Suppose a man sick of an apoplexy unto death, and should for his remedy make use only of those things that are good against the second ague, would not this demonstrate that this man was not sensible of the nature and danger of this disease. The same may be said of every sinner, that shall make use only of those means to justify him before G.o.d, that can hardly make him go for a good Christian before judicious men. But the poor Publican, he knew the nature of his disease, the danger of his disease; and knew also, that nothing but mercy, infinite mercy could cure him thereof.
5. This confession of the Publican, declareth that he himself was born up now, by an almighty, though invisible hand. For sin, when seen in its colours, and when appearing in its monstrous shape and hue, frighteth all mortals out of their wits, away from G.o.d; and if he stops them not, also out of the world. This is manifest by Cain, Judas, Saul, and others, who could not stand up before G.o.d under the sense and appearance of their sin, but fly before him, one to one fruit of despair, and one to another. But now this Publican, though he apprehends his sin, and that himself was one that was a sinner, yet he beareth up, cometh into the temple, approaches the presence of an holy and sin-revenging G.o.d, stands before him, and confesses that he is that ugly man, that man that sin had defiled, and that had brought himself into the danger of d.a.m.nation thereby.
This therefore was a mighty act of the Publican. He went against the voice of conscience, against sense and feeling, against the curse and condemning verdict of the law; he went, as I may say, upon hot burning coals to one, that to sin and sinners is nothing but consuming fire.
Now then, did the Publican this of his own head, or from his now mind? No verily, there was some supernatural power within that did secretly prompt him on, and strengthen him to this most n.o.ble venture. True, there is nothing more common among wicked men, than to tick and toy, and play with this saying of the Publican, "G.o.d be merciful to me a sinner"; not at all being sensible either what sin is, or of their need of mercy. And such sinners shall find their speed in the Publican"s prayer, far otherwise than the Publican sped himself; it will happen unto them much as it happened unto the vagabond Jews, exorcists, who took upon them to call over them that had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus; that were beaten by that spirit and made fly out of that house naked and wounded. (Acts 19:13-16) Poor sinner, dead sinner, thou wilt say the Publican"s prayer, and make the Publican"s confession, and say, "G.o.d be merciful to me a sinner." But hold, dost thou do it with the Publican"s heart, sense, dread and simplicity? If not, thou dost but abuse the Publican and his prayer, and thyself, and his G.o.d; and shalt find G.o.d rejecting of thee and thy prayers, saying, The Publican I know, his prayers, and tears, and G.o.dly tears I know; but who or what art thou? And will send thee away naked and wounded. They are the hungry that he filleth with good things, but the rich and the senseless, he sendeth empty away.
For my part, I find it one of the hardest things that I can put my soul upon, even to come to G.o.d, when warmly sensible that I am a sinner, for a share in grace and mercy. Oh! methinks it seems to me as if the whole face of the heavens were set against me. Yea, the very thought of G.o.d strikes me through, I cannot bear up, I cannot stand before him, I cannot but with a thousand tears say, "G.o.d be merciful to me a sinner." (Ezra 9:15) At another time when my heart is more hard and stupid, and when his terror doth not make me afraid, then I can come before him and talk of my sins, and ask mercy at his hand, and scarce be sensible of sin or grace, or that indeed I am before G.o.d: But above all, they are the rare times, when I can go to G.o.d as the Publican, sensible of his glorious majesty, sensible of my misery, and bear up, and affectionately cry, "G.o.d be merciful to me a sinner."
But again, the Publican by his confession, showeth a piece of the highest wisdom that a mortal man can show; because by so doing, he engageth as well as imploreth the grace and mercy of G.o.d to save him. You see by the text he imploreth it; and now I will shew you that he engageth it, and makes himself a sharer in it.
