no otherwise is it in this new Creation God who commanded then Light to shine out of Darkness shines into the Hearts of Men to give them the knowledg of his Glory in the Face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4. 6. Spiritual Darkness is in and upon all Men until God by an Almighty and Effectual Work of the Spirit shine into them or Create Light in them And this Darkness is that Light within which some boast to be in themselves and others Sect. 7 To clear our way in this Matter we must consider first the Nature of this Spiritual Darkness what it is and wherein it doth consist and then secondly shew its Efficacy and Power in and on the Minds of Men and how they are corrupted by it First The Term of Darkness in this case is Metaphorical and borrowed from that which is Natural What Natural Darkness is and wherein it consists all Men know if they know it not in its Cause and Reason yet they know it by its Effects They know it is that which hinders Men from all Regular Operations which are to be guided by the outward Senses And it is two-fold 1. When Men have not Light to see by or when the usual Light the only external Medium for the discovery of distant Objects is taken from them So was it with the Egyptians during the three dayes darkness that was on their Land They could not see for want of Light they had their Visive Faculty continued unto them yet having no Light they saw not one another nor arose any from his place Exod. 10. 23. For God probably to augment the terror of his Judgment restrained the vertue of Artificial Light as well as he did that which was Natural 2. There is Darkness unto Men when they are blind either born so or made so Psal. 69. 29. Let their Eyes be darkned that they may not see So the Angel smote the Sodomites with blindness Gen. 19. 11. and Paul the Sorcerer Acts 13. 11. However the Sun shineth it is all one perpetual Night unto them that are blind Sect. 8 Answerable hereunto Spiritual Darkness may be referred unto two Heads For there is an Objective Darkness a Darkness that is on Men and a Subjective Darkness a Darkness that is in them The first consists in the want of those Means whereby alone they may be enlightned in the Knowledg of God and Spiritual Things This is intended Mat. 4. 16. This Means is the Word of God and the preaching of it Hence it is called a Light Psal. 119. 105. and is said to give Light Psal. 19. 8. or to be a Light shining in a dark place 2 Pet. 1. 19. And it is so termed because it is the outward Means of Communicating the Light of the Knowledg of God unto the Minds of Men. What the Sun is unto the World as unto things natural that is the Word and the Preaching of it unto Men as to Things Spiritual And hence our Apostle applies what is said of the Sun in the Firmament as to the enlightning of the World Psal. 19. 1 2 3 4. unto the Gospel and the Preaching of it Rom. 10. 15 18. Sect. 9 And this Darkness is upon many in the World even all unto whom the Gospel is not declared or by whom it is not received where it is or hath been so Some I know have entertained a vain Imagination about a Saving-Revelation of the Knowledg of God by the Works of Creation and Providence objected to the Rational Faculties of the Minds of Men. It is not my purpose here to divert unto the confutation of that Fancy Were it so it were easie to demonstrate that there is no Saving Revelation of the Knowledg of God unto Sinners but as he is in Christ reconciling the World unto himself and that so he is not made known but by the Word of Reconciliation committed unto the Dispensers of the Gospel What-ever knowledg therefore of God may be attained by the means mentioned as he is the God of Nature ruling over Men and requiring Obedience from them according to the Covenant and Law of their Creation yet the knowledg of him as a God in Christ pardoning Sin and saving Sinners is attainable by the Gospel only But this I have proved and confirmed elsewhere Sect. 10 It is the Work of the Holy Spirit to remove and take away this Darkness which until it is done no Man can see the Kingdom of God or enter into it And this he doth by sending the Word of the Gospel into any Nation Country Place or City as he pleaseth The Gospel doth not get ground in any place nor is restrained from any Place or People by accident 〈◊〉 by the endeavours of Men but it is sent and disposed of 〈◊〉 to the Sovereign Will and Pleasure of the Spirit of God He Gifteth Calls and Sends Men unto the Work of Preaching it Acts 13. 2 4. and disposeth them unto the Places where they shall declare it either by express Revelation as of old Acts 16. 6 7 8 9 10. or guides them by the secret Operations of his Providence Thus the Dispensation of the Light of the Gospel as to Times Places and Persons depends on his Sovereign Pleasure Psal. 147. 19 20. Wherefore although we are to take care and pray much about the continuance of the Dispensation of the Gospel in any place and its Propagation in others yet need we not to be over-solicitous about it This Work and Care the Holy Ghost hath taken on himself and will carry it on according to the Counsel of God and his Purposes concerning the Kingdom of Jesus

Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of him the eyes of your understanding being opened that you may know what is the hope of his calling c. That the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation is the Spirit of God working those Effects in us we have before evinced And it is plain that the Revelation here intended is subjective in the enabling us to apprehend what is revealed and not objective in new Revelations which the Apostle prayed not that they might receive And this is further evidenced by the ensuing Description of it the eyes of your Understanding being opened There is an Eye in the Understanding of Man that is the natural Power and Ability that is in it to discern Spiritual Things But this Eye is sometimes said to be blind sometimes to be darkness sometimes to be shut or closed And nothing but the impotency of our Minds to know God savingly or discern things spiritually when proposed unto us can be intended thereby It is the Work of the Spirit of Grace to open this eye Luke 4. 