Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n
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A30126
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Infirmity inducing to conformity, or, A scourge for impudent usurpers, and a cordiall for impotent Christians preached not long since in St. Peter's the Poore ... and in St. Pancras Church-yard when it could not be admitted into the church, July 8, 1649 / by Peter Bales ...
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Bales, Peter, 1547-1610?
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1650
(1650)
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Wing B549; ESTC R3551
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29,358
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39
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noble stock Yea they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the blood-Royall in a spirituall sense For God is their Father Christ their elder Brother the Holy Ghost their Comforter the Church their Mother Heaven their inheritance and Regeneration their Evidence yet are they Offenders in many things and this they doe in humility and sincerity of heart acknowledge In many things saith Saint James We doe offend I an Apostle and you Professors even we who are called justified sanctified and redeemed by the pretious blood of Jesus Christ That the deare Children of God both Ministers and People have been are and shall be Offenders in many things even to the world's end not onely my Text but other places of holy Scripture doe sufficiently declare Was not Noah a man beloved of the Lord and a Preacher of righteousnesse yet was he not inebriated with his owne wine Vino captus qui diluvium fugerat saith Saint Ambrose He was freed from a deluge of water and drowned in a deluge of wine Gen. 9.21 Had not Lot his Epithete of Just Just Lot 1 Pet. 2.7 8. And was not he vexed at the uncleanly conversation of the wicked And did not he see the Sodomites burnt with fire for their lusts yet did not he doe wickedly and being delivered burne with incest Joseph sinned in swearing By the life of Phardoh Gen 42.15 Aaron sinned in making the golden Calfe for the Israelites to worship Exod. 32.21 And he and Miriam sinned in murmuring against Moses Numb 12.7 8. The Prophet Jonah transgressed in flying from Joppe to Tharsus and in justifying his unjust anger for the Gourd Moses though the Servant of the Lord and the meekest Man upon the earth offended in unbelief and anger Numb 20.12 16.15 The Prophet David was a man according to God's owne heart 1 Sam. 13.14 and in the state of regeneration yet his heart was uncleane Psal 51.10 and he fell into the sinne of adultery hypocrisie murther and ambition 2 Sam. 11. 24. Salomon the wisest Man upon the earth committed folly Job the patientest yet not altogether to be excused of impatience nor Elias of passion nor the Sonnes of Zebedee of ambition nor Peter and Barnabas of dissimulation Gal. 2. No nor the blessed Virgin her self of vain-glory Saint Peter was couragious yet pusilanimous Confident yet Diffident so faithfull that Christ built his Church upon his Faith yet denied and that with execration his Lord and gracious Redeemer nay all Christ's Disciples though at one time they forsook all to follow him yet at another time they all forsooke him and fled But why should I thus discover my Father's nakednesse rather indeed would I goe backward and cover the same with the mantle of my pity Yet let us not be too lavish in pitying them For God hath caused their infirmities to be recorded First to let us understand that both they and we have one and the same God who was alwaies offended with sinne were the Persons that wrought it never so great or glorious Secondly to let us know that both they and we have one and the same Physician to cure us of all our maladies viz the immaculate Lamb Christ Jesus who saveth his People from their sinnes Mat. 1.21 Thirdly and lastly to teach us circumspection and cautelousnesse to flie from sinne as from a Scrpent and to say to it as Pharach said to Moses See that thou see my face no more or as Abraham to Lot If thou go on the right hand I will goe on the left or if thou go on the left hand I will go on the right For if the deare Children of God who have gone before us both in time and in the graces of the Spirit beare such reproach by reason their corruptions are registred what shall we sustaine who live in a brighter Age and upon whom the ends of the world are come But alas so base is our nature that sinne will be a Jebusite it will be a constant guest to our house though it sitteth not in the chiefest room it is bred in the bone and it will not out of the flesh untill