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
A61598	A sermon concerning sins of omission preached before the King and Queen at White-Hall, on March 18th, 1693/4, being Midlent-Sunday / by ... Edward, Lord Bishop of Worcester.	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1694 (1694)	Wing S5636; ESTC R15343	16,441	37

A SERMON CONCERNING Sins of Omission Preached before the King and Queen AT WHITE-HALL ON March 18 th 1693 4. being Midlent-Sunday By the Right Reverend Father in GOD EDWARD Lord Bishop of Worcester Published by Their Majesties Special Command LONDON Printed by I. H. for Henry Mortlock at the Phoenix in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1694. S. JAMES IV. 17. Therefore to him that knoweth to doe good and doth it not to him it is Sin ALthough our Apostle in this Epistle calls the Gospel the Law of Liberty yet to prevent any misconstruction thereof as tho' it allowed a Liberty to sin we no where find more strict and severe passages against it than in this Epistle both with Respect to Sins of Commission and Sins of Omission As to Sins of Commission his Expression seems hardly consistent with the Grace of the Gospel For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one Point he is guilty of all Hath the Law of Moses any thing more apt to terrifie the Consciences of Men if not to drive them into despair than this It is not If one breaks the whole Law then it had been no wonder if he were guilty of all even under the Gospel which doth not take away the force of the Moral Law But If he keeps the whole Law and yet offend in one Point he is guilty of all How is this agreeable with the Equity of the Gospel to make a Breach of one Part to be a violation of the whole Law Since he cannot keep the Law and break it at the same time and so far as he did keep it he could not be guilty of the breach of it but if he offended but in one Point he must keep all the rest It is not enough to say that the Chain of the whole is broken and the Authority of the Law-giver contemned for there is a great difference between breaking a Chain and breaking it all to pieces there is no such Contempt in the Breach of one Command as of all and he that keeps all the rest seems to shew more regard to his Authority in keeping the other Parts of the Law than Contempt in that wherein he offends What then is the Apostles Meaning It is that the Gospel doth not allow any wilfull Breach of the Law of God in any one kind or sort whatsoever as appears by the following words For he that said Do not commit Adultery said also Do not kill now if thou commit no Adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a Transgressor of the Law What is before said that he is guilty of all is here explained that he is a Transgressor of the Law This cannot therefore be understood of any sudden Act of Passion and Surprise nor of any Failings as to the Manner of our Duties but of a wilfull deliberate Practice of some one known Sin although the Person may be carefull to avoid many others Because this is not consistent with that Integrity of Mind and that sincere Regard to God and his Laws which every good Christian ought to have and so being guilty of the whole Law is to be understood with Respect to the Favour of God which can no more be expected where there is a wilfull persisting in any one known Trangression of the Law than if he were guilty of all As to Sins of Omission the words of the Text taken in their full Extent have a very mortifying consideration in them For it is much easier to know to doe good than to practise it It is hard for Men under the plain Precepts of the Gospel not to know how to doe good but who is there that can say he doth all the good he knows We all know we ought to love God with all our heart and soul and strength and our Neighbour as our selves yet who can pretend to doe it in the utmost latitude and extent of our Duty So that what S. Paul saith of the Law is true of the Text that it concludes all under Sin For as our Apostle saith in many things we offend all And the more we know the more we offend as he tells us in these words To him that knoweth to doe good and doth it not to him it is sin What Advantage then have we by the Gospel since the more we know of our Duty the worse our Condition is if we do not practise it And we know so much more to be our Duty than we can hope to practise that this Expression seems to leave Mankind in a more deplorable Condition under the Light of the Gospel than if we had never heard of it For if the Sin be aggravated by knowing our Duty and not doing it it must proportionably be lessened by having no Opportunities to know it Therefore for the Clearing the Sense of the Apostle in these words and for the right understanding the just Measures of our Duty and the due Aggravation of our Sins it will be necessary to state and clear the Nature and Extent of Sins of Omission Or to shew how far this Rule of the Apostle holds To him that knoweth to doe good and doth it not to him it is Sin To doe good here doth not barely imply something that is Lawfull and Commendable which it is some way in our Power to doe but that to which we are under some Obligation so that it becomes our Duty to doe it For a Sin of Omission must suppose an Obligation since every Sin must be a Transgression of the Law But there are several sorts of things that are good and there are different kinds of Obligation and from hence arises the Difficulty of stating the Nature of Sins of Omission which some are too little sensible of and some too much But it is in it self a Subject of so important a Nature and so seldom spoken to that I shall at this time endeavour to clear it And in order thereto we must enquire I. Into that Good which we are obliged to do II. The Nature of the Obligation we are under to do it I. As to the Good which we are obliged to do that may be considered two ways 1. With Respect to God and so it implies the Duty we Owe on the account of the Relation we stand in to Him 2. With Respect to one another and so it implies not mere Duty but something beneficial and advantageous to others which we are in a Capacity to do 1. Our Duty with Respect to God is either 1. That of our Minds which lie in Internal Acts which we are bound to perform towards Him 2. That which consists in External Acts of Duty and Service to Him 1. The Duty which we Owe to God in our Minds which is not barely to Know him but frequently to Consider and Think of him as our Maker and Benefactor It is a strange Incogitancy in Mankind to live as without God in the World to suffer the Cares and Thoughts and Business of this World

