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
A81871	Comfort & counsell for dejected soules. Or a treatise concerning spirituall dejection. In which is handled, 1 the nature 2 the working 3 the grounds 4 the remedies of spiritual dejection. And in which is held forth, satisfaction to some particular cases, and generall advice for any soule who is cast downe. Being the heads and sum of divers sermons preached to a particular congregation from Psalm 42. last. By John Durant, preacher of the Gospel, and pastour of a church of Christ in Canterbury.	Durant, John, b. 1620.	1650 (1650)	Wing D2673; Thomason E1215_1; ESTC R208831	144,036	296

children even Christ himselfe Secondly Gods wrath is rather in appearance then in truth It is a Vizzard not thy Fathers face that lookes so terrible thy Fathers face is love all love only love fury is not in him only now he hath put on a Vizzard to scare thee a little and hee 'l lay it aside againe he doth but hide his face under that Maske hee 'l open it againe In a little wrath I hid my face from thee Isa 54.2 Marke it wrath is but a vaile that hides Gods face in it is not his reall face it is but as we say A copy of his countenance There is never a black letter in all Gods face especially as to his children no God is love it is his Name in love there is no unlovely letter Thou sayest God is angry it is true he appeares so Note this but he is not so As he is never truly pleased with sinners but is angry against them every day notwithstanding their conceit so he is never indeed displeased with Saints whatever they feele or feare But Thirdly All the anger and wrath of God is not against thy person but against thy sinne Suppose thy Childe be sick and wounded deeply wounded with some bloody gash or cut desperately sicke of some ugly Disease thou art displeased but with what with his Person with thy childe No but with his wound with his disease So it is with God he is only angry and displeased with thy sinne thy corruption and his rough hand which thou feelest is but to take away and purge out that he is wel pleased with thee Ephraim is a deare still though God speake against him his bowels are troubled for him as it is Jerem. 31.18 Againe Fourthly It is a mercy to be sensible and sorrowfull for Divine displeasure There is many a hard-hearted wretch in the world that slights God that makes a mock of sin and wrath too Blessed be God that thou as David canst say My flesh trembleth for feare of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements Psal 119.120 And Fifthly God will not contend nor be wroth for ever Your Fathers anger O sad soul wil over as we say i. e. wil goe away this cloud and storme wil not last alwayes Read O dejected soule Isa 57. heare God himselfe saying I will not contend for ever neither will I bee alwayes wroth for the spirit would faile before me and the soules which I have made For the iniquity of his covetousnesse I was wroth and smote him and he went on frowordly in the way of his heart I have seene his wayes and I will heale him I will lead him also and restore comfort unto him I create the fruit of the lips peace peace to him that is afarre off and I will heale him vers 16 17 18 19. Pray minde these healing words Christ will heale and restore comfort hee 'l not retaine his wrath hee 'l create peace out of that Chaos of confusion in which thou now art Though there be nothing but darknesse upon the face of thy deep so David called his dejection yet God who at first caused light to shine out of darknesse will shine into thy heart to give thee the knowledge of himselfe in the face of Christ as it is 2 Cor. 4.6 Beleeve this and rejoyce O dejected soule creating power is ingaged by promise to fill thee with peace who now cryest out of wrath Lastly The time is comming that thou shalt be for ever freed from so much as the very appearances of wrath In heaven you shall alwaies behold your Fathers face thy sunne shall no more goe downe by day there are no clouds in the heaven of heavens Mindest thou not what David said and he was sometimes dejected as thou art As for me I shall behold thy face in righteousnesse I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likenesse Psal 17. last Take in these crums of comfort O thou cast downe soule though I be but briefe and give only drops yet sip them and thou wilt finde them spirits O why art thou cast downe why art thou dejected Trust thou in God and expect him O tarry thou a little thy Lords leasure and thou shalt see him ere long come leaping over the mountaines appearing in his owne glorie and then shalt thou appeare with him inglory then shall he wipe away all teares from thine eyes and scatter all feares in thine heart yea then will he satisfie thee in all thy cases and cure thee of all these causes of dejection and then shalt thou praise him indeed as thy God Object Peradventure you will say he tarries long Reas It is true yet hee 'l come though he do tarry He said Yet a little while and ye shall see me it is but a little while indeed though it be long in thought Dejection and casting downe is not the posture you should be in no you ought to arise and WALKE to looke up and to waite to expect and looke out to lift up your heads and hearts and not to be cast downe O that Christ may finde more standing bearing up against all difficulties and under all dejections doing his work and suffering his wil with all faithfulnesse faith and patience Blessed wil our soules be if Christ at his comming finde us thus doing and saying worke O soule and waite for your Saviour who is now comming and whom you shall praise in that day saying Loe this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us This is the Lord we have waited for him we will rejoyce and be glad in his Salvation Isa 25.9 SECT III. PSALM 42. ult Why art thou cast downe O my soule and why art thou disquieted within me CHAP. 1. Another Doctrine raised and beld forth from the words I Have dispatched the fust Doctrine raised from the words And shall now proceed to the second which is It is the wisdome and should be the care of soules when they are cast down not to give way thereunto but to argue the case with themselves Thus doth David and his thus doing is the foundation of this Doctrine His practice hath in it the force of precept to command us without doubt we should imitate this pattern And it wil be our wisdome so to doe Two things there are which I posite and would presse in this point The first is That Christians dejected should not give way to dejection The second is That they should argue the case with their own soules Both these branches of the Doctrine are in Davids Expostulation The first Virtually the second formally David doth not say weep on O soul thou dost well He doth not say as Job in another case O turne away from me and suffer me to weep a little He doth not say as the Prophet Looke away from me I will weep bitterly labour not to comfort me No this were to give way to his sadnesse this were to nourish his heavinesse But mark it he

