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
A70803	A decad of caveats to the people of England of general use in all times, but most seasonable in these, as having a tendency to the satisfying such as are not content with the present government as it is by law establish'd, an aptitude to the setling the minds of such as are but seekers and erraticks in religion an aim at the uniting of our Protestant-dissenters in church and state : whereby the worst of all conspiracies lately rais'd against both, may be the greatest blessing, which could have happen'd to either of them : to which is added an appendix in order to the conviction of those three enemies to the deity, the atheist, the infidel and the setter up of science to the prejudice of religion / by Thomas Pierce ...	Pierce, Thomas, 1622-1691.	1679 (1679)	Wing P2176; Wing P2196; ESTC R18054	221,635	492

and pant after and contend for such an Abstinence as is not onely from This or That for then the very worst of us might soon be Christians good enough but from All sorts of evil without exception and so to comply with our Apostle in his important monosyllable by taking the object of our Abstinence with its unlimited universality For that we may pass from the first to the second Particular in the Text it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abstain from All evil § 11. I say from All for these obvious but usefull Reasons which I shall not onely propose but humbly submit to consideration First because He who is indulgent to any one sort of Evil cannot say that there is one from which he does vertuously abstain nor is he certain what duration his partial Abstinence will be of It being so easie for him to fall from one wickedness to another that wheresoever the cunning Serpent gets in his Head he draws his whole Body in with the greater Ease As if the contagion that is in Vice were in proportion to the Links in the Chain of Virtue our Indulgency to one is apt to draw the rest after One rotten Action does as gladly infect another as one putrid Grape does communicate its venom to all the Cluster And the reason is very clear why He who gives himself the Liberty to feed intemperately on one Sin is ipso facto become obnoxious unto the Surfeiting upon all because he has not any Principle or Power within him by force of which he can be sure to abstain from any And the reason of that reason is just as clear too For the same want of fear to offend his Maker the same despight offer'd to Grace and the same Callousness of Conscience which either allows or betrays him to any one wilfull Sin leaves him destitute and expos'd to the Power of All. So that if by not committing he seems at any time to abstain from this or that sort of Vice 't is not his Virtue but his Luck And if any thing is to be thank'd besides the restraining Mercy of God who does often set his Hook into the Wicked man's Nostrils he may thank his Stars for it at least his Company or his Custom or the Laws of the Country wherein he lives or at least the good hap of his Constitution as not sufficing him for some Sins or not inclining him to others and many times so strongly byass'd to darling obliquities on the left hand as to be carried by the same Byass from other obliquities on the right There being some sorts of evil so very opposite unto each other and inconsistent at the same instant that to abstain from one Extream is not laudable in a Professor who is indulgent unto the other 'T is not thank-worthy in a Niggard not to be guilty of Prodigality Nor is it the Merit but the necessity of an extremely great Coward if he is not found guilty of too much Rashness It being a sad kind of Virtue which a Man owes onely to Vice as when he abstains from any one of two contrary evils because he cannot commit them Both. § 12. Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abstain from All evil because the wilfull Transgression of any one of God's Commandments makes us as liable to Judgment though not to so many degrees of Torment as if we had broken every one For what else can be the meaning of that saying in S. James that if a man keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all He for example who abstains not from the Intemperance of the Tongue That enormous fleshly lust which is so regnant in these our days may be said to offend in one sole Point of Christianity yet like a little Colloquintida in a whole Pot of Broth That offending in one Point sheds such an Influence upon others as to invalidate and evacuate his whole Religion Jam. 1. 