Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	good_a	law_n	transgression_n	4,529	5	10.4346	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63913	A phisico-theological discourse upon the Divine Being, or first cause of all things, providence of God, general and particular, separate existence of the human soul, certainty of reveal'd religion, fallacy of modern inspiration, and danger of enthusiasm to which is added An appendix concerning the corruption of humane nature, the force of habits, and the necessity of supernatural aid to the acquest of eternal happiness : with epistolary conferences between the deceased Dr. Anthony Horneck and the author, relating to these subjects : in several letters from a gentleman to his doubting friend.	Turner, John, b. 1649 or 50.; Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1698 (1698)	Wing T3313; ESTC R5343	198,836	236

we discern in the Things that are for he that gave those Perfections unto these Things must needs have an inexhaustable Fountain of Perfection in Himself By the Being then of God I mean the first Principle of all Things He that made all Things what they are and endow'd them with all their different Powers and Vertues from whence I conclude him to be a Being absolutely perfect My own Existence is a Self-evident Principle No Reflection can give unto a Philosopher any greater Assurance of his own Existence than the intimate Perswasion that every Plowman has of his without Study or Meditation Now the Idea that Men have of themselves is twofold Material and Immaterial The Material part of Man is his Body which is evidently subject to the general Laws of Matter and liable to all the Mutations that are incident to other Material Beings The Immaterial part is his Mind which discovers it self in his Capacity of Thinking and Reasoning for Thought exceeds the power of Matter that therefore which thinks viz. the Mind or Soul of Man is not material and by consequence not subject to the Laws of Matter nor lyable to the Mutations that are incident to Matter but capable of a Subsistence notwithstanding any Alteration or Dissolution that shall happen to the parts of his Body This Immateriality and Immortality of the Soul has been understood and believed by the generality of Heathen Philosophers in consequence of their own Reflections and Ratiocinations long before the Evidence that has been since given of it unto Mankind by the Revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ And therefore the Belief that the ancient Philosophers had of the Soul's Immortality is an undeniable proof that it is a Notion discoverable by the Light of Nature because they who had no other Light cou'd not otherways have discover'd it The Relation that Men stand in towards one another is chiefly observable in the mutual Necessity that all Men have of one anothers Assistance and Succour it being hardly possible for any Man to subsist at all but absolutely impossible to subsist comfortably without borrowing Help from others These are the Circumstances in which Mankind is born into the World and we are placed in these Circumstances by God Almighty the Universal Cause and Principle of all Things so that whatsoever we are led unto by the Necessity of these Circumstances is in effect a Duty imposed on us by the Eternal and Unalterable Law of God towards whom we stand first related as to a Benefactor from whom we have received our Being together with our present Enjoyments and our Capacity of any farther Enjoyment whatsoever Next as to a Lawgiver or Governour by whom we are obliged to the observance of certain Rules or Ordinances unto which he has subjected us If we consider singly the Idea that we have of our own Being the Rule that Results from thence for our Conduct is That we must not degenerate from the Dignity of our Nature but must therefore bridle and govern all the Appetites and Passions that arise from our Corporeal Constitutions according to the genuine Dictates of those nobler Faculties of Ratiocination and Judgment wherewith our Maker has endow'd our Minds If we consider the Relation that we stand in towards one another the Law of God obliges us indespensably to Truth Equity Charity Benevolence and to every thing which tends to the Settlement of Societies or to the general Welfare of Mankind for every particular Man's greatest Interest being involved in the Interest of the whole the Observance of such Things as tend to the general Good is every particular Man's Duty and is not to be transgrest for the sake of any lesser or private Advantage If we consider the Relation that we stand in towards God his Law requires our Acknowledgment Gratitude Love Dependance Submission or in one word our humblest Adoration of his Infinite Perfections The Observance of these Rules is a Duty Incumbent upon Mankind by the said Law of God the breach of any of them is a breach of God's Law an Offence against the Law-maker or a Sin Laws are of no vigour unless inforced by Rewards and Punishments which are therefore to be proportion'd to the Nature and Degree of the Observance and Transgression of the Laws The Observance and Transgression of God's Laws by M●n whose Bodily Actions depend upon the inward Motions of his Mind consist