Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	condemnation_n	light_n	light_v	1,791	5	9.6672	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46867	The friendly enquirer's doubts and objections answered concerning the light within, the word of God, the church of Christ, gospel ministers, ordinances in general and in particular, water baptism, and the Lord's supper : together with a brief testimony against oaths and swearing / first intended and written for the satisfaction of some particular acquaintance and now published for more general service by James Jackson.	Jackson, James, fl. 1674-1708.	1698 (1698)	Wing J73; ESTC R34952	26,741	110

done despight to the strivings of the Spirit as the old World did such as are complained of Jer. 6.29 and such as Stephen reproves Acts 7.51 even such as God hath given up cast off and rejected yet doth not this prove but that the Light and Spirit of Christ was once in them and at work in their Hearts Answ 3. And yet further in the next place the Love of Christ constraineth us thus to Judge because if Christ died for all then were all dead 2 Cor. 5.14 and as Christ dyed for all Men so his grace is free for all Men For the Grace of God which brings Salvation hath appeared to all Men Tit. 2.11 for he is able and willing to save all that yeild obedience to the tenders of his boundless endless unlimited universal love to Mankind without exception and this we are verily persuaded of from these and such like considerations 1. Because the Lord is no respecter of Persons he maketh his Sun to rise on the just and on the unjust and sendeth Rain on the evil and on the good he accepteth not the Persons of Princes nor regardeth the Rich more than the Poor for they all are the work of his Hands 2. Because that Light which shined in our dark ignorant unclean and unbelieving Hearts before Conversion is the very same in which we ought to live and abide since our Conversion that which formerly stood by and in us was an Eye witness too and bore a faithful Testimony against us while we walked in Darkness is the same which since the time of our Believing and abiding in his Light witnesseth with our Spirits that we are the Children of God That very Light which before reproved convinced judged and condemned us for all unbelief and unrighteousness both in Heart and Life is still the same which doth convert confirm cleanse justify and save yea that Light which before shined in Darkness when we were as vile as the worst of Sinners doth now to the praise of God shine out of Darkness whereof we are not Ashamed 3. Because our Lord Jesus who cannot lye hath said that Man's Condemnation ariseth only from the contempt of and disobedience unto this Light saying this is The Condemnation that Light is come into the World but Men love darkness rather than light John 3.19 Now most certain it is that Man's Damnation is occasioned from viz. either want of Light or thro' the deficiency of this Light or rather from Man's Rebellion and disobedience to this Light First we may not think so hardly of God that Man's Condemnation ariseth from the want of saving Light this is to charge God with Injustice as the evil and unprofitable Servant said Lord I knew thee to be an Austere and hard Man reaping where thou hast not Sown and gathering where thou hast not strewed And what greater Unmercifulness can be charged upon God Than that he withholds from any Man the benefit of his saving Light or withdraws it before Man's Rebellion against it And Secondly 'T is no less than Blasphemy to say that the Light of Christ is insufficient and not able to save all that come to God thereby for tho' his appearance at first be as the day of small things as the least of all Seeds a little Stone disalowed and despised of Men who stumble and are offended at him yet chosen of God and exceeding precious to all that Believe who know him to be the Almighty Arm and Power of God to Salvation the alsufficiency whereof is further demonstrated by its Divine Nature and Powerful effects 1. The Nature of this Divine Light in which we believe and Know to be that measure of the immortal unchangeable undefiled and perfect Principle of Life Light and Holiness which never fell nor consented to any Evil but ever opposed and stood against the whole corrupt nature will and affections of faln Man a Measure I say hereof is given to every one to profit withal 1 Cor. 12.7 so that the Light I speak of is nothing of Man's Nature but of the Divine Nature whereof he hath made us partakers by revealing his Son in us even that great Mistery Christ in you the hope of Glory the blessed Seed promised Gen. 3.15 yea even the Son of God who is sent into the World that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Eternal Life 2. The Effects of the Light when Christ was upon Earth John saw and bare Record saying Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the World and yet the Lord said A Greater Testimony have I than that of John for the Works that I do in my Fathers Name they testifie of me so we say of his