LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.

The Eight and Thirtieth SERMON. (Book 38)

PROV. XXVIII. 13.

He that covereth his sinnes shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy.

* 1.1BE not wise in your own conceits. It is St. Paul's counsel. And it is the Wisemans counsel also. And he giveth the reason for it. Seest thou a wise man in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool then of him: more hope of him that hath no use of reason, then of him that hath, and abuseth it; that draweth it down to vile and base offices, that maketh it ministerial and serviceable to his lusts; that first imployeth it as a midwife to bring forth that sinne which his lust hath conceived, and then, when it hath brought it forth, maketh it as a nurse to cherish it; first to find out wayes to ma∣ture and perfect it, and then to cast a shadow to cover it. Certainly there is more hope of a fool then of him. For a fool setteth not up to himself any end, and so is not frustrate or defeated of it: But he that is wise in his own conceit is the more unhappy fool of the two; for he proposeth to him∣self an end; and doth not only fail and come short of it, but falleth and is bruised on a contrary. He promiseth to himself glory, and meeteth with shame; he looketh towards Prosperity, and is made miserable; he flatte∣reth himself with hope of Life, and is swallowed up by death: he smileth, and pleaseth and applaudeth himself, and perisheth; he lifteth up himself on high, and falleth and is buried in the mire and filth of his own con∣ceits. That which he seeketh flyeth from him, and that which he runneth from overtaketh him. The truth of which hath been visible in many par∣ticulars, and written as it were with the bloud of those who have sought death in the errour of their lives; and here Solomon hath manifested it in this Proverb or wise sentence which I have read unto you. For how happy do we think our selves, if we can sin, and then hide and cover our sin from our own and others eyes? and yet Wisdom it self hath said, He that doth so, shall not prosper. What a disgrace do we count it to con∣fess and forsake sin? and yet he that doth so, shall find mercy. Our wayes are not as God's wayes. That which we gather for a flower, is a noysome and baneful weed; that which we make our joy, is turned into sorrow; that which we apply to heal, doth more wound; our balm is poyson, and our Paradise Hell. Ye have heard of the wisedom of Solomon; Hearken to it in this particular, which crosseth the wisedom of this world; He that co∣vereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Which words teach us these two things; 1. The Danger of covering or excusing our sins; He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: 2. The Remedy or way to avoid this danger; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, shall

have mercy. The first we shall especially insist upon, and shew it you in re∣spect 1. of God, 2. of our selves.

First, the danger of covering our sins appeareth in this, that sin cannot be covered, cannot admit of excuse. Omnis excusatio sui aequitate nititur, say the Civilians, All excuse is founded on equity, and none is good but so far as equity commendeth it As far then as Sin may be covered or excu∣sed, so far it is not sin, at least not lyable to punishment. For our own experience will tell us, that where excuse with reason may run, there it exempteth the accused both from fault and punishment. We read,* 1.2 that when Aaron's sons had not eaten the goat of the sin-offering according to the Law, and Aaron had made that reasonable excuse which we find, that his sor∣row for his two sons Nadab and Abihu had made him unfit to eat of those Holy things, vvhich they vvere to do rejoycing,* 1.3 and vvhen they brought their sanctified things, they vvere to say, I have not eat thereof in my mour∣ning, vvhen he had made this excuse, the Text telleth us, When Moses heard that, he was content. And this is the difference betwixt Moral and Ceremonial Laws: Aliud sunt imagines, saith Tertullian, aliud definitiones: Imagines prophetant, definitiones gubernant: We are governed, not by Cere∣monies, vvhich pass away as a shadow; but by Laws vvhich are immutable and indispensable. Ceremonies are arbitrary; and not only Reason, but God himself doth in this case frame excuses, and putteth them in our mouth, and covereth what deformity soever they may pre∣sent to men, that cannot but misinterpret what they understand not. Da∣vid in his Hunger eateth of the shew-bread; the priest denieth him not;* 1.4 and our Saviour in the Gospel, acquitteth him out of the Prophet. I will have mercy, and not sacrifice. Better all Ceremony should fall to the ground then any one Hungry soul should starve for bread. But the laws given to the sons of men as a rule of life, are not ceremonial and temporary, but re∣all and eternal; nor can those sins vvhich break them receive any cover or palliation: And to plead excuse or dispensation against these, is to turn mercy into sacrifice, to plead for Baal, to cover and boulster up and justi∣fie sin, vvhich is the greatest sin of all. When Sacrifices were omitted, or the Sabbath for some reasons not observed, vve do not find that God doth complain; and Christ maketh it lawful, nay necessary, in some particu∣lars; a sin, not to do that which otherwise would be a sin; not to neglect the Sabbath to save the life of a man, nay of an ass. What Ceremony al∣most can we name vvhich hath not at some time upon just occasion been o∣mitted? But vvhen the Moral Law is broken, when God's people fall into Idolatry, or follow lies, vvhen they are murderers or oppressors, then he hath a controversie with them, and pleadeth against them: Here no co∣ver vvill fit, no paint nor pargetting vvill serve; all the excuses in the vvorld vvill not keep off the sentence of death. To imagine that God vvill admit of excuse for the breach of such a Law as is eternal, and bindeth all men, and at all times, vvere, as the Father saith, to make God Circumscri∣ptorem suae sententiae; by a kind of fraud to avoid and defeat his own de∣cree. This vvere to make his goodness imaginary, his severity a phansie, his commands nothing but security for offenders. This vvere to turn his justice into iniquity, and his vvisdom into folly. So to cover our sin, is but to make it greater, and increase the punishments. He that covereth it, shall not prosper.

