it will be greater the Stain deeper the Guilt heavier The longer we hide and cover 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. â—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 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 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 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 tongue-ty'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 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 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 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
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 iâ— that I have betrayed the innocent Hood Mat. 27.3 4. But how contrary to the slaâ—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 â—ire Pharaoh's and Balaam's and Sauâ—'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 â—nger appear'd to be ever 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 â—aked it up again himâ—â—â— When his Father fell upon his Neck and kiâ—s'd him and the black threatning Sâ—rme was so well brown ever when the sad freâ—â—ds and angry words which where deserv'd prov'd nothing else but pleasant Suâ—â—â—s and a 〈◊〉 Speeches one would have thought he should now have sâ—aâ—ed the mentioning on his fruit ommitted his Conâ—ession and Humiliation there b ing now no need of it but you find it hâ—â—e quae otherwise even while his Father â—â—â—ngâ—â— embraces and kindly entertains him his Hearâ— sweetly melts and freely breaks out into an hundle Confession and Acknowledgment of his sin Father says he â—â—rce armed against heaven and in 〈…〉 and am no more wordly to le cauâ—ed thy Son Sence of Love assurance of Faver will soonest of any thing put the â—â—â—ding Sinner upon Confession and that Confession must needs be voluntary and uncompulsory which only Love gently constrains 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 coaâ—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 upâ—n our Sin than any Punishment for Sin and must bear and hold sâ—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 but inward and Heart-deep He speaks from his very Soul he says no more than what he feels And truly these holy Afâ—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 â—â—o her Confession It 's impoâ—sible to confess any sin aright and at the same time to retain the lâ—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 sâ—lves to God for our sins unlâ—ss we condemn our sins in our selves Confession voâ—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 Aâ—â—ections 1. He perfectly hates the sin he confesses that 's one Affection he bears towards his sin He hates his sin out of a sâ—gâ—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 miscâ—tevousness to his own precious immortal Soul and destructiveness of his own spiritual good and eternal happiness 2 â—â— 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 â—â—ble unto eternal Death He sees his sin in its own Câ—lâ—ars he beholds the mâ—sâ—â—ness and the danger of it and can't endure it his Heart rises up against his sin as strongâ— as ever his Stomack rises up against that which it naâ—â—â—ares he fully lâ—kes and abominates his sin so as were it to do again he would first suffer aâ— tâ—â—ng he would rather dâ—e than do it He hates his sin and leâ—â—es himself for his sin He lothes himself for that Deformity and â—â—â—â—ement which makes the very God of 〈◊〉 to lâ—the and abhor his own Creature Ezek. 36.21 Then shall you remember your own evil ways and â—eâ—r d urge that were not good and shall iâ— the your selves in your own sight for your miâ—â—i ies and for your abominations The Penitent Câ—rseâ—lor is filled with Self-displiâ—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 deâ—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 Iâ—dged in his Heart His knocking upon his Breast shewed what mind and aâ—fectiâ—n he carried to his sin and declared his dâ—iâ—e utterly to destroy it Thus the humble Confessor hates his sin and is at odds and variance
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 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 sin * Vid. 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 expresly an abominatiâ—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 but * Alterâ—ae iâ—tâ—r â—piditatâ—m nostram poeniteâ—tiam vices suâ—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 having †Vid. 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 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 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 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 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 thus with our Selves With what Face can I ask God Pardon of that which since I last beg'd Pardon of I have