afterwards as the Spirit of sincere Obedience to God's Commands and Universal compliance with his Will Let me exhort you in the Words of Ezra Ezr. 10.11 Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of thy fathers and do his pleasure Confession of our Sins to God and doing the Divine Pleasure must go together our Confession must be like that of David's Psal 119.26 I have declared my ways and thou heardest teach me thy statutes After we have confess'd we should desire and endeavour to walk uprightly and to learn God's Laws and Statutes and should abhor to live carelesly and loosly and to run into sin fearlesly and presumptuously Confession and Repudiation and Renunciation of sin Confession and Confusion of sin must go together it is not who so barely confesseth but Who so confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy Prov. 28.13 We are too ready to think that we have done all as soon as ever we have confess'd and that what remains is only God's acting of his Part when as you see the Promise runs thus Who so confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy The Advice I shall give you I shall lay before you in two Particulars Let me fasten this double Word of Counsel on you 1. Take heed of falling wilfully into any sin after Confession for he that confesses sin aright confesses Sin as Sin with a real hatred of shame and sorrow for Sin as Sin and so is engag'd against all Sin whatsoever Hate even the Garment spotted by the flesh Hate every false way But 2. Beware especially that ye fall not wilfully into the same particular sins ye have confess'd Let 's take heed of the Repetition and Recommission of the very same fault after Confession Take heed of this for 1. There is great Danger of it 2. There is great Evil and Folly in it great Guilt and Danger by reason of it 1. There 's great danger of it of returning to the same Sin again after Confession Danger to the formal and Danger too to the penitent Confessor 1. Danger enough to be sure in respect of the formal customary Confessor For 1. Such an one is ready to think that he has made even and compounded with God by his last Confession and so is ready to sin afresh and to run on a new Score having now no old Sins to answer for as he thinks Or 2. The formal Confessor is somewhat eas'd by confessing as the Drunkard is by his vomiting and so is apt now to take heart to fall to 't again having no trouble upon his spirit to restrain him Or 3. He reckoning with himself that his formal customary Confession does without any more ado presently obtain his Pardon he therefore encourages himself to sin by conceiting and fancying the extream easiness of getting and procuring a Pardon at the cheap rate of reiterated Confession And so makes a small light trivial matter of sinning again by thinking thus with himself I may venture to sin again it is but making another Confession God is a merciful God If I confess again he 'll forgive again †Vid. Tertul de Paenitent c. 7. Thus he turns the Grace of God into wantonness and makes the Divine Mercy a Principle of looseness and licentiousness And thus he annihilates God's Wisdom and Holiness and makes God but a Mock-God a credulous easie contemptible petty Deity This is much like * Philip de Com. B. 2 c. 8. Lewis XI of France who carried a leaden Image or Crucifix on his Hat and when he had done any act his Conscience check'd him for he pluck'd off his Hat and bowed to the Image or Crucifix asking forgiveness for it upon which he reckoned and made account that God and he were Friends Or 4. Lastly There is danger enough of this to thee that art but a meer formal Confessor because the Lord may justly punish thy hypocritical Confession by leaving thee to thy self and giving thee up to sin with more greediness afterwards than before as you know he dealt with Pharaoh But 2. As there is danger to the formal Confessor so there is danger also to the penitent Confessor of relapsing and falling back into the same sin again There is danger here 1. From Satan who becomes himself more * Vid. â—â—rtul aâ—nit c. 7. watchful when once he sees the Sinner awaken'd We have an Adversary always studying Advantages against us The Devil when he departs he departs but for a Season he leaves a Man with a purpose to return to him again at a convenient time and fit opportunity There is real danger of our falling again into sin confess'd because Satan is resolv'd not to give over yet he 'll set upon us with a new Temptation he 'll try new Devices with us There 's danger from Satan but 2. The greatest danger here is from our own Corruption and the falseness and deceitfulness of our own revolting backsliding Hearts which are apt upon the performance of Duty to draw us into Carnal Security and to give Satan considerable Advantage against us After Confession we are prone to Self-Confidence and ready to think our selves strongly enough Arm'd and sufficiently Fortified against any temptation to those sins which we have confess'd To conclude that having taken such Physick we are well enough antidoted against all Infection not to doubt but that we have now put on Armor of proof that will resist and repel the sharpest Weapons of our Spiritual Enemies We are apt to be safe upon our Confessional Resolutions and ready to think that we have shewn such high dislike of our sin in our Confession that the Devil is now discourag'd from medling with us and thinks it in vain to offer to have any more to do with us and therefore we neglect our Watch and draw off our Guards as no way fearing the return of our Enemy Thus we are apt to be secure upon Confession and the Devil now takes the greatest Advantage that can be by our Negligence and Presumption to draw us into sin afresh and deal with us as he pleases Thus you see there 's great danger of falling into sins confess'd therefore take heed of it be watchful and vigilant over thy self If thou hast not a special care sin will soon get into thee again as cold easily gets into a Man's Body who was just now very hot or has newly vomited But 2. As there is great danger of wilful falling into the same particular sin again so there is great Evil and Folly in it great Guilt and Danger by reason of it For 1. Falling into sin again after Confession especially into any gross sin does exceedingly aggravate the sin In the old Law * Levit. 13. â— 8. if the Scab did spread much abroad in a Man's â—kin after that he had been seen of the Priest for his cleansing then the Priest pronounc'd him unclean for it was a Leprosie Even so if after we have shewn our selves unto God for
147 148. 9. It 's a dangerous thing for any to attempt to hide their sins from God p. 149. 10. Confession of Sin or Self-accusing and Self-judging it happily prevents or weakens all Satan's Accusations of us to God p. 152. And to our selves especially upon our Death-Beds p. 154. And surely forestalls the just Sentence and Judgment of the great Judge at the last Day p. 157. CHAP. XII The first Vse of Confutation of the Popish Doctrine of Auricular Confession p. 159 to 164. CHAP. XIII The Second of Excommunication and Reproof together p. 165. CHAP. XIV The Third of Exhortation p. 169. Three Mottves taken out of the Text 1. If we confess God will forgive us our Sins p. 170. 2. He will also cleanse us from all unrighteousness p. 179. What is meant by Cleansing p. 180. This Benefit nothing inferior to the former p. 184. 3. God's Faithfulness and Justice do stand engag'd to make good the promised Blessings to us p. 187. God condescends to confirm bis Promises because there are two things which make us prone to distrust especially his pardoning Mercy 1. Our own contrary Nature and Practise 2. The due Consideration of our heinous Sins and high Provocations p. 188. CHAP. XV. A double Direction by way of Preparation to the Duty of Confession 1. Premeditate as much as you can in order to Confession p. 195. 2. Be sure to look up unto God for Conviction p. 198. CHAP. XVI Directions given concerning some Circumstances of the very Performance of this Duty 1. Concerning the Time and Season of Confession 1. Confess continually 2. Daily The Equity p. 201. and Advantage of so doing p. 203. 3. Whenever you lie under any notable Conviction p. 206. Or 4. any notable Affliction p. 207. 5. Presently upon the Commission of any great Sin p. 210. Or 6. Vpon the Receipt of any great Mercy p. 212. 2. Concerning the Place especially confess in secret 1. Because it 's necessary p. 213. 2. Convenient p. 214. 3. Most likely to be Sincere p. 217. CHAP. XVII Directions respecting our Behaviour after the Duty 1. Hâ—st thou confess'd Then bless God who has enabled thee to confess 2. Apply the Promise to thy self and make good Vse of it in time of Temptation p. 221. 3. Daily plead the Promise with God and carefully look after the Performance of it p. 222 223. 4. Hast thou confess'd and found the Benefit of it give God the Praise that is due to him p. 223. 5. Take great heed of falling into Sin after Confession p. 224. 1. Of falling wilfully into any Sin 2. Into the same particular Sins p. 225. For 1. There is great danger of it Danger 1. To the formal Confessor in four respects p. 226. to 228. 2. Danger to the Penitent Confessor 1. From Satan p. 228. 2. From our own Corruption p. 229. 2. Great Evil and Folly in it great Guilt and Danger by reason of it For 1. Falling into Sin any gross Sin after Confession does exceedingly aggravate the Sin p. 230. in three respects p. 231. 2. â— It brings along with it great Punishment both internal and external Punishments p. 233. 3. 'T will make you Self-condemn'd when God punisheth you p. 234. 4. 'T will break our present Peace and dash our Hopes of future and further Comfort 5. Thou wilt thus cut out for thy self new Work and make the Severities of a New Repentance necessary p. 235. 6. 'T will make us more unapt and unable to rise again and recover out of it 7. 'T will very much dishearten us when we would beg Pardon of our Sin and hugely discourage us when we would renew our Resolution against it p. 236. 8. 'T will make God loth ever to take your Word again p. 237. and will render him harder to Pardon you upon anew Confession p. 238. CHAP. XVIII Some Means or Helps for avoiding of Sins confess'd 1. Let such as have formerly confess'd their Sins without any true Sense of Sin now labour speedily to get a thorow Conviction of the Evil of their Sins p. 242. 2. Let such as have confess'd their Sins with a true Sense of Sin upon their Spirits observe these Rules 1. Labour to preserve in the course of thy Life the same Apprehensions thou hadst of thy Sin in any former serious Confession p. 243. 