Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A16866
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The exercise of true spirituall deuotion Consisting of diuers holy meditations and prayers; seruing for the inflaming of mens benummed affections; the quickening and increase of sauing grace; and the better ordering of the whole course of the life of a Christian, in a manner acceptable to God, profitable vnto others, and comfortable vnto his own soule. The first part.; Exercise of true spirituall devotion.
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Alliston, Joseph.
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1610
(1610)
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STC 377; ESTC S117776
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98,747
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428
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it were continually with manifolde vexations and distractions The only way to liue peaceably and ioyfully is to leade a holie and a religious life in al sinceritie and vprightnes This bringeth with it that sweete peace and that inward solace and ioy which the world cannot giue O blessed Lord the daies of this my pilgrimage are few and euill make them comfortable vnto me I humbly pray thee by leading me forward in the waies of righteousnesse and true holinesse grant that I may alwaies endeuour my selfe to haue faith and a good conscience before thee and before all men and to walke continually in simplicitie and godlie purenes without al guile hypocrisie that so my heart may reioyce in thee vnfainedly yea euen be filled with that ioy which is vnspeakable and glorious How they are to liue that are redeemed by Christ IT is a shame for the Lords free man to make himselfe a seruant a drudge and a slaue to the world to sinne and Satan Hee that Christ hath redeemed must liue like one set at libertie being alwaies very carefull and warie that hee be not intangled nor ouercome with any lust with any corrupt and vnlawfull affection lest thereby he bring himselfe into that bondage and seruitude then which there can be nothing more wretched and miserable O Lord since it hath pleased thee of thy infinite goodnes and mercie to redeeme me with so great a price euen with the pretious blood of thy deare Sonne that immaculate Lambe graunt that being freed from that estate of corruption vnto which before I was in bondage and hauing escaped froÌ„ the filthinesse of the world wherewith I was formerlie stained and polluted I may be carefull to renounce all those vngodly courses euen that vaine conuersation wherein I walked and delighted before I knew thee and that sauing grace of thine which thou in the riches of thy mercies hast reueiled and manifested vnto me and that I may daily more and more labour and striue after spirituall libertie and freedome liuing as thy seruant as thy redeemed one and shewing foorth the vertues of thee my God and Sauiour who hast called me out of darknesse into that maruellous light of thine Gods loue and fauour to be sought for aboue all things and his wrath feared IF wee bee out of fauour with men of no esteeme no reckoning amongst them If despised and disgraced of the world and made as such as are vile and of no reputation If wee bee but in daunger to lose our goods our riches our lands and liuing or to haue our outward estate by any meanes impaired and decayed or in any sort diminished If any of our dearest friends and nearest kinsfolke die and depart from vs for a while or if we our selues be in any perill of death loe then we are very sad and heauie we are exceeding pensiue and grieued out of measure as though no greater euill could befall vs. But if we be cleane out of the loue and fauour of God then which there can be no greater miserie if we be not regarded of him but are vile in his sight such as by reason of our sinnes hee doth lothe and abhorre more then wee doe the vgliest and the loathsomest creature in the world and doth many waies testifie the signes of his hatred and the deepe displeasure which hee hath taken against vs If wee be in continuall danger to hazard the most desireable goods which are better then all things which this whole world can affoord euen those pretious things of God wherin onely true happinesse and felicitie consists If wee be in neuer so great and apparent danger and ieopardie to lose the vnspeakable riches of that glorious and immortall inheritance reserued for the Saints in that heauenly kingdome that celestiall Canaan the Paradise of God where there are such ioyes such pleasure such blessednes as the heart of man is not able to conceiue or to comprehend If our neerest and inmost friend which resteth continually in our bosome and in the secretest lodgings of our hearts vnto whom wee professe the greatest loue and friendship that may be in briefe to whom wee are ioyned and vnited with so neere and strait bands that it is death for vs at any time to bee seuered and separated for the least while for one moment euen our owne soule if that bee dead in vs whiles it seemeth to liue dead in trespasses and sinnes whiles it liueth according to the flesh delighting in those things which are vnlawfull dead in regard of the life of grace whiles it liueth the life of nature yea continuallie in extreame danger to die eternally euen that second death which of all euils is the most fearfull most wofull aboue that any man doth thinke or can imagine though he haue â—resented vnto his minde the most dreadfull things and fullest of horror that can possibly enter into the heart of man yet behold such is the sottishnes of mans nature though wee knowe these things yet wee are not inwardly touched nor moued with them as we ought to be though we reade of them our selues though wee heare of theÌ„ oft by others yea though the Lord from day to day and from time to time causeth them to sound in our eares by the ministerie and preaching of his word in the mouthes of his faithfull seruants whom he sendeth and by the inward and secret voice of his spirit which suggesteth these things vnto vs yet our hearts are not affected with the consideration of them wee haue almost no sense or feeling of these euils and miseries wee make no account of them we are little seldome or neuer troubled with the meditation and remembrance of them The feare and danger of them doth not strike our soules with griefe and sorrow nor make vs so pensiue and heauy as the feare and dread of farre lesser euils doe Wee grieue more at the losse of the fauour and countenance of men yea of carnall and worldly men then of that glorious and immortall God whose louing fauour is better then life and the want of it worse then death we grieue more at the losse of the things of this world which are vaine earthly and transitory and such as can neuer make the owner of them trulie blessed and happie though he had them in greater abundance then his heart albeit neuer so vnsatiable could desire theÌ„ of the things of the world to come which are most excellent heauenly and enduring for euer in the hope and expectation whereof there is ioy and comfort vnspeakable and glorious euen whiles they are not seen but beleeued and in the full fruition and possession whereof there is entire and absolute felicitie and blessednesse We are grieued more at the death and departure of our friend then at the death and destruction of our owne soule more troubled with the feare of the losse of this temporall life which is alwaies fading and whereof wee can haue no certaintie or assurance one houre no not
