which this Blessing is promised and they are two the Confessing and Forsaking of our sins whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall have mercy and these two do contain and constitute the whole nature of Repentance without which a sinner can have no reasonable hopes to find mercy with God I begin with the First the Confession of our sins by which is meant a penitent acknowledgment of our faults to God to God I say because the Confession of our sins to men is not generally speaking a Condition of the forgiveness of them but only in some particular cases when our sins against God are accompanied and complicated with scandal and injury to men In other cases the Confession of our sins to men is not necessary to the pardon of them as I shall more fully shew in the progress of this Discourse All the difficulty in this matter is that the Confession of our sins is opposed to the covering and concealing of them he that covereth his sin shall not prosper but whoso confesseth them shall have mercy but no man can hope to hide his sin from God and therefore confession of them to God cannot be here meant But this Objection if it be of any force quite excludeth Confession to God as no part of Solomon's meaning when yet Confession of our sins to God is granted on all hands to be a necessary Condition of the forgiveness of them And to take away the whole ground of this Objection men are said in Scripture when they do not confess their sins and repent of them to hide and conceal them from God Not to acknowledge them is as if a man went about to cover them And thus David opposeth confession of sins to God to the hiding of them Psal 32.5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord so that this is no reason why the Text should not be understood of the Confession of our sins to God But because the necessity of confessing our sins to men that is to the Priest in order to the forgiveness of them is a great point of difference between us and the Church of Rome it being by them esteemed a necessary Article of Faith but by us so far from being necessary to be believed that we do not believe it to be true therefore for the clear stating of this matter I shall briefly enquire into these Two things I. Whether Confession of our sins to the Priest as taught and practised in the Church of Rome be necessary to the forgiveness of them II. How far the disclosing and revealing of our sins to the Ministers of God is convenient upon other accounts and for other purposes of Religion I. Whether Confession of our sins to the Priest and the manner in which it is taught and practised in the Church of Rome be necessary to the forgiveness of them What manner of Confession this is the Council of Trent hath most precisely determined viz. Secret Confession to the Priest alone of all and every mortal sin which upon the most diligent search and examination of our Consciences we can remember our selves to be guilty of since our Baptism together with all the Circumstances of those sins which may change the nature of them because without the perfect knowledge of these the Priest cannot make a judgment of the nature and quality of mens sins nor impose fitting Penance for them This is the Confession of sins required in the Church of Rome which the same Council of Trent without any real ground from Scripture or Ecclesiastical Antiquity doth most confidently affirm to have been instituted by our Lord and by the Law of God to be necessary to salvation and to have been always practised in the Catholick Church I shall as briefly as I can examine both these Pretences of the Divine Institution and Constant Practice of this kind of Confession First For the Divine Institution of it they mainly rely upon three Texts in the first of which there is no mention at all of Confession much less of a particular Confession of all our sins with the Circumstances of them in the other two there is no mention of Confession to the Priest and yet all this ought clearly to appear in these Texts before they can ground a Divine Institution upon them for a Divine Institution is not to be founded upon obscure Consequences but upon plain words The First Text and the only one upon which the Council of Trent grounds the Necessity of Confession is John 20.23 Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained It is a sign they were at a great loss for a Text to prove it when they are glad to bring one that hath not one word in it concerning Confession nor the least intimation of the necessity of it But let us see how they manage it to their purpose The Apostles and their Successors saith Bellarmine by this power of remitting and retaining sins are constituted Judges of the case of Penitents but they cannot judge without hearing the Cause and this infers particular Confession of sins to the Priest from whence he concludes it necessary to the forgiveness of sins But do not the Ministers of the Gospel exercise this power of remitting sins in Baptism And yet particular Confession of all sins to the Priest is not required no not in the Church of Rome in the Baptism of adult Persons And therefore according to them particular Confession of sin to the Priest is not necessary to his exercising the power of remitting sins and consequently the necessity of Confession cannot be concluded from this Text. And to shew how they are puzled in this matter