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
A58802	The Christian life part III. Wherein the great duties of justice, mercy, and mortification are fully explained and inforced. Vol. IV. By John Scott D.D. late rector of St. Giles's in the Fields.; Christian life. Vol. 4.	Scott, John, 1639-1695.; White, Robert, 1645-1703, engraver.	1696 (1696)	Wing S2056; ESTC R218661	194,267	475

Sense doth multiply its Temptations we shall still multiply our Desires and Affections and at every new Game that springs we shall still let fly new Passions But now the Ends of Vice are not only various but also contrary to and inconsistent with one another For all Vices consisting in Extreams either in Excesses or Defects their Ends must be contrary too and so they cannot but disagree Excess and Defect being in themselves most contrary And these contrary Vices must needs raise contrary Factions in the Mind and people it with a Rabble of wild and inconsistent Passions which will be always bandying one against another and consequently embroiling the Soul in eternal Mutinies and Tumults And this is the State of every vicious Man he is divided into infinite Schisms and Separations and like a barbarous Countrey cantoned out into a World of petty Principalities which are always together by the Ears and continually invading one anothers Dominions Now what a miserable Distraction must a Man's Mind be in when it is thus justl'd to and fro in such a crowd of contrary and impetuous Passions when Pride shoves it one way and Covetousness another when Ambition thrusts it forward and Cowardise pulls it back again and so many different Lusts do at the same time hurry it so many different and contrary Ways How is it possible it should escape Actaeon's Fate to be worried till it is torn in pieces by its own Hounds And therefore as we value the Peace of our own Minds and would not have the inward Harmony discompos'd by the perpetual Iarrings of so many contrary Passions it concerns us to subdue and mortify our Lusts For so long as we entertain these seditious Incendiaries they will be perpetually raising Tumults within us and our Minds will never be at quiet for them For the only Way to keep our Minds at Peace is to unite our Affections which we can never hope to do till we have subdu'd them to the Empire of our Reason But when we come to be under the Command of that one supreme End which our Reason will propose to us as the utmost Scope of our Desires then and not till then will these scattered Rivulets of our Affections unite themselves in one and the same Channel and flow towards one and the same Ocean And then our Mind will be at Rest and all its contrary Passions being laid which now like the boisterous Waves dash one against another it will no longer be capable of being ruffl'd into a Storm but in the midst of all the Changes of this World will find it self perpetually inspired with the most calm and gentle Thoughts CHAP. IV. Of Helps to Mortification given us by the Spirit of God THE Motives and Arguments for Mortification which arise from considering the Mischiefs and Inconveniences of Sin having been spoken to I shall now proceed to such Helps to this Duty as are given us by the Spirit of God And I shall consider them under these four Heads First THE external Arguments and Motives of the Gospel Secondly THE external Providences of the Divine Spirit by which he excites us to our Duty Thirdly THE Aids and Assistances which the Holy Angels give us who are the Agents and Ministers of the Holy Ghost Fourthly THE internal Motions and Operations of the Holy Ghost upon our Souls I. LET us consider the external Arguments and Motives of the Gospel such as the Promises and Threats of it the great Example of our Saviour describ'd in it together with all those mighty Considerations out of his Passion and Resurrection his Intercession for us at the right hand of God and his Coming to judge the World in the last day All which are the Aids and Assistances of the Holy Spirit who hath revealed them to us and demonstrated their Truth and Divinity by sundry miraculous Operations which are therefore called the Evidences and Demonstrations of the Spirit So that whatsoever there is in the Gospel to enable us to our Duty whatsoever Counter-charms its Promises afford us against the Charms and Allurements of our own Lusts whatsoever Antidotes its Threatnings prescribe us against the terrours of the Devil's Temptations whatsoever Motives there are in the Life or Death Resurrection and Intercession of our Blessed Saviour and in his final Iudgment by which we must stand or fall for ever In a word whatsoever Arguments the Laws or the Creed of our Holy Religion offer us either to incite us to our Duty or to enable us to baffle the Temptations of Vice they are all from the Spirit and consequently are to be reckon'd among those gracious Aids and Assistances which He affords us And hence the Gospel which teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly is called the grace of God which bringeth salvation unto all men Tit. ii 11 12. And in Rom. viii 2. the Apostle