2 Consider and remember that thou art at present in Dependance upon God for Mercy and art very fair for 't 3. Be always imploring Divine Assistance and improving your own Endeavours against your Sins p. 247. CHAP. XIX A double Caution 1. While we take heed of falling into the same particular Sin we confess'd let us also beware of falling into the contrary p. 250. 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 p. 252. 253. CHAP. XX. The sixth Direction Have we confess'd our Sins to God that we might be forgiven them by God Let us then freely forgive those that have trespass'd against us upon their Confession of their faults to us and so forgive them as to testito them our pardoning of them p. 258. ERRATA PAg. 9. l. 22. read their sins p. 13. l. 17. Job 31 p. 19. l. 7. dele in p. 41. last l. dele one r p. 42. l. 26. r. of his p. 48. l. 10. many sins p. 101. l. 5. there p 108. l. 2. of the Contents an earnest p. 157. l. 8. at p. 172. l. 2. for them p. 176. l. 5. dele he p. 185. l. 12. and 13. dele when shall p. 194. l. 11. r. Per p. 196. l. 24. dita p. 209. l. 9. for it p. 211. l. 17. to do A DISCOURSE OF Confession of Sin 1 John 1. ix If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness CHAP. I. The Introduction The Division of the Words The Doctrine laid down and the Method propounded for the handling of it The Nature of Confession open'd or a Description of it given containing the Acts or Parts and the Adjuncts or Properties of Confession THe Apostle having shewn in the Verse foregoing that no Man living is without Sin he presently propounds a general Remedy of this Malady declaring Confession and acknowledgment of Sin to be a means of obtaining Remission of Sin and Sanctification at the hands of God If we confess our sins c. In the Words themselves there 's no Knot to be untied no Difficulty to be resolv'd they are very plain and easie and intelligible enough to any one that will but understand them Take but those Words Faithful and Just in the same sence with reference and relation to the Divine Promise and the whole Verse doth need no more Explication it wants no other Explanation at all Only let me
8.56 There has not fallen says he or fail'd one word of al his good promise which he promis'd by the hand of Moses his servant And therefore God's Mercies are call'd the sure mercies of David And God stiles himself †Exod. 34.6 abundant in goodness and truth * 1 Jam. 17. With him is no variableness neither shadow of turning If God has promis'd he will perform †Nam 23.19 God is not a man that he should lye neither the son of man that he should repent Has he said it and shall he not do it Or has he spoken and shall he not make it good * Mat. 5.18 24.35 Heaven and earth shall pass away but not one jot or tittle of God's word shall pass away unfulfilled Yea for our further and fuller security and satisfaction God has not only expresly promis'd it but has also sworn it that †Ezek. 33.11 as he lives the penitent Confitent shall not die but live When God says As I live he earnestly desires to be believed O happy we says * De Paenitent c. 4. Tertullian for whose sake the Lord does swear O miserable we if we won't believe him when we have not only his Word but Oath Now since God has so graciously condescended to our weakness and has so fully satisfied us of his love and good will towards us let not us be wanting in performing the Condition on our part because God can never be wanting in making good and performing the Promise on his part For if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness CHAP. XV. A double Direction by way of Preparation to the Duty of Confession 1. Premeditate as much as you can in order to Confession 2. Be sure to look up unto God for Conviction HAving hitherto perswaded you to set upon the performance of this Duty I shall now give you some Directions about it that so the performance of it may be the more acceptable unto God and the more profitable to your selves I have thought upon somewhat which may serve to direct you 1. before the Duty in your Preparation to it 2. Concerning some Circumstances of the very Peformance of it 3. And lastly In your carriage and behaviour after the Duty 1. Before Confession take these two Preparatory Directions 1. Premeditate as much as you can in order to Confession 2. Be sure to look up unto God for Con-Conviction 1. Meditate before you confess Much is the fruit great is the benefit of this Direction I shall shew you a fourfold Benefit of it 1. Previous Meditation works the heart into a solemn serious confessing frame and temper Confession it 's the pouring out of the Heart before God now previous Meditation even melts the Sinner's Heart fits and prepares it to be poured out Alas our Stomach at first is too big to confess our sin to acknowledge our selves in a fault for this is an act of Humility of yielding and submitting to another which we naturally scorn to do and won't be brought to till our Heart be broken till our Stomach be pull'd down which is kindly wrought effectually done by Meditation by considering the Sovereignty of God over us his Power to make a Law and to command us the observance of it by bethinking our selves how much to our own Advantage the keeping of this Law would have been both here and hereafter and yet that we have wilfully broken this holy and just and good Law and so made our selves obnoxious to Divine Justice Considering after all this that it is not in vain to confess what we have done our Heart cannot but be now ready our Mouth cannot but be open to confess the extream sinfulness of our sins Thus you see how Premeditation puts us upon Confession and makes us willingly buckle to the Duty by shewing us the Reasonableness and Profitableness of the performance of it 2. Meditation as it puts the Sinner upon Confession so it affords and ministers abundant Mat er for Confession He that meditates before he confesses is very well furnished in his Confession He is not at a stand he is not to seek for what he should confess next he sees enough in himself to complain of himself for unto God It 's this Mediation that fills up the Bill of Indictment with so many Items Meditation it fully and clearly discovers our sins to us It 's the bringing the Elephant to the Water and the shewing of him there the ugliness and deformity of his * Lerg Scout Proboscis The Water is the Law now by Meditation we compare our selves with the Law of God and our Practises with its Commands and Injunctions and so we see how hugely deficient how very far short we are of our several Duties Meditation is the Hand which holds the Glass of the Law before us in which we plainly behold our own Faces and see all the spots and blemishes we have contracted Meditation is the perambulation of the Mind thro' the whole course of a Man's old Life It 's a reflection upon a recollection and recognition of our former actions When we have by solemn Meditation read over the Book of our past life turn'd over and examin'd the several leafs of it and so made good observation of our former Conversation then shall we be best able in our Confession to set down justly our Errata's and to give our God a penitential relation of our miscarriages 3. Meditation as it brings in Matter so it begets Affection * Psal 39.3 While I was musing says David the fire burned then spake I with my tongue It holds true in Confession as well as in any other part of Prayer 4. Meditation as it gives us a sight of our sins and so lays in Matter for Confession so it gives us a sight of God's Promises freely made unto penitent Confessors and so chears and strengthens and bears up our Hearts in Confession by shewing us what Attribute of God what Promise in his Word is most suitable most comfortable to us in our present condition and fittest to be pleaded with God in Confession Let us therefore prepare our selves to Confession by premeditation without which we can never confess as we ought But yet 2. Let 's not rest in our Premeditation but let 's be sure to call in the Assistance of the Spirit in our very entrance upon the Duty of Confession Let 's beg of God that he would give us his holy Spirit to convince us of sin We can never be able to tell our Dreams unless we be well awaken'd by the illightning convincing Spirit of God Let 's look upon our selves as poor dark blind Creatures and seek to God to be anointed with Spiritual Eye-salve that we may see Let every one of us cry to God * Job 34.32 That which I see not teach thou me and say with Job †Job 13.23 How many are
even justified by committing afresh With what Confidence can I resolve anew when I ha' broken former Resolutions 8. Your sinning wilfully after Confesfession will make God loth ever to take your Word again and will render him harder to Pardon you upon a new Confession 1. It will make God loth ever to take your Word again God will be very jealous and suspicious of you for the future When you come to confess again Quid verba audio will God say facta cùm videam What do you speak a few good Words in my Ears for I see your Deeds plain enough What reason have I to think you are in good earnest Why you have often confess'd before and sinn'd again afterwards as often as you have confess'd And a'n't you likely ev'n to serve me so again How can I believe you 'll ever do what you pretend Thus sinning after Confession and so dealing falsly with God will make God loth ever to take your Word again Further 2. Our wilful falling into the same particular Sins which we have confess'd will render God harder to Pardon us upon a new Confession If God should Pardon us we ha' reason to fear 't will be upon more difficult and uneasie terms both for doing and suffering We must do more now in order to Pardon than was requir'd before And it may be we must suffer much more notwithstanding our Pardon The Expressions of our godly Sorrow must be greater Our Repentance and Confession will cost us dearer And when it has done so God may then peradventure pardon the Sin we committed after Confession and remit the Eternal Punishment of it But yet it may cause him unalterably and irrevocably to resolve and determine to inflict upon us some sad and heavy Temporal Punishment Thus I ha' shewn you That there is great danger in sinning wilfully after Confession And therefore take heed of falling voluntarily and running readily into those particular Sins especially any particular gross Sins which you have confess'd and acknowledg'd to God the Evil of Let 's not * 2 Pet. 2.22 return with the Dog to his Vomit Let 's not greedily and covetously run after those Sins which we seem'd to lothe and cast up Some of the Heathen in the Days of Sacrifice to their Idols for Health did riotously Banquet to the prejudice of their Health †Taliter fermè omnia agunt ut eos non tam putes artea poenitentiam crimirum egisse quà m postea