other parts of prayer, is introduced in such a manner, as is exactly fit to call up the true spirit of devotion. Hear then with earnest attention, the awful sentences of [the bible] which open the public worship, and you shall be soon convinced that, as the Scripture moveth you in sundry places' to do, nothing can so much become you, as that you should confess your manifold sins and wickedness.' You shall be convinced, that if you say you have no sin, you are miserably deceiving yourselves;' for so many are the transgressions you have been guilty of, and your sins are so constantly bearing heavy upon you, that you cannot but tremble at the correction of God's anger, which must assuredly bring you to nothing, nay which is even at hand to take vengeance on you. [You will see] therefore, that nothing but a speedy repentance can save you, nor is there any other avoiding God's entering into judgment with you, in whose sight no man living shall be justified. While therefore your spirit is broken and your heart rent,' you must arise and go to your Father, and say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son,' much less to be treated as thy child. If these sentences were regarded, and had their due influence, they could not fail of stirring up a dread of just punishment, an earnest desire of being restored to God's favor, and a humble, unaffected persuasion of our vileness in his sight. Under such a conviction, we should with all readiness fall in with the minister's exhortation, and giving up all pretence to self-righteousness, all 'dissembling and cloking our sins,' fall down before

way of

'Almighty God, our heavenly Father, confessing them with a humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart,' if by any means 'we may obtain forgiveness of the same through God's infinite goodness and amazing mercy.' If by this time a high dread of most mighty justice, which you see due to you for your sins, has taken possession of your souls, and you stand confounded and condemned before God and your own consciences, (as the importance and weightiness of these reflections being considered, methinks you cannot but be,) you will be ready humbly, seriously, and heartily, to do honor to the Lord, in the open acknowledgment of your sinfulness before that congregation, with which you are assembled, for the great and exalted purposes of religious worship. When you are deeply affected with the odiousness, the ingratitude, the danger of sin, and your mind is impressed with shame and fear; whilst your heart is troubled and spirit within you desolate of comfort, you shall long to pour out your soul before God, in unfeigned confession of your guilt and overflowing sorrow. then low on your knees before God, and with the convicted congregation lift up your humble voice to him, in expressions arising from a purity of heart which shuts out all hypocrisy, and you then shall feel, I may safely assure you, all the comfortable force of those words of confession which you speak from your souls. How will your hearts melt when you set before you that Almighty God' who, 'most merciful' as he is, you scarcely dare to call your Father, from whose ways, although he be the 'Almighty and most merciful,' you have heedlessly and presumptuously strayed

6

your

Fall

like lost sheep, following the devices and desires of your own corrupt hearts,' doing your own pleasure, and 'leaving undone' his, in repeated instances; insomuch that there is no health' nor wholeness in you, but you are altogether odious, sinful, and abominable! How passionately will you consider whom you have been offending, and against whom you have lifted up yourselves in a series of disobedience! How warmly will you plead with your heart because of the iniquity that is in how devoutly will you; you resolve against doing any more such great wickedness, and how solicitously, when your heart is thus in heaviness, [will you] look up to your everlasting rock for pardon and protection! You shall then want neither a pressing earnestness, nor a deep humility, when you sue to God for mercy. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, miserable offender' that I am; spare me, O God, I confess my faults; restore me, I am penitent; restore me, not for my deserts (I am sadly sensible they are nothing) but according to thy promises, declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. Above all things also grant me, O most merciful Father,' that my future life may be, unlike the past, 'godly, righteous, sober,' not to the dishonour but the 'glory of thy holy name.' This will be the faithful language of your hearts, most sensibly affected with the shame, sorrow, and dread of sin.

[Under these impressions,] with how incomparable a consolation will God's sentence of absolution fall upon you! Arraigned and convicted before the Lord, without the least circumstance to offer in mitigation of the divine justice, how will your heart dance for

joy when the glad tidings of peace and salvation are published to you! [What will be your comfort] when, 'Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus. Christ,' declares his acceptance of you for the sake of his Son, when he solemnly professeth that he desireth not the death of any sinner, but rather that he should turn and live,' and when his minister, by God's authority and commandment, pronounceth 'absolution and remission of your sins' upon 'true repentance and unfeigned belief of the gospel.' Seeing also that so much depends on your true repentance, you will need, under your present penitent circumstances, no argument to lead you to 'beseech God that he will grant it unto you,' that he will give you his Holy Spirit' to purify you from all iniquity, both of body and soul, so that the present services you are about to pay may please him,' and that the 'rest of your lives,' formerly so miserably sinful, may be 'pure and holy,' and that 'at the last you may come to his eternal joy through Jesus Christ.'

It may not be amiss now to observe, that in as much of the service as hath been hitherto considered, we have been in a very awakening manner called to a fixed and settled persuasion of our sinfulness and guilt, and of God's anger against us in this estate, both which are the groundwork of that part of prayer which consists in confession. We have further been assisted with terms of grief very expressive of such a sense of guilt before God, and extremely fit to confirm such an abhorrence of it on our minds, as can alone make us worthy of God's remitting to us the punishments thereof. Thus the true foundation of repentance

is here established, which makes the necessity of faith in Christ Jesus abundantly evident, there being no other hope of pardon to a self-condemned offender. [Moreover] whilst the wretch, in so fearful an expectation of deserved punishment, cannot but hope for forgiveness as the only circumstance which can support him in so sad a distress, this is largely promised and strongly confirmed to him, from the mouth of that God whose vengeance was so much dreaded. Thus you may observe, how well this office of confession is fitted to give us a high fear of God's justice, which is due to all sinners, to convince every one of us that we are such, and to make us lay hold of eternal life offered us in Christ Jesus- no trifling parts, you must acknowledge, of the Christian salvation.

Set now the avenging God before you, as reconciled to you for the sake of Christ Jesus; as willing to forgive your iniquities, and to blot them out of his remembrance; as having solemnly engaged to you that he will do so, upon your repentance and faith ; and you may discover how properly the prayer of our Lord concludes this office of confession. You have been lamenting your wickedness and God's anger, and now he is reconciled to you through his wellbeloved you are now therefore emboldened to call upon him, by the endearing title of Heavenly Father, through the gracious promise of pardon now given you, whose name you must needs now desire to 'hallow,' reverence, and adore, earnestly begging that his kingdom may come,' and Christ Jesus rule universally in your hearts, to the defeating of all attacks