Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	flesh_n	law_n	sinful_a	10,359	5	10.4238	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91899	Safe conduct, or The saints guidance to glory. Opened in a sermon preached at Dunstans in the East London. November the second, MDCLIV. At the funerall of the vertuous and religious gentlewoman, Mris. Thomasin Barnardiston, late wife of Mr. Samuel Barnardiston, merchant. / By Ralph Robinson, pastor of Mary Wolnoth, Lumbardstreet, London.	Robinson, Ralph, 1614-1655.	1655 (1655)	Wing R1711; Thomason E823_7; ESTC R203376	61,656	101

a guide to lead them in the way to true happinesse The Spirit of God Lorinus in Loc. Calvin in Loc. Isa 59. 21. Secondly The Spirit of God So some expound it of the spirit of Counsell and judgement The Spirit and the word must not be separated in this work of guiding These two are usually put together My spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth They do not speak as the Oracles of God who divide between the Spirit of God and the word Those that boast of the Spirit and reject the word they set up their own vain imaginations instead of the Spirit of God By the word of God wee know the mind of the Spirit and by the work of the Spirit wee feel the efficacy of the word The word of God shews us the way and the Spirit of God leads us in that way which the word points out The Holy Ghost is called the Mind of God or which is the same the Mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2. 16. because hee is the Churches interpreter to declare unto it the meaning of God in the word The work of divine guidance is attributed to the Spirit therefore Isa 63. 11. 12. 13 14. as well as to the word Where is hee that put his holy spirit within him That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm That led them through the deep as an horse in the Wildernesse that they should not stumble As a beast goeth down into the valley the spirit of the Lord caused him to rest God made Moses a guide to Israel but it was the Spirit of God that guided Moses It was the holy Ghost that instructed Moses to lead the people and it was the divine power of the Holy Ghost that over-ruled the people and made them willing to submit to his guidance The Apostle ascribes this Office to the Spirit As many as are led Rom. 8. 14. by the Spirit of God they are the sonns of God Jesus Christ purchased the Holy Ghost and sent him down from heaven after his own ascension to be the eternall guide of his Church and therefore he tels his sorrowing Disciples that when hee was come hee would lead them into all Truth The word is Gods Counsell Joh. 16. 13. to discover the path in which wee are to walk the Spirit is the Counsell of God that teacheth us how to walk in that path The Scripture is a Rule before Isa 30. 21. us to shew us where wee must go the Spirit is a word behind us to enable us to go according to the direction of that word The word of God is the compass by which wee are to shape our course the Spirit is the great Pilot that steers us in that course Wee have no eyes to see the word till the Spirit inlighten them wee have no ears to hear the word till the Spirit open them we have no hearts to obey the word till the Spirit bow and incline them Thirdly The wise providence of God I find 3 The providence of God some Expositors that do so understand the Text of that directing providence whereby the people of God are conducted while they are on earth The providence of God is often called the Eye of God or in the plurall number the Eyes of God because of the manifold workings of it By these watchfull eyes are the servants of God guided in all the revolutions and turnings of this world I will guide thee with my eye Psa 32. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Hebrew word which is there translated guide is from the very same root with that which is in the Text rendred counsel The guidance of Gods counsel and the guidance of his providence are one and the same thing This Eye of God is never withdrawn from the righteous but is continually fixed upon them for their preservation and defence These eyes of providence run to and fro throughout the whole earth to take care of and to make speciall provision for all Gods Psa 34. 15. Elect. The actings of divine providence are not only for the supplying of the Saints in their necessities but for the preserving of them from wandrings and for the reducing of them when they do wander The Starre of providence is usefull for the guiding of the saints feet as well as the Starre of Scripture Thus I have opened the first particular what is comprehended in this expression Gods Counsel it refers to the word of God to the Spirit of God to the Providence of God Secondly Why the people of God do so passionately desire this divine guidance These prayers are Why the godly desire this guidance grounded upon very solid reasons I shall reduce them briefly to these three First They know they are lyable to wander and therefore want a guide It s said of the wicked that 1 They are apt to winder they love to wander Jer. 14. 10. they are never better pleased with themselves than when they walk in some path that is displeasing to God To provoke God is a pastime and sport to a gracelesse heart when they do evil then they rejoyce they have such a setled Jer. 11. 