Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A00605
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The honor of chastity A sermon, made and preached by Iohn Featly.
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Featley, John, 1605?-1666.
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1632
(1632)
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STC 10741; ESTC S101897
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16,034
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39
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our Ioseph guilty Hee denie's though his Mistresse intreat's Here 's GOD and the Devill contending for a soule The woman who first tempted man exercise's her authority againe in Potipher's wife but GOD who is greater command's by his supremacie Here 's the wickednesse of a woman and the goodnesse of a man positively And againe here 's the goodnesse of a woman as some will have it and the wickednesse of a man inclusively Here Vertue and vice are at contention Here 's the sulfureous fire of Hell burning in lust and the power of Heaven quenching the flame Here 's a conflict betweene Chastitie and Adulterie but Religion become's the Judge Here 's a controversie in Law but Piety is the Vmpire And lastly here 's fire and water meeting together in a strong contention but the Spirit of God breathes upon the water See here how opposition adde's glory to the triumpher Had not Ioseph beene tempted he had not beene proved But being tempted had he consented he had not beene accepted How knew he but that it might be policie in his Mistris to allure him to wickednesse not intended to be acted that she might depose him from honour whom perhaps shee hated To prevent an injury therefore in his repute hee disdained the power of his Mistresse's temptation 'T was enough that hee knew her a woman and therein her infirmities although he remembred shee was his Mistris and therefore instruct's her A vertuous Woman is like the Iewell in the field mentioned in the Gospell Or as the Sunne in the Heavens dazeling the eyes of the weake spectators and giving lustre to the rest of her sexe the smallest Starres Yea a Woman in honour invested with the Ermins of Religion is all white and goodnesse of her selfe though not without some blacke spots of malice and corruption But on the other side a Woman in honour supported by power leaning upon command and yet bending double with vice is witty in her revenge dangerous in her malice contemning the vertuous and in a furious rapture plotting for mischiefe on those who sell not their very soules to content her humour Doe but observe the wife of Potipher and yee may finde it her truest character But on the other partie Religion is predominant though contemned for great wickednesse ready to be performed by great persons if it had not beene controuled by piety would have broke out into destruction Had she onely loved him it had been her courtesie Had she loved his Religion onely it had been her goodnesse Had she loved onely his integrity it had beene her discretion Had shee loved only his humility it had bin her honor But in her love which was but the counterfeit of her lust she discovered her wilfull impurity Origo quidem amoris honesta est sed magnitudo deformis saith Hierom. The sparkes of love are honest but the flames are dangerous If any here have beene scorched with them let the teares of contrition quench the fire the GOD of that contrition accept the repentance Hitherto I have onely touched upon that Adultery which is carnall mentioned formerly I must now looke backe upon that which is spirituall also S. Cyprian speaking of some Virgins that were Votaries saye's they were adulterae priusquam nuptae adulteresses before they were wedded to that austere life although they were Virgins and he explaines himselfe presently after saying Not to any husband but to CHRIST O that wee could once bee free from this whoredome and become like the Kings Daughter in the Psalmes All glorious within O that our soules were clad in white robes of innocencie and not in the menstruous rags of our naturall corruptions O that a seared conscience might not perswade us to a drowsie securitie in a seeming honesty when these Tabernacles of flesh cannot be truly free'd from impiety Whatsoever sinne we commit is in it selfe a great wickednesse and the Apostle tell 's us that the wages thereof is death Our mortality then teacheth us the punishment of our disobedience much more therefore ought our lives to instruct us in repentance Our sinnes are committed against a mighty Iehovah the LORD strong and mighty and yet our GOD. Which put 's me in mind of my third and last part Quarels among men may be taken up by the amity of friends But sinnes against God only by enmity with our selves If then Ioseph refused to admit of a conspiracie against reason and put it off divinely lest he should sinne against GOD How much more ought wee whose slacknesse in righteousnesse condemne's us to be lesse religious The least here hath not Ioseph's command nor the greatest I feare his goodnesse Let all contend for his honesty What vice soever beg's for entertainment wil be best answered in the words of my Text if each particular person reply How can I doe this great wickednesse and sinne against God To which God the Father Son and Holy Ghost bee all praise honor c. FINIS
