Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	eternal_a	life_n	remission_n	6,333	5	9.3811	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58905	A sermon preached before the King at Chester, on August xxviii, 1687, being the feast of S. Augustin, Doctor of the Holy Catholic Church by ... Lewis Sabran ...	Sabran, Lewis, 1652-1732.	1687 (1687)	Wing S221; ESTC R1786	28,293	35

Donat. c. 16. L. 2. contra c. 23. of her revolted Children I do not despair of the Salvation of any one in particular whether he be a great Sinner in the Church or a Schismatic out of it Judgment is reserved to God alone he only who hath in his hands the Iron Rod can break the Earthen Vessels but I equally declare of both with the Apostle That neither those who in the true Church die in sin nor those who through a stiff stubbornness die out of her Communion shall be saved De symb ad Catechum c 10. For whoever shall be found out of it will be an Alien not reckoned amongst the Children of God whom he shall not have for Father having refused to have the Church for his Mother That Catholic Church which only is the Body of Christ of which He is the Tract 32. sup Joan. Salvator corpo●is sui L. de verâ fals poen c. 12. Head whereof He alone is the Savior out of that Body no one receives Life from God's Holy Spirit nor consequently can pretend to an Eternal one Out of this Churches Vnity no one can attain to true Penance no one can obtain remission of sins her Children alone being the sole Dispensers of the Mysteries of God. In Her House only the Lamb is eaten that is on Her Altars only is sacrificed the true Victim of our Redeemer Ser. 18● de tempore which alone so applies to us the saving Sacrifice of the Cross that who eats not of that Flesh hath no Life in him As then no one escaped the Deluge who was not Q. Q. 75. ad ●●a● Q 52. Contra Petili ut supra in Noah 's Ark so no one shall be saved who is not a Member of the Church out of which an Heretic may have all things but Salvation He may have the Sacraments he may keep the Gospel he may have the Faith and preach it only Salvation he cannot have Tho' he be a Paul converted by God's Voice instructed from Heaven he must first be sent to those who can administer to him the Sacraments and enter him a Member into the Church's Body Tho' he be a pious Cornelius an Alms-giver a man of Prayer a sober Liver tho' he have an Angel to instruct him Peter must teach him and admit him into the Kingdom of God upon Earth of which he hath the Keys the Church before he Ad Bonifacium cont 2. Ep. Pelag. can be saved otherwise let him observe all the Commandments live a chast life to the purity of an entire Virginity be profuse in Alms-giving most patient in bearing with all Injuries let him sell all and give to the Poor reserving nothing for himself after all those De fide ad Pet. c. 39. seemingly laudable actions yet if he be not of the true and Catholic Faith when he departs this life he will meet a certain Damnation altho' he should shed his Blood for the Name of Christ Say not that Cyprian and his Church because they condemned no man and separated none from their Communion were not Heretics and that it may suffice you that you copy this Example That was enough when the Church had not yet decided the Dispute to whose Decision Cyprian had certainly submitted himself and with her condemned all her Opposers which you do not Say not that you err in no Fundamentals that you conceive it a thing indifferent unto what Party you joyn your selves supposing they be Epistola 45. de Donatistis Christians and therefore remain fixed to that Party in which you were born for whatsoever in particular the Opinions of Heretics and Schismatics be since they profess otherwise than the Church does and requires of Serm. 14. de verbis Dom. them to do they are in a state of Damnation because they renounce thereby one fundamental Article of Faith the In Psal 17. In ventre Ecclesiae veritas manet quisquis ab hoc separa●us fuerit necesse est ut falsa loquatur Authority and Vnity of the Catholic Church in whose bosom Truth dwells So that whosoever is removed from it 't is necessary that he be in Error Say not I am satisfied my conscience doth not reproach me that I am in an Error I am charitably persuaded others may also serve God well but many Mysteries in the Catholic Church appearing to me very strange how can I believe what I understand not or how shall I an unlearned person ever satisfie my self of the Truth 'T is then better for me to live of that Religion my Father and Mother were of and die in that Church which I was Christned in Such weak reasons which yet retain in Heresie the greatest part of those who are unhappily engaged in it betray equally the weakness of their Judgment and headstrong stubbornness of their Will. The whole Catholic Church of all Ages of all Nations in her General Councils rests satisfied of the Truth of each Article of Catholic Belief so as to Curse and Excommunicate all those who believed as you do in opposition to her Now Sunt ibi quaeda●● q●ae suboffendunt animo●●●naros negligentes sui qu● maxima turba est populariter accusarl possunt defendi autem populariter propter myste●●a quae his continentur non à multis a ●modum possunt c. 2. de util Cred. there is an ease and satisfaction which proceeds from Ignorance such as is in him who in a dark night walks without fear on the brim of a Precipice he knows nothing of another from Knowledge and can you think without the highest Presumption that Ignorance lay on the whole Church's side and Science in your private Gift Is it charity to think all those General Councils were most uncharitable which all said Anathema to the Errors which they condemned and you now approve True Faith involves Mysteries which usually scandalize ignorant Souls and careless in seeking Instruction that is the greatest part of the World because they can be plausibly argued against but not so easily made clear they would not otherwise be Mysteries of Faith. 'T is then not only most to be counsell'd to believe what you see not Credere ante ratione cum percipiendae rationi non sis idoneus ipsa ●i●e excolere animum excipiendi● seminibus ventatis non solum saluberrimum judico sed tale sine quo aegris anim●●●alus redire non potest yet the reason of since you acknowledge your self unlearned ignorant not able to judge in such Debates and by Faith to manure your Soul and to fit it to receive and improve the Seed of Truth but 't is so absolutely necessary that by no other method health can be restored to a sick mind Are you ignorant not able by your own Judgment to determin on what side the Truth lies Why then 't is evident that you are bound to leave all those Congregations which leave you to your own final Decision and to repair

