of whose repentance, and the acceptance of it with God, we nothing doubt, and the conclufions will be much fuller, and fuch as cannot fail to refresh the foul of every languifhing penitent; for in this view the words fairly afford us these two propo- : fitions:

Firft, That the security and efficacy of repentance do not depend upon a particular recollection of all

our errors.

Secondly, That for fuch errors as we cannot recollect, a general confeffion and repentance are full and fufficient.

These two propofitions contain the plain doctrine of the text; fo plain, that I need not spend your time in enlarging upon it. But that we may not mistake in the application of it to ourselves, and hope for forgiveness whilft we are willingly ignorant of our fins, and, to fave the trouble and pain of recollection, endeavour to cover them all under general ejaculations and petitions for mercy; I beg your patience, whilft I fet before you of what kind and nature the fins are, which we may juftly call our fecret fins, and for the expiation of which a general confeffion and repentance will be accepted.

And, firft, we may reckon among our fecret fins those which our liturgy has taught us to afk repentance and forgiveness for, under the general names of negligences.and ignorances. For neglect of our duty, and negligence in difcharging it, are two things; the one arifing from a dislike and averfion to the work, and attended with a consciousness and confent of mind; the other proceeding commonly from want of thought, or want of difpofition, two

infirmities which we care not to accuse ourselves of, and yet from which we are feldom free: infomuch that, when we think ourselves moft fecure of a good difpofition and firm refolution to go through the bufinefs of our duty, they often forfake us in the midst of our work, and we find ourselves on a fudden becalmed, our inclinations grown faint and languid, and too fick of the employment to support us in the prosecution of it.

Such furprises good men have frequently complained of in their devotions: they set out with zeal and fervency of spirit, with eyes and hearts uplifted to God, till fome chance object diverts the eyes, fome favourite care steals into the heart, and they both wander and are loft in the multiplicity of objects and imaginations which fucceed each other; and when their thoughts return to the proper object, they are as one that awaketh from a dream. Offences of this kind are fecret to us even whilft they are committing, the mind not being confcious to the delufion; and yet they are fo frequent in every part of our duty, that when we call ourselves to the ftricteft account, it is impoffible to find their number, or to bring every fingle act to our remembrance.

Secondly, Sins of ignorance are fecret fins likewise, as the very name they are diftinguished by imports. Where there is no law, fays the Apoftle, there is no tranfgreffion; and therefore unavoidable ignorance feems to be rather a misfortune than a crime; and though it be dumb, and cannot speak in its own defence, yet its very filence will be a ftronger plea in the presence of the Almighty, than all the laboured excuses which the wit of knowing finners

has invented. In all cafes where men may be faid to offend through ignorance, they must be equally infenfible of the crimes they commit, and the ignorance they labour under; and therefore equally incapable of repenting particularly of their fins, and of their ignorance. For when men venture boldly upon actions, being conscious to themselves that they know not whether they are going right or wrong, their fin is prefumption, and not ignorance; and should they chance to blunder into the right way, it is much to be doubted, whether the happinefs of their mistake will excufe the rashness of their attempts. Such repentance therefore as this must be numbered, not with our fecret faults, but with fuch fins, as being acted with consciousness and confent, carry in them an avowed contempt of the majefty and authority of God: for if a man thinks virtue and vice fo indifferent, that he may venture to choose blindfold which to follow, there wants no better evidence that his heart is not right with God, who can with fo much coolness and temper affront his honour.

But though the ignorance itself be prefumptuous, and is fuch as, being conscious to, we must certainly be accountable for; yet the mistakes, the follies, the fins it leads us to, may be unknown to us, both at the time of our offending, and of our repenting: and whatever aggravation they receive from the obftinate ignorance they proceed from; how much foever the heinousness of them may deserve to be diftinguished in our forrow and contrition; yet, fince the mind cannot reach the knowledge of them, they can only be lamented under the general cha

racter of secret fins. Nor is this the only cafe in which our fins partake of the malice of the will, and yet escape the notice of the understanding: for,

Thirdly, Nothing fhews more the corruption of the will, or difinclination of the heart to virtue, than confirmed cuftoms and habits of finning; and yet in this perfection of vice we lose the very fense and feeling of fin. Habits grow from often repeated actions; and, though at first they require diftinct acts of the will to give them being, yet at last we grow fo perfect, fo ready at the work, as not to want the authority and consent of the mind: as fervants, who, by being often told their masters' work, at last fall into the road of their bufinefs without being called on, and yet act as much under the direction of their masters' will, as when they were under their daily or hourly inftruction. And fo it is in habits: the mind, which is the governing principle, lies by, and the work goes on without being attended to. Of many instances give me leave only to mention one, which shall be that of common fwearers, and blafphemers of the holy name: a vice in itself so prodigious, that no aggravation can heighten it, no excuse can leffen it! And yet those who are most guilty of this fin are least sensible of it: it is fo familiar to them, that they are not confcious when they offend: blafpheming is their idiom, a turn in their way of speaking, and oaths the mere expletives of their language. And when every fober heart trembles to hear what they utter, they only are unconcerned, as only being ignorant of the accursed malice with which they defy the living God. For all these things God will call finners into judgment;

in his book they are noted down: but yet when finners call themselves to judgment, they only can tell that they have grievously offended; the meafure of their iniquity they know not, nor the many aggravations of it: and therefore the utmost that the fincereft penitent can do, is to lament the offences of his heart and tongue, which he is not able to remember, and to pray to God that he likewife will be pleased to blot out the remembrance of his iniquities.

Fourthly, The Apoftle has advised us not to be partakers of other men's fins; which fhews, that when others fin, being led to it by our influence, example, or encouragement, we fhare with them in the guilt of their iniquity. How far our influence spreads, to what inftances, and what degrees of vice, how many we feduced by our example, or hardened by our encouragement, is more than we can tell, and yet not more than we fhall answer for. Those who are thus entered in our service, and fin under our conduct, are but our factors: they trade for us, as well as for themselves; and whatever their earnings are, we shall receive our due proportion out of the wages of their fin. This is a guilt which steals upon us without being perceived; it grows whilft we fleep, and is loading our account even when our bodies are in the poffeffion of the grave. The higher our ftation, and the greater our authority, the more reason have we to fear being involved in this kind of guilt; because in proportion to our authority will the infection of our example spread; and, as our power is great, our encouragement will be the more effectual; and fome perhaps there may be, who shall ap

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