which are most confident in their justification For I must distinguish of a two-fold adultery both Carnall and Spirituall The former ye have heard me hitherto treat of The latter is two-fold First Metaphoricall which is any sinne of what nature and condition soever because our soules are espoused to Christ which the Scripture termeth spirituall whoredome The second consisteth in the abuse of any holy thing which is adultery by way of sacriledge as Thomas Aquinas will have it Not to enter into a strict examinatiō of your hearts or common application which your guiltinesse I suppose hath already prevented me of Let me keepe to the purpose of this word as it is in my Text. Yee have hitherto seen the diversity of sinne and the monstrous birth of this wee treate of Let Isiodor now have leave to present you with the ladder by which this impious vice climbs up to heaven to call for vengeance Cogitatio prava saith hee delectationem parit delectatio consensionem consensio actionem actio consuetudinem consuetudo necessitatem necessitas mortem Evill thoughts beget delight delight a consent consent the act the act custome custome necessity and necessity death Saint Iames make's but three rounds to this Ladder Lust when it conceiveth bringeth forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bringeth forth death But hee that hath a desire to walke more leasurely to his destruction and in spight of the Spirit of grace will follow his owne unbridled lusts may travell in those eight by-paths of iniquity mentioned formerly and so build up the mighty Babel of his owne confusion But siste paulum viator as Minutius Felix speaketh in another kind Stay thou that walkest in those uncouth paths while I question thee with S. Bernard Quare peccas c. Why doest thou sinne thus O thou unjust creature Why doest thou offend O thou miserable wretch The all-seeing providence espie's out all thy waies and the darkest Cells and fowlest cavernes of thy sooty heart lye open and manifest to his piercing eyes Plead not the unchast allurements of lascivious women which tempt thee for an excuse For our age returne's it selfe guilty of such hellish inventions such Philtra and Diasatyrions such powders and potions to cherish this abortive brat of uncleannesse that they seeme even to iustifie the severall allurements of the weaker sexe by more horrid and divellish inchantments Pascitur libido conviviis say's Saint Ambrose nutritur deliciis vino accenditur ebrietate inflammatur This is not to learn of S. Paul to beat downe our bodies and keepe them in subiection Nor of Ioseph in my Text to contend with the temptation because to consent is to sinne Againe he that seeke's to excuse himselfe by the superfluous humours of a pampered body should rather with Lazarus live by the crummes than fare so deliciously with gluttonous Dives Plutarch report's of Antiochus King of Asia that when he was invited to performe a visit to the faire Panthea by the various reports of her admired beauty refused to goe replying Si modo illam convenero quum per otium vacat fortasse illa mihi persuasura est ut neglectis regni negotiis illam conveniam quum etiam non vacat If say's he I should repaire unto her now my leasure serve 's mee perhaps shee will so take me by her alluring forme that when I should follow the affaires of my Kingdome I should spend my time with her when I have no leasure I read that Dionisius dis-inherited his sonne which was heire to his Kingdome for defiling himselfe with another man's wife The Egyptians punished the adulterer with a thousand stripes and the adulteresse with the losse of her nose A punishment continued since to divers not by Egyptian edict to the women onely but by the Indian disease even many times to both the delinquents If these examples which are fetch 't from prophane Authors want the power and efficacy of perswading you to shun this sinne in my Text let then the Word of God which is sharper than any two-edged Sword divide between the ioynts and the marrow of him that run's on still in this wickednesse Who so committeth adultery with a woman saith Salomon lacketh understanding hee that doth it destroyeth his owne soule Proverbs 6.32 By the Leviticall Law Levit. 20.10 the adulterer and adulteresse were both put to death Zimri and Cozbi were both thrust through by Phinehas even in the tent Num. 25.8 Yea and twenty and five thousand of the Benjamites were slain in battaile by the Israelites Iudg. 20.46 What shall I say then Thinke yee my beloved that either Zimri and Cozbi or those twenty and five thousand of the Benjamites were greater adulterers than any of our age I tell yee nay but except yee repent yee shall all likewise perish The Canon of the Law runne's Paritas dilicti paritatem poenae requirit Those must equally share in their punishments which have been equally guilty of an offence If those before mentioned suffered for their lusts in so high a degree 't were but justice in God to punish us in the like nature as or rather worse than them Goe then thou guilty conscience sinne no more lest a worse punishment than these happen unto thee As thou hast yeelded the members servants unto uncleannesse and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yeeld thy members servants to righteousnesse unto holinesse and thy end shall bee everlasting peace Learne of good Ioseph here to shunne this spirituall Adder which sting's thy soule and then hisse's at thee for thy folly Let God be the object of all our desires the moderator of our thoughts and the controller of our actions so whatsoever rebellious thought steale's into our fancies he will correct it by discovering it unto us to bee sinne against his sacred Majesty In sole etiam levissimi pulvusculi cernuntur saith S. Chrysostome When the Sunne shine's into a Chamber through any crevice the smallest atomes are discerned by it So when the grace of the Sunne of glory shine's into our hearts wee shall easily discover the smallest allurements to this impurity and suddainly then may we seek for help when we finde it to be a sinne against God which is The last part of my last generall The reason of Ioseph's refusall in respect Secondly of the object or party offended God How can I doe c To question a Deity is to wound it nay to suspect it onely is to deny it The hearts of men are the Booke of God wherein his Majesty is written for the most part in so small a character that it dazel's the eyes of their understandings which attempt to prie into it He that sit's in the high and holy places hath commanded all to the knowledge and service of himselfe Ignorance therefore of his sacred Majesty although it may seeme to pleade an excuse in some yet it can be at the most but a tanto not a toto as the Schoolmen speake For hee