are under to do them 1. As to the Nature of our Duties For there are several kinds of things that are Good and we are to have a different Regard to them Some things are Good because they are commanded and some things are commanded because they are Good and even God himself allows us to make a Difference between these when himself saith I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice although he required both but if it happens that both cannot be done then he prefers the former although his own Honour seems more concerned in the latter Our Saviour extends this Rule to Mercy on the Souls of Men and to Mercy on our Bodies even out of the Case of urgent or extreme Necessity which cannot be pleaded in the Apostles Case of Plucking the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath day But from hence we have ground to infer that when two Duties interfere with one another we are bound to prefer the greater and more substantial Duty and then the Omission of the lesser is no Sin 2. As to the Authority which requires them There is no question but when the Authority of God and Man do contradict each other God is to be obeyed rather than Man But the Authority of God's Command is not equally clear in all Cases for some things are required plainly and directly and some things by consequence and parity of Reason some things are declared and enforced by the Gospel others left to our own Deductions and Inferences some things are made positive Commands for all Ages others are reported by way of Example but that Example understood by the Church to have the force of a Command now in all these and other like Cases we ought to have the greatest regard to plain positive moral and perpetual Commands but withall to have a due regard to consequential and usefull Duties especially where the Church of God hath always so understood them which is the best Interpreter of such doubtfull Cases where the Sense of it is truly delivered to us 3. As to the Obligation we are under and that is threefold 1. That of Nature which is to act according to Reason and none can question that but those who question whether there be any such Principle as Reason in Mankind and whosoever do so have Reason to begin at home 2. Of Christianity which supposes and enforces that of Nature and superadds many other Duties which we are bound to perform as Christians 3. Of our Several Relations and particular Imployments As to the former we are under great Obligations from God and Nature and Christianity to doe the Duties which belong to us in them As to the latter they commonly require a stricter Obligation by Oath to doe those things which otherwise we are not bound to doe But being entered into it by a voluntary Act of our own we cannot omit such Duties without Sin but where the Circumstances of things do supersede the Obligation Thus I have gon through as clearly and distinctly as I could the most usefull Cases relating to Sins of Omission It remains now that I make some Application to our selves When we reflect on our Lives and Actions our Sins of Commission are apt to terrifie our Consciences and make us very apprehensive of the Wrath of God but how few are any ways concerned for their Sins of Omission viz. For not discharging the Duties of their Places for not doing the Good they might and ought to have done for not serving God with Diligence and exemplary Devotion for not having their Minds so fixed and intent upon him as they ought to have on their Creatour and Preserver and Redeemer In a very corrupt Age not to be remarkable for doing Evil is a kind of Saintship but how few are remarkable for doing Good and yet that is one of the best Characters of Saintship How much time is squandred away in Vanity and Folly and yet how is that grudged which is spent in the Worship of God O what a burthen it is to serve God and spend any time in Devotion How many Excuses and Pretences of Business will such make rather than attend upon Religous Duties which themselves would judge very frivolous in other Matters And will God and Conscience be satisfied with such unequal Dealing such notorious Partiality Let us deal faithfully and sincerely with our selves Are we as ready to serve God as to serve our Lusts and Pleasures Have we the same regard to his Worship that we have to any thing we really love and esteem If not there must be something very much amiss in the Temper and Disposition of the Mind and we are highly concerned to look into it I do not speak now of casual and accidental Omissions of some particular Duties at some times but of a general Unconcernedness about Matters of Religion as though they were either too high in the Speculation or too mean and low in the Practice of them or at least that it is no great Matter one way or other whether they mind them or not This I am afraid is too much the Temper of the Age we live in which seems to be sinking into a strange Indifferency about Religion It is possible for Persons to have a Zeal against some corrupt Opinions and Practices in Religion and yet to have no true Zeal or Concernment for Religion it self For they may so much hate being imposed upon by false Pretenders that carry on an Interest and Faction under the Shew of Religion as from thence to suspect all Religion to be nothing else which is as unreasonable as for a Man to conclude that all Merchants and Jewellers are Cheats and that there are no such things nor can be as true Diamonds in the World because he hath fallen into the hands of such as would have cheated him with those which were counterfeit And it is common with such who design to deceive that what they want in Sincerity they make up with Confidence This is a good Argument for caution and looking about us but it is none at all for our indifferency about Matters of Religion For it is not here as in Jewels which are fine things to look upon but the Happiness of Life doth not depend upon them But would any one let alone things necessary to the Support of Life because Poison may be put into them We may take care to prevent it but we must have the Necessaries of Life and it would be great Folly to die for want of Sustenance for fear of being Poisoned If we have no true Love to God and Religion we must perish for there is no hopes of Salvation without it And if we go on in a careless Indifferency about God and his Service If we do not do our Endeavours for suppressing Wickedness and Vice If we do not mind Religion our selves nor are incouraging it in others it will shew that we have not that Love of God and Religion which we ought to have Therefore if we