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death_n	appear_v	life_n	sin_n	4,010	5	4.7063	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61378	Sober singularity, or, An antidote against infection by the example of a multitude being practical meditations on Exod. 23, vers. 2 : wherein is opened the influence of the practise of a multitude, to draw men to sin, the special cases, wherein it concerns us to be most cautious, reasons why we must not follow them, together with the application of the whole : and therein, besides the general improvement of the point, an instance given of nineteen practises of the multitude to be avoided, seven of their grand principles to be rejc̈ted [sic] : sundry particulars concerning peace and unity, and the sanctification of the Lords Day, useful for these times / by R. Stedman ...	Stedman, Rowland, 1630?-1673.	1660 (1660)	Wing S5376; ESTC R38303	146,089	254

119. v. 59. I thought on my waies and turned my feet unto thy testimonies So much for the first influence which the example of the multitude hath to lead into sin viz. By ministring an argument for the justification of sin 2. The example of a multitude is commonly a powerful inducement to the commission of sin By contributing to the extenuation and lessening of the evil of sin From hence persons will conclude that if an action be granted to be evil yet undoubtedly it is not so great an evil as some would perswade them surely it is but a small matter and of no heinous nature or else others would avoid it and it would not be so commonly embraced Thus Sirs if a man hath but slight and low apprehensions of the evil of sin he will never be stedfast and resolute in opposition against it he will soon be brought to a complyance with it As your thoughts of sin are so your carriage towards it in a measure will be If it be reckoned as a little evil men will never be at any great cost or make much adoe for the avoiding of it Now the consideration of the practise of a multitude that many walk in such a way doth hugely tend to the extenuation of the evil of it in a mans thoughts It is a difficult thing to keep up abhorring thoughts in the Soul of that which multitudes live in the practise of They will be ready to conclude that without controversy there is no great hurt in it nor any considerable danger or otherwise so many would not agree together therein Ezek. 8.17 Then he said unto me hast thou seen this O son of man It it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here Observe it was a general corruption and so accounted small in their eyes Is it a light thing q. d. It is in your estimation but a small matter Certainly you reckon it but a light and trivial thing little to be regarded And thus the people answered the prophet Jeremie when he laboured to set before them the greatness of their folly and wickedness they produce the general practise for it It is that which we have done we and our fathers our Kings and our Princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem Jer. 44. v. 7.17 To abate the force of this influence let us duly ponder and press upon our spirits these three particulars 1. Although all sins if considered comparatively are not equally heynous some being of lesser malignity and others of a crimson die yet there is no sin little in it self or that has but little evil in the nature of it It is an argument of a graceless heart that is an utter stranger to the spirit of regeneration to account any sin to be a small evil For hadst thou layn under the burden of thine iniquities and felt that smart and bitterness in the sense of sin which is the usual preparative and antecedent to a saving conversion it would rectifie thy thoughts in this respect thou wouldst account the guilt of the least sin to be an insupportable burden And indeed there is reason for it For the least transgression cannot be expiated at a lower rate then by the precious bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ as of a lamb without spot or blemish All the angels in heaven and all the treasures upon earth cannot make an attonement for the least offence against the Law of God The smallest sin is a contempt of the great King even of the Lord of hosts who is of infinite and unsearchable majesty and excellency You know the horridness of a fact is not only to be collected from the matter wherein it doth consist but principally from the object against whom it is committed That which is but a petty misdemeanor if against another is treason if done against a King Why Sirs every sin is a slighting of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords it is a rising up in rebellion against the sovereign possessour of heaven As Joseph argueth against the temptation Gen. 39.9 How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God So should you reason the case against conjunction with a multitude in any unjust way Though all the world be defiled with this or the other abomination yet I perceive it is rebellion against the * Omne peccatum est Deicidium incomprehensible God and how shall I dare to joyn in confederacy with them Isa 7.13 Heare ye now O house of David Is it a small thing for you to weary men but will ye weary my God also q. d. Can that be a light thing which is a despising of the