healed I come now to speak of the last part which is His confession of the cause of those wounds in these words For I have sinned against thee The right method of healing requires that wee shew the cause of the malady as far as we are able for the cause being removed the effect will cease that David doth here in these last words For I have sinned against thee And this last part of my Text is that which we are chiefly to look upon and to take into consideration For before as I have shewed you hee gave occasion to those that were of the Church to sin to those that were out of it to blaspheme first he commits adultery and after that as if adultery were to be purged by murther or as if Uriah's lost honour had been to be repaired by the losse of his life hee commands him to be unjustly murthered But here you may see him marking out the way to repentance and going himselfe before to direct us For as hee was not ashamed to commit sin so hee was not ashamed to confesse it and to make publick satisfaction to the whole world for my Text and many other places of the Psalmes remaine as it were so many publick registers of his sins hee sighed and wept and lamented day and night and in a word shewed all the marks and tokens of an humble and contrite heart broken with the sense of his sins and the apprehension of Gods anger against them If a gold ring be broken it loseth part of its grace and lustre but if ye set a diamond or a saphyr or a ruby in the broken place it gives a greater lustre then it did before so David by his sins lost part of that grace and lustre that made him shine so brightly in the Church of God but his confession humility repentance and other vertues like so many precious stones set in a gold ring in the place where it was broken hath made him shine brighter after his fall then in his former times of innocence for as his sinnes were great so was his sorrow and repentance and I would to God that all men which have eyes to see the one had eyes also to see the other and could learn not to love that in David which David hated in himselfe This generall confession containeth in it three particular confessions which are the heads I purpose at this time by Gods help to insist upon First here is a confession in respect of the subject Secondly here is a confession in respect of the act Thirdly here is a confession in respect of the object The subject I. The act Have sinned The object Against thee I will begin with the first that is his confession in respect of the subject I have sinned that is I alone not as a partiall and lesse principall cause necessitated and compelled by a cause more active and powerfull then my selfe but by the free and full consent of my will I have so sinned that these sins are properly and onely mine It is the custome of many to excuse themselves and impute their sins to others or at least they will charge others to have had such a causality and influence upon them that they will seeme themselves to be but partiall causes at the most In Solomons time two mothers contended for one child and both of them challenged it to be their owne but when sinne is borne and brought into the world the contention is who shall not have it in this case the true mother would have the child divided as in that the false the Will whose child it is will not acknowledge it for her owne and when shee cannot wholly impose it upon others shee desires at least to have it divided between them Some impute their sins to the Devill and to the violence of his temptations as if hee did forcibly and irresistibly procure them to sin and this is a kind of hereditary disease which we take from our first parents for after Eve had transgressed the commandement of God by eating the forbidden fruit to excuse the matter shee laid the fault upon the Divell The Serpent said shee beguiled me and I did eat But David here useth no such evasions I have sinned saith hee hee condemnes himselfe and not the Divell and yet the Divell sinned as well as David and if Saint Augustines opinion be true the Divell sinned worse then David Lib. 3. de libero arbitrio cap. 10. Gravius est peccatum alteri per invidentiam dolúmque suadere quà m ad peccandum alterius suasione traduci saith hee speaking of the temptations of the Divell But yet David accuseth not the Divell who did only tempt but could not constrain him to sin for all that the Divell can doe is to allure and induce men by morall perswasions hee cannot physically determine their wils to evill hee may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 6. Homil 91. as Saint Chrysostome speaks supplant cozen and deceive a man but he cannot force him to doe evill When the Divell tempted our Saviour Christ in the wildernesse without question hee imployed all the power hee had to make him sin and yet hee could not force him to it nay hee did not so much as offer to make him sin by force for if yee consider all the passages between them yee shall find great Boldnesse great Pride and great Malice in his temptations but no force at all his first temptation as they are writ in order by Saint Luke was this Luke 4.3 If thou be the Son of God command this stone that it be made bread Here is great boldnesse in this temptation What will nothing but a miracle serve the turne Must Christ turn stones into bread to satisfie his curiosity This was a bold request indeed but yet you see hee doth not force his consent but beg it The second temptation after hee had set him upon a mountaine and showne him all the kingdomes of the world was this All this power will I give thee and the glory of them for that is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will I give it if thou therefore wilt worship mee all shall be thine Here is great pride in this temptation a pride greater then that that made him fall from heaven for then hee said Ascendam super excelsa nubis similis ero Altissimo I will ascend above the highest of the clouds I will be like the most High Isa 14.14 but here his pride reacheth a degree higher hee desires to be greater then God and requires of him that hee would fall down and worship him but yet you see here is no force in this temptation If thou wilt worship mee saith hee all shall be thine hee leaves him here to his own free choice if hee will hee may if hee will not hee offers not by any violent assault to make him His third temptation after hee had set him upon the pinnacle of the Temple was this If thou be the