ipsius poeritertiae poenitere Nec tam priùs poenituiffe quòd malè vixrint quà m postea quod se promiseâ—tâ—t bene â—sse vlâ—turos Salvian de Gubern Del Lib. 5. p. 17â— So too too many the very same day they confess their Sins for Pardon of Sin do turn afresh to their old Sins and so contract new Guilt and incur God's heavy Displeasure Let us take heed that we be not found in the number of these Let not us serve God as Saul serv'd David who plainly confess'd his Sin against David and that with Tears to him 1 Sam. 24.16 17. and yet Ch. 26. ver 2. he pursues and persecutes him again as eagerly and fiercely as ever he did before Let not us in like manner acknowledge our Sins to God it may be with Tears and presently transgress and rebel against God the self-same way and as much as ever we did before For tho' we should say a thousand and a thousand times over God forgive me I 'll do so no more Yet if in our Deeds we bewray our Love and Affection to our Sins it is but a Protestation contrary to our Practise and we do thereby but make our Selves the greater and deeper Lyars CHAP. XVIII Some Means or Helps for the shunning and avoiding of Sins confess'd 1. Let such as have formerly confess'd their Sins without any true Sense of Sin now labour speedily to get a deep and thorow Conviction of the Evil of their Sins 2. Let such as have confess'd their Sins with a true Sense of Sin upon their Spirits observe and practise these following Rules 1. Labour to preserve and maintain in the course of thy Life the same Apprehensions thou hadst of thy Sin in any former serious and solemn Confession 2 Seriously consider and remember that thou art at present in Dependance upon God for Mercy and art very fair for 't 3. Be always imploring Divine Assistance and improving your own Endeavours against your Sins HAving plainly shewn you what great Danger there is of falling and also what fearful Evil Folly and Mischief there is in falling into the same particular Sin after Confession I shall now lay down some Means or Helps for the shunning and avoiding of Sins confest And 1. For such who have often confest their Sins without any true Sense of Sin Why that you may not now fall into any of those Sins which you have so slightly confest and are therefore in so much danger of Be sure you labour speedily to get a deep and thorough Conviction of the Evil of your Sins Think and say thus within thy Self I ha' sometime customarily confest my Sin to God but O what a great and heinous Sin is it How contrary to God's express Command What heavy Threatnings are plainly denounc'd in the Book of God against it How cross is this and that Sin even to the Light of my own Nature How contrary to the clear Light of Scripture What a Grief to the Good Spirit of God What a Breach of comely and beautiful Order in the World What a Discredit to my Profession What an ill Example to my Neighbours Servants and Children What a Wound to my Conscience What a Breach in my Peace What an Enemy to the life of my poor Soul I say that you may not desperately run into old Sins and so contract new Guilt labour presently to get and beg of God that he would give you a deep and thorough Conviction of those Sins which you have formerly confest without any Sight or Sense of Sin But 2. If any among us have confest our Sins with a true Sense of Sin upon our Spirits why that we may not relapse and fall back again into the very same Sins we have particularly confest let us carefully observe and diligently practise these following Rules 1. Labour to preserve and maintain in the Course of thy Life the same Apprehensions thou hadst of thy Sin in any former serious and solemn Confession Surely you did not then look upon Sin as it was mask'd and vizarded and had the Notion of good put upon 't as it seem'd profitable pleasurable honourable But you then look'd upon the naked nature of Sin and the sad consequences of it You then apprehended the Evil that is in it and discern'd the Evil that comes after it and follows upon it You then saw Sin as Men use to see it at the day of Death when they are well awaken'd You then saw it after the same manner as the damn'd in Hell see
A Practical Discourse OF Confession of Sins TO GOD As a Means of Pardon and Cleansing By JOHN WADE Minister of Hammersmith LONDON Printed for Iohn Salusbury at the Rising-Sun in Cornhil 1697. To His Grace WILLIAM Duke of BEDFORD My Lord THE kind Entertainment your Grace was pleased to afford to a former Discourse of mine Of the Redemption of Time and Your declared Approbation of it together with the obliging Expressions of Your Favour to it's unworthy Author embolden and encourage me not only to present this small Treatise to Your Grace's Hands but to make a publick Dedication of it to You. The Subject is of daily Use for we are taught by our Lord to pray daily for the Pardon of Sin This is * Heb. 8.12 One of the great Mercies of the Covenant of Grace and an eminent Branch of †Psalm 32.1 2. Blessedness This Tract shews the Way and Means how to partake of this Blessedness and how to obtain Cleansing from Sin as well as Forgiveness of it And fitly serves for the Healing and Recovering of relapsed Souls and tends to the promoting of true Repentance and Holiness and real Reformation of Heart and Life Your noted Sense of Religion and Favour to Goodness and good Men will dispose Your Grace to relish my plain and practical handling of it more than if it were embellish'd and embroidered with Gaiety of Language which would be apt to fix it in the Fancy and hinder it's Passage to the Heart as Painting of Glass hinders the Light Blessed be God that Greatness and Goodness are so happily conjoined in Your Grace Go on my Lord by Your wonted Piety and Prudence Fidelity and Integrity to live and act so as to be more and more beloved by God employed by your Prince and valued by all good Men. That God would command a Blessing upon Your nearest and dearest Relations and all the Branches of Your Honourable and Noble Family That your Days may still be prolonged to serve your Generation according to the Will of God and to perfect a rare Exemplar and finish a fair Copy of Vertue and Goodness to be left and transmitted that God may be glorified and others excited and provoked to a zealous Imitation of Your Laudable Life adorned with worthy and excellent Actions That You may continue to shine as a bright Light in this lower World and when You shall be translated hence to a higher Region and Heavenly Mansion may shine as a Star in the Kingdom of your Father for ever is his most hearty Desire and Prayer who is My LORD Your Grace's in all humble Observance John Wade THE CONTENTS OF THE Several CHAPTERS in the following Discourse CHAP. I. THE Introduction p. 1. The Division of the Words p. 3 4 5. The Doctrine and the Method for the handling of it p. 6. A Description of Confession given containing the Parts and Properties of Confession p. 6 7. CHAP. II. Of Self-Accusation p. 8. Of the Limitation of the Object The Sinner accuseth himself and none but himself not God nor the Devil nor Ungodly Men p. 9. to 19. CHAP. III. Of the Manner of Self-Accusation 1. He accuseth himself of particular Sins p. 20. Especially of his particular Sin p. 26. He acknowledgeth unknown sins in a general and implicit Confession p. 30. 31. CHAP. IV. Of Self-Accusation by Aggravation of Sin p. 33. Confession cannot be full p. 34. And there can be no thorow Humiliation without it p. 35. Several Heads of Aggravation propounded p. 38. One notable way of Aggravation commended which is To take those very things which are too commonly made Excuses and to turn them into so many Aggravations p. 45. How to Aggravate our sins from the Littleness p. 46. Commonness of them p. 47. Our Ignorance in sinning p. 47 48. Temptations to sin p. 49. And our sinful Nature p. 51. A notable instance of Aggravation of sin shewn in St. Austin p. 55. to 58. CHAP. V. Of Self-Condemnation p. 60. It does not at all consist in any willingness to go to Hell or contentedness to be Damn'd but only in a serious acknowledging our selves worthy of Hell and Damnation for our sins p. 64. Two Marks whereby we may judge of our Self-judging 1. We shall humbly submit to any present punishment p. 68. 2. Be willing to bear any further punishment here in this World p. 71. Particularizing and Aggravation have some place in Self-Condemning p. 72. CHAP. VI. The first Property of true Confession it is free and voluntary p. 75 to 81. CHAP. VII The second Property It is made with Hatred of p. 84. Shame p. 86. And Sorrow for our Sins p. 90. These holy Affections must be laid out more upon our Sin than any Punishment p. 91. And must bear some Proportion to the sins confess'd p. 94. The Penitent Sinner does often outwardly express his inward Affection by Weeping p. 95. Weeping is no infallible Sign of an Heart truly sensible of Sin p. 97. But not Weeping in some cases may well be suspected for a bad Sign p. 98. CHAP. VIII The third Property It is made with a full Resolution against our sins p. 101. The Hypocrite is Self-confident in his Vows p. 103. But the humble Confessor is distrustful of himself in his Resolves and seeks to God for strength and power to act his Purposes and perform his Vows p. 105 106. CHAP. IX The fourth Property It is made 1. with an earnest Desire of Mercy p. 108. 2. With some good Hope in Divine Mercy p. 115. The necessity of Faith and Hope here because that unbelieving despairing Thoughts do 1. Greatly dishonour God p. 120. 2. Extreamly deaden and straiten our own Hearts in Confession p. 121. A necessary Caution to join all these Properties of Confession in PracticalVse together p. 123. CHAP. X. The Reasons of Confession p. 125. Two false Grounds rejected We must never confess our sins with any intention thereby to give God Information p. 126. Or make him Satisfaction p. 127. An Objection answered p. 128 129. CHAP. XI Ten positive Grounds 1. God expresly commands it p. 131. 2. Is greatly glorified and justified by it p. 131 132. 3. 'T is a thing in it self most reasonable p. 133. 4. Confession of Sin is indispensably necessary to Remission of Sin p. 134. How it 's unbeseeming the Majesty p. 135. The Justice p. 137. The Mercy p. 138. The Wisdom and Holiness of God p. 138 139. For God to forgive the Sinner before and without Confession 5. Confession is a proper Act of Mortification p. 140. 6. It testifies unto God And evidences unto our selves the Sincerity of our Repentance p. 141. And gives us good assurance that we are in a fair way of Recovery p. 142. 7. It eases our troubled Spirits c. p. 143. 8. It were unreasonable Folly in us to go about to hide any sins from God p. 145. And the wisest way to conceal them from others is to discover them to God p.
