Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	death_n	life_n	wage_n	10,497	5	10.9120	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35021	The legacy of the Right Reverend Father in God, Herbert, Lord Bishop of Hereford, to his diocess, or, A short determination of all controversies we have with the papists, by Gods holy word	Croft, Herbert, 1603-1691.	1679 (1679)	Wing C6966; ESTC R1143	85,065	144

mercy to stir up Dr. Luther Bucer Melancthon Calvin and several others to open again the Gospel unto us and by the light thereof to discover the Heathenish superstitions of the Church of Rome who had again revived many practices of old Pagan Rome the Pagan had their purifying Waters called Aquae Lustrales in imitation whereof the Papists have their Holy Water to sprinkle themselves withal when they enter the Church So instead of the Pagan Vestal Fires the Papists have their lamps continually burning day and night before their Altars The Pagans had their Tutelary gods as Protectors of this and that place so have the Papists their several Saints for several Countreys St. Dennis for France St. Iames for Spain St. Peter for Rome St. George for England St. Patrick for Ireland The Pagans carried the Idols of their gods about in Procession with great pomp burning Incense and singing Hymns unto them the Papists do the very same to the Idols of the blessed Virgin and Saints to the reproach rather than the honour of their memory as if they had been Heathen and not Christian Saints Many many more are their superstitious fopperies forsaking the body Christ and follow the infatuating shadows of humane inventions Teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men God only knows what a Chaos of confusion we had been sunk into before this had not God stirred up those Worthies I mentioned when the Pope like a God upon earth had usurped that Anti-Christian power as to thwart the commandments of God and Christ our blessed Saviour as I have already shewed you in many particulars But there is one I have not yet mentioned more remarkable and detestable than any of those I mean the countermanding that solemn and last command of our Lord and Saviour Jesus at his last Supper after he had instituted the blessed Sacrament of his body and blood to our endless comfort and commanded his Apostles to do the same in remembrance of him And I pray you take notice of one circumstance therein which perchance you have never yet observed and 't is this When our Saviour delivered the Bread unto the Apostles he said Take eat this and no more but when he delivered the Cup he gave a more exact command for it saying Drink ye all of this As if he had said Be sure that every one of you partake of the Cup let no one omit it And why so particularly command the Cup more than the Bread Truly with great reason He divinely foreseeing the sacrilegious dismembring of this blessed Sacrament which the Roman Church would make in depriving the people of the Cup. Whereas one would think this Command of our dying Lord and Saviour for us should of all other Commands be most exactly performed to a tittle in every point Yet the Pope as ungratefully as insolently presumes to command to keep the Cup from the People Who could have believed such an insolency had not the whole world seen it By the same rule he might and perchance before this time had not his high presuming power met with such opposition in Germany would have taken away the Bread also and made the People only gazers on and admirers of the great dignity of the Priests who alone were admitted to that Holy Supper for so it is among them now for the most part the Priest saying Mass every day but the common people generally receive the blessed Sacrament but once or twice a year Now had the Pope taken away the Bread also he might have given the very same reason for that as he doth for taking away the Cup. They give two reasons First because it may happen that in delivering the Cup to many people the Wine which they call the Blood may be spilt Why so in giving the Bread some crums may fall and they affirm that Christs body is entirely contained in the least crum Secondly They say the People have the Blood of Christ in his Body when they receive that and therefore they need it not again in the Cup. Though 't is apparent in Scripture that our Saviour gave it in the Cup apart to signifie his bloodshedding from his body saying This is my blood which was shed But 't is no matter what our Saviour said the Pope says otherwise and we must hearken to him he says 't is sufficient for the People to receive the Blood in his Body And so should he say that he is the Head of the Church and if he alone receive the Bread and Cup and no other neither People nor Priest receive either 't is sufficient if the Head receive them the Head stands for the whole Body the Pope guided by the Holy Ghost says so and then who dares say otherwise And thus you see that if we once let go the Scripture farewell all Religion all the commands