26. The reason of which is very evident in that the same God that saith Thou shalt not steal or commit Adultery does also say at the same Time in the same Decalogue and by the very same Authority Thou shalt not take the Name of thy God in vain nor bear false Witness against thy Neighbour And the Breach of these Precepts when it is wilfull or habitual is as damnable in its nature as the Transgression of the former and all the rest For as the whole Nature of Treason against the Majesty of the King does lie as really in the compassing or contriving of his Death as in all the most bloody and ouvert Acts that can be nam'd and any one of those Treasons is as capital as a Thousand so the whole Nature of Rebellion against the Majesty of God does lie as much in the wilfull Breach of any one of his Commands as in all together and Damnation is the wages as well of that one as of all the rest And as when a man is hang'd for committing Treason it is cold comfort to him that he is hang'd but for one Crime and not for many so 't will but little if at all lessen the misery of the Damn'd t●at they were damn'd onely for Drunkenness Schism or Haeresie or for another such habitual and mortal sin not for Murther or Adultery which were not laid unto their charge or rather for breaking the Fifth Commandment than for transgressing the other Nine And therefore since Impenitence is indispensably destructive though I know there is a greater and a lesser Damnation be it but in one or in many evils it must concern us to abstain with impartiality even from All. § 13. Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abstain from All Evil as well from the least as from the greatest because our very least Sins do gather a Greatness to themselves from the greatness of the Object we Sin against and from the Greatness of the Means against which we Sin I mean our Prayers and our Sacraments and the frequency of our Sermons by which whoever is not mended is accidentally made worse And because the least Sins are apt to lead into the greatest Besides Siracides said wisely in this sense also He that despiseth small things shall perish by little and little Ecclus. 19. 1. The least Sins therefore cannot possibly be so light as that they may safely be slighted by us because although what is venial can never lose its Distinction from what is mortal yet 't is worthily to be fear'd that a man may Sin mortally by pleasing himself in his venial Sins and by loving them more than the will of God Nor are we drown'd with more comfort by the Sea 's stealing in through little crevices into our Ship than by our Ship 's being suddenly and at once cast into the Sea Abstain we therefore even from all the most diminutive Peccadillos as men of Latitudes in Practice do love to call them not from Evil onely in Deed but in Word and Thought too For if

not fitter that such as They should meekly comply with their Superiours than that their Superiours should bow to Them Whether an yielding can be made better than by the ignorant to the most learned by the fewest to the most numerous by the Shrubs to the Cedars or by the Subjects of Law to the Legislators Indeed Obedience to one another that is to Equals and Obedience to Inferiours or People exceedingly below us might be grievous and vexing with some Excuse However Christians are in love bid to serve one another and Christ did wash his Disciples Feet and England has had her Saturnalia during which some of the greatest and noblest Masters did indure a December of Twelve years long and did contentedly see their Servants to bear Rule over them But Obedience to Superiours to men above us not against but according to the Laws of Heaven and Earth such as was the Obedience of Christ to Caesar for Christ according to his Manhood was but a Subject though King of Kings in regard of his Divinity and Caesar was one of those Mortal Gods who liv'd like Devils and died like Men I say Obedience unto Superiours whom the Scripture calls Gods is the most noble and the most natural and the most necessary Duty such as bears up upon its shoulders by God's Assistance both the whole Fabrick of the Church and all the Kingdoms of the Earth and of Heaven itself Whereas Schisms are Pioneers which digging below their very Foundations do clearly strive to undermine and subvert them All. § 15. I have now done with my 4 Reasons why our Schismaticks rather than others however scandalous in their Lives are singl'd out from the whole Herd of Notorious Sinners to be made the chief Exemplars of disorderly Walking from whom we are most to withdraw our selves These I say are the chief reasons why by this Precept of S. Paul compar'd with Those of S. John and our Blessed Saviour we are chiefly bound to separate from Separatists Yet would I not here be thought to mean that every Subject should be a Judge from what kind of Separatists in Civil Conversation he ought to separate For publick disorder and confusion might Thence ensue But I would be understood to intend Those Schismaticks who are censured by their Governours and proper Judges to be Such From a civil Commerce with such and a commerce of free choice I think it a Duty to abstain and to abstain in such a measure as our Lord and His Apostles have mark'd out to us § 16. And now I may have done with my Sermon too but that I have remaining an hearty Wish that our Separating Brethren would unpassionately consider Three obvious Truths First that if Obedience to Christian Governours and Laws is not really so essential to Christianity itself but that still it is possible as some imagin that Saints may be Schismaticks and Schismaticks Saints Then our Faith and our Preaching yea and our Scriptures are all in vain Welcome Anarchy and Disorder and Farewell to all Society Next that however Sin and Errour are very different in themselves yet a Wilfulness in Errour does make such an Errour become a Wilfull Sin too And the contemning of Authority link'd with an obstinate contumacious fomenting of Divisions is such a Monster that the least Errour of Judgment which had been venial in itself is by these Aggravations made great and grievous and contracts unto itself as well a Diabolical as Damning Quality Thirdly that Schism were it no Sin were very well worthy the parting with for the purchasing of so pretious and so inestimable a Jewell as Publick Peace the fruits of which rightly us'd are Piety and Prosperity Strength and Safety 'T was for the purchasing of This that S. Paul has his Compliances with Jews and Gentiles 'T was for This that he yielded to circumcise Timothy and 't was for This that he refused to circumcise Titus as well as for the shewing his Christian Liberty and obedience to the Conciliar Constitution Then first Enacted 'T was his great Business and Design to make the most adverse Parties agree in Christ To gain the Jews therefore he deny'd himself the use of his Christian Liberty and as well to win the Gentiles he resum'd the use of it with equal Care 'T was to unite dissenting Parties and make them meet in one Church that the Apostles meeting together in a full Council at Jerusalem thought it requisite to establish Things Indifferent by a Law Thereby giving a Necessity à parte post to things Indifferent à parte ante It was to gain both Jews and Gentiles that our Lord in some things comply'd with Both. And to hope that our hitherto-dissenting Brethren who now do enfeeble and indanger both Church and State by their Disobedience will one day comply with their Superiours upon the Reasons I have given if by any fair means they may be brought to their knowledge and laid before them is at present the greatest Charity I can have for those men who are void of All Charity till That is done § 17. Finally Brethren farewell and suffer a word of Exhortation from S. Paul and S. Peter Both joyn'd together Be ye all of one mind having compassion one of another love as Brethren be pitifull be curteous so S. Peter to which I add out of S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be knit-together and compacted so the Greek or be ye perfect so the English because your being perfect must consist in your being well knit-together and compacted in one Communion Therefore walk by the same Rule and mind the same things live in Peace and the God of Love and Peace shall be with you To Him be Glory for ever and ever OF CIRCUMSPECTION In THESI EPH. 5. 15 16. See that ye walk circumspectly not as Fools but as Wise Redeeming the Time because the days are evil 1. AS Philostratus once said of Apollonius Tyanaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he writ not his Life but his Peregrination after the very same manner may I say here The Life of man is but a Pilgrimage and that Pilgrimage but a Walk A going up-hill on one side and down-hill on the other First of all he walks up-hill untill he comes to his 30 th or 40 th year And from thence he walks down-hill untill he comes to fourscore For All after That is a Descending into the Pit or if it must needs be call'd walking a kind of walking in the Valley of the shadow of Death 2. First then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be sure to walk do not faintly lie down or yawningly lean upon your Elbows for your Journy is long and your Time but little Therefore up and be doing Set your feet in his steps who went about doing Good and rejoyced as a Giant to run his Course For rather than be benighted we must not walk onely but run too So saith the Author to the Hebrews Let us lay aside

is not the ocular Sin I mean the Eye full of Adultery but the auricular Confession Not the Protestant's Impiety but the Popery of making it known Now such as These should be exhorted not so much to increase as to direct their Caution not so much to make it greater as wiser and better than heretofore to change the Object and the End of their Circumspection that what is now a meerly Carnal may suddainly pass into a spiritual and Christian Prudence For this will be to walk circumspectly not as Fools but as Wise § 8. And for the bringing this about with the greater Ease we must be circumspect Walkers in two general respects In respect of the Persons with whom we are conversant and in respect of the Rules by which we are to be directed I therefore say in respect of Persons by way of distinction from all other objects because our Days cannot be evill but as we our selves are such and therefore by the evill Days in which it is our Lot to live must needs be meant the Evill men of the Days we live in And our Walking is to be circumspect as in respect even of all men so of Those more especially to whom we bear the greatest kindness But This is a Point I must refer to another subject of Discourse The Rules by which we are to walk not as fools but as wise are especially these two Conscience and Discretion And for the better using of These we must warily occurr to two grand Fallacies whereby the greatest part of Men are wont to prevaricate with Themselves § 9. Some are so thick