knowing my sin and seeing my danger, neither ignorant nor surprised, I have wilfully, basely, and sensually renounced thee for the pleasures of a moment; I have exchanged thy loving kindness which is better than life for that which has perished in the using, and have justly provoked thy wrath and indignation against me. I am ashamed O God, of my ingratitude and guilt, and put my mouth in the dust. But in the pangs of sorrow which pierce my heart, I still perceive the communications of thy love. Thou hast not left me to sin without compunction, nor taken thy Holy Spirit from me. If thou hadst not loved me and pitied me, thou mightest have stricken me in the act of my shame. I know the design of thy mercy and forbearance is to bring me to repentance and pardon, to life and grace. I thank thee O God, and humbly comply with thy gracious purposes. Receive then a returning sinner, sustain my wounded spirit, heal this broken and contrite heart, refresh and relieve me who am weary and heavy laden with my sins, strengthen me with thy grace, that hereafter, I may watch more carefully, resist more powerfully, walk more circumspectly, and serve thee without sin and without shame all the days of my life; that passing the time of my sojourning here in fear and holiness, I may enter into the joy of my Lord in the world to come, through the merits of my Advocate and Redeemer Jesus Christ. Amen.

A general and humble confession of sin.

AVE mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness, and according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences. For I will confess my wickedness, and be sorry for my sin. O Lord, I am not worthy to be reckoned among the meanest of thy servants, nor to receive the slightest of thy favours, but if thou wert to deal with me as I most justly have deserved, my portion would be with the fearful and unbelieving in outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. The spirit of uncleanness hath entered into my body and unhallowed the temple which thou didst consecrate for the habitation of thy spirit of holiness and love. My senses have been the inlets to corruption and sin, mine ears have been open to slander and detraction, mine eyes have been turned to vanity and folly, my lips have uttered perverseness and been a cause of grief to myself and of offence to others; my passions have been fierce and unruly, my desires impatient of control, and all the members of my body and the faculties of my mind have been the instruments of sin. But great God, it is not only my personal faults which accuse me and fill me with anxiety and fear. I have encouraged others to sin, quieted their apprehensions, hardened their consciences, and tempted them both by word and

example to their ruin and mine, unless thy glorious and unspeakable mercy should prevent so intolerable a calamity. Lord, I have abused thy mercy, despised thy judgments, and turned thy grace into lasciviousness; I have been unthankful for thy goodness and loving kindness; I have sinned and repented, and then sinned again; I have resolved to sin no more, and upon a fresh temptation have weakly and miserably broken. my vows, till I am almost ashamed to ask for forgiveness, and am ready to sit down in hopeless despair. But O Lord, not only are my open misdeeds, but my secret sins set plainly before thee in the light of thy countenance; those which I have noted and those which I have forgotten, those which might have been prevented by watchfulness and care, and those into which I have fallen by presumption and neglect. O God, I am confounded with their multitude and filled with horror at their remembrance. Since thou hast nevertheless spared me and given me space for repentance, I will still hope in thy mercy. me a deep contrition for my sins. Give me grace instantly and for ever to forsake them. Give me such a hearty detestation and loathing of them, that I may hate them worse than death with its sting, and the Judgment with its torments; and enable me to walk henceforth with such care and prudence, such watchfulness and fear, as to redeem

Give

the time which I have so wofully misspent, that thou mayest have the glory of pardoning all my sins, and I may reap the fruit of all thy mercies and graces in living a holy life here and reigning with thee for ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For repentance and growth in grace.

GRACIOUS and Eternal God, the fountain of mercy and holiness, hear the cries and regard the supplications of thy servant, though altogether unworthy to appear in thy presence. But notwithstanding my innumerable sins, my manifold abuses of thy goodness, and my heedlessness and contempt of thy long suffering and patience towards me, thou still vouchsafest unto me the means of grace and repentance. Awaken my soul from this sleep of death, and make me duly sensible of the hatefulness and deformity of my transgressions, and of the dreadful and insupportable eternity of torments, to which, if unrepented of, and unforgiven, they must inevitably consign me. Give me a deep contrition for having offended thee my merciful Creator and Redeemer. Work in my soul that godly sorrow which leadeth to repentance unto salvation, that heartily detesting and loathing all my past abominations, and suing unto thee for pardon with strong crying and tears, I may obtain of thee, the

God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness. O Thou who despisest not the sighing of a broken and contrite heart, give heed unto my prayer. O Thou who hast a regard unto the desire of the sorrowful, incline thine ear and hearken unto mine. Suffer me no more to do any act of shame, let me not look back upon Sodom, nor delight to dwell in the regions of death. Endue me with so firm a resolution, such a true repentance, and so pure and heavenly a hope, as that I may turn unto thee with all my heart, and no temptation from this time forth may ever prevail against me. Give me a holy and unreprovable faith, that I may be enabled to overcome the world, to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts, and to quench all the fiery darts of the devil. And let this faith fill me with charity, that my repentance may be perfect and acceptable, my hatred of sin may increase my love of thee my God, and love produce universal obedience to thy commandments, and obedience be perpetual and unbroken. Strengthen me each day more and more with thy Holy Spirit, that I may grow in grace, advance in holiness, live in thy favour, and die with thy blessing; and at the last day may have my portion in the resurrection of the just, and enter into the joy of my Lord to reap in a blessed eternity, what is here sown in