Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	apostle_n	law_n	transgression_n	5,619	5	10.4785	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40094	A sermon preached before the Queen at White-hall, on Sunday, March 22, 1690/1 by Edward Fowler ...	Fowler, Edward, 1632-1714.	1691 (1691)	Wing F1721; ESTC R10617	12,747	36

him Hazael once thought that 't was impossible he should incurr the Guilt of such horrid Villanies as he was foretold he would such as dashing young Children against the stones and ripping up Women with Child What replyed he to the Prophet Is thy Servant a Dog that he should do such things But for all that when he came into other Circumstances and so to have such Temptations as he never before met with he was such a Dog as to commit such Barbarities And if we will not be prevailed with to forsake in Will and Affection every Sin we shall scarcely stick longer at any Sin than our forbearance thereof is consistent with the Satisfaction of that Lust which is dearest to us We have Iudas also for an Example of this He was doubtless as to Outward Appearance a very Moral Inoffensive Man for our Saviour would not have given such Scandal as to have taken him had he not been so into the Number of his Constant Associates yet this Judas loving the Bag being a secretly Covetous Wretch could perswade himself even most basely to betray his Blessed Master when allured by the Bait of Gain to it and that a very sorry Bait too Fourthly Whosoever makes no Conscience of transgressing some one Law as he is Prepared to break all other upon strong Temptations so he actually disobeys other Laws according to that Latitude of Interpretation which our Lord hath given them and which ought to be given them Such a one may tremble at the Thoughts of breaking those two Commandments Thou shalt not commit Adultery Thou shalt not kill but Lusting in his Heart or Hating his Enemy will be Venial Sins with him though his Saviour hath told him that these are Transgressions of those Commandments This Man may punctually keep the First and Second Commandments as to the shunning of those Sins which in express terms are forbidden by them He may abhorr to acknowledge any other God but Iehovah he may abominate Graven Images in the Worship of God but while he preferreth the World either the Riches or Honours or Pleasures thereof before God as whosoever lives in the Allowance of any known Sin doth he is a very Idolater as the Apostle hath told us Fifthly Living in the Breach of but one Law would as truly Deprave Mens Natures and make them unmeet for the Enjoyment of God as living in the Breach of all It would do so as truly and really though not in the same degree One Sin allowed one Lust cherished robs the Soul of the Divine Image renders it unlike to God and consequently makes it uncapable of taking Satisfaction or Complacency in that Best of Beings who is pure Light and in whom is no Darkness at all It is thereby unqualified for the Heavenly and it sinks it down into the Hellish State We say One Leak will sink a Ship as sure as a Thousand And upon this Account One Sin entertained must needs as certainly ruine our Souls if we will not part with it as never so many Our Four First Considerations make it highly Reasonable that it should be so but this Last makes it Necessary Necessary from the very Nature of the thing not only nor yet Primarily from the Will of God I shall now Present you with Several plain Inferences from what hath been said As I. THat we ought not to account any Sin a Light or a small thing such a thing as God Almighty will not Concern Himself about Such a thing as we may allow ourselves in and yet be Objects of the Divine Favour This is Evident from what we have said or rather is our Text it self in other Words But I add for the farther Clearing of the Truth hereof that that Sin which we are apt to Fancy so Light a matter is either a Transgression of God's Law or 't is not if it be not we may not acknowledge it to be a Sin For Sin as saith the Apostle is the Transgression of the Law and where there is no Law there is no Transgression But if it be a Transgression of the Law how can it be a Light or a Trivial thing If it be really so then must God needs so account it for He judges of things as they are but how can God so account it when He hath made a Law against it Will His Infinite Wisdom suffer Him to make a Law which He matters not whether it be Observ'd or no Such a Law would be a very Vain and Needless one and therefore cannot be of God's making No Wise Man would be the Maker of such a Law But because some Sins are accounted small and others Great this Distinction is not to be born except we mean that some Sins are small ones in Comparison of others not that any are absolutely and in themselves small Indeed Considering Sins as Transgressions of God's Law so all are alike for one Sin is not more contrary to the Law than another All are as Contrary to the Law as can be That Stoical Paradox 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Sins are Equal Tully gives this true Explication of Parva inquis Res est at Magna Culpa Thou sayest this is but a small thing but I say 't is a Great fault in quo peccatur id potest esse aliud alio majus aut minus That in which a Man Offends may be a greater or a less thing ipsum autem Peccare quoquo te verteris unum est But the Offending the Sinning it self is ever one and the same thing And this amounts to what was now said That considering Sins as Transgressions of the Divine Laws so all are alike But considering them according to various Circumstances some may be Comparatively small or much less than others Some are committed with less of the Will than others and those Men fall into upon a Surprize and before they are aware are nothing so great in that respect as those which are committed with Deliberation I mean upon Supposition that a naughty Custom doth not occasion the Inadvertency There are those who profane the Sacred Name of God by rash Oaths and by taking it into their Mouths lightly and wantonly and when reproved profess they were not aware they did so But this is no Extenuation of their Fault because such insensibility can proceed from no other Cause than Mens having acquired a wretched Habit of so making bold with and abusing God's Name through their Minds being void of any awful Sense of His Glorious Majesty Some Sins are committed against less Light and Knowledge than others and Sins against greater actual Knowledge or better Means of Knowledge are in that respect the Greater Sins and therefore our Lord hath assigned the greater Punishment to them Mat. 10.15 The greater Obligations and the more Mercies Men sin against the greater are their Sins upon that Account The more of Disingenuity and hateful Ingratitude there is in sins the more Hainous and Provoking are they Sins are greater or less according

