Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	create_v	image_n	renew_v	2,118	5	9.7693	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93868	Vindiciæ fundamenti: or A threefold defence of the doctrine of original sin: together with some other fundamentals of salvation the first against the exceptions of Mr. Robert Everard in his book entituled, The creation and the fall of man. The second against the examiners of the late assemblies confession of faith. The third against the allegations of Dr. Jeremy Taylor, in his Unum necessarium, and two letter treatises of his. By Nathaniel Stephens minister of Fenny-Drayton in Leicestershire.	Stephens, Nathaniel, 1606?-1678.	1658 (1658)	Wing S5452; Thomason E940_1; ESTC R207546	207,183	256

shall be sufficient for thee my strength shall be seene in thy weaknesse 2 Cor. 12.7.8 9 But the way to come by this ability is not in your method to set up nature but to die to a mans self and to be emptied of all natural abilities Most gladly therefore will I glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ might rest upon me 2 Cor. 12.9 The Authors of the Confession do seeme to speak more fairly for the grace of God then you do They do not shun to affirme that we have all from Christ and that of our selves we have not ability to think a good thought and much to the same purpose But by this affirmation of theirs how can they possibly agree with their own principles of the purity of nature For where there is no depravation of the natural birth what need or what use is there of the grace of regeneration They conceale themselves and you openly professe your judgment they seeme to speak more fairly but you are more true to the principles and positions of the Separate Churches CHAP. III. Whether righteousnesse and holinesse be Gods Image HEre you endeavour to prove the Negative to wit that righteousnesse and holinesse in man was not the image of God in the first creation Because this is not your own single opinion but also the doctrine of the thirty Congregations who place the image of God onely in dominion over the creature we will debate the point more fully And so much the rather because you did urge me at Earle-Shilton in Leicestershire Anno 1650. Decem. 26. before a multitude of people to answer this question what place of Scripture have you to prove that Adam had the Spirit of God or that he was a spiritual man before his fall I did then cite three several texts the natural sence and import of all which is to shew that God made man after his own Image and that this Image did principally consist in spiritual and inward holinesse For that place Gen. 1.26 Come let us make man after our Image in our own likenesse There is none doth doubt but this is the speech of the three persons in Trinity Onely the question is wherein did this Image principally consist The separate congregations and you also affirme that it did appear onely in Dominion and Lordship over the creature these words do immediately follow in the text let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the fowle of the aire and over the cattel and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth But herein both they and you are deceived for primarily and properly the Image of God was resplendent in the conformity of the soule to the spiritual Law of God Secondarily the Image of God was resplendent in that external priviledge of rule and dominion over the creature Now that it may appear that the principal part of the Image of God is in inward holinesse and that the soule so inwardly and spiritually endowed doth more lively expresse his similitude for this reade that Scripture Put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him Col. 3.10 Here note what it is that the Apostle would have the Colossians to put on Put on the new man By this he doth mean the Christ-like and spiritual disposition set in immediate opposition to the old carnal disposition of the flesh which they had already in good measure begun to put off Secondly the word renewed doth note a repaire or renovation of that which formerly was decayed So the Psalmist prayeth Create in me a clean heart and renew within me a right spirit Psal 51.10 He doth pray for the returne of the same spirit which formerly he had but now seemingly had lost So thy youth is renewed like the Eagles Psal 103.5 As much in sense as that he makes thee vigorous like an Eagle who by casting her beak and feathers renews her former agility And so in the present case wherein it is said Put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge this noteth the repaire and renovation of that spiritual disposition which Adam had but lost it by his fall Thirdly for the matter of the renovation venewed in knowledge doth signifie spiritual knowledge in the nature thereof and that which comes from the Spirit of God as the cause Fourthly for the pattern of the renovation it is expressely said after the image of him that created him Therefore the first man must be made in a state of spiritual knowledge and holinesse If this be not so how could the beleeving Colossians be renewed after this example as the Prototype Let us go to the next Scripture that ye put on the new man which after God is created in rigteousnesse and true holinesse Eph. 4.24 This Scripture also doth plainly shew that Adam had the Spirit of God before his fall For first why is it said be renewed in the spirit of your minde This implieth that we were sometimes such Secondly the expression of righteousnes and true holinesse is opposed to feigned and hypocritical sanctity Thirdly the whole tenour of the speech is to this end that the Ephesians should put off the old Adam-like disposition with all the deceitful lusts thereof and that they should put on the Christ-like nature which is renewed after the similitude and pattern of the image of God in man before the fall The argument is thus grounded upon the text What the Saints are by renovation such Adam was by creation But by renovation the Saints are just and holy From all which we do conclude that Adam was a spiritual man and had the Spirit of God before his fall Now to the Scriptures let us adde a few reasons First it is a Maxime generally received that the Law was made for man before his fall Now how the first man could be conformable to so spiritual and divine a Law and he himself be destitute of the Spirit it is not within the compasse of my understanding to discerne If we will argue a posteriori from the event we must necessarily conclude that he must not only be spiritual but also have a great measure of spirit to keep such a divine and spiritual Law Secondly the Apostle saith you hath he quickned that were dead in trespasses and sinnes Ephes 2.1 2. If all be dead in trespasses and sinnes this spiritual death must begin at the fall and so by consequence the first man must have the spirit and spiritual life before his fall For what is spiritual death but a privation of the life of the Spirit of God These and many more reasons might be brought to prove Adam to be a spiritual man as long as he stood in that state in which God had placed him Now let us hear your arguments to the contrary You say that Adams righteousnesse and holinesse was not in beleeving a Saviour because be was not in a lost condition pag.

