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	sin_n	wretched_a	1,544	5	10.7641	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47642	A practical commentary, upon the two first chapters of the first epistle general of St. Peter. By the most reverend Dr. Robert Leighton, some-time arch-bishop of Glasgow. Published after his death, at the request of his friends	Leighton, Robert, 1611-1684.	1693 (1693)	Wing L1028A; ESTC R216658	288,504	508

said to be dead in it otherwayes it could not but press us and press out complaints O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me A Prophane secure sinner thinks it nothing to break the holy Law of God to please his flesh or the World counts sin a light matter makes a mock of it as Salomon sayes but a stirring Conscience is of another mind Mine iniquities is gone over my head c. Psal. 38.4 Sin is such a burden as makes the very frame of Heaven and Earth that is not guilty of it yea the whole Creation to crack and groan 't is the Apostles Doctrine Rom. 8. and yet the impenitent heart whose guiltiness it is not moved groaneth not for your accustomed groaning is no such matter Yea to consider in the present subject where we may best read what it is it was a heavy load to Jesus Christ Ps. 40. Where the Psalmist speaks in the Person of Christ he complains heavily innumerable evils have compassed me about Mine iniquities not his as done by him but yet his by reckoning to pay for them they have taken hold of me so that I am not able to look up they are more then the hairs of my head therefore my heart faileth me And sure that which press'd him so sore that upholds Heaven and Earth no other in Heaven or in Earth could have sustained and surmounted but would have sunk and and perish'd under it Was it think you the pain of that common outside of his Death though very painful that drew such a word from him My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Or was it the fear of it before hand that press'd a sweat of Blood from him No it was this burden of sin the first of which was committed in the Garden that then begun to be laid upon him and fasten'd on his shoulders in the Garden ten thousand times heavier than the Cross which he was caus'd to bear that might be a while turn'd over to another but this could not This was the cup he so trembled at that Gall and Vinegar after to be offer'd him by his Crucifiers or any other part of his External sufferings 'T was the bitter Cup of wrath due to sin that his Father put into his hand and caus'd him drink the very same thing that is here called the bearing our sins on his body And consider that the very smallest sins went in to make up this load and made it so much the heavier and therefore though sins be comparatively lesser and greater yet learn thence to account no sin in it sell small that offends the great God and lay heavy upon your great Redeemer in the day of his Sufferings At his apprehending besides the Souldiers that invis●ble crowd of the sins he was to suffer for came about him for it was they that laid strongest hold on him he could easily have shak'd of all the rest as appears But our sins laid the arrest on him being accounted his as 't is in that forcited place Psa. 40. Now amongst these were even those sins we call small they were of the number that took him and they were amongst those instruments of his bloodshed If the greater were as the spear that pierc'd his side the less were as the nails that pierc'd his Hands and his Feet and the very least as the Thornes that were set on his precious Head And the multitude of them made up what was wanting in their magnitude though they were small they were many 2. They were transferr'd upon him by vertue of that Covenant we spoke of They became his debt and he responsable for all they c●me to Seeing you have accepted of this business according to my will may we conceive the Father saying to his Son you must go through with it you are engaged in it but it is no other than what you understood perfectly before you knew what it would cost you and yet out of joynt love with me to those I nam'd to be saved by you you were as willing as I to the whole undertaking now therefore the time is come that I must lay upon you the sins of all those persons and you must bear them the sins of all those Believers that lived before and all that are to come after to the end of the world The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all sayes the Prophet took it off from us and chargd it on him made it to meet on him or to fall in together as the word is the sins of all in all ages before and after that were to be saved all their guiltiness reencountered and met together on his back upon the Crosse and whosoever of all that Number had least sin yet had ●o small Burden to cast on him and to give accession to the whole Weight Every man hath had his own way of wandering as the Prophet there expresseth it and he pay'd for all all fell on him And as in Testimony of his meekness and patience so in this regard likewise was he so silent in his Sufferings in regard that though his Enemies dealt most unjustly with him yet he stood as convicted before the Justice Seat of his Father under the imputed guilt of all our Sins and so eyeing him and accounting his business chiefly with him he did patiently bear the due punishment of all our sins at his Fathers hand and suited that of the Psalmist I was as dumb and opened not my mouth because thou didst i● Therefore the Prophet immediately subjoynes that of his silent carriage Isay 53. To that which he had spoken off the confluence of our iniquities upon him And if this our Sins were accounted his then in the same way and for that very reason of necessity his sufferings and satisfaction must be accounted ours as he said for his disciples to the Men that came to take him if it be me ye seek then let these go free So he said for all Believers to his father his wrath then siezing on him if on me you will lay hold then let these go free And thus the agreement was 2. Cor. 5. ult So then there is an union betwixt Believers and Jesus Christ by which this interchange is made he charg'd with their sins and they cloath'd with his satisfaction and righteousness and that union is first in Gods decree of election running this way that they should live in Christ and so chuse the head and the whole mystical body as one and reckoning their debt as his in his purpose that he might receive satisfaction and they salvation in their he●d Christ The execution of that purpose and union begun in Christ's incarnation being for them though the nature be more common he is said not to take on the Angels but the seed of Abraham the company of Believers he became Man for their sakes because they are Men that he is of the same nature with unbelieving Men that perish is but by accident ●s ●t were there is no

