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
A70390	A sermon preach'd at Turners-Hall, the 5th of May, 1700 by George Keith ; in which he gave an account of his joyning in communion with the Church of England ; with some additions and enlargements made by himself.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1700 (1700)	Wing K209; ESTC R14185	28,024	34

same Form of words without receiving it the one from the other To plead for using a new Form or Method of words in Prayer every time that Men Pray is as improper and impertinent as to plead that every time we Eat we must have a new Dish or Platter to Eat out of and every time we drink we must have a new Cup to drink out of and if every day yea as oft every day as we Pray we must use a new extempore Form we may as well plead every day we must several times each day put on New Shoes and New Apparel which as it would be great waste so would it be very uneasie The method of words in Prayer whether extempore or in a Set Form is as remote an Accident to the substance of Prayer either for Matter or Life as a Dish or a Platter is to the Meat put into it or a Cup to the Drink that is in it the same Meat may be as good as when put into another Dish and the Drink as good as in another Cup and as several Habits of Garments may suit the same Person so several Forms of Prayer with respect to the external Form may suit the same Prayer both as to Matter and Life As Grace doth sometimes cause a variety in our words of Prayer when the Matter is the same so meer humane Art can and doth most frequently cause a variety for by meer humane Art six words can be varied some hundreds of times and yet the matter remain the same It is therefore a great mistake in many who think they who pray in greatest variety of words and modes of expression they Pray most by the Spirit or with Grace for as it can be done by meer Art without Grace so it frequently is so done and thereby many are greatly deceived especially when it is Varnished with great seeming shews of Fervour by gestures and tones that move and stir the natural and animal Passions and Affections But I remember I have heard two or three things objected by some against the matter of Common Prayer 1. Where the People say There is no Health in us But that is no more offensive then what the Scripture saith That it is not in Man̄ to direct his Steps i. e. It is not in Man as of himself but of the Lord so there is no health in us nor in any Man but what is of God and Christ It is not in us originally but by derivation and participation from God and Christ in whom all fullness dwells and of whose fullness we all receive and Grace for Grace 2. That they still are praying from Seven to Seventy Lord be merciful to us miserable Offenders but this I think is only made by the Quakers all others confess that they are Sinners and consequently as in themselves miserable and continually needing God's mercy for as St. James said in many things we offend all and as St. John saith if we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves but if we confess our Sins c. The Church of God in all Ages have confessed their Sins and the holiest Men have done so as Daniel Esdras c. The great remission of Sins in the most solemn and publick manner is reserved to the day of Judgment that great day of Assise what remission the best now have is but like the Criminal's Pardon from the King that he has by himself in secret that is not so Authentick till it be proclaimed in open Court at the Assise 3. Some object against that expression in the Common Prayer We are tied and bound with the chain of our Sins But I think none of the Dissenters the Quakers excepted can well so object many of whom commonly in their Prayers say They must carry about with them a Body of Sin and Death to the Grave which I think is more then what is here objected against I think it were more safe and warrantable according to Scripture to say that some remainders of Sin remain in the Faithful especially with respect to the Original Defilement by Adam's Fall as also with respect to some remaining part of those Habits of Sin we had contracted by our actual Transgressions than that the Body of Sin remains in them if they understand it of the whole Body or Complex of vitious Habits contracted by actual Sins which the Saints are said to have put off by Regeneration as when the Body or Bulk of a great Tree is cut down with its Boughs Branches Twigs and Bearers yet the Stump and Root or some part of it remains in the Ground which if due care be not taken continually to mortify suppress and subdue would spring up again to which that in Hebr. 12. 15. seems plainly to refer and with respect to such a remaining Part root or seed of Sin in the Faithful it is said by St. John 1 John 1. 8. If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us This remainder of Sin God hath seen meet to suffer to remain in the Faithful though he pardoneth the Guilt of it and hath promised to give them sufficiency of his Grace whereby still they may be able to mortify and subdue it for the tryal of their Faith and the Exercise of both their Faith and all other their Graces and Virtues in the way of Spiritual Conflict and Warfare against three grand Enemies the Devil the World and the Flesh that so through the Victory that the Faithful obtain by the Victorious Power of God's Grace their Reward may be the greater which yet is still the Free Gift of God according to 2 Tim. 2. 5. And if a Man also strive for Masteries yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully Not that Sin either in less or more is any proper Cause of the increase of our Virtues yet as in natural Effects one natural Agent commonly works the more powerfully in the presence of a contrary Agent if that contrary Agent be not too powerful its Agency serving but to excite the other the more effectually against it as Heat is increased by Cold and a little Water cast into Fire increaseth the Flame Now that this remaining part root or seed of Sin with what other is contracted by the daily indeliberate and for the most part involuntary infirmities that the Faithful are obnoxious to may be said to be a Chain whereby they are tied and bound in part though as to the main they are loosed and set free from the reign and prevalency of Sin by the virtue and prevalency of God's Grace as when a Man that has been bound Hands and Feet and in his whole Body by strong Fetters of Iron is loosed from the greatest and heaviest of them in his whole Body and Members yet some less Chain or Chains remain that though they neither do nor can hinder his acting and walking yet do in part incommode and retard him This is fitly represented by what is reported

