beats his Breast and sighs out O Lord be mercifull to me a sinner Our Saviour tells us what was the effect I tell you this man went down rather justified than the other As the Pharisees Self-conceit and Arrogance made him pray in such a manner as he did so his Prayer made him more arrogant still It could not but increase his presumptuous Opinion of himself to reckon up and that before God himself all his Religious Qualities and Actions without taking notice of but one small fault and to have compared himself with one so despicable in his Eyes as the poor Publican It is reasonable to believe he went away bigger and statelier from his Prayers than he came to them On the contrary as the Publican's Behaviour Posture and Prayer proceeded no doubt from a due Sense of his sin and guilt and consequent humility So did it likewise dismiss and send him away with a greater Degree of it He saw that before in himself which made him cry out with shame and indignation against himself Lord be mercifull to me a sinner And doubtless he saw it yet more and with deeper impression upon his heart for having made his short but most passionate Confession 4. This confession of sin makes us less censorious and contemptuous of others more backward to publish their Faults or to insult over them We shall not be so ready to censure talk of despise others when we are accustomed to look upon and justly and humbly to acknowledge what is as bad or worse at least bad enough in our selves We are not so forward to reproach others when we permit our own Consciences to reproach our selves We are loth to condemn at least to treat others with Wrath and Contempt when if we are impartial we see too much cause to do the like by our selves No men so ready to proclaim and aggravate other men's Faults as those who take the least notice of their own He who knows his own defects and miscarriages as he pities himself so is he apt to do to others Most men esteem and despise others comparatively or as thy judge them superior or inferior to themselves in worthy and deserving Qualities and Performances We take the Measures of others from our selves Now he that observes most Infirmities and Faults in himself will think himself less above or more under Men than he who though ignorance or self-conceit sees no blemish nor blame in himself The former often despiseth himself comparatively with others the latter foolishly despiseth every one besides himself In the Example just now alledged how haughtily doth the Pharisee hold up his Head and with what Contempt doth he throw his Eye upon the Publican This Publican saith he But we hear no such Language from the Publican who in truth had more reason to have derided the Ignorant and Hypocritical Pharisee 5ly And lastly This confession makes us more sensible of the Divine goodness and disposeth us to greater Gratitude and Love to God The Divine goodness may well be our wonder That the infinite Majesty so provoked hath not yet made us remarkable Examples of his Justice and Displeasure Nay that he hath continued to us Life Health Strength Plenty Power and the like Favours which we ungratefull Wretches have dishonoured him with His lenity and long suffering cannot but be admired by us when we consider that we have grown wanton and proud against him by his own benefits and his bounteous Goodness which should have highly obliged us hath made us careless and presumptuous as if we now wanted him no more and could stand upon our own Legs But that which may justly increase our wonder is that after all this upon our humble confession and actual Change of our Behaviour towards him he is ready to forgive our greatest Crimes and to blot out all our Transgressions So great is his goodness that he is more ready to give us his pardon upon such a Repentance than we are to ask it or by Repentance to render our selves capable of it as if he courted our Friendship and stood in need of our Reconciliation Finally there is something yet more which exceeds wonder and that is that God should be pleased so kindly to accept our late Repentance and Obedience as to take occasion from thence to bestow upon us no less than Eternal life Now the serious and deliberate Confession of our sins giving us a necessary occasion to observe and consider all this so certainly the Truth cannot but deeply affect us with Gratitude and Love to the Authour of such unparallell'd Goodness and Love expressing it self by all ways possible our Words Services whole Lives Of so great and much greater spiritual benefit and profit is a true sincere serious affectionate and free Confession of our sins to Almighty God Which was the fifth Reason for the performance and frequent Exercise of it And now if we put all these Arguments together the just Honour we owe to God and his Laws the Edification and Pleasure of others our own spiritual Comfort and great Benefit one would think they should be sufficient to reasonable Men guided in their opinion and actions by good understanding though we had no Commands from revealed Religion not only to secure this Duty of Religion and Piety from contempt or neglect but especially to recommend it to their frequent and serious Practice from the highest to the lowest For no mortal so high whom it doth not exceedingly become and perhaps