Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	law_n	rule_n	transgression_n	3,242	5	10.6596	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95748	Noli me tangere, or, A thing to be thought on. Scilicet, vox carnis sacræ clamantis ab altare ad aquilam sacrilegam, noli me tangere, ne te perdam.	Udall, Ephraim, d. 1647.; Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650.	1642 (1642)	Wing U12; Thomason E133_4	22,793	48

right reason neither why hundreds and thousands by the yeare should be thought fit enough for an ordinary Gentleman or Citizen sometimes a Dunce and a sordid fellow too and suteable enough to the simplicity of Christ and his Apostles in them and that there should bee no suteablenesse in Ministers as wise as godly as charitable as other men unlesse they be kept downe in beggery and poverty It is a thing hath guld the world much in poynt of Church-government That the Apostles times and matters of fact incident to their condition under persecutors are accounted Rules for the Kingdome of Christ whereas Lawes be our Rule and their examples bind us no farther than the things they give us examples in be examples of morall Duties charged upon us by Divine precept the onely thing commands a duty Rom. 3 and forbids a sinne and makes it transgression sinfull It were therefore a worthy work and fitting a Parliamentary Reformation to thinke of restoring the Tithes to the proper owners for now they are in an improper hand rather than of taking away the residue of the Lands that having escaped the Talons of the Harpie remain yet to the Clergie especially considering That the Impropriations are one maine cause of scandalous and ignorant Ministers in many places of the Land which thing blessed be God the Parlament proposeth a redresse of and which how the impropriators will answer to Christ in the day of judgement when all the soules that have perished through want of sufficient maintenance for a sufficient Miniestry by reason of their Sacriledge shall bee required of them let them bethinke them The Lands of Cathedrall Churches are the Bequests of men dead long agoe with fearefull Imprecations made against those That should alter their Wills and Testaments Now the Apostle saith If it bee but a mans Testament Gal. 3.15 no man altereth it No man Why there be many men now set that way and they pretend zeale in Religion and a purpose of doing God service in so doing too Why then saith the Apostle No man altereth a mans Testament Surely his meaning is no man ought or no honest man will alter the Testament of a man that is dead his Will being made lawfully though haply not so wisely or conveniently as it might have beene nor to so good a purpose as hee might have bestowed his goods and Legacies or Lands for That which he might lawfully have done with his goods while he was alive there is no reason if he bequeathed them to the same purpose when hee dyes but his Will should stand and remaine to that use after his Death as intemerate as if he were now present and alive to dispose his Beneficence But you will say unto me They may bee better imployed in some other use as to mend the maintenance of preaching Ministers and that now they serve onely to support idlenesse And I say unto you if you phansie any thing better or know any other good worke either better in truth or better in your conceit and esteem on Gods Name give something of your owne to the maintenance thereof permitting them that bee dead to enjoy their owne Will and Desire in that in which they put you to no charges VVe know that Christ our Lord who was Wisedome and justice it selfe Matth. 20.15 in that Parable takes it for an undoubted Maxim that a man in a lawfull way may doe what hee will with his owne for giving a penny to him that laboured but one houre and a penny also to him that endured the heate of the Day when this man murmured that the former was equally rewarded the Master pleads his owne lawfull liberty for the disposure of that which was his owne contesting with the murmurer as a man of an evill eye at his goodnesse and bounty to the other and maintaines his owne displeasure in that hee had not injured the other by his liberality By force of which passage this is emergent That if men be disposed to honour some of the Clergy although not laboring so sweatily in the work of the Ministerie as others doe if the conferred honour bee of their owne charges there is no reason why any mans Eye should be evill at their goodnesse who by the common right of Nature and Nations that hold propriety against Anabaptisticall community may doe what lawfull thing they will with that that is their own even as others doe dayly who though they give nothing to the Clergy yet commonly leave estates of great amount to men that obtaining these estates give over all imployment laborious and profitable in the Common-wealth and live idly and like Drones and yet no man questions the gift of their friends nor their unprofitable life although they be but burthens to the Earth nor talke they of a better imployment of the things that have been bequeathed to them