Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	distinction_n	mortal_a	venial_a	4,934	5	12.1153	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17936	Tentations their nature, danger, cure. By Richard Capel. Sometimes fellow of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford. To which is added a briefe dispute, as touching restitution in the case of usury.; Tentations. Part 1-2	Capel, Richard, 1586-1656.; Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.	1633 (1633)	STC 4595; ESTC S119212	168,622	502

the written Word and Law of God it is done by faith and saving grace and by the Spirit of GOD giving lust such a wound that let Satan lick it all hee can it never recovers nor comes to it selfe againe Should we take the word sufficiently in a legall sense then while we breath we neither do nor can resist sin but it may be and it ought to be more and better resisted still but if we take it in an Evangelicall sense so as to be sure that our sin is dead at the heart as some trees be that yet carry boughs that we may bee sure that wee are in Christ here I say that a man hath sufficiently resisted sin and Satan when he doth not allow the sin when he doth no way consent to the tentation Some expresse it by a distinction and say that if a man doe not allow infirmities and doe not live in the practise of grosse sinnes then all is well and there is comfort enough to bee had to stay our thoughts against the day of refreshing as a little will stay the stomacke for a time so will an assurance that wee have broken the heart of sinne binde in our hearts from despaire The answer which is made hath this sense in it that if we allow not infirmities 2. If wee doe not practise grosse sins then there is sufficient resisting as touching the maine That there is a difference betwixt infirmities and presumpuous sins is not to be denied it is expresly in the holy scripture Papists say that the man who doth a mortal sin is not in the state of grace But for venials a man may commit in their Divinity who can tell how many of them and yet be in Christ for all that I hope there is no such meaning in any of our Divines as to tye up mens consciences to hang on such a distinction of sins sith it is beyond the wit of man to set downe a distinct point betwixt mortall and veniall sins now when it is an impossible matter punctually to set downe to the understanding of man which is and which is not a veniall sin they must pardon mee from giving the least way to such Divinity as must needs leave the conscience of man in a maze and Labyrinth I finde that the nature of infirmities doth so depend upon circumstances that that is an infirmity in one man which is a grosse sin in another and some men pleade for themselves that the things they doe are but infirmities He that will sin and when hee hath done will say not to comfort his soule against Satan but to flatter himselfe in his sin that it is but an infirmity for ought I know he may goe to hell for his infirmities Besides if that be good that a man who is in grace may doe infirmities but not practise grosse sinnes Then I would I could see a man that would undertake to finde us out some Rule out of the word by which a sinner may finde by his sin when hee is in Christ and when out of Christ at what degrees of sinning where lies the Mathematicall point and stop that a man may say thus far I may goe and yet bee in grace but if I step a step farther then I am none of Christs Wee all know that sinnes have their latitude and for a man to hang his conscience on such a distinction as hath no rule to define where the difference lyes is not safe Divinity The conscience on the racke will not be layd and said with formes and quiddities the best and neerest way to quiet the heart of man is to say that be the sinne a sinne of infirmity when we strive and strive but yeeld at last or of precipitancy when we be taken in haste as he was who said in his haste all men are lyers or a meere grosse sin in the matter aye say it be a presumptuous sin yet if we allow it not it hinders not but wee are in Christ though wee doe with reluctancie act and commit it and I say that we doe resist it if wee doe not allow it For let us not goe about to deny that a godly man during his being a godly man may commit grosse and presumptuous sins and for infirmities if wee allow them and like them that we know to be sinnes then wee doe not resist them and such a man who allowes himselfe in one is guilty of all and is none of Christs as yet bee the sinne what it will Iames makes no distinction and where the law distinguisheth not there wee must not distinguish I speake not of doing a sin but allowing for a man may doe it and yet allow it not as in Paul that which I would not that I doe and hee that allowes not sinne doth resist it therefore a man may resist it and yet doe it all the difference that I know is this 1. That a man may live after his conversion all his dayes and yet never fall into a grosse sin by grosse I meane presumptuous sinnes so Psal 19. David saith not cleanse but keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins we may then be kept from them I speake not that all are but some be and therefore in it selfe all might be 2. For lesser sinnes secret faults we cannot live without them they are of dayly and almost hourely incursion but yet wee must bee clensed from them as David speakes dayly get your pardon and there is a pardon of course for them and they doe not usually distract and plunge the conscience but yet we must not see them and allow them if we do our case is to be pittied wee are none of Christs as yet 3. Great staring sins a man cannot usually and commonly practise them but hee shall allow them So Ps 19. 13. Keepe back thy servant from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over mee Implying that except wee be kept back from them they will have dominion over us it followes then shall I be upright So that the man in whom presumptuous sinne or sins have no dominion he is an upright man To practise a sin is one thing to live in the practise is another how farre a man being and remaining in grace may goe in the committing of great sinnes is past my skill to determine The case of Salomon and others proves that a man may goe farre tentations may hang long if a day a week if a weeke a yeere if a yeere many yeeres and how many Who can say a man lives in a sin when he loves it though he doe not practise it at all as hee is a Drunkard who is never ●●unke if hee love drinke and he Covetous who loves money though he have not a penny in his purse So say a man never act the sin yet if hee love it if hee doe not hate it hee lives in it As in the Body a man is said to have his health albeit he hath