Why rather aggravate thy sins from the Commonness of them Say Lord this sin of mine was a common sin which therefore I should have hated and detested shunn'd and avoided but so vile and sinful a wretch was I that even in those things wherein all the prophane World rise up in Arms against God I desperately joined with them and sided with thy Common Enemy against thee Further yet 3. Is' t usual with Men and has it been so with any one of us to make our Ignorance in any degree a Cloak for our sins and to think that God would hold us guiltless because of our Ignorance Why let such an one now confess his sins to be so much the greater by how much his Ignorance was the grosser And certainly such Men as openly or secretly excuse their sins with their Ignorance are always a great cause of their own Ignorance and therefore have good reason to aggravate their sins from their Ignorance in sinning Let such an one therefore go to God on his knees and take such Words with him as these Lord I have committed my sins in Ignorance but has not most of my Ignorance been wilful and affected I have done many things ignorantly indeed but the fault was my own had I not been wanting to my self I might have had much more Knowledge than I have Had I had but a Will to seek the Truth how easily might I have got the Skill to find it But I would not take pains enough I would not do my best endeavours to be inform'd in my Duty I was ignorant but I * At first Man lost his Innocence only in hope to get a little Knowledge and ever since theâ— lest Knowledge should discover his Error and make him 〈◊〉 to Innocence we are content to part with that row and to know â—â—â—ing that may discover or discountenance our sins We call our selves Christians and love to be ignorant of many of the Laws of Christ lâ—st our Knowledge should foâ—â—e us into shame or into the troubles of a â—oly Life Bp. â—ayloâ— â— Serm. of the deceitf of the Heart p. 95. 97. voluntarily continued in my ignorance I was loth to get out of it I nuzzled my self in it I resolv'd to be ignorant that so I might sin the more freely I thought with my self If I knew this and that more distinctly then I should be bound in Conscience to act more strictly my ignorance greatly proceeded from the very intention of my corrupt Will which was so fully bent and set upon sinning that I was well content to suffer the want of Knowledge and to undergo the damage of Ignorance thereby to procure and enjoy a fancied liberty of sinning without guiltiness I 'm deeply guilty of my own ignorance and consequently wretchedly guilty of all those sins unto which my voluntary chosen delightful ignorance has betrayed me Again 4. Is temptation to sin a common and frequent excuse of the sin in the Mouths of Sinners And has this excuse sometimes lodged in thy Heart if not proceeded out of thy Mouth Hast thou with others excus'd thy sins because thou wast tempted to sin Why now rather aggravate thy sins even from thy being tempted to them Say Lord I was tempted to sin but was I not a Cause as well of the Temptation as of the Sin Did I not many times bring temptations upon my self Did I not * Qui silâ—â—tpâ—s occasiones quaerunt pâ—ecandi eleganter dicâ—ntur suscitare Diabolum See Caryl on Job 3. S. p. 374. 40. raise up the Devil by my earnest and busie seeking occasions of sin Did not I put Satan often upon tempting me Was it not the Tinder within me which Satan knew was so apt and more apt at some times than others to take fire that made him so ready upon occasion to Strike fire Was it not this naughty base corrupt treacherous deceitful yielding Heart of mine that not only tempted me but ev'n tempted and invited the Devil to tempt me Did I not hearten and encourage yea even provoke him to tempt me by giving him fair hopes of prevailing upon me Surely I had not been tempted to this or that particular sin had not it been for such and such a particular Lust in me which he could so fitly and seasonably sort and suit and apply his temptation unto Certainly I had not been tempted so often had I not been tempted so easily my f rmer yielding upon so light and easie temptations animated and emboldned him to set new and greater temptations on soot as well as with the same again and again to assault me 5. And lastly Is it the currant excuse of the World the plea of course And has it at any time been thy excuse and plea Alas it is my Nature to do thus and thus Hast thou ever thought that this did much diminish and take a great deal off from the guilt of thy sin Why rather now confess it is thy Nature thereby to add the greater weight unto thy sins aggravate thy sins even from hence because it is thy Nature Say O Lord this is my Nature I am not only guilty of single acts of sin but I have a natural inclination an habitual disposition to every sin I have a sinful nature which has more fundamental foulness in it than all the actual sins which arise from it a Nature which virtually contains the grossest abominablest sins in the World I carry within me a very Sink and Sodom of sin I have within me the Spring and Fountain the Root and Seeds and Spawn of all the sins that ever I have committed or possibly can be committed It 's my Nature to do thus and thus and it 