To urge this reason taken from God further yet; We find the two at∣tributes of God, his Wisdom, and his Power, the highest attributes which he hath. As his Power is unlimited, so he hath 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, wisdom above all wisdom whatsoever. In his actions ad extrà these two al∣wayes concur. As by his Power the creatures were created,* 1.5 so in wisdom

hath he made them all,* 1.6 saith the Psalmist. Yet his Power seemeth to be subordinate to and receive direction from his Wisdom. And there∣fore though all the attributes of God be infinite, and consequently e∣qual, yet his Wisdom seemeth to have the precedency, the first and high∣est place. It is so, we see, in his creature Man; Ingenii damna majora sunt quàm pecuniae; He that disparageth our Wisdom, hath laid upon us the bit∣terest imputation he can. We can hear with patience many times that o∣thers are richer or stronger then our selves. No man is vexed within him∣self that he is not a Milo, or an Hercules, or a Croesus. But he that detracteth from our Wisdom is an enemy indeed: Nulla contumeliosiùs fit injuria; He doth us the greatest injury in the world that calleth us fools.

Qui velit ingenio cedere, rarus erit.

We cannot wonder then if we observe the same in God, if we see and read him more jealous of his Wisdom then of his Power; that his indignation should wax hotter against the Excuse then the Sin. For he that committeth sin dallieth with his Power, but he that covereth and palliateth sin playeth with his Wisdom, trieth whether he can per fraudem obrepere, fraudulently circumvent and abuse God. He that sinneth would be stronger then God; but he that covereth his sin, striveth as it were to put out his all-seeing eye, and to be wiser then he, potior Jupiter quàm ipse Jupiter, as he in the Come∣dy saith, a wiser Jupiter then Jupiter Himself; which no impiety can e∣qual. And therefore we may observe, that God forgiveth the greatest sins when they are laid open and confessed, but casteth an angry look and lay∣eth an heavy hand upon those sins which would hide and cover themselves with excuses.* 1.7 We have a notable instance of this in David and Saul; Take but the pains to compare them both, and you will at the first view be soon perswaded that the heavy sentence which Samuel denounced against Saul, should have passed upon David; that of the two David more deserved to have had the Kingdom rent from him, & the Sceptre torn out of his hands. For bring their sins to the balance, and compare them both. Saul spared Agag, and the best of the sheep and of the oxen: And what errour was here, but only that the commandment was broken? For when he spared the oxen and the sheep, who was the worse? Quid merui∣stis oves? what sin was it to be merciful to the dumb and innocent crea∣ture? Besides, his end and pretense was good; He did it to sacrifice them to the Lord. But to the sin of David no oratory is equal. Who can express the hainousness of it? Saul offendeth against but one command, and that a positive one, and which was only for the present, and with which God did often dispense; but David against an eternal Law written in his Heart, with which God never did, never will dispense. Again, Saul's sin was but one; but David's was, peccatum complicatissimum, a sin carrying a train with it, of which the least in appearance was greater then that of Saul's: first, Adultery; then an Attempt to make Uriah drunk; then Murder, not only of Uriah himself, whose bed he had defiled, but also of all those who fell with him. And to this we may add his long continuance in sin, even a whole year, without any sense or feeling of it. It will not be easie to find out a parallel hereunto either in Divine or Humane story; either amongst the Israelites, or amongst aliens from the commonwealth of Israel? I would not rip up the bowels of this Saint, or shew you the full horrour of his sinne, but to this end, to discover and shew you withall this most necessary truth, the danger of covering a sin. We see David easily reconciled to God, but Saul cast off eternally with∣out possibility of pardon. Yet Saul confesseth his sin, thought it were late. I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and Samuel pray∣eth for Saul,* 1.8 and yet nothing prevaileth. Now the reason of this