calleth it the law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus by which he was made free from the law of sin and death Nay sometimes the Gospel is called the Spirit 2 Cor. iii. 6. who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament not of the letter but of the spiri i. e. not of the Law but of the Gospel for the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life That is as he elsewhere explains himself the Law is a Ministration of Death but the Gospel brings Life and Immortality to light And that this is the Meaning is plain from what follows v. 7 8. but if the ministration of death written and ingraven in stones was glorious which is a plain description of the Law of Moses how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious And consonantly hereunto by the Spirit we may understand the Motives and Arguments of the Gospel II. LET us consider the external Providences of the divine Spirit by which he excites us to our Duty and doth many ways administer to our Reformation which are so considerable a part of God's Grace and Assistance that there are very few good Thoughts or Purposes that spring up in our Minds which have not their Rise from some external Event of Divine Providence And this we may easily observe by following the Train of our own Thoughts and pursuing the Stream of them to their Spring and Original For though many times we find good Thoughts injected into us we know not how nor whence yet if we do but curiously observe the Rise of our soberest Thoughts and Purposes we shall generally find that it is some external Accident or other that occasions them Either our Sin betrays us into some great Shame or Infelicity or our wicked Designs are baffled by some intervening Accident or some remarkable Iudgment meets us as the Angel did Balaam in the Road of our Folly and Wickedness by which our stupid Consciences are many times startled into Reflections or by some good Providence we are directed to a serious Book or faithful Guide

Staves the speediest way to make them strait is to keep them bent for a while the contrary way This therefore is implied in our honest Endeavour to mortify our involuntary Inclinations to sin that we do not only forbear the sin it self but avoid the Occasions that lead to it and deny our selves those lawful Liberties which do nearly approach it and set us upon the brink of it And thus you see wherein Mortification consists namely in abstaining from the outward Act and inward Consent to sin and in a constant Endeavour to mortify those involuntary Inclinations to sin which we have contracted in any former Course of wilful sinning CHAP. II. Of the Means and Instruments of Mortification HAVING explained wherein Mortification consists I proceed in the next place to consider what are the Means and Instruments of it And these are chiefly these Six First FAITH Secondly CONSIDERATION Thirdly RESOLUTION Fourthly DISCIPLINE Fifthly FREQUENT receiving of the Sacrament Sixthly CONSTANT Prayer I. FAITH or a thorough Belief of the Truth of our Religion which will furnish us with such Arguments against our Lusts as all the Temptations they can muster up will never be able to resist Hence St. Iohn tells us that This is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith 1 Epist. v. 4. where by the World we are to understand all those Temptations to sin that do arise from these outward worldly Objects wherewithal we are here surrounded Faith therefore must needs be a mighty Instrument of mortifying our Sins it being the Victory whereby we overcome all the Temptations to them And indeed a firm Belief of the mighty Arguments of Christianity is in it self such an efficacious Means to dissuade us from sinning that one would think it were impossible for the most bold and resolute Sinner to withstand it For who but a mad Man would prostitute himself to the Charms and Flatteries of a base Lust that believes that Promise which proposes a Heaven of immortal Ioys to dissuade him from it Who would be frighted into any Sin by the most amazing Danger that can threaten or befal him that credits that Threat which denounces a Hell of endless and intolerable Woes against every wilful Transgression Did we but believe that it cost the Son of God his dearest Blood to redeem us from our Sins How could we be so disingenuous to our best Friend as to harbour those Lusts that were his Murderers and which he abhors more than the Spear that pierced his Side or the Nails that gored his Hands and Feet Yea how could we be so fool-hardy as to dally with those Sins which are so infinitely odious unto God that he would not be attoned for them by any meaner Sacrifice than the Blood of his own Son In a word did we but believe that we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ to give a strict Account for whatsoever we have done in the Flesh What Temptation could there be great enough to ballance our Fear of that dreadful Tribunal Doubtless did we but heartily believe our Holy Religion there is nothing in all the World would be so terrible as Sin to us the mighty Arguments of the Gospel