's a wonder I have done no worse This is my Nature and therefore that my Actions in this kind are no worse than they are I cannot in reason thank my self for it who am prone and apt of my self to sin in the highest degree My Heart by Nature is an evil Treasure of Anger and that my rash Anger did not some time or other proceed to revengeful Murder My Heart by Nature is an evil Treasure of Lust and that my base filthy Lust never broke out in Adultery Incest Sodomy I 'm naturally given and addicted to idle Words and that my vain and idle speaking never grew to Swearing Cursing and Blaspheming it is not by reason of my better Nature The Lord knows I should be as wicked a Wretch as lives had I the like bodily Complexion and Constitution the like Temptations the like Opportunities to commit wickednesses which others have and did not the Soveraign Grace of God daily hinder and prevent me with-hold and restrain me By Nature I 'm as very a Tiger as very a Lion as very a Wolf as any is in the World and that I am not as outragious as others I humbly acknowledge it is because I am tied in or chain'd up by Providence or because my evil Nature is corrected by Common or
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
enough to confess over all our Confessions and to humble our selves for all our Humiliations CHAP. XIV The Third Vse of Exhortation Three Motives taken out of the Text 1. If we confess God will forgive us our sins 2. He will also cleanse us from all our unrighteousness What is meant by Cleansing This Benefit nothing inferior to the former 3. God's Faithfulness and Justice do stand engag'd to make good the promised Blessings to us God condescends to confirm his 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 Vse 3 A Third Vse shall be of Exhortation seriously and earnestly to provoke and press you to the practice and performance of this necessary Duty As there are in points of Faith fundamental Doctrines so there are in points of Practice fundamental Duties and among them none more necessary to Salvation than this of true Confession Having already given you Ten Reasons which may well serve as so many Motives I shall now use no other inducements to excite and quicken you to the Duty than those which the Apostle brings here in the Text and methinks those great Benefits and blessed Privileges of Confession may easily and effectually prevail with you to put you upon the practise and exercise of it 1 Mot. First then Let us confess because if we confess God will forgive us our sins God both can and will forgive sincere Self-humbling Penitents God can forgive sins by reason of his Sovereign Authority And his Wisdom hath pitch'd upon the most convenient way of Pardoning Sinners admirably providing therein for the greatest Honour of his Attributes and Laws which otherwise would have been in great danger of being slighted and contemn'd and for his attaining the ends of Government by deterring Men from sin which he this way plainly testifies and demonstrates his extream hatred of and severity against by the most notable Example of his Vindictive Justice and by engaging Men to Holiness and new Obedience for the future God hath an eye and respect to all this in Relaxing the Penal Law and taking off its Obligation upon a valuable Consideration sc the bitter Sufferings and bloody Death of the Holy Jesus his only and dearly beloved Son when at his Fathers Commandment he voluntarily assumed our Guilt and substituted himself a Sacrifice for Sin in our room and stead Now God can as Rector and Governor of the World and the Supream Judge offended most Honourably dispence with the Law which says The Soul that sinneth shall die upon Account of Christ's perfect sufficient Satisfaction and the compleat Compensation and full Amends made by him for the wrong done to God by the sins of Men. Which Dispensation does not in the least invite and encourage Men to continue in Sin but leads them to Repentance Reformation and Amendment of Life to a dying to sin as Christ died for it and to a * 2 Cor. 5.15 living henceforth not unto themselves but unto him which died for us For since God has taken this Course and used this Method Men have reason to conclude which is the excellent arguing of the learned * De Satisfact Christi cap. 5. Grotius That if God would not pardon the sins no not of Penitent Sinners unless Christ did stand in their stead to bear the punishment much less will he suffer contumacious Sinners to go unpunished And further God can forgive sins by reason of his abundant Mercy None may despair and say Their sins are greater than can be forgiven And as God is able so he is willing to forgive If God would not upon any terms have remitted the Eternal Punishment and Death due to Sinners all Religion had been extinguished the Fear and Worship and Service of God had for ever utterly perish'd from off the Earth thro' Mens despair of future Felicity but God is good and gracious propense to Pity Mercy and Clemency and ready to help relieve and make sinful and miserable Man happy Mercy pleaseth him He delighteth in Mercy Mic. 7. 