Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	believe_v	jesus_n	remission_n	4,257	5	9.2662	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28845	A pastoral letter from the Lord Bishop of Meaux to the new Catholicks of his diocess exhorting them to keep their Easter, and giving them necessary advertisements against the false pastoral letters of their ministers : with reflections upon the pretended persecution / translated out of French, and publish'd with allowance.; Lettre pastorale. English	Bossuet, Jacques Bénigne, 1627-1704.	1686 (1686)	Wing B3787; ESTC R12514	28,012	60

the World with a specious Title Hearken then no more to their dangerous Discourses Call not any longer that horrid Schism which hath desolated Christianity a Reformation and turn against the Enemies of Re-union the abhorrence with which they would inspire you against us For is there any thing more worthy of Horrour than to make you hate the Church Than to represent as Babylon her who carries in her Forehead the name of JESVS CHRIST and who puts her Confidence in him alone Than to make her the Mother of Idolatries and Prostitutions who from the beginning of Christianity even unto our days hath not ceas'd to send her Children throughout the whole Earth and even to the most unknown Regions to cause the one only and True God the Father Son and Holy Ghost to be there Adored It is not we then My Brethren who deserve this just horrour which all of us have of Idolatry 't is those who accuse us falsely Those who bear false and scandalous Witness against an Innocent Person are condemned to the same punishment which the crime of which they bear Witness did deserve had it been found true So those who accuse us of Idolatry whilst we confess with so much Purity the name of God deserve before Men that horrour which is due to Idolatry and shall receive the just punishment thereof in the sight of God But above all what horrour are they worthy of who cast this Accusation upon the whole Church and also on the Church of the first Ages It is a long time my Brethren since the Ministers acknowledge That during the Fourth Century the Church desired the Prayers of Martyrs and Honoured Reliques And Vigilantius opposing himself to this Ancient and Universal Practice was so smartly reprehended by the Writings of St. Hieronymus that he remain'd single and alone in his Opinion If it be then an Idolatry to request the Prayers of Saints and to Honour their Relics this Illustrious Fourth Age yea this Age wherein the Prophecies of the Kingdom of JESVS CHRIST were accomplish'd more manifestly than ever wherein the Kings of the Earth till then Persecutors of the Name of JESVS became according to the ancient Oracles his Adorers this Age I say served the Creature the Prophecies of the Kingdom of JESVS CHRIST extended over Idolaters were accomplish'd in it by leading them into a new Idolatry the Ambroses the Augustines the Hieroms the Gregories of Nazianze the Basilius's and the Chrysostomes whom all Christians have respected even till now as the Doctors of Truth were not only the Followers but also the Teachers and Masters of an Impious Worship from which only Vigilantius kept himself pure So ill founded was Christianity of so little concern was the Name of the Church of JESVS CHRIST even in the First Ages Can you endure my Brethren the Ministers who by such Reproaches dishonour the Christian Religion This is not the only Outrage they commit against the Church and without going further than this pretended Pastoral Letter to those who are fallen thro' Torments you shall there find this Blasphemy Thus in the first Ages we see the Church fall into an Apostacy like yours after having tasted the charming Sweets of the Reign of Constantine the Great Oh Prodigy unheard of among Christians The Holy Fathers reproach'd Heretics with Apostacy in separating themselves from the Church But that the Church her self has apostatiz'd he that hears it without horrour is no Christian and you cannot look upon those as Pastors who have uttered such a Blasphemy But this Blasphemy is inseparable from the Pretended Reformation To be able to say with any colour that you must go out of the Church as out of Babylon they must say That the Church her self had before apostatiz'd If they had reproach'd her with less Crimes than Idolatry they would not have been able to rout out of the Hearts of the Faithful the Veneration they had for her and it was only by such Excesses that a Breach could come Detest it then my Brethren and come with all your Hearts to our Unity Begin by the Confession of your Sins that you may receive Penance and Absolution according to these Words Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose sins you remit they shall be remitted to them and whose sins you retain they shall be retained Believe not that to fulfil this Saying it is sufficient to have the Remission of Sins announced to you in general as the Ministers do seeing JESVS CHRIST said not Announce but Remit and that it suffices not to pronounce only in general since it is ordain'd the Priests should make a Judgment and Retain as well as Remit But we need not wonder that False Pastors dare not act according to the Terms of the Commission which JESVS CHRIST has given to his True Ministers Consider my dear Brethren what kind of Reformation this is where they Reform the Commission given by JESVS CHRIST himself and where together with Confession and the Censure of the Priests they take away the very Sinews of Discipline and the Bridle to Licentiousness It is no less Attempt to have retrench'd from the Church the Imposition of Hands by which the Holy Ghost is given to the Faithful This Sacrament is prov'd by these express Words of the Acts When the Apostles who were at Jerusalem had understood that those of Samaria had received the word of God they sent unto them Peter and John who being come prayed for them to the end they might receive the Holy Ghost For he was not as yet descended on them and they had been only baptized in the Name of our Lord JESUS But they forthwith laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost It hath pleas'd the New Reformers to decide by their own Authority and without any Testimony of Scripture That this Sacrament tho administred in all Ages and according to the Practice of the Apostles reserv'd to the Bishops their Parish to Parish to give you necessary Counsels and Instructions For the rest we require not extraordinary Perfections Provided you come to the Eucharist with a firm Faith an innocent Conscience and a holy Fervour we will bear with the remains of your infirmity Remembring that Passover of Ezechias whereof we have spoken at the beginning of this Instruction Many of those who were returned from the Schism had not been sanctify'd so much as was requisite to keep the Passover But Ezechias prayed for them saying The Lord who is good will have Mercy on those who seek with all their Heart the God of their Fathers and will not impute to them this that they are not enough purify'd and the Lord heard him and was appeas'd to his People Provided then that being returned to God with all your Heart you will serve him in the same Spirit as your Fathers in the Church where they served him that which is wanting to your Faith as yet weak will be supply'd by the Mediation of JESVS CHRIST of