you remember your sins Looking back upon them not as Lot's Wife did upon her Sodom which she may be conceived to have left against her will sorrowing that she and it were parted and that she might not return to it again for which cause she was turned into a Pillar of Salt made a Monument to all posterity as the Story tells us Gen. 19. 26. Thus do aged sinners sometimes look back upon their sins their sins of youth which they have left or rather which have left them not being ashamed of them or sorrowing for them but pleasing themselves in the remembrance of them sorrowing rather that they have been forced to part with them Thus do they remember their sins as they do their friends being dead mourning over their Graves lamenting their death sorry that they could live no longer with them Now as for such a Remembrance far be it from every of you Would you have God to forget your sins see that you remember them with sorrow and shame loathing and abhorring them and your selves for them So look upon them as a sick Patient doth upon his Vomit which his stomack being disburdened of the very sight or smell of it is loathsome to him Remembring them be ashamed of them and confounded in your selves for them Taking notice which let it serve for a second Motive that this is the onely way to prevent everlasting Confusion at the last and great Day Those that will not remember their sins here shall remember them there those that will not remember them with shame here shall behold them with shame there those that will not be confounded for them here shall be confounded for them at that day They shall then be ashamed and also confounded all of them they shall go to confusion as the Prophet saith of the makers of Idols Isa. 45. 16. O then Be awakened and stir up your selves to such a serious remembrance of your sins And this do you speedily Not deferring the remembring of them as too many do who as long as health and strength are continued to them they go on securely not willing to trouble themselves with the thought of their sins No when the evil day cometh then it will be soon enough to do this In time of sickness at the hour of death this is the time which they have designed to this work A time of all other most improper for it So many a one hath found it and so let them make account to do who ever they are who shall put off the remembrance of their sins till then Haply at that time 1st thou mayest want power to do this not having the use of memorie Or 2dly having power thou mayest want a will though thou hast a head thou mayest want a heart God often yea for the most part denying his Grace at that time to those that have slighted the former offers of it But 3dly though thou hast both power and will yet how sad and terrible will the remembrance of thy sins be then unto thee when thou shalt come to look death in the face and be under the Arrest of that grim Sergeant thy body ready to be carried to the prison of the Grave and thy Soul without infinite Mercy to the prison of Hell there to make satisfaction for those sins which thou hast committed but not repented of O sad remembrance of sin when being thus arrested and called to give up thy accompt thou shalt remember thy sins but canst not remember thy repentance canst remember thy Debts but cannot shew thy Acquittance shalt remember how thou hast provoked God by a continual course of sin and so made thy self justly obnoxious to his everlasting Wrath and Vengeance but canst not remember that ever thou suedst out thy pardon this will be a sad Remembrance To prevent the horror and terror hereof then Remember your sins now Now whilest health and strength last now whilest you have time for the suing out your Pardon Now remember them Which that you may do for Direction briefly Begg it of God that he would open your eyes that he would in a kindly way set your sins in order before you bringing them to your remembrance causing you to know them This is that which Iob desireth from his God in his Passion Job 13. 23. Lord saith he make me to know my transgression and my sin And the like do you upon serious thoughts begg it of God that he would make a full discovery of your sins to you So it is unless He be pleased to do this for you you will never behold them as they are nor remember them as you ought And therefore be earnest in begging this Mercy A Mercy which maketh way for all saving Mercies for pardoning Mercie healing Mercie that the Lord would be pleased to discover your sins unto you making you acquainted with your Selves with the sinfulness of you Natures Hearts and Lives Which that he may do Wait upon him in the use of such means as whereby he ordinarily effecteth this work The chief whereof is the publick Ministry of his Word Hereby doth God open the eyes of poor sinners Paul was sent by God unto the Gentiles upon this Errand To open their eyes to turn them from darkness to light from the power of Satan unto God that they might receive forgiveness of sins c. as the Lord tells him Act. 26. 18. And how was he to do this Why by his Preaching his Preaching of the Word to them Herein are God's Ministers his Instruments as he was in doing of this work in giving sight to the blind in making men to see and know their sins This is the work which the Lord putteth his Prophet Ezekiel upon cap. 16. 2. Son of man saith he cause Ierusalem to know her Abominations And this is the work of God's Ministers his Interpreters as to shew unto man his uprightness of which Elihu speaks Iob 33. 23 so to convince him of his sinfulness And therefore that you may come to see and feel this attend upon this Ordinance of God and that with care and Conscience that you may hear what God will say to you by his Ministers Not being offended at them when they come to touch upon your sins as Ahab was with Michaiah Herod with Iohn the Baptist and Foelix with Paul of whom I spake before but Be willing to hear of them that so you may be convinced of them and brought to remember them in a truly penitential way This for the former sort such as never yet knew what it was to remember their sins aright In the second place for them who have remembered them and seriously repented of them let them also be excited frequently to reflect upon them It is a mistake if any shall think what our Antinomians of late time did that when once a man hath repented of his sins and sued out his pardon for them he should then cast them behind his back
