not how to perform this duty which are subject to deceive themselves to let many sins passe undiscerned and oftentimes to mistake them for vertues If there be any such here as I am afraid there are too many let mee desire you to observe these two rules for your direction First when yee examine your actions take heed you weigh them not by a false balance that is by a defiled conscience for a defiled conscience is as a false balance it is impossible to weigh an action rightly by it The Jewes having a defiled conscience preferred Barabbas before our Saviour Christ And this is that which deceives many when they examine themselves and find they doe nothing against their conscience they think themselves very upright and just but they know not that their conscience is defiled they consider not that their affection swayes their conscience and can make it judge any thing lawfull or unlawfull as it please But you will say How shall I know when my conscience is defiled The Apostle Saint Paul will resolve that doubt Unto the pure saith hee all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbeleeving nothing is pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled Titus 1.15 Whosoever therefore lives in any habituall sin whosoever alloweth himselfe to doe wickedly in any thing his conscience is defiled and it is in vain for him to consult with it concerning the lawfulnesse or unlawfulnesse of any action Secondly when you examine your actions favour not your selves but give the same judgement upon your own sins and pronounce the same condemnation against your selves which at other times ye have pronounced against others that have committed the like offences There are many for want of observing this rule which think themselves to be much better then they are they will censure and scoffe at others for those sins and infirmities which they commit every day without seeing them in themselves Would these men but look upon their owne actions with the same impartiall eye that they looke upon others they would be able to judge better of their owne wayes and would discover the same corruptions in themselves which they can so easily discern in another And this is the first condition necessary to a true confession that is a due examination of our selves and of our former life The second condition necessary to a true confession is sorrow and contrition of heart They that confesse their sins and are not grieved for them may be said rather to relate or to describe their sins then to confesse them Sorrow is a condition so inseparable from this duty that where it is wanting it is as good to deny our sins as to confesse them and this condition is expresly required Levit. 26.40 where God makes a promise to the Jewes when they shall be in captivity saying If they shall confesse their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers with their trespasse which they trespassed against mee and that they also have walked contrary unto mee And that I also have walked contrary unto them and have brought them into the land of their enemies if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember and I will remember the land This promise you see which God made to the Jewes upon their confession is a conditionall promise and the condition expressed is this If their uncircumcised hearts be humbled that is if they be broken and rent with sorrow for their sins he doth not promise to remember them whensoever they should formally confesse but if their uncircumcised hearts were humbled when they made their confession And therefore wheresoever you find the children of God confessing their sins in Scripture yee shall find them usually in an humble and mournfull posture In such a posture shall you find Daniel at the ninth chapter and third verse of his own Prophecie where you may see that hee first humbled himselfe and by putting on sack-cloth and ashes expressed deep signes of sorrow and contrition and then hee proceeded to make confession of his sins In such a posture shal ye find Ezra at the 9th chapter and 5th verse of his own book where you may see that he also by the outward gesture of his body first testified the inward heavinesse and affliction of his mind and then proceeded to make his confession to God And this is the true manner of confessing sin our confession is then available when our hearts are ready to break with sorrow wee may be confident the Lord will not despise us when our tears lift up our confession as the waters lifted up the Ark. I will not here dispute the question concerning the quality of sorrow whether a sensible sorrow be alwaies necessary or whether an appreciative rationall sorrow will serve the turn as our Romish Doctors do generally affirme For my part I take their appreciative rationall sorrow to be a meer figment a fained and forged invention of their owne as many other of their distinctions are Sorrow is a passion of the mind and I think an appreciative rationall passion is a new kind of passion that was never known to any but themselves True sorrow without doubt hath alwayes some sensible motions some convulsions of heart to attend it it could not be a passion of the mind if it did not inferre passionem animo some wayes or other sensibly affect the soule I will also omit the question concerning the quantity of sorrow which wee ought to have namely whether sorrow for sin ought to be the greatest sorrow Bellarmines determination is that it ought to be the greatest appreciative but not intensive I will not at this time examine this determination I say only in generall that true sorrow proceeding from the grace of God and not from the fear of punishment or any other sinister respect in what degree or quantity soever it be is sufficient to make our confession available before God