Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	blood_n	evil_a	sprinkle_v	1,886	5	11.1905	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47324	The Christian sufferer supported, or, A discourse concerning the grounds of Christian fortitude shewing at once that the sufferings of good men are not inconsistent with God's special providence : as also the several supports which our religion affords them under their sufferings, and particularly against the fear of a violent death / by Richard Kidder ...	Kidder, Richard, 1633-1703.	1680 (1680)	Wing K398; ESTC R656	85,271	258

great assurance of success having such a Mediator and Intercessor But our Saviour goes on Ver. 24. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name i. e. ye have not as yet made a trial how powerful a name mine is But for for the future he directs and encourages them Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full And presently afterwards he gives them great assurance that their Prayers shall now be heard upon his account Joh. 16.26 27. At that day ye shall ask in my name and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you For the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from God III. I proceed now to shew you how what hath been said tends towards our support and comfort under the troubles of this life And that it does several ways 1. The exaltation of Christ to the right hand of God is much for our comfort as it gives us great hope that we shall also be received into heaven Our nature is advanced and this gives us hope that we shall also in due time be received into the same happy place For as Christs Resurrection is made an Argument which infers ours so our Lords being exalted into heaven speaks the great hopes that we have of coming thither And this Consideration does mightily tend to comfort us under the sorrows of this life Joh. 14.4 Let not your heart be troubled says our Lord. But then what follows tends greatly to support them I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also Thanks be to God a door of hope is now opened by the Exaltation of our Saviour Heb. 6.19 20. Which hope we have as an anchor of the Soul both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the Vail Whither the forerunner is for us entred even Jesus made an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec None under the Law of Moses Heb. 9.7 8. might enter into the Holy of Holies but the High Priest only and that but once a year and not without bloud The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing There was a vail or partition between the Holy of Holies and the other part of the Temple And when our Saviour suffered death this Vail of the Temple was rent in twain after a most miraculous manner For though indeed there be mention made of an Earthquake at the same time yet that the Vail was not rent by the Earthquake appears from hence that the Text says it was rent from the top to the bottom Mat. 27.51 not from the bottom to the top as it would have been if it been the effect of an Earthquake Now it is no hard matter to explain the meaning of this The Holy of Holies was a Type of Heaven The rest of the Temple and Tabernacle of the rest of the world There was a Vail that shut up the way to Heaven but when our Lord suffered he opened the way that was shut up before and a while after he went himself within the Vail and took our nature with him and by doing so and sending us the Holy Spirit thence he hath given us assurance that where he is we shall likewise be He hath taken a pledge I mean our flesh which he hath carried into heaven as a Pledge that we shall enter thither Pignus totius Summae Tert. de res Carn 2 Thes 4.17 18. and given us the earnest of his Holy Spirit in token that we belong to him and that we shall ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words 2. What hath been said tends to our comfort as it gives us assurance of a Divine Assistance at hand for our succour and support and for the enabling us to do as well as suffer the whole will of God We have not the least cause to doubt either of the Power or readiness and Proneness of our Lord to help us and support us under all our conflicts and especially then when we are persecuted for righteousnes sake Our Saviour is not a mere Spectator he does not only see us fight but he helps us to overcome Whatever it is that troubles us we are not left without a Prince and a Saviour and one that is able to save to the uttermost And this must needs tend very greatly to the quieting of our minds under all the troubles and sorrows that we meet withal 3. This tends very much to our support and comfort as it encourages our Prayers and assures us that we shall succeed when we make our addresses to God and implore his Divine aid and assistance We have a merciful High Priest that was made like unto us and hath about him a sense of our infirmities Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Heb. 10.19 20 21 22. Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the Holiest by the bloud of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vail that is to say his Flesh and having an High Priest over the House of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washed with pure water CHAP. VIII ANother great comfort and support which the Christian is provided with under the sorrows of this life is that of the Holy Scripture The Psalmist expresses the great comfort he received from the Law of God in his affliction Psal 119.92 Vnless thy Law had been my delights I should then have perished in my affliction He doth elsewhere express his great esteem for and the great delight he had in the Law of God The Law of thy mouth is better unto me Ver. 72. than thousands of Gold and Silver He elsewhere tells us that the Statutes of the Lord are right Psal 19.8 rejoycing the heart the Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes and speaking presently afterwards of the Judgments of the Lord he says of them Ver. 10. More to be desired are they than Gold yea than much fine Gold sweeter also than honey and the honey Comb. And now it is no wonder that we find him professing in these words Psal 119.127 128. I love thy Commandments above Gold yea above fine Gold I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things to be right After this he adds Rivers of waters run down mine eyes Ver. 136. because they keep not thy Law Thus was the devout Psalmist affected towards the Law of God This was his comfort and his joy his riches and