of understanding as to measure their Conscience by their Confidence their being lustily perswaded a thing is lawfull or unlawfull Esteeming all without Sin which is said or done without Scruple and all things sinfull of which a scruple may be made Neither discerning any difference betwixt a Conscience which is tender and misinform'd nor yet betwixt a meer numness and Peace of Conscience Such were our Regicides here in England who how scrupulous soever in things indifferent were not scrupulous at all in the point of Murther But sturdily pleaded at the Bar that they believ'd they had a right to try and execute their King and that they did Both in the Integrity of their hearts it was no more than their Consciences did dictate to them their Consciences were satisfied in what they did and by consequence they would do it were it for ever to be done Meaning still by the word Conscience the strength and sturdiness of their Opinion which might indeed be call'd Witchcraft as well as Conscience I mean with an equal impropriety and an easier pardon to the word Thus it was with the Conspirators of our Gunpowder-Treason and with the two infamous Murtherers of Henry the Third and the Fourth of France who taking That for their Conscience which was indeed but their Caprice made no doubt but their Murthers were Meritorious And thus it was for some time with furious Saul the Blasphemer and Persecutor of Christ who grew so mad and transported with giddy zeal without knowledge as himself confessed freely against himself from after the time of his Conversion that he thought it his Duty to be destructive of whatsoever was call'd Christian Like Them of whom our Saviour tells us who thought forsooth they were bound in Conscience to execute Murther on the Apostles because it was in Their Judgments to do God Service Where by the way we may observe how much 't is every man's duty to fear himself and to suspect his own Judgment in divers cases § 10. Now the way to walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise and to free our selves from That Fallacy which is so generally swallow'd by other men is first to consider what Conscience is a thing the most talk'd of but the least commonly understood of any principle or faculty to be imagin'd and after That to be carefull how we walk by that Rule For whilst the Rule itself is false the Circumspection must needs be foolish and can onely serve to make us the more disorderly Walkers Conscience indeed is the Rule of Action But to be sturdily perswaded a thing is lawfull or unlawfull is not at any time the Rule and not at all times the work of Conscience For Conscience is not a Perswasion but Knowledge rather Nor is it any kind of knowledge but knowledge compared with a Rule as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek and Conscientia in the Latin do Both import And yet how many of those men who pass for Instructers of the Ignorant and Eyes to the Blind are wont to use the word Conscience before the people and to themselves by that dangerous Catachresis I just now mention'd But before I say fully what Conscience is I proceed to shew what it is not I say it is not a being so fully perswaded in our minds as not to have any regret or scruple to be void of all Doubt or haesitation for we know the Sear'd Atheist has none of That And when our Saviour Christ said The time cometh that whosoever killeth you shall verily think he does God Service he did not mean they shall be conscionable Murtherers or Persecutors of Men in the fear of God and so shall break the Commandment in the Integrity of their Hearts for That had been to say They shall be innocently guilty which had flatly imply'd a contradiction in Adjecto But his meaning was clearly This that some mens hearts shall be so hardned through the Deceitfulness of Sin as to mistake the very worst for the best of actions Their Vnderstandings shall be so dark and their Souls so benighted with their customary impieties as to grope after Murther instead of Sacrifice Just like them of whom we read in the fift of Esa lately match'd with the Readers and Admirers of the Leviathan who had so lost the distinction of right and wrong as to put evill for good and good for evill bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter darkness for light and light for darkness The Custom of Sin had so pav'd their Palates as that they had utterly lost their Tast Now it is not a satisfied but seared Conscience which is not startl'd at such impieties As many silly mens Consciences are too full of scruples not because they are tender but ill-instructed so many wicked mens Consciences are void of Scruples not because they are clear but callous and so must every thing be that is cauteriz'd Yea give me leave to say farther Many desperate Malefactors have mounted the Gibbet without regret not so much because they had no scruples in their Consciences as rather because they had no Consciences to be scrupl'd since one that 's sear'd with an hot Iron to use the figure of our Apostle is in effect none at all § 11. For to shew briefly what it is having shew'd largely what it is not A Man's Conscience is his Knowledge of what he has done