Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	darkness_n	heart_n	shine_v	3,010	5	9.0570	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44697	A treatise of delighting in God from Psal. xxxvij. 4. Delight thy self also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. In two parts. By John Howe, M.A. sometime fellow of Magdalen College, Oxon.	Howe, John, 1630-1705.	1674 (1674)	Wing H3043; ESTC R215977	202,908	389

Authority of the great God which is to be estimated sincere according as it answers the end for which the things to be beleived were revealed That end is not to beget only the notion of those things as truths that are to be lodg'd in the mind and go no further as if they were to be understood true only that they might be so understood But that the person might accordingly have his spirit formed and might shape the course of his whole conversation Therefore is it called the obedience of faith And the same word which is wont to be rendered unbelief signifies disobedience obstinacy unperswadeableness being from a theam which as is known signifies to perswade So that this homage is then truly given to the eternal God when his revelation is comply'd with and submitted to according to the true intent and purpose of it Which that it may be requires that his spirit urge the soul with his Authority and overpower it into an awful subjection thereto The soul being so disjointed by the Apostacy that its own faculties keep not in reference to the things of God their natural order to one another further than as an holy rectitude is renewed in them by the holy Ghost Therefore is it necessary that the enlightening communication which he transmits into it be not only so clear as to scatter the darkness that beclouded the mind but so penetrating as to strike and pierce the heart to dissolve and relaxe its stiff and frozen rigor and render it capable of a new mould frame In order whereto God that at first commanded the light to shine out of darkness is said to have shined into the hearts of them viz. whom he renews to give the light of the knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And as they to whom this communication of God is in some degree afforded do hereupon apprehend how necessary it was to them that it should be afforded and be such as they now find it which they apprehended not before so they perceive it to be delightful also as well as necessary And finding it yet given into them but in an imperfect degree their continual cravings are still for more And having tasted hereby how gracious the Lord is as new-born-babes they desire it as sincere milk that they may grow thereby They hereby come to know God and the things of God with savor And wisdom having entered into their hearts knowledg is pleasant to their soul. Whereby as every renewed taste provokes in them new desire all such renewed desires dispose them unto further and more satisfying delight They sensibly discern the difference between their former dry and sapless notions of God and the lively-spirited apprehensions which they now have They can in some measure understand the reason why the Apostle should in such a rapture speak of the excellency of the knowledg of Christ Jesus our Lord And why he should so triumphingly give thanks to God for the manifestation of the savor of his knowledg in every place They can perceive there was good sence in those words as they have a more quick and judicious perception of the fragrancy of that knowledg It is to them a refreshing vital quickening perfume as the word there and before imports most cheeringly odoriferous the savor of life to life lively in it self and to them So full of life as to beget and transmit it and replenish their Souls therewith So as they might feel life thence working in all their powers A revelation of God that is of such a nature cannot but be highly delectable 1. In respect of the matter revealed God himself especially if not yet testifying himself to be yet at least willing in Christ to become our God in such a way and upon such terms as is expressed in the Gospel A more particular mention of the things contained in this revelation that are more apt to beget delight and feed it is purposely defer'd till we come to press and inforce the duty it self 2. In respect of the immediate way and manner of Revelation with so much facility continually coming in from time to time upon the Soul according as it is found ready by a dutiful compliance to admit it and doth ly open to it For otherwise a fatherly severity is most fitly expressed in with-holding it at some times 3. In respect of the life and vigor which it carries with it whereby it is experienced to be a vital light and that it is indeed as is said life which is the light of men Dull sluggish ineffectual notions of such things can have little comparatively of delectation in them 4. In respect of the design and tendency of the Revelation discernible at the same time to draw the Soul into union with God And that there may be a continual intercourse between him and it Not that it might have a transient glance of so lovely an object and no more When once it apprehends God hath made this light shine in upon me not to amuse me but here he fixes it as a lamp to guide me in a stated course of communion with him How pleasant is it to think he will be known for this blessed purpose Now a communication of God including a revelation of him apt to beget such a knowledg cannot be without much matter of delight But besides that though most naturally following thereupon it also includes 2. A transforming impression of his image This yet more fully answers the enquiry when a person is said to enjoy God what doth he immediately enjoy or whereby is he said to enjoy God what doth God communicate or transmit by which he may be said to be enjoyed He communicates his own living likeness the very image of himself not the Idaea or likeness only by which he is known Though it must be confessed the knowledg of him if he be known to be what he truly is must suppose a true likeness of him offered to the mind and formed there But this of which we now speak is a not meerly representative but a real image The product of the former it is as is sufficiently to be collected from what hath been said For that appears to be not a meer aiery spiritless ineffectual thing as the notion of God and of all divine matters is with the most but as hath been said operative penetrating efficacious apt to beget sutable impressions upon the heart and wholly transform the Soul The effect of it then is this transformative impression it self By which the Soul becomes another thing than it was A new creature old things being done away and all things made new In respect of this it is said to be born of God This is the new man which after God is said to be created in knowledg righteousness and true holiness The divine nature participated The seed of God The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prime and most excellent part of

