and confession is the next; and, till the one accompanies the other, either will be in vain. Confession, apart from contrition, was the disgrace of the Israelites in the wilderness; for, while "they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer, nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues, for their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant," Psalm lxxviii. 35-37. And contrition, apart from confession, was the misery of the psalmist, while his bones waxed old, through his roaring all the day long. Relief was found at last, and he tells us how it came. "I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin," Psalm xxxii. 5.

But, while confession before God is acknowledged as imperative and indispensable, it may yet deserve inquiry whether the backslider is not bound to proceed, yet further, in the way of humiliation. The law of Christ requires that we should confess our faults "one to another," James v. 16. Still, it may become a question, how far such confession should be

carried. As the design of Christian discipline is the correction rather than the punishment of the offender, where restoration is accomplished confession may be unnecessary. Some things, perhaps, are best in oblivion. The secret fault which has never awakened suspicion, and from which God has already cleansed the soul, hardly comes within the intention of this statute. But should the fact transpire, intentional concealment, even of that sin, (to say nothing of its denial,) will be incompatible with restoration. The grand matter, however, is to make full confession before God, and at his footstool to lay open the whole heart; whereas in the absence of this surrender, confession of every other kind will be utterly unavailing.

Nevertheless, is it to be apprehended, that in many cases, people have a notion that to confess their sin to a fellow creature, and especially to a Christian minister, frees them from guilt. I was once placed in somewhat perplexing circumstances, as to this matter. A man on his death-bed, (no backslider, truly, but one whose whole life, and that a very protracted one, had been a course of irreligion,) wished to disburden his conscience of a heavy load, in order, as the phrase is, to die happy.

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I had reason to apprehend, that had that confession been made, it would have laid me under the necessity of divulging the matter to the nearest magistrate, or have implicated me, as accessory after the fact, in a case of murder. therefore besought him to withhold the disclosure. Whatever his crime might be, God, I told him, had provided but one remedy,-the blood which cleanseth from all sin; and therefore I would only treat him as I would any other perishing sinner, conscious of condemnation and desirous of pardon. At his earnest request, I visited him repeatedly; with what effect the day must declare. I have seen too much of sick-bed conversions to regard them with confidence. He expressed a hope of forgiveness; but, whether that hope was realized, I must leave. The secret of his guilt went down with him to the grave.

Little is it likely that the backslider will have to confess sins which lie within the province of the magistrate. He may, however, find it necessary to make acknowledgments which if allowed to transpire, would greatly damage his reputation, if not as a man, yet perhaps as a professor of religion. Should confession, in this instance, be made beyond the closet, some

Christian friend, to whose confidence he would willingly intrust his reputation, property, and life, may be profitably consulted in the matter. His pastor, if worthy of his office, deserves to be held in such repute. Or, failing this, let him seek some private friend whose faithful counsel and generous sympathy will help him to regain his former standing.

Or, supposing that the backslider himself occupies a public post as a teacher of others, let him pursue the same course in relation to some brother minister of established reputation, which he would expect a member of his own flock to exercise in relation to himself. Let him go and tell him all the truth; imploring his intercessions and his counsels, in order to the restoration of his soul to the paths of righteousness. In every such instance, secrecy should be inviolable.

Not so, however, when the case is flagrant and notorious. Compassion for the sinner must never induce us to extenuate sin. If, therefore, the backslider has claims on our pity, so has the cause which he has outraged; so has the religion which he has betrayed. And, surely, if we pity him, we should pity others too;-the weaker brethren who are disheart

ened and enfeebled by his fall, and the perishing around who have taken license from his sin to Karden themselves in iniquity. And, if these considerations be not enough to awaken our indignation, let us endeavour to view his conduct in the awful light which revelation throws upon it, as crucifying the Son of God afresh, and putting him to an open shame, Heb. vi. 6, and then, assuredly, we shall feel little inclination to "justify the wicked,” Exod. xxiii. 7. But, on the other hand, indignation must not annihilate compassion. The highest instance in the universe is to the contrary. Sin, to an infinitely holy being, must be an object of ineffable displeasure; yet, "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved," John iii. 17.

In order to restoration, sin must be forsaken as well as confessed, and hated, moreover, as well as forsaken. The backslider who professes to return to God, while in his heart he loves the course which he denounces and abandons, is at best, only a self-deceiver; but, if while he confesses his guilt he continues to live in sin, his real character is that of an unblushing apostate.