of God are to small purpose what the Pope says must be a Law Good Lord deliver us The time is welnigh past and I must hasten to an end Wherefore I shall now add only a short reflection on what hath been said with a word of Exhortation in the close You have heard Gods Command to the People of Israel concerning the Old Law That all should read it teach it their Children write it on the doors and posts of their dwellings discourse of it in their Houses by the way and in the fields You have heard also Gods Command to the Prophets To go to all the house of Israel to all the people and cry aloud to them all the day long You have heard our Saviours Command to the Apostles To go and Preach the Gospel to all Nations to every creature You have heard how the Apostles guided by the Holy Ghost directed their Epistles To all the Faithful to all the Saints You have heard Saint Paul strictly command his Epistles to be read to all the holy Brethren And now shall any man be so insolently so desperately wicked as to dare to controul the Command of God so often reiterated and countermand the Scriptures to be shut up from the People Man a worm of the Earth thus to oppose his Creator Nay my beloved hearken yet farther The Romanists declare it to be a sin for the people to read the Scripture And you know the wages of sin is death eternal death so then the Romanists declare it to be Eternal Death for the people to read the words of Eternal Life Stand amazed O ye Heavens at this If this be not transcendent madness and transcendent wickedness too tell me what is To say the Sun is darkness is ten times more tolerable than to say the word of Eternal Life is Eternal Death to him that reads it But now I beseech you mark what a ridiculous Salvo they bring for this their horrid wickedness O say they but you may have leave of your Confessor to read the Scripture if he find you fit for it that is if he find you a dull tame Ass ready to bear all the

reading the Scripture it causes them to fall into very extravagant Opinions and Heresies How horrid a thing is it to affirm this Really it appears no less than blasphemy against the Holy Ghost whereof our Saviour pronounc'd that dreadful Sentence That it should never be forgiven neither in this world neither in the world to come For to say the reading of Scripture causes the people to fall into Heresie is the same in effect as to say the Holy Ghost is the Author of sin for I have most clearly proved unto you that the Scripture dictated by the Holy Ghost commands all to read the Scripture But I hope they intend no such matter as blasphemy but think they have some colour for what they say from 2 Pet. iii. 16. where St. Peter speaks of the unlearned and unstable wresting the Scriptures to their own destruction But I pray you mark how St. Peter joyns unstable with unlearned the want of stability is the main cause of their wresting the Scriptures For I shall shew you by and by that they who abound in learning yet wanting stability wrest the Scriptures as well I should say as ill as the unlearned But first I desire my pretending wise men to advise a little with St. Paul Rom. vii 10. where he tells us that the Commandment which was ordained unto life he found unto death did he therefore lay aside the Commandment God forbid the Commandment was Good and Holy how then came it to pass He tells us vers 8. that sin taking occasion by the Commandment wrought in him all manner of concupiscence And again vers 11. Sin taking occasion by the Commandment deceived him and by it slew him Thus Beloved you see 't was not the Commandment that wrought death in St. Paul but sin that is concupiscence the corruption of nature that was in him this caused all the evil And just so it is in our case 'T is not the Scripture which causes Heresies Schisms and Divisions amongst us God forbid we should say so but sin taking occasion by the Scripture works all these the corruption of mens natures blinds and deceives them the pride and wilfulness of their heart the conceit of their own holiness and godly understanding sets them forward in opposition to the common received Doctrine and to affect singularity and applause by teaching some new thing Then they tumble over the Scripture to find out Texts that carry some colour for it as they fondly conceive and having found such they presently blaze abroad their new Doctrine which the giddy unconstant people always fond of new things presently catch at and follow This puffs up the Teachers and sets them agog and makes them ready to suffer any thing in that behalf for this increases the reputation of their Sanctity as suffering imprisonment and the like for the truth and at length by large Contributions this comes to increase the wealth of their purse also and then there 's no reducing them to obedience and order Now as St. Paul saith 'T is not the Scripture which causeth all this but sin the Spiritual pride of their heart takes occasion by the Scripture to work in them Divisions and Heresies