18. If it were not so he would not have sent his Son into the World to make Satisfaction and purchase Remission He would never have made and established a New Covenant a Covenant of Grace never have offered Mercy so freely in the Gospel as he does commanding his Ministers to preach Remission of Sins and proclaim a General Pardon to all that will accept of it upon the necessary reasonable mild and gentle Terms and Conditions of Faith and Repentance and beseeching Sinners to accept of Pardon and be reconciled to himself and recording and transmitting such Illustrious Examples of his marvellous rich pardoning Mercy as we find evidently set forth in the compassionate Father's kind carriage towards his wild loose extravagant Prodigal Son Luk. 15. in the Parable of the two Debtors Mat. 18. and particularly and eminently in St. Paul who for this cause obtained Mercy that in him first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a Pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting 1 Tim. 1.16 It is part of God's Name by which he makes himself known the Lord God forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin Ex. 34.7 God is strongly inclined and fully resolv'd to pardon all sorts and kinds of sin which we humbly and heartily confess to him 2 Sam. 12.13 David said unto Nathan I have sinned against the Lord and Nathan from God said unto David the Lord hath also put away thy sin thou shalt not die Nay what saith David himself Psalm 32.5 I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord says he and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin I said in my heart I firmly purposed and resolved I said I will confess not I have confessed and thou forgavest No Word of Confession was yet in my Mouth but God's Ear was already in my Heart So * Enar. 2. in Ps 32. St. Austin descants and paraphrases on the Words Note further in David it is only actus inchoatus but it is actus consummatus in God There was no sooner a sincere purpose on David's Part but there was a real effect an actual performance on God's Part David did but say he would confess and God forgave the Iniquity of his Sin And so the Prodigal did but say I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned and we find that when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him Luke 15.18 19 20. So ready and forward is our heavenly Father to be friends with us and reconciled to us upon our humble Submission and penitent Confession And hence it is that David makes his readiness to confess a ground of his hope in Prayer Psalm 51.1.2 3. Have mercy upon me blot out my
publish and bring them to light or causing thee thy self to betray thy self in some sickness of Body or trouble of Mind and Conscience or it may be he may make thee the Instrument of turning thine own inside outward and declaring the privy passages of thy Life when thou liest upon thy Death-Bed But if he bring not thy hidden works of darkness to light here he will to be sure reveal them hereafter at the Day of Judgment before all the Saints and Angels of heaven to thy eternal Disgrace and Reproach In vain in vain doest thou bury them here in silence for God will find a time to rake them up again and there shall certainly be to all wicked impenitent Sinners a Resurrection of their Sins as well as their Persons it is our safest course then voluntarily to confess for God will some time or other set wide open the Closets of our Hearts if we lock them up our selves 9 Reas We must confess our sins because it 's not only a foolish but an unsafe and hazardous a desperate and dangerous thing for any to attempt to hide and conceal their sins from God God severely threatens this unwillingness to confess He that covereth his sins shall not prosper says God by Solomon Prov. 28.13 What shall he not prosper Yes prosper in his wickedness and go on in his sins he shall but believe it that 's but ill thriving But he shall not prosper that is he shall not go Scot-free he shall not escape Divine Vengeance he shall be plagued with many intermedial Judgments here and if they do no good on him he shall be punish'd with eternal Damnation hereafter We plainly find that they that have hid their sins have fared much the worse for it A famous instance of this we have in David who when he had murder'd Vriah so closely and cunningly could hardly be brought to confess his sin so much as secretly to God himself as if he had subtilly deceiv'd God as well as Man He finely puts it off and excuses it he makes it to be nothing but the Chance of War the Sword says he devoureth one as well as another 2 Sam. 11.25 Now even David himself tho' he was a very dear Child of God very precious in his eyes tho' God was very tender of him yet in such a case as this he would not spare him no David himself must smart for it and be sensible of the Divine displeasure God puts him upon the Rack torments and tortures him till he had made him confess Take the relation of his affliction from himself Psal 32.3 4. My bones says he waxed old thro' my roaring all the day long for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me my moisture is turned into the drought of summer and he himself renders the very reason of this to be his want of Confession and Humiliation at the beginning of the third Verse When I kept silence my bones waxed old when I kept silence A free