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	new_a	renew_v	1,476	5	9.4457	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38026	Polpoikilos sophia, a compleat history or survey of all the dispensations and methods of religion, from the beginning of the world to the consummation of all things, as represented in the Old and New Testament shewing the several reasons and designs of those different administrations, and the wisdom and goodness of God in the government of His church, through all the ages of it : in which also, the opinion of Dr. Spencer concerning the Jewish rites and sacrifices is examin'd, and the certainty of the Christian religion demonstrated against the cavils of the Deists, &c. / by John Edwards ...	Edwards, John, 1637-1716.	1699 (1699)	Wing E210; ESTC R17845	511,766	792

God and have an insight into the most sublime and heavenly Truths and by this means also partake of the Divine Nature and Likeness That this Knowledg and Wisdom are part of the Divine Image is clear from the Apostle's words in Col. 3. 10. where he acquaints us that the new Man is renewed in Knowledg after the Image of him that created him Whence it is rationally to be inferr'd that God's Image partly consisted in Knowledg and Vnderstanding Socinus and Smalcius had a very low opinion of the first Man when they asserted that at his being first made he had no more understanding than a stupid Infant yea that Adam was next to a Fool. But may not these Writers be thought to be next to something of that Nature when they assert a thing so unreasonable and absurd so wild and extravagant I do not say that Adam was subtil and scholastical in his Notions that he had any skill in the quirks of Wit and Logick I believe Scotus would have baffled him a knotty Schoolman would have put him to a nonplus and it would quite have puzzl'd and amus'd his Brain to have reduc'd a Syllogism in Bocardo For these Subtilties were not the accomplishments of Innocence and the early attendents of the Spade and Plough No these are the Consequents of Apostacy the Crutches of lame Reason and Supporters of lapsed Understanding the Salvo's of Ignorance and sometimes the greatest increasers of it Therefore I do not think that Adam's intellectual Happiness consisted in these but in that which was solid and useful What Man of sense and sober thoughts can deny that God indued Adam with a quick Understanding upon considering this one thing viz. that he gave Names to every living creature Gen. 2. 19. and it may be tho it is not recorded to the Plants and all Vegetables on Earth yea even to the Stars in Heaven tho the Names of them are now lost yea to all things above and below which were useful and common in the Life of Man And those Names then did express and signify the very Nature and Properties of the things whereas now they are generally ex instituto merely from custom and the arbitrary will of Men. He that was able thus to give Names to all Creatures according to their Natures was no Fool or Sot certainly This was the great Plato's judgment who tells us it was no ordinary and mean thing it was not the work of a vulgar Person to impose Names on things yea he that did it at first was master of more than human wisdom and skill It is reasonable to believe that Adam was a great natural Philosopher had knowledg of all those Creatures which he named else he could not have fitted Names to them And that he did so is evident from comparing the 19th Verse of the forementioned Chapter with the 22 d and 23 d Verses In the former 't is said that the Lord God formed every living Creature out of the ground and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them and whatsoever he call'd them that was the Name thereof In the latter 't is said The Rib which the Lord God had taken from Man made he a Woman and brought her unto the Man And Adam said She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man You see the parallel the brute Creatures were brough by God to Adam on purpose that he should bestow Names on them So was Eve brought to him that she should have a Name given her by him Adam gave proper and significant Names to the other Creatures and so he did to the Woman We gather the former from the latter We find that when God brought the Woman to the Man he fastned a Name on her sutable to her Nature and Original therefore 't is reasonably to be concluded that when the other Creatures of an inferior rank were brought by God to Adam he con●er'd such Names on them as were most expressive of their different Properties and Qualities As God had given Adam his Name which was significant so Adam gave other Creatures Names which carried significancy with them This argues his Intellectuals to have been very acute and profound otherwise he could not have perceived the several Signatures and Properties of those Animals which were brought before him It is not to be question'd then that he had an insight into the true Nature of all Beings and was one of unspeakable Sagacity In fine whatever some Rabbies extravagantly assert on the one hand concerning the prodigious transcendency of Adam's knowledg and how meanly soever some of Pelagius and Socinus's Followers on the other hand speak of his Endowments it is a sober Truth that our First Parents were very knowing Persons It is not to be doubted that they had especially a perfect knowledg of Divine Truth from whence all Virtue and Holiness spring Which reminds me of another Quality of Man's Soul in the first Creation viz. its Righteousness or Holiness For God endued it not only with Understanding but with a Will which he adorned with Divine Graces and in these also consisteth the Image of God as we are ascertain'd by an inspired and infallible Writer who tells us that the new Man is created after God i. e. after the Image and Likeness of God in Righteousness and true Holiness Ephes. 