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
A80730	Two sermons preached at Christ-Church in the city of Dublin, before the honourable the General Convenion of Ireland. The first on Prov.11.14 at the first meeting of the said convention, March 2. 1659. The second on Jude v.19. at a publique fast appointed by the said convention, March 9. 1659. By Sem Coxe, Minister of the gospel and pastor at St. Katherines in Dublin.	Coxe, Sem.; Ireland. Parliament.	1660 (1660)	Wing C6726; Thomason E1026_21; ESTC R208752	50,638	72

Act. 16. 23. Ministers must preach such points as may be of most use for the present occasion Now the special work upon Fasting dayes is to humble the soul for sin God requireth that on the tenth day of the second month which was the aniversary day of humiliation to Israel they should afflict their souls Lev. 16 29. 31 and threatneth Chap. 23 29 that whatsoever soul it shall be that shall not be afflicted on that same day shall be cut off from among his people Hence it is that the word of God ought to be preached upon the Fasting day that so the people may be brought to sound repentance and humiliation for sin and so made more fervent in their supplications to God for pardon As appeareth by that direction the Prophet Jeremiah giveth to Baruch Jer. 36. 6. 7. Go thou saith he and read in the roll which thou hast written from my mouth the words of the Lord in the ears of the people in the Lords house upon the Fasting day it may be they will present their supplication before the Lord and turn every one from his evil way But how should we mourn for our sins unless we know them That which brought David to true sorrow and heart breaking for his sin was the certain knowledge he had of his own sinful condition I know or acknowledge my transgressions saith he Psal 51. 3. and my sin is ever before me And how should we know our sins so as to mourn for them unless Gods Ministers do their endeavours to discover them to us David of whom mention was made before never repented or mourned for his sins of Adultery and Murder until Nathan the Prophet came unto him and took pains with him in the discovery of them as is clear Psal 51. title you may read the whole history a Sam. Cap. 12. To this end it is that the Lord calleth upon every one of us who are his Heralds Isa 58. 1. Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins This alone is the usual way that God taketh for the discovery of sin Yet to make an exact and particular discovery of sin is a thing altogether impossible to be done by any Minister in the world For who can know his own errours Psal 19. 12. how much less the errours that other men are overtaken with Wherefore the Ministers of Christ have used to do in this case of the discovery of sin as he that draweth the Land-skip of a Country or Kingdom who because he cannot describe every bush or tree or house doth therefore take notice onely of the most eminent cities and towns and rivers therein Nathan takes notice of Davids great spots stains onely 2 Sam. 12. 9. Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and hast taken his wife to be thy wife he speaketh of his great sins So the holy Prophets in their discovery of sin take notice of the foulest as of Ingratitude against God Hypocrisy Covetousness Murder Drunkenness Idolatry Lying Pride Contempt of Gods word Security in sinning and the like The greatest sins are especially to be taken notice of Upon this account that I may discharge my duty aright upon this our Fasting day I have singled out the sin of Separation as the foulest sin of this age and generation and therefore most seasonable to be spoken of that we may be humbled before the Lord our God I know indeed that it is the part of the Lords messengers to cry out against and to endeavour to bring others unto a godly sorrow for all the abominations of the Land for all that gross ignorance superstition and damnable prophanness that is rise amongst us And I doubt not but my brethren that are to beat a part in the work of this day will endeavour to acknowledge all our iniquities and transgressions before the Lord and wrestle with the Lord for the pardon of them But I must ingenuously profess that I conceive the sin of Separation to be the Achan the great abomination of these Lands upon diverse accounts of which I shall speak anon and therefore most to be laid to heart by the Lords people this day To which end I have made choice of this Text These are they who separate themselves c. And before I proceed any further I must first shew the dependance of these words upon those that go before The subject matter of this Epistle is a vehement exhortation of the Apostle Jude to all the godly in all ages That they contend earnestly for the faith which was once committed to the Saints as you see in the third Verse and That they suffer not themselves to be drawn from the faith and belief of the Gospel by those false teachers who were crept in among them unawares in the fourth Verse The arguments by which the Apostle persuadeth with these believers to beware of these seducers are of two sorts I He argueth from the punishments that the Lord hath inflicted upon those sins to which these false teachers endeavoured to seduce them which judgments he layeth down before them in three examples 1 Of the destruction of the people of Israel for their unbelief in the fifth Verse 2 Of the everlasting ruine of the reprobate Angels for their pride in the sixth Verse 3 Of the vengeance of God upon Sodom and Gomorrha for their fornication and buggery in the seventh Verse II He also argueth from the personal vices that raigned in these seducers Whence it was altogether unfit that they should be leaders of these believers and also unsafe that these believers should be followers of them The sins that these seducers were guilty of are reckoned up under thirteen heads in this Epistle two of them are comprised in this Verse viz. 1 Schisme they were such as made a rent in and separation from the Church of God that is laid down in these words These are they who separate themselves 2 Steering their course by sense and carnal reason and not by the Spirit of God in these words Sensual having not the spirit Mine intention is to speak of the first of the sins mentioned in this Verse to which these false Teachers were addicted and which did evidence them to be seducers they were such as did separate themselves from the Church and people of God Where it is to be noted how the Apostle pointeth them out as it were with the finger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As if he should have said thus Behold observe and mark these men to be vile and pernicious persons for they do willingly cut themselves off from communion with the Church of God The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Estius noteth upon the Text signifieth to lead or allure beyond the bounds of the Church to break the pale thereof A term which I am not ashamed to use though it have been much flouted a● of late These are they that single

