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
A61262	A little handful of cordial comforts scattered thorowout several answers, to sixteen questions, and objections following : intended chiefly for the good of those that walk mournfully before God ... / by Richard Standfast ...	Standfast, Richard, 1608?-1684.	1665 (1665)	Wing S5210; ESTC R33851	22,608	84

should I take to bring my heart to be humbled for my sins Answer To this end let a Man examine himself by the Law of God For by the Law is the knowledge of sin And let him duly think upon that fearfull Curse of God whereunto every the least sin doth make us liable Let him diligently consider how ugly and lothsome sin doth make us in the sight of God and what a fearfull thing it is to be deprived of the Love of God and the Joyes of Heaven and what a misery it is to be exposed to the wrath of God and the torments of Hell Let him seriously ponder what a misery it is to lose the Soul Let him throughly weigh the nature of Eternity and the strictness of that Account that is to come and the severity of that sentence which in that last and dreadfull Day shall be pronounced upon all impenitent sinners when they shall be adjudged to that Everlasting Fire which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels All these are of singular use to wound our souls and to affect our hearts with sorrow for our sins It is the Law that makes way for the Gospel For thus John the Baptist by denouncing the judgments of God upon wicked courses prepared the way for our Blessed Saviour But especially let him consider how great things ' God hath done for him For as there is no greater obligation to obedience then the loving kindness of the Lord So there is nothing that doth more aggravate our sins and so consequently our misery And therefore nothing that can tend more to the breaking of the heart then the consideration of the bounty and long suffering of God to us-ward And this plainly appears by that course which the Prophet Nathan at the Lord's appointment took with David 2 Sam. 12. For by fetting before his eyes Gods many and wonderfull mercies vouchsafed and his own extream ingratitude and ill requital of so great goodness he was constrained to cry out with shame and sorrow I have sinned against the Lord. And amongst all the mercies of God there is none that doth more deserve to take up all our thoughts then that departure of Christ which he accomplished at Jerusalem Neither is there any thing that doth more tend either to preserve us from sin or to ●umble us for our failings then the death of our Saviour For suppose the Lord Jesus should present himself unto us when we are about to commit any sin or after we have done it as he was hanging upon the Cross with his sides scourged his face buffetted his hands and feet nailed his head crowned with Thorns his very heart pierced his whole body upon the rack and trickling down with drops of blood and speaking unto us after this or the like manner Behold if ever sorrows were like unto my sorrows And yet all this was but the punishment of thy sins It is thy sins that have brought me to all these torments and canst thou delight in that which was the cause of such misery All this have I done for thy good and is this the requital of my Love I have born thy sins that thou might'st be eased mine hands were bound that thine might be freed my sides were scourged that thine might be spared my cheeks were buffetted that thine might be kist my head was crowned with thorns that thine might be crowned with glory and is this thy kindness to thy friend thus to return me hatred for my good will Hast thou not put me to pains enough already but that thou must rake in my wounds and make a sport of my misery Or if thou wilt not pitty me yet pitty thy self For can that be light to thee which cost me so heavy Or shalt thou escape the cup that art a sinner when my beloved Father would not spare me that was but a Surety Suppose I say that the Lord Jesus should present himself and speak unto us after this or the like manner would not such a sight make our bowels to yearn and such words cut us to the very heart Doubtless it were enough to make the dryest eyes to wish for tears of blood and the hardest heart of the most obstinate sinner to become in the midst of his body like melting wax thus to hear and to look upon him whom they have pierced Yea it is impossible for any man to think on this and to go on in sin but such as could be content to Crucifie again the Lord of Glory And thus you see what are the chiefest helps to humiliation and by what means our hearts may be brought to be deeply affected with sorrow for our sins Hereupon a timorous heart will be ready to reply yet further after this manner The Fifth Question BY this course and by these and the like Meditations I confess that I have been brought in some measure to be sorry for my sins and now I would fain be eased of them And it is my desire to believe in Christ but I fear that as yet I am not enough humbled I fear I have not so great measure of sorrow as may make me capable of this invitation And my heart is so hardned that I cannot grieve and mourn for my sins so much as I should and would do and therefore I fear that as yet I have no right to the comforts of the Gospel Answer True it is that sorrow for sin makes ready an heart prepared for the Lord and as usually in the course of Nature there is no birth without some pain So in the work of Grace there is no regeneration that of Infants in Baptisme excepted without some sorrow But as there are degrees of pain in the Natural birth So in the Spiritual birth there are degrees of sorrow Some Women have a quick Dispatch others have a more tedious Travel And so it is in the New Birth all are not pained alike Some there be that go mourning all the day long yea day after day whereas unto others heaviness indures but as it were for a night and joy cometh in the morning We must know therefore and that for our comfort that it is not the quantity but the quality of sorrow that God looks after neither matters it so much how great our sorrow be as how true it is If a Youth upon due examination had be found fit for the University his Tutor never demands how long he hath been at School how harshly he hath been dealt withall how often he hath been whipt before he could come to that perfection All that he looks after is whether or no he be fit to be admitted So it fares with us The Law is our School-Master to bring us unto Christ And this it doth partly by discovering unto us our sins whereby we see that we need a Saviour and partly by threatning of us with the curse whereby we are made more carefull to look out after this Saviour and more willing to accept of him and for our

