Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	mortal_a	nature_n	venial_a	6,243	5	12.3225	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60954	Twelve sermons preached upon several occasions by Robert South ... ; six of them never before printed.; Sermons. Selections	South, Robert, 1634-1716.	1692 (1692)	Wing S4745; ESTC R13931	201,576	650

which it was directed which accordingly as they proved either Helpfull or Hurtfull Innocent or Offensive so the Lye was reputed either Lawfull or Unlawfull And therefore since a Man was helped by an Officious Lye and not Hurt by a Iocose both of thefe came to be esteemed Lawfull and in some Cases Laudable But the Schoolmen and Casuists having too much Philosophy to go about to clear a Lye from that intrinsick Inordination and Deviation from right Reason inherent in the Nature of it and yet withall unwilling to rob the World and themselves especially of so sweet a Morsel of Liberty held that a Lye was indeed absolutely and universally Sinfull but then they held also that only the Pernicious Lye was a Mortal Sin and the other Two were only Venial It can be no part of my Business here to overthrow this Distinction and to shew the Nullity of it Which has been solidly and sufficiently done by most of our Polemick Writers of the Protestant Church But at present I shall only take this their Concession That every Lye is sinfull and consequently unlawfull and if it be a Sin I shall suppose it already prov'd to my hands to be what all Sin essentially is and must be Mortal So that thus far have we gone and this Point have we gained That it is absolutely and universally unlawfull to lye or to falsify Let us now in the next Place enquire from whence this Unlawfulness springs and upon what it is grounded To which I answer That upon the Principles of Natural Reason the Unlawfulness of Lying is grounded upon this That a Lye is properly a Sort or Species of Injustice and a Violation of the Right of that Person to whom the false Speech is directed For all speaking or signification of Ones Mind implies in the Nature of it an Act or Address of one Man to another It being evident that no Man though he does speak false can be said to lye to himself Now to shew what this Right is We must know that in the beginnings and first Establishments of Speech there was an implicit Compact amongst Men founded upon common Use and Consent that such and such Words or Voices Actions or Gestures should be Means or Signs whereby they would Express or Convey their Thoughts one to another and That Men should be obliged to use them for that Purpose for as much as without such an Obligation those Signs could not be Effectual for such an End From which Compact there arising an Obligation upon every One so to conveigh his Meaning there accrews also a Right to every One by the same Signs to judge of the Sence or Meaning of the Person so obliged to express himself And consequently if these Signs are applied and used by him so as not to signifie his Meaning the Right of the Person to whom he was obliged so to have done is hereby violated and the Man by being deceived and kept ignorant of his Neighbour's Meaning where he ought to have known it is so far deprived of the Benefit of any Intercourse or Converse with him From hence therefore we see that the Original Reason of the Unlawfulness of Lying or Deceiving is That it carries with it an Act of Injustice and a Violation of the Right of him to whom we were obliged to signifie or impart our Minds But then we must observe also which I noted at first That as it is in Man's Power to institute not only Words but also Things Actions or Gestures to be the Means whereby he would signifie and express his Mind so on the otherside those Voices Actions or Gestures which Men have not by any Compact agreed to make the Instruments of conveying their Thoughts one to another are not the proper Instruments of Deceiving so as to denominate the Person using them a Lyar or Deceiver though the Person to whom they are addressed takes occasion from thence to form in his Mind a false Apprehension or Belief of the Thoughts of those who use such Voices Actions or Gestures towards him I say in this Case the Person using these Things cannot be said to Deceive since all Deception is a Misapplying of those Signs which by Compact or Institution were made the Means of Men's signifying or conveying their Thoughts But here a Man only does those Things from which another takes occasion to deceive himself Which one Consideration will solve most of those Difficulties that are usually started on this Subject But yet this I do and must grant that though it be not against strict Iustice or Truth for a man to do those things which he might otherwise Lawfully do albeit his Neighbour does take Occasion from thence to conceive in his mind a false Belief and so to deceive himself yet Christian Charity will in many Cases restrain a Man here too and prohibit him to use his own Right and Liberty where it may turn considerably to his Neighbour's Prejudice For herein is the Excellency of Charity seen that the Charitable man not onely does no Evil himself but that to the utmost of his Power he also hinders any Evil from being done even by Another And as we have shewn and proved that Lying and Deceiving stand condemned upon the Principles of Natural Justice and the Eternal Law of Right Reason so are the same much more condemned and that with the Sanction of the highest Penalties by the Law of Christianity which is eminently and transcendently called the Truth and the Word of Truth and in nothing more surpasses all the Doctrines and Religions in the World than in this That it enjoyns the Clearest the Openest and the Sincerest Dealing both in Words and Actions and is the rigidest Exacter of Truth in all our Behaviour of any other Doctrine or Institution whatsoever And thus much for the First general Thing proposed which was to enquire into the Nature of a Lye and the proper essential Malignity of all Falshood I proceed now to the Second Which is to shew the Pernicious Effects of it Some of the Chief and the most remarkable of which are these that follow As First of all It was this that introduced Sin into the World For how came our first Parents to sin and to lose their Primitive Innocence Why they were deceived and by the Subtilty of the Devil brought to believe a Lye And indeed Deceit is of the very Essence and Nature of Sin there being no sinfull Action but there is a Lye wrapt up in the Bowels of it For Sin prevails upon the Soul by representing that as sutable and desirable that really is not so And no man is ever induced to Sin but by a Perswasion that he shall find some Good and Happiness in it which he had not before The wages that Sin bargains with the Sinner to serve it for are Life Pleasure and Profit but the Wages it pays him with are Death Torment and Destruction He that would understand the Falshood and Deceit of Sin throughly must compare