Light however slighted and despised by the World if his Works be not such as none else can do believe him not Effect 1. Hereby the Sinner is convinced of and condemned for all Sins that ever he commiteth of what kind or nature soever they be John 16.8.9.10.11 Come said the Woman of Samaria and I will shew you a Man that hath told me all things that ever I did Is not this the Christ John 4.29 Effect 2. Hereby the true fear of the Lord which is the beginning of Wisdom is actually planted in the Heart for while a Man in his Imaginations supposes God and Christ only as circumscribed at a great distance he persists with boldness in his evil ways but when his mind is turned into the Light he is thereby made to understand and see his condition and misery and to see him whom he hath pierced which forces this or the like general Cry Lord I have heard of thee by the hearing of the Ear But now mine Eye sees thee wherefore I abhor my self in Dust and Ashes Effect 3. This causeth not only repentance thorough Faith in Christ the Light but also worketh in the Heart Obedience of Faith Rom. 16.26 Effect 4. Hereby Man's insufficiency to answer the requirings of God is discerned and the Alsufficient Strength and Power of Christ discovered The Spirit of Truth shall guide you into all Truth for he shall Glorifie me For he shall receive of mine and shew it unto you John 16.13.14 Effect 5. They who have believed and do abide in the Light and they only are hereby enabled and made willing freely to declare and preach their experiences to others and to confound and put to silence the weakness ignorance and folly of all that reproach and oppose this Doctrine as the illiterate young Man did to the learned Scribes and Pharisees Why this is a marvelous thing said he that yee know not whence he is and yet he hath opened my Eyes Since the World began was it not heard that any Man opened the Eyes of one that was born Blind J●hn 9.30 wherefore let all who look out for another Saviour remember the answer of Christ to John Baptist on the like account Go saith Christ and tell him that sent ye to ask saying art thou

THE Friendly Enquirer's Doubts and Objections ANSWERED Concerning The Light within The Word of God The Church of Christ Gospel Ministers Ordinances in General and in Particular Water Baptism and The Lord's Supper TOGETHER With a Brief Testimony against OATHS and SWEARING First Intended and Written for the Satisfaction of some particular Acquaintance And now published for more General Service By Iames Iackson London Printed and Sold by T. Sowle next door to the Meeting-House in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-Street 1698. THE Friendly Enquirer's Doubts and Objections ANSWERED c. THat which was from the beginning even that good Word of Life which is the Light of Men that which we have seen and heard and tasted of is here declared unto you that ye also may have Fellowship with us And truly our Fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ and for this and no other end write I unto you but that your joy may be full This then is the Message that God is Light and in him is no darkness at all and if we say that we have Fellowship with him and walk in darkness we Lie and do not the Truth But if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have Fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin If we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us but if we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all our Unrighteousness 1 John 1.1.2.3 to the 9th Whoever therefore would attain unto the blessed Work of Sanctification to be cleansed from all Sin by the Blood of Jesus Christ and so come to enjoy the comfortable fellowship of the Holy Ghost which proceeds from the Father and the Son Must turn from Darkness to Light Acts 26.18 must Believe in the Light John 12.36 And walk in the Light even as he is in the Light and will know that this Turning is an Inward Turning from the Darkness which is within unto the Light within where the Day dawneth his Star ariseth and the day spring from on high doth visit us even in our Hearts 2. Pet. 1.19 Wherefore blessed are they who are not offended in the Light but turn to it believe in it and obey it in all things 1. Objection But we are afraid of being deceived This is a new and strange Doctrine did ever Christ or his Apostles bid Men believe and obey the Light within Answer 1. Are you not already deceived Consider and faithfully examine your own conditions if you are delivered out of the deceived State wherein the greatest part of the World yet remain are you not in a sinful Trasgressing State For 't is said The Woman being deceived was in the Transgression 1 Tim. 2.14 2. They who believe and abide in the Light know that they are not deceived seek not to deceive any nor fear any deceiving them tho' whilst we walk in the imaginations of our own Hearts and warmed our selves with the sparks of our own kindling that then as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty so our Minds were corrupted from the