18. Acts 26. 18. And this is the powerful effectual removal of that depravation of our Minds with all its Effects which we before described And how are we made Partakers hereof It is of the Gift of God freely and effectually working of it For 1. he gives us the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation to that End And 2. works the thing it self in us He gives us an Heart to know him Jer. 24. 7. without which we cannot so do or he would not himself undertake to work it in us for that end There is therefore an effectual powerful creating Act of the Holy Spirit put forth in the Minds of Men in their Conversion unto God enabling them Spiritually to discern Spiritual Things wherein the Seed and Substance of Divine Faith is contained Sect. 53 2. This is called the Renovation of our Minds renewed in the Spirit of our Minds Ephes. 4. 23. which is the same with being renewed in knowledg Col. 3. 10. And this Renovation of our Minds hath in it a transforming Power to change the whole Soul into an obediential frame towards God Rom. 12. 2. And the work of renewing our Minds is peculiarly ascribed unto the Holy Spirit Tit. 3. 5. The renewing of the Holy Ghost Some Men seem to fancy yea do declare that there is no such Depravation in or of the Mind of Man but that he is able by the use of his Reason to apprehend receive and discern those Truths of the Gospel which are objectively proposed unto it But of the use of Reason in these Matters and its Ability to discern and judg of the sence of Propositions and force of Inferences in Things of Religion we shall treat afterwards At present I only enquire whether Men Unregenerate be of themselves able Spiritually to discern Spiritual Things when they are proposed unto them in the Dispensation of the Gospel so as their knowledg may be saving in and unto themselves and acceptable unto God in Christ and that without any especial internal effectual Work of the Holy Spirit of Grace in them and upon them if they say they are as they plainly plead them to be and will not content themselves with an Ascription unto them of that Notional Doctrinal Knowledg which none deny them to be capable of I desire to know to what purpose are they said to be renewed by the Holy Ghost to what purpose are all those gracious actings of God in them before recounted He that shall consider what on the one hand the Scripture teacheth us concerning the Blindness Darkness Impotency of our Minds with respect unto Spiritual things when proposed unto us as in the state of nature and on the other what it affirms concerning the work of the Holy Ghost in their Renovation and change in giving them new Power new Ability a new Active Understanding will not be much moved with the groundless confident unproved Dictates of some concerning the Power of Reason in it self to apprehend and discern Religious Things so far as we are required in a way of Duty This is all one as if they should say That if the Sun shine clear and bright every blind Man is able to see Sect. 54 God herein is said to communicate a Light unto our Minds and that so as that we see by it or perceive by it the things proposed unto us in the Gospel usefully and savingly 2 Cor. 4. 6. God who commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the Light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ. Did God no otherwise work on the Minds of Men but by an external objective proposal of Truth unto them to what purpose doth the Apostle mention the Almighty Act of Creating Power which he put forth and exercised in the first production of Natural Light out of Darkness What Allusion is there between that Work and the doctrinal proposal of Truth to the Minds of Men It is therefore a confidence not to be contended with if any will deny that the Act of God in the Spiritual Illumination of our Minds be not of the same Nature as to Efficacy and Efficiency with that whereby he created Light at the beginning of all things And because the Effect produced in us is called Light the Act it self is described by shining God hath shined into our Hearts that is our Minds so he conveighs Light unto them by an Act of Omnipotent Efficiency And as that which is so wrought in our Minds is called Light so the Apostle leaving his Metaphor plainly declares what he intends hereby namely the actual knowledg of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ that is as God is revealed in Christ by the Gospel as he declares v. 4. Having therefore 1. compared the Mind of Man by Nature with a respect unto a Power of discerning Spiritual Things to the state of all things under Darkness before the Creation of Light And 2. the powerful working of God in Illumination unto the Act of his Omnipotency in the Production or Creation of Light Natural He ascribes our Ability to know and our actual Knowledg of God in Christ unto his real Efficiency and Operation And these things in part direct us towards an apprehension of that Work of the Holy Spirit upon the Minds of Men in their Conversion unto God whereby their Depravation is cured and without which it will not so be By this means and no otherwise do we who were Darkness become Light in the Lord or come to know God in Christ savingly looking into and discerning Spiritual Things with a proper intuitive sight whereby all the other Faculties of our Souls are guided and influenced unto the Obedience of Faith Sect. 55 It is principally with respect unto the Will and its Depravation by Nature that we are said to be

