Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	david_n	lord_n	nathan_n	4,238	5	12.7447	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09965	Foure godly and learned treatises Intituled, I. A remedy against covetousnesse. II. An elegant and lively description of spirituall death and life. III. The doctrine of selfe-deniall. IV. Vpon the sacrament of the Lords Supper. Delivered in sundry sermons, by that late famous preacher, and worthy instrument of Gods glory, Iohn Preston, Doctor of Divinitie, chaplaine in ordinarie to his Majestie; master of Emanuel Colledge, and sometime preacher of Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Preston, John, 1587-1628. Three sermons upon the sacrament of the Lords Supper. aut	1633 (1633)	STC 20222; ESTC S115040	185,075	475

Christ it is not giuen us to keepe exactly for that is impossible it was impossible to keepe it through the weaknesse of the flesh Rom. 8.3 the Law was therefore given that wee might know our weaknesse not that we should keepe it but that Christs righteousnesse might bee fulfilled in us by faith Gal. 3.24 the Law is our schoolemasted to bring us to Christ that we might be iustified through faith that is the end of ●he Law But it will be objected that in as much as we are commanded to doe things impossible mans nature is destroyed for man is a free creature Secondly the command implies an absurdity an impossibility to bid a man doe that which hee cannot doe to bid a man that is in a deepe Well bound hand and foote to come out himselfe is foolish yee may blame him for falling in it is absurd to bid him come out To this I answer that there is a difference betweene the externall binding and the bonds wherewith a man is fettered by sinne There is an externall impediment which a man cannot remove as when he is fettered in the well but there is no externall impediment when as men are bound in the chaines of sin When wee command you to doe thus and thus all the businesse is with the wil we rather say men will not than they cannot come There is liberty when as a man hath eligibile or non eligibile when hee hath a thing in his owne choise when there is no impediment when hee may argue both wayes If a man out of the perversnesse of his nature doth it not it is not compulsory but free a beasts action is not free because hee cannot reason on both sides but man when hee considers arguments on both sides when hee can say doe not doe such a thing but doe such a thing when he can conceive arguments on both sides he is free there is no such externall impediment in him as to bid one in darkensse to doe a thing of the light or one bound hand and foote in a pit to come out since the chiefe impediment here is in the depraved wils of men which God doth rectifie and change by his grace and Spirit through the use of meanes If then every man out of Christ bee in an estate of death let every man examine himselfe and consider whether he be a dead man or no this is the great quere or question in this mutability and incertaintie of things Let us make the life to come sure our life is uncertaine here but have we this spirituall life are we living men then wee are happy but are we dead then he that is not partaker of the first resurrection shall not be partaker of the second It is too late to begin to live when we are dying certainely the time of our naturall death is a time of spending not of getting or inquiring after life If yee deferre this search while yee are in health when ye lie on your deaths bed when ye shall see heaven and hell immediately presented unto you this question will hold you solicitous and then you shall see that this spirituall life is the life indeed The time of this naturall life is not long the candle burnes not long if it burne out yet it is oftner blowne out than burnt out men oftner fall downe than come down from the tree of life this Tabernacle is often throwne downe before it fals downe therefore in this short life make your selves sure of eternall life Now there are two things which hinder this search and inquirie after spirituall life The first is a false opinion men thinke themselves in the wayes of life being in the wayes of death they thinke there is a greater latitude in the Gospell than there is The second is men are not at leasure there are millions of businesses in their heads so that they cannot hearken to the whisperings of conscience they have no spare time to be wise unto salvation It will be our wisdome therefore to consider our end Deut. 32.29 To helpe you therefore in this Quere whether you are dead or alive Consider first if ever you have beene dead Secondly if ye have beene dead whether yee are made alive First I say consider whether yee have beene dead or no I meane whether sin hath beene made alive in you that you might die Rom. 7.9.10 I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandement came sinne revived and I died that is the Commandement awakens my sinnes and they being aalive I died sinne when it affrights not a mans conscience