4. 24. These give us the perfect resemblance of our Maker and imprint upon us the Divine and heavenly Image For these are principally placed in the Will in the elective Faculty of Man that noblest part of his Soul that Sovereign and Ruling Faculty of the mind Thus I have shew'd how the Soul of Man is justly said to be God's Image and Likeness namely as it is a Spiritual Immortal and Intelligent Being but chiefly as 't is capable of Religion and is indu'd with Divine Virtues and Graces By these it is that Man most of all resembles God and is truly bless'd and happy and is as 't were another God Princes stamp their Image on their Coin That which is choicest and most precious beareth their Effigies And so here the exactest Lineaments of the Divine Image are to be seen impress'd on this choice Part of Man which is the Seat of true Grace and Goodness God who is the chief Pulchritude would draw his own beautiful Image on the Soul that That on Earth might be a kind of Representative of Himself and a Pourtray of his own Divine Perfections 2. Tho the Image of God in which Man was made be seated chiefly in the rational Soul of Man yet it is imprinted also on his Body as Ireneus and some other Fathers have rightly asserted Not that the Body can resemble God as if God were of human Shape This we exploded before as absurd and ridiculous But the Image of God was on the Body of the first Man first as it was extraordinarily fair comely and beautiful It is true Adam's Body was made

follow'd with the perfect enjoyment of Good and the violating of it with the experience of all Evil of Sin and Punishment It was to signify what they should know by eating viz. the difference between the Evil of Disobedience and the God of the contrary Or thus it was the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil i. e. of the Good they had before and of the Evil which was to ensue upon eating They should experimentally find what Good they lost and what Evil they fell into So that it is probable this Tree had its name from the Event and Effect of it It taught them by experience what Good and Evil was for after Man had sinn'd in eating that forbidden Fruit he saw and felt what Happiness he had lost and what Misery he had procured Some have been so curious as to enquire and so bold as to determine what particular Tree and Fruit this was It was and Apple-tree say some and they would make it probable from Cant. 8. 5. It was the Vine saith Vossius It was the Indian Fig-tree saith Goropius Becanus Most say it was a Fig-tree with the Leaves of which Adam and Eve covered their nakedness as soon as they had eaten of the Fruit. Theodoret stiffly maintains this Opinion and saith This was the reason why Christ cursed the Fig-tree Athanasius with others incline to this belief but there is no ground for it it must only pass as a Conjecture And so that Father grants in his Answer to that Demand What Tree was it of which Adam eat the Fruit No Man saith he is able exactly to discover that which the Scripture hath wilfully conceal'd The grand thing which we are to mind and which is the principal thing in this first Oeconomy is this that it was God's pleasure that the Fruit of that Tree whatever it was should not be meddled with and therefore straitly charged Adam and his Consort that they should not dare to touch it God might reasonably act after this manner For first as an antient Writer saith on this Subject God dispenseth all things sutably to the particular Time and measureth his Institutions by the Abilities and Powers of Men. Therefore he gave that Command of not eating of this Tree to Adam as it were to a new-born Babe He dealt with our first Parents as with Infants and Children he tried them by mean and low things as most agreeable to their nature But secondly tho he was thus pleased to prohibit them the Fruit of one single Tree yet this was highly accountable if you consider that God gave them the use of all the rest of the Trees in Paradise Of every Tree in the Garden thou mayest freely eat Gen. 2. 16. there was only this one Tree excepted and reserved Here was Liberty and Indulgence sufficient And they might well have contented themselves in the injoyment of it Besides the Creator can lay what Restraints he pleaseth on his Creatures He that made both them and the Garden could justly bar them of any thing which that place afforded Therefore God gave them this Precept to shew his Dominion over them as he was their Maker and Lord. He would let them see by this little Command his absolute Soverainty over them as a pious Father speaks Again God having made them reasonable and indowed them with a power or freedom of choice he might justly exercise that Faculty and put them to an actual trial of it which could not be done but by proposing something to their choice As they had a rational Nature and free Will given them by God they were able