why he seeks to conceal it So 't is 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 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 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 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 is * Heb. 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 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
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 laâ—t Day O the continued unwearied Patience of God that has suffer'd such a wicked Wâ—â—tâ—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 Prâ—bation O the riches of the goodn ss and forâ—earance of God who 〈◊〉 * 〈…〉 〈◊〉 hath shewn forth all Long-Sâ—â—â—ering It was surely a Miracle of the Divine Mâ—â—cy that the righteous God struck â—e noâ— Dead suddenly destroyed me not immâ—diately when I was acting and committing 〈◊〉 and such a sin that he made nâ—â— nay very last â—â—â—kness my certâ—iâ— Dâ—aâ—â— my lâ—st wilâ—ul Sin my present 〈◊〉 O that the Lord should be plâ—ased so long to Bâ—prieâ—e me and to 〈◊〉 me in a 〈◊〉 in a probability of 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 Loâ—â—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 furthâ—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 câ—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 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 patiently * 26 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 Coâ—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 justified God even while he was under Execution for his sin Dost not thou fear Gâ—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 â—ast punished us less than our iniquities 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 〈◊〉 â—emerit That 's the first Mark Self-Câ—â—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 sâ—â—meth him good 1 Sam. 3.18 In condemning of our selves we must all be like-minded as
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 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 very * The 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 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 'll * 1 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 Vnrighteousness yea more than so he 'll thorowly cleanse us cleanse us from all Vnrighteousness †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 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 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 must * Levit. 13.45 cry out with the Leper in the Law Vnclean Vnclean and †Mat. 8.2 with the Leper in the Gospel too Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean 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
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 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 'T will 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 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 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 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 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 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.