then hee is dead when it wounds the conscience then hee is alive The Law being brought to the soule by the Spirit yee see the rectitude of the Commandement and your owne obliquity and crookednesse then sinne is alive and ye die Peter preaching to the Iewes Acts 2. recites to them their sinne in crucifying the Lord of glory which sinne was made alive and pricked them at their hearts Sinne was dead in David till Nathan and the Law came unto him afterward hee lived and was humbled Luke 5. Peter seeing Christs Divinitie by the draught of Fishes cries out Depart from mee Lord for I am a sinfull man hee had sinnes in him before but they were dead then they were made alive Paul hee had sinnes that were dead in him but when the outward light which was but a tipe of his light within did shine about him then he dies and his sinnes were made alive So Iosephs brethren had sinnes but they were not made alive till they were put in prison then their sinne in selling their brother Ioseph lived and they died Hath sinne ever beene alive in you by the commandement to slay you that is hath it bred such an apprehension in you as of death not a sigh or two for a day that is no slaying of you but ye must apprehend sinne as death as one that is to bee executed forthwith apprehends death so must you apprehend sinne then it is a signe that there is life within you Secondly are yee made alive againe Is there such a change in you as if yee were other creatures as if yee lived an other life Where this life is it works an alteration and a change gives us another being makes us to bee no more the same men Who ever is in Christ is a new creature it works a generall change from death to life it makes all our actions to bee vigorous like the actions of living men Old things passe away all things become new it makes men lead a new life If old acquaintance and lusts would draw us away we answer that we are dead that we live no moe to these that now we have not our owne wills Christ lives in us and workes in us Gal. 2.20 It is not I that live but Christ lives in me The same mind will bee in us that was in Christ Iesus Phil. 2.5 Now if ye desire

his heart that they may lye there in the habits that they may be in the heart as fire raked in the ashes But if a man will come to receive the Sacrament and suffer these habits these graces he hath to lie still there he comes not as a worthy receiver there are indeed degrees of unworthinesse he comes not as a worthy receiver except hee stirres them up except they be acted at that very time as for example when we come to receive the Sacrament wee ought then to have an especiall humiliation and sorrow for our sinnes we ought then to have an especiall love to Iesus Christ we ought then to have a special rejoycing in him and in all the Priviledges wee have by him we ought then to have a speciall love to our brethren the men with whom wee converse and among whom wee live now if a man come and receive and do not stirre up and act these graces he receivs unworthyly and my ground for it is this You see in the feast of Reconciliation the Tenth day of the Seventh moneth the Lord tels them there you shall come and you shall keepe it you shall not do worke c. But is this enough no He that doth not actually afflict his soule saith he that day he shall be cut off from his people Levit. 23.27 This is though they had a habitual disposition and their hearts were prepared to sorrow for their sinnes and to take them to heart and bewaile them this is not enough saith hee at this time you must afflict your soules that is there must be a stirring up of that sorrow So likewise you finde this in the feasts in more places than one that when they come to keepe the feasts at that time they shall eate and drinke and refresh themselves but in any case rejoyce Deut. 12 and Deut. 16. I will not stand to repeate the places That is it 's not enough for you to have thankfull hearts to have hearts prepared for these things in the habit but you must then rejoyce for it is the season of it for every thing is good in it's season and the Lord requires it at such a time Therefore thus thinke with thy selfe whensoever thou comest to receive the Sacrament this is the time that the graces I have the habituall graces must be new pointed as it were they must bee new whetted new scowred that they may be bright and shining upon such an occasion when the Lord cals for it you must then quicken and stir them up that they may bee all acted in your hearts And this is one thing that it 's not enough for a man to bee in Christ to take the priviledges that belong to him but there is a certaine qualification required that must be done at that time when the Covenant is renewed And this is one to have the graces thus acted Secondly there must be a new Reconciliation For the Saints those that are within the covenant those that are regenerate men you must marke it well for it 's a point of much use when they commit sinnes against God the guilt of their sinnes is retained though they are