N00802:726
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 › Gods readiness to forgive on Penitent Confession. DOCTRINE.
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. That this Confession is the wa• […] the evidence or witness of our pardon. God is sometimes said to forgive, when he witnesseth in us to his pardoning mercy; and the reason is, because the man was before, in his own apprehension unpardoned, though his state were good. Now as it is usual for God to come in and refresh the heart, with t•lling it, its Sin is forgiven, whiles the bleeding Soul is bemoaning it self, with most humble confessions to him; so there is matter of evidence in the confession it self, and when we can truly say we have so confessed, as before, we have the character of one that hath received this grace of God, and so is in a state of forgiveness; whereas the want of this is just reason to make us call it in question; at least to think that sin is not forgiven which is not thus confessed.
2. That this Confession is the wa• 〈…〉 the evidence or witness of our pardon. God is sometimes said to forgive, when he witnesseth in us to his pardoning mercy; and the reason is, because the man was before, in his own apprehension unpardoned, though his state were good. Now as it is usual for God to come in and refresh the heart, with t•lling it, its Sin is forgiven, whiles the bleeding Soul is be•oaning it self, with most humble confessions to him; so there is matter of evidence in the confession it self, and when we can truly say we have so confessed, as before, we have the character of one that hath received this grace of God, and so is in a state of forgiveness; whereas the want of this is just reason to make us call it in question; at least to think that sin is not forgiven which is not thus confessed.
USE I. For Caution; Take heed of abusing this truth unto presumption. It is a great policy of Satan, to hold m•n as long as he can in carnal security, unto which their own natural inclination leads them: and among other devices he hath to insinuate into them by, this is one main engine that he useth with those that live under the Gospel, and enjoy the privileges of it, to blow them up with false surmises about God, and thence to draw ungrounded conclusions about their good