fo amiable, and its Precepts fo extremely agreeable to the Nature of Mankind, that where-ever they are lived up to, they will by degrees mollify the Heart of the most obdurate, and conciliate Love and Respect, at leaft Tenderness and Compaffion from all forts of Men. Let the Times be what they will, the better a Man lives, the more upright and juft, the more humble and peaceable, the more devout and charitable, the more innocent and virtuous he is, the better he is like to fare in this World. But however that happens, this Comfort fuch a Man hath, that he is of all others the fittest to conflict with a Storm: And if it pleases God that he fall under it, bleffed, unfpeak

ably blessed shall he be, for exceeding great fhall his Reward be in the other World.

DISCOURSE VI.

The Danger of Cloaking or Diffembling our Sins. Confeffion of Sins neceffary to Repentance. What fort of Confeffion that must be.

[Delivered in Two Sermons.]

PROV. xxviii. 13.

He that covereth his Sins shall not prosper : But whofo confeffeth, and for faketh them, fhall find Mercy.

T

HIS is undoubtedly one of those
Texts of Scripture which is re-
ferr'd to in the Exhortation be-
fore Morning and Evening Ser-

vice in our Common-PrayerBook" Dearly beloved Brethren, the Scripture moveth us in fundry Places, to "acknowledge and confefs our manifold "Sins and Wickednefs, and that we fhould

not

191

"not diffemble and cloak them before the "Face of Almighty God our heavenly Fa"ther, but confefs them with with an hum"ble, lowly, penitent, and obedient Heart." For certainly the Text fpeaks of covering. and confeffing our Sins, with refpect to God, and not with refpect to Men. Indeed, to conceal our Sins from Men, except in the Cafe of Injuries done to our Neighbour, (and there we are bound to acknowledge our Fault, and make Satisfaction) is fo far from a Fault, that in many Cafes it would be great Imprudence not to do it fince to make them publick might do a great deal of Hurt both to ourselves and others.

And as for Confeffion to a Minifter (tho' that is always lawful, and fometimes highly expedient; and if People among us did more practife it, there is no doubt they would find both great Comfort and great Benefit thereby, yet) it cannot reasonably be thought to be intended in this Place ; and fome of the Papifts themselves, and those the most learned of them, do in plain Terms acknowledge as much, telling us, that thefe Words of Solomon are not spoken of Auricular or Sacramental Confeffion, because the Sacrament of Penance was not in being at that Time, but was inftituted by Chrift long after. So that he doth not here fpeak of confeffing our Sins to Men, but to God; that being the Confeffion that is every where in the Old Testament infifted

on

on as a neceffary Expreffion of our Repentance. So alfo the covering our Sins which we are here cautioned againft, and which is oppofed to confeffing, must be the covering them with refpect to God. He that covereth his Sins fhall not profper: But whofo confeffeth them, and forfaketh them, fhall find Mercy.

1

In fpeaking to which Words I shall shew,

I. First, What is meant by covering, cloaking, or diffembling our Sins, together with the Danger of fo doing. He that covereth his Sins fhall not prosper.

II. Secondly, What kind of Confeffion that is which is here made an Effential Part of Repentance towards God; and how it comes to be fo neceffary. Whofo confeffeth, and forfaketh them, fhall find Mercy.

I. First of all, What is meant by covering our Sins; or, as our Liturgy expreffes it, diffembling and cloaking them before the Face of Almighty God. For here a Queftion ariseth, How can any Man cover or hide his Sins from God?

To which I answer, That truly and literally speaking he cannot; for, as St. Paul tells us, All things are naked and open to the Heb.4.31. Eyes of him with whom we have to do.

He

fees every Action of our Lives, and hears every Word of our Mouths, and understands

VOL. V.

every Thought of our Hearts. So that to hide any thing from God is perfectly impoffible; and he is a Fool, and ignorant of the Nature of God, who thinks to do it: But yet fuch Fools and Ignorants many of us are, that tho' we cannot conceal any thing from God, we may defire it, and we may endeavour it; at leaft, we may be fo ftupid, fo unattentive, fo very careless of our own Actions, as to think that because we do not look into them, God will not; because we do not fee them amifs in our felves, God doth not; and because we are willing to make the best we can of our own State, to think that God will be willing to do fo likewife: And this, in Scripture Language, is a covering of Sins. Tho' we cannot, in a strict and proper Senfe, cover our Sins from God, yet we may do it interpretatively; that is, we may ufe fuch Arts for the palliating our Sins, that, in God's Account, will amount to the fame thing, as if we thought or endeavoured to blind the Eyes of his Sovereign Majefty, fo as that he fhould not fee them. It is worth the while to explain this Matter a little more particularly, and to give an Account of the feveral Ways in which Men may, in this Senfe, be faid to cover their Sins. By which Means we fhall be the better able to examine our own Confciences about this Point, and where we find ourselves guilty, there to make Application to ourselves,

1. First