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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A65738 A practical discourse of confession of sins to God, as a means of pardon and cleansing. By John Wade, minister of Hammersmith Wade, John, b. 1643. 1697 (1697) Wing W177; ESTC R219282 106,995 284

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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 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 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 'T is 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 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 Prophet * Psal 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 Benefit * Vid. 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 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.
enough to confess over all our Confessions and to humble our selves for all our Humiliations CHAP. XIV The Third Vse 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 Vse 3 A Third Vse 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 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 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 a * 2 Cor. 5.15 living henceforth not 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 learned * De 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 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 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 So * Enar. 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 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