CHAP. I. The Introduction. The Division of the Words. The Doctrine laid down, and the Method propounded for the handling of it. The Nature of Confession open'd, or a Description of it given, containing the Acts or Parts, and the Adjuncts or Properties of Confession.

THe Apostle having shewn in the Verse foregoing, that no Man living is without Sin, he pre­sently propounds a general Remedy of this Malady, declaring Confession and acknow­ledgment of Sin to be a means of obtain­ing Remission of Sin; and Sanctification at [Page 2] the hands of God: If we confess our sins, &c.

In the Words themselves, there's no Knot to be untied, no Difficulty to be re­solv'd; they are very plain and easie, and intelligible enough, to any one that will but understand them: Take but those Words [Faithful and Just] in the same sence with reference and relation to the Divine Pro­mise, and the whole Verse doth need no more Explication; it wants no other Ex­planation at all.

Only let me entreat you, in transitu, and by the way, to take notice with me, who it is that speaks herein the Text, who it is these Words, you have heard, come from. The Person that speaks here, be­lieve it, he is not a meer legal Preacher, but an Evangelical, a Gospel-Minister, an honorable Ambassador, a worthy Apostle of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and one that had arriv'd to very high, emi­nent, and excellent Attainments, that was able really and experimentally to say, Truly our Fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, v. 3. It is this blessed Apostle St. John, that here re­quires and calls for Cofession of Sins, even in Gospel-Times. He makes not the Grace [Page 3] of the Gospel a Principle of looseness and licentiousness; he turns not the Grace of God into wantonness: He perswades us indeed, that God is faithful and just to for­give us our sins; but he assures us withal, that he is such only to these of us who do confess and acknowledge our sins. He does'nt rastly and giddil [...] preach up Privi­ledges without Duties, but wiseh, s [...]ce [...]ly, and wholsomly, joins and couples them both together. Neither imposes he Duties up­on some inferior Christians only, as a task proper for none but those of the lowest Form in Christ's School, but he lays them upon all and every one. Tho' he himself had gotten to so high a pitch, yet he reckons not hims [...]f above Duties; no, not above the Duty of Ca [...]f [...]ss [...]n, which some may account [...] me [...] and low, and base, for an old and gr [...]wn Christian, for a Professor of [...] to [...]e em­ployed and exercis'd in. He puts not himself out of the number of Cons [...]ents, for he plainly here includes and inserts himself: If we, says he, confess; If we [...]onfess our sins, he is faithful and ju [...]t to forgive us our sins.

In which words you have these two Parts, a Declaration of a Divine Prom [...]e, [Page 4] and an express mention of a necessary Con­dition; something to be done for us, but withal something to be done by us. The Condition you have express'd in these words, If we confess our sins. The Pro­mise you have declared and laid down in those words, He is faithful and just to for­give us our sins, and to cleanse, &c.

Where you have considerable,

1. The Matter of the Promise, or the thing it self promised, Forgiveness and Cleansing.

2. The Confirmation or Establishment of the Promise; you have good Assurance given, sufficient Security put in for the due performance of what is thus promi­sed. God's Faithfulness and Justice do back and second his simple and single Promise, in the foregoing words, He is faithful and just to forgive; faithful and just. Or, if you please, the words contain a Duty, and a Motive or Encou­ragement to the Duty. A Duty, in the first words of the Verse; to wit, Confes­sion of sins: If we confess our sins. A Motive or Encouragement to it, in the following words, If we confess, he is faith­ful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse, &c.

Which Encouragement to the Duty is ta­ken from, or consists of a double Benefit that comes by it, a twofold Priviledge that belongs to it, (1.) Forgiveness, (2. Clean­sing.

And this latter commended to us from the Ʋniversality, the Latitude and Extent of it; it is cleansing from all Ʋnrighteous­ness.

This Encouragement is here further spi­rited and strengthned, made more valid, forcible, and prevailing, by setting down and holding forth, the absolute certainty of these Benefits to be bestowed, of these Priviledges to be made good; God's Faith­fulness and Justice stand firmly bound and engag'd to bring about and effect all, to see all truly perform'd: He is Faithful and Just.

I begin with the Condition of the Pro­mise, or our Duty; as being first to be done by us, and perform'd on our part, before we can lay any just Claim, or plead any lawful Title to the Promise, and the Priviledges and Benefits that are contain'd and wrap'd up therein. Now the Condi­tion requir'd by God of us, or the Duty to be done by us, is, Confession of Sins: If we confess our sins.

It is the Duty of every Sinner to confess and acknowledge his sins to God.

In handling this Doctrine, I shall endea­vour to do these two things:

• 1. I shall open the Nature of this Duty of Confession.
• 2. Give you the Grounds and Reasons of it.

1. Shew you what the Duty of Confession is.

2. How it comes to be our Duty, and why it is our Duty.

I. I shall open the Nature of Confession, or tell you what it is. Take this plain and full Definition or Description of it.

Confession of Sin, it's the Penitent Sin­ner's voluntary Accusing and Condemning himself to God, with Hatred of, Shame and Sorrow for, and a full Resolution a­gainst his sin; together with an earnest Desire of, and some good Hope in Divine Mercy.

We shall take this Definition in pieces and asunder; in which you have these two things considerable:

[Page 7]1. The Acts of Confession, or Parts of which Confession consists.

2. The Adjuncts or Properties of true, sound, unfeigned, undissembled Confes­sion.

1. The Acts, which are two,

• Self-Accusing,
• Self-Condemning.

2. Its Adjuncts or Properties, which are these:

• 1. It's voluntary.
• 2. It's with Hatred of, Shame and Sorrow for our sin.
• 3. With a full Resolution against our sin.
• 4. With an earnest Desire of, and some good Hope in God's Mercy, unto whom Confession is made.

I shall handle these severals in the same Order I have propounded them; and I shall speak first of the Acts, beginning with the former of them, to wit, Self-Accusing.

CHAP. II. Of the former Act of Confession, to wit, Self-Accusation. Of the Limitation or Restriction of the Object in Self-Accusa­tion, The Sinner accuseth himself of his sins, and none but himself; not God, nor the Devil, nor Ungodly Men.

NOW Self-Accusation in Confession, is, The Sinner's Charging himself alone, as particularly as may be, with his sins; and his aggravating them wholly upon him­self.

I shall speak to two things out of this Definition; wherein you have chiefly ob­servable,

1. A Limitation or Restriction of the Object in Self-Accusation.

2. A Declaration of the Manner of Self-Accusation in a truly humble Confession.

The Object in Confessional Self-Accusa­tion is, The Sinner himself, and none but himself.

The Manner is double:

1. The Sinner charges himself with his sins as particularly as he can.

[Page 9]2. He aggravates his sins upon him­self, so that Self-Accusation is made,

1. By a particular enumeration.

2. By aggravation of our sins before God.

1. You have here a Limitation, or Re­striction of the Object in Self-Accusation: The Sinner accuses himself of his sins, charges himself with his sins, and none but himself.

He very truly and justly draws up a Bill of Indictment, and puts it in himself only against himself. He Fathers not one sin upon God; he's far from making his God the Author of his sins, or imputing them to his Decree and Predetermination; he declares God to be righteous, and pro­nounces himself a Sinner: He accuses not God, neither does he accuse the Devil, or Ʋngodly Men, for his sins. Most Men think the Devil's back broad enough to bear theirs and therefore they ease and disburden themselves, and heavily load him, by shifting off all their sins to him, and laying all of them upon his Shoul­ders, as if Satan hadn't only the Subtilty and Cunning of perswading, but the power of forcing and compelling. How many are there that think they are quite freed [Page 10] and wholly discharged, so soon as they have charged Satan, and accused Wicked Men? That make account they have lit­tle or nothing to answer for, because Sa­tan tempted them, because Wicked Men entic'd and importun'd them, because bad Company and evil Counsel drew them away? That look upon themselves as clear, when once they have alienated and transferr'd their fault, when they have turn'd off their sins to some one else, and devolv'd them upon another? You find Aaron had too well learn'd this kind of Translation; who being justly challeng'd by Moses for making the Golden Calf, and sharply reprov'd by him for his sin, pre­sently lays all the blame upon the People, as if he should have gone Scot-free, be­cause they put him upon't. See this in the 32 Exod. 21, 22, 23, v. Do but mind what Aaron says here, and you'll see it's a meer shift indeed: Thou knowest, says he, the people, that they are set on mischieft, for they said unto me, make us Gods.

They said unto me; should he dare to do what they bad him? But they were set on't, says he; why this rather makes against him, for the more the People were set on mischief, the more it behov'd him [Page 11] to withstand and oppose it; and probably, had he zealously set himself against it, the Golden Calf had never been made; had he but roundly took them up, and sound­ly chid them sor't, it's likely he might have prevented the Mischief. However, had he but done his Duty, had he been so far from consenting to't, as openly and publickly to have declared and manifested his abhorring and detestation of the Fact, he had'nt then involv'd himself in the guilt of so soul a sin: Yet hadn't a free, ingenuous Confession, a great deal better be­come Aaron, after he had sinn'd, than so absurd and dull a put-off, so poor and silly a shift, so idle and frivolous; and, which is worst of all, so sinful an Excuse? Saul too had the same Excuse ready at's fingers ends, when Samuel came to him, and charg'd him with sparing the best of the Spoil which he had taken from the Ama­lekites, when as God had expresly com­manded him to slay all; (1 Sam. 15.) why straight he excuses himself by accu­sing of others, v. 15. They, says he, have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the Sheep, and of the Oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed. [Page 12] Mark here, when he speaks of what was done according to the will of God, then he puts himself in, the rest we have utterly destroyed; but when he speaks of what was done against God's command, there he leaves himself out, he would seem to have had nothing to do in't; he quite shuffles it off from himself, and fastens it all on the People: They, the people, spared the best of the sheep: And he thought he had now fairly rid his hands of his sin. So that when Samuel again urg'd him, Wherefore hast thou not obey'd the voice of the Lord? (v. 19.) Instead of an humble Confession of his sin, he still defended and justified himself, until by Samuel's second reply, a forced acknowledgment was wrung and extorted from him. Thus naturally apt are the Sons of Men, not only to sin with their first Parents, but with them likewise to excuse their sin, and to find another to cast the fault upon besides them­selves! Read but the Story of Adam and Eve's first transgression, and you shall see where they learn'd it: The Woman (says Adam to God, when he had eaten of the forbidden fruit) the Woman that thou gavest to be with me, she gave me, and I did eat. She gave me: He confidently blames Eve for his [Page 13] own sin; nay, he obliquely charges, and im­pudently calumniates even God himself. The Woman that thou gavest to be with me, she gave me. Look you here how unwor­thily he asperses God, as if God himself had really had an hand in his sin. And Eve too, she smoothly and handsomly (as she thought) puts it off to the Devil: The Serpent, the Serpent beguiled me and I did eat, (Gen. 3.) but never a word of Self-Accusation fell from either of them.

Too too many in the World have imi­tated, and taken after their first Father and Mother in this very particular; have co­vered their transgressions with Adam, (to use Job's expression) and hid their iniqui­ties in their bosom, (Job 21.33.) Have made use of some one else to be a Cloak and a Covering for their sins; have ever boldly justified themselves; in their hearts at least, have sometimes charged God; and often made the Devil, not only the greatest, but, I may say, the only Sinner in the World. This imputation of our sin to Satan doubles our sin; it isDr. H^d in his Serm. of the Bl. influence of Christ's Re­ssurection. (as a learned Divine expresses it) a bearing false witness against the Devil himself, a robbing him of his great fundamental Title of [...], Calumniator, and a proving those [Page 14] that thus charge him the greatest Devils of the twain. But truly, tho' Men do the Devil great wrong in it, yet he thinks not much at it; they never pleasure him more than in so doing; he cares not how much the Sinner lays upon him, so he lay but little or nothing upon himself; he knows God will one day lay it heavy enough upon him. The Devil perceives very well what great and singular advantages he has gotten of those Men, whom he has in­duc'd to take up and entertain this fond Conceit, whom he has fully possess'd and inveigl'd with this strange, yet pleasing Misapprehension, that he is chiefly guilty of their sins, for by this means he cun­ningly and slily keeps them off from a found and thorow Repentance, and a free, and full, and humble acknowledgment of their sins to God.

If any such confess at all, I dare say, that which is really and indeed their sin, is seldom the subject matter of their Con­fession; for you shall have them in their Confessions complain chiefly of their lia­bleness, and exposedness unto, and of the strength, violence, prevalency, and irre­sistableness of their Temptations; more of this than of the power and height of their [Page 15] inherent, in-dwelling Lusts and Corruptions. They'll, it may be, pretend to be greatly desirous of a speedy deliverance from their Temptations, when as yet they are utterly careless of being freed from the baseness and falseness of their own Hearts; but were such wholly exempted from the Temptations of the Devil, or any else, yet they have that within their own Breasts would quickly hurry them on to sin with­out a Tempter. This, alas! they don't la­ment; they'll bewail before God, how they're subject unto, and compass'd about with divers temptations, which even Christ himself was, who yet was without sin. If any will call this lying fair for temptation an Infelicity, yet who can say, it is a Sin? Thus, in effect, and if we search it to the bottom, we shall find it to be so, they sondly and foolishly Charge even God him­self with their sins who suffers them to be tempted, and accuse the Devil that tempts them much rather than them­selves.

But now the truly penitent Confessor, he lays not his sin upon other Men; he lays it not upon Satan, but wholly upon himself. Its said, that Satan provoked David to number the People, and yet you [Page 16] find David's heart smote himself sor't; which was a tacit Confession of the sin, and shewed that he was far enough from Charging Satan with't, his Heart's smi­ting him was a secret and silent acknow­ledgment, that it was the Lust, the Pride of his own Heart, that let in, and gave entrance and admission to Satan's Temp­tation. See the 1 Chron. 21. 1. v. you read there, how Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel; but David, tho' probably he might be sensible of his temptation, yet he makes not the Devil to bear the burden of his sin; he doesn't so much as mention, or nominate the temptation, to make his sin seem the less odious to God, or heinous to himself; no, he plainly confess [...]s this sin, he ex­presly owns it, and derives all the guilt of it on himself, in the 8 v. of this 21 of the 1 Chron. and in the 10 v. of the 24 of the 2 Sam. where you have the same Story set down and recorded. It's said there, that David's heart smote him after that he had numbred the people; and David said unto God, I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing; but now I beseech thee, O Lord, do away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly. And again, [Page 17] in the 17 of the 21 c. of the Chron: And David said unto God, Is it not I that com­manded the people to be numbred? Even I it is that have sinned, and done evil in­deed. He seems here, as it were, whol­ly to quit the Devil, and to lay the Action only against himself. The Peni­tent Sinner, in his Confession, is loth to set any thing at all, but abhors to set too much on the Devil's Score, or on bad Men's; he rather frees them, and takes all to himself. He says not by way of excuse or exoneration of himself, I was tempted by Satan, seduced by evil Men; and who can be too hard for such sub­tile Enemies, who can withstand such strong solicitations? Ah Lord, Satan that Arch-Enemy of Mankind, or such and such insinuating bad Company have undone me; no, but he easily resolves his sins into no other Original than his own Lusts. Lord, says he, my destruction is wholly from my self; even I my self, who am my own Grand Enemy, have utterly un­done my self: I was assaulted by many Enemies, but it was one only that over­came me, my own Flesh: The Fort of my Soul was storm'd indeed; but there was a close Enemy within that yielded it [Page 18] up and betrayed it, it had never been ta­ken else: I might have attended to the Divine Monitions, when I chose rather to hearken to the Devil's suggestions. I must confess, I have not shunn'd occasions of evil; I have run unwarily into temptation; when I have been tempted, I have not striven against the temptation; when I have been assaulted, I have not, with the ravished Virgin under the Law, so much as cried out, that I might be innocent. I must acknowledge, I might have call'd to Heaven for help; I might have re­sisted temptations to sin; 'twas my own fault to swallow the Bait that was set before me: I was tempted indeed, but it was to that which I was of my self natu­rally addicted, and inclinable unto, and ready to run into without a temptation. Lord, I was tempted, but I was glad of the temptation; I was tempted to that my very Soul delighted in. I was tempt­ed; but how readily did I cl [...]se with, and give way to the temptation? How presently did I join and comply with the Devil,Videre, [...]arres, [...] non vir [...]it nisi v [...] [...]. Bernard. whom had I resisted, he would have flown from me. I was tempted by Satan, but4 Jam. 7. 1 Jam. 14. enticed by my own deceitful [Page 19] Heart, and drawn away of my own un­governable and unruly Lu [...]s and Corrup­tions. My secret [...]ust was the Satan within me; the F [...]ve in my Bosom, that has t [...]mpted and undone me. The prone­ness and prope [...]sity to Evil, which I bear about w [...]th me, and carry in within me, more occasion'd my sinning against thee, than did the temptations of the Devil, or the sed [...]ctions of wicked and ungodly Men. Thus he accuses him­self, so as that he accures [...]o one e [...]se, even so as that he l [...]ves himself quite without excus [...], reserving nothing at all to say for himself, not [...]ing all to plead in his own beh [...]lf, nothing to mitigate, al­leviate, and extea [...]are his sin and tres­pass.

Thus m [...]chas [...]r the first thig, namely the [...]umitation or res [...]ri tion of the Obj [...]ct in Conse [...]tional Self A [...]cusation: The in­ner ch [...]s [...] with his sins, himself [...].

CHAP. III. Of the Manner of Self-Accusation; and (1. of particularizing of Sin. He that confesses aright, accuseth himself of par­ticular sins; and especially chargeth him­self with his particular sin. He ac­knowledgeth unknown sins in a general and implicit Confesion.

THE other thing we propounded to speak of touching Self-Accusa­tion, was, the Manner of it, which I told you was double; and that it was made (1.) by Particularizing, (2.) by Aggravating of those sins which we know we stand guilty of before God.

1. He that confesses aright charges him­self with his sins as particularly as he can. Confession of sin, made in general terms only, either through a Man's ignorance, or gross forgetfulness of his sins; or with an intention to hide and conceal them; such a general Confession is a sinful Con­fession indeed. The sincere Confessor [Page 21] contents not himself with meer Gene­rals, but descends to Particulars. And truly, should he not do this, he would even do just nothing. Pray, do but a little examine a General Confession, search it a while but to the bottom, and see but thorowly what is in't once, and then make the best you can of it, you'll be forc'd to tell me, it's a very poor, empty, formal thing, such as, perhaps, some car­nal hypocrite may put off his Conscience for a time with; but yet such, as an in­finitely offended, provoked God, will ne­ver be put off with. I'll briefly shew you the vanity of it. Suppose a Man, to use no other than a General Confession, tho' this Man grow every day worse and worse, tho' he never comes into God's presence, but he brings the guilt of new sins along with him, yet this Man's Con­fession is always the same, tho' his sins be not the same, tho' his sins be many more than they were, and his guilt far greater, and heavier than ever. The Man acknowledges himself in nothing worse now than he was many Years since, he puts nothing in his Confession now, but what he put in it then; tho' he daily adds sin unto sin, yet he never [Page 22] adds any thing to h [...]s Confession; he ne­ver makes himself in one Confession v ltr than he made himself in a former Confession.

In truth, he never makes himself in in any Confession worse than the very best are; he never says any more against him­sel [...], than may be well said against any one else; he ever confesses so, as that the ho­liest Man on Earth may take up h [...]s Con­fession, yea, and add so it. Now is this to con [...]ess aright? Is this Ma [...]'s Confession on [...] o [...] true S [...]sf-Alase [...]t, and tho­row H [...]m [...]ation? Surely no. It is our instancing and particularizing, which tru­ly [...]ses, and duly humbles us in our Confesions. Particulars, indeed, they [...]peak us a g [...]eat deal worse now, than it may be, heretofore we have been: Parti­culars speak us the very worst or Men, the chiefest of Sinners: Particularizing plainly lays open the vilenes, and sinfulness, the silthin [...]ss and wickedness of our Hearts and Love [...]; [...]eer Generals can do nothing of all this, which yet you m [...]st ack [...]owledge necessary to be done; and therefore he that stays in Generals, and never comes to Particulars in his Confess [...]on, had as good never go about to confess

Now this particularizing of Sin, tho' it may have been wilfully much balked by Hypocrites, yet it has ever obtained among the Saints; it has always been us'd and practis'd by the People of God. You find the People of Israel particularizing, 1 Sam. 12.19. We have added unto all our sins, say they, this evil, to ask us a King. Ezra, he confesses unto God that particu­lar sin of the People of Israel, in not se­parating themselves from, but joining in affinity with the People of the Lands, Ezra 9. David too, he makes Confession of particular sins; in one Confession he acknowledgeth that particular sin of his in Numbring the People, 1 Chro. 21.8. and David said unto God, I have sinned great­ly because I have done this thing, to wit, Numbred Israel. In another Confession, you have him acknowledging other par­ticular sins, to wit, his Murder and Adul­tery; I acknowledge my transgressions, says he, and my sin is ever before me, Psal. 51.3. It was behind me when Nathan came to me; he set it before me, and ever since I have kept it before me. And v. 4. Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. And v. 14. Deliver me, says he, from blood-guiltiness, [Page 24] O God. And you know 'twas the course St. Paul took, that sincere Convert, and humble Confitent; who, as he was prone upon all occasions to acknowledge the sins of his former and past life, so to confess and acknowledge them very particularly. That's a notable place, 1 Tim. 1.13. speak­ing of himself there, Who was before, says he, a blasphemer, a persecutor, and inju­rious. He does not say, who was before a Sinner only; no, but who was before a Blasphemer, a Persecutor, and Injurious. Making mention of his old vain Conver­sation, he brings in the severals exactly, and punctually sets down particulars.

Even thus every Self-Accusing Sinner Articles against himself, and sets his sins in order before his God. He calls not himself a grievous Sinner, or a miserable wicked Wretch, only in the general; as far as he knows any thing of himself, he alledges against himself, and Charges himself with particular sins. He acknow­ledges not his sins only in the Gross; he does not only generally confess how that he has broken and violated all God's ho­ly Laws and Commands, both in Thought, in Word, and in Deed, either by doing what was prohibited, or leaving undone [Page 25] what was injoin'd; no, he confesses his loose and vain Thoughts particularly: As to instance, his Atheistical Thoughts, his Distrustful Thoughts, his Lustful Thoughts, his Envious Thoughts, his Malicious Thoughts, his Revengeful Thoughts, his Ambitious Thoughts, his Covetous Thoughts; and such like.

Further, He confesses particularly, as his bad thoughts, so his want of good thoughts; his not exercising himself in Self Examination, his not giving himself to holy and pious Meditation. And here more particularly, his not meditating on God in Christ, his not meditating on the Scrip­tures, his not meditating on Sermons, his not meditating on Providences, his not meditating on his latter End; and the like. He confesses his evil Thoughts in particular, and his evil Words too; as his rash Judging and Censuring, his Swear­ing, Lying, taking God's Name in vain; this and that particular idle Word which he has used, accustomed, and habituated himself unto; this and that rotten and unsavory Speech, this and that frothy and unprofitable Discourse. He confesses particularly, not only his speaking what [Page 26] he should not do, but his not speaking what he should do; his not speaking to God in Prayer; his frequent omissions of Prayerly himself in private; of Prayer and Catech [...]ng in his Family; his disuse of Holy Conferenc [...], and Christian Com­munion; his neglect of Brotherly Re­proof, and Fraternal Correction. In like manner he particularizes h [...]s evil Deeds and wicked Works; but I'll stand instan­cing no long [...]r. Remember that he that confesses aright, accuses himself of parti­cular sins.

And further take notice, That he that truly confesses, charges himself as with particular sins, so to be sure with his par­ticular sin. I say, let me add this further, That he that truly confesses, as he makes a Catalogue of particular sins, so to be sure he puts into the Catalogue his very particular sin; that sin of his, which a­mong all the rest he nay most properly and truly call his own; that peccatum in de­liciis, that sin he has so indulg'd and cocker'd; that very sin, which above all others he has a long time most pleas'd him­self with, and allowed himself in.

And truly, herein lies a great and main difference between the humble, sincere, and the formal hypocritical Confessor: The formal, hypocritical Confessor, he'll willingly confess sin in the general; he cares not much, if he calls himself Sin­ner before God. Nay, it may be, he'll not stick to repeat, and run over some common Heads, to reckon up to God a few sorts and kinds of sins; as his Origi­nal, his Actual sins; his sins against God, his sins against his Neighbor; his sins of Omission, his sins of Commission; which is but a general Confession yet. The rea­son that he can so easily bring himself to that, is, because Generalia non pungunt; Generals don't touch to the quick, don't wound, prick, and gall him, don't come close and home to him, don't so nearly concern him; and therefore thus he can confess over and over, with very little or no trouble and disturbance to himself at all; thus he can confess his sins, yet keep his sin.

If ever the hollow-hearted Confessor come so far as to particularize sins at all, likely he takes some sly course, he goes some By-way to Work. He'll often in­stance in some particular sins, which the [Page 28] Godly themselves daily complain of, which the dearest of God's People cannot but own and acknowledge. As thus: He'll, it may be, confess unto God the weakness of his Faith, his want of growth in Grace, which may be an Article in the best Christian's Self-Accusation; but here is this deceit in't, That he that has'nt one Dram of Faith, one Spark of Grace in him, would yet seem to have, and supposes in himself some lower, weaker actings, at least, of saving, justifying Faith; some smaller degree and measure of true, real, sanctifying Grace. What­ever the Hypocrite puts in, commonly he, on purpose leaves out of the Charge his near and dear, tho' never so gross and heinous sin; this he'll not be known of, he'll not disclose, he'll not out with this, for this he resolves with himself never to part with; he has no mind to leave it, and therefore he has no heart to confess it. He declines and waves all hard words of his own sin; whatever he says, he'll not have a word of his secret Atheism, and Profaneness of Heart, of his close Hypocrisie and Formality, of his wilful Impenitency and Unbelief, of his false Hopes and ungrounded Presumption: He [Page 29] forbears the mentioning of his Spiritual Pride, of his Carnal Confidence, and resting in Duties, of his Self-love, of his Worldly-mindedness. This guileful, sub­til, Semi-confitent, purposely, and industri­ously, keeps in that very sin, which a­mong these, or other particular sins, is his most proper and peculiar sin; he's mute and silent here; he scarce ever comes nigh that main sin which divides and sepa­rates between God and his Soul, and keeps off his Heart from entirely closing with Jesus Christ. His talk, (I think I miscal not his Confession) his talk, I say, is usual­ly far enough from that: Thus Lapwing-like, he raises his Note highest, and makes the greatest noise furthest off his own Nest.

But now on the other side, the truly humble, broken, penitent Sinner, he's of an honest, ingenuous, guileless spirit; in accusing of himself, he deals most freely and openly with his God; he hides and covers nothing from him; he plainly lays open to God his very darling, bosom sin, and readily discovers his most inward and retir'd Lust: He is so far from concealing this in his Confession, that, of all others, he is most careful to detect it, and makes [Page 30] it his business to insist oftenest and largeliest on it. And certainly, he that does thus, confesses aright; for he that charges himself particularly with his most beloved, secret, and hidden sin, is, no question, in a constant readiness to charge himself with all, to charge himself with every one.

And thus much for the first way of Self-Accusation in Confession; to wit, Parti­cularizing of our sins.

I shall pass to the second, so soon as I have entreated you to take notice but of one Clause in this First Part of the Defini­tion of Self-Accusation. I told you that Self-Accusation is the Sinner's charging himself as particularly as may be with his sins; as particularly as may be, as particu­larly as he can; which was purposely in­serted to hint thus much unto you: That we are bound to confess many sins, which yet we are no way able to particularize; such are all ignorances and unknown sins. Indeed, we ought to make a particular ac­knowledgment of our sins as far as our knowledge of them reaches; but yet, when we have confessed all we know a­gainst our selves, we are not yet come [Page 31] to a non ultra in [...]onfession; we must not here make a stop, we must not here break off, and give over Confessing; we must find more to say aginst our selves, than we know particulary and distin [...]tly by our selves. Tho' we know much by our selves, yet certainly there's much we don't know by our selves: but God is great­er than our hearts, and k [...]we [...]h all things, (1 Joh. 3.20) he sees many a sin in us that we d [...]n't s [...]e in our s [...]lves: Now our unkn [...]wn sins, our sins of ignorance, tho' they be unknown to us, tho' we are igno­rant of them, yet because they are in themselves real breac [...]es of God's Law, and so truly sins against God, therefore they ought to be con [...]ess'd to him.

But how, you'll [...]y, [...] can we con­fess such sins as we d n't [...]? Why yes; tho' we ca [...] [...] and reckon them up in particul [...]r, yet we may, and must (and it s [...] i [...] we do wrap them up altogether in a [...] and impli [...] Con­fession, and crave p [...]rdon for them by the lump. David w [...] careful to do thus, Is. 19.12. Who, says he, can understand his errors? Lord, cleanse thou me from my se­cret faults.

Let me add; That a general Con­fession is necessary, not only in respect of our unknown sins, but also in respect of unknown circumstances, even of our known sins; for possibly, even when the sin is plain and manifest, yet some cir­cumstance or other, which aggravates the sin, may be occult and secret.

CHAP. IV. Of the second way of Self-Accusation; namely, as it is made by Aggravation of sin. The great Necessity of Aggra­vation of sin. Our Confession cannot be full and compleat without it. There can be no thorow humiliation without it, Several Heads of Aggravation pro­pounded: Among many others, one no­table way of Aggravation commended; which is, To take those very thing, which are too commonly made Excuses and Pleas for sin, and to turn them in­to so many Aggravations. How to Ag­gravate our sins from the littleness of them, from the commonness of them; from our ignorance in sinning; from temptations to sin; and from our sinful Nature. A notable instance of Aggra­vation of sin shewn in St. Austin.

I Come now to the second way of Self-Accusation, namely, as it is made by Aggravation of sin: The Sinner charges himself with his sins, by height­ning and aggravating them with their [Page 34] most heinous and notorious circumstan­ces.

