Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	act_n	repent_v	repentance_n	3,911	5	8.0970	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20605	A sermon preached in Italian, by the most Reuerend father, Marc' Antony de Dominis, Archb. of Spalato, the first Sunday in Aduent, anno 1617. In the Mercers Chappel in London, to the Italians in that city, and many other honorable auditors then assembled. Vpon the 12. verse of the 13. chapter to the Romanes, being part of the Epistle for that day. First published in Italian by the author, and thereout translated into English; Predica fatta da Monsr. Marc' Antonio de Dominis, Arcivo. di Spalato. English	De Dominis, Marco Antonio, 1560-1624.	1617 (1617)	STC 7004; ESTC S109795	31,116	84

leaue sinne by the assistance of Gods grace But see how extrauagant the Papall doctrine is in this point Namely that it is necessary to confesse to a Priest all and euery of our sinnes one by one together with the circumstances of them and that thereupon presently comes absolution which ex opere operato by vertue of the deed done that is infalliblie by a Sacramentall operation releaseth the sinne quantum ad culpam as much as concernes the guiltinesse of it and as for an after-reckoning quantum ad poenam concerning the punishment that is remitted by satisfaction enioined or by Indulgences This so mighty efficacy they attribute to Priestly absolution by vertue whereof they will that a sinner presently becommeth ex attrito contritus that is to say though he doe not truly and soundly repent him of his sinnes but conceiue a certaine sleight and light sorrow out of feare onely of Gods punishments and not out of hatred of sinne yet vpon the act of absolution hee enioyeth the benefit of remission as fully as if he had true and entire repentance together with hatred of sinne In this maner they breed vp a sinner and make him in his affection to cleaue fast to his sinnes whilest he flattereth himselfe that Confession turneth his attrition into contrition And thus poore soules being beguiled with this blinding and benighting Doctrine trust so farre vpon this their externall Confession and externall Absolution that they neglect inward repentance and so sticke fast in their sinnes thinking that they haue done their part when they haue gone ouer the beadroule of their sinnes and so receiued Absolution But those good soules that put not this superstitious cōfidence in any such power of Absolution which in trueth cannot deriue from the Gospel any Sacramentall operation and certainely perswade themselues that they haue no other meanes of remedy then true hearty repentante they relie vpon that onely and make request to God for it by humble and feruent prayers vsing also other helpes whereto the Scriptures direct vs fastings giuing of almes and other workes of charitie Not that these doe satisfie for the punishment as the Romanists vainly teach For God when hee pardoneth the sinne remitteth also the punishmēt as is most cleare in Scripture but because these are fruits of inward Repentance and parts of outward and so make way for remission of sinnes But the Romish preposterous course mistaking and mis-doing in the darke night of this error worketh cleane contrary and setteth the cart before the horse first granting remission and afterward imposing workes of repentance which indeede should goe before repentance and much more before remission And by this reckoning the vnhappy soules when they thinke themselues most free then remaine most bound and vnpardoned before the throne of God This deuise therfore of Sacramentall Confession and Sacramentall Absolution as they terme it as it is pernicious so it hath the brand of nouelty being first imposed by Pope Innocent the third After the entrance whereof the forme of true repentance is very hardly to bee found in the Churches subiect to the Papacy O how much better were it for a sinner not to goe to Confession but onely when he findeth himselfe in his owne conscience rightly disposed to be in the state of true repentance For the often frequenting of Confession as it is vsed and receiuing of Absolution such as it is makes a sinfull wretch feede himselfe with shadowes and seeme to himselfe to giue his conscience sufficient satisfaction Whereupon he not seeing the miserable estate wherin he remains neuer thinketh seriously of true repentance Whereas if hee had not that vaine imployment which serueth him but to cloake his sinnes he would finde himselfe to bee yet in the estate of sinne and would earnestly bethinke himselfe of the true remedy namely inward sincere repentance which without any other confession or absolution cancelleth our sinnes as fully appeareth out of the holy Scriptures and Fathers It is therefore an errour very grieuous and hurtful to the soule to beleeue that these externall performances conferre remission of sinnes and that they are necessary therunto What shall we say of so many other meere externall trifles whereto the people is most superstitiously inclined as holy water beades crosses consecrated Images Papall and Episcopall benedictions Stations Pardons the new found hoode of the Carmelites called the Habitell the whipcoards of Saint Francis the girdles of the Cordeliers the visiting of such a Church in such dayes or of these and these altars and reliques nay the very hearing of Masses and anealing him that lies a dying These and such like other outward shewes doe fill and puffe vp the soule with a very surfet of an imaginary and false deuotion Wherupon men thinke not of purging their consciences of consummating their faith of inflaming their charity towards God and toward their neighbor they busie not themselues about repenting of their sinnes and performing those internall actions wherein the essentiall part of our reconciliation with God and eternall saluation doth consist And when a man hath once in a day signed himselfe with the signe of the Crosse and sayd ouer his Pater Noster which he vnderstands neuer a whit together with his Aue Maria and hath heard Masse why then forsooth he is a Saint and hath learned enough in religion and so fastning vpon these outsides he sets vp his rest on them for his saluation And if at any time they can ensnare an vngrounded Protestant and winne him ouer to their partie they thinke him very well furnished if he can beleeue in the Pope and will heare Masse vpon this presently without any more adoe they declare him to bea most perfect Catholique Let them not heere tell me that the inwards of the soule are stirred vp and whetted by these outward actions For experience sheweth the contrary that the people when they haue tired themselues with visiting so many altars with hearing so many Masses with chewing ouer so many halfe-scores of Aue Maries in running ouer al the Rosary when they haue so and so many times kissed the Crosse and haue bin in Processions they looke no further but deeme themselues to bee all holy and that they need nothing else and yet they goe on in their sinnes nay such as these for the most part become in their inward worse euery day then other and for all this mend not their liues nor settle themselues to true repentance Lament 4.4 Of these poore starued soules we may say Paruuli petierunt panem non est qui frangat eis The children called for bread and there is none to breake it to them And if they affoord them any scraps of bread it must not be the true bread of life but in stead of wholesome and nourishing bread made of wheat they giue them bread made of bran or acornes and to keepe them from sence of hunger they stuffe them vp with swines meat the huskes and

