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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	work_n	workmanship_n	world_n	29	3	4.8239	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65177	A pilgrimage into the land of promise, by the light of the vision of Jacobs ladder and faith, or, A serious search and prospect into life eternal pointing out the way and discovering the passage out of mans mutable state of life, into a state of immutable righteousness and glory, through the knowledg of Christ in spirit / written in the year 1662 by Henry Vane ...	Vane, Henry, Sir, 1612?-1662.	1664 (1664)	Wing V73; ESTC R32917	127,958	114

and by the first Testament and conditionall Covenant that the spirit of the naturall man is enlightned quickned and wrought upon which is the very same that at first gave him his make and primitive being in Gods image and now by renewing it self and comming with healing and restoration in its wings mans flesh is made fresher then a childs and he returns to the dayes of his youth that is his first dayes of primitive purity This the naturall man receaves as the gift and effect of his bounty that is his Redeemer and Saviour who is so gracious as to say and that effectually deliver him from going downe to the pit I have found a ransome Job 33.24.25 But all this quickning and enlightning is but conditionall and may be lost againe though abundantly sufficient to make a full and compleat triall of him that receavs it in order to his finall salvation or damnation But for a second and fuller answer we are to know that this word of the beginning and voyce of Christs first appearance may and does come forth in a threefold light and workmanship upon the heart and spirit of the naturall man 1. In that which is a lampe and light in the mind a worke of the law or a conformity to Gods commandement conteined in his conditionall Covenant wrought in the heart and manifesting itself to the inward senses of the naturall mind by the ministry of angels with which Christ does enlighten more or lesse every one that comes into the world and in a more particular manner those that are without law or the knowledg of the Scriptures and written word of God This means of knowledge being by the providence of God with held from them so as that they are ignorant of what it speaks to other men that live under the sound thereof he is pleased to winke at and passe by the day of this ignorance neither will he proceed with them in judgment according to the things they know not but according to the things they know and have the tast and experience of within themselvs And these are the invisible things of God even his eternall power and Godhead the WORD by which all things were created and whose off-spring and likenes we are according to what we may feel in the inward man of our heart which was his workmanship created by him with a strong bent and living conformity unto righteousnes and true holines To this sort of men the WORD hath an inward voyce and way of teaching which speaks in them and makes them a rule unto themselvs in their hearing and obeying this inward operation of the word Their inward sight and hearing is truly and properly obeying which afterwards is perfected in outward action and practice Such hearers and doers of the law of God fulfilling the condition shal be justified and God will make good that word of his Covenant to them if thou doest well thou shalt be accepted and rewarded Concerning these though as to the outward man they be as yet in uncircumcision yet keeping the righteousnes of the law according to what they know it is said that their uncircumcision shal be counted for circumcision and the want of what they are ignorant of not imputed to them Rom. 2. These who by nature renewed by the Redeemer though yet unknowne to them according to the witnesse given of him in the written word approve themselvs faithfull to their light in exercising all good conscience to the fulfilling of the law shall condemne them who by the letter and forme of knowledg in the law are found transgressours of it when tried and judged by the rule they professe to live under The cheif thing that by way of caution and warning is to be sayd to this first sort of righteous men is this that they take heed to themselvs in this their slippery standing so as to continue under the hearing and teaching of this voyce of the Lord in that soft pliable and tender frame of heart in that humble meek and yeilding temper of spirit that does become the vessell of clay in the hand of the potter and the creature under the instructing word of the creatour the turning away and settled departure from which is eternall death For the Lord leaves it to the power will and choice of the naturall man when he comes to be thus renewed and enlightned by Christ whether he will hearken to what he has yet farther to say unto him or not according to those frequent expressions in the Scripture if ye be willing and obedient if ye refuse and rebell and againe whether they will hear or whether they will fobear So likewise John 7.17 If any man do his will he shall know the doctrine whether it be of God or he shall know more and more till at last he attein that knowledg wherein eternall life consists according to that of our saviour John 12. yet a little while is the light with you the light