may be plainly gathered out of the Text. Nathan no sooner cometh to David, and sheweth him his fault, but he presently without any ambages or circumstance confesseth it, and upon confession receiveth pardon; which followed the confession as close as an Echo doth the sound:* 1.9 I have sinned is answered with, The Lord hath put away thy sin. But with Saul it was otherwise: For he denyeth, and then wipeth his mouth, and receiveth the Prophet with a complement, Blessed be thou of the Lord;* 1.10 I have per∣formed the commandment of the Lord. Being after taken and detected, he shifteth his sails, and turneth the point of his compass, and tryeth by fair pretenses and excuses whether he can catch God with guile; The people,* 1.11 saith he, spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God. He breaketh the commandment of God upon pretence of sacri∣fice, and so as much as in him lyeth abuseth the Wisdom of God with a kind of mockery and deceit. And this is it which made that great diffe∣rence between the action of David and the action of Saul, and that great breach between Saul and his God. What a dangerous thing is it then to study to cover a sin! How great is this sin, which not onely trespasseth a∣gainst the highest attribute of God, but also defeateth and cutteth off the usual wayes of reconcilement! After other sins committed, the means to make our way to God's favour, are, Confession, and the Prayers of the Saints, one for another. St. James telleth us so much, chap. 5.15, 16. Now covering and excusing our sin evacuateth them both. Saul you see made liberal, though late, confession of his sin; Samuel, faithful Samuel, one of the greatest of the Lord's Prophets, earnestly prayeth for him; yet neither the delinquent's confession nor the Prophet's prayer procure any thing at the hand of God. The prayer of the righteous shall save the sick, saith St. James: Then certainly covering and excusing a sin is a very desperate sickness, which the prayer of so righteous a person as Samuel was could not recover. Nay, which is more, the prayer of the Prophet is not onely refused, but he is straightly charged to pray for him no more.* 1.12 How long saith God, wilt thou mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him? This sin then of Covering sin is it not a sin unto Death? Either it is so, or not far from it. There is but one sin for which in Scripture we are forbidden to pray. There is a sin unto death, saith St. John,* 1.13 I do not say that thou shouldst pray for it. I conclude nothing, but wish them who delight to cover their sin; who sin often, and yet never sin; who run away with the dart in their sides, and never feel it, to lay this to heart. For see Samuel here is forbidden to pray for Saul. To conclude this; What a strange sin is this sin of Ex∣cuse, which being liker to a circumstance of sin then a sin, yet maketh a lesser sin exceed the greatest, and the greatest to be greater then it is; which maketh a wanton look worse then adultery, anger then murder, the breach of a temporal Law more dangerous then of an eternal! The Schools say well, Maximum peccatum excusatio, quia quodlibet peccatum facit majus: That must needs be the greatest sin which maketh every sin greater.

