Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	grace_n	mortal_a	venial_a	3,293	5	12.0689	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01492	A treatise of c[hri]stian renunciation Compiled of excellent sentences [and] as it were diuerse homelies of ancient fathers: wherin is shewed how farre it is lawfull or necessary for the loue of Christ t[o] forsake father, mother, wife and children, and all other worldly creatures. Against the enemies of the crosse of Christ, ... Wherunto is added [a shorte discourse against going to hereticall churches.]	Garnet, Henry, 1555-1606.	1593 (1593)	STC 11617.8; ESTC S113062	99,728	170

exacted sufficient security before when he requireth Confession sorow resonable hope of perseuerance which is all one with a stedfast purpose of amendment And that he requireth lesse security in this sinne than in another it is not for that it is no sinne at all but because the daunger of other sinnes ordinarily dependeth vpon one circumstāce or vpon a very few but the daunger of this vpon infinite One is geuen to lasciuiousnes take away the occcasion which is but one that is familiar conuersation with euell disposed persons and he is out of daunger One is geuen to fighting and brawling cause him to liue more priuately in an orderly and ciuill house and you see there is great security in his stāding in Gods fauour But one is very fearfull of his estate and discouraged and ready to fall with euery blast of searches or Assises in this man you can haue no security but his owne resolution For if he conuaigh ouer his landes he may be putt in prison if he escape the Assises he may be visited by Purseuāts if these be his frendes yet some Iustice or some Cōmissioner may haue him by the backe as now a daies none are so busy in such base seruices as gentlemen them selues and those the nearest neighbours so that you cānot helpe this man but he must alwaies be in present daunger of falling onely his purpose is necessary neuer to fall againe which if he haue although his ghostly Father thinketh that he will fall if occasiō be offered yet is he bound to absolue him For this is a generall rule in all sinnes Nauar. c. 3. nu 13 that certainty or security of amendment can neuer be required by the ghostly Father of the Penitent for neither the office of a souldier nor of a merchant nor of diuerse other like can in all probabillity long time continew without sinne neither is the Confessour onely not bound to beleeue certainely that such will not sinne againe but the Penitents them selues are not bound to thinke so of them selues as Nauar doth largely teach Yett is there alwaies required to firme purpose of the Penitent which may very well stand with an vncertainty of the effect whan occasion shall be offered experience teaching vs that men of neuer so good resolution may fall againe Thus do we see in what manner lesse certainty may be exacted in auoiding this sinn than in others yet a firme purpose be necessary in this as well as in all others Thus much be said against those which out of this letter defend it to be no sinne But there ariseth a more subtill kind of persons Against those which say it is a venial sinne who hearing out of the same letter that this going to the Church is by no meanes lawfull or dispensable do confesse in deed that the letter condemneth it as a sinne but yet not as a mortall sinne or by which Gods grace is lost and the horrible guilt of eternall damnation incurred but onely as a veniall sinne from which no iust mans life can be free which also is by no maner of way dispensable as well as a mortall sinne I must needes in these persons not onely commend their subtelty of witte in that they very well haue conceiued that a veniall sinne cannot be dispensed withall but admire also the tendernes of their consciences as being so scrupulous and fearfull that they thinke it a worthy questiō to be tossed amōgst Deuines propounded to the Pope resolued from Rome to England whether any action practised in our coūtrey be a veniall sinne or no. It were doubt les a most happy estate of our Countrey if either Catholicks made such account of all veniall sinnes as this letter wisheth they should make of this or those which are our Supiours had not need to let passe many thousand veniall sinnes Wtout cōtroulment I will therfore out of this very letter bring 8. sundry arguments which shall euidently conuince that by the iudgement of the writer going to the Church is a greeuous mortall sinne First for that he saieth it is no waies lawfull excusable or dispēsable for although it be trew that a veniall sinne cannot be lawfull yet is this sinne one of those kinds which the Deuines do call mortall sinnes