Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	jesus_n	light_n	shine_v	5,880	5	9.7269	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A82020	A publick discovery of a secret deceit. Or, the man of sin unmasked, his sheeps-clothing of glorious pretences pulled off; and his wolvish inside set forth in its colours. Where may easily be discerned Satan transformed into the resemblance of an angel of light, in that sect or society commonly called Quakers. Being nineteen quæries, directed to their speakers at the Bull and Mouth neer Aldersgate: and answered by that grand fomenter of heresie, James Nayler. With a reply thereunto, and fourteen queries more returned by him unto me, fully answered: and twenty four more proposed. / By me John Deacon.	Deacon, John, 17th cent.	1656 (1656)	Wing D487; Thomason E884_6; ESTC R207313	47,188	67

large by several reverend pens extant in many volumes to which I refer you And for the power to fulfill these commands and precepts in the word of God I shall be brief there is no power but of God Paul may plant 1 Cor. 3.6 and Apollo may water but it is God and he alone must work with their labours and give the increase Quere 3. Seeing Christ preached the Kingdome of God within unbeleevers and the Apostle saith Luke 17.20 21. Rom. 1.19 2 Cor. 4.6 That which may be known of God is manifest in them and that they came to the knowledge of God and his glory by the light that shone in their hearts which God shewed them c. Deale plainly and let people know how it now comes to be without and denyed within as it is by you Prove your practice and judgement herein by plain Scripture An Answer to the Third Query In this Query I finde no lesse then two lies at the least if not three The first laid on Christ God-man blessed for ever that he preached the Kingdome of God within unbeleevers The second on the Apostle in that you say he saith they came to the knowledge of God and his glory by the light that shone in their hearts Luk. 17.21 And the third on me in that you say I deny that light which declares God and his glory to be within This I term a lye if you speak mean particuarly of Saints and a truth if you speak of Reprobates but I own it not wholly outwardly upon any account but I shall proceed to clear the Scriptures wrested and abused by your spiritual impious impudence and presumption So Leigh so Trap so Major and several others upon the Testam So Pumroy Killit and Glisson against your Society 2 Cor. 13.5 1 Cor. 6.9 10. For the first * I have observed the Relatitions of all the Expositors who have upon any occasion commented upon that place that ever I could procure the sight of who all concur in one opinion and render it thus from the Original Language The kingdome of God is within or among you the word in the Greek signifying both and so you have it in the Margent of your larger Bibles Now if the word in the Original signifie both then the one so well as the other may be used but that must needs bee most proper which most concurs with other places and therefore among rather then within since Paul saith Christ in you writing to the faithful not to the faithlesse except ye be Reprobates and again Know you not that no unrighteous person inheriteth the Kingdome of God where it is cleare that it does not possesse men as inheriting them for this implyes a contradiction but it is to be possessed of men and they to inherit it Luk. 7.28 Mar. 10.15 Mat. 25.21 He might enter into it but it could not enter into him and from this inheritance the unrighteous are excepted and exempted too therefore it is certainly a most notorious lye to say Christ preached the Kingdome of God in unbeleevers though among them for he himselfe and all his excellencies that attended him in his Incarnation were among them but not in them and an error in the Translation makes not an error in Christs Doctrine Thus for the first I come now to clear the Apostle from your falshoods for you speaking of unbeleevers say he saith that all which may be known of God or of his glory is manifest in them Rom. 1.19 This you pretend to be a proofe that there is a light in every man to reveale all that may be known of God or of his glory which I say can be nothing lesse then the Spirit of God when if you read the verse following for the first hath a dependency on the latter you shall see the extention of the former expression Rom. 1.20 Joh. 14.25 The invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seene being understood by the things that are made Now this cannot be the Spirit of God or Christ which teacheth all things needfull for salvation except you can prove him to be made at the Creation and so a creature and not a Creator Gen. 1.26 and therefore it must be something in the creature which can be nothing else but the eye of the rational soule which is reason by which may be seen the invisible being of God and that he is so Cicero Aristotle Plato but meer Heathens have attain'd unto therefore this is humane not divine I shall not stand to state arguments to prove it