and therefore thus he can confess over and over with very little or no trouble and disturbance to himself at all thus he can confess his sins yet keep his sin If ever the hollow-hearted Confessor come so far as to particularize sins at all likely he takes some sly course he goes some By-way to Work He 'll often instance in some particular sins which the Godly themselves daily complain of which the dearest of God's People cannot but own and acknowledge As thus He 'll it may be confess unto God the weakness of his Faith his want of growth in Grace which may be an Article in the best Christian 's Self-Accusation but here is this deceit in 't That he that has'nt one Dram of Faith one Spark of Grace in him would yet seem to have and supposes in himself some lower weaker actings at least of saving justifying Faith some smaller degree and measure of true real sanctifying Grace Whatever the Hypocrite puts in commonly he on purpose leaves out of the Charge his near and dear tho' never so gross and heinous sin this he 'll not be known of he 'll not disclose he 'll not out with this for this he resolves with himself never to part with he has no mind to leave it and therefore he has no heart to confess it He declines and waves all hard words of his own sin whatever he says he 'll not have a word of his secret Atheism and Profaneness of Heart of his close Hypocrisie and Formality of his wilful Impenitency and Unbelief of his false Hopes and ungrounded Presumption He forbears the mentioning of his Spiritual Pride of his Carnal Confidence and resting in Duties of his Self-love of his Worldly-mindedness This guileful subtil Semi-confitent purposely and industriously keeps in that very sin which among these or other particular sins is his most proper and peculiar sin he 's mute and silent here he scarce ever comes nigh that main sin which divides and separates between God and his Soul and keeps off his Heart from entirely closing with Jesus Christ His talk I think I miscal not his Confession his talk I say is usually far enough from that Thus Lapwing-like he raises his Note highest and makes the greatest noise furthest off his own Nest But now on the other side the truly humble broken penitent Sinner he 's of an honest ingenuous guileless spirit in accusing of himself he deals most freely and openly with his God he hides and covers nothing from him he plainly lays open to God his very darling bosom sin and readily discovers his most inward and retir'd Lust He is so far from concealing this in his Confession that of all others he is most careful to detect it and makes it his business to insist oftenest and largeliest on it And certainly he that does thus confesses aright for he that charges himself particularly with his most beloved secret and hidden sin is no question in a constant readiness to charge himself with all to charge himself with every one And thus much for the first way of Self-Accusation in Confession to wit Particularizing of our sins I shall pass to the second so soon as I have entreated you to take notice but of one Clause in this First Part of the Definition of Self-Accusation I told you that Self-Accusation is the Sinner's charging himself as particularly as may be with his sins as particularly as may be as particularly as he can which was purposely inserted to hint thus much unto you That we are bound to confess many sins which yet we are no way able to particularize such are all ignorances and unknown sins Indeed we ought to make a particular acknowledgment of our sins as far as our knowledge of them reaches but yet when we have confessed all we know against our selves we are not yet come to a non ultra in â—onfession we must not here make a stop we must not here break off and give over Confessing we must find more to say aginst our selves than we know particulary and distinâ—tly by our selves Tho' we know much by our selves yet certainly there 's much we don't know by our selves but God is greater than our hearts and kâ—â—weâ—h all things 1 Joh. 3.20 he sees many a sin in us that we dâ—n't sâ—e in our sâ—lves Now our unknâ—wn sins our sins of ignorance tho' they be unknown to us tho' we are ignorant of them yet because they are in themselves real breacâ—es of God's Law and so truly sins against God therefore they ought to be conâ—ess'd to him But how you 'll â—â—y 〈◊〉 can we confess such sins as we d n't 〈◊〉 Why yes tho' we caâ—◠〈…〉 and reckon them up in particulâ—r yet we may and must and it sâ—â—â—â— iâ— we do wrap them up altogether in a 〈◊〉 and impliâ—â—â— Confession and crave pâ—rdon for them by the lump David wâ— careful to do thus Is 19.12 Who says he can understand his errors Lord cleanse thou me from my secret faults Let me add That a general Confession is necessary not only in respect of our unknown sins but also in respect of unknown circumstances even of our known sins for possibly even when the sin is plain and manifest yet some circumstance or other which aggravates the sin may be occult and secret CHAP. IV. Of the second way of Self-Accusation namely as it is made by Aggravation of sin The great Necessity of Aggravation of sin Our Confession cannot be full and compleat without it There can be no thorow humiliation without it Several Heads of Aggravation propounded Among many others one notable way of Aggravation commended which is To take those very thing which are too commonly made Excuses and Pleas for sin and to turn them into so many Aggravations How to Aggravate our sins from the littleness of them from the commonness of them from our ignorance in sinning from temptations to sin and from our sinful Nature A notable instance of Aggravation of sin shewn in St. Austin I Come now to the second way of Self-Accusation namely as it is made by Aggravation of sin The Sinner charges himself with his sins by heightning and aggravating them with their most heinous and notorious circumstances And indeed the aggravating circumstances of our sins must not by any means be neglected in our Confessions for then we should make Confession but by the halfs with the Unjust Steward in the Gospel we should set down but fifty for an hundred Nay we should often leave out of our Confessions more than we put into them we should ev'n set down but Pence for Pounds but Mites for Talents For tho' in Natural things accidents are nothing in comparison of the form yet it 's a true Rule that in moralibus circumstantia plus valet quam forma in Moral things the Circumstance is often more than the meer Action it self Thus it is in the case of sin the aggravating Circumstances of our sins often rise and amount to
more than our sins barely and simply in themselves considered Circumstances are to Actions much like what Ciphers are to Figures which quickly make 1 the very least of all Figures but the beginning of Numbers by being placed with it stand for a 1000 an 100000 and therefore for thee to confess thy sin without it's appendant Circumstances it is at best to say the least thou canst of thy sin nay to hide any notable Circumstance in thy Confessions it is in effect even to cover thy sin Thus you see our Confessions of our sins can't be full and compleat without the aggravating Circumstances of our sins for sinful Circumstances are the most are the greatest part of our sins without these our sins are comparatively but little and light These are they that swell and double and treble the Accounts that encrease and enlarge the Bill that thicken and lengthen the Catalogue Besides leave but these out of thy Confession and thou wilt not be thorowly humbled in thy Confession thou wilt not be deeply affected with thy sins in thy Confession thy sins won't prick thee at thy Heart won't cut and wound thee in thy Confessions Now as we all wounded our selves with our sins in the Commission of them tho' we did not perhaps presently feel that wound so we should wound our selves with our sins in the Confession of them and indeed this wound tends to healing whereas the other tended to Death but our sins without their Circumstances are as a Sword without an Edge the Circumstances of sin they give it an edge they make it sharp keen and piercing By means of these we are very much mov'd and wrought upon in our Confessions and soundly humbled for our sins when we spread them before the Lord. Thus much for a touch of the Necessity of Aggravation of Sin as being absolutely necessary to Confession of Sin Now as the Duty is in it self necessary so the Performance of it is the great care and serious study of every Penitent Sinner who is so far from disguising masking vizarding or palliating his sin that he brings it in and makes it appear in it's own shape in its proper and natural Colours He acknowledges his sins to be Scarlet sins Camel sins to be sins of the greatest Magnitude of the deepest Dye He does dot savour his sin in the least he studies to make it as bad as it is in it self He readily owns all that in his particular sin which he acknowledges to belong to the ugly nature of Sin in general He strives to make the very worst he can of it He is severe and impartial in Self-Accusing He says as much against sin in himself as he would say against sin in any one else as much as any one else would say against his sin Nay he endeavours in his Confessions to say as much against his sins as God himself says against them in his Word He calls his sins by the same Names be they never so bad as the Scripture calls them He calls his neglect of Brotherly reproof as the Holy Ghost stiles it even * 19 lâ—vit 17. Hating his Brother in his Heart He calls his wilful transgression of God's known command * 1 Sam. 15.23 Rebellion and reckons it as bad as the Sin of Witchcraft and accounts his Stubborness to be as Idolatry He labours to give as strict a Judgment to make as rigid a Censure of his sins as the Just and Holy Law-giver himself does and to speak no more mildly and mincingly of them than he finds the very Spirit of Truth to speak of them When he has made himself vile by particularizing of his sins why he 'll make himself yet more vile by aggravating of them until they become out of measure sinful He thinks he can never say too much never enough against himself he thinks he can never sufficiently vilify and debase himself never lay himself low enough before God Of sinners I am chief says humble Penitent Paul 1 Tim. 1.15 and so says Tertullian in like manner * 〈…〉 perâ—terâ—â—a natâ—â— Tertulâ—â—e â—â—niâ—â—nt 〈◊〉 I am a most notorious Sinner as if I were born to no other end than to confess