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
A93770	The reviler rebuked: or, A re-inforcement of the charge against the Quakers, (so called) for their contradictions to the Scriptures of God, and to their own scriblings, which Richard Farnworth attempted to answer in his pretended Vindication of the Scriptures; but is farther discovered, with his fellow-contradictors and revilers, and their doctrine, to be anti-Scriptural, anti-Christian, and anti-spiritual. By John Stalham, a servant of the great bishop and shepherd of souls, appointed to watch his little flock at Terling in Essex.	Stalham, John, d. 1681.	1657 (1657)	Wing S5186; Thomason E914_1; ESTC R203642	283,651	368

sometimes uttered First The Apostles sense 2 Cor. 4. 6. is by allusion to 2 Cor. 4. 6. vindicated Gods work in the old creation to witness his power in the new In the old he commanded light to shine out of darkness He said Let there be light and there was light creating it of nothing There was a pre-existent subject before light was created viz. darkness of the air but no pre-existent matter which light was made of much less was light there before within the darkness for though God commanded the light to shine out of darkness it doth not follow that light was there before So God working by his Almighty power in the new creation he hath saith the Apostle shined in our hearts to give the light which was not there before of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ The faculty of the natural understanding was there as the pre-existing subject but there was no fore-existing matter out of which this light is produced The Apostles sense again in Gal. 1. 16. is not to Gal 1. 16. vindicated favor these mens opinion as if Christ had been in Paul vailed over before conversion and then revealed in him as being there but Paul did not know it till his conversion But God revealed his Son in Paul when he did immediately effectually and experimentally shine into his heart and gave him the knowledge of the glorious mysteries of the Gospel in the clear knowledge of Christ given for him given to him and now dwelling in him and he doth reveal his Son in others ordinarily when after he hath knockt at their hearts he opens the door by his Spirit gives faith to consent that Christ shall come in and dwell there Ephes 3. 17. Before faith Christ is kept out of the heart but when a soul believes and his faith worketh by love and love by obedience as Christ came in and took possession from first believing so in his good time he doth manifest himself unto the soul John 14. 21. The Apostles sense Col. 1. 27. Col. 1. 27. vindicated is not as if the light of Christ for salvation had been in the Gentiles hearts in a mystery before their effectual calling The mystery of salvation by Christ was wrapt up in the Scriptures of the old Testament and in Types and Figures among the Jews not in the least hinted to the Gentiles mindes before the Gospel came But when the Apostles When and how Christ is in the soul came to preach Christ crucified to their ears through grace they believed the report for themselves at Coloss as elsewhere and knew the grace of God in truth had Christ his image stampt upon their hearts and the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them This was not light breaking forth from their hearts as having been there before their union with Christ and Christs taking up their hearts as his Temple but the light of the glorious Gospel breaking into their hearts which 1. Is called the riches of the glory and the Pronoun which before is Christ in you refers not to mystery for that is of the Neuter and the Pronoun * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Masculine Gender but to riches * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same Gender with which in the Greek The glorious treasure and substance of the mystery which rich glorious treasure is Christ in you the light in every man is a poor base beggerly scrap to this Gospel-pearl and treasure 2. This riches summ'd up in Christ and Christ the substance of the Mystery is confined to the Saints ver 26. and is onely in them ever after their closing with Christ reigning and prevailing to the purity peace and joy of their souls and evidential hope of their future glory Secondly The assertion of Christs being within men before conversion contradicts themselves as I discovered in my former piece who say In the Ages past Christ was not revealed every man had not that light The Son of God is not revealed as Christ but as he is Mediator in the Ages past Christ was not so revealed they had not say they that light viz. as he is Mediator therefore Christ as Mediator was not within men by the light given to every man And here I leave them R. F. among them as I found them and discovered them in this Section in their own darkness of Confusion and Self-contradiction till the Lord shall convince them thereof and bring them out of it Section 12. ANother Contradiction of themselves concerning the Light in every man