Many when they compare their owne sorrow with the sorrow of David or with the sorrow of divers other holy men and women which are mentioned in the Scriptures are much troubled in mind because they cannot equall them What are my tears say they compared with Davids tears What is my griefe compared with the griefe of Mary Magdalen Thus they discourse within themselves and are ready almost to dispaire because they cannot arrive at their perfection But such comparisons as these beloved are offensive and unprofitable for why should every one compare himselfe with David or Mary Magdalen which were Gods especiall favourites and had a greater measure of grace conferred upon them then is ordinarily conferred upon others Every one cannot hope to be so perfect as they were I speak not this to dishearten any or inclining to an opinion that it is not lawfull for you to desire
to equall those worthy examples of repentance for I think it not onely lawfull but commendable for every one to desire the best gifts wee may desire to equall and if wee can to excell David Mary Magdalen or any other provided alwayes that wee submit our wils to the will of God and when wee see that it is not his pleasure to conferre upon us such gifts as he conferred upon them wee must not therefore murmure against him nor work our owne disquiet and trouble by making such unprofitable comparisons but giving thanks to God for what wee have let us comfort our selves with that considering alwaies that all sorrow whether it be in a great or small quantity if it proceeds from grace is able to save our souls And this is the second condition necessary to a true confession that is sorrow and true contrition of heart The third condition necessary to a true confession is amendment of life Although a man confesseth his sins every day yet if hee forsakes them not his confession is but a meer formality and this condition is required in many places of the Scripture but I will onely name a place or two In the 28th chapter of the Proverbs and the 13th verse it is said Hee that covereth his sinnes shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Not every hypocrite that makes a formall confession but he that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy And again Ezra 10.11 Ezra saith unto the people Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers and doe his pleasure and separate your selves from the people of the land and from the strange wives Hee doth not onely stirre up the people to confesse their sins to God but to doe his pleasure also and to separate themselves from the people of the land with whom they had contracted affinity and to put away their strange wives without which their confession had been but vain It is I know a common opinion at this time that an actuall amendment of life is not necessary and essentiall to confession but that a purpose of amendment with faith in Christ Jesus is sufficient and although they commit the same sins every day yet if they resolve to amend after they have committed them many think themselves if they should die after such resolutions in a good and safe condition But this beloved is a grosse and manifest delusion and contrary to those places of Scripture that have been already alledged and to many other which might be alledged to this purpose It is true indeed that faith in Christ Jesus if it could be in any man without an actuall amendment is able to save him but herein they deceive themselves in that they think true faith consistent with bare and naked resolutions and not alwayes accompanied with an actuall amendment for true faith will shew it selfe in action and cannot be perfected and known by bare and naked resolutions Whatsoever is born of God saith Saint John overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith 1 John 5.4 By true faith therefore a man overcometh the world now how can hee be said to overcome the world that hath not forsaken his sins for a victory is won by action and not by bare and naked resolutions Have drunkards think you overcome the world Have adulterers unclean persons swearers and usurers overcome the world No they are overcome themselves and have not overcome the world Take heed therefore yee deceive not your selves think not yee have faith before yee find the fruits of faith in your life and conversation I presume there are none here but will say they have faith but I pray God many amongst you be not deluded Should I demand of you whether you beleeve in God or whether ye beleeve an heaven and an hell and a resurrection from the dead I dare say you would all answer Yes But then if I could look into your lives and see your secret practices I am afraid I should find many of you to be such as if yet beleeved no such matter I say If I could look into your lives I am afraid I should find many of you to be such as if yee beleeved neither heaven not hell nor the resurrection of the dead nor any other article of faith for wherein doe many amongst us exceed an infidell that beleeves none of these things Is it possible that infidelity should produce as good effects in them as faith in you Is faith so sluggish a vertue that it can he still and not be active No be sure if thy faith breaks not into action it is but a dead faith In the 11th chapter to the Hebrews there are many commended for faith but they are all said to have done something by it It is said By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice then Cain and so of all the rest it is said they did something by faith but there are none which are said to have made good resolutions by faith and to have kept none of them True faith therefore must be known and perfected by action and not by bare and naked resolutions And this is the third condition necessary to a true confession that