better than the meanest For excellent and great Qualities sit best upon the greatest are most amiable in them and most justly expected from them And true Religion the right Knowledge reasonable Worship and Resemblance and Imitation of the Supreme Being and the Universal Parent is the utmost Perfection and Attainment of humane Nature Nor is there any in this Life so holy and innocent take all our Lives together who have not great cause for and abundant need of this confession of sin Thrones and Shrines Crowns and Glories Soveraigns and Saints are with all just Humility to lie at the Foot-stool of the Almighty and most mercifull Father of his Creatures we may altogether send up with one Heart and Voice our common Cries of Confession of Guilt and Petition for Pardon without fear of offending against the Dignity of our Condition or Sanctity of our Profession None too great none too good to say with this great and good Prince I acknowledge my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgression to the Lord that he might forgive the iniquity of my sin For a conclusion of this Discourse it may not be amiss to pick out of it and put together a brief Representation of a true penitent Confessour in some such manner as follows The sincere and deliberate Penitent then is no negligent Person of himself to let all things go at random but is desirous to bring things to a Trial and to keep them in order
and the justifier of bad Men and Manners The Answer in few words is this That supposing the whole Course of a conscientious and vertuous Life to be very painfull and grievous which is false yet it is a folly and madness which deserves the greatest wonder and pity for the avoiding of that to lose an everlasting Happiness and to plunge our selves into an eternal Misery which is not Talk only but Truth and Justice if there be any God or Providence in the World To a man of a comprehensive Reason Justice and Generosity may be added further and beyond all the rest A 4. Answer which I must not now insist upon but only in very few words say To please serve and honour God by love and obedience to contribute what we can to the common Good and Happiness by all vertuous Life and Actions Vice is useless or mischievous a common Nuysance is certainly a Duty and an Obligation which no Difficulty Pains or Suffering in this Life can discharge us from I do not understand how all our Duty is derived from our own Interest although I know they are inseparable To serve and please God and to do good to others meerly for our own sakes and to refuse to undergo any thing for theirs when necessary seems neither ingenuous nor reasonable And I am sure it seem'd so to that great Heathen Tully As if such things or rather nothings as we were more to be consider'd than the Infinite God and all the World besides when we may as well weigh a single Atome against the Universe Nor seems there any difference between a good and bad Man in respect of their Will but only of their Understanding if both of them make themselves their entire ultimate End The one takes the right course to be happy the other the Wrong But this last is mistaken only and would have done as the first if he had known better And even the Man of Courage and Generosity would take it for a great Reproach to be told that he fights only for a little Wages or Honour either and would not venture upon a Wound or Death it self to save his Prince and Countrey and to repress an insolent and malicious Enemy who pleaseth himself in the Destruction of all Mankind to gratifie his boundless Lusts Which with many other Instances is an Argument that the Soul of Man at present is not uncapable of so great and noble a Quality I am sure our divine Religion hath taught us as much both by Precept and Example when it commands us to love God above all things and our Neighbour as our selves Nor do I see reason to find a Figure in the known Expressions of Moses and St. Paul To such a Greatness of Soul we ought to aspire Notwithstanding we are to know which may be proved even to a Demonstration from the Nature of God and of the Soul that our Duty and Interest our perfection of Nature and Happiness of Life are inseparable except for a Moment or two in this Life for Exercise and Improvement of Vertue or other Ends which vanisheth into nothing compar'd with Eternal Duration It is impossible that the wicked should be happy or not miserable and that the vertuous and good should be miserable or not happy As impossible as that there should be no God at all or that God should not be infinitely powerfull wise and good and consequently distributively just And now I have said all I have at present in Answer to the wonderers and their best reason for vicious Manners Practices Customs and Examples and perhaps the general Heads of all that can be said and what I think cannot be answered again by those who will act like Men and be governed by Truth and Reason But as for those who disclaim or burlesque their own most excellent Nature and will abandon themselves to blind and haughty Self-will Humours Lusts and Passions who will be like the Horse or Mule that wanteth understanding I leave them to other Arts and Methods of Perswasion and to the Mercy of God Almighty which we will not confine All that can be done