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
A25421	The right government of thoughts, or, A discovery of all vain, unprofitable, idle, and wicked thoughts with directions for the getting, keeping, and governing of good thoughts, digested into chapters for the ease of the reader : whereunto are added four sermons / by ... John Angel ...	Angel, John, d. 1655.; T. B.	1659 (1659)	Wing A3162A; ESTC R13149	89,280	271

bitternesse The holy man might think with himself What have I done How great is my sin Did I not lately promise never to forsake my Master no not if all men else should forsake him yet I would never leave him And am I the man that denies him so soon I that am so near related to him as his Disciple so eminently preferred by him as his Apostle not compeld by any in authority but frighted to it by the demand of a woman servant Was not my sin great enough to deny him once but have I done it twice and thrice Might I not have denied him barely with sin enough but must I forswear him too I was not surprised at unawares but forewarned and but even now forewarned by my Lord and Master whose words I ought to have remembred c. Thus he called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him and he went out and wept bitterly Now the aggravating circumstances of sin are such as these First the dignitie of the person offending the more eminent the person the more vile the sin Now the dignity is either external or internal external in respect of some high place preferment authority employment or trust whereunto a man is advanced as to be a Magistrate Minister Father Master and should such a man as I fly said that good Magistrate Nehemiah its intollerable in one of my rank or place the Lord will look to be sanctified in those that draw near him in place and digninitie so likewise an internal dignitie of grace or gifts heightens the sin of any person a lighter sin in them whom God hath made his sons by adoption is in sme sot greater then in unregenerate men though Israel play the harlot yet Judah must not offend Hos 4. 15. The second thing that aggravates our sins is the specialties of Gods favour where God is more bountiful the sin is more inexcusable in that he is not drawn with the cords of Gods love and this you may see 2 Sam. 12. 7. Nathan brings in a Catalogue of Gods mercies and favours shewed to David God anointed him King over Israel delivered him out of the hands of Saul gave him his Lords house and his Lords wives into his bosom and thereupon infers the grievousnesse of his sin v. 9. Wherefore hast thou then despised the Commandement of the Lord to do evil in his sight The third circumstance of aggravavation is outward scandal given by our sins when we have not onely sinned personally but given offence unto others if we sad the hearts of the righteous strengthen the hands of the wicked if we give occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme cause our profession to be evil spoken of corrupting some mens manners indangering others laying a stumbling block before the weak troubling their consciences perverting their judgements subverting them from the truth and these things make our sins scandalous Now this is certain the further corruption spreads and the more the sent thereof poysons others the more odious it is to God and should be more odious unto men no sinnes more damnable then theirs who enter not into the Kingdom of heaven themselves nor by their wills would suffer others to enter who allow others to go to hell which way they will and suffer them not to go to Heaven that way which they should The fourth thing which adds to the weight of sin is continuance and delight in sin unto some sins we give fuller consent of will we please our selves in them more we lye longer in them without repentance such were the sins of David in his murther and adulterie he committed many other sins but these his conscience did not chide him for of a long time these put his soul into a distemper and made such a spoil and havock of his graces that he stood in need of a new Creation a new and fresh infusion of grace Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me Psal 51. 10. and they stripped him of the joy of the holy Ghost v. 12. Restore me unto the joy of thy salvation Continuance and delight in sin break down the fences of grace and lay all wast so that the whole man is out of frame he cannot set himself upon good duties but lies open unto sinne To these may be added as aggravations of our sin 1. Our own profession that we have made formerly 2. Our covenants and promises made unto God in baptism and many times since upon occasions of deliverance from danger of being heard in our requests of hope of mercy in our low estate this makes our trespasses double iniquity as being not onely sins against Gods precepts but also breaches of our own promises 3. The means of grace received for where grace is offered more plenteously and rejected sin is more sinful Luke 12. 