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is implied in this, when it is accounted a Part of Repentance.

If Confeffion. was no more than a particular diftinct Acknowledgment of our Sins to God, then that would be the best Confeffion that gave the most punctual Account of every the leaft minute Circumftance that happens in the finful Action: He would confefs beft that could tell best the Story of his Sins. But, alas! there is nothing in this that can recommend us unto God. When we fpeak of Confeffion of Sins as a means of obtaining Pardon for them, we mean by it fuch an actual Attention to our Sins, and to our Guilt, and fuch an hearty Acknowledgment thereof to God Almighty, as includes in it both Shame and Sorrow for what we have done, and likewife ftedfaft Purpose of Heart to do fo no more. To confefs our Sins, is to own with Shame and Confufion of Face, that we have tranfgreffed the righteous Laws of God, and deferve his Wrath and Difpleafure, and fo far to diflike, to disapprove, and to deteft our own Actions, that we feverely purpose never to be guilty of the like again.

We need not be long to feek what kind of Confeffion that is which my Text speaks of, if we will but attend to what we require of one another in Cafes of Affronts and Of fences done to ourselves, Suppofing a Man hath done fome great Injury to us in Word

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or Deed, upon which we are grievously offended with him, fo far that we break off all those Terms of Friendship and Amity with the Man which were between us before: He defires to be reconciled to us, and in order to that, common Sense teacheth him to come and acknowledge his Fault; and accordingly he doth fo, and we accept of his Confeffion as a good Satiffaction: What is it now that moves and inclines us fo to do? Is it that he hath told us fome Things that we knew not before? No; for we did fufficiently know all his unhandfome Carriage to us, and that made us out of Charity with him: Is it that he doth in a handfome Speech, and with many Rhetorical Amplifications, fet forth the Particulars of the Injury, and tell us what first inclined him, what Neighbour encouraged him, with what Intrigues and Circumstances the whole Business was carried on? Why in this he may fhew himself a very artificial Man in telling a Story: But this alone caufeth no relenting in us. He may tell us all this, and in as good Words, by way of Drollery or Defiance: That which works upon us to forgive the Man the Injury that he did us, is purely and folely the Mind with which this Confeffion is made. We fee that he is heartily forry for what he hath done; he is afhamed of it, and by this Confeffion doth what he can to undo it again. He heartily wishes that

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he had never done it; and was it to do again, he would abhor the Thoughts of doing it. This now is fome Compensation -to us; nay, it is really the best Satisfaction he can make us: And upon this Confideration of the Man's Repentance we do repent alfo, and forgive him.

Now, juft upon the fame Account that we value or accept the Confeffion of Offenders towards ourfelves, doth God accept of the Confeffion of our Offences towards him : Namely, the Virtue and Acceptableness of it doth not lie in the material Confeffion it felf, but in the Difpofition of the Heart and Mind wherewith it is tendered. By this we may, in fome measure, fee what Confeffion that is to which a Pardon of Sin is in the Text promised. It is not barely a Repetition of the Faults we are guilty of to God Almighty; nay, tho' that Repetition be made never fo often, or never fo particularly But it is fuch an Acknowledgment of our Faults as is accompanied with Shame for them, with Hatred to them, and with Refolutions to amend them. So that Confeffion of Sin doth plainly include in it three Things.

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Firft, That we be heartily fenfible of our Sins paft, and forry for them, and angry at ourselves for having committed them. And this is that which in common Speech we call Contrition.

Secondly,

Secondly, That this Senfe, and this Sorrow, and this Indignation, do put us upon applying ourselves to God, and there with Shame and Confufion laying open our miferable Condition before him, and humbly and heartily begging his Mercy and Favour thro' the Merits and Interceffion of our Lord Jefus. And this is that which is Confeffion in the precife ftrict Sense of the Word.

Thirdly, That at the fame time we enter into ftedfaft and ferious Purposes to amend what hath been amifs in us, and to live more carefully, more obediently to the Laws of God for the future. And this is that which is called Refolution.

And now having thus explained the Nature of Confeffion, we have a fair and easy Way opened to us for refolving the other Part of our Enquiry in this Matter; and that is, how Confeffion comes to be so neceffary, fo indifpenfible a Part of Repentance. For it is eafy to be collected, from what has been faid, that confeffing our Sins in this manner, is, in the Reafon of the Thing, a Point fo neceffary, that we are no ways qualified for the obtaining Forgiveness of them without it.

Can that Man be, in any Senfe, capable of Mercy, that either ftands upon his own Vindication, or is fo little fenfible of his Fault, that he will not fo much as make Acknowledgment of it? There is no Man P 3

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that fo behaves himself, can expect to find the leaft Favour from any earthly Tribunal before which he is convened, tho' the Matter for which he is called in queftion be of never so small a Concernment. And can we expect that the fupreme Lord of the World will pafs by Offences done against his infinite Majefty, and in Contempt of his eternal Laws, upon eafier Terms?

Whofoever doth not forrowfully confess and acknowledge his Sins, cannot, in any Senfe, be faid to repent of them. And fure, without Repentance, there can be no Forgiveness. If it be faid that Repentance confifts in the forfaking of Sin, and not in the confeffing of it, I anfwer with a Divine of our own, "That that may indeed be "the Notion of a heathen Repentance." For the Pagans, it is confeffed, took very little Notice of this Part of Religion which we are now talking of. But it is far from being the Repentance that God hath prefcribed to Mankind in the Old and New Teftament. Nor indeed would any of us accept of fuch a Repentance ourselves (if it may in any Senfe be called by that Name.) We fhould not think ourselves well dealt with, in cafe of any Injury done to us, that the Man who had affronted us once, did fo no more. But we expect that he should acknowledge his firft Fault, as well as that he should reform it.

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