Selected quad for the lemma: evil_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
evil_n	evil_a	heart_n	thought_n	2,080	5	8.0009	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88592	The souls cordiall in two treatises. I. Teaching how to be eased of the guilt of sin. II. Discovering advantages by Christs ascension. The third volum. / By that faithfull labourer in the Lords vineyard Mr. Christopher Love, pastor of Lawrence Jury, London.	Love, Christopher, 1618-1651.	1653 (1653)	Wing L3176; Thomason E1230_1; ESTC R211061	183,257	401

1 The first Defect in confession of sin unto God is this that when men come to confesse sin to God they have such a barrennesse and confusion on their spirits that they cannot call to remembrance their particular sins to confesse them Hildersham hath a good note descanting on them words in 1 Joh. 1.8 If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Saith he If we say that we have no sin there is no man so grosse to say that he hath no sin for his own practise will belye his tongue but it is when we come to God we do as in effect say so when we do not know what sin to confesse to God we are so confused and heedlesse in observing our own wayes that we do not know what to confesse in prayer unto God and that the Apostle condemns This was the fault of Bellarmine when his Confessor came unto him Bellarmine did protest unto him that he did not know one sin that he was guilty of to confesse unto the Priest this was heedlesnesse in him for if he had observed his own wayes he would have found sins enough to have confest many are heedlesse that they doe not take notice of their own evils Beloved this is a common and an ordinary Defect there are many when they come to prayer though they have manifold sins in them yet they are so confused so indistinct in the knowledge of their own wayes that they have only generall confessions Lord we have sinned Lord we have done evill in thy sight but cannot call to mind any particular sin they have done Was it never thus with you that ye did not know what to bewail to God and what to lament of in his presence this is a Defect that godly men are often plunged into Defect 2 A second Defect in the confession of sin to God is this when men in prayer do confesse many sins to God yet do leave out their master and predominant sins many men are large in confession yet do leave out their master sins Moses though a good man yet was faulty in this regard God commanded him to go to Egypt to deliver his people but saith Moses I am not eloquent I am of a slow speech he did complain of a naturall defect but he did not complain of a spirituall defect but God did answer all his pleas in Exod. 4.19 And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian Go return into Egypt for all the men are dead which sought thy life Vers 20. And Moses took his wife and his sons and set them upon an asse and he returned to the land of Egypt So that here God put his finger upon the sore Moses complained of the peoples incredulity of his own naturall infirmity but Moses did not complain of his slavish fear that if he should go to Egypt there were men that would kill him till God did assure Moses that those men that sought to kill him were dead Moses would not goe here a good man would not confesse his slavish fear that he did fear death therefore he would not goe on Gods command Beloved this is a Defect that doth many times cleave to godly men to leave out their predominant sins and to confesse sins but of an ordinary incussion Defect 3 A third Defect in confession of sin to God is this to have the heart to hanker after the committing of those sins you do confesse Austin doth ingenuously acknowledge this of himself saith he I did often beg strength of God against the sin of incontinency yet had often an unwillingnesse in my heart that God should hear my prayers lest I should leave my sins Indeed conviction of conscience doth force to a confession of sin yet the strength of thy depraved affection doth make thee hanker after the sin and cause a lothnesse to leave it Defect 4 A fourth Defect in confession of sin to God is this to confesse to God the sins of your life but not the sins of your nature many men will be large in confessing the sins of their life but seldome or never bewail the sins of nature that vicious inclination in the heart to sin very few but David in the Old Testament and Paul in the New who did sufficiently confesse originall sin David in the Old Testament Psal 51. there he begins to bewail the root of those sins which he was guilty of So Paul in Rom. 7. bewails the body of sin many men bewail actuall sin but not habituall sin but not originall sin many men bewail bad actions but never confesse unto God their vicious inclination This Defect good men many times are guilty of Defect 5 A fifth Defect is this to confesse grosse and open sins but not to confesse small and secret evils we are