48. these means are partly inward as wit memory knowledge capacitie and the like partly outward as the preaching of the word and other ordinances of God the light of good examples and other restraints from the laws of Christian Magistrates The fourth help to further us in the examination of our sins is to pray unto God to give us his spirit to be our remembrancer to call to our minds those sins which are slipt out of our memories to recal the sins of our youth and other ages which we have attained unto and as he shewed to the Prophet by degrees greater and greater abominations of the house of Israel Ezek 8. 6. 13. 15. even so that he would discry to us by little and little the abominations of our own lives so prayed that holy man Job 13. 23. How many are mine iniquities and sins make me to know my transgression and my sin Thus much of the first head the examination of our sins now follows the second head concerning the examination of our graces The necessity whereof appears First because we must bring grace with us to the Sacrament or else we shall scarsely bring grace from thence we must come to Christs Table to have graces confirmed and enlarged now it behoves us to have them in us afore hand for there is no confirmation of that which is not resident in us Secondly because otherwise we may take the semblance of grace for substance and may be deceived with counterfeit shews and shadows for currant graces Now the principal graces whereof we are to examine our selves are four Knowledge Faith Repentance Charitie We are to examine our knowledge first for the substance of it secondly for the sincerity of it First for the substance Whether we know God whom to know is eternal life John 17. 2. whether we apprehend by faith what we cannot comprehend by reason the unity of the Godhead in Trinitie of persons John 5. 7. Whether we know his essence and essential properties Exod. 34. 6. What we know of Christ in whom we believe what of his natures as God and Man of his Person as the Son of God of his

the other for the worship of God Christ diverts her opinion of Jacobs Well by telling her of a Well of water springing up unto everlasting life ver 14. and her opinion of Gods worship in Samaria by resolving her that salvation is of the Jews and diverting her to think of a worshiping of God in spirit and in truth ver 22 23. If I should prescribe one object in the multitude of your evill thoughts to turn them unto it should be God who is infinitely long and broad and wide beyond the extent of the souls desires or thoughts Kingdoms cannot satisfie ambition Gold as the dust of the street cannot satisfie covetousnesse pleasures to satiety and loathing content not the flesh and the mind is as unsatisfied with thinking and knowing onely God is of that infinitenesse and of that excellency that all thoughts and desires are terminated in him and all thoughts and desires that turn themselves unto God are bettered by looking upon him 3. If evil thoughts still presse in upon thee if they will not be stop'd nor diverted break them off with some violence if they be unreasonable and justle out better thoughts lay hands upon them 1 Cor. 9. 27. if the body grow unruly it must be kept under and brought into subjection Some thoughts are so wicked that they will not be cast out like those Devils without fasting and prayer If any thought within thee shall crosse Religion or reason resolve to crosse it There are some cursed imaginations which are the mother-roots of a multitude of sins as those which move Questions seriously of Gods Essence Personality Mercy Justice Power Providence and whether the Scriptures be the word of God whether the souls of men be immortal whether there be a Heaven or a Hell such thoughts as these should not be disputed withal muchlesse allowed but expelled or kill'd if but such thoughts as these be suffered and allowed within they will make a soul as desolate of grace as a City is without an inhabitant he that hath no rule over his own spirit certainly 't is true in this case is like a City that is broken down and without walls Prov. 25. 28. I shall never marvel that he is a wicked man whom I know to allow himself or others in such thoughts as these but I shal think grace is ruined in that man that disputes these things determines them against the Scripture 4. If wicked thoughts will not begone yet thou hast this remedy left call in help against them pray them away pray God in to thy help against them pray for a change of thine own nature of thine own thoughts Was not this the thing which David prayed for Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me Psal 51. 10. 'T is plain it was Let us lift up our hearts in prayer against all our sinnes in thoughts but especially against them that are wicked ones heavy thoughts and vain thoughts are errours and not excuseable from sin but wicked thoughts are of a worser generation we must purge our selves from these with greater diligence I know foolishnesse is bound up in the heart of a child an evil heart cannot but think evil Prov. 22. 