15. enmity in their hearts against the holy commandement that they delight in their walking contrary to it This cannot be spoken of any godly man Every true saint can heartily say Amen to that holy breathing of Psa 119. 10. David O let mee not wander from thy Commandements Godly men do with their minds serve the law of God even when with their flesh they serve the law of sin Rom. 7. ult But though they do not take pleasure in their wandrings yet they are apt to wander and that both in point of judgement and in point of practise The Psalmist doth ingenuously acknowledg that his feet Vers 2. were almost gone his steps had well nigh slipt Had not God come in to his assistance hee had both stumbled and fallen Beleevers have flesh in them as well as Rom. 7. 23. spirit they have a law in their members warring against the law of their Minds though they have sincerity of grace yet they have not perfection of grace though their hearts are set heavenward yet they have a clog of corruption that weighs them down towards the earth unruly and unbridled affections by their violent motions turn them too often out of the way It was the sad complaint of one which may be the complaint of every good man Libenter bonus esse vellem sed cogitationes meae non patiuntur The Apostle tels us the English of it by his own experience I find that when I would do good evil is present with mee Rom 7. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 1. 21. Our affections which are the wings of the soul are so blinded with that superfluity of naughtinesse which is in us that

they cannot make their way towards any good object with that speedy and direct course they desire David a man after Gods own Psa 119. ult heart had his swarvings deviations Eliah a holy prophet of God was sometimes found as a bird wandring from her nest what dost thou here Eliah Peter and Barnabas 1 King 19. 9. two stars of the first magnitude one of them at least an Apostle of Jesus Christ both of them Pillars in Gods Church were reprehended by Paul for not walking uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel Abraham 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 G●l 2. 14. the righteous man the father of the faithful was through carnall fear turned twice out of the way of God Noah an upright man in a perverse generation had his turnings a side hee beganne to be an Gen 9. 20. 21. husbandman and planted a vineyard and hee drunk of the wine and was drunken he was uncovered within his Tent. Beleevers though they be more then men yet they are still men and because they are men they may be over taken The Apostle supposeth this and therfore gives advice to such as stand how to recover them that are fallen Brethren if a man be overtaken Gal 6. 1. Opened in a fault yee which are spirituall restore such a one in the spirit of meeknesse In this Text wee are taught these three lessons First The difference between the sins of the godly and the wicked The wicked man over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 takes sinne the godly man is overtaken by sinne the wicked man runnes after sinne as men runne after a prey though sin runne from him yet will hee follow it the godly runne away from sinne as men do from their enemies they would be glad to flee out of the reach and out of the sight of it the wicked man prevents sinne the godly man is prevented by sinne Secondly It teacheth us that the best of saints being but frail men are liable to these sinful surprisals Quod cuiquam cuivis that which befalls one Saint may befall every Saint Thirdly It teacheth us that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Vos qui Spiritus virtute sustinemini Beza in Loc. by the power of Gods Spirit that any Saints are preserved from these falls The Apostle calls those that stand Spiritual men because it is by the strength of the Spirit that they are upheld True Beleevers have so much acquaintance with their own hearts that they know if a strong temptation assault them they shall miscarry if God leave them and therefore they have cause to be so earnest with God for his guidance And this the rather because 2 They know they are not able to be Guides to themselves 2 They cannot guide themselves or to preserve themselves from wandering Gods people are a Generation of Self-distrusters they dare adventure upon God without hesitancy in all Cases be they never so difficult they dare not depend upon themselves in any thing though never so facile and feasible they have read that text which Jer. 10. 23 tells them That the way of man is not in himself that it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps This they beleeve to be the Word of God and therefore dare not rest upon their own counsel They have studied Gods All-sufficiency and the experience they have of their own frailty causeth them to acknowledge Self-insufficiency for any Spiritual undertaking All Beleevers pray also that Prayer daily Domine libera me a meipso Lord deliver me from my self They know every man is vanity but of all vain men they beleeve themselves to be most vain They have learned from Solomon that He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool and their own Prov. 28. 