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
A37077	A motion tending to the publick good of this age and of posteritie, or, The coppies of certain letters written by Mr. John Dury to a worthy Knight at his earnest desire shewing briefly vvhat a publik good is and how by the best means of reformation in learning and religion it may be advanced to some perfection / published by Samuel Hartlib ...	Dury, John, 1596-1680.; Hartlib, Samuel, d. 1662.	1642 (1642)	Wing D2874; ESTC R18081	34,674	40

setled the aime which ought to be had in seeking a Publique good let us consider the meanes that leade thereunto Of the Second The meanes to attaine unto the life of God is none other but Christ for in him alone is the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily and it is the Fathers pleasure that in him all fulnesse should dwell Therefore the Father will bee scene no where and cannot bee scene anywhere but in his Sonne who is the brightnesse of his glory and the expresse Image of his person now hee hath revealed in the Scriptures the manner how hee is to be knowne in his Sonne and how by that knowledge his life is conveyed unto us and this we will indeavour to lay open First then the manner how the Father is knowne in the Sonne is expressed 2 Cor. 4. 6. thus God commanded the light to shine out of darkenesse doth shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ where wee must observe that the Apostle doth speake of himselfe and the rest of the Apostles to declare the manner how God did make himselfe knowne unto them And as he made himselfe knowne to them so he is this day to be knowne to every one For God is but one and the manifestations of his life is the same in all to whom it is made manifest although it may be differenced according to the severall degrees of height by which it is perceived But here we have the substance of this manifestation in these particulars First That God is the authour of it by the power which hee hath to command light to shine out of darkenesse whereby is intimated that we are nothing but darkenesse till it please God to command light to shine in us Secondly That the light whereby God is made manifest unto us is the brightnesse of God himself for he saith that God doth shine whereby is also intimated that it is of the meere free Grace of God imparting himselfe unto us that we come to know him and not of any free willing choyse or rationall parts in us that we should bee able to chose out the objects of true knowledge or when they are proposed unto us by others that wee should be able to dive into Gods nature thereby or to make better use of the meanes whereby God is knowne then others doe But all this is Gods free grace to us Thirdly That the place where God doth shine is a mans heart that is the prime Center and Seate of this living soule where the spirits maintaining his life are begotten For as there be materiall spirits rising out of the blood in the materiall heart So there are incorporeall spirits arising out of the mindings of the soule in the heart of our spirits which is conscience for in the conscience God hath his Seate in all men and there he doth appeare to all converts at first where he also doth ever continue more or lesse shining unto them according as they deserve to see his bright or his cloudy countenance Therefore if any man will fit himselfe to see God he must purifie his conscience For blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Fourthly That the effect for which God doth shine in our heart is to give a light to us God is nothing but light and in him is no darknesse at all but he is in himselfe a light which is inaccessible which no man hath seene nor can see except God give him eyes to see it For Christ saith Math. 11. 17. No man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son and he to whom the Son will reveale him Therefore although God doth shine both in himselfe and towards us yet he may be unperceptible and unperceived even by those that are his own except he be pleased to give the the light of perception For it is said that not only the light shineth in darknesse and that darknesse comprehended it not but also that this true light came into the world and was not known by the world and that it came unto his own and was not received by them but to such as received it the priviledge of being the Sons of God was given by it Now then the ability of receiving or perceiving the light when it shineth is also the gift of God for he must open our eyes to perceive his light and except this effect follow upon his shining in our hearts I say except this reflexive Act of perceiving this light be granted by God and freely given to us we cannot apprehend his life and being in us although he should shine otherwise never so brightly Whence again we see that it is not of him that runneth or willeth but of God that doth shew mercy And that it is not one Act of grace that will serve our turne as to have once begining and then to be left unto our selves but there must be a continued Act of Grace for Grace that is of one Grace fitted to embrace and make use of another Grace namely of a latter Grace to make use of the former for as we cannot will nor