Not to leave yet the consideration of the greatness of this sin in respect of God; When sin hath entred our heart, and shewn it self in the active irregularity of our members, there are but these five wayes observed in our deportment and behaviour against it: either 1. Concealing or Denyal; so Sarah denyed that she laught. Gehazi,* 1.14 when he had run after Naaman for a reward, boldly told his Master, Thy servant went no whither. Or 2. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Alleviation and lessening the fault, when we excuse our selves à tanto, though not à toto, let something of our fault appear, and cover the rest: Or 3. Despair; as in Cain, and Judas: Or 4. penitential Confession; as in David, and Job; Or 5. Excuse; as in Saul. These five are 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Prophets baskets of figs, the good, very good;* 1.15 and that is but one 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the

evil, very evil and naughty: but the worst of all is Excuse. For in De∣nyal and Concealment, though we deny the fact, yet we acknowledge it to be Evil; Nolumus nostrum, quia malum agnoscimus; We would never deny it, did we not confess it to be Evil. In Alleviation there is confession made, but tenderly: Something we confess to be amiss, but not much. And in Despair there is a large acknowledgment, but to no purpose. And the despairing sinner, though he destroyeth himself, yet deserveth our pity more then the former. To despair is not so much a sin as the committing those sins which plunged him in that gulf. Concealment, Denyal, and Al∣leviation are wilful errours, to avoyd the punishment which is due unto our sin: but Despair is an argument against itself; calleth the punishment on the offender further then God is willing; executeth the delinquent, not for want of pardon, which is ready to be sealed, but of suing it out. But of all, the Apologizer, who is ready with a veil to cover his sin, who can make a circumstance an anvil to forge an excuse on, is far the worst. In the rest there is some acknowledgment made, and so far they partake of the nature of penitential Confession. Some confess too little, others too much: The two first come short of Repentance, the third exceedeth: The two first confess tenderly, the other unprofitably. But in him that cover∣eth his sin with excuse there breatheth no air of penitential Confession; but instead thereof he maintaineth that to be good which his conscience will tell him is evil. I may deceive and cozen the wicked, saith the Hypocrite, who is more wicked then they. I may sin, because I am weak; and break the command, because I cannot keep it; and multiply actual sins, because of original.* 1.16 Simeon and Levi murder the Shechemites, and the excuse is ready, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot? The sacrilegious per∣son taketh the houses of God into possession; for should they be abused to super∣stition? The foulest sin hath a mantle to cover it, and sometimes walketh under a Canopy of state. We sin, and will not be said or thought to sin; and this maketh sin more sinful. This doth fores occludere misericordiae; not shut out the sin, but God himself; letteth fall a Portcullis between God's mercy and our soul; emptyeth God, as it were, who of himself is an in∣exhaust fountain of mercy, ever ready to flow, and will not suffer him to be what he is, to be so good as he is. For by our impenitency he cannot do us what good he would; we will not suffer him to be merciful; we will not suffer him to wipe out our sins by forgiveness, but hide them as much as we can from his light and beams; cover them, that he may not see them, and by our evasions and excuses leave him no sin to wipe out. To conclude this point; If we sport thus with God's Wisdome; if we strive to deceive him caecâ die, in these dark shops and grots of excuses; if we think that any cover will keep us from his eye, who is greater then our Conscience, and seeth more of us then we do when we are most impartial to our selves and see most; if we thus dally and trifle with Wisdome it self, Mercy, which tryumpheth over Justice, will yield to Wisdome; and if we co∣ver our sins,* 1.17 and not lay them open by Confession, we shall find God just and faithful, but not to forgive us our sins, not to cleanse us from all un∣righteousness.

We might here inlarge: But we pass from the danger in respect of God, to that in respect of our selves. There is no one sin to which our Nature more strongly inclineth us then this of covering and excusing our sin. So pleasing is excuse to our disposition, so inseperable from Sin, that cum ipso scelere nascitur, & soror & filia, it is both the daughter and sister of Sin. We travel with Sin and Excuse as Thamar did with twins: Excuse is not the first; for Sin first maketh the breach, and then calleth for Excuse: but though it be not the first, yet it followeth close at the Heels. Now to give

a reason for this; First, it is the very nature of Sin, not onely to infect the soul, but to bewitch it, that it shall either not feel it, or not be willing to evaporate and expel it. It is compared to a Serpent: and the poyson thereof is much like unto that of the Aspick which Cleopatra put to her arm; It casteth us into a kind of sweet and pleasant slumber, and killeth us without pain. We are smitten, and we feel it not; we are stricken,* 1.18 and are not sick; we are in the very mouth of Hell, and yet secure. It is called a burden, and yet we feel it not, nor doth it burden or lye heavy upon us. But as it is with those who lye under the water, they feel no weight though whole seas run over them; fo is it with those who are overwhelmed and drowned in sin, they feel no weight; or if they do, they soon relieve and ease themselves. I say, a burden it is, and we are careful to cast it from us; but not that way which God prescribeth, but after a method forged and beaten out by our own irregular fancy: we do not cast it away by loathing it, and loathing our selves for it, by resolving against it, by fearing the return of it, as we would the fall of a mountain upon our heads; but we cast it upon our own Weakness and Infirmity, which will not bear it; upon God's Long-suffering and Mercy, and presume to continue in it; upon Christ Jesus, and crucifie him again; upon Excuse, which is but sand, and cannot bear that which pressed the Son of God himself to death. Soli filii irae iram Dei non sentiunt; They onely are insensible of the Anger of God who are the children of Wrath.