Joseph's bones be carried out of Aegypt i. e. untill we be out of this world As Israel could not passe to Canaan but through the Desart of Zin so we must not look to passe to our spirituall Canaan but through the wildernesse of sinne Sinnes are like Rebels that not onely revolt but also keep castle against their Soveraigne from whence they are not easily removed Aristotle tells us of three things that doe acquire wisdome viz Nature Learning and Exercise Sure I am not these but God's free grace can make us avoid sinne Philosophers are of opinion that if the inferiour spheres were not governed and stayed by the highest the swiftnesse of their motion would quickly fire the world So I may very well hold that if the affections of God's dearest Children were not moderated by the guidance of his holy Spirit they would run so farre into sinne as to precipitate their soules into the black gulfe of eternall destruction for our reason is no better than treason and our affections are no better than infections We cannot truely say of our selves as Isidore too boldly of himselfe For fourty yeares space saith he I found not in my selfe any sinne no not so much as in thought anger or any inordinate desire or as Alexander de Hales of Bonaventure His life was so upright saith he that Adam seemed not to have sinned in him No no my Brethren look upon a Christian at the best whilst he liveth in this world and you may well compare him unto the Arke of the Covanant which was but a cubit and half high an imperfect measure by this you may know his stature adde what you will it will be but a cubit and an half Perfectly imperfect was he when he began imperfectly perfect when he ends in all his actions Therefore as we doe offend in many things let us in humility and sincerity of heart acknowledge and confesse the same as Saint James in my Text In many things we doe offend This hath been the constant practise of God's beloved ones What is man saith Eliphaz that he should be cleane and he that is borne of woman that he should be just Behold God found no stedfastnesse in his Saints yea the heavens are not cleane in his sight Job 15.14 15. Therefore Job acknowledgeth his failings Job 7.20 and when he came to plead with God for his uprightnesse did abhorre himselfe and repented in dust and ashes Job 42.6 Nehemiah maketh a large confession of his own and the Peoples sinnes Nehem. 9.5 6 7. So Ezra and Daniel in the behalf of the People confesse that justice belongeth to God but shame and confusion to themselves Ezra 9.5 6 7. Dan. 9.6 7. Salomon hath his Booke of Acknowledgment viz Ecclesiastes David confesseth his folly in numbering the People saying I have sinned exceedingly in that I have done therefore now
Fall as Epiphanius averreth And the damnable Carpocratiant who blasphemously belched out of their black mouthes and sulpherous breaths that they were as holy as Christ Jesus himselfe as Ireneus affirmeth lib. 1. c. 24. I might here point out unto you many more sinful-sinlesse Justitiaries as the Novatians Jovinians Enthusiasts Antinomists Brownists Barrowists Independents and Millenaries But it is not my desire to lead you any longer in these crooked paths for whosoever walketh in them shall not know peace neither will I detaine you in the barren wildernesse of vaine man's pharisaicall conceits where you may doubtlesse be scratcht and torne with thornes and briers Rather will I bring you into a specious garden where you may have choice of fragrant flowers for your owne utility and consolation Seeing then In many things we offend all Vbi debita consideratio Where is our due consideration Have all Gods deare Children their frailties and deviations Is his Church visible and invisible possessed with an Ignis fatuus that leads out of the way Are his chosen subject to many aberrations and transgressions And shall not we even all we of England who were sometimes members of the most glorious and envied Church in the Christian World Search and trie our waies and turne unto the Lord our God Gather your selves even gather you O Nation not worthy to be beloved before the decree come forth and ye be as chaffe that passeth in a day and before the fierce wrath of the Lord come upon you and before the day of the Lords anger come upon you Zeph. 2.1 2. Let me speak to all the Tribes of Israel to all the states and conditions of England to you of Judah the Princes to you of Benjamin the Counsellours to you of Assur the Merchants and to you of Levi the Priests yea to you all of what ranke or quality soever Let me aske you Have not all of you offended nay doe not ye still offend in many things If not what meaneth the lowing of the Oxen and the bleating of the Sheep What may we understand by those