A49255:113
The penitent pardoned a treatise wherein is handled the duty of confession of sin…
The penitent pardoned a treatise wherein is handled the duty of confession of sin and the privilege of the pardon of sin : together with a discourse of Christs ascension into heaven and of his coming again from heaven : wherein the opinion of the Chiliasts is considered and solidly confuted / being the sum and substance of several sermons preached by that faithful servant of Christ, Mr. Christopher Love ...The penitent pardoned a treatise wherein is handled the duty of confession of sin and the priviledge of the pardon of sin : together with a discourse of Christs ascension into heaven and of his coming again from heaven : wherein the opinion of the Chiliasts is considered and solidly confuted / being the sum and substance of several sermons preached by that faithful servant of Christ, Mr. Christopher Love ...
London: printed for John Rothwell, 1657
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.
A sixth difference is this, that godly men are distinct and clear to confess their particular special evils that have most predominancy over them. Beloved, observe this; Wicked men in their confessions are confused, and only run in general that they are sinners; Just like Ahimaaz when he would bring tidings to David, touching the issue of the battle with Joab and Absalom, saith he, I saw a tumult, 1and I heard a noise, but I know nothing. Wicked men will tell you that their sins do make a noise within them, but they can tell you nothing distinctly, and nothing particularly, but only go at random. Wicked men in confessing sin are like Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. 2. 2He dreamt something but he could not tell what it was: Wicked men dream of sins and think of them as confusedly as a man in a dream; but when, how, and where, and with what aggravating circumstances they know not: they have not a distinct and clear view of their corruptions. The people of God do in their confessions single out their special lusts and say thus did the people of Israel.3 Judg. 10. 10. Thus Bellarmine did show his wickedness in saying he was not wicked; when he was on his death-bed, and his Confessor came to him to have him confess his sin to him, saith Bellarmine, I do not know any sin in my self to confess. This was not the holiness of the man, but the heedlessness, that he did not observe his ways. Donatus the great ringleader of the Donatists, saith, O Lord I have nothing that thou shouldst pardon me. Beloved, this doth arise from stupidity that men see not sin; it doth not arise from holiness, but from heedlessness ⟨p. 23⟩and carelessness. It is an observation that one hath on Job, saith Job, I have sinned, and cause me know wine iniquity, and my transgression, and my sin. Whilst Job made this complaint that he had sinned, God saith, in all this Job sinned not: that is, not absolutely, but meaning comparatively. Beloved, to be free in complaints, and to be full in confession of sins, doth not argue that you have more sin then other men have; but it argues that you have more sight then other men have, and the less sin you have in you.