Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	church_n	day_n	remission_n	4,096	5	10.5817	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16531	The vnbeliefe of St. Thomas the Apostle laid open for the comfort of all that desire to belieue. Whereunto is added a comfortable treatise for all that are afflicted in soule or body. The first armeth vs against despaire in the houre of death; the second against impatience vnder the crosse. By Nicholas Bound, Doctor in Diuinitie.	Bownd, Nicholas, d. 1613.; Bownd, Nicholas, d. 1613. Treatise ful of consolation. aut	1628 (1628)	STC 3442; ESTC S113890	68,060	212

of God alone who onely is there to be serued and not of any Saint as in time past they haue beene And so ought the daies also As vnder the law all the Sabbaths were consecrated vnto the honour of God the creator of heauen and earth and vnder the Gospel vnto the honour of Christ the Redeemer of his Church and all other daies that are now put a part among vs from the common affaires of the world they are sanctified to that ende that God might be honoured in them and by them And therefore we put a great difference betweene these holy daies and the Sabbath or Lords day First of all in that we know this later to stand vpon a better foundation then they as hauing his institution from Christ and his Apostles and so doth binde all nations and is perpetuall neuer to be changed Whereas the former haue their warrant only from men and so doe not binde all Churches alike and may be changed yea taken cleane away and serue onely for Christian policie and good order in the Church that men vpon these daies might come together and serue God And therefore it is to be prouided that there should not be too many of them least thereby men should be hindred from the necessarie workes of their callings which hath mooued the reformed Churches as in this Realme so els-where to cut off many that were vsed in the time of Poperie and so to keepe thēselues in a mediocritie neither hauing too many nor putting downe all Secondly there is a difference betweene them in the manner of keeping the one and the other for on the Christian Sabbath the lawes of our kingdome and Church doe restraine all men from many things as from markets and faires and keeping of Assises and Sessions for the execution of iustice which they doe tolerate and permit vpon other holydaies Whereas in the time of blindnesse they sometimes preferred these daies before the Sabbath and had more solemne seruice and feasts vpon them and counted it a more deadly sinne then to worke then vpon the Sabbath day Besides this they appointing these daies to the honor of men did thereby greatly dishonour the Saints thēselues For what greater dishonour can there be vnto any man then to make him a traytor and to giue vnto him that honour that is due onely to the Prince And if any should in simplicitie and good will ascribe so much to the greatest noble man in the Realme that at the last he should giue him the titles that belong vnto the King and so bring him into the suspicion of treason against his will it were no honour but dishonour vnto him So the Papists in extolling the Saints so highly that they consecrate daies vnto them and thereby seeke to honour them and hope that therefore they will become Patrons vnto them all which are proper vnto Christ in so doing they dishonour them for they make them as much as lieth in them to be traytors vnto Christ in robbing him of that honor that is proper vnto him And these Saints if they were now aliue vpon earth would not onely not take this honor vnto themselues and thanke them for it but altogether refuse it and rebuke them for it as Paul and Barnabas did vnto the people at Lystra when they brought buls with garlands and would haue sacrificed vnto them They rent their cloathes and ranne in among them Act. 14 14 saying O men why doe you these things we are men subiect vnto the like passions that you be and preach vnto you that you should turne from these vaine things vnto the liuing God IN this text there are these foure things principally to be obserued first of all the great infidelitie of S. Thomas the Apostle who did not beleeue the resurrection of Christ reported vnto him by all his fellow Apostles who had seene him v. 24 25. Secondly the great mercie of Christ who did not cast him off and leaue him to perish in this vnbeleefe of his but most louingly in time conuenient sought to pull him out of it by all good meanes euen the very same which himselfe desired vers 26 27. Thirdly the increase of faith in Thomas by these meanes appearing by the confession that he made after that he was thus confirmed namely that he did beleeue not onely that he was risen againe but for him and therefore calleth him his Lord and his God v. 28. Lastly here Christ vpon this occasion deliuereth a generall doctrine and so applieth this fact of Thomas vnto the whole church euen that they should be blessed who should beleeue in him though they did not