is amendment of life The fourth condition necessary to a true confession is satisfaction I shall not need to prove this condition necessarie because it is manifestly included in the former for there can be no amendment without satisfaction he that doth wrong another and doth not repair the injury cannot be said to amend but sinneth against justice for justice giveth to every one his due which he refuseth to doe that will not restore his neighbours goods or his neighbours credit when hee hath wrongfully deprived him of them Now therefore let every one examine his confession and see whether it hath all these conditions or no First whether hee hath made a diligent examination of his whole life and confessed all his particular and individuall sins as far as hee is able Secondly whether his confession be joyned with true sorrow and contrition of heart Thirdly whether hee hath for saken the sins which hee hath confessed Fourthly whether hee hath made satisfaction as far as hee is able for all the wrongs and injuries he hath done if his confession hath all these conditions it is good but if it want any of them hee hath but plaid the formall hypocrite And so much of the second part of Davids confession which is his confession in respect of the act I come now to the last part which is his confession in respect of the object I have sinned against thee The object against whom this sin was committed is not exprest in the words of my Text but is implied in this word thee yet wee shall not need to goe farre to seek it for it is expressed in the same verse I said Lord be mercifull unto mee beale my soule for I have sinned against thee It is
that supreme facultie of the soul and mistresse of all the other for the will was once able to rule the affections and to hold them all in subjection it had a naturall power to love God and a naturall inclination carrying all her desires towards him But sin hath now wounded the will also and deprived it of those naturall perfections wherewith it was created it is now inclined to love the creatures and to desire and long after them more then after God Could wee but penetrate with our bodily eyes into the souls of men and behold all the severall acts of their wills wee should see an admirable diversity and multitude of desires but all fixt upon the creatures wee should see some desiring riches others honour others to spend their dayes in lust and pleasure we should see some transported with love others with jealousie wee should see an infinite number of desires but all pointed downwards towards transitory and earthly things How few are there whose desires fly upward Who is there that will say I desire to enjoy God though it cost me my lust my riches mine honour and all that I possesse The name of happinesse is pleasing to our ears but wee regard not the thing it selfe or at least we pursue the shadow whilest the substance flies from us our disordered passions do now so over-rule our wills that wee preferre lies before truth vice before vertue the vain delights of the body before the true and solid contentments of the mind wee preferre the spurious pleasures of our senses before those which are legitimate which vertue receives and approves Whilest wee should moderate our affections and establish a durable and lasting peace within our selves we rather give way to their disorders and suffer our happinesse to be interrupted by their excesse and riot Our wils are full of inordinate and unsatiable desires and are become soft and plyable to evill but hard and impenetrable to every good motion This is the third wound of the soul which is called Malitia duritas cordis malice and hardnesse of heart And yet this is not all Sin hath made another wound in the soule which troubles it worse then all the rest and that is in the conscience In the spirituall conflict between sin and the soul 1 King 22.34 the conscience may say like Ahab Take mee out of the battell for I am wounded There are two effects of sin macula reatus the stain of sin and the guilt of sin the stain of sin is that distemper and vitious inclination that sin leaveth behind it and this adheres to the faculties before mentioned The guilt of sin is the obligation to punishment that lies upon every sinner after hee hath committed it for as hee that breaks the provinciall laws and customes of any common-wealth is guilty of the punishment which the sanction and penalty of the law provides in that common-wealth so he that sins against God is guilty of the punishment appointed by his law and this guilt adheres to the conscience Thus sin hath wounded all the powers and faculties of the soul not by any positive acts as the Pelagians supposed a necessity but by depriving it of that originall justice wherewith it was created as a man may overthrow a building as well by taking away a pillar as by applying outward force The want of originall justice hath made the soul lame and imperfect hee that hath one leg shorter then another cannot chuse but halt and goe unequally in his naturall motion and the soul that is moved by Reason Affections tanquam à duobus pedibus inaequalibus as by two unequall legs cannot chuse but halt and goe unequally in its morall motion for whilest it follows the motion of its longer leg Reason it riseth towards heaven but whilst it follows the motion of its shorter leg the Affections it falleth towards the earth God to supply this inequality and defect created the soul with originall justice which did after a manner spiritualize the Affections and kept the whole soul in such a frame and temper that all her faculties moved towards heaven But man sinned and God as a just judgement took from him that originall justice that upheld his nature for want whereof the soul is fallen into that decay and become