Vasquez by a strange device concludes the necessity of Confession from the power of retaining sins for says he if the Priest have a power of retaining sins that is of denying Pardon and Absolution to the Penitent then he may impose Confession as a Condition of forgiveness and not absolve the Penitent upon other terms But supposing the Priest to have this unreasonable power this makes Confession no otherwise necessary by Divine Institution than going to Jerusalem or China is in order to the forgiveness of our sins or submitting to any other foolish condition that the Priest thinks fit to require for according to this way of reasoning this power of retaining sins makes every foolish thing that the Priest shall impose upon the Penitent to be necessary by Divine Command and Institution But the truth is this power of remitting and retaining sins is exercised by the Ministers of the Gospel in the administration of the Sacraments and the preaching of the Gospel which is call'd the word of reconciliation the ministry whereof is committed to them And thus the ancient Fathers understood it and as a great Divine told them in the Council of Trent it was perhaps never expounded by any one Father concerning the
Confession Contrition and Satisfaction and the Form of it which is the Absolution of the Priest in which they make the main virtue and force of Repentance to consist in quâ proecipuè ipsius vis sita est are the very words of the Council of Trent And here is a wide difference betwixt us for tho' the comfort of the Penitent may in some case consist in the Absolution of the Priest yet the Virtue and Efficacy of Repentance does not at all consist in it but wholly in the Contrition and sincere Resolution of the Penitent as the Scripture every where declares and to think otherwise is of dangerous Consequence because it encourageth Men to hope for the benefit of Repentance that is the Pardon and forgiveness of their sins without having truly repented And indeed the Council of Trent have so framed their Doctrines in this point that any one may see that they did not matter how much they abated on the part of the Penitent provided the Power of the Priest be but advanced and kept up in its full height 2. The other Mistake is of those who make Repentance to consist in the bare Resolution of Amendment tho' it never have its effect that is tho' the sinner either do not what he resolved or do it only for a fit and during his present Trouble and Conviction There is one case indeed and but one wherein a Resolution not brought to effect is available and that is when nothing hinders the performance and execution of it but only want of time and oportunity for it when the Repentance is sincere and the Resolution real but the Man is cut off between the actual Reformation which he intended and which God who sees things certainly in their Causes knows would have followed if the Man had lived to give Demonstration of it but this is nothing to those who have the oportunity to make good their Resolution and do not for because the resolution which would have been perform'd had there been time and oportunity is reckoned for a true Repentance and accepted of God as if it had been done therefore the Resolution which was not brought to effect when there was time and oportunity for it hath not the Nature of true Repentance nor will it be accepted of God I will add but one thing more upon this Head because I doubt it is not always sufficiently considered and that is this that a sincere Resolution of a better course does imply a Resolution of the means as well as of the end he that is truly resolved against any sin is likewise resolved against the occasions and temptations that would lead and draw him to it otherwise he hath taken up a rash and foolish Resolution which he is not like to keep because he did not resolve upon that which was necessary to the keeping of it So he that resolves upon any part of his Duty must likewise resolve upon the means which are necessary to the discharge and performance of it he that is resolved to be just in his dealing and to pay his debts must be diligent in his Calling and mind his business because without this he cannot do the other for nothing can be more vain and fond than for a Man to pretend that he is resolved upon doing his Duty when he neglects any thing that is necessary to put him into a capacity and to further him in the discharge of it This is as if a Man should resolve to be well and yet never take Physick or be careless in observing his rules which are prescribed in order to his health So for a Man to resolve against Drunkenness and yet to run himself upon the temptations which naturally lead to it by frequenting the Company of Lewd and Intemperate persons this is as if a Man should resolve against the Plague and run into the Pest-house Whatever can reasonably move a Man to be resolved upon any End will if his Resolution be wise and honest determine him as strongly to use the Means which are proper and necessary to that End These are the common Mistakes about this matter which Men are the more willing to run into because they are loth to be brought to a true Repentance the Nature whereof is not difficult to be understood for nothing in the world is plainer only men are always slow to understand what they have no mind to put in practice But II. Besides these Mistakes about Repentance