as the Effects of them are more or less mischievous Those which injure our selves onely are not in that respect so great as those which injure our Neighbour together with our selves And those which are injurious to our Neighbours Souls are the greatest that can be committed against them Those which are mischievous to the Community are as such much greater than those which are so only to Particular Persons The worse End a Man hath in a Sin the greater is it The more of ill-Nature and a Vile Devilish Temper is in a Sin the more exceedingly Sinful ' t is Those which are Transgressions of the Rules of everlasting Righteouss are greater as such than those which are onely Transgressions of Positive Precepts The former are more intensively Evil they are Evil not onely as Violations of a declared Law but there is also Turpitude and Malignity in the Matter of them Which Malignity is the Reason of the Law against them And of this Nature are generally those things which are forbidden in the Gospel of our Saviour And to these may be added other Instances But though upon these and other Accounts some sins are less than others yet as hath been sufficiently proved it is impossible that any Sin should be Simply and in it self Little Which by the way is a sufficient Confutation of that dangerous Doctrine of the Church of Rome That there are a sort of Sins which are Venial in their own Nature and that cannot put us out of God's Favour tho' committed never so frequently or deliberately II. What hath been said may serve to Vindicate our Saviour's Dealing with the Young Man in the Gospel from being too severe Such as are apt to pass hasty Judgment upon the Actions of others without duely considering the Reasons of them may be apt in reading that Story not only to Pity the young Man but to take his Part As thinking him too hardly dealt with in not being accepted for his having Observed the Ten Commandments even from his Childhood but having such father Terms impos'd upon him as forced him to go away sorrowful Surely may such say our Lord was utterly averse to the bestowing of Eternal Life upon this poor Man It is said Blessed are they that do his Commandments for they shall have Right unto the Tree of Life but here is one who must be excepted since Obedience to the Whole LAW and that of so long a standing too might signifie nothing to the intitling of him thereunto Nay our Lord did at first plainly intimate to him that keeping the Commandments should be all he would expect from him for said he If thou wilt enter into Life keep the Commandments But when he had replyed that this he was not to begin to do now but h●d ever done it then was more required of him and that no less than the Selling and having sold the giving away his whole Estate which was very great It seems as freely as Eternal Life was offered to Others this Man must Buy it and that with no less a Sum than the Price of all he had But we are to take Notice that our Blessed Saviour designed to Try him by this Injunction whether he really was as he thought himself Universally Obedient and it seem to be such another Command as that of God Almighty to His Servant Abraham for the Offering of his onely Son Isaac But as Abraham by his readiness to obey that Command demonstrated the Sincerity of his Love to God as God Himself told him so this Young Man by his Unwillingness to Obey this Command gave as great a Demonstration of his having been nothing less than a sincere Observer of all God's Commandments In short he was by this Means Convicted of wretched Covetousness in that as desirous as he was of Eternal Life he preferred his Temporal Estate before it That our Saviour did not thus treat him out of Prejudice to his Person and with a design to affright him from Him is plain from what we find in this Narrative as St. Mark relates it 'T is said Ch. 10 21. upon his telling him that he had observed all the Commandments from his Youth that Iesus loved him Now it is very Clear from our past Discourse that there was great Rèason why this Young Man as good as he was should be sent away sorrowful since he was no better For though he was no Murtherer nor Adulterer nor Thief c. in the gross Sense yet he might be all these according to the Spiritual Sense and Meaning of the Law for 't is certain that in this sense he was an Idolater in that the World lay deepest in his Affections and was esteemed above GOD and Eternal Life III. I infer from what hath been said what a great Weakness it is in any Man to hope for Salvation because he perceives that there are many who are far greater Sinners than himself when yet he lives in the wilful Commission of some known Sins or in the wilful Neglect of some known Duties I doubt there are too many who because they are not Drunkards nor Unclean Persons nor Profane Swearers c. as they see Multitudes are do fa●●● all to be well with them though they are conscious to themselves of being faulty and that wilfully too in other respects They can possibly over-reach their Brother when they can do it slyly or if they stick at plain Injustice they can do Hard things which will be found another day to be Unjust also and which those know to be so now who take their Measures of Right and Wrong from their Saviour's Golden Rule Matth. 7.12 They can make an Idol of the World are inamoured with either the Riches or Honours or Pleasures thereof if not with all yet with one or other of these and are with great difficulty drawn to Works of Mercy and Charity Some seem mightily Devout and Zealous for the Duties of the First Table and therefore take themselves for good Christians tho' they are as Remiss in Reference to divers Duties of the Second Others again are seemingly very Observant of those of the Second Table are Sober Orderly Governable good Subjects quiet and inoffensive Neighbours when perhaps they are as Culpable in Relation to the Duties of the First Live under little Sense of God of their Dependance on Him and their Obligations to Him Worship Him with their Bodies when their Hearts are far from Him and content themselves with a meer External tho' not with a meer Ritual Righteousness But why should any of us think our selves in a Good State because we live not in any of the Scandalous Sins Were not those Laws made to be Obeyed which we Break as well as those we Keep or at least think we Keep And if so how can we Expect God's Favour and live in such Contradiction to His Will Will you approve of that Servant who wilfully Disobeys some of your Commands because he observes others No surely all Masters will Expect to