none have the guilt of Adams sinne but such onely that partake of his nature For in the next Chapter when the Apostle cometh to speak of sanctification he hath these words know ye not that our Old man is crucified with him that the body of sinne might be destroyed Rom. 6.6 By the old man he means the sinful disposition of the flesh derived from Adam the root of corruption So then the Scripture plainly doth shew that the opposition between both the Adams doth not onely stand in imputation of guilt but also in the propagation of the nature And it is a great wonder that any exception can be made against so plain a truth Thus I have passed through all the material objections and we have seen all of moment that can be said if it might be possible to take this Scripture out of our hands Now he comes to forme the state of the question to shew how farre he allowes original sinne and where he differs from us Because this is the foot of the work let him deliver himselfe in his own words Adams sinne saith he was punished by an expulsion out of Paradise in which was a tree appointed to be the cure of diseases and the conservatory of life There was no more told as done but this and its proper consequents He came into a land lesse blessed a land which bore thistles and bryars c. And then he addeth thus death came in not by any new sentence or change of nature for man was created mortal and if Adam had not sinned he should have been immortal by grace that is by the use of the tree of life and now being driven from the place where the tree grew was left in his own natural constitution that is to be sick and dye without that remedy And he further explaineth himselfe pag. 372. This evil which is the condition of all our natures viz. to dye was to some a punishment to others not so It was a punishment to all that sinned both before Moses and since upon the first it fell as a consequent of Gods anger upon Adam upon the latter it fell as a consequent of that anger threatned in Moses his law But to those that sinned not at all as infants and innocents it was meerly a condition of their nature and no more a punishment than to be a child is It was a punishment of Adams sin because by his sin humane nature came to be disrobed of their preternatural immortality and therefore upon that account they dye But as it is related to the persons it was not a punishment not an evil inflicted for their sake or any guiltinesse of their own properly so called And then going on he saith we finde nothing else in Scripture exprest to be the effect of Adams sin and beyond this without authority we must not go Turning his style against us he addeth other things are said but I finde no warrant for them in that sence as they are usually supposed and some of them in no sence at all Then he cometh to particularize The particulars saith he commonly reckoned are that from Adam we derive an original ignorance a pronenesse to sin a fomes or nest of sin imprinted and placed in our souls a losse of our wills liberty and nothing else left but a liberty to sin which liberty upon the summe of affaires is expounded a necessity to sin and the effect of all is we are borne heires of damnation These are the particulars which he excepts against and these he endeavours with all his might to oppugne we will go in the same method as he doth beginning with original ignorance he thus speaketh It is true saith he that we derive it from our Parents I meane we are borne with it but I do not know that any man thinks that if Adam had not sinned that sin Cain should have been wise as soon as his navel had been cut Answ We cannot so precisely determine what Adams children should have been in innocency because he did not continue so long to beget a child in that pure estate yet I think none may doubt had he begotten children in that estate he had conveied the same image of God the same knowledge respecting the kind of it that himselfe was created in And though in respect of actual knowledge Cain should not have been wise as soon as his navel was cut yet in respect of potential knowledge he should have been borne in a capacity and by degrees should have attained the same knowledge as Adam himselfe was created in But he further argues If he had so great knowledge saith he it is likely that he would not so cheaply have sold himselfe and all his hopes out of a greedy appetite to get some knowledge Answ The Apostle St. Jude tells us The Angels that left their first habitation are kept in chaines of darknesse to the judgement of the great day v. 6. Shall we say then because they did so cheaply leave their first habitation was there no such dignity or excellency in it The way of reasoning is one and the same in substance He goeth on The state of ignorance we do derive from Adam as we do our nature which is a state of ignorance and all manner of imperfection but whether it was not imperfect and apt to fall into forbidden instances we may best guesse it by the event Answ We may guesse by the event that he was made in a state from which he might fall but this doth no way hinder his being a spiritual man or that endowment of spiritual knowledge which he had before his fall First by his fall he did lose in his judgement he and all mankind did fall from faith to unbelief and hence it is that ever since for happinesse all men rely upon their own wit learning beauty strength friends riches nobility c. This plainly sheweth that Adam at the first was made in a state of dependance upon the true God which could not be but he must be endued with a great measure of spiritual knowledge and in his judgement at least he must discerne that excellency that is in God Further the Apostle speaketh ye have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him Col. 3.10 By knowledge he doth not point so much to that which is literal hystorical and textual but to that which is spiritual by which the Saints come to be cloathed with a new nature Secondly he saith is renewed which importeth the restitution of that knowledge that man once had but had lost by his fall In a sence therefore we may say that the knowledge of the Saint is a kinde of remembrance and that saying of Plato is not to much out of the way Thirdly is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him This plainly sheweth that in the old and the new creation a man is made after the image of God and this image doth