Lord and an ecclipsing of his glory Is it a small matter that openeth the door of hell and makes the sinner liable to everlasting condemnation Why the wages of sin quatenus sin and therefore of the smallest transgression is death everlasting death and destruction as appeareth by its opposition to eternal life Rom. 6.23 2. This is so farre from lessening the evil of sin because it is generally practised that it is one aggravating circumstance of it whereby the danger is increased And therefore it should render us more watchful against it and cause us to be very cautious and circumspect least we be defiled therewith As with an infectious disease the more epidemical it is the more perillous and the greater care will persons take against the contagion I dare say that in a town where is the plague or pestilence the farther it spreads the more fearful would the inhabitants be O that men would tender the health of their souls according to the care they take of their bodies And that they were affected with spiritual evils and maladies as they are wont to be with temporal Then they would keep a strict watch against common abominations The Prophet speaks of it as an heightner of the guilt that it was like a spreading leprosie that went through the whole body of the Land Jer. 6.26 28. O daughter of my people gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thy self in ashes make thee mourning as for an only son most bitter lamentation for the spoiler shall come suddenly upon us What is the provocation whereby this sore evil is procured Why see v. 28. They are all grievous revolters walking with slanders they are brass and iron they are all corrupters And again Mal. 3.9 Ye are cursed with a curse i. e. you are certainly and dreadfully and terribly accursed for you have robbed me even this whole Nation 3. Is it a small matter as thou pleadest that is thus done against the Lord Why then the greater is thy contempt of his Majesty and the more inexcusable art thou in despising the Holy one of Israel Wilt thou prefer a trivial matter before the pleasing of God and the enjoyment of his favour This is a shrewd sign that thou wouldest not serve him in a greater How

profit and good to break the Sabbath and to borrow now and then a point of conscience But in the upshot you will find it to be for your hurt and ruine We reckon poverty in the estate and sickness of body and outward disasters and calamities to be the main evils But alas they are nothing if laid in the ballance with sin That is the great evil in a fivefold respect 1. It is sin which hinders us in the enjoyment of God which is the chiefest good that doth put an obstacle in the way of the participation of his favour and the light of his countenance which is better than life it self Isa 59.1 2. Behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear 'T is that which is a contempt of the divine Majesty who is an infinite and incomprehensible Being It is that which makes Jehovah to become our adversary who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords in whose hands our breath and our dayes and all our comforts are For Sirs God doth not abhor and cast off any of the children of men because they are poor or friendless or low in the world but because they are workers of iniquity Therefore his wrath is kindled against them and they suffer evil from him because they do evil against him Deut. 32.29 2. It is sin which murders and destroyeth the soul which is the principal part of man and ought chiefly to be regarded by him So Job calleth it Job 30.15 Terrours are turned upon me they pursue my soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my principal one as the wind In comparison of the soul all the riches of the earth are as nothing Mark 8.36 37. For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Now The more excellent the subject is upon which an evil falls the greater is the evil that falleth upon it And sin is that which is a plague to the soul and bringeth desolation upon the soul and murders the immortal part which all the men on earth are not able to kill Prov. 8.36 He that sinneth against me they are the words of Christ the infinite wisdom of God wrongeth his own soul all they that hate me love death 3. It is sin which maketh persons miserable for ever that renders them everlastingly wretched without cessation or end that doth cast them into that pit from whence there is no redemption Other evils have their period and determinate time of continuance and then they are removed from us or we shall be removed from them But now sin doth expose a man to eternal vengeance The guilt of the least transgression if laid upon the sinner would sink him unavoidably into the bottomless pit of destruction from whence there is no deliverance You read of it as the just guerdon and punishment of ignorance which many account so small a sin that they hope thereby to excuse all their other impieties 2 Thes 1.8 9. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 4. To commit sin is to do evil For that is the fountain evil the original and well-spring of all other evils whatsoever It is the evil of transgression that brings affliction upon mens persons and a curse into their families and estates and puts vanity and vexation into their creature-comforts and accommodations It is sin that lets in wars and commotions into kingdoms and burns up Towns and Cities and makes a Land desolate by turning a fruitful place into barrenness 'T is sin that bringeth diseases upon the body and filleth the spirit with bitterness and puts fear and horrour and astonishment into the heart that compasseth a person about with terrours on every side and at last carrieth him to the King of terrours Rom. 5.12 By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned What is the source of all that wretchedness and misery that followeth the children of men continually at the heels See the answer returned by the Lord himself Jer. 13.22 And if thou say in thy heart Wherefore come these things upon me For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered and thy heels made bare Read Job 20. from v. 12. to the end 5. To commit wickedness is to do evil For sin in a right sense is the only evil and nothing but evil All other things are no further evil than they are contempered with sin and proceed from thence or have a tendency thereto The sorest afflictions and calamities have something of good in them As they come from the Lord and are the operation of his hands as they are domonstrations of his being and righteousness and means for the vindication of his holiness For the Lord is known by the judgments which he executeth But iniquity and transgression is purely evil nothing but evil and that which makes other things to be evil For the sting of death is sin 1 Cor. 15.56 The bitterness of sickness is from sin and the poyson of all corrections and distresses is from thence Psal 107.17 18. Fools because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities are afflicted Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw near to the gates of death It is that which puts gall and wormwood into whatsoever we find made bitter unto us Jer. 23.10 11 12 14 15. Concl. 4. For the original of it whence it doth proceed All the evils which are done in the life of a sinner proceed from within out of the heart and flow from the native pravity and corruption of the Spirit When a person walketh in any sinful course he doth but as the spider weave a cursed web out of his own poysonous bowels At the first mans sinful and irregular actions did corrupt his nature and now our polluted nature doth transmit defilement into our actions We are not forced and compelled unto the practise of evil but our hearts encline and carry us thereunto Mar. 7.21.22 For from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts adulteries fornications murders thefts covetousness wickedness deceit lasciviousness an evil eye blasphemy pride foolishness all these evils come from within This is a point of great concernment to be studied and effectually pressed upon the conscience 1 That it may work in us an holy shame and self abhorrence in respect of actual transgressions and we may be induced to loath our selves in our own sight For my

conversations Deal faithfully with their Souls by meekness of reproof and admonition as there is occasion Often provoke and stir them up to follow after righteousness that so they may bear you company in the way to heaven Let me give you the counsel of the Lord to Jeremy in this case Jer. 15.19 Let them return unto thee but return not thou unto them But perhaps you will object and say this is the work of a Minister Yea my brethren and it is incumbent on every particular Christian also what in them is to render the wayes of God lovely and amiable in the sight of others and to endeavour to win them over by all means to an effectual closure with those wayes Prov. 11.30 He that winneth souls is wise Jam. 5.19 20. Brethren if any of you do erre from the truth and one convert him any one this is a work to be minded by every one of you without exception Let him know that he which converteth a sinner from the errour of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins So we are come to the close of the second head of enquiry concerning the influence which the practise of a multitude hath to encline a man or woman to do evil SECT IV. Qu. 3. IN what cases especially doth it concern us to be most cautious and circumspect upon this account that we be not drawn to evil by the practise of a multitude Ans For satisfaction to this enquiry you must well observe and remember that this caution is needful in every case and doth oblige us to be circumspect in every respect to keep a strict eye of jealousy upon our selves at every turn that we be not insnared or drawn aside into sin by following a multitude The counsel is delivered indefinitely without limitation to times persons or cases and is equipollent to an universal prohibition For as where the spirit of God hath not added we must not make additions so where he hath not limited we must not set bounds and limits by a narrowing interpretation Thou shalt not follow a multitude i. e. not any multitude of what sort soever wheresoever they are or in what ages or places soever they live in the doing of evil Nevertheless there are some peculiar cases in which this word of advice doth especially concern us wherein we are more than usually inclined to follow the multitude and therefore ought to be more than