And though the Scripture were wholly shut up from them yet the same sin their Spiritual pride of heart would cause the same Divisions and Heresies Do not we see this daily happen to them who reject the Scripture and walk by their new inward lights which they pretend God infuses into them This makes it most manifest that all our Divisions as St. Paul saith proceed from sin that is in us And doth not St. Iames agree with St. Paul in this when he saith From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members So from whence come these Divisions and Contentions come they not hence even of their lusts that war in their Members Now I beseech you to consider were it not as sensless as wicked to shut up the Scripture the word of life from the whole Congregation of the faithful because the sin and corruption of some turn it to their death But as Iob xi saith Vain man would be wise though a man be born like a wild asses colt Yea he would be wiser than God who well foresaw these Heresies and Divisions and forewarns us by St. Paul 1 Cor. xi 18 c. not only that they would come but also must come for the tryal of the Elect Our Saviour also tells us that he came not to bring peace on earth but a sword to set a man at variance against his Father and the Daughter against her Mother Matt. x. 34 c. And doth vain man think by his wisdom to frustrate the Divine Decree yea to stop our Saviours mouth from preaching the Gospel and say I beseech you Sir hold your peace you set men at variance even Father and Son Mother and Daughter one against another What think you Beloved were this wisdom or desperate sinful folly It is just the same or indeed far worse than to desire God to withdraw the Sun from shining on the earth because it causes evil weeds to grow up in evil ground Wherefore my Beloved I beseech you let us hearken to the true wisdom of God and not to the vain deceivable wisdom of man born as ignorant as the wild asses colt Yet he will be so wise as for the preventing of Errors and Divisions to shut up the Holy Scripture from the people which God hath commanded to be delivered to the people But I shall shew you yet farther the perverseness of these pretending wise men Is it not well known to all men verst in the writings of antiquity that the most dangerous spreading Heresies which infested the Church for several Ages and whereof some continue to this very day sprang not from the people but from learned eminent men Priests and Bishops Monks and Abbots and divers others famous for learning as the Arian the Nestorian the Eutychian the Pelagian the Macedonian the Manichean Heresies and several others which have mightily disturbed the Christian Church in all Nations East West North and South And then by the rule of our rare wise men the Scripture must be shut up from these also Bishops and Priests as well as people from all Seal it up and bury it in a Cave till the Resurrection of the dead and before that time all Religion may be dead and buried also and in the mean time we may take the Alcoran for our meditation or Ovid de Fastibus and so all become Turks or Heathens and the Kingdom of Satan set up instead of the Kingdom of Christ. Satan himself could not have found out a better exploit to do his work And really my beloved I must in all seriousness tell you that the Christian world was very far degenerated and declining into Heathenism by shutting up the Scriptures in later Ages before it pleased God in his great

back that was profitable Doth not this I pray you fully confirm what I said That the belief of any thing more than what is declared in Scripture may prove rather a hinderance than a help to Salvation Nay 't is not only may be but probably if not certainly will be a hinderance and not a help since the Apostle assures us that he declared all things profitable that is all things helpful And doth not St. Peter 2 Epist. i. 8. and following verses discourse to this purpose For there he tells them that in doing those things which he had taught them they should make their calling and election sure and that thereby an entrance should be ministred unto them abundantly Were it not then as sensless as dangerous to venture on any other means or helps as they call them than what the Scripture shews for our Salvation for if we follow that it makes our Salvation abundantly sure But say the Romanists all that the Apostles declared was not committed to writing but some by word of mouth and so passed by tradition from hand to hand and for this they bring us a Scripture 2 Thes. ii 15. My Brethren stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught whether by word or our Epistle From whence say they 't is evident that all things the Apostles taught for mans Salvation were not delivered in writing but some by tradition from word of mouth The answer to this is very easie for though St. Paul did not teach the Thessalonians all things by writing but some by word of mouth yet it doth not follow but that his Epistles to the Thessalonians