know any thing of the life and light of God at first so we cannot performe any thing answerable to that life and light except God also give the performance according to his owne good pleasure Fiftly That this light is the light of knowledge now to know is the Act of a mans understanding and the understanding is the same faculty in the soule which the eye is in the body As the eye then when it is not blinde doth perceive the visible appearance of a thing that is it receiveth the image of the shape there of within it selfe as within a looking-glasse and keepeth every image which it receiveth distinctly seperate from each other So is it not with the understanding when it is not darke and muddy it also receiveth with in it selfe as in a spirituall looking glasse and keepeth distinctly seperate the intellectuall appearances of the images and shapes of spirituall things For although spirituall things cannot be said properly to have images and shapes yet became our understanding in conceiving of the same doth receive intellectuall notions and Ideas wherein spirituall matters do appeare to it and in respect that these notions or mindings have something in them like unto the representation of an image therefore we must speak thus And so much the rather because the Scripture doth continually expresse the Acts of the understanding by the Analogie of the eye as Ephes. 1. 17 18. the Apostle prayeth That God nould give the spirit of wisedome and revelation in the knowledge of Christ the eyes of our understanding being enlightned that we may know c. Thus then to be able to know that is to receive and distinctly to perceive things represented unto us we must make use of the faculty of our understanding in

knowledge and the unity of faith which now a dayes is so greatly requisite for all men are now for the most part drunken with their owne opinions reeling to and fro in uncertainties and the more ignorant sort which is oft times such as think themselves the wisest are so incapeable of true heavenly wisedome that all things delivered unto them out of the Scriptures must be delivered as unto little babes line upon line precept upon precept here a little and there a little and so we alwaies stay in the very elements of knowledge and never go forward to perfection because we cannot bear one with another and hear one another with patience because we pray not one for another that things unknown may be revealed but we blame one another and suspect one another and envie one another to our mutuall destruction now the Lord of his mercy mend these things both in the teachers and in the hearers that by the faithfull prayers and endeavours of Gods people once at last the divine order of the holy wisedome of God revealed in the Scriptures may be made manifest for me thinkes that Babilon which is the confusion of the whole world in all things but chiefly in the originall language of Canaan which is the true sence of the Scriptures will never be overthrown till this generall order of the text in the uniforme sence of all the distinct parts of it be raised up by God and brought forth as a true Zorubbabell to confound this confusion of uncertaine sences and when this shall be effectuated by the Lord of Hosts who is wonderfull in counsels and excellent in working then I am sure that the question shall be determined who ought to be judge of controversies the Pope or the Scriptures then Atheists mouthes who acknowledge not the divinitie of it shall be stopped and all those that seek the Lord shall find him and be fedd with understanding for there is such an incomprehensible extent of knowledge in a little parcell or book of the Scriptures and so uniforme a sence and light through the manifold parts of it that I cannot compare the parts of it more fitly then unto the body of the Sunne in our worldly firmament which though in appearance it seemes but a hand breadth yet it fils the whole world with the glory of one light by the meanes of infinite beames making up but one stream of resplendencie on every side alike defused so is it with one epistle even with every one of the epistles they are but as a hand breadth in substance but in light of knowledge through the infinite respects and references of divers parts as of great beames they are able to fill the whole church and the heart of every living soule with the resplendencie of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and as Ideots that wote not what optike or opticall demonstrations mean cannot beleeve or perceive although it be told them that there is an orderly dispositions of the beames of the Sunne amongst themselves and a subordinate proceeding of their parts from the body of the Sunne and that there is an unspeakably and incomprehensibly exact order in the disposition of all the parts of light so the spirituall Ideots that have no optike Organs it is no marvaile that they never beleeve nor see any order to be in the body of the Scriptures but so many of you as can make evident demonstrations or experimentall tryals in gathering the beames of the light together in your looking glasses to doe by the meanes of refraction or reflection some wonderfull effect either of representation or of