Exsuo genere 1.2 q. 88. ar ● which S. Thomas doth thus declare Whan the will saieth he is moued towardes any thing which in it selfe is repugnant vnto that charity by which a man is ordained vnto his last end that sinne hath by the very obiect therof that it is mortal wherfore it is mortal of it owne nature whether it be against the loue of God as blasphemy periury and such like or against the loue of our neighbour as murder adultery such others Thus S. Thomas So that this action of going to the Church whether we consider it as against faith as being exteriour heresy or against charity to our neighbour as being schisme scandall or against religion as being a superstitious action or against obedience as being forbiddē by so many Ecclesiasticall lawes it is alwaies against necessary vertewes of Christian life and so mortall of it owne nature Than do I thus argue Whatsoeuer is indispensable in such a kind of sinne as is mortall of it owne nature is alwaies a mortall sinne but so is this ergo c. The Maior is common amongst all Diuines S. Tho ibid. ar 6. who affirme that mortall sinnes ex suo genere can neuer become veniall except it be for the imperfection of the acte as not being deliberate or the smallnes in quantity as in the stealing of a halfpeny neither of which exceptions can here in this action take place The Minor is proued aboue Secondly he saieth that this is contrary to the practise of the Church and the holy Doctours and Fathers vse and example in all ages But fuch practise Doctours and Fathers esteemed it alwaies a hainouse matter and seuerely reprehended it and punished it as all histories do witnesse Therfore will the writer of the letter haue vs to esteeme it in like maner a hainouse and greeuous offence Thirdly he referreth him selfe to sundry treatises See Testā of Rhemes Mat. 10 32 2. e●ist of S. Ihon. writen heretofore but those all especially those of his owne writing condemne it as a mortall sinne ergo Fourthly he alleageth the practise of England from the beginning of the missions of Priests But who is so impudent that he dare deny that alwaies those which haue liued in those missions haue made it a mortall sinne Fifthly he saieth the Pope willed that such as should through frailty go to the Church should be easely absolued than was it his iudgement and the Popes also that there was necessity to be absolued which necessity is not in veniall sinnes which are not necessary to be confessed and are taken away by other meanes than by absolution if so it please the Penitent Sixthly he requireth sorow reasonable hope that they will herafter stand more strongly which is a plaine argument of a mortall sinne for this is not required in a veniall sinne Seuenthly he calleth the absoluing of them a receiuing againe Than were they fallen out of the Church and quite cutt of from Christ his members for this is the common vnderstanding of this word to receiue againe And is there any doubte than of a mortall sinne Finally the intent of his letter was onely for to represse the singularity of him which was well knowen to teach the contrary who now by his going forth hath shewed how neare this point of doctrine in Gods iudgement is vnto flatte heresy Atheisme and it was thought better to vse this milde proceeding thā thè Ecclesiasticall sword and yet certaine promise is made of that also if need require Than was it not his intention to confirmed the others opinion by censuring it as a veniall sinne neither is that sword to be drawen but in case of mortall sinne God graunt therfore that these so graue and manitould autorities make those which go to hereticall conuēticles yet at the least to acknowledge their sinne committed therin not by defending so great an iniquity both to increase their owne damnation to cause the ruine of diuerse others If the lapsed will come to acknowledge their fault to confesse their frailty to abandon and forsake the same the dore of Gods mercy is as open vnto them as vnto all other sinners most lamentable is the estate of such who by obstinae defence of sinne cannot seeke for redresse therof but most desperately runne into wilfull destruction And least this small and simple labour intended onely for the glory of God and for benefitte of the simpler sorte might chaunce to offend any per son at all here do I protest that my penne is not directed against any particuler person neither do I knowe any one particuler person whom these thinges may touch and in my conscience I suspect none and especially of the Clergy I assure my selfe that at this present there is not one besides some which may liue openly in schisme for whom I can not answere neither is it necessary which disagreeth in this