discursive faculty help us to discern the connexions of some things which otherwise we should not perceive so it may by assisting the intuitive make things evident to us that of themselves are not Nor yet also that it actually doth so can any I believe certainly tell For admit that at some times some have very transporting apprehensions of the love of God towards themselves suggested to their hearts by the holy Spirit they having this habitual knowledg before that love to him for instance or faith in him or the like are descriptive characters of the persons whom he accepts and delightfully loves How suddenly may the divine light irradiate or shine upon those preconceived notions which were begotten in them by the interveniency of the external revelation before and excite those before-implanted principles of Faith Love c. so as to give them the lively sense of them now stirring and acting in their hearts And thence also inable them unwaveringly to conclude and with an unexpressible joy and pleasure their own interest in his special love in this way shedding it abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost given to them This may be so suddenly done that they may apprehend the testimony to be immediate when indeed it is not Nor are they able to prove from Scripture the immediateness of it For as to what it doth to them in particular Scripture says nothing they not being so much as mentioned there What it doth or hath done to this or that person there mentioned signifies nothing to their case if any thing were said that must have that import which will be hard to evince and that it is any where in Scripture signified to be its usual way in common towards them on whose hearts it impresses this perswasion to do it immediately is much less to be evinced For what Scripture saith so and that famous Text that speaks so directly to this matter The Spirit of God beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God seemeth rather to imply the contrary In as much as the Spirit of God is there expresly said to co-witness with our spirit as the word there used signifies by which it should seem to take the same course in testifying which our spirit or conscience doth that is of considering the general characters of his children laid down in his Word reflecting upon the same in our selves and thereupon concluding we are his children Which if it were suppos'd the only thing the Spirit of God ordinarily doth in this matter we may with much confidence assert 1. That it doth herein no small thing for is it a small thing to be ascertain'd of Gods fatherly love to us as his own children 2. That it doth not a less thing than if it testify'd the same matter in a way altogether immediate For wherein is it less Is the matter less important that cannot be said for the thing we are assured of is the same howsoever we be certify'd thereof Is it less evident That can with as little pretence be said For doth any one account a thing not evident in it self and that needs to be proved to him some way or other the less evident for being proved to him in a discursive way What pretence can any one have to say or think so Is it that reasoning is more liable to error and mistake But I hope the reasoning of Gods Spirit is not so when it enables us to apprehend the general Truth we should reason from to assume to it to collect and conclude from it guiding us by its own light In each of these surely we have as much reason to rely upon the certainty and infallibility of the Spirits reasonings as of its most assertory dictates Otherwise we would most unreasonably think the authority of those conclusions laid down in the Epistle to the Romans and other parts of Scripture invalidated by the Holy Ghost's vouchsafing to reason them out to us as we know it most nervously and strongly doth Or is it less consolatory That cannot be for that depends on the two former the importance and evidence of the thing declared The former whereof is the same the latter not less 3. Yea and supposing that the Holy Ghost do manifestly concur with our spirits in the several steps of that discursive way so that we can observe it to do so and there is little doubt but it may do so as observably to us by affording a more than ordinary light to assist and guide us in each part of that procedure as if it did only suggest a sudden dictate to us and no more we may upon that supposition add That it doth hereby more advantageously propose the same thing to us than if it only did it the other way It doth it in a way more sutable to our natures which is not nothing and it doth it in a way less liable to after-suspicion and doubt for it is not supposed to be always dictating the same thing And when it ceases to do so howsoever consolatory and satisfying the dictate was at that instant when it was given the matter is liable to question afterwards upon what grounds was such a thing said And though it cannot be distrusted that what the Holy Spirit testifieth is true yet I may doubt whether it was indeed the Holy Spirit that testify'd it or no. Whereas if it proceeded with me upon grounds they remain and I have no reason to suspect that which was argued out to me upon grounds which I still find in me was either from an ill suggestor or with an ill design whereas there may be some plausible pretence of doubt in the matter if there was only a transient dictate given in to me without any reference or appeal to that rule by which God hath not only directed me to try my self but also to try spirits whether they be of him or no. Nor is there any imaginable necessity of assigning quite another method to the Spirits work as it is a Spirit of Adoption from that which it holds as it is a Spirit of Bondage For as to this latter when it convinces a person and binds down the condemning sentence upon him this surely is the course it follows to let a person see for instance they that live after the flesh shall die But thou livest after the flesh therefore thou shalt dye Or all that believe not the wrath of God abides on them But thou believest not as it is we know the Spirits work to convince of not-believing therefore the wrath of God abides on thee And what need is there of apprehending its method to be quite another in its comforting-work Nor is it surely a matter of less difficulty to perswade some that they are unbelievers and make them apprehend and feel the terror sutable to their states than others that they are believers and make them apprehend the comfort which is proper to theirs Yea and is not its course the same in its