Secondly, though God hath set up a tribunal in our hearts, and made every man a judge of his own actions, yet there is no tribunal on earth so much corrupted and swayed from its power and jurisdiction as this. No man is so partial a judge in another mans cause as in his own. No man is so well pleased with any cheat as that which he putteth upon himself. Though God hath placed a Conscience in us,* 1.19 as he put the Urim and the Thummim in the breast-plate of judgment, by which he might give answer unto us, what we are to do, and what not to do; what we have done well, and what amiss; as the High-priest by viewing his breast-plate saw whe∣ther the people might go up to War, or not go up: yet when we have once defiled our Conscience, we care not much for looking upon it; or, if we do, it giveth no certain answer; but we lose the use of it in our slavery under sin, as the Jews lost the use of their Urim and Thummim at the Cap∣tivity of Babylon, as appeareth Ezr. 2.63. Neh. 7 65. The use of it, I say, which is to(a) 1.20 accuse, to(b) 1.21 condemn, to(c) 1.22 torment, to make us have(d) 1.23 a trembling heart, and(e) 1.24 a faint heart. For it doth none of these offices, neither accuse, nor convince, nor condemn, nor afflict, nor strike with fear. At best it doth but shew the whip, and then put it up again. It changeth and altereth its complexion, as our sins; and hath as many names as there be evil dispositions in men. Our conscience checketh us, and we silence it; Sin appeareth, and we cover it. Our conscience would speak more plainly, if we did not teach it that broken and imperfect lan∣guage, to pronounce Sibboleth for Shibboleth, to leave out some letter, some aspiration, some circumstance in sin. Or rather, to speak truth, the Conscience cannot but speak out to the offender, and tell him he hath broken the Law; but as we will not hearken to Reason when she would restrain us from sin, so we slight her when she checketh us for committing it. We will neither give ear to her counsel, and not sin, nor yet hearken to her reproof when we have finned; neither observe her as a Counseller, nor as a Judge; neither obey her as a friend, nor as an enemy. Hence it cometh to pass that at last in a manner it forgetteth its office, and is negli∣gent in its very property; is a Conscience, and yet knoweth nothing; a Register, yet recordeth nothing, or, if it do, in so dark and obscure a

character as is not legible; a Glass, and reflecteth nothing, but a Saint for a man of Belial; a Book of remembrance, but containeth not our deceit and op∣pression and sacrilege, but the number of Sermons we have heard, the Fasts we have kept, though for bloud, the many good words we have spoke, though from a hollow and unsanctified hart, from our indignation against the world, which hath nothing worse init then ourselves. And this is the most miserable condition a sinner can fall into.* 1.25 This is, saith St. Paul, to hold the truth in un∣righteousness, by an habitual course of sin to depress and keep under the very principles of Goodness and Honesty; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to hold and have full possession of the Truth,* 1.26 but make no use of it; to hide and bury it, as the bad servant did his pound in a Napkin, bury it in the loathsome sepul∣chre of a rotten and corrupt soul: as if having a medicine about me, I should chuse to take down poison; having plenty, starve my self to death; having Honey and Manna, lay it by till it stink, and feed on Husks; having a Conscience, not keep it; suborn my Counsellour to be my Parasite; be endued with Reason, and use it only to make me more unreasonable; neg∣lect and slight it when it bids me not do this; and when I have done it, paint and disguise it, that I may not know the work of mine own hands, nor see that sin which was the mishapen and deformed issue of my lust.