life from Christ First there 's his own dignity express'd then his dignifying us who is himself the first begotten among the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the earth Revel 1.5 and then as followes Verse 6 hath made us Kings and Priests unto God the Father A Royal Priesthood That the Dignity of Believers is express'd by these two together by Priesthood and Royalty teaches us the Worth and Excellency of that Holy Function taken properly and so by analogy the dignity of the Ministry of the Gospel which God hath plac'd in his Church in stead of the Priesthood of the Law for therefore doth this Title of Spiritual Priesthood fitly signify a great Priviledge and Honour that Christians are promoted to and is joyn'd with that of Kings because the proper Office of Priesthood was so Honourable Before it was establish'd in one Family the chief the first born of each Family had right to this as a special Honour and amongst the Heathens in some places their Princes and greatest Men yea their Kings were their Priests and universally the performing of their Holy things was an imployment of great Honour and esteem amongst them Though humane ambition hath strain'd this consideration too high to the favouring and founding of a Monarchical Prelacy in the Christian World yet that abuse of it ought not to prejudge us of this due and just consequence from it that the holy Functions of Gods House have very much Honour and Dignity in them And the Apostle we see 2 Cor. 3. preferr's the Ministry of the Gospel to the Priesthood of the Law so then they mistake much that think it a disparagement to Men that have some advantage of Birth or Wit more than ordinary to bestow them thus and judge the meanest Persons and things good enough for this high calling sure this conceit cannot have place but in an unholy Irreligious mind that hath either none or very mean thoughts of God If they that are called to this Holy Service would themselves consider this aright it would not puff them up but humble them comparing their own worthlesness with this great work and wonder at Gods dispensation that should have honour'd them so Eph. 3.8 So the more a Man rightly extols this his Calling the more he humbles himself under the weight of it and would make them very careful to walk more like it in eminency of holiness for in that consists the true dignity of it There is no doubt that this Kingly Priesthood is the common Dignity of all Believers this honour have all the Saints they are Kings have victory and Dominion given them over the powers of darkness and the lusts of their own hearts that held them captive and domineer'd over them before Base slavish lusts not born to command yet are the hard taskmasters of unrenewed minds and there is no true subduing them but by the power and spirit of Christ thay may be quiet for a while in a Natural Man but they are but then asleep as soon as they awake again they return to hurry and drive him with their wonted violence Now this is the benefit of receiving the Kingdom of Christ into a Mans heart that it makes him a King himself all the Subjects of Christ are Kings not only in regard of that pure Crown of Glory they hope for and shall certainly attain but in the present they have a Kingdom that is the pledge of that other overcoming the World and Satan and themselves by the power of Faith Mens bona regnum possidet 't is true but there is no mind truly good but that wherein Christ dwells There is not any kind of Spirit in the World Noble like that Spirit that is in a Christian the very Spirit of Jesus Christ that great King the spirit of glory as our Apostle calls it infr c. 4. This is a sure way to enoble the basest and poorest amongst us this Royalty takes away all attendors nothing of all that is past to be laid to our charge or to dishonour us They are not shut out from God as before But being in Christ are brought neer unto him and have free access to the Throne of his grace Heb. 10. They resemble in their Spiritual estate the legal Priesthood very clearly 1. In their Consecration 2. In their service and 3. In their Laws of living 1. They were wash'd therefore this express'd Revel 1.5 He hath washt us in his Blood and then followes made us Kings and Priests There were no coming near unto God in his holy Services as his Priests unless we were cleans'd from the guiltiness and pollution of our sins This that pure and purging Blood doth and it alone no other Laver can do it no water but that fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness No blood none of all that blood of Legal Sacrifices Heb. 9. but only the Blood of that spotless Lamb that takes away the sins of the World So with this we have that other Ceremoany of the Priests Consecration which was by Sacrifice as well as by washing for he at once offer'd up himself as our Sacrifice and let out his blood for our washing and with good reason is that prefix'd there Revel 1.5 He hath loved us and then it followes washed us in his blood that precious stream of his heart blood for our washing told clearly that it was a heart full of unspeakable Love that was the source of it 3. There is anointing Namely The graces of the Spirit confer'd upon Believers flowing unto them from Christ For 't is of his fulness that we all receive grace for grace and the Apostle St. Paul sayes 2 Cor. 1.21 that we are establish'd and anointed in Christ it was poured on him as our head and runs down from him unto us He Christ and we Christians as partakers of his anointing The consecrating Oyl of the Priests was made of the richest Oyntments and Spices to shew the preciousness of the graces of Gods Spirit that are bestow'd on those Spiritual Priests and as that holy Oyl was not for common use nor for any other Persons to be anointed withal save the Priests only so is the Spirit of grace a peculiar gift of Believers others might have costly oyntments amongst the Jewes but none of that same sort with the Consecration-Oyl Natural Men may have very great gifts of Judgment and Learning and eloquence and Moral Vertues but they have none of this precious Oyl Namely the spirit of Christ communicated to them No all their endowments are but common and profane that Holy Oyl signified particularly Eminency of light and knowledge in the Priests therefore in Christians there must be light they that are grosly ignorant of Spiritual things are sure not of this order this anointing is said to teach us all things 1. Iohn 2.27 That holy Oyl was of a most fragrant sweet smell by reason of its precious composition but much more sweet is the smell of that Spirit wherewith believers