and Timothy did and we should walk not by sence but by faith 2 Cor. 5 At present O soule thou sayest Thou seest nothing but wrath thou feelest nothing but sorrow thou hearest nothing but threatning c. take heed thou conclude not thy state by thy sence A state sensibly bad may be really good as a state seemingly good may be substantially bad As the seared Consciences of Reprobates so the scrupulous Consciences of Saints are not fit nor able to make right conclusions What though at present Sence present nothing so much as in order to a cure yet cured thou shalt be God creates light out of darknesse and shines into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of himselfe in the face of Christ as it is 2 Cor. 4.6 Though at present thou art sensible of nothing but darknesse yet God may create a light out of that Beware of concluding any thing from present sence or feeling Yea Beware of eying it tso much looke off from what thou seest and art sensible of unto that thou seest not We faint not said the Apostle Why marke it We looke not at the things Which we see but at the things which we see not 2 Cor. 4.16.18 Secondly Consider not selfe Selfe is alwaies insufficient as to holy worke or joy If thou conclude from the consideration of selfe thy conclusion wil be false Thou art cast downe and Childe-like art nor able to rise againe Selfe cannot raise thy soule what then wilt thou conclude thy soule cannot be raised O take heed of this Where selfe is insufficient Christ is sufficient and when we are weake his power is magnified in our weaknesse Abraham considered not his owne body now dead Rom. 4.19 had Abraham considered himself he had never beleeved for a Sonne it was Sarahs fault and the ground of her laughing unbeleefe she considered her selfe as old c. you must not therefore consider selfe as weake no let me adde this you must not consider selfe as sinfull This may hinder faith As weaknesse to helpe our selves so unworthinesse to be helped by Christ is generally the cause of doubting and unbeleefe but take heed of both Abraham beleeved though himselfe was old yea and though Sarah laughed neither his weaknesse nor her sinne could hinder his faith Take heed therefore of eying selfe either as unable or unworthy Christ is able to raise the weak yea and willing to lift up the worthlesse soules of cast-down ones 3. Conclude nothing by Satan Hee 'l tell you of difficulties and impossibilities but consider him not As Satan makes the proud heart of exalted Babilon think it shal never fal so he would make the grieved heart of dejected Sion think it shall never rise but know Satan is a Lyar and who would beleeve an old constant Lyar Hee 'l say despaire when Christ saith hope But beleeve thou the Lord Jesus and slight Satan be sure to conclude nothing from his suggestions Obj. But what if Conscience joyne with Satan what if that witnesse to Satans words c Answ Beleeve not nor conclude from thy owne Conscience it is possible that may erre and looke as the seared Conscience of the wicked erre and speake peace when there is no ground so the seduced Conscience of the godly may create trouble when there is no cause Besides Christ sometimes doth permit Conscience to condemne to heighten his owne grace in acquitting It is sometimes in Spirituals as it is in Temporals we receive the sentence of death in our selves that we may not trust in our selves Doe not therefore O dejected soule conclude of thy cast-down condition from Satans suggestions no not when backt with thy owne Conscience care not for Satans condemnation nay judge not thine owne selfe as it is 1 Cor. 4.3 Lastly Beware of concluding any thing form present seeming rejections of Christ Many a cast downe soule cryes O Christ seemes to reject mee and therefore I am lost and ther 's no hope c. But mind it O soule as a Caution Though Christ at present seem to reject thee yet conclude nothing Thou knowest and oh that thou wouldest for this purpose consider well the woman of Canaan Christ at first did seeme to reject her I am not sent said he but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Nay he calls her dog and upon that account denyes her childrens bread yet you know the issue Beware therefore of concluding from the present dealings of Christ though he seem to reject thee and let thee lie Though he speak as if he meant not to cure thee and call thee dog as if he would not have to doe with thee yet beleeve for all this may be but a shew to try thee and thy faith It s said in the story of the journey of Christs Disciples from Jerusalem to Emaus that Christ made as though he would have gone further yet upon entreaty he went in to tarry with them Luk. 24.28 29. Christ O soul may seem to goe away when he intends to tarry Only he lookes for intreaty O therefore do not conclude any thing from the present visible seeming rejections of Christ He may frowne and smite cast off and reject cal thee dog and deny thee a crum and yet he may intend and if thou beleeve and waite will to imbrace thee and raise thee up and to fill thy soule with healing and rejoycing Having premised these things by way of caution to be taken heed of I shall now adde one or two positive considerations for the inabling of the soule to act his faith even then when it lyeth lowest and seeth least First Consider there can be no just ground why thou shouldest not beleeve As formerly I said there can be no just ground for our great dispairing casting downe so now I say there can be no just ground why we should not beleeve that yet we shall praise God T is true the soule is apt to conceive grounds of dispaire at least to conclude there are grounds why it should not beleeve But mind it wel and you shal see there is no reason can be given why the soule though never so low and cast downe should not beleeve its raising up by Christ and its rejoycing in Christ For First There is no command or inhibition to the contrary 'T is true Satan sayes there is an inhibition but he is a false Prophet and God never sent him The dejected soule cryes out O I may not I must not I dare not beleeve Why O soule why must not you beleeve who said so when did Christ forbid thee where is the word that faith you may not beleeve Nay is not the Scripture expresse in commanding you to beleeve at all times Is not this his commandement that we should beleeve on the name of Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 3.23 See the Text is positive why shouldest thou say then that thou mayest not beleeve Secondly The depth of your dejection neither is nor ought to be a