Again, this sin of covering sin is more natural then any sin beside. We cannot name any that agreeth with all natures & complexions, as this doth. All are not apt to commit the same sin; Anger draweth this mans sword; Lust fasteneth a second to the harlots lips; Fear betrayeth a third to idle∣ness and a spiritual lethargy; Ambition and Pride lift up another above himself; and Covetousness burieth many in the earth. He that is wax to one sin, is marble to another. Envy slayeth one, Lust is a deep ditch to another, Wrath consumeth a third: But Excuse is a cover that will fit all sins; which though they have divers complexions, yet will all admit and receive this paint. Excuse as a servant waiteth upon all, and is officious to offer attendance on the foulest. It is a servant and slave to the murde∣rer, to the wanton, to the oppressour, to the covetous. What is unwil∣ling to stand to a tryal, will run to Excuse, as to a counsellour, for advice; Quae tum maximè gratiosa est, cum caedit. We embrace it when it strangleth us; kiss and biddeth it most welcome, when it woundeth us to death.

To make it yet plainer how incident it is to our nature to be covering that which hath an ill appearance, to be framing apologies; We may ob∣serve that there is something in Man naturally which casteth him upon this vice, which is not in the Devil himself, Depuduit, The Devil hath hard∣ned his forehead, and cast off all shame of sin. It is his trade and profession to sin himself, and draw others to the like perdition: And they are his children who have cast off all shame.* 1.27 Were they ashamed? no, they were not at all ashamed, saith the Prophet, not ashamed of that which was most ridi∣culous, most abominable. To sin, and not to blush, to discover our na∣kedness, and not be ashamed, is a sad declination to the condition of the damned spirits, the next step to hell. For God hath imprinted in Man a natural shame of sin; which maketh him to fly from the eyes and ears of men, to make darkness his pavilion, to retire into grots and caves, to betake himself to corners and privacy; which are nothing else but the badges of sin. Sin hath a foul face, and her best friends are ashamed of her company. Sin is a favourite, which we embrace; and Sin is a monster we fly from. Sin is the greatest evil: it hath that name; and therefore when we commit it, it is not sin. They that make her familiar with them in the closet, will not go about with her in the streets, as ready to disgrace sin as to commit it: Nor could she ever prevail with those who were most enamoured with her, to acknowledge her without a blush.

Nolim latere, siquid egero benè. Nec opto testes, siquid egero malè.

saith Phaedra, in the Poet. Our good deeds we bring forth at noon-day, before the Sun and the people; but no night is dark enough to cover our sin. Now God left this impression of shame upon us to keep us within com∣pass, that vve should not commit sin, to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as the Father calleth it, to be a great help and furtherance to us in the wayes of vertue. For vvhy should vve bring forth such fruits, vvhich vvhen vve look upon them will change our countenance, and dye it with a blush? And this effect Shame should have: But by the policy and envy of Satan that vvhich should naturally keep us from committing sin, doth as naturally draw us to conceal it; and vvhat vvas made as a means to prevent it, is made a cloke to cover it. That we may therefore confess and forsake our sins, and so find mercy, vve must strive to take this inconvenience away, and be careful how we use it. For it is of an ambiguous quality: it is what vve vvill make it. Sometimes it is poison, and sometimes an antidote; sometimes it is the savour of life unto life, and it may prove the savour of death unto death. It is a bridle to our Nature, to keep us in a regular and even motion: some∣times we must put it on, and sometimes we must take it off again. When vve are solicited to sin, let us add it to our Nature. The Poet will tell us, Pudere quàm pigere praestat totidem literis. We cannot render the conceit, but the sense is good in all languages; Shame is far better then Repentance. And thus we see that good men are chary of their modesty, but the wicked harden their faces as steel. They use their shame as they do their Garment, quae quantò obsoletior est, tantò incuriosiùs habetur, which the more it is worn, is the more slightly and carelesly laid up. Let us not sin for shame; for no∣thing can shame or disgrace us but sin: But when lust hath conceived and brought forth sin, when it is committed, let us take off shame again, and be as bold to confess, as we were to offend. Ego rubori locum non facio, cùm plus de detrimento ejus acquiro, I give no room to shame when I am to re∣pent, for I gain by her loss, and am most humble when I fling her away: Et ipse hominem quodammodo exhortatur, Nè me respicias; pro te mihi melius est perire; when unseasonable modesty and shame it self seemeth to bespeak and exhort us not to regard her, becometh an oratour against herself, and tel∣leth us, that unless we perish we cannot be safe, nor build up our repen∣tance but upon her ruines. Shame is a good buckler to oppose against sin: but if sin hath once got the better of us, if we slye the sight of sin and are ashamed to confess, we flye as Horace telleth us he once did, relictâ non bene parmulâ, and leave our buckler behind us. Nay Shame, saith Parisi∣ensis, is as a Prelate or Bishop before sin, and doth those several offices set down by St. Paul, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, it instructeth,* 1.28 correcteth and rebuketh us. But after sin we must proceed to degradation, and put it from its chair: For if we suffer it to usurp and exercise jurisdiction over us, it will suspend and silence us, and make us an Anathema. Away then with that shame which will increase our shame: Away with that shame which is not yet, and yet sealeth up our mouth that it may be. Is it a shame to con∣fess? Confess, though it be a shame. For though there be shame, it shall be debilis & inermis, weak and feeble and disarmed, not able to speak a word to accuse thee. Praestat palam absolvi quàm damnatum latere: Open absolution is better then private and secret damnation. Better to be saved in thunder then lost in silence: Better to be covered with shame, and live, then to cover our sins for shame, and perish: Better to be a proverb of reproch on earth then a firebrand in hell: Better to blush now, then burn for ever.