commanded to keep the Law as the apple of our eye Prov. 7.2 Keep my Commandements and live and my Law as the apple of thine eye Now you know a man that keeps his eye will not only keep his eye from great blowes but will keep it from small motes which may put out the eye as well as a great blow men should not only take heed of great blowes great transgressions but they should take heed of lesser motes small sins Now beloved good men many times commit those sins that are infamous that the naturall light of conscience can controll them for why those evils are complained of and confest but secret evils wandring thoughts in duties vanity of minde the deadnesse of the heart empty of spirituall meditations inward distrust these evils are seldome bewailed and confest this is many times a Defect found in good men good men are not so apt to confesse omission of good as commission of evill Defect 6 A sixt Defect in confession of sin to God is this to confesse sin more because of its guilt then of its spot my meaning is more because sin hath a damning power then a defiling nature more because sin damns thy soul then defiles thy conscience A child would touch a coal though it be smutty and soily but he forbears to touch it meerly because it is a burning coal we forbear sin because sin is a burning coal but we do not forbear to touch it because it is a defiling coal that is a Defect in many godly men to be found Defect 7 A seventh Defect in confession of sin to God is this to confesse those sins to God which if men should charge us with we should deny and be angry This holy Greenham doth take notice of in mens confession of sin thou wilt confesse thy pride to God but if a man should say that thou art proud thou wouldst be angry with him thou wilt confesse thy wayes to God but if men should tell thee of thy sins thou wouldst be angry with them this shewes there is much Defect in your confession Defect 8 The eighth Defect in confession of sin unto God is this not to have the

and Christ is the meritorious cause of pardon but yet confession of sin is that cause which Logicians call Causa sine qua non without which pardon of sin shall never be obtained Causa sine qua non I confest and thou forgavest Answ 3 A third answer Though no man can be pardoned for his confession yet no man shall have pardon without confession Repent that your sins may be blotted out Act. 3. No blotting out of sin without repentance there must be a sorrow and a bewailing of sin before it can be pardoned that Christ was broken from sin it will no ways exempt you from being broken for sin though Christ was a man of sorrows and all in a way of satisfaction yet you must shed tears for sin in a way of contrition and humiliation Answ 4 Lastly This connexion between confessing sin and Gods forgiving sin is not as if our confession did bear any proportion in a way of satisfaction to Gods forgiving of sin though God doth forgive sin upon confession yet it is not for confession there is more evill in thy sinne that is an offence to God then there can be good in thy confession And thus much for the third particular that there is a connexion between Gods act of forgiving sin and our confessing sin I now come to answer the Objections Object 1 The first objection is this Why but you will say what need all this pressing of confession of sin urging that there is a necessary connexion between mans confession of sin and Gods forgiving sin what needs confession doth not Gods eyes run to and fro the earth doth not God behold the evill and the good and fully knoweth all the evils under the Sun what need we tell God when he knoweth all things This Objection the Anabaptists make against confession of sin For answer Answ First Negatively we doe not confesse sin because only of Gods Soveraignty because God will have us to confesse sin Gods Soveraignty may command us and say You shal come with ropes about your Necks and I will make you lie in the dust Secondly We doe not confesse sin to inform God of our sins for God knoweth all things Thirdly We doe not confesse sinne by way of satisfaction as if our confession could satisfie Gods justice for the wrong we have done him But Positively though God doth know our sins yet we are bound to coonfesse our sinnes upon many solid grounds As First though God doth see our sins yet we are bound to confesse our sins that we may see them our selves that we may put memory and conscience and heart a work in the review and in the remembrance of our evils we do not confesse sin to inform God but our selves that we might see sin more distinctly and so put conscience a work Secondly We doe confesse sin to stir up more sorrow for sin Psalm 38. vers 18. Thirdly We confess sin on this ground that by confessing sin to God we might see sin to become exceeding sinfull Confession of sin saith Bernard is enjoined by God for this reason that thou mightest magnifie the greatnesse of grace and see the