Magnify his name, and show forth his praise with the songs of your lips, and with harps, and in praising him you shall say after this manner:
Read Chapter 39
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
The confession of sins is that ordinary confession that is known to you. It is therefore unnecessary to speak of the reasons for its use. We must rather look into confession in praise of God and the proofs that demonstrate it. People are so habituated to calling "confession" the confession of sins that every time they hear the reader say the words, "Confess yourselves," they beat their breasts, and a kind of noisy buzz arises in their consciences as they are reminded of their duty. This almost always happens, and yet one is not always speaking of the confession of sins. At times, in fact, one speaks of the confession of praise, as in that passage of Scripture where it says, "Confess to the Lord, and in your confession you will say, "All the works of the Lord are very good." " When you hear, "In your confession you will say, "All the works of the Lord are very good," " it is clear that this is a confession of praise to God and not of your guilt. In this case, you confess that all the works of the Lord are good, not that your actions are bad. And here is another passage about which, as with the previous one, there can be no doubt. The Lord Jesus certainly committed no sin, yet in the Gospel it says, "I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth." And he continues with praise: "Because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to the little ones. Yes, Father, because that is what it pleased you to do." This is the confession of one who praises God, not of one who accuses himself. Since, therefore, one who confesses either accuses himself or praises God, you should reflect a bit about the advantages of each type of confession. - "Sermons 8.2"