"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." (Prov 28:13) And again, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)
[He engageth it.] In the promise of pardon, He shall find mercy; he shall have his sins forgiven. As also Solomon prays, that G.o.d will forgive them that know their own sore, and they are indeed, such as are sensible of the plague of their own heart. (2 Chron 6:29,30, 1 Kings 8:37,38) And the reason is, because the sinner is now driven to the farthest point; for confession is the farthest point, and the utmost bound unto which G.o.d has appointed the Publican to go, with reference to his work. As it is said of Saul to David, when he was about to give him Micah his daughter to wife, "The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king"s enemies." (1 Same 18:25)
So says G.o.d in this matter, I desire no sacrifices, nor legal righteousness to make thee acceptable to me, only acknowledge and confess thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed against me.
(Jer 3:12,13) And though this by some may be thought to be a very easy way to come at, and partake of, the mercy of G.o.d; yet let the sensible sinner try it, and he shall find it one of the hardest things in the world. And there are two things, to which man is p.r.o.ne, that makes confession hard.
I. There is a great incidency in us to be partial, and not thorough and plain in our confessions. We are apt to make half confessions; to confess some, and hide some; or else to make feigned confessions, flattering both ourselves, and also G.o.d, while we make confession unto him; or else to confess sin as our own fancies apprehend, and not as the word descries them. These things we are very incident to: Men can confess little sins, while they hide great ones. Men can feign themselves sorry for sin, when they are not, or else in their confessions forget to judge of sin by the word. Hence it is said, They turned to G.o.d, not with their whole heart, but as it were feignedly. They spake not aright, saying, what have I done?
They flatter him with their lips, and lie unto him with their tongues, and do their wickedness in the dark, and sin against him with a high hand, and then come to him and cover the altar with their tears. These things therefore, demonstrate the difficulty of sincere confession of sin; and that to do it as it should, is no such easy thing.
To right confession of sin, several things must go. As,
1. There must be found conviction for sin upon the spirit: for before a man shall be convinced of the nature, aggravation, and evil of sin, how shall he make G.o.dly confession of it? Now to convince the soul of sin, the law must be set home upon the conscience by the Spirit of G.o.d; "For by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Rom 3:20) And again, "I had not known sin except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." (Rom 7:7) This law, now, when it effectually ministereth conviction of sin to the conscience, doth it by putting of life, and strength, and terror into sin. By its working on the conscience, it makes sin revive, "and the strength of sin is the law." (1 Cor 15:56) It also increaseth and multiplieth sin, both by the revelation of G.o.d"s anger against the soul; and also by mustering up, and calling to view sins committed, and forgotten time out of mind. Sin seen in the gla.s.s of the law is a terrible thing, no man can behold it and live. "When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died"; when it came from G.o.d to my conscience, as managed by an almighty arm, "then it slew me." And now is the time to confess sin, because now a soul knows what it is, and sees what it is, both in the nature and consequence of it.
2. To right confession of sin, there must be sound knowledge of G.o.d, especially as to his justice, holiness, righteousness, and purity; wherefore the Publican here begins his confession by calling upon, or by the acknowledgement of his majesty: "G.o.d be merciful to me a sinner." As if he should say, G.o.d, O G.o.d, O great G.o.d, O sin-revenging G.o.d, I have sinned against thee, I have broken thy law, I have opposed thy holiness, thy justice, thy law, and thy righteous will. O consuming fire! for our G.o.d is a consuming fire, I have justly provoked thee to wrath, and to take vengeance of me for my transgressions. But, alas! how few, that make confession of sin, have right apprehension of G.o.d, unto whom confession of sin doth belong! Alas, "tis easy for men to entertain such apprehensions of G.o.d as shall please their own humours, and as will admit them without dying, to bear up under their sense of sin, and that shall make their confession rather facile, and fantastical, than solid and heart-breaking. The sight and knowledge of the great G.o.d is to the sinful man the most dreadful thing in the world; and is that which makes confession of sin so rare and wonderful a thing. Most men confess their sins behind G.o.d"s back, but few to his face; and you know there is ofttimes a vast difference in one thus doing among men.