26. experience is to them a Commentary on that text Of all Deceivers they have found their own hearts most deceitful and therefore dare not commit themselves to the guidance of such Traitors The people of God know that he that will be a Self-guider shall really prove a Self-destroyer the sense of Self-impotency makes them fly to God for the guidance of his Counsel And that especially because Thirdly They know and are perswaded that God 3 Gods Counsel is a sufficient guide is able sufficiently to guide them It is grown into a Theological Proverb They are well kept whom God keeps they shall be exactly guided whom the great God will please to guide Hold thou me up saith the Kingly Prophet and I shall be safe There is no safety Psa 119. 117 without Gods support and when God will put under his hand there is no fear of falling That you may see how fit the Counsel of God is for this work of Spiritual guidance it will be needful to say something particularly of the nature of the Word of God of the Spirit of God and of the Providence of God which I shewed you the Psalmist hath reference to in this expression of Gods Counsel First The Word of God is in every respect fit for The Word of God a fit guide this work of guiding the Children of Men while they are Sojourners in this world This will appear if the following properties of it be well studied As First It is a plain word The Papists that they may 1 It s plain have some colourable pretext for that Sacrilegious sin of forbidding the common people to read the Scriptures Censur Coloni ens p. 1117. Vid. Gerh. loc Com. de Script Sac. cap. 20. charge them with obscurity Omnia singula quae in Scriptur is comprehensa sunt tantis obvoluta sunt obscuritatibus ut ne Doct●ssimi quidem certam cognitionem inde colligere possint nisi eam aliunde mutuentur All and every thing contained in the Scriptures say they is so dark and obscure that they that are most learned cannot draw any certain Conclusions from thence unless they have assistance from some other hand they mean unless they be helped by unwritten traditions One of them Blasphemously enough calls the Holy Scriptures N●sum Canis in oper Catech. p. 44. cereum A Nose of Wax which doth not give any certain knowledge but may be bowed to any Exposition according as he that interprets pleaseth Whatever these ha●ers of the Word of God affirm it is very evident that the Scriptures are perspicuous and plain especially in those things which are of absolute necessity to be known and beleeved for Salvation Though some things are hard to be understood which therefore they 2 Pet. 3 16. that are unlearned and unstable wrest unto their own destruction as the Apostle speaks yet all things that are necessary to be done or beleeved for Salvation are so plain that he that runs may read them If any thing be more obscurely delivered in one place it is fairly interpreted in another place The Commandement saith Solomon Prov. 6. 23. is a Lamp and the

Bless God for this guidance of Divine guidance When you have any occasion to go to a Lawyer for Counsel you give him his Fee without asking VVhen you hire a guide to conduct you in the way you are willing to give him satisfaction God expects that his people should with thankfulness acknowledge his great kindness in laying his VVord before them in putting his Spirit within them in making his Providence subservient for their safe conduct David wisely and Psal 16. 7. graciously resolves upon this I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel my reins also instruct me in the night seasons God did not only give him his VVord to advise him but his Spirit to teach him The Holy Ghost did stamp such powerful impressions on his affections which he calls his reins that hee was effectually bowed to embrace the Counsels of the VVord VVhen the Wise Men that went to finde out Christ saw the Star the text saith they were exceeding Mat. 2. 10. glad had not that directing Star gone before them they had never found the Babe Jesus No doubt the Children of Israel lift up their hearts and glorified God when that pillar of Cloud and Fire was erected among them And should not the Beleevers heart rejoyce and leap for joy that hath as certain a guide to go before him as that was Let mee but hint some advantages which accrue to the people of God by reason of this guiding Counsell and they cannot but see cause of continuall thansgivings I shall but instance in three particulars First By vertue of this divine guidance you are 1 Hereby are wee preserved from sin preserved from those sinfull waies in which others walk to their everlasting ruine The Prophet David found this benefit Concerning the works of men by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer hereupon he praies in the very next words hold Psa 17. 