not in any Machinal Acts of the Body but in the voluntary Motions and Intentions of the Mind and therefore the Rewards or Punishments of such Observance and Transgression are chiefly to be conferr'd or inflicted upon the Mind or Soul of Man and that after the full Course of his Actions either good or bad is accomplisht which is to say in the future state of the Soul after its Separation from the Body In the Belief and Sense of these general Truths and in the Practise of the Duties that result from them according to their full Extent and Tendency consists all true Religion Whatsoever else is introduced into any Religion either National or Practical I say whatever does not necessarily flow from some of these Branches or tend to enforce the Observance of them is no essential part of true Religion but rather the product of Design and Folly Every Man then is answerable unto God the Supream Lawgiver for his own particular Conduct in every Branch of these Duties as they relate either to God to his Neighbour or to himself This I take to be the pure Language of Impartial Reason unassisted by Revelation and they seem indeed to be the most Natural Inferences which can be drawn from truly Rational Propositions whatever false Deductions or Conclusions some Mens false Judgments have invented for the support of their wretched Cause the Fallacy is soon detected and a stricter Inquisition will soon lay open the grand Absurdities of their mischievous Opinions But truly 't is plain enough tho' some Men may be reputed a sort of Reasoning Atheists yet the much greater part of them are Infidels by Imitation and so far from being able to oppose the Truth of the Divine Being the Certainty of Reveal'd Religion or their own Immortality that they scarce ever gave themselves time to consider seriously the meaning of the Words These have no quarrel with Religion on the Account of its Truths not being firmly enough establisht but their Pique proceeds from hence that they fear it will lay them under a Necessity of putting a Check to their Exorbitant Desires and hinder them in the Pursuit of their Vitious Inclinations To Conclude If after all that can be said however Rational or true you will notwithstanding go about to perswade your self that all is but a meer Dream or Imposture that there is no such Excellent Being as is supposed to have Created and to Preserve us but that all about us is dark sensless Matter driven on by the blind Impulse of Fatality that Men at first sprung up out

actuating the nervous System after their wonted manner by the same Series produce local Motions by which the hungry Horse is carry'd from place to place till he has found out the imagin'd Pasture and indeed enjoys that good the Image whereof was painted in his Brain After this manner the sensible Species being intromitted by the benefit of the Exterior Organs in the more perfect Brutes for that they affix their Characters on the Brain and there leave them they constitute the Faculties of Phancy and Memory as it were Store-houses full of Notions farther stirring up the Appetite into local Motions agreeable to the Sensions frequently they produce an habit of acting so that some Beasts being taught or instructed for a long time by the assiduous Incursions of the Objects are able to know and remember many things and learn manifold Works i. e. to perform them by a complicated and continued Series and Succession of very many Actions Moreover this kind of acquir'd knowledge of the Brutes and the practick Habits introduced by the Acts of the Senses are sometimes promoted by other means to a greater degree of Perfection Living Brutes are taught by Example by the Imitation and Institution of others of the same or of a divers kind to perform certain more excellent Actions Hence it is that the Ape so plainly imitates Man that by some it is thought a more imperfect Species of him for this Animal being extreamly mimical as it is endow'd with a most caepactous and hot Brain it imitates to an hair almost all the Gestures that it happens to see presently with a ready and expeditious composing of its Members and is furnisht with a notable Memory and retains all its Tricks which it hath once acted very firmly afterwards being wont to repeat them at its pleasure Yet notwithstanding t is very clear and apparent that Brutes are directed to all things which belong to the Defence and Conservation of the Individuum and that are to be done for the Propagation of their Kinds by a natural Instinct as it were a Law or Rule fixed in their Hearts when as therefore we behold for these ends ordained by Divine Providence Brutes to order their Matters wisely and as it were by Counsel no Man esteems this the Work of Reason or any Liberal Faculty for they are led into these Enterprises by a certain Predestination rather than by any proper Vertue or Intention Having given you this Account of the Soul of Brutes prov'd the same a Corporeal Divisible Substance whose peculiar residence is in the Blood and Spirits and evinced their knowledge not to exceed the powers of Sensation and Imagination it is time that we return to discourse of the Rational Soul of Man and if it can be discover'd that there is a Principle of Action in him which