and repent It is is not here impertinent to propound the several Heads of Aggravation with which the Penitent Sinner amplifies and exaggerates his sins in his Confessions I might instance in these 1. In that he has sinned wilfully and voluntarily and this may contain two very great aggravations in it 1. That he has sinn'd wilfully against Light and Knowledge as against the very Light of Nature against the clear Light of the Sacred Scripture against the Light of good Education against the Light of the Preaching of the Gospel against the Light of his own Experiences against the Light of the wholsom Counsels sober Admonitions and seasonable Reproofs of Christian Well-wishing Friends 2. He aggravates his sins from the wilfulness of them in that he has sinn'd as against his Knowledge so upon no Temptation or upon very little Temptation in that he has sinn'd without any Illecebra from without without any Incentive but from himself And indeed this is as humbling an Aggravation as can be that I have sinn'd when it was easie for me to have forborn sinning that I sinn'd when I was neither blinded with Ignorance nor transported with Passion nor over-born with any kind of Temptation but did this and that deliberately and out of Choice sometimes studying and contriving how I might sin most handsomly and often seeking out Companions Occasions and Inflammations of my Lusts This Aggravation of sinning without any Temptation or with very little Temptation is hugely necessary for such as in ordinary buying and selling will Lye and Cheat for a Farthing for such as in common Talk will Swear out of an idle Custom or for a vain Compliment as if an Oath were the Enamel of a Speech the handsomest grace of a Sentence the chief and only thing that makes it come off cleverly And truly among all the sins in the World there is scarce any one of them mâ—re Temptation-less than Customary Swearing But 2. A second Topick of Aggravation may be this He aggravates his sins as from his wilfulness in sinning so from his sinning against the Means which God has us'd to reduce and reclaim him from his sins namely In that he has sinn'd against the Motions and Strivings Helps and Assistances of God's good and holy Spirit sinned against the Divine Mercies both General and Special both Temporal and Spiritual or in that he has sinn'd against the Divine Judgments either National or Personal either feared or felt either threatned or already inflicted But the Penitent Sinner chiefly and especially aggravates his sins from their being committed against intermixed and interwoven Mercies against the Mercies of God's Mercies and the Mercies of his Judgments compounded conjoin'd and united combin'd and conjugated in his wisest and most Providential Dispensations Lord says he I have now
believe so Bishop layâ—eâ—'s Sâ—rm of the Deceitfulness of the Heart p. 86. Yet weeping is no Infallible Sign or certain Token or an Heart truly sensible of sin so as that a Man should conclude he is sensible or insensible according as he finds himself weep or forbear for there may be weeping without sence of sin Many can shed Tears for any thing some for nothing Again There may be sence of sin without weeping a soft Heart where there are dry Eyes for as the greatest Joys do not always burst out into Laughter so the deepest sorrows and foulest shame do not always break forth into Tears This expression of our Affection differs and varies very much according to the temper of the Body the Age the Sex and the many accidental tendernesses or masculine hardnesses of the Person Wherefore sence of sin is not to be estimated by our Tears but is to be valued by the Trouble of our Souls for sin seriously apprehending the evil the extream evil of it But yet tho' weeping be not an unerring good Sign yet not weeping in some cases may well be suspected for a bad Sign as if where there is an aptness and proneness to weep abundantly when any outward Worldly evil hath befallen us yet even there we seldom or never shed a Tear in the sorrows and passions of our pretended Penitent Confessions For were but the Affection as great here it would still discover it self in as great a manner and large a measure If thou canst easily shed tears and many tears weep plentifully and pour them out largely in the Confession of thy sins for Tears tho' mute yet speak * Herbert's Poems The 〈◊〉 p. 13â— What is so shrill as silent Tears And surely God will hear the voice of thy weeping Psal 6.8 How acceptable and available are truly Femtential Tears running out of a Soul that is running towards God! O let the Tears that flow from thee be (a) Tears that will pâ—evail must spring from a teâ—dâ—â— and â—râ—â—er â—eart 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 the◠〈…〉 God 's thy which 〈…〉 Mâ—◠〈…〉 to 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 voluntrary reforming cleansing Tears such as may not only wet thy Face but wash thy Heart But if thou canst not weep or when thou canst no longer weep desire and endeavour to have much of the rational tho' you have not so much of a passionate grief and sorrow Let (b) If thou hast no sight of Graws 〈◊〉 thou hast 〈…〉 Lesser pairs shape greater 〈◊〉 Herbert's Pâ—â—â—s 〈◊〉 p. â—00 Sighs and Groans supply the defect of Tears in thee Let your Heart bleed when your Eyes do not water Take up and use the affectionate words of the Devout Herbert * Herbert 's Poem â—â— Ephâ—s 4.30 Grâ—â— not the Holy Spâ—rit â— p. 129. Yet If I wail not still since still to wail Nature denies And flesh would fail If my Deserts were Masters of mine Eyes Lord pardon for thy Son makes good My want of Tears with store of Blood So much shall suffice to have been spoken to the second Adjunct or Property of Confession It 's made with Hatred of Shame and Sorrow for our Sin CHAP. VIII The third Property of Confession it is made with a full Resolution against our sins The Hypocrite is Rash and Self-confident in his Vows but the humble Confessor is fearful and distrustful of himself in his Resolves and seeks to God for strength and power to act his Purposes and perform his Vows 3. A Third Property of Confession is this True Confession is made with a fall Resolution against our sins From Hatred of Shame and Sorrow for our sins their naturally proceeds and necessarily arises a settled Intention and firm Purpose of Heart for the speedy leaving and ready actual dereliction of the sins we confess and a Resolvedness of Spirit to oppose and resist their consequent Temptations setting aside which Resolution our very Confession are crying provoking Sins and need to he confess'd themselves for he that does not heartily resolve against his sins in Confession does even then secreth intend and purpose to commit them again Wherever there is a real sence and feeling of sin in Confession there is also produc'd an inward serious to feigned Resâ—lâ—tion against the sin confess'd the Sinner thus affected meditates the Confusion and Overthrow of his sin and he often expresses unto God the sincere and honest purposes of his Heart and joins with the Confession of his sins a most solemn Vow Promise Covenant against them Such was the Confession of horeâ— plain-hearted Sâ—heeaniah 10 Ezra 2 3. speaking there unto Ezra We have trâ—spassed against our God says he and have taken strange Wives of the people of the land new therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the Wives and such as are born of them This is observ'd and remark'd by Elihu in that lively and notable description which he makes of a true Confessor that humbles himself before God 34 Job 31.32 Surely says he it is meet to be said unto God I have â—â—rn chastisement I will not offend any more that which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more Hatred of Shame and Sorrow for Sin do breed and beget in the Sinner an absolute purpose and entire resolution against his sins the Penitent Sinner really intends never to meddle with them again never to have any more to do with them Yet which is very observable this humble Confessor is not too too confident of himself in his resolves but very fearful jealous and suspicious of himself being greatly conscious to himself of his own Spiritual impotency and weakness and of the baseness and falseness of his own Heart which has formerly deceiv'd and betrayed him This is very much Characteristical of a true hearty Confessor whereby he is differenced and distinguished from a meer Counterfeit and Hypocritical Confessor The Hypocrite indeed in some of his good Moods and Fits which usually take him upon some sudden violent flashings of a strong Conviction or the sence and feeling of a present Affliction will be forward to promise any thing in Confession will make marvellous fair protestations and specious resolutions before God O he has done thus and thus but he 'll do so no more no he 'll become a new Man out of hand ay that he will but all this while he confides trusts in and relies on himself for the performance of all Thus rash are the Sick-bed Vows of most Men O says one that 's kept in by a Disease and is fain to lie by 't O says he that God would recover my health and strength again I 'd presently turn over a new leaf I 'd certainly live the New Life if God would grant me any How shall all the World see if ever I live to get out of Doors to go Abroad again that I 'm quite another Man than I was Our Minister all my Neighbors Friends and Acquaintance
