Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	life_n	light_n	shine_v	1,813	5	9.0770	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A71239	The son of perdition revealed by the brightness and light of the Son of God in his saints, and the preachers of his light within and their doctrines & principles (concerning the mysteries of God & the weighty things of salvation) vindicated and cleared ... / by the light of the Son of God in his servants Geo. Whitehead & Edw. Burroughs.	Whitehead, George, 1636?-1723.; Burrough, Edward, 1634-1662.	1661 (1661)	Wing W1962; ESTC R21454	71,956	92

charges against us hath he dealt deceitfully like him who is the Father of lyes and lyars who when he speaketh a lye he speaketh of himself and not as a rational man and in very many things he hath absolutely wronged our Principles and Practises and charged as apparent falshoods upon us as ever was as hereafter is made manifest to the shame of him that was the Authour of the said lying Book called A Testimony for the Son of man c. and the shame of all such false Spirits as own him in his work We see that God hath appeared in Judgement against you and your way and a line of confusion is come over you since that so many of you especially of your Leaders have set themselves in their envy and malice against us who are in the Power of Truth what do you think that spreading your railing and false Books against us will gain you favour from the prophane world and be any means to rescue you from persecution or suffering under the powers of the earth Do you think to save your selves by reviling the Innocent as some of the Leaders in your way have gotten themselves out of Prison by swearing contrary to Christs Doctrine after they have been imprisoned for denying to swear when so many of our friends were in prisons for refusing to swear for Conscience sake to Christ And not onely so but several of them who have long been reputed eminent in your way have like Men-pleasers written to vindicate swearing and oaths as treacherous men both to God to their own Consciences and to his Innocent and Conscientious people such as you have reviled and bespattered with reproaches in the Book here answered who would be loath to be so treacherous to God and their own Consciences as many in your way have been whatever we suffer either from you or from the persecuters in the same envious spirit which is among you And yet this know that we had not publisht this against any of you had we not had that great occasion given us by this piece of wicked work which Joseph Wright your Defender hath brought forth wherein we who preach the Light of Christ within are not onely slandered and bespattered with his lyes and calumnies as men but also the Truth of God which we are in and suffer for is blasphemed belyed and perverted even in the sight of our enemies in vindication whereof we were necessitated to give this forth and to deal thus plainly with your Principles which are published by your pretended Defender otherwise we could have been silent as from medling with you in this kind for it is no pleasure to us to bestow so much labour upon such a heap of confusion and absurdities as I. VV. his work is nor to upbraid you with your confusion and weaknesse in what you professe especially since you are as in a suffering state and like to suffer as we are if you be true to your Principles and conscientious towards God in what you know or professe but you may see the urgent occasion given against us and the Truth for what we do in this thing And though I.VV. does not name the word Quakers by name yet it is all one as if he had done it whilst he so often in general words upbraids such as preach the Light within for we called Quakers are known to be the people he all along so peevishly smites against seeing that we are known so generally to own and preach the Light within as the Saints of old did and in that Light of Christ in us we see Light and therein are as a City set upon a Hill which cannot be hid and are in that Truth and Life which will out-live our opposers and persecuters and do know that power manifest in us which out-shines all the dead and empty forms professions and traditions of all who are out of the life and power of godlinesse and in that hath the Lord given us strength and the spirit of understanding to see beyond and to stand over our opposers and the envy and subtilty of the Serpent in such as rise up in Judgment against us Glory to our God for ever and ever And now we come to some of the heads of Joseph Wrights matter in charge against such as preach the Law and Light within CHAP. I. Concerning the Light within and Christs coming in the flesh and dying for all men J.W. his first charge is in these words viz. The first thing I lay to thy charge whosoever thou art that preachest up the Light within men requiring all People to mind the light which is within them is this That thou dost deny that Christ which dyed at Jerusalem and denyest Jesus Christ come in the flesh and thy spirit is the spirit of Antichrist c. And the first proof for his charge is in these words viz. 1. Because in all thy preaching teaching and declaring thou never makes mention of Christs dying for the sins of the world nor that he tasted death for every man thou art altogether silent in this Doctrine of Christs dying for man in the body of his flesh c. And his second proof is in these words viz. 2. Because as is thy word of mouth even so is thy writings for amongst them all and in them all there is not one line which teacheth that Christ did dye for the sins of the world and freely laid down his life as a ransome for sinners c. Answer As his charge is universal against all that preach up the light within it is both false and slanderous as also all his proofs for it so that he might as well have said that the light of Christ in all men and the Doctrine of Christ which directs to it doth deny Christ and his coming in the flesh when as on the contrary all who truly own and believe in the light of Christ-in them by it they come to be led to the knowledge of Christ from whence it comes and to the power of his death and the vertue of his life which none can truly know but as they are led by the light of Christ within which giveth the Knowledge of the Glory of God and of those things that are freely given to us of God and Christ said believe in the 〈…〉 t that you may be children of the light John 12.36 Did Christ herein deny himself or his coming in the flesh as falsly J. VV. accuseth all that preach the light within and in that we are included in his proofs as never mentioning Christs tasting death for every man either in our Preaching or writings in this he hath notoriously belyed us as thousands may witness against him who have heard us both Preach up and contend for the free Grace of God to all men and thereby that Christ tasted death for every man and dyed for all men and gave him self a ransom for all to be testified of in due time Heb. 2.9 1 Tim. 2.6

