MED. " and do a trespass against the Lord, " and that person be guilty; then shall VII. they confess the sin that they have "done, and he shall recompense his "trespass *."-" If they shall confess "their iniquity with their trespass "which they trespassed against me, "and that also they have walked con"trary unto me-if then their uncir"cumcised hearts be humbled, and they 66 then accept the punishment of their iniquity, Then will I remember my "covenant."-" Confess your faults 66 one to another."-" If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us "from all unrighteousness §." Here I must correct a mistake into which the penitent may be apt to fall, in the warmth of his first repentance. Confession is not falvation.-Being checked in his career of wickedness, Numb. v. 6, 7. + Lev. xxvi. 40. and feeling the danger of his situa- MED. tion, he is desirous of availing him- VII. self of every expression. But let him reflect on the precise meaning of these words of scripture: "with the mouth, "confession is made unto salvation." This is the second branch of a most important truth; "with the heart man "believeth unto righteousness, and "with the mouth confession is made "unto salvation." These are the Gospel terms of salvation; namely faith, and the effects of faith: not only the profession of that faith which was once delivered to the saints, but the confession of a good conscience towards God. In this confession is comprized all that accumulation of Gospel-righteousness, which, through the grace of God, will operate to the future salvation of man. You are yet only in the way of instruction. But every step you take proves the insufficiency of your own endeavours. You must make use of 8 VII. MED. means, but you must not rest in means. Too many, in your unhappy situation, have rested in means; and in none more than in this of confession. True it is, that it is your duty to confess, but it is not all your duty. You must confess as a proof of your sincerity, and as an atonement to man, because that is a branch of human justice. To God, no atonement you can make will be a sufficient recompense to the Divine displeasure, but it will lead you by easy steps to that more perfect sacrifice on which you must rely, or perish. The Church of England recommends particular confession on the purest motives, first, To the devout communicant; secondly to the dying penitent. In the former case, she says "Let him go to 66 some discreet and learned minister of "God's word and open his grief, that by the ministry of God's word, he receive the benefit of absolution may MED. together with ghostly counsel and ad"vice to the guiding of his conscience, VII. "and avoiding of all scruple and doubt"fulness." In the latter case-" Here "shall the sick person be moved to make "a special confession of his sin, if he "feel his conscience troubled with any "weighty matter. After which con"fession, the priest shall absolve him, "if he humbly and heartily desire it †.' The penitent, and the acknowledged offender, must feel their consciences more burthened with weighty matter, than even the devout communicant, or the person in the extremity of sickness. Special confession then, under these circumstances, becomes an absolute duty. If you were sinking in a stormy sea under the pressure of a heavy millstone, you might say with Jonah, "The waters compass me about even to "the soul, the depth closeth me round Exhort. to the Com. Service. + Visit. of the Sick. Rubric. MED. "about, and weeds are wrapped about VII. my head. I go down to the bottom "of the mountains, the earth with her "bars are about me for ever." Should some kind hand remove the weight that presses you to destruction, what then would be your feelings? You would say with the same Jonah, "Thou hast "brought up my life from corruption, "O Lord, my God!- Salvation is of the "Lord *."-Such are the means by which God rescues you from the bitterness of death. Far be it from me to arrogate a power which is the prerogative of God alone. We are humble instruments of his good pleasure, not to assume a wanton exercise of authority, but to pronounce those blessed whom God blesses, and those accursed whom God has so judged. Attending to this distinction, the Church of Christ in every age has exercised the power of pronouncing an absolution of sins, un * Jonah ii. 5. |