Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	darkness_n	know_v	sinfulness_n	158	3	17.2985	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75620	Theanthrōpos; or, God-man: being an exposition upon the first eighteen verses of the first chapter of the Gospel according to St John. Wherein, is most accurately and divinely handled, the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ; proving him to be God and man, coequall and coeternall with the Father: to the confutation of severall heresies both ancient and modern. By that eminently learned and reverend divine, John Arrowsmith, D.D. late Master of Trinity-Colledge in Cambridge, and Professor of Divinity there.	Arrowsmith, John, 1602-1659.	1660 (1660)	Wing A3778; Thomason E1014_1; ESTC R10473	267,525	319

that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts Some naturall men may have a deep reach in the things of the world but there is a darknesse upon the face of the deep a spirituall darknesse upon the deepest wits of naturall men something they know but nothing as they ought to know as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 8. 2. If any man thinketh he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know They may perhaps know that God is a Spirit but as long as they do not worship him in spirit they know him not as they ought to know him Secondly A darknesse of Sinfulness lyeth upon them 2. A darkness of Sinfulnesse 1 Joh. 1. 6. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness that is in sin we lie and do not the truth He that hateth his brother is in darkness which is an expression in that Epistle How easily are men cheated in the dark having bad wares put into their hands They vent falsities instead of truths they vent formalities instead of holinesse they put off any thing to men in the dark So the deceitfulnesse of sin comes to rule over them because they are in a state of darknesse Thirdly Darknesse of Misery ye shall find that called 3. A darkness of Misery darknesse in Lament 3. 1 2. I am the man that have seen affliction by the rod of his wrath he hath put me into darknesse but not into light Darknesse there is misry Such is the condition of all naturall men though all be not alike sensible of it Adam no doubt was exceeding apprehensive after his Foelicem fuisse meminisse miserum est fall of the change of his condition but his posterity are not so It is in this case as it fareth with a Nobleman punished with banishment into a forrain country and there forced to live in a mean condition he himself will be exceeding sensible Simile of his alteration from the Court in which he lived before to the Cottage in which he liveth now But his children that were born in that condition would not be sensible of the misery they were in Adam found what it was to enjoy communion with God in Paradise and what it was to be in a state of life therefore his fall went to his heart But we that are born in a state of misery are not sensible of it because we know no better Enough hath been said to cause every one to make haste out of the state of Nature because it is a state of darkness How formidable is darknesse It is said of Abraham there fell upon him the horrour of a great darknesse Gen. 15. 12. Lo a horrour of great darkness fell upon him Darknesse useth to be accompanied with horrour And so it is with Nature and yet this darknesse of nature is not formidable How miserable would men be if they knew their condition how much more miserable because they do not know it That in Egypt was palpable darknesse which might be felt here is that which aggravateth this darknesse it keepeth it self from being felt men feel not their ignorance and sinfulness and misery Ye know the story of Jeremiah when he was in the dark dungeon and his feet stuck fast in the mire Ebedmeleck letteth down cords to draw him up Jer. 38. 11 12. What a mad-man had he been if he would not have fastned the cords under his arm-holes and suffered himself to be drawn up Yet so are the most in the world the Ministers of the Gospell find them dark and filthy in a darknesse of ignorance and mire of lust Now God by the Ministry of his Word letteth down cords of love to draw them up so senslesse are men as to refuse these offers and there to lie and die before they will come to Christ that they might be saved This being supposed I passe that and go to the second thing The Light shineth in Darkness Shineth in the Present Tense because there was no moment Observ 2 of time wherein this was not true The light shineth The Point then is this That light from Christ hath continued to shine in all ages since the Fall Look as there are for the body two great Luminaries which God hath made The Sun to rule by day and the Moon to rule by night so are these two Luminaries for the soul the Sun and the Moon the Works of God and the Word of God Christ by the light of these hath shined in all Ages since the fall of Adam First He shineth in the works of Creation and Providence 1. Christ shineth in the works of Creation and Providence and therefore these works are said to witnesse for God Act. 14. 17. Notwithstanding he left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitfull seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness The heavens have declared the glory of God ever since they were made and the firmaments have shewed his handy-works The beauty and bignesse of those vast Bodies shew to the world that none but the hand of a God could make them Every creature is a kind of Professor that readeth man a Lecture concerning God of his Wisdom and Power and Goodnesse Man is the Master of all the creatures and yet man is become a Scholar to all the creatures the Serpent may Matth. 10. 16. teach him wisdom and the Dove innocency and the Ant industry Go to the Ant thou sluggard Prov. 6. There is a light besides this that shineth from Christ in 2. Christ shineth in his Word the Word that is called his Testimonie as the former is called his Witness 1 Cor 2. 1. I brethren when I came to you came not with excellency of speech and wisdom declaring to you the Testimonie of God that is the Word of God because that testifieth what God is and what he hath done and what he requireth It is true there was not alwaies a written Word since the Fall but a Word there was God revealed his Will by Visions and Dreams and other Intimations in a way of Revelation to Adam and so to Noah and to Abraham and to the rest of the Patriarks It was a Word unwritten till Moses his time And then as at The Word not written till Moses his time the Creation Light was the first thing that was made and yet ye read of no Sun till the third day But all the light which was scattered throughout all the great frame of the Universe upon the third day was gathered together and united in the body of the Sun So here Truths were scattered before now a little and then a little by Dreams and Revelations and Visions but in Moses his time all the Truths that had formerly been revealed this way God gathered together and united them in a written Word then began the Scripture and from that time forward it hath been enlarged After Moses