burning in the hearts and before the eyes of godly soules you I say may know and can see that in this light is not onely an excellent order and disposition of all the parts of it but also the very cause of all order that is or ever shal be in this world for even as darknes is the mother of all confusion disorder because it bears under its wings as it were the shadow of destruction and the nature of a Chaos and as light is the mother of comlinesse and order setting forth and making manifest by the onely presence of it selfe the whole decency distinction varietie unitie and symmetricall disposition of every thing in heaven and earth and of the whole world so also ignorance hath been hitherto the mother of Babel and knowledge shall beget Zorubbabell now no knowledge is certaine but that which is in the word of God even as no light is pure light but that which comes from heaven by the same therefore that light can onely and shall bring all order and righteous disposition of all things in the church and world for in it onely is the true weight measure proportion and situation of every thing and by it onely the disposition of the Creatour who hath framed every thing most orderly and decently can be made manifest unto mankind and can any now be so sencelesle as to think that that word and light which is and must be the onely cause of order in every thing should want order and be confused in it self can any be so confused in judgement and drowned in foolish and disorderly imaginations as to think that Gods spirit who by wisedome hath in the first creation of this temporary world ordered all things in so admirable a manner that whosoever beholds it cannot but acknowledge the infinite providence of the workman of so strange a frame should not in the second creation of an eternall world which is his church order and expresse in the Scriptures the very decrees and precepts of wisedome it selfe orderly If the kingdome of nature which shall perish is established by so wonderfull an effect of wisedome and stands only by it for heaven and earth are naturally subsistant by no other thing but by the pillars and foundation of order shall the kingdome of grace and of the word of God which lasteth eternally be lesse wonderfull in the same effect of that same wisedome No surely for if order be one of the most certaine and chiefe effects and consequents of wisedome then wheresoever wisdome is expressed there order must be also and where wisdome is most eminently and highly expressed there also order must be found in the most eminent and high degree of prudencie righteousnesse decencie and comlinesse and for this cause I hold for certaine that in the text of the Scripture a divine order and disposition not only of matter but also of words and manner of expressing that matter is to be found which being perceived and found will bring a new light to all mens eyes and will discover hidden things more evidently hereafter then ever knowne things have been knowne heretofore which I beseech the Lord in his mercie to performe and to make manifest by his spirit of propheste in the testimony of Iesus Christ that in the revelation of his deare sonne all those that love him may be filled with joy and that the glory of his wisdome and goodnesse may be knowne in the truth of his word to the praise of his holy and glorious ame both now and evermore Amen Even so come Lord Iesus and let him that hear it say come Rev. 22. and 20. and 17. Finis Mat. 19 17. ●phes 4. 18 1 Iohn 2. 16. 17. 1 Iohn 3. 2. Heb. 3. 13 14. Colos. 2. 9. c. 1. 19. 1. 3. 1. 5. 8. 1 Iohn 1. ● 1 Tim. 6. 1● Iohn ibid. v. 9 10 11. Phil. 2. 13 ●●r 5. 19 〈◊〉 v. 16 17. ●●r 6. 17. ●●r 15. 45. Iohn 14. 9 10 11. 2 Pet. 1. ●● 1 Cor. 12. 13. 2 Cor. 3. 13 14. ibid. v. 17. 1 Cor 2. 10 11 12. ●●r 2. 11 12. 〈…〉 3. 17. 1 Per. 2. 3. ●nt 1. 1 Pet. 2. 5

Seventhly That this change is brought to passe by the Spirit of the Lord which worketh upon our spirits the manifestation of the life of God which is the only good thing and happinesse to be sought after and propagated unto posterity Thus having discovered the true aime of a publique good and the means by which we must attain thereunto let us proceed to the endeavours which may be used towards the propagating of this unto the men of this generation that by them it may be advanced unto posterity Of the third If we have tasted how gracious the Lord is and are truly come unto him as lively stones to be built up a spirituall house and a holy Priesthood to offer up spirituall Sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ then we shall be fit to propagate this life unto others and not else for the means by which it is propagated unto others is none other but to labour that the light which is made manifest unto our soules whereby we are become partakers of the life of God may shine also unto others that they by the grace of God may partake in like manner of the same This endeavour hath three chiefe parts The first is the care of avoyding offences The second of giving good example by going before others in godlinesse The third of making the Rule and doctrine by which we walke to avoyd the evill and do the good known to every one These three parts of this endeavour are expressed Phil. 2. 