within the covenant and are not cut off from Christ but are in him yet I say when they have sinned the guilt of that sinne continues and is continued till they be reconciled and renewed by faith and repentance as you see it was with David Nathan would not have said when hee came to him Thy sinnes are forgiven thee if there had not beene a new thing if there had not beene a thing done at that time and therefore it intimates so much that before his sin was not forgiven that is the Lord was angry with him You must know therefore this that when a regenerate man sinnes there is only a particular guilt the universall guilt of sinnes returnes not for that would cut him quite off that would put him absolutely into the state of damnation but it 's a particular guilt for every particular sinne that is even as a father is pleased well with his son and knowes him to be his sonne hee is affected to him as to his sonne yet hee hath done such a particular action that hath offended him and for that particular offence hee withdrawes himselfe from him hee carries not himselfe to him as he was wont to do being offended with him for such a fault now till the sonne hath reconciled and humbled himselfe for that particular action though the father hath an hundred gifts to bestow on him yet hee shall have none of them till hee hath reconciled himselfe So thinke with thy selfe if any sinne lye in the way when thou commest to partake of this priviledge to receive the Sacrament or when thou commest to call on God for any particular mercy or to have any request granted thinke then with thy selfe such a sinne I committed I must humble my selfe for it I must labour to make reconciliation labour to have this taken away that my Father may bee reconciled to mee then come and take the priviledge for now it belongs unto me therefore there is a necessity of renewing our repentance and reconciliation most exactly and to take a very particular examination of our wayes when we come to receive the Sacrament or when wee draw neere to God upon such speciall occasions least our Father though he be a Father to us have some particular quarrell against us for even he whom we call Father 1 Pet. 1.17 iudgeth every man even his owne sonnes without respect of persons that is he did not beare any ill in them thus you see did he with Moyses with David and others and the like he doth with all the Saints This is the second qualification that is required before you can have any part in any of the priviledges before you can attaine unto this assurance to aske and have therefore it is not without use and that not in the Sacrament onely but also in that which we have to deliver Thirdly suppose there be no particular sinne suppose the grace you have be acted when you come to receive the Sacrament yet there is a third thing required a third qualification that must be found in the heart of him that will be a worthy receiver and that is to observe well what distance is growne betweene the Lord and him ever since the time that he hath in a more particular manner beene reconciled to him This is another thing than what wee named before to consider what rust hath growne upon his soule what soyle his heart hath contracted by conversing in the world and by medling with worldly and earthly things for the soule gathers soyle with medling with them even as the hands doe now thou must thinke with thy selfe when thou commest to the Lord and drawest neere to him in this or any other duty thou must recover that distance againe and bring thy heart neerer to the Lord thou must draw neerer to him

sheepe are not of the same strength Some are Lambes and can goe but softly and Christ is a mercifull Shepheard that casts off none now how shall we distinguish The Saints goe off and on and so do wicked men what is the difference betweene them This is necessary to be knowne because men are apt to deceive themselves they say there is a similitude betweene Saints vertues and sinnes and theirs looke on the outside and there is little difference David and Peter they sinned foulely their sinnes in outward appearance were like to other mens So for their vertues stupidity doth oft times act the part of true vertue Take one that is ignorant he dies patiently because he knowes no danger as well as a godly man that is sure of Heaven both may be abstemious and patient in shew but now we will distinguish them First though the Saints fall yet there is never any way of wickednesse found in them there may be infirmities in them but there is never any constant continuance in any sinnes of omission or commission A holy man may forget himselfe but yet ye cannot say that he is a covetous man or a wicked man holy men sinne but it is out of an incogitance do but put him in mind they mend all put another man in mind never so often tell him of his swearing and drinking yet he doth it againe The sinnes of holy men proceed from passions and passions last not long but quickly vanish David was transported with Passion and Peter with feare The Saints