4 5. up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not Why is it that the Saints do not defile their precious Souls with those horrid blasphemies wherewith others are infected but because they are guided by the Counsell of God That you are not Drunkards Murtherers Covenant-breakers Idolaters Lyers is from hence because God is pleased continually to guide you That you do not swim down the stream with others in a corrupt age that you keep faith and a good conscience in a faithlesse and adulterous generation it is to be ascribed to this guidance of heaven That you do not deny Christ that bought you that you do not reject the Scriptures that you do nor forsake the Ordinances and Ministry as many do that you have not washed your hands in innocent blood and conspired against the life of the righteous it is because God hath led you by the Counsell of his word and spirit The best and holyest person in this assembly would have acted his part in the most horrid designs that others have been imployed in carrying on if God had left him to his own heart If you therefore account it a mercy that you have not stained your hearts and hands and consciences with the black and bloody guilt of the worst of sinnes bless the Lord who hath given you Counsell Secondly By means of this guidance you are kept safe from those dangers whereby others have been 2 Hereby are wee kept from danger overtaken It was by reason of the Pillar of Cloud that the people of God escaped the fury of Pharaoh Exo. 14. 20. and his host when they did pursue them with such impoysoned malice The Pillar came between the Camp of the Egyptians and the Camp of Israel so that the one came not neer the other all the night Gods guiding presence with beleevers is for protection as well as direction As God marcheth in the Vann of the Army to shew his people the way so his presence is in the ●ere to prevent their danger Thy righteousnesse shall go before thee saith the Prophet to the beleever and the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward Isa 58. 8. The fiery darts of Devills would long since have gangren'd your flesh and the venom of their Arrows drunk up your spirits if God by his guiding presence had not stood by you for defence The same God that hath been a wall of fire for your protection hath been a wall of fire for your enemies destruction When Israel saw themselves on dry land and the Egyptians dead on the shore then they sung praises to God Exo. 15. 1. It is by vertue of the fiery Pillar that you have to this day escaped the rage of your Pursuers let the remembrance of it inflame your hearts into the highest praises 3 Hereby is our way sweetned Thirdly by means of this guidance the way of your pilgrimage hath been sweetned to you A good guide doth not only preserve the passenger from dangerous paths but by his discourse and company renders the journey comfortable Through Gods guiding presence that hath been with you in the way you have enjoyed sweet communion with him you have had many a daies comfortable converse with God you have hereby had opportunity to open your souls to him to lay your doubts fears temptations before his face God did not only direct the people of Israel by the Pillar of Cloud but hee did from thence reveal himself to them upon all occasions Hee spake to them saith David out of the fiery Pillar God in guiding Psa 99. 7. the Saints by his Counsell doth familiarly make himself known to them who is this that commeth out Cant. 8 5. of the Wildernesse leaning upon her beloved The phrase doth not only signify conduct but familiarity God by the guiding of his people gives them opportunity to see the boylings of his affection towards them and to unlock all their secrets unto him Hee tels them many a pleasant story whereby their drooping hearts are cheered and gives them leave to declare all their griefs whereby their souls are dis-burthened Now let mee again beseech you and charge you O yee holy ones of God by all the sinnes from which you have been preserved by all the dangers from which you have been delivered and by all the sweet comforts which you have received by the guiding Counsell of God to get your hearts fired into flames of holy praises Secondly Bee willing to submit to the guidance 2 Submit to this guidance of Gods Counsell Do not pull away the shoulder do not harden your hearts be not stiff-necked but where Gods bids you go thither resolve to go The Children of Israel did move when the Pillar of Cloud moved and they went which way soever it went and when the Pillar stood still then they pitched their Tents At the Commandement of the Lord they journeyed and at the Commandement of the Lord they pitched Num 9. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23. their Tents

Apostle expresseth 2 Cor. 5. 4. the Saints investiture with glory by the Metaphor of putting on a garment not that wee would bee unclothed but clothed upon when God shall fully glorify his saints there shall be no part of the body no power of the Soul unglorified If I should fall upon a discourse of the particular happinesses which the glorified Souls and bodies of Saints shall enjoy in heaven I should tire out your patience Let it ●uffice to say this that whatsoever makes for the perfection of both shall be fully possessed by both The Schoolmen speak much of the Stole of the Soul and the Stole of the body the Saints shall have those robes put upon them and shall not want any one Pearl or Spangle that belongs to the perfection of either The state of glory is described by our comming unto a perfect man Eph. 4. 