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AN ACT OF CONFESSION.

GOD, Thou knowest

GOD, Thou knowest my foolishness,

and my sins are not hid from Thee.
I also acknowledge them,

and my sin is ever before me.

I do not cover my transgressions, as Adam. I incline not my heart to any evil thing, But I will acknowledge my sin unto Thee, and all that is within me,

yea, all my bones shall say, I have sinned: I have gone astray, like a sheep that is lost; as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; I have returned like a dog to his vomit; as a sow that was washed,

to her wallowing in the mire.

I give glory to the Lord God of Israel, saying, I have sinned; and thus and thus have I done.

But, O Lord, break not the bruised reed; quench not the smoking flax;

Let not the waterflood drown me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

Lord, Thou knowest all my desire, and my groaning is not hid from Thee. Thou knowest, Lord, that I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not.

my conscience also bearing me witness
in the Holy Ghost,

that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart,

because I have thus sinned against Thee; that I am a burden to myself, in that I cannot

sorrow more;

that I beseech from Thee
a contrite heart,

groanings that cannot be uttered,
tears of blood.

Woe is me! for my dryness,
for the hardness of my heart,
for the dryness of my eyes.
Lord, I repent; I repent, O Lord!
help Thou mine impenitence;

and more and still more bruise, and cleave, and prick, and pierce my heart. Behold, O Lord,

that I am indignant with myself

on account of the foolish and vain and mischievous and dangerous desires of my flesh; that I abhor myself

for the madness and baseness and vileness of those desires,

worthy of confusion and reproach;

that all the day long my confusion is before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me. Woe is me!

that I did not reverence nor dread
the incomprehensibleness of Thy Glory,
Thy tremendous Power,
the awfulness of Thy Presence,
Thy strict Justice,

Thy lovable Goodness.

How have I been drawn away by mine own lusts! how have I hated reproof!

and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers!

Behold, O Lord,

that fearfulness and trembling are come

upon me,

and the fear of death hath fallen upon me! What fear, what terror, what trembling, what agony, what extremity have I yet to see! What confusion will seize me!

What darkness will surround me!

How terrible is Thy judgment-seat, O God! when the thrones are set,

and the Angels stand around,
and men are brought in,
and the books are opened,
and the works investigated,
and the thoughts scrutinized,
and the hidden things of darkness
made known!

What will be the judgment against me?
when there is the incorruptible Judge,
and the tremendous Tribunal,
and the excuseless defence,

and the irrefragable accusation,

and the fearful punishment, and the eternal Gehenna,

and the pitiless angels, and hell enlarging its mouth, and the roaring river of fire, and the fire unquenchable, and the prison of darkness, and that darkness rayless, and the bed of live coals, and the undying worm, and the indissoluble chains, and the unmeasurable gulf,

and the wall that cannot be crossed, and the lament that cannot be consoled,

and none to assist, to advocate, to free!

Behold, O Lord,

I adjudge myself worthy of, and amenable to,

and guilty of,

eternal punishment;

yea, and of all the troubles of this world:

From Thee, O Lord, I have merited death, from Thee, the Just One;

but yet to Thee, O Lord, I appeal,
to Thee, the Merciful One;
from the tribunal of Justice,
to the Mercy-seat of Grace;
permit, O Lord, this appeal:

if Thou dost not, we perish!

And, O Lord, carest Thou not that we perish? Thou who wilt have all men to be saved, who art not willing that any should perish?

Behold me, O Lord,

condemned by my own judgment; Behold me; and enter not Thou, O Lord, into judgment with Thy servant !

I am less than the least of all Thy mercies; I am not worthy to be one of Thine hired servants,

no, not the lowest ;

I am not worthy to gather up the crumbs
that fall from Thy table:

I am not worthy to touch the hem of Thy garment.

And now, O Lord, humbling myself
under Thy mighty hand,