well as very great which send us to the Throne of Grace so it is very evident from what hath been said that our supports and our supplies are derived to us from the Intercession of the Son of God Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins But that there may be no manner of doubt remaining of the truth of what hath been said before I shall from the Scriptures shew you the assurances which they give us of this truth from whence it will evidently appear that Christ now he is in Heaven is our Patron and our Advocate there I shall begin with those words of St. John My little Children 1 Joh. 2.1 2. these things write I unto you that ye sin not And if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous And he is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world Can any thing be more plain or more comfortable than these words are Nothing so much dejects the good man as his sins and his infirmities These things indeed sink him low and fill him with great fears And certain it is that no man can say he hath no sin Chap. 1.8 9. but he that deceives himself But is the good man left without a remedy No certainly If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness It is true indeed we ought not to sin out of the hopes of pardon and if we do so our condition is very sad indeed But so it is that the best man may be surprized and overtaken and if he be here is comfort for him in these words Behold here an Advocate with the Father and we shall not want an Accuser when we have done amiss for besides the Devil who is the Accuser of the Brethren our great Enemy Rev. 12.10 our own Conscience will quickly do that We shall need an Advocate to plead our Cause with God and to undertake for us And blessed be God we are provided for We have an Advocate with the Father We do not want an Intercessor with God But we might fear still if our Advocate were himself guilty we could have little comfort from his Intercession for us who is himself obnoxious But it follows Jesus Christ the righteous A most powerful and innocent person undertakes for us But yet for all this guilt makes men fearful and suspicious and they fear they shall not obtain pardon though their Advocate be innocent and powerful unless he have something more to plead in the behalf of them that are accused And therefore it follows He is the propitiation for our sins Our Advocate cannot only plead his own Innocence as he is Jesus Christ the righteous but he can plead his Merit too he having by his death made expiation for our sins Rom. 5.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud Our Advocate hath paid a price for our ransom and this price was accepted of God and the bloud that Jesus shed does now plead for us If after all this the dejected sinner fear that the bloud which Christ shed was not shed for him this needless fear is removed by the words which follow And not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world Let us next consider the words of the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews where he tells us that Christ entred into Heaven it self to appear in the presence of God for us Heb. 9.24 Just as the High Priest entred with the bloud of the Sacrifice into the Holy of Holies which he offered up there for himself Ver. 7. and for the errors of the People There it was that the High Priest made Attonement for all the Congregation of Israel Lev. 16.17 Our blessed Lord hath shed his bloud and now appears before God for us Neither by the bloud of Goats and Calves but by his own bloud he entred in once into the holy place Heb. 9.12 having obtained eternal redemption for us Heb. 10.12 Again This man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sin for ever sate down at the right hand of God It is observed by a very learned man that these two expressions viz. To appear in the presence of God for us And To offer himself up to God both which are said of Christ Heb. 9. do signifie one and the same thing diversely considered The latter expression implies the beginning the former the continuation of one and the same thing Our Saviour commends us to God and this is meant when it is said that he appears in the presence of God for us but he began to do this when after he had shed his bloud he offered himself to God in heaven Heb. 9.25 As the High Priest after the Sacrifice was slain carried the bloud into the Holy of Holies and there appeared with it before God So that this appearing of Christ for us and his offering himself to God imports his Intercession for us and does imply the merits of his bloud and the Atonement which our Lord hath made for us And this speaks great comfort to us Heb. 9.13 14. For if the bloud of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh How much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead work● to serve the living God The Author of this Epistle tell us Heb. 7.24 25. that Christ hath an unchangeable Priesthood He is not like one o● the Priests of Aaron who died and left one of his Brethren to succeed him Our Lord lives for ever Wherefore he is able also to sa●● them to the uttermost that come unt● God by him seeing he ever liveth t● make Intercession for them Which words assure us at once of Christ power to save us and of his inclination and readiness to do it For as he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him so he is also prone to do it and concerns himself about it he ever liveth to make intercession for them To make intercession is to plead in the behalf of another that he may be relieved or released It is opposed to accusing or condemning Who is he that condemneth Rom. 8.34 It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us To what hath been said let me add the words of our Saviour Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you Joh. 16.23 Here is great encouragement to us to pray to God We may now approach unto God with very