for them on our parts is to pity and pray for them as we do daily when we say Thy Kingdom come thy Will be done That God may at last rule over and in the Hearts of all the Sons of Men. He can when he pleaseth work most effectually upon the Souls of the most sensless and obdurate Sinners even upon those who scorn all Instruction as a mean and hate understanding as a troublesome thing even upon those who most foolishly take it for a Point of Wisdom and Greatness of Heart to make a Mock at Sin even upon those finally who with the Heathen Idolaters in the Text think it strange that all Men run not with them to the same Excess of Riot speaking Evil of them because they will not SERMON III. PSAL. XXXII 5. I said I will confess my Transgression unto the Lord. I Am a while to treat of a Duty of Religion both revealed and as I think natural which perhaps passeth among the wise and brave of this World for a weak and mean thing and an effect of superstition rather than Religion But to me it seems just contrary so qualified and directed as shall presently be mentioned Confession of Sin to Almighty God hath very evident Arguments of many excellent Qualities For is it not a sign of a just Honour for God and all his Laws made known by Reason or Revelation Is it not a Mark of a generous Love of the Truth and that a Man will own his Faults and Follies tho' to his present Disadvantage and that he is more ashamed to commit a Sin than confess it Is it not a proof of great probity and strength of mind for a man not only to permit but command his Conscience and others too if there be occasion to report to him all the Truth and nothing but the Truth concerning himself to set all his Faults and Infirmities before him and not to conceal excuse or justifie any because he is not willing to mend any or hath no concern for the Health and Ornament of his Nature Are not these and such like Qualities highly laudable On the contrary are not a vulgar Carelesness and Insensibility of our Manners and Actions vain self-conceit arrogance affectation of appearing to ones self and others something worthy rather than being so indeed and above all the contempt of the Word and Commandments of Omnipotent Goodness Wisdom and Sanctity by a weak ignorant and sinfull Creature I say are not these sordid and truly contemptible Nor doth this confession of sin to the Supreme Deity seem to me less a part of natural Religion than Prayers and Praises to him though we have little mention of it among the Heathen Moralists And as this is Truth in it self so we find that the greatest Souls who have had the Knowledge of the true God have always behaved themselves with Truth
inconstancy instability of judgment and assent in which there seems some passion and inclinations without reason as well as in all the rest Then shall we be clear and free to believe the truth merely because it is the truth as far as we can apprehend and for no other reason whatsoever Till we have thus cleansed our souls deposed and laid aside all these prejudices the more ingenious and witty we are the greater is our danger of error and unbelief and the common sort of men who have not so much Wit Haughtiness Self-conceit and Pride do with much more safety and security follow the easie and natural Sense of their own minds and the common belief of the World who are wiser than themselves And now what use shall we make of this whole Discourse I shall make but one inference from it and that is If what we have all this time been delivering be truth and reason as I hope it is then it is our Duty to contradict the Fool here in the Text and that two ways both in his Infidelity and in his consequent Practice Hath the vitious Fool said in his heart there is no God or no Providence Let us deliberately peremptorily and decretorily conclude in our hearts and confess it with our mouths that there is a God and verily that this God judgeth in the Earth But then let us be sure boldly to oppose and contradict him in the consequence of our Faith else our Faith and Profession will serve us to no purpose but to condemn us out of our own mouths or it will be suspected that our inward Faith and outward Profession do not agree that we say one thing as loud as any and think another At least that our Faith is very slight cold and rare and therefore little valued by us For a serious express firm and frequent Faith or actual Assent especially after deliberation or doubting is a great matter and very operative We see the settled Opinions of men in other Affairs of Life how sturdy and forcible they are They govern even their Passions and Persons and are difficultly mastered or hindered by any opposition So would it be also in Divine Faith if it were as well rooted in our hearts and as frequently made actual use of Is then this wicked Fool corrupt and vitious Hath he done abominable Works Let it be our firmest resolution and utmost care and endeavour to be of an incorrupt sound and strong Vertue and a laudable and amiable Practice and do good Works But more particularly and immediately the Vertue which our belief in God his Nature Attributes and Actions should produce and preserve is that of Piety and Religion or Divine Worship in which I comprehend all our Duty to this God Let us then spare him as many thoughts