notwithstanding the Persons peradventure be Idiots Sotts debauched persons and such as be not onely idle and unprofitable but wicked and noxious to those among whom they live basely wasting and consuming in drunkennesse whoredome and riot that great substance thus befallen unto them many of which kinde of men we have that call themselves Gentlemen who are not of the worthy descended Gentry of the Land but a disgrace to that Name and Title and yet no man grudgeth them the fortunes left them by their Benefactors sometimes no kinne to them at all much lesse doth any of the people wish or once speak of the taking from them that that they possesse but think it both just and reasonable they should still enjoy that that was given to them and the contrary injurious both to the living and the dead Secondly this is that that makes men so barren in these daies in giving any thing to the Ministery or to other pious support of Gods service because they see no assurance the things they would should continue to the end of the World shall continue three Generations after them but on the contrary that the Wils of Men of former times be altered perverted reversed by succeeding times according as they phansie and to save their own purses or to enrich themselues and their posterity on the maintenance God cals his own portion Thirdly I say they gave their Lands to such and such a Church for such or such a service of God that in their darke times was most in use and in their intention and as they were instructed most honourable to God Now if we in times of greater light see better service may be done to God by the same Persons viz. Deanes Cannons Brebendaries in the same Churches thus endowed on Gods Name let us reforme those Persons and put them on such employment as is competent with the will of the dead in the same Churches which they endowed and not take away the maintenance that is consecrate to Gods service nor that service neither to which it was given but onely superadd some service to the former remembring

their powers to take it backe againe which thing because they did in keeping back part of the price they were smitten and perished with untimely Death And the punishment of Achan is notorious that for taking a wedge of Gold Ios 7. and a Babylonish Garment from among the devoted things of Iericho was stoned unto death Dangerous is it also to more publike persons even to the heads and principall members of the Common-wealth the Kings and Princes thereof Wee read how Belshazzar in a great Feast sends for the golden Vessells which his Father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Temple at Ierusalem Dan. 5. to drinke Wine in them himselfe his Princes his Wives and Concubines Now Verse 5. at the very instant appeared the Fingers of an Hand on the plaister of the wall of his Palace where hee sate which the King seeing his countenance was changed and his minde so troubled that his joynts were loosed and his knees smote one against the other Verse 26. and the Fingers wrote these words on the Wall God hath numbred thy Kingdome and finished it thou art weighed in the Ballance and art foundwanting thy Kingdome is divided from thee and given to the Medes and Persians Then marke the end of Sacriledge In that night was Belshazzar slaine Verse 26. Which present exemplarie judgement fell upon him immediately upon the private misusage of the sacred Vessells at his owne Table that had beene consecrated and devoted to the service of Gods Temple And his Father Nebuchadnezzar that brought them away out of the Temple at Ierusalem was thrust by God out of his Kingdome Dan. 4.21 and driven from the sonnes of men and had his heart made like unto a Beasts heart and his dwelling was with the wilde Asses and he was fed with Grasse like Oxen and his Body was wet with the dew of heaven till seven times that is seven yeares had passed over him And he that shall look into storie shall find fearefull examples of his justice on-Sacrile-dgers who spares not Kings in his wrath when they will sinne proudly in this kinde against him Our owne Annalls tell us of King William Rufus and his Nephew the Sonne of Robert Duke of Normandy both slaine in hunting in that same Forrest that the Conqueror his father and grandfather to his Nephew had made and himselfe had augmented with the utter ruine of many Chappell 's Churches and religious houses And it may be observed that Henry the eighth in whose time the Statute of Dissolution was and the Tithes alienated by Statute in revenge of the Popes delaying his divorce rather than for any other reason was met withall by God for all his posterity though they came respectively to enjoy the Crowne yet were they written childlesse and he quickly in them turned out of the Kingly possession and the Crowne transferred to a branch that sprang from his father Henrie the seventh under whose shadow wee have had rest for many yeares and have cause to pray that God would make that branch to flourish and blesse and water the Buds of it that they may thrive and prosper in Princely vertue Dignity and Honour while the Sun