Selected quad for the lemma: knowledge_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
knowledge_n	commit_v	sin_n	sin_v	2,906	5	9.7075	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23760	The practice of Christian graces, or, The whole duty of man laid down in a plaine and familiar way for the use of all, but especially the meanest reader : divided into XVII chapters, one whereof being read every Lords Day, the whole may be read over thrice in the year : with Private devotions for several occasions...; Whole duty of man	Allestree, Richard, 1619-1681.; Fell, John, 1625-1686.	1658 (1658)	Wing A1158; ESTC R17322	270,574	508

at it he goes up and down seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet 5. 8. He watches all opportunities of advantage against us with such diligence that he will be sure never to let any slip him Thirdly an enemy neer us is more to be feared then one at a distance for if he be far off we may have time to arm and prepare our selves against him but if he be neer he may steal on us unawars And of this sort is the flesh it is an enemy at our doors shall I say nay in our bosoms it is always neer us to take occasion of doing us mischiefs Fourthly the baser and falser an enemy is the more dangerous he that hides his malice under the shew of friendship will be able to do a great deal the more hurt And this again is the flesh which like Job to Abner 2 Sam. 3. 27 Pretends to speak peaceably to us but wounds us to death 't is forward to purvey for pleasures and delights for us and so see●●s very kind but it has a hook under that baite and if we 〈◊〉 at it we are lost Fifthly the number of enemies make them more terrible and the world is a vast army against us There is no state or condition in it nay scarce a creature which d●th not at sometime or other fight against the Soul The honours of the world seek to wound us by pride the wealth by covetousness the prosperity of it tempt us to forget God the adversities to murmure at him Our very Table becomes a snare to us our meat draws us to Gluttony our drink to Drunkeness our company nay our neerest friends often bear a part in this war against us whilest either by their example or perswasions they intice us to sin 9. Consider all this and then tell me whether a Soul thus beset hath leisure to sleep even Dalilah could tell Samson it was time to awake when the Philistims were upon him And Christ tells us if the good man of the house had known in what hour the thief would come he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken up Mat. 24 43. But we live in the midst of thieves and therefore must look for them every hour and yet who is there among us that hath that common providence for this precious part of him his Soul which he hath for his house or indeed the meanest thing that belongs to him I fear our Souls may say to us as Christ to his disciples Mat 26. 40. What could ye not watch with me one hour for I doubt it would pose many of us to tell when we bestowed one hour on them thoug● we know them to be continually beset with most dangerous enemies And then alas what is like to be the case of these poor Souls when their adversaries bestow so much care and diligence to destroy them and we will afford none to preserve them surely the same as of a besieged town where no watch or guard is kept which is ce●tain to fall a prey to the enemy Consider this ye that forget God nay ye that forget your selves lest he pluck you away and there be none to deliver you Psal. 50. 22. 10. But I told you there was a second way whereby a thing may be in danger and that is from some disorder or distemper within it self This is often the case of our bodies they are not only lyable to outward violence but they are within themselves sick and diseased And then we can be sensible enough that they are in danger and need not to be taught to seek out for means to recover them But this is also the case of the Soul we reckon those parts of the body diseased that do not rightly perform their office we account it a sick palate that tastes not aright a sick stomack that digests not And thus it is with the Soul its parts do not rightly perform their offices 11. The parts of the Soul are especially these three The Understanding the Will and the Affections And that these are disordered there needs little proof Let any man look seriously into his own heart and consider how little it is he knows of spiritual things and then tell me whether his understanding be not dark How much apter is he to will evil then good and then ●ell me whether his will be not Crooked And how strong desires he hath after the pleasures of sin and what cold and faint ones towards God and goodness and then tell me whether his affections be not disordered and rebellious even against the vice of his own reason within him Now as in bodily diseases the first step to the cure is to know the cause of the sickness so likewise here it is very necessary for us to know how the Soul first fell into this diseased condition and that I shall now briefly tell you 12. God created the first man Adam without sin and endued his Soul with the full knowledg of his duty and with such a strength that he might if he would perform all that was required of him Having thus created him he maks a covenant or agreement with him to this purpose that if he continued in obedience to God without committing sin then first that strength of Soul which he then had should still be continued to him and first that he should never dye but be taken up into heaven there to be happy for ever But on the other side if he committed sin and disobeyed God then both he and all his children after him should lose that knowledg and that perfect strength which enabled him to do all that God required of him and secondly should be subject to death and not only so but to eternal damnation in Hell 13. This was the agreement made with Adam and all mankind in him which we usually call the first covenant upon which God gave Adam a particular commandment which was no more but this that he should not 〈◊〉 of one only tree of that garden wherein he had placed him But he by the perswasion of the Divel 〈◊〉 of that tree disobeys God and so brings that cu●se upon himself and all his posterity And so by that one sin of his ●e lost both the full knowledg of his duty and the power of performing it And we being born after his image did so likewise and so are become both ignorant in discerning what we ought to do and weak and unable to the doing of it having a backwardnesse to all good and an aptnesse and readiness to all evil like a sick stomack which loaths all wholsome food and longs after such trash as may nourish the disease 14. And now you see where we got this sicknesse of soul and likewise that it is like to prove a deadly one and therefore I presume I need say no more to assure you our souls are in danger It is more likely you will from this description think them hoplesse But that you may