proceeds from a different way of Operation than Sensation doth and that there are such Operations of this Soul which are not Imaginations it will be then as clear that there is a Principle in Man higher than Matter and Motion and impossible without a spiritual immaterial Being to solve those Appearances in him which thus transcend the Power of Imagination The renowned Philosopher Gassendus has given sufficient proof That the Sensitive Soul in Man is exactly the same with that of Brutes Corporeal Extended Native and Corruptible but that the Rational is a Substance purely Incorporeal and Immortal Dr. Hammond in his Notes upon Thessalonians v. 23. says Man consists of three Parts First the Body which denotes the Flesh and Members Secondly the Vital Soul which Animal and Sensitive Soul is common to Man and Brute Thirdly Spirit which is the Rational Soul This Division he confirms by the Testimony of Heathen Authors and ancient Fathers So that those who disregard the Scriptures may in these admirable Authors be furnisht with other Authorities but those who do may consider what the Apostle saith in the foremention'd Text viz. I pray God your whole Body Soul and Spirit be preserved to which we may add what he says in another place The Word is sharper then a two edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joynts and Marrow The meaning whereof is Let things be never so closely united God can separate them but then they must be in their nature separable or else it implys a Contradiction So that if the Soul and Spirit are separable we have gain'd our Point if they are not the Apostle has told us that can be which cannot be But further This Truth that there is two distinct Souls in Man is by the Apostle demonstrated from the dictates of Internal Sense I find saith he a Law that when I would do good evil is present with me for I delight in the Law of God after the inward Man But I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into captivity to the Law of Sin which is in my Members So then with my Mind I my self serve the Law of God but with the Flesh the Law of Sin Now what can be more expressive of two several perceptive Souls in Man whose Natures and whose Laws are contrary to each other But perhaps you 'l say These contrary Laws do indeed arise because Man is a Compound of contrary Natures yet there is but one perceptive Nature in him but that Nature having the several Faculties of Reason and Sensation and being united to Flesh whereby the Sensitive Faculty may be gratify'd hence arises the War between Sense and Reason To which I answer Thus far then we are agreed that Sense is the Source of all Carnal Delights Pains and Aversions therefore Sense is no Faculty of the Spirit or all Carnal Delights Lusts and Passions spring from the Spirit and what excellent sence would this make the Apostle speak I find a Law in my Mind warring against the Law of my Mind so then with the Mind I my self serve the Law of God but with the Mind the Law of Sin for if Sense be a Faculty of the Mind the Laws of Sense are are as much the Laws of the Mind as the Laws of Reason The Soul and Spirit by reason of their close unaccountable Union have also unaccountable mutual Influences upon each other but for all that their contrary Natures are very discernable and to make Sense and Reason Faculties of the Spirit is to make the Spirit as the Man a Compound of contrary Natures for that Sense and Reason are of contrary Natures is discernable from the natural and constant strugglings and contentions between them Secondly From the natural Fruit they bring forth which is certainly contrary if Good and Evil are so wherefore we may with all imaginable certainty affirm the Souls of all meer Animals and the Sensitive Soul of Man to be Corporeal but the Rational Soul of Man to be truly a Spiritual Immaterial Substance if there were not such a Substance in

a profane Witticism or an impious Scoff The folly of such Derision that I may give you the Sentiments of a Reverend and Devout Person is very conspicuous in considering to whom the Injury redounds by Mens making themselves so pleasant with their Sins Do they think by their rude Attempts to dethrone the Majesty of Heaven or by standing at the greatest Defiance to make Him willing to come to Terms of Composition with them Do they hope to slip beyond the Bounds of his Power by falling into Nothing when they dye or to sue out Prohibitions in the Court of Heaven to hinder the Effects of Justice there Do they design to out-wit infinite Wisdom or to find such Flaws in God's Government of the World that he shall be content to let them go unpunish'd All which Imaginations are alike vain and foolish and only shew how easily Mens Wickedness baffles their Reason and makes them rather hope and wish for the most impossible things than believe they shall ever be punisht for their Impieties It is well says the same Judicious Man in the Age we live that we have the Judgment of former Ages to appeal to and of those Persons in them whose Reputation for Wisdom is yet unquestionable otherwise we might be born down by that Spiteful Enemy to all Vertue and Goodness the Impudence of such who it is hard to say whether they shew it more in committing Sin or