subject to those vvounds and defects that I have named This is every finners condition and this was Davids condition hee was wounded in all the powers and faculties of his soul he was wounded in his affections in his vnderstanding in his will and in his conscience and all these wounds were the effects of originall sin But David had yet more vvounds David had his personall and actuall sins which although they did not wound new faculties for originall sin had vvounded all before yet they made new vvounds but if I should undertake to shew you all those wounds I should undertake that which himself was not able to performe though more privie to his owne actions Psal 19.21 Who can tell saith hee how oft hee offendeth His words have the forme of a question but the force of a peremptory assertion for there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher speaks questions which have the force of affirmative or negative propositions and so hath this here Davids Quis intelligit is as much as Nullus intelligit and if no man can number his sins then surely no man can number the vvounds of his soule for every sinne is as deadly as the first it vvounds as deep though it vvounds not so many and these wounds vvere dangerous though but light in comparison of others for David had sins of presumption also sins against his knowledge and against his conscience but those sins vvhich made the vvorst vvounds and which he desires in my Text especially to have healed were his adultery and his murther In the next Psalm to my Text he complains of the bitternesse of those wounds Why art thou so full of heavinesse O my soul Psal 42.11 saith he and why art thou so disquieted within mee here was heavinesse and disquietnesse in his soul and all this the effect of those wounds His adultery and murther were sins of an high nature and most of all destructive to the soule Whoso committeth adultery with a woman saith Solomon lacketh understanding hee that doth it destroyeth his owne soul Prov. 6.31 Adultery you see destroyes the soul it wounds it mortally and murther is no lesse destructive then adultery Yee know saith Saint John that no murtherer hath eternall life abiding in him 1 John 3.15 This sin doth not onely deprive the soul of health but of life it selfe it kils the soul outright this made David complain My wickednesses are gone over mine head and are like a sore burden too heavie for mee to bear Psal 38.4 The cruell and unnaturall homicide sheds his brothers bloud and it falls upon the earth and the earth seems to drink it up and yet the word
of God saith that it rest upon the head of the murtherer and so it rested upon Davids head that bloud that ranne in Uriah's veins to preserve his life sits now heavie upon Davids head to procure his death it was time for David to have his soul healed it having so many deep and deadly wounds And yet healing was scarce sufficient for in another Psalm hee seems to require more Create in me a clean heart O God saith he and renew a right spirit within me Psal 51.10 All the faculties of his soul were so wounded by those sins that he desireth not there a reparation but a new creation And these sins considered in abstracto simply and by themselves did deeply wound his soul but if we consider them in concreto with all their adjuncts we may find many circumstances that made his wounds the greater for David was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both a King and a Prophet and as a Prophet was bound to instruct as a King to protect the lives and chastity of his subjects For Bathsheba something may be said in her excuse for it was hard for her to resist the importunity of a King but all circumstances aggravate Davids sin his holy profession and the sword of justice which God had put into his hand to punish such offences ought to have restrained himselfe from committing them This sin in David did not onely wound his owne soul but it wounded the whole Church and laid it open to the calumnies and reproaches of the heathen for as S. Ambrose witnesseth In the primitive times of the Church when the contention was hot between the Christians and the heathen concerning the truth of religion the heathen objected this against the Christians Ecce quomodo Christiani innocentiam sequuntur Apoleg David lib. 2. cap 3. fidem praeferunt religionem venerantur castitatem docent quorum principes homicidia adulteria fecisse produntur Behold said they how the Christians imbrace innocence extoll faith honour religion teach chastity whose chiefest masters were both murtherers and adulterers But I will insist no longer upon these particulars neither will I speak of his other sins appendant to these of his making Uriah drunk to conceal and palliate his adultery of his ingratitude in rewarding Uriah with death whose faithfull services ought to have been rewarded with honour of his deep hypocrisie in being present at the service of God and offering sacrifice for the space of nine moneths together polluted in the mean time with these horrible crimes these and the rest I will passe over lest as Shimei reviled him in his life so I may seem to revile him after death Saint Ambrose hath made an apologie in his defence and for my part I will not make an invective against him God himself hath justified him and then who shall condemn him I have only named his principall sins that according as my Text requires I might shew you the wounds of his soul Now therefore I will leave him and come to our selves And first since sin doth wound the soul let us be carefull and watchfull over it for the soul is the most noble and excellent part of a man A man consists of two parts a body and a soul and both these have their naturall beauty and excellency The excellency of the body if wee consider the outward forme