pointe from his Reuerend and worthy fellowes Yet do I perfectly know that great hurte is donne euery where and that by Pamphlettes and perswasions of such Lay persons as amongst the simple haue an vndeserued conceite of vertew and learning Such do I touch and yet I know none and therfore conclude with S. Hierome ep ●●●●ep 〈◊〉 cia Neminem specialiter meus sermo pulsauit Qui mihi irasci voluerit ipse de se quod talis est consiteb●ur It cannot ●●and with Christian charity for the necessary good of many to regard the offences and speaches of a few FINIS Faultes escaped Pag. 43. lin 19. Voluntarily ibid. lin 24. epistle Pag. 65. lin 20. were not rich Pag. 73. lin 18. Be constant Pag. 74. lin 24. Seruice Verywell Pag. 94. lin 27. Kunigund Pag. 102. lin 15. which must not Pag. 120. lin 9. of proofe lett Pag. 129. lin 7. he might take Pag. 132. lin 20. griefe Pag. 133. lin 14. confined Pag. 160. lin 12. fit ibid. lin 16 quaedam ibid. lin 17. sancitum

confirmationem non est vlla ratione obediendum Interesse enim haereticorum Conciliabulis corum Ecclesiam indistincte tanquam vnum eorum frequentare non solum est veram fidem religionem occultare sed falsam sectam nouo quodam facto ad id ordinato profiteri quod iure diuino prohibitum nec vlla dispēsatione licitum esse nec vlla temporalittm amissione bonorum iustificari potest Protestatio autem illa quae a nonnullis Catholicis sit a peccato non excusat cum sit contraria facto factum enim si tale est vt describitur nempe haereticorum Ecclesiam frequentare eorum Cōciliabulis indistincte tanquam vnum eorum interesse Protestatio quoddam est sectae eorundem in hune finem tale edictum sanatū est That is Wheras such statute is against the Catholicke Church and in fauour and confirmation of heresy it must not in any maner be obeyed for to be present at the Conciliables of heretickes and to frequent their Church indistinctly as one of them is not onely to hide the trew faith and religion but to professe a false secte by a new kind of facte ordeined therunto Which being forbidden by the law of God can neither be lawfull by any dispensation nor iustified by any losse of temporall goodes And that Protestation which is made by some Catholickes excuseth not from sinne wheras it is cōtrary vnto the facte For the facte if it be such as it is described that is to frequent the heretickes Church and to be present at their Conciliables indistinctly as one of them is a certaine Protestation of their secte for this end was that statute made Thus much of this autority of so graue learned and famous men in this very point of a Protestation And yet can I bring farre greater so that we suppose this as a certaine ground The groūd vpon which the dissallowing of Protestation doth stand that if going to the Church with heretickes be of it owne nature a sinne and indispensable than no Protestation can make it lawfull I will therfore bring the insallible autority of him which sitteth in the chaire of Peter according to the tenour of a letter lately sent into England wherof a frend in these countreies hath imparted vnto me a copy I will here sett downe so much as shall belong to this purpose word for word neither must it seeme straunge to any that herin I go about to publish so priuate a thing whā I do nothing else but onely geue a necessary preseruatiue against diuerse venemous tounges which out of so sweete and pleasant a flower hauing gathered poison are euery where busie to disperse the same as herafter shall appeare You must saieth the writer of this letter haue great regard that you teach not nor defend that it is lawfull to communicate with the Protestants An Italian letter in their praiers or seruice or conuenticles where they meete to minister their vntrew Sacramēts For this is cōtrary to the practise of the Church the holy Doctors Fathers vse example in all ages who neuer cōmunicated or allowed in any Catholicke person to pray togither with Arrians Donatists or what other soeuer Neither is it a positiue lawe of the Church for so it might be dispensed withall vpon some occasion But it is deriued of Gods owne eternall lawe as by many cuident arguments I could conuince and it hath bene largely proued in sundry treatises in our owne tongue and others and as we haue practised from the beginning of our missions And least either any of my Brethrē might either mistrust my iudgement The Definition of the Church or be not satisfied by such proofes as haue bene made therin or my selfe be beguiled in mine owne conceite I thought not onely to take the aduise of the best learned Deuines here but to make all sure I haue demaunded the Popes holines that now is his sentēce who expresly tould me that to participate with