strong cries which ascend up to heaven for vengeance to fall downe upon us You that turne Bethel into Beth-aven the house of God into a den of Thieves You that rob the Levites of their portion devouring whole Churches Steeples and all and have the bells jingling at your heeles doe not ye offend You that cause judgement and justice to grow up as hemlock in the furrowes of the field doe not ye offend You that take darknesse for light and light for darknesse bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter You that have spoken words swearing falsly in making a Covenant You that swore to make your KING glorious the richest Prince in Christendome to be feared abroad and to be loved at home You that declared and protested that you did not fight against the Power and Person of the KING onely against his evill Councell You likewise that declared calling heaven and earth to record of your reall intentions that you would re-inthrone Him and restore Him to His just Rights have not ye offended For doth not he that provoketh him to anger onely sinne against his owne soule You who through ambition have trod upon the Crowne and trampled upon the Scepter and would not be subject to superiority You who through covetousnesse have sequestred and plundered mens Estates and to fill your unsatiable desires have been prodigall in shedding your Brethrens blood Let me aske I pray have not you offended nay do not you still offend Let me aske you of the Parliament Assembly Have not you offended God your King the Church the Common-wealth this whole Nation your own Consciences shall I say in doing no good or rather in doing hurt shall I doubt ye have been the Chief Instruments to bring upon us and your selves through meum and tuum all the Interjections of woe and lamentation Have not Councels erred and offended even in matters of faith Was it not ordained by a Councell that if any man did confesse that Jesus was the Christ he should be excommunicate Was there not a Councell gathered to suppresse Christ and his Doctrine Did not a Councell consult how they might take Jesus by subtilty and kill him Did not a Councell seek for false Witnesse to put him to Death Was not Jesus bound led away and delivered to Pilate by a Councell A Councell judged our Saviour to be both a Deceiver and a Blasphemer A Councell corrupted the Souldiers and willed them to tell a lie Peter and John were withstood by a Councell and not suffered to preach And a Councell caused the Apostles to be beaten Arrianisme was confirmed by the Councell of Ariminum as Saint Jerome affirmeth The Councell of Trent made the Traditions and workes of fraile sinfull Men equivalent to the sacred Scriptures The second Councell of Nice established the adoration of Images The Councell of Lateran clipt the wings of the prerogative of Princes to advance the Pope and Clergy above them I might mention many more besides the Councels that have been of our owne Nation in our owne Kingdome from time to time let it suffice that the consideration of these things ought to make us believe and embrace nothing ordained by Men unlesse the same be consonant and agreeable to the word of God I am sure Saint Hilarie well weighing the premises in his Epistle to Constantine calls the Synod of Mediolane The Malignant Synagogue And Gregory Nazianzen in his 42 Ep. to Procopius openly pronounced that He never saw any good end of a Councell They are ordinarily like Jeremiah's figgs If good very good if bad very bad Let us therefore in the towring thoughts of our owne purity and infallibility looke downe upon the black feet of our frailty and infirmity For In many things we offend all But doth Saint James acknowledge this Vbi cenfessle nostra where is our confession We decline sinne through all the cases saith one witily In the Nominative by Pride in the Genetive by Luxury in the Dative by Simonie in the Accusative by Detraction in the Vocative by Adulation in the Ablative by Extortion And shall we not acknowledge them in any case God gave shame for sinne and boldnesse for confession and when sinne is committed shall shame be absent and when it should be confest shall shame be present Shall we be like unto the Elephant who will not drinke of cleer water in the limpid fountaine lest he should see his deformity or like old Gentle-women growne out of date who will not trouble themselves to behold their faces in a glasse because they know they shall see nothing better than hollow eyes pase cheeks and a wrimkled countenance Doe we all offend in many things and shall we hide our selves from the light and say we offend not in any thing Let God be True and every Man a Liar as it is written Let us not hide our sinnes either by excusing them with Aaron