doth oft times repeat this as an undoubted truth He telleth us Prov. 15. 22. That without Counsel purposes are disappointed but in the multitude of Counsellors they are established And Chap. 20. 18. Every purpose is established by Counsel And again Chap. 24. 6. In multitude of Counsellors there is safety 2 Unto this mediate cause it is that also the Lord himself doth ascribe the prosperity or ruine of Kings and their Kingdoms The Lord informeth us That Rehoboams misery came upon him by neglecting the counsel of the Sages that had stood before his Father their Advice had been his welfare if he had hearkened unto it 2. Chron. 10. 8-14 And the word of God mindeth us that it was the destruction of Ahaziah King of Judah that he hearkened unto the wicked counsel of his Mother and others that were of the house of Ahab 2. Chron. 22. 3-5 On the otherside It was the wisdom of David and that which did strengthen him in his Kingdom That in all weighty cases he consulted with the Captains of thousands and hundreds and with every leader even with all the congregation of Israel 1. Chron. 13. 1-4 He would not act without Counsel 3 Even the Law of nature by its glimmering doth dictate this truth to all civillized Nations That they should have their great Counsels and Counsellors with whom to advise in all matters of moment The Israelites had their Sanhedri● The Lacedaemonians had their Ephori The Athenians had their Demarchi The Romans had their Senate The Germans have their Diets We in these Nations have our Parliaments Yea the Indians have some kind of Councils All Nations know that without counsels they cannot well subsist that by counsels their safety is maintained The reason why the prosperity or adversity of a People dependeth very much upon their Counsellors and Counsels is because Counsel is the guide of all actions The transacting of great Affairs without Counsel is like the riding upon a wild colt without bit or bridle it is a thousand to one that the rider is cast Rash proceedings without deliberate Advice do make Affairs miscarry Gods own Counsel and decree took place before his works he said Let it be so and so before he wrought any work in the Creation Gen. 1. 3. 6. 9. Counsel is like the helm of a Ship if that be wanting the vessel is in danger to be dashed in pieces against the rocks if that be sound it steereth the ship through all winds and tempests untill it arrive at its desired haven The Uses of this Doctrine are three 1 Of information 2 Of praise and thanksgiving 3 Of exhortation Of these I shall speak in order First The Use of this point is for information and that again divideth it self into two branches First If it be so That the prosperity or ruine of a people dependeth so much upon Counsellors and counsels then this informeth us of the abominable wickedness and desperate madness of those men in these Dominions who have endeavored to bereave us of our Counsellors and counsels they have done what they can to destroy us That there have been and are such yea many such in this Commonwealth I need not spend time to demonstrate Our too dear bought experience for diverse years by past doth sufficiently inform us so that the very Persons that have been the chief actors may be pointed out by the●● names The Anabaptists the Quakers and even all those that have separated from the Church of Christ in these Nations have so interrupted our counsels dismembred our Parliament and supplanted our laws and birth privileges that it may be said of us as once it was said of Israel 2 Chron. 15. 3. Now for a long season England Ireland and Scotland have been without Law Who hath not felt the direfull effects of these mens fury upon their persons families and estates yea and upon our Religion also So that we are all brought thereby to the very brink of ruine and destruction Of these men I affirm two things 1 That it is abominable wickedness in them that have acted thus to the dismembring and interruption of our Parliament or great Council they have contributed what they could to the overthrow of these Dominions It is a great sin to contrive the death or ruine of a single person onely David complaineth of this as a great fault in his adversaries Psal 31. 13. They devised saith he to take away my life How much greater is their sin that have endeavored to cut off the Head of three great Nations at one blow And this their sin is the greater upon a twofold account 1 Because they have devised this mischief against those that trusted them and looked upon them as their friend received them into their counsels put Commissions Arms Ammunition Treasure into their hands and expected the support of Religion Laws Liberties Parliaments by their means So that we may well complain with the Prophet David Psal 55. 12-14 It was not an Enemy that reproached me then could I have born it neither was it he that hated me that magnifyed himself against me then I would have hid my self from him But it was thou mine equal my guide and mine acquaintance We took sweet Counsel together and walked unto the House of God in company O this is a great aggravation of their offence that they have devised evil against their neighbours that dwell securely by them Prov. 3. 29. Treachery against trust is superlative wickedness 2 Because they have done all this wrong to the Commonwealth under a pretence of Religion as if thereby they should advance the Kingdom and Interest of our Lord Jesus Christ These persons have dreamed certain dreams of the personal reign of Christ upon earth and of their own Saint-ship and holyness as the onely persons fit to reign with him and from hence they have endeavoured to set up for themselves and to take the whole Earth into their possession These piae fraudes are those cheats which are most abominable both before God and man But can they think to have any thanks from the Lord Jesus for seeking to advance his Interest by subverting his standing Laws of Magistracy and Ministry Or is this the way to introduce the Kingdom of Christ to trample those great Ordinances and Institutions under foot I trow not By his written word they must be judged at his glorious appearing and in his Kingdom which word saith thus Rom. 13. 1. Let every Soul be subject to the higher powers And 1. Pet. 2 13-15 Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake For so is the will of God These persons learned not this lesson of the good old Non-conformists who were disgracefully called by the name of Puritans but of Stock and Muncer and John of Leiden and other Rebels Apostates from the reformed Religion And therefore it is pity that their miscarriages should be cast in the teeth of any honest and sober Christians But it is no