in defending it Men whose Manners are so bad that scarce any thing can be imagined worse unless it be the Wit with which they use to excuse them Such who take the Measure of Man's Perfections downwards and the nearer they approach to Beasts the more they think themselves to act like Men. No wonder that among such as these the Differences of Good and Evil be laughed at and no Sin thought so unpardonable as thinking there is any at all the utmost these Men will allow in the Description of Sin is That it is a thing that some live by declaiming against and others cannot live without the practise of But is the Chair of Scorners at last prov'd the only Chair of Infallibility Must those be the Standard of Mankind who seem to have little lest of Humane Nature but laughter and the shape of Men Do they think that we are all become such Fools to take Scoffs for Arguments and Railery for Demonstration He knows nothing at all of Goodness that knows not that it is much easier to laugh at than to practise it and it were worth the while to make a mock at Sin if the doing so wou'd make nothing of it but the Nature of things does not vary with the Humours of Men Sin becomes not at all the less dangerous because some Men have so little Wit to think it so nor Religion the less excellent and advantageous to the World because the greatest Enemies of that are so much to themselves too that they have learnt to despise it but altho' that scorns to be defended by such Weapons whereby her Enemies assault her nothing more unbecoming the Majesty of Religion than to make it self cheap by making others laugh yet if they can but obtain so much of themselves as to attend with patience to what is serious there may be yet a possibility of perswading them that no Fools are so great as those who laugh themselves into Misery and none so certainly do so as those who make a mock at Sin It may be not unlikely thought by some the Interest of Mankind that there shou'd be no Heaven at all because the Labour to acquire it is more worth than the Purchase God Almighty if there be one having much over-valued the Blessings of his Presence so that upon a fair Estimation 't is a greater Advantage to take ones Swinge in Sensuality and have a glut of Voluptuousness in this Life freely resigning all Pretences to Future Happiness which when a Man is once extinguished by Death he cannot be supposed either to want or desire than to be ty'd up by Commandments and Rules so thwart and contrary to Flesh and Blood and refuse the Satisfaction of Natural Desires This indeed is the true Language of Atheism and the Cause of it too were not this at the bottom no Man in his Wits cou'd contemn and ridicule the Expectation of Immortality and yet I may be bold to say it is a plain Instance of the Foily of those Men who whilst they repudiate all Title to the Kingdom of Heaven meerly for the present pleasure of Body and their boasted Tranquility of Mind besides the extream Madness in running such a desperate hazard after Death they unwittingly deprive themselves here of that very Pleasure and Tranquility they seek for there being nothing more certain than this that Religion it self gives us the greatest Delights and Advantages even in this Life also tho' there shou'd prove in the Event to be no Resurrection to another Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace But the truth of our future Existence has had the Attestation of the Learned and Judicious in all Parts of the World I have elsewhere taken notice of it and must again inculcate to you That Religion is somewhat more than a childish unaccountable Fear of any pretended invisible Power and that the Terrors it strikes us with are vastly different from those Tales about Specters which do at some times frighten pusillanimous Minds those that do arise from our knowledge of having offended the Divine Being or from the just fear of his Anger and Indignation are such as do not only disturb some small Pretenders and puny Novices but do approach even the profoundest Rabbi's or Masters of Atheism it being well known both from Ancient and Modern Experience that the very boldest of them out of their Debauches and Company when they chance to be surprized with Solitude or Sickness are the most suspicious timerous and despondent Wretches in the World and the boasted happy Atheist in the indolence of the Body and an undisturbed Calm and Serenity of Mind is altogether as rare a Creature as the Vir Sapiens was amongst the Stoicks whom they often met with in Idea and Description in Harangues and in Books but freely own'd that he never had or was likely to Exist actually in Nature Believe me my good Friend here is more in this than Prepossession of Phancy or Disease of Imagination and if you object that had we not been told of these things by designing Men we shou'd never have thought on them our selves the Answer is ready who told these designing Men if they thought of these things without being told why may not others do so too It is manifest enough to every Man that his Soul whilst in the Body is capable to retire it self from Corporeal Images and to be busie with Idea's of another Nature which no Corporeal Impression cou'd possibly make and hence also it is as clear that