And, indeed, the aggravating circum­stances of our sins, must not by any means be neglected in our Confessions, for then we should make Confession but by the halfs; with the Unjust Steward in the Gospel, we should set down but fifty for an hundred: Nay, we should often leave out of our Confessions more than we put into them; we should ev'n set down but Pence for Pounds, but Mites for Talents: For tho' in Natural things, accidents are nothing in comparison of the form, yet it's a true Rule, that in moralibus circum­stantia plus valet quam forma; in Moral things the Circumstance is often more than the meer Action it self. Thus it is in the case of sin; the aggravating Cir­cumstances of our sins often rise and amount to more than our sins, barely and simply in themselves considered. Circum­stances are to Actions, much like what Ciphers are to Figures, which quickly make (1) (the very least of all Figures, but the beginning of Numbers) by being placed with it, stand for a 1000, an 100000; and therefore for thee to con­fess thy sin without it's appendant Cir­cumstances, [Page 35] it is at best to say the least thou canst of thy sin; nay, to hide any notable Circumstance in thy Confessions, it is in effect even to cover thy sin. Thus you see our Confessions of our sins can't be full and compleat, without the aggra­vating Circumstances of our sins; for sinful Circumstances are the most, are the greatest part of our sins; without these, our sins are comparatively but little and light: These are they that swell, and double, and treble the Accounts, that encrease and enlarge the Bill, that thicken and lengthen the Catalogue.

Besides, leave but these out of thy Confession, and thou wilt not be thorowly humbled in thy Confession, thou wilt not be deeply affected with thy sins in thy Confession; thy sins won't prick thee at thy Heart, won't cut and wound thee in thy Confessions: Now as we all wound­ed our selves with our sins in the Com­mission of them, (tho' we did not, per­haps, presently feel that wound) so we should wound our selves with our sins in the Confession of them, (and, indeed, this wound tends to healing, whereas the other tended to Death) but our sins, with­out their Circumstances, are as a Sword [Page 36] without an Edge; the Circumstances of sin, they give it an edge, they make it sharp, keen and piercing: By means of these, we are very much mov'd and wrought upon in our Confessions, and soundly hum­bled for our sins when we spread them before the Lord. Thus much for a touch of the Necessity of Aggravation of Sin, as being absolutely necessary to Confession of Sin.

Now as the Duty is in it self necessary, so the Performance of it is the great care and serious study of every Penitent Sin­ner; who is so far from disguising, mask­ing, vizarding, or palliating his sin, that he brings it in, and makes it appear in it's own shape, in its proper and natural Colours. He acknowledges his sins to be Scarlet sins, Camel sins; to be sins of the greatest Magnitude, of the deepest Dye. He does dot savour his sin in the least, he studies to make it as bad as it is in it self: He readily owns all that in his par­ticular sin, which he acknowledges to be­long to the ugly nature of Sin in gene­ral: He strives to make the very worst he can of it: He is severe and impartial in Self-Accusing: He says as much against [Page 37] sin in himself, as he would say against sin in any one else; as much as any one else would say against his sin: Nay, he en­deavours in his Confessions to say as much against his sins, as God himself says against them in his Word. He calls his sins by the same Names, be they never so bad, as the Scripture calls them: He calls his neglect of Brotherly reproof, as the Ho­ly Ghost stiles it, even19 l [...]vit. 17. Hating his Bro­ther in his Heart. He calls his wilful transgression of God's known command1 Sam. 15.23. Rebellion, and reckons it as bad as the Sin of Witchcraft, and accounts his Stub­borness to be as Idolatry. He labours to give as strict a Judgment, to make as rigid a Censure of his sins, as the Just and Holy Law-giver himself does, and to speak no more mildly and mincingly of them, than he finds the very Spirit of Truth to speak of them. When he has made him­self vile by particularizing of his sins, why he'll make himself yet more vile by ag­gravating of them, until they become out of measure sinful. He thinks he can never say too much, never enough against himself; he thinks he can never sufficient­ly vilify and debase himself, never lay himself low enough before God. Of sin­ners [Page 38] I am chief, says humble Penitent Paul; (1 Tim. 1.15.) and so says Tertullian in like manner, [...] per [...]ter [...]a nat [...] Ter­tul [...]e [...] ­ni [...]nt. [...] I am a most notorious Sinner, as if I were born to no other end than to confess, and repent.

It is is not here impertinent to pro­pound the several Heads of Aggravation, with which the Penitent Sinner amplifies and exaggerates his sins in his Confes­sions. I might instance in these,

1. In that he has sinned wilfully and voluntarily; and this may contain two very great aggravations in it:

1. That he has sinn'd wilfully against Light and Knowledge; as against the ve­ry Light of Nature; against the clear Light of the Sacred Scripture; against the Light of good Education; against the Light of the Preaching of the Gospel; against the Light of his own Experiences; against the Light of the wholsom Counsels, sober Admonitions, and seasonable Reproofs of Christian, Well-wishing Friends.

[Page 39]2. He aggravates his sins from the wilfulness of them, in that he has sinn'd as against his Knowledge, so upon no Temptation, or upon very little Tempta­tion; in that he has sinn'd without any Illecebra from without, without any In­centive but from himself. And, in­deed, this is as humbling an Aggravation as can be; that I have sinn'd, when it was easie for me to have forborn sin­ning; that I sinn'd when I was neither blinded with Ignorance, nor transported with Passion, nor over-born with any kind of Temptation; but did this and that deliberately, and out of Choice, sometimes studying and contriving how I might sin most handsomly, and often seeking out Companions, Occasions, and Inflammations of my Lusts.

This Aggravation of sinning without any Temptation, or with very little Temptation, is hugely necessary for such, as in ordinary buying and selling will Lye and Cheat for a Farthing; for such, as in common Talk will Swear out of an idle Custom, or for a vain Compliment, as if an Oath were the Enamel of a Speech, [Page 40] the handsomest grace of a Sentence, the chief and only thing that makes it come off cleverly. And truly, among all the sins in the World, there is scarce any one of them m [...]re Temptation-less than Custo­mary Swearing. But,

2. A second Topick of Aggravation may be this: He aggravates his sins as from his wilfulness in sinning; so from his sinning against the Means which God has us'd to reduce and reclaim him from his sins, namely, In that he has sinn'd against the Motions and Strivings, Helps and Assistances of God's good and holy Spirit, sinned against the Divine Mercies, both General and Special, both Temporal and Spiritual: or in that he has sinn'd against the Divine Judgments, either National or Personal, either feared or felt, either threatned or already inflicted.

But the Penitent Sinner chiefly, and especially, aggravates his sins from their being committed against intermixed and interwoven Mercies; against the Mercies of God's Mercies, and the Mercies of his Judgments compounded, conjoin'd and united, combin'd and conjugated in his wisest and most Providential Dispensa­tions: [Page 41] Lord, says he, I have now even p [...]sed and nonplus'd all thy Methods of Cure; whatever course thou hast taken with me has been unsuccessful; what­ever thou hast applied to me has not ef­fectually wrought upon me; all the Means thou hast used with me have done me little good; Lectures, Warnings, Chi­dings, Blows, have not reclaim'd me; vehement joggings and shakings have not rous'd and awaken'd me out of my Le­thargical, senceless Condition: I have re­fus'd to hearken unto thy voice which came with a Thunder-clap along with it, as well as stopp'd my Ears against thy Still-voice: Thou hast taken all probable ways with me to little purpose; thy Discipline as well as Doctrine, thy Rod as well as thy Word, thy Threatnings as well as thy Promises, thy Corrections as well as Instructions, thy Corrosives as well as thy Lenitives, thy Causticks as well as thy Oil, thy Judgments as well as thy Mercies, thy Severities as well as Indulgences, have been so much Cost and Pains utterly lost, and thrown away upon me: I have not only taken some easie, gentle Physick, but I have been Blister'd, Cupp'd, and Scarrify'd; I have been pli­ed [Page 42] with whatever might be for my good, and yet, O thou [...]sician of Souls, even the last Remedy which thou usest to pre­scribe, has not taken place with me, my Corruptions still remain strong in me, my Disease is yet very high, and often returns violently upon me. O! this considera­tion of having sinn'd against mixed Mer­cies, must needs mightily humble a Sin­ner in his Confessions; who can chuse but lie low before God, if he be truly sen­sible of this heinous Aggravation of his sins?

3. The Penitent Sinner aggravates his sins, not only from his abusing of those Means which God has us'd to restore and recover him, but also from his frustra­ting, and making inessectual those Means which he himself has sometimes used with himself, for the correcting and amending of himself; from his sinning against the many Ties, Engagements, and Obliga­tions, which not only God, but he him­self has several times laid upon himself to the contrary: from his sinning against his very Confessions of Sins, against his own Sacramental, Sick-Bed, Occasional Vows, Covenants, Promises, and Reso­lutions, [Page 43] against his sins. And this is an high Aggravation, taken from the greatest Folly and Madness that possibly a Man can be guilty of: That notwithstanding I have sometime said of my sin, that it was a very evil, and a very bitter thing and ac­knowledged so much in the very pre­sence of God, and there resolv'd against it, yet after all this, I should really love, like, and chuse that, which not long be­fore I profess'd I hated, loath'd, detested, and solemnly condemn'd my former Choice of.

The serious due application of this Consideration, will very much conduce to the Sinner's sound Humiliation.

4. Among other aggravations of sin, you'll find it to be none of the least, which may be taken from our former excusing and pleading for our sins: Thou may'st well aggravate thy sins from thy having excus'd thy sins: Say, Lord, I wilfully committed this and that sin, and studied to lessen and lighten it when I had done: I did very [...]ll in sinning, but I did far worse in colouring my sin.

Let us aggravate our sins from our having excus'd them, and from the va­nity and sinfulness of our Pleas and Ex­cuses. For instance: Hast thou excus'd thy sin, by saying it was a little one, and a small matter? Hast thou thus ex­cus'd thy petty Oaths? thy officious or merry Lies? thy wanton and lascivious Discourses? Why now make this an ag­gravation of thy sins, that thou hast thus wretchedly excus'd them. Say, Lord, I have done thus and thus, and said, It was a little one, a petty one; as if any sin were little and small, which is com­mitted against so great a God, such an infinite Majesty. I have said, It is a little one; as if any sin were little, which is the breach of a most holy and just, and good Law. I have said, It is a little one; as if any sin could be accounted little, for which the righteous God will certainly call me to a strict Account at the dreadful Day of Judgment. I have said, It is a little one; as if any sin were little, which brings along with it so great a danger; as if the guilt of the least sin were not far greater than I or any Man can bear, were not enough for ever to sink me [Page 45] deep into Hell. I have said, It is a little one; as if any sin were little, the guilt whereof can only be done away by the precious Blood of Christ, the only Son of God. But,

5. Methinks, there is one notable way of Aggravation yet behind, which I have often thought of with my self, and can­not but commend unto you; (I shall speak somewhat largely to it) it's this: To take up those very things with which Men ordinarily extenuate their sins, and with which, it may be, we our selves have formerly extenuated our sins; and in our Confessions, to make those same things serve instead of lessening and diminishing our sins, directly to aggravate and exag­gerate them.

Let's pitch upon those very things with which Men usually qualifie their sins, and with which, it may be, we our selves have formerly qualified, alleviated, and lightned our sins; and let's improve them, and make use of them in our Confessions, for the heightning, and greatning, and amplifying of our sins. Let's chuse out those very Arguments, with which Men [Page 46] commonly plead for themselves, and with which, it may be, we our selves have sometimes pleaded for our selves; and so let us manage them in our Confessions, as that instead of making for us, they may flatly and plainly make against us. Do Carnal Men customarily make the little­ness of their sins, the commonness of their sins, their ignorance in sinning, their temptations to sin, their sinful Nature, to be so many Excuses of their sins? And hast thou thy self sometime taken up, and oft been glad of these Excuses? Why now, in thy Confessions, turn these Exeu­ses (I mean those very things which are the Matter of them) into so many Ag­gravations.

1. Is't ordinary for Men to make no­thing of their sins, because they are but little ones? Nay, hast thou thy self said of thy sin, as Lot did of his Zoar, It is a little one? Is it not a little one? and thus extenuated thy sin? Why rather ag­gravate thy sin, even from hence, in that it was a little one: Say, Lord, It was comparatively but a little one, and yet so unkind was I to a kind God, that I would not do a small matter for thee▪ Lord, I [Page 47] would not sorbear this little sin, O how loth should I be to forgo and part with a greater! You see how the smallness and littleness of a sin does sometimes greaten and aggrandize it. Further,

2. Is the Commonness of a sin frequent­ly pleaded for the sin? And hast thou thy self, at any time, said of thy sins, they are but Common ones, and thought they were passable for this Excuse? Why ra­ther aggravate thy sins from the Com­monness of them: Say, Lord, this sin of mine was a common sin, which therefore I should have hated and detested, shunn'd and avoided; but so vile and sinful a wretch was I, that even in those things wherein all the prophane World rise up in Arms against God, I desperately joined with them, and sided with thy Common Enemy against thee. Further yet;

3. Is't usual with Men, and has it been so with any one of us, to make our Ig­norance, in any degree, a Cloak for our sins, and to think that God would hold us guiltless because of our Ignorance? Why let such an one now confess his sins to be so much the greater, by how much [Page 48] his Ignorance was the grosser. And cer­tainly, such Men as openly or secretly excuse their sins with their Ignorance, are always a great cause of their own Igno­rance; and therefore have good reason to aggravate their sins from their Ignorance in sinning. Let such an one therefore go to God on his knees, and take such Words with him as these: Lord, I have committed my sins in Ignorance, but has not most of my Ignorance been wilful and affected? I have done many things ignorantly indeed, but the fault was my own; had I not been wanting to my self, I might have had much more Knowledge than I have: Had I had but a Will to seek the Truth, how easily might I have got the Skill to find it? But I would not take pains enough, I would not do my best endeavours to be inform'd in my Du­ty: I was ignorant, but IAt first, Man lost his Inno­cence only in hope to get a little Knowledge; and ever since the [...], lest Knowledge should discover his Er­ror, and make him [...] to Innocence, we are content to part with that row, and to know [...]ing that may discover, or discountenance our sins. — We call our selves Christians, and love to be ignorant of many of the Laws of Christ, l [...]st our Knowledge should fo [...]e us into shame, or in­to the troubles of a [...]oly Life. Bp. [...]aylo [...] [...] Serm. of the deceitf▪ of the Heart p. 95. 97. voluntarily continued in my ignorance, I was loth to get out of it, I nuzzled my self in it; I resolv'd to be ignorant, that so I might [Page 49] sin the more freely; I thought with my self, If I knew this and that more di­stinctly, then I should be bound in Con­science to act more strictly; my ignorance greatly proceeded from the very intention of my corrupt Will, which was so fully bent and set upon sinning, that I was well content to suffer the want of Knowledge, and to undergo the damage of Ignorance, thereby to procure and enjoy a fancied liberty of sinning without guiltiness. I'm deeply guilty of my own ignorance, and consequently wretchedly guilty of all those sins unto which my voluntary, cho­sen, delightful ignorance has betrayed me. Again;

4. Is temptation to sin a common and frequent excuse of the sin in the Mouths of Sinners? And has this excuse some­times lodged in thy Heart, if not pro­ceeded out of thy Mouth? Hast thou, with others, excus'd thy sins, because thou wast tempted to sin? Why now ra­ther aggravate thy sins, even from thy being tempted to them: Say, Lord, I was tempted to sin; but was I not a Cause as well of the Temptation as of the Sin▪ Did I not many times bring temptations [Page 50] upon my self? Did I notQui sil [...] [...]tp [...]s occa­siones quae­runt p [...]e­candi, ele­ganter di­c [...]ntur sus­citare Dia­bolum. See Caryl on Job 3. S. p. 374. 40. raise up the Devil, by my earnest and busie seeking occasions of sin? Did not I put Satan often upon tempting me? Was it not the Tinder within me, which Satan knew was so apt, and more apt at some times than others, to take fire, that made him so ready, upon occasion, to Strike fire? Was it not this naughty, base, corrupt, treache­rous, deceitful, yielding Heart of mine, that not only tempted me, but ev'n temp­ted and invited the Devil to tempt me? Did I not hearten and encourage, yea, even provoke him to tempt me, by giving him fair hopes of prevailing upon me? Surely I had not been tempted to this or that particular sin, had not it been for such and such a particular Lust in me, which he could so fitly and seasonably sort and suit, and apply his temptation unto. Certainly I had not been tempted so often, had I not been tempted so easily; my f rmer yielding upon so light and easie temptations, animated and emboldned him to set new and greater temptations on soot, as well as with the same, again and again, to assault me.

5. And lastly: Is it the currant excuse of the World, the plea of course? And has it at any time been thy excuse and [Page 51] plea? Alas! it is my Nature to do thus and thus. Hast thou ever thought that this did much diminish, and take a great deal off from the guilt of thy sin? Why rather now confess it is thy Nature, thereby to add the greater weight unto thy sins; aggravate thy sins even from hence, because it is thy Nature. Say, O Lord, this is my Nature; I am not only guilty of single acts of sin, but I have a natural inclination, an habitual disposition to every sin: I have a sinful nature, which has more fundamental foulness in it than all the actual sins which arise from it; a Nature which virtually contains the grossest, abo­minablest sins in the World: I carry with­in me a very Sink and Sodom of sin: I have within me the Spring and Fountain, the Root, and Seeds, and Spawn, of all the sins that ever I have committed, or possi­bly can be committed. It's my Nature to do thus and thus, and it's a wonder I have done no worse: This is my Nature, and therefore that my Actions, in this kind, are no worse than they are, I can­not, in reason, thank my self for it, who am prone and apt, of my self, to sin in the highest degree. My Heart, by Na­ture, is an evil Treasure of Anger; and [Page 52] that my rash Anger did not, some time or other, proceed to revengeful Murder. My Heart, by Nature, is an evil Trea­sure of Lust; and that my base filthy Lust never broke out in Adultery, Incest, Sodomy. I'm naturally given and ad­dicted to idle Words; and that my vain and idle speaking never grew to Swear­ing, Cursing, and Blaspheming, it is not by reason of my better Nature. The Lord knows, I should be as wicked a Wretch as lives, had I the like bodily Complexion and Constitution, the like Temptations, the like Opportunities to commit wickednesses which others have; and did not the Soveraign Grace of God daily hinder and prevent me, with-hold and restrain me. By Nature I'm as very a Tiger, as very a Lion, as very a Wolf, as any is in the World; and that I am not as outragious as others, I humbly ac­knowledge it is, because I am tied in, or chain'd up by Providence; or, because my evil Nature is corrected by Common, or chang'd and renew'd by Regenerating, Sanctifying Grace. I naturally want the glorious, holy Image of God, as much as any other; and am by Nature habi­tually converted to the Creature as much [Page 53] as any other. I have Originally the same Root of bitterness in my self, that the vilest Sinner alive has:Prov. 27.19. As in water face answereth to face, so does the heart of man to man. I may clearly see in any other Man's Heart the compleat Image, defor­mities, uncleanness of my own. I have the same corrupt, poisonous, hellish Na­ture with others, and I should have shewn and discover'd it long before now, in the most horrid, cursed, monstrous effects of it, had God but suffer'd and permitted me, had the Lord but left me unto my self. My Heart is naturally full as fruit­ful in Evil as any Man's, and that I pro­ceed not to the same compass and excess of Riot with the most dissolute, desperate Sinners; I cannot attribute, ascribe, or impute it to my self, or any pureness and uprightness in my nature, but especially to the rich and free Grace of Christ and his Spirit, which has made me in any mea­sure to differ from the very worst of Men. Lord, this and that is my Nature, and therefore I commit it so often; therefore I act it with so much greediness, pleasure and delight; therefore I am naturally ne­ver weary of doing it, no more than the stream grows weary of running, or than [Page 54] the Sun grows tired in it's Natural motion. Lord, this is my very Nature; I was born with it, and I shall never get clean rid of it as long as I live: I brought my sin along with me into the World, and it will never quite leave me, till I leave the World. It is my Nature, and there­fore it adheres, therefore it cleaves and sticks fast to me like Ivy to the Wall, or as blackness to the Skin of an Aethiopian; therefore it is ever present with me, and dwelling in me. This Leprosie won't cease, till the House with the Stones and Tim­ber, and Mortar, be broken down; this natural corruption won't wholly out of me, until my Tabernacle be dissolv'd.

Holy David would by no means omit this so weighty aggravation of his sins in his solemn Confession them; he would be sure to rise thus high in the exaggera­tion of them: Behold, says he, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mo­ther conceive me, Psal. 51.5. He ampli­fies his sins from the very Original of them, namely, his natural sin wherein he was conceiv'd and born; as if he should have said, Lord, this is not the first time that I have been a Murderer, an Adulterer; I have had it in my Nature from the very [Page 55] Womb: I am by Nature a lump of sin and corruption, a mass of all filthiness and uncleanness: And lest it might be thought that he did cunningly alledge it to lessen his sin, he immediately adds, Thou desirest Truth, no such deceitful Cloaking.

Thus have I given you some general Heads of Aggravation, which (if we be not wanting to our selves in the particular due application of them) I'm sure we may make a very good and profitable use of.

I shall not go about to instance in any particular sins, and lay you down the va­rious aggravations of them; particular sins are most capable of receiving aggra­vation from those who are themselves personally guilty of them, and so must needs bo most privy to, and best ac­quainted with the several heightning Ac­cidents and Circumstances of their own sins: This Work therefore being sittest to be done by your selves, and, indeed, impossible to be done so well by me, I leave it to you to be Conscientiously dis­charged and performed by you.

Yet I shall set before you an excel­lent Pattern and Example for your imita­tion in this kind: Take Example from [Page 56] that Holy Man St. Austin, whom I find in the second Book of his Confessions, making it his business, in two or three Chapters at least, fully and largely to ag­gravate his sin of Robbing an Orchard when he was a Boy: He brings in great store of Aggravations of that sin, which many would have been too apt to laugh over when they thought of it, and ready enough to make but a Jest of when they told it; but lookCap. 4. Sect. 1. what plenty of aggravating Cir­cumstances he finds in this his sin, upon his sober penitential review of it.

1. Says he, I stole not for Need, I rob­bed not the Orchard for want of Fruit; I could have enough of that at any time to serve my turn; but I did it because I was full of Wickedness, and ready to do whatever was naught.

2. The Apples I took were not fair and sightly, nor well-relish'd; they were neither pleasant to look upon, nor to tast of; and yet so wicked was I, I would not forbear them.

3. It was at a very unseasonable time of Night; when we should have been [Page 57] in our Beds, we cared not to lose our sleep to do an ill-turn.

4. We did this after we had spent a good part of the day in unhappy and un­lucky Sports.

5. We were not content with a few, but we took away as great loads as ever we could make shift to carry.

6. We took all this pains for them, not to feast our selves with them, but to throw them to the Hogs when we had done. (Ibid.)

7.Cap. 9. Sect. 2. We did not do't out of Revenge, or because we owed the Owner a spight, but it was our Pastime to do Mischief; another Man's Loss was our Jest, another Man's Hurt was our Sport.

8. Lastly, says he, After all, we made our selves huge Merry, to think how prettily we had deceiv'd those, who, we were sure, had a better Opinion of us, than in the least to suspect us, or to think we would offer to do such a thing.

Ib. Sect 1.And when he has thus amplified his sin, he at length seriously considers what's the very Root and Ground of all; and in the end of the fourth Chapter, pa­thetically breaks forth thus: Ah, Lord! What an Heart have I, what a Nature have I, that I could commit this sin and wickedness, without any temptation but from my own Corruption!

If every one of us now would but set our selves seriously, and impartially, to examin the evil Circumstances of our sins▪ we should quickly see, how that the least sin we put into Act comes sorth Twi [...]s; and would we but pick and chuse, and single out some notable, remarkable sins of our Lives, and in this manner, with this holy Man, faithfully and carefully Dissect and Anatomize them▪ we should ev'n be amaz'd to behold how many sins one gross sin contains, ev'n as one Flower many Leaves, and one Pome­granate many Kernels: And thus we should lay a sound and solid Foundation, of deep and unfeigned Humiliation be­fore God, in our solemn Confessions of our sins to him.

And thus I have done with the first Act of Confession, to wit. Self-Accusation, and with the double Manner of it, name­ly, as it is made (1.) by a particular Enumeration, (2.) by Aggravation of our sins before the Lord.

CHAP. V. Of the second Act of Confession; to wit, Self-Condemnation. Self-Condemna­tion does not at all consist in any wil­lingness to go to Hell, or contented­ness to be Damn'd, but only in a se­rious judging, esteeming, and acknow­ledging our selves worthy of Hell and Damnation for our sins. Two Marks or Characters, whereby we may be able to judge of our Self-Judging. If we truly condemn our selves for our sins, then (1.) We shall humbly submit to any present punishment that the hand of God has already laid upon any of us. (2.) We shall be willing to bear any further punishment, that God shall lay at any time upon any of us here in this World. Particularizing and Aggrava­tion have some place in Self-Condem­ning, as well as in Self-Accusing.

I Now proceed to the second Act of Confession, to wit, Self-Condemnation; which is the Sinner's passing Sentence upon, [Page 61] or pronouncing Sentence against himself, and judging himself worthy of all the Punish­ments legally due unto his sin; namely, of Corporal, Spiritual, Temporal, and Eter­nal Judgments.

If we look into the Scriptures, we shall easily find evident examples of this Self-Condemning or Self-Judging. You may hear David making such a kind of Con­fession as we have all along described, 1 Chron. 21.17. & 2 Sam. 24.10, & 17. And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I beseech thee, do away the ini­quity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly. I have done this thing; there is his Self-Accusation; and that in particu­lar too, (as was before observ'd I have done this thing, to wit, numbred Israel; and you have his Aggravation of it in those expressions, I have sinned greatly, I have done very foolishly; greatly indeed, against the Counsel of his friend Joab, v. 3. of 21. of 1 Chron. and foolishly too, for it was meerly out of a vain and proud hu­mour: And this he confesses with an As­severation, Which further aggravates; Even I, or lo I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed. And then you [Page 62] have his Self-Judging; Let thy hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me, and on my father's house, v. 17. See this also clearly in the Example of the Prodigal, 15 Luk. 21 Father I have sinn'd, says he: There is his Self-Accusing: He accu­ses only himself here; I have sinn'd; he lays it not upon any of his idle Compa­nions. I have sinn'd, particularly in my Prodigality. Against Heaven and in thy sight; there's the Aggravation of his sin. Against Heaven; that is, by an Hebra­ism, sinn'd against God, who dwells in Heaven, and is the King of Heaven; and whose Power is most conspicuous and glorious in Heaven. Or, I have sinn'd against Heaven; the meanning may be, says A. Lapide, I have sinn'd grievously, so as my sins cry aloud to Heaven for Vengeance: Or, I have sinn'd against Heaven, because being call'd by God to Heaven, I preferred Earth before Heaven, earthly things before heavenly: (as 'tis well known that wretched Cardinal did, who preferred his part in Paris before a part in Paradise) I have abus'd, and of­fer'd affront to Heaven; so that if Heaven had Reason and a Voice, it would cry out against me, and would accuse me to [Page 63] God, that I have preferr'd earthly De­lights, and sinful sensual Pleasures, be­fore the Kingdom and Joys of Heaven.

I have sinn'd against Heaven, and in thy sight; that is, thee seeing and behold­ing me: I have been bold to sin when the Eye of God was upon me; to sin in the very view of my Judge, in the sight of the Living and All-seeing God, who is highly offended with sin, and can suffi­ciently avenge and punish it. This Ag­gravation is usual in Scripture, to signify and set forth the presump [...]uousness of a sin. It's said, that Nimrod was a mighty Hun­ter before the Lord, or in the face of the Lord, 10 Gen. 9. & 38 Gen. 7. you read that Er, Judah's eldest Son, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord slew him; the phrase denoteth, he was a bold, presumptuous, impudent Sinner. He goes on; and am no more worthy to be called thy Son: there is his Self-Con­demnation; as if he should have said, I have walked unworthy of such a Father; I have serv'd my own Vices and Lusts; and I don't deserve to be called any more by thy Name; I deserve to be for ever dis­own'd by thee, to be quite cast out of thy Favor and Family, and to be utterly [Page 64] Disinherited. I am no more worthy to be called thy Son; Vers. 19. Make me as one of thy hired servants; Let me be any thing so I may be thine. The Penitent Sinner comes before God, as Benhadad's Servants did before Ahab, 1 King. 20.32. who came to him with Ropes about their Necks, as Men judging themselves worthy to Die. The poor Sinner, as soon as he has arraign'd and accus'd himself, pre­sently passes on to the Sentence, and represents in a Judicatory of his own, even himself being Judge, That a Sinner merits an high Calamity. He unfeign­edly stands on God's side, and takes God's part against his sin, and against himself, giving God the glory of his Righteousness and Justice, if he should condemn him; and of his unsearchable, rich Mercies, if he shall be pleas'd to forgive him: He uprightly and sincerely owns Damnation, and charges himself with it as his due Portion, and most just Inheritance.

Observe here, by the way, that Self-Condemning does not at all consist in any willingness to go to Hell, or contentedness to be Damn'd: To condemn our selves is always our bounden Duty, but to be contented to be Damned is no where [Page 65] commanded; nay, if taken with [...]ut limi­tation, it is prohibited, because to be wil­ling, and contented actually to be Damn'd, is, in effect, to be willing and contented to be for ever in a state of Enmity, and Hatred, and Sin against God, and in an utter me [...]t [...] ever to gl [...]r [...]fy God, or to do him any Service; all which the con­dition of the Damn'd necessarily includes: But Self-Condem [...]ing consists only in a se­rious judging, esteeming, and acknow­l [...]dging our selves worthy of Hell and Damnation for our sins.

