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
A50555	A sermon preached before the Queen, at White-Hall, March 11th, 1691/2 by R. Meggott ...	Meggott, Richard, d. 1692.	1692 (1692)	Wing M1632; ESTC R851	10,711	33

Confession alone had been enough Saul would have fared as well as David his Confession was altogether as ample When Nathan reproved David his Answer was I have sinned against the Lord 2 Sam. 12.13 When Samuel reproved Saul he said as much Saul said unto Samuel I have sinned for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord 1 Sam. 15.24 And yet tho' David's sin was done away Saul you know was rejected So little is this part also of Repentance to be relyed on The Third is Humdiation under and Sorrow for the sins we have committed This is a thing People have such Opinion of as generally to fancy Repentance to be nothing else so that if they find but something of this in themselves they conclude they are safe and all is well with them But this is much to over-reckon also 2 Cor. 7.10 the Apostle informeth us that godly sorrow worketh repentance unto life c. It is a good beginning and well managed may bring us to repentance unto life but if self is not to be accounted so If it were then Ahab repented unto life 1 Kings 21 29. for he humbled himself and put on sackcloth If it were the Hypocrites complained of in Isaiah Isal 58.5 repented unto life for they afflicted their souls and spread ashes under them If it were Judas himself repented unto life for he was so overwhelmed with sorrow for what he had done that he burst asunder in the midst Acts 1.18 So ineffectual may this part of Repentance be also sorrow for our sins The last is Resolution of Amendment This looketh best of any and if Men could be sure they should keep them when they make them they might have grounds to hope that he who calleth the things that are not as if they were would graciously accept them But alas what are most Mens Resolutions of this kind like the hasty Blossoms produced by some unexpected warmth of Weather they adorn the Tree with their inviting Colours and are promising to the Eye but not one in a hundred of them cometh to good but drop to the ground before they knit and frustrate Expectation Such are most of our Resolutions but casual Embryo's of incomplete velleities that frequently before they are any thing more miscarry and prove Abortive dye before they could well be said to live Experience sadly convinceth us we can no more depend on them than on the Morning-Cloud for Rain It is a mistake that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a change of Mind doth always import a Saving Repentance The word is used by the Septuagint Prov. 14.15 in the same sense with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is allowed to note but the fruitless one of Reprobates There may be too often is a present Change of Mind that proveth no better and therefore the Holy Ghost joyneth other words with it to explain and adjust it So St. Peter Acts 3.19 Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out And St. Paul Acts 26.20 Repent and turn unto God to shew that it is not enough to have better Resolutions unless as God giveth space and Opportunity we put them into Practice This is sufficient to be spoken to the first Proposition That bare Repentance without Fruits is not all that is required of us in order to our Pardon I proceed to the Second That we may bring forth several Fruits of Repentance and yet not those that are meet neither That was the case of these here spoken to in the Text the Pharisees and Sadducees The latter of these the Sadducees tho' they denyed that great Article of Faith and motive to Repentance the Immortality of the Soul and consequently its Rewards or Punishments in another Life yet they were not direct Atheists but had some belief and fear of God with them notwithstanding They received the Law of Moses and were so perswaded of the certainty of the Temporal Blessings and Curses written in it as made them regular Observers of the letter of it Some of the High Priests themselves Hircanus Aristobulus Alexander c. were of this Sect and many of them are said ver 7. to be so wrought on by the Preaching of John as to come to his Baptism confessing their sins The other the Pharisees St. Paul who understood them well having himself been one of them Acts 26.5 calleth the straitest Sect of our Religion They were more precise than any of the rest Josephus saith they did nearly resemble the Stoicks among the Greeks who had the highest Esteem of any of their Philosophers for the Severity of their way of Living The Common People had such an Opinion of their Sanctity that it was Proverbially said among them That if but two Men in the World went to Heaven one of them must be a Pharesee And yet for all this though others thought them so very Righteous though they trusted in themselves that they were righteous they are here called a Generation of Vipers That which was so highly esteemed with men was but an abomination in the sight of God and if we consider it we shall find Reason for it I will not insist upon what our blessed Lord so oft ubraideth them with the vile and selfish the poultry and hypocritical ends they had in all their Religious Performances namely to make themselves Popular and serve their Secular Interests tho' this alone must render the best things we can do odious and loathsome to him who seeth not as man seeth but requireth truth in the inward parts Yet because it is not so much their aims and intentions in doing them as the things themselves which they did that seem here reflected on I shall confine my Discourse to them and mark out two considerable defects in them First Tho' they brought forth some Fruits they were but some not all that were required of them Secondly Tho' they brought forth some Fruits they were but coarse and mean such as were of least value First Tho' they brought forth some Fruits they were but some not all that were required of them One part of their Duty was taken and another left one regarded and another rejected according as it was in vogue or suited with their inclinations Instead of an universal they yielded unto God a partial Obedience flattering themselves that their extraordinary niceness about some particular Precepts should excuse their neglect and make amends for their violation of others They presumed that their Devotion should commute for their Injustice and that because they were temperate in eating and drinking they should not be condemned for being covetous or malicious Being truly zealous against Idolatry they were not concerned for their Lying Pride or Envy and as long as they kept themselves free from gross carnal sins there was no convincing them but that they were the Children of God though they abounded in all sorts of Spiritual But if ye offer the lame for Sacrifice is it not evil St. James informeth us Chap. 2.10

