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Chapter II CONFESSION OF SIN

Having given glory to God, which is His due, we must next take shame to ourselves, which is our due, and humble ourselves before Him in the sense of our own sinfulness and vileness; and herein also we must give glory to Him, as our judge, by whom we deserve to be condemned, and yet hope, through Christ, to be acquitted and absolved. Joshua 7:19.

O OUR God, we are ashamed and blush to lift up our faces before thee, our God; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. Ezra 9:6.

To us belongs shame and confusion of face, because we have sinned against thee. Daniel 9:8.

Behold we are vile, what shall we answer thee? we will lay our hand upon our mouth, and put our mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope; crying with the convicted leper under the law, Unclean, unclean. Job 40:4. Lamentations 3:29. Leviticus 13:45.

Thou puttest no trust in thy saints, and the heavens are not clean in thy sight: How much more abominable and filthy is man, who drinketh iniquity like waters! Job 15:15, 16.

When our eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, we have reason to cry out, Woe unto us, for we are undone. Isaiah 6:5.

Dominion and fear are with thee, thou makest peace in thy high places: There is not any number of thine armies, and upon whom doth not thy light arise? How then can man be justified with God, or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Job 25:2, 3, 4.

Thou, even thou art to be feared, and who may stand in thy sight, when once thou art angry? Even thou, our God, art a consuming fire, and who knows the power of thine anger? Psalm 76:7. Hebrews 12:29. Psalm 90:11.

If we justify ourselves, our own mouths shall condemn us, if we say we are perfect, that also shall prove us perverse; for if thou contend with us, we are not able to answer thee for one of a thousand. Job 9:20, 3.

If we knew nothing by ourselves, yet were we not thereby justified, for he that judgeth us is the Lord; who is greater than our hearts, and knows all things. But we ourselves know that we have sinned, Father, against heaven, and before thee, and are no more worthy to be called thy children. 1 Corinthians 4:4. 1 John 3:20. Luke 15:21.

IF thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who should stand? But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared; with thee there is mercy, yea with our God there is plenteous redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Psalm 130:3, 4, 7, 8.

Thy sacrifices, O God, are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise: Nay, though thou art the high and lofty One that inhabitest eternity, whose name is Holy; though the heaven be thy throne, and the earth thy footstool, yet to this man wilt thou look, that is poor and humble, of a broken and a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at thy word, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Psalm 51:17. Isaiah 57:15. Isaiah 66:1, 2. Isaiah 57:15.

Thou hast graciously assured us, that though they that cover their sins shall not prosper, yet those that confess and forsake them shall find mercy. And when a poor penitent said, I will confess my transgression unto the Lord, thou forgavest the iniquity of his sin, and for this shall every one that is godly in like manner pray unto thee, in a time when thou mayest be found. Proverbs 28:13. Psalm 32:5, 6.

We know that if we say, We have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but thou hast said that if we confess our sins, thou art faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8, 9.

LORD, thou madest man upright, but they have sought out many inventions; And being in honour did not understand, and therefore abode not, but became like the beasts that perish. Ecclesiastes 7:29. Psalm 49:12, 20.

By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned; By that one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, and we among the rest. Romans 5:12, 19.

We are a seed of evil doers; our father was an Amorite, and our mother a Hittite, and we ourselves were called (and not miscalled) transgressors from the womb, and thou knewest we would deal very treacherously. Isaiah 1:4. Ezekiel 16:3. Isaiah 48:8.

The nature of man was planted a choice and noble vine, wholly a right seed, but it is become the degenerate plant of a strange vine; producing the grapes of Sodom, and the clusters of Gomorrah. How is the gold become dim, and the most fine gold changed! Jeremiah 2:21. Deuteronomy 32:32. Lamentations 4:1.

Behold we were shapen in iniquity, and in sin did our mothers conceive us. For who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. We are by nature children of wrath, because children of disobedience, even as others. Psalm 51:5. Job 14:4. Ephesians 2:3, 2.

All flesh hath corrupted their way, we are all gone aside, we are all together become filthy, there is none that doth good, no, no not one. Genesis 6:12. Psalm 14:3.

