Page images
PDF
EPUB

juggle with him, and do not deal so uprightly and fincerely as we ought to do. For I would fain know what State of Life is there that will not yield the fame Matter of Excufe for the Faults we are guilty of. What Condition in the World can we imagine ourselves to be placed in, wherein we fhould not have the fame Pretences, and ftill should have found out fome Body, or fome Things, befides ourselves, to have borne the Blame of our Sins and Irregularities? No; all this is ftill a covering of our Sins, an Unwillingness to find ourfelves guilty Such a Self-Love and Tenderness of our own Eafe, as will do us no Good in the World; for when all is done, he that covereth his Sins fhall not profper.

Let us now make Application of these Things to ourselves: And what Application can that be but this? If we be all Sinners, as, I am fure, there is not one that now hears me but is fo, what have we all to do but to humble ourselves before God, acknowledging that we are miferable finful Creatures, and that if he fhould deal with us according to our Deferts, we must expect nothing but Indignation and Woe?

For, alas! the very beft Actions of our Lives, if they were to be fcanned according to the Exactness of his Law, and the Perfection of his Holinefs, would yield us but little Comfort, they being all fome way or other faulty. We have nothing to fly

unto,

13.

42.6.

unto, but the boundless Compaffion of our gracious God, (thro' our Lord Jefus Chrift) whofe Mercy is over all his Works, and is like his Majefty, truly Infinite. To Him therefore let us go. To Him let every one of us address himself with the poor Publican, Luke 18. Lord, be merciful to me a Sinner. Let us Job 7. 20. fay with Job, I have finned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou Preferver of Men! I abbor myself in Duft and Afbes. Let us fay Luke 15. with the Prodigal, Father, I have finned against Heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy Child. Let us Pfal. 130. fay with David, Out of the Deep do I call to thee, O Lord, Lord, bear my Voice. If thou fhouldeft be extream to mark what is done amifs, O Lord, who may abide it? O therefore enter not into Judgment with thy Servant, for in thy Sight shall no Man living be juftified. But there is Mercy with thee, therefore thou shalt be feared.

21.

Ah! my Brethren, if we had true Notions of ourselves and of our own' Condition, and made a fair and juft Reprefentation to our Minds of God's infinite Holinefs and Purity, and of our own Sinfulness and Impurity, we fhould all be thus affected.

Away therefore with all Thoughts of covering our Sins; let us on the contrary, with Grief and Sorrow of Heart, expose them. To God, I mean, let us expose them. Let us unburden ourselves to him, and

with Contrition and Devotion acknowledge our own Guilt and beg his Pardon.

II. And this brings me to my fecond Enquiry in my propofed Method; viz. What kind of Confeffion that is, which is made in the Text an Effential Part of Repentance; Whofo confeffeth and forfaketh bis Sins, fhall find Mercy.

For it may be juftly asked, Is Confeffion any thing else but the telling God that we have offended him? And how comes this to be fo meritorious a Thing? Is not Contrition and Sorrow for Sin of a great deal more Value than this comes to? And is not Refolution against Sin ftill more fit to enter the Definition of Repentance? and yet thefe Things are not named.

My Answer to this is, That it is very certain that Contrition for Sin, and Refolu tion against it, are every jot as neceffary to a true Repentance as the confeffing of it is. But this we are to remember, that Con fefon, both in the Scripture Notion of it, and in the Reason of the Thing, doth contain and include in it both these Things.

We are much mistaken in the Nature of this Confeffion, if we make it to be no more than an Acknowledgment, or Repe tition, or Enumeration of our Sins before God (tho' I grant that the Word, in its first and proper Signification, expreffes no more) No: This is the leaft of that which

is implied in this, when it is accounted a Part of Repentance.

If Confeffion was no more than a particular diftinct Acknowledgment of our Sins to God, then that would be the best Confeffion that gave the moft punctual Account of every the leaft minute Circumftance that happens in the finful Action : He would confefs best that could tell beft the Story of his Sins. But, alas! there is nothing in this that can recommend us unto God. When we speak of Confession of Sins as a means of obtaining Pardon for them, we mean by it fuch an actual Attention to our Sins, and to our Guilt, and fuch an hearty Acknowledgment thereof to God Almighty, as includes in it both Shame and Sorrow for what we have done, and likewise stedfaft Purpose of Heart to do fo no more. To confefs our Sins, is to own with Shame and Confufion of Face, that we have tranfgreffed the righteous Laws of God, and deferve his Wrath and Displeafure, and fo far to diflike, to difapprove, and to deteft our own Actions, that we feverely purpose never to be guilty of the like again.

We need not be long to feek what kind of Confeffion that is which my Text speaks of, if we will but attend to what we require of one another in Cafes of Affronts and Of fences done to ourselves. Supposing a Man hath done fome great Injury to us in Word

or

or Deed, upon which we are grievously offended with him, so far that we break off all those Terms of Friendship and Amity with the Man which were between us before: He defires to be reconciled to us, and in order to that, common Senfe teacheth him to come and acknowledge his Fault; and accordingly he doth fo, and we accept of his Confeffion as a good Satiffaction: What is it now that moves and inclines us fo to do? Is it that he hath told us fome Things that we knew not before? No; for we did fufficiently know all his unhandsome Carriage to us, and that made us out of Charity with him: Is it that he doth in a handsome Speech, and with many Rhetorical Amplifications, fet forth the Particulars of the Injury, and tell us what first inclined him, what Neighbour encouraged him, with what Intrigues and Circumstances the whole Bufinefs was carried on? Why in this he may fhew himself a very artificial Man in telling a Story: But this alone caufeth no relenting in us. He may tell us all this, and in as good Words, by way of Drollery or Defiance: That which works upon us to forgive the Man the Injury that he did us, is purely and folely the Mind with which this Confeffion is made. We fee that he is heartily forry for what he hath done; he is afhamed of

and by this Confeffion doth what he can to undo it again. He heartily wishes that

[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »