Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	light_a	light_n	shine_v	1,940	5	9.1283	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47040	The future state, or, A discourse attempting some display of the souls happiness, in regard to that eternally progressive knowledge, or eternal increase of knowledge, and the consequences of it, which is amongst the blessed in heaven by a country gentleman, a worshipper of God in the way of the Church of England.	Whitaker, Edward.; Jones, George, d. 1704.	1683 (1683)	Wing J941B; ESTC R13197	63,632	160

the Knowledge of it just as the Angels obtain the Knowledge of Our Laws and Government here below And 't is affirmed by St. Paul That 't is by the Church that they attain it That is as I conceive by the Revelations made to the Church and by the Experience that they have of the Obedience that they pay unto them and the Rewards that are consequent thereunto together with the Punishments that attend the Neglect and Contempt of them in which many times they are the Instruments and Executioners 13. And who knows whether many of the Obscure Prophecies in the Old and New-Testament and some other Difficulties in the Inspired Writings may not be Explained Opened and Unfolded after the Same Manner that they were delivered to Men They were spoken by the Prophets according as they were thereunto moved by the Holy Ghost and perchance the Same Spirit that was the Author of them may be the Interpreter and Explainer of them The same Divine Spirit that revealed the Matter of them to the Prophets may open and unfold the Meaning of them to the Blessed 14. The Holy Apostle St. Paul observes some Analogies and Similitudes between the First and Second Creation as is apparent in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians As in the Old Creation God commanded Light to shine out of Darkness so in the New Creation he causes Light to arise upon those that sit in Darkness and in the Valley and Shadow of Death As a Dark and Confused Chaos did precede Light and a Well-ordered World and State of things in the First Creation so a State of Ignorance and Darkness doth precede a State of Light and Knowledge Rectitude and Order in the Second 15. The Analogies Likenesses and Proportions that are observed between these Two Creations by the Sacred Writers are but few But 't is not improbable in my Apprehension but that there may be Very many more than those observed by them and perhaps there may be almost nothing in the History of the First Creation of things which hath not its Likeness Shadow and Resemblance in the Second And who dares to deny that they may be discovered to the Blessed by Extraordinary Revelation 16. The Frame and Fabrick of the Tabernacle and the several Vessels and Utensils thereof had certainly their Meaning and Signification The Epistle to the Hebrews puts that past all doubt and controversie yet I think that there is very little of the Import and Signification of them expounded unto us and set before us in the Holy Scriptures What is meant by the Shew-Bread and by the Candlestick with its several Lamps by the Cherubims covering the Mercy-Seat with their Wings who is able to determine Something the New-Testament hath said for the Explication of Some of them and something other Authors have said to unriddle the Meaning of them But besides what the Scripture hath said thereof we have no security of its Truth All Accounts of the Signification of those things unless such as we find in the Bible are but Conjectures and as they may be True so they may be False for we have no Certain Assurance of their Verity And 't is not impossible but that the Full and Certain Knowledge of them may be reserved for Another World and that the Blessed may know them by Peculiar and Special Revelation 17. Besides what I have said there were many Typical Persons Things and Actions under the Old-Testament and I do believe that no Meer Man either did doth or shall in This World understand them Surely the High-Priest was a Typical Person and very many of those Actions which as a Priest he did perform were also Typical And so I think of many things of which we read in the Old-Testament and particularly the Holy of Holies and the Vail that separated it from the Holy Place David also and Solomon and Isaiah were Typical Persons and something of the Antitypes of them the New-Testament doth inform us of but I think Very little and that Darkly and Imperfectly too And perhaps the full Knowledge of them may be kept in Reserve for the Kingdom of Heaven and the Blessed shall There know it by Inspiration 18. To which I may add the Meaning and Importance of many of the Ceremonial Laws of which we read in the