Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	darkness_n	light_n	shine_v	1,758	5	9.8256	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89280	Conjectura cabbalistica or, a conjectural essay of interpreting the minde of Moses, according to a threefold cabbala: viz. literal, philosophical, mystical, or, divinely moral. By Henry More fellow of Christs College in Cambridge.	More, Henry, 1614-1687.	1653 (1653)	Wing M2647; Thomason E1462_2; ESTC R202930	150,967	287

that it is nothing but the stilnesse and fixednesse of Melancholy that thus abuses him and in stead of the true divine Principle would take the Government to it self and in this usurped tyranny cruelly destroy all the rest of the Animal Figurations But the true divine Life would destroy nothing that is in Nature but only regulate things and order them for the more full and sincere enjoyments of man reproaching nothing but sinfulnesse and enormity entituling Sanguine and Choler to as much Virtue and Religion as either Phlegme or Melancholy For the divine Life as it is to take into it self the humane nature in general so it is not abhorrent from any of the complexions thereof But the squabbles in the world are ordinarily not about true Piety and Virtue but which of the Complexions or what Humour shall ascend the Throne and fit there in stead of Christ himself But I will not expatiate too much upon one Theme I shall rather take a short view of the whole Allegory of the Chapter In the first Day there is Earth Water and Wind over wh●ch and through which there is nothing but disconsolate darknesse and tumultuous agitation The Winds ruffling up the Waters into mighty waves the waves washing up the mire and dirt into the water all becoming but a rude heap of confusion and desolation This is the state of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Earthly Adam as Philo calls him till God command the Light to shine out of Darknesse offering him a guide to a better condition In the second day is the Firmament created dividing the upper and the lower Waters that it may feel the strong impulses or taste the different relishes of either Thus is the will of man touch'd from above and beneath and this is the day wherein is set before him Life and Death Good and Evil and he may put out his hand and take his choice In the third day is the Earth uncovered of the Waters for the planting of fruit-bearing trees By their fruits you shall know them saith our Saviour that is by their works In the fourth day there appears a more full accession of divine Light and the Sun of Righteousnesse warms the soul with a sincere love both of God and man In the fift day that this Light of Righteousnesse and bright Eye of divine Reason may not brandish its rayes in the empty field where there is nothing either to subdue or guide and order God sends out whole sholes of Fishes in the Waters and numerous flights of Fowls in the Air besides part of the sixt days work wherein all kinde of Beasts are created In these are decyphered the sundry suggestions and cogitations of the minde sprung from these lower Elements of the humane nature viz. Earth and Water Flesh and Blood all these man beholds in the Light of the Sun of Righteousnesse discovers what they are knows what to call them can rule over them and is not wrought to be over-ruled by them This is Adam the Master-piece of Gods Creation and Lord of all the creatures framed after the Image of God Christ according to the Spirit under whose feet is subdued the whole Animal Life with its sundry Motions Forms and Shapes He will call every thing by its proper name and set every creature in its proper place The vile person shall be no longer called liberal nor the churl bountiful Wo be unto them that call evil good and good evil that call the light darknesse and the darknesse light He will not call bitter Passion holy Zeal nor plausible meretricious Courtesie Friendship nor a false soft abhorrency from punishing the ill-deserving Pity nor Cruelty Justice nor Revenge Magnanimity nor Unfaithfulnesse Policy nor Verbosity either Wisdome or Piety But I have run my self into the second Chapter before I am aware In this first Adam is said only to have dominion over all the living creatures and to feed upon the fruit of the Plants And what is Pride but a mighty Mountainous Whale Lust a Goat the Lion and Bear wilful dominion Craft a Fox and worldly toil an Oxe Over these and a thousand more is the rule of Man I mean of Adam the Image of God But his meat and drink is to do the will of his Maker this is the fruit he feeds upon Behold therefore O Man what thou art and whereunto thou art called even to bee a mighty Prince amongst the creatures of God and to bear rule in that Province he has assigned thee to discern the Motions of thine own heart and to be Lord over the suggestions of thine own natural spirit not to listen to the counsel of the flesh nor conspire with the Serpent against thy Creator But to keep thy heart free and faithful to thy God so maist thou with innocency and unblameablenesse see all the Motions of Life and bear rule with God over the whole Creation committed to thee This shall be thy Paradise and harmlesse