there is another great Miscarriage in this matter and that is the delay of Repentance men are loth to set about it and therefore they put it upon the last hazard and resolve then to huddle it up as well as they can but this certainly is great folly to be still making more work for Repentance because it is to create so much needless trouble and vexation to our selves 't is to go on still in playing a foolish part in hopes to retrieve all by an after-game this is extreamly dangerous because we may certainly sin but it is not certain we shall repent our Repentance may be prevented and we may be cut off in our sins but if we should have space for it Repentance may in process of time grow an hundred times more difficult than it is at present But if it were much more certain and more easie than it is if it were nothing but a hearty Sorrow and Shame for our sins and an asking God forgiveness for them without being put to the trouble of reforming our wicked lives yet this were great folly to do those things which will certainly grieve us after we have done them and put us to shame and to ask forgiveness for them It was well said of Old Cato nae tu stultus es homuncio qui malis veniam precari quam non peccare thou art a foolish man indeed who chusest rather to ask forgiveness than not to offend At the best Repentance implies a fault it is an after-Wisdom which supposeth a Man first to have plaid the fool it is but the best end of a bad business a hard shift and a desperate hazard which a Man that had acted prudently would never have been put to it is a Plaster after we have dangerously wounded our selves but certainly it had been much wiser to have prevented the danger of the wound and the pain of curing it A wise Man would not make himself sick if he could or if he were already so would not make himself sicker tho' he had the most Effectual and Infallible Remedy in the world in his power But this is not the case of a sinner for Repentance as well as Faith is the gift of God Above all let me caution you not to put off this great and necessary work to the most unseasonable time of all other the time of sickness and death upon a fond presumption that you can be reconciled to God when you please and exercise such a Repentance as will make your peace with him at any
business of Confession The Second Text they alledge to this purpose is 1 John 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins Here indeed is Confession but general not particular as appears by the opposition If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us but if we confess our sins that is if we acknowledge our selves to have been sinners And then here is not a word of confessing to the Priest the Confession here meant is plainly to God because it follows he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins that is God who is necessarily understood in the former part of the sentence as if it had run thus if we confess our sins to God he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins The Third Text is Jam. 5.16 Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another And here again there is only mention of Confession but not a word of the Priest and for another Reason if I had been to advise them they should not have prest this Text for their service in this cause because it does them as much hurt as good for it is certain the Duty of Confession here enjoyned is reciprocal and mutual confess your sins one to another So that if by virtue of this Text the People are bound to confess their sins to the Priest the Priest is hereby as much obliged to confess his sins to the People which I dare say is more than they have a mind to prove from this Text. The plain meaning whereof is this that as Christians should be ready to perform all mutual Offices of Charity so to assist and comfort one another by their Counsel and Prayers and therefore the Apostle adviseth Christians when they are sick if at the same time they be under any spiritual trouble by reason of the Guilt of any sin lying upon their Consciences to lay open their case to one another that so they may have the help of one anothers Advice and Prayers confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed both of your bodily and spiritual distemper not that the Priest or Minister is here excluded St. James had spoken of that particular before that when any was sick he should send for the Elders of the Church that he might in the first place have the benefit of their Counsel and Prayers and then because private Christians may also be useful to one another in this kind he adds that they should also lay open their condition and troubles to one another that so they might have the help of one anothers Advice and Prayers and very probably all the Confession here meant of private Christians to one another is of the offences and injuries they may have been guilty of one towards another that they should be reconciled upon this occasion and as a testimony of their Charity should pray one for another whereas they are bound to send for the Elders of the Church and they are to pray over them as an act not only of Charity but of Superiority and by virtue of their Office in the Church a more especial blessing being to be expected from their Prayers These three Texts are the main Arguments from Scripture which they of the Church of Rome bring to prove their