15. What can I look for from an Adder but her poison and her sting yet we may pray out foolishness out of our hearts And I believe Paul often used this help against the evils of his own heart for he saith When I was a child I spake as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child but when I became a man I put away childish things 1 Cor. 13. 21. It may be thou art a child in thy speaking in thy understanding in thy thinking pray that thou mayest become a man and be able to put away childish things Thus much of the evil of thoughts and how we may by Gods assistance remedy the same I beseech you Brethren apply these remedies to the severall errours of your thoughts and they will doe you much good Object not an impossibility for any to remedy the infirmities and sinfulnesses of thoughts what nature cannot do grace may and what man cannot do God can Every Christian who hath the spirit of God is enabled by that spirit within him to do all things Evangelically or with a Gospel allowance whereunto he is called of God If God would have the thoughts of a righteous man to be just God hath not made it an impossible work what nature within thee is averse to do and what grace within thee cannot do that the spirit within thee can do and the Righteousnesse of Christ without thee hath done wherefore despair not of the work but go about it CHAP. X. ANd now Beloved I am come to speak of good thoughts with the means how to get them and the manner of their government In the handling of this so needful a duty and so fruitful a subject I must premise some introductory particulars to shew the possibility and necessity of this work it is necessary or else God would not have commanded it it is possible or else God would not have promised assistance to performance 1. Hear how God commands this duty O Jerusalem wash thy heart from wickednesse that thou mayest be saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee Jer. 4. 14. What is that great Commandment in the Law is it not to love the Lord thy God But how Mat. 22. 37. is it not with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength Unlesse the mind and heart be in our love and obedience there will be no strength in them nor acceptance with God of them 2. God hath promised mercy unto all who willingly endeavour to turn away from all their evil thoughts and turn unto him with all their hearts God requires a heart washed from iniquity that the soul may be saved as ye read but now and God promiseth not onely to be abundant in mercy to pardon what is past but also to perfect the work begun Isa 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon I may adde that it is a part of our regeneration to be renewed in our thoughts the Apostle urgeth it Be ye renewed in the spirit of your minds Eph. 4. 23. And further that Gospel-light requires Gospel-thoughts it was prophesied of these dayes At that time they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord and all the Nations shall be gathered unto it to the name of the Lord to Jerusalem neither shall they walk any more in the imagination of their evil heart Jer. 3. 17. When God makes the Church his Throne and the Nations gather into it to worship the Lord then shall they leave off their wicked thoughts and walk no more after them We live in these

faith goes beyond things visible unto those things that are not seen and fetcheth evidence home to the soul Heb. 10. 1. Presumption will be confident in prosperity but faith will rely and rest upon God when God seems to kill when sense and reason can see nothing but death and hell yet faith will believe God a Father and Heaven prepared for the poor soul The 4th act of Faith is application by it we do appropriate Gods general promises unto our own souls and claim a particular right and interest in Christs blood saying with Paul Gal. 2. 20. VVho loved me and gave himself for me with Thomas My Lord and my God Joh. 20. For the trial of our right application take this one Rule A right application doth not onely bring home Gods grants and promises unto us but the conditions also that are required on our part He that will be saved must not onely believe with the heart but also confesse with the mouth Ro. 10. that without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. The want of this was the fault of the Pharisees Mat. 3. 8 9. They laid hold on Gods Covenant made to Abraham and his seed but never observed Gods conditions imposed upon them The Baptist adviseth them not to say they had Abraham to their father but to do the workes of Abraham to perform the condition on their parts and to bring forth fruits meet for Repentance Thus must our faith be examined and there is great need so to examine our selves because 1. God enjoynes it 2 Cor. 13. Prove your selves whether that ye be in the faith 2. Because without it there is no pleasing of God Heb. 11. 