N00802:536
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.
2. With respect to the Obliquity of the action. And this is it that rendereth it Sin. No Action can be reckoned sinful, but as it swerves from the Rule of Obedience given unto man, for where there is no Law, there is no Transgression, Rom. 4 15. Had there been no Law, man could no more have Sinned than Beasts can: but, being put under a Law suited to his Nature, every warping from it, in excess or defect, becometh a Sin. Now this Obliquity is considerable several ways, viz.
1. In the matter of the Action: i. e. When the Action it self is repugnant to the Precept▪ When the Law saith this thou shalt not do, and the man doth the very thing forbidden; or this thou shalt do, and he neglecteth it. Hence the denomination of Sin is put upon such actions, Jam. 4. ult. Which is to be understood, not absolutely as they are actions, but relatively as they are actions which the Law prohibits: The thing that David did, displeased the Lord, 2 Sam. 11. ult.
2. In the manner of the Action. There is not only a doing, but a so doing required by the Law, unto which if men give not attendance, but in any respect decline from it, Sin is imputed to them, 1 Chron. 15.13. We sought not after the due order; Luk. 8.18. Take heed how you hear.