the whole world but they would presently cut off all delaies which in good things are alwaies exceeding dangerous and seeke diligently by all meanes to leade their liues in that manner and so to secure their estate that in death they might haue assurance that they should not die but liue hauing their soules translated and carried though not by firie chariots as Elias was yet by the hands of those heauenlie Angels which continually waite and attend vpon them from earth to heauen from this vale of miserie to that place of endlesse glorie and happinesse O Lord keepe me from that extreame follie and simplicitie of the wicked whom Satan hath so deceiued and deluded that they should be carelesse of that which most neerly concernes them euen their future and eternall estate after this life which depends vpon the course of their life lead in this world which is short and momentarie Let it bee my care and endeuour euery day to seeke by a holy conuersation to be assured of the certaintie of my election and of my blessed and happie estate after this life euen my future glorification in thy kingdom that so I may be alwaies prepared and rest continually in a ioyfull hope and expectation of the accomplishment and fulfilling of thy gratious promise Freewill IT is a vaine thing to thinke that a man hath freewill vnto that which is good As well maist thou perswade me that a stone can moue it selfe or that a dead bodie can raise it selfe out of the graue Except the Lord put to his hand wee can neuer moue our selues no not to one good motion one good thought or desire much lesse giue our selues to the constant practise of that which is good Except the Lord put new life into vs except he quicken vs with his spirit we are al but dead men and shall lie in our graues vntill we be awaked vnto iudgement O Lord the fountaine of grace and life doe thou quicken me so shall I liue do thou lift me vp so shall I rise out of the graue of sinne and death Doe thou draw me so shall I come vnto thee yea so shall I euen runne with libertie in all the waies of thy commandements Heare me O Lord and help me for in thee doe I trust in whom onely I liue moue and haue my being and without whom all my life is but death Without thee I can doe nothing In thee and by thee all things What worship God especially requireth MAny performe outward worship and seruice vnto God few that which is inâ—ard Both are required but the latter is chiefly necessarie without which the former though commanded is neither pleasing nor acceptable yea vile and abominable vnto him that hath alwaies loathed such dead carcases such liuelesse sacrifices Lord giue me grace alwaies to offer vnto thee a whole burnt offering to serue thee as in bodie which thou hast made for that end so especially in spirit and in truth so shall I not bee reproued yea then thou wilt accept both of me and of all my sacrifices and be exceeding gracious and mercifull vnto me aboue that I can expect or desire Christians are willingly to resigne themselues and all that they enioy to Gods will ALL those things which wee enioy in this world are not our owne but Gods he gaue them to vs to vse and at his pleasure he may call for them and cause vs to restore them to him againe since he alone hath absolute right and interest in them Whiles wee haue them wee are to haue a care to vse them well and not to neglect them or to bee regardlesse of them We ought to vse them and yet not so to vse them as if they were our own but lent vnto vs by another of whom we haue receiued them When hee taketh them from vs we are willingly to restore them and readily without any murmuring or repining to part with them sith they were but lent vnto vs for a time for our conuenient or necessarie vse and are now called for againe by the right owner of them so that to bee vnwilling to returne them at his commaund is not neither ought to bee otherwise esteemed of vs then as the vsurping or violent detaining of another mans goods against his will and pleasure euen theft and robberie against the highest What meaneth it theÌ„ that many are so loth to restore the things which God hath giuen them the vse of for a while and now requireth of them againe What meanes it that many are so grieued to part with those things which the Lord hath lent them vntil such time as he should call for them Yea why is it that many complaine so grieuously as if they were greatly iniured or had very hard measure offered vnto them when the Lord taketh from them their wiues their children their friends their goods their lands liuings or their life it selfe Are they their owne and not Gods Why then should they sinne against him by repining that they cannot keepe them against his will Hath he giuen vnto them the vse of them thus long doth he now call for them and require them againe of them Why then should they not with al willingnes and thankfulnes restore them acknowledging themselues much indebted vnto him for the fruition of them and the benefit they haue receiued by them hitherto O Lord thou hast freely and most graciouslie vouchsafed many blessings and benefits vnto me euen in the things of this world the least whereof I am altogether vnworthie of thou hast giuen me life health friends and a competencie of these earthly things which in wisedome thou sawest to bee conuenient for me thou art the author and giuer of them as of all other things which are good Whiles it pleaseth thee to continue them vnto me for my vse giue me grace to vse them soberly in a sanctified manner so as may be most for thy glorie and my comfort both here and hereafter wheÌ„ it shall please thee to take theÌ„ away from me and to depriue me either of any or of all of them grant that I may with a willing minde and with a thankfull heart returne them againe vnto thee saying with that faithfull and constant seruant of thine whom thou hast made a paterne and president vnto me Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne thither euen into the bellie of the earth which is the mother of vs all the Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken it blessed be the name of the Lord. Forgiuing of others how necessary for all men HE can neuer truely and freely forgiue those that offend and iniurie him that hath not first tasted of the infinite loue and fauour of God in Christ towards him in the forgiuenes of those manifold sinnes and innumerable and most grieuous offeÌ„ces whereby he hath displeased and prouoked him But he that hath a true apprehension and a liuely sense and feeling hereof in his owne soule