Confession of Sin, and Prayer for Grace on the foregoing Commandments. "Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die, O house of Israel." "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, wherefore, turn yourselves, and live ye."-Ez. xviii. 1. O Blessed Lord, who hateth sin, yet wouldest not the death of a sinner, who despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of such as be sorrowful, mercifully look upon me, thy unworthy servant, graciously receive the confession of my sin, and out of thine infinite love assist me with thy grace that I may avoid henceforward the evils on which I now look back with loathing, abhorring myself for the commission of them! And first and chiefest of my iniquities, O Lord, I have to deplore my neglect of thee and thy holy ordinances. Adoration of thine infinite wisdom has not sufficiently employed my reasoning faculties ; gratitude for thy boundless love has not sufficiently filled my heart: from day to day, from hour to hour, from moment to moment, I have lived but by thy benefits, unworthy of them all; yet have those benefits been coldly and carelessly acknowledged M by me, often the acknowledgment altogether omitted, the benefits forgotten. 2. I have set up idols in my heart, O Lord, above thee; I have worshipped pleasures, and riches, and ambition, and the world, and self, in preference to thee. I have suffered "other lords to have dominion " over me. I have given thy glory to another, and feared creatures, weak, and guilty, and wretched as myself, above Thee, who hast “ stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth." 3. I have not venerated thy holy name as I ought, nor has the mention of it in religious worship filled my soul with the awe which it ought to inspire in every being illuminated with thy truth. 4. I have not consecrated thy sabbaths to thy service, nor considered them a delight and rest to the soul, as they were intended. I have drawn near to thee with my lips whilst my heart has been far from thee, and I have deserved to be utterly cast off by thee, of whose greatness and whose goodness I have been alike unmindful. 5. Nor, O Lord, have I more reason to be satisfied with myself, when I look on my behaviour to my fellow-creatures, than when I consider it towards thee, our Universal Father. I have been often undutiful towards my parents, unmindful of the benefits I daily receive from them. I have n disrespectful to my elders, ungrateful to my teachers, selfish towards my equals, and oppressive to my inferiors and dependents. 6. I have sinned, O my God, against thy great command that I should love my neighbour, my fellow-creature, the work of thine hands, even as myself. If I have not imbued my hands in the blood of another, I yet have oft-times grieved the spirit of those whom I ought to have obeyed and loved. I have been angry without a cause, and suffered the sun to go down upon my wrath. I have not followed the example of my blessed Lord and Master, who would not suffer a sword to be drawn even in his just defence. Alas! at the slightest affront offered to my pride and self-love, my evil passions have started up, and could they have been made visible, they would have assumed too evidently, the form of Cain lifting his murderous hand against his brother! 7. I have not, O Lord, endeavoured "to keep my heart with all diligence;" to watch over all my thoughts; to avoid all evil conversation; and to keep myself pure both in mind and body, according to thy holy will. 8. I have not been anxious for the interests of others as for my own. I have wronged many by carelessness and waste; and in increasing my desires and wants beyond what was becoming and necessary for my station, I have abused the indul gence that has supplied them, and robbed those that are in need of the comforts they might have derived from my superfluities. 9. I have too often given way to an angry and contentious spirit. I have lost sight of the example of my blessed Lord, who "when he was reviled, reviled not again." I have forgotten the need I have of forgiveness myself, and have published and magnified the faults of others, when I ought rather to have been deploring my own. 10 I have looked with an envious eye upon the goods and prosperity of others. I have not considered how much more of all things I possess than I deserve, and I have desired more the riches which "make to themselves wings and fly away," than to lay up treasure in heaven, that where my treasure is there may my heart be also, O gracious Father, forgive me my blindness and hardness of heart; illumine my understanding and purify my will; and give me a new spirit, that I may walk in thy statutes, and keep thine ordinances, and do them. O mercifully blot out my past offences, and make me to hate all things that are evil in thy sight, striving incessantly to please thee, and to draw nearer to thee, till at the last I may be received into thy eternal mansions, where sin and sorrow are no more, through the way appointed in the redemption of the world by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. PENITENTIAL EXERCISES. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.---Ps. li. "For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great," "Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me, for I am desolate and afflicted." The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of all my distresses." "Look upon mine affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins."---Ps. xxv. "Hear me, O Lord, when I cry with my voice; have mercy also upon me, and answer me." "Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help, leave me not, neither forsake me, O Lord God of my salvation."--Ps. xxvii. : "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble mine eye is consumed with grief, yea my soul and my body." "Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; save me for thy mercies' sake."Ps. xxxi. "Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord, let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me." "For innumerable evils |