13. The Saints here are in their Nonage the highest Beleever is but a stripling at best but when we come to heaven then wee are perfect men The first moment the Soul peeps into glory it shall have all graces in perfection Could wee speak with those blessed souls that are now in heaven they would tell us they desire nothing but the company of those earthly Tabernacles in which they dwelled while they were in this World and to these they shall be re-united at the Resurrection Secondly The glory which the Saints shall possess 2 It is a pure glory is a pure glory There is not the least mixture of any thing that is unglorious or dishonourable if it were not pure it would not be perfect There are but two things that can stain the glory of the Saints Sin and Sorrow and both these shall be for ever abolished The Saints in glory shall bee as free from Sin as the Sun is from darkness No defilement shall enter into Heaven The Soul when it leaves the Body is perfectly healed of all kinde of sinful distempers and the Body when it comes out of the Fining-pot of the grave shall not have so much as the smell of sin upon it Sin brought Death into the VVorld and Death carries out Sin The Dominion of sin is removed from the Saints in this Life but then shall the very Being of sin be removed Unbelief pride of heart the Body of Death which Beleevers complain against with so much sadness in this world shall never trouble them more for ever Here the Spirit lusteth against the flesh Gal. 5. 17. and the flesh lusteth against the Spirit but in Heaven there shall be no such sinful Lusts to warre against the Soul There shall be no concupiscence in the Members Non erit concupiscentia in membris non exurget rebellio carnis c. Cyprian no rebellion of the Flesh no crookedness in the VVill no disorder in the Affections Nature shall then be every way intire and perfect The Church shall at the Day of Judgement be presented without spot or wrinckle or any such thing Here the Saints are black and comly here they are ring-straked spotted and speckled as Jacobs Cattel were here they are partly Spiritual and partly Carnal but in Heaven they shall be wholly Spiritual Nothing like sin shall appear on the glorified Bodies and Souls of Saints to all eternity All Natural weaknesses shall be done away much more all sinful weaknesses As Sin shall be abolished so shall Sorrow All sorrow is the fruit of sin and when the Mother is dead no more Off-spring can be expected It was told St. John That those Saints which he saw arrayed in white Robes were come out of great tribulation When Rev. 7. 14 man is born he comes into tribulation but a Saint when he dyes goes out of tribulation The Dead which dye in the Lord are said to rest from their labours Rev. 14. 13 In Heaven the Children of God shall enjoy perfect freedom from whatsoever is troublesom Grief Fear Temptation pain of Body anguish of Minde shall be heard of no more for ever There is no groaning no crying no death no vexation no sickness to be heard of in the streets of that City where the Saints inhabit The body shall be raised a powerful body an immortal an incorruptible body The very roots of all distempers shall be pluckt up out of the body and therefore the distempers themselves shall cease And for outward violence that hath no place neither there are no oppressors in Heaven no injurious persons no bloudy Task-masters to impose burdens or inflict stripes When a Saint is past Death he is past the fear of all misery When the body is wrapt up in the Winding-sheet it is past all tribulation Thirdly It is a satisfactory glory It is such a glory 3 It is a satisfying glory as doth give full contentment to the heart that possesseth it If it did not satisfie it would not be perfect The Prophet David speaking of the happy state of Heaven saith I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy Psal 17. 15 likeness Though there are several degrees of Glory in Omnibus una salus Sanctis sed gloria dispar Heaven as is more than probably gathered by Divines from Scripture yet all grant That he that enjoys the lowest degree is fully satisfied with what hee enjoys he is not capable of desiring any one degree of glory above what he possesseth God himself is the Objective happiness of the Saints and he that enjoys God must of necessity be satisfied with the enjoyment of him The glory of this World doth not content the heart Ambitious Haman thought all he had nothing Hest 5. 13 because he wanted something hee would have had The want of Mordecays knee at the Kings gate made him forget the sweetness of the Queens Banquet The Royal feast did not satisfie because Mordecai the Jew was not Servitor at the Table The Queens Wine was not sweet to his taste because Mordecai was not Cup-bearer The heart of man is too bigge to be filled either with worldly riches or worldly honour But the blessed Saints in glory are every way satisfied The Soul is so filled with the glory of God that there is no room to contain another ray Fourthly It is an everlasting glory it is a glory without abatement and without end The Apostle 4 It is an eternal glory calls it an eternal weight of glory All the glory of this World is of a fading nature it is a withering flower 2 Cor. 4. 17 and no better Hamans fall was as sudden as his rise The same person is cried up and decried in one day by the breath of the people The Thrones of glory which are on earth are often leveld with the ground Kings lose their Crowns and Scepters many times by violence if they keep them till death yet then do they and their pomp descend together into the Grave The Sun of earthly glory hath its setting as well as rising But the glory