15 16. thus Be blamelesse and harmles as the Sons os God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation amongst whom shine ye as lights in the world holding forth the Word of life Except we study to be in all things without scandall and offence as it becometh the Sons of God amongst the Sons of men the good which we do shall be evill spoken of and become unprofitable See Rom. 14. 13 14 15 16. And if we give no good example by our life in the profession of the Gospell all our Doctrine shall be blasted and we justly suspected and not worthy to be heard or taken notice of for teachers of Truth See Math. 7. 16. 21. Iohn 10. 3 4 5. Thus then the endeavour to be without offence is a preparative to make way for the good which is to be intended towards others in our practise and the good which is to bee intended towards others by our practise is a preparative towards the proposall of the Doctrine of Truth by which the knowledge of Christ is advanced unto the World that so many as God shall be pleased to enlighten and call out of the world by that knowledge may be joyned to him and made participant of his life These three endeavours comprehend all the objects which in the profession and preaching of the Gospel are to be studied by our selves and insisted upon towards others For in a word it is by the means of the Gospel that Christ is to be made known unto the world For the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that beleeveth Rom. 1. 16. And seeing that in the wisedome of God the world by wisedome knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that beleeve 1 Cor. 1. 21. Now in the Gospel there be two things First there is the doing of the Truth for ourselves and then the publishing of the same for others The doing of the Truth is the profession of the Gospel and the publishing of it unto others is the preaching of the Doctrine by which the profession is regulated As for the profession we see it hath two parts The first is a care to be blamelesse and harmlesse without offence and rebuke towards all men The second is the practise of Piety to do good to all and goe before others to lead them on towards the life of God Whence we must gather that all manner of endeavours and undertakings which tend directly to advance and perfect any of these three objects should be counted truly good endeavours and fit to be supported in this Age and transmitted to Posterity And the more neere any endeavour or undertaking doth come to reach any of these ends the more compleat and perfect it is to be esteemed in goodnesse as comming neerest unto the life of God Here then the endeavours tending to the advancement of the Gospel should be sought out and ranked according to the subordination and relation which these matters have one towards another and all towards the manifestation of the life of God in us by the knowledge of Jesus Christ in the Gospell Unto the matter of harmlesnesse and blamelesse conversation belongeth the endeavour of peaceablenesse and of becoming all things unto all men in that which is lawfull as the Apostle telleth us he did 1 Cor. 9. 19. 24. The endeavour of Peaceablenesse is a study whereby we are directed how to avoyd the occasions of strife in respect of our selves and to bring others who are at variance unto a peaceable and harmlesse disposition These endeavours are proper Characters of the Sons of God for in the place forementioned the Apostle maketh the in-offensivenesse of our conversation to be the property of the Sons of God And Christ saith that the Peacemakers are blessed because they shall be called the Sons of God Math. 5. 9. Thus then we must conclude that the endeavours tending to take away offences and scandalls from amongst Christians and tending to cause them avoyd strife and debates and tending to make peace amongst them and to bring them to the unity of the Spirit by a reconcilement of differences in the Truth are undertakings and endeavours immediately conducing to the furtherance of the Gospel and consequently to the setling forward of the life of God amongst men For God is the God of peace and hath no fellowship with evill but is harmlesse and good unto all for even unto those that are unworthy of his goodnesse he causeth his Sun to shine Therefore Christ exhorteth all his Disciples to be like his and their heavenly Father in this That they should be peaceable innocent and do good unto all even unto their enemies and persecutors Math 5. 38. till the end Unto the second part of the profession which is the practise of Piety belongeth the zeal of advancing the Kingdom of God and setting forth the image of Christ unto the world in Righteousnesse and holinesse This is somewhat more then to be unblameable by avoyding scandalls and strife for it doth imply moreover a care tending to the edification of many by way of example to lead others to perfection in the duties belonging to our christian calling for we are bound to shew others the life of the Spirit by our walking so that they may be able to discerne in us the powers of another life then that is whereby this world is upheld for this world being led by lust and selfe-conceited greatnesse and