Books of Moses What is the Meaning and Reason of their Institution is not easie to tell It may be reasonably supposed that the Hebrews for whom those Laws were appointed understood the Meaning and Reasons of them better than we do at This Distance of Years especially if we Remember and Consider that we are under no Obligation to Observe them Yet I am much inclined to think that even they themselves never fully understood either the Meaning Ends or Reasons of their Institution 19. Who knows the Meaning or Reason of their several Sorts and Kinds of Sacrifices or can give us any Evidence that the Jews themselves understood them Why were some of them Wholly consumed upon the Altar others only in Part Why was Some Part of some of them eaten by the Priests and Others by the People themselves that made the Sacrifice and Oblation There were many Particularities in the most of their Sacrifices which can hardly be accounted for and I do much believe that the Jews themselves never well understood them And what I have said of their Sacrifices is applicable to Many other of their Laws Some Knowledge of the Nature and Reason of them was to be found among the more Enlightned of them but a full and perfect Knowledge of them I do believe they were Strangers to and possibly may be known by no Means but that of Revelation no in no Place but in the Future State and by the Blessed There 20. In most Ages since the Creation of This World God hath on Sundry Reasons and at Sundry Times made known his Will and Purpose concerning Future Events Thus he made known to Abraham the Servitude and Bondage of his Posterity in a Strange Country for the space of Four Hundred Years and their After Deliverance and Prosperity Thus he made known to the Jews their Captivity in Babylon for the space of Seventy Years and their Deliverance by Cyrus and Restauration to their Own Country And many other things which those that read the Holy Scriptures cannot be ignorant of 21. It may reasonably be conjectured that the Blessed Saints and Angels had the Knowledge of all these Future Events by the Revelations that God made concerning them And I see no reason why many things may not be known by the Blessed in the Heavenly Jerusalem after the Same Manner and that in a Succession of Times and Ages Without End or Period of Duration 22. For whether there may not be a Succession of Worlds to an Indefinite Period of Time whether God may not govern them Much after the Manner of This partly by Natural and partly by Supernatural Laws who can define I know nothing in the Christian Religion

The FUTURE STATE OR A DISCOURSE Attempting some Display of the Souls Happiness in regard to that Eternally Progressive Knowledge or Eternal Increase of Knowledge and the Consequences of it which is amongst the Blessed in Heaven By a Country Gentleman a Worshipper of God in the Way of the Church of England The Light of our Vnderstandings in the Kingdom of God will find nothing so difficult dark and intricate which they cannot dis-intangle and make plain and the Facility that we shall have in our Ratiocinations which will be such that we shall be able to attempt all sorts of Objects without any Pain will cause that we shall use this Contemplation as with a Success Eternally Happy so with Content wholly Incomprehensible Amyrald God himself hath Infinite Goodness in him which the Creature cannot take in at once they are taking of it in Eternally The Saints see in God still Things Fresh which they saw not in the Beginning of their Blessedness Dr. Thomas Goodwin LONDON Printed for J. Greenwood at the Crown in the Poultry 1683. THE Future STATE CHAP. I. The Introduction and State of the Probleme 1. I Would not be thought Peremptory and Dogmatical in what I shall discourse on this Subject For though the Reality of the Future State have the Suffrage of all Mankind and be Evident both by Natural and Supernatural Light yet the Particularities thereof are much in the Dark and we know but little Concerning them 2. In a Case so Obscure to be Positive and Assertory would savour of Greater Arrogance than I am willing to harbour Modesty and Suspicion in Things obscure is more Decorous and more Acceptable than Bold and Confident Assertions and Determinations 3. If Any Thing should drop from my Pen in the Progress of this Discourse which may Seem too Affirmative and Hardly reconcilable with a Becoming Modesty and Jealousie I desire Those Luxuriancies of Expressions may receive Some Abatements and be made Fairly agreeable thereunto 4. For although I may possibly be indifferently Well perswaded of the Truth of what I shall discourse yet I am not Certain 'T is not improbable that I should be Mistaken I