Confession would have sav'd and prevented all it was his guileful deceitful Dealing with God which brought all this evil on him which cost him so dear and was the true cause of all his Trouble It was his holding his peace that made him cry out 't was his keeping Silence that made him roar Sin wilfully kept in by any Man draws sorrow and punishment upon the Man and holds them there so long as it self is retain'd but free-heartedness in Confession does hinder God's Judgments from seizing on the Penitent Sinner or suddenly removes whatever Judgments have fallen upon him Smooth open Hearts no fastening have but fiction Doth give an hold and handle to affliction As Holy Mr. Herbert excellently in his Sacred Poem called Confession 10 Reas Lastly We must confess our sins because 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 1. It prevents or weakens all Satan's Accusations Not to speak how Confession vexes and troubles the Devil in the very making of it for even while thou art humbly confessing the Devil who before rejoyced in seeing the Commission of thy sin is now more troubled and griev'd in hearing the expression of thy sorrow But besides this it not only grieves him for the present but prevents all Accusations of his for the future It prevents his Accusations of thee to God it prevents his Accusations of thee to thy self especially upon thy Death-Bed 1. It prevents or weakens all Satan's Accusations of us to God St. Ambrose in the place fore-quoted brings in this as a reason of Confession He shuts out the envy of an Accusation who prevents his Accuser by a free Confession The Penitent Confessor having been before-hand with Satan having anticipated his objections having made his own case as soul before God as was possible having taken as it were the Devil's words out of his Mouth and said as much as bad of himself as the Devil can say of him unto God relying all the while upon God in Christ for the Pardon of all he has by this means out-witted the Devil frustrated his intentions invalidated and evacuated his Accusations You read in the Parable of the Prodigal Son Luk. 15. and the latter end how his Elder Brother objected against him to his Father his base and unworthy carriages towards his Father his leaving his Father's House and Family his devouring his living with Harlots and wasting h s substance with riotous living But all this tho' true nothing alter'd or alienated his Father and why Because the Elder Brother came too late the Prodigal had got the speed of him had fore-accus'd himself and already obtain'd his Pardon Satan our Elder Brother by Creation will certainly prove our malicious Accuser but if we timely prevent him by pre-condemning our selves to God our Father we shall undoubtedly get an Act of Indemnity before he can enter his Action against us God won't hear a word spoken against us from him if he has first heard us speak against our selves to himself What tho' the fierce Lion roar out our faults in the Ears of Heaven Why God will turn a deaf Ear to him if so be we have our selves before declared them in a still broken-hearted Confession Thus Confession or Self-Accusation happily prevents Satan's Accusations of us to God But then 2. It prevents or answers his Accusations of us to our selves and his Temptations of us on our Death-Beds When Men lie upon their Death-Bed and are going out of the World then the roaring Lion goeth about seeking how he may devour them then is our Adversary the Devil most active stirring and busie then does the subtile Head of this wily Serpent work most strongly then does he inject and cast into the Conscience of a Sinner whatever terrors affrightments and discouragements he can then does he what in him lies tempt the Sinner to final Despair by setting
our faults one to another James 5.16 But this is reciprocal and obliges as well the Priest to make Confession to us as any of us to do it to the Priest And when it is said that a great number were baptized confessing their sins Matt. 3.6 And that many that believed came and confessed and shewed their deeds Acts 19.18 Their Confession then was voluntary and unconstrained and was made in general and surely not very particularly as to Sins and Circumstances by so many Persons as flocked together upon those occasions The Law of Auricular Confession as it is now practised is a human invention and was first inacted and instituted by the Council of Lateran under Innocent the Third twelve hundred Years after Christ God in his Word does not command it yet they require it under the Penalty of Excommunication and make the neglect thereof mortal They make it absolutely necessary to the procuring and obtaining Pardon and Forgiveness They place much Merit and Sanctity in it And attribute a Judicial Authority to the Priest to forgive Sins which is a Power peculiar to God himself And affirm that Attrition only or a slight Sorrow for fear of Hell sufficiently qualifies for Absolution And the customary Practise of absolving all that confess tho' guilty of frequent Relapses without any probable hopeful Signs of a real Change in 'em does invite and encourage habitual Sinners to put their trust and to rest in the Priest's Absolution without hearty Repentance and Sincere