principally stand in the divineness of the light Some differences there are between the knowledge which Adam had before his fall and the knowledge that is renewed in the Saints Adam had it by creation they have it by inspiration Adam could propagate it to his posterity they cannot propagate it to posterity Adams knowledge was without the sight of his misery their knowledge when they do begin to know as they ought to know doth begin with the sight of their misery Lastly Adams knowledge was not so perfect but the Saints knowledge shall be most perfect in degree when they come to live in the state of glory These circumstances considered respecting the manner there is some difference to be made yet in substance both kinds of knowlege is one and the same For though it did not belong to Adam to know his misery and to believe in a Christ yet the righteousness of the moral law did appertaine to him It did belong to him to love God to feare him to trust in him to obey him c. Now how could all this possibly be done but he must know him and believe him therefore his knowledge must needs be spiritual before his fall We come now to the next point he endeavours to prove that infants by the sinne of Adam are not heires of damnation We need not in this matter be careful to give him an answer If it be a question de jure we say the sin of Adam is such and Original sin in its own nature is such that it doth deserve damnation But if it be a question de facto there is no such need that we should possitively affirme the actual damnation of infants They that be saved we may safely affirme are saved by the mercy of God and they that are damned God can cleare his justice in their condemnation though in all things the reason of his proceeding is not so intelligible to us And our Author himselfe I beleeve when he hath well pondred the businesse will finde it to be more safe to rest in such a determination But as for his arguments they are fallacious in many particulars For most of them I have answered in the former part of the treatise And for the residue I shall have occasion to speak of them afterwards Here only foure things are to be noted in the general First by the same reasons as he doth overturne damnation by the sin of Adam any Jew or Turk may overthrow salvation by the merit of Christ For why may not such a one argue the death of Christ was an act of his and none of ours he suffered many hundred yeares ago What he did we cannot be said to do either vertually or interpretively in him or by him we had no being at all that our wills should be contained in his His sufferings were without any knowledge and consent of ours and wherefore should any benefit arise to us If there be any such thing why should it so many ages together be concealed from the greatest part of mankind Most of his arguments do go after this way and by the same reasons that he takes away the guilt of sin by the disobedience of the first man by the same he doth destroy all possibility of salvation by the second Secondly other of his reasons do go too far in questioning the absolute power justice and sovereignty of God As he would have men to be temperate in such speeches that seem to condemn infants to hell for the fault of another so he also should be more moderate in those sayings that question the power and the justice of God What is or what shall be the whole course of the Lords proceeding against infants that dye in original sin is variously disputed some speak of a Limbus infantum whither those infants go that dye without baptisme Others speak of the penalty of losse without a penalty of sense A third sort dreame of I know not what common receptacle where infants as well as the souls of others do still remaine in expectation of the resurrection But sure I am none do speak more dangerously and desperately than they that except against the justice and the mercy of God now in this our Author is too bold Thirdly in all his reasons he goes against that which he teacheth elsewhere For in sundry places he sheweth that without the infusion of supernatural grace no man neither infant nor other can enter into the Kingdome of heaven Againe he saith that by the fall of Adam mankind came to be divested and disrobed of those supernatural excellencies that formerly he had Now by the position of these two I leave it to any man to judge infants as now borne in their natural condition whether are they capable of salvation whatsoever he may say in words he and we as to this point may agree in the same principles But in his answer to the Bishops letter he seems to be of opinion that infants went neither to heaven nor hell at least such a collection may be drawn from his words Just so it is saith he in infants Hell was not made for man but for devils and therefore it must be something besides meere nature that must beare any man thither meer nature neither goes to heaven nor hell pag. 17. In which words of his we acknowledge it to be true in a sense that meer nature doth not carry a man to heaven or hell for that which is not true at all cannot carry a man any whither The Sophisters do indeed speak of the creation of man in puris naturalibus in his pure naturals but I no where finde that God did ever make or did intend to make any man in such estate that was neither good nor evil I know no such meer nature to be found in any part of the habitable earth and therefore it is some way a truth in this abstract consideration that a pure nature carries a man no whether But he hath another meaning in which he is greatly mistaken for under that notion and consideration as infants are now borne this nature depraved carryeth only to hell We were by nature the children of wrath as well as others Eph. 2.2 3. But here perhaps he will except by such a tenet as this all infants will be necessitated to damnation Not so neither they will be borne only in a nature lyable to damnation But by our doctrine we do not say that they must be all damned I see nothing to the contrary but Christ is as well able to save them from the pollution and corruption of the natural birth as well as if they were all reduced to that imaginary state that he speaks of Concerning this matter he delivers his judgement in his answer to the Bishops letter When I affirme that infants being by Adam reduced and left to their meer natural estate fall short of heaven I do not say they cannot go to heaven at all but they cannot go thither by their natural