am of Humane Race and have no Priviledge of Exemption from Humane Infirmities and Errours 5. Therefore what I shall say on this Point shall be Problematical and Disquisitive for indeed by this Discourse I have as Much Inclination to inquire what Others think therein as to deliver my Own Apprehensions concerning it For although I should not Demonstrate the Probleme to which I do not indeed pretend I think it not Impossible but that some other Person may Do it 6. What Other Men may have said already concerning it I cannot tell 't is not impossible but that the School-Men may have largely discoursed it for they are a Bold and Daring sort of Men and there is almost Nothing that escapes their Inquiries and Disquisitions 7. Yet I must Say That those Few that I have had the Opportunity to Converse in or Consult withal say Nothing at all concerning it Other Questions in my opinion of far less Vse and Importance they debate at large but of This I find nothing but a Most deep and Profound Silence 8. Some very Brief and Transient Passages I do nevertheless acknowledge to have read of this Subject in some other Authors which were the first Occasions of applying my self to the Consideration of it Had not those Passages a little Moved and Ingaged my Thoughts in the Contemplation thereof I had probably remained Satisfied in a general Belief of the Transcendent Happiness of the Future Life without making any Particular Inquiries into the Nature of it Peradventure I might never have Debated whether our Knowledge in which by the Confession of all Divines it doth much lie though not wholly consist be Compleat and Perfect Immediately upon our Admission into the Divine Presence or at least at the Resurrection of the Dead or whether it be Eternally Progressive and Increasing for evermore 9. Nevertheless it is my Opinion that it may be Vseful to form to our selves as Positive Particular and Determinate Notions of the Nature of Future Happiness as we possibly can provided they be not inconsistent with the Inspired Writings or disagreeable with the Revelations that God hath made concerning it 10. For General Accounts of things are not anear so affecting as a Plain and Particular Narrative and Description of them To say That the Future State is Illustrious and Full of Glory That those that shall be deemed worthy of it shall See God and partake in the Glory that Christ Jesus injoyes in the Presence of his Father is to speak very Great Things and such as should Exceedingly ravish and affect our Souls 11. But such is the Constitution of Humane Minds that Great Things do rather amaze and induce a kind of Stupor upon them than affect with a Grateful pleasure and Joy Some Objects are too Big for our Senses our Eye cannot bear the Light of the Sun in its Highest Altitude and Splendour Some Sounds are so Great that they are Vngrateful and Offensive to our Ears And there are some Objects too Great for our Minds and when they are proposed unto them they do rather excite and awaken in them a Kind of Wonder and Admiration than a Delightful Tast Savour and Consolation 12. The Main Doctrine of the Christian Religion is contained in a Few Propositions 't is briefly contained in that Form of Words that is usually called the Apostle's Creed and more briefly in the Words used at our Baptism But all know and must confess that till those Things are Particularly and at Large explained they make Little Impression upon the Minds of Men they are Very little Moved or Affected by them 13. It may be therefore Reasonably hoped that an Explication of the Nature of Future Happiness may be acceptable to Pious and Considering Minds Those Texts of Scripture that describe it are too Big for our Understandings If the Meaning of them can by Division be explained it may be More suitable to our Capacities and More affecting to our Hearts 14. That the Happiness of the Blessed in the Other World will be Very Great is the Common Confession of all Christians what ever be their Differences in Other Things in This they are at Perfect Agreement They all acknowledge the Future State called in the Scripture the Kingdom of Heaven Transcendently Happy and Glorious and that there is nothing in This World that can be an Apt or Proper Resemblance of it they are all Beneath it as far as Darkness is Beneath Light or the faint Shining of a Sorry Glow-Worm is inferiour to the Lustre of the Sun in its Meridian Splendour 15. 'T is also confessed that very Much of the Happiness of that State consists in Greatness of Knowledge and Largeness of Vnderstanding In This World those that know Most know very Little those that have the Greatest Reputation for Wisdom and Understanding are Ignorant and