greatnesse of sin if a man should never see his sin hee could never magnifie Gods grace and pardoning mercy Fourthly That you might more prize the merits of Christ Should a man never confesse sin to God he would never see of what value Christs bloud is of A Physitians skill is not seen in healing a slight green wound but in the healing a man of a deadly disease Beloved an ordinary plaister can cure a green wound if you look on your sins as green wounds you will never prize Christ nor put an estimate on his merits and bloud when a man can confesse his evill with all its hainous circumstances this doth greaten the merits of Christ Fifthly You are to confesse sin because the confession of sin doth give glory to the attributes of God it gives glory to his Omnisciency you doe by your confessions acknowledge that God seeth your sins it gives glory to his Patience that he would spare you in the act of sin that he would not throw you to hell in the very act of sin it gives glory to his Justice Psalm 51.4 Against thee thee onely have I sinned and done this evill in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest it confesseth Gods Mercy and this Paul doth 1 Tim. 1.13 who was before a Blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy c. He confest his sin that so hee might greaten the aboundance of Gods grace and love Again Of confession of sin there is great use because it doth ease the minde it gives vent to a troubled minde concealed guilt breeds horrour and hell in the conscience it is an ingenuous clearnesse when a man can open himself to God in free confession which doth allay the anguish and trouble of minde Job 32.18 For I am full of matter the Spirit within me constraineth me vers 19. Behold my Belly is as Wine which hath no vent it is ready to burst like new bottles vers 20. I will speak that I may be refreshed I will open my lips and answer A godly man is full of matter of confession to God and like a vessel ready to burst til he can vent himself by confession in Gods presence this is the answer to the first Objection Object 2 A second Objection is this I but you will say what need such pressing of confessing of sin as having a connexion with pardon for as God is never the better by my grace so God is never the worse by my sin as my grace addes nothing to Gods holinesse so my sin can detract nothing from Gods glory for God is neverthelesse glorious though I be never so much sinfull One might urge as Elihu did in Job 5.37 If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand vers 8. Thy wickednesse may hurt a man as thou art and thy righteousnesse may profit the son of man Therefore if God receives no injury by my sin what need I confesse sin to God Beloved this is an objection that the Antinomians make For answer Answ 1 First It is true God is not the worse and hath not the lesse glory though thou hast the more sin yet this is no thanks to a sinner for a sinner doth what in him lies to take all glory from God to pull God out of heaven it is no thankes to thee that God is never the worse for thy sin Secondly In a sense God doth receive injury by a mans sin as first if you consider the eternall attributes of God in themselves his Justice his Glory his Goodnesse his Wisdom so God is unchangeable immutably blessed and as our graces can give no additions to his holinesse so our sin can give no diminution to his glory sin is an injury to God because God hath

his bounty is great and a pardoned man abaseth self because he seeth sin exceeding sinfull Nehem. 9. Char. 2 Secondly A pardoned man doth maintain a holy dread in his heart from committing that sin that he knoweth to be pardoned a pardoned sinner knoweth this that before a sin can be pardoned it cost Christ much and cost himself much it cost Christ much bloud to expiate the guilt of that sin it cost him many tears to destroy the power of that sin now that sin which he hath smarted for and Christ hath suffered for he will not easily commit Psal 38. when the Psalmist said he would declare his iniquity then in Psal 39. he saith I will take heed to my wayes as if he should have said I am sorry for my sin and the Lord hath forgiven me mine iniquity but here is the result of it I will take heed to my wayes and of my sinning another time there is no man that knoweth his sin to be pardoned that can easily run into the commission of it again It is an excellent expression in the book of Job 10.14 If I sin then thou markest me and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity If I sin it is not here spoken absolutely and simply for what man is he that lives and sinneth not but if I sin as I am charged that I should sin murmuringly and maliciously against God and I will persist in my sin saith Job If I sin as they charge me what followes then God will not take away mine iniquity he will not pardon my sin as Job said of himself you may say of your selves if I sin obstinately and