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The truly blessed man
The truly blessed man: or, The way to be happy here, and for ever: being the substance of divers sermons preached on, Psalm XXXII. / By Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston. N.E. ; [Five lines from Isaiah]
printed by B. Green for Michael Perry, 1700
Sermon › Right Confession, its nature and usefulness. DOCTRINE. › Proposition 1: PROPOSITION I.
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.
PROPOSITION I.
That which we are to make Confession of, is Sin. So all the three words in the Text import. What it is to Confess Sin is well to be observed. Sin is defined to be a Transgression of the Law, 1 John 3.4. Now Sin as such, will come under a double consideration, viz. Original, and Actual; and both of these must be referred to the Law of special Government, under which man was placed by God in his Creation: for nothing can be called Sin, but as it hath a reference to the Law. Here,
1. Original Sin hath a double respect, Privative and Positive; and both belong to the Nature of it.
1. Privative; Man in his Natural state is void of Original Righteousness. There was a Moral rectitude put into the Nature of man at first, Eccle. 7.29. This is that which is most directly intended, by the Image of God in which man was made, Gen. 1.26. It consisted in those Graces of Sanctification, by which man was fitted for Universal Perfect Obedience to the whole Will of God. Man by the Fall hath lost this rectitude, and is Born into the World without this Image; And this is a Sinful state, for the Law requires it in him, and, as he was betrusted with it, expects it of him. The