he had never done it; and was it to do again, he would abhor the Thoughts of doing it. This now is fome Compenfation to us; nay, it is really the best Satisfaction he can make us: And upon this Confideration of the Man's Repentance we do repent alfo, and forgive him.

Now just upon the fame Account that we value or accept the Confeffion of Offenders towards ourselves, doth God accept of the Confeffion of our Offences towards him : Namely, the Virtue and Acceptableness of it doth not lie in the material Confeffion it felf, but in the Difpofition of the Heart and Mind wherewith it is tendered. By this we may, in fome meafure, fee what Confeffion that is to which a Pardon of Sin is in the Text promifed. It is not barely a Repetition of the Faults we are guilty of to God Almighty; nay, tho' that Repetition be made never fo often, or never fo particularly But it is fuch an Acknowledgment of our Faults as is accompanied with Shame for them, with Hatred to them, and with Refolutions to amend them. So that Confeffion of Sin doth plainly include in it three Things.

Firft, That we be heartily fenfible of our Sins paft, and forry for them, and angry at ourselves for having committed them. And this is that which in common Speech we call Contrition.

Secondly,

Secondly, That this Senfe, and this Sorrow, and this Indignation, do put us upon applying ourselves to God, and there with Shame and Confufion laying open our miferable Condition before him, and humbly and heartily begging his Mercy and Favour thro' the Merits and Interceffion of our Lord Jefus. And this is that which is Confeffion in the precife ftrict Sense of the Word.

Thirdly, That at the same time we enter into stedfaft and ferious Purposes to amend what hath been amifs in us, and to live more carefully, more obediently to the Laws of God for the future. And this is that which is called Refolution.

And now having thus explained the Nature of Confeffion, we have a fair and easy Way opened to us for refolving the other Part of our Enquiry in this Matter; and that is, how Confeffion comes to be so neceffary, fo indifpenfible a Part of Repentance. For it is easy to be collected, from what has been faid, that confeffing our Sins in this manner, is, in the Reafon of the Thing, a Point fo neceffary, that we are no ways qualified for the obtaining Forgiveness of them without it.

Can that Man be, in any Senfe, capable of Mercy, that either ftands upon his own Vindication, or is fo little fenfible of his Fault, that he will not fo much as make Acknowledgment of it? There is no Man P 3

that

that so behaves himself, can expect to find the leaft Favour from any earthly Tribunal before which he is convened, tho' the Matter for which he is called in queftion be of never fo fmall a Concernment. And can we expect that the fupreme Lord of the World will pass by Offences done against his infinite Majefty, and in Contempt of his eternal Laws, upon eafier Terms?

Whofoever doth not forrowfully confefs and acknowledge his Sins, cannot, in any Senfe, be faid to repent of them. And fure, without Repentance, there can be no Forgiveness. If it be faid that Repentance confifts in the forfaking of Sin, and not in the confeffing of it, I answer with a Divine of our own, "That that may indeed be "the Notion of a heathen Repentance." For the Pagans, it is confeffed, took very little Notice of this Part of Religion which we are now talking of. But it is far from being the Repentance that God hath prefcribed to Mankind in the Old and New Teftament. Nor indeed would any of us accept of fuch a Repentance ourselves (if it may in any Senfe be called by that Name.) We should not think ourselves well dealt with, in cafe of any Injury done to us, that the Man who had affronted us once, did fo no more. But we expect that he fhould acknowledge his firft Fault, as well as that he fhould reform it.

I do not say that we can justly stand upon this, or require thefe Terms of Reconciliation from our Brethren: But it is infinitely fit and reasonable that God fhould from his Creatures. We are bound to forgive one another; but God is not bound to forgive us. That which is in us an Act of Duty, is in him an A&t of free Grace and Mercy. If therefore it be supposed that we are all Sinners towards God, and ftand in need of his Mercy, and that we shall not find Mercy without Repentance of our Sins, it will follow that our Repentance must as well look backwards as forwards; that is to fay, we must not only look to the reforming of our Life for the future, (for that can do no more than prevent the Difpleasure of God for the Time to come) but we must also look to the undoing, as well as we can, our fore-paft Sins, in order to the obtaining God's Forgiveness of them. But this is no way in the World to be done, but by meekly, and humbly, and forowfully confeffing them.

And accordingly this is the Condition that God in Scripture every where requires, in order to the granting his Pardon and Mercy for our former Tranfgreffions. If we confess our Sins (fays St. John) he is 1 Joh. 1.9. faithful and just to forgive us our Sins. And thus alfo David; I acknowledged my Sin Pfal.32.5. unto thee, and mine Iniquity I did not hide. I said I will confefs my Sin unto the Lord, P 4

and

and fo thou forgaveft me the Iniquity of my

Sin. But this is not all that is to be faid for the Neceffity of Confeffion, as we have explained it: For, in the fecond Place,

2. As no Man is qualified for the Mercy of God that doth not devoutly confefs his Sins, (becaufe not to confefs is an Argument that the Man doth not truly repent) fo, if we do confider what is imported in Confeffion, we shall be convinced that it is a Thing, that in the very Nature of it must needs, above all other Thing we can do, recommend us to God; for it is doing what Right we poffibly can to the feveral Attributes of God to which we have done Difhonour. If God had never commanded this Expreffion of Repentance, yet we should eafily have gathered from the Reafon of the Thing, that it is the beft, the most natural Compenfation we can make to God for the Breach of his Laws. Not that, in true fpeaking, there is any Compenfation, any Satisfaction to be made by us to God; Chrift, by his Sacrifice on the Crofs, hath done that for us; and that Satisfaction that he made, we humbly tender to God on our behalf, and pretend to no other. But this nevertheless we may fay, that by approaching to God with an hearty Senfe of our Sins, and confeffing them before him with truly contrite and penitent Hearts, we make the beft Reparation we are capable of, for the Affronts and Injuries which by our Sins

we