Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	adam_n	law_n	transgression_n	5,599	5	10.5016	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59578	Separation convicted of profanation, oppression, persecution, [brace] rebellion, self-destruction, and antichristianism being a further evidence of the mischief of separation, as asserted by the most learned and pious Dr. Edw. Stillingfleet, Dean of St. Pauls / by Lewes Sharpe, rector of Moreton-Hampstead in Devon.	Sharpe, Lewes.	1681 (1681)	Wing S3006A; ESTC R37382	32,652	45

to the Will and in a sence to the very Being it self of God and in no case eligible And you shall finde when the Prophet laments the evil portion of the Church her sins and not her sufferings are the principal objects of his Lamentations because the worst evils upon her and the procuring causes of all the rest Lam. 1.5 8 9. And David was more passionately affected and afflicted for the wickedness of his very Enemies than for his own Exile and Reproaches Psal 119.136 And why was it Even because he laid Gods dishonours to his heart more than his own wrongs Sect. 16. Secondly Because they love their Brethren as themselves and therefore do not seek their own things as to forget the things of others but account other mens innocencies more valuable than their own conveniencies and consequently more endeavour the eternal salvation of their Brethrens Souls than a temporal provision for their own Bodies What is said of Adam's first sin may also be said of sinful Separation 't is virtually every sin a violation and breach of the whole Law For 't is a sin so formally and destructively opposite to love that if love be the fulfilling of the whole Law as the Apostle tells us it is Rom. 13.10 then Separation is an evacuating of the whole Law And St. James expresly asserts that where Strife and Division is there is every evil work Jam. 3.16 that is such men are not onely at odds among themselves but also with God and themselves counter-acting too often to make and maintain a Party their own Judgments and Consciences And is not Separation then a very likely way to Reformation How light soever some men make of Divisions and Separations they are no other than the Smoak of the bottomless Pit the exudations and workings of that flesh which is Enmity against God Gal. 5.19 and the Authors of them are represented by the Holy Ghost notwithstanding their pretences to the Spirit as carnal 1 Cor. 3.3 4. such as have not the Spirit Jude v. 19. nor are Servants to Christ but Servitors to their own Bellies Rom. 16.18 Yea such is the Malignity of this sin that Divines both Ancient and Modern assert it to be the greatest wickedness Mr. Edwards an eminent Presbyterian and a Member of the Assembly of Divines tells us in his Gangraena second part p. 197. That Schism of it self even with sound Doctrine in every point is a most grievous wickedness which exceeds all other wickedness And Optatus and St. Augustine before him have observed That for this sin God more severely punished Corah Dathan and Abiram though they fell into it from a pretence to Holiness and great Humility Numb 16.3 than he did Cain for his Murther or the Israelites for their Idolatry Epist 142. And Mr. Crofton a man who preached and wrote and suffered as much for the Presbyterian Cause as any man in England plainly asserts in the Presace to his Saints Care for Church-Communion That groundless or causeless Separation from true Churches such as he acknowledgeth and contendeth the Parochial Churches in England to be and Self-constitution of new Churches and Self-consecration of a new Ministry are fundamental Errours and inconsistent with a state of Salvation And he hath a very good warrant for so saying for the Holy Ghost himself taught him That they which addict themselves to Divisions shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5.19 20. Now if Schism be of such a dangerous and damnable importance to the precious and immortal Souls of men what price can be given too great to prevent or redeem from it Certainly if we ought to lay down our lives for our Brethrens safety 1 John 3.16 we should not think the expence of our Estates a cost too dear for it Sect. 17. Thirdly Because there is a greater interest of their own even self-preservation requires it The danger of a Separation is not onely to the Separatists but to the whole Society of Christians from whom the Separation is made Eccles 9.8 One sinner destroyeth much good especially a Schismatick for Schism is to a Church what Sedition is to a Kingdom divides and so destroyeth it A Kingdom divided cannot stand but is brought to desolation Mat. 12.25 Other sins destroy the Church effectively and consequentially but Schism formally and directly for Schism is to a Body Ecclesiastical what a Solution of continuity is to the Body Natural doth not like an Ulcer corrupt a part but cuts or rends one part from another and when a compounded body is dissolved 't is destroyed Therefore when the Psalmist aimed at the defeating of his Enemies Conspiracy against him he prayed Destroy O Lord and divide their tongues Psal 55.9 i. e. as the Languages of the Babel builders were divided which brought their Plots to an utter confusion Gen. 11.7 So that Division and Destruction go together The Members of Christs Church are called Living stones built upon a spiritual house 1 Pet. 2.5 Now you know so long as Stones in a Wall are cemented and joyned to one another the Wall stands firm one Stone supports and holds fast another they mutually contribute preservation to each other and to the whole Wall but if you sever one Stone from another 't is no longer a Wall but a ruinous heap Churchuniting is Church-edifying but Church-dividing is Church-destroying work And therefore Mr. Baxter very plainly and honestly tells the Nonconforming Ministers That if they set themselves in a dividing way secretly to rejoyce at the Conforming Ministers disparagement and to draw as many from him as they can they are but Destroyers of the Church of God Call your selves what you will saith he to them I will call you Destroyers if you are Dividers Sacrilegious Desertion page 91. Sect. 18. 'T is true every Division in a Church and Separation from it doth not actually end in the destruction of it but yet 't is the proper and direct tendency of every Division and Separation and the Dividers and Separaters are as really and compleatly guilty as if they did actually accomplish it the ineffectualness of their designe proceeding from a defect of natural Power and not of Will and moral Endeavour And though every Division do not eventually conclude in the destruction of a Church yet 't is a very heavy Oppression to it and a most grievous Persecution of it Sect. 19. 'T is a very heavy Oppression to it We are all Debtors to the Church of God Rom. 1.14 and so far as we are Christians owe to it our very selves Philem. v. 19. for it is the Mother of us all Gal. 4.26 and doth not onely give us being but also ministreth nourishment and increase to us Col. 2.19 Eph. 4.16 and therefore we cannot alienate our selves from its Communion and Service without doing great injustice and wrong to it Separations from a Church are very injurious to it in five respects 1. In respect of its Being and Existence 2. In respect of its Beauty and