shall wonder at the great change and strange alteration that shall be found in me He promises amendment of his life by vertue of his own strength and ability as if his bare purposes were Wit hs or Cords strong enough to bind the Sampsons within him and does not heartily desire Divine Grace to aid and back his Resolutions And hence it is that if God does any thing for such an one he presently forgets himself forgets all his promises which were lately warm upon his Lips his Lusts revive as his bodily strength renews He mends into his old sins again and recovers into his former Follies Too many resolve in their own srength but they have power of themselves to hold their resolution no longer than they are held under some extraordinary Conviction or Punishment and therefore when these cease they return with the Dog to his Vomit and with the Sow that is wash'd to her wallowing in the mire and rush into Sin as boldly as if in Confession they had told God not so much what they had done as what they would do But now the truly Penitent Confessor he 's exceeding distrustful of his own naughty deceitful Heart even in his most solemn Vows and strongest Resolutions and therefore he rather expresses himself in fervent unfeigned Desires and Wishes and Prayers that God would help him to do this and leave that undone than fearlesly and presumptuously concludes and determines that he will or won't do this and that upon over-bold and most proud Confidences in his own strength and Self-sufficiency He uses such kind of Language as this to God Lord thou knowest Lord thou hast given me to know how that I have no power of my self against these my Lusts and Corruptions but I am now through Grace willing to be rid of them O that I might be strengthned and enabled from abâ—ve wholly to conquer and subdue them O that I might have Divine power and assistance granted me whereby I may unweariedly oppâ—sâ— and finally overcome all thine and my Enemies whereby I may be able to resist the Devil and say nay to a Temptation Lord I have no might against this great Company that daily cometh against me I have formerly gone out in my own strength with a Sword and with a Spear and with a Shield Arm'd with my own Carnal Resolutions against these Spiritual Philistines and was worsted and fell by their hands but now I desire to go out in the Name of the Lord of Hosts I know not of my self what to do but my eyes are upon thee help thou Lord help enable me by thy Grace faithfully to keep my Covenants to perform my Vows to be as good as my Promises to be true to my Resolutions The Penitent Sinner does not wish and desire that God would do all and leave him nothing at all to do that God would by an Act of Omnipotency presently subdue and immediately mortify his Lusts and Corruptions without giving him the trouble of a Conflict or putting him to the labour and pains of Practical Mortification or injoyning him the difficult use of a constant course of necessary Means but he so begs the Divine Grace and power and strength as that he resolves to act in the strength he shall receive and by the help of God and assistance of his Grace to strive against to resist and deny the most importunate Temptations to struggle with till he master and conquer his most unruly Lusts and rebellious Corruptions and to use all Means appointed by God for his Mortification and Sanctification And thus much for the third Adjunct or Property of true Confession True Confession is made with a full Resolution against our sins which must be taken with this Caution and Limitation That the Sinner resolve to do nothing in his own strength but all in the strength and by the Grace of God CHAP. IX The fourth and last Property of true Confession It is made with an Desire of and some good Hope in Divine Mercy The necessity of Faith and Hope in a right Confession of Sin upon a double account because that unbelieving despairing Thoughts do 1. greatly dishonour God 2. Extreamly deaden and straiten our own Hearts in Confession A necessary Caution to take one thing with anotheâ— and to be sure to join all these Properties of Confession in PracticalVse together 4. TRue Confession is made with an earnest Desire of and some good Hope in Divine Mercy 1. With an earnest Desire of Mercy A lively sence and feeling of his own present Danger and Misery powerfully excites and stirs up in the Penitent Sinner restless importunate Desires of Mercy He sees his extream great want and need of it and nothing but Mercy will satisfie and content him What would he now give for a Pardon in this case O how highly does he now prize esteem and value the most Soveraign precious Blood of Jesus Christ which was spilt and shed for the Remission of sins How fain would he be made partaker of it He craves Pardon of God and beseeches for Mercy with as strong cries and hearty desires as ever the poor Hunger-biâ—ten Beggar asked for an Alms with as great earnestness and vehemency of spirit as ever the Cast Malefactor begg'd for the Mercy of the Book or the poor Condemn'd Prisoner at the Bar pleaded for his Life before the face of the Judge A formal customary Confession of Sin without this hearty desire of Mercy is as vain and ridiculous a thing as any is in the World O what a gross and monstrous absurdity is it for a Man to go to God and confess his Sin and yet not to look for Pardon not to see any need of forgiveness of those enormities he confesses The truly Repentant Sinner he plainly sees and feels his Sin and Misery he well apprehends and discerns the absolute indispensable necessity of Mercy and always joins most affectionate Deprecation with his unfeigned Confession How very nearly are Confâ—ssion of Sin and seeking after Mercy link'd and coupled together by God himself 2 Chr. 7.14 If my people shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face And 5 Hos 15. I will go says God and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face Acknowledging our Offences without seeking God's face and favour will never cause God to return to us what God has thus join'd together the humble Confessor dares not part and put asunder Therefore you frequently find in Scripture the Penitent Sinner at once acknowledging his own faults and imploring Divine Grace and Mercy See this in the poor Publican who standing afar off would not lift up so much as his Eyes unto Heaven but smote upon his Breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner 18 Luk. 13. He acknowledgeth his Sin and with the same breath intreats for Mercy The like we find in the good Thief upon the Cross 23 Luk. 41.42 We says he receive the due reward of our deeds there 's
Acknowledgment of his sin 5. Confession of Sin is it self a proper act of Mortification 6. Confession testifies unto God and evidences unto our selves the sincerity and unfeignedness of our Repentance and gives us good assurance that we are in a fair way of Recovery 7. Confession eases our troubled Spirits and disburdens our oppressed Consciences 8. It were unreasonable Folly in us to go about to hide any sins from God and the wisest way to conceal them from otheâ—s is to discover them to God 9. It 's no only a foolish but an unsate and hazardous a desperate and dangerous thing for any to attempt to hide and conceal their sins from God 10 And lastly Confession of Sin or Self-accusing and Self-judging it happily prevents or weakens all Satan's Accusations and surely forestalls the just Sentence and Judgment of the great Judge at the last Day I Come now positively to lay down and propound the true and proper Grounds and Reasons of the Duty of Confession 1 Reas And the first Reason shall be taken from God's express Command I will give you but two Scriptures for it 5 Num. 6 7. The Lord spake unto Moses saying Speak unto the children of Israel when a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit to do a trespass against the Lord and that person be guilty then they shall confess their sin which they have done This was the first thing that was to be done before Restitution or the offering of his Sacrifice he must confess his Sin And Jer. 3.12 13. Go and proclaim these words towards the North and say Return thou backsliding Israel saith the Lord acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgress'd against the Lord thy God That 's the first Reason God plainly commands Confession therefore we must confess * Vid. Tertul de Paenitent cap. 4. God's Soveraign Authority must be regarded and his Precept observed tho' we that did our Duty should never receive any Commodity or Advantage by it 2. Reas We must make Confession of our Sins because hereby God is glorified and justified Joshuah makes this a ground of Confession in his Speech to Achan Josh 7.19 My son says he give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel and make Confession unto him And this reason David gives of his Confession Psal 51.3 4. I acknowledge my transgressions says he that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest Now true Penitent Confession does very much glorifie and justifie God for it 's our owning of God's Soveraignty and Authority our approving of his holy and just and good Law our acknowledging our own obnoxiousness to Divine Justice for the breach of that Law It is a subscribing to the great Equity of the Divine Commands and to the absolute Righteousness of the Divine Threatnings It is a clearing of the Holiness a vindication of the Justice of God It 's a freeing of God from being the Author of our Sin and a declaring of him to be righteous in being the Author of any punishment of sin It 's our meek and humble lying down at his feet and professing our selves to be wholly at his mercy It 's an act of the greatâ—st stooping yielding submission in the World It 's a Man's becoming mean low vile little nothing in his own Eyes that God may be all in all It 's our shaming and disgracing of our selves that God may be glorified and extolled Our lessening and debasing of our selves that God may be magnified and exalted Free hearty Confession faithfully provides for God's Honour and therefore is a Duty carefully to be perform'd and put in practice by us otherwise we rob God of his Honour and cut him short of his Glory 3 Reas We must confess our sins because Confession is a thing in it self most just and reasonable and equitable The very Law of Nature commands and enjoins real acknowledgment in case of real offence Confession of Sin is in strict Justice due to God who is the wronged and injur'd Party Every sin we commit is an act of the highest Injustice in the World and therefore Confession of Sin must needs be an act of the greatest Justice that possibly can be done by any Man We all of us do God very much wrong by sinning it 's therefore meet and fit for us to do God right by Confessing That 's the third Reason We must confess because Confession is an act of Equity and Justice 4 Reas We must confess because Confession of Sin is absolutely and indispensably necessary to remission of Sin so as that God can't well pardon us without Confessâ—â— Penitent Confession of Sin tho' it do not merit yet it makes fair way for forgiveness of Sin It does in the very nature of it make a Capacity and found a Possibility of Pardon It makes the Sinner vas capax a Vessel capable tho' not worthy of any Grace Whereas the Sinner's obstinate wilful hiding and covering his sins and resolved continuance in them does void and destroy the very case of Mercy Here it is rather worthy of God not to forgive but to punish and destroy Such Persons as won't acknowledge their sins are not within the Limits and Possibilities of Pardoning Grace God won't God can't forgive him that won't confess And therefore we find that when God makes the largest promises of Mercy to guilty Sinners he warily interposes Confession of Sin as a necessary Condition without which his Pardon cannot be afforded See this clearly in that notable place Jer. 3.12 13. Return thou backsliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep anger for ever Comfortable and precious Promises indeed But mark but mark the necessary Condition of them in the very next words Only acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God Only acknowledge thine iniquity as if he should say It cannot be else otherwise no hope of finding Mercy I cannot by any means pardon you unless you confess It 's unbeseeming and misbecoming the Majesty the Justice the Mercy the Wisdom the Holiness of God for God to pardon and forgive the Sinner before and without the Confession and Acknowledgment of his sin 1. It 's a thing not at at all becoming the Majesty of God God has already yielded as far as he can with safety to his Honor in condescending to such low Terms and fair Proposals as this is of giving our pardon upon our Confession He can't stoop any lower without doing prejudice to himself and being injurious to his own Honor and Greatness God is good but yet so as that he 's great too now his Greatness and Majesty which he is bound to maintain unless he could deny himself I say his Greatness and Majesty requâ—res the sinful Creatures humble submission of himself and acknowledgment of his sin before his Mercy can do him any good or shew