the Protestants either by praing with thē or coming to their Churches or seruice or such like was by no meanes lawfull or dispensable so faire goeth this point of the letter Thus we see here this truth defined out of Peters chaire so that there is no more place of doubte at all neither must we thinke that this is the Popes priuate opinion onely it is his expresse declaration and absolute pleasure by this resolution to teach and direct our countrey See Bellarm lib. 4. de Pōtif c. 2. so that herin he could not erre But it is a world to see how subtill and cunning iniquity is in defence of it selfe Three obiections out of the afore saied letter For out of this very letter I vnderstand that many take occasion to desend going to the Church thinking that both by the Popes meaning and by the opinion of him which wrote the letter they haue such liberty O extreme madnes or to say better most impudent malice If the Pope will haue them which fall casely receiued againe therfore do they not sinne than doth not the adulterer thiefe murderer sinne because they must be easely receiued againe And who doubteth but that euery sinner although neuer so hainous must be receiued againe God forbid else but so that he repent and as the letter specifieth in this very case yeeld some reasonable hope that he will herafter stand more strongly But the letter saieth that this sinne being donne of feare is lesse more compassionable more casely to be absolued It seemeth that these graue interpreters make no account of any sinne but onely of that which is against the holy ghost for so long as you leaue any place for compassion or hope of absolution remission they will haue no sinne at all God graūt they be so fearfull as they should be euen of sinnes against the holy ghost and that they dying in their obstinacy impenitency it may not be saied hereafter of thē which our Sauiour saied of the Iewes 10.8 I go and you shall seeke me shall dye in your sinne As for their feare L. 3. ●th c. 1 Aristotle will tell thē that such thinges as are donne for feare are voluntary And he bringeth our very example as saieth he if a Prince hauing in his handes the Parents and children of any persons shoulde commaund these to redeeme the other by any vnlawfull action which he concludeth not withstanding such feare to be voluntary And so is this action of going to the Church and consequently a sinne still although it may be by such feare somewhat diminished but not transferred from a mortall sinne to a veniall as we will afterward shew But the Priest must here forsoth exacte lesse security frō falling againe than in any other sinne therfore can this be no sinne where sufficient security of auoiding it is not exacted O deceitfull EVE alwaies excusing ô malicious serpent alwaies suggesting excuses in most waighty matters Hath he not

3 cap. Ex publico De conu coning That which God hath ioyned lett not man separate but after that he had saied now they are not two but one fresh What meruaile therfore if that mariage may by some Ecclesiasticall meanes be deuided which is not yet consummated and where they be properly as yet two and not two in one flesh Besides Hugo de S. vict lib. 2. de Sacr. par 11 in mariage there are two coniunctions the one spirituall by mutuall consent of mindes the other carnall by coniunction of bodies But it seemeth very great reason that one spirituall bond should yeeld to another more perfect which is that of religion wherby the soule is ioyned after so singuler a maner vnto God especially here being no iniury vnto the education of children because there are none nor vnto the other party now remaining free and no way blemished or made vnfitte for another mariage by the losse of virginity And wheras by the doctrine of the Apostle the carnall bond of mariage is dissolued by the naturall death of the one party 1. Cor. 7. in so much that if the same party should be miraculously reuiued againe yet might the wife choose whether she would haue him and if she had maried another she could not haue him why shall not the spirituall death of one which by religiouse profession dieth to the world be of sufficient force to take away the spirituall bond of a mariage not consummated Now if there be this difference in the firmity of these two mariages why shall we not attribute the same autority to Gods Vicar in earth for to dissolue that by his soueraigne power of binding and loasing Mat. 16. which a man may without his dispensation by his proper acte dissolue especially wheras there may be so vrgent causes of such dispensation and so important for the good of soules All this we may confirme with an other truth in Diuinity For according to the more cōmon sound