Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	heart_n	light_n	shine_v	8,936	5	9.6862	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86549	Salvation from sinne by Jesus Christ: or, The doctrine of sanctification (which is the greater part of our salvation) founded upon Christ, who is both the meritorious, and and efficient cause of sanctifying grace, purchasing it for, working & perfecting it in his people. Applied (as it was specially intended) for the better information of our judgements, and quickning of our affections in holiness, wherein our everlasting our everlasting happiness chiefly consisteth. / Preached in the weekly lecture at Evesham in the county of Worcester, by George Hopkins, M.A. minister of the Gospel there.; Salvation from sinne by Jesus Christ	Hopkins, George, 1620-1666.	1655 (1655)	Wing H2743; Thomason E1608_1; ESTC R208454	135,124	325

into hell under the eternall wrath of God Sure thou sayest in thy heart I will hereafter return to God sometime or other before I die I intend to repent and lay fast hold upon Christ at the last and I hope I may be saved then as well as if I do it now Hast thou not some such reasonings in thy heart as these To which I answer thou art ready to plead thy own inability now and say I cannot repent believe and turn to God it is not in the power of a naturall man to do it Why then dost thou promise what thou wilt do at the last will it be any more in thy power then than now is it out of the power of a strong and healthy man to repent and lay hold upon mercy offered and is an aged sick or crasie person able to perform it Consider well of it and give me a reason why thou shouldst be better able to doe this great work when thy body is decaying and thy memory and understanding declining and thou unable to frequent the publick Ordinances than now while strength of body and mind and means of grace do all concurre together Obj. But thou wilt say I hope God will give me grace then and enable me to do it Answ 1. God offers thee his help now yea his saving grace why wilt thou not accept of it 2. What reason hast thou to think that Christ will bestow upon thee that grace at the point of death that thou hast wilfully refused all the dayes of thy life Nay hast thou not reason to expect that before that time thou shalt be judicially sealed up to blindnesse of minde and hardnesse of heart for refusing so many of the Lords gracious offers of mercy Thus it befell the Jewes in the like case Isa 6.9 10. And the Lord said go and tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and see indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and make their eares heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and heare with their eares and understand with their heart and convert and be healed When the terrours of hell and death take hold on thee and thou criest to God maist thou not justly expect that the Lord will be as peremptory in refusing to hear thy cries and complaints as thou hast been in refusing to obey his voice in the daies of thy prosperity Read and consider well Prov. 1.20 to 31. Zech. 7.13 Therefore it is come to passe that as he cried and they would not heare so they cried and I would not hear saith the Lord of hosts Read the foregoing verses 3. Let me ask thee how many thou hast seen converted to Christ in their old age that lived constantly under the means of grace in their younger yeares The work of grace is wrought most commonly upon those that are in the prime of their age gray-headed sinners seldome repent Why wilt thou then promise thy selfe so much in old age 4. Tell me plainly and deceive not thy own soule while thou shiftest thus Is not pardon of sin and justification that thou maist be delivered from a place of torment the great mercy thou hopest for and is not this the end thou proposest while thou promisest thy self future repentance If so thou dost but deceive thy own soule Christ came to save thee from thy sinnes and not meerly from the tormenting wrath of God Christ will be a whole Saviour or no Saviour he will deliver thee from the power of thy sin here or he will never deliver thee from hell hereafter Think not that a little counterfeit sorrow at the last will prevaile with the Lord to pardon thy sin O study well the offers promises and threatnings of the Gospel now for I feare thou art as yet ignorant of the nature of saving grace I believe thou dost much cheer up thy selfe with the consideration of Gods goodnesse riches of grace mercy and long-suffering and think thy selfe by these sufficiently secured 'T is true indeed the consideration of these may comfort the humble selfe-denying converting sinner and are well made use of to lead us to repentance But thou that continuest in sinne upon this score after thy hardnesse and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God Rom. 2.4 5. Obj. But what kinde of legal preaching is this Is this to preach salvation by Christ This is more like the voice of the Law than of the Gospel more like the thundring and lightning from mount Sinai than the voice of Christ from mount Sion Ans 1. I well remember ever since I knew what a Sermon meant till these late years that the most thundring rouzing sin discovering heart-searching Preachers were most highly prized and followed by all that were esteemed godly and the wicked and profane were wont to call them damnation preachers and desired to heare such as would preach them a Sermon of mercy I wonder now how it comes to passe that so many professors in these times are fallen in with the profane multitude to revile such messengers of Christ Sure there is a harmony between the theory at least of the one and practice of the other The Antinomian Professors plead grace is free and God hath so revealed himself that we need not doubt of his love it doth not become a Gospel-spirit to repent of sin or grieve for any miscarriages their sins were all long since done away in Christ neither ought they so much as once question their spiritual state neither should Ministers preach any thing but Free-grace and mercy in Jesus Christ And the wicked and profane say God is mercifull and Christ died to save sinners and hereupon take liberty to go on in sin impenitently never questioning their spiritual condition but hope to be saved by Christ as well as the best And the Antinomian sort of teachers will fit them for preaching according to their own hearts desire Either all our old Professors or these new ones are much mistaken But you will say These are times of greater light and many of our young Professors now see that that our ancient Professours understood not in former times Answ These are times wherein Professors are more light than formerly but whether they have more light I much question Some men have or at leastwise think they have much light in their heads but little in their hearts and their Religion is much in controversies but little in the life and power of godlinesse 2. Light is of two sorts First the light of bare knowledge and if this be the light so much boasted of the Devils and damned in hell may boast more for they know more than all the Saints upon earth Secondly there is the light of grace seated chiefly in the heart and shining forth in the life and conversation and this if I mistake not yea if Christ mistake not is the true light of