3. To right confession of sin, there must be a deep conviction of the certainty and terribleness of the day of judgment. This John the Baptist inserts, where he insinuates, that the Pharisees" want of sense of, and the true confession of sin, was because they had not been warned, or had not taken the alarm, to flee from the wrath to come. What dread, terror, or frightful apprehension can there be put into a revelation of sin, where there is no sense of a day of judgment, and of our giving there unto G.o.d an account for it. (Matt 3:7, Luke 3:7)
I say therefore, to right confession of sin there must be,
(1.) A deep conviction of the certainty of the day of judgment; namely, that such a day is coming, that such a day shall be. This the apostle insinuates, where he saith, "G.o.d commandeth all men every where to repent; Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given a.s.surance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." (Acts 17:30,31)
This will give a sense of what the soul must expect at that day for sin, and so will drive to an hearty acknowledgment of it, and strong cries for deliverance from it. For thus will the soul argue that expecteth the judgment day, and that believes that he must count for all there. O my heart! It is in vain now to dissemble, or to hide, or to lessen transgressions; for there is a judgment to come, a day in which G.o.d will judge "the secrets of men by his Son," and at that day he will bring to light "the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsel of the heart." If it must be so then, to what boot32 will it be now to seek to dissemble, or to lessen in this matter. (1 Cor 4:5) This also is in the Old Testament urged as an argument to cause youth, and persons of all sizes to recall themselves to sobriety, and so to confession of their sin to G.o.d; where the Holy Ghost saith ironically, "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things G.o.d will bring thee into judgment." (Eccl 11:9) So again, "G.o.d shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good, or whether evil." (Eccl 12:14)
The certainty of this, I say, must go to the producing of a sincere confession of sin, and this is intimated by the Publican, who, with his confession, addeth a hearty crave for mercy, "G.o.d be merciful to me a sinner." As if he should say, if thou art not merciful to me, by thy judgment when thou comest I shall be swallowed up; without thy mercy I shall not stand, but fall by the judgment which thou hast appointed.
(2.) As there must be, for the producing of sincere confession of sin, a deep conviction of the certainty, so there must also be of the terribleness of the day of judgment. Wherefore the apostle, makes use of the first, so of this to put men upon repentance, an ingredient of which is sincere confession of sin. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." (2 Cor 5:10,11) The terror of the Lord, as we see here, he makes use of that, to persuade men to come by confession of sin, and repentance, to G.o.d for mercy.
And I am persuaded, that it will be found a truth one day that one reason that this day doth so swarm with wanton professors, is, because they have not begun at sound conviction for, nor gone to G.o.d at first with sincere confession of sin. And one cause of that has been, for that they did never seriously fall in with, nor yet in heart sink under, either the certainty or terribleness of the day of judgment.
O! the terrors of the Lord! the amazing face that will be put upon all things before the tribunal of G.o.d. Yea, the terror that will then be read in the face of G.o.d, of Christ, of saints and angels, against the unG.o.dly; whoso believes and understands it, cannot live without confession of sin to G.o.d, and coming to him for mercy.
Mountains, mountains fall upon us, and cover us, will then the cry of the unG.o.dly be, and "hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?" This terror is also signified where it is said, "and I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the [very] earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before G.o.d; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and h.e.l.l delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and h.e.l.l were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Rev 20) Here is terror, and this terror is revealed afore-hand in the word of the truth of G.o.d, that sinners might hear and read and consider it, and so come and confess, and implore G.o.d"s mercy.
The terror of the Lord, how will it appear, when he "shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not G.o.d, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thess 1:7-9)
The terror of the Lord, how will it appear, when his wrath shall burn and flame out like an oven, or a fiery furnace before him, while the wicked stand in his sight. (Matt 13:50)
The terror of the Lord, how will it appear, while the angels at his commandment shall gather the wicked in bundles to burn them!
