Confession and Restitution.
MR. D. L. MOODY, in an address in Chicago, spoke as follows: '"If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness;' and again, 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.'" "You will find through Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Old Testament, that it was when the people came near to God, and confessed their sins, that God put away their sin. When David came in repentance to the confession, 'I have sinned,' then God forgave him. When the prodigal came to the confession of trite confession, 'I have sinned against heaven,' God blessed him from heaven; he did not get the blessing until the confession came. We must then confess our sins. I think we are living in the days of sham—we may make pretense, but we do not confess all our sin. If my boy had done wrong I would do him injustice to forgive him till he had made a clean breast of it. My friends, let us all make clean work of it with our God. Let us not cover up anything. Let us have it out and be done with it, and then God will hear and answer. "Then, following confession, we have got to make restitution. You know I am preaching a great deal more restitution than I used to. I think the opposite course is a sin that is keeping back blessing from the church of God, and is bringing great harm to us. If you have taken one dollar from a man, you ought to restore not only the dollar, but the interest. If by slander you have tried to ruin his character, you ought to go to him and do all you can to make restitution—to save his feelings and his character, and right yourself. "A man came to me in one of the eastern cities last winter, and said: 'Mr. Moody, I want to become a Christian, but I can't pray. I have tried to, but it seems as if the heavens protest, and all is dark.' I probed him, and tried to find out the difficulty, and at last says I, 'Isn't there some sin you are covering up?' And the man colored to the roots of his hair, and said, 'Mr. Moody, I am a defaulter for $1500.' Says I, 'Why don't you confess?' He says, 'I am going into business, and am going to try and make it up. I have a lovely wife and family, and I can't confess. It would be the ruin of my family, and my ruin. I am just going into business, and expect to make that money and to pay it back. I don't know but I am wrong in that.' 'Yes,' says I, 'of course you can't pray, with that difficulty over you. Going into business with other men's money! Just been robbing men!'—'Oh! what shall I do!'—'Make restitution.' 'I can't; it would be the ruin of me.'—'How much have you got out of the $1500?' '$900; some day I'll pay back every dollar. I can't go to my employers and confess. They will put me into the courts.' I don't know whether they will or not.' He said he couldn't do it, and went away, wanting me to pray for him. 'How can I, if you are not willing to make restitution?' I told him I would pray that God wouldn't give him any sleep to his eyes or slumber to his eyelids until he gave back that money. "The next day he came back and said he could not sleep. 'Is there no other way out of this agony?'—'No; do the right thing and God will set you right.' He shrank from it. 'How can I do it? I am sure they will put me in the courts and it will ruin my family.' Says I, 'Do right and the Lord will remember you.' Finally he put into my hands $981.21 in a sealed envelope, and said: 'That money follows me, and I don't want it any longer. I have taken the last cent my wife and I have, and if my friends will not save me from the penitentiary it will be the death of us.' "I went to his employers and got them into a room and told them the whole story. 'There is some of your money, and I don't think you ought to ruin him. I want you to deal in mercy with that man.' 'Deal in mercy? I guess we will,' said they. Tears ran down their cheeks, and I saw they would deal mercifully with him; and so I went down stairs and brought him up, and those three men got on their knees and prayed together. Friends rallied around him, and he has gone into business, and has been successful from that hour, and I received a letter from him not long ago telling of the joy and peace in God he has had since he confessed. Go likewise, and make restitution, if you want power in prayer, and want God to bless you. There is no use in confessing your sin if you do not make restitution. A question came up when talking about confession of sins. Can it be that I am going back to the confessional, to priestly absolution, and all that? Well, there are some sins that need to be confessed to the church. If I have sinned publicly and brought a scandal on the cause of Christ, I ought to confess publicly. If the offense is against my neighbor, I ought to confess to him, and other sins I ought to confess to God in private."