6. 3. Because it is the chief instrument we are to use in the Sacrament for the applying of Christ and all his benefits It is the eye by which we see Christ the hand by which we receive him the mouth and the stomack by which we feed upon him The third Grace to be examined is Repentance a needful grace to be examined First because we come to the Lords Table to receive by seal as it were the forgivenesse of our sins and therefore 't is fit we repent of them and be sorrowful for them Prov. 28. 13. He that covereth his sin shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy 2. Penitents finde acceptance at Gods Table as those that are dressed and apparelled for a Feast and usually according to the measure of our humiliation do we receive the measure of consolation 3. Repentance will quicken our appetites for the Lords Table and the use of it as sower herbs did for the Passeover Now in Repentance we shall finde two parts first a mournful recantation of our former errours secondly a chearful reformation of our future lives It beginneth in sorrow it ends in joy The first part is set down Joel 2. 9. A turning unto the Lord with weeping and mourning The second part Mat. 3. 8. Bring forth fruits meet for repentance Humiliation without Reformation is a foundation without a building Reformation without Humiliation is a building without a foundation And where sorrow for sin is sincere it hath these 4. properties it is 1. Godly for the nature 2. Hearty for the measure 3. Constant for the continuance 4. Quickening for the effect Concerning the first there is a godly and a worldly sorrow as the Apostle distinguisheth 2 Cor. 7. 10. It is termed godly sorrow because respect unto God causeth it When grief in us doth spring from this that we have offended a God that is most holy in himself as a God that hath been so many wayes good and gratious unto us Whereas worldly sorrow is occasioned by some worldly respect of shame or fear of danger Secondly It must be hearty for the measure the heart must be rent Joel 2. the spirit must be broken Psal 51. 17. We must lament for our sins as a man mourns for the losse of his own child Zech. 12. 10 11. a slight and superficial grief will not serve the turn Thirdly It must be constant for continuance not for a time but renewed every morning and evening Davids sins were ever before him Psal 51. 3. yea if it were possible we should so grieve for sins past that we should never sin hereafter but spend our lives in sorrow and contrition for sins already done Fourthly It must be such a sorrow as quickeneth to holy duties as prayer hearing of the word and the like Worldly sorrow makes us lumpish but spiritual and godly sorrow suppleth the heart and makes it nimble to run the wayes of Gods Commandment 2 Cor. 7. 11. Behold this same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves yea what indignation yea what fear yea what vehement desire yea what zeal yea what revenge Mark here are seven gratious effects of sincere Repentance Further we may try our Repentance by those ordinary steps or staires of Repentance by which Gods children ascend to this grace 1. The searching and trying our wayes Lam. 3. 40. 2. Sight of sin after searching Psal 51. 3. I know mine iniquities 3. Feeling of the burden of them after sight this is to be weary and heavy laden Mat. 11. 28. 4. Humbly confessing of them with grief of heart and shame of face Dan. 9. 4 5 6 7. 5. Hateing and detesting them resolving never to commit them any more so Hosea 4. What have I any more to do with idols Lastly Power and conquest over them for the time to come Psal 18. 23. I kept my self from mine iniquity The fourth Grace to be examined is Charity The necessity of our examination of this Grace appeareth 1. Because God will not have us offer the Sacrifice of Piety upon his Altar until Reconciliation be made with our brother Mat 5. 23. 2. We are forbidden to keep this Feast with the leaven of malitiousness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth 1 Cor. 5. 8. Now for the right examination of our Charity First It must be especially affectionate to the soul of our brother My hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved Rom. 10. 1. Be we never so rich in almes-deeds courteous and inoffensive in our outward carriage yet never truly charitable to men till we affect and seek their spiritual good Secondly True charity is to the outward man as well as to the inward It joyneth beneficence to benevolence it doth not onely wish well but do well 't is bountiful externally as well as inwardly affectionate Jam. 2. 15 16. If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them depart in peace be ye warmed and filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body What doth it profit Thirdly True love is affirmative as well as negative that is to say doing good as well as