I noted in this Section viz. That they magnifie it and vilifie it in the same respect as it is the light of the first nature and of every man in his first state since the fall R. F. * Page 26. takes up two of the passages to answer but takes not off their Self-contradiction The first They magnifie every mans light to be a Law written in the heart to judge and condemn all sin and therefore they say the day of judgement is come and anon they vilifie the light of natural men who are a part of mankinde as filthy waters and every man in his first state is a beast To this all that R. F. hath to say is Where judgement is brought forth into victory sin is condemned in the flesh and there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus c. and such have boldness in the day of judgement for as some mens deeds goes before-hand to judgement others they come after and therefore a day of judgement is to come Rep. If these men would disparage every mans light in respect of the Saints light they would be something ingenuous and if they did not put every mans light in the place of Christ the Spirit and his writing in the heart and then call them waters of Babylon nor sometimes say upon Adams fall pure reason was destroyed c. and anon call every mans light pure light they would not be so Scripture and self-contradictious as they are nor would they confound what they ought to distinguish as R. F. confounds the judgement of a natural conscience and the Spirits Gospel-conviction of sin Righteousness and Judgement together Justification he confounds with Sanctification and a day of Judgement present with the day of Judgement which is to come Scripture-expressions he useth here as elsewhere but not with the Scripture-scope and meaning The passage I quoted out of Ben. Nicholson his Returns to a Letter Page 13. speaks of the Law written in the heart of The Spirits conviction of judgement beyond the judgement of a natural conscience every man which they say doth judge and condemn all sin R. F. tells us of a Judgement brought forth into victory and when that is done sin is condemned in the flesh but say I according to Scripture the Law written in the heart of every man neither condemns all sin nor discovers either the root of

evasion runs to John 1. 9. Christ is the true light that enlightneth every man that cometh into the world Therefore If thou say the contrary the Scriptures thou therein contradictest and not he take notice of that and withal that Christ is the Light of the world c. Rep. 1. That Christ is the true Light is a very truth and that he is the Light of the world John 8. 12. and gives the John 8. 12. opened light of life or quickning salvation-light to all his believing followers is thankfully acknowledged but they that confound the Light-giver with the Light or Enlightning given deceive themselves and others that hearken to them 2. He that takes John 1. 9. in such a sense as if every John 1. 9 vindicated and opened with the Context man had the Light Christ as Mediator and Salvation-light understands it in a sense contradictious to other Scriptures viz. Col. 1. 26. Hid from ages Rom. 16. 25. Kept secret whence I argue That which was hid from ages past and kept secret from the most of men even from all Nations but the Jews that every man had not light into But the Light of Christ as Mediator or the Gospel and preaching of Christ was hid from Ages and kept secret from the most of men Therefore every man hath not had Light into it nor about it And hence it appears that the sense put upon John 1. 9. isfalse as if it were Salvation-light that John speaketh of there which is given but to some part of mankinde since the Gospel came among the Gentiles when as he onely in that Verse expresly instanceth in a lightning of every man that cometh into the world in any Age of the world whatsoever past and preceding Christs Incarnation as subsequent and present with the sparkling light of a Deity which Deity or God-head John is proving to be in Christ as in the Father 3. That sense of John 1. 9. which is beyond the Evangelists scope from the first Verse of that Chapter to the tenth Verse is contradictious to the Text in controversie and under debate The direct scope of that former part of the The Godhead of Christ asserted by Scripture arguments Chapter is to assert and prove Christ to be God 1. Ver. 1. In the beginning was the word i. e. the Son of God therefore he was before the beginning even from eternity He was in the first moment of time when time place and creation and things in time and place began therefore he was before time and place and things and therefore he is God 2. He the word was with God distinct in personal subsistence from the Father yet existing in the Father therefore he was God 3. Ver. 2 and 3. He being in the beginning with God all things were made by him c. therefore he is God 4. Ver. 4. In him was life and the life in him which he hath of himself was the light of men as men and reasonable creatures their life lieth in their reasonable faculty which distinguisheth them from beasts The Word was the author and giver of this their Light of Reason which makes them live as men among men the use whereof if but suspended renders them with Nebuchadnezzar companions for beasts therefore the Word is God But it might be said If the Word be God how comes it that all men know him not to be God V. 5. 