To draw towards a conclusion; Ye see in the Text penitential Confessi∣on

reaching even to the Mercy-seat. The sinner falleth down, breaketh his heart, openeth his mouth, breatheth his sins out, loatheth and forsaketh them, and Mercy scattereth them, annihilateth them, looketh upon them as if they were not. Let us not then be more ashamed of confession then we are of mercy it self. Let us learn exuere hominem, to put off man, to put off the old man, to unnaturalize our selves, and forget this though natural yet unseasonable modesty. Est quaedam praevaricatrix modestia, est quaedam sancta impudentia; There is a modesty which betrayeth us; and there is an holy and sanctified shamelesness and impudence, when we lay our sins open and naked before God in their most deformed shape. Sin is never less de∣formed in the eye of God then when it is in its own shape. Masks and paintings and disguisings in other things, if they add no beauty, yet they conceal deformities; but in Sin all this cost and labour is lost. Nothing more deformed in the eye of God then a periwigged and painted sinner, then a carnal man talking of the spirit, then a wicked man wiping his mouth, and saying, I have done no evil. Behold the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth: From him no cloud can shadow us, no deep can co∣ver us, no mountain can hide us. To him we are never more open then when we are most concealed. He looketh not at our sins when we read the roll and Catalogue our selves: But 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, his revengeful eye, is never off them when we seal the book, or fold it up in silence, when we study to disguise and conceal them. Quintilian tells us, Animalcula quaedam in fo∣raminibus mobilia, in campo deprehenduntur; Some kind of small creatures there are, which whilst they be amongst their burroughs and starting-hole are hardly taken; but bring them into the open field, and they are quickly seized on: We cannot but apply it our selves. Let us play least in sight with God as we please, whilst our sins, like those little foxes which spoil the vineyard of God, do earth themselves or lurk in the holes and bur∣roughs of excuses, we shall never take them; but being brought forth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, into confession before God, as into the open field, we shall quickly seize upon them, and destroy them. Tegentis, non fatentis, crimen est, saith St. Ambrose: Sin is never more sin, hath never more upon it, then when it is covered. He that confesseth his sin, hath found a plaister for it; but he that covereth it, flingeth it away, and by too much tenderness suffer∣eth his sore to fester. For Sin is a disease and distemper of the soul; and as we observe of some diseases of the body, if it doth eructare se in superfi∣ciem, as Tertullian speaketh, if it breathe forth it self, and drive its poison outward by confession, it is like the Physicians 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and restoreth the soul to its healthful 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and constitution: but if it strike inward, and hide it self in the heart, it is fatal and deleterial. Sin is as the Leprosie; and every sinner in whom the plague of sin is, must be like the Leper under the Law,* 1.29 his cloths must be rent, and his head bare, and he must put a covering upon his upper lip, and he must cry, Unclean, unclean. And this we may ob∣serve, that the Saints of God did so far abhor this sin of covering sin, and so jealous have they been of it, that they may seem to have bowed the stick too much the other way, and to have erred too far on the other hand, and studied expressions and forms of speech to that purpose.* 1.30 When David bewailed his sin before God, he thought it not enough to say he had not been free from sin since he was a child of a day old; he durst not entitle him∣self to so much as a dayes innocency; therefore he went up to the womb, and confessed himself to be born in sin. Nay, this he thought too much yet, and therefore went up to the instant of his conception; In sin hath my mo∣ther conceived me. He left not himself any moment free from pollution. And so St. Paul, that worthy servant of Christ Jesus, shriving and confes∣sing himself, useth few, but most quick and comprehending, words: It is a faith∣ful