vindicate the same operation in this day as that same Power is manifest amongst People And it is the Power of the Lord not the spirit of witchcraft or uncleannesse as J. W. blasphemously affirms but we know that thousands in these our dayes have been pierced to the heart by the word of the Lord and have been smitten in their Consciences and been made to cry out and roar and tremble through the disquietnesse of their hearts and have been brought as low as Hell even to the sides of the Pit and to know their bones broken as David did and they have lain disconsolate for many dayes and yet the Lord hath after this raised them up into peace and joy and comfort and blotted out their transgressions and washed them away by the bloud of Iesus and hath restored comfort for mourning and the spirit of praise for the spirit of heavinesse according to his promises so that were not J. W. a man more ignorant and malitious then a man of Knowledge and good Conscience he would never presume to have vented such malicious and rayling tearms against us for and because of the self same operation of the Power of God amongst us as is so largely demonstrated by examples throughout the Scriptures so that he hath not onely reviled us at this day but also the Saints of God in former ages so declaring himself to the world to be ignorant of the Scriptures and of the Power of God to Salvation and a Blasphemer against both And his Reason to prove it an unclean Spirit that leads them to tremble is because some have stripped off their Cloaths and gone naked for a sign c. To which we Answer By the same reason he might as well have said that was an unclean spirit that led Isaiah the Prophet to put off his shooes and walk naked and bare-foot as a sign and wonder upon Aegypt when as it was the Spirit of God that moved him to that work Isa. 20. and Saul also when he went to Naioth and the Spirit of God was upon him and prophesied and he stript off his Cloathes and lay down naked all the day and all that night wherefore it was said is Saul also among the Prophets 1 Sam. 19.23 24. And thus J. W. may see the errour of his own judgement who hath condemned that Spirit to be unclean which led Isaiah and Saul to go naked by his censuring such now as are led by the same Spirit but against his reproachful tongue we do vindicate such a thing in it self and that the Spirit of the Lord is not limitted but may lead some at this day to the same thing though if any do such a thing in imitation and deceit we justifie them not CHAP. VII Concerning the sufficiency of the Light and the annointing within to teach all that do believe AGain the next thing observeable that we can digg out of his heap of Confusion is he chargeth us with dissimulation that we never intended that every man should be guided by the Light in them though we Preach it up and direct every man to it as a guide his Reasons for it are First Because we intend to communicate a Teacher from without Secondly Because we declare to men and women that if they will but wait in silence they shall receive virtue and Life from us though they never see us more by which it appears saith he that we intend to give a spirit to such as adhere to our Doctrine Thirdly Because when we take hold of the hands of men and women yea when we have taken hold of the wrists of some they have been taken with a trembling c. Fourthly Because we are constantly visiting them that are inclining to our Principles c. Fifthly Because we run up and down to spread our Doctrine and by our Printing such a multitude of Books to Teach men in our way we cry down Preaching saith he and that we lay aside Gods Word and set up our own word and that Gods Holy Scriptures we reject and our own unholy Writings we exalt c. Sixthly Because the Light which is in every man doth not lead us and our followers to do those things we do c. page 158 159 160 161 162 163. Answer To all these we Answer That we do turn people to the Light of the Spirit of God within them and Preach the free Gift and Grace of God that he hath given to the Sons of men in order to their Salvation and we acknowledge notwithstanding all J. W. his Scornful and Ignorant Railings against us for Preaching the light within that we are sent of God and t is our Message that we have received to Preach to all the World and that we are sent to turn from the darkness to the Light as the Apostle Paul Acts 26.18 and this Light to which he turned them was not a visible Carnal Light without them but an Invisible and Spiritual Light that shone in their Consciences and to this Light Paul was sent to turn them even to the light that shined in their Hearts 2 Cor. 4.6 The light shined in their Hearts that gave them the light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Christ and the light of the new Covenant is the Light of the Spirit of God that shines in mens Consciences for God hath said I 'le put my Spirit within them and write my Law in their Hearts so that whosoever doth Preach the new Covenant must Preach the light within but of this about Preaching the light within more in another place therefore here we pass it and shall examine his fix feeble Reasons by which he would prove that we dissemble with people in Prrac●ing the light within and we never intend what we say which is a notorious slander that shews J. VV. hath neither wit nor good Conscience for might not he as well have brought all these his Reasons against the Apostles who Preached the same Doctrine of the light within as we do now for when Saint John said to the Church ye have anointing within you and ye need not man to Teach you but as the same annointing teacheth you 1 John 2. might not J. W. as well have said to him John thou dost not mean as thou speakest but dissemblest with them for thou sayest they have annointing or light within them and they need no man to teach them but as that doth teach them and yet thou thy self art a Teacher without them and thou givest exhortations to them by Declarations and Epistles and tellest them if they abide in the anointing that they have received and in Christ they shall not sin and though the Saints in former Ages were thus taught by the anointing within them yet they did constantly visit one another and prayed one for another as the annoting led them but hadst thou J. W. lived in their dayes thou mightest have said John thou dost plainly declare that the anointing in the