truth hereof so receiving this Truth into our Iudgments looking upon it as a Faithful Saying yielding a full and firm assent and consent unto it Not entertaining any doubtful hesitations concerning it All which our Apostle here maketh it his design to expectorate and drive out of the hearts of Christians holding forth this unto them as a most infallible Doctrine laying it as a sure foundation which they may safely build upon And so do we taking this for an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Principle of our Religion the truth whereof is not to be questioned Every of us labour thus to get our hearts established in the belief hereof 3. Thus receiving it into our Understandings and Iudgments Receive we it also into our Memories lodging and laying it up there as a most precious Treasure of inestimable value and singular use Remember it and make use of it as occasion shall be offered Holding it forth as a Buckler for the repelling of those fiery Darts those Satanical Temptations which he is ready to inject for the disquieting and troubling the Souls of poor sinners with the apprehension of their sins The Quantitie and Qualitie the Multitude and Magnitude the Number and Nature of them which being let into the Soul without a Divine support may be enough to sinck it into the Gulph of Desperation Against all these oppose we this faithful Saying Remember the Consolation it holdeth forth That Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners A true Catholicon a Soveraign Cordial proper for what ever Faintings the Soul may be subject to 4. Thus lodging it in our Memories Receive we it also into our Wills and Affections imbracing it resting upon it rejoycing in it and being thankful for it 1. Imbracing it as the most acceptable the most welcome Tidings that ever were brought unto the world Had not Iesus Christ come into the world better we had never come into it Were it not for the Sun what were the world but a Dungeon And were it not for this Sun of Righteousness which is risen upon earth we must have sate in darkness to all Eternitie His coming is our reviving Even as the coming of the Sun in the Spring time is unto Hearbs and Plants which before were seemingly dead such is the coming of Jesus Christ unto us who without Him were in a state of Death really dead How welcome then should the tidings hereof be unto us How ready should we receive this Doctrine O were this Doctrine to be Preached to the Spirits in Prison to the Divels and Damned Souls in Hell That Jesus Christ was come to save them how welcome would it be unto them And why not unto us who were it not for this Coming should erelong be in their condition 2. And thus imbracing it now rest upon it making it the sheat-Anchor of our Souls hope riding by it in all storms flying unto Iesus Christ receiving him as our Saviour clasping him in the arms of our Faith resting upon him for Salvation This is true justifying saving faith not barely to believe him to believe that Christ is come into the world but to believe in Him and on Him God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish Joh. 3. 16. He that believeth on him is not condemned Vers. 18. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life Vers. 36. Still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in eum in him on him As for believing him this is no more than the Divels do I know thee who thou art the Holy one of God saith that unclean Spirit Mark 1. 24. Will we have any benefit by him see that we believe on him receiving him as our Saviour casting our Souls upon the all sufficiency of his Merit there resting for the pardon of all our sins and the Salvation of our Souls 3. And thus resting upon him now rejoyce in him in this his Coming Rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Sion shout for Ioy O Daughter of Ierusalem behold thy King cometh unto thâ—… he is Iust and having Salvation saith the Prophet Zacharie to the Church Zach. 9. 9. This coming of Christ in the Flesh is a matter of great Joy as you have heard And so let it be entertained by us Rejoyce we in this our King and Saviour Rejoycing not with a carnal and sensual joy such as that joy is wherewith the memory of this great benefit is by some and too many celebrated at this Season of the year but a spiritual joy sutable to the benefit which he came to procure for us which is spiritual and eternal Salvation In the apprehension hereof let all true Believers who have received Christ into their hearts exsult and rejoyce rejoycing in this their God and Saviour as Mary saith she did Luke 1. 47. joyning in consort with that multitude which attending upon him in his Coming to Ierusalem cryed saying Hosannah to the Son of David Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord Hosannah in the Highest Mat. 21. 9. 4. And thus rejoycing in it Be we thankful for it really thankful studying how to express our gratitude for so great a Favour Not by letting loose the raines to all kind of licentiousness which hath been and I fear still is the practice of too many who at this Season of the year take greater liberty to abuse the Creatures of God and to waste and mis-spend their precious time in vain if not sinful Recreationâ—… and Disports than at any other times as if the end of Christs coming had been not to bind Satan but to let him loose not to save sinners from their sins but to indulge them in them Not so but by endeavouring to walk answerably to so great a favour so as becometh the redeemed of the Lord. All of us taking out and practising that Lesson which our Apostle telleth us this Grace of God teacheth us Tit. 2. 11. The Grace of God which bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men this saving Grace of God in sending his Son upon this Errand which hath now under the Gospel appeared to all men not only Jews but Gentiles teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world To this end it was as you have heard That Christ came into the world to save sinners to save them from their sins from the power as well as from the guilt of them to redeem them from all iniquity Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works as we have it Tit. 2. 14. that being delivered out of the hands of all our enemies our Spiritual enemies Sin Satan Hell Death we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life as Zacharias hath it in his Song Luk. 1. 74 75. And thus