1. The blindness of our understandings, and their unaptness to admit the rays of the divine light.

BY nature our understandings are darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in us, because of the blindness of our hearts. Ephesians 4:18.

The things of the Spirit of God are foolishness, to the natural man, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14.

We are wise to do evil, but to do good we have no knowledge. We know not, neither do we understand, we walk on in darkness. Jeremiah 4:22. Psalm 82:5.

God speaketh once, yea twice, but we perceive it not; but hearing we hear, and do not understand, and we see men as trees walking. Job 33:14. Matthew 13:14. Mark 8:24.

2. The stubbornness of our wills, and their unaptness to submit to the rules of the divine law.

We have within us a carnal mind, which is enmity against God, and is not in subjection to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Romans 8:7.

Thou hast written to us the great things of thy law, but they have been accounted by us as a strange thing, and our corrupt hearts have been sometimes ready to say, What is the Almighty that we should serve him? And that we would certainly do whatsoever thing goes forth out of our own mouth. For we have walked in the way of our own heart, and in the sight of our eyes, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Hosea 8:12. Job 21:15. Jeremiah 44:17. Ecclesiastes 11:9. Ephesians 2:3.

Our neck hath been an iron sinew, and we have made our heart as an adamant; we have refused to hearken, have pulled away the shoulder, and stopped our ears, like the deaf adder, that will not hearken to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely. Isaiah 48:4. Zechariah 7:12, 11. Psalm 58:4, 5.

How have we hated instruction, and our heart despised reproof, and have not obeyed the voice of our teachers, nor inclined our ear to them that instructed us? Proverbs 5:12, 13.

3. The vanity of our thoughts, their neglect of those things which they ought to be conversant with, and dwelling upon those things that are unworthy of them, and tend to corrupt our minds.

Every imagination of the thought of our heart is evil, only evil, and that continually, and it has been so from our youth. Genesis 6:5. Genesis 8:21.

O how long have those vain thoughts lodged within us! those thoughts of foolishness which are sin. From within out of the heart proceed evil thoughts; which devise mischief upon the bed, and carry the heart with the fool’s eyes into the ends of the earth. Jeremiah 4:14. Proverbs 24:9. Matthew 15:19. Micah 2:1. Proverbs 17:24.

But God is not in all our thoughts, it is well if he be in any: Of the Rock that begat us we have been unmindful, and have forgotten the God that formed us: We have forgotten him days without number, and our hearts have walked after vanity, and become vain. Their inward thought having been that our houses should continue for ever; this our way is our folly. Psalm 10:4. Deuteronomy 32:18. Jeremiah 2:32, 5. Psalm 49:11, 13.

4. The carnality of our affections, their being placed upon wrong objects, and carried beyond due bounds.

We have set those affections on things beneath, which should have been set on things above, where our treasure is, and where Christ sits on the right hand of God, the things which we should seek. Colossians 3:2, 1. Matthew 6:21.

We have followed after lying vanities, and forsaken our own mercies; have forsaken the fountain of living waters, for cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jonah 2:8. Jeremiah 2:13.

We have panted after the dust of the earth, and have been full of care what we shall eat, and what we shall drink, and wherewithal we shall be clothed, the things after which the Gentiles seek, but have neglected the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof. Amos 2:7. Matthew 6:31, 32, 33.

We have lifted up our souls unto vanity, and set our eyes upon that which is not, have looked at the things that are seen which are temporal, but the things that are not seen that are eternal, have been forgotten and postponed. Psalm 24:4. Proverbs 23:5. 2 Corinthians 4:18.

5. The corruption of the whole man: irregular appetites towards those things that are pleasing to sense, and inordinate passions against those things that are displeasing, and an alienation of the mind from the principles, powers and pleasures of the spiritual and divine life.

We are born of the flesh, and we are flesh: Dust we are: We have borne the image of the earthly; and in us, that is, in our flesh, there dwells no good thing: For if to will is present to us, yet how to perform that which is good we find not; for the good that we would do we do it not, and the evil which we would not do that we do. John 3:6. Genesis 3:19. 1 Corinthians 15:49. Romans 7:18, 19.