as we can and contemplate his Beauty and Glory as much as our frail Nature and Condition will bear let us conceive the most worthily of him let us honour him with all the force of our Souls love him with all our might above all things together both in Heaven and Earth rejoyce and be happy in his Favour and fear his displeasure put our ultimate trust in him alone and above all entirely resign up our Wills to his in whatever is to be done or undergone by us and all his Creatures that his Will may be done both in Heaven and Earth This which is the internal Worship of God we are at all fit Seasons and Circumstances to signifie by our Lauds Praises Prayers Thanksgivings solemn Profession of a sincere universal constant perpetual Obedience to all his Commands and Appointments and above all by the Tenor of our Life and Actions which is External Worship Behold a heart and life sutable to our Faith and to the God in whom we believe An employment worthy indeed of all reasonable Creatures from the highest to the lowest The perfection of all their noble Powers and Exercise of them This Religion and Conversation with the Deity is the highest Accomplishment and Felicity of any spiritual Nature All other objects do not fill their Capacities This State we are all here as much as we can which is but little to endeavour to attain to The rest we are to desire hope and prepare our selves for Now to this God whom the wicked Fool denies who made and upholds all things by the Omnipotent Word of his Power and governs all things by his All-wise Providence to this one most excellent infinite Nature in three Persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost be all this inward and outward Worship constantly rendred by Men and Angels from henceforth and for ever-more Amen SERMON V. ROM V. 1. Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ THere are hardly any words of the Holy Scripture more common in the Mouths of Christians especially reformed or uttered with more affection or more frequently made use of than these of Justification by Faith Nor is there any Doctrine of Christianity which hath of late been disputed with more Volumes or greater Heat than that which is said to be contained under them To which we may add that in truth it is a Doctrine both in matter and phrase in great measure new and proper to the Christian Religion and yet of a great importance honourable to God and comfortable to Men. For the most devout and even inspired by God among the Jews as far as appears knew little of the principal Part of it and the most learned among the Heathens nothing Nay it seems by what we read that it hath been defectively and but ill-understood even by Christians themselves till of late And although in a good part of this last Century it hath been much cleared and recovered by many learned Men who began better to understand the Style Phrase Occasion and other Circumstances of the New Testament and by none more perhaps than our own judicious pious Paraphrast yet me-thinks somewhat more may be done in the matter I shall at present only briefly and plainly endeavour the explication and application of the words The two things which deserve a particular explication are 1 Justification 2 Faith 1. For the word Justification I take the original and general Notion of it to be the doing by any Person for to that I now restrain it though it be spoken of Actions also as useth to be done to one who is just and righteous i e some way to shew favour or to do good to him whether by approbation commendation or beneficence Of this general sense of the word it is easie to see that the juridical Sense of acquitting absolving c. is but one instance or kind This usage may be in respect of some particular Act or Quality only or of a man's general Temper of Mind and Course of Life We have several Examples of the first It is said by our Saviour of the Publican who went up with the Pharisee to the Temple to
are set a-part for a longer and more deliberate performance of this Religious Duty This is better surely than when our confession is thrust upon us by a persecuting guilty Conscience which we fly from as much as we can or when it is extorted from us by the urging Interrogatories or undeniable Proofs of our Friends or Enemies and then uttered with coldness and indifferency Such are some of the Directions or Rules for our Confession which was the second general Head 3ly The third is some good for the frequent performance of this Duty of Religion They are many 1. First By a serious affectionate and impartial Confession of our sins we give God and his Laws their just Honour At the same time we acknowledge and bewail our evil doings in sinning against God and transgressing his Laws we proclaim the Righteousness of both nay the Justice of our Punishment which God hath or may inflict upon us When we accuse confess condemn our selves we justifie God in his Nature Commands and Dealings towards us when we seriously cry guilty confess what we have done and deserve we at the same time declare that God's Nature is holy his Precepts right and all his Dealings with his Creatures just and unblameable Like that great Example of Penitents Psalm 51. Against thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou may'st be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest 2ly This confession of sin is very edifying to others both good and bad when it is performed publickly or with others and owned our Duty in secret too We hereby do somewhat considerable towards the Confirmation of the good and Reformation of the bad The mischief we have been the Authors of by our naughty Example we undo again in part by a free and serious Confession we thereby tell the World it was not our discretion or commendation to have lived and done as we have done formerly No! 