have I now done with the former part of the Text the Doctrine as it is here both commended and propounded Now pass we to the latter the Application which the Apostle here maketh of this Doctrine to himself This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Iesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief The Second Part. Here have we that which my eye was chiefly upon when I now took this Text in hand wherein our Apostle bringeth home this general Truth which he had before propounded and commended to himself by a particular Application Therein as Aretius well observes setting us a Patern for our Imitation teaching us what use we are to make of the Scriptures and of all the sayings therein conteined And specially of those saving Truths which there we meet with Not contenting our selves with a general notion of them but bringing them home to our selves making them our own by such a special and particular Application Without this the most saving Truths will not be saving to us A Medicine though never so Soveraign a Plaister though never so Sanative yet if onely looked upon and so layed aside if not taken down if not applied in an ordinary way it will do the Patient no good The most saving Truths the most cordial and comfortable promises in the Book of God if not brought home to a man's self will be of no avail to him It is the Application of these Truths these faithful Sayings that maketh them effectual Particular Persons receive no benefit from general Doctrines without such a particular Application This use then make we of all those Truths which we meet withal in the Book of God The Instructions Counsels Threatnings Promises which are there held forth suffer we them not to lie by us think it not enough to read them or hear of them and to yield a general assent to them but bring them home make them our own So doth our Apostle here in the Text having held forth this Doctrine unto others of Christs coming into the world to save sinners he reflects upon what he had said bringing it home to himself ranking himself in the list yea in the forefront of those sinners whom Christ came to save Of whom I am chief 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quorum Primus ego sum Of whom I am First The First What then was Paul the first of sinners were there not others before him Surely yea Quot homines tot peccatores so many men as there had been so many sinners The first man and the first woman they were the first sinners How then saith Paul here that he was the first In Answer to this Aquinas here tells us of certain Hereticks who dreaming of a Pythagorical Metempsuchosis a transmigration a flitting of Souls out of one body into another they conceived that the Soul of Adam the first man might be transmitted into Pauls body and so upon that accompt he might say of himself that he was the first sinner having in himself the Soul of the first man But this is but a Dream and so we leave it which if need were might be sufficiently confuted as that Author observes from that one Text of the Apostle Rom. 9. 11. where speaking of Children not born he describeth them to be such as had neither done good nor evil So then the Soul is not before the Body But letting that go More genuinely Paul saith here of himself that he was the first of sinners Primus non tempore sed magnitudine so the Author aforesaid and diverse others after Augustine rightly resolve it the first not in time not in order but in respect of the magnitude and greatness of his sinnes So are we here to understand the word as often elswhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first that is the greatest the chief of sinners as our Translation hath it Of whom I am chief But so looking upon it the Question is yet unresolved For how saith the Apostle this or how could he say it of himself that he was the chief of sinners What were there not others who had been or were as great or greater sinners than he How then saith he that he was the chief To this it is answered by some and diverse This he speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hyperbolically out of his great modesty and Humility so thinking and so speaking of himself And so looking upon it Let him herein again be propounded as a pattern for the imitation of all Christians teaching them how to think how to speak of themselves meanly lowly preferring others before themselves So runs this our Apostles direction Phil. 2. 3. In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than himself Ita jussit ita gessit This he would have others do and this Himself here doth so not only giving us a Rule but setting us a Pattern Paul what he was the Churches of God well know a Chosen Vessel an eminent Saint an eminent Apostle one of the choisest Instruments that ever Christ made use of eminent for Gifts eminent for Graces yet he when he cometh to speak of himself how doth he undervalue himself Sometimes professing and acknowledging himself to be the meanest of the Apostles and not worthy of that Honour I am the least of the Apostles that am not worthy to be called an Apostle saith he 1 Cor. 15. 9. And sometimes the meanest of Saints Unto me who am less than the least of all Saints is this grace given Eph. 3. 8. And here he acknowledgeth himself to be the chief of sinners Thus speaking of his Gifts and Graces he thinks he cannot speak too meanly of them but speaking of his sins he thinks he cannot speak too highly of them He is not more in extenuating the one then in aggravating the other Such was his Modesty such was his Humility Maximus Doctorum maximus peccatorum Though he was an Apostle a great Apostle yea without disparagement to any inferiour to none which we find him elsewhere standing upon being by his Adversaries put upon it to Vindicate his Reputation he sticks not to equalize himself with the very chiefest Apostle I suppose saith he I was not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles 2 Cor. 11. 5. And again chap. 12. v. 11. In nothing am I behind the very chiefest Apostles meaning Iames and Iohn and Peter whose Disciples and Followers diverse then professed themselves to be yet here he reckons himself among the chief of sinners nay of sinners The Chief Thus was he as Aretius here saith of him in peccato maximus in ministerio minimus ubique tamen inter homines magnus though every where highly esteemed of among men yet in his own apprehension the least of Saints and the greatest of Sinners In himself nothing So he there tells his Corinthians in the Text last named