auricular or secret Confession to be of Divine Institution and woful proofs they are which shews what miserable shifts they are reduced to who resolve to maintain a bad cause I proceed in the Second place to discover the Falshood of their other Pretences that this kind of Confession hath always been practised in the Catholick Church and not only so but believed absolutely necessary to the remission of mens sins and their eternal salvation The truth of the whole matter is this publick Confession and Penance for open and scandalous Crimes was in use and with great strictness observed in the first Ages of Christianity and there was then no general Law or Custom that exacted secret Confession of sins to the Priest as a necessary part of repentance and condition of forgiveness afterward publick Penance was by degrees disused which plainly shews that in the opinion of the Church this Discipline how useful soever was not of absolute necessity to restore men to the favour of God In place of this came in private Confession to the Priest particularly appointed to this Office and call'd the Penitentiary but upon occasion of a scandal that hapned this also was abrogated by Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople which shews that neither was this necessary And this act of Nectarius was justified by his Successor St. Chrysostom who does over and over most expresly teach that Confession of our sins to men is not necessary to the forgiveness of them but that it is sufficient to confess them to God alone so that St. Chrysostom does plainly stand condemned by the Decrees of the Council of Trent And thus for several Ages the matter rested till the degeneracy of the Church of Rome growing towards its height about the IX and X. Centuries some began to contend for the necessity of secret Confession and this in the year 1215. in the IV. Council of Lateran under Pope Innocent III. was decreed and establish'd And this is the first publick Law that was made in the Christian Church concerning this matter notwithstanding all the boasts of the Council of Trent about the antiquity of this Institution and Practice for Gratian who lived about 50 years before this Council tells us that in his time several wise and religious men were of the contrary opinion and did not hold Confession necessary by virtue of any Divine Law Afterwards in the Council of Florence and especially in that of Trent this Decree of the Council of Lateran was confirmed and enlarged in many particulars of which I have already given some account And whereas they pretend for themselves the universal Practice not only of the past but present Church we are able to shew from clear Testimony of their own Writers that Confession as taught and practised in the Church of Rome is no where else in use at this day neither among the Abyssines nor Indians of St. Thomas nor the Nestorians nor the Armenians nor the Jacobites Churches of great antiquity and vast extent And as for the Greek Church if we may believe Gratian and the Author of the Gloss upon the Canon Law the Greeks had anciently no Tradition concerning the necessity of Confession nor do they at this day agree with the Roman Church in all points concerning it So that in short there is no Nation nor Church throughout the whole world that bear the name of Christian the Roman Church only excepted that doth fully embrace and maintain the whole Doctrine of the Council of Trent concerning Confession and yet according to their principles the whole is of equal necessity to be believed as any part of it
Arguments which the Gospel useth to persuade Men and encourage them to Repentance are greater and more powerful by so much is the Impenitence of those who live under the Gospel the more inexcusable Had we only some faint hopes of God's Mercy a doubtful Opinion and weak Persuasion of the Rewards and Punishments of another World yet we have a Law within us which upon the probability of these Considerations would oblige us to Repentance Indeed if Men were assur'd upon good grounds that there would be no future Rewards and Punishments then the sanction of the Law were gone and it would lose its force and Obligation or if we did despair of the Mercy of God and had good Reason to think Repentance impossible or that it would do us no good in that case there would be no sufficient Motive and Argument to Repentance for no Man can return to his Duty without returning to the love of God and Goodness and no man can return to the love of God who believes that he bears an implacable hatred against him and is resolved to make him miserable for ever During this Persuasion no Man can repent And this seems to be the reason why the Devils continue impenitent But the Heathens were not without hopes of God's Mercy and upon those small hopes which they had they encouraged themselves into Repentance as you may see in the instance of the Ninevites Let them turn every one from his evil ways and from the violence that is in his hands Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not Jonah 3.8 9. But if we who have the clearest Discoveries and the highest Assurance of this who profess to believe that God hath declared himself placable to all Mankind that he is in Christ reconciling the World to himself and that upon our Repentance he will not impute our Sins to us if we to whom the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men