sport on Earth till God shall transplant thee to an higher condition of happinesse in Heaven CHAP. II. The full sense of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that keeps men from entring into the true Sabbath 4 The great necessity of distinguishing the innocent motions of Nature from the suggestions of Sin 5 That the growth of a true Christian indeed doth not adaequately depend upon the lips of the Priest 7 The meaning of This is he that comes by Water and Blood 8 The meaning of Repent for the Kingdome of Heaven is at hand The seventh thousand years the great Sabbatism of the Church of God That there will be then frequent converse betwixt Men and Angels 9 The Tree of Life how fitly in the Mystical sense said to be in the midst of the Garden 17 A twofold death contracted by Adams disobedience The Masculine and Feminine Faculties in Man what they are Actuating a Body an Essential operation of the Soul and the reason of that so joyful appearance of Eve to the Humane Nature TO the fift verse there is nothing but a recapitulation of what went before in the first Chapter and therefore wants no further proof then what has already been alledged out of S Paul and Origen and other Writers Only there is mention of a Sabbath in the second verse of this Chapter of which there was no words before And this is that Sabbatisme or Rest that the Author to the Hebrews exhorts them to strive to enter into through faith and obedience For those that were faint-hearted and unbelieving and pretended that the children of Anak the off-spring of the Giants would be too hard for them they could not enter into the promised Land wherein they were to set up their rest under the conduct of J●shua a Type of Jesus And the same Author in the same place makes mention of this very Sabbath that ensued the accomplishment of the Creation concluding thus There remaineth therefore a Sabbatisme or Rest to the people of God For he that has entred

time becomes a Spirit of savoury and affectionate discernment betwixt the evil and the good betwixt the pure waters that flow from the holy Spirit and the muddy and tumultuous suggestions of the Flesh 7 And thus is Man enabled in a living manner to distinguish betwixt the earthly and heavenly life 8 For the heavenly Principle is now made to him a Spirit of savoury discernment and being taught by God after this manner he will not fail to pronounce that this Principle whereby he has so quick and lively a sense of what is good and evil is heavenly indeed And thus Ignorance and Enquiry is made the second days progresse 9 Now the sweetnesse of the upper waters being so well relisht by man he has a great nauseating against the lower feculent waters of the unbounded desires of the flesh So that God adding power to his will the inordinate desires of the flesh are driven within set limits and he has a command over himself to become more stayed and steady 10 And this steadinesse and command he gets over himself he is taught by the divine Principle in him to compare to the Earth or dry land for safenesse and stability but the desires of the flesh he looks upon as a dangerous and turbulent Sea Wherefore the bounding of them thus and arriving to a state of command over a mans self and freedome from such colluctations and collisions as are found in the working Seas the divine Nature in him could not but approve as good 11 For so it comes to passe by the will of God and according to the nature of things that this state of sobriety in man he being in so good a measure rid of the boisterousnesse of evil Concupiscence gives him leisure so to cultivate his minde with principles of Virtue and Honesty that he is as a fruitful field whom the Lord hath blessed 12 Sending forth out of himself sundry sorts of fruit-bearing trees herbs and flowers that is various kindes of good works to the praise of God and the help of his neighbour and God and his own Conscience witnesse to him that this is good 13 And thus Ignorance and Inquiry is made the third days progresse 14 Now when God has proceeded so far in the Spiritual Creation as to raise the heavenly Principle in man to that power and efficacy that it takes hold on his affections and brings forth laudable works of Righteousnesse he thereupon adds a very eminent accession of Light and Strength setting before his eyes sundry sorts of Luminaries in the heavenly or intellectual Nature whereby he may be able more notoriously to distinguish betwixt the Day and the Night that is betwixt the condition of a truly illuminated soul and one that is as yet much benighted in ignorance and estranged from the true knowledge of God For according to the difference of these Lights it is signified to a man in what condition himself or others are in whether it be indeed Day or Night with them Summer or Winter Spring time or Harvest or what period or progresse they have made in the divine Life 15 And though there be so great a difference betwixt these Lights yet the meanest are better then meer darknesse and serve in some measure or other to give light to the Earthly man 16 But among these many Lights which God makes to appear to man there are two more eminent by far then