The Institution of Christian Religion

For the private life of the godly ought to be tempered with honest sparing and sobriety, that in the whole course thereof there may appear a certain kind of fasting. But because all this matter shall be to be declared again in the place where we shall entreat of the discipline of the Church, therefore I do now the more slenderly touch it. But this one thing I will add here by the way: when the name of repentance is applied to this outward profession, then it is unproperly turned from the natural meaning which I have above set forth of it. For it is not so much a turning unto God as a confession of fault, with a beseeching of God not to charge them with the pain and guiltiness. So to do penance in ashes and sackcloth is nothing else,¹ than to utter a displeasedness when God is angry with us for grievous offences. And this is a public kin of confession, whereby we condemning our selves before the Angeles and the world, do prevent the judgement of God.² For Paul rebuking their slothfulness that tenderly bear with their own faults, saith: If we did judge our selves, we should not be judged of God. But it is not alway necessary to make men openly of counsel and witnesses of our repentance: but to confess privately to God is a part of true repentance which can not be omitted. For there is nothing more unreasonable than to look to have God to pardon us the sins in which we flatter our selves & do hide them by Hypocrisy, least he should bring them to light. And it behoveth us not only to confess those sins which we daily commit, but more grievous offences ought to draw us further, and to call again into our remembrance things that seem long ago buried. Which lesson David giveth us by his example.³ For being touched with shame of his newly committed fault, he examineth himself even to the time when he was in his mothers womb, and confesseth that even then he was corrupted and infected with the filthiness of the flesh. And this he doeth not to diminish the heinousness of his fault, as many hide themselves in the multitude, and seek to escape punishment by wrapping other with them. But David doth far otherwise ⟨image 213⟩which with simple plainness enforceth his fault in saying, that being corrupt from his first infancy, he hath not ceased to heap evils upon evils.