see him as he had done I doe not purpose to intreat of all these but onely of so much as doth concerne the vnbeleefe of S. Thomas But before I come to it it may seeme somewhat strange that S. Iohn in his Gospel doth write this of his fellow Apostle seeing it tendeth so wholly to his discredit The other Euangelists all of them haue left it out it may seeme in fauour of him and it might be thought that it had beene better if he had passed it ouer with silence also But this Apostle liuing longer then all the rest about an hundred yeares after Christ and so seeing all their writings doth adde this as a matter of speciall moment as indeede in it there is offered to the Church great instruction and consolation And this plaine dealing of his is a note of that integritie that is to be found in all the Scriptures as beeing penned by the spirit of God For they came not in old time as S. Peter saith 2. Pet. 1.2 by the will of man but holy men of God did speake and write as they were mooued by the holy Ghost And therefore they greatly differ frō the writings of men which sauour of the spirit of men and so are in many things partiall as this is a common fault in many Historiographers that they flatter great men and speak onely of their vertues which they set out to the full but their vices either they wholly conceale or lightly passe thē ouer especially when they are their friends and of the same ranke and order with them as S. Thomas was vnto the Apostle S. Iohn But it is not so in the Scriptures which proceeding frō the spirit of truth are no more partiall then God himselfe with whome there is no respect of persons ●om 2.11 in so much that the penners of them doe lay open the greatest sinnes of the greatest men in their time euen of the Kings and of the Priests Sam. 2.8 As of Heli how he honoured his children aboue God and caused the sacrifices of the Lord to be despised and troaden vnder foote and of Manasseh king of Iudah how he caused his sonnes to passe through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom Chr. 33.6 and gaue himselfe to witchcraft and to charming and to sorcerie and vsed them that had familiar

aboue all reason but also in the offering vp of the said Isaac his sonne whom he loued and in whom he receiued the promises euen that with him God would establish his couenant Gen. 17 ● and with his seede after him for euer and therefore take away him and take away all and the hope of all and yet at the commandement of God he was contented to offer him vp for a burnt offering in moūt Moriah which he did by faith chap. 22 as the Apostle saith Hebr. 11. for he considered that God was able to raise him vp euē from the dead and so he measured the performance of the promises of God not by his owne reason though neuer so great but by the truth and power of God The like may be saide of Noah concerning the building of the Arke of whom it is said ●●rs 17. that by faith he beeing warned of God of the things which were not as yet seene mooued with reuerence prepared the Arke to the sauing of his houshold In which matter if he had consulted with flesh blood and conferred with his own reason he should neuer haue vndertaken so great a matter For how could he thereby imagine that all the world should be drowned except his family and that they should be saued and all the rest perish when by the space of 120 yeares he both preparing the Arke and preaching their destruction not one man or woman would beleeue it besides his owne family of eight persons might not he haue thought that he was deceiued rather then they all And how could he haue hope that fowre men should gouerne so great a vessell wherein should be male female at the least of euery liuing thing vpon the earth ●nd in the ayre with sufficient prouision for them all by the space of an whole yeare and that not in the great Ocean sea but when the whole world was a sea And where could he thinke ●o haue meanes to take and bring in all these fowles of the heauen and beasts of the earth and how could ●hey attend vpon them all to feede them and to doe all things necessarie ●nto them And many more things might be put into his head to cause ●im to desist from this worke as a ●hing impossible and no doubt he ●as subiect vnto many of these and ●uch like temptations but the Apo●tle sheweth vs how he ouercame thē●ll euen by faith whose nature and ●ropertie is to relie vpon the com●andement and promise of God a●oue all reason and contrarie vnto ●t But on the otherside vnbeleefe which is contrarie vnto faith that resteth wholly and onely vpon reason in so much that vnlesse they can see some reason how that may be done that is saide and promised they will not beleeue it they thinke it impossible they reiect it as an vnreasonable thing A most liuely patterne whereof we haue in that great man of Samaria in the daies of Ahab king of Israel at what time by reason of the fiege of the king of Aram there was such an extreame famine that women did eate their owne children ● king 6.28 Then the prophet Elisha did prophesie vnto them great plentie on the sudden euen the next day following To whom this great prince ●hap 7.2 on whose hand the king leaned answered and said Though the Lord would make windows in heauen could this thing come to passe as though he had said this is impossible though the Lord shal raine downe corne from heauen among vs for he could not conceiue ●y any reason how either the siege ●hould be so suddenly raised or if it ●ere how it should come to passe ●hat corne beeing so vnreasonably ●eare to day it should be so excee●ingly cheape to morrow But God verified his owne word vnto them at ●he time appointed and this man saw it with his eyes but neuer tasted of it because of his vnbeleefe For the king appointed him to be gouernor and to sit in the gate of the citie to see the corne sold to the people who so thronged vers 20. that they troad vpon him and there he died The whole world is full of this vnbeleefe that they will beleeue no more then their owne reason perswades them vnto and that that goeth against their reason they are readie to crosse it though it be neuer so true For how many are there that haue set downe with themselues that whatsoeuer the Preachers say they haue determined a course which they thinke they haue good reason for in that they minde to continue beyond that they will not goe they are so setled that out of it they will not be remooued they hope they are not now to learne they are too old to be taught they trust that they haue not liued so long for nothing they haue wit and reason as well as other men and so that that they haue conceiued they will sticke vnto that course they haue entred into they purpose to continue in and in that they minde to liue and die and this course they hold for doctrine both of faith and manners for duties to God and to men and thus they will beleeue none but thēselues and their owne reason And thus though they come to the Church from day to day they come not to learne any thing they haue determined beforehand what they minde to doe They will learne of no man they can teach themselues sufficiently Whereupon it commeth to passe that though they daily heare their sinnes rebuked they will amend nothing and the iudgements of God denounced against them they will beleeue nothing they thinke they haue better reason for their doings then any man can haue against them And if they be called vpon to increase in knowledge and godlines and so to goe on to perfection they stand still at a stay and thinke it not necessarie they like well of their owne doings and no man shall remooue them frō them they will beleeue none but themselues vnlesse I see reason for it mine owne selfe I will not beleeue you Thus through vnbeleefe the word is choaked in the greatest part of the hearers as our Sauiour Christ sheweth in the parable of the seede and it profiteth them not one whit no more then it did the Iewes when it was preached vnto them because it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it ●ct 4.2 And so that is the very cause why in this long time of preaching there hath bin so little good done euen the great vnbeleefe that raigneth in men euery where Of which the Prophet Isai had too great experience in his time in them to whom he preached and doth with great griefe complaine of it when he crieth out thus pathetically who will beleeue our report to whom is the arme of the Lord reuealed ●●a 53.1 meaning that none would beleeue it but those whose hearts God touched by his holy Sprit And thus by their doings men doe too apparently

sometimes when it is at the best and so not imagine that vnlesse wee haue it according to our owne desire we haue it not at all or as Gods people vse to haue it For vndoubtedly it is thus with the best at one time or other And concerning this desire of feeling and assurance wee must vnderstand thus much that none can haue this but those that beleeue so that though we should want them both altogether yet the desire that wee haue vnto them doth manifestly argue that we haue faith For who can desire to feele the heate and light of the sunne but he that hath life in him a dead carkase cannot doe it So ●f there were not the life of the Spi●it in vs by faith we could not haue a●y desire to feele the fauour of God ●n vs in truth at all He that is neuer so weake yet if he still desire strēgth it appeareth that there is life in him so when we most earnestly desire to be strengthened in the assurance of our saluation it is a manifest token that the life of God is still in vs therefore let vs comfort our selues with such desires and know assuredly that as they be of God so he will satisfie them in his good time for the Lord heareth the desire of the poore Psal 10.17 he prepareth their heart and bendeth his eare vnto them that is as he giueth them so earnestly to desire these things which others neglect so he will shew by giuing also that which they doe desire that he hath not giuen them such holy desires in vaine For the saying of our Sauiou● Christ must be verified vpon all men without respect of persons Matth. 