Obs. 6. That is the best cure which is founded in a pardon. The apostle saith, 'shall save the sick, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.' 0 my brethren ! it were ill if any of us should be cured without a pardon, if the stripe and wound should remain upon the conscience when the body is made sound and whole ; there- fore first sue out your ])ardon ; that is proper physic which worketh upon the cause. David saith, Ps. ciii. 4, ' Bless the Lord, who for- giveth all thine iniquities; and healeth all thy diseases.' There is the right method ; a sick man's work iirst lieth with God, and then with the physician. Asa went first to the physician, and therefore it sped but ill with him. When God taketh away the disease, and doth not take away the guilt, it is not a deliverance, but a reprieval from present execution.
Ver. 16. Con/ess your faults one to another, andjyray one for another, that ye may he heeded. The effectual fervent i^rayer of a righteous man availeth much.
For the connection, many copies have ovv ' confess your faults therefore,' as inferring this direction from what was said before. However it be, there is a connection between the verses, for therefore would he have the special fault acknowledged, that they might the more effectually pray one for anothei'. From whence note : —
Obs. That there is a connection between pardon and confession. The apostle saith 'his sins shall be forgiven him ;' and then 'confess therefore your faults.' See the like in other jilaces : Prov. xxviii. 13, ' He that confesseth and fursaketh his sins, shall find mercy ;' so 1 John i. 9, ' If we confess,' <fcc. This is the ready way to pardon, it is the best way to clear the i)rocess of heaven ; that which is condemned in one coiut, is pardoned in othcMs. God hath made a law against sin, and the law must have satisfaction ; sin must be judged in the court of heaven or in the court of conscience, by God or us. In confession
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the divine judgment is anticipated, 1 Cor. xi. 31, 32; it is the best way to honour mercy. AVhcn sins abound in our feeling, mercy is the more glorious. God will have pardon fetched out in such a way in which there is no merit ; by confession justice may be glorified, but not satisfied. We cannot make God satisfaction, and therefore he requireth acknowledgment : ' He kcepeth not his anger for ever ; only acknowledge thine iniquity,' Jer. iii. 13. It is the most rational way to settle our comfort ; griefs expressed are best eased and mitigated ; all passions are allayed by vent and utterance. David roared when he kept silence, but ' I said, I will confess, and thou forgavest,' Ps. xxxii, 5. Besides, it is the best way to bring the soul into a dislike of sin. Confession is an act of mortification, it is as it were the vomit of the soul ; it breedeth a dislike of the sweetest morsels when they are cast up in loathsome ejections ; sin is sweet in commission, but bitter in the remembrance. God's children find that their hatred is never more keen and exasperated against sin than in confessing. Well, then, come and open your case to God without guile of spirit, and then you may sue out your pardon. David maketh it an argument of his confidence : ' Blot out my offences, for I acknowledge my trans- gression,' Ps. li. 3. Confession doth not offer a bill of indictment to God's justice, but a sad complaint to God's pity and compassion. Oh ! set upon this duty ; it is irksome to the flesh, but salutary and healthy to the spirit. Guilt is shy of God's presence ; the Lord is dreadful to wounded consciences. Ay ! but consider this is the only Avay to sue out your pardon. Gracious souls would not have pardon but in God's way: Domine, da ^'^rius pcenitentiam, et ])ostea indulgen- tiam — Lord, give me repentance, and then give me pardon, saith Fulgentius. But you will say, We confess and find no comfort. I answer — It is because you are not so ingenuous with God as you should be ; you do not come with a necessary clearness and openness of mind. David saith none have the comfort of a pardon but those ' in whose spirit there is no guile,' Ps. xxxii. 2. Usually there is some sin at the bottom, which the soul is loath to cast up, and then God layetli on trouble ; as David lay roaring as long as he kept Satan's counsel. Moses had a privy sore which he would not disclose. He pleadeth other things, insufficiency, want of elocution ; but carnal fear was the main : therefore God gently toncheth this privy sore : Exod. iv. 19, ' Arise, Moses, for the men that sought thy life in Egypt be dead.' He had never pleaded this, but God knew what was the inv^'ard let. So it is with Christians, some distemper is cockered in the soul ; this guile is shaken off with difficulty, but always kept with damage. So you shall see in the history of Job ; Job had complained that he did not know the reason of his hard usage ; one of his friends an- swereth him, Job. xxiii. 9, to the end, that God speaketh ' several times, and men note it not ; ' therefore God layeth on trouble upon trouble, and temptation upon temptation, and all for want of ingenuous and open dealing with him, till at length we confess ; and flien that rare mes- senger, ' one of a thousand,' cometli to seal up our comforts to us : for God will not open his heart to us till we open our hearts to him : ' But if any say, I have sinned, and it profited me not, then his life shall see light.' IJsually thus it is, there is some sin at the bottom, and there-