of Hostility that he could upon his Subjects and that for his cause whom he thus Maligned that he would even have pulled Him out of his Throne if his power would have reached unto it Now this sin Christ pardoneth unto him giving him his Pardon under Seal assuring him of it And not only so but he receiveth him into special Grace and Favour with himself entertaining him as a Servant a Servant by Office admitts him to a place of near attendance preferring him to the highest Office in his Court to be an Apostle a chief Apostle conferring many great and signal Favours upon him No wonder then that he having now a true spirit of Ingenuitie in him such is the Spirit of God should look upon his former course as most vile most sinful and that he should thus deeply charge himself to be the chief of sinners The Story tells us of Peter how when at his Masters Command after so long labour in vain having as he saith toyled all the night and taken nothing he had again cast in his Net and thereupon haled such a wonderful draught of Fishes hereupon beholding the Power of Christ who hereby shewed that he had all the Fishes of the Sea at his command When he saw it he fell down at his knees saith the Text saying Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord Luk. 5. 8. Peter was a sinful man before and he knew himself so to be But now beholding the Power and Soveraignty of his Lord and Master thus wonderfully manifested this makes him reflect the more upon himself and so wrought in him a greater a deeper apprehension of his own vileness his own sinfulness And thus was it with this our Apostle St. Paul Having had greater experience as of the Power so of the Grace and Mercy of Christ than others in pulling him as a firebrand out of the flames in working so great a change in him this maketh him to reflect the more strongly upon his former course and breeds in him a deeper apprehension of the heinous and horrid nature of his former Practises causing him to charge himself so home as here he doth to accuse and condemn himself as the chief of sinners Thus he saw his own sinfulness more than the sinfulness of others being better acquainted with his own sins then with the sins of others 2. And again as he saw them so he felt them As for the sins of others he might see them or hear of them but he could not feel them His own he both saw and felt Seeing the foul and horrid nature of them he also felt the weight and burden of them which he did not of others And this again made him think his sins greater than the sins of any other Cuique gravissimum suum onus saith Aretius upon it Every one thinks his own burden heaviest which he carries upon his own shoulders his own Affliction the soarest and greatest Behold and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath Afflicted me saith the Church Lam. 1. 12. A man that is pained in the head or teeth or eyes as à Lapide illustrates it he is ready to say and think that there is no pain like his pain And he giveth this reason for it Because he knoweth his own pain by sense and experience and others only by speculation and report He heareth of the one but he feeleth the other and so he is most sensible of his own Even thus was it with the blessed Apostle here He had without question heard of the sins of others and he saw them to be great sins I but he feeleth his own He had felt the burden of his former sins and he still felt the weight of that body of sin which he yet carried about with him And this it was that made him thus to think and thus to speak of himself as the greatest the chiefest of sinners Behold here then the true disposition of a gracious Soul a Character of a truly penitent sinner He is frequent in remembring forward in acknowledging and seâ—…ere in censuring of his own sins All these we see in this chosen Vessel this blessed Apostle here in the Text who having occasion to make mention of sinners he presently reflects upon himself calling to remembrance his own sins and remembring them he acknowledgeth them and acknowledging them he censures them and himself for them and that most severely confessing and professing himself to be not only one of that number a sinner but one of the chief of them a great sinner nay the greatest the chief of sinners And the like disposition shall we find in every truly gracious Soul every true penitent sinner Haveing tasted of the Grace of God in the pardon of his sins and in changing and renewing of him he is ever after a frequent Remembrancer an ingenuous Confessor a severe Censurer of his own Sins An Observation which as you see is Tripartite made up of three distinct Branches every of which will yield us some fruit worth the gathering That I may not grasp too much at once I shall single them forth one by one insisting upon each severally and that both by way of Doctrine and Application Begin with the first A gracious Soul is a frequent Remembrancer to its self frequent in reflecting upon it's own sinful wayes and courses It is the speech of the Church Isa. 59. 12. Our Transgressions are with us and as for our iniquities we know them And the like may be said of every truly penitent sinner his Transgressions are with him and as for his Iniquities he knows them Taking special notice of them he is frequent in remembring of them So was it with the man after God's own heart holy David whom we shall find frequently striking upon this string His sins were ever and anon in his eye so as he took notice both of the number and nature the multitude and magnitude of them Thence are those passionate complaints of his which we meet with that his Iniquities were gon over his head Psal. 38. 4. That they were more than the hairs of his head Psal. 40. 12. Thus did he keep a remembrance of them even of such sins as were long before committed So he did of the sins of his youth which we find him deprecating earnestly begging of God that he would not remember them Remember not the sins of my youth Psal. 25. 7. thereby shewing that he himself had not forgotten them he remembered them So he did some sins in special as viz. that foul sin of his in the matter of Uriah that sin was never out of his sight My sin saith he speaking of that sin is ever before me Psal. 51. 3. It was ever in his eye and thought I but it may be said David at this time was in great trouble of mind for that sin And no wonder then that he should remember that which