't is preventingly answered The light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not i. e. The Light-giver shineth by the Light given back since the fall into mens dark corrupt mindes but they are unable to rise so high as to the knowledge of Christs God-head all creation-light being much obscured and darkned even about the creatures since sin came into the world much more concerning Jehovah-Elohim one God and three persons but as he is revealed in the Scriptures and yet there even the Jews understood but little of him as God Hereupon Ver. 6. There was a man sent from God whose name was John the Baptist Ver. 7. The same came to bear witness of that light i. e. Christ-God the Light-giver that all men through him might believe that which their reasons could not reach nor attain unto by the Light given to all men after the fall Ver. 8. He John the Baptist was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light and the witness he gave of him was partly this He is mightier then I Mat. 3. 11. He is preferred before me for he was before me John 1. 30. And the Jews knowing that John the Baptist was conceived and born before Christ the Testimony of that John must amount to this That Christ was in being as God before he or John either was in being as man therefore by this as by a fifth Argument the Evangelist John calls men to believe Christs God-head Now in Ver. 9. to which I have led my Reader along he re-asumeth the Argument of the fourth Verse still with the former scope to assert the aforesaid Divine nature of the Word That was the true light which lighteth every man John the Baptist was a burning and a shining light and brought true light but he had onely a borrowed light Christ was the true light * i. e. essentially and primitively Quae verè propriè meretur lucis nomen quum naturâ luceat non participatione 6. of himself he derived it not from others as meer creatures do and hence may be founded a sixth Argument for his Deity He who hath Light and is Light originally and all-sufficiently of himself is God for no more can be said of God then as 1 John 1. 5. that he is Light absolute Light of himself and in him is no darkness at all But Christ hath Light and is Light of himself originally all-sufficiently absolutely being the true Light Therefore he is God But as I said the Argument of the fourth Verse is taken up again in the latter and largest part of this ninth Verse He that giveth light to every man that cometh into the world must needs be greater then all lights in himself and of himself But Christ doth thus Therefore he is what he is the very God and original or eternal Light with the Father and Spirit blessed for ever But what light doth he give unto every man may some say I answer 1. He was not bound as God offended after the fall to give any at all of any sort or kinde whatsoever R. F. saith elsewhere * Light out of darkness p. 19 None shall be condemned for that which they know not he might have condemned all as some for losing their light which once they had in Adam 2. What light he gives to every man without exception since the fall was never obeyed to the full by any man and hath rendred men the more inexcusable Rom. 1. 19. 20. 3. That place in the Romans answers the Question directly together with the fourth Verse

if he had said the least degree is the greatest degree and the lowest degree is the highest degree which how absurdly contradictious to it self let rational men be judges What hath he further to salve the contradiction Thy imaginations cannot finde out the highest degree that are not subject to the lowest but acts contrary to it and so to be condemned by it Rep. Here are four fresh charges For the first I acknowledge my imagination too shallow to reach unto others attainments but I deny the highest degree of light to be here attainable 1 Cor. 13. I know 't is in heaven to be found I am content to look through Pauls glass and the believers Prospective and to know things here in a Riddle and in a Mystery The Zenith of the Saints light is not to be seen while Saints light not at the highest pitch we are under the Sun when that which is perfect is come which comes not in this life in point of light and therefore not of holines by the way then that which is imperfect shall be done away But this I know that I am more brutish then a man and have not the knowledge of the Holy And how little is the portion of the knowledge of God and Christ that is to be found among all the Saints were it all put together it would haply amount but to the least degree of that which shall be known by every of them hereafter The knowledge of the love of Christ is the highest piece of