Sentence that he quoted out of a Psalm of David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. that written Word They say they call the Scripture what it calleth it self to wit a Treatise for which they quote Acts 1. 1. the former Treatise but had they understood or consulted the Greek they would have found it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the former Word whereby he understands the whole Book of the Gospel according to St. Luke Now as to the distinction betwixt a good and evil Conscience of which also the Scripture speaks 1. An evil Conscience is an ignorant Conscience 2. Unfaithfulness and Disobedince to what a Man is convinced of renders the Conscience to be evil 3. Unbelief and want of Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ makes the Conscience evil 4. Not to follow the dictates of Conscience even when it errs is an evidence of an evil Conscience Here that Axiom takes place Conscientia errans ligat sed non obligat an erring Conscience ties but doth not oblige it is a great pinch and strait He 〈◊〉 follows not an erring Conscience sinneth because he acts not in Faith and what is not of faith is sin and when he followeth his erring Conscience he sinneth This is no new Doctrine however possibly it may so seem to some here it is that which every Casuist doth commonly teach I will illustrate it to you by a Similitude that some have given If a Subject be deceived by a counterfeit Messenger from his Prince who brings a counterfeit Message from the King sealed with a counterfeit Seal and he thinks it to be real this Subject sufficiently shews his disrespect and disloyalty to his Prince if he refuse to obey it the application is easie If any object that as Contradictories cannot be both true or both false but the one true and the other false so if to follow an erring Conscience be a sin not to follow it is no sin being Contradictory But I answer they are not Contradictory for they are both affirmative Propositions He that followeth an erring Conscience sinneth this is affirmative He that followeth not an erring Conscience sinneth this is also affirmative But the way to get out of this pinch is to get a well-informed Conscience and to get rid of those Errours of Conscience which prejudice of Education by evil Teachers has led them into read the Holy Scriptures search meditate pray God to give you a good Understanding and let you see your Errours confer with such whom you have good cause to esteem both more holy and more wise and understanding than your selves To the third and last what the Rule of Conscience is according to which it must be directed and guided that so it may be denominated a good Conscience I answer We must distinguish betwixt an inadequate or incomplete Rule of Conscience and that which is adequate and complete The Law writ in the Heart of every Man is an incomplete Rule to a Man's Conscience obliging every Christian to obey it so that whosoever transgresseth against it is guilty of hainous sin and this Law extendeth in some degree to most of all yea in some sort to all the ten Precepts of the Moral Law but our highest Obedience to that Law and Rule cannot denominate the Conscience good or give true peace of Conscience or heal the wound of it that sin hath given for all have sinned and faln short of the Glory of God and whatsoever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world become guilty before God The best of our Obedience cannot make atonement for our sins nay not for one sin not the least sin it is only the Lamb of God as he was slain for us that takes away our sins as we have faith in him his Blood cleanseth us 〈◊〉 all sin and the Merit and Value of it hath procured to us the Gift of the Holy Spirit to sanctifie us and therefore we owe both our Justification and Sanctification to the Lamb of God and to his most precious Blood for by our Justification we are cleansed from the guilt of sin and by our Sanctification from the filth of it And though Faith and Repentance are necessary conditions and qualifications to our obtaining Remission of sin Justification and eternal Salvation yet they are not in any wise the meritorious Cause thereof but Christ alone by what he hath done and suffered for us Holiness and our Obedience to God's Laws and Precepts both as writ without in the Holy Scriptures and as writ within in our Hearts is indispensibly necessary to our eternal Salvation but we must not rest nor rely upon it even when it is wrought in us by the help of the Holy Spirit it must not be the foundation or ground of our Faith and hope for remission of Sins and eternal Salvation either in whole or in part but our reliance must be alone on the Lord Jesus Christ both God and Man as he died for us c. and on the Mercy of God through him apprehended by Faith Now the knowledge of this in God's ordinary way is given to us and all who have it by the inward Illumination and Operation of the Holy Spirit in the use of the written Word as it is preached and heard by us or read and meditated upon We feeling the working of the Spirit of Christ to mortifie the works of the flesh and the earthly members and to draw up our mind to high and heavenly things as the 17th Article of the Church of England plainly expresseth The complete and adequate Rule therefore of our Faith and Practice is the whole revealed Will of God as it is declared unto us in the Holy Scriptures the Laws and Precepts whereof are of a far greater extent than those writ in every Man's heart without all Scripture Revelation or antecedent to it as David said I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandment is exceeding broad that is the whole complex or body of the Divine Laws given us by God and Christ as they are contained in the Holy Scriptures for Doctrine for Correction for Instruction c. It is therefore a great and dangerous Errour in them who hold as many do in these Nations that the Light within and what it dictates in every Man is the full and entire complete and perfect Rule of all Faith and Practice and nothing is absolutely needful to our Salvation but what that Light within teacheth us and all Mankind or will teach us if we hearken to it and obey it without all Scripture and all outward means of Instruction and yet the utmost extent that this Light within goeth to teach Men without Scripture and without the special Illumination and Operation of the Spirit accompanying the Scripture's Testimony is no more than the Righteousness of the Moral Law and Terms of the first Covenant Do and Live which Covenant we have all transgressed and