and workmanship is very wonderfull I will praise thee saith David for I am fearfully and wonderfully made Psal 139.14 He useth two termes here to expresse the rarity of this work fearfully and wonderfully as if the structure of mans body were so artificially framed that the sight thereof was not onely able to beget fear but wonder and astonishment And in the next verse he adds further I am curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth the Originall hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is I am curiously imbroydered as if mans body were made like a piece of Phrygian workmanship being variously wrought with veins and sinewes and bones and muscles so that wee have reason to be carefull of our bodies and if they be wounded at any time to make provision for their health How much more then ought we to be carefull of our souls whose excellency like Benjamins messe is five times as much as the excellency of the body The soul of man is a divine substance a rich and noble possession the greatest gift and most precious that a man ever received from the liberall hand of his Creatour it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Gregory Nyssen by it wee know the height the breadth and depth of the heavens the number of the stars their greatnesse distances approaches What should I speak of Divinity Philosophy the Mathematicks What should I speak of History Poesie of all the Sciences and Arts as well liberall as mechanicall the knowledge whereof wee attain unto by the benefit of the soul By it a man being but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Chrysostome stiles him a short creature not above a yard and an halfe long obtaines the government of the whole world By it the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles spake unto God received divine revelations learned many secret and ineffable mysteries and knew upon earth what things were done in heaven Hee that knoweth not the worth of this jewell may undervalue it but a skilfull Jeweller that knowes the properties and excellencie of it will prize it above the whole world Such a Jeweller is God who for the desire he had to those jewels assumed our humane nature and when he could not have them at a cheaper rate hee tooke them in exchange for his own bloud Such Jewelers are the Angels which watch continually over mens souls that they may keep and preserve these jewels deputed to their custody And such a Jeweller if I may lawfully rank him in this place is the Divell who to get these jewels goes about continually and compasseth the whole earth Seeing the soule then is of so great excellencie let us be carefull and watchfull over it let us not suffer such a divine learned noble and active creature to perish by our negligence Secondly Seeing sin doth wound the soul let it be our chiefest care to avoid sin let us not set our affections upon it but flye from it as from a deadly enemy The world sets too high a price upon her owne beauty for her fairest things are but imperfect and defective her wisdome is but foolishnesse her light but darknesse her riches but poverty What shall wee say then of her deformities her pride ambition lust and all her other vices which men falsly think pleasures but are indeed the price of their souls are so far from being good as they are the worst of evils for how can wee reckon those among the number of good things which destroy the soul God is the life of the soul let us set our affections upon him Why should wee turn from God who is the substance and
if his repentance end where it begun it is a signe his will is not yet healed When good resolutions vanish like the morning-dew and are never put in execution what fruit can they produce but when resolutions and actions like the former and the later rain succeed one another in their due season they cause a fruitfull increase of glory and happinesse and it is an evident signe that the will is wrought upon by grace for that love that springs from grace makes the soule affectionate to God and carefull to abstain from all such actions as offend him When Israel came out of Egypt and the house of Jacob from among the strange people the sea saw that and fled Jordan was driven back Psal 114.1 3. The Israelites departure out of Egypt to worship God in the wildernesse was a type of mans conversion to God by love and the flight of the waters was a type of the flight of sin that follows upon it Ante retrorsum aquae conversae fuerunt nunc retrorsum peccata conversa sunt saith S. Ambrose upon that passage there the waters but here sins are driven backward there the course of the floud was stopped within its channell but here the course of sin is stopped in all the secret passages of the heart And this is the third thing to which Davids petition must be applyed namely to his will But Davids soule is not yet perfectly healed his conscience was wounded too and therefore in the last place this petition must be applied to his conscience Heal my conscience And here the manner of healing is something different from the former grace can heale the staine of sin but it cannot heale the guilt it can sanctifie but it cannot justifie the soule nothing can take away the guilt of sin but forgivenesse of sin but sin being forgiven the obligation to punishment is taken away then the conscience is healed and guilt is turned into innocence fear into gladnesse In the 102. Psalme David laments his own case very passionately My dayes are consumed away like smoak and my bones are burnt up as it were a fire-brand my heart is smitten downe and withered like grasse so that I forget to eat my bread For the voice of my groaning my bones will scarce cleave to my flesh c. In the 103. Psalme hee seems to rejoice as much and breaks forth into elogies of