We have a law in our members warring against the law of our mind, and bringing us into captivity to the law of sin that is in our members: So that when we would do good, evil is present with us, and most easily besets us. Romans 7:23, 21. Hebrews 12:1.

The whole head is sick, the whole heart faint, from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in us, but wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores. Isaiah 1:5, 6.

There is in us a bent to backslide from the living God: Our hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know them? They start aside like a broken bow. Hosea 11:7. Jeremiah 17:9. Hosea 7:16.

WE have been as fig-trees planted in the vineyard, and thou hast come many years seeking fruit from us, but hast found none; and therefore we might justly have been cut down and cast into the fire for cumbering the ground: Thou hast come looking for grapes, but behold wild grapes; or we have been empty vines, bringing forth fruit unto ourselves. Luke 13:6, 7. Matthew 3:10. Isaiah 5:4. Hosea 10:1.

We have known to do good, but have not done it: We have hid our Lord’s money, and therefore deserve the doom of the wicked and slothful servant. James 4:17. Matthew 25:18, 26.

We have been unfaithful stewards, that have wasted our Lord’s goods; for one sinner destroys much good. Luke 16:1. Ecclesiastes 9:18.

Many a price hath been put into our hand to get wisdom, which we have had no heart to; or our heart has been at our left hand. Proverbs 17:16. Ecclesiastes 10:2.

Our childhood and youth was vanity, and we have brought our years to an end, as a tale that is told. Ecclesiastes 11:10. Psalm 90:9.

We have not known, or improved, the day of our visitation, have not provided meat in summer, nor gathered food in harvest, though we have had guides, overseers and rulers. Luke 19:44. Proverbs 6:8, 7.

We are slow of heart to understand and believe, and whereas for the time we might have been teachers of others, we are yet to learn the first principles of the oracles of God, have need of milk, and cannot bear strong meat. Luke 24:25. Hebrews 5:12.

We have cast off fear, and restrained prayer before God; have not called upon thy name, nor stirred up ourselves to take hold on thee. Job 15:4. Isaiah 64:7.

We have come before thee as thy people come, and have sat before thee as thy people sit, and have heard thy words, when our hearts at the same time have been going after our covetousness. And thus have we brought the torn, and the lame, and the sick for sacrifice, have offered that to our God, which we would not have offered to our governor; and have vowed and sacrificed to the Lord a corrupt thing, when we had in our flock a male. Ezekiel 33:31. Malachi 1:8, 14.

WE have sinned, Father, against heaven and before thee; we have all sinned, and have come short of the glory of God; for the God in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways, have we not glorified. Luke 15:18. Romans 3:23. Daniel 5:23.

Against thee, thee only have we sinned, and have done much evil in thy sight; neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his laws which he hath set before us; though they are all holy, just, and good. Psalm 51:4. Daniel 9:10. Romans 7:12.

Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou us from secret faults. Psalm 19:12.

In many things we all offend; and our iniquities are more than the hairs of our head. James 3:2. Psalm 40:12.

As a fountain casteth out her waters, so do our hearts cast out wickedness; and this hath been our manner from our youth up, that we have not obeyed thy voice. Jeremiah 6:7. Jeremiah 22:21.

Out of the evil treasure of our hearts we have brought forth many evil things. Matthew 12:35.

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, that we have thought of ourselves above what hath been meet, and have not thought soberly, nor walked humbly with our God. 2 Chronicles 32:26. Romans 12:3. Micah 6:8.

We have leaned to our own understanding; and trusted in our own hearts; and have sacrificed to our own net. Proverbs 3:5. Proverbs 28:26. Habakkuk 1:16.

We have sought our own glory more than the glory of him that sent us; and have been puffed up for that for which we should have mourned. John 7:18. 1 Corinthians 5:2.

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. Proverbs 25:28.

We have been soon angry, and anger hath rested in our bosoms. And when our spirits have been provoked, we have spoken unadvisedly with our lips; and have been guilty of that clamour and bitterness which should have been put far from us. Proverbs 14:17. Ecclesiastes 7:9. Psalm 106:33. Ephesians 4:31.