And with such a mind as this, with such an holy, humble, broken frame and temper, does every truly Penitent Sinner go to God in Confession: Lord, says he, I confess I am indebted ten thousand T [...] ­le [...]ts to thee, and am unable to pay thee any one Penny: I acknowledge thou may'st justly cast me into Prison, and there keep me until I have paid the ut­most farthing, altho' I should lye there to [...]il Eternity Lord, I am become guilty before thee, and have made my self lia­ble to the Divine Wrath; the deservedRom. 6.23. Wages of my sin is Death. I acknow­ledge there is Matter enough of my Dam­nation, and I cannot but wonder that the [Page 66] Sentence of the Law is not executed against me. The Lord knows, there are many now in Hell for the commission of these sins which I am guilty of; and I had had but my just and due Desert, if I had long be­fore now been pack'd out of this World, and even shut up in Hell, without any Hope, full of sad and black Despair, and been reserv'd in Chains of Darkness a­mong Devils, and Damned Spirits, unto the dreadful Judgment of the great and la [...]t Day. O the continued, unwearied Patience of God, that has suffer'd such a wicked W [...]t [...]h as I to live thus long upon the Earth. That has so graciously length­ned out my space for Repentance, my time of Trial and Pr [...]bation! O the riches of the goodn ss and for [...]earance of God, who [...] [...], [...], hath shewn forth all Long-S [...]ering! It was surely a Miracle of the Divine M [...]cy, that the righteous God struck [...]e no [...] Dead suddenly, destroyed me not imm [...]diately, when I was acting and committing [...] and such a sin; that he made n [...] nay very last [...]kness my cer­t [...]i [...] D [...]a [...], my l [...]st wil [...]ul Sin my present [...]: O that the Lord should be pl [...]ased so long to B [...]prie [...]e me, and to [...] me in a [...], in a probability of [Page 67] Pardon, in a high degree of probability! Lord, says the Sinner, I am less than the least of all thy Mercies; unworthy of the commonest Blessing I receive from thee; unworthy even of the very Air I breath in, of the very Ground I tread on, of the Meat I eat, of the Clothes I wear; much more unworthy of the Blessed Gos­pel, of any means of Grace and Salva­tion, of any Hope of Life everlasting. I am unworthy of any Blessing, but worthy of all the Curses that are writen and re­peated in thy Book. O Lord, I acknow­ledge thou may'st justly punish my Body with Pains and acute Diseases; my Name with Ignominy and disgraceful Reproach­es; my E tate with Damages, and Beg­gering Lo [...]es; my whole Soul with hor­ror and vexatious anguish: Thou may'st justly turn all thy Blessings into Curses, all thy Mercies into Judgments, all my Com­forts into Crosses, all my Friends into Enemies and Adversaries, all my Peace into Tumult and Disquietness of Spirit; thou may'st justly let my guilty Consci­ence loose upon me, and cause the Terrors of the Almighty, thy distracting Terrors to seize upon me, and make even my very Life a burden to me, and my self an Hell unto my self.

I shall here give you two Marks, or Characters, whereby we may be able to judge of our Self-Judging If we truly condemn our selves for our Sins, then

1. We shall humbly submit to any pre­sent Punishment, that the Hand of God has already laid upon any of us.

2. And we shall be willing to bear any furth [...]r Punishment, that God shall lay at any time upon any of us here in this World.

1. If any Sinner heartily judges him­self worthy of all the Punishments God has threatned, and so by Law made due unto his sins, then, to be sure, he judges himself worthy of whatever Punishments God has already actually laid upon him for his sins. If thou unfeignedly pro­nouncest thy self worthy of [...] the Judg­ments God's Justice possibly c [...]n inflict on thee to all Eternity, surely then thou must account and acknowledge thy self much more worthy of whatever Temporal Judgment Div ne Justice has already in­flicted upon thee. The truly Repentant Sinner, when he's making his Confession [Page 69] before God, and Judging himself for his sins, if at that present any Punishment and Affliction he heavy upon him, he de­clares unto God how he fully deserves it, and therefore patiently26 Levit. 41. accepts of the punishment of his inquity, and quietly lies down under it. If God has punished him in Body, Estate, Good Name, with the loss of Friends and Relations; if he be afflicted in Soul, and exercis'd with Temp­tations, Desertions, the hidings of God's Face, the suspension of the effects of the Divine Favor, and the privation of Spiri­tual Comforts; why, for all this, he mur­murs not, nor repines against God, nor charges God foolishly, but carries himself meekly towards God, and in his Co [...] ­fession justifies God, and condemns him­self: He cries out with the Church,3 lam. 39. Wherefore should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? And again with the Church,7 Mic. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinn'd against him. He subscribes and gives Testimony to the Justice and Righte­ousness of God, in his sharpest and sorest Afflictions. The good Thief upon the Cross, was not only condemn'd by the Judge, but condemn'd himself too, and [Page 70] justified God even while he was under Execution for his sin: Dost not thou fear G [...]d, says he to his Fellow-Thief that rail'd; dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same Condemnation? and we in­deed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, 23 Luk. 40.41. The Babylonish Captivity was the heaviest Judg­ment that ever God had inflicted upon any People under Heaven, as appears by what is said of it, 1 Lament. 12. & Dan. 9.12. yet the Church speaking of it, pro­fesses, 1 Lament. 18. The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled against his commandment. And Nehem. 9.33. Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us, for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly. And Daniel confesses: O Lord, righteous­ness belongeth unto thee, but unto us con­fusion of faces, because we have sinned against thee, 9 Dan. 7. And v. 14. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth, for we obeyed not his voice. And Ezra speaking of that extream Judgment of God upon his People in the Babylonish Captivity, acknowledges, Thou our God [...]ast punished us less than our iniquities [Page 71] deserve, 9 Ezra, 13. And 3 Lam. 22. It is, says the Church, of the Lord's mer­cies that we are not consum'd; not consu­med utterly, from being a People, because his compassions fail not. The humble Con­fitent rather admires Divine Indulgence, than quarrels at Divine Justice, in the most grievous Afflictions that befal him, as be­ing deeply conscious of his [...] [...]emerit. That's the first Mark; Self-C [...]demnation is ever accompanied with an humble sub­mission to any present punishment.

2. It is likewise join'd with a Pious Resolution further to bear whatsoever God shall hereafter be pleased in his Wisdom and Justice, and Goodness, to lay upon us in this life. He that truly professes himself worthy of all the intolerable, eter­nal Punishments which are legally due un­to his sins, this Man is rightly dispos'd and prepar'd, humbly to accept whatever momentany, temporal Chastisements, the Lord shall further think fit in Faithfulness to correct him with here in this World. Thus do the Children of Israel confess; 10 Judg. 15. We have sinn'd, do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee. And Eli; It is the Lord, let him do what [Page 72] s [...]meth him good, 1 Sam. 3.18. In con­demning of our selves, we must all be like-minded as David was, when he fled from his Son Absalom, and was in ex­tream danger to lose his Kingdom and his Life: 2 Sam. 15.26. If the Lord, says he, shall thus say, I have no delight in thee, behold, here am I; let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.

I have done with this head of Self-Condemnation, so soon as I have intreated you to observed, that Particularizing and Aggravation have some place in Self-Condemning as well as in Self-Accusing; there is a particularizing and aggravating of punishment, as well as of sin; for whatever particular threatning and com­mination is made and denounced in the Word of God, against such and such a particular sin: or whatever particular punishment is in God's Word or Providence usually measur'd andi proportion'd out unto any sin, the penitent Sinner, if guilty of that sin, takes it up, applies, and makes use of it in the sentencing of himself. Further; Whatever sad, hea­vy, direful Circumstances of the punishment either of Sin in general, or of any parti­cular [Page 73] sin of his, are to be found in the Book of God, the [...] the penitent, humble Sinner, looks upon as properly belonging to, and righteou [...]ly reveal'd against his sin, and dares not but acknowledge them justly due unto himself, for, and by reason of his sins.

To give an instance of particularizing in Self-Judging: Lord, says the Sinner, I have grieved thy good and holy Spirit, resisted and striven against its strivings; and thou may'st justly take thy holy Spi­rit from me and resolve with thy self that thy Spirit shall strive no longer with me. Lord, I have blinded my own Eyes, and shut out the Light; and thou may'st justly give me up to judicial blindness, to a1 Rom. 28. reprobate mind. I have wilfully hard­ned my own Heart, and therefore thou may'st justly give me up to judicial hard­ness of Heart, and to a1 Tim. 4.2. Seared, Caute­rized Conscience. I have despised the riches of thy Mercies, and thou may'st justly now treasure up for me Wrath against the Day of Wrath. I have been incorri­gible, and unbroken under Judgments, and therefore thou may'st justly say unto me in indignation,1 Isai. 5. Why should you be stricken [Page 74] any more? you will revolt more and more. Therefore thou may'st take away in Wrath, that which thou at first didst send in Anger; thou may'st now in Judg­ment with-hold and remove thy Judgments; thou may'st now, for my greater punish­ment forbear punishing me; and that thou may'st at one blow kill me, presently leave off striking me.

Thus you see the Penitent Sinner judg­es himself worthy of particular Punish­ments, for being guilty of particular Sins.

And thus I have done with the Acts of Confession, Self-Accusing, and Self-Condem­ning.

CHAP. VI. The first Adjunct or Property of true confession; it is free and voluntary, not forced and constrain'd.

I Now proceed to speak of the Adjuncts, and genuine Properties of true Con­fession; which are these,

• 1. True Confession is voluntary.
• 2. It's made with Hatred of, Shame, and Sorrow for our sins.
• 3. With a full Resolution against our sins.
• 4. Lastly, with an earnest Desire of, and some good Hope in Divine Mercy.

1. True Confession is free and volun­tary, not forced and constrain'd. The Penitent Sinner is not brought upon his Knees with violence and compulsion; he's mov'd to confess his sins out of a deep [Page 76] of the great wrong and injury that his sin has done to a good God, whom he now heartily loves; and therefore he goes as willingly and readily about Confession of his sins, as ever he went about the Commission of them.

But now the false-hearted Hypocrite is usually, with much ado, with a great deal of stir, pull'd and haled, dragg'd and dri­ven to his Confession; he confesses full sore against his Will; he confesses only out of fe [...]r of imminent danger, or sence and feeling of present Punishment: I say, only out of this, for I don't deny, but that fear and feeling of Judgments may be an Occasion of a voluntary Confession; for the Godly are often brought by Punish­ments and Afflictions, to a true Penitent and voluntary Acknowledgment of their sins: but fear, or feeling of Judgments, tho' it may be an Occasion of their Con­fession, yet it is never the main Principle that acts them in Confession, but it is the sight and sence of the evil Nature of their sin, and the love they bear to God, that makes them voluntarily to accuse and con­demn themselves in their Confessions. They are, indeed, sometimes brought to see and feel their sins by some punishment [Page 77] or other, yet it is their Sin discover'd to them by the punishment, rather than the Punishment it self, that makes them wil­ling to confess. And these, having once a thorow Conviction of the evil of their sin, would, if their fears were remov'd, and their punishment taken off, prove not­withstanding as forward and ready as ever, to make a full Confession of their sin. But now it is not at all the sin, but only the Punishment for sin, which causeth the Hypocrite to confess; who (tho' he at present exclaim against his sin, yet) were he once at ease, free from pain, and from under the Rod, would soon hold his peace, and hug his sin, that now he cries out against and complains of.

Many Men's Confessions are but the 7 Hos. 14. Howlings of afflicted Men, that cry out meerly because of Pain. Possibly, some outward troubles and calamities, or, it may be, some laniatus and i [...]tus, some scourgings and rendings of Conscience, may put wick­ed Men upon Confession, but these con­fess their sins just as theS Mat 29. Devils confess'd Christ, more out of Torment than any true Love to God; these confess their faults just as S [...]h [...]l-B [...]ys confess, when they are under the Lash; and as Traytors con­fess, [Page 78] when they are upon the Rack; who would never say a Word, were not such violent extraordinary means us'd with them, to extort it from them.

It was only the present smart, and feel­ing of God's severe Plagues and exempla­ry Judgments, that drove Pharaoh to confess, and say, I have sinned this time, the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked, 9 Exod. 27. & 10.16. It's a sign his Confession was involuntary, for so soon as the Plagues were remov'd, and he taken off the Rack, ru [...]s [...] ad ingenium red [...]it; Pharaoh was Pharaoh still; so soon as he got a little respite, he began to Sing another Tune, to recant, to unsay, and call in, in a manner, his late feigned Con­fession; he strait returned to his wonted hardness, stubbornness and refractariness of spirit: for the Text says, that when Pharaoh saw that the rain, and the hail, and the thunder, were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardned his heart, he and his servants, 9 Exod. 34. Thus it was with wicked Balaam; 'twas the Angel, that stood before him with a drawn Sword, that forced him to cry out, I have sinned; who, otherwise, would have been more dumb than the Ass he rode on, Numb. [Page 79] 22.34. Thus it was with Saul; nothing but the pronouncing of his Rejection, and the threatning the less of his Kingdom, made him cry out unto Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the command­ment of the Lord, 1 Sam. 15.24. No­thing but Terror of Conscience, and the amazing fear and presumption of Hell and Damnation, put Judas upon his Con­fession, and caus'd him to cry out, I have sinned, i [...] that I have betrayed the innocent Hood, Mat. 27.3, 4.

But how contrary to the sla [...]ish, sullen Temper of wicked Men, is the sweet inge­nuous Disposition of the Penitent Sinner, who readily confesses out of an heart sensible of the evil of Sin, and drawn out with sincere Love and affection unto God! Lo, this Man's Confession comes like Water out of a Spring, with a volun­tary freeness, not like Water out of a Still, which is fore'd with [...]ire. Pharaoh's, and Balaam's and Sau [...]'s, they confess only when they are in Danger; but behold the Prodigal! See here's one confessing when he's safe and secure in his Fathers Arms! Luk. 15. I o here's a Voluntier in Con­fession indeed! Some would think, when his Father's [...]nger appear'd to be ever, [Page 80] when he manifested no signs of his dis­pleasure, took no notice of any fault, but seem'd to put up and pass in all; when his Father had their forget it, one would have though it he should now have done wisely not to have [...]aked it up again him [...]: When his Father fell upon his Neck and ki [...]s'd him, and the black, threatning S [...]rme was so well brown ever; when the sad fre [...]ds and angry words, which where deserv'd, prov'd nothing else but pleasant Su [...]s, and a [...] Speeches; one would have thought, he should now have s [...]a [...]ed the mentioning on his fruit, ommitted his Con [...]ession and Humiliation, there b ing now no need of it; but you find it h [...]e, quae otherwise; even while his Father [...]ng [...] embraces, and kindly entertains him, his Hear [...] sweetly melts, and freely breaks out into an hundle Confession and Acknowledgment of his sin: Father, says he, [...]rce armed against heaven, and in [...], and am no more wordly to le cau [...]ed thy Son. Sence of Love, assurance of Faver, will soonest of any thing put the [...]ding Sinner upon Confession; and that Confession must needs be voluntary, and uncom­pulsory, which only Love gently constrains [Page 81] the Penitent Sinner to make to his recon­ciled God, and Father.

And thus I have done with the first Adjunct or Property of Confession: True Confession is free and voluntary, not forced and coa [...]t.

CHAP. VII.

The second Property of true Confes;sion. It is made with Hatred of, Shame and Sorrow for our Sins. These holy Affections must in our Confessions be laid out more up [...]n our Sin, than any Punishment for Sin; and must bear and hold s [...]me Proportion to the sins confess'd. The Penitent Sinner does often outwardly express his inward Affection by Weeping, and shedding of Tears. Weeping is no infallible Sign, or certain Token of an Heart truly sensible of Sin; but not Weep­ing, in some cases, may well be sus­pected for a bad Sign.

2. SEcondly: True Confession is made with Hatred of, Shame and Sorrow for our Sins.

He that truly confesses, he does it pas­sionately and feelingly; he's really sensible of, and deeply affected with the sins he confesses: His Confession is not verbal and formal only, and from the Teeth out­ward, [Page 83] but inward and Heart-deep: He speaks from his very Soul; he says no more than what he feels.

And truly, these holy Af [...]ections are the very Life of Confession; without them, Confession is a very dull, dead and heart­less thing. He that comes to make Con­fession without these Affections, speaks but Words of Course, and, as it were, by the by; and his present Confession does but encrease and add to the number of his sins, and so make Work for [...]o her Con­fession. It's impo [...]sible to confess any sin aright, and at the same time to retain the l [...]ve of it, or bear any good affection to it; it speaks a flat Contradiction, Con­fession, you have heard, is the Condem­ning of one's self for one's sin: Pray, how can we condemn our s [...]lves to God for our sins, unl [...]ss we condemn our sins in our selves? Confession, vo [...]d of Affection, is the greatest Meckery of God in the World; and surely, God can't be mov'd and affected with our Confessions of our sins, unless we be thus mov'd and affected with our sins in our Confessions: He therefore that confesses aright, is ever touched with these suitable A [...]ections.

[Page 84]1. He perfectly hates the sin he con­fesses; that's one Affection he bears to­wards his sin. He hates his sin out of a s [...]g [...]t of the odious, ugly, evil nature of it; out of a sence of its Contrariety to God's Nature, and Contradiction to his Will; out of an apprehension of the guilt it has brought upon his own Person, of the faith it has brought into his own Nature; of its misc [...]tevousness to his own precious, immortal Soul, and destructiveness of his own spiritual good, and eternal hap­piness. 2 [...] 18. He looks upon his sin as an evil and a littering, and plainly hates it, and wishes the very Death of that which cost the Death of Christ, and has made him [...]ble unto eternal Death. He sees his sin in its own C [...]l [...]ars; he beholds the m [...]s [...]ness and the danger of it, and can't endure it; his Heart rises up against his sin, as strong [...] as ever his Stomack rises up against that which it na [...]ares; he fully l [...]kes and abominates his sin, so as were it to do again, he would first suffer a [...] t [...]ng, he would rather d [...]e than do it. He hates his sin, and le [...]es himself for his sin: He lothes himself for that Deformity and [...]ement, which makes the very God of [...] to l [...]the and abhor his own Creature, [Page 85] Ezek. 36.21. Then shall you remember your own evil ways, and [...]e [...]r d urge that were not good, and shall i [...] the your selves in your own sight, for your mi [...]i ies, and for your abo­minations. The Penitent C [...]rse [...]lor is filled with Self-displi [...]ency and Self-abhorrency: Seeing I am evil, says [...] 2. St. Austin, to confess unto God, is nothing else but to be displeas'd with my self. The humble Sinner's Heart is angry and impatient against his sin▪ and full of indignation a­gan st himself for his sin; he fells quite out with himself in Confession, and takes an holy Revenge upon himself for his sins. Penitent Ephraim smote upon his Thigh, 31 Jer. 19. in token of Astonishment at, and de [...]eslation of his former vile and lewd courses. The confessing Publican smote upon his Breast, Luk. 18.13. in to­ken of his wonderful great Contrition; and to signify a will and desire even to punish himself for his faults; and out of a real Hatred of his sin which I [...]dged in his Heart: His knocking upon his Breast, shewed what mind and a [...]fecti [...]n he carried to his sin, and declared his d [...]i [...]e utterly to destroy it. Thus the humble Confessor hates his sin, and is at odds and variance with himself by reason of his sin: He [Page 86] even fals out with himself, that he may fall in with God; and becomes a kind of Funny to himself, that he may be Friends with God.

2. Another Affection that seises on the Penitent Sinner in Confession, is an holy [...]a [...]re for his sin: He does not, with the Fee [...], make a Mock at sin, and [...] 14. glory in his [...], but is now heartily asham'd of what has sometime been his Glory. He's very s [...]amefac'd, and greatly abash'd when be appears before God, and can't but blush at that which made Christ bleed. Asham'd he is, that his excellent Soul is so debas'd, depress'd, deprav'd by sin; That he has made himself so vile in the sight of God, Angels, and Men; That he has lived so much below the Dignity of his Nature; liv'd a bru [...]ish, sensual, flesh-pleasing, i [...]le and slothful, useless and unprofita­ble life in the World; behav'd himself so [...] unworthily, and disingenuously, to­wards God, and, it may be too towards Men; acted so unseemly, absurdly, and unrea­sonably; and done so frequently so incon­siderately, imprudently, and very foolish­ly: That he has not used his Reason aright, nor duly exercis'd Self-Excitation, and [Page 87] Self-Reflection: That he has so wretched­ly mis-employed the noble faculties of his rational Soul; and, it may be, many ways abused and wronged his Body, and yielded his Members as Instruments of Unrighteousness unto sin; and been so prodigal of so much precious Time, which he might have wisely, and well impro­ved and employed in living to God, work­ing the Work of God serving the Lord Christ, doing and receiving good; in an­swering the Ends of his Creation and Re­demption, in giving all diligence to have wrought out his Salvation, and made his Calling and Election sure; and in prepa­ring more early and comfortably for a Glorious Immortality, and Blessed Eter­nity, in the other World. He's very much ashamed, that he has broken and violated a Holy and Just, and Good Law; exceedingly asham'd that he has affront­ed and dishonoured a Holy and Just, a Great and Good God; been a lover of Plea­sures more than a lover of God; been bent [...]o Backsliding, and turned again and again to Folly: He looks upon his Guilt and Filth, and is even asham'd of himself for't. In­d [...]ed, guilty Persons are commonly asham'd; a [...]d so are filthy deformed Persons too. [Page 88] The Poets feign, That when Ʋlysses's Com­panions were by Circe transform'd into the shape of Swine, they wept, and were ashamed of their own Deformities. The humble Sinner sees himself more strangely Metamorphes'd by his sin, and therefore is quite ashamed and confounded in the pre­sence of God, blushing to look upon his own nakedness, to view and behold his own deformities. He is moreover greatly ashamed, to remember, and mention in his Confession, his former vile and b [...]se state and condition of Slavery and Bondage to Sin and Satan.

God himself calls for shame from Sin­ners; Be ashamed, says he, and confounded f [...]r your own wa [...]s O house of Israel, 36 Ezek. 32. And you find in Scripture many instances of the Penitent Sinner's covering himself with shame, when he goes to God in Confession. In this manner good Ezra addresses himself to God; you read how he fell upon his knees, and spread out his hands unto the Lord his God, and said, O my God, I am ashamed, and blush to lifup my face to thee my God, for our iniquit is are increased over our head, and our tre­pass is grown up unto the heave [...]s, 9 Eza. 5.6. Here's a right confessing fraue [Page 89] and temper of Heart! I was asham'd, yea, even confounded, says Ephraim, 31 Jer. 19. And David was so ashamed of himself, that he calls himself Fool in one Confession, 2 Sam. 24.10. I have dore very foolishly, says he, to wit, in numbring the people; and Fool and Beast in another, Psal. 73.22. where confessing his distrust of God's Pro­vidence, he was quite asham'd of what he had said; so foolish was I, and ignorant, says he, I was as a Beast before thee. The Publican fitly express'd his shame for his sins, by his standing afar off, in the Court of the Gentiles; and in that, having seen and viewed himself, he would not lift up so much as his Eyes unto Heaven: Luk. 18.13.) having first look'd inward, he could not take the boldness to look upward. When we have done any Man much wr [...]ng, that has done us much good; when we have carried our selves unworthily towards those that have deserved we [...]l of us, we are asha­med to look upon them; we usually say, in such a case, I know not how to look such an one in the face again. Even so the poor Publican here was asham'd to look God in the face, as I may say; his humble heart brought down his look; he would not lift up so much as his Eye [...], out of [Page 90] Modesty, Shame, Humility; would not lift them up to Heaven, as not daring to behold that place, where the Glorious and Holy God, whom he had offended by his sins, dwells and resides: He would not offer to lift those Eyes up to Heaven, which had been so much set upon Earth and earth­ly things, with gross neglect and con­tempt of heavenly; wherefore he humbles himself by his bashful, dejected countenance.

3. The Penitent Sinner is fill'd, as with Shame, so with Sorrow for his sin. I will declare mine iniquity, says David, I will be sorry for my sin, Psal. 38.18. He sees his sin, and is touched with remorse and sorrow for his sin; his Conviction is accompanied with Compunction; he is pricked in his Heart; his Heart is broken and contrite in his Confession. Sorry he is that he has transgressed an Ho­ly, Just, and good Law; sorry that he has wronged and offended an Holy, Just, and good God: He looks upon the Guilt he has incurr'd, and is griev'd that he has deserv'd so ill at a good God's hands: He looks upon his Filth which he has con­tracted, and is troubled that he has so deeply stain'd his Nature, so foully pollu­ted [Page 91] and defiled himself; he grieves and mourns, more for the wrong he has done to God, than for all the hurt he has done to himself. It's no slight Sorrow that contents him; he sorrows that he can sorrow no more; sorrows with a pun­gent, afflictive Sorrow; such a kind of sorrow as rents and breaks the very heart of him; with a Godly Sorrow never to be sorrowed for.

And here I must desire you carefully to observe, that these Holy Affections of Hatred, Shame, and Sorrow, ought, in our Confessions, to be spent by us, and laid out more upon our Sin than any Punish­ment for Sin.

The Hypocrite, indeed, does clean contra­ry; he hates his Punishment more than his Fault; he's asham'd and sorry for his Suffer­ing more than for his Sin. This was Pharaoh's temper in Confession; he could not en­dure Divine Judgments, he was asham'd and sorry for them only; his Plague troubled him, not his Sin; and therefore all the care he took, was for the removal of that; he was earnest to be cas'd and releas'd from Punishment: Intreat the Lord, says he to Moses and Aaron; Intreat [Page 92] the Lord (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thundrings and hail, and I will let you go, 9 Exod. 28. And chap. 10. v. 17. Intreat the Lord your God, that he may take away from me this death only. He does not at all pray for the Love, and Fa­vor and Acceptance of God; nor for a new, and soft, and tender Heart, but would be well content which is the Sum of his wishes, and the height of his desires) with an hand­som cleanly riddance, or a fair abatement of his Punishment. In like manner was Saul af­fected in his Confession; he was not sensible enough of his Sin, but he utterly abhorr'd his Punishment; he was asham'd and sorry at his Heart for it: therefore it was only the removing of his Shame and Punishment, and the conferring of Honour upon him, which he so passionately sued and begg'd for, when he heard by Samuel, that the King­dom of Israel was rent from him and given by God to a Neighbor of his that was better than he. Then he said, I have sinned; yet ho­nour me now, I pray thee, before the Elders of my people, and before Israel, 1 Sam. 15.28, 30. Honour from the People was a [...] he sought after; and the loss of it, all he was asham'd of, or troubled at.

But the proper and genuine Affections [Page 93] of true Confession, are ever more con­versant about the Sin than the Punish­ment; therefore he that confesses aright, is fully of this mind; that he cares not what outward, temporal affliction, he in­dures, so that he might have the guilt of his sin, as to Eternal Punishment, re­mov'd, and the Pardon of it Seal'd. Let thy hand be against me, and against my fa­ther's house, says David; but O take away the iniquity of thy servant, 2 Sam. 24.10. & 17 verses compared together. It was his Trespass, his Iniquity he would so fain have taken away: The true Confessor cries not out so much with Pharaoh, take away this Plague, as with David, take away this trespass; he does not bear about him the affections of a Slave; his hatred is not chiefly of the Red; his shame and grief is not so much for the Whip and Scourge; but he carries and maintains the affections of a Son: he is sorely troubled for offending and provoking so kind and loving a Father: He lothes and abhors his Sin more than his Punishment: He's asham'd and griev'd because he has deser­ved punishment, more than because he barely suffers the punishment, because he is stain'd, more than because he is pain'd; [Page 94] because his sin has made him unholy, more than because it has made him un­happy; because he has run out of the way of the Law, more than because he has run upon the penalty of the Law; because he has dishonour'd God, more than because he has hurt himself.

And here you may further observe con­cerning these holy, Confessional Affections; that our hatred of, shame, and sorrow for our sins, must bear and hold some Pro­portion to the sins confess'd: A greater, a grosser sin, must, in its Confession, carry along with it a more intense affection, and be accompanied with a more vehe­ment hatred, a greater shame, a deeper grief.

It is not indeed definable, just what de­gree of hatred, shame, and sorrow, ought to be apportion'd out to every sin; but note here in the general, that these Af­fections are then most allowable and approvable for their d [...]gree and measure, when they shall have amounted to, or gone beyond; e [...]u [...]'d, or exceeded that Love, Joy, Pleasure, Delight a [...]d Compla­cency, which heretofore we took in a [...]ting, perpetrating, and committing the sin and wickedness, we confess. In our Confes­sions, [Page 95] we should be like affected towards our sin, as Amnon was towards his Sister Tamar after he had had his Pleasure of her; who is said to have hated her ex­ceedingly, or with great hatred greatly, so that the Hatred wherewith he hated her, was greater than the Love where­with he had loved her, 2 Sam. 13.15. Even so should the Sinner hate his sin more than ever he d [...]ed on it, or was enamour'd with it; he should be ashamed of it mere than ever he gloried in it; and sorry for it, as much, or mere, than ever he was glad of it.

When the Heart is thus truly affected in Confession, as we have shewn it should be, it does often outwardly express and vent its inward Affection, by^(a) Weeping and shedding of Tears. The Penitent Sinner ev'n cries again, out of exceeding Shame and piercing Grief in Confession; by his Tears, acknowledging that his blood was due. Weeping with bitterness of heart, and bitter wailing, do very much become [Page 96] and commend a true penitent Confession. In our Confessons, we do well to be af­flicted, and mourn, and weep: In so doing, we do but imitate the Saints of God. You read it of Ezra, (Ezra. 10.1.) When Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed weep­ing. The Penitent Sinner's Eye ever af­fects his Heart; sight of his sin, breeds sence of his sin; and many times his Heart affects his Eye. Sence of his sin, puts him upon Weeping for his sin. He some­times weeps, because he can weep no more; and a wi [...]hes that his Head were Waters, and his Eyes [...] of Tears, that he might weep Day and Night for his sins, iniquities, and transgressions.

There's very good reason why we should shew our Trouble by our Tears, be­cause the Eye hath constantly been the chiefest in [...]et of Sin and Vanity. Sin early entred by Eve's Eye, (Gen. 3.6.) and still it is a wide Window at which Lust and Folly are let into the Soul. Fit therefore ^(a) [Page 97] it is (as a worthyDr. Spurstowe in his [...]orm [...] o [...] Sam. 7.6. p. 5. Doctor well observes) that in the Duties of Humiliation, the Eye should bear a part with the other Members of the Body; that as the Heart doth sigh, the Face blush, the Tongue cry, the Hand knock the Breast, the Lips tremble, and the Knees bend, so the Eye should mourn and weep, it having exceeded in guilt any other Part, and Member of the Body.