and Moon shall shine in heaven But the fore-mentioned judgements on Sacrilegious Princes considered doe discover unto us That those that talke so much of taking away the Lands of the Church and returning them to the Crowne from whence they say they came and from whence no doubt but some of them came indeed deale childishly with God who expects our Vowes should be paid and kept for he hath no delight in Fooles that are off and on Eccles 5.4 in and out with him giving now and anon taking away what hath been formerly given like foolish Babes and also deale injuriously with the King seeking to enrich his Crowne with That that will shake it on his head and endanger both himself and his Royal Progeny and posterity to such fearefull judgements as have beene executed even on Kings for similar sinne So that of such men however their Tables please the Sacrilegious multitude and whatever paint of Eloquence may seeme to speake of their Respects and service this way for the King yet Truth will never say of them they bee of the number of those that for the grace of their lips shall have the King their friend who is wise like an Angel of God in discerning Sacriledge to bee a sin detestable before God and therefore holds it odious to his Princely heart And it is dangerous also to the Common-wealth it selfe This sinne in Achan became not onely a snare to himselfe in which he was taken and held unto destruction but all Israel was troubled by the sinne of that one Achan and the army of Israel discomfited againe and againe before the men of Ai till such time as by their solemne humiliation and the death of Athan the Sacrileger Ios 7. the iniquity was purged and the Lord appeased Neither let any man thinke that this will take away the nature of sinne from the alienation of Church Lands that it is done by a nationall Assembly of the States in Parliament whose proceedings and Sanctions must bee by rule from God otherwise they become more out of measure sinfull than actions of like quality in private men The Lawes of State are not therefore just because enacted by the State but when they agree with the common Rules of Iustice that God hath given to everie sonne of man The truth is many proud and foolish men doe Idolize a Nationall Assembly as if it had not a superior Rule to which it ought to frame all its Actions and Decrees but like a kind of omnipotent creature like the Pope to the Canonists it were a Lord God upon earth and might enact with Iustice according to its owne Vote and Will which is a singular dotage a prophane contempt of God the high and Soveraigne Law-giver and a mighty derogation to the true worth and pietie that is in the Breasts of many I am sure of our wise and godly Patriots who have so learned Christ that they will make his Will their Rule and Law and his Glory their ultimate and small ayme It will not therefore I say take from sacriledge the nature of sinne that it is committed by a Nationall Assembly giving their Sanction thereunto but it will encrease the evill and make it a Nationall sinne involving the Common-wealth therein First Psal 83.12 in her Nobility as Make their Nobles like Oreb and Zeeb yea all their Princes like Zebah and Zalmunnah that say Let us take to our selves in possession the houses of God in the Land and lap up the Gentrie the Citizens the Knights and Burgesses the whole Commons and all the Commons of England yea the whole Nation in the sinne for so saith God Yee are cursed with a curse even the whole Nation for yee have robbed mee and yee say Psal 3 8 9. wherein for they

would not believe it more than many of our people at this present yet God tells them They had robbed him in Tythes and Offerings A thing which Heathens would not doe to their Idolls Will a man spoyle his god saith the Lord that is Hee will not Yet yee have spoyled mee in Tithes and Offerings saith the Lord of Hosts that hath an Host to avenge himselfe at pleasure on the most mighty Sacrilegers for hee is stronger than the Hills or Mountaines of Robbers Adde unto all this That it will make it the more sinfull in that it shall bee committed by a Law which should bee enacted for the prevention of sinne and not for the commission Psal 94. Shall the Throne of iniquitie have fellowship with thee that frameth mischief by a Law Shall not the people thus fall under the judgements which God hath threatned to them that walke after unrighteous Ordinances and the Law-givers themselves bee branded as Jeroboam was that they make the people sinne The Lord threatens the people thus Thou shalt sow much Mich. 6.15 but thou shalt not reap thou shalt tread the Olives but thou shalt not anoynt thee with the Oyle and sweet Wine but shalt not drinke Wine Verse 16. now see the reason of this threatning For the Statutes of Omri are kept and all the workes of the house of Ahab and yee walke in their Counsells that I should make thee a desolation and the inhabitants an hissing And see the issue and danger of their naughty Lawes as the Prophet Hosea sets it forth more fully in the Law-makers themselves Hos 5.10 The Princes of Iudah are like