the sole Cause and Author of all the Good that in this World we are or can be made Partakers of For 1. there is no good communicated unto us from God but it is bestowed on us or wrought in us by the Holy Ghost No Gift no Grace no Mercy no Priviledg no Consolation do we receive possess or use but it is wrought in us collated on us or manifested unto us by him alone Nor 2. is there any good in us towards God any Faith Love Duty Obedience but what is effectually wrought in us by Him by him alone For in us that is in our flesh and by Nature we are but flesh there dwelleth no good thing All these things are from him and by him as shall God assisting be made to appear by Instances of all sorts in our ensuing Discourse And these Considerations I thought meet to premise unto our Entrance into that Work which now lyeth before us Sect. 8 The great Work whereby God designed to glorifie himself ultimately in this World was that of the New Creation or of the Recovery and Restauration of all things by Jesus Christ Heb. 1. 1 2 3. Ephes. 1. 10. And as this is in general confessed by all Christians so I have elsewhere insisted on the Demonstration of it 2. That which God ordereth and designeth as the principal means for the manifestation of his Glory must contain the most perfect and absolute Revelation and Declaration of Himself his Nature his Being his Existence and Excellencies For from their discovery and manifestation with the Duties which as known they require from rational Creatures doth the Glory of God arise and no otherwise 3. This therefore was to be done in this great Work and it was done accordingly Hence is the Lord Christ in his Work of Mediation said to be the Image of the Invisible God Col. 1. 15. The brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person Heb. 1. 3. in whose Face the Knowledg of the Glory of God shineth forth unto us 2 Cor. 4. 6. Because in and by him in his Work of the New Creation all the glorious Properties of the Nature of God are manifested and displayed incomparably above what they were in the Creation of all things in the beginning I say therefore in the Contrivance Projection Production carrying on disposal and accomplishment of this great Work God hath made the most eminent and glorious Discovery of himself unto Angels and Men Ephes. 3. 8 9 10. 1 Pet. 1. 10 11 12. That we may Know Love Trust Honour and Obey him in all things as God and according to his Will 4. In particular in this New Creation he hath revealed himself in an especial manner as Three in One. There was no one more glorious Mystery brought to Light in and by Jesus Christ than that of the Holy Trinity or the Subsistence of the Three Persons in the Unity of the same Divine Nature And this was done not so much in express Propositions or verbal Testimonies unto that purpose which yet is done also as by the Declaration of the mutual Divine Internal Acts of the Persons towards one another and the distinct immediate Divine external Actings of each Person in the Work which they did and do perform For God revealeth not himself unto us meerly Doctrinally and Dogmatically but by the Declaration of what he doth for us in us towards us in the accomplishment of the Counsel of his Will see Ephes. 1. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. And this Revelation is made unto us not that our minds might be possessed with the Notions of it but that we may know aright how to place our Trust in Him how to Obey him and Live unto him how to obtain and exercise Communion with him until we come to the enjoyment of him Sect. 9 We may make Application of these things unto and exemplifie them yet farther in the Work under Consideration Three things in general are in it proposed unto our Faith 1. The Supream Purpose Design Contrivance and Disposal of it 2. The Purchasing and Procuring Cause and Means of the Effects of that Design with its Accomplishment in it Self and with respect unto God 3. The Application of the Supream Design and actual Accomplishment of it to make it effectual unto us The first of these is absolutely in the Scripture assigned unto the Father and that Uniformely and every where His Will His Counsel His Love His Grace His Authority His Purpose His Design are constantly proposed as the Foundation of the whole Work as those which were to be pursued effected accomplished see Isa 42. 1 2 3. Psal. 40. 6 7 8. John 3. 16. Isa. 53. 10 11 12. Ephes. 1. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. and other places innumerable And on this Account because the Son undertook to effect what-ever the Father had so designed and purposed there were many Acts of the Will of the Father towards the Son in sending giving appointing of Him in preparing him a Body in Comforting and Supporting Him in rewarding and giving a People unto Him which belong unto the Father on the account of the Authority Love and Wisdom that were in them their actual Operation belonging particularly unto another Person And in these things is the Person of the Father in the Divine Being proposed unto us to be known and adored Secondly The Son condescendeth consenteth and engageth to do and accomplish in his own Person the whole Work which in the Authority Counsel and Wisdom of the Father was appointed for him Phil. 2. 5 6 7 8. And in these Divine Operations is the Person of the Son revealed unto us to be honoured even as we honour the Father Thirdly The Holy Ghost doth immediately Work and Effect what-ever was to be done in reference unto the Person of the Son or the Sons of Men for the Perfecting and Accomplishment of the Father's Counsel and the Son's Work in an especial Application of both unto their especial Effects and Ends. Hereby is he made known unto us and hereby our Faith concerning him and in him is directed And thus in this great Work of the New Creation by Jesus Christ doth God cause all his Glory to pass before us that we may both know him and worship him in a due manner And what is the peculiar Work of the Holy Ghost herein we shall now declare Work of the Holy Spirit with respect unto the Head of the New Creation the Humane Nature of Christ. CHAP. III. 1. The especial Works of the Holy Spirit in the New Creation 2. His Work on the Humane Nature of Christ. 3. How this Work could be considering the Union of the Humane Nature unto and in the Person of the Son of God 4. Assumption of the Humane Nature into Union the only Act of the Person of the Son towards it 5. Personal Union the only necessary Consequent of this Assumption 6. All other Actings of the Person of the Son in and on