N00802:747
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.
5. He asks nothing of you to purchase this forgiveness. You are apt to say, What shall I bring? I have nothing, I can do nothing to procure it, and this disheartens you, but without reason, for he knows your poverty, and so hath himself laid in for that: the work is already done; Justice is satisfied; the demands of the Law are answered, Jesus Christ hath gone through that Province, and nothing is left to be done by •ou; he therefore expects that you come empty handed, Isa. 55.1. And if you think to bring any thing with you, and lay in for it, it will be the ready way to be rejected: it is his Grace that he seeks to exalt in your forgiveness, and you must comply with it.
6. Hence he only expects that you should Confess. This is the great thing he stands upon, your humble and cordial acknowledgement, Jer. 3.13. I know proud nature had rather to do something else than come to this; but God will have us thus to testify our Humiliation, and acknowledgement of his grace to us: if then you can heartily confess, he will readily forgive.
6. Hence he only expects that you should Confess. This is the great thing he stands upon, your humble and cordial acknowledgment, Jer. 3.13. I know proud nature had rather to do something else than come to this; but God will have us thus to testifie our Humiliation, and acknowledgment of his grace to us: if then you can heartily confess, he will readily forgive.