experimentally because I intend brevity I Come unto the other Scripture which you adde that the Apostle saith that they speaking of unbeleevers still came to the knowledge of God and his glory by the light that shone in them A most notorious lye wresting the meaning of the Apostle unto your owne wills and I leave it to you to examine with feare and trembling whether it be not also unto your own destruction too for the words are these For God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse 2 Cor. 4.6 hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the grace of God in the face of Jesus Christ Where is observable First what it was that shined God that commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined Secondly the persons to and in whom he shined in our hearts Now the word our maketh a separation between Paul and the Corinthians to whom he writ who were Beleevers and Reprobates who beleeved not therefore you must needs acknowledge you have belyed him in saying he spoke of unbeleevers when he spoke to and of Saints in our hearts unlesse you can prove that that Paul and the Corinthians were such as you speak of even unbeleevers Thirdly the intent and purpose for which he shone to give it was not free to all as you say but particularly given to some the light of the knowledge of the glory of God And then Fourthly the manner how in the face of Jesus Christ I intend not to write an Exposition on the words but onely rightly to divide them and so to cleare them from the scandal laid on them by you which is clear So that your Query being thus handled 2 Tim. 2.15 I suppose there can be no more required in answer to it and farre be it from me to hold a judgement willingly any further then is concomitant to and with Scripture proofes and practice Learne to speak truth and cease to endeavour the building of so lying a Babel which is not in that one language of God but that of Satan For every lye is of Satan the Father of lyes Query 4. Whether that New Birth spoken of in the Scriptures be Christ within or some other thing and if not he then what is it and how people may know it by the Letter without the Light when they have Christ

against which I utterly declare as have others done for this were first to bereave us of that glorious priviledge of communion with God he speaking unto us in his word we unto him in prayer Secondly to shut up the Kingdome of God in some sort from the sons of men in bereaving us of the meanes for discipline and observance is the security of an Army in wars and what are glad tydings if they are not told Thirdly this is to presse us to the omission of duty which is questionlesse commission of offence And fourthly this leaves all open to the assaults of Satan we laying downe in our infirmities and not standing up against his invasions and temptations And lastly this giveth way to sluggishnesse of spirit and to an unwatchfulness in matters of salvation and endeavour to engage us to a confidence of beliefe Matth. 24.23 24. Luk. 21.8 Act. 17.11 in and to every thing that shall come in the name of Christ and so to receive Antichrist not leaving us the priviledge of the braines to try the words of an Apostle by the umpire of all controversies the sacred Scriptures which is absolutely opposite unto the truth and contrary yea far exorbitant from the known will and temporal expressive word of God for though he hath said Joh. 14.26 1 Tim. 4.15 2 Tim. 2.15 Rom. 12.12 2 Thess 5.17 The Spirit shall teach us all things yet hath it said againe Meditate on these things give thy selfe wholly to them Now wholly excludes all negligent intermission and the manner how is prescribed too for Study to shew thy selfe approved and stir up the gift in thee as fire which sometimes is covered with ashes and againe Be constant and instant in prayer and pray continually which includes all times and seasons wherefore we ought to put up our supplications at the throne of grace not onely when the spirit especially moveth us but when our occasions or necessities require Matth. 25.25 26. and far be it from me to imagine that the Spirit of God moved the Apostles to preach when they did onely and at no other time and that they alwayes waited in silence till then for then it stirred up it selfe they stirred it not but rather hid their talents of grace in the earth and so were unprofitable if not unfaithful servants and since the holy Ghost advised and the the Apostles so practised as to meditate study and pray without ceasing it appeares plainly unto me that Christ neither limited or constrained them respectively in particular but onely notionally in general so to doe giving them repenitent hearts to sorrow for sinne and grace to beleeve and power thorow that grace to exercise faith in the performance of those duties and when they prayed Christ also prayed with them and as a faithful Mediatour making continual intercession at the throne of grace that the fruition of their prayers might be the accomplishment of their desires and far be it from me to imagine