Selected quad for the lemma: opinion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
opinion_n	mortal_a	sin_n	venial_a	597	5	12.4318	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57546	The rich fool set forth in an exposition on that parable : Luke 12, 16-22 ... / by Nehemiah Rogers ...	Rogers, Nehemiah, 1593-1660.	1662 (1662)	Wing R1824; ESTC R5063	109,384	135

Doctrine of the Church of Rome is in this Point very unsound they have this Conceit of Thoughts that they are but Venial Inward Lust and Concupiscence is either no Sin with them or so small that it needs no Reproof and yet themselvs confess it is the Cause of mortal Sin St. Paul as Chemnitius in his Examen observs in that sixth Chapter to the Romans calls it five times Sin in the seventh six times in the eighth thrice Hierom in 1 Amos thus distinguisheth of Pin the first degree is in Thought to think it the second is to yield to it the third to perform it in Act the fourth not to repent of it And upon the fifth of Matthew he distinguisheth betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pathos is Passion with Consent Propatheia is a tickling of Lust without Consent Yet saith Tollet Bellarmin and others They all speak unproperly yet Tollet confesseth plainly that it is not only St. Austin's Word but his perpetual Doctrine albeit the Papists now wholly depart from it Vide Cade Serm. on Roman 7.24 p. 7. Nor doth St. Paul all it only Sin but deadly Sin the Body of Death All Sin with him was mortal he knew not these venial trivial peccadilia trivial Sins with Papists to mince and make sleight of But I shall spend no more time with these having none to spare Vse 2 We have amongst our selves very many who are possessed with this Atheistical Opinion That Thoughts are free and that they pay no Tribute and that we shall never be called to any Account for them and from hence it is That so many play the Hypocrites in the Worship and Service of God thinking it sufficient that their Bodies are present but their Thoughts are suffered to run after Covetousness Ezek. 33.32 And others who forbear to act Sin and speak lewdly yet they give Liberty to Imagination to play with the Devil at what Game he will at Murther Theft Adultery c. And when the Mark is out of their mouths I mean they are out of date in respect of the act of some Sin yet they have still an unsatiable desire to it and can please themselvs in contemplative Wickedness calling to mind their former brutish and lustful practices with great delight making their own hearts to be their Brothel-house a House of Bawdery and Uncleanness and all upon this Delusion that their Thoughts are free and what is not lawful to act nor fit to speak is lawful so think without Controul Which Atheistical and damnable Opinion ariseth from these Grounds First Ignorance of the Law of God and the Spiritualness thereof which commands the Soul with the motions of it as well as the Body with the Actions thereof Heb. 4.12 It pierceth even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and is a Discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the heart saith the Apostle Now they being carnall and the Law spiritual it is no marvel if they cannot understand it for it must be spiritually understood They have a Veil over their eyes 2 Cor. 3.15 and which is yet more the god of this World hath further blinded them 2 Cor. 4.4 that they shall not discern the Spirituality of if So were the Pharisees blinded in their time and St. Paul all the while he was a Pharisee Rom 7.7 They rested only in the outward Rinde or Bark of the Law but discerned not the pith and marrow of it Secondly From the Defectiveness and Imperfection of Man's Law which although it binds the Hands and stops the Mouth yet it punisheth not for Thoughts Cogitationis poenam nemo patiatur The Projects of the Heart lye not within the walk of Humane Justice they are not liable to earthly Courts they pay no Tribute to Man's Custom-House where they cannot be searched but as they bewray themselvs by some outward Sign either by Word or Deed forgetting that God seeth not as Man seeth He hath an eye into our most secret Thoughts Psal 139.12 He sets our Thoughts in the Light of his Countenance Psal 90.8 And if men call so account and punish Words and Deeds because they see and know them Why then shall not God call to account and punish too our Thoughts which he knows far better than any man can our Actions That Man's Law punisheth not for our Thoughts proves rather a Defectiveness in Man's Law than this Diabolical and Atheistical Opinion that Thoughts are free A third Ground for this graceless Opinion is That they do no hurt to any by their thinking Why then may they not think what they please But indeed they do the greatest mischief they fight against the Soul yea thy own Soul as St. Peter shews 1 Pet. 2.11 they tend to the Destruction of it And from the Motions of thy mind proceeds all other Mischiefs which are wrought if the Prophet Michah is worthy to be believed Mich. 2.1 or the Apostle St. James to be credited James 4.1 or if Christ himself may be believed of us Math. 15.16 17. Indeed alwayes the Lusts of the Heart are not actually prejudicial to our Neighbour for here a man may be an Adulteret and the Woman chaste with whom Adultery is committed a man may be a Murtherer and yet the man alive whom he is the Murtherer of c. But many times these Thoughts come into Act What Wickedness is committed in Act that was not first in the Thought A fourth Ground for this Devilish and Hellish conceipt ariseth from the suddenness and unexpectedness of their coming and impossibility to avoid them No Reason many times can be given of them Therefore there is no Reason say some and more think why they should be called to any Account for them But all the Thoughts that are in the hearts of Sinners are either Suggestions by Inspiration from Satan or Vapours that fume out of corrupt Nature and from our sinful hearts How can it be otherwise then but that they should be offensive unto God Besides their suddenness and exorbitancy proves them evil All Good is from knowledg deliberation and direction Did they come in God's Name they would come a slower pace as they find by sad experience who set their minds so think of matters serious and spiritual And what though we cannot avoid those wandring and sinful Thoughts altogether Must we therefore set open the door and give them free liberty of Ingress Egress and Regress No man can keep the Birds from flying over his head but I hope he may keep them from making their Nests on that Tuft of haire which he wears Lastly Men imagine Thoughts to be free because of the common Opinion of the World and general Estimate of Religion which is not by the Heart and Thoughts but by our outward Performances wherein if we approve our selves before men it is all that is sought after forgetting what our Saviour saith You are they which approve your selves to men Luke 1● 11 but they