for he is gracious, merciful, flow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil,

Blessed Lord,

AS an unfeigned fign of my repentance, in anguifh of heart, and bitterness of foul, I earnestly defire to fearch into the fecrets of my finful thoughts, to unbofom all my fins, and lay them open to the view of all thy faints, that thou mayeft have the glory, they the good, and I the fhame of my confeffion, that fo this penitent fenfe of mine iniquities (which I thankfully acknowledge cometh alone. from thee) may be an evidence unto me, that thou wilt also give me pardon for them.

Lord, I willingly confefs myself to be a great and grievous finner, mine original defiled, my birth polluted, mine infancy ftained, my youth enfnared, my manhood corrupted, mine age befotted.

Mine imaginations vain, my thoughts finful, my words wicked, mine actions abominable, my whole life a very fink of fin and all uncleannefs.

When thy hand hath been heavy upon me, I have then promifed the amendment; when thy rod hath been taken off from me, I have again returned to mine evil couries; this plainly fheweth, that I have hitherto fought but myfelf in thee, and may therefore juftly fear to be forlaken of thee.

I have been undutiful to thee my God, envious and uncharitable to my neighbour, hypocritical to the world, deceitful to mine own soul.

My thoughts have been wanton, my defires lafcivious, my actions unclean.

I have been blind to thy precepts, deaf to thy promifes, dumb in thy praises, lame in thy fervices, fick at thine ordinances, dead to thine embraces.

I have broken all my promifes, I have flighted all thy threatenings, I have abused all thy mercies, I have rejected all thy favors, I have delayed my repentance, I have refifted the checks of mine own confcience, I have quenched the motions of thy bleffed fpirit, and turned thy grace into wantonness; and yet, as if all this had been too little to. condemn me, I have maft daringly prefumed on thy mercy, and moft ungraciously refolved to go on in my impieties.

Lord, thou haft promifed to forgive those that repent, to ease those that are heavy laden, to raise. up those that are fallen, to fatisfy thofe that are hungry, and to bind up thofe that are brokenhearted.

O Lord my God,. I earnestly defire to repent, I am laden with a burthen infupportable, I am feeble. and fore fmitten with the terrors of thy law, my flesh trembleth, and my heart fainteth; I am fallen

into the very mouth of hell, I am forely wounded with the remor fe of mine own accusing conscience, and hungry for the fweet refreshings of thy faving grace.

Thou, O Lord, haft made me fenfible of this my great mifery, and thou alone canft make me capable of thy rich mercy; unto that mercy therefore, I appeal, with fighs in my foul, and forrow in my heart.

O thou, which art the blessed Fountain of all goodness, which defireft not the death of a finner, but rather that he should repent and live, have mercy upon me.

O thou, which art the Saviour of the world, which camest to seek, and to fave those which were loft, have mercy upon me.

O holy, and for ever bleffed fpirit, thou which feedeft and refresheft the diftreffed fouls of thine elect, have mercy on me.

Let thy power (O bleffed Father) fupport my weakness; thy wifdom (O bleffed Son) fupply my folly; thy love (O bleffed Spirit) reftrain my wilfulness; that as thou art eternally one, fo I may for ever be at unity with thee, although most woefully divided in myself,

t

Lord, as thou hast given me a heart to pray unto thee, fo give me alfo a foul to praise thee, and a serious resolution to perform those promises I make unto thee.

Lord sweeten all my forrows by thy blessed sufferings, enlarge my heart with thankfulness for thy many favors, ftrengthen my weak faith, reftrain my rebellious nature, increase daily in me the gifts and graces of thy blessed spirit; endue me with a perfect hatred against all fin; and grant, dear God, that daring and prefumptuous fins may never have dominion over me.AMEN.

CHAP. XIV.

UPON QUENCHING THE MOTIONS OF GOD'S

HOLY SPIRIT.

CONSIDER, O my foul, from whence

thefe happy thoughts arise; and wherefore, if they were from nature, they must needs favor of corruption; but now they are from grace, they summon thee to goodness, they becken thee to immortality: thy God now calleth thee to repentance; he offers thee his gracious pardon for thy fin, his love, his protection, his peace; his grace, his glory: he now wooeth thee to favor, and thou (a woeful wretch) convicted by thine own accufing confcience, condemned by divine juftice, rebelliously rejecteft all these gracious offers: ah, what woeful folly is this! nay, rather what wilful madness! As there is a time of calling, fo there will be a time of rejecting; the blessed wind of God's holy fpirit bloweth but where it lifteth; when it is once gone, thou knoweft not whether it fhall ever return: "God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth," Rom. 9. Ah woe be unto that foul whose time of calling is once paft; a thousand worlds cannot redeem its loss, if thou wilt not now embrace these comfortable breathings of his tender