that Christ can be limited by any external thing though I suppose and really beleeve that it is possible for any man to limit himselfe and then much more for Christ who is God and therefore with him all things are possible and so may limit himselfe in any thing if he please Quere 12. What is the ground and rise of your knowledge whether it be received within man from God or without from the Letter And if without whether this be not the knowledge which all the vaine janglers comes out of and the generation of persecutors comes out of as the Jewes was in which professed the Letter and were strangers to the life of God And whether this generation of men and Professors in our Age do not begin to manifest the same as the persecuting Jewes did yea or nay An Answer to the Twefth Query Act. 19.2 My knowledge as was Pauls is neither perfectly the one nor the other and yet partly both for as the disciples of Ephesus were ignorant of Jesus though baptized unto John and had not so much as heard of that name or that there was a holy Ghost notwithstanding any inward light until they were informed of it by the outward teaching of Paul and then they beleeved on Jesus and so their saith and their knowledge too was from without not within but the Jewes who like you thought to inherit glory by a Covenant of works not of grace endeavoured to pervert and subdue all knowledge Mat. 5.14 save of their way who professing obvious light were found to be in obscure darknesse and therefore persecuted the lights of the world the Apostles and Ministers of Christ fearing lest their deeds should be brought unto the light and be found evil as you doe and so they walked short both of the Spirit and the Letter too yet professing as much and as peculiar sanctity as your selves and you and your generation manifest as much malice as did they wanting only their might against those precious candles of the Gospel who waste themselves that we may grow up unto perfection and I speak sincerely and I suppose I may doe it without breach of Christian Charity That if ever we should live to see that dismal disconsolate day wherein Quakers should predominate in might as much as now they doe in malice I feare fire and faggot would be a deare commodity through the frequent use thereof for any may see with a single eye without a paire of spectacles not onely the persecuting and censorious Jew but also the Saint-murdering and truth-opposing Pope enthroned both in your malice and your Tenets The Lord defend us and his cause from your envious power Quere 13. What Scripture have you for your manner of worship as to read a Chapter and to give meanings to it and call it expounding to take a text of another mans words and raise points reasons and uses c. to sprinkle Infants to sing Davids words in order of your ballads to stand praying in the Synagogues at your set times before and after your glasse Prove your practice by command from Christ or practice of Gospel-Ministers else for shame cease to call it Gospel-worship since none of Christs Ministers worshipped in that manner An Answer to the thirteenth Query When first I read this common hackny and overthredbare worne Query which hath been the publick frequent Strumpet of all your blemished vitiated pens answered more then once and againe I could not but smile to fee your so often battered armour wherewith you war against the cause of Christ become the harnesse of your resistance in the list of this controversie against the truth at this time also and though in respect it hath been as often answered as proposed by several learned pens who have writ on this occasion and by others who have treated on this subject whose abilities are manifest in their works of precious concernment which might induce me to wave my Answer But as I said before so say I now

and works of darknesse Act. 9.11 12 17. Acts 10. Act. 8.26 is not this a leading to perfection and if it be so that there is that in every man which is sufficient was it not then a needlesse light that the Lord sent by Ananias to Saul by Peter to Cornelius by Philip to the Eunuch or was it not that there was no sufficiency in them And then do you not lye to say there is in all a sufficiency or was it that it then was unsufficient although it now is sufficient and how came it now to be sufficient more then then it was or was it not this indeed that God thereby gave them Act. 18.24 25 26 27 28. and us and all future posterity an evidential example of his manner and way of conversion by the concurrence of two the ministration of man and the operation of the spirit and if so why doe you resist it or is not your opposing of it a fighting against God and a spirit of delusion in you which calls it selfe Christ and why was it that Apollo though he was zealous in what he knew which was onely the baptism of John Act. 18.26 yet understood nothing of Jesus till he was taught it of Aquila and Priscilla is it not an apparent evidence that there is nothing in man to bring him to that knowledge without either an extraordinary