What; and if I weep for my [...]? Will you not then give me leave to conclude my Heart right with God [...]ved at enmity with sin? It may be so. But there are [...] Friends that weep at p [...]ti [...]g; and is not thy weeping a sorrow of Affection? It is a sad thing in p [...]t with our long Companion. Or, it may [...], thou weepest, because thou wouldst have a sign to cozen thy [...] withal; for some Men are m [...]re [...] to have a sign, than the [...] signified; th [...]y would do something to sh [...] their Repe [...]tance [...] that themselves may believe thems [...]lves to be Peritents, havi [...]g no reason from within to believe so. Bishop lay [...]e [...]'s S [...]rm of the Deceitfulness of the Heart, p. 86. Yet weeping is no Infallible Sign, or certain Token or an Heart truly sen­sible of sin; so as that a Man should conclude, he is sensible, or insensible, ac­cording as he finds himself weep or for­bear; for there may be weeping without sence of sin: Many can shed Tears for any thing, some for nothing. Again; There may be sence of sin, without weep­ing; a soft Heart, where there are dry Eyes: for as the greatest Joys do not al­ways burst out into Laughter, so the deep­est [Page 98] sorrows, and foulest shame, do not al­ways break forth into Tears. This ex­pression of our Affection, differs and va­ries very much according to the temper of the Body, the Age, the Sex, and the many accidental tendernesses, or masculine hardnesses of the Person: Wherefore sence of sin is not to be estimated by our Tears, but is to be valued by the Trouble of our Souls for sin, seriously apprehending the evil, the extream evil of it.

But yet tho' weeping be not an unerring good Sign, yet not weeping, in some cases, may well be suspected for a bad Sign: as, if where there is an aptness and prone­ness to weep abundantly, when any out­ward Worldly evil hath befallen us; yet even there we seldom or never shed a Tear in the sorrows and passions of our pre­tended Penitent Confessions: For were but the Affection as great here, it would still discover it self in as great a manner, and large a measure.

If thou canst easily shed tears, and ma­ny tears; weep plentifully, and pour them out largely in the Confession of thy sins: for Tears, tho' mute, yet speak. Her­bert's Po­ems. (The [...]) p. 13 [...]. What is so shrill as silent Tears? And surely God will hear the voice of thy [Page 99] weeping. (Psal. 6.8.) How acceptable and available are truly Femtential Tears, running out of a Soul that is running towards God! O let the Tears that flow from thee beTears that will p [...]evail, must spring from a te [...] ­d [...] and [...]r [...] ­ [...]er [...]eart [...] and [...]: the [...] [...] God's thy which [...] M [...] [...] to [...] the [...]. voluntrary, reforming, cleansing Tears, such as may not only wet thy Face, but wash thy Heart. But if thou canst not weep, or when thou canst no longer weep, desire and endeavour to have much of the rational, tho' you have not so much of a passionate grief and sorrow.

LetIf thou hast no sight of Graws, [...] thou hast [...] Lesser pairs shape greater [...]. Herbert's P [...]s, [...] p. [...]00 Sighs and Groans supply the defect of Tears in thee. Let your Heart bleed, when your Eyes do not water. Take up, and use the affectionate words of the Devout Herbert:

So much shall suffice to have been spo­ken to the second Adjunct or Property of Confession: It's made with Hatred of, Shame, and Sorrow for our Sin.

CHAP. VIII. The third Property of Confession; it is made with a full Resolution against our sins. The Hypocrite is Rash and Self-confident in his Vows; but the humble Confessor is fearful and distrustful of him­self in his Resolves, and seeks to God for strength and power to act his Pur­poses, and perform his Vows.

3. A Third Property of Confession is this: True Confession is made with a fall Resolution against our sins. From Hatred of, Shame, and Sorrow for our sins, their naturally proceeds, and ne­cessarily arises, a settled Intention, and firm Purpose of Heart, for the speedy leaving, and ready actual dereliction of the sins we confess; and a Resolvedness of Spirit to oppose and resist their consequent Temp­tations: setting aside which Resolution, our very Confession are crying, provoking Sins, and need to he confess'd themselves; for he that does not heartily resolve against his sins in Confession, does even then se­creth [Page 102] intend and purpose to commit them again. Wherever there is a real sence and feeling of sin in Confession, there is also produc'd an inward, serious, to feign­ed Res [...]l [...]tion against the sin confess'd: the Sinner thus affected, meditates the Confu­sion and Overthrow of his sin; and he often expresses unto God the sincere and honest purposes of his Heart; and joins with the Confession of his sins a most so­lemn Vow, Promise, Covenant against them. Such was the Confession of ho­re [...], plain-hearted S [...]heeaniah, 10 Ezra, 2, 3. speaking there unto Ezra, We have tr [...]spassed against our God, says he, and have taken strange Wives of the people of the land; new therefore let us make a covenant with our God, to put away all the Wives, and such as are born of them. This is ob­serv'd and remark'd by Elihu, in that lively and notable description which he makes of a true Confessor that humbles himself before God, 34 Job, 31.32. Sure­ly, says he, it is meet to be said unto God, I have [...]rn chastisement; I will not offend any more: that which I see not, teach thou me; if I have done iniquity, I will do no more. Hatred of, Shame, and Sorrow for Sin, do breed and beget in the Sin­ner [Page 103] an absolute purpose, and entire resolu­tion against his sins; the Penitent Sinner really intends never to meddle with them again, never to have any more to do with them.

Yet (which is very observable) this humble Confessor is not too too confident of himself in his resolves, but very fear­ful, jealous, and suspicious of himself be­ing greatly conscious to himself of his own Spiritual impotency and weakness, and of the baseness and falseness of his own Heart, which has formerly deceiv'd and betrayed him.

This is very much Characteristical of a true hearty Confessor, whereby he is dif­ferenced and distinguished from a meer Counterfeit and Hypocritical Confessor: The Hypocrite, indeed, in some of his good Moods and Fits (which usually take him upon some sudden violent flashings of a strong Conviction, or the sence and feel­ing of a present Affliction) will be forward to promise any thing in Confession; will make marvellous fair protestations, and specious resolutions before God: O, he has done thus and thus, but he'll do so no more; no, he'll become a new Man out of hand, ay that he will; but all this while [Page 104] he confides, trusts in, and relies on him­self, for the performance of all. Thus rash are the Sick-bed Vows of most Men; O, says one, that's kept in by a Disease, and is fain to lie by't; O, says he, that God would recover my health and strength again, I'd presently turn over a new leaf; I'd certainly live the New Life if God would grant me any: How shall all the World see, if ever I live to get out of Doors, to go Abroad again, that I'm quite another Man than I was! Our Minister, all my Neighbors, Friends and Acquain­tance, shall wonder at the great change, and strange alteration that shall be found in me: He promises amendment of his life by vertue of his own strength and abi­lity, as if his bare purposes were Withs, or Cords strong enough to bind the Samp­sons within him; and does not heartily desire Divine Grace to aid and back his Resolutions. And hence it is, that, if God does any thing for such an one, he presently forgets himself; forgets all his promises which were lately warm upon his Lips; his Lusts revive as his bodily strength renews: He mends into his old sins again, and recovers into his former Follies. Too many resolve in their own [Page 105] srength, but they have power, of them­selves, to, hold their resolution no longer than they are held under some extraordi­nary Conviction or Punishment; and there­fore when these cease, they return with the Dog to his Vomit, and with the Sow that is wash'd to her wallowing in the mire, and rush into Sin as boldly, as if in Con­fession they had told God, not so much what they had done, as what they would do.

But now the truly Penitent Confessor, he's exceeding distrustful of his own naugh­ty, deceitful Heart, even in his most so­lemn Vows, and strongest Resolutions; and therefore he rather expresses himself in fervent, unfeigned Desires, and Wishes, and Prayers, that God would help him to do this, and leave that undone, than fearlesly and presumptuously concludes and determines, that he will or won't do this and that, upon over-bold and most proud Confidences in his own strength and Self-sufficiency. He uses such kind of Lan­guage as this to God: Lord, thou know­est; Lord, thou hast given me to know, how that I have no power of my self against these my Lusts and Corruptions; but I am now, through Grace, willing to [Page 106] be rid of them: O that I might be strength­ned and enabled from ab [...]ve, wholly to conquer and subdue them: O that I might have Divine power and assistance granted me, whereby I may unweariedly opp [...]s [...], and finally overcome all thine and my Enemies; whereby I may be able to resist the Devil, and say nay to a Tempta­tion: Lord, I have no might against this great Company that daily cometh against me; I have formerly gone out in my own strength with a Sword, and with a Spear, and with a Shield, Arm'd with my own Carnal Resolutions, against these Spiritual Philistines, and was worsted, and fell by their hands; but now I desire to go out in the Name of the Lord of Hosts: I know not, of my self, what to do, but my eyes are upon thee; help thou, Lord, help; enable me by thy Grace faithfully to keep my Covenants, to perform my Vows, to be as good as my Promises, to be true to my Resolutions. The Penitent Sinner does not wish and desire that God would do all, and leave him nothing at all to do; that God would by an Act of Omnipotency presently subdue, and immediately mor­tify his Lusts and Corruptions, without giving him the trouble of a Conflict, or [Page 107] putting him to the labour and pains of Practical Mortification, or injoyning him the difficult use of a constant course of necessary Means; but he so begs the Di­vine Grace, and power and strength, as that he resolves to act in the strength he shall receive; and by the help of God, and assistance of his Grace, to strive a­gainst, to resist and deny the most im­portunate Temptations; to struggle with, till he master and conquer his most un­ruly Lusts, and rebellious Corruptions; and to use all Means appointed by God for his Mortification and Sanctification.

And thus much for the third Adjunct or Property of true Confession: True Con­fession is made with a full Resolution against our sins; which must be taken with this Caution and Limitation, That the Sinner resolve to do nothing in his own strength, but all in the strength, and by the Grace of God.

CHAP. IX. The fourth and last Property of true Con­fession: It is made with an Desire of, and some good Hope in Divine Mercy. The necessity of Faith and Hope in a right Confession of Sin upon a double ac­count; because that unbelieving, de­spairing Thoughts, do (1. greatly dis­honour God. (2.) Extreamly deaden and straiten our own Hearts in Confes­sion. A necessary Caution; to take one thing with anothe [...], and to be sure to join all these Properties of Confession in Practical Ʋse together.

4. TRue Confession is made with an earnest Desire of, and some good Hope in Divine Mercy.

1. With an earnest Desire of Mercy.

A lively sence and feeling of his own present Danger and Misery, powerfully excites and stirs up in the Penitent Sinner restless importunate Desires of Mercy: He [Page 109] sees his extream great want and need of it, and nothing but Mercy will satisfie and content him. What would he now give for a Pardon in this case! O how highly does he now prize, esteem, and value the most Soveraign precious Blood of Jesus Christ, which was spilt and shed for the Remission of sins! How fain would he be made partaker of it! He craves, Par­don of God, and beseeches for Mercy, with as strong cries, and hearty desires, as ever the poor Hunger-bi [...]ten Beggar asked for an Alms; with as great earnest­ness and vehemency of spirit, as ever the Cast Malefactor begg'd for the Mercy of the Book; or the poor Condemn'd Prisoner at the Bar pleaded for his Life before the face of the Judge. A formal, customary Confession of Sin, without this hearty desire of Mercy, is as vain and ridiculous a thing as any is in the World: O what a gross and monstrous absurdity is it, for a Man to go to God, and confess his Sin, and yet not to look for Pardon, not to see any need of forgiveness of those enor­mities he confesses! The truly Repentant Sinner, he plainly sees and feels his Sin and Misery; he well apprehends and dis­cerns the absolute, indispensable necessity [Page 110] of Mercy, and always joins most affectio­nate Deprecation with his unfeigned Con­fession. How very nearly are Conf [...]ssion of Sin, and seeking after Mercy, link'd and coupled together by God himself! 2 Chr. 7.14. If my people shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face: And 5 Hos. 15. I will go, says God, and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face. Acknowledging our Offences without seeking God's face and favour, will never cause God to return to us; what God has thus join'd toge­ther, the humble Confessor dares not part and put asunder. Therefore you frequently find in Scripture, the Penitent Sinner at once acknowledging his own faults, and imploring Divine Grace and Mercy. See this in the poor Publican; who standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his Eyes unto Heaven, but smote upon his Breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner, 18 Luk. 13. He acknowledgeth his Sin, and with the same breath intreats for Mercy. The like we find in the good Thief upon the Cross, 23 Luk. 41.42. We, says he, receive the due reward of our deeds; there's the Con­demnation of his Sin, and Codemnation of [Page 111] himself: And presently he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me wh [...]n thou comest into thy kingdom; there's the real expression of his fervent Desire of Christ's Com­passion.

The Penitent Confitent most humbly and heartily asks forgiveness at the hands of God; and seeks most passionately the face, and favour, the love, and friend­ship, and gracious presence of God; full and firm reconciliation to him, and sweet acquaintance, and comfortable commu­nion with him.

I grant a very Hypocrite may seek God's face, out of love and respect to himself on­ly; he may seek God's face so far as may serve to free him from Punishment, and deliver him from Judgment; but he does not sue for peace with God, out of love and affection to the blessed and lovely Na­ture of God; he does not seek the special, Spiritual presence of God, nor holy and heavenly Communion with God; he looks not after God's Love of Complacency and Delight; he does not care for God's fa­vour, unless it be upon his own Terms, that God would be at peace with him to let him quietly enjoy his sins; he entreats the love and favour of God, looking upon [Page 112] God as a merciful God, but not consider­ing God as a holy God, as the righteous Lord that loveth righteousness: He de­sires forgiveness that he may procure his own Ease, and slatter away the Rod from his back; that he may be freed, and well delivered from what he either feels, or fears; but he does not seek forgiveness of God, that he may fear God; that he may serve him acceptably with reverence and godly fear for the future.

But the sincerely Penitent Sinner, chiefly laments after the Lord;1 Sam. 7.2. he seeks the face of God, that he may enjoy God; he looks more after God's Favour than his own Ease; and is more solicitous for the re­covering of his Love, than for the remo­ving of his Rod; he says as Absalom did in another case,2 Sam. 14.32. Let me see the King's face, though he kill me. Lord, says he, if thou hidest thy face, I am troubled; be pacified towards me, or else I die even while I live, and suffer a very Hell on Earth: I weep and mourn, I sigh and groan, I saint and sink, if thou dost not turn to me, if thou be'st not kind to me, if thou be'st not friends with me. I am not able to bear thy Frowns; O let me see one smile from Heaven, let God speak [Page 113] one kind World to me, and give me but one good Look. If Natural Light be so very sweet,11 Eccl. 7. and if it be so pleasant a thing for the Eyes to behold the Sun; O then, how chearing and refreshing a thing is the Heavenly Light of God's Counte­nance! How delectable and amiable is it to behold the pleased face of God, the Sun of the Intellectual World! The Light of thy Countenance is the Life of my Life; yea, blessed Lord, thy special favor and loving kindness is better than life it s [...]lf: 63 Psal. 3 [...] No freedom from punishment will content me, without a sight and view of the re­conciled face of God. Lord, let me have but thy favour, it is enough: Good Lord, do but love me, and then do what thou wilt with me. The poor Penitent enjoys no peace with himself, until he be at peace with God: He seeks, and pursues peace with God, and peace with God upon G [...]d's terms: He ear­nestly desires the favor of God, and the fa­vor of God as an holy God; and hugely co­vets the friendship and fruition of God, out of love and affection to God, as well as to himself. He sincerely and passionately breaths after the reconciliation of his Na­ture unto God, as well as of his Person: He begs unfeignedly and affectionately [Page 114] the Image and likeness, as well as the love and favour of God: He sues for Purifying, as well as Pardoning Grace: He asks true Holiness, as well as free Forgiveness: A new Nature, a better Temper; that he may no more do God such wrong as for­merly he has done him. And truly, who­ever seriously and understandingly desires the one, must needs desire the other; for he that heartily, and not only formally, and complementally, asketh Pardon, is really convinc'd of the iniquity of his doings, of the baseness and unworthiness of his Actions. Now he that truly knows, and heartily acknowledges, that what he has done, he has done amiss; that the thing he has done, he ought not to have done, will ingenuously desire, and faithfully en­deavour to do so no more, and be glad to be kept, not only from suffering, but also from sinning for the future. No Man can really and considerately desire Pardon, un­less withal he desire Holiness. A Man may, indeed, desire God not to use his Power to destroy him at his pleasure, but he cannot properly entreat and beseech God to Pardon him; that is, to pass by and put up a confess'd wrong, unless withal he desire God (who alone can do it) to give [Page 115] him Grace to prevent such miscarriages for the future; for otherwise, the sensible Sinner should plainly pray to God to coun­tenance Sin, and encourage Iniquity, and to do that, which would directly and certainly tend to the further dishonour of his holy Nature, and the gross contempt, and high violation of his righteous Law; which would be an absurd and unreasona­ble desire, and such as a rational Creature can never offer considerately to utter to Almighty God.

That's the first: The humble Confessor importunately desires the Pity and Mer­cy, the Love and Kindness, the Favour and Friendship, the Purity and Holiness, the Image and likeness of God.

2. The humble Sinner confesses, as with an earnest, impatient desire of Mer­cy, so likewise with some d [...]gree and mea­sure of true Faith, and real Hope in Divine Mercy.

The true Confessor, indeed, is not impudent in God's presence; no, he's huge­ly asham'd of himself, (as you have heard) yet is he somewhat confident, for he really [Page 116] believes and hopes, he firmly trusteth in his God, and [...]esolvedly casts himself on his Mercy. The Penitent Sinner encou­rages himself to seek to God in Confession, as the Servants of Benhadad encourag'd him to seek to Ahab, 1 King. 20.31, 32. Behold, says the Sinner, I have heard, O my Soul, that the King of the House of Israel is a merciful King, a King of Mercy; humble now thy self, and go out to the King of Israel, peradventure he will save thy life; and with thus much hope at least, that it may fare well with it, The Soul goes out to God, as the Servants of Ben­hadad did to Ahab, and takes with it such words as these; Lord, thy servant saith, I pray thee let me live. The de­sires of the Penitent Consitent are faithful, hopeful desires: Such was the desire of the Publican; he believed and hoped in God, when he cried, God be merciful to me. This was a Prayer of Faith, for it had the testimony and approbation of God himself: This man went down to his house [...]s [...]fied Im [...] e­ [...]tia est compa [...] ­ [...]o, [...] The mean­i [...]g [...], [...]e was [...]ustif­ [...]d, [...] rather than the other, 18 Luk. 14. And such too was the earnest desire of the good Thief upon the Cross; it was put up in Faith and H [...]pe; for we find it was well a [...]epted; and he had no sooner said, [Page 117] Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom, but Christ returned him this answer, Verily I say unto thee, to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise, 23 Luk. 42.43. Many are the Scripture-Examples of the Penitent Sinner's belie­ving and hoping in Confession; that's a famous one of holy, humble She [...]chaniah, Ezra 10.2. We have trespassed against our God, says he, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land; yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing; hope of God's Mercy in pardoning this sin. Look how David puts his confidence in God for the pardon of the sin he conf [...]sses: Deliver me, says he, from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, Psal. 51.14. he calls God the God of his Salva­tion still, tho' he had committed so great a sin. See with what a believing heart holy Daniel confesses, Dan. 9.9. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgive­nesses, though we have rebelled against him. And v. 19. O Lord hear, says he, O Lord forgive, O Lord hearken and do; defer not for thine own sake, O my God. The reite­ration and repetition of his request, ar­gues the earnestness and eagerness of his desire; and his calling God his God, shews [Page 118] and declares his Faith and Hope. So the Prodigal in the Gospel owns his Relation, notwithstanding his Transgression; and is bold to call him Father whom he has offended: Father, I have sinn'd, says he, Luk. 15.21.

True Confession is made in Faith and Hope: He that confesses aright, speaks not the Language of Cain; he dares not say with him,Gen. 4.13. Mine iniquity is greater than can he forgiven; but he takes heart to take up those words of David, For thy mames sake, O Lord, pardon mine ini­quity, for it is great, Psal. 25.11. He does not, withMat. 27.4, 5. Judas, acknowledge he has sinned, and presently go and make away himself by Despair, and so damn himself indeed, for fear God should damn him: He rather cries out withJob 7. [...]. Job, I have sinned, I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver, O thou pre­server, and nor, O thou destroyer of Men? He flies for refuge from God's ab­solute, strict Justice, to the Throne of his free Grace, and rich Mercy in Jesus Christ, and cries out with David, [...]. 130.3, 4. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, O Lord who shall stand? but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. The poor [Page 119] Penitent comes not before God, as a guil­ty Felon before a rigid, severe Judge; who is fully perswaded, that if he con­fesses all, he shall be hang'd and die for't; but as a faulty Son comes before a mild and indulgent Father; or as the diseased Patient goes to the skilful, pitiful Physi­cian; who, by opening his Distempers to him, looks to get health and cure from him.

The true Confessor looks not upon God as his Enemy, as one that bears no good will to him, that seeks all advantages against him, and won't be reconciled to him; for then he could never hope in him indeed: We at once both fear and hate the implacable and inexorable, so far are we from trusting and confiding in them; but he lays aside all hard thoughts, and takes up a good opinion of God; he looks upon God as one that is good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in Mercy; as David describes him, Ps. 86. 5. he con­ceives of him as one that is more Merci­ful than he is Sinful. He duly considers the goodness and graciousness of God's Nature, as the Scripture represents it to him; and also the freeness and fulness of Divine Promises made in the Gospel unto [Page 120] Penitent Sinners, for the sake and merits of Jesus Christ. He makes not half-representations of God to himself; he looks not upon God as All Justice, but fixeth one Eye upon his Mercy and Good­ness, as well as the other upon his Righte­ousness and Justice; and therefore he bears up his spirit cheerfully, and comes off comfortably in Confession. He that tru­ly confesses, he ever confesses with some good hope in Divine Mercy.

And truly, there can be no sound and good Confession, without some degree of Faith and Hope, and that will appear up­on this twofold Account; because that unbelieving, despairing Thoughts do

• 1. Greatly dishonour God.
• 2. Extreamly deaden and straiten our own Hearts in Confession.

1. Unbelieving, despairing Thoughts in Confession, do greatly dishonour and disparage God.

He that confesses without Faith and Hopes, does God more wrong than right in Confession; for tho' he may seem to [Page 121] glorify God's Justice, by acknowledging his Offence, yet by despairing of Par­don, he derogates from his Grace, and is injurious to his Mercy. To run into De­spair, saysLoc. commun collect a Fabricio, p. 143. 3 Clas­sis. Luther, this is to take away God's Divinity from him, which he chiefly shews forth in his Mercy. To play the Cain, or the Judas; to despair of God's Mercy in Confession, it is in effect even to ungod God; it is to rob him of, and deny him the Glory of that Attribute which he himself most glories in, and would always be most known by among the Children of Men; it is to make that God cruel, who ever delighted in shewing Mercy; it is in deed, and truth, covert­ly to strike at the life of God; for se­cretly to conclude, that God is unmerci­ful, what is it less than violently to rend away his very Heart and Bowels? We find the tender Mercies and Compassions of GodIsai. 63.15. Luk. 1.78. so called in Scripture.

2. There can be no sound and good Confession, without some degree of Faith and Hope, because unbelieving, despair­ing, misdoubting Thoughts, do extream­ly straiten and deaden our own Hearts in Confession. Diffidence and distrust of [Page 122] Pardon and Forgiveness, does not only disparage and discredit God, but also ex­ceedingly damps, flats, contracts, and binds up our own Spirits in Confession; it makes us have no mind to the Duty, and causes us to be unfaithful in the Du­ty; we can't come to God as we ought, and be as free with him as we should, except we think we shall speed well with him. He that desponds in Confession, can't so freely unbosom himself, nor so fully lay open his whole Heart to God. The only seasonable, powerful induce­ment, to an open, universal acknowledg­ment of Sin, is a present, strong appre­hension and conceit of Mercy. Men are backward, and loth to make a thorow Confession of their Sins, because they se­cretly doubt of the free Pardon of all: Whereas the Sinner, that entertains good hopes of Mercy, can easily find in his Heart, plainly to declare unto God the very worst he knows by himself, with­out hiding or concealing any of his Sins: This Man resolves to confess all, that he may be forgiven all; to cover none, that none may be uncover'd.

I have now done with the last Property of Confession: True Confession is made with an earnest Desire of, and some good Hope in Divine Mercy.

Yet let me leave what has been spoken with this necessary Caution: Let us all be sure to take one thing with another; let's join all these Prope [...]ties of Confession in Practical Use together. In Confession of our Sins, let's earnestly desire, and as firmly trust in Divine Mercy for the Par­don of them all; but let us know, that if we would do this warranta [...]ly and safely, we must at the same time confess our faults voluntarily and freely, with a perfect Hatred of them, an Holy Shame and Sorrow for them, and an hearty full Resolution against them; otherwise we may encourage our selves, if we please, with fond Thoughts of an infinite Mer­cy, and call that Faith and Hope, if we will, which is meerly our wild, delu­ded Fancy; but God accounts such un­grounded Confidence nothing but Impu­dence and Presumption, and will deal with us accordingly.

And thus I have as fully and clearly as I could, open'd and discover'd unto you the whole Nature of the Duty of Confession, and explain'd at large this full Definition or Description of it, viz. Confession of Sin is the Penitent Sinner's voluntary Accusing and Condemning him­self to God, with Hatred of, Shame and Sorrow for, and a full Resolution against his Sins; together with an earnest De­sire of, and some good Hope in Divine Mercy.

CHAP. X. The Grounds and Reasons of Confession. Two false Grounds of Cofession reject­ed. We must never confess our sins with any intention to give God Infor­mation, or to make God Satisfaction by our Confession. An Objection an­swered.

I Now proceed to give you the Grounds and Reasons of Confession; and to shew you, how it comes to be our Duty, or why it is our Duty. And I shall give you the Reasons of Confession, (1.) Ne­gatively, then Positively.

1. I shall shew you what we are to ac­count no Reason.

2. What we ought to judge a good Ground, and sufficient Reason for our Confession.

[Page 126]1. Negatively: We must never confess our sins to God, thereby to give God either Information of, or Satisfaction for our sins.

1. We must never confess our sins with any intention to give God Information by our Confession, as if he were ignorant of them, before we told him of them; for surely, the Lord knows all our sins better than our selves do, and needs not our help for the discovery of any: He takes strict notice of all our Thoughts, Words, and Actions, Psal. 139.1, 2, 3, 4. O Lord, says David, thou hast searched me, and known me; thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising; thou understandest my thoughts afar off; thou compassest my path, and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways; for their is not a word in my to [...]gue, but [...], O Lord, thou know­est it altogether. God is privy to all our secret Contrivances; he knows what is done in the Chamber and Closet; what we muse and meditate of upon our Beds; he knows what is forg'd in the very Heart: God has no need to be inform'd of our defaults, to be certified by us of [Page 127] our miscarriages; he sees the very first motions and inclinations of our Souls; he beholds us in the very act of sin; and he bears in Mind all our Wickednesses, and lacks no body to be his Remembrancer: They are, indeed, too frequently out of our own Memories, unless he keep them in, or recal them to our Minds of his free Grace and Mercy. We must not therefore confess with any intention, thereby to let God know, and give him to understand what we have done; as if otherwise he would be ignorant of every thing, or any thing.

2. We must never confes our sins with any intention, to make God Satisfaction by our Confession.

The most submissive, penitent Con­fession, does not at all satisfy the Justice of God for the wrong we have done him, nor merit a Pardon from him; no, God is infinitely merciful, when he pardons sin upon Confession. Confession of Sin can't in any measure satisfy for Sin;

For Confession of Sin becomes it self our necessary Duty presently upon the Com­mission of Sin: but Duty is not satis­factory.

Again: The best Confession of our sins is it self tainted and mingled with sin, and needeth another Confession; and therefore can deserve nothing at God's hands, nor make him any Compensation.

Further: The goodness of Confes­sion, if it were perfectly blameless and faultless, were yet but a finite Good; whereas the Evil of every transgression is an infinite Evil, because committed against an Infinite God; but a finite Good can't make God recompence and amends for an infinite Evil.

Obj. If you ask, why Confession of Sin has not as much good in it, as the Com­mission of Sin has evil in it; why the one does not as much honour God, as the other dishonour him; for when it is said, Sin has an infinite Evil in it, it is meant only Objectively; because God, against whom it is committed, is an infinite God: Now if Sin be called infinite, because it wrongs and injures an infinite God, why should not a Penitent Confession be accounted in­finite, since it honours and glorisies an infinite God?

Answ. I answer; Offences arise accord­ing to the Dignity of the Object, because the Dignity of the Party offended is there hurt and wronged; as an offence against a Nobleman or King is greater than against a private Man; but Satisfaction increa­ses according to the worth of the Subject; for here the giving of Honor is look'd at, which depends on the Dignity of the Per­son that gives it; therefore it suffices to make Sin infinite, that God, who is the Object of it, is infinite. But there is not enough to be sound in any Confession to make it of an infinite worth and value, because Man, who is the Subject of it, is but finite; and therefore the most exactly and thorowly Penitent Confession, be­cause it proceeds from a finite Person, is not able to make God [...]atisfaction; for hence it is that Christ only could effectually satisfie, because he only was an infinite Person.

Thus I have remov'd and rejected the wrong and false Grounds of Confession: We must never go about Confession with any purpose thereby to give God Informa­tion, or make him Satisfaction.

CHAP. XI. Ten positive Grounds, and proper Reasons of the Duty of Confession. (1.) God expresly commands it. (2.) God is greatly glorified, and justified by it. (3.) 'Tis a thing in it self most reasona­ble and equitable. (4.) Confession of Sin is ab­solutely and indispensably necessary to Remission of Sin; so as that God can't well pardon us without Confession. How it's unbeseeming the Majesty, the Justice, the Mercy, the Wisdom, the Ho­liness of God, for God to pardon and forgive the Sinner, before and without the Confession and Ac­knowledgment of his sin. (5.) Confession of Sin is it self a proper act of Mortification. (6.) Con­fession testifies unto God, and evidences unto our selves the sincerity and unfeignedness of our Re­pentance, and gives us good assurance that we are in a fair way of Recovery. (7.) Confession eases our troubled Spirits, and disburdens our op­pressed Consciences. (8.) It were unreasonable Folly in us to go about to hide any sins from God; and the wisest way to conceal them from othe [...]s, is to discover them to God. (9.) It's no: only a fool­ish, but an unsate and hazardous, a desperate and dangerous thing, for any to attempt to hide and con­ceal their sins from God. (10) And lastly; Con­fession of Sin, or Self-accusing, and Self-judging, it happily prevents or weakens all Satan's Accu­sations, and surely forestalls the just Sentence and Judgment of the great Judge at the last Day.

