eft) in a profane or unworthy Manner; while others have been offering up their Prayers and Praises to thy Divine Majefty, or liftening to thy holy Word, my Eyes have been frequently wandering after Vanity, and my Mind full of idle and impertinent, and many Times (alas! with Shame I confefs it) of wanton and lascivious Thoughts.

O Lord! I dare not fay, that I have spent any one Day of my Life to thy Honour and Glory; but how many Days, nay Years, have I spent in the Service of Sin, in Luft and Intemperance; Brutishness and Senfuality; in profaning thy Sabbaths, abufing thy facred Name, ridiculing thy holy Word, defpifing thy Minifters, and making a Jeft of all that is ferious?

I have been proud and envious, luftful and intemperate, paffionate and angry, full of Malice, Hatred, and Revenge; I have been guilty of flandering and abufing, injuring and defrauding of my Neighbour; or of lewd Actions, and obfcene Discourses; of profane and filthy Jefts; and of frequent Curfing, Swearing, and Lying. And more particularly, O Lord, I do moft forrowfully confefs, and lament before thee, to whom all Things are naked and open, that I have

moft

moft grievously offended thee by-[Here name Particulars.]

And befides the Guilt of these my Sins, I have greatly increased it by the Sins of others. How many have been tempted and perfuaded to fin against thee, either by my Advice, Encouragement, or ill Example! Alas! I have not only been wicked, very wicked myself, but, with Shame and Sorrow I confefs it, I have been inftrumental in making others fo too; particu larly-[Here again may be named any particular Sin of this Nature.] Lord, what Scandal have I brought to Religion, what Dishonour to thy Name; what Reproach to the Christian Profeffion by these my wicked and finful Practices!

And what fhall I now fay unto thee, O God, whofe Goodness I have thus abused whofe Mercies I have flighted; whose Promifes and Threatenings, declared in the Gospel, I have rejected; and whose Judgments I have defpifed? What Hope can I entertain of the Merits of a Saviour, whofe Blood I have as it were trampled under Foot! or what Comfort can I expect from the kind Influences of the ever bleffed Spirit, whofe Motions I have fo often rejected; whofe Calls and Invitations I have fo long

been

been deaf to, and whom I have so often grieved by my wicked and finful Practices!

Oh! whither fhall I fly then for Succour! Who fhall deliver me from the Wrath of that God, whom I have thus offended? Shall I call upon the Mountains to cover me, or the Deep to fwallow me up? Alas, there is nothing can hide me from his all-fearching Eye: O bleffed Saviour of the World! Thou alone art my Refuge; in thee is all my Hope, all my Support; and if thou rejectest me, I am loft and undone for ever: Oh! turn not away thy Face from me, nor cast thy Servant away in Displeasure: Be thou my Advocate with the Father, and let thy Blood be the Propitiation for my Sins.

And, O moft merciful Father, thou infinite and compaffionate Lover of Souls! who delightest not in the Death of the Wicked, nor defpifeft the Tears of a returning Sinner, for the Sake of thy dear Son, I most earnestly beseech thee to hear the Groans of me, a miferable Sinner, who am ready to fink under the heavy Weight and Burden of Sin. Look with Pity upon me, I humbly intreat thee, who am not worthy, I confefs, to lift up my polluted Eyes to Heaven; my Sins have made me

the

the just Object of thy Wrath! and shouldest thou now be deaf to all my Supplications, it would be but a just Return for my having fo long refused to hearken to thy gracious Calls and Invitations to Repentance. O miferable Wretch that I am; that I should ever thus offend fo good, fo merciful a Fa ther; that ever I should make him my Enemy, who is the kindeft, and the best of Friends! Lord, I condemn myself, and abhor the Follies of my paft Life; my Flesh trembleth for Fear of thee, and I am horribly afraid of thy Judgments; for who can ftand in thy Sight when thou art angry? or who is able to abide the Fury of thy Wrath?

O my God! I have no hope but in that Mercy of thine, which thou haft manifefted in the Redemption of the World, by thy Son Chrift Jefus ; that alone is the Support of my Soul under all its Sorrow and Anguifh; in him I know and am affured, that thou art a merciful God, full of Compaffion, Long-fuffering, and of great Pity; thou fparest when we deferve Punishment, and in thy Wrath thinkeft upon Mercy : Spare me, therefore, O good Lord, fpare me, and be not angry with me for ever: Wash away all my Sins in the Blood of thy dear Son, who came into the World to fave Sinners;

4

Sinners; and for the Sake of his meritorious Death and Paffion, and for all the Sufferings which he underwent for the Sins of the whole World; pardon and forgive, Į most earnestly, and moft unfeignedly befeech thee, all the Sins and Tranfgreffions of my past Life, more particularly

Cleanfe thou me, O my God, from all my fecret and unknown Sins; and O! be thou reconciled unto me, and receive me to thy Favour, which, though I have hitherto fo foolishly flighted, yet I now value and prefer above all the Pleasures of this World. Alas! my Lufts and Paffions have for a long Time had the Dominion over me; they

have blinded and feduced me, and my whole

Life has been one continued Error and Mistake; but, Lord, thou hast been pleased to open my Eyes, when I was just at the very Brink of Deftruction, and fhewn me the Precipice I was falling into; and now I fee and condemn the Folly of my past Life, and am fenfible that unless thy Pity had interpofed, I must have perished for ever. O let that infinite Love which moved thee to fo aftonishing a Mercy, be still continued to me, a poor, wretched, helpless Creature; fhew thou me the Path that leads to everlasting Life, and give me fuch a Senfe

of