inspiration or an ordinary tuition Qu. 6. And if Christ preached the Kingdome of God within unbelievers as you say he did what then is the difference between the faithful and the faithlesse and wherein doth it consist or is there none or shall both be saved if yes how so if no what is the reason since there is power in all as you say why is not the Redemption to all or is it that the light is sufficient in one and not in another or doth God will all to salvation but some men superwill and so come to condemnation Qu. 7. And whether is your spirit a lying one 2 Thes 2.13 1 Cor. 14.37 which saith the Scriptures are not the words of God but of men or Pauls spirit which saith Of a truth it is the word of God and that what he writ was the commands of the Lord or is a command consistent of words or no if not of what then doth it consist or if yes how can the command be Gods and the words mans Speak out plainly in truth according to Scripture and cease to equivocate sophistically to delude silly souls Qu. 8. Whether it be any better then hypocrisie to prate of and call for Scripture and yet deny the prerogative of Scripture that it is not the word of God and what doe you say unto the commandements are they the words of God yea or not Exo. 20.1 Rom 19.9 if not what is meant by that phrase God spake all these words saying was that God or was it something else that called it selfe God and was not so and if they are the words of God why are not other Scriptures the same and how is it that some of you say the word of God cannot be contained in ink and paper Q. 9. And since you say that Christ only is the word of God I query whether he be meet to be a Teacher of others nay hath he not need himselfe to learn the first principles of Religion that cannot discerne between the temporal expressive word of God and the co-essential and co-eternal word with God for so is Christ Q. 10. And if that the Law written in every mans heart were since Adams fall and now is sufficient to teach us what to do observe as to sanctity wherefore then did the Law in the Letter enter on Mount Sinai Rom. 5.20 and if you say that so offences might abound which were not made manifest in the eyes of sinners this I grant but then how could that Law in mans heart be sufficient if it were in some sort unsufficient and not perfect in every degree to its end and wherefore afterwards entred the Gospel the Law of Faith on mount Sion and to what end if not to direct in a new way by a Mediator which neither the Law in mans heart or on Mount Sinai could doe or was it once of such force and is it not the same still if not how came it to be disannulled Heb. 5.12 Q. 11. What be those first principles of the Oracles of God made mention of by Paul as needful for believers to know what the oracles be whether the Scriptures or what else be the Oracles or the Principles how learnt and after what manner by what means or if the Scriptures be the Oracles of God why not the Word of God also and what differerence between the oracles and the word and wherein consistent Heb. 6.1 and what those principles of the doctrine of Christ be whether the same with those of the oracles wherein different and wherein congruant and what the growing up unto perfection is and when the end and whether in this life or in another Q. 12. What is the Kingdom of God that our Saviour speaks of Luke 11.21 and what that Kingdom Mat. 11. how did it suffer violence by whom and after what manner Q. 13. What is that Election Matth. 24.22 24. Rom. 9.11 11.15 Tit. 1.1 1 Pet. 2.10 Act. 10.24 13.48 Jude 4. Rom. 8.5 23. 〈…〉 Gal. 4.5 Eph. 1.5 Joh. 6.44 what that Ordination what that Adoption and what that drawing so oftentimes spoken of in Scripture and who they be that are capable of it here and after what manner administred and make out your judgement herein by plaine Scripture Q. 14. And since I have proved Scriptures may be expounded why not a verse or a chapter or more or less and since it ought to be divided can there be any division without parts if so prove it if not why may it not be distinguished under the names of Doctrines Reasons Uses and the like as well as to goe without name or doe you resist it because the Scriptures allowes it Q. 15. And since you seem to exhort that none ought to begin or conclude their speech in Preaching till the spirit move them thereunto by irresistable motions did ever the gift of the Spirit exclude prudent reasons so much as to set mens tongues so on going as that they had no power to stop them and is not your tongue oyled with a spirit of confused delusion Q. 16. Whether it extend not unto or come within the limits of the blasphemy against the holy Ghost to cry down that which he hath set up and to belch forth lyes slanders heresies false doctrines and perhaps blasphemy and yet to lay all on this spirit or what is that sinne which is unpardonable Q. 17. Are not the Ministers you now cry down the same that Rome would destroy and with you say they are false Teachers and no true Ministry and were not the holy Martyrs