with other his Epistles as also the Epistles of the other Apostles the Acts the Gospels all together did contain in them all things necessary and profitable also to Eternal Life For this reason St. Paul commanded his Epistles written to one Church to be read to other Churches as I formerly shewed you And so St. Peter in his Epistles commends to the people likewise the Epistles of his beloved Brother Paul And therefore I did not say that any one Epistle two or three did contain all things necessary to Eternal Life Nor did our Saviour tell the Iews that in any one or more Prophets they had Eternal Life but in the Scriptures they had Eternal Life in Moses Psalms Proverbs Prophets in the whole Scripture And if the Old Testament were so perfect and so glorious as to contain in it all things necessary to Eternal Life which glory was to be done away as St. Paul saith shall not the New Testament the Ministration of the Spirit be much more glorious and perfect 2 Cor. iii. 7 8. Would God be less careful of his Church establish'd by his own Son in Person which was to remain to the end of the world than of that erected by Moses his Servant which was but a shadow of that to come Can any man be so simple as to think this though perchance so perverse as to affirm it This and such like things they may whisper in a corner to silly women or men as silly but certainly none can have the face to say this to any man of understanding 't is so absurd and so fully confuted by St. Paul not only in the places before cited but also in 2 Tim. iii. 16 17. where he tells him that all Scripture is given by inspiration from God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works Observe I beseech you That the man of God may be perfect perfect in Doctrine in faith in good works in all things Oh! my beloved God send me and you the perfection of Scripture the Doctrine and Works there taught and let the Papists follow their Doctrines of men their perfection their works of merit yea and of supererogation too Whereas we learn from Scripture that when we have done all we can we are unprofitable Servants but their Doctrines of men teach them that their great Saints Bennet Francis Dominick Ignatius and many hundreds more are such profitable Servants and have done such mighty works of perfection as not only to merit Heaven for themselves but also to gain Heaven for others by their superabundant merits which the Pope hath power when he pleases to apply to Souls scorching in Purgatory and dismiss them away presently to Heaven Sure a hard hearted cruel man that will let any lie long in those raging flames if he have power to release them Who can but pitty those poor silly Souls that are led into everlasting flames by these seducing Teachers so flatly contrary to the Scriptures cited now and others That no man may deliver his brother or make agreement unto God for him For it cost more to redeem their Souls it cost the blood and death of our Saviour Jesus For our sins being trespasses against the infinite majesty of God none but our Saviour who is also of an infinite Majesty both God and man could make a just satisfaction for them Had a thousand Bennets Dominicks c. and ten thousand thousands more been sacrificed on Crosses all had been in vain we should all lie for ever in everlasting flames These Scriptures are shut up from the eyes of poor blind-folded Papists But Blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear Matt. xiii 16. Your eyes and your ears see read and hear these Scriptures daily preached unto you Hold fast these the words of Eternal Life which alone will make you wise unto Salvation and throughly furnish you unto all good works make you perfect without any Doctrines of men as you shall hear more particularly by and by What then must we lay aside all the Writings of the Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church even in the purest times by no means for they may be very helpful to us in expounding obscure places of Scripture for which several sorts of learning are very useful First The perfect understanding of the Original Languages in which the Scriptures were written as the Hebrew the Syriac the Greek Languages Now many of the Primitive Fathers were either born or much educated when those Languages were naturally spoken and thereby could much better judg of the propriety and full signification of many words which we are much to seek in and each Country Language hath several proverbial sayings and antient forms of speech which in process of time grow out of use and very hard to be understood we see that very few now are able to understand old Chaucers Language English being very much altered since Secondly History and Geography are very necessary for the understanding of several passages in Scripture And certainly those Primitive Fathers living near the times and places when and where our Saviour and the Apostles taught and acted may be able to inform us of several circumstances and give us great light in many