saying, and by all means to be received,* 1.31 that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Now what should that great sin be which should denominate him the chiefest of sinners? If any, then certainly it was this, that he persecuted the Church; and yet even this himself profes∣seth he did ignorantly. And as Origen, considering with himself the occasi∣on which moved Lot's daughters to incest, breaketh forth into this speech, Vereor nè illarum incestus castior sit multarum pudicitiâ, that he feared much that this incest of theirs had more of chastity in it then the virginity of others; so we may be easily perswaded that there was more of piety in St. Peul's persecuting the Church then many others have who seem to maintain and cherish and defend it. For what moved him to it? Zeal for the Law which God himself had made, a jealousie lest the glory should depart from Israel, and that service and religion be beat to the ground which God him∣self had established. And yet St. Paul himself hath recorded it, and all po∣sterity must believe it, that for this action of his, whatsoever it was, he na∣meth himself the chief of sinners. This, saith the Father, is the property of every child of God, to accuse himself for little sins as for great; to hide his sins by revealing them, to diminish them by addition, to make them little, yea nothing, by making them great. Confessio, poenarum compendium, Con∣fession setteth a quick period to all sin and punishment. Cum accusat, ex∣cusat; cùm squalidum facit, magìs mundatum reddit; even worketh a miracle, lifteth a man up, when it casteth him down, maketh him most glorious, when it most dishonoureth him; beautiful when it defileth him, when it accuseth, it excuseth; and when it condemneth, it absolveth; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (it is the expression of the Greek Father) in a manner making the Judge ashamed, holding his hand when he is ready to strike, striking the thunderbolt out of his hand, and changing the shadow of death into a glo∣rious morning. Though we have run from him into a far Country, yet if we return, and say, We have sinned, he that was our Judge will be our Fa∣ther, and will run, and fall upon our neck, and kiss us; and for open con∣fession, give us open absolution; and put upon us the best robe, even cloath us with the garment of righteousness, behold us as his children, and by his his blessed spirit seal us up to the day of our Redemption: In a word, we shall find mercy here to quicken and refresh our sick and weary souls, and the same mercy shall crown us for evermore.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Rom. 12.16. Prov. 3.7. Prov. 26.12.
• * 1.2

  Levit. 10. Vers. 19.
• * 1.3

  Deut. 12.7. Deut. 26.14.
• * 1.4

  Matth. 12.7. Hos. 6.6.
• * 1.5

  Psal. 104.24.
• * 1.6

  Psal. 104.24.
• * 1.7

  1 Sam. 15. 2. Sam. 12.
• * 1.8

  Vers. 24.
• * 1.9

  2 Sam. 12.13.
• * 1.10

  1 Sam. 15.13.
• * 1.11

  v. 15.
• * 1.12

  1 Sam. 16.1.
• * 1.13

  1 Joh. 5.16.
• * 1.14

  Gen. 18.15. 2 Kings 5.25.
• * 1.15

  Jer. 24.1, 2, 3.
• * 1.16

  Gen. 34.
• * 1.17

  1 Joh. 1.9.
• * 1.18

  Prov. 23 35.
• * 1.19

  Exod. 28.30.
• (a) 1.20

  Rom. 2.15.
• (b) 1.21

  1 John 3.20.
• (c) 1.22

  Wisd. 17.10.
• (d) 1.23

  Deut. 28.65.
• (e) 1.24

  Levit. 26.36.
• * 1.25

  Rom. 1.18.
• * 1.26

  Luk. 19.
• * 1.27

  Jer. 6.15.
• * 1.28

  2 Tim. 4.2.
• * 1.29

  Levit. 13.45.
• * 1.30

  Psal. 51.
• * 1.31

  1 Tim. 1 15.