ofSinnes b[ Ign~rttncu: For as there is no man fo learned, but he will b~wail his igno· ranee in many particulars, Hoc tantum fci(), me nihil f'cire, {aid he, fo there is no man lo holy, but he mull alfo acknow· ledge a great deal of unholine!fe which he d'Ot_h not finde out; fo that he may in fome-fenle fay, This is my godlinetfe to bewail my ungodlinelfe. So Davidyeu fee gives apatter~ in this verfe: neither can you fay-, This may prove a, mock– humitiation, 11.nd 1may thereby bewail a lye, for if I da not know of any finne in me, it may be there is none, and fo I fuall bear falfe wicneffe againfi: my ielf, and God would not have me to beleeve a lye, that thereby I may fcem tto be hum9le: As fome Papifl:s expound that of rohn, I Joh.z.8. lf'We{ay 'We have nofinne,&c. We, mufi fay'fo r( fay they) to teftifie oar humility, though it be not true: but the Apofile - doth not fay, Ifwe fay we have no finne, there is no humility in us, but there is no truth in us, we do deceive our felves with a lye. Indeed if drat opinion of fome could be made out, That a man may attain to fuch a perfection in this life, . that he may be without finne: then in fuch a cafe, aman be.. wailing finne not difcqvered, may bewail a non entitJ, a lye. But that Petition commended to c"ery one in the Lords Pray– er, Forgive m our ftnnes, doth evidently convince the falf.. hood thereof. Seeing then that t_he heart ofman, is never emptied·of all this filth ; feeing that fountain of blood is ne– ver dried up, be need not felr, by confc.ffing the finne be doth not difcover, that he doth witoeffe fafly againft himfelf, for there are the reliques and motions of all evil ftirring in every mans heart, as appearetb, Rom.7. which is called the Lt~w ofjinne. Thought herefore .agodly mafl may not know what kinde offianes they are which come from him, yet he is affured,that there are finncs in the general!-. 'Ifindeed it were a theologicall doubt, whereby a man might jullly qu-cftio~, whether any finne were lurking in him or no, then he mighl! put himfelfopon t_he venture of bewailing a lye: but though the particul~r· finnes cannot be difcovered or numbred, yet that there are fuch is without all doubt : Though David could not underftand what his errors Were,yct he diddearly , ~nder~~nd ~~~~ ~~~!~ ~~!~ ~!!~!!! - -- - · -- -·- · z. AI ~ - .. -~ ....
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