ordinarily watchful over our hearts that they do not turn us aside upon this temptation I will only mention six 1. In case of our Ancestors and progenitors that have gone before us When our forefathers have generally taken any corrupt way there is a great addictedness in their posterity to take the same course and there needs a great measure of caution that we be not followers of them What! will some say shall we condemn our forefathers and judg our selves wiser and better then all that have been before us they made no scruple of such and such actions they worshipped God in this or the other manner and shall we be more scrupulous then they were No we will be for the old way and cleave to that religion which our fathers were of This was the argument which the woman of Sychar produced in her discourse with Christ to countenance the schismatical temple on Mount Gerizim Joh. 4.20 Our father 's worshipped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship As if she had said whatever scriptures you may bring or reasons you may press to keep close to the institution of God and to worship him at Jerusalem yet I am sure Our fathers were of another mind They thought the punctilio's of institution and divine appointment were not so stiffly to be adhered unto and why should not we do as our fathers have done And how hot were the Scribes and Pharisees for maintaining and upholding their fathers traditions though some of them were down right contradictions against and others corrupt additions unto the word of the Lord See how they plead and quarrel with Christ and his disciples for their non-conformity therein Mar. 7.5 Then the Pharisees and Scribes asked him why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders but eat bread with unwashen hands q.d. This constitution we received from our fathers the elders of former generations and why should not you be concluded by it and give obedience thereunto If it had been a novel upstart opinion something might be said against it but it hath continued a long time in the Church even since the dayes of our forefathers To set you right in this matter and to discover the vanity and danger of this way of ratiocination Give me leave to put you in mind of these five things 1. It was one end of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ wherein all those are sharers that are saved by him that he might redeem his people from the vain conversation received by tradition from their fathers that he might bring them to embrace the commandments of God and to give up themselves entirely in subjection to the Law of the Lord. So that mark it Sirs Have you an interest in the blood of Jesus Christ would you make it appear that you are reconciled unto God by the sufferings of his Son Why this is one way to prove it By renouncing the vain traditions of your Fathers as far as they are dissentaneous to the word of God and have no footing in the word As Christ redeemed God's peculiar people from the curse of the Law that their persons might be accepted and their iniquities forgiven and as he redeemed them from their bondage unto Satan that their natures might be sanctified and themselves set apart unto communion with God So he redeemed them also from the vain practises of their Fathers that their lives might be ordered according to the Law of the Lord. What can be more perspicuous and evident 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers But with the precious bloud of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot 2. One special reason why the Lord was graciously pleased to give forth the Scriptures and to leave his will upon record in the Scriptures was this that we might not pin our faith upon our fathers sleeves nor think it enough to do as our ancestors have done Sirs If God had intended the traditions of our fathers as a rule of direction for us and that they should have been obligatory upon us on all occasions he would have left us unto them and not have signified his will by writing in the word So that take heed left you frustrate the grace of God in sending the holy Ghost to endite the Scriptures and stirring up the Prophets and holy men of God to

God here Let us not fall out by the way for we are brethren 5. As to all other matters that are more abstruse and difficult and where in there is a great deal of variety in the interpretation of the Scripture even amongst sober Christians themselves In such cases unity and concord must be built upon the foundation of forbearance and mutual tenderness of believers one towards another If in order to peace and union in the Church the judgment of some that are in power be set up as the Standard unto which the consciences of the rest in the minutest affairs are to be reduced if peace and unity I say depend upon these ticklish terms it is likely never to be attained whilst the world endures As soon may you cut all men to the same stature as bring their judgments in all things to the same size But if we would follow after the things that make for peace and unity let us with all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering forbear one another in love Eph. 4.2 3. Shall not Christians forbear where the God of heaven is pleased to forbear Sould not we deal tenderly with such and give them the right hand of fellowship whom God doth tender as the apple of his eye Rom. 14.3 That is an excellent Rubrick for direction in the Saints Liturgy Philip. 