Son of God cast thy selfe down from hence Here is great malice in this temptation for if hee would have cast himselfe down the Divell thought that in all probability hee should perish by the fall but yet you see no force in this temptation Persuadere potest praecipitare non potest saith S. Jerome upon this passage the Divell might perswade him to throw himselfe head-long but could not throw him head-long by force and this is all that the Divell can doe if wee will not cast our selves head-long the Divell cannot For sins are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Cyrill calls them they are plants set by the Will and are not planted by the Divell in the soile where they grow For God hath not onely given a man the government of the world but also the government of himselfe and hath made him so independent in respect of all other creatures that if all the powers of hell should set themselves in opposition against one single man they could not force his Will the Will like Sampson cannot be bound either with ropes or wit hs her liberty sits on her like a coat of male and like the scales of the Leviathan it is impossible to offend her or hurt her by force It is true I confesse that humane nature is corrupted and depraved and cannot without the help of supernaturall grace performe a good action it cannot work out of faith or love which are necessary qualifications required in all that wee doe but yet it is free in evill it is flexible to this or that object and can doe or not doe any naturall action according to the outward substance and matter of it No man is bound to follow the suggestions of the Divell but may follow the dictate of his own reason all that the Divell can doe is by applying his temptations to move the Will to this or that object hee cannot determine or fix her upon it the Will indeed doth usually goe as it is moved by outward objects being wonne with the charmes and delights which it hopes to find in them but yet her election is free in this case and not wrested from her by force There is a difference between men and beasts beasts are carried away with the outward bravery of every object that presents it selfe unto them and cannot refuse their appetite those things which it requireth but men are moved by inward reason as well as by outward objects and may by the help of the one beat back the impulsions of the other Wee must not therefore make the Divell the authour of our sins for his temptations doe onely move but cannot determine the Will to this or that evill The Divell is a suiter to the Will and not her ravisher Non enim cogendo sed suadendo nocet nec extorquet à nobis consensum sed petit saith Saint Augustine the Divell hurts us by perswasion not by constraint and when wee commit a sin hee doth not ravish our consent but sues for it No man is driven by the Divell to desperate courses but goes willingly and of his owne accord the Divell drives no man but makes use onely of our owne corruption to perswade us Secondly there are some that impute their sins to destiny that is to a necessary concatenation of second causes which are so subordinate one to another that all things happen by necessity inferiour causes and amongst them the wils of men being carried and moved irresistibly by their superiour and this force of moving mens wils irresistibly they attribute chiefly to the planets and to severall constellations of the heavens as if men were necessitated to evill by their malignant influences or as if the starres ruled over mens wils as Dionysius over the Syracusians by an arbitrary and tyrannicall kind of government Saint Augustine in his Commentaries upon the 31. Psalme makes mention of some that were of this opinion which did undertake to fore-tell the sins that any man should fall into by looking upon the starres that ruled at his nativity Et dicunt quis quando vel peccet vel bene vivat quando Mars faciat homicidam Venus adulterum they took upon them to declare who should be good or bad when Mars should force a man to commit murther or Venus to commit adultery But David here accuseth not the starres hee clears them and condemns himselfe Uriah might have growne gray-headed in the chaste imbraces of his wife hee might have long enough enjoyed his breath and shee her honour had David done no more but what the influence of the heavens compelled him to for the heavens force no man to sin Had they the conduct of our wils there would not be so many sins committed as there are they would govern us better then wee doe our selves When our Saviour Christ was crucified the sunne and the starres withdrew their light and were ashamed to looke upon the cruelty and ingratitude that was committed by men Can wee think then the starres were the authors of those evils which they blushed to behold Can deeds of darknesse spring from the fountains of light Without doubt the stars are so farre from constraining any to sin against God that they would sooner withdraw their vertue from the world then afford a sinner either light or influence had not God commanded them to shine upon the unjust as well as upon the just Let no man then accuse the starres for their influence is not hurtfull but good they are the cause of all action and motion the spring of joy and delight they shed abroad their vertue through all inferiour bodies and adde strength and vigour to all things living and if at any time they stirre up our inclinations to any excesse or defect yet they offer no violence to the Will but leave her in possession of her full liberty And indeed if the Will were necessitated by the heavens it were in vaine to consult in vaine to search reasons and motives for those acts whereunto wee are violently carryed by destiny In this constraint as there should be no place left for liberty so there could be none for vertue or vice all punishments how equall soever in outward appearance yet in substance and truth should be unjust seeing they could not reach the principall authour of any sin What can be more unjust then that a man should beare the punishments of those sins which are committed by the heavens If the stars be the principall cause of sin the stars should beare the punishment heaven should go to hell and men which are but subordinate instruments whose wils are over-ruled and over-topt by those superiour powers should be dismissed and freed Thirdly there be some that impute their sins to God Saint Augustine in the place before quoted makes mention of those too affirming that there were divers that gave themselves free scope and liberty to sin and then said they committed those sins quia Deus sic voluit because God would have it so