opinion of Deuines the Pope may dispense in solemne vowes of religion Nauar c. 12. num 75. D. Tho. 4. d. 38. q 1. ar 4. and geue a Monke vpon iust causes leaue to returne to the world againe and to marry and this hath bene diuerse times donne and there is no reason why he may dispense in simple and not in solemne Vowes Richardus Durand Palud Maior Henricus S. Antonin Angel Innocentius Hostien Panorm Caiet now if one should thus be dispensed withall which had after a contract of mariage before the consummation entered into religion than might it happen that he should liue in the world maried his first wife being maried also to another Than why may not the Pope doe at once that which by such a circumstance he may do seuerally Lett vs than conclude that in mariage which is cōsummated none but God himselfe can dispence who hath not dispensed but onely in the mariage of infidells whan one commeth to our holy faith But in mariage onely contracted and not consummated the bond may be taken away in two sortes first by entrance into religiō of the one party without dispensation or consent of the other party secondly by the dispensation of the Pope at the suite of both parties or of the one onely whom the other hath already vniustly forsaken And although this last be not expresely defined by the Church yet is it very secure in practise and it becommeth euery deuoute Catholicke with godly affection to perswade him selfe that so many cheife Pastours of Gods Church in so waighty a matter haue not erred §. 3 Thus much being saied of the dissoluing of the very bond of mariage let vs go now to that which followeth of the separation of bedd Of the separation of bedd This separation may be with singuler meritte and with great congruency made by common cōsent according to the counsell of S. Paule that the maried persons may geue them selues for a time the more earnestly vnto praier 1. Cor. 7. For those men are farre deceiued who by the holy name of matrimony seeke to excuse their intemperate desues wholly inclining thē selues to the satisfying of their disordered appetite These should diligently consider the speach of the Angell vnto young I obye Tob. 6. I will shew thee who are those against whom the Deuell can preuaile For they which so vndertake mariage that they may exclude God from them selues and from their mind and attend vnto their lust as a horse and mule who haue no vnderstanding the Deuell hath power ouer those For this cause doth S. Augustine alleadge S. Ambrose approue his saying Lib. 2. cont Iulia. c. 7. where he calleth him which is intemperate in mariage his wiues adulterer and S Hierome worthely hath wrotten it Skilleth not for how honest a cause a man become madde Lib. 1. cont Iouin wherfore euen the Philosopher Xistus in his sentences saieth a too earnest louer of his wife is an adulterer towardes another mans wife euerye loue is shamefull and so is towardes ones owne wife that which is ouer much a wife man must loue his wife by iudgement and not by passion he will rule the hastines of pleasure neither will he be caried hedlong vnto copulation Nothing is more filthy than for to loue his wife as an aduoutresse Thus S. Hierome This we say not to condemne the acte of matrimony which God hath ordained allowed but that euery one should vnderstand that euen in that estate there is daunger The matrimoniall act how it is sometime sinfull as the acte may be meritorious whan it is donne for some vertuouse end either of desire of children so that they purpose to make them children of God and members of his Church or for to render the debt to the other party demaunding as it may be also at the least voide of sinne whan it is donne for the auoiding of fornication whan the one party doubteth that otherwise he should fall either in thought or deed so is it alwaies at the least a veniall sinne to pretend in that action onely delight and if such delight doe passe the limittes of matrimony as if it be ioyned with vnlawfull concupiscence of any other person or if the naturall order necessary decency which God hath ordained be not obserued it is alwaies a deadly sinne Those therfore which are the true children of God must before they marry The ends of mariage laye before their eyes the lawfull and godly endes of matrimony that is the desire of children for to increase Gods house the mutuall fidelity one to another and continuall seruices comforte of this miserable life the auoiding of fornicatiō if they be such as list not to fight against the assaultes of the flesh finally and principally the dignity of the Sacrament and perfect resemblance of the coniunction of Christ and his Church For reuerence of the which they must imprint in their