The Doctrine of Repentance

5. A true penitent confesseth sin in the¹ fountain: he acknowledgeth the pollution of his nature. The sin of our nature is not only a privation of good, but an infusion of evil: It is like Canker to Iron, or a Stain to Scarlet^*. David acknowledgeth his birth-sin, Psa. 51.5. I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my Mother conceive me—^* etiam embrioni haeserit peccatum—We are ready to charge many of our sins upon Satan's temptations; but this sin ⟨p. 31⟩of our nature is wholly from our selves, we cannot shift it off to Satan: we have a root within that bears gall and wormwood, Deut. 29. 18. Our nature is [Greek or Hebrew], an abyss and seminary of all evil; from hence come those scandals that infest the world. 'Tis this pravity of nature which poisons our holy things; 'tis this which wings Gods judgements, and makes our mercies stick in the birth. O confess sin in the fountain!

5. A true penitent confesseth sin in the¹ fountain: he acknowledgeth the pollution of his nature. The sin of our nature is not only a privation of good, but an infusion of evil: It is like Canker to Iron, or a Stain to Scarlet^*. David acknowledgeth his birth-sin, Psa. 51.5. I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my Mother conceive me—^* etiam embrioni haeserit peccatum—We are ready to charge many of our sins upon Satans temptations; but this sin ⟨p. 31⟩