' Job xxxi. 33. Wo are but flesh and blood, says one ; it is my nature, siiya a second ; 1 cannot help it, says a third ; I am not the first, says a fourth; it was bad company drew me, says a fifth ; if it be a sin, I am .sorry for it, says a sixtii ; if it bo naus;ht, I cry God's mercy, says a seventh. And tints wicked men are aa hypocritical iu their confes- sions as they are in their professions, &c.
» Ps. li. 3] ; Jer. xviii. 19, 20 ; Isa. xxvi. 8, 9 ; Ezra ix. 6 ; Ps. xxxviii. 4 ; Job xlii. 6 ; Luke xviii. 13.
Chap. Ill] a cabinet of jewels. 405
sick man opens his disease to his physician, feelingly, affectionately ; and as the client opens his case to his lawyer, feelingly, affectionately ; so the penitent opens his case, his heart to God, feelingly, affectionately. Cold, careless, verbal, formal, customary confessions are no small abo- minations in the eye of God, Jer. xii. 2. Such men's confessions will be their condemnation at last, their tongues will one day cut their throats. Though confession to men is a work of the voice, yet con- fession to God must be the voice of the heart. Sometimes the heart alone is sufficient without the voice, as you may see in Hannah, 1 Sam. i. 13-15 ; but the voice is never sufficient without the heart, as you may see in that Isa. xxix. 13. Such who make confession of sin to be only a lip labour, such, instead of offering the calves of their lips as the prophet requires, Hosea xiv. 2, do but offer the lips of calves I Heart- confessions, without words, shall be effectual with God, and carry the day in heaven, when all formal, verbal confessions, though they are never so eloquent or excellent, shall be cast as dung in sinners' faces, Isa. i. J 2-16. Mai-y Magdalene weeps, and sighs, and sobs, but speaks never a word, Luke vii. 38 ; and yet by her heart-confessions she carries it with Christ, as is evident by his answer to her : Luke vii. 48, * He said unto her. Thy sins are forgiven thee.' Penitent souls confess sins feel- ingly, but wicked men's confessions make no impression upon them ; their confessions run through them as water runs through a pipe, with- out leaving any impression at all upon the pipe. Wicked men do no more taste nor relish the evil of sin, the poison of sin, the bitterness of sin in any of their confessions, than the pipe does taste or relish the water that runs through it. Such who confess sin formally, or rlie- torically, and yet love sin dearly, heartily, shall never get good by their confessions. Certainly such confessions will never readi the heart of God, that do not reach our own hearts ; nor such confessions will never affect the heart of God, that do not first affect our own hearts. Such as speak very ill of sin with their tongues, and yet secretly wish well to sin in their hearts, will be found at last of all men the most miserablest. But,
(4.) Fourthly, As penitential confession is sincere and cordial, so it is distinct and not confused. The true penitent has his particular and special bills of indictment, he knows his sins of omission, and his sins of commission ; he remembers the sins that he hath most rejoiced and delighted in ; he cannot forget the sins that have had most of his eye, his ear, his head, his hand, his heart ; the by-paths in which he has most walked, and the transgressions by which God has been most dishonoured, his conscience most wounded, and his corrupt nature m.ost pleased and gratified, are always before him, Ezra x. 3. An implicit confession is almost as bad as an implicit faith ; wicked men commonly confess their sins by wholesale. We are all sinners ; but the true penitent confesses his sins by retail, Ps. li. 3. Though it cannot be denied but that in some cases a general confession may be penitent, as you see in the publican, ' God me merciful to me a sinner,' Luke xviii. 1 3 ; yet it must be granted that a true penitent cannot content nor satisfy himself with a general confession. And therefore David confesses his particular sins of adultery and blood-guiltiness, and Paul particularizeth his sins of blasphemy, and persecution, and injuriousness against the saints.
4:06 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. Ill,