Question And yet after all this I must die and when a few years are come I shall go the way whence I shall not return and the fear of Death doth much amaze me Answer Verily there is no solid reason why it should for God hath given us victory over death it self through our Lord Jesus Christ The death of Christ was the death of death Death fastning upon him to whom it was not due lost it's sting and so became less able to hurt those that had deserved it Christ hath pulled out the sting of Death by dying for sin So that now like a Bee or Snake without a sting it may buzze about us and afright us but it cannot hurt us All the hurt that death can do to such as believe in the Lord Jesus is to free them out of Prison to put an end to their dayes of Sin to carry them home to their Fathers house to let them into their Masters joy to pull down those mouldring Cottages wherein they dwell and to build them up to Immortality For if we believe that Jesus Died and rose again them also that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him and they shall be for ever with the Lord. And of this Happiness the worst kinde of Death that can befall us cannot deprive us A Man may dye in Poverty he may dye with Extreamity of Torments he may dye by common Calamities and yet he may dye in Faith and so dying his End shall be Peace For Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord even so saith the Spirit c. Rev. 14.13 So that if we did but throughly understand the Nature of Death and what it is to the People of God we should be so far from being afraid of it that with Saint Paul we should rather desire to be dissolved because then we should be with Christ which is the best of all To shut up this Point and so likewise the whole matter concerning Afflictions this let me adde to the rest That if we do desire to get Good by these Meditations and to be upheld with Comfort in the time of Trouble we must Continue instant in prayer This is that Receipt which the Holy Ghost prescribes to all sorts of Persons against all manner of Grievances whatsoever James 5 23. This is that Remedy that is alwayes at hand and never out of season Yea this is that Messenger which being dispatched aright was never sent empty away Believe it If a Man were in a case more desperate then Death in a place worse then Hell yet if there he could pray heartily he should find Comfort and Strength even beyond Hope for our Prayers use to be with the utmost of our Hopes if not beyond them and yet God doth use to be better to us then our Prayers The Sixteenth Question I See now that there is matter enough of solid Comfort in the Word of God But the unevenness of my walking makes me to doubt that I have no Part nor Portion in those precious Promises which God hath made unto his People Answer Promises I confesse that are misapplied can afford to the Soul no solid Comfort But from our Failings we may not presently conclude That they do not at all belong to us For God looks upon the Heart and where Ability is wanting the Will is accepted Are not your Failings your Grief are they not besides your Will are they not contrary to the current of your Desires and the main bent of your Resolutions and Endeavours Is it not your Endeavour to do the Will of God though it cost you the parting with the Sweetest Sins even your own Iniquity And is it not your Resolution that you will not wickedly Depart from God If it be so then notwithstanding your Failings you may say with David I have kept thy Word For though this be not such a measure of keeping as the Law requireth yet it is such a keeping as God accepteth For he accounteth such as keep themselves from wilfull sins upright and innocent through Christ their Strength and their Redeemer as appears by that passage Psal 19.13 And this is a true Rule whereby to proceed in the judging of our selves If a Man that believes in Christ continues in an unknown Sin that cannot hinder the uprightness of his heart so the ignorance be not wilfull but the least touch of knowledge or wilfulness mars sincerity So that if our failings be not wilful though they be many yet they cannot hinder our interest in the promises of God And what can we now object more Do we doubt the truth of all these promises Surely we need not For God is not a Man that he should lye neither the Son of Man that he should repent Hath he spoken and shall he not do it Hath he said and shall it not come to pass Was he ever yet worse then his word And have not we had experience of his Love as well upon our selves as others Is he not the Faithful and True Witness and a God that is most zealous of his own glory Why then are we disquieted And why are our hearts dejected within us Still trust in God make straight steps to your feet Pray for Faith in the Promises and stir up your self to take hold of God tarry the Lords leasure and fear not Light is Sown for the Righteous and Gladness for such as be upright in heart It may lye buried in the ground out of sight for a season it may be somewhat long in coming up and very unlikely to come to any perfection Nevertheless in due season we shall reap if we faint not And therefore cast not away your confidence For the worst is past the good is begun the best is at hand Lift up therefore the hands that hang down and strengthen the feeble knees and run with patience the Race set before us and being partakers of such precious promises let us think upon them believe in them and live in them and in so doing we shall rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Hear the sum of all There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 There is no Condemnation and there 's our comfort The ground hereof is Christ the way unto it is by Faith to be in him the evidence of it Is to walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit In the matter of merit Christ is all in matter of interest and application Faith is all in matter of evidence and manifestation new obedience is all Nothing can free us from Condemnation but Christ nothing can give us interest in Christ but faith nothing can assure us that we do truly believe in Christ and shall be delivered from condemnation but a care to be obedient unto Christ in all things wherefore let us so believe and so live for as many as walk according to this Rule peace shall be upon them and upon the Israel of God Now the God of hope fill us with all Joy and Peace in believing that we may abound in hope through the Power of the Holy Ghost Amen and Amen In the multitude of the Thoughts within me thy Comforts delight my Soul Psal 94.19 FINIS