Simplicity that is in Jesus in which State we see many yet to stand whom the Lord will undeceive in his own time But evil Men and seducers will wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived And never fear deceit in those that turn you to the Light unto which they that do the Truth bring all their works Verily you ought cautiously to be aware of and suspect all those who pretend safe conduct but reject and hate the Light 3. Search and Prove this Doctrine freely without prejudice or partiality judge nor condemn it unheard speak not evil of any thing unknown for so we may unhappily condemn the Innocent and make our selves Guilty We should rightly understand what another holds before we contend against him least for want of this Wisdom and Patience we oppose not so much his Judgment as our own Conceit Better it is to hear a Mans mind with meekness and candor than hastily to guess at it 4. Be not wedded I beseech you to any Opinion nor wise in your own Conceits so as to build upon your own or other Mens Judgments and rest satisfied therein because it is strengthned by Multitude Custom Authority and Antiquity for undoubtedly many have erred grosly in those things they have thought themselves infallible Better it is to cleave to the clear and naked Truth 's of God alone than to follow the Doctrines and Examples of the most learned and Eminent Professors in the World when they hold not the Truth as it is in Jesus 5. Reproach not this Doctrine saying it is new and strange or that ye never heard it so before for this discovers your ignorance more than my Error for this which to you may seem to be a new Error being rightly examined by the Scriptures will evidently prove an old Truth and if you will needs reject whatsoever to you savours of Novelty how shall the Truths we yet know not be brought in and the Ignorance and Error which yet remain be purged out 6. This is the same Doctrine which was preached by our blessed Saviour and his holy Prophets and Apostles which was believed and obeyed by all the Faithful Saints and Servants of God since the Creation the same which the Lord gave in charge to the Israelites by the mouth of Moses saying Behold I send my Angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee to the place I have prepared Beware of him and obey his Voice Exod. 23.20 But the Soul that doeth ought presumptuously reproacheth the Lord and shall be cut off from his People because he hath despised the Word of the Lord Numb 15.30 what is here meant by the Word of the Lord Answer Nothing less than the Light of Christ in their Hearts For saith Moses It is not hidden from thee neither is it far off but the Word is very nigh even in thy Heart and in thy Mouth that thou shouldest hear it and do it Deut. 30.11 to 14. to which the Apostle gives his Testimony that this Word or Light within is not Diabolical nor Natural nor Legal but Evangelical and affirms that obedience thereunto is of the Righteousness of Faith Rom. 10. from the 5th to the 8th David calls it a Lamp to his feet and a Light to his paths and prays that the Light and the Truth may be his Leader and Guide Solomon says The reproof of instruction is the way of Life And the Prophet Isaiah testifies thou shalt hear a Word behind thee saying this is the Way walk in it Isa 30.21 John the Baptist preached Christ the Light which was the Word which was in the beginning of the World and He was sent to bear witness of this Light which is not a false Light or a natural Light but the true Light which lighteth

every Man that cometh into the World John 1.9 and our blessed Lord said John 8.12 I am the Light of the World he that followeth me shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life While ye therefore have the Light believe in the Light that ye may be the Children of the Light John 12.36 and he bids seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof which Kingdom he told the Scribes and Pharisees was in them Luke 17.21 whence it is evident that every true Convert must inwardly turn from the Power of Satan and Kingdom of darkness within and inwardly seek and feel after the marvelous Light of God's Kingdom to seek the Lord if haply they might feel after him and find him tho' he be not far from every one of us Acts 17.27 and the Apostle James writing to Sinners bids them lay aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the ingrafted Word which is able to save their Souls which Peter calls the sure Word of Prophesie unto which says he ye do well to give heed as unto a Light that shines in a dark place till the day dawn and the day star arise in your Hearts 2 Pet. 1.19 which said ingrafted Word and sure Word of Prophesie cannot be intended or meant by the Holy Ghost to be the Scriptures because they are not able to Save Mens Souls or give Eternal Life to such as think to have it thence John 5.39 but it is the Light of Christ our Lord in whom is Life Eternal and the same Life is the Light of Men and his Name is called the Word of God Rev. 19.13 2 Object But dost thou deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God Which is the only rule both for Life and also to judge of Doctrines and the only Weapon to resist Satan and confute his Ministers and Christ overcame the Tempter only by the Scriptures which are the Sword of the Spirit and the Word of God Answ 1. In obedience to the command of Christ John 5.39 I have perused and diligently searched the Scriptures both in the Originals and several Translations it may be as much as any Man and find that they sufficiently declare and testify of and for our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ to be the Word of God But through the whole Volumn of this holy Book called the Bible and Scriptures of Truth I find not therein that they are called by this Name 2. And therefore that the Scriptures are the Sword of the Spirit or the Word of God I have no Scripture warrant to believe but that the Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit I own and witness experimentally and that it is sharper than a Two edged Sword like a Hammer and Fire the Ax at the Root of the Tree and that 't is Vnchangeable Incorruptible and Eternal without beginning of Days or end of Time and so are not the Scriptures 2. Nevertheless we preferr the Holy Scriptures above all Books as they were given forth by the Holy Spirit of God and therefore of Divine Authority and believe them to be a true Declaration of God and of his Word yet we must not fix our hopes of Eternal Life in the Scriptures as the Jews did and would not believe in Chirst nor come to him that they might have Life John 5.38.39.40 It is not they therefore who have the Scriptures but only they who have the Son of God that have life 1 John 5.12 4. Wherefore we preferr Christ Jesus above the Scriptures for in all things he must have the preheminence therefore said John he is preferr'd before me for he is before me and before Abraham was saith Christ I am Wherefore know that we build not upon the holy Prophets and Apostles their Words Works Writings and Experiences but upon Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Corner Stone and the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles so that we have not received our Light Life Peace Comfort Faith Hope and Assurance from the Writings of the Saints but from him that was their Light Life Hope Rest and Foundation and have our teaching from that inward Light Law Word and Vnction whereby Abel Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob and Joseph walked with and pleased God long before the Scripture or Scriptural Rules were written and manifested 5. Neither are the Scriptures the only Rule for they declare and testifie of the Law written in the Heart and the Rule of a new Creature Gal. 6.15.16 and as for the only Judge of Doctrines we know that the Scriptures are hard to be understood and therefore Men in their Carnal Wisdom are putting their several meanings upon one and the same Scripture wherefore we say the Spirit of God is the Judge of Doctrines because he alone who gave forth the Scriptures best knows the meaning thereof For the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 Answer 6. Neither yet do I believe that the Scriptures were the only means which Christ made use of to overcome and repel the Tempter in the Wilderness for Satan allegdd and pleaded Scripture till he indeed took the Sword of the Spirit even his Divine Power and commanded him to be gone and said Get thee behind me Satan Object 3. Though it is granted that Christ by his Light and Spirit is in every true Believer yet we cannot believe him to be so in every Man for Paul tells the Ephesians that before their Conversion they were without God and without Christ in the World Eph. 2.12 and the same Apostle bids others to examine and prove themselves and to know that Jesus Christ is in you except you be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 whereby it appears that Vnbelievers and Reprobates are without Christ Answ 1. As to Vnbelievers before Conversion they are alienated from the Life and Light of Christ and under the Powers of the Prince of Darkness nevertheless the true Light shines in this Darkness but the Darkness comprehendeth it not John 1.5 and I can truly witness to the Truth hereof knowing the time when I was without Christ and without God in the World i. e. without the true knowledge of them living as if there was no God yea without any awful regard to the Eye of God yet I can as truly affirm that at that time the Light of Christ was in me testifying against all mine Iniquities And tho' this may seem to be a Mistery that a measure of his Light should be in a Man when that Man is without Christ yet having experienced the truth hereof do therefore testify that it is one thing for the Light of Christ to be in a Man and another thing for a Man to be in the Light of Christ and therefore affirm that the Light of Christ is in every Man but no Man is in Christ Jesus till he be a new Creature Answ 2. And as to Reprobates such as the Scripture testify who have sinned out the Day of Grace