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We have sinned, Father, against heaven and before thee a; we have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God b; for the God in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways, have we not glorified c.

Against thee, thee only, have we sinned, and have done much evil in thy sight d; neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws which he hath set before use; though they are holy, just, and good g.

Who can understand his errors? from secret faults h.

Cleanse thou us

In many things we all offendi; and our iniquities are more than the hairs of our head k.

As a fountain casteth out her waters, so do our hearts cast out wickedness l; and this hath been our manner from our youth up, that we have not obeyed thy voice m. Out of the evil treasures of our hearts we have brought forth many evil things n.

(1.) We must confess and bewail the workings of pride in us.

We have all reason to be humbled, for the pride of our hearts o, that we have thought of ourselves above what hath been meetp, and have not thought soberly, nor walked humbly with our God q.

We have leaned on our own understandingr, and trusted in our own hearts s; and have sacrificed to our own nett.

We have sought our own glory more than the glory of him that sent us v, and have been puffed up for that which we should have mourned w.

a Luke xv. 18.
d Psal. li. 4.
h Psal. xix. 12.
1 Jer. vi. 7.
o 2 Chr. xxxii. 26.
r Prov. iii. 5.
v John vii. 18.

b Rom. iii. 23.
e Dan. ix. 10.

i James iii. 2.
m Jer. i. 21, 22.
p Rom. xii. 3.
s Prov. xxviii. 26.
w 1 Cor. v. 2.

c Dan. v. 23.

g Rom. vii. 12,
k Psal. xl. 12.
n Matt. xii. 35.

Mic. vi. 8.
Hab. i. 16.

(2.) The breaking out of passion and rash anger.

We have not had the rule which we ought to have had over our own spirits, which have therefore been as a city that is broken down, and has no walls a.

We have been soon angry b, and anger hath rested in our bosoms c. And when our spirits have been provoked, we have spoken unadvisedly with our lips d; and have been guilty of that clamour and bitterness which should have been put far from use.

(3.) Our covetousness and love of the world.

Our conversation has not been without covetousness g, nor have we learned in every state to be content with such things as we have h.

Who can say that he is clean from that love of money which is the root of all evil i, that covetousness which is idolatry k?

We have sought great things to ourselves, when thou hast said, Seek them not l.

(4.) Our sensuality and flesh pleasing.

We have minded the things of the flesh more than the things of the spiritm, and have lived in pleasure in the earth, and have been wanton, and have nourished our hearts as in a day of slaughtern.

We have made provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts of ito; even those lusts which war against our soulsp; and in many instances have acted, as if we had been lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God q.

When we did eat, and when we did drink, did we not eat to ourselves, and drink to ourselves r?

(5.) Our security and unmindfulness of the changes we are liable to in this world.

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We have put far from us the evil day a, and in our prosperity have said, we should never be moved b, as if to-morrow must needs be as this day, and much more abundant c.

We have encouraged our souls to take their ease, to eat and drink and be merry, as if we had goods laid up for many years, when perhaps this night our souls may be required of us d.

We have been ready to trust in uncertain riches, more than in the living Gode; to say to the gold, Thou art our hope, and to the fine gold, thou art our confidence g.

(6.) Our fretfulness and impatience, and murmuring under our afflictions, our inordinate dejection and distrast of God and his providence.

When thou chastisedst us, and we were chastised, we have been as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; and though our own foolishness hath perverted our way, yet our heart hath fretted against the Lordh; and thus in our distress we have trespassed yet more against the Lordi.

We have either despised the chastening of the Lord, or fainted when we have been rebuked of him k; and if we faint in the day of adversity, our strength is smalll.

We have said in our haste, We are cast off from before thine eyes m; and that the Lord hath forsaken us, our God hath forgotten usn, as if God would be favourable no more; as if he had forgotten to be gracious, and had in anger shut up his tender mercies. This has been our infirmity o.

(7.) Our uncharitableness towards our brethren, and unpeaceableness with our relations, neighbours, and freinds, and perhaps injustice towards them.

a Am. vi. 3.

d Luke xii. 19, 20. h Prov. xix. 3.

Prov. xxiv. 10. • Psal. Ixxvii. 7, 8, 10.

b Psal. xxx. 6.
e 1 Tim. vi. 17.
i 2 Chron. xxviii. 22.
m Psal. xxxi. 22.

c Isa. lvi. 12.

Job xxxi. 24. k Prov. iii. 11. n Isa. xlix. 14

We have been very guilty concerning our brother a: for we have not studied the things that make for peace, nor things wherewith we might edify one anotherb.

We have been ready to judge our brother, and to set at nought our brother, forgetting that we must all shortly stand before the judgment seat of Christ c.

Contrary to the royal law of charity, we have vaunted ourselves and been puffed up, have behaved ourselves unseemly and sought our own, have been easily provoked d, have rejoiced in iniquity, and been secretly glad at calamities e.

We have been desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another g; when we should have considered one another, to provoke to love, and to good works h.

The bowels of our compassion have been shut up from those that are in needi; and we have hidden ourselves from our own fleshk. Nay, perhaps our eye has been evil against our poor brother 7, and we have despised the poorm.

And if in any thing we have gone beyond, and defrauded our brothern, if we have walked with vanity, and our foot hath hasted to deceit, and any blot hath cleaved to our hands o, Lord discover it to us, that if we have done iniquity, we may do so no more p.

(8.) Our tongue sins.

In the multitude of our words there wanteth not sin q, nor can a man full of talk be justified r.

While the lips of the righteous feed many, our lips have poured out foolishness, and spoken frowardness s. Much corrupt communication hath proceeded out of our

a Gen. xlii. 21.
d 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5.
h Heb. x. 24.
/ Deut. xv. 9.
o Job xxxi. 5, 7.
r Job xi. 2.

b Rom. xiv. 19.
e Prov. xvii. 5.
i 1 John iii. 17.
m James ii. 6.
p Job xxxiv. 32.

Prov. x. 21, 32.

c Rom. xiv. 10.
g

Gal. v. 26.
k Isa. lviii. 7.
n 1 Thess. iv. 6.
q Prov. x. 19.
XV. 2.

mouth; that foolish talking and jesting which is not convenient, and little of that which is good, and to the use of edifying, and which might minister grace unto the hearers a.

If for every idle word that men speak they must give an account, and if by our words we must be justified, and if by our words we must be condemned b; wo unto us, for we are undone c; for we are of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

What would become of us, if God should make our own tongues to fall upon us d?

(6.) Our spiritual slothfulness and decay.

We have been slothful in the business of religion, and not fervent in spirit, serving the Lord e.

The things which remain are ready to die, and our works have not been found perfect before God g.

We have observed the winds and therefore have not sown, have regarded the clouds, and therefore have not reaped h, and with the sluggard have frighted ourselves with the fancy of a lion in the way, a lion in the streets, and have turned on our bed as the door on the hinges i; still crying, Yet a little sleep, and a little slumber k.

We have lost our first lovel: and where is now the blessedness we sometimes spake ofm?

Our goodness hath been as the morning cloud, and the early dew which soon passeth away n.

And that which is at the bottom of all, is the evil heart of unbelief in us, which inclines us to depart from the living Godo.

(7.) We must acknowledge the great evil that there is in sin, and in our sin; the malignity of its nature, and its mischievousness to us.

a Eph. iv. 29. v. 4. b Matt. xii. 36, 37.

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c Isa. vi. 5. g Rev. iii. 2. k Prov. vi. 10.

n Hosea, vi. 4.

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