the rest The greater of which two has his dominion by day and is a faithful guide to those which walk in the day that is that work the works of righteousnesse And this greater Light is but one but does being added mightily invigorate the former day-light man walked by and it is a more full appearance of the Sun of Righteousnesse which is an hearty and sincere Love of God and a mans neighbour The lesser of these two great Lights has dominion by night and is a rule to those whose inward mindes are held as yet too strongly in the works of darknesse and it is a Principle weak and variable as the Moon and is called Inconstancy of Life and Knowledge There are alsoan abundance of other little Lights thickly dispersed over the whole Understanding of man as the Stars in the Firmament which you may call Notionality or Multiplicity of ineffectual Opinions 17 But the worst of all these are better then down-right Sensuality and Brutishnesse and therefore God may well be said to set them up in the heavenly part of man his Understanding to give what light they are able to his earthly parts his corrupt and inordinate Affections 18 And as the Sun of Righteousnesse that is the hearty and sincere Love of God and a mans neighbour by his single light and warmth with chearfulnesse and safety guides them that are in the day so that more uneven and changeable Principle and the numerous Light of Notionality may conduct them as well as they are able that are benighted in darknesse And what is most of all considerable a man by the wide difference of these latter Lights from that of the Day may discern when himself or another is benighted in the state of unrighteousnesse For multifarious Notionality and Inconstancy of life and knowledge are certain signs that a man is in the night But the sticking to this one single but vigorous and effectual Light of the hearty and sincere Love of God and a mans neighbour is a signe that a man walks in the day And he that is arrived to this condition plainly discerns in the Light of God that all this is very good 19 And thus Ignorance and Inquiry is made the fourth days progresse 20 And now so noble so warm and so vigorous a Principle or Light as the Sun of Righteousnesse being set up in the heavenly part of the Soul of man the unskilful may unwarily expect that the next news will be that even the Seas themselves are dried up with the heat thereof that is that the Concupiscible in man is quite destroyed But God doth appoint far otherwise for the waters bring forth abundance of Fish as well as Fowl innumerable 21 Thoughts therefore of natural delights do swim to and fro in the Concupiscible of man and the fervent love he bears to God causes not a many faint ineffectual notions but an abundance of holy affectionate meditations and winged Ejaculations that fly up heaven-ward which returning back again and falling upon the numerous fry of natural Concupiscence help to lessen their numbers as those fowls that frequent the waters devour the fish thereof And God and good men do see nothing but good in all this 22 Wherefore God multiplies the thoughts of natural delight in the lower Concupiscible as well as he does those heavenly thoughts and holy meditations that the entire Humanity might be filled with all the degrees of good it is capable of and that the divine Life might have something to order and overcome 23 And thus Ignorance and Inquiry made the

no contemptible arguments for it For first Jerem. 2. 18. Sihor is a River of Aegypt which is not questioned to be any other then Nilus and its Etymon seems to bewray the truth of it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denigrari from the muddy blacknesse of the River And Nilus is notorious for this quality and therefore has its denomination thence in the Greek quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acording to which is that of Dionysius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is For there 's no River can compare with Nile For casting mud and fattening the soile But now to recite the very words of the Prophet What hast thou to do with the way of Egypt to drink the waters of Sihor the Latine has it ut bibas aquam turbidam This is Nilu● But the Seventy translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To drink the water of Gihon which is the name of this very River of Paradise And the Abyssines also even to this day call Nilus by the name of Guion Adde unto this that Gihon runs in Aethiopia so does Nilus and is Siris as it runs through Aethiopia which is from Sihor it is likely and then the Greek termination makes it Sioris after by contraction Siris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is The Aethiopian him Siris calls Syene Nilus when by her he crawls As the same Author writes in his Geographical Poems And that Pison is Ganges has also its probabilities Ganges being in India a Countrey famous for Gold and precious Stones Besides the notation of the name agrees with the nature of the River Pison being from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multiplicare And there is no lesse a number then Ten and those great Rivers that exonerate themselves into Ganges as there