purposes of Reformation They make Confession to a Priest one of the three essential Parts of Repentance tho' it be no Part nor Argument of true Repentance A very Hypocrite may make Auricular Confession to a Priest as Saul did to Samnel 1 Sam. 15.24 30. But he cannot find in his Heart to go and humble himself to God in confessing his Sins to him with a broken and contrite Heart They do not reckon the hearty Confession of our daily Sins to God sufficient and available for our Salvation Nor do they press it as a Matter of so great Necessity or Utility as the Confession of Sins to a Priest is They account it a Sacrament tho' it want Divine Institution and have not the Nature and Parts of a Sacrament There is nothing given to Man in their Sacrament of Penance which can have the use of an external Sign and serve to represent any Spiritual Thing How absurd is it here to put the Acts of the Penitent and Operation of the Receiver for as it were the Matter and a Part of the Sacrament They make Confession to a Priest necessary to Salvation when it is not necessary to any good End and Purpose nor fit and convenient to be used at all For the Injunction of it is the Exercise of a Spiritual Tyranny and proves in the effect of it a Torturing of the Minds and a Racking of the Consciences of Men. It gives Occasion of many indecent and unseemly filthy and immodest Questions and Answers in the Confession of some Sins And is an Artifice and Contrivance invented and excogitated to discover Secrets to keep the People in Fear and Awe to get Gain and Profit and inrich that covetous and ambitious See with great and large Revenues CHAP. XIII The second Vse of Examination and Reproof together 1. WE have heard it 's the Duty of every Sinner to confess and acknowledge his Sins to God but I 'm afraid many of us who know too too well how to sin are notwithstanding great Strangers to and very much unacquainted with Confession of Sin How many are wholly wanting and defective as to the performance of this Duty in private especially How many confess not at all but are altogether neglective of the Duty it self as if there were no such great need of Confession How few of us perform it as we ought and order our Confession aright before God Who of us make it our daily Practise impartially to accuse our selves only Are not most of us ready and apt to shift off our sins from our selves and if not to lay them upon God himself yet confidently to charge them upon Satan or to impute them to other Men as if any without us had an absolute impulsive power over us and could force us to sin whether we would or no Which of us make our own Hearts lusts and corruptions rather than the Devil's suggestions or wicked Men's seductions to be the proper Cause and Ground of our sins Which of us in Confession do daily rip up our own Hearts and thorowly open our selves to God and clearly manifest our bosom gremial sin to him Han't we been impudently bold in sinning and yet asham'd to confess when we have sinn'd Which of us all represent our sins in their own Colours and aggravate them with their most heinous and notorious Circumstances Do we not hide our cursed Achan and conceal our particular beloved Lust and lessen and diminish our sins and make a very light and a small matter of them Who of us daily judge and condemn our selves for our sins and own the Curse that is due to us for our sins and kiss the Rod that lashes us for our sins and accept of the punishment of our iniquity and bless God that we are yet on this side Hell which we deserve Have we not made Apologies for our sins instead of making Confession of them Have we not * Vitia nostra quia amamus defendimus malumus excusare illa quam excutere Sen. ep 116 excused instead of accusing justified instead of condemning our selves Some of us that have confessed how hardly were we brought to it How unwillingly did we go about it Were we not rather forcibly driven to it by suffering some heavy punishment for sin than sweetly and kindly mov'd to it out of a deep sence of the evil Nature of our sin and the tender workings of a sincere love and affection unto God Have we not been humiliati magis quam humiles humbled and brought low by the hand of God rather than humble and lowly in our own Souls How little of the Heart has been in most of our Humiliations Have we not often confess'd our sins without a Trouble or a Blush without any Hatred of Shame and Sorrow for or full and firm Resolution against them Have we not frequently confess'd our sins without any earnest Desires of Pardon without any lively actings of Faith and Hope in Divine Mercy Have not most of our Confessions been meerly the vain Bablings of careless and secure Men that only out of Custom and Formality mumble out a few words against themselves to God without any true sence and feeling of what they speak Have we not usually confess'd in a slight and perfunctory manner unbecoming the weightiness of the Duty and rested a long time in a meer overly superficial performance of it as if any Confession would serve our turn Let us duly examine our selves and I believe we shall find cause
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 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.