't was our folly and shame We call now to them not to follow us or if they have adventured after us to retreat presently If they have imitated us in sinning they would do it now in confessing and condemning themselves 4ly This confession of sin is very acceptable to good Men nay I may say generally to bad Men too who have some kindness and good liking for Vertue and Piety but are so entangled and captivated in vicious Courses that they cannot find in their heart to take the pains to leave them The conversion of a sinner of which free and humble Confession is a fair step and a great mark is certainly the joy of Angels and Saints Nothing more melting than the hearty and unaflected Confession of a Penitent sinner It is a sign of so many amiable Qualities as sincere Piety Humility c. that a good Man cannot observe it without joy and even a bad Man without some motion and tenderness It is a more than ordinary pleasure to hear a pious Soul sighing out his confession of his sins and desires of grace and pardon before God when he thinks no body hears or is regardless whether they do or no. 5ly This confession of sin is a very comfortable Duty to us What calmness ease and secret comfort is diffused through the Soul of a devout Man after he hath opened and disburthened himself by a sincere and humble Confession to Almighty God His conscience softly tells him that he hath not in vain disclosed his heart that he hath not confessed his faults to the deaf Ear of too rigid a Master or severe Father that God as great and as high as he is regards the Soul in such a posture with great kindness and compassion and that now the offender may safely put himself into his hands If in our Confession we are conscious to our selves of no Hypocrisie or Formality it creates an humble confidence in God with a free resignation and submission of our selves to him notwithstanding our former sins and contracted guilt Nor is this confidence vain For so far as our confession is a sign and exercise of real Goodness and Piety in us it doth render us more capable of his Favour and truly acceptable to him 6ly Confession of our sins such as I have directed is a Duty of Devotion of great benefit to us and that many ways As 1. It is a certain and notable means for preserving us in that Degree of Holiness and Goodness we may have attained to and of making further progress therein continually For as it brings to remembrance our former known sins nor are we only to confess new sins but old ones and the same very often especially if more heinous nor even to forget them to our lives end so it discovers to us many before unknown Before especially a more deliberate Confession we are to reflect upon and examine our selves carefully and that will hardly be done without some further knowledge and discovery of our faults and which is of great use of their temptations and occasions And even in the times themselves of our devout Confession usually the temper of our minds is such that some sins then may first appear which before we had never observed or suspected Now all this is necessary for our amendment and the prevention of the like again For how shall we avoid that which we never knew or have forgot Add to this that every serious and hearty not customary Confession impresseth upon us some more dislike and aversion from the sins confessed Insomuch that by the frequent practice of it we may at last become utterly ashamed to confess our sins so often but not to forsake them to sin on in a round perpetually committing and confessing the same sins by turns Our consciences will be apt so to reproach that we shall leave off either to commit or confess Thus as an hearty and unconstrained Confession is a sign and effect of an ingenuous and generous Dislike and Hatred of sin so doth it confirm heighten and increase it 2. Another benefit and advantage of this Religious Duty is a right Understanding a true and just Opinion of our selves to know what is bad and defective in our selves as well as what is good and usefull This is one principal Branch of that most excellent Grace humility which containeth many other The great Errour of the World is on that hand to be arrogant and presumptuous Foolish Self-love renders us wilfully blind so as to see no faults spy no defects observe no sins in our selves We deny all or excuse all or justifie all We all know the Behaviours of the Pharisee and the Publican in their Devotion Luke 18. 9. They both went up into the Temple to pray The Pharisees Prayer was so far from any confession that it was all boasting God I thank thee that I am not as other men c. The Publicans contrary was all Confession Shame Sorrow begging for Mercy He stands a far off with a dejected Countenance He with a revengefull hand