"As--the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
(Matt 13:40-42) Who can conceive of this terror to its full with his mind? Wherefore much more unable are men to express it with tongue or pen; yet the truly penitent and sin-confessing Publican, hath apprehension so far thereof, by the word of the testimony, that it driveth him to G.o.d, with a confession of sin for an interest in G.o.d"s mercy. But,
4. To right and sincere confession of sin, there must be a good conviction of a probability of mercy. This also is intimated by the Publican in his confession; "G.o.d [saith he] be merciful to me a sinner." He had some glimmerings of mercy, some conviction of a probability of mercy, or that he might obtain mercy for his pardon, if he went, and with unfeigned lips did confess his sins to G.o.d.33
Despair of mercy, shuts up the mouth, makes the heart hard, and drives a man away from G.o.d; as is manifest in the case of Adam and the fallen angels. But the least intimation of mercy, if the heart can but touch, feel, taste, or have the least probability of it, that will open the mouth, tend to soften the heart, and to make a very Publican come up to G.o.d into the temple and say, "G.o.d be merciful to me a sinner."
There must then be this holy mixture of things in the heart of a truly confessing Publican. There must be sound sense of sin, sound knowledge of G.o.d: deep conviction of the certainty and terribleness of the day of judgment, as also of the probability of obtaining mercy.
But to come to that which remains; I told you that there were two things that did make unfeigned confession hard. The first I have touched upon.
II. And now the second follows: And that is, some private, close leaning to some piece or parcel of goodness, that a man shall conceit that he hath done before, or is doing now, or that he purposeth in his deceitful heart that he will do one of these days, with which he hopes to prevail with G.o.d for the pardon of his sins. This man to be sure knows not sin in the nature and evil of it, only he has some false apprehensions about it. For where the right knowledge of sin is in the heart, that man sees so much evil in the least transgression, as that it would, even any one sin, break the backs of all the angels of heaven, should the great G.o.d but impute it to them. And he that sees this is far enough off from thinking of doing to mitigate, or a.s.suage the rigour of the law, or to make pardonable his own transgressions thereby. But he that sees not this, cannot confess his transgressions aright; for the confession consisteth in the general, in a man"s taking to himself his transgressions, and standing in them, with the acknowledgement of them to be his, and that he cannot stir from under them, nor do any thing to make amends for them, or to palliate the rigour of justice against the soul. And this the Publican did when he cried, "G.o.d be merciful to me a sinner."
He made his sins his own, he took them to him, he stood before in them, accounting that he was surely undone for ever if G.o.d did not extend forgiveness unto him. And this is to do as the prophet Jeremy bids; to wit, "only to acknowledge our iniquities," to acknowledge them and to stand in them at the terrible bar of G.o.d"s justice, until mercy takes them out of the way; not shifting our shoulders or conscience of them, by doing, or promising to do, either this or that good work, only acknowledge, acknowledge only.
And the reason of this kind of confession is,
1. Because this carrieth in it the true nature of confession, to confess, and to abide under the crimes confessed, without shifts and evasions, is the only real simple way of confessions. "I said I would confess my transgressions unto the Lord"; and what then, "and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." (Psa 32:5) Mark, nothing comes in betwixt confession and forgiveness of sin, nothing of works of righteousness, nothing of legal amendments, nothing but an outcry for mercy; and that act is so far off from lessening the offence, that it greatly heighteneth and aggravates it. That is the first reason.
2. A second reason is, because G.o.d doth expect that the penitent confessors should for the time that his wisdom shall think meet, not only confess, but bear their shame upon them; yea, saith G.o.d, "be thou confounded also and bear thy shame," when G.o.d takes away thine iniquity, thou shalt be confounded and never open thy mouth more because of thy shame. (Eze 16:52,63) We count it convenient that men, when their crimes and transgressions are to be manifested, that they be set in some open place, with a paper, wherein their transgressions are inserted, pinned upon their back or their forehead, that they may not only confess, but bear their own shame.34 And at the penitential confession of sinners, G.o.d has something of this kind to do; if not before men, yet before angels, that they may behold, and be affected, and rejoice when they shall see, after the revelation of sin, the sinner taken into the favour and abundant mercy of G.o.d. (Luke 15)
3. A third reason is, For that G.o.d will in the forgiveness of sin, magnify the riches of his mercy; but this cannot be, if G.o.d shall suffer, or accept of such confession of sin, as is yet intermixed with those things that will darken the heinousness of the offence, and that will be darkened either by a partial, feigned, or overly confession: or by a joining with the confession any of the sinners pretended good deeds.