would so over-awe us that we should not be able to think of it without Horrour and Amazement the very Sight of it would scare us like an Apparition and cause us to run away from it in as great a Fright as if the Devil himself were at our heels For Lord can I be so stupid as to hug my Lusts while I believe that I shall rue for it to all Eternity Can I be so sensless of my own Interest as to treat and entertain those Vices which I verily believe will rob me of all that an everlasting Heaven means No no Did I but believe the Propositions of the Gospel doubtless I should sooner trust my Body among ravenous Cannibals than my Soul among my Sins and think my self much safer among Vipers and Scorpions than in the Embraces of my Lusts which whilst they wrap themselves in amorous Folds about me sting me with an everlasting Venom But our Misery is that we are most of us Christians by chance and have taken up our Religion upon trust without ever satisfying our selves of its Credibility or troubling our selves to enquire why or wherefore we profess it So that though perhaps we do not absolutely disbelieve yet neither can we be properly said to believe it it being a matter we never troubled our selves about so as to enquire whether it be true or false and therefore it is no great wonder that it hath so little Effect upon us For how can it be expected that we should be affected with that which we do not believe or be persuaded to part with those Lusts that are so dear to us upon Proposals that we give no Credit to and of whose Truth or Falshood we never troubled our selves to enquire Let us therefore but satisfy our own Reason of the Truth of our Religion by considering impartially those mighty Evidences it is founded upon and then it will soon captivate our Souls into the Love and Obedience of it and none of our Lusts will be able to withstand its mighty Force and Efficacy but will all be forced to fall down before it as Dagon did before the Ark of the Lord. This therefore is the first Instrument of Mortification viz. a hearty Belief of the Christian Religion II. ANOTHER Instrument of Mortification is Consideration For we have no other way to mortify our Lusts but only by Reason and Argument and 't is impossible that any Arguments should persuade us unless we duly consider the Strength and Force of them 'T is true our Religion furnishes us with sufficient Arguments to baffle all the Temptations of Sin But what will it signify to have good Arguments in our Bibles while they are out of our Thoughts and are not at all regarded by us Do we expect they should cure our Souls as Charms and Amulets do our Bodies meerly by being written upon Paper and worn in our Bosoms Why then may they not as well charm a Swine into Cleanliness or a savage Tyger out of his natural Fierceness and Cruelty But alas all the Arguments in the World to an inconsiderate Mind are but like so many Arrows shot against an Anvil where they cannot stick but are forced to rebound and fly off again without making any Impression on it And hence in the Parable of the Seed the reason which our Saviour assigns why it prospered not in the High-way the stony and thorny Ground was either that they considered not at all or not enough Matth. xiii 19 20 21 22. either they were wholly inconsiderate so that the Seed of God's Word lay scattered upon the surface of their Minds like Corn upon the High-way to be picked and devoured by the Fowls of the Air or they considered but a little so that the Divine Seed being not throughly rooted in them

Inclination from them that their Nearness ceases to be a Temptation to us These are the Parts of that wise and prudent Discipline which we are to exercise upon our selves as a Mean and Instrument to mortifie our Lusts. V. ANOTHER Instrument of Mortification is frequent Receiving of the Sacrament And indeed I do not know any one more effectual Cause or more fatal Symptom of the Decay of Christian Piety among us than is the common and woful Neglect of this solemn Ordinance which were it but frequented with that wise and due Preparation that it ought to be would doubtless be highly instrumental to reform the World and to make Men good in good earnest For besides that those sacred Elements are by God's Institution become moral Conveyances of the Divine Grace whereby our good Resolutions are nourish'd and confirm'd there we have represented openly to our Senses one of the greatest Arguments against Sin in all our Religion viz. the Passion and Sacrifice of our blessed Saviour There he is represented to my Eyes in all his Wounds and Agonies bruised and broken for my Sin and bleeding to expiate my Transgressions And O my obdurate Soul canst thou behold this tragical Spectacle without Indignation against thy Sins which were the Cause of it Does not thy Heart rise against thy Sins whilst thou here beholdest him weltering in his Blood and hearest those gaping Wounds it issueth from proclaiming them his Assassines and Murderers But if thou hast not Ingenuity enough to prompt thee to revenge thy Saviour's quarrel upon these his mortal Enemies yet methinks