knowledge and that passeth my knowledge if not R. Farnworths yet this I know that nothing shall be known in heaven nor to eternity but the foundation and subject matter of it is already laid in the Scripture Besides scripture-Scripture-knowledge for the matter I do not say for the maner I profess my self to know nothing and the least degree of that light which shineth in the Scripture concerning Christ and him crucified I esteem above the highest degree of the light that every man cometh into the world withal A second charge followeth But thou art not subject to the lowest degree of light Rep. 1. Will R. F. grant the light which every man hath to be the lowest light and Gospel-light to be a higher light and what the Saints have in heaven to be higher then what the Saints have on earth then I hope the least degree of light is not perfect in its measures as in its self as his fellow asserted 2. What if I were perfectly subject to the least and lowest degree of light will that advance me to light of another kinde if not I shall thank free grace for giving light of a higher nature though I never obeyed natural light as I ought and as I might and every man might do more with his natural abilities then he doth A third charge But thou acts contrary to it Rep. This I take to be a third winnowing of Satan What I have done herein the Lord hath known and knows and not R. F. And He knows how to pardon it and hath pardoned it in Christ But if I do not advance every mans light into the place of the Saints light I act not against natural light though above it but for the light of Saints And if I attribute more to true spiritual light then to natural and do not call that spiritual which is not so in the specifical or proper form and being of it but call a Spade a Spade I hope R. F. will bear with me or blame himself for allowing of that distinction as above where he said the light which discovers corruption is not natural but spiritual without explication of himself according to Scripture A fourth charge followeth and so to be condemned by it A sentence I may call it as well as a charge but it is well I shall be condemned by the light not in the dark as R. F. doth adjudge me at his pleasure well I say that I shall be tryed and judged in another Court then his captious judgement and well for me still that I have submitted to the sentence of Gods legal Court for abuse of natural light and yet have made use of my liberty in Christ to appeal unto a higher Court then Gods own Law so far as it holds forth a Covenant of works and sentence of life or death upon my own works even to the throne of Grace and to the Gospel-sentence of Gods free justifying a sinner that believeth in Jesus there I am sure neither R. F. nor the devil himself can lay any thing to my charge as to my condemnation before God It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth But in way of Reply before men I must attend R. F. * Page 27. and desire my Reader to observe how he goes on to make good J. Nayler his assertion For it the light in its least measure is perfect both in respect of its truth and sincerity power and authority and condemns the haters and resisters of it Thus R. F. To which I Reply 1. What is this to perfection of degrees Here is a mighty fall from the highest to the lowest for this kinde of perfection viz. of truth which I had granted is so in the highest degree that it belongs also to the lowest The least drop of Every thing is true and perfect for the kinde as it is Gods work water is true water perfectwater in respect of its truth as all that is in the Ocean so the least beam of light is true light and in that sense perfect whether it be Creation-light or Redemption-light either is true for its kinde in the least degree and perfect as to the true being But 2. The deceit lyeth here when men will put off that for Redemption-light which is but old Creation-light A Bristol stone is a true Bristol stone but if it be put off for a Diamond-spark it is counterfeit there is not truth in it as to the repute and estimation of it so the least degree of old Creation-light as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which may be Rom 1. 19. known of Gods eternal power goodness and wisedom in and by the contemplation of the creature is true for the kinde and is called truth Rom. 1. 18. which the Gentiles imprisoned in unrighteousness but this hath not the least spark of Redemption-light which Adam had not before the fall and was not manifested after the fall till the first promise Gen. 3. 15. And if it be commended and set off for saving light it proves false light and darkness it self so far is it from perfection of degrees that it hath not the least spark of Gospel-sincerity 3. As for any power and authority that the least or the greatest degree of old-creation-light hath as it is given back since the fall though it be loved and obeyed to lead into the life and power of the Saints comprehensions of the redeeming love of God in Christ which R. F. hinteth at I know none