which we may justly fear to hang over the head of the Nation so in special of that which is already in part broke forth upon us whereof the poor as elsewhere so in this place not a few of them are very sensible whose necessitous condition I shall commend to your charitable consideration desiring you to extend your free and liberal contributions to their relief which is also a work of the day and doth further sadly threaten us viz. The Iudgment of Famine which by reason of the unseasonableness of the Season may justly be feared This is the work of the day For the furthering whereof let all of us now call to mind our own sins I do remember my faults this day saith Pharoahs Butler unto him Gen. 41. 9. And the like let every of us do Sure we are this is the provokking Cause as of other Judgements so of this He turneth a Fruitful Land into Barrenness for the Wickedness of them that dwell therein Psal. 107. 34. Call we our selves then every one of us to account for our sinnes this day humbling our selves in the sight and presence of God for them that so we remembring them God may be pleased graciously to forget them and forgive them so as not to charge them upon the Head of the Nation In doing hereof we shall much promote the service of the Day and much help forward the great business both of Church and State which is now in the hands of the Great Council of the Land Certainly the great Stumbling-blocks that lie in the way of Mercy they are the Sinnes of the Nation O Let every of us put to our hands this Day to the removing of them by taking out of the way as much as we can the sinnes of others Humbling our selves for them and seeking the Pardon of them however our own sinnes by calling them to mind Humbling Shaming and Condemning our selves for them withal putting them away in the full purpose and resolution of our Souls never more to give entertainment to them Thus wash we and make we our selves clean putting away the evil of our doings from before the eyes of our God as he requires his People to do Isai. 1. 16. And then do we what in the next words he allowes them to do Come let us Reason together c. begging from him Mercy for our selves and the Nation being hopefully and comfortably assured that the Lord will smell a Sweet savour of rest from this our Sacrifice and that both Church and State shall find it the best service we could perform unto them which the Lord enable every of us to do Thus I have done with the first of these three Branches I pass now to the second THe truly Penitent Sinner as he is frequent in Remembring so forward in acknowledging of his own sins So was Paul Having here occasion to make mention of Sinners he calleth to remembrance his own sinnes and Remembring them he Acknowledgeth them confessing himself to be a Sinner a great sinner yea the chief of Sinners Of whom I am chief The like disposition and practice we find in the Man after Gods own Heart holy David As his sinnes were often in his eye so he was ready to acknowledge them I acknowledged my Transgression and my Sinne was ever before me saith he Psal. 51. 3. Such a frequent Remembrancer and ingenuous Confessor of his Sinnes was he And such are all truly Penitent sinners And it cannot be otherwise Their hearts in the first place being full as it were with the sight and sense of Sinne they must have vent The Story tells us of Ioseph Gen. 45. ver 1 2. how that his heart being full as it was with the remembrance of what his Brethren had done to him and his Affections towards them he could not contein he could not refrain himself before all that stood by him but he shed Tears abundantly yea the company being gone he wept aloud He could not but give vent to that affection wherewith his heart was full And David tells us the like of himself Psal. 39. 3. My heart saith he was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned then spake I with my tongue So it is with Affections as it is with Fire the heart being full of them they will not be smothered they will not be kept close they will seek vent and be ready to break forth as occasion is offered And so will these Holy Affections in the heart of a truly Penitent sinner his Sorrow for sinne his Hatred and Indignation against sinne his heart being full of them it will be seeking vent ready to break forth in a humble and hearty Confession and Acknowledgement of it Again in such a Soul the Bed of sinne as I may say is broken Now as it is in the Body if the bed of Worms be broken they are ready to come away and such tough and viscous humours as are coagulated in the Stomack being dissected they are easily evacuated Even so in the Soul If the Bed of peccant Humours of sinful Lusts be there once broken the Works of Satan dissolved as Saint Iohn saith that Christ was manifest to this end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut dissolvat That he might dissolve or destroy the works of the Devil that is our Sinnes which are destroyed by dissolving of them as many things are 1 Iohn 3. 8. as in measure they are in every truly Regenerate person in whom the Power of Sinne is broken they will now be ready to break forth and come away as I may say by way of Confession and Acknowledgement Thus you see that it is so and how it cometh so to be For further Explication and Illustration propound we these two useful Enquiries touching this Acknowledgement which Penitent sinners are so forward in 1. To whom they are so ready to make this Acknowledgement 2. What kind of Acknowledgement it is that they make For the First To whom they are so ready to make this Acknowledgement A. For Answer Know we that the acknowledgment of Sin is either unto God or Man The former to God either publickly or privately the latter to Man either secretly or openly Secretly either to the Ministers of God or to other private Christians Openly which is either Regular injoyned by the Church or Occasional and Arbitrary All these wayes Sinne is confessed and acknowledged And all these wayes a sinner truly Penitent will be ready to acknowledge his sinnes 1. In the first place unto God The Prodigall sonne in the Gospel upon his return to his Father at his first meeting with him after that his father had expressed his fatherly Affection unto him presently he breaks forth into a humble acknowledgement of his sinnes unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight Luke 15. 21. This is the first thing that a poor sinner doth when once he is brought home unto God and hath in any measure tasted of