to keep that Law of Abstinence and therefore it was not unjust in God yea it was just and fit to impose this upon them as they were free and reasonable Beings This shews the reason of this positive Law which was given them to try their Obedience Likewise it was very reasonable and equitable Command that seeing God had con●err'd on them so many Benefits and Blessings they should be limited as to a single one that thereby they might shew their Thankfulness to God for all the rest In the next place consider also that God particularly told them what he expected from them when he gave them a Prohibition about the Tree He assured them that if they ventured to eat of it it should cost them their Lives or more emphatically in the Original they should die the death Here was fair warning and they had time to consider of it and they were sensible how greatly they were obliged to God and how just and reasonable a thing it was to observe his first and original Law that which was matrix omnium praeceptorum as Tertullian calls it yea to obey God in whatsoever he commanded Fifthly To the revealed Laws under the State of Integrity we must refer the Covenant of Works For we may gather from the Sacred Writings that there was a mutual Agreement or federal Compact between God and our first Parents wherein he promis'd to them Eternal Life and Happiness on condition of their perfect Obedience to his Laws and on the contrary Death was threatned if they disobey'd as we have heard already It is true it is not expresly call'd a Covenant in Genesis but it was one for God gave Man a Law and back'd it with Threatnings and Promises and Man agreed and consented to it which is the formal nature of a Covenant Not are we to think that those two Persons and no more were under this Dispensation Altho only Adam and Eve were in actual being at that time yet all Mankind were included in them and represented by them and therefore are to be reckon'd as under that Dispensation For God having created our first Parents without Sin and with knowledg of their Duty and strength to do it he made a Covenant or Agreement with them not only in behalf of themselves but of all their Posterity It was covenanted that if they and their Race continued in Obedience they should never die but be always blessed and happy but if they disobey'd the Divine Command they should be subject to Death and be every way wretched and miserable It is certain they consented and agreed to this for in that State of Integrity what God propounded to them could not but be acceptable God would offer that which was just and equitable as he was God Our first Parents would not disagree to it as they were indu●d with a perfect understanding and knew that what their Maker propounded was most reasonable They could not but approve of the Condition on their part viz. Obedience and they could not but accept of the Reward promis'd on God's part viz. endless Happiness That they fully consented to the Contract in the name of themselves and their Posterity is demonstrable from many passages in Holy Writ as that Hos. 6. 7. They like Adam for so it is the Hebrew have transgress'd the Covenant which refers to God's Covenant

than other Creatures were that he came to him often and was pleas'd with his Society that he did not creep on the ground but went on his feet But the same Author goes too far when he intimates that he was of an erect Figure for that is proper only to Man It is very probable that the Serpent did not then grovel and creep on the Earth as he now doth for this was the Curse pronounced against him after the Fall but he was somewhat lifted up from the ground by feet tho perhaps they were very short for you find in the forenamed place that he is sorted with the Beasts of the Field which are distinguish'd in kind from creeping things Gen. 1. 25. Another Ecclesiastical Writer agrees with the former Author that the Serpent was more sociable and conversant with our first Parents than all the other Creatures were that he often approach'd to them and insinuated himself into them with the gentle motions of his Body I do not think with Iosephus that the Serpent and all other Beasts naturally spoke in Paradise a Dream which Basil also assents to but this I am ascertain'd of from the inspired Records of Moses that the Devil spoke by the Serpent or which is all one that the Serpent possessed by the Devil spoke to Eve So we read afterwards that an Ass by an extraordinary impulse spake to Balaam And since that time several Histories mention the speaking of irrational Animals yea of inanimate Creatures Thus a River spoke to Pythagoras and saluted him as he passed by it if we may believe Porphyrius in his Life A Tree spoke to Apollonius Tyanaeus saith Philostratus This was the effect of Magick both those Persons being skill'd in that Art It will be granted then that the Devil is able to do what his Agents and Ministers can effect thus here the Serpent spake to Eve by the motion of Satan actuating his Body The Devil moved his Tongue and inabled him to hold a Discourse with the Woman And now if you consider that he was by his Nature and Make of a graceful Hew and Figure and that he was made by God a subtil and insinuating Creature you will not deny that he was fit to be made use of by Satan to intice and inveigle the Woman Wherefore the bold Man that laughs at this part of the Mosaick History concerning the Serpent and Eve talking together and in effect represents it as a mere Fiction hath as little Reason as Religion on his side It is certainly agreeable to Reason that the Devil would tempt and seduce her by making use of some familiar and domestick Creature if he used any at all The Fox was cunning and crafty but the Serpent was the most gentle and tractable of all this was his proper subtilty It is probable that this Creature was beloved both by Adam and Eve She especially was delighted with it and used to play and sport with it she laid it perhaps in her Bosom or adorned her Neck with its twistings and windings or she made it a Bracelet for her Arms. This is certain that the enmity between the Serpent and Mankind was not till after Man's Fall as appears from Gen. 3. 