Selected quad for the lemma: mind_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mind_n	law_n	member_n	wretched_a	1,364	5	10.8021	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20191	A pastime for parents: or A recreation to passe away the time; contayning the most principall grounds of Christian religion. By Arthur Dent preacher of the word of God at South-Shoobery in Essex.	Dent, Arthur, d. 1607.	1606 (1606)	STC 6622; ESTC S116342	31,603	114

with Christ for they doe continually groane vnder this corruption as vnder a most heauie burthen and fetch many a sorrowfull sigh to thinke of it and are euer complaining of it as of a most deadly enemie of theirs And all this wée many clearely sée as it were in a glasse in the example of the Apostle Paule himselfe that most rare and excellent Seruant of God Who taketh vp most pittifull and lamentable complaintes of this poysoned and infected nature I know sayth hée That in mee that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing I allow not that which I doe for what I would that I doe not but what I hate that I doe I doe not the good thing which I would but the euill which I would not that doe I. Now if I doe that I would not it is no more I that doe it but the sinne that dwelleth in mee I finde then that when I would doe good I am thus yoaked that euill is present with mee For I delite in the Law of God concerning the inner man but I see an other Law in my members rebelling against the law of my mind and leading me captiue vnto the Law of sinne which is in my members And in the end hée breaketh out into an out-cry saying O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from the body of this death Father Doe not Vngodly and vnregenerate men likewise mourne vnder this corruption and complaine much of it Child No you shall seldome or neuer heare them cōplaine of it or mourne vnder it For they walke after the foolish and fulfill the lusts thereof with all delight and gréedines being wholly caried after the swing and sway of their owne corrupt affections and desires Father What is the cause hereof Child Because they are forsaken of God and giuen ouer to a great blindnesse of heart and hardnesse of affections so that though their miserie is excéeding great yet they haue little sight and lesse féeling of it Father Doe you not thinke that a man in the state of nature cannot so feele his misery Child Sure it is that a méere naturall man can haue no true sight or liuely féeling of his misery or any sounde desire to come out of it but doth greatly please himselfe in it and is loath to come out of it for the Apostle sayth plainely that the naturall man perceiueth not the thinges of the spirit of God For they are foolishnesse vnto him neither can hée know them béecause they are spiritually discerned Father But may not a naturall and vnregenerate man haue the knowledge of God and the vnderstanding of his wil and so consequently a sight of heauenly things Child Yes a naturall man hath a kinde of knowledge and vnderstanding of God and of his will but it is onely a confused and braine knowledge and a literall vnderstanding of the Scriptures for hée cannot possibly haue the liuely and sauing knowledge which is ioyned with quickening grace Nor that sound vnderstanding and sight which doth lineally descend from the spirit of sanctification Father May not man in the state of nature haue feeling also of God and of heauenly things Child The Scriptures doe teach that a reprobate may haue a kinde both of sight and féeling of heauenly things for hée may bée lightened and tast of the heauenly gift and of the powers of the world to come and also tast of the good woord of God and bée made partaker of the holy Ghost But his sight and tast and féeling can neuer bée sound and good before regeneration So then all the cunning is to know whether the worke of grace in a mans soule bée sounde and currant or no for vnregenerate men are much deceiued with a false light for they doe blindly Imagine y t because they haue some kind of sight and féeling of heauenly things therefore they haue all and the same that is in euery elect Father What difference then doe you make betwixt the knowledge of the elect the reprobate Child The knowledge of the reprobate doth puffe vp The knowledge of the elect doth humble The knowledge of the reprobate is generall and confused The knowledge of the elect is particular and certaine The knowledge of the reprobates is onely literall and historicall The knowledge of the elect is spirituall and experimentall The knowledge of the reprobate is speculatiue The knowledge of the elect is practiue that is ioyned with obedience For howsoeuer a naturall and vnregenerate man may know much yet hath hée not nor can haue any power to doe I meane chearfully and aright till his heart bée enlarged by Christ his will renued by grace The knowledge of the reprobate is like y e knowledge which a mathematicall geographer hath of the earth and all places in it which is but a generall notion and speculatiue comprehension of them But the knowledge of the elect is like the knowledge of a traueller which can speake of experience and féeling and hath béene there and séene and knowen the particulars Father Now tell me further what difference you make betwixt the feeling of the elect and the reprobate Child The reprobate hath a kinde of naturall féeling of sinne but it is without the true hatred of it for in his heart hée loueth it The elect doth so féele his sin that hée hateth it taketh councell against it and praieth against it The féeling of the reprobate is from naturall faculties for hée is not as a blocke without all sence The féeling of the elect is from the spirit of sanctification The féeling of the reprobate ariseth from naturall feare diffidence for man naturally féeleth and feareth dangers so the reprobates féele and feare the wrath of God the accusations of their consciences the punishment of sinne hell fire c. But haue no true féeling of Gods loue towardes them But the elect haue a liuely féeling of Gods loue towards them The reprobate hath sometimes at starts a féeling of spiritual ioy but it vanisheth incontinently The féeling of the ioy of the spirit in the elect is more lasting and often Father As you haue told me much of mans misery in nature so tell mee yet one poynt further whether a man in the state of nature can do any thing that pleaseth God Child A méere naturall man cannot please GOD in any thing he doth but euen his best actions are turned into sinne For the Apostle sayth They which are in the flesh cannot please GOD. And againe hée saith To them that are defiled and vnbéeléeuing is nothing pure but euer their mindes and consciences are defiled Father How long doth a man continue in this wofull and cursed estate wherein he was borne Child Till hée bée regenerate and borne againe For our Lord Jesus affirmeth that except a man bée borne againe hée cannot sée the kingdome of God Father By what meanes doth a man come to be regenerate and borne againe Child By the outward