to themselves Let such take notice how farre they are from Pauls disposition who upon all occasions shews himself forward and ready to confess and acknowledge against himself his former sinnes that so taking shame to himself he might give Glory to God Never was he more ready to take unto himself the praise of his good deeds when he was a Pharisee than now he is to take both the blame and shame of his evil ones being a Christian. Certainly the Soul that will not be brought to the confessing and acknowledging of those sinnes whereof it is convinced must needs be in a state of Impenitency lying under the power and guilt of sinne A third sort there are I shall hasten what I may who it may be at some times and upon some occasions will confess and acknowledge their sinnes but their acknowledgements are not sincere but hypocritical and counterfeit And such they will appear to be if brought to the Test tryed by the Touchstone of that five-fold Property which I have held forth to you 1. Either they are not Voluntary and free but extorted They will not confess but when they are brought to the Rack never but when they are in some Strait having some Judgement of God lying upon them or threatning them Then it may be God and Men shall hear of them and from them then they will confess against themselves Whereas at other times they are wholly silent in this way 2. Or else in the second place there is no ingenuity in their Confessions And thence is it that if they be drawn to confess and acknowledge ought against themselves they deal very partially hiding their sinnes what they may seeking to excuse colour extenuate shift them off to others as you have heard not willing to lay them forth open and naked and so to deal plainly either with God or Man Still they will be keeping back part 3. Or thirdly their Confessions are onely in the gross in a general way without any distinct reflection upon any particular sins which draws from them that acknowledgement 4. Or in the fourth place they are meerly verbal and formal without any true inward sense and feeling of the sinnes which they confess and acknowledge 5. Or else in the last place what they do is altogether in a despairing way without either sense or hope of Mercy All these as I have showen you they are evidences of a false and counterfeit Acknowledgment And yet such and no better are the Confessions which the greatest part it is to be feared do rest contented with Never regarding to get their hearts brought to such a voluntary ingenuous particular cordial and filial Acknowledgment as might evidence to themselves and others the truth of their Repentance There is yet a fourth sort and that is the worst of all such as will make Confession or rather Profession of their sinnes but not as sinnes not confessing them with sorrow and shame with indignation and detestation with a serious purpose and resolution of forsaking and abandoning of them as the true Penitent doth but rather boasting of them and glorying in them I wish there were none such to be found among Christians at this day such as glory in their sinnes which they shew not as Beggars do their Soars to move pity and compassion in the Beholders but as Souldiers do their Wounds and Skars which they have received in some honourable Service accounting it their Honour their Glory that they have been the chief of sinners Such monsters of Men there have been and I fear yet are men so hardned in their sinful wayes and courses so far given over to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a Reprobate minde as the Apostle saith of the Gentiles Rom. 1. 28. so far past all sense and feeling as he saith of some Ephes. 4. 19. as that they are not ashamed to declare their sinnes They declare their sinne as Sodom as the Prophet saith of the People of the Iews Isa. 3. 9. Making their boast thereof as those Idolaters did of their Idols Psal. 97. 7. And as Lamech did of his Cruelty and Bloodshed Gen. 4. 23 24. Yea it may be boast of that which they never did Surely a greater height of impiety than is to be found in the Devils Kingdom in Hell it self There those damned Souls they complaine and cry out of their sinnes and curse the time that ever they committed them As for boasting of them glorying in them they are far from it Now as for such let them know that this their boasting their glorying shall I speak it in the Apostle's Language to his Corinthians in another case 1 Cor. 5. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not good Nay it is most horrid most impious Such an impiety as hath a woe a most dreadful woe attending upon it Hear and tremble at it you who stand in any degree guilty in this kind They declare their sinne as Sodom and they hide it not saith the Prophet speaking of the Iews in the Text forecited Isa. 3. 9. As they shewed it in their deeds so they spared not to publish it with their tongues not in way of confession as David Psal. 32. 5. but in a way of profession as Lamech Gen. 4. 23 24. as our new Annotator explains it Thus did they declare their sinnes as Sodom as the men of Sodom who openly professed what they commonly practised or intended But what follows Woe unto their souls for they have rewarded evil to themselves By these wicked courses they draw down the Vengeance of God upon their own heads Oh far be this from any one of us The shameful parts of the body nature teacheth to hide and cover them If any shall be so immodest as to discover them to open view we should presently conclude him to be either mad or drunk not himself What is it then to uncover the nakedness and filthiness of the Soul And not onely to uncover it but to boast of it to glory in it As for such well may we say of them what the Apostle doth of those voluptuous belly Gods Phil. 3. 19. that their glory is their shame So is it now and so they shall find it another day at that great day when as he there saith of them Destruction shall be their end Paul confessing his sinnes here in the Text he doth it openly before God and Men but he doth it upon another account viz. That he might take the shame of them to himself And herein propound we him as a Patern for our Imitation Be we all of us such Confessors ready and forward upon all occasions to confess and acknowledg our sins as he was Let that be the word of Exhortation which as in the former Branch might be directed to two sorts of persons First to such as never yet knew what a true confession and acknowledgment of sinnes meant Secondly to such as have been practisers in this way