sinne not out of deliberation they recover quickely againe there is no course of sinne found in them if their sinnes proceed from either of these two incogitancy or passion they are quickly at an end I speake not now of sinnes that are not revealed for in such they may continue all their lives as the Patriachs did in their poligamy but as for other sins that are revealed the Godly never stand in the way of sinners They may perhaps crosse the waies of sin as theeves do the high way yet they walke not in the wayes of sin They sit not downe in the seate of the scorners Secondly the Saints as well as others may be subject to sinfull lusts that may prevaile and carry them away but the matter is not so much what affections we have but how we stand affected to those affections A holy man may have a moneths mind to an old sinne hee may delight in it and incline to it because there is flesh in him but yet hee dislikes that liking and disaffects that affection and disapproveth of this approving and this hee doth not from checkes of conscience but hee doth grieve for that love and sorrow for that delight as being contrary to the will of God Thirdly an evill man and one that is not sound hearted acts himselfe in sinning but a Godly man doth not so To understand this you must know that after regeneration there is another selfe Rom. 7.17 It is no more I that doth it but sinne that dwelleth in me I am another man now I am regenerate sinne is but an inmate In a wicked man good is but an inmate hee may say it is not I but the good that is in me doth this Wicked men they have no thorough change wrought in them therefore they doe good onely by fits a godly man being every way himselfe not being transported with Passion let him stand on equall tearmes with sinne let not sin get the hill and the winde let him remember himselfe being freed from violent passions hee sinnes not Regenerate men sinne yet the Peace is not broken betweene God and them because their minds never yeeld to sinne As it is betwixt Princes that are at Peace though Pirates of eyther nation rob the others subjects yet it breakes not the peace it being done without the will of the King So it is with sinne in Gods Children it breakes not the peace betwixt God and them because it is but a rebell and they agree not to it There is a difference betweene the entertaining of sinnes as theeves and robbers and as guests Wicked men entertaine sinne as a guest the godly man himselfe never sinnes and he entertaines sinne but as a robber Fourthly those that follow Christ but in s●ew and onely weare his Livery they often fall off they can doe nothing many uncleane persons and Drundards often resolve to leave their courses but because their hearts are not changed it is but a purpose they fall backe againe Because purposes arising from the flesh are mutable they are as the flowers of grasse they quickly perish so are all the thoughts of civill men they are flowers indeed and the best flowers that the flesh can affoord yet they quickly perish because they are from the flesh because they are farre from grace and come not from an inward change but the purposes of Gods children they come from a change within which makes them able to performe them If you finde your selves unconstant that you cannot command your selves you are not right Christ finds this fault in you and so doth Iames Iam. 1.8 You are double minded men and unstable in all your wayes that is you partly looke on God partly on sinne and know not which way to goe you are in an aequilibrio nothing preponderates you one way or other you are in the wayes of God and in the wayes of sin and this makes you unstable Opposite to this is a single minded man who lookes onely to God other things being put in yet he still lookes to God such may be subject to ebbings and flowings in and out yet this is the difference though they are shaken yet they are like to Trees that have a good roote that holds them up that they doe not fall they are like a ship that is tyed to an Anchor they wagge up and downe but yet they remoove not other men and wicked men are blowen away like chaffe they continue not they are driven with the winde like waves because they have no roote Thirdly if every one that will have any interest in Christ must follow him then learne from hence not to stand at a stay set no limits to your holinesse Looke to Christ he is our patterne Heb. 12.2 grow up to full holinesse be still mending and mending according to the Coppy there is no man that doth follow Christ rightly but doth this Let men set limits to themselves to have as much as will bring them to Heaven there is onely a selfe-love and a sel●e-seeking in them but if you doe it for God you wil endeavour the utmost When men find fault with holines and exactnes and secretly limit themselves and say with him Deum colo ut par est wee will doe that which shall be fitting and no more it is a signe they doe not follow Christ that it cometh not from God if it came from God and love to him you could not