Separatists rebel against God As there were some which professed they knew God but by Works denied him Tit. 1.16 so some Separatists pretend to a singular subjection to the Will of God in all things and you shall not lightly meet with any sort of men who will outwardly appear more addicted to a Zeal for the setting up of the Kingdom of God and the Scepter of his Christ as they term it and the throwing down all opposite Interests than they but yet in their practices are all the while deeply engaged in rebellion against him Every sin being a transgression of Gods Law is virtually and by interpretation a making void of Gods Law which is a disclaiming his Soveraign Authoritie and Power over us and consequently a Rebellion against him But as every breach of Law amongst men is not strictly and properly denominated Rebellion against the Soveraign Powers so neither is every breach of Gods Law termed Rebellion against the Soveraign Power of God but those sorts onely which by circumstances are so aggravated that they seem to be after a sort a formal renunciation of our subjection unto God a plain resistance made to the Will of God and a setting up the Will of man above the Will of God and as it were a repealing of his Institutions to establish our own Imaginations and Inventions Now this sin of wilful and causeless or rash Separation is a complicated sin which partakes of the nature of those provocations which are under the imputation of Rebellion as I will discover to you in a few remarkable instances Sect. 41. First Separation in the Context is called a Turning away from following the Lord v. 16. 18. for when men causelesly separate themselves from Gods Church they go out like Cain from the presence of the Lord Gen. 4.16 because 't is a departure from love and he that dwelleth not in love dwelleth not in God nor God in him 1 John 4.12 Which includes an abuse of Grace and a rebelling against Light as Job speaks ch 24.13 a sin of knowledge and ingratitude I pray minde it Church-forsakers are God-forsakers for what is the Church of God but the house of God 1 Pet. 4.17 And where doth God dwell but in his house 2 Cor. 6.16 And where doth God meet and bless a people but where he records his Name Exod. 20.24 And where doth he record his Name but in Church-Assemblies where by the celebration of his Ordinances preaching of his Word Acts 5.15 performing of his Worship Mal. 1.6 and exercising of his Discipline he is known and acknowledged as a man by his Name And how can we obtain and maintain intercourse with God but by coming to him and walking with him in his Temple and in the midst of his golden Candlesticks 1 Cor. 3.16 Rev. 2.1 In a word Gods Church is his Spouse Cant. 4.8 9 10 11 12. and they that cleave not to God with her go a whoring from God Hos 4.12 deal treacherously with God and prostitute themselves to the filthy lusts of their own hearts and do in effect say to God as they in the Parable We will not have this man that is God to reign over us Luke 19.4 Sect. 42. Secondly Separation is a gainsaying and resisting lawful Authority which is the Ordinance of God Rom. 13.1 2. a sin of great pride and contempt The formality of the sin of Corah Dathan and Abiram was Schism a sinful Separation from the Church and Congregation of Israel and 't is exprefly called a gathering themselves together against Moses and against Aaron Numb 16.3 19. i. e. against the chief Magistrate and the chief Priest They avouched all the Congregation to be equally holy with them one as good as another and therefore some were too good to be under others And because Moses and Aaron took too much upon them and usurped a Supremacy over them they would be a Church of themselves a Congregation of holy people contradistinct to them But though they pretended for a parity and their words sound altogether that way yet Moses plainly discerned that their pleadings for an equality proceeded from a spirit strongly working after a Superiority and so he tells them v. 7 8 9. Ye take too much upon you ye sons of Levi Seemeth it but a small thing to you that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you neer to himself to do the service of the Tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to him and seek ye the Priesthood too They thought the High-priest's Garments would fit their shoulders as well as Aaron's So that their humble Remonstrances against a Superiority was but an ambitious designe to exchange it to pull down others and set up themselves And we every where see men like the Fir-tree in the Parable who would be cut down as low as the meanest shrub rather than be over-top'd by the Cedar are so proud that they cannot endure a Superiour I will not say that all the Separatists do ambitionate a Superiority nor will I say that like the Pharisee they affect a singularity would not be like other men Luke 8.11 lest they should be like Saul hid in the stuff men of no remark who deserve to be head and shoulders above their Brethren in reputation and honour themselves being Judges But I shall be bold to say they are so far from moving under the regular conduct of Civil and Ecclesiastical Authoritie as all good Christians ought to do that the most visible signes by which they are distinguished from other Christians are their bold desiances of both And in truth so far is the interest of the one incorporated into the other that like Isocrates his Twins they live and die together and the enemies of the one are the enemies of the other Conformity and Loyalty a stedfast and zealous Communion with the Church and an invincible and immovable Obedience to the King like stones in an arch do mutually support and streng then one another but Non-conformity and Malignity Separation and Sedition have such complicated influences and united interests and designs that the one being armed with Power is rarely divided from the other and he must wink very hard that doth not every where see that when the Church loseth a Member the King also in heart and affection loseth a Subject unpeaceable in the Church and ungovernable in the State for they that are not held by the tyes of Religion under subjection and obedience to those that have the rule and oversight of them in the Lord have a very natural and easie step to despise Dominion and to exalt themselves above all obligations to the civil Powers And 't is no wonderful sight to see those who from a presumption of secrecie have sneaked and creeped into an unlawful Conventicle from a presumption of victorie and impunitie boldly to defie and resist Authoritie in open field Sect. 43. Thirdly Separation proceeds from