Ghost to take upon them an office and minis"tration to serve God for the promoting of his glory, and the edifying of his people, are by the same Holy Ghost endued with a hearty zeal for God's glory, and with an affectionate regard for the souls of men. Surely, therefore, our" dearly beloved brethren," who compose our congregations, should receive the word at our mouths with meekness. Do we reprove? Our reproof is the voice of a friend. Do we rebuke? It is in love. Do we exhort? It is because we are solicitous for the eternal welfare of those who are the objects of our exhortations. We try to conciliate their esteem that we may do them good. While flatterers and dissemblers "daub with untempered mortar," because they are indifferent whether the important building stand or fall; we feel ourselves bound by the law of love to deal faithfully with the consciences of our hearers, and do not shun to " declare to "them the whole counsel of God." Our church directs us to put the congregation in mind of the authority under which we act. We come not in our own name, nor speak our own words, when we openly declare the necessity of making confession of our sins; but "the Scripture moveth us in sundry places" to the performance of this duty. To the law and to the testimony we appeal To the book of God we direct the attention of our people. O that all the members of our church would imitate the example of the noble † Bereans, and search the Scriptures daily, that they might be enabled to determine for themselves whether the words * Common Prayer Book, Ordering of Deacons. † Acts xvii. 11. C which they hear be the "words of truth and "soberness," or not! If the minister speak the truth in love, let it be remembered, that "he "who despiseth, despiseth not man, but God."* The necessity of a full and ingenuous confession of our sins is pointed out to us by a reference to Scripture. "The Scripture moveth us "in sundry places to acknowledge and confess "our manifold sins and wickedness." On this subject the word of God is very clear and decisive: "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh "them shall have mercy." Were it necessary, a variety of other passages might be produced. The matter of confession is "our manifold sins "and wickedness;" those of the heart as well as those of the life, with all their respective aggravations. On this subject we shall speak more fully when we come to consider the excellent form of confession that follows. At At present we shall only remark that ALL sin must be confessed, so far as we are brought to an acquaintance with it. Not that it is possible for us to make the catalogue complete, or recall to mind one of a thousand of our "manifold" transgressions. They are fully known to Him only, "who telleth the number of the stars" and the grains of sand that cover the shores of the ocean. But we must become willing to see and acknowledge the utmost deformity of sin, and to feel our own defiled and degraded state in consequence of it. "It is a vain thing to think of being accepted of God while we spare one "sin. One sin is sin, and the wages of all sin "is death. What better then would you be, * 1 Thes. iv. 8. † Prov. xxviii. 13. 66 66 "supposing that all others were confessed, if "there is one still standing out against you to "condemn you? Though you are not an adul"terer, a fornicator, or profane swearer; yet if you are a drunkard, or an evil-speaker, or a "sabbath-breaker, or so bent upon the gain of "this world as to keep your heart from God; you are an unrighteous person, and the sen"tence upon all such singly is, They shall not "inherit the kingdom of God. The enemy of your souls, the Devil himself, will suffer you, "or (if it be possible) help you, to confess all your sins but one, if he could be sure that "you would keep that one." It is not the multitude or enormity of our sins that prevents our participation of Divine mercy, but the impenitence of our hearts. 66 The motives with which our church enforces her exhortation, are drawn from the character of that God with whom we have to do. He is Almighty God, our heavenly Father." He is "Almighty" to save the penitent, and to punish those who reject His mercy. Since then He is "Able to save, even to the uttermost, through the " plenteous redemption that is in Christ Jesus," there is no reason to fear His displeasure, if the disposition of Nathanael t be found in us. If in our spirits there be no guile; if " in simplicity and Godly sincerity we confess our "sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our "sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous"ness." § But He is also " Almighty" to punish those who reject His counsel. "There "is no darkness nor shadow of death, where 66 *Adams's Posthumous Works, vol. i. p. 263. † John i. 47. § 1 John i. 9. "the workers of iniquity may hide themselves," so that His Omniscient eye shall not follow them; nor is there any place so strongly fortified, that His "Almighty" arm cannot drag them thence to plunge them in perdition. To those who approach His mercy seat, He is a " Father" in Christ to pardon and accept; for "as a Father pitieth his children, even so the Lord pitieth "those that fear" + His wrath, and deprecate His vengeance. O what motives then are these to enforce the necessity of an immediate and undisguised confession!" 66 But we shall not do justice to the wisdom of the compilers of our liturgy, if we neglect to notice the ample variety of words and phrases, which they have used on this subject. They not only remind us of the duty of confession, but also of the folly and danger of neglecting it. They pathetically warn us "not to "dissemble nor cloak our sins before the face of "Almighty God." This is wisely added, on account of our natural propensity to hide our sins from God and from ourselves. Foolish as this conduct is, it is general. It seems to be an effect of that darkness in which the fall has involved the human mind. So soon as Adam had broken the law of God, and had thereby brought guilt on his conscience, we perceive that "his "foolish heart was darkened." For when God came down into the garden to inquire into the conduct of His creature, instead of hastening to the feet of his Maker with humble confession and earnest supplication for mercy, the sacred historian informs us that " Adam hid himself "from the presence of the Lord God among *Job xxxiv. 22. † Psalm ciii. 13. "the trees of the garden." * Poor unhappy Adam! where is that clearness of understanding, in which thou wert created?-What, hide thyself from Him who is Omniscient and Omnipresent! How is the fine gold become dim! How are thy faculties at once impaired by the admission of sin into thy heart!-This unhappy propensity to self-delusion has Adam entailed on all his children. We are all foolish enough to think that we can hide our sins from God. How shall we account for it, but by the considerations that follow? Man, till he is brought to an acquaintance with the person and work of the Mediator Jesus, is afraid to see and acknowledge the exceeding sinfulness † of sin, lest by the discovery hope should be excluded from his mind; for when sin is seen in the full dimensions of its malignity and demerit, the sinner must despair, if he be unacquainted with the virtue of that "blood which cleanseth from all sin." But there is yet another consideration, which may serve to account for this strange folly of the human breast. Till the sinner's heart be changed by grace; till the love of sin be eradicated, and the love of holiness implanted in its room; he is afraid to confess his sins, because then his conscience would enforce the necessity of a separation between him and his beloved lusts: and to a man that is unrenewed, nothing is so dreadful as a divorce from sin. He will rather risk the salvation of his precious soul on a vague groundless hope of unpromised mercy, than confess and forsake his favourite iniquities. How often do we hear poor deluded criminals dissembling and cloaking their offences by * Gen. iii. 8. Rom. vii. 13. |