plain to be disputed against yet no answer could I return but those dull and drowzy words Shortly yea presently leave me but a moment but that presently was never present that shortly lasted long that moment was eternal Behold the sad Picture of a Soul that hath not yet lost all pretence to eternal Bliss yet so dull'd by her sins so debauch'd by weak human fears as to dare to stray from the way to it against the loud and clamorous convictions of her own conscience A sad case and at that time that of Augustin Great God! that Souls created to possess an Everlasting Bliss should be baffled out of all claim to it by such poor childish weak fears He was to change forsooth to alter his first Sentiment he had so often declared to the World He that Learned Man was to lay down his old Errors to be catechiz'd to learn a little one in Christ the first Elements of Religion to take up a new Faith what would the World say how sinistrously would they misrepresent his Motives Weakness of men who dare act against their conscience lest the World should think they do This misery the Saint reflected on afterwards when he cried out A curse on thee swelling Confess l 1. c. 16. River of human Respects who shall bear up against thy Stream who shall ford thee what powerful Grace of God shall drain or dry thee up and open me a passage God directed Augustin to a holy Bishop Sedulius who had been a Spiritual Guide and Father to St. Ambrose by this Man's means God had designed to defeat this one great Difficulty at least which was so dreadful an Obstacle to Augustin's Conversion His Exhortations had long been ineffectual when God inspired him to relate to Augustin the late Conversion of one Victorinus You knew him at Rome said the holy Bishop you have often convers'd with Confess l. 8. him and heard him both in the School and at the Bar you know that for his eminent Parts and prodigious Rhetoric he was highly valued so far beyond all others that Rome had raised him a Statue in the most eminent place of the City as to the God of Eloquence He was the Darling of the Nobility the Glory of the Senate the Love of the People and wanted towards Happiness only alas the all indeed true Religion He was now far advanced in Age when by reading all those Books that were written by those of the Catholic Church God's Grace instructing him interiorly he came to the knowledge of the Truth But he was Head of a contrary Party or at least the most considered in it 'T was hard to quit that sweet Prae-eminence and to have a new Interest to make He would often tell me not in public but in private and familiar discourse That now he was converted and of my Religion I ever answered him That he deceived himself and that I should never rank him amongst those of it till I saw him in their Church at their Prayers at their Sacraments He would reply That God knew his heart and what said he do the Walls of a Church make one a Christian This was but a fond excuse alas he feared to offend his Friends to cast a blur upon that fair Reputation with them which he had gained to himself God pitied him at last he apply'd himself to Reading again and to fervent Prayer he inslamed his cold Desires reinforced his Resolutions and fearing not to be acknowledged by Christ before his holy Angels in case he blushed to confess him before Men He that great Master of the Literate World abandoned his old Errors which almost all the Roman Nobility and People were again infected with and tho' he knew that those tall Cedars of Libanus would fall heavy on him that his Friends would forsake him his Admirers ridicule him his best Supporters abandon him he did not blush to become a little one of Christ ashamed of his past Errors not of the Truth he was to embrace he suddenly unexpectedly declares to me that he will go to a Catholic Church With what joy did I lead him Thither come he refused to be privately admitted into our Communion he made a public Profession of his Faith calling the whole Multitude for Witnesses of the Mercy which God had shewed him This Example thus related by the holy Bishop Oh how powerful was it I burnt says Augustin interiourly with a violent desire suddenly to copy and follow it I address'd my self to God in most fervent Prayers Do O Lord said I do the same in my heart awake and pull it back to you His Prayer was heard human respects are totally laid aside by him nay he is convinced that nothing but Error or Weakness in not daring to disavow and to correct it ought to be blushed at One great point more God's Grace hath gained now we are come to the last No wonder if the Enemy intrenched in his last Fort makes the most vigorous because 't is the last resistance From the beginning of his Youth Augustin had found strange Charms as he acknowledges himself in Virtue especially in that of Temperance and Chastity but corrupted Nature found stronger and more tempting ones Da mihi cont●nentiam ●●stitatem sed 〈◊〉 modo Conf. ● 8. c. 7. in Vice. His Prayer was then Lord give me Temperance Continency Chastity but not too soon In this disposition had he continued till his Thirty-third year convinced of his Duty but unwilling to comply yet with it Catholic Religion he liked well of but with It the Cross of Christ was to be embraced Abstinences Penitential Works Confession Restitution and Self-denial Purity of Heart and Body a removal of all dangerous occasions of sinning Oh saith he the Beauty of thy Law was to me greatly attractive but I sunk back with grief under my own weight the violence of old sensual Customs Oh of how many is this the case when called by God to Qui intelligit Deum non ac●edit ad Fidem ejus ne vivat Christianus sed in si●e vult Pidem accipere ut mor●atur Christianus qualem sperat Deum cui cum mil●tare ●rubuerit vult ab co stipendium accipere Q. Q. ve● nov Q 126. the true Church or if in it already to Christian Virtues But a sad one For as Augustin himself observed afterwards Those who being sufficiently convinced when true Faith is taught yet refuse to submit to it resolved not to live yet hoping to die in it can have but one of these two Motives of their delay either a greater liberty of sinning with less restraint with a weaker remorse during Life or the confusion they apprehend to be put to by that change But alas what a God do they conceive you to be O Lord who blush to serve you yet dare expect from you a reward The force of this Example had conquer'd in Augustin the difficulty he met with from human respects God uses the