I Come now positively to lay down and propound the true and proper Grounds and Reasons of the Duty of Confession.

[Page 131]1 Reas. And the first Reason shall be ta­ken from God's express Command. I will give you but two Scriptures for it, 5 Num. 6, 7. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel; when a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the Lord, and that person be guilty, then they shall confess their sin which they have done. This was the first thing that was to be done; before Restitution, or the offering of his Sacrifice, he must confess his Sin. And Jer. 3.12, 13. Go and proclaim these words towards the North, and say, Return thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, acknow­ledge thine iniquity, that thou hast trans­gress'd against the Lord thy God. That's the first Reason; God plainly commands Confession, therefore we must confess.Vid. Ter­tul. de Pae­nitent. cap. 4. God's Soveraign Authority must be re­garded, and his Precept observed, tho' we that did our Duty should never receive any Commodity or Advantage by it.

2. Reas. We must make Confession of our Sins, because hereby God is glorified and justified. Joshuah makes this a ground of Confession in his Speech to Achan, Josh. [Page 132] 7.19. My son, says he, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make Confession unto him. And this reason Da­vid gives of his Confession, Psal. 51.3, 4. I acknowledge my transgressions, says he, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Now true Penitent Confession does very much glorifie and justifie God; for it's our owning of God's Soveraignty and Autho­rity, our approving of his holy, and just, and good Law; our acknowledging our own obnoxiousness to Divine Justice for the breach of that Law; It is a subscri­bing to the great Equity of the Divine Commands, and to the absolute Righte­ousness of the Divine Threatnings; It is a clearing of the Holiness, a vindication of the Justice of God; It's a freeing of God from being the Author of our Sin, and a declaring of him to be righteous in being the Author of any punishment of sin; It's our meek and humble lying down at his feet, and professing our selves to be wholly at his mercy; It's an act of the great [...]st stooping, yielding, submission in the World; It's a Man's becoming mean, low, vile, little, nothing in his own Eyes, that God may be all in all; It's our sha­ming, [Page 133] and disgracing of our selves, that God may be glorified and extolled; Our lessening and debasing of our selves, that God may be magnified and exalted. Free, hearty Confession faithfully provides for God's Honour, and therefore is a Duty carefully to be perform'd and put in pra­ctice by us; otherwise we rob God of his Honour, and cut him short of his Glory.

3 Reas. We must confess our sins, be­cause Confession is a thing in it self most just, and reasonable, and equitable. The very Law of Nature commands and enjoins real acknowledgment in case of real of­fence: Confession of Sin is in strict Justice due to God, who is the wronged and in­jur'd Party. Every sin we commit is an act of the highest Injustice in the World, and therefore Confession of Sin must needs be an act of the greatest Justice that possi­bly can be done by any Man. We all of us do God very much wrong by sinning; it's therefore meet and fit for us to do God right by Confessing. That's the third Reason: We must confess, because Con­fession is an act of Equity and Justice.

[Page 134]4 Reas. We must confess, because Confession of Sin is absolutely, and indis­pensably necessary to remission of Sin, so as that God can't well pardon us without Con­fess [...] [...]. Penitent Confession of Sin, tho' it do not merit, yet it makes fair way for forgiveness of Sin; It does in the very nature of it make a Capacity, and found a Possibility of Pardon; It makes the Sin­ner vas capax, a Vessel capable, tho' not worthy of any Grace: Whereas the Sin­ner's obstinate, wilful hiding, and cover­ing his sins, and resolved continuance in them, does void and destroy the very case of Mercy: Here it is rather worthy of God not to forgive, but to punish and destroy. Such Persons as won't acknow­ledge their sins, are not within the Limits and Possibilities of Pardoning Grace; God won't, God can't forgive him that won't confess. And therefore we find, that when God makes the largest promises of Mercy to guilty Sinners, he warily inter­poses Confession of Sin as a necessary Con­dition, without which his Pardon cannot be afforded. See this clearly in that no­table place, Jer. 3.12, 13. Return thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I [Page 135] will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever. Comfortable and precious Promises indeed! But mark, but mark the necessary Condition of them, in the very next words: Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God: Only acknow­ledge thine iniquity; as if he should say, It cannot be else; otherwise no hope of finding Mercy; I cannot by any means pardon you, unless you confess.

It's unbeseeming, and misbecoming the Majesty, the Justice, the Mercy, the Wis­dom, the Holiness of God, for God to pardon and forgive the Sinner, before and without the Confession and Acknow­ledgment of his sin.

1. It's a thing not at at all becoming the Majesty of God. God has already yielded as far as he can, with safety to his Honor, in condescending to such low Terms, and fair Proposals as this is, of giving our par­don upon our Confession: He can't stoop any lower, without doing prejudice to himself, and being injurious to his own Honor and Greatness. God is good, but [Page 136] yet so as that he's great too; now his Greatness and Majesty (which he is bound to maintain, unless he could deny him­self; I say, his Greatness and Majesty) requ [...]res the sinful Creatures humble sub­mission of himself, and acknowledgment of his sin, before his Mercy can do him any good, or shew him any favour. Does it beseem God to pardon such an one as denies his Soveraign Right, Power, and Authority over him? Why, Confession of our Sins to God, is but our due acknow­ledgment of a Superior; and what less ac­knowledgment can we make of God's Ti­tle to us, and Dominion over us, than when we have broken the Laws, violated the Commands of this our Lord and King, as we hope for Mercy, not to justifie our illegal Actions, but to confess that we have done what we ought not to have done: Less than this, pray, what is it but a plain disowning of God, a refusing to have him to rule and reign over us, a renouncing of all homage and subjection due unto him? God can't, in point of Honor, pardon such an obstinate Sinner, as won't make the least acknowledgment of his sin. In civil affairs among Men, he's never judged fit to be admitted into [Page 137] favor, who stands in, and will not ac­knowledge his fault; and shall we think that God has not good reason to take as much upon him as his Creature? Shall we allow a poor simple creature to stand so much upon't? And would we have the great God put up any thing any how? Surely God respects and regards himself more than so. It's a thing unbeseeming the Majesty of God, for God to pardon sin without the Sinner's Confession.

2. It's a thing not at all beseeming and befitting the Justice of God, for God to pardon Sin without demanding any Con­fession.

If God should pardon wilful, stubborn, impenitent Sinners, that won't confess, but resolvedly retain and hold fast their sins, how could his Justice bear it? It's true, Confession does not satisfie God's Justice, yet sins unconfess'd can't be par­don'd without Injustice; for tho' Confes­sion of Sin does not satisfie, yet does it greatly glorifie God's Justice; and God will never shew himself Gracious in any such way wherein he shall lose the glory of his Justice; no, God consults the Ho­nor of every Attribute, and won't exercise [Page 138] one Attribute to the damage and detri­ment of another. God's Justice won't suffer him to pardon but upon Confes­sion; therefore Confession is necessary.

3. It's unbeseeming the Mercy of God, to give a Pardon, where there's no Con­fession; for Mercy will never be taken for Mercy, if Sin be not acknowledged to be Sin. He that won't confess his sins, will never acknowledge his need of Mer­cy; will never magnifie Divine Grace; will never desire it, or seek after it; will never account himself really behold­ing to God for it: When we heartily ac­knowledge our offences, and our sins a­bound in our sence and feeling, then Par­don is most precious, Grace is most glo­rious. God's Mercy won't give out a Pardon but upon Confession; for certain­ly, God's Mercy would not be enough esteem'd and valued, were not our own Sin and Misery first own'd by us and ac­knowledged.

4. Lastly: It's unbeseeming the Wisdom and the Holiness of God, for God to par­don Sin, without requiring the Sinner's Confession; for this would be to give [Page 139] countenance and encouragement to Sin; this would be to open a Flood-gate to all Impiety and Profaneness, this would be a plain Confirmation of the Sinner in his sin, and a ready way and means of ma­king him grow every day worse and worse: It would be much like, as if a Physician should prescribe a Cordial to one that has a very foul Stomach, before he had taken a Vomit; which would be so far from restoring and recovering the Pa­tient, that it would strengthen and fortify the humor, and so increase, and heighten, and nourish the Disease. Confessio Vomitus: Confession is ordinarily compared to a Vomit; now if God should give in a Par­don, which is as a strong Cordial, to a Sin­ner before the filth were fetch'd up, and cast out of his Soul, by a free and full Confession of his Sins, this would but en­hearten him to sin more presumptuously, and animate him to go on more confident­ly in his wickedness; it would but make him multiply to Sin, as God multiplied to Pardon; so far would it be from stop­ping and interrupting the course of his sin, and breaking him of from it. Now this does not at all consist with God's Wisdom, nor with his Holiness, to do that which [Page 140] would give the greatest encouragement to sin, and be a direct means of making the Sinner to grow worse and worse.

Thus you see, it's neither agreeing with the Majesty, nor with the Justice, nor with the Mercy, nor with the Wisdom, nor with the Sanctity of God, to remit and pardon Sin, before and without Confession. And that is the fourth Reason: Confession of Sin is indispensably necessay to remission of Sins so as that God can't well Pardon with­out it.

5 Reas. We must confess, because Confession of Sin is it self a proper act of Exomo­logesis pro­sternendi & humili­ficandi ho­minis dis [...]i­plina est, conversati­onem in­ju [...]gens mi­ser [...]ordi [...]e illecem. Tertul. de Paenitent. cap. 9. Mortification. It's a voluntary re­tracting, revoking, undoing, as far as in us lies, what formerly we have done; and a hopeful prevention of the future commission of our sin. As often as we confess, we give sin, as it were, a new blow: In every true Confession, we renew our sence of the Evil and Danger that is in sin, and strengthen our resolution a­gainst our sins, and fasten an Obligation upon our selves to leave and forsake our sins; so that we cannot now sin again so freely and easily as before. Confes­sion [Page 141] of our Sins does, in the very nature of it, solemnly engage us against sin, and lay a strong tye upon us to the contrary; it's apt, by way of Motive, and Argu­ment, to hinder and restrain us from sin­ning, after we have confessed; it's a di­rect means of making sin more uneasie and unpleasant to us for the future; and so becomes a fit and proper Instrument of beating us off from our sins, and making us wholly to depart from them.

Thus Confession is an Act of Mortifi­cation, and therefore there's good reason we should confess. That's the fifth ground of Confession.

6 Reas. We must confess, because Con­fession testifies unto God, and evidences unto our selves the sincerity and unfeign­edness of our Repentance, and gives us good assurance that we are in a fair way of Recovery. It testifies unto God, and evidences to our selves the Sincerity of our Repentance. 'Tis a plain Token that the Man bears a strong Affection to his sin, and it's sweet and pleasurable to him, when he hideth it under his Tongue, and spareth it, as Zophar speaketh: (Job 20. [Page 142] 12, 13.) But it's a good Sign that a Man is out of love with his sin, when he's ready to discover it, and disposed hum­bly to confess it. The Sick Man, that will not truly declare to his Physician what the Meat or Drink was that proved prejudicial to his Health, and caused his Distemper, has no intention to forbear and abstain from it; and that's the very rea­son why he seeks to conceal it. So 'tis here: When a Sinner is not free to disclose and confess his sin to God, it is because he has no sincere purpose to leave and forsake it; no honest desire, by the Grace and Help of God, to be kept and preser­ved from it for the future. A fly reten­tion of sin, is an Argument of the deceit­fulness of the Heart; but full Confession, is a proof and demonstration that there is no Guile in a Man's Spirit, Psal. 32.2.

And because Confession witnesses to a Man's self the Sincerity of his Repentance, therefore it must needs give the Sinner good assurance, that he is in a fair way of Recovery, out of sin and danger. And, indeed, a Man may safely conclude thus: I find I can sincerely confess my sin to God, therefore I hope I limit now be rid [Page 143] of it; for it's a certain Sign, that the ill Quality is removing, and the Disease go­ing off, when once it breaks out at the Lips; and as in the Disease we common­ly call the Small-Pox the greatest fear is, either in their not appearing, or in their present striking in again; but there's very good Hope of Life and Health, if they break out kindly. So here: The Sinner has just cause to fear Death, when his sins lie inward, and strike to his Heart; but if they come forth thick, and be dri­ven out abundantly in a free Confession, he has then good reason to be of good chear, and may well entertain some com­fortable hopes of being freed from Sin and Death, of enjoying his Soul's Health, and obtaining Eternal Life.

7 Reas. We should confess, and lay open our sins to God, because Confes­sion eases our troubled Spirits, and dis­burdens our oppressed Consciences. You know, the opening of a Vein cools the Blood; when our Hearts are full with the sence of our sins, that they cannot hold and contain themselves, then is it necessary to give a vent to our Hearts by confessing our sins. This is a most ratio­nal [Page 144] way to receive Comfort in; Griefs ex­pressed are best eased and mitigated: All Passions are allayed by vent and utterance. This is true, however the Devil, the Fa­ther of Lyes suggests to us, that in so do­ing we shall bring our selves to Despair; that we shall run out of our Wits, and even kill and destroy our selves, and never live a Merry Day again, if we offer to think of our old Sins, and go about to rank them particularly, and set them in order before God, by a full, and faithful, and frequent Confession. Let's but try, and we shall soon experimentally find as great Relief and Remedy to our uneasie and af­flicted Consciences, our troubled and bur­dened Souls, by confessing our sins aright to God, as ever any sick and oppressed Stomach did, by throwing up the Food that offended and disagreed with it; or Part that was Imposthumated, by letting out the Corruption that pained and tor­mented it.

8 Reas. We must confess our sins, be­cause it were unreasonable Folly in us, to go about to hide any sins from God; and the wisest way to conceal them from others, is to discover them to God,

There are two branches of this Rea­son:

1. We should confess, because it were unreasonable Folly in us to go about to hide any sins from God. We may be the better for confessing, but we cannot be the worse for confessing; our sins won't be e'er the more known and divulged for our confessing of them to an Omniscient God. St. Ambrose (in his comment on the Parable of the Prodigal Son in the 15th of St. Luke; speaking of those words of the Prodigal, I will arise, and go to my fa­ther, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned, &c.) speaks excellently to the matter in hand, and describes the weak­ness and folly of not confessing, but co­vering and concealing our sins from God: In vain, says he, wouldst thou hide any thing from him, whom thou canst deceive in nothing, and thou may'st reveal without danger what thou art sure is known alrea­dy. Surely the Malefactor would not con­ceal any thing from the Judge, if he were certain the Judge knew all before-hand. Let every one consider, that God has a darting and piercing Eye that sees the [Page 146] very bottom of our Souls: God sees not as Man sees; he sees and judges the very Heart. O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from thee, says Da­vid, Psal. 69.5. He searches and tries the very reins, Jer. 11.20.

Alas fond Sinner! God is intimately acquainted with thee, and with thy ways; he knows thee better than thou doest thy self: Doest think to hide any thing from him? Why, cannot he that made all the Chambers of thy Heart for his own use, unlock every Door, and enter into every Room of it, and search what is in every corner of it, without thy help or leave? Know and understand, God is al­ways in thee, and with thee: Thou art never so much alone, but that thou art still in company with God; never so much in secret, but that all thou doest isHeb. 4.13. naked, and open, and manifest unto the Eyes of the great God that fills Heaven and Earth: He was present with thee, even then when thou thoughtest none was near thee; when no Eye of Man saw thee, he saw thy wickedness, he was a Spectator of thy sin: If thou sayest, surely the dark­ness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about thee; yea, the darkness hi­deth [Page 147] not from him, but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to him; as the Psalmist speaks, Psal. 139.11, 12.

Hence it is that Devout Austin cries out in the 10th Book of his Confessions, the 2d Chapter: Lord, what of me would be hid from thee, if I would not confess to thee, unto whose Eyes the great Ahyss, and depth of Man's Conscience, is naked and apparent? I might, indeed, hide God from my self, says he, my self from God I could not.

This is the first branch of the 8th Rea­son: God can take no Advantage against us by our Confessions, for we tell him no­thing he knew not before; it is not in­structing the Judge against our selves; God himself was an Eye-witness of all we ever did, and therefore it is gross Folly to go about to conceal any thing from God. But further:

2. As it's Folly to think to hide any one sin from God, so the wisest way to conceal all hidden sins from others, is to lay them open to God.

A free acknowledgment of sin to God, is the best course can be taken to maintain the secresie of the Soul; the only way to have one's secret sins cover'd, is to discover them by Confession, that so they may not be brought upon the Stage before all the World. If we confess our sins, God will conceal them; if we take shame to our selves, God will keep us from shame and dishonor; but if we hide them. God will uncover them; perhaps here in this World, by making others to publish and bring them to light; or causing thee thy self to betray thy self, in some sickness of Bo­dy, or trouble of Mind and Conscience; or, it may be, he may make thee the In­strument of turning thine own inside out­ward, and declaring the privy passages of thy Life, when thou liest upon thy Death-Bed: But if he bring not thy hidden works of darkness to light here, he will, to be sure, reveal them hereafter, at the Day of Judgment, before all the Saints and Angels of heaven, to thy eternal Disgrace and Reproach. In vain, in vain doest thou bury them here in silence, for God will find a time to rake them up a­gain; and there shall certainly be, to all [Page 149] wicked impenitent Sinners, a Resurrection of their Sins as well as their Persons; it is our safest course then voluntarily to confess, for God will, some time or o­ther. set wide open the Closets of our Hearts, if we lock them up our selves.

9 Reas. We must confess our sins, be­cause it's not only a foolish, but an unsafe and hazardous, a desperate and dangerous thing, for any to attempt to hide and con­ceal their sins from God.

God severely threatens this unwilling­ness to confess; He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, says God by Solomon, Prov. 28.13. What, shall he not pros­per? Yes, prosper in his wickedness, and go on in his sins he shall; but believe it, that's but ill thriving: But he shall not prosper; that is, he shall not go Scot-free, he shall not escape Divine Venge­ance, he shall be plagued with many in­termedial Judgments here; and (if they do no good on him) he shall be punish'd with eternal Damnation hereafter.

We plainly find, that they that have hid their sins, have fared much the worse for it. A famous instance of this we have in David, who, when he had murder'd [Page 150] Ʋriah so closely and cunningly, could hardly be brought to confess his sin so much as secretly to God himself, as if he had subtilly deceiv'd God, as well as Man: He finely puts it off and excuses it; he makes it to be nothing but the Chance of War; the Sword, says he, de­voureth one as well as another, 2 Sam. 11.25. Now, even David himself, tho' he was a very dear Child of God, very pre­cious in his eyes; tho' God was very ten­der of him, yet in such a case as this he would not spare him; no, David himself must smart for it and be sensible of the Divine displeasure; God puts him upon the Rack, torments, and tortures him, till he had made him confess. Take the re­lation of his affliction from himself, Psal. 32.3, 4. My bones, says he, waxed old thro' my roaring all the day long; for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture is turned into the drought of summer; and he himself renders the very reason of this to be his want of Confession and Humiliation, at the beginning of the third Verse, When I kept silence my bones waxed old; when I kept silence: A free Confession would have sav'd and pre­vented all; it was his guileful, deceitful [Page 151] Dealing with God, which brought all this evil on him, which cost him so dear, and was the true cause of all his Trouble: It was his holding his peace that made him cry out; 'twas his keeping Silence that made him roar. Sin wilfully kept in by any Man, draws sorrow and punishment upon the Man, and holds them there so long as it self is retain'd; but free-heartedness in Confession does hinder God's Judg­ments from seizing on the Penitent Sin­ner, or suddenly removes whatever Judg­ments have fallen upon him.

As Holy Mr. Herbert excellently in his Sacred Poem called Confession.

10 Reas. Lastly: We must confess our sins, because Confession of Sin, or Self-Accusing, and Self-Judging, it happily pre­vents, or weakens all Satan's Accusations, and surely forestalls the just Sentence and Judgment of the great Judge at the last Day.

[Page 152]1. It prevents, or weakens all Satan's Accusations. Not to speak how Confes­sion vexes and troubles the Devil in the very making of it; for even while thou art humbly confessing, the Devil, who before rejoyced in seeing the Commission of thy sin, is now more troubled and griev'd in hearing the expression of thy sorrow: But besides this, it not only grieves him for the present, but prevents all Accusations of his for the future. It prevents his Accusations of thee to God; it prevents his Accusations of thee to thy self; especially upon thy Death-Bed.

1. It prevents, or weakens all Satan's Ac­cusations of us to God. St. Ambrose (in the place fore-quoted) brings in this as a reason of Confession; He shuts out the en­vy of an Accusation, who prevents his Ac­cuser by a free Confession. The Penitent Confessor having been before-hand with Satan, having anticipated his objections, having made his own case as soul before God as was possible; having taken, as it were, the Devil's words out of his Mouth, and said as much, as bad of himself, as the Devil can say of him, unto God; re­lying [Page 153] all the while upon God in Christ for the Pardon of all; he has by this means out-witted the Devil, frustrated his intentions, invalidated and evacuated his Accusations.

You read in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Luk. 15. and the latter end, how his Elder Brother objected against him to his Father, his base and unworthy car­riages towards his Father, his leaving his Father's House and Family, his devouring his living with Harlots, and wasting h s substance with riotous living: But all this, tho' true, nothing alter'd or aliena­ted his Father; and why? Because the Elder Brother came too late, the Prodi­gal had got the speed of him, had fore-accus'd himself, and already obtain'd his Pardon. Satan, our Elder Brother by Creation, will certainly prove our mali­cious Accuser; but if we timely prevent him by pre-condemning our selves to God our Father, we shall undoubtedly get an Act of Indemnity before he can enter his Action against us. God won't hear a word spoken against us from him, if he has first heard us speak against our selves to himself. What tho' the fierce Lion [Page 154] roar out our faults in the Ears of Heaven? Why God will turn a deaf Ear to him, if so be we have our selves before decla­red them in a still, broken-hearted Con­fession. Thus Confession, or Self-Accu­sation, happily prevents Satan's Accusa­tions of us to God. But then,

2. It prevents, or answers his Accusa­tions of us to our selves, and his Tempta­tions of us on our Death-Beds.

When Men lie upon their Death-Bed, and are going out of the World, then the roaring Lion goeth about seeking how he may devour them; then is our Adversa­ry, the Devil, most active, stirring, and busie; then does the subtile Head of this wily Serpent work most strongly; then does he inject, and cast into the Consci­ence of a Sinner, whatever terrors, af­frightments, and discouragements he can; then does he, what in him lies, tempt the Sinner to final Despair, by setting his sins in order before him, and telling him, such and such a heinous sin didst thou commit at such and such a time; thus much guilt lies upon thee, therefore thou art Damn'd: Alas, it's too late to confess [Page 155] now! neither art thou now able to do it, nor hast thou now time to do it in. Now how shall the irrepentant Sinner be able to resist this temptation, to throw out this injection, to repel this fiery Dart of the Devil?

When careless, negligent Sinners, are departing out of this World, then they lie fairest for a Temptation; and they who were secure enough before, are now prone and ready to suspect their own State, to join and strike in with Satan against them­selves, and to further the Devil's Suggesti­ons by their own Misgivings: The guileful, guilty, impenitent Sinner's Conscience, will now fly in his own face, will now second the Devil's Accusations, and be as forward as he is to judge and condemn him:

Whereas the truly humble Penitent, who has fully done the Devil's Work for him; who has not only been Spontaneus Satan, a Satan to himself, as Satan is a subtile Tempter, and so sometimes tempt­ed and seduced himself; but has likewise been Spontaneus Satan, a kind of Satan to himself, as Satan is an Adversary and Ac­cuser; and so has often accused and con­demned [Page 156] himself in a free and full Confes­sion of all his sins. This Man placed upon his Death-Bed, is either undisturb'd by Satan, or able to contest with him: Let Satan truly object never so many sins to him, he grants all; and is bold to tell the Devil, That he won't despair in hearing that from him, which he has himself con­fess'd, in Faith, to God. It's true, Satan, says he, I have done thus and thus; and I have, with shame, acknowledged as much, and more to God: I therefore fear not thy Charge, because I first charg'd my self, and so trust I'm discharg'd by God: In vain doest thou accuse and condemn me to my self, who have already accus'd and condemn'd my self to my God, and therefore hope I'm acquitted and absolv'd by him.

When the Adversary is thus non-plus'd and silenc'd, when Satan's Mouth is thus stopp'd and shut, that he has nothing to say to the Penitent Sinner; when neither his own Conscience, nor the Devil accuse him, then God says to him, as once Christ said to the Woman charg'd with Adultery, when her Accusers left her, John 8.11. Where are thine Accusers? has no one condemn'd thee? neither do I [Page 157] condemn thee. And adds further; not, Go and sin no more; but, Go where thou shalt sin no more.

2. And this leads me to the second branch of this last Reason: Confession of Sin, or Self-Judging, surely forestals the just Sentence and Judgment of the great Judge an the last Day.

By Judging our selves, we do (as I may say) God's Work and Office for him, and so save him a labour; neither are we un­mannerly and injurious to God, by thus taking, as it were, his Work out of his hands; this is no bold Ʋsurpation on our part, but his own free and voluntary Concession, for Judgment is his strange Work, his strange Act, Isa. 28.21. and he had ra­ther a great deal have it done by us upon our selves, than done upon us by himself: He's very well pleas'd with our own do­ing of it; insomuch, that if we would judge our selves, we should not be judged, as St. Paul assures us, 1 Cor. 11.31.

And this is the last Reason of the Duty of Confession, taken from the unspeak­able happiness, the sweet peace, and in­ward [Page 158] Paradise of such a Man, who hath no sin unconfess'd when he comes to die; whereas he that won't accuse himself now, gives no small advantage to Satan's Accusations of him to God; and Temp­tations of him, especially upon his Death-Bed: And he that can't be brought to Judge himself now, he does but Reprieve himself a while, and defer the Sentence till the Grand Assizes, where he shall be sure to be Accus'd, Condemn'd, and Executed.

CHAP. XII. The Application of the Doctrine. The first Ʋse, by way of Confutation of the Popish Doctrine of Auricular Confession.

I Have fully open'd the Nature of this Duty to you, and have confirm'd it by many strong and weighty Reasons and Arguments; I shall now endeavour to apply it, and make use of it.

Ʋse 1. By way of Confutation. Po­pish Commentators do strain this Text to favour Auricular Confession, without any colour, shew or shadow of Reason for so doing: For it plainly and naturally re­spects Confession of Sin made to God, and not in the Ears of a Priest. Our Church indeed advises in her seasonable and excellent Exhortation before the Communion, That if any Person's Mind be troubled and uneasie, and his Consci­ence burden'd and unsatisfied, and he can­not find ease and relief, and quiet his own [Page 160] Conscience by any means used by himself, but requireth further Comfort or Counsel; he should go to his own, or to some other dis­creet and learned Minister of God's Word, and open his Grief, that by the Ministry of God's Holy Word he may receive the Bene­fit of Absolution, together with Ghostly Counsel and Advice, to the quieting of his Conscience, and avoiding of all Scruple and Doubtfulness.

But the Church of Rome binds all Men in Conscience, by a Law made, to make a particular, special Confession to a Priest, of all their mortal Sins committed after Baptism, ev'n of their most secret and hidden Sins, with all Circumstances that change the kind, and alter the nature of the Sin, as far as possibly they can call, and bring them to remembrance, upon due Premeditation, and a diligent Exami­nation of themselves. And, once every Year at the least, to confess to a Priest (unless it be in the case of extream neces­sity) all such Sins, and heightning Cir­cumstances, which they have been guilty of since they were last shriven. They call for the particularizing of Sins, and the explication and manifestation of all aggravating Circumstances, that the Priest [Page 161] (as they pretend) may judge of the weight and merit of every Fault, and know how to impose a condign Penance, and to enjoyn a convenient and corre­spondent Satisfaction. Tho' the Truth is, the Priests have no Authority to impose what Penances they shall think fit: Nor have they Ability, presently and on a sudden, to weigh Things so exactly and evenly, as to order and appoint Penances just and equal, answerable and propor­tionable to the Sins confess'd. And it is apparent, and well known, how slight and trisling and ridiculous the Confessors often are in the Penances they enjoin for Sins of a very high nature. And all their hu­man Satisfactions, tho' intended only for the Temporal Punishment due to Sin in Purgatory, are highly injurious to the full and perfect Satisfaction of Christ. This Confession of Sins to the Priest, is that which the Papists speak so much of in all their Catechisms, tho' God says not one word of it in all the Scriptures. St. James indeed bids us confess our faults one to another, (James 5.16.) But this is reciprocal, and obliges as well the Priest to make Confession to us, as any of us to do it to the Priest. And when it is [Page 162] said, that a great number were baptized, confessing their sins, (Matt. 3.6.) And that many that believed came and confessed, and shewed their deeds; (Acts 19.18.) Their Confession then was voluntary and unconstrained; and was made in general, and surely not very particularly, as to Sins and Circumstances, by so many Persons, as flocked together upon those occasi­ons.

