A26806:104
Sermons upon Psalm CXXX, ver. 4 but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou…
Sermons upon Psalm CXXX, ver. 4 but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayst be feared / by William Bates.
London: printed by J.D. for Brabazon Aylmer, 1696
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
So a clear unfeigned Confession is for our Profit, but a semi-Confession is counterfeit, an Indication of Hypocrisy.
(3.) Confession must be mixed with Sorrow and Shame in the Remembrance of our past Sins.
(3.) Confession must be mix'd with Sorrow and Shame in the Remembrance of our past Sins.
1. A piercing deep Sorrow from spiritual Principles and Persuasives is the Ingredient of an acceptable Confession. There is a natural Sorrow proceeding from the Impression of afflicting Evils. Sense is very tender and apt to resent what is oppressive to it. A Sinner that has wasted his Estate, blasted his Reputation, shortened his Life by his Excesses, and hastened his Damnation, may feel Anguish in his Breast for his Sins, the procuring Causes of his Punishment. But this Sorrow proceeds only from the Sense of external Evils, not from the melted Heart for the intrinsic Evil of Sin: As Marble Pillars are wet, from the Moisture of the ambient Air. 'Tis the miserable Man, not the miserable Sinner that mourns. This Sorrow is consistent with the Love of Sin; and when the penal Evil is removed, the ⟨p. 90⟩Sinner returns to the Practice of it. Carnal Sorrow only respects a Man's self as a Sufferer: 'tis in Hell, in the extreme Degrees, there is weeping for ever.
1. A piercing deep Sorrow from spiritual Principles and Perswasives is the Ingredient of an acceptable Confession. There is a natural Sorrow proceeding from the Impression of afflicting Evils. Sense is very tender and apt to resent what is oppressive to it. A Sinner that has wasted his Estate, blasted his Reputation, shortned his Life by his Excesses, and hasten'd his Damnation, may feel Anguish in his Breast for his Sins, the procuring Causes of his Punishment. But this Sorrow proceeds only from the Sense of external Evils, not from the melted Heart for the intrinsick Evil of Sin: As Marble Pillars are wet, from the Moisture of the ambient Air. 'Tis the miserable Man, not the miserable Sinner that mourns. This Sorrow is consistent with the Love of Sin; and when the penal Evil is removed, the