of his then personall appearance in the flesh walk while ye have the light lest darknes come upon you and you be as he that knows not whither he goes While ye have the light beleeve in the light that is be faithfull to it hear and obey it in the present voyce and teaching you are under and it will never leave leading you forward till it hath brought you to him or to that last and highest manifestation of the truth whereby ye shal be made children of the light or of the day even of that wisedome which is from above This sort of obedience is that of mans restored freewill by light from the inward word which is good and pleasing unto God till man be taught the way of hearing and obeying him more perfectly and after a more excellent manner in the way everlasting The disobedience also of man in this state is a free and voluntary act whereby he hardens his heart against the voice and calling of God and resists the holy Ghost in the worke of life and immortality which his office is to set up in every truly regenerate soule It is the whole duty of the naturall man to fear God and keep his commandements who will bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evill Unto this all promises and threatnings of God all temporall and Spirituall blessings do tend even to render man obedient to his God in hearing his voyce walking in his wayes and keeping his commandements This in effect is the maine scope both of the law and of the gospell And whatever we doe in way of obedience that falls short of walking unmoveably and universally in all the commandements of God with our whole heart how good or pleasing soever it may seeme to us it is not acceptable nor pleasing unto God Let no man therefore deceave his owne Soule or dissemble with God who searcheth and knoweth the hearts and the reins nor let any pretend inability or infirmity since he

law and Gospel still or rather the two Testaments that are in force with mankind by the death of the Testatour the Lord Jesus Christ By the first of these man is renewed and restored out of the fall and brought in some degree to the fruition and exercise of his first righteousnes and freedome of will in order to the making proof and triall of him once more And by the second of them he is regenerated and begotten of the immortall seed into an immutability in righteousnes and glory in a life that is from the dead uncapable ever to be lost or faile more These two Testimonies and Testaments of God are visible words inward spirituall words and lively oracles that create their owne suitable organs and vessells in the minds of men for their reception And there is an inward sight of them to be had by man as well as an outward hearing to which purpose it is sayd 1 Joh. 1.1 That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life that declare we unto you That which John saw heard and handled was from the beginning and was seen heard and handled from the foundation of the world at sundry times and in divers manners under former dispensations till at last the dark shadows of him vanished and the true light itself began to shine and dawne in his owne personal appearance first in the flesh and then afterwards in the Spirit There are therefore inward and spirituall senses whereby the man of God sees heares tasts savours and handles the word of God Such senses there must be because there is an inward as well as an outward man of the heart which must not want his due powers and faculties any more then the other For since the words themselvs are divine even words of spirit and life how can they be otherwise perceaved then by senses suited to their nature spirituall senses distinguished from those of the animalish outward man of the soule which is not at all skilled in that manner of knowing and discerning From the exercise of spirituall life and the senses thereof proceeds the spirituall tast savour and approbation of those divine words that are the significations of Gods will and law to us Unto such experienced men skilled in the words of truth we may appeale as to the true and full significancy of divine oracles which the disputer of this world in the perverse and presumptuous use of his naturall senses and understanding contradicts and blasphemes doe you not see this truth doe you not handle with your hands this Word of life do you not tast that the Lord is gracious This is the much more excellent way of understanding the Scriptures when after such a spirituall manner we relish handle se tast and have a share in what we know of the word of God as the Apostle prayes Phil. 1.9 For this I pray sayes he that your love may abound in knowledge and in all judgment or in every spirituall sense He that was from the beginning is Christ the living WORD of God the WORD wherein was life and that life the light of men even of every man that comes into the world He is the light of men in and under a threefold dispensation or manner of ministry He is the word of God God to men that makes with them either a conditionall and dissoluble Covenant or an absolute and everlasting Covenant that can never be dissolved The first of these is the word of the beginning by which God begins to make himself knowne and declare his will in his law to all men that law by which they must one day be judged The second is the word of the oath conteining a free promise