The Law of Auricular Confession, as it is now practised, is a human invention, and was first inacted and instituted by the Council of Lateran under Innocent the Third, twelve hundred Years after Christ. God in his Word does not command it; yet they require it under the Penalty of Excommunication, and make the neglect thereof mortal. They make it abso­lutely necessary to the procuring and ob­taining Pardon and Forgiveness. They place much Merit and Sanctity in it. And attribute a Judicial Authority to the Priest to forgive Sins, which is a Power peculiar to God himself. And affirm, that Attrition only, or, a slight Sorrow for fear of Hell, sufficiently qualifies for Absolution. And the customary Practise of absolving all that confess, tho' guilty of [Page 163] frequent Relapses, without any probable, hopeful Signs of a real Change in 'em, does invite and encourage habitual Sinners to put their trust, and to rest in the Priest's Absolution, without hearty Repentance, and Sincere purposes of Reformation. They make Confession to a Priest, one of the three essential Parts of Repentance, tho' it be no Part, nor Argument of true Repentance. A very Hypocrite may make Auricular Confession to a Priest, as Saul did to Samnel, (1 Sam. 15.24, 30.) But he cannot find in his Heart to go and humble himself to God, in confes­sing his Sins to him with a broken and contrite Heart. They do not reckon the hearty Confession of our daily Sins to God sufficient and available for our Salva­tion: Nor do they press it as a Matter of so great Necessity, or Utility, as the Confession of Sins to a Priest is. They account it a Sacrament, tho' it want Di­vine Institution, and have not the Nature and Parts of a Sacrament. There is no­thing given to Man in their Sacrament of Penance, which can have the use of an external Sign, and serve to represent any Spiritual Thing. How absurd is it here, to put the Acts of the Penitent, [Page 164] and Operation of the Receiver, for, as it were, the Matter, and a Part of the Sacrament! They make Confession to a Priest necessary to Salvation, when it is not necessary to any good End and Purpose, nor fit and convenient to be used at all. For, the Injunction of it is the Exercise of a Spiritual Tyranny; and proves, in the effect of it, a Torturing of the Minds, and a Racking of the Consciences of Men. It gives Occasion of many indecent and un­seemly, filthy and immodest Questions and Answers in the Confession of some Sins. And is an Artifice and Contrivance inven­ted and excogitated to discover Secrets, to keep the People in Fear and Awe, to get Gain and Profit, and inrich that co­vetous and ambitious See with great and large Revenues.

CHAP. XIII. The second Ʋse, of Examination and Reproof together.

1. WE have heard, it's the Duty of every Sinner to confess and ac­knowledge his Sins to God; but, I'm afraid, many of us, who know too too well how to sin, are, notwithstanding, great Strangers to, and very much unac­quainted with Confession of Sin. How many are wholly wanting and defective, as to the performance of this Duty, in pri­vate especially? How many confess not at all, but are altogether neglective of the Duty it self, as if there were no such great need of Confession? How few of us per­form it as we ought, and order our Con­fession aright before God? Who of us make it our daily Practise, impartially to accuse our selves only? Are not most of us ready and apt to shift off our sins from our selves, and if not to lay them upon God himself, yet confidently to charge them upon Satan, or to impute them to other [Page 166] Men, as if any without us had an abso­lute impulsive power over us, and could force us to sin whether we would or no? Which of us make our own Hearts lusts and corruptions, rather than the Devil's sug­gestions, or wicked Men's seductions, to be the proper Cause and Ground of our sins? Which of us, in Confession, do daily rip up our own Hearts, and thorowly open our selves to God, and clearly manifest our bosom, gremial sin to him? Han't we been impudently bold in sinning, and yet asham'd to confess when we have sinn'd? Which of us all represent our sins in their own Colours, and aggravate them with their most heinous and notorious Circumstances? Do we not hide our cursed Achan, and conceal our particular beloved Lust, and lessen and diminish our sins, and make a very light and a small mat­ter of them? Who of us daily judge and condemn our selves for our sins, and own the Curse that is due to us for our sins, and kiss the Rod that lashes us for our sins, and accept of the punishment of our ini­quity, and bless God that we are yet on this side Hell, which we deserve? Have we not made Apologies for our sins, instead of making Confession of them? Have we [Page 167] notVitia nostra, quia amamus, de­fendimus, & malumus excusare il­la, quam excutere. Sen. ep. 116 excused, instead of accusing; justi­fied instead of condemning our selves? Some of us that have confessed, how hard­ly were we brought to it? How unwilling­ly did we go about it? Were we not ra­ther forcibly driven to it, by suffering some heavy punishment for sin, than sweetly and kindly mov'd to it, out of a deep sence of the evil Nature of our sin, and the tender workings of a sincere love and affection unto God? Have we not been humiliati magis quam humiles, humbled and brought low by the hand of God, ra­ther than humble and lowly in our own Souls? How little of the Heart has been in most of our Humiliations? Have we not often confess'd our sins without a Trouble, or a Blush, without any Hatred of, Shame, and Sorrow for, or full and firm Resolution against them? Have we not frequently confess'd our sins without any earnest Desires of Pardon, without any lively actings of Faith and Hope in Divine Mercy? Have not most of our Confessions been meerly the vain Bablings of careless, and secure Men, that only, out of Custom and Formality, mumble out a few words against themselves to God, without any true sence and feeling of [Page 168] what they speak? Have we not usually confess'd in a slight and perfunctory man­ner, unbecoming the weightiness of the Duty, and rested a long time in a meer overly, superficial performance of it, as if any Confession would serve our turn? Let us duly examine our selves, and, I believe, we shall find cause enough to confess over all our Confessions, and to hum­ble our selves for all our Humiliations.

CHAP. XIV. The Third Ʋse, of Exhortation. Three Motives taken out of the Text: (1.) If we confess, God will forgive us our sins. (2.) He will also cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. What is meant by Cleansing. This Benefit nothing inferior to the former. (3.) God's Faithfulness and Justice do stand engag'd to make good the promised Blessings to us. God condescends to confirm his Promises, be­cause there are two things which make us prone to distrust, especially his Par­doning Mercy: (1.) Our own contrary Nature and Practise. (2.) The due con­sideration of our heinous Sins and high Provocations.

Ʋse 3 A Third Ʋse shall be of Ex­hortation; seriously and earn­estly to provoke and press you to the practice and performance of this necessary Duty. As there are, in points of Faith, fundamental Doctrines, so there are, in [Page 170] points of Practice, fundamental Duties; and among them, none more necessary to Salvation than this of true Confession.

Having already given you Ten Reasons, which may well serve as so many Motives, I shall now use no other inducements, to excite and quicken you to the Duty, than those which the Apostle brings here in the Text; and, methinks, those great Benefits, and blessed Privileges of Con­fession, may easily and effectually prevail with you, to put you upon the practise and exercise of it.

1 Mot. First then: Let us confess, be­cause, if we confess, God will forgive us our sins. God both can, and will forgive sin­cere, Self-humbling Penitents.

God can forgive sins, by reason of his Sovereign Authority: And his Wisdom hath pitch'd upon the most convenient way of Pardoning Sinners, admirably providing therein for the greatest Honour of his Attributes and Laws; (which otherwise would have been in great danger of be­ing slighted and contemn'd) and for his attaining the ends of Government, by de­terring [Page 171] Men from sin; (which he, this way, plainly testifies and demonstrates his extream hatred of, and severity against, by the most notable Example of his Vindictive Justice) and by engaging Men to Holiness and new Obedience for the future. God hath an eye and respect to all this, in Re­laxing the Penal Law, and taking off its Obligation, upon a valuable Consideration, sc. the bitter Sufferings, and bloody Death of the Holy Jesus, his only and dearly beloved Son, when, at his Fathers Com­mandment, he voluntarily assumed our Guilt, and substituted himself a Sacrifice for Sin, in our room and stead. Now God can, as Rector and Governor of the World, and the Supream Judge offend­ed, most Honourably dispence with the Law, (which says, The Soul that sinneth shall die) upon Account of Christ's per­fect, sufficient Satisfaction, and the com­pleat Compensation, and full Amends made by him, for the wrong done to God by the sins of Men. Which Dispensation does not in the least invite and encourage Men to continue in Sin, but leads them to Re­pentance, Reformation, and Amendment of Life; to a dying to sin, as Christ died for it; and to a2 Cor. 5.15. living henceforth, not [Page 172] unto themselves, but unto him which died for us. For since God has taken this Course, and used this Method, Men have reason to conclude, (which is the excellent arguing of the learnedDe Satis­fact. Christi, cap. 5. Grotius▪ That if God would not pardon the sins, no not of Penitent Sinners, unless Christ did stand in their stead, to bear the punishment, much less will he suffer con­tumacious Sinners, to go unpunished.

And further; God can forgive sins, by reason of his abundant Mercy. None may despair, and say, Their sins are greater than can be forgiven.

And as God is able, so he is willing to for­give. If God would not, upon any terms, have remitted the Eternal Punishment and Death due to Sinners, all Religion had been extinguished; the Fear, and Worship, and Service of God, had for ever utterly perish'd from off the Earth, thro' Mens despair of future Felicity; but God is good and gra­cious, propense to Pity, Mercy, and Cle­mency; and ready to help, relieve, and make sinful and miserable Man happy. Mercy pleaseth him: He delighteth in Mercy, (Mic. 7. 18.) If it were not so, he would not have sent his Son, into the World, to make Satisfaction, and purchase Remission: He would never have made, [Page 173] and established a New Covenant, a Cove­nant of Grace; never have offered Mercy so freely in the Gospel, as he does; com­manding his Ministers to preach Remission of Sins, and proclaim a General Pardon to all that will accept of it, upon the ne­cessary, reasonable, mild and gentle Terms and Conditions of Faith and Repentance, and beseeching Sinners to accept of Par­don, and be reconciled to himself; and recording, and transmitting such Illustrious Examples of his marvellous, rich pardon­ing Mercy, as we find evidently set forth in the compassionate Father's kind car­riage towards his wild, loose, extrava­gant, Prodigal Son, (Luk. 15.) in the Parable of the two Debtors, (Mat. 18.) and particularly, and eminently, in St. Paul, who for this cause obtained Mercy, that in him, first, Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering, for a Pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting, 1 Tim. 1.16.) It is part of God's Name, by which he makes himself known; the Lord God, forgiving iniquity, and transgression and sin, (Ex. 34.7.)

God is strongly inclined, and fully re­solv'd to pardon all sorts and kinds of sin, which we humbly and heartily confess to [Page 174] him. 2 Sam. 12.13. David said unto Na­than, I have sinned against the Lord; and Nathan, from God, said unto David; the Lord hath also put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. Nay, what saith David him­self? (Psalm 32.5.) I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, says he, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. I said, in my heart; I firmly purposed and resolved; I said, I will confess; not, I have confessed; and thou forgavest. No Word of Confession was yet in my Mouth, but God's Ear was already in my Heart. SoEnar. 2. in Ps. 32. St. Au­stin descants and paraphrases on the Words. Note further; in David it is only actus inchoatus; but it is actus consummatus in God: There was no sooner a sincere pur­pose on David's Part, but there was a real effect an actual performance on God's Part: David did but say he would confess, and God forgave the Iniquity of his Sin. And so the Prodigal did but say, I will arise, and go to my Father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned; and we find, that when he was yet a great way off, his Fa­ther saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, Luke 15.18, 19, 20. So ready and forward is our heavenly Father to be friends with [Page 175] us, and reconciled to us, upon our hum­ble Submission and penitent Confession. And hence it is, that David makes his readiness to confess, a ground of his hope in Prayer; Psalm 51.1.2, 3. Have mercy upon me, blot out my transgressions; for I ac­knowledge my transgressions. If the poor Sinner will but go to God in Confession, as the Servants of Benhadad went with Ropes about their Necks to Ahab in be­half of their Master, with such Words as these; Lord, thy Servant saith, I pray thee, let me live; then Christ (who is King of Kings, the Lord of Life, and Judge of Life and Death, he) presently returns the same Answer to the Sinner, that Ahab did to Benhadad; 1 Kings 20.32. Is he yet alive? he is my Brother. God the Fa­therr says, Is he yet alive? he is my Son: And Jesus Christ, our Elder Brother, he says, Is he yet alive? he is my Brother. And here's a sweet and comfortable En­tertainment of a poor returning penitent Confessor.

If we confess, God will not only reprieve us, but fully pardon us; he'll not only defer Punishment, but remit it wholly, and quite absolve us: If we remember our Sins in the presence of God, God will forget [Page 176] them; if we set them before our face, before his face, he'll cast them behind his back; he'll never look upon them more, so as to take Vengeance for them; tho' he he cannot but, by reason of his Omni­science, see and discern them. If we, with Shame and Sorrow accuse our selves, he'll cancel the Bills of Accusation, and throw the Records of Shame and Sor­row from the Court of Heaven. He'll fully dissolve our Obligation to Eternal Punishment, and certainly give us a right to Impunity, and eternal Life: If we take with us Words, and turn to the Lord, he will take away all Iniquity, and receive us graciously. Tho' he leave our Sin in our Memory, to keep us from relapsing; yet he will take it out of our Conscience, that our Hearts may not accuse us for it: But that we may call our Sins to mind,Quid re­tribuam Domino, quòd r [...]o­lit haec me­moria mea, & snims meavo [...] metui [...] in­de? Au­gust. Con­fes. L. 2. c. 7. § 1. without being affrighted at the Conside­ration of them. And is no the pardon­ing, pacifying Grace, and Mercy of God, Argument enough to us to draw us spee­dily to confess?

We are deeply indebted to God: We owe him a vast Sum; not an hundred Pence, but ten thousand Talents, (Matth. 18.24.) And we can never work our [Page 177] selves out of Debt. Our Creditor can prove every Particular of the Debt, and we are wholly in his Hands, and at his Mercy; he has us in his Power, and can take what Course he will with us: Now if he cast us into Prison, we shall lie there long enough, and never come out a­gain, for we are never able to pay and discharge our Debt. Augustus the Em­peror, when a certain Roman's Goods were to be sold after his Death, sent to buy the Pillow, on which that Person, greatly indebted, could, in his life-time, take his rest and sleep. 'Tis a wonder, that we, who are clogg'd with so many and great Spiritual Debts, can sleep, or eat, or drink, or take any ease or rest, content or plea­sure in the World, till we have used the means to procure a Discharge from them, Certainly the longer we lie in our Debts, the more they will encrease upon us. But how do we deserve to be arrested, imprisoned, and there to lie and perish to all Eternity, if we won't so much as confess our Debts to have them forgi­ven! When as God calls upon us to ac­knowledge our Sins, and is ready to blot out as a thick Cloud our Transgressions, and as a Cloud our Sins.

We are greatly guilty before God, and if Guilt lie upon us, it will surely sink us as low as Hell: We are obnoxious to the Divine Justice, and it's a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the living God: O let us timely confess our Sins, that so we may get into God's Favour, and be delivered from the Wrath to come; and may escape the Damnation of Hell. Let's be like some ingenuous Children and Servants, who when they have done a Fault, or broken any thing, they can't go about their Business quietly, till they have first gone and made known their Fault, and told it their Father or Master themselves; and when once that is past and over, then they can follow their Em­ployments chearfully, without any fear of Anger or Chiding: O go and tell your God the Truth; tell your Heaven­ly Father and Master whatever you have done amiss; and he'll be pacified towards you; and then you may walk chearful­ly and comfortably in your Christian Vo­cation.

Let this move you to confess, because then God will forgive; if you impute Sin to your self, God will not impute it to you: And this is a happy Priviledge; [Page 179] Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord im­puteth not iniquity; blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered; says the penitent ProphetPsal. 32.1, 2, David, who had tasted and seen how good the Pardon of Sin is. What Solace, Comfort, and Heart's Ease, what a sweet, refreshing Repose and Rest, Day and Night, has he, who is, upon good grounds, perswaded, that all his Criminal Debts are freely forgiven him, all his sins remitted by God, for the sake of his Surety, Jesus Christ the Righteous.

2 Mot. A Second Motive or Encou­ragement shall be taken from that other precious Priviledge here in the Text; be­cause if we confess our Sins, God will not only forgive us our our Sins, but will also cleanse us from all unrighteousness; which cleansing is another BenefitVid. Calvin. in loc. plain­ly differing from that of forgiving.

Kings may pardon guilty Rebels and Traitors, but they cannot turn or change their false and disloyal Hearts; Judges may save condemn'd Malefactors from Execution, but it's quite beyond their Power to mend or alter their evil Quali­ties and naughty Disposition. But be­hold [Page 180] the King of Kings doth always both together: When ever he reconciles Men's Persons, he also reconciles their Natures to himself: Whom he frees from Punish­ment, them he ever makes most faithful and obedient: Whom he saves from suf­fering, them he also preserves from sin­ning: Whom he justifies, them he sancti­fies: Where he takes off the guilt, there he takes out the filth: Whom he pardons, them he purges: Whose trespasses he freely forgives, them he effectually cleanses from all unrighteousness.

Cleansing speaks motion and tendency to­wards Purity: To cleanse us from all unrighteousness, is to cleanse us from all impurity: Now that is double;See Dr. Ham­mond's Sermon, Of the Ne­c ssity of the Chri­stia [...]'s Cleansing, p. 121. and his Pract. Cat. p. 95. in 4 [...]. either of filth, or of mixture; as Water is impure, when it is mudded and defiled; and as the Wine is impure, both before it's fetcht off from the Lees or Dregs, and when it is mingled with Water: So the clean­sing here, it is the purging out of our Car­nality, and also the freeing of us from Hypocrisie: St. John's cleansing here from all unrighteousness, it is the same with St. Paul's cleansing from all filthiness, both of flesh and spirit, 2 Cor. 7.1. It is a pur­gation from all moral impurity.

Further; by cleansing, you are not on­ly to understand the working out of Sin, but the giving in of Grace too; God will not only free you from pollution and defilement, natural, and contracted; but he will also inwardly beautifie and adorn you; he will not only sweep the dirt out of the House, but he will also richly furnish it: The Father of the re­turning Prodigal did not only cause his Son's Rags to be taken off;Luke 15.22. but com­manded his Servants to bring forth the best Robe, and to put it on him, and to put a Ring on his Hand, and Shoes on his Feet. If you return, and confess your Faults to your heavenly Father, he'll cause you to put off the old Man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts; and presently to put on the new Man, which after God is created in Righteous­ness, and true Holiness: You shall be comely, through his comeliness put upon you: He will stamp his own Image, im­press his own Likeness upon you: He'll give you a real Resemblance of himself, in his Attributes, in his Affections; He'll make you loving, patient, merciful, faith­ful, as he himself is, and cause you to love what he himself loves, to hate what [Page 182] he hates, to delight in what he delights: He will effect and work in you all pos­sible amiable Correspondencies to the Divine Perfections: He'll make you con­formable to his most pure and holy Na­ture, which is our great Exemplar, and perfect Pattern of Spiritual Purity; and to his holy and good Law; which is not only the Rule, but the veryThe fil­thiness of Sin is a privation of the beauty which the Image of God brought into the Soul with it: A de­formity to the Holiness and Brightness of the Law. The Law was both Ho­ly and Good, not only the Rule, but the Beauty of our Life and Nature; so that as evil is a declination and swerving from the Law as a Rule, so it is sin; and as it is a swerving from the Law, as our Beauty, so it is the stain and pol­lution of the Soul. Bp. Reynolds of the Sinfulness of Sin, p. 171. fol. Beauty of our Life, and Nature.

The cleansing here, it is the changing of the whole Man from Sin to Grace, from vicious Habits to holy Customs, and vertuous Dispositions; it denotes not only a lessening of the habits of Sin, but a causing a positive growth in Grace and Righteousness.

Now this God will work for him and in him that confesses aright: God giveth Grace unto the humble, Jam. 4.6. We read Luke 17.14. that when Christ bid the ten Lepers go shew themselves unto the Priests; It came to pass, that as they went they were cleansed: If we have it but in our Hearts unfeignedly to confess, God will presently send his Holy Spirit into [Page 183] our Hearts, and will effectually make clean our Hearts within us; he will sprinkle clean Water upon us, and we shall be clean; he'll purge the Augean Stable of our impure Souls, which has not been made clean for many Years toge­ther. He'll cleanse and purifie every part of us; he'll wash, not our Feet on­ly (as Christ did of Peter's Body but also our Hands, and our Heads, and our Hearts too: He'll1 Thess. 5.23. sanctifie us wholly; and preserve our whole Spirit, and Soul, and Body blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.Eph. 5.26, 27. He'll sanctifie and cleanse us by his Word and Spirit, that we may be presented glorious, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that we may be holy and without blemish. If we confess our Sins to God, he'll Spiritually cleanse us; cleanse us from Ʋnrighteousness; yea, more than so; he'll thorowly cleanse us; cleanse us from all Ʋnrighteousness. Vid. Cal­vinum in loc. & Esti­um in Text. & in v. 7. He'll pre­sently cleanse us from all kinds of Un­righteousness; and at last he will com­pleatly cleanse us from every degree, from all the Reliques of Unrighteousness.

This Consideration should powerfully induce us to confess and acknowledge [Page 184] our sins, because then God will not only forgive, but cleanse us.

And truly, this Benefit is nothing infe­rior to the former; but, it may be, some of us had rather be without it, and would more prize and value the first alone. I'm afraid, some of us (without all respect to the Word or Promises of God) would have Pardon from him, without Grace; and Forgiveness of sin, without Purgation from sin. It may be, some of us are so deeply in love with our Lusts, that we had rather put God's Mercy to the venture, than receive and admit his Grace into our Hearts; rather still keep our Guilt, than not keep our Sin: but know, that when­ever you refuse internal Grace, you are cruel to your own Souls, and forsake your own Mercies; for Purity is the lovely re­semblance, the beautiful Image of God, a real participation of the Divine Nature, the greatest Perfection of our own Nature, and a main part of our Happiness. Sancti­ty and Holiness qualifies us for Heaven, and makes us meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in light:Heb. 12.14. With­out holiness no man shall see the Lord. Cleansing is as necessary to Salvation as forgiving: If I wash thee not, said Christ [Page 185] to Peter; if I purifie not thy Affections, (which is meant and signified by my wash­ing of thy feet) thou hast no part with me; thou canst receive no benefit from me.

Now whoever thou be'st that art tho­rowly convinc'd of sin, and so art desirous of Purity, as well as Pardon; of freedom from Filth, as well as from Guilt; thou see'st here, the ready way to obtain it is to go to God in Confession. If any won't freely and fully confess, God will in Judg­ment pronounce concerning him; when shall He that is unjust, let him be un­just still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. Confess and bewail thy filthi­ness, that thou may'st be purged and clean­sed from it, and not suffer'd to lie and die in it.Isa. 6.5. As the Prophet cried, Woe is me, I am undone, because I am a man of unclean Lips: So do thou say, Wo is me, I am un­done, because I am a Man of an unclean Heart, of an unclean Life; and therefore unfit to stand before a holy, holy, holy God; unfit to see, and enjoy him, and draw nigh to him. If thou would'st be cleans'd, thou mustLevit. 13.45. cry out with the Leper in the Law, Ʋnclean, Ʋnclean; andMat. 8.2. with the Leper in the Gospel too, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean; [Page 186] thou canst heal, and dry up the Fountain of leprosie in my heart; thou canst pre­pare new Jordans of Grace, beyond all the Rivers of Damascus in the World; thou canst bathe and wash me in a Spiri­tual Bethesda, which never fails to make all whole, all clean that are put into it: Thou canst purge and rinse my Soul, and fetch out all my spots and stains. Go to God, and say, Lord, thou wast won't to say to me, Wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be? Jer. 13.27.) Be­hold, I now say to thee, Wilt thou not make me clean? When, when shall it once be? Go to God, and confess your forlorn fil­thiness, and acknowledge his Power, and produce his Promise to cleanse and purify you, and profess and declare your hearty willingness to be made clean; and when thou art cleans'd in any measure, labour so far to keep thy self clean; and be sure to maintain a due apprehension, and deep sence of thy remaining pollution; and seek to God, and wait upon him, in the use of his own appointed means, for the daily promoting and furthering of thy Clean­sing.

I have hitherto invited and encourag'd you to confess, by setting before you the [Page 187] Priviledges and Benefits that are annex'd to the Duty.

I shall further enforce my Exhortation, by shewing you the certainty of these Be­nefits to be bestowed, of these Priviledges to be made good; God's Faithfulness and Justice stand strongly engag'd to bring all about, to see all perform'd, And there­fore (3.)

3. Mot. Let us confess our sins, because, if we confess, God is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse us. God has not only promis'd it, but he has confirm'd and established his Promise, by engaging his Faithfulness and his Justice. One would think, God's bare Word might well be taken without any more ado; that God might easily be believed without his using any Asseveration; but there's very good reason here for God's seconding his single Word with the mention of his Faithful­ness and Justice, in making of it good: For there are two things, which are like­ly to make Men of an hard and difficult belief, especially in the business of Par­don and forgiveness of sins.

[Page 188]1. Our own contrary Nature, and Pra­ctise. We can scarce be drawn to believe, that there is such a thing on God's part towards us, because we find so little of it in our selves towards others; for ordina­rily we think as we feel, and measure, and judge of others by our selves. Our own base Principles and Dispositions are ready to beget in us great fears, and jealousies, and suspicions of another. We are per­sons ill-meaning our selves, and therefore are apt to think hardly of others, to make the worst interpretation of another's mind and meaning. Thus it is very hard to believe contrary to our own Sence and Ex­perience; we feeling an averseness and backwardness in our selves to pardon o­thers, this raises in our Minds an Argu­ment against God's pardoning and forgi­giving us. We are afraid, lest God should ev'n serve us, as we serve others; lest God should deal with us, as we are ready to deal with others.

2. The due consideration of the heinous nature, and high provocation of our sins. When once we begin to think with our selves, how infinitely great and glorious, [Page 189] holy and just that God is, whom we have so foully and frequently offended; when we thorowly look into the ugliness and deformity, and seriously weigh the ex­tream demeritoriousness and punishable­ness of our sins; is not it hard here, for an awaken'd Conscience to perswade it self, that he who has us in his power to destroy us, and has provocation enough to do it, should yet not only at present for­bear striking us, but also forget the wrong and forgive us. He that is fully convin­ced of sin, finds it the hardest thing in the World to believe this. And this occa­sion'd Luther to say,Dicere se peccatorem esse, & ta­men non desperare, omnino di­vina virtus est. Lu­ther. loc. com. de paeni­tent. Christian. p. 130. 2 Clas. That Man acts wholly above a Man, that can call himself a Sinner without Desperation.

Vid. Cal­vin. in Text.It greatly concerns us, to be cer­tainly perswaded, and well satisfy'd, of God's readiness to pardon Penitent Sin­ners; for otherwise, we shall constantly carry a Hell within us.

And hence it is, that God industriously confirms and strengthens his Promise, that so he may banish our fears, and an­swer our objections. God in the Gospel makes all provision that can be, for the full assuring the penitent Person of his [Page 190] grace and favour, because the Sinner has so much^(a) temptation to distrust it. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

Faithful, in standing to his Word, and in keeping his Covenant made with us, of pardoning the sins of penitent Con­fessors. He is Faithful; and Just.

Just in a fourfold sence.

1. God is Just and Righteous to for­give, in the sence that Righteousness is all one with^(b) Goodness, Mildness, Merci­fulness. If we confess, God is so good and gracious as to forgive.

2. Just to forgive,^{(c c)} in considera­tion of Christ's Satisfaction, fully and per­fectly performed for us, and, upon our penitent, faithful Confession, made over to us for our use and benefit. But in this sence,^{(c c)} God is more properly Just to Christ than to us; for he, not we, did [Page 191] make Satisfaction to God the Father, and purchase Pardon and Grace for us.

3. God is Just to forgive; Just ^{(d e)} in fulfilling his gracious Promise of forgive­ness and cleansing. And so, Faithful and Just here are Synonymous terms, and sig­nifie one and the same thing.^{(d e)} God by his Word and Promise binds himself, and gives a Right to the Penitent Sinner; and it is a part of Justice to make good his Promise. A Promise is a Debt, tho' freely made; and it is just to perform what is mercifully promised. And therefore, when God had given the Land of the Canaanites to Abraham's Seed, as he had promised, it is said in the 9th of Nehem. 8. Thou hast performed thy words, for thou art righte­ous.

4. God may be said to be Just here, in respect of his Remunerative Justice: He is Just in rewarding the performers of the Condition, and giving what his Pro­mise had made their Due upon such per­formance. [Page 192] So a Judicious Divine occa­sionally interprets this Scripture.

God is Faithful and Just to forgive, Faithful and Just. Solomon (who had strictly observ'd, and particularly com­par'd what God had spoken, and what he had done for his People Israel) will tell you, there was not a Promise unper­form'd: 1 King. 8.56. There has not fallen, says he, or fail'd one word of al his good promise, which he promis'd by the hand of Moses his servant. And therefore God's Mercies are call'd the sure mercies of David. And God stiles himselfExod. 34.6. abundant in goodness and truth. 1 Jam. 17. With him is no variable­ness, neither shadow of turning. If God has promis'd, he will perform:Nam. 23.19. God is not a man that he should lye, neither the son of man that he should repent: Has he said it, and shall he not do it? Or has he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Mat. 5.18. & 24.35. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle of God's word shall pass away unfulfilled.

Yea for our further and fuller security and satisfaction, God has not only ex­presly promis'd it, but has also sworn it, that,Ezek. 33.11. as he lives, the penitent Confitent [Page 193] shall not die, but live. When God says, As I live, he earnestly desires to be believed. O happy we, saysDe Pae­nitent. c. 4. Tertullian, for whose sake the Lord does swear! O miserable we, if we won't believe him, when we have not only his Word, but Oath!

Now since God has so graciously con­descended to our weakness, and has so fully satisfied us of his love and good will to­wards us, let not us be wanting in per­forming the Condition on our part, be­cause God can never be wanting in ma­king good, and performing the Promise on his part: For if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous­ness.

CHAP. XV. A double Direction, by way of Preparation to the Duty of Confession. (1.) Preme­ditate as much as you can, in order to Confession. (2.) Be sure to look up un­to God for Conviction.

HAving hitherto perswaded you to set upon the performance of this Duty, I shall now give you some Directions about it, that so the performance of it may be the more acceptable unto God, and the more profitable to your selves.

I have thought upon somewhat which may serve to direct you (1.) before the Duty, in your Preparation to it. (2.) Con­cerning some Circumstances of the very Peformance of it. (3.) And lastly, In your carriage and behaviour after the Duty.

1. Before Confession, take these two Preparatory Directions.

1. Premeditate as much as you can in order to Confession.

[Page 195]2. Be sure to look up unto God for Con-Conviction.