praise Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is within me praise his holy name Praise the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits What was it that transported him so suddenly from one passion to another If you read the Psalmes you shall soon see the cause his conscience was wounded when hee made the 102. Psalm and healed when he made the 103. Psalm his sins lay heavie upon his soule when hee made the one and were forgiven him when hee made the other As long as the guilt of sin disquieted his conscience not all the glory of his Kingdome nor the pomp of his Court not all the delights of Canaan though a land flowing with milk and honey could content his mind but when his sins were forgiven hee found a sudden alteration that heavinesse that possessed his heart vented it selfe and gave place to joy O Lord my God saith he I cryed unto thee and thou hast healed me Psal 30.2 And what ensued upon this Thou hast turned saith hee afterwards my heavinesse into joy thou hast put off my sack cloth and girded me with gladnesse That contentment of mind that tranquillity of conscience that circle of joy wherewith his soul was girt followed immediately upon the healing of his conscience and forgivenesse of his sins forgivenesse of sin is as proper to heale the guilt of sin as grace to heale the staine In the Scripture to heal sin and to forgive sin are termini aequipollentes termes which signifie the same things and are promiscuously taken the one for the other Return ye back-sliding children and I will heal your back-slidings Jer. 3.22 Here you see to heale their back-slidings is to forgive their sin And so again I have seen his ways and will heale him I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners Isa 57.18 I have seen his wayes and will heale him that is I have seen his sins and will forgive them But was not David healed before hee made this Psalm did not the Prophet Nathan tell him The Lord also hath put away thy sin 2 Sam. 12.13 He did but David being assured by the Prophet desired yet a greater assurance The richest of Gods saints alwayes suspect their owne poverty and think that which they have nothing in respect of that which they have not and of that which they desire to have David was healed the Lord had forgiven him all his sins and yet for all that hee desires still to be healed Let us then learn by Davids example to be thus carefull and solicitous to have our soules healed Pharaoh desired to be delivered from the plagues of Egypt but not from his hardnesse of heart Let us rather desire the last for the wounds of sin are the worst wounds The Scripture hath in many places very artificially painted out the nature of sin but it alwayes borrowes colours from noxious and hurtfull creatures it compares it to the basilisk to the viper to the asp whose poysonous qualities are destructive to the life of men And it hath also in many places allegorically expressed the nature of sin by many deadly diseases by the leprosie by the palsie by the bloudy-flux and sometimes by death it selfe in the abstract By these and many other expressions in the Scripture yee may learn the nature of sin and see how dangerous her wounds are if they be not healed Let us then doe as David did let us seek unto the Lord who is the Physician of our souls hee onely is able by his grace to heale the staine and by his mercy the guilt of our sins The time will not permit mee to enter into the last part of my Text I will therefore conclude all with that of the Prophet Jeremiah Heal us O Lord and we shall be healed save us and we shall be saved for thou art our praise FINIS PSALM 41.4 Heal my soul for I have sinned against thee I Have formerly begun to speak of these words in this place I divided my Text then as you may remember into three parts First here is Designatio partis vulneratae Davids discovery of the wounded part and that was his soul Heal my soul Secondly here is Petitio remedii his prayer and petition for a remedy and that was to be healed Heal my soul Thirdly here is Confessio causae his confession of the cause of those wounds and that was sin for I have sinned against thee I have already spoken of the two first parts where I shewed you the wounds of his soule and the manner how they were to be
healed I come now to speak of the last part which is His confession of the cause of those wounds in these words For I have sinned against thee The right method of healing requires that wee shew the cause of the malady as far as we are able for the cause being removed the effect will cease that David doth here in these last words For I have sinned against thee And this last part of my Text is that which we are chiefly to look upon and to take into consideration For before as I have shewed you hee gave occasion to those that were of the Church to sin to those that were out of it to blaspheme first he commits adultery and after that as if adultery were to be purged by murther or as if Uriah's lost honour had been to be repaired by the losse of his life hee commands him to be unjustly murthered But here you may see him marking out the way to repentance and going himselfe before to direct us For as hee was not ashamed to commit sin so hee was not ashamed to confesse it and to make publick satisfaction to the whole world for my Text and many other places of the Psalmes remaine as it were so many publick registers of his sins hee sighed and wept and lamented day and night and in a word shewed all the marks and tokens of an humble and contrite heart broken with the sense of his sins and the apprehension of Gods anger against them If a gold ring be broken it loseth part of its grace and lustre but if ye set a diamond or a saphyr or a ruby in the broken place it gives a greater lustre then it did before