Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	knowledge_n	light_n	shine_v	2,465	5	9.1921	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32952	The inheritance of the saints in light set forth in a sermon preach'd at Whitehall, August 11, 1700 / by Ab. Campion ...	Campion, Abraham, d. 1701.	1700 (1700)	Wing C405; ESTC R1424	15,676	29

of it I purpose to Discourse on these Words in this Method I. To consider the Nature of the State and Condition of the Saints in the other World It is here set forth as a State of Light II. The Certainty of it the sure Title they have to it It is their Inheritance III. The Qualifications requisite to make them meet to partake of it IV. How these Qualifications are to be obtain'd that so we may upon good grounds give thanks unto God who has made us meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light We begin with the First The Consideration of the State and Condition of the Saints here signified by a State of Light Light is the most proper word to express a State of Happiness and set forth to us the Heavenly State and Condition in whatever sense we take the word Light whether 1. In its common or natural Sense for a Bodily Quality a visible Lustre or Glory Or 2. For Knowledge which is sometimes call'd Light Or 3. For Purity and Holiness they are all of them Ingredients of the Heavenly State and concurr to compleat its happiness As to the First If Light be taken in its vulgar sense for a visible Lustre and Glory Light seems in this sense to be essential to the Notion of Heaven for Heaven is the Seat the Country of Light The Sun and Stars are Bodies Great and Glorious yet these are but the Ornaments of the outer Court of Heaven serving to Beautifie and Enlighten the lower World For the Heavenly Palace the New Jerusalem as St. John stiles it the Seat of God and of the blessed Spirits that stands not in need of these Lights they shine not there they have no influence above The Divine Apostle Rev. 21. has collected every thing that appears at present most bright and gay to help us to conceive the Glories of that Heavenly City He represents its Walls and Gates as built of the most glistring Pearls and Precious Stones as paved with Gold that there is no Night but a perpetual Day no need of Sun or Moon for the Glory of God does enlighten it for God is Light and the Lamb is the Light thereof ver 23. The Light of the Sun would sully and defile the pure brightness of that Region that being fitted only to serve the uses of this Elementary World is a gross Light a meer Kitchin-Fire if compared to that most refined Light with which God is Cloathed as with a Garment Light inaccessible to us in our present Capacities but those that shall be thought meet to be admitted into that State of Light I pray God it may be the happy Lot of all here present they shall have their Organs strengthned fitted to approach and enjoy that Light For they themselves shall be Cloath'd with Light and dress'd up in the Habit of the Country their Earthly Tabernacles shall be transform'd into Glorious Bodies such as their Saviour wears now in Heaven Mat. 13.43 for they shall shine then as Suns in the Kingdom of their Father he has assured them Their Bodies shall be like the Glorious Body of Christ tho' not equal to it in Glory Amongst the Saints themselves there shall be Degrees of Magnitude as one Star differs from another in Glory They that turn many to Righteousness saith Daniel 12.3 shall shine as Stars for ever and ever and they especially that have Suffer'd with Christ shall be also Glorified with him They that thought nothing too dear for their God but had the Grace and Courage to Die for their Saviour as he had Died for them their mangled Bodies shall shine next to his in Glory This imperfect Account of that State of Light may suggest to us the Happiness of it for Light is pleasant to behold it is so much the experience of every one that has Eyes to behold it as that I need not quote Solomon for it Light gives Beauty to all things it is the Paint and Varnish of the World it is the Life of it for when Light breaks in upon us it awakens and gives new Life to the Soul it brisks the Spirits and puts them in Tune for Joy and Mirth Whereas on the Contrary by Darkness is signified a State of Melancholy and Misery The Scene of Grief and Sorrow is black the Afflicted shut out the Light and condemn themselves to Darkness Darkness is a sad ingredient of the Miseries of Hell it is the essential Character of that place of horrour for the melancholy abode of the Damned is express'd to us by a Dungeon of Darkness of utter extream Darkness the very blackness of Darkness This makes the Sorrows of that Place more oppressive to the Spirit its terrors more frightful and amazing Besides Darkness gives scope and liberty to the Rage of guilty Consciences We know by woful experience that our thoughts are always most tyrannical in the Dark and sting most severely when any thing lies cross or heavy upon the Spirit Then when the Soul has nothing to do but to think has no Pleasure to divert it nor the too common refuge of Drink to drown its Cares nor the least pretence of Business to employ it for a moment The steady remembrance then of the mad follies of a brutish Life being reflected on in the Dark to all Eternity and continually repeated with fresh vexation of Spirit must of necessity strike deep pierce to the quick and wound to the very Centre of the Soul One Prospect of that State of Darkness one serious thought of it would quickly teach us what abundant reason they have to give God thanks as my Text exhorts who are by the Grace of God made meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light 2. Light is frequently put for Knowledge in this respect also the State of the Saints in Heaven may properly be stiled a State of Light Knowledge is Spiritual Light it has the same influence upon the Eye of the Mind as Light upon the Eye of the Body Knowledge is pleasant as Light it cheers the Soul it brings in Day upon it it opens the World as Light and gives a prospect even to the utmost ends of the Earth It sees into the very Heavens it takes in past and future Ages into its view and by the help of Revelation even Eternity it self Knowledge gives Confidence and Security the understanding Man goes on freely and cheerfully as he that Travels in the Day He is in no danger of being led aside by Shadows and false Lights whereas Ignorance and Darkness hide and shut up every thing in Obscurity The Ignorant Man is like one locked up in a close Room or that walks in the dark Night he has no prospect of Things about him he knows not whither he goes he stumbles and wanders and fears every step all the Dangers that a benighted Fancy can represent Knowledge is often express'd by Light in the Holy Scriptures Particularly the Gospel-Revelation is