5.6 Blessed are all they that hunger and thirst no● onely after righteousnes but after any other graces of his Spirit for the● shall be satisfied and filled And the saying of the virgine Marie shall be verified in them Luk. 1.53 He hath filled the hungrie with good things and sent away the rich emptie that is as they that haue no such desires can looke for no such feeling so they that are vnsatiable in their desires that way shall be satisfied in time with abundance of feeling and if they waite vpon God with patience beleeuing these promises it shall be vnto them according to their faith That I might not say here that which is yet most true that while they so vnmeasurably desire it they haue it in a good measure For herein is the saying of S. Augustine most true that the desire of any grace of God is in some sort the grace it selfe He that vnfainedly desireth the forgiuenes of his sinnes doth with this desire obtaine the remission of them He that desireth a greater measure of repentance doth from day to day profit in repentance he that desireth not to sinne is no sinner before God he that desireth the fauour of God hath obtained it alreadie he that desireth the assurance of his saluation and the feeling of Gods fauour he hath both of them in some sort already When Abraham was willing to offer vp his sonne Izack at Gods commandemēt Heb. 11.17 he is said to haue don it by faith his desire before god was as though he had done it so when we offer vp these desires vnto God it is as well with vs in his account as though we had the things themselues For as the Apostle speaketh o● almes ● Cor. 8.12 if there be first a willing min● it is accepted according to that a mā hath and not according to that tha● a man hath not that is God looketh not so much to his deede as to his desire as the poore widow that offered but two mites was more accepted of God and commended by Christ then they that offered much because of her great desire So when in the sacrifice of prayer we offer vp our hearts vnto god with holy desires either for assurance of his fauour or feeling of our saluation we are accepted of him as though we had them and when he giueth vs this desire he beginneth to worke the grace it selfe and that desire is the earnest peny pledge of the thing it selfe Christ saith in the Gospel that whosoeuer looketh on a woman to lust after her Math. 5.2 hath committed adultery with her already in his heart So that the desire vnto any sin is the sin it selfe before God then the desire vnto any vertue is the vertue and grace it selfe before God And therefore he that looketh vp vnto God with an earnest desire of his saluatiō he hath obtained it alreadie before God who seeth aloweth the desire of his heart He that looketh on his own vnbeleefe and corruptions with a desire to be rid of them he is thereby discharged of them before God Thus we see that to desire feeling is an argument of faith as to desire meate is an argument of life yea to desire feeling is the very beginning of it in our selues and therefore we must be comforted ouer them Concerning which feelings we must also consider that in them that haue them in the greatest measure they are not alwaies alike but they are going and comming as the day and the night And as in the course of nature there is not one tenour of things but Gods works are subiect to many changes so is it in the course of Gods grace that which we haue receiued doth not alwaies continue alike neither haue we the same feeling of it to day that we had yesterday whether we looke to the feruencie of prayer or zeale to Gods word or loue to his Saints or assurance of our saluation Here we must comfort our selues with the remembrance of that that we haue found in our selues in times past and hope that we may finde the like againe and say as it is in the Psalme Psal 77.1 119 5● I haue remembred the times past and haue beene comforted For as the woman that is quickned with child and feeleth it stirre in her bodie though shee doe not alwaies feele it stirre alike and sometimes not at all and sometimes more weakely then before yet shee assures her selfe that the child is liuing because shee hath felt it stirre before so hopeth that shee shall doe againe So when Christ is formed in vs first of all as the Apostle speaketh Gal. 4.1 we haue the feeling of him stirring and moouing in our hearts by his holy Spirit dwelling in vs which liuely motions though wee feele not so strongly moouing in vs afterwards or not at all yet we doubt not but that Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith still Eph. 3.17 and hope to feele it as sensibly againe in time as we haue done so much the more because Christ beeing formed in vs neuer dieth and therefore the remembrance of our former Feelings must comfort vs ouer the want of them for the time present for they are not alwaies alike in any that haue them it