to some and a gracious receaving of them into his love therein to abide for ever but a finall and judiciall rejection of others concerning whom he therein swears that they shall never enter into his Rest but be given up to the wayes that they have chosen and fixed in their owne delusions in the everlasting chains whereof he binds them up and reservs them with the fallen angels to the judgment of the great day This is that which is the end and consummation-work both wayes to all that have passed under the first Testament or conditionall Covenant Christ considered as he is the word of the beginning the author and minister of the conditional Covenant and of the life and quickning proper thereunto hath a comming forth in light and life unto men which is called his first appearance which he dispenses in the capacity of the promised seed pursuant to the manifestation of Gods will unto man in paradise immediatly after his fall He is therein declared the saviour and redeemer of man he by whom alone is remission of sins and all those that beleeve not on him shall perish in their sins For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wildernes so hath the father provided that the WORD made flesh be lifted up in the sight of all men and preached to them that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And God would have men know that he so loved the world as that he gave his only begotten Son to take and beare away their sins and lead them into the way of salvation in stead of condemning them upon the fall of our first parents as he might justly have done He then that beleevs in the Son of God is not or shall not be condemned But he that beleeveth not that is receavs not his word in the love thereof is condemned already because he hath not beleeved in the name of the only begotten Son of God The justice of such condemnation will shew itself in this that when this light is come into the world men have chosen and loved darknes better then light yea to discover the evill of their mind they hate the light and as neer as they can shun all appearance of it least they should be reproved thereby and convinced of their evill deeds and be converted and God should heale them But how is Christ the saviour and redeemer lifted up before the eyes of all men and how comes he with light into the world or into the mind of the naturall man who receavs not the things of the spirit of God but accounts them foolishnes Yea he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned and are therefore too deep for him to fathom too high and heavenly for him to reach being destitute of spirituall senses and discerning suitable thereunto By way of answer to this we must be carefull rightly to distinguish and divide the word of truth which as hath bin said hath a first voyce and the light of its first appearance as also a second voice and the brightnes of a second comming It is by means of the first voice and the light and life ministred in

is neer to every one of us upon whose name if we call he will save us from our sins and make our reconciliation once more with God if the fault be not in ourselvs Yea he will save us to the uttermost if we continue in our obedience and in a pliablenes of spirit to the voyce and words of his mouth that will be a sure guide to us till it have brought us into that kingdome of his that cannot be shaken These are the first sort of servants and subjects that may be found faithfull and obedient unto the word and command of God which was from the beginning These are they that feare God and work righteousnes by an inward teaching suited to the spirituall senses of the naturall mind which is the same with the light and law of pure nature Now of these some and those the greatest part by far being wholly left to their owne choice and in the hand of their owne counsell continue not in their obedience but perish through a hardnes and impenitency of heart in which they rebell against the encreasing measure of light with which the holy Ghost would enlighten them in order to the enlarging of their hearts to an entire and stedfast walking with God in that Covenant of his that cannot be dissolved But others of them through Gods free and peculiar preventing grace are withheld from so sinning against God and are layd hold on and apprehended by the son's comming into their soules and contracting a most intimate and inseperable marriage union with them fastning them to himself the rock af ages and cheif corner stone by whom their bow is made to abide in strength and their arms are made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. Thus of servants they do with the eunuch and centurion who were converted by Philips and Peters ministry of the outward word become Sons that are heirs according to the promise or else they are admitted immediatly to the fight of Christ in spirit as Paul was in his conversion unto which heavenly vision they prove not disobedient being taught not only to live in the Spirit but to walke after the Spirit This then that we have bin speaking of is the first light and workmanship that Christ in his first appearance may and does visit the sons and daughters of men with even those that are not yet brought to the knowledg of his voice in and by the holy Scriptures There is then a second degree of light and glory wherein Christ breakes forth in the workmanship of his Spirit upon the hearts and minds of men which compared with the first is a more excellent and neer approach to the sight of the Son himself testifying most particularly in what manner and at what time the WORD was to be made flesh and in that flesh to be crucified and die for our sins and to rise againe into a life wherein he was never to die more Now the voice of this word is from divine inspiration moving in the hearts and speaking by the mouth of Moses and other the Servants the Prophets of the Lord in the old Testament to John the Baptist and afterwards by the holy Evangelists and Apostles conteining the doctrine of both Covenants that of works and that of faith the law and the Gospell These divine words and oracles were committed to writing and preserved for the use of the Church from Moses his time downwards to this present day by Gods especiall and admirable providence called the holy Scriptures which are able to make us wise unto Salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus They are not of any private interpretation but attended with the ministry of the holy Ghost in his various distributions and gifts dividing unto every one severally as himself pleases to the making the doctrine flowing from this word pure and converting the soule that also which is an enlightning of the eyes and a washing of the heart with clean water from its old sins it is profitable also for reproof correction and instruction in righteousnes to the making the man of God perfect throughly furnished unto every good word and work even such hearers of the word and doers of the work as prove blessed in their deed if the fault be not in themselvs in failing to performe the condition of the Covenant through that faith which excludes boasting and failes not This second sort of hearers and doers of the word are they that are alive unto God through Jesus Christ by hearing the voice of the living word in and through the ministry of the outward letter of the Scriptures testifying of Christ and of the work of redemption given to him by the father to finish and of his comming not by water only but by water and blood to the paying a ransome for our sins and for the planting of us into a likenes with him both in his death and resurrection Under this second dispensation which is the ministry of the outward and written word accompanied with the presence and power of the holy Ghost and his gifts there is a workmanship of Christ formed in and upon the heart consisting of severall degrees and growths up into him who is our head the good olive tree that is willing ready and able to receave us into himself as our spirituall root which bears us and fills us with the oile and fatnes that springs up from the same into every branch and member of his body considered either as his body is his living flesh ot as it is his flesh crucified 1. As it is the mannah and living bread that is the life of the world or of the worldly Church and enlightned naturall man that may eat and drinke in his presence at this his table and eat and drinke his flesh and blood to their owne damnation 2. There be those that feed upon the crucified flesh the carkasse or dead body of Christ out of whose weaknes comes strength and from whose crucifying comes that meat which perishes not but is bread that nourishes to eternall life Thus it is written Rom. 14. None of us that live liveth unto himself and none of us that die doe or ought to die unto our selvs But whether our faith be weake and low and our naturall ability to hear and obey active and strong in us or whether the work of our faith be strong and powerfull and our natural activity weak and low yea brought into the very grave with Christ the life or the death is not to be to ourselvs but to Christ In and with him must we live and in and with him must we die Whether then we live with Christ by faith as it is weak or whether we die with Christ by faith as the work of it in us is powerfull and strong we should live to the Lord and die to the Lord that so living and dying we may be found amongst the number of those that are the Lords For this end and to

enable us to effect this work of faith whereby we may live and also may die to the Lord and in neither sin nor serve our selvs Christ both died and rose againe and is become Lord both of the dead and of the living even in this sense before opened To this agrees what the same Apostle testifies 2 Cor. 4 12.13 compared with 1 Cor. 4.8 13. Here we find the Apostle the father and true elder as to his growth up into Christ strong in the faith and the Corinthians they are the children babes in Christ weak and low in faith but high full and puffed up in their fleshly minds Let us therefore consider the differing characters he gives of the one and of the other though both beleevers such as in their living and in their dying are or may be the Lords Ye now are full sayes Paul or this is your time of being rich and reigning as kings without us but I would to God you did indeed reigne that we also might reigne together with you But it is otherwise with us even a dying time We are troubled on every side perplexed persecuted cast downe alwayes bearing about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus God having set forth us that are the Apostles most strong and eminent in