Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	glory_n	heart_n	light_n	4,714	5	6.7806	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A11073	The mysticall marriage Experimentall discoveries of the heavenly marriage betweene a soule and her saviour. By F. Rous.	Rous, Francis, 1579-1659.	1631 (1631)	STC 21342.5; ESTC S106415	66,682	385

the eyes of the Church being annoynted doe see him and all things that cōcerne him Spirituall things are spiritually to bee discerned and Christ and his spouse are one spirit and by that spirit wherby she is one with Christ doth shee discerne spiritual things The husband of the Church is the wisedome of his Father and when wisdome goes into a soule he giveth wisedome to the soule The Spirit by which he enters into us taketh of his and giveth it to us Therefore as he is wisdome in himselfe so is he also made wisedome to us Christ is light and when light and the soule are knit together by that vnion with light there is a Communion of light The wine of the Spirit is herein quite contrary to the bodily wine The bodily wine whē it inebriates darkens the understanding and being grosser than the soule casts a mist upon the soule But the spirituall wine being purer than the soule enlightens and clarifies her and even then when it brings her to an extacie it doth it not by the diminution but by the excesse of light Wherefore let the soule make speciall use of this precious light which shineth within her in the accesses of her husband let her marke and learne and record the discoveries of that light for a spirit so enlightened will discover more than seven men upon a watch-tower There are some mysteries and secrets which thy husband wil whisper unto thee by his spirit in the bed of love and then let him that hath an eare heare what his spirit saith But if he doe not speake to thee doe thou speak to him know of him those things that are needfull for thee to know and bring to his light those things that thou wouldest have truly seene and discerned Goe into this Sanctuary and there receive Oracles and Answeres for there shalt thou finde resolutions of those things that were before too high and too hard for thee and when thou hast truly seene them beleeve them to be that which by this light thou seest them to be and resolve never to beleeve the flesh hereafter when it shall put any other shapes upon them For darknesse puts false and imaginary shapes upon things but it is light that makes all things truly manifest For example when this light shines in upon the soule looke out for thy happinesse and that thou maist finde it set all things before this light which are briefly these The Creatour and the creature God and the world and having done this thou maist plainly see where is true solid and permanent felicity and where is vanity transitorinesse and misery And when thou hast seene it know it to be the very truth which thou hast seene and that which is once truth is truth for ever If thou wantest the skil of truly measuring time and eternity so that a short life seemes to thee like eternity and eternity lesse than a short life when this light shines in thy soule bring the life of man and eternity together in one view before it and thou shalt quickly learne the art of numbring the few dayes of thy life and withall thou shalt learne that the dayes of eternity cannot bee numbred There is not so much proportion or likenesse between them as there is betweene the very lowest and least point of the earth and the circle of the uppermost sphere And what thou hast now seene to be true beleeve to be true ever even when this light is so obscured that thou seest not the truth of it If thou doubt which is better the prosperity of the wicked or the adversity of the godly bring them before this light even into the Sanctuary and Temple of thy soule wherein the holy Ghost dwelleth and shineth and there shalt thou see that prosperitie ending in a never-ending misery and that adversity ending in a never-ending felicity Besides thou shalt see the prosperity to bee but a light vanity yet followed with a weghty misery and thou shalt see adversity to be but a light affliction yet followed with a weighty glory And having seene this thou maist easily judg which is the better and as they appeare now to thy judgement such let thy memory present them to thee for ever If thou art doubtfull of thy way and thy path seeemes to be covered with darknesse search thy way by this light for it shall be to thee instead of a voice saying This is the way walke in it VVhen after some darke nights the soule is visited through the loving kindnesse of her beloved with these day-springs and mornings of grace then let her say Cause mee to see and know the way wherein I shall walke and then The good Spirit will leade thee into the land of uprightnesse If the word written be darke to thee bring it to this light and if it be fit for thy measure and the glory of thy Lord this light shall reveale it For the Spirit doth reveale the hid things of God If the infidelity of men without thee or of thine owne flesh within thee cast a mist of doubts on the Gospel of Christ Iesus with this light beholde this Gospell and thou shalt see in it a plot of divine wisedome and a mysterie of high and supernaturall truth Yea thou shalt see the face of him who is the summe of the Gospell as the face of the onely begotten Sonne of God full of grace and glory For God who commanded light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ. It is an ancient promise They shall be all taught of God And when will God sooner teach than when he visiteth a soule with his spirit which communicates both his light and his love unto her For both light and love are discoverers of secrets light makes manifest things hidde in darknesse and love tels counsels unto the beloved It is our Saviours owne inference I have called you friends therefore I tell you my counsels But remember that the knowledge which thou learnest from this teacher of hearts be laid up by thee safe as a precious stocke or treasure and account it thy best learning which thou hast learned of the best Teacher Having bought this truth sell it not keepe it and it shall keepe thee When thou goest thy steps shall not be straitned and when thou runnest thou shalt not stumble Therefore take fast holde on this instruction let her not goe keepe her for shee is thy life Secondly these seasons of love are seasons of prayer If thou want any thing now aske it for in these heates of love thy husband will deny thee nothing These be the times when the spirit moveth the waters therefore now cast in thy petition and what soever griefe it hath in it thou shalt be cured of it Now the King holds out his golden Scepter therefore let

the heavenly Bridegroome IT is necessary to shew what these visitations are to convince that they are and so to undeceive those that thinke they are not It is also necessary to free those from errour who beleeving that they are yet doe mistake those that are not for those that are Such visitations there are for they are seene and felt by men seeing and waking and seeing and waking not onely with the bodily eyes but with two better eyes the one of humane reason and the other farre excelling that divine and heavenly light Spirituall light beholds these spirituall sights and shews them to the understanding which being convinced by that which it sees beleeves them it selfe and would also deliver over the sight and the beleefe of them to others But the thoughts of man are narrower than these joyes and words are narrower thā thoghts But which is worst of al the heart of an earthly man is narrower than the narrow words of a spirituall man for the carnall man perceiveth not spirituall things though they be held up before his fleshly eyes yet in the mouth of two or three eye-witnesses a word should stand and stand it doth though blinde men see it not standing before them and therfore stumble at it But who knowes whether an Ephatah may come downe from heaven that while a spirituall object is proposed a spirituall sight may be infused Howsoever the words of heavenly wisedome are not spoken in vaine to the children of wisedome and especially those who are yet but children and not perfect in tae art of discerning good and evill must not be left to the dangers of errour and mistaking The black Angel sometimes changeth himselfe into an Angel of light and then may he also make some shewes of lightsome visitations There is also a sanguine and naturall lightsomnesse and a bright beame of adustion that sometimes shine in the mind and these also may be mistaken to be divine But the spirit is not flesh much lesse is hee that evill spirit which is contrary to him And because the spirit is that which these are not the visitations are such as those imaginations are not which come from these And that this difference may the better be discerned let let us beholde the true characters of a spirituall visitation which the soule seeth when the husband of soules doth visit her A first marke and signe of his presence is light a light not fitted for the eye but the soule even a light spirituall and shining spirit and truth into the soule and spirit For the Lord is a spirit and when hee comes into the soule hee comes with abundance of that spirit which leadeth into all truth Hee is the light of the world even of the great world of mankinde and therefore when he comes into the little world of one man how great is his light And when this light shineth brightly then the soule by it doth see spirituall things as truly and assuredly as the corporall eye doth corporall things For there is an agreement betweene a spirituall eye and spirituall objects as there is betweene the bodily eye and bodily object By this light things formerly not knowne are seene and discovered and spirituall things knowne before onely by a carnall which is a false knowledge are spiritually and so truly discerned for the light is that which maketh manifest and this light being spirituall maketh spirituall things so manifest that it gives a full assurance of understanding and makes us know that wee know thē Even those things which before seemed fables and foolishnesse to the carnall eye to this spirituall sight and light appeare plainly to be deepe mysteries and most wise truthes Especially the great Bridegroom of soules who to the Iewes is a stumbling blocke and to the Grecians foolishnesse to this light appeares clearely to be the wisedome of God and the power of God For the light begotten acknowledgeth the light begetting and Christ is seene in the soule by his owne beames Hee is seene there as a Head and Husbād to the Church as a roote of life as an All-sufficient Saviour fit and able to restore a decayed and lost creation to disperse and treade downe a combined association of adversary and mighty spirits and to unite and recapitulate the scattered members of a mysticall body both in heaven and earth each to other and all to the Deity Hee is beheld as the fairest of men the soules well-beloved an infuser of that blessed sap of spirituall life by which the soule is purified here and made capable of the beatificall vision in an eternall life hereafter And as this derived light sheweth us the primitive light which begate it and being spirituall shewes us that Lord who is the spirit from whom it proceeded so doth it also discover to us divers other spirituall truthes and is a kinde of Oracle that gives divine answeres and resolutions Now that wee may certainely know this light to be a truth and not an imagination and withall to be truly spirituall and heavenly and not carnall earthly much lesse infused by a counterfeit Angel of light let us first observe that this light of the spirit doth agree with the light of the word The same spirit of God which shineth now in our soules in these heavenly visitations did first shine in the word so that the light of the word and the light in our soules are twinnes and resemble each other and agree like brethren If therefore there be this agreement then there is this brotherhood and if no agreement then there is no brotherhood Therefore to the law to the testimony if thy thoughts speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them for indeed if our thoughts be truly enlightened wee shall finde some words in the word of God confirming them yea many times this light within will call up some place of the word without for a witnesse to it to confirm a truth which in that place was not formerly perceived Such is the harmony and power of harmony betweene the spirit and the word that when you hit a spirituall truth in your soule there will often come a sound answer and eccho from some place in the word agreeable to it And as the word doth approve this light so doth this light approve the word It loves to looke on it it seeth a heavenly wisdome in it yea it seeth secrets in it yea many times it will in some short sentence yea in some single word find out a Mine of heavenly doctrine and as at a little crany discover a world of divine truths And so the light of the spirit doth approve it selfe not onely by being approved of the word but by approving and improving it This is a sufficient tryall and touchstone of this heavenly light though if neede were I might adde the willing resignation of reason even of the naturall light of the soule to the soveraignty of this divine and heavenly