came the Prophets after them the Evangelists and Apostles So as this Age enjoyes the benefit of all the light that former times have had Thus you see it is made good that a light from Christ hath continued to shine in all Ages ever since the Fall This letteth us see that ignorant persons in all Ages have been inexcusable they cannot say but that God sent them light more or lesse Rom. 1. 20. The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternall Power and Godhead so that they are without excuse No age can plead any thing for it self by way of excuse if it looketh not after God and this age least of all for Christ who hath continued to shine in all ages shineth out most gloriously now They had but as it were the Star-light before Moses afterwards I will take in all that under Moses too it was but a Star-light in comparison In John the Baptist's time they had as it were the light of the morning peeping out he was the Lucifer the Morning-star that came before the Day Then came the Day-spring from on high to visit us the Lord Jesus Christ himself in the Ministry of the Gospell he being both the Subject and Christ both the Subject and the Preacher of the Gospell the Preacher of the Gospell Then the Sun arose and so the light shined more and more to the perfect day He sent forth his Apostles and endowed them with infallibility of spirit And the holy men writ as being moved by the Spirit of God So as in the ages since God hath been pleased to make good that which was Prophecied of old by Isaiah first and afterwards by Habbakuk The time shall come when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord even as the waters cover the sea Isa 11. 9. Former times had but poor Ebb-tydes in comparison there are now Spring-tydes since the comming of Christ into the world The earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea You may see if you will a little by what degrees Light came in Heb. 1. 1. God revealed himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God revealed by degrees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in severall waies and at severall times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by piece-meals in many parts which the word implyeth As for instance He first made known to Adam that he would send Mankind a Mediator that should be born of a A little light revealed to Adam Woman there is the light with him The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpent's head And that manifestation goes no further After commeth a further light that is to Abraham a little more to Abraham where he telleth him In thy seed shall all the nations of the world be blessed And to him is given Circumcision as a seal of this covenant of Grace A further light came in more to Jacob Jacob's time and discovered the time when Shiloe should come into the world Gen. 49. 10. After him the Propheticall Office of Christ is revealed to Moses A Prophet like more to Moses to me will God raise up to you of your brethren him shall ye hear Deut. 18. 18. Then commeth in another Sacrament and more afterwards to the Jews the Passeover and all the Ceremoniall Law which was the Jews Gospell every thing there pointed at Christ Afterwards clearer manifestation still Isaiah telleth you what kind of Mediator he shall be not descended of a pompous A clearer light to Isaiah way but as a man of sorrow He telleth you of whom he shall be born A Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son Micah more to Micha telleth you the very place where he shall be born Thou Bethlehem out of thee shall come forth to me him that shall be the Ruler in Israel Mich. 5. 2. And so by degrees light came in How much is this Age of the world bound to God We under the Gospell have all the light of former Ages for the enjoyment of all the light of former Ages so as if still we are ignorant of Christ we are of all men most inexcusable It was but a little that our fore-fathers enjoyed in comparison Look but back a few years to Henry the Eighth's time and to Queen Mary's daies the Protestants then had but little light in comparison of what they have now As it is in Reason our Reason should answer our Light so it is in Nature when the Sun appeareth at noon-day then it is hottest Naturalists say Calor Lux concrescunt Light and heat encrease together But alas notwithstanding the light in our heads what a coldnesse is there in the most of our affections Let me say this to you Our fathers in those daies they walked to Heaven as it were by Candle-light But Oh! if we shall now post to Hell by day-light What will become of us how inexcusable will our guilt and insupportable will our condition be I have done with the second Observation The light shineth in darkness It followeth The Darkness comprehended it not The Point from hence is this That it is naturall to man Observ 3 since the Fall not to comprehend the light of Christ The Apostle speaketh in plain tearms 1 Cor. 2. 14. The naturall man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned It is not with this Metaphoricall light as it is with the Naturall the naturall light scattereth the darknesse where it commeth Let the Sun arise Darknesse giveth way But here the Metaphoricall darknesse will not give way that resisteth the light when it commeth and prevaileth against it Thus in St. John's language It comprehendeth it not Job 24. 13. These are they that abhor the light they know not the wayes thereof nor abide in the paths thereof They are of those that rebell against the light For the light that shineth in the works of God darknesse comprehendeth Light shining in the Works of God it not God hath gloriously appeared in the works of Creation but with what issue 1 Cor. 1. 21. Seeing the world by wisdom knew not God in the wisdom of God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe There was a great deal of wisdom appeared in the works of Creation In wisdom hast thou made them all saith the Psalmist of the works of God and yet the world by wisdom knew not God All that appeared of God by the creatures could not bring man to a taking knowledge of him Therefore you see God is put upon another way of saving man viz. The foolishness of Preaching as this place telleth you Something men did apprehend of this light but they comprehended it not fully The light shineth in darkness but the darkness comprehendeth it not Again This light