so David by his sins lost part of that grace and lustre that made him shine so brightly in the Church of God but his confession humility repentance and other vertues like so many precious stones set in a gold ring in the place where it was broken hath made him shine brighter after his fall then in his former times of innocence for as his sinnes were great so was his sorrow and repentance and I would to God that all men which have eyes to see the one had eyes also to see the other and could learn not to love that in David which David hated in himselfe This generall confession containeth in it three particular confessions which are the heads I purpose at this time by Gods help to insist upon First here is a confession in respect of the subject Secondly here is a confession in respect of the act Thirdly here is a confession in respect of the object The subject I. The act Have sinned The object Against thee I will begin with the first that is his confession in respect of the subject I have sinned that is I alone not as a partiall and lesse principall cause necessitated and compelled by a cause more active and powerfull then my selfe but by the free and full consent of my will I have so sinned that these sins are properly and onely mine It is the custome of many to excuse themselves and impute their sins to others or at least they will charge others to have had such a causality and influence upon them that they will seeme themselves to be but partiall causes at the most In Solomons time two mothers contended for one child and both of them challenged it to be their owne but when sinne is borne and brought into the world the contention is who shall not have it in this case the true mother would have the child divided as in that the false the Will whose child it is will not acknowledge it for her owne and when shee cannot wholly impose it upon others shee desires at least to have it divided between them Some impute their sins to the Devill and to the violence of his temptations as if hee did forcibly and irresistibly procure them to sin and this is a kind of hereditary disease which we take from our first parents for after Eve had transgressed the commandement of God by eating the forbidden fruit to excuse the matter shee laid the fault upon the Divell The Serpent said shee beguiled me and I did eat But David here useth no such evasions I have sinned saith hee hee condemnes himselfe and not the Divell and yet the Divell sinned as well as David and if Saint Augustines opinion be true the Divell sinned worse then David Lib. 3. de libero arbitrio cap. 10. Gravius est peccatum alteri per invidentiam dolúmque suadere quà m ad peccandum alterius suasione traduci saith hee speaking of the temptations of the Divell But yet David accuseth not the Divell who did only tempt but could not constrain him to sin for all that the Divell can doe is to allure and induce men by morall perswasions hee cannot physically determine their wils to evill hee may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 6. Homil 91. as Saint Chrysostome speaks supplant cozen and deceive a man but he cannot force him to doe evill When the Divell tempted our Saviour Christ in the wildernesse without question hee imployed all the power hee had to make him sin and yet hee could not force him to it nay hee did not so much as offer to make him sin by force for if yee consider all the passages between them yee shall find great Boldnesse great Pride and great Malice in his temptations but no force at all his first temptation as they are writ in order by Saint Luke was this Luke 4.3 If thou be the Son of God command this stone that it be made bread Here is great boldnesse in this temptation What will nothing but a miracle serve the turne Must Christ turn stones into bread to satisfie his curiosity This was a bold request indeed but yet you see hee doth not force his consent but beg it The second temptation after hee had set him upon a mountaine and showne him all the kingdomes of the world was this All this power will I give thee and the glory of them for that is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will I give it if thou therefore wilt worship mee all shall be thine Here is great pride in this temptation a pride greater then that that made him fall from heaven for then hee said Ascendam super excelsa nubis similis ero Altissimo I will ascend above the highest of the clouds I will be like the most High Isa 14.14 but here his pride reacheth a degree higher hee desires to be greater then God and requires of him that hee would fall down and worship him but yet you see here is no force in this temptation If thou wilt worship mee saith hee all shall be thine hee leaves him here to his own free choice if hee will hee may if hee will not hee offers not by any violent assault to make him His third temptation after hee had set him upon the pinnacle of the Temple was this If thou be the