1. Meditate before you confess.

Much is the fruit, great is the benefit of this Direction, I shall shew you a fourfold Benefit of it

1. Previous Meditation works the heart into a solemn, serious, confessing frame and temper. Confession, it's the pouring out of the Heart before God; now previous Meditation even melts the Sinner's Heart, fits and prepares it to be poured out. Alas! our Stomach at first is too big to confess our sin, to acknowledge our selves in a fault; for this is an act of Humility, of yielding and submitting to another, which we naturally scorn to do, and won't be brought to, till our Heart be broken, till our Stomach be pull'd down; which is kindly wrought, effectually done by Meditation: by considering the Sove­reignty of God over us; his Power to make a Law, and to command us the obser­vance of it; by bethinking our selves, how much to our own Advantage the [Page 196] keeping of this Law would have been both here and hereafter; and yet that we have wilfully broken this holy, and just, and good Law, and so made our selves obnoxious to Divine Justice: Considering after all this, that it is not in vain to con­fess what we have done, our Heart can­not but be now ready, our Mouth can­not but be open, to confess the extream sinfulness of our sins. Thus you see how Premeditation puts us upon Confes­sion, and makes us willingly buckle to the Duty, by shewing us the Reasonableness and Profitableness of the performance of it.

2. Meditation; as it puts the Sinner upon Confession, so it affords and mini­sters abundant Mat er for Confession. He that meditates before he confesses, is ve­ry well furnished in his Confession: He is not at a stand, he is not to seek for what he should confess next; he sees e­nough in himself, to complain of himself for unto God. It's this Mediation that fills up the Bill of Indictment with so many Items. Meditation; it fully and clearly discovers our sins to us: It's the bringing the Elephant to the Water, and the shew­ing [Page 197] of him there the ugliness and deformi­ty of hisLerg Scout. Proboscis. The Water is the Law; now by Meditation, we compare our selves with the Law of God, and our Practises with its Commands and In­junctions; and so we see how hugely de­ficient how very far short we are of our several Duties. Meditation is the Hand which holds the Glass of the Law before us, in which we plainly behold our own Faces, and see all the spots and blemishes we have contracted. Meditation is the perambulation of the Mind thro' the whole course of a Man's old Life: It's a reflection upon, a recollection and recognition of our former actions. When we have by solemn Meditation read over the Book of our past life, turn'd over and examin'd the several leafs of it, and so made good observation of our former Conversation, then shall we be best able, in our Confes­sion, to set down justly our Errata's, and to give our God a penitential relation of our miscarriages.

3. Meditation, as it brings in Matter, so it begets Affection. Psal. 39.3. While I was mu­sing, says David, the fire burned; then spake I with my tongue. It holds true in [Page 198] Confession, as well as in any other part of Prayer.

4. Meditation, as it gives us a sight of our sins, and so lays in Matter for Confes­sion, so it gives us a sight of God's Pro­mises, freely made unto penitent Confes­sors, and so chears, and strengthens, and bears up our Hearts in Confession, by shewing us what Attribute of God, what Promise in his Word, is most suitable, most comfortable to us in our present condition, and fittest to be pleaded with God in Confession. Let us therefore prepare our selves to Confession by premeditation, with­out which we can never confess as we ought. But yet,

2. Let's not rest in our Premeditation; but let's be sure to call in the Assistance of the Spirit, in our very entrance upon the Duty of Confession: Let's beg of God, that he would give us his holy Spirit to con­vince us of sin. We can never be able to tell our Dreams, unless we be well awa­ken'd by the illightning, convincing Spirit of God. Let's look upon our selves as poor, dark, blind Creatures, and seek to God to be anointed with Spiritual Eye­salve, [Page 199] that we may see: Let every one of us cry to God,Job 34.32. That which I see not, teach thou me; and say with Job, Job 13.23. How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin: to know it in the Kind, in the Nature, in the Effects and issues of it: to know it so, as to be sufficiently sensible of the great Evil and Danger of it. Go to God for a sight of your sins, when you go about to confess them:Prov. 16.1. The preparations of the heart in man are from the Lord.

So much for your Direction before Con­fession; Give your self to Meditation, in order to Confession, and look up unto God for Conviction.

CHAP. XVI. Directions given concerning some Circumstan­ces of the very Performance of this Duty. (1.) Concerning the Time and Season of Confession. (1.) Confess continually. (2.) Confess daily. The Equity and Advan­tage of so doing. (3.) And more parti­cularly; Confess whenever you lye under any notable Conviction. (4.) Confess whenever you lye under any notable Af­fliction. (5.) Confess presently upon the Commission of any great sin. (6.) Con­fess presently upon the Receipt of any great Mercy. (2.) Concerning the Place where we should confess. Let's especially confess our sins in secret; and that for a three­fold Reason. (1.) Because private Con­fession is plainly necessary. (2.) 'Tis very convenient: There is a double Advantage in it. (3.) The most Secret is likely to be the most Sincere Confession.

I Shall, in the second place, direct you concerning some Circumstances of the very performance of this Duty: And first, [Page 201] Concerning the Time when. (2.) Con­cerning the Place where we should con­fess.

1. Concerning the Time and Season of Confession, take these Directions:

1. Confess continually: As the Apostle says,1 Thes. 5.17. Pray without ceasing. So say I, Confess without ceasing: Be always in a confessing frame and temper: Frequently send up Ejaculatory Confessions to the Throne of Grace: Continually walk humbly with thy God, under a deep sence of thy own vileness, sinfulness, and unworthi­ness.

2. Confess daily. This is a Debt, that every day grows due to God. Thou art a daily Sinner, and if every day thou findest time to sin, O be sure you spare time to confess your sin. We daily add sin unto sin, and therefore let's daily add sorrow to sorrow; and renew our Con­fession, as we renew our Transgression. Let's pitch upon some set and stated Times for the daily solemn sisting of our selves before God, and the making a faithful ac­knowledgment of our sins to him. Un­der [Page 202] the Law, there was appointed both Exod. 20.39. a Morning and an Evening-Sacrifice every Day; of which the Hebrew Doctors say, The continual Sacrifice of the Morning, made atonement for the iniquities that were done in the Night; and the Evening. Sacrifice made atonement for the iniqui­ties that were by Day. This daily, dou­ble Sacrifice and Service, is a good Pattern for double Devotion every Day.

We must acknowledge every Day the sins of that Day; and we should do well daily to make a particular Confession of some of the greatest and foulest, most heinous and gross sins, which we know we have committed in any part of our Lives: These we must confess again and again, till we have gotten some Assurance of their Pardon, some comfortable Evi­dence of God's Love; and if we attain to this in some good measure, yet let us confess our sins still, to get further and higher degrees of it, to get stronger and clearer confirmation of it: (as we see Da­vid does, Ps. 51.) Yea, tho' we be never so fully perswaded of the forgiveness of our sins, yet let's confess them still, that so our Pardon may be continued, and our Humility encreased, by often remembring [Page 203] what we were, as well as considering what we are; and that the Riches of God's free Grace may be thankfully acknowledged, and deservedly magnified, in that he was pleas'd to remit and forgive such heinous and provoking Offences.

Let's every Day pray, and say, This Day forgive us our Trespasses: We shall reap and receive a threefold benefit and ad­vantage by it;

1. By daily Confession, we shall keep our selves constantly humble, and daily re­new, and strengthen our Obligation to continual Mortification, Watchfulness and Holiness; and shall, by degrees, even shame our selves out of our sins and fol­lies: And this will make us every day afraid to sin, when we know we must go before the Judge, and accuse our selves, and aggravate our sin, the very day the fault is done.

2. The more we do now, the less we shall have to do hereafter: If we confess our daily sins every day of our life, the less work we shall have lying upon our hands at the day of our Death. And tru­ly, to be before-hand in this Duty, this is [Page 204] one way to go quietly out of the World. When Men put off all to a late and Death-Bed Confession, this makes them have such an hard time of it; this makes their passage troublesome; then they have the Devil, and a guilty Conscience, to deal withal, which is worse than to grapple, and conflict with their Diseases; then their neglect, and shameful omission of former Confession, will torment and ter­rifie them, and the great uncertainty of their present Sincerity; and a strong Sus­picion, lest the Principle of their action should only be the passion of Fear, will dishearten and discourage them, distract and confound them. Don't make the time of thy Death, the only time for thy full Confession; perhaps, then thou may'st not be able to speak for thy Sickness, nor to think of any thing as thou shouldst do. O what wilt thou do to remember thy sins, then when thy Memory fails thee? When we lie upon a Sick Bed, when our Bodies are weak, and our Memory crasie, is that a fit time to go over our Life, and to review the several parts of it? Therefore, that we may have the less to do, when we shall have enough to do to struggle with Sickness; that we may have [Page 205] nothing to do when we die, but to die, and comfortably to yield up our selves to God, let us take this good Counsel, To be punctual in daily Confession, and Self-Condemnation.

3. Yea, to accustom our selves to daily Confession a contrite, not a meer custo­mary Confession) it would be an excel­lent means to free us from the Fear, the slavish, afflicting, tormenting fear of sud­den Death. To make all even, Morning and Evening, between God and our own Consciences, by humble acknowledgment of all our Offences, and hearty Prayer for Pardon and Grace, for the sake and Merits of the Mediator; this is the way to walk abroad, with Comfort and Confi­dence, every day, without any fear of a sudden Stroke, and hasty Arrest by the Hand of Death; and to lie down in peace, and sleep most quietly every Night, with­out one anxious, distracting thought, where we shall awake the very next Morning; whether ever any more in this, or whether speedily, or unexpectedly, in the other World. If we judge our selves in the presence of God, and sue out a Par­don at the Throne of Grace, and wisely [Page 206] make our peace with Heaven, and recon­cile our selves to our Adversary, day by day, we shall not be afraid of appearing immediately before God's Tribunal, and the Judgment-seat of Jesus Christ, but shall be well prepar'd, and equally provided for longer Life, or present Death, and the Judgment to come af­ter Death. Confess Daily; That's the second.

3. And more particularly; Then make an humble, and hearty Confession, when­ever you lie under any notable Conviction. Confess thy sin, upon any strong and stirring Conviction of the Spirit, whether in the hearing, or reading of the Word, or in the use of Meditation, or upon Admonition, or occasionally by any Pro­vidence; as when you see others punished for the same sins you are guilty of. When ever your Heart smites you, and Conscience checks you for sin, then it is a fit time to confess. When David's Heart smote him, after that he had numbred the People, David presently said unto the Lord,2 Sam. 24.10. I have sinned greatly in that I have done. And so, when Nathan clear­ly convinc'd David of his sin, and told [Page 207] him plainly,2 Sam. 12, 7, & 13. Thou art the man, then presently David said unto Nathan,* I have sinned against the Lord. Confess thy sin, upon any sound Conviction of the Spi­rit, for the quenching of the Spirit, is the ready way to make you sin on, till you are past feeling, and to provoke God to resolve that his Spirit shall strive no longer with you.

4. Then make a serious and solemn Confession, when ever you lie under any notable Affliction. This is a special Op­portunity of Confession. As the Light of Conviction leads us to confess, so the Voice of the Rod lessons us to confess too. Thus Joseph's Brethren, when they were under a strong Conviction, and in a great Strait, then they confess their Sin in selling their Brother. Gen. 42.21. And they said, we are verily guilty concerning our Brother, in that we saw the anguish of his Soul when he besought us; and we would not hear: therefore is this Distress come upon us. David thought this a fit Season to confess: When the Plague lay upon his People for his Sin, then he acknow­ledg'd it. 2 Sam. 24.17. And David spake into the Lord when he saw the Angel [Page 208] that smote the People, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these Sheep, what have they done? So David again, when his bones waxed old thro' his roaring all the day long; when day and night God's hand was heavy upon him, and his moisture was turned into the drought of summer; then, says David, I acknowledged my Sin unto thee, and mine Iniquity have I not hid, Psalm 32.3.4, 5. The Children of Israel assembled themselves with fast­ing, and confessed their sins, and the ini­quities of their Fathers, when God's hand lay heavy upon them, Nehem. 9. And so the Prodigal, when he was in want, and ready to perish with hunger, then he said, I will arise, and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father I have sin­ned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy Son. (Luke 15.17, 18.) The time of Affliction is as proper a time for Confession as any; God does then call on us aloud to set upon the Duty. When our sin has found us out, and we eat the fruit of our own way, this is a time to glorifie and justifie God, by accusing and condemning our selves, and acknowledging our selves to be the only Authors and Causes of our Sin, [Page 209] and our Sin to be the only Meritorious, pro­curing Cause of all our Punishment. Yet let's be sure here, that we make our Pu­nishment and Affliction, not the Ground and Principle, but only the Occasion and Opportunity of our Confession. The time of Affliction is a seasonable, and an accept ble time of Confession; as then God looks it, so has he then a most gra­cious and savourable Respect to it. We find God pities the penitent Sinner that falls to Confession in a day of Affliction. He has promis'd1 Pet. 5.6. to exalt and lift up them, that humble themselves under his mighty hand. And that of Elihu is a great truth, Job 33.27, 28. He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; (yea, it was the Cause of my sore Sickness, or sad Trouble; and so was not only simply unprofitable, but very hurt­ful and prejudicial to me: If any Sinner sincerely and seriously say thus to God) he will deliver his Soul (that is himself) from going into the pit, (or grave) and his life shall see the light. A Periphrasis of Ver. 30. Life, or of Prosperity, which is often in Scripture compar'd to Light, which is the most beautiful, delightful, exhilara­ting, [Page 210] chearing thing in the World. God will bring the humble Confitent out of Trouble, and prolong his Life: He shall recover of his Sickness, or escape his Dan­ger, and live longer to behold the Light of the Sun.

5. Confess presently upon the Com­mission of any gross and great Sin: For here, speedy Confession will be an ef­fectual means to keep Conscience tender; and will certainly prevent that hardness, which would otherwise easily be con­tracted. O suffer not thy Sin to rest upon thee, lest thou beest hard'ned thro' the deceitfulness of it. Confess thy Sin as soon as ever thou hast committed it. Make no delays here. Mute and irratio­nal Creatures, as the Hart, the Swallow, (asDe Poe­nitent. c. 12. Tertullian observes) will timely use the Medicines and Remedies, which God has provided, and natural Instinct leads and prompts 'em too. A Man that has swallowed down Poison, is not to linger, but presently to expel it. And one that has great Guilt lying on him, and in­fectious Filth cleaving to him, ought to use the surest means for the sudden re­moval of it. We may be soon undone, [Page 211] except we use this present Remedy, and shall we then refuse it? Nauseabit ad antidotum, qui hiavit ad venenum? says Tertullian excellently. What, shall a Man lothe and nauseate, and be s [...]ue [...]mish at the Antidote, who was greedy and gape­mouth'd after the Poison? Don't defer or drive off the Confession of any gross Sin: It cost David dear enough, the mere put­ting of it off: I was silent, and roar'd, says he, (Psalm 32.3.) So dear did the very Procrastination of Confession cost David, that even after he had confess'd and was pardon'd; he got not suddenly such a full sence of God's loving kindness as formerly: God did not presently look so pleasantly on him as he was used to: He had not yet so many Smiles from God, as he had before. It's a sign he wanted the Comfort he once enjoyed, for he prays to God for't, even after he was pardon'd and absolv'd by Nathan: Psalm 51.12. Restore unto me the Joy of thy Salvation. If he had thorowly con­fess'd at first, probably he would not have been so long without Comfort. If Sin remain unconfess'd, the Power of it will be greater, the Stain deeper, the Guilt heavier. The longer we hide and cover [Page 212] Sin, the more it will one day torment us. To cover Sin, it is but as if you should cover a Serpent, which would but keep it the more warm, and so cause it to sti g the more fiercely, and to diffuse it's Poison and Venome the more effectu­ally. Therefore confess presently upon the commission of any great Sin. That's the 5th Particular.

6. And Lastly; Confess, as presently upon the commission of any great Sin, so, presently upon the receit of any great Mercy: Especially upon the receit of any Spiritual Mercy: Upon any saving ap­pearance of God to us; or when he has newly lifted up the Light of his Coun­tenance upon us. Then is it a fit time for us to remember our ways, and to be [...] shame, even when the Lord is [...] towards us, (Ezek. 10. [...]3. The Prodigal took this special Season for his Confession and Humilia­tion: Even after his Father had compassion and [...], and [...] in his neck, and kissed him: Then it follows; The Son said unto him, Father I have sinned against Heaven, and in the [...] and [...] no more worthy to be [...]. When we taste and [Page 213] see that the Lord is gracious, then let's, with Jacob acknowledge our selves to be Gen. 32.10. less than the least of all God's Mercies: For this will set off God's Mercy, com­mend the Divine Love, advance and en­hance the Riches of free Grace, and make us more meet for and capable of further Favour and Mercy.

So much for the Direction concerning the Time and Season when we should con­fess.

2. Concerning the Place, where we should confess, take this Direction. Let's especially confess our Sins in secret. We ought indeed to take all Occasions and Opportunities to join with others in Publick Confession, to bear a part in the ordinary and extraordinary Confessions of the Church and Family to which we belong: But let's chiefly chuse to make Confession of Sin in Secret, between God and our Selves alone. And that for a Threefold Reason.

1. Because private Confession is altoge­ther necessary. For every Man has some personal, particular, special Sins, with se­veral [Page 214] Circumstances of them, that cannot be mentioned, when we pray, or join in Prayer, with others. If any other con­ceive, or compose the Prayer, he cannot confess them, because he is ignorant of them, and a stranger to them: For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the Spirit of man, which is in him? (1 Cor. 2.11.)

Again; If you your selves do draw up the Indictment, and frame the Con­fession; you will be sure to conceal your most shameful Sins: You will never par­ticularize, never aggravate them in others hearing: Nor is it reasonable you should. Secret Confession is therefore necessary, for if some secret Sins be not confess'd in Secret, they will never be confess'd. O­thers can't, and we won't openly confess them.

2. As secret Confession is plainly Ne­cessary, so, it is very Convenient. We have a double Advantage in Solitary, which we have not in social Confession. For,

1. We may more fully and freely spread and lay open our Sins before God in Secret, than we are likely to do in [Page 215] Company with others. We cannot but be hugely loth to uncover our Nakedness be­fore Men. We are afraid to reveal and open our Secrets to others: Because if, in confession of Sin, we should enume­rate and aggravate, before others, such Faults and Miscarriages, as we have been guilty of, but they suspected nothing at all of before; ev'n they who hitherto thought well of us, would be apt to abandon their good Opinion of us, and might be ready to judge and condemn us, and to take up and harbour hard thoughts of us. Therefore we find our Selves very much heart-bound, and tongue­ty'd in the presence of others, as to the confession of personal, private, particular Sins. But now nothing can hinder our Freedom in Secret: There we may deal as plainly as we will: There we may safely speak all out: For we can never make our selves more vile and base, in the most ample true Confession of our Sins to God, than God himself does know we are, more clearly and fully than our selves do, before we give him a sad and sorrowful Account of our Selves, make any relation of the wickedness of our Lives, or utter a word in secret Confession [Page 216] of Sin to him. And, to be sure, he'll not dislike us, and turn away his Face from us, for the heinousness of the Sins that are humbly acknowledged by us; but will favour us, and be well affected to­wards us, for faithfully declaring our Sins, and thorowly unbosoming our Selves to him.

2. Secret Confession is most Conveni­ent; because in Secret we have Liberty to use more Helps of Voice, and Gesture; and to acknowledge our Sins, and com­plain against our Selves, with more ex­pressions of Shame, and Sorrow, and Anger, and holy Revenge. The poor penitent Sinner, when withdrawn from others, and gotten by himself alone, may use Self-punishing troublesome Postures in his Confessions and Prayers: He may greatly humble himself, not only by the reve­rent Gesture of Genuflection, but by the most lowly, self-abasing Posture of Pro­stration; not only fall on his Knees, but fall on his Face, before God. He may give a large vent to his strong and vehe­ment holy Affections, in a chosen Place of convenient Privacy, and fit Retirement. There he may smite upon his Thigh, smite [Page 217] upon his Breast. There he may sigh and groan, mourn and mone, weep and wail; confess and pray with strong crying and tears; weep bitterly, and pour out tears abundantly; which things he refrains himself from, and forbears to do, in the presence and company, sight or hearing of others.

3. Confess in Secret; because, the most secret is likely to be the most sincere Con­fession. We find in Scripture, that meer Hypocrites have made Confession of their Sins before Men. Pharaoh did this to Moses and Aaron, over and over; and Saul to Sa­muel; and Judas himself before the Priests and Elders publickly in the Temple. But you don't read, that any of these would ever wait upon God in Secret, and there ingenuously pour out their Hearts before him. And therefore our Saviour requires, and presses Privacy in the Duty of Prayer, particularly. (Mat. 6.5, 6.) Confess thy sins in Secret, where thou hast no other Witness but the Lord himself; and nothing is done for gaining the Praise and Com­mendation of Men, for Parts, or Piety and Devotion, which do not in the least appear, and are not at all shewn to others, [Page 218] in such private Religious Performances. To confess and pray in private; to wre­stle with God all alone, and to supplicate in Secret, when no Eye of Man sees thee, no Ear of Man hears thee; this will more plainly and clearly discover an upright and honest Heart in thee.

When a Man does it in Secret, only between God and his own Soul, it is some Sign he confesses voluntarily and freely. It shews, that the Man is con­vinc'd he has wrong'd God, and is sorry for the Wrong he has done him, and would fain be Friends with him. Let's bring our Selves to the Test here: Let us try our Sincerity by this very Mark. We can go in Secret, to commit Sin; but do we get into Secret to confess it? We can be vile and wicked in private, but can we be penitent in private too? Do we know what belongs to secret Confession? I'm afraid the most of us are practically igno­rant of this Duty. But if we can enter into our Closet, and, when we have shut the Door, be free with our Father in Se­cret; This is likely to be an Argument and Testimony of our Sincerity. So much for your Direction concerning the Place where you should confess.

CHAP. XVII. Further Directions, respecting and ordering our Carriage and Behaviour after the Duty. (1.) Hast thou confess'd? Then bless God who has enabled thee to confess. (2). Hast thou confess'd, and so perform'd the Condition? Then apply the Promise to thy self, and make good Ʋse of it in time of Temptation. (3.) Hast thou con­fess'd? Then daily plead the Promise with God, and carefully look after the Performance of it. (4.) Hast thou con­fess'd, and found and felt the Benefit of it? Why then, give God the Praise that is due to him. (5.) Hast thou confess'd thy sins? Then take great heed of falling into sin after Confession. And here, (1.) Take heed of falling wilfully into any sin after Confession. (2.) Beware, especially, that you fall not wilfully into the same particular sins you have confess'd: For, (1.) There is great danger of it. Dan­ger, (1.) To the formal Confessor, in four respects. (2.) Danger too to the Peni­tent Confessor: (1.) From Satan. (2.) The greatest danger from our own Corrup­tion. (2.) There is great Evil and Fol­ly in it; great Guilt and Danger by rea­son [Page 220] of it. For (1.) falling into sin after Confession does exceedingly aggravate the sin. Sin after Confession, a great sin in three respects. (2.) As this is a great sin, so it brings along with it great Pu­nishment; both internal and external Pu­nishments. (3.) Sinning wilfully after Confession, will make you Self-condemn'd when God punisheth you. (4.) 'Twill break our present Peace, and dash our Hopes of future and further Comfort. (5.) Thou wilt thus cut out for thy self new Work, and make the Severities of a New Repentance necessary. (6.) Falling into sin after Confession, will make us the more unapt and unable to rise again, and recover out of it; it will strengthen Sin, and weaken Grace in us. (7.) 'Twill very much dishearten us, when we would beg Pardon of our sin, and hugely discourage us when we would renew our Resolution against it. (8.) 'Twill make God loth ever to take your Word again, and will render him harder to Pardon you upon a new Confession.

I Shall, in the last place, direct you in your Carriage and Behaviour after the Duty. And here I shall commend to you these following Directions:

[Page 221]1. Hast thou confess'd? Then Bless God, who has enabled thee to confess; who has put it into thy Heart to confess. And tho' thou art not yet sensible of the Receipt of Pardon, yet look upon it as a Sign and Token that God intends more good to thee, in that he has inclined and enabled thee to confess.

2. Hast thou confess'd, and so per­form'd the Condition? Then apply the Promise to thy self, and make good use of it in time of Temptation.

1. Lay hold upon the Promise; look upon the Promise as belonging to thee in particular: reckon thy self really and tru­ly interested in it; and be bold to chal­lenge a part and share in it, as well as any one else.

2. And further; Make good use of it in time of Temptation. If thou hast been truly sorrowful for thy sins, and hast hear­tily confess'd them to God; why then, when Satan vexes and molests thy Consci­ence, by laying the Law to thee, it will be profitable and comfortable to oppose Satan, to answer him, and reply upon [Page 222] him, asLuther. loc. com. de Paver. Conse. in Tentat. p. 130, 131, 3. Clas. Luther Counsels excellently, and to say thus to him; True, I have done thus and thus; but what's that to thee, Satan, I a'n't thy Sinner? What power then hast thou over me? If I have sinn'd, I han't sinn'd against thee; I han't sinn'd against any Man, against any Angel, but only against my God have I sinn'd, who is Merci­ful and Long-suffering. Here's enough, indeed, to answer all the Devils in Hell withal. If the Devil object thy unworthi­ness to thee, tell him, That God does not Pardon any, because they are Worthy or Deserving, but because he himself is Faithful and Just. If Satan tempt thee to distrust here, take the course thatL [...]. [...]i­tat. p. 131. Luther advises to: Say, Tho' I am unworthy to receive so great a benefit, yet God is not unworthy to be believ'd, that he will Par­don sin, as he has promised in his Word.

3. Hast thou confess'd? Then daily plead the Promise with God, and carefully look after the Performance of it. When Guilt affrights thee, and Filth troubles thee, then plead God's Promise with him. Say with David, Psal. 2.3 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions; and my [Page 223] sin is ever before me. Lord, I confess; do thou pardon, do thou purge me: Take away all iniquity: Create in me a clean Heart, O God: Extend thy Grace and Mercy, fulfil thy Word, and make good thy Promise to me: Plead hard the Gospel-Promise, and diligently look after the Per­formance of it.Ps. 85.8. Hear what God the Lord will speak; for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his Saints. Say with the Church,Mic. 7.7. I will look unto the Lord: I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Expect from God the making good of his Word; Non-expecta­tion argues great Carelesness and Ʋnbelief.

4. Hast thou confess'd, and after Con­fession found and felt that God has forgiven thee thy sins, and in some measure cleans'd thee from thy unrighteousness? Why then, give God the Praise that is due to him; break into Thanksgiving with holy David, and take up his Doxology: Say,Ps. 1 [...]3.1, 2, 3. Bless the Lord, O my Soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and forget not all his be­nefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases. Luk. 17.15, 12. With the good Leper in the Gospel, when thou seest [Page 224] that thou art heal'd, turn back, and with a loud voice glorifie God, and fall down at his feet, giving him thanks.

5. Hast thou confess'd thy sins? Then take great heed of falling into Sin after Confession; all is lost without observation of this Direction. If thou hast the true Spirit of Confession of Sin, it will rest upon thee, and abide in thee afterwards, as the Spirit of sincere Obedience to God's Commands, and Universal compliance with his Will. Let me exhort you in the Words of Ezra, Ezr. 10.11. Now there­fore make confession unto the Lord God of thy fathers, and do his pleasure. Confes­sion of our Sins to God, and doing the Divine Pleasure, must go together; our Confession must be like that of David's, Psal. 119.26. I have declared my ways, and thou heardest; teach me thy statutes. Af­ter we have confess'd, we should desire and endeavour to walk uprightly, and to learn God's Laws and Statutes: and should abhor to live carelesly and loosly, and to run into sin fearlesly and presump­tuously. Confession and Repudiation, and Renunciation of sin, Confession and Confu­sion of sin, must go together; it is not, [Page 225] who so barely confesseth, but, Who so confesseth and forsaketh his sins, shall have mercy, Prov. 28.13. We are too ready to think, that we have done all, as soon as ever we have confess'd; and that what remains, is only God's acting of his Part; when as you see the Promise runs thus: Who so confesseth and forsaketh his sins, shall have mercy.

The Advice I shall give you, I shall lay before you in two Particulars. Let me fasten this double Word of Counsel on you:

1. Take heed of falling wilfully into any sin after Confession; for he that con­fesses sin aright, confesses Sin as Sin, with a real hatred of, shame and sorrow for Sin as Sin, and so is engag'd against all Sin whatsoever. Hate even the Garment spotted by the flesh; Hate every false way. But,

2. Beware especially, that ye fall not wilfully into the same particular sins ye have confess'd. Let's take heed of the Repetition and Recommission of the very same fault after Confession. Take heed of this, for,

[Page 226]1. There is great Danger of it.

2. There is great Evil, and Folly in it; great Guilt, and Danger by reason of it.

1. There's great danger of it; of re­turning to the same Sin again after Con­fession.

Danger to the formal; and

Danger too to the penitent Confessor.