Self-love would move thee not to be fond of thy Sins when thou here beholdest how much the Son of God endured to expiate them For how canst thou think of sinning without Trembling and Astonishment who hast here before thine Eyes such a dreadful Example of God's Severity against it Does it not strike thy Soul into an Agony to behold this bloody Tragedy wherein the all-merciful Father is represented so inexorably incensed against thy Sins that he that was the most innocent Person that ever was upon Earth and also the greatest Favourite that ever was in Heaven could not with all his Prayers and Tears obtain thy Pardon without undergoing for thee the bitter Agonies of a woful Death Sure if thou hast any one Spark of Love in thee either towards thy Saviour or thy self this solemn Commemoration of his Passion cannot but affect thee with Horror and Indignation against thy Sins But then as in this great Solemnity we do commemorate our Saviour's Passion so we do also renew the Vows of our Obedience to him which as I have shewed you is very instrumental in it self to the subduing of our sins but much more when it is done in so sacred a manner For as Feasting upon Sacrifices was always used as a federal Rite both among the Iews and Heathens whereby God and Men by eating together did mutually oblige themselves to one another so the Lords Supper being a Feast upon the Sacrifice of Christ's Body and Blood when we come thither we eat and drink of his Sacrifice and do thereby devote our selves in the most solemn manner to his Service We swear Allegiance to him upon his own Body and Blood and take the Sacrament upon it that we will be his faithful Votaries When we take the Consecrated Symbols into our hands we make this solemn Dedication of our selves to God Here we offer and present unto thee O Lord our selves our Souls and Bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively sacrifice unto thee and here we call to witness this sacred Blood that redeemed us and those vocal Wounds that interceded for us that from henceforth we oblige our selves never to start from thy service what Difficulties soever we may encounter in it and what Temptations soever we may have to forsake it Now what can be a greater Restraint to us when we are solicited to any Evil than such a solemn and sacred Obligation Methinks the Sense of that dreadful Vow that is upon us should so over-awe us that we should not be able to think of sinning without Horror For Lord how shall I dare to cheat and defraud my Neighbour when 't was but the other day that I vowed to be honest and took the Sacrament upon it with what Conscience can I now hate or design revenge against my Brother when I so lately swore unto God upon the Body and Blood of my Saviour that I would love and forgive all the world Surely if Men had any Sense of God any Dram of Religion in them they would not be able after such engagements to look upon any Temptation to sin without Trembling And whatsoever Pretences of Unworthiness Men may make to keep themselves from this Ordinance I doubt not but the great Reason of their Neglect is this that they love their Lusts and are resolved whatsoever comes of it they will not part with them and so they will not come to the Sacrament because they must be obliged to renounce their Lusts there which they are extreamly unwilling to do And if this be their Reason as I fear it is they are unworthy indeed the more Shame for them but it is such an Unworthiness as is so far from excusing their Neglect that it is a foul Aggravation of it For he that will not receive the Sacrament because he will not renounce his Lusts makes one Sin the Reason of another and so pleads that for his Excuse which will be the Cause of his Condemnation But if we are honestly resolved to part with all our Sins and can but willingly devote them as Sacrifices to the Altar we are sufficiently prepared for this great Solemnity and shall be welcome Guests to the Table of our Lord If we can sincerely pay our Vows at his Altar we may confidently take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. And having thus chained up our Lusts by the Vows of Obedience we have paid there it will be hard for them to shake off such mighty Fetters or ever to get loose again from so strict a Confinement especially if we take care to repeat this our Sacramental Vow as often as conveniently we can For as I have already shewed you the frequent Renewal of our holy Vows and Resolutions does mightily tend to strengthen and reinforce them And therefore it is worth observing how much care Christ hath taken in the very Constitution of his Religion to oblige us to a constant Repetition of our Vows and good Purposes For at our first Entrance into Covenant with him we are to be baptized in which Solemnity we do renounce the Devil and all his Works and religiously devote our selves to his Service But because we are apt to forget our Vows and the matter of it is continually to be performed and more than one World doth depend upon it therefore he hath thought fit not to trust to our first Engagement but so to methodize