faith as it were appointed unto death and to be made a spectacle to the world to angels and to men We are fools for Christs sake but ye are wise in Christ we are weak but ye are strong Ye are honourable but we are despised So then death workes in us but life in you And we having the same spirit of faith according as it is written I have beleeved and therefore have I spoken we also beleeve and therefore speak knowing that he which raysed up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus and shall present us with you That then which is wrought in men by Christ through the ministry of the outward word by the spirit and life of his first appearance is either restoration-work single or restoration-work joyned and accompanied with true regeneration and eternall salvation Restoration-work single is that which is called the spirit of bondage making but those servants that abide not in the house for ever as having never tasted nor partaken of that freedome wherewith the Son makes those free indeed that he knits into an indissoluble union with himself But restoration-work as it is accompanied with salvation or the birth of the immortal and incorruptible seed of life and righteousnes is that which is called the spirit of adoption of power of love and of a sound or stedfast mind that principle of life begotten and springing up in us whereby we put off that which is mutable and corruptible and put on that which is immutable and incorruptible as well in the inward man of the heart as in the outward man of the flesh We have already shewed that their obedience is accepted with God who are faithfull to their light under the first dispensation of Gods word speaking in them to the inward senses of their mind as was the case of the centurion Such persons in every nation are owned by God as those that fear him and work righteousnes And this feare is in a sense faith for they cannot thus come to God and obey him but they must beleeve that he is and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him and hearken to his voyce Neverthelesse this is not the faith that is in the regenerate flowing from the spirit and life of the new creature and working by love but it is the faith which all restored enlightned men may have in conformity to what Adam had before his fall that knew and obeyed the eternall WORD as creatour and maker of both worlds though not as the redeemer and Saviour of men by the blood of the crosse from sin and the wrath attending it This sort of faith is that which flowes from mans exercise of his right knowledg and free will wherein he was created after Gods likenes and did receave the truth in his knowledg but in no fixed permanent love thereof because he was left free to change his mind as seemed good unto himself being in case of his failer therein personally responsible to the penalties and curse of the law For to be created with such a righteous mutable principle of activity and free moving power in the mind was simply in itself good and might be lawfully used to answer the end for which it was given which was by way of voluntary resignation to chang and turne out of that wavering unstable active power though at present righteous into that love that should bind up the moving power of mans Spirit into a stedfast and unmoveable delight and rest in righteousnes and into a fixed and unshaken enmity and aversnes of mind to sin and all evill By this new creation and forming of the spirit of man within him his first freedome is taken from him and done away or it is swallowed up into a freedome much better and more excellent wherein man is made more in Gods image and after his similitude then at the first For though all things were in a good estate with man at first when God made him upright that is to say in a due conformity unto the divine will for the performance of a pure and holy worship and service to God justice and true judgmēt to his neighbour and for the walking in a due sobriety temperance and continence as to himself yet God would have him know he might be better made through a new creation which should more then comprehend all the good of his first make and adde also to it an immutability God did therefore forbid man to trust to the uncertaine riches and fading glory of his first estate and timely to look and make out for a better But in stead of this man notwithstanding Gods prohibition runs himself aground into a very bad and evill condition Out of this forlorne state the first thing that God propounds to him in and by the knowledg of the redeemer is his restoration which God is willing to draw him to by the ministry of Moses and turn him to by the ministry of Eliah even the disobedient to the wisedome of the just to make a ready people prepared for the Lord to meet and receave him as he is given by the father in a better Covenant ordered in all things and sure of which there can never be any breach either on Gods or mans part as there was and wil be againe of the first Covenant how often soever it be repeated and renewed unlesse it end in mans being receaved and taken into the second There is then a ministry of the first Covenant in the hand of the Redeemer Sprinckled with the blood of his crosse which is able to rectify the depravation of things caused by sin and mans first breach with God consisting in a restitution towards mans