That G.o.d in the salvation, and so in the confession of the sinner, designs the magnifying of his mercy, is apparent enough from the whole current of scripture, and that any of the things now mentioned will, if suffered to be done, darken and eclipse this thing, is evident to reason itself.
Suppose a man stand indicted for treason, yet shall so order the matter, that it shall ring in the country, that his offences are but petty crimes; though the king shall forgive this man, much glory shall not thereby redound to the riches and greatness of his mercy. But let all things lie naked, let nothing lie hid or covered, let sin be seen, shewn, and confessed, as it is with and in the sinner himself, and then there will be in his forgiveness a magnifying of mercy.
4. A fourth reason is, for that else G.o.d cannot be justified in his sayings, nor overcome when he is judged. (Psa 51, Rom 3) G.o.d"s word hath told us what sin is, both as to its nature and evil effects.
G.o.d"s word hath told us, that the best of our righteousnesses are not better than filthy rags. G.o.d"s word has also told us, that sin is forgiven us freely by grace, and to for the sake of our amendments: and all this G.o.d will have shewn, not only in the acts of his mercy towards, but even in the humiliations and confessions of the penitent: For G.o.d will have his mercy begin to be displayed even there where the sinner hath taken his first step toward him: "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."
(Rom 5:21)
5. A fifth reason is, because G.o.d would have by the Publican"s conversion, others affected with the displays and discoveries of wonderful grace; but to cloud and cover it with lessening of sin, and the sinful righteousness of man, is not the way to do this.
Wherefore the sinner"s confession must be such as is full, nor must anything of his to lessen sin come in betwixt confession and mercy; and this is the way to affect others [who are] as bad as Publicans and sinners, and to make them come in to G.o.d for mercy.
For what will such say when sin begins to appear to the conscience, and when the law shall follow it with a voice of words, each one like a clap of thunder? I say, what will such say when they shall read that the Publican did only acknowledge his iniquity, and found grace and favour at the hand of G.o.d? But that G.o.d is infinitely merciful; merciful indeed, and that to those, or to such, as do in truth stand in need of mercy. Also that he sheweth mercy of his own good pleasure, nothing moving him thereto but the bounty of his own goodness and the misery of his creature.
I say, this is the way to make others be affected with mercy; as he saith, by the apostle Paul, "But G.o.d, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, [by grace ye are saved] and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." (Eph 2:4-7) You may also see that: 1 Timothy 1:15, 16. 6. Another reason of this is, because this is the way to heighten the comfort and consolation of the soul; and that both here and hereafter. What tendeth more to this, than for sinners to see, and with guilt and amazement to confess what sin is, and so to have pardon extended from G.o.d to the sinner as such?
This fills the heart; this ravishes the soul! this puts a whole heaven of joy into every one of the thoughts of salvation from sin, and deliverance from wrath to come. "And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." (Isa 35:10) Indeed the belief of this makes joy and gladness endless: I say, it will make it begin here, and make that it shall never have consummation in heaven.
7. Besides, it layeth upon the soul the greatest obligations to holiness; what like the apprehension of free forgiveness, and that apprehension must come in through a sight of the greatness of sin, and of my inability to do anything towards satisfaction, to engage the heart of a rebel and traitor to love his prince, and to submit to his laws.
When Elisha had taken the Syrians captives, some were for using severities towards them; but he said, "Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master"; and they did so. And what follows, "So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel." He conquered their malice with his compa.s.sion. And it is the love of Christ that constraineth to live to him. (2 Kings 6:22,23, 2 Cor 5:14)
Many other things might possibly be urged, but at present let these be sufficient.
[His imploring of mercy.]