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
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
Heaven and reconcile our selves to our Adversary day by day we shall not be afraid of appearing immediately before God's Tribunal and the Judgment-seat of Jesus Christ but shall be well prepar'd and equally provided for longer Life or present Death and the Judgment to come after Death Confess Daily That 's the second 3. And more particularly Then make an humble and hearty Confession whenever you lie under any notable Conviction Confess thy sin upon any strong and stirring Conviction of the Spirit whether in the hearing or reading of the Word or in the use of Meditation or upon Admonition or occasionally by any Providence as when you see others punished for the same sins you are guilty of When ever your Heart smites you and Conscience checks you for sin then it is a fit time to confess When David's Heart smote him after that he had numbred the People David presently said unto the Lord * 2 Sam. 24.10 I have sinned greatly in that I have done And so when Nathan clearly convinc'd David of his sin and told him plainly * 2 Sam. 12 7 13. Thou art the man then presently David said unto Nathan * I have sinned against the Lord. Confess thy sin upon any sound Conviction of the Spirit for the quenching of the Spirit is the ready way to make you sin on till you are past feeling and to provoke God to resolve that his Spirit shall strive no longer with you 4. Then make a serious and solemn Confession when ever you lie under any notable Affliction This is a special Opportunity of Confession As the Light of Conviction leads us to confess so the Voice of the Rod lessons us to confess too Thus Joseph's Brethren when they were under a strong Conviction and in a great Strait then they confess their Sin in selling their Brother Gen. 42.21 And they said we are verily guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the anguish of his Soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this Distress come upon us David thought this a fit Season to confess When the Plague lay upon his People for his Sin then he acknowledg'd it 2 Sam. 24.17 And David spake into the Lord when he saw the Angel that smote the People and said Lo I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these Sheep what have they done So David again when his bones waxed old thro' his roaring all the day long when day and night God's hand was heavy upon him and his moisture was turned into the drought of summer then says David I acknowledged my Sin unto thee and mine Iniquity have I not hid Psalm 32.3.4 5. The Children of Israel assembled themselves with fasting and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their Fathers when God's hand lay heavy upon them Nehem. 9. And so the Prodigal when he was in want and ready to perish with hunger then he said I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son Luke 15.17 18. The time of Affliction is as proper a time for Confession as any God does then call on us aloud to set upon the Duty When our sin has found us out and we eat the fruit of our own way this is a time to glorifie and justifie God by accusing and condemning our selves and acknowledging our selves to be the only Authors and Causes of our Sin and our Sin to be the only Meritorious procuring Cause of all our Punishment Yet let 's be sure here that we make our Punishment and Affliction not the Ground and Principle but only the Occasion and Opportunity of our Confession The time of Affliction is a seasonable and an accept ble time of Confession as then God looks it so has he then a most gracious and savourable Respect to it We find God pities the penitent Sinner that falls to Confession in a day of Affliction He has promis'd * 1 Pet. 5.6 to exalt and lift up them that humble themselves under his mighty hand And that of Elihu is a great truth Job 33.27 28. He looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not yea it was the Cause of my sore Sickness or sad Trouble and so was not only simply unprofitable but very hurtful and prejudicial to me If any Sinner sincerely and seriously say thus to God he will deliver his Soul that is himself from going into the pit or grave and his life shall see the light A Periphrasis of †Ver. 30. Life or of Prosperity which is often in Scripture compar'd to Light which is the most beautiful delightful exhilarating chearing thing in the World God will bring the humble Confitent out of Trouble and prolong his Life He shall recover of his Sickness or escape his Danger and live longer to behold the Light of the Sun 5. Confess presently upon the Commission of any gross and great Sin For here speedy Confession will be an effectual means to keep Conscience tender and will certainly prevent that hardness which would otherwise easily be contracted O suffer not thy Sin to rest upon thee lest thou beest hard'ned thro' the deceitfulness of it Confess thy Sin as soon as ever thou hast committed it Make no delays here Mute and irrational Creatures as the Hart the Swallow as ‖ De Poenitent c. 12. Tertullian observes will timely use the Medicines and Remedies which God has provided and natural Instinct leads and prompts 'em too A Man that has swallowed down Poison is not to linger but presently to expel it And one that has great Guilt lying on him and infectious Filth cleaving to him ought to use the surest means for the sudden removal of it We may be soon undone except we use this present Remedy and shall we then refuse it Nauseabit ad antidotum qui hiavit ad venenum says Tertullian excellently What shall a Man lothe and nauseate and be sâ—ueâ—mish at the Antidote who was greedy and gapemouth'd after the Poison Don't defer or drive off the Confession of any gross Sin It cost David dear enough the mere putting of it off I was silent and roar'd says he Psalm 32.3 So dear did the very Procrastination of Confession cost David that even after he had confess'd and was pardon'd he got not suddenly such a full sence of God's loving kindness as formerly God did not presently look so pleasantly on him as he was used to He had not yet so many Smiles from God as he had before It 's a sign he wanted the Comfort he once enjoyed for he prays to God for 't even after he was pardon'd and absolv'd by Nathan Psalm 51.12 Restore unto me the Joy of thy Salvation If he had thorowly confess'd at first probably he would not have been so long without Comfort If Sin remain unconfess'd the Power of
it will be greater the Stain deeper the Guilt heavier The longer we hide and cover Sin the more it will one day torment us To cover Sin it is but as if you should cover a Serpent which would but keep it the more warm and so cause it to sti g the more fiercely and to diffuse it's Poison and Venome the more effectually Therefore confess presently upon the commission of any great Sin That 's the 5th Particular 6. And Lastly Confess as presently upon the commission of any great Sin so presently upon the receit of any great Mercy Especially upon the receit of any Spiritual Mercy Upon any saving appearance of God to us or when he has newly lifted up the Light of his Countenance upon us Then is it a fit time for us to remember our ways and to be 〈…〉 shame even when the Lord is 〈◊〉 towards us Ezek. 10. â—3 The Prodigal took this special Season for his Confession and Humiliation Even after his Father had compassion and 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 in his neck and kissed him Then it follows The Son said unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and in the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 no more worthy to be 〈…〉 When we taste and see that the Lord is gracious then let 's with Jacob acknowledge our selves to be * Gen. 32.10 less than the least of all God's Mercies For this will set off God's Mercy commend the Divine Love advance and enhance the Riches of free Grace and make us more meet for and capable of further Favour and Mercy So much for the Direction concerning the Time and Season when we should confess 2. Concerning the Place where we should confess take this Direction Let 's especially confess our Sins in secret We ought indeed to take all Occasions and Opportunities to join with others in Publick Confession to bear a part in the ordinary and extraordinary Confessions of the Church and Family to which we belong But let 's chiefly chuse to make Confession of Sin in Secret between God and our Selves alone And that for a Threefold Reason 1. Because private Confession is altogether necessary For every Man has some personal particular special Sins with several Circumstances of them that cannot be mentioned when we pray or join in Prayer with others If any other conceive or compose the Prayer he cannot confess them because he is ignorant of them and a stranger to them For what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of man which is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 