1. Danger enough, to be sure, in re­spect of the formal, customary Confessor. For,

1. Such an one is ready to think, that he has made even, and compounded with God, by his last Confession; and so is rea­dy to sin afresh, and to run on a new Score, having now no old Sins to answer for, as he thinks. Or,

2. The formal Confessor is somewhat eas'd by confessing, as the Drunkard is by his vomiting; and so is apt now to take heart to fall to't again, having no trouble upon his spirit to restrain him. Or,

[Page 227]3. He reckoning with himself, that his formal, customary Confession, does, with­out any more ado, presently obtain his Pardon; he therefore encourages himself to sin, by conceiting and fancying the extream easiness of getting and procuring a Pardon, at the cheap rate of reiterated Confession. And so makes a small, light, trivial matter of sinning again, by think­ing thus with himself; I may venture to sin again, it is but making another Con­fession: God is a merciful God: If I confess again, he'll forgive again.Vid. Ter­tul. de Pae­nitent. c. 7. Thus he turns the Grace of God into wantonness, and makes the Divine Mercy a Principle of looseness and licentiousness. And thus he annihilates God's Wisdom and Holiness, and makes God but a Mock-God, a credu­lous, easie, contemptible, petty Deity: This is much likePhilip de Com. B. 2 c. 8. Lewis XI. of France, who carried a leaden Image, or Crucifix, on his Hat, and when he had done any act his Conscience check'd him for, he pluck'd off his Hat, and bowed to the Image or Crucifix, asking forgiveness for it; upon which he reckoned, and made account, that God and he were Friends▪ Or,

[Page 228]4. Lastly; There is danger enough of this to thee, that art but a meer formal Confessor, because the Lord may justly punish thy hypocritical Confession, by leaving thee to thy self, and giving thee up to sin with more greediness afterwards than before, as you know he dealt with Pharaoh. But,

2. As there is danger to the formal Con­fessor, so there is danger also to the peni­tent Confessor, of relapsing and falling back into the same sin again. There is danger here;

1. From Satan; who becomes himself moreVid. [...]r­tul. a [...] ­nit. c. 7. watchful, when once he sees the Sinner awaken'd. We have an Adversary always studying Advantages against us. The Devil, when he departs, he departs but for a Season; he leaves a Man with a purpose to return to him again, at a con­venient time, and fit opportunity. There is real danger of our falling again into sin confess'd, because Satan is resolv'd not to give over yet; he'll set upon us with a new Temptation; he'll try new Devices with us. There's danger from Satan; but,

[Page 229]2. The greatest danger here is from our own Corruption, and the falseness and deceitfulness of our own revolting, back­sliding Hearts, which are apt, upon the performance of Duty, to draw us into Carnal Security, and to give Satan consi­derable Advantage against us. After Con­fession, we are prone to Self-Confidence, and ready to think our selves strongly enough Arm'd, and sufficiently Fortified, against any temptation to those sins which we have confess'd. To conclude, that ha­ving taken such Physick, we are well e­nough antidoted against all Infection; not to doubt, but that we have now put on Armor of proof, that will resist and re­pel the sharpest Weapons of our Spiritual Enemies. We are apt to be safe upon our Confessional Resolutions, and ready to think, that we have shewn such high dis­like of our sin in our Confession, that the Devil is now discourag'd from medling with us, and thinks it in vain to offer to have any more to do with us; and there­fore we neglect our Watch, and draw off our Guards, as no way fearing the return of our Enemy. Thus we are apt to be secure upon Confession; and the Devil now takes the greatest Advantage that can be, [Page 230] by our Negligence and Presumption, to draw us into sin afresh, and deal with us as he pleases. Thus you see, there's great danger of falling into sins confess'd; there­fore take heed of it, be watchful and vi­gilant over thy self: If thou hast not a spe­cial care, sin will soon get into thee again, as cold easily gets into a Man's Body, who was just now very hot, or has newly vomit­ed. But,

2. As there is great danger of wilful falling into the same particular sin again, so there is great Evil, and Folly in it; great Guilt, and Danger by reason of it. For,

1. Falling into sin again after Confession (especially into any gross sin does exceed­ingly aggravate the sin. In the old Law,Levit. 13. [...], 8. if the Scab did spread much abroad in a Man's [...]kin, after that he had been seen of the Priest for his cleansing, then the Priest pronounc'd him unclean, for it was a Leprosie. Even so, if after we have shewn our selves unto God for our clean­sing, and plainly laid open our sin in Con­fession; I say, if after this, our sin does still grow upon us, and spread and increase in us, God then looks upon it no longer [Page 231] as an ordinary Scab, but accounts it a Le­prosie; our Sin now becomes out of mea­sure sinful, our Disease is more remediless, our Case much more fearful and dange­rous. Sin, after Confession, is a great sin in these respects:

1. As it is a persisting and continuing in a course of Rebellion against God; an holding up, maintaining, and renewing the old War against Heaven. Now every sin, the oftner it is committed, the more it acquireth in the quality of Evil.

2. Sin after Confession is great, not on­ly as it is a continuing, and going on still in our old sin; but further, as it is a sinVid. Ter­tul. de Poe­nitent. c. 5. against great Light, for if you had not clearly known it to be a sin, you could never have confess'd it.

3. Sin after Confession is a dealing most falsly and treacherously with God. When the People of Israel sinn'd again, in mar­rying the Daughter of a strange God, ev'n after that solemn Confession of this Sin, and Resolution against it; Ezra 10.11, 12. This their Relapsing after Con­fession is branded for Treachery, and call'd [Page 232] expresly an abominati [...]n, 2 Mal. 11.13. This false and treacherous dealing, is a plain abusing, and gross dishonouring of God. Pray do but consider; If any of you should have a Child or Servant in the Family, come every Morning and Even­ing, and confess his Fault, and then go presently and practise the same; how could you bear and endure such a Car­riage and Behaviour? So, how ill, how very ill, will God take this at any Man's Hands, when he does nothing butAlter [...]ae i [...]t [...]r [...]pi­ditat [...]m nostram, & poenite [...] ­tiam vices su [...]t. Sen. de otio Sap. cap. 28. Sin and Confess, Confess and Sin? Believe it, by the very next Act of Sin, the same Sin, you do more to God's dishonour, and do more justifie your Sin, than ever you can make God Amends for, if you should repeat your Words of Confession to all Eternity. Deliberate, wilful returning to Sin, after professed Repentance and Con­fession of Sin, with a prevailing degree of love to it, and delight in it; is such an Act of extream baseness and falseness to God, as shews the greatest undervaluing of him, and casts the highest disparage­ment upon him: For here the Sinner ha­vingVid. Ter­tull. de Poenitent. c. 5. made a Trial and Comparison of both, plainly prefers, in his Judgment and Choice, the Work and Service of Sin [Page 233] and Satan, before the Way and Work of God: And so does, in effect, say, That He is far the better Master, whose he had rather be, and whom he had rather serve: And so gives the Devil occasion of Rejoycing, and matter of Triumphing against God; that One that lately seem'd to return to God, is now more fully fal­len off from God, and come over again into his Possession and Power, and under his Command and Kingdom. Falling in­to Sin, after Confession, will make your Sin of a deep, of a double Dye. That's the First.

2. Falling into Sin after Confession, as this is a great Sin, so, it brings along with it great Punishment.

1. It does usually and ordinarily draw after it internal Punishment. It deserves, and begets hardness of Heart. When Pharaoh after Confession sinned yet more, it follows immediately, He hardened his heart, Exod. 9.27, 34.

2. Sinning after Confession, brings a­long with it, and draws after it most heavy outward Punishments too. Pha­raoh [Page 234] and his People were soundly plagued, for sinning wilfully after Confession. When Ezra had solemnly confess'd that great Sin of the People of Israel, in mingling of themselves by Marriages with the People of the Lands, Ezr. 9. from 6, to 14. what dreadful apprehensions had he of the woful effects of that Sin, if ever they should dare to return to it again? Ver. 14. Should we again break thy Com­mandments, and joyn in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldst not thou be angry with us till thou hadst con­sum'd us, so that there should be no rem­nant nor escaping? Well then, Take heed of a Relapse and Recidivation after Con­fession, as for God's sake, because it is an heinous Sin against God: So, for your own sake, because so provoking a Sin as this is, will hardly go unpunish'd.

3. Sinning wilfully after Confession will make you Self-condemn'd, when God pu­nisheth you. You will then be judg'd out of your own Mouth: Ye will have no­thing to say for your Selves before God: For how can ye excuse your Selves to God for the doing of that, which formerly ye accus'd your Selves to God for do­ing? [Page 235] And how will your Mouths be stopt, when God condemns you for that, which formerly ye condemn'd your Selves for in the Presence of God?

4. Sinning wilfully after Confession will break our present Peace, and dash our Hopes of future and further Comfort. If God has spoken Peace upon former Con­fession, we shall hazard and endanger all by returning again to Folly. We may by one Act quickly lose all that, which we were so long a getting, and procur'd at so dear a Rate. Or, if God intended us any Comfort, this will stop the Convey­ance of it. If God was preparing any Blessing for us, this will cause him to withhold it from us.

5. By relapsing into Sins solemnly con­fess'd, thou wilt cut out for thy self new Work, and create thy self new Trouble, and make the Severities of a new Repen­tance necessary; and force thy self to perform over again the penal, afflictive Duty of Confession: To take more tear­ing, violent Vomits, to swallow down more bitter, lothsom Pills, and to go through a tedious course of stronger Phy­sick than ever thou took'st before.

[Page 236]6. Falling into Sin after Confession will make us the more unapt and unable to rise again, and recover out of it. It will strengthen Sin in us: For every repeated and renewed Act, does mightily confirm and radicate the old Habit, and so gives Sin the faster hold in the Soul, and makes it more difficult to be remov'd. And as it strengthens Sin, so it weakens Grace in the Soul. As Nature is made much the weaker, by careless Relapses into bo­dily Diseases: So, the Habit of Grace is weaken'd and impaired, by falling afresh into sinful Acts that are contrary to it. And so, our Spiritual Strength decaying, our Soul's Recovery must needs be with the more danger, and greater difficulty: For the feebler we make our Selves by our fall, the further we are from relieving our Selves, and helping our Selves up again.

7. It's very dangerous to fall into Sin after Confession; because this will very much dishearten us, when we would beg Pardon of our Sin, and hugely discourage us, when we would renew our Resolution against it. We shall then be apt to think [Page 237] thus with our Selves: With what Face can I ask God Pardon of that, which since I last beg'd Pardon of, I have even justified by committing afresh? With what Confidence can I resolve anew, when I ha' broken former Resolutions?

8. Your sinning wilfully after Confes­fession, will make God loth ever to take your Word again, and will render him harder to Pardon you upon a new Con­fession.

1. It will make God loth ever to take your Word again. God will be very jealous and suspicious of you for the fu­ture. When you come to confess again, Quid verba audio, will God say, facta cùm videam? What do you speak a few good Words in my Ears for? I see your Deeds plain enough. What reason have I to think you are in good earnest? Why you have often confess'd before, and sinn'd again afterwards as often as you have confess'd: And a'n't you likely ev'n to serve me so again? How can I believe you'll ever do what you pretend? Thus sinning after Confession, and so dealing falsly with God, will make God loth [Page 238] ever to take your Word again. Fur­ther;

2. Our wilful falling into the same par­ticular Sins which we have confess'd, will render God harder to Pardon us upon a new Confession. If God should Pardon us, we ha' reason to fear, 'twill be upon more difficult and uneasie terms, both for doing and suffering. We must do more now in order to Pardon, than was requir'd before: And it may be, we must suffer much more notwithstanding our Pardon. The Expressions of our godly Sorrow must be greater: Our Repentance and Confession will cost us dearer: And when it has done so, God may then peradventure pardon the Sin we committed after Con­fession, and remit the Eternal Punishment of it: But yet it may cause him, unal­terably and irrevocably to resolve and de­termine to inflict upon us some sad and heavy Temporal Punishment.

Thus I ha' shewn you, That there is great danger in sinning wilfully after Con­fession: And therefore take heed of fal­ling voluntarily, and running readily in­to those particular Sins, especially any par­ticular [Page 239] gross Sins, which you have con­fess'd and acknowledg'd to God the Evil of. Let's not2 Pet. 2.22. return with the Dog to his Vomit: Let's not greedily and covet­ously run after those Sins, which we seem'd to lothe and cast up. Some of the Heathen, in the Days of Sacrifice to their Idols for Health, did riotously Ban­quet to the prejudice of their Health.^† So, too too many, the very same day they confess their Sins for Pardon of Sin, do turn afresh to their old Sins, and so contract new Guilt, and incur God's hea­vy Displeasure. Let us take heed, that we be not found in the number of these. Let not us serve God, as Saul serv'd Da­vid; who plainly confess'd his Sin against David, and that with Tears, to him, (1 Sam. 24.16, 17.) and yet (Ch. 26. ver. 2.) he pursues and persecutes him again, as eagerly and fiercely as ever he did before. Let not us, in like manner, acknowledge our Sins to God, it may be [Page 240] with Tears; and presently transgress, and rebel against God, the self-same way, and as much as ever we did before: For tho' we should say a thousand and a thou­sand times over, God forgive me, I'll do so no more: Yet if in our Deeds we bewray our Love and Affection to our Sins, it is but a Protestation contrary to our Practise, and we do thereby but make our Selves the greater and deeper Lyars.

CHAP. XVIII. Some Means or Helps for the shunning and avoiding of Sins confess'd. (1.) Let such as have formerly confess'd their Sins without any true Sense of Sin, now labour speedily to get a deep and thorow Con­viction of the Evil of their Sins. (2.) Let such as have confess'd their Sins, with a true Sense of Sin upon their Spirits, ob­serve and practise these following Rules, (1.) Labour to preserve and maintain in the course of thy Life the same Appre­hensions thou hadst of thy Sin in any for­mer serious and solemn Confession. (2). Se­riously consider and remember, that thou, art at present in Dependance upon God for Mercy, and art very fair for't. (3.) Be always imploring Divine Assistance, and improving your own Endeavours against your Sins.

HAving plainly shewn you, what great Danger there is of falling, and also what fearful Evil, Folly, and Mischief there is in falling, into the same particu­lar [Page 242] Sin after Confession: I shall now lay down some Means or Helps for the shunning and avoiding of Sins confest. And,

1. For such, who have often confest their Sins without any true Sense of Sin: Why that you may not now fall into any of those Sins, which you have so slightly confest, and are therefore in so much danger of: Be sure, you labour speedily to get a deep and thorough Conviction of the Evil of your Sins. Think, and say thus within thy Self: I ha' sometime customarily confest my Sin to God; but O what a great and heinous Sin is it? How contrary to God's express Command? What heavy Threatnings are plainly de­nounc'd in the Book of God against it? How cross is this and that Sin even to the Light of my own Nature? How con­trary to the clear Light of Scripture? What a Grief to the Good Spirit of God? What a Breach of comely and beautiful Order in the World? What a Discredit to my Profession? What an ill Example to my Neighbours, Servants, and Chil­dren? What a Wound to my Consci­ence? What a Breach in my Peace? [Page 243] What an Enemy to the life of my poor Soul? I say, that you may not despe­rately run into old Sins, and so contract new Guilt; labour presently to get, and beg of God that he would give you, a deep and thorough Conviction of those Sins, which you have formerly con­fest, without any Sight or Sense of Sin. But,

2. If any among us have confest our Sins, with a true Sense of Sin upon our Spirits; why that we may not relapse, and fall back again into the very same Sins we have particularly confest; let us carefully observe, and diligently pra­ctise these following Rules.

1. Labour to preserve and maintain, in the Course of thy Life, the same Appre­hensions thou hadst of thy Sin, in any former serious and solemn Confession. Surely, you did not then look upon Sin as it was mask'd and vizarded, and had the Notion of good put upon't; as it seem'd profitable, pleasurable, honourable: But you then look'd upon the naked na­ture of Sin, and the sad consequences of it: You then apprehended the Evil that is [Page 244] in it, and discern'd the Evil that comes after it, and follows upon it. You then saw Sin, as Men use to see it at the day of Death, when they are well awaken'd: You then saw it after the same manner, as the damn'd in Hell see it: You then saw it, in some good measure, as God him­self sees it: You then thought of it, as holy Men do, when they are enlighten'd by God's Spirit: You then judg'd of it, as your Saviour himself, when he suf­fer'd upon the Cross, and felt the weight of his Father's Wrath for your Sin, judg'd of it: You then spake of it, as the Scri­pture it self, as the Spirit in the Scripture speaks of it: As the Righteous and Ho­ly Law-Giver himself expresses himself concerning it in his Word: You then felt the pain and smart of it, and call'd it an evil and a bitter thing, Jer. 2.19. and befool'd your self for medling with it: You then had a graat Prejudice of Mind, a strong Antipathy of Heart against it; and fully resolv'd, in the very Presence and Hearing of God himself, never to have any more to do with it.

O keep these severe Thoughts fresh still: Never suffer them to wear off a­gain: [Page 245] This will certainly sowr and imbit­ter Sin to you, and make you ha' no mind to it, and cause you to find no pleasure and delight at all in it; no more than in Gall and Wormwood; no more than in Wounds, and Bruises; in Aches, and Pains, and broken Bones. The re­membrance of the Bitterness of Sin, which we fully felt in Confession of Sin, will effectually preserve in our Minds and Hearts a constant disgust and disrelishing of Sin, an utter disaffection to it, a to­tal condemnation of it, and an abso­lute aversation from it. It's very potent to restrain and deter us from yielding to it, or ever closing any more with it: 'Twill make us disallow it now at present, as then we disallow'd it.

This very Consideration, will easily repel that notable Temptation of Satan; wherein he goes about to draw us to Sin, by perswading us of the Easiness and facility of getting a Pardon upon reiterated Confession. Thou maist ven­ture to Sin again, says he, it is but Con­fessing again. Now the lively Remem­brance of what we formerly felt in Con­fessing, assures us, that Confession (which [Page 246] the Devil makes but a but of) is as hard and difficult a Piece of Work as can be: That it's no such easie matter to Con­fess: That this is a grievous Penalty, a pungent, afflictive Duty. When Satan tempts one after Confession; if the Man be still sensible of his Sin, and of the Evil of it; the Devil then finds but poor Entertainment: What, says the Soul, Art thou, the Cause of all my Torments, come again? Surely a bloody Master hast thou been unto me, and now thou dai­ly seekest subtilly to devour me. What, would you have me Sin again, and so be wretched and miserable for ever? Or say you, I may Repent, and Confess again afterwards? I know then too too well already what it will cost me: I well remember the Shame, and Sorrow, and Self-Revenge, that must be acted and exercis'd in that Duty: Non tanti emam poenitere: I'll not buy Repentance at so dear a Rate. This is the first Rule; That you may not Sin after Confession, be sure you continue the same Apprehen­sion you had of your Sin under some notable Conviction, in any former Con­fession.

[Page 247]2. That thou maist not hereafter wilful­ly fall into any particular Sin already confest; seriously consider and remem­ber, That thou art at present in depen­dance upon God for Mercy, and art very fair for't. And therefore think thus with thy Self: How dare I do this, and dishonour him afresh, from whom I ex­pect so much? Won't my repeating of this Sin deaden my Hopes, and frustrate my Expectations? Can I think, that God will love and own, favour and tender me after this? Will God speak Peace to my Soul, if I return again to Folly? Will God comfort my Conscience, and cheer my Spirit, if I churlishly sad and grieve his Spirit? Will God wash and cleanse me, if I wilfully defile and pollute my self? This very Meditation will in a great measure discourage and dishearten, curb and restrain you from sinning; especi­ally from relapsing into any Sin particu­larly confest.

3. That we may not fall into Sins confest, Let's be always imploring Di­vine Assistance, and improving our own En­deavours against them. Let's heartily [Page 248] beg God's Grace, and earnestly seek the Lord and his Strength, and faith­fully use Grace receiv'd, and up and be doing, and go and act in the Strength of the Lord. Let's apprehend our selves in danger of every Corruption, of every Temptation; and be afraid lest any Tem­ptation should blow out the Light of former Conviction; and allay the Heat, and abate the Strength of former Reso­lution, and draw us to return again to Folly. Let's every Day watch and pray, that we enter not into Temptation: Let's be sober and vigilant, because our Ad­versary the Devil, as a roaring Lion, walketh about, seeking how he may de­vour us. Let's manfully resist the stron­gest Temptations to the Sins we ha' con­fest; shun all Occasions, and abstain from all Appearance of Evil; and exercise Self-denial, and labour betimes to break our selves of our own Wills: Let's daily observe the very first risings, and motions and stirrings of those Sins in our Hearts, which at any time we have confest and repented of: And let's remember and consider, how they formerly won and gain'd upon us; and let's resist their ve­ry beginnings, and nip them in the very [Page 249] bud, and crush the very Coccatrice Eggs. Let's not entertain any old Sin, so much as in our Fancy: Let's never venture to keep it's Picture, nor once offer to wear it's Favor: Let's bear no loving, pleasing remembrance of it, nor shew any kind re­spect to it; but express the highest dis­like of it, and the most implacable, irre­concilable Enmity against it.

So much for the Means or Helps, in the Use of which we may keep our Selves from foully and wilfully falling into Sins confest.

CHAP. XIX. This fifth Direction concluded with a double Caution. (1.) While we take heed of falling on the one side, into the same particular sin we confess'd; let us also beware of falling on the other side, into the contrary sin to that we confess'd. (2.) If through strength of Corruption, or violence of Temptation, thou shouldst at any time fall into the same sin again, thou must not for all this run into De­spair; but thou must renew thy Con­fession as thou renewest thy Transgression, This gives no License at all to sin, but is the best Preservative and Antidote against it.

I Shall shut up this Direction with these two Cautions:

1 Caution. While we take heed of fal­ling, on the one side, into the same parti­cular sin we confess'd; let us also beware of falling, on the other side, into the [Page 251] contrary sin to that we confess'd.Dum vi­tant stulti vitia, in contraria currunt. Horat. Sa­tyr. 2. Inter caete­ra mala il­lud pessi­mum est, quòd vitia ipsa muta­mus. Judi­cia nostra non tantùm prava, sed etiam le­via sunt. Sen. de otio Sap. cap. 28. While Fools avoid one Vice, they commonly rush into the contrary Vice: Let's therefore take heed, that sin don't in again in our very Revenge of those sins which we ha' confess'd. Here Satan always seeks his Advantages, and often gets them of us, and makes too good use of them when he has got them. Let's therefore so be zealous against a sin that formerly we have been guilty of, and made con­fession of, as that we don't unwarily run into the contrary Extream. If thou hast confess'd thy Covetousness, and resolv'd against it; in avoiding of that, take heed thou dost not turn Prodigal. If thou hast confess'd thy Prodigality; take heed, in shunning of this, that you fall not into Covetousness. If you made Confession of your Presumption; beware now of Ʋnbe­lief, under the shew and colour of Humi­lity. If you confess'd your Ʋnbelief; then now take heed of fearless, bold Pre­sumption, cloak'd with the specious Name of Affiance and Confidence in God. Do'st thou acknowledge, thou hast been for­merly Profane and Atheistical? O then take heed of needless Ceremoniousness, and downright Superstition; let not that im­pose [Page 252] upon you, under the plausible No­tion of exemplary Piety, and singular De­votion. Do'st thou confess, thou hast been too too Ceremonious, and plainly Supersti­tious? O now take heed of Atheism and Profaneness, of Looseness and Licentious­ness: let not Looseness creep upon you, under the Notion and Title of Christian Liberty. It may be, you may be very tender of falling into the same sin again, because your Conscience may judge a Relapse into that sin to be very dangerous; but this fear of falling into the same sin, may cause you too much to lean and en­cline towards the contrary sin. This Caution therefore is very necessary: Af­ter Confession, so take heed of falling into the same sin, as that you fall not into the clean contrary sin.

2 Caution. We must, indeed, take heed of sinning after Confession; yet, if thro' strength of Corruption, or violence of Temptation, thou shouldst at any time fall into the same sin again, thou must not, for all this, run^(a) into Despair, but thou [Page 253] must renew thy Confession, as thou re­newest thy Transgression. This gives no License at all to sin, but is the best Pre­servative and Antidote against it.It is a dangerous case, for a godly Man to sin the same great sin after Repen­tance. What if it do not put him out of Christ? What if it do not hang him? yet it burns him in the Hand, whips him up and down the Town. My meaning is, That it doth cast him into a Bed of miserable sorrow: [...]ut withal we must say, that it may possibly be, that after true and hearty Re­pentance for such a fault, a Child of God may fall into the same gross sin: He may as well fall into the same gross sin as another as great; because that another Sin as great, is as contrary to the Habit of Grace and Act of Repentance as the same He may chance to fall into the same gross Sin again and again; how often I cannot tell, but this I can tell, that how often soever he sinneth, let him repent, and return, and his Pardon is ready: They wrong God in his Mercy, and Men in their Comfort, who do say the contrary. Capel on Tentations, p. 127, 133, 134. You can't from hence encourage your selves to sin; for I told you before, that the Pardon of sin, committed after Confession, will be more difficult to be obtain'd; God won't presently smile upon you; he won't so quickly give you a good word, or a good look. It will cost you many a Sigh, many a Tear, many a Prayer, before you make your Peace with him: He will see you deeply and soundly penitent, before he will quite be friends with you. But tho' the case be dangerous, yet it is not despe­rate; tho' you be further from Pardon than ever upon so doing, yet God can pardon you in and through Christ.

There is not any one word in Scripture, that affirms or intimates, that Persons re­lapsing, [Page 254] tho' again and again, into the same sin, can never truly and sincerely repent. Nor is there any one word to be found there, that denies the benefit of Gospel-pardon to those that humbly con­fess, and unfeignedly repent of such sins as these. Yea, there are such sweet passa­ges, and precious promises contain'd in Scripture, as will undoubtedly support and uphold any poor Soul in this state and condition, and keep him from utter de­spairing of Pardon. Jer. 3.12, 13. Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God. And v. 22. Return ye backsli­ding children, and I will heal your back­slidings. This is the gracious Promise, and merciful Invitation of God: Now do but observe their Answer; Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God. The greatness of their Sin does not drive them to Despair; but the greatness and graciousness of God's Promise does embolden and encourage them to come to [Page 255] God by Faith and Repentance; they pre­sently lay hold of God's Favor, and thank­fully take the benefit of it. And Hos. 14.1, 2, 3, 4. O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine ini­quity; take with you words, and turn to the Lord. And then it follows, I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely. God, in the Gospel, has requi­red us to forgive those who repeat their Trespasses against us, as often as they renew their Repentance towards us; to forgive an offending BrotherLuk. 17.4. seven times in a day: Yea, to forgive, not only till seven times, butMatth. 18.22. until seventy times se­ven; that is, four hundred and ninety times; which is not a determined num­ber, but signifies infinitely, and intimates to us, that we must Pardon continually. Or the meaning may be (asHieron. in Matth. 18.22. St. Jerom expounds it) that we should be ready to forgive our Brother oftner in a Day, than ever he can stand in need of our Pardon. Now can we think, that the Father of Mercies will ever prove less merciful to us, than he has commanded us to be to others? Has not he himself plainly told us, that, in the case of shew­ing Mercy,Isai. 55.8, 9. His thoughts are not our [Page 256] thoughts, neither are our ways his ways? for as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so are his ways higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts. We read of aPs. 51.1. multitude of his tender mercies. 'Tis said, our God willIsa. 55.7. mul­tiply to Pardon. And the1 Joh. 1.7. blood of Je­sus Christ his Son is said to cleanse us from all sin. Christ is described to beIsa. 63.1. mighty to save;Heb. 7.25. able to save, [...], to perpetuity, or, to the uttermost, those that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Such places and passages as these, do give encouragement to confess again in case of a Relapse; and there is nothing in reason to disswade you from it: For, if, upon your unfeigned Repentance, God will forgive as grievous a sin of another kind; a sin as heinous in the several ag­gravating Circumstances of it, as this reiterated act of a sin formerly confess'd can appear to be, then why should you not conclude, that he will as well, upon your humble Confession of this sin, and hearty forsaking of it, very freely par­don it, and fully remit the Eternal punish­ment of it? 'Tis good Advice, and excel­lent [Page 257] Counsel, that ofDe Poe­nitent. c. 7. Tertullian: Let it trouble you to sin again, says he; but let it never trouble you to repent again: Let it be irksom to you to run again into dan­ger; but let it not be irksom to you to be freed and delivered again from danger: Let none be ashamed of this, says he: If a Man fall sick again, he must ev'n take Physick again. And as he goes on; Thou wilt approve thy self thankful towards God, if thou dost not sullenly refuse what God freely offers thee: thou hast offended, but thou mayest yet be reconcil'd. And what is added by the sameIb. c. 12. Author, will al­ways hold certainly true; Repentance and Confession are, as it were, the two saving Planks to be made use of after a Ship­wrack.

And so I have done with the fifth Direction, and with the necessary Cautions with which it is to be taken.

CHAP. XX. The sixth and last Direction; Have we confess'd our sins to God, that we might be forgiven them by God? Let us then freely forgive those that have trespass'd against us, upon their Confession of their faults to us; and so forgive them, as to pro­fess and and testify to them our pardon­ing of them.

6. THE sixth and last Direction, with which I shall conclude and shut up this Discourse, is this: Have we confess'd our sins to God, that we might be forgiven them by God? Let us then freely forgive those that have trespass'd against us, upon their Confession of their faults to us. Would we have God be tenderly Merciful? Then let not us be bitterly implacable, and utterly irrecon­cilable. Take heed to your selves, says Christ to his Disciples; if thy brother tres­pass against thee, rebuke him, and if he re­pent, forgive him. And if he trespass [Page 259] against thee seven times in a day, and se­ven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him, Luk. 17.3, 4.See Ep. Taylor's Worthy Communi­cant, p. 224, 225, 226. If our offending, in­jurious Brother, should never repent, and confess his fault, nor crave our pardon, yet are we bound to forgive him in our Hearts, to cease from Anger, and Malice; and neither to exact Revenge our selves, nor to require it of God, nor to delight in it if it happens: Yea, more than so, to Mat. 5.44. love, and pity, and pray for our most provoking, persecuting Enemy. But if he turn and confess, express and manifest his Repentance and Sorrow, by being ready, to his power, to make amends, then must we not only forgive him in our Hearts, but so forgive him, as to declare and express, profess and testify to him, our full forgiveness of the private wrong, and particular injury done unto us by him. And if, moreover, he gives us any good ground to think, that he has relinquish'd the evil he confesses; that his Repentance has mortified his Corruption; chang'd and alter'd his naughty disposition, so that we may trust and employ him again, with safety and prudence, without endan­gering, and betraying our selves to fur­ther [Page 260] mischief and inconvenience, then are we bound so to forgive him, as to re­store and re-admit him to his former state of friendship and trust.

Be you sure to forgive those that confess to you, whether you have found the good of Confession yet or no. If you have got some comfortable perswasion of the Pardon of your Sins, do you then forgive others as God has forgiven you: If yet you want the sence and inward testimony of this, why then forgive as you would be forgiven, and as you hope God will forgive you upon your Confession. If thy repent­ing Brother confess to thee his trespass against thee; be thou, in obedience to Christ's command, faithful and just to for­give him; and, as far as in thee lies, to cleanse him from his unrighteousness; and then thou may'st more comfortably ex­pect, that upon Confession of thy Sins to God, he will be faithful and just to forgive thee thy Sins, and to cleanse thee from all unrighteousness.