Gildas Salvianus: The Reformed Pastor

and who can be offended with us for confessing our own, and taking the blame and shame to our selves, which our consciences told us we ought to do. 3. I have excepted in our Confessions those that are not guilty: and therefore hope that I have injured none. 4. Having necessarily prepared it in the English tongue, I had no spare time to translate it. 5. Where the sin is open in the sight of the world, it is in vain to attempt to hide it. 6. And such attempts will but aggravate it, and increase our shame. 7. A free Confession is a condition of a full Remission; and when the sin is public, the Confession must be public. If the Ministers of England had sinned only in Latin, I would have made shift to have admonished them in Latin, or else have said nothing to them. But if they will sin in English, they must hear of it in English. Unpardoned sin will never let us rest or prosper, though we be at never so much care and cost to cover it: Our sin will surely find us out, though we find not it. The work of Confession is purposely to make known our sin, and freely to take the shame to our selves: And if he that confesseth and forsaketh be the man that shall have mercy, no wonder then if he that covereth it, prosper not, Prov. 28. 13. If we be so tender of our selves, and so ⟨image 4⟩loath to confess, God will be the less tender of us, and he will indite our Confessions for us. He will either force our Consciences to confession, or his Judgements shall proclaim our iniquities to the world. Know we not how many malicious adversaries are day and night at work against us? Some openly revile us, and some in secret are laying the designs, and contriving that which others execute and are in expectation of a fuller stroke at us, which may subvert us at once. What is it but our sins that is the strength of all these enemies? Is not this evil from the ordering of the Lord? Till we are reconciled unto him we are never safe: He will never want a rod to scourge us by. The tongues of Quakers, and Papists, and many other sorts, are all at work to proclaim our sins, because we will not confess them our selves: Because we will not speak the truth, they will speak much more then the truth. Yet if we had man only to plead our cause with, perhaps we might do much to make it good: but while God accuseth us, how shall we be justified?

and who can be offended with us for confessing our own, and taking the blame and shame to our selves, which our consciences told us we ought to do. 3. I have excepted in our Confessions those that are not guilty: and therefore hope that I have injured none. 4. Having necessarily prepared it in the English tongue, I had no spare time to translate it. 5. Where the sin is open in the sight of the world, it is in vain to attempt to hide it. 6. And such attempts will but aggravate it, and increase our shame. 7. A free Confession is a condition of a full Remission; and when the sin is publike, the Confession must be publike. If the Ministers of England had sinned only in Latine, I would have made shift to have admonished them in Latine, or else have said nothing to them. But if they will sin in English, they must hear of it in English. Unpardoned sin will never let us rest or prosper, though we be at never so much care and cost to cover it: Our sin will surely find us out, though we find not it. The work of Confession is purposely to make known our sin, and freely to take the shame to our selves: And if he that confesseth and forsaketh be the man that shall have mercy, no wonder then if he that covereth it, prosper not,