them that remoove the Bounds id est The Land-markes to encroach on others Lands therefore I will poure out my wrath upon them like water Verse 11. And in the people They are oppressed and broken in judgment because they willingly walked after the Commandement therefore I will bee to Ephraim a moth and to the house of Iudah like rottennesse And for any thing wee know the sweeping away of Tithes and Things consecrated heretofore although by a Law have brought some of the common pressures and calamities for which there are such perplexed thoughts of heart or at least have made our miseries the more heavy and grievous from the hand of God However certainely it is a thing inconsistent with Reason That Things Consecrated to Gods service in the intention of the Donor although with some Errour about the Service should bee taken altogether away from God and alienated to any private usage and personall service of men uncapable of attendance on any holy imployment And it is a thing sencelesse That any Lay-man should have the Tithes the onely maintenance appoynted by GOD to Levi while his Tabernacle stood for his service thereabouts and after to Christ in his Ministers for their labour in his service as long as Christ doth live which is for ever Heb 7.8 where one difference betwixt the Leviticall Priests and Christ is placed in this That they under the Tabernacle take Tithes that dyed But here hee taketh them of whom it is said He liveth for ever Of which Text this is the meaning That Tithes are not a Leviticall and mutable maintenance but the eternall maintenance of Gods service used before the Law when the Priesthood was in the Father of the Family for the provision of Sacrifices Gen. 28 20. according to the intent of Jacobs vow stated on not first invented for Levie during Levies Service But when the body came which was Christ and Levi with all his typicall service was to be abolished then ceased not the Tythes in right though in practice by reason of the Paganisme of Princes in whose Dominions the Christian Faith sprang up they were not payd in the Church but were transferred to Christ and his Servants and Ministers to bee their Maintenance as long as Christ should live which is for ever This seemes to mee the true sence of the place And indeed it is a sencelesse thing to thinke That God hath left the Ministers of his Gospell whose service is more honourable than that of Levi both for cleare Revelation of Christ and also for labour and paines 2 Cor 3.9 for the Levites were but Butchers to the Ministers of the Gospell 1 Tim. 4.13 5 16. 1 Tim. 5.17 1 Tim. 4.2 and their labour was bodily that tended to preservation of their health in which they continued notwithstanding but from five and twentie yeares to fiftie But ours is mentall and verball and never at an end That God I say should leave these Ministers to the mercy and charity of men to bee provided for by the Almes and charitable Benevolence of the ill-disposed people of the last times whom hee fore-saw so to love their pride pleasures and lusts that they would rake and scrape by hooke and crooke not onely one from another but from his Heavenly Majesty also although the Lawes of former generations had as firmely estated and established him in his possession as the Lawes of Man with the Curses and Imprecations of those that endowed God Almightie could possibly estate and give an interest unto him And the rather if we consider that hee foreknew that even many that would professe Religion in an exacter way than others would yet pretend his Ministers should have a competency as Sir Thomas Seymor before mentioned did to Henrie the eighth which when it should come to their Standard would bee a base unworthy Salary able onely to preserve a Minister alive in a thousand wants while hee doth live and to leave his Wife and Children to begge after his disease And the Lord fore-knew the ungodly Reason would bee pretended viz. That Riches in the Clergie are not suteable to the simplicity of Christ and his Apostles A plausible thing with foolish people That since Christ dyed on the Crosse never think a Minister in his Element unlesse hee bee in prison or on the pillory But alas was the povertie of Christ and his Apostles any part of their simplicitie Because our Saviour that was Heire to the Crowne which was usurped by Herod was kept from it must a Minister that hath an inheritance be put by it and it be given to another because it is more agreeable to the simplicity of Christ who was so dealt withall I had thought our case living under Christian Kings and Lawes had been different from the case of Christ that came to be a man of nothing by voluntarie subjection to worke out our Redemption and neither to teach us to become begging Friers nor you to become cruell persecuters and crafty and bloudy Herods And I did think and do think That there is no thing necessary concerning the simplicity of Christ and his Apostles but binds every common Christian to the verie Kings and Princes as well as the Ministers of Christ neither doe I see any thing in the Scriptures to the contrarie nor in