whosoever shall keep the whole Law besides and yet offend in one point that is wilfully and habitually let the Instance be what it will he is guilty of all It is not upon God's account but his own from Conscience towards him but respect to himself that such a one sticketh at the rest of them It must be granted we cannot when we have done our utmost actually keep all but if we do not our sincere endeavour conscientiously to keep all we are but counterfeit and pretended Penitents That is one fault in the Fruits which these brought forth tho' they brought forth some they were but some not all that were required of them 2. The other is That though they brought forth some Fruits they were but coarse and mean ones such as were of least value All the Commandments of God are equal in respect of their Authority but they are not so in respect of their Nature So some are of far more importance than others and their usual manner was to rest in the performance of those that were least material Thus our Saviour describeth them to themselves Matth. 23. Ye pay tythe of mint and annice and cummin but omit the weightier matters of the Law mercy and judgment and faith They did not distinguish as they ought between Natural Duties and such as are only Relative between the Essential parts of Religion and such as are but Instrumental between the power of Godliness and the empty form of it Accordingly they were punctual in fasting twice in the week and used their Bodies hardly but minded not so much the mortifying their inordinate Affections which were the Springs of all their outward actions They daily read some portion of the Law and got great part of it without book but they did not make Conscience of keeping the Commandments of if but made them void by their own Traditions They were strict Observers of the Sabbath-day so as to do no manner of work on it but their Tongues did not rest from slandering their Neighbours on it nor their Thoughts from laying Snares for them I would not be understood as if these things were despicable in themselves they minister to Piety and ought to be encouraged but only when the other are left undone to let you know then they are no where more to be prized than they were here The most specious of them all are but so many empty Shells without their Kernels like that Offering mentioned by Pausanias to Ceres Phrygaliensis not the Honey of their Bees but only the Wax the dry and tastless part of their Labours They are all consistent with a Carnal Mind and raigning Sins with a hard heart and a wicked life the unjust and the filthy the sensual and the uncharitable may abound in them and yet be unjust and filthy sensual and uncharitable still They who would approve themselves Penitents indeed must bring forth Fruits of a more substantial excellent kind These were not but they must bring forth fruits that are meet for Repentance And this is The last Proposition I have to speak to Prop. 3. That if we would have our Repentance accepted with God we must not content our selves with any Fruits but such as properly manifest the Reality and Ingenuity of it Fruits indeed meet for Repentance This we cannot but grant in the general but least any of us should flatter our selves in the case as these conceited ones here did and think those so that are not besides what may be gathered from that which hath been already spoken it will be convenient for the clearer explication of the Phrase to acquaint you that there is a two-fold meetness we are to have regard to in the Fruits of our Repentance First That they be meet with respect to our selves Secondly That they be meet with respect to others They must be meet with respect to our selves and that two ways meet with respect to our lives past and meet also with respect to our lives for the future The Fruits of our Repentance should be meet with reference to our lives past Our Humiliation bearing some proportion to the sins we have been guilty of When our blessed Lord Luke 15.7 speaketh of just persons that need no Repentance we are not to understand it absolutely but in a qualified sense There are none so just but need some the Righteous falleth seven times a day but they who from their Youth have lived vertuously and piously without being stained with any foul and heinous Crime are said comparatively not to need Repentance that is not such a one so sharp and signal so deep and grievous as they who have been extravagant and scandalous sinners are obliged to but where Transgression hath exceeded there it is meet that the Repentance should exceed also If it be true it is not to be imagined how it can be otherwise You may as well suppose a Man to be no more concerned for a dangerous Wound with a Sword than for a slight Scratch with a Pin as that a true Penitent should be no more disturbed for crying and presumptuous sins than for sins of meer surprize and ordinary frailties It is observable that when David had fallen into the great transgression though a Prophet from God had expresly told him that his sin was done away yet for all that he roared for the very disquietness of his heart and his bones were consumed within him he mourned all the day long like a dove and watered his Couch with his tear he chastned himself with fasting and eat ashes like bread And if he did this who was sure of his Pardon what shall we think of them who have sinned as heinously and yet do little or nothing in this kind tho' they are not sure It is true Penitential Sorrow is not seated in the Affections directly but in the Vnderstanding and is rather Hatred than Grief So that if this appears in the rational Appetite that we loath and abhor our evil ways it is not absolutely necessary it should be in the sensible But when in other cases that hath so general an influence upon this it is suspicious that the heart is not so throughly affected as it ought where it hath no discernable effects upon the outward man They who are conscious to themselves of any scarlet sins of any flagrant and enormous vices ought to consider that this is one meetness in the Fruits of their Repentance they should judge themselves by whether they have a meetness with respect to their lives past The other is That they be meet with respect to our Lives for the future becoming such as have really repented them of their evil ways That is there must be a putting off the former Conversation and we must be new Creatures The severest significations of trouble for our sins past if we forsake them not upon it St. Paul appositely calleth * 1 Tim. 4.8 bodily Exercise telling us it profitteth little and accordingly we are to esteem of it