if they be ignorant but because all children should be so instructed that it should be impossible for them to be ignorant when they come to years And it neerly concerns every Parent as they will free themselve from the guilt of their childrens eternal undoing that they be careful to see them instructed in all necessary things to which purpose it will be fit early to teach then some short Catechism of which sort none so fit as the Church-Catechism yet are they not to rest on these endeavours of their own but also to call in the Ministers help that he may build them up farther in Christian Knowledg 27. But alas it is too sure that parents have very much neglected this duty and by that means it is that such multitudes of men and women that are called Christians know no more of Christ or any thing that concerns their own soules then the mearest heathen 28. But although it were their Parents fault that they were not instructed when they were young yet it is now their own if they remain still ignorant and it is sure it will be their own ruine and misery if they willfully continue so Therefore whoever it be of what age or condition soever that is in this ignorant estate or in any such degree of it that he wants any part of necessary saving knowledg let him as he loves his soul as ever he would escape eternal damnation seek out for instruction let no fear of shame keep any from it for first it is certain the shame belongs only to the wilful continuing in ignorance to which the desire of learning is directly contrary and is so far from a shameful that it is a most commendable thing and will be sure to be so accounted by all wise and good men But Secondly suppose some prophane senseless people should deride it yet sure that shame were in all reason to be undergon joyfully rather then venture on that confusion of face which will at the day of judgment befal those who to avoidalittle false shame amongst men have gone on in a wilful ignorance of their duty which ignorance wil be so far from excusing any sins they shall commit that it adds one great heavy sin to all the rest even the dispising that knowledg which is offered to them How hainous a sin that is you may learn in the First Chapter of the Proverbs where hating knowledg ver 29. is said to be the thing that draws down those sad vengeances forementioned even Gods forsaking men laughing at their calamity in stead of helping them which is of all other conditions in the world the most miserable surely they are madly desperat that will run themselves into it 29. As for those who have already this foundation laid by the knowledg of the grounds of Christian Religon there is yet for them a farther help provided by Preaching And it is no more then needs for God knows those that understand their duty well enough are too apt to forget it nay sometimes by the violence of their own lusts to transgress it even when they do remember it and therefore it is very useful we should often be put in mind of it to prevent our forgetting and also often exhorted and assisted to withstand those lusts which draw us to those transgressions And to these purposes preaching is intended First to warn us to be upon our guard against our spiritual enemy and then to furnish us with weapons for the fight that is such means and helps as may best enable us to beat off temptations and get the victory over them 30. Since therefore this is the end of preaching we must not think we have done our duty when we have heard a Sermon though never so attentively but we must lay up in our hearts those instructions and advices we there meet with use them faithfully to that end of overcoming our sins Therefore when ever thou comest to the Physician of thy soul do as thou wouldst with the Physician of thy body thou comest to him not only to hear him talk and tell thee what will cure thee but also to do according to his directions and if thou dost not so here thou art as vain as he that expects a bare receipt from his Doctor shall cure him though he never make use of it Nay thou art much more vain and ridiculous for that though it do him no good will do him no harm● he shall be never the worse for having bin taught a medicine though he use it not but in these spiritual receipts it is otherwise if we use them not to our good they will do us a great deal of harm they will rise up in judgment against us and make our condemnation so much the heavier Beware therefore not to bring that danger upon thy self but when thou hast heard a Sermon consider with thy self what directions there were in it for enabling thee to eschew evil or to do good And if there were any thing especially concern'd thine own bo●ome sin lay that close to thy heart and all the week after make it matter of medit●tion think of it even whilst thou art at thy work if thou wantest other time and not only think of it but ●et to the practice of it do what thou wert advised to for the subduing sins and quickning grace in thee Finally look carefully to practice the counsel of the Apostle Ia. 1. 22. Be ye doers of the word not hearers only deceiving your own soules to hope for good from the word without doing of it is it seems nothing but a deceiving our selves Let us never therefore measure our godliness by the number of Sermons which we hear as if the hearing many were a certain mark of a good Christian but by the store of fruit we bring forth by them without which all our hearing will serve but to bring us in that heavier portion of stripes which belongs to him that knows his Masters will and does it not Lu. 12. 47. But this reverence which is due to preaching we must not pay to all that is now a dayes called so for God knows there are many false Prophets gone out into the world as the Apostle speaks 1 Jo. 4 1. And now if ever is that advice of his necessary to trie the Spirits whether they be of God But what I have sayed I mean only of the preaching of those who first have a lawfull calling to the Office and secondly frame their doctrine according to the right rule the written word of God But if any man say he is not able to judg whether the doctrine be according to the Word or no let him at least try it by the common known rules of duty which he doth understand and if he find it a doctrine giving men liberty to commit those things which are by all acknowledged sins such as rebellion injustice unmercifulness uncleanness or the like he may conclude it is utterly contrary to God and