15. I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed There could not be an Enmity put between them unless there had been a Friendship before Or if the Serpent used before to ensnare or hurt Mankind and to shew himself an Enemy why is it denounced by God as a Threatning and Curse that he will put Enmity between them It is evident then that the Serpent was some goodly lovely Creature and would needs make himself acceptable to the Woman And in this Masquerade the Devil soon got the better of her perswading her that if she did eat of the prohibited Fruit she should be so far from receiving any harm and damage that she should thereby mend her condition and be some Goddess rather than a Woman She was caught with these fond and flattering Suggestions and slighted the Divine Injunction and boldly ventured on the forbidden Dainties The subtil Ingineer planted his Artillery against the weakest part of the Fort he began his Batteries against the feeble Sex first Alas a silly Woman and a subtil Serpent acted by the Devil were not Matches And as this latter tempted Eve by a Serpent so he tempted Man by Eve who was gentle and alluring familiar and insinuating and not easily to be repulsed The weak Woman must needs fall being sollicited both by Satan and the Serpent The poor Man could not but fall who had a triple temptation that of the Devil the Serpent and the Woman Thus both Man and Woman fell and that in a short time after they were created Man being in honour abideth not He stood not one night say some in integrity but apostatized in the close of the same day in which he was made and in the very same day he was cast out of Paradise So the Iews generally and many of the Christian Fathers assert Luther is very punctual Our first Parents entred saith he into the Garden at Noon-day and the Woman having an Appetite and taking delight in the Food eat of it about two a clock But these two things may incline us to think that they did not 1. What the Sacred History concerning that matter affordeth us 2. What Reason and the thing it self will suggest to us about it 1. The History of the Acts of that Day on which Adam was made is a sufficient confutation of this Opinion For Moses in the Book of Genesis acquaints us that on that Day wherein he was created which was the sixth day all these things were done 1. Being created without Paradise he was that day brought into it 2. The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledg of Good and Evil were proposed to him 3. A Law concerning abstaining from one of them was given him 4. All the four-footed Creatures one of a sort at least were brought to him and set before him and he view'd and observ'd them and according to the nature and differences of every Species gave peculiar Names to them The same he did to all the Fowls of the Air. This would take up a considerable time 5. After this Adam fell into a deep sleep and a Rib is taken out of his side and of it the Woman was made 6. God as the Paranymph brings this Spouse to Adam who acknowledgeth her to be a part of him and takes her into intimate familiarity and made her his Wife All this was done on the sixth Day but we do not read that any more was done But you will say If it admitted of so much work we may as well add the eating of the forbidden Fruit which did not take up much time But I answer we learn not from the History that this was done on that day Yea we are sure it

was not done for it is said of the Works of the sixth day as of the foregoing ones God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good Gen. 1. 31. It is not probable this would have been said if Man had not continued good till then and if Sin the greatest Evil of all was entred at that time And we are to observe that these words were pronounced concerning what happen'd all the space of that sixth day of the Creation And all the things before-mention'd which are the Contents of the second Chapter of Genesis are suppos'd to be comprehended within this time for 't is said immediately after the foregoing approbation in the close of the first Chapter of Genesis that the Evening and the Morning which make the Day compleat were the sixth Day After this you read that the story of Adam's Fall begins that Satan attempts the Woman that there were several Discourses between the Serpent and the Woman and between her and the Man Therefore 't is evident that our Parents did not fall from God on the same day they were ●reated Secondly Several Reasons may be offer'd why it was not so viz. first because it is more worthy of God to believe that