the profit and benefit that is in them I should too much exceed the limits of the time I will speak therefore onely of the last kind that is confession before God because that is necessary to salvation and is a duty that cannot be dispensed with Whosoever looks to have his soule healed must first confesse his sin to God and lay open the cause of his distemper And surely wee cannot desire a more cheap or a more easie remedy wee shall not need to represent our spirituall diseases in plates of gold as the Philistines did their emerods 1 Sam. 6.4 that was a costly remedy and yet they thought it cheap enough when they considered what an happinesse it was to have their health But wee shall not need I say to use such a costly remedy wee shall not need to represent our spirituall diseases in plates of gold let us but represent them in words and wee shall be healed David did but confesse his sin and presently obtained pardon the prodigall child did but confesse his sin and presently the cloud of his fathers anger was dissolved into a milde showre of teares the theefe upon the crosse confessing his sins was canonized before hee was dead and found a better paradise by confession then Adam lost by sin Let us then acknowledge our sins and wee shall have pardon let us lay open and discover the cause of our wounds and wee shall be healed But some perhaps will say All this is done already I have and doe confesse my sins before God every day It is well done yet take heed thou dost not content thy selfe with the shadow of confession What if thy confession be nothing else but an empty sound of words What if it want substance What if it be but a meer formality then thou art miserably deluded Yet such is the confession of most men for there is a formall verball confession which is but a meer shadow a man may confesse his sins every day and yet be never the better for there are divers conditions necessary to a true confession which if they be absent from thine it will not be available The first condition necessary to a true confession is a due examination of our selves and of our former life all the kinds of sin and all the circumstances that doe aggravate them are to be discussed wee are not to take our sins in the grosse and so to make a light perfunctory confession and say that wee are miserable and wretched sinners but wee must take a perfect view as far as we are able of all our particular and individuall sins It is for want of this examination that many a mans confession is invalid they confesse only such sins as come suddenly into their minds and make no reflection upon their former life But whosoever desire to make such a confession as may be pleasing to God must take more paines and do it more exactly Stand in awe and sin not commune with your own heart and in your chamber and be still saith David Psal 4.4 As if hee should have said In the silence of the night when thou enjoyest thine owne privacie when thou art free from the cares and distractions of worldly imployments enter into secret communication with thine owne heart examine thine owne wayes and search out thine own corruptions And lest hee should seeme to exact that of others which hee did not perform as rigorously himselfe hee shewes it in another Psalme to be his owne practice I call to remembrance saith hee my song in the night I commune with mine owne heart and my spirit made diligent search Psal 77.6 The Prophet Jeremiah likewise exhorts his brethren the Jewes in the time of their captivity to the performance of this duty Let us search and try our wayes saith hee and turn again to the Lord Lam. 3.40 Saint Paul also writing to the Corinthians layes this as a necessary injunction upon them that no man should have accesse to the holy Sacrament without diligent examination of himselfe But let a man examine himselfe saith hee and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup 1 Cor. 11.28 As if he should have said It is not sufficient to make a generall confession of your sinnes when yee receive the holy Sacrament but every man must search accurately that if it be possible hee may see the very bottome of his corruption and confesse all his sins and be humbled for them in that measure that their number or quality doe require It is for want of this examination that many men think themselves better then they are they take no notice of their sins or if they doe take notice when they commit them yet for want of a timely examination they forget them afterwards so that when they would confesse their sins like Nebuchad-nezzars dream are quite gone out of their mind and if some Daniel doe not bring them back again to their remembrance they shall never be confessed But this slight and superficiall kind of confession is not availeable they that would confesse their sins effectually must be intentive and diligent in examination of themselves that so they may discover the whole masse of their owne corruption and as divers artificers examine all their work by the line and plummet so they must examine all their actions by the exact rule and straight line of Gods word And here would the time permit I would a little enlarge my selfe because there are many that never yet performed this duty and many others that know not how to do it there are many that never yet performed this duty which are so farre from taking any strict account of their owne wayes and from searching diligently into their owne lives that so they might discover their own imperfections and judge and condemn them in themselves that they are not very well content when others would take the paines to doe it for them and to lay open their sins and corruptions before their eyes but if their pastor or teacher whose office it is to doe it and who shall answer God for not doing it take notice of any sin and discover it to them they think him too uncivill and importunate If there be any here that have been thus negligent in confessing their sins and examining their owne lives be exhorted I beseech you to begin this duty before your souls be too far over-spread with sins I went by the field of the slothfull saith Solomon and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding and loe it was all growne over with thorns and nettles had covered the face thereof and the stone-wall thereof was broken down Pro. 24.30 31. His words are allegoricall and imply thus much that they which neglect this duty and doe not seriously examine and often confesse their sins their soules will soon be over-growne with vices as the field or vine-yard of a fool or slothfull person useth to be over-grown with weeds There are some again that know