must be a conflux of multifarious experience to fill up and compleat that virtue of Wisdome or Prudence So that we shall see that the four Rivers of Paradise have got such names as are most advantageous and favourable to the mysterious sense of the story Wherefore regardlesse here of all Geographical scrupulosities we will say that Gihon is Nilus or Siris the River of the Aethiopians that is of the Just and the virtue is here determinately set off from the subject wherein it doth reside For by the fame of the Justice and Innocency of the Aethiopians we are assured which of the Cardinal Virtues is meant by Gihon And the ancient fame of their honesty and uprightnesse was such that Homer has made it their Epithet calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The blamelesse Aethiopians adding further that Jupiter used to banquet with them he being so much taken with the integrity of their conversation And Dionysius calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The divine or Deiforme Aethiopians and they were so styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by reason of their Justice as Eustathius comments upon the place Herodotus also speaking of them says they are very goodly men and much civilized and of a very long life which is the reward of Righteousnesse So that by the place where Gihon runs it is plainly signified to us what Cardinal Virtue is to be understood thereby Notation of the name thereof The name Gihon as you have seen fairly incites us to acknowledge it a River of Aethiopia The notation thereof does very sutably agree with the nature of Justice for it is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erumpere And Justice is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bonum alienum as the Philosopher notes not confined within a mans self but breaks out rather upon others bestowing upon every one what is their due Ver. 14. Is Hiddekell The word is compounded says Vatablus from two words that signifie velox rapidum and this virtue like a swift and rapid stream bears down all before it as you have it in the Cabbala And stoutly resists Philo uses here the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to resist which he takes occasion from the Seventies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he interprets against the Assyrians The Hebrew has it Eastward of Assyria and therefore Assyria is situated Westward of it Now the West is that quarter of the world where the Sun bidding us adieu leaves us to darkness whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the West wind in Eustathius has its name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wind that blows from the dark Quarter Assyria therefore is that false state of seeming happiness and power of wickednesse which is called the kingdome of darknesse And this is the most noble object of Fortitude to destroy the power of this kingdome within our selves Perath From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fructificavit Ver. 17. In processe of time c. This is according to the minde of the Pythagoreans and Origen And that Pythagoras had the favour of having the Mosaical Cabbala communicated to him by some knowing Priest of the Jewes or some holy man or other I think I have continuedly in the former Chapter made it exceeding probable The Region of mortality and death Nothing is more frequent with the Platonists then the calling of the body a Sepulchre and this life we live here upon Earth either sleep or death Which expressions are so sutable with this Cabbala and the Cabbala with the Text of Moses that mentions the death and sleep of Adam that it is a shrewd presumption that these Phrases and Notions came first from thence And Philo acknowledges that Heraclitus that mysterious and abstruse Philosopher whom Porphyrius also has cited to the same purpose in his De antro Nympharum has even hit upon the very meaning that Moses intends in this death of Adam in that famous saying of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We live their death to wit of the souls out of the body but we are dead to their life And Euripides that friend of Socrates and fellow-traveller of Plato's in his Tragedies speaks much to the same purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who knows whether to live be not to die and to die to live So that the Philosophick sense concerning Adams death must be this that he shall be dead to the Aethereal life he lived before while he is restrained to the Terrestrial and that when as he might have lived for ever in the Aethereal Life he shall in a shorter time assuredly die to the Terrestrial That the sons of men cannot escape either the certainty or speed of death Ver. 18. Both good for himself c. For the words of the Text doe not confine it to Adams conveniency alone but speaks at large without any restraint in this present verse Wherefore there being a double convenience it was more explicite to mention both in the Cabbala Ver. 19. Fallen and unfallen Angels The fallen Angels are here assimilated to the Beasts of the Field the unfallen to the Fowls of the Air. How fitly the fallen Spirits are reckoned amongst the Beasts