confusion of face eternally But to thee O Lord God belongeth mercy and forgiveness though I have rebelled against thee O remember not my sins and offences but according to thy mercy think thou upon me O Lord for thy goodness Thou sentest thy Son to seek and to save that which was lost behold O Lord I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost O seek thy servant and bring me back to the Shepherd and Bishop of my Soul let thy Spirit work in me a hearty sense and detestation of all my abominations that true contrition of heart which thou hast promised not to despise And then be thou pleased to look on me to take away all iniquity and receive me graciously and for his sake who hath done nothing amiss be reconciled to me who have done nothing well wash away the guilt of my sins in his blood and subdue the power of them by his grace and grant O Lord that I may from this hour bid a final adieu to all ungodliness and worldly lusts that I may never once more cast a look toward Sodom or long after the flesh pots of Egypt but consecrate my self intirely to thee to serve thee in Righteousness and true Holiness reckoning my self to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord and blessed Saviour This PENITENTIAL PSALM May also fitly be used PSAL. 51. HAve mercy upon me O God after thy great goodness according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences Wash me throughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin For I knowledg my faults and my sin is ever before me Against thee onely have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justisted in thy saying and clear when thou art judged Behold I was shapen in wickedness and in sin hath my mother conceived me But loe thou requirest truth in the inward parts and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly Thou shalt purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean thou shalt wash me and I shall be whiter then snow Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice Turn thy face from my sins and put out all my misdeeds Make me a clean heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me O give me the comfort of thy help again and stablish me with thy free Spirit Then shall I teach thy wayes unto the wicked and sinners shall be converted unto thee Deliver me from blood guiltiness O God thou that art the God of my health and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness Thou shalt open my lips O Lord and my mouth shall shew thy praise For thou desirest no sacrifice else would I give it thee but thou delightest not in burnt-of●ering The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit a broken and contrite heart O God shalt thou not despise O be favourable and gracious unto Sion build thou the walls of Ierusalem Then shalt thou be pleased with the Sacrifice of righteousness with the burn●-●fferings and oblations then shall they offer young bullocks upon thine altar Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen PRAYERS BEFORE the receiving of the blessed SACRAMENT O Most merciful God who hast in thy great goodness prepared this spiritual feast for sick and famished Souls make my desires and gaspings after it answerable to my needs of it I have with the prodigal wasted that portion of grace thou bestowedst upon me and therefore do infinitely want a supply out of this treasury But O Lord how shall such a wretch as I dare to approach this holy table I am a dog how shall I presume to take the childrens bread or how shall this spiritual Manna this food of Angels be given to one who hath chosen to feed on husks with swine nay to one who hath already so often trampled these precious things under foot either carelesly neglecting or unworthily receiving these holy mysteries O Lord my horrible guiltiness makes me tremble to come and yet makes me not dare to keep away for where O Lord shall my polluted Soul be washed if not in this fountain which thou hast opened for sin and for uncleanness Hither therefore I come and thou hast promised that him that cometh to thee thou wilt in no wise cast out This is O Lord the blood of the New Testament grant me so to receive it that it may be to me for remission of sins And though I have so often and so wretchedly broken my part of that Covenant whereof this Sacrament is a seal yet be thou graciously pleased to make good thine to be merciful to my unrighteousness and to remember my sins and mine iniquities no more and not onely so but to put thy lawes into my heart and write them in my mind and by the power of thy grace dispose my soul to such a sincere and constant obedience that I may never again provoke thee Lord grant that in these holy mysteries I may not only commemorate but effectually receive my blessed Saviour and all the benefits of his passion And to that end give me such a preparation of soul as may qualify me for it give me a deep sense of my sins and unworthiness that being weary and heavy laden I may be capable of his refreshings and by being suppled in my own tears I may be the fitter to be washed in his blood raise up my dull and earthly mind from groveling here below and inspire it with a holy zeal that I may with spiritual affection approach this spiritual feast and let O Lord that infinite love of Christ in dying for so wretched a sinner inflame my frozen benummed soul and kindle in me that sacred fire of love to him and that so vehement that no waters may quench no floods drown it such as may burn up all my dross not leave one unmortified lust in my soul and such as may also extend it self to all whom thou hast given me command and example to love even enemies as well as friends Finally O Lord I beseech thee to cloth me in the wedding garment and make me though of my self a most unworthy yet by thy mercy an acceptable guest at this holy tab●e that I may not eat and drink my own condemnation but may have my pardon sealed my weaknesses repaired my corruptions subdued and my soul so inseparably united to thee that no temptations may ever be able to dissolve the union but that being begun here in grace it may be consummated in glory Grant this O Lord for thy dear Sons sake Jesus Christ. ANOTHER O BLESSED Jesus who once offeredst up thy self for me upon the Cross and now offerest thy self to me in the Sacrament let not I beseech thee my