d the altar, a
king on the throne; I don't care who he is. Man has been trying it for
six thousand years. Adam tried it, and failed. Moses tried it when he
buried the Egyptian whom he killed, but he failed. "Be sure your sin
will find you out." You cannot bury your sin so deep but it will have
a resurrection by and by, if it has not been blotted out by the Son of
God. What man has failed to do for six thousand years, you and I had
better give up trying to do.

There are three ways of confessing sin. All sin is against God, and
must be confessed to Him. There are some sins I need never confess to
anyone on earth. If the sin has been between myself and God, I may
confess it alone in my closet: I need not whisper it in the ear of any
mortal. "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee."
"Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy
sight."

But if I have done some man a wrong, and he knows that I have wronged
him, I must confess that sin not only to God but also to that man. If
I have too much pride to confess it to him, I need not come to God. I
may pray, and I may weep, but it will do no good. First confess to
that man, and then go to God and see how quickly He will hear you, and
send peace. "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there
rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy
gift before the altar, and go thy ways. First be reconciled to thy
brother, and then come and offer thy gift." That is the Scripture way.

Then there is another class of sins that must be confessed publicly.
Suppose I have been known as a blasphemer, a drunkard, or a reprobate.
If I repent of my sins, I owe the public a confession. The confession
should be as public as the transgression. Many a person will say some
mean thing about another in the presence of others, and then try to
patch it up by going to that person alone. The confession should be
made so that all who heard the transgression can hear it.

We are good at confessing other people's sins, but if it is true
repentance, we shall have as much as we can do to look after our own.
When a man or woman gets a good look into God's looking glass, he is
not finding fault with other people: he has as much as he can do at
home.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Thank God for the
Gospel! Church member, if there is any sin in your life, make up you