that may be worth some thousand pounds So is the esteem of most concerning the worth of Christians he that talks most and wordeth it best in all company is the onely man when a weighty serious Christian of fewer words and meaner outside is of no account But the worth of a Christian lies not in a few good words nor in plausible performance of duties but in true and real sanctification from sinne A sincere humble-hearted Christian is worth his weight in gold and I doubt not but one such Christian will weigh down a hundred vainglorious talkers in the balance of the Sanctuary Think not the highest Mountaines are the most fruitfull Land because they overlook the lower Valleys the mountains indeed are most in shew especially at a distance but the lowest valleyes bring forth fruit most abundantly Gifts and Grace compared There is a great deale of difference between Gifts and Graces as I shall instance in three particulars There is the gift of knowledge and the grace of knowledge the gift of faith and the grace of faith the gift of prayer and the grace of prayer There may be oft times is a large gift of all these where the true grace of them is wholly wanting No doubt but Iudas and divers others lawfully set apart to the work of the Ministrie were indued with a large measure of the gifts of knowledge faith and utterance both for preaching and prayer But how farre were they from the grace of either Our Saviour Christ himself gives us an account of many Mat. 7.22 that will say at the last day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out Devils and in thy name done many wonderfull works and then will he professe unto them I never know you depart from me ye that work iniquity But true sanctifying Grace is precious in his esteem the grace of knowledge is more precious than any thing in all the world Prov. 3.13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdome and the man that getteth understanding For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver the gain thereof than of fine gold she is more precious than rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her Happy indeed are they that have the grace of knowledge when many that are endued with great gifts are and shal be eternally miseable Hel it self is full of large gifts yea the Devils there have greater knowledge than all the Saints on earth The gift of knowledge through the corruption of man puffs up as we see by woful and abundant experience when the grace of knowledge makes a man more humble The mere gift makes a man wise in his own eyes and while he takes himself to be a knowing man he knowes nothing as he ought 1 Cor. 8.7 Seest thou a man that is wise in his own eyes there is more hope of a foole than of him saith Solomon Prov. 26.12 A foole in Solomons usuall sense is one that is wicked and verily there is more hope of a profane person than of him that is well conceited of himself The Gospel took better effect among Publicans and Harlots than with the Scribes and Pharisees for to them saith Christ the Publicans and Harlots enter into the kingdome of God before you Mat. 21.31 And the reason is evident for a profane person is more easily convinced of his sin which is a good step toward conversion and a necessary antecedent to it A self-conceited proud person resisteth God in his message and motions and God resisteth him so that there is as it were an antipathy between them The Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsell of God Luke 7.30 and God resisteth the proud James 4.6 but he giveth grace to the humble And the grace of knowledge makes a man humble little in his owne eyes and low in his own esteem shewing him his ignorance wants weakness and the more a man truly knowes the more he sees what he knows not and dare not rashly adventure upon things above his reach Ps 131.1 Lord my heart is not haughty nor mine eyes lofty neither do I exercise my self in great matters or in things too high for me There was likewise the gift of Faith even to the working of Miracles which was nothing in the Lords esteem without sanctifying Grace 1 Cor. 13.2 Thogh I have faith so that I could remove mountaines and have no charity I am nothing But the grace of faith in all that are indued with it is precious 2 Pet. 1.1 And the triall of this grace is said to be much more precious than of gold 1 Pet. 1.7 There is also the gift of Prayer and this furnisheth a man with words and apt composure as to the outward form but the grace of Prayer furnisheth the heart with the sense of its wants and apprehension of the worth of grace and fills the soul with sighs and groans when it wants words to speak its minde There was more of the grace of prayer in that short Petition of the self denying Publican God be mercifull to me a sinner than in many of the Pharisees long prayers and their fastings to boot The Pharisees prayed by measure and the Papists pray by number but a gracious spirit prayes by weight and such prayers are most prevalent Jam. 5.16 The effectuall fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much Regard not then so much how long thou prayest or what are thy expressions in prayer as what are thy sighs and groans and what the serious sense of thy heart in prayer and supplication The speciall help of the spirit lies in framing the heart with the affections not the tongue with words for prayer as is evident Rom. 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Measure not then the quantity of thy gifts to know what thou art in point of Christianity but try the quality the sincerity and growth of thy grace A little grace with little gifts is of farre greater value than the greatest gifts without grace A small vessel laden with Gold from the Indies is of more value than the greatest ship laden with Coales Salt or such like Commodities Grace lies not meerely in the head but chiefly in the heart and in the feet also of a Christian to wit the habit of grace in the inward affection and the exercise in the outward conversation or course of life together with the actings of the inward faculties 1. In the heart or inward affections Thus according to the tenour of the new Covenant the true grace of knowledge rectifies the heart Jer. 31.33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those daies saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts And 't is the