so as to remember them no more Our Apostle St. Paul he had repented of his sins committed before his Conversion his Infidelity Obstinacy Blasphemy his opposing of Christ and Persecuting of his Saints Being hereof convinced in an extraordinary way by a Voice from Heaven Christ himself calling unto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Act. 9. 4. he had seriously repented of them And he had sued out his pardon for them having it under Seal being assured that he had obtained Mercy as here he declares it once and again in the verse next but one before and the verse after the Text Yet notwithstanding this upon all occasions as you have heard he is ready to reflect upon those sins and to call to minde his forepast condition Let it not then content any of us that we have remembred our sins that we have been humbled for them and that by believing on Christ we have obteined the pardon of them but still take all occasions to reflect and look back upon them to call them to minde again Specially our special sins which have been of greater magnitude then other So the Lord tells his people Israel they should do when he was pacified towards them for all the evil that they had done then they should remember it Ezek. 16. vers last Why but it may be said To what purpose is this or What benefit shall a Christian reap in so doing Here are two Queries to which I shall return Answers severally In which Answers we shall fall in with divers Arguments and Motives which will be of use to press and set on the Exhortation For the former Wherefore should a Christian do this Having once repented of his sins and sued out the pardon of them Why should he disquiet himself in calling them to mind again in rubbing over an old soar I Answer this a Christian is to do upon diverse accounts for diverse Ends and Redsons Instance in 4. of them 1. For the making sure of his Repentance that he may know it to be sound and true All Repentance is not true Repentance It is with sins as with wounds Wounds may be skinned over and yet not healed Sins may be sorrowed for yea and absteined from yet not truly repented of To this end therefore a Christian should be frequent in reflecting upon them to see whether he hath truly repented of them or no. Even as a man by rubbing and chafing of the soar he trieth whether it be healed or no even so by this means a Christian may come to judg of his Repentance whether it was sound or no by calling his sins to his remembrance rubbing and pressing them as it were by a frequent reflecting upon them which doing willingly it may be to him an evidence that it is so A wound that is only skinned over will not endure the handling the touching of it puts the patient to pain Where men cannot endure to have their sins touched by themselves or others to be put in minde of them it is an evidence those sins are not healed never truly repented of Sins healed will endure the touching Upon this accompt Christians ought to be frequent in reflecting upon their sins for the assuring of the truth of their repentance 2. And as for the assuring so 2dly for the renewing and increasing of it It is a mistake if any shall think Repentance to be onely one particular act the work of an hour or a day or the like as Papists look upon their Penance No it is an habitual work the work of a Christians life-time and so to be frequently renewed A work which a Christian can never do too much or yet enough Certainly he that thinks he hath repented enough never yet repented aright In this sense the Repentance of a Christian may be called Repentance to be repented of because not so perfect as it ought to be Those who are the greatest proficients and have made the greatest progress in this work yet they fail in this as in all other duties falling short of repenting as they ought to do And therefore ought to take all occasions for the renewing of their repentance and to that end they are frequently to call to mind their former sins that they may mourn over them afresh renewing their former sorrow for them Which however it may have some bitterness in it for the present yet it will make way for great joy and comfort to the Soul So it is the joy of a Christian ariseth out of sorrow sorrow for sin and ordinarily it is proportioned to it As it was with Eliahs Sacrifice 1 King 18. 33. 38. after he had caused water in great abundance three several times to be poured about the Altar then came forth the Fire Thus after a Christians sorrow for sin his joy ariseth And as the one is increased so oft-times is the other The Harvest answereth the Seed time They that sow in tears shall reap in joy Psal. 126. 5. Never a truly penitential tear that the remembrance of sin draweth from the eye but ordinarily God answers and recompenceth it with a suitable proportion of joy and comfort to the Soul In the 3d. place Christians are to be frequent in remembring of their sins that they may get assurance of the pardon of them that they may get their pardon Sealed up unto their Souls A pardon is not ever as soon sealed as granted A Christian may have his sins pardoned in Heaven yet not so in his own Conscience wanting the assurance thereof And upon this accompt he ought to have his sins frequentlie in his eie Upon this accompt among other he is daily to pray for the forgiveness of them as our Saviour directeth us to do in that form of prayer which he hath given us where this is one of the six Petitions Forgive us our Trespasses meaning not onely our daily sins as we pray for our daily bread but all the sins of our lives past that so we may still gain a further and clearer evidence and assurance of the pardon of them This use David made of his sins being ever before him it put him upon the earnest seeking of the assurance of his pardon that that cloud being dispelled the light of God's countenance might come to shine upon his Soul which he earnestly sueth for in that Penitential Psalm of his Psal. 51. Make me to hear the voice of joy and gladness vers 8. Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation vers 12. Thus are Christians to reflect upon their sins that they may get the pardon of them Sealed 4thly and lastly Remember them that they may get them thorowly healed that they may be freed and delivered as from the guilt so from the power of them A disease may be cured and yet there may be some relicks of it in the bodie which if not looked to may incline it to a Relapse Thus a sin may be repented of and pardoned and yet there