pertinaciously God will not pardon thou hast been wiccked and thou wilt be so thou hast been prophane and thou wilt be so This is inconsistent with a pardoned state Char. 3 A third Character of a person whose sin is forgiven is this to have unfained sorrow and remorse of heart for the commission of sin sins forgiven are steept in bloud and soakt in tears sorrow before pardon is servile and legall none can sorrow in an Evangelicall manner but he who is brought into a pardoned estate Indeed there may be a forc't and a constrained sorrow which may come from the eyes of unpardoned men there is this difference between the one and the other Tears in an unpardoned sinner come from him like water in a Still but Tears in a pardoned sinner come from him like water from the clouds water will drop from the Still but it is forc't by keeping close the Still and by the heat of the fire the fire of hell may make a wicked man agast but sorrow for sin in a pardoned man is like water from the clouds that is not forced but doth naturally drop down Char. 4 A fourth Character He in whom sin is pardoned is a man in whom is no guile Psal 32. some do take guile in a particular sense others extend it more largely as a comprehensive word equivalent to sincerity he is a man in whose spirit is no guile an upright man Thus much for the use of Tryall I now come to answer the Objections Object 1 The first Objection me thinks I hear a doubting Christian say Woe and alas what state am I in I have misgiving thoughts that God hath not pardoned mine iniquities because I cannot find that I have a heart to mourn for my iniquity And is it imaginable that Christ should shed bloud for those sins which I never shed a tear for I can mourn for outward small crosses but I cannot mourn for great inward corruptions this makes me doubt whether ever God hath pardoned my sin I shall resolve this Objection in these four particulars Answ 1 First of all consider that all men have not a like naturall tendernesse and softnesse of disposition many are of soft dispositions are naturally inclined to tears this is not grace but the ingenuousnesse and softnesse of Nature all cannot sorrow a like there may be grace in a man if his disposition be hard and rugged yet he cannot shed tears as those that have a tender disposition Answ 2 Secondly You that make this Objection know this that there may be greater sorrow for sin in the heart when there is no tears for sin flowing from the eye tears from the eye doth ease and lighten the minde there may be the greatest sorrow when it can have no vent from the eye Answ 3 Thirdly You that make this Objection know you must distinguish of a twofold sorrow for sin First there is a judicious sorrow and secondly a sensitive sorrow First There is a judicious sorrow and this consists in an apprehension in the Judgement that sin is the greatest evill in the world and most to be lamented branded opposed and resisted Divines do place more strength height of grace in having an indignation stirred up in the understanding against sin touching the evill of sin this is more then to shed a few tears for sin Now if thou hast a judicious sorrow to apprehend sin to be a great evill though it hath not vent at the eye yet this is godly sorrow for sin A man that hath the Tooth-ache he will cry out and complain more and shed more tears happily for the exquisite pain of the Tooth-ache then he will doe in the burning Feaver yet aske him which he had rather have he will tell you the Tooth-ache the reason is because the pestilentiall Feaver is more hazard ous to life so had you rather lose your children then lose the sense of Gods favour Which had you rather have afflictions in the world or willingly commit sin against God The judgement of a man if he be a regenerate man tells him he had rather a thousand times lose the dearest relation then the manifestation of Gods love unto his soul he had rather endure the greatest affliction then to venture willingly on the least sin Answ 4 Fourthly Consider that Gods own people have oftentimes exprest more forrow for outward afflictions then they have done for inward corruptions there is great reason for it because things of sense do more affect us then things of faith do lay a man upon the rack and he shall more roar and cry then any man in the world shall do in the sense of sin because the pain is sensitive and it will have more sense of sorrow it was thus with good men in Scripture We read much of Davids sorrow he had no rest in his bones by reason of his sin yet mark when David lost Absalom O what a fit of sorrow was he in crying out O my son Absalom my son my son Absalom would God I had dyed for thee O Absalom my son my son We do not read of such cryes O my soul my soul O what shall I do for thee my soul because the sorrow was sensitive the losse was sensitive Now beloved Gods people do expresse more sensitive sorrow for outward crosses then for inward