Emphatically called the Light and he that brought this Wonderful Discovery to the World is therefore himself stiled the Light of the World enlightning every Man coming into it And yet tho' the Gospel Revelation be a great Light in respect of all the Discoveries which were made before insomuch as the Ancient Father well observ'd the very Children of Christians are in their Catechisms taught to stammer forth greater Mysteries and sublimer Truths than the Wisest Philosophers could ever arrive to the Knowledge of yet this bright Revelation is but dark in respect of Vision We do as yet see but as through a Glass darkly we have a good Right Title and sure Promises but Promises are but Glimpses in respect of Enjoyment and that full Possession with which the Saints in Heaven are invested That therefore is well stiled a State of Light because a State of most certain inlarged and exalted Knowledge The State of this Life is really a State of Darkness we see but in part Truth is infinite as God A small portion of it is allotted us at present we know no more of it than God is pleas'd to let us into So much of it as may be useful to entertain us here and to secure our Eternal Interests hereafter But the Darkness of this State I now complain of is what Sin has brought upon our Understandings disturbing our Judgments and possessing us with infinite variety of wild and absurd Opinions to that excess as that it has pass'd into a Proverb So many Men so many Minds We might multiply much farther for it is seldom long that the same Man continues in the same Mind An infallible Argument of Darkness for Truth is always one and the same whatever differs from that must be Error and Darkness The Wisest Men are here observ'd to have their blind sides some mistakes for which they have been remarked All Men have Motes in their Eyes some have Beams It is too Notorious what senseless Errors some have espoused the Particulars are innumerable and maintain'd with heat and fierceness to the great disturbance of the World and confusion of the Church of God It might be something pardonable if we discover'd our Weakness only in Tattle and common Conversation when we profess to unbend our Souls but what Abominations do we see in the very Worship of the greatest part of the World What ridiculous Follies and Idolatries are to be found even at Christian Altars Their Understandings must needs want Light that play the Fool with their God When Men would be thought Wise Serious and Profound how often do they betray the nakedness of their Souls Our very Libraries are full of the blemishes of Mankind And the Works of the Learned are too often standing Monuments of the defects of Human Understanding We smile and pity the rude ignorance or short-sightedness of those that went before us but their Cause will be revenged trust an ill-natur'd World for it when those that follow us will laugh at ours But the comfort is we live in hopes of a better state of Life when every Man's Brain will be settled and all Heads set right When the Messiah shall next appear he will infallibly teach us all things He will then conduct all those to a State of pure Light and Knowledge whom by his Grace he has made meet to be Partakers of such Happiness All mists of Error will then be scatter'd by a clear Head an impartial Reason and fervent Charity A State of pure Light and Knowledge therefore I call it 1. Because there will be no Body no Worldly Interest to cloud the Light of the Mind or disturb it in its Reasonings No Flesh and Blood enters that Kingdom for the Natural Body we are assured will be rais'd a Spiritual Body by which Phrase we cannot well understand less than a more refined a more exalted state of Matter far removed from its Original Clay purified perhaps into Light as near as possible into Spirit that it may be a more suitable Companion for the Rational Spirit of Man a fit Partner of its Glories 2. A State of pure Light I call it because a State not of Revelation but of Vision In a State of Revelation we know no more than the Revealer is pleas'd to discover some Glimpses only of things the rest often reserv'd or wrap'd up as Mystery But in Heaven the Saints are admitted to see with their own Eyes the naked Truth of Things Then will be set to view the Wonders of Heaven the Passages of Providence which are at present a Riddle will be explain'd The unfathomable depths of Divine Wisdom the unsearchable and at present inconceiveable Riches of his Love and Kindness will then be the Entertainment of our Souls the Secrets of God which have been lock'd up from Eternity will then be laid open so far at least as Creatures will be made capable of knowing them or be made happy by them Then may be infused New Ideas into the Understanding for the want of which those things which are now therefore unintelligible may then be clear to our view An Unity in Trinity and a Trinity in Unity may possibly then be understood 3. A State of pure Light and Knowledge it will be because the Saints are there admitted into open and free Converse with the Wisest and Best of Beings with the Renowned Worthies of all Ages All those Departed Souls that were Wise unto Salvation with that innumerable Quire of Holy and Blessed Spirits the Wise Angels of God Lastly they are admitted into the presence of the Omniscient God himself Our Knowledge of his Creatures which is but imperfect for it is but little that we know of the Mysteries of the Creation and they themselves but shadows of their Maker's Wisdom Goodness and Power gives wonderful Delight at present and is one of the most Ravishing Entertainments our Reason is here acquainted with How transporting then must that Light be which shews the Creator himself face to face and gives a close view of all his Glorious Attributes in Substance in Fulness and Perfection where they live under the immediate and most powerful influence of them all having the most lively and comfortable sense of them continually injected into the Mind For Spirits seem to Converse by infusion of Thoughts and Affections and the Goodness of God makes him always Communicative of himself If we now consider a thirsty Soul a Spirit that has an insatiable appetite after Knowledge whose Thoughts are swifter than Lightning plac'd not only in the prospect of but united to a Being of infinite Perfections a Being that can never be thought through that can never be exhausted by the Eternal thirst of his Creatures the contemplation of infinite Ages How will such a Soul continually increase in Knowledge in brighter and brighter Light 'till it kindles almost into a Seraphim whither will such a Spirit grow I cannot tell what bounds to set to that Knowledge that is growing to all Eternity nor