5oa Chap. 13. .RtaExppfat1on uponOre Book of.JOS. ..Verf.23, Bowmany are mine iniquities? follows it prefently with this pe- tition, Makeme to know my tranfgrefsion and my fin : As ifhe had Paid, I may fee my fins how many they are, or that they are very many, and yet not knowwhat any one of them is, without thy fpecial teaching. Hence Obferve, Our fins may be told us, or we *sayhave the taleofoar fnr, and yet not know our fins. It is harder toknow thenature, than thenumber, what, then how many ourfins are. Everyman (who knows any thing of theffate ofman) knows he is a firmer, but few know their fins. Chrill is preached to all, yet Chrilt is not known to all : There is much in this, Makeme to know. Toknow fin, is to be fenfibl: of the evil of fin, as to know Chrifl is to have :feeling of Chritl and to talle how fweet the Lord Chrill is. We may hear of our fins all our daies, and yet not knowour fins : It is poßïble for a man to writedown catalogues of his fins, and to keep a record of them every day, and yet not toknow them, not only not fo far as to mourn for them after a godly fort, but not fo far as tube affec`t.ed with them after a moral fort, or fo far as an ingenuous man might be. It is onething to know our tranfgreffions, ano- ther thing to writeour tranfgreffìons or to fpeak ofthem. For, as force havewhole books written full of Sermon-notes by them, who have not one line of a Sermon written in their hearts, or Upon their waies ; fo a man mayhave w/lhole books written full offn-notes, and yet not one lin making impreffionupon hisheart. Thereare but fewwho know what they k,norp. There is a threefold knowledgeof fin. Firil, In the kind ofit, that this or that is Gnful, this know- ledge of lin comes not from our felves. There are may aEtings whichwe do not know to be tunings, till God makes us know them. Some things wherein we thought wedid God good fer- vice, we may findour felves tranfgreffors in them. Secondly, There is a knowledge of fin in thenature ofit, that itis a tranfgreffion ofthe law, and a departure from God : That it is a filthy and a polluted thing,a bafe and dilhonourable thing ; that it is ncthing that isgood, and all that's evil ; that it is foevil that wecannot make it worfe then it is,norcall it by any name fo bad as its own, Sinfulfan, Thirdly, There is a knowledge of fin in the effe is and iffuesof it : That as it is filthy, fo it defiles; thatas it is a pollution, fo it pollutes
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