may be some remainders of it in the Soul which if not looked unto may break forth again And upon this accompt a Christian is to remember it that he may get strength against it Such use also David made of his sins being ever before him it putteth him upon seeking unto God that he would throwly wash him from his iniquity and cleanse him from his sin Psal. 51. 2. freeing him both from the guilt and power of it And that he would create in him a clean heart renewing a right spirit within him vers 10. And that he would establish him with his free Spirit vers 12. Thus are Christians to have a frequent eie upon their sins as Patients have upon their soars to see that they may not break forth again To these ends and purposes among others are Christians to be frequent in this exercise Which whilst they are it will be very beneficial to them and that diverse ways That is the second thing which I propounded to shew you What profit what benefit a Christian shall reap from this practise Much every way Were there no other than what I have made mention of already the attaining of that Four-fold end The knowing of the truth of their Repentance The renewing and increasing of it The getting of assurance of the pardon of their Sins And strength against them These were enough to answer and recompense all the Points that a Christian shall take in this way But besides these take we notice of Four more Four considerable benefits accruing from this practice It will be of great use unto a Christian to make him 1. Humble 2. Thankful 3. Watchful 4. Pitiful Humble in Himself Thankful to his God Watchful over his Sin and Pitiful towards Others All benefits of singular Excellency and Worth Touch upon them briefly Frequent remembrance of a mans own Sins will be of speciall Use to make and keep him Humble So it is that there is in the Heart of every man naturally an accursed root of Pride which is very apt to spring and sprout forth being watered as it were with all the common Favours and Blessings that God poureth out upon him of what kind soever they be Good things of Fortune as they were called of Nature of Grace I mean common Grace Birth Beauty Riches Honours gifts and endowments of the Mind any of these not being Sanctified are apt to puff up the Soul to breed a Tympany in it Now the frequent remembrance of Sins will be of special use to prevent it to make the Soul humble and keep it humble Such Use the Church tells us she had of it as Montanus and the Vulgar Latine render the word in that Text Lam. 3. 19 20. Remembring my Affliction and my misery saith our Translation my Affliction and my Rebellion my Transgression say they which sense the word in the Original will well bear as we find it rendred 1 Sam. 20. 30. the Wormwood and the Gall that is the bitterness of both my Soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me Incurvatur it is bowed down The soul of man naturally is Proud apt to be inordinately lift up in him Now the Remembrance as of former Afflictions which he hath lain under so of former Sins which he hath fallen into will be of special use to humble it to make it keep so This effect it had in and upon this our Apostle as you have heard The remembrance of his former Sins made him Vile in his own eyes This it was that made him think and speak so meanly of himself to account himself the least of the Apostles unworthy to be one of that number the least of Saints nay less than the least of them as the Text hath it Ephes. 3. 8. Because saith he I persecuted the Church of God 1 Cor. 15. 9. Thus it was As the Buffetings of Satan of which he speaketh 2 Cor. 12. 7. those temptations wherewith he was exercised after his Conversion so the remembrance of his former Sins committed before his Conversion was to him of great use to keep him from being exalted above measure a thing which by reason of the many and great priviledges now conferred upon him he was subject to and in danger of Thus God sometimes suffers his Chosen Vessels those whom he purposeth to make some special use of and to confer some signal Favours upon to fall into some great Sin or sins haply in their Youth it may be Afterwards that so the Remembrance of them may be a means to keep their Spirits in a humble frame and temper from being inordinately lift up in them being to them as the Peacocks black Leggs are vulgarly conceived to be unto him which looking down upon he presently letteth fall his proud Plumes Here is the first of those Benefits which a Christian may reap from this reflecting upon his Sins A benefit of singular Use there being nothing more dangerous to the Soul than this spiritual Tympany 2dly As it will be of great Use to make men Humble so Thankful As Humble in themselves so Thankful to their God A fruit naturally growing upon this Branch Remembrance of former sins Repented of and Pardoned it calleth to mind two things Gods Goodness our own Unworthiness Gods goodness in sparing of us not taking us as the Scribes and Pharisees tell our Saviour that woman was whom they brought before him Iohn 8. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the very Act of sinne and so bringing us to answer as they did her before His Tribunal for those Sins which we wanted Grace and space to Repent of Nor yet onely sparing us giving us a time to Repent but also working that Repentance in us and upon our Repenting Pardoning them and instead of punishing us according to our deservings conferring many special Graces and Favours upon us of all which of the least of which we were altogether unworthy Both these the remembrance of former sins calleth to mind And so doing it cannot but be a special means to raise up the Heart to a Thankful apprehension and acknowledgment thereof Of such Use was it to this blessed Apostle as we may take notice from the 12. 13. verses in this Chapter where calling to mind his former sins he presently breaketh forth into blessing and magnifying of Iesus Christ for his rich Grace and Mercy towards him I thank Christ Iesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the Ministry who was before a Blasphemer a Persecutor Injurious but I obteined mercy So again vers 17. Having here confessed himself to be the chief of sinners and after declared what God had done for him how he had made him a Patern to all that should hereafter believe on him he thereupon in the next words breaketh forth into that affectionate Gratulation Now unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only wise God be Honour and Glory for ever and ever