Again If you your selves do draw up the Indictment and frame the Confession you will be sure to conceal your most shameful Sins You will never particularize never aggravate them in others hearing Nor is it reasonable you should Secret Confession is therefore necessary for if some secret Sins be not confess'd in Secret they will never be confess'd Others can't and we won't openly confess them 2. As secret Confession is plainly Necessary so it is very Convenient We have a double Advantage in Solitary which we have not in social Confession For 1. We may more fully and freely spread and lay open our Sins before God in Secret than we are likely to do in Company with others We cannot but be hugely loth to uncover our Nakedness before Men. We are afraid to reveal and open our Secrets to others Because if in confession of Sin we should enumerate and aggravate before others such Faults and Miscarriages as we have been guilty of but they suspected nothing at all of before ev'n they who hitherto thought well of us would be apt to abandon their good Opinion of us and might be ready to judge and condemn us and to take up and harbour hard thoughts of us Therefore we find our Selves very much heart-bound and tongue-ty'd in the presence of others as to the confession of personal private particular Sins But now nothing can hinder our Freedom in Secret There we may deal as plainly as we will There we may safely speak all out For we can never make our selves more vile and base in the most ample true Confession of our Sins to God than God himself does know we are more clearly and fully than our selves do before we give him a sad and sorrowful Account of our Selves make any relation of the wickedness of our Lives or utter a word in secret Confession of Sin to him And to be sure he 'll not dislike us and turn away his Face from us for the heinousness of the Sins that are humbly acknowledged by us but will favour us and be well affected towards us for faithfully declaring our Sins and thorowly unbosoming our Selves to him 2. Secret Confession is most Convenient because in Secret we have Liberty to use more Helps of Voice and Gesture and to acknowledge our Sins and complain against our Selves with more expressions of Shame and Sorrow and Anger and holy Revenge The poor penitent Sinner when withdrawn from others and gotten by himself alone may use Self-punishing troublesome Postures in his Confessions and Prayers He may greatly humble himself not only by the reverent Gesture of Genuflection but by the most lowly self-abasing Posture of Prostration not only fall on his Knees but fall on his Face before God He may give a large vent to his strong and vehement holy Affections in a chosen Place of convenient Privacy and fit Retirement There he may smite upon his Thigh smite upon his Breast There he may sigh and groan mourn and mone weep and wail confess and pray with strong crying and tears weep bitterly and pour out tears abundantly which things he refrains himself from and forbears to do in the presence and company sight or hearing of others 3. Confess in Secret because the most secret is likely to be the most sincere Confession We find in Scripture that meer Hypocrites have made Confession of their Sins before Men. Pharaoh did this to Moses and Aaron over and over and Saul to Samuel and Judas himself before the Priests and Elders publickly in the Temple But you don't read that any of these would ever wait upon God in Secret and there ingenuously pour out their Hearts before him And therefore our Saviour requires and presses Privacy in the Duty of Prayer particularly Mat. 6.5 6. Confess thy sins in Secret where thou hast no other Witness but the Lord himself and nothing is done for gaining the Praise and Commendation of Men for Parts or Piety and Devotion which do not in the least appear and are not at all shewn to others in such private Religious Performances To confess and pray in private to wrestle with God all alone and to supplicate in Secret when no Eye of Man sees thee no Ear of Man hears thee this will more plainly and clearly discover an upright and honest Heart in thee When a Man does it in Secret only between God and his own Soul it is some Sign he confesses voluntarily and freely It shews that the Man
is convinc'd he has wrong'd God and is sorry for the Wrong he has done him and would fain be Friends with him Let 's bring our Selves to the Test here Let us try our Sincerity by this very Mark. We can go in Secret to commit Sin but do we get into Secret to confess it We can be vile and wicked in private but can we be penitent in private too Do we know what belongs to secret Confession I 'm afraid the most of us are practically ignorant of this Duty But if we can enter into our Closet and when we have shut the Door be free with our Father in Secret This is likely to be an Argument and Testimony of our Sincerity So much for your Direction concerning the Place where you should confess CHAP. XVII Further Directions respecting and ordering our Carriage and Behaviour after the Duty 1. Hast thou confess'd Then bless God who has enabled thee to confess 2 Hast thou confess'd and so perform'd the Condition Then apply the Promise to thy self and make good Vse of it in time of Temptation 3. Hast thou confess'd Then daily plead the Promise with God and carefully look after the Performance of it 4. Hast thou confess'd and found and felt the Benefit of it Why then give God the Praise that is due to him 5. Hast thou confess'd thy sins Then take great heed of falling into sin after Confession And here 1. Take heed of falling wilfully into any sin after Confession 2. Beware especially that you fall not wilfully into the same particular sins you have confess'd For 1. There is great danger of it Danger 1. To the formal Confessor in four respects 2. Danger too to the Penitent Confessor 1. From Satan 2. The greatest danger from our own Corruption 2. There is great Evil and Folly in it great Guilt and Danger by reason of it For 1. falling into sin after Confession does exceedingly aggravate the sin Sin after Confession a great sin in three respects 2. As this is a great sin so it brings along with it great Punishment both internal and external Punishments 3. Sinning wilfully after Confession will make you Self-condemn'd when God punisheth you 4. 'T will break our present Peace and dash our Hopes of future and further Comfort 5. Thou wilt thus cut out for thy self new Work and make the Severities of a New Repentance necessary 6. Falling into sin after Confession will make us the more unapt and unable to rise again and recover out of it it will strengthen Sin and weaken Grace in us 7. 'T will very much dishearten us when we would beg Pardon of our sin and hugely discourage us when we would renew our Resolution against it 8. 'T will make God loth ever to take your Word again and will render him harder to Pardon you upon a new Confession I Shall in the last place direct you in your Carriage and Behaviour after the Duty And here I shall commend to you these following Directions 1. Hast thou confess'd Then Bless God who has enabled thee to confess who has put it into thy Heart to confess And tho' thou art not yet sensible of the Receipt of Pardon yet look upon it as a Sign and Token that God intends more good to thee in that he has inclined and enabled thee to confess 2. Hast thou confess'd and so perform'd the Condition Then apply the Promise to thy self and make good use of it in time of Temptation 1. Lay hold upon the Promise look upon the Promise as belonging to thee in particular reckon thy self really and truly interested in it and be bold to challenge a part and share in it as well as any one else 2. And further Make good use of it in time of Temptation If thou hast been truly sorrowful for thy sins and hast heartily confess'd them to God why then when Satan vexes and molests thy Conscience by laying the Law to thee it will be profitable and comfortable to oppose Satan to answer him and reply upon him as * Luther loc com de Paver Conse in Tentat p. 130 131 3. Clas Luther Counsels excellently and to say thus to him True I have done thus and thus but what 's that to thee Satan I a'n't thy Sinner What power then hast thou over me If I have sinn'd I han't sinn'd against thee I han't sinn'd against any Man against any Angel but only against my God have I sinn'd who is Merciful and Long-suffering Here 's enough indeed to answer all the Devils in Hell withal If the Devil object thy unworthiness to thee tell him That God does not Pardon any because they are Worthy or Deserving but because he himself is Faithful and Just If Satan tempt thee to distrust here take the course that †Lâ—â— â—itat p. 131. Luther advises to Say Tho' I am unworthy to receive so great a benefit yet God is not unworthy to be believ'd that he will Pardon sin as he has promised in his Word 3. Hast thou confess'd Then daily plead the Promise with God and carefully look after the Performance of it When Guilt affrights thee and Filth troubles thee then plead God's Promise with him Say with David * Psal 2.3 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me Lord I confess do thou pardon do thou purge me Take away all iniquity Create in me a clean Heart O God Extend thy Grace and Mercy fulfil thy Word and make good thy Promise to me Plead hard the Gospel-Promise and diligently look after the Performance of it * Ps 85.8 Hear what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace unto his people and to his Saints Say with the Church †Mic. 7.7 I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation my God will hear me Expect from God the making good of his Word Non-expectation argues great Carelesness and Vnbelief 4. Hast thou confess'd and after Confession found and felt that God has forgiven thee thy sins and in some measure cleans'd thee from thy unrighteousness Why then give God the Praise that is due to him break into Thanksgiving with holy David and take up his Doxology Say * Ps 1â—3 1 2 3. Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases †Luk. 17.15 12. With the good Leper in the Gospel when thou seest that thou art heal'd turn back and with a loud voice glorifie God and fall down at his feet giving him thanks 5. Hast thou confess'd thy sins Then take great heed of falling into Sin after Confession all is lost without observation of this Direction If thou hast the true Spirit of Confession of Sin it will rest upon thee and abide in thee
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.