The Reformed Pastor, Chapter 4 · Section 9
SECT. IX.
AND now Brethren what remaineth, but that we all cry guilty, of too much of theſe forementioned ſins! and humble our ſouls in the lamentation of our miſcarriages before the Lord! Is this Taking heed to our ſelves and to all the Flock? Is this like the pattern that is given us here in the Text? If we ſhould prove now ſtout-hearted and unhumbled men, and ſnuff at theſe Confeſsions as tending to our diſgrace, how ſad a ſymptom would it be to our ſelves and to the Church? The Miniſtery hath been oft threatned here, and is ſtill maligned by many ſorts of adverſaries; Though all this may ſhew their impious malice, yet may it alſo intimate to us Gods juſt indignation. Believe it Brethren, the Miniſtery of England is not the leaſt or laſt in the ſin of the Land; It is they that have encouraged the common prophaneſs; It is they that have led the people into diviſions, and are now ſo backward to bring them out. And as ſin hath been found in them, ſo Judgements have been found and laid upon them. Its time therefore for us to take our part of that Humiliation which we have been calling ou… people to ſo long. If we have our wits about us, we may perceive that God hath been offended with us and that the voice that called this Nation to Repentance, did ſpeak to us as well as others. He therefore that hath ears let him hear the voice of railing enemies of all ſorts, the voice of them that cry, down with us, even to the ground, all calling us to try our waies and to reform. He that hath eyes let him ſee the precepts of Repentance written in ſo many admirable deliverances and preſervations, and written in ſo many lines of blood. By fire and ſword hath God been calling even us to Humiliation; And as Judgement hath begun at the houſe of God, ſo if Humiliation begin not there too, it will be a ſad prognoſtick to us and to the Land. What! ſhall we deny, or excuſe, or extenuate our ſins, while we call our people to ſuch free Confeſſions? Is it not better to give glory to God by a full and humble Confeſsion, then in tenderneſs of our own glory to ſeek for figleaves to cover our nakedneſs; and to put God to it, to build his glory which we denyed him, upon the ruines of our own which we preferred before him? and to diſtrain for that by a yet ſorer Judgement, which we denyed voluntarily to ſurrender to him? Alas if you put God to get his honour as he can, he can get it to your greater ſorrow and diſhonour. If any of our hearers in a day of Humiliation when ſin is fully confeſſed and lamented, ſhould be offended at the Confeſsion, and ſtand up againſt it, and ſay, You wrong me; I am not ſo bad! You ſhould have told me of this in private, and not have diſgraced me before the Congregation. What could we think of ſuch a man but that he was a hardened impenitent wretch; and as he would have no part in the Confeſsion, ſo he ſhould have none in the Remiſſion. And ſhall we do that which we ſcarce ever ſee the moſt hardened ſinner do? Shall we ſay, This ſhould not have been ſpoken of us in the ears of the people, but we ſhould have been honoured before them? Certainly ſins openly committed are more diſhonourable to us when we hide them, then when we confeſs them. It is the ſin and not the Confeſſion that is our diſhonour: And we have committed them before the Sun, ſo that they cannot be hid. Attempts to cloak them, do increaſe the guilt and ſhame: There is no way to repair the breaches in our honour, which our ſin hath made, but by free Confeſſion and Humiliation. I durſt not but make Confeſſion of my own: and if any be offended that I have confeſſed theirs, let them know, that I do but what I have done by my ſelf. And if they dare diſown the confeſſion of their ſin, let them do it at their peril. But as for all the truly humble Miniſters of the Goſpel, I doubt not but they will rather be provoked more ſolemnly in the face of their ſeveral Congregations, to lament their ſins, and promiſe Reformation.