the profit and benefit that is in them I should too much exceed the limits of the time I will speak therefore onely of the last kind that is confession before God because that is necessary to salvation and is a duty that cannot be dispensed with Whosoever looks to have his soule healed must first confesse his sin to God and lay open the cause of his distemper And surely wee cannot desire a more cheap or a more easie remedy wee shall not need to represent our spirituall diseases in plates of gold as the Philistines did their emerods 1 Sam. 6.4 that was a costly remedy and yet they thought it cheap enough when they considered what an happinesse it was to have their health But wee shall not need I say to use such a costly remedy wee shall not need to represent our spirituall diseases in plates of gold let us but represent them in words and wee shall be healed David did but confesse his sin and presently obtained pardon the prodigall child did but confesse his sin and presently the cloud of his fathers anger was dissolved into a milde showre of teares the theefe upon the crosse confessing his sins was canonized before hee was dead and found a better paradise by confession then Adam lost by sin Let us then acknowledge our sins and wee shall have pardon let us lay open and discover the cause of our wounds and wee shall be healed But some perhaps will say All this is done already I have and doe confesse my sins before God every day It is well done yet take heed thou dost not content thy selfe with the shadow of confession What if thy confession be nothing else but an empty sound of words What if it want substance What if it be but a meer formality then thou art miserably deluded Yet such is the confession of most men for there is a formall verball confession which is but a meer shadow a man may confesse his sins every day and yet be never the better for there are divers conditions necessary to a true confession which if they be absent from thine it will not be available The first condition necessary to a true confession is a due examination of our selves and of our former life all the kinds of sin and all the circumstances that doe aggravate them are to be discussed wee are not to take our sins in the grosse and so to make a light perfunctory confession and say that wee are miserable and wretched sinners but wee must take a perfect view as far as we are able of all our particular and individuall sins It is for want of this examination that many a mans confession is invalid they confesse only such sins as come suddenly into their minds and make no reflection upon their former life But whosoever desire to make such a confession as may be pleasing to God must take more paines and do it more exactly Stand in awe and sin not commune with your own heart and in your chamber and be still saith David Psal 4.4 As if hee should have said In the silence of the night when thou enjoyest thine owne privacie when thou art free from the cares and distractions of worldly imployments enter into secret communication with thine owne heart examine thine owne wayes and search out thine own corruptions And lest hee should seeme to exact that of others which hee did not perform as rigorously himselfe hee shewes it in another Psalme to be his owne practice I call to remembrance saith hee my song in the night I commune with mine owne heart and my spirit made diligent search Psal 77.6 The Prophet Jeremiah likewise exhorts his brethren the Jewes in the time of their captivity to the performance of this duty Let us search and try our wayes saith hee and turn again to the Lord Lam. 3.40 Saint Paul also writing to the Corinthians layes this as a necessary injunction upon them that no man should have accesse to the holy Sacrament without diligent examination of himselfe But let a man examine himselfe saith hee and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup 1 Cor. 11.28 As if he should have said It is not sufficient to make a generall confession of your sinnes when yee receive the holy Sacrament but every man must search accurately that if it be possible hee may see the very bottome of his corruption and confesse all his sins and be humbled for them in that measure that their number or quality doe require It is for want of this examination that many men think themselves better then they are they take no notice of their sins or if they doe take notice when they commit them yet for want of a timely examination they forget them afterwards so that when they would confesse their sins like Nebuchad-nezzars dream are quite gone out of their mind and if some Daniel doe not bring them back again to their remembrance they shall never be confessed But this slight and superficiall kind of confession is not availeable they that would confesse their sins effectually must be intentive and diligent in examination of themselves that so they may discover the whole masse of their owne corruption and as divers artificers examine all their work by the line and plummet so they must examine all their actions by the exact rule and straight line of Gods word And here would the time permit I would a little enlarge my selfe because there are many that never yet performed this duty and many others that know not how to do it there are many that never yet performed this duty which are so farre from taking any strict account of their owne wayes and from searching diligently into their owne lives that so they might discover their own imperfections and judge and condemn them in themselves that they are not very well content when others would take the paines to doe it for them and to lay open their sins and corruptions before their eyes but if their pastor or teacher whose office it is to doe it and who shall answer God for not doing it take notice of any sin and discover it to them they think him too uncivill and importunate If there be any here that have been thus negligent in confessing their sins and examining their owne lives be exhorted I beseech you to begin this duty before your souls be too far over-spread with sins I went by the field of the slothfull saith Solomon and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding and loe it was all growne over with thorns and nettles had covered the face thereof and the stone-wall thereof was broken down Pro. 24.30 31. His words are allegoricall and imply thus much that they which neglect this duty and doe not seriously examine and often confesse their sins their soules will soon be over-growne with vices as the field or vine-yard of a fool or slothfull person useth to be over-grown with weeds There are some again that know