Thirdly, Take heed you do not harbour the guilt of any one known sin upon your conscience. Keeping of sin upon the conscience, is a great impediment to your inward comforts. You will never be assured while you do thus; and therefore if ever you would have assurance, remove this. It is an observation of Mr Hildersham upon Psal. 51.12, 14. What doth David do, when he prays for assurance? saying, Restore to me the joys of thy salvation, establish me with thy free Spirit; Restore my comforts, and my evidences to me. And what course doth he take? Read verse 14. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O Lord. As much as if he should say, All the while that sin lay upon conscience unrepented of, (as it did for nine months together) all that ⟨p. 127⟩while David lost the joys of the Spirit, and lost the comforts of Heaven; And therefore when he comes to renew his comforts, and restore his assurance, he doth with begging of God for assurance, beg of God also to deliver him from blood-guiltiness; as knowing, that if this sin should be upon conscience unrepented of, and unpardoned, he should never have the joys of Gods Spirit restored. Beloved, you will never have assurance of your effectual calling, till your consciences are freed from having sin upon them with approbation. It is an observation that Aristotle hath about earth-quakes, that they are occasioned by reason of wind got into the Caverns and hollow places of the earth; which having no place for vent again, it makes ruptures, and overturns houses and mountains and all before it: Sin upon the conscience unrepented of, is like wind in the earth, it will make a heart quake there, that there shall not be that calmness, and quietness, and settledness of mind which there would be, were sin away. Hence we read, Esa. 33.16. The sinners in Zion are afraid, and fearfulness hath surprised the Hypocrite, The sinners are afraid; those who had guilt upon them, their sins bred terror and fear; and hypocrites that are conscious to themselves of their own guilt, fearfulness surpriseth them, but the upright and sincere in heart were not so; To note that this is a great enemy to inward peace, and to assurance about your everlasting estate, if so be you harbour sin upon the conscience unrepented of. And it is just with God it should be so;
Thirdly, Take heed you do not harbour the guilt of any one known sin upon your conscience. Keeping of sin upon the conscience, is a great impediment to your inward comforts. You will never be assured while you do thus; and therefore if ever you would have assurance, remove this. It is an observation of Mr Hildersham upon Psal. 51.12, 14. What doth David do, when he prayes for assurance? saying, Restore to me the joyes of thy salvation, establish me with thy free Spirit; Restore my comforts, and my evidences to me. And what course doth he take? Read verse 14. Deliver me from blood-guiltinesse, O Lord. As much as if he should say, All the while that sin lay upon conscience unrepented of, (as it did for nine monthes together) all that ⟨p. 127⟩while David lost the joyes of the Spirit, and lost the comforts of Heaven; And therefore when he comes to renew his comforts, and restore his assurance, he doth with begging of God for assurance, beg of God also to deliver him from blood-guiltinesse; as knowing, that if this sin should be upon conscience unrepented of, and unpardoned, he should never have the joyes of Gods Spirit restored. Beloved, you will never have assurance of your effectual calling, till your consciences are freed from having sin upon them with approbation. It is an observation that Aristotle hath about earth-quakes, that they are occasioned by reason of winde got into the Caverns and hollow places of the earth; which having no place for vent again, it makes ruptures, and overturnes houses and mountaines and all before it: Sin upon the conscience unrepented of, is like winde in the earth, it will make a heart quake there, that there shall not be that calmnesse, and quietnesse, and setlednesse of minde which there would be, were sinne away. Hence we read, Esa. 33.16. The sinners in Sion are afraid, and fearfulnesse hath surprised the Hypocrite, The sinners are afraid; those who had guilt upon them, their sins bred terrour and seare; and hypocrites that are conscious to themselves of their own guilt, fearfulnesse surprizeth them, but the upright and sincere in heart were not so; To note that this is a great enemy to inward peace, and to assurance about your everlasting estate, if so be you harbour sin upon the conscience unrepented of. And it is just with God it should be so;