3.15 16. Let us therefore as many as are perfect be thus minded And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing So much for the first use of the point by way of information SECT VII 2. For Exhortation IF God hath given us strict charg that we do not comply with a multitude in doing of evil let us then seriously ponder and weigh this lesson in our thoughts and endeavour to practise it in all the particulars of our conversations Take heed lest Satan pravail upon you through this wile and artifice of perswading you to that which is sinful because a multitude embrace it Take the example of Noah for imitation herein Gen. 6.9 Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations and Noah walked with God Mark it the generation wherein he lived was excessively corrupt and sinful it was egregiously profane and debauched wickedness as a deluge forerunner of the other had overspread the whole face of the earth And yet Noch was upright and kept close to the Lord thereby condemning the world of the ungodly Take the instance of Obadiah who dwelt in Ahabs family a man that sold himself to wickedness in the sight of the Lord that there was none like unto him He lived in dayes of such general Apostacy and Idolatry that Elijah thought there had been none left but himself who had any zeal for Jehovah and had not dealt falsely in his covenant And yet in such place and time Obadiah feared the Lord greatly 1 Kings 18.3 See the carriage of the Christians at Pergamus for incouragement herein They dwelt where the Devil had his seat where he was set upon the throne and had many servants and followers And yet they departed not from God they would not say a confederacy with them in sin They held fast the name of Christ and did not deny the faith though in dayes when persecution raged and reached unto the death Rev. 2.13 Hath God cast your lot in a wicked family amongst carnal relations in times of general atheism corruption and debauchery Labour as Obadiah to fear the Lord greatly do they entice thee to sin Walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path Prov. 1.15 Do they violently and furiously rebel against the Lord and make a scoffe of godliness and oppose the professours of it Do you study to serve him the more eminently and to walk with God as Noah the more closely and strictly Let no man deceive you with vain words Let not their enticements prevail with you let not their presumptions embolden you to fin with them let not their reproaches cause you to desist from your course For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Be not ye therefore partakers with them Eph. 5.6 7. So keep your selves free from any sinful correspondency with the ungodly be they never so many that you may be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world Holding forth the word of life Philip. 2.15 16. In managing this use of exhortation I shall speak something to you under these four heads 1. By way of particular exemplification or instance Wherein you should beware that you do not follow the multitude 2. By way of special direction what course you ought to take that ye be not intangled with their example 3. By way of motive or provocative to quicken you to a closure with that course and a diligent observing this counsel 4. By way of Retortion I shall shew you what use you should make of the example multitude seing you must not joyn in combination with them 1. By way of particular exemplification and instance Wherein we should beware that we be not led into sin by the example of the multitude For the better digesting whereof and that the truths I shall deliver may be more easily imprinted upon and firmly reteined in your thoughts and memories I will cast them into five rankes 1. The Ground of religion whereon it is bottomed 2. The matter of religion wherein it is placed 3. The method and order wherein it is prosecuted 4. The time and season when it is minded 5. Sundry particular duties wherein the multitude are prone to miscarry 1. As to the ground of religion whereon it is bottomed The generality of people are wont to take up the principles and mysteries of godliness wholly upon trust They build their faith upon the dictates and opinions of men they believe that Christ is the Saviour and accordingly call themselves his servants they acknowledg such and such ordinances ought to be attended upon and accordingly lend their bodily presence at them and the like But if you enquire into the ground and reason why they believe and embrace this way of religion and worship all they can truly say is because the Minister tells them it is so or their parents bred them up in this way They hold these things for truths for they are points which they have held ever since they can remember they were of this religion from their very childhood and infancy and were brought up in these performances But do you my brethren build your faith upon the infallible word of the Lord and get an insight into the everlasting gospel Search the scriptures daily and diligently and make use of the ministry of men to help you to get knowledg of the scriptures that your