faith he barreth vp the way to the people so that they cannot come to descry his inuentions as long as they make it a scruple of conscience to examine or consider what trueth may bee in such determinations which are made by him for his owne aduantage onely and not for their soules health In this meane while the poore vulgar think that they haue as much faith as will serue for their saluation and yet in fine they will bee found to haue none at all I beleeue that which the Church beleeues If I come not to particular articles I yet beleeue nothing but onely am in a disposition to beleeue that which the Church of Rome shall prescribe mee whether true or false Verely for any man to say I beleeue that which another man beleeueth is as much as if he said I see that which another man seeth though my owne eyes be shut And as no man can be said to see but only when the faculty of his owne sight exerciseth its operation vpon a particular obiect so there is no actuall beleeuing but when the vnderstanding and will doe actually apprehend and embrace the obiect of faith There are vnder the Papacy there are among the people many men endued by God with sufficient iudgement and capacity to receiue good instruction in many mysteries of our faith if they had conuenient meanes and opportunity to learne them but by reason of this implied faith they are not only kept from learning those things which they ought to know but also a great number of them and they not of the dullards when they vnder a confused notion apprehend such articles frame to themselues false and erroneous conceipts of them How many being enwrapped in this implicite faith and being otherwise able distinctly to vnderstand that there are in Christ two distinct natures and but one onely person and that diuine yet thinke that Christ is man by an humane person and so are Nestorians How many are there that beleeue Christ to be a meere man and so are Arians How many beleeue that in Christ the diuine and humane natures are confounded into one nature Innumerable such monsters of all heresies may bee found vnder this Chimaera of inuolued faith Besides this the more to cherish these monstrous errors the Popes barre Christian people from all means of learning the verities of the Christian faith forbidding them the vse of the holy Scriptures in such language as they may vnderstand For they are well assured that the very vulgar would by reading the Scriptures discouer the manifold deuises and trickes wherwith the Popes the Bishops the Preachers the Priests and Friars delude the simple people to draw money out of their purses and to make themselues be thought so many Gods If the people might bee suffered to read the Scriptures in the mother tongue they would finde that all the twelue Apostles had the same charge in all respects equall with S. Peter of planting gouerning the Church They would see that in all the Bible there is nothing to bee found for S. Peters being at Rome nor that hee hath left any speciall charge with the Bishop of Rome They would be aduertised that all Bishops succeed the Apostles in equall power among themselues without subiection of one to another And that the vnion of holy Church consisteth in the vnity of faith and in charity whereby all Churches are combined and embrace one the other and not in being vnder any one visible head but vnder Christ the true and only head of the Church They would well know that the Masse hath no other vse nor bringeth any other spirituall benefite then to consecrate the holy Sacrament for Communion and that only when there are some more or lesse to communicate that the pronouncing of some part aloud and whispering the rest so that the people heares it not is but a mockery Likewise that those mimicall gestures with the hands leggs and eyes serue for nothing but to set the people on gazing in a wonderment They would learne that in the bread of the Eucharist there is the true body of Christ Sacramentally and after a wonderful maner which to vs is inexplicable but not in flesh and bones with eyes hands and feet Neither should they euer finde that that consecrated bread is to bee adored for God euen as wee adore not the water which represents the blood of Christ in baptisme although by the power of Gods grace this water and that bread in him that receiueth it worthily worke maruelous spirituall effects in the soule They would vnderstand that Purgatory being not once named nor implied in the Scriptures is an inuention of the Priests and Friars to make men call for Masses and to draw on paiments and oblations for the rescuing of soules out of Purgatory Which deuice rayseth an income whereby such a swarme of idlesbies not only vnprofitable to the Church but also scandalous are maintained liuing in iollity and wallowing in all vncleannesse These and many other like trueths would the people descrie if they might read the holy Scriptures nor would they suffer themselues to be any longer deceiued and fuddled vp in that darke cloud and night of infolded faith Much the easier also would they vnderstand these things if together with the Scriptures diuers godly and holy Bookes might bee suffered to come to their view which discouer the impostures of the Papacie and sincerely lay down the true way to saluatiō yet these Bookes are most falsly by the Pope for his owne behoofe declared to be hereticall and prohibited as pestilēt in that kind without euer shewing particularly wherin these pretended heresies consist Which are notwithstanding taught by the holy Fathers of the Church But this is his refuge for security lest his errours should bee discouered And as for so many soules running this way headlong into hell that troubleth him not may he the while hold vp his wordly pomp And so much of the first generall error Another generall error wherewith the captiuated Churches in Italy and many other elsewhere are seduced is the perswading of the simple people that they obtaine infallible remission of all their sinnes committed after baptisme by vertue of certaine externall sensible and materiall actions which are called Sacraments and Sacramentals Indeed the common people being by nature prone and hasty to superstition and more willing and ready to vndergoe externall easie performances then inward duties difficult and distastful to flesh and blood put too much confidence in these outward superstitions being in the meane time destitute of the true inward effect of desired remission of their sinnes and so the blinde being led by the blinde both fall into the pit The true Sacraments instituted by our Sauiour for remission of sinnes are holy Baptisme and the sacred Communion And the only true and reall remedy whereby remission of sinnes done after Baptisme is obteined is Repentance which consisteth in true sorrowing for sinne together with resolution to