Adam and his Mate were not baffled so soo● after their Creation It is not congruous to God's Wisdom to create so excellent a Frame and let it be spoil'd immediately Then more particularly this may be alledged that God's proposal of the Covenant of Works to our first Parents on which depended the whole result of the present Affair their mutual consenting to it and the ratifying it on God's part and Man's part in some solemn manner were a Work which required some length of time Further the Parley between Satan and Eve might be of a long continuance to it is briefly set down by Moses It is probable that she at first gave a repulse to the Assault it is likely that several Onsets were made before she yielded We cannot but suppose a considerable time of tempting because otherwise it would have been a Surprize and then it would not have been what it is that is the Transgression would not have been of so heinous a nature and would not have been animadverted on so severely Again it is rational to think that Adam and his Wise being created by God in that perfection of Knowledg and Holiness which are acknowledg'd to have been in them could not suddenly be drawn from their obedience to God Those high Endowments could not easily be lost those Divine Gifts could not decay but by little and little Therefore upon this account we have reason to believe and affirm that these Persons shrunk back from their Integrity by degrees and not all at once and that the space of time between their Temptation and actual Transgression in eating the forbidden Fruit was of some length much more than we can reasonably suppose to have been crowded into one single day Thus both Scripture and Reason induce us to reject that common Opinion that our first Parents fell from their Primitive Innocence on the very day that they were made But when I say this I pretend not to determine how long Adam and Eve continued in their Innocence and what time pass'd before they were turn'd out of Paradise None can positively assert that they were created and fell upon the same day because it is no where said so But then on the other hand it is as true that none can be positive as to the certain time of their abiding in their Innocence because we find it not mention'd As those who say they fell in the very day in which God formed them are not to be credited so those Cabalistick Iews who say they were twenty years in Paradise before they were turn'd out are to be utterly exploded The renowned Vsher in his Annals holds that Adam was expell'd out of Paradise on the tenth day from the beginning of the World according to which timing of it he fell in the third or fourth day after that of his Creation for it is not to be thought that he staid there after his Fall But in my judgment those Hebrew Doctors for they are not all o● them of the same mind who hold that our first Parents continued both in their Integrity and in Paradise eight days do approach nearest to the Truth It is likely that they retain'd their Innocence amidst many Assaults and Temptations ●ill about that time so that as the first Week in the World ended with the Creation of Man and Woman so their fatal Seduction and Fall were the close of the second week However from the Premises it is eviden● that there was a considerable time between their Formation and Lapse Hitherto I have consider'd the Sin and Fall of our first Pa●ents now I must speak of the dreadful Effects of it Man became like the Beasts which perish Man was in a happy and glorious condition but made himself wretched and miserable Man was in honour we were once happy In which sense those words in Gen. 3. 22. may be understood Behold the Man was as one of us for so it may be rendred according to the Hebrew He was so happy as to be like one of us he was created after our Image but now is miserable It is such a manner of speaking as that of the Poet Fuimus Troes ●uit Ilium ingens Gloria Teucrorum Unless you are rather inclin'd to think those words are spoken ironically and by way of Interrogation Is the Man become like one of us As much as to say he is not he is far from it he is lost and undone he hath made himself a very lamentable and wretched Creature Let us now briefly recount the Particulars of his Misery First God who for●ad Man to eat of the Tree of Knowledg now forbids him to touch the Tree of Life Now Man is turn'd out of Paradise that Garden of Pleasure he is sent out of God's Presence and is become a Reprobate and Castaway There is a stern Angel with a flaming Sword set at the entrance of Eden to keep him and his Posterity out for ever We may in part imagine but we cannot sufficiently relate how sad and deplorable the condition of Adam and Eve was at this time They could not but spend their days in languishing Grief in continual Sighs and Tears they could not but be filled with Regret and Remorse when they reflected on their past Felicity and the loss of it by their Folly when they look'd forward also and saw the innumerable Evils which insue upon this their Miscarriage To augment their Sorrows there soon happen'd a dismal effect of their Fall and Depravation Their dear Son Abel was murder'd by his own Brother the same Devil that deluded them working on him And how can the disconsolate Parents bear this and the rest of their Sorrows The Children had been brought up well they had been set to honest Imployments Adam