fences of my Youth, but receive me, O Heavenly Father, into the Arms. of thy fatherly Compaffion, as thou didft the returning Prodigal, and forgive me all my Tranfgreffions, for the Merits of Jefus, thy only well-beloved Son, and my Saviour

Amen, Amen.

When you have thus confefs'd your Sins, good Philotheus, endeavour to be ftill more fenfible of them, and to bewail them with a true penitential Hatred, and Shame, and Sorrow for them: Then make fteady Refolutions of forfaking 'em, and cry earneftly to God for Pardon and Grace; for you muft as well put on the New Man, as put off the Old, Eph. iv. 22. Of all which Acts of Repentance, I give you the following Inftances, and advise you to fay them over as devoutly as poffible you can

can.

Lord God, I am afhamed, and, blush to lift up my Face to,

thee

thee; for my Iniquities are encreas'd over my Head, and my Trefpaffes are grown up unto the Heavens. Ezra ix. 6.

O my Soul, what Fruit have I reap'd from all the Pleasures of Sin which flattered me, which are but Vanity, and Vexation of Spirit.

Lord, I am afhamed of my own Folly, and Madnefs, and Difingenuity, when I call to mind how greedily I have fucked in my own Pollution; how treacherously I have betrayed my own Soul to Temptations, and combined with the very Devils to haften and encrease my own Damnation; how obftinately I have fled from thee, when thy Mercy purfued me with Promifes of Pardon how unworthily I have abufed thy Goodness, and Forbearance, and Long-fuffering, which fhould have led me to Repentance:..

Surely after I was turned, I repented; and fince I have confider'd my Ways, I am afham'd, yea, even confounded, becaufe I bear the Reproach of my Youth, Jer. xxxi. 19.

Acts of Abhorrence.

Hate all evil ways, O Lord; but

I thy Law will I love, Pfal. cxix.

O Lord God, nothing is more abominable in thy Sight, or more diabolical; nothing more defaces thy divine Image, or makes me more odious in thy pureft Eyes than Sin; and therefore I hate and abhor it.

O Lord God, I confefs I have nothing good in me, nothing that can any way move thee to compaffionate fo loathfome a Sinner, but thy own free, and undeserved, and infinite Mercy, and the Merits of my Saviour.

O Lord God, I cannot but admire the Riches of thy Goodness, who haft fpared me fo long, and haft given me this Opportunity of Re pentance. O do thou yet magnify thy Mercy more in my Forgiveness: O cleanse me from all that Filth my Soul hath contracted, which now renders me odious to my own felf as well as to thee,

Μ

Acts of Contrition.

Iferable Wretch that I am,

M that I fhould begin fo early

to offend my Creator, and fin fo much in fo fhort a Time.

Lord, I fear I never yet thoroughly confider'd how evil, and how bitter a Thing it is to depart from thee; O make me every Day more and more fenfible of the Error of my Ways, and of my own infinite Vilenefs.

Miferable Wretch that I am, that ever I fhould commit thofe Sins, which expofe me to all the Vials of thy Wrath, to all the Curfes of thy Law, to all the Judgment temporal or fpiritual in this Life, and to all the Horrors, and Defpair, and Torments of the Damn'd in the Life to

come.

Miferable Wretch that I am, that ever I fhould tranfgrefs that Law of thine, O God, which is fo juft, and holy, and good, and perfect, and fo condefcending to my Infir mities; and in keeping of which

there

there are fo great, fo unconceivable Rewards.

O that with Mary Magdalen I could weep much, and love much, having fo much to be forgiven, Luke vii. 38.

O gracious Lord, look on me as thou didst on Peter, and let thy compaífionate Look fo pierce my Heart, that I may weep bitterly for my Sins, Luke xxii. 61.

O Lord God, break this hard Heart, for thou only canft do it, and melt it into Tears of Contrition. Miferable Wretch that I am that I fhould fin fo much, and ye, grieve fo little.

Woe is me miferable Wretch, woe is me, that ever I fhould offend fo indulgent, fo liberal, fo tender a Father.

Woe is me, that ever I fhould repay the infinite Love, and the intolerable Sufferings of my Saviour for me, with nothing but those Sins which occafioned thofe very Sufferings.

Woe is me, that ever I fhould grieve