and to whom Life and Immortality are brought to Light by the Gospel if after all this we still go on in any impenitent Course what shall we be able to plead in excuse of our selves at that great day The men of Nineveh shall rise up in Judgment against such an impenitent Generation and Condemn it because they repented upon the Terror of lighter threatnings and upon the Encouragement of weaker hops And therefore it concerns us who call our selves Christians and enjoy the clear Revelation of the Gospel to look about us and take heed how we continue in an Evil Course For if we remain impenitent after all the Arguments which the Gospel superadded to the Light of Nature affords to us to bring us to Repentance it shall not only be more tolerable for the men of Nineveh but for Tyre and Sidon for Sodom and Gomorrah the most wicked and impenitent Heathens at the day of Judgment than for us For because we have stronger Arguments and more powerful Encouragements to Repentance than they had if we do not repent we shall meet with a heavier Doom and a fiercer Damnation The Heathen World had many excuses to plead for themselves which we have not The times of that ignorance God winked at but now commands all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the World in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead FINIS Books Printed for R. Chiswell SCRIPTORVM ECCLESIASTICORVM Historia Literaria facili perspicua methodo digesta in 2 Vol. Fol. Authore GVL. CAVE S. T. P. His Primitive Christianity 5th Edit 8 o. His Dissertation concerning the Government of the Ancient Church by Bishops Metropolitans and Patriarchs 8 o. Arch-Bishop Tenison's Conference with Pulton the Jesuit His nine Sermons on several Occasions Eight Volumes of Arch-Bishop Tillotson's Sermons Published from the Originals by Dr. Barker Vol. 1 st of Sincerity and Constancy in the Faith and Profession of the True Ruligion 3 d Edition Corrected 1700. Vol. 2 d Of the Presence of the Messias the Glory of the Second Temple Of Christ Jesus the only Mediator Of the Nature Office and Employment of good Angels Of the Reputation of good men after Death c. The 2 d Edition Corrected 1700. Vol. 3 d Of the Sin and Danger of adding to the Doctrine of the Gospel Honesty the best Preservative against Dangerous Mistakes in Religion The Nature and Evil of Covetousness The Wisdom of Religion c. The 2 d Edition Corrected 1700. Vol. 4 th Of Natural and Instituted Religion c. Second Edition Corrected 1700 Vol. 5 th Proving Jesus to be the Messias c. Second Edition Corrected 1700. Volumes 6 th and 7 th Upon the Attributes of God Second Edition Corrected 1700. Volume 8 th Of Repentance Ten Sermons on several Occasions by Bishop Patrick His Hearts Ease or Remedy against all Troubles The 7 th Edition 1699. His Commentary on Genesis Exodus Leviticus and Numbers in Four Volumes His Commentary on Duteronomy 1700. Valentine's Private Devotions The 26 th Edition 1699. Wharton's Sermons in Lambeth-Chappel in 2 Vol. 8 o. With his Life The Second Edition 1700. Dr. Conant's Sermons in Two Vol. 8 o. Published by Bishop Williams Dr. Wake of Preparation for Death The 6 th Edition 1699. Dr. Fryer's Nine Years Travels into India and Persia Illustrated with Copper Plates Fol. 1698. Bishop Williams Of the Lawfulness of Worshipping God by the Common-Prayer With several other Discourses Mr. Tulley's Discourse of the Government of the Thoughts The 3 d Edition 12 o 1699. The Life of Henry Chichele Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in which there is a particular Relation of many Remarkable Passages in the Reigns of Henry V. and VI. Kings of England Written in Latin by Arthur Duck L. L. D. Chancellor of the Diocess of London and Advocate of the Court of Honour Now made English and a Table of Contents annexed 8 o 1699. The Judgment of the Ancient Jewish Church against the Vnitarians in the Controversy upon the Holy Trinity and the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour With a Table of Matters and a Table of Texts of Scriptures occasionally explained by Peter Alix D. D. Short Memoâ—â—â—s of Thomas Lord Fairfax Written by himself Published 1699. The Life of John Whitgift Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the times of Queen Elizabeth and King James I. Written by Sir Geo. Paul Comptroler of his Grace's Houshold To which is annexed a Treatise intituled Conspiracy for pretended Reformation Written in the Year 1591. By Richard Cosin L. L. D. Dean of the Arches and Official Principal to Arch-Bishop Whitgift 8 o. 1699. An Exposition of the 39 Articles of the Church of England by Dr. Burnet Bishop of Sarum Fol. 1700. His Sermon to the Societies for Reformation of Manners March 25. 1700. A Practical Discourse of Religious Assemblies By Dr. William Sherlock Dean of St. Pauls The 3d. Edition 1700. A Treatise concerning the Causes of the present Corruption of Christians and the Remedies thereof 1700. In the Press The Fourth and Last Part of Mr. RVSHWORTH's Historical Collections Containing the Principal Matters which happen'd from the beginning of the Year 1645. where the Third Part ended to the Death of King Charles the First 1684. Impartially Related Setting forth only Matter of Fact in Order of Time without Observation or Reflection Fitted for the Press in his Life-time To which will be added Exact Alphabetical Tables