3. Our covetousness and love of the world.

Our conversation has not been without covetousness, nor have we learned in every state to be content with such things as we have. Hebrews 13:5. Philippians 4:11.

Who can say he is clean from that love of money, which is the root of all evil, that covetousness which is idolatry. 1 Timothy 6:10. Colossians 3:5.

We have sought great things to ourselves, when thou hast said, Seek them not. Jeremiah 45:5.

4. Our sensuality and flesh-pleasing.

We have minded the things of the flesh more than the things of the Spirit, and have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, and have nourished our hearts as in a day of slaughter. Romans 8:5. James 5:5.

We have made provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts of it; even those lusts which war against our souls: and in many instances have acted as if we had been lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Romans 13:14. 1 Peter 2:11. 2 Timothy 3:4.

When we did eat, and when we did drink, did we not eat to ourselves, and drink to ourselves? Zechariah 7:6.

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

We have put far from us the evil day, and in our prosperity have said we should never be moved, as if to morrow must needs be as this day, and much more abundant. Amos 6:3. Psalm 30:6. Isaiah 56:12.

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. Luke 12:19, 20.

We have been ready to trust in uncertain riches more than in the living God; to say to the gold thou art our hope, and to the fine gold thou art our confidence. 1 Timothy 6:17. Job 31:24.

6. Our fretfulness and impatience and murmuring under our afflictions, our inordinate dejection, and distrust of God and His providence.

When thou hast chastised 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 Lord; and thus in our distress we have trespassed yet more against the Lord. Jeremiah 31:18. Proverbs 19:3. 2 Chronicles 28:22.

We have either despised the chastening of the Lord, or fainted when we have been rebuked of him; and if we faint in the day of adversity, our strength is small. Proverbs 3:11. Proverbs 24:10.

We have said in our haste we are cut off from before thine eyes, and that the Lord hath forsaken us, our God hath forgotten us, 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. Psalm 31:22. Isaiah 49:14. Psalm 77:7, 9, 10.

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

We have been verily guilty concerning our brother; for we have not studied the things that make for peace, nor things wherewith we might edify one another. Genesis 42:21. Romans 14:19.

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. Romans 14:10.

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, have rejoiced in iniquity, and been secretly glad at calamities. 1 Corinthians 13:4, 5, 6. Proverbs 17:5.

We have been desirous of vain-glory, provoking one another, envying one another; when we should have considered one another to provoke to love and to good works. Galatians 5:26. Hebrews 10:24.

The bowels of our compassion have been shut up from those that are in need; and we have hidden ourselves from our own flesh. Nay, perhaps our eye has been evil against our poor brother, and we have despised the poor. 1 John 3:17. Isaiah 58:7. Deuteronomy 15:9. James 2:6.

And if in any thing we have gone beyond and defrauded our brother, if we have walked with vanity, and our foot hath hasted to deceit, and any blot hath cleaved to our hands, Lord, discover it to us, that if we have done iniquity, we may do so no more. 1 Thessalonians 4:6. Job 31:5, 7. Job 34:32.

8. Our tongue-sins.

In the multitude of our words there wanteth not sin, nor can a man full of talk be justified. Proverbs 10:19. Job 11:2.

While the lips of the righteous feed many, our lips have poured out foolishness, and spoken frowardness. Proverbs 10:21. Proverbs 15:2. Proverbs 10:32.

Much corrupt communication hath proceeded out of our mouths; 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. Ephesians 4:29. Ephesians 5:4.

If for every idle word that men speak they must give an account, and by our words we must be justified, and by our words we must be condemned, Woe unto us, for we are undone! for we are of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Matthew 12:36, 37. Isaiah 6:5.

What would become of us, if God should make our own tongues to fall upon us. Psalm 64:8.

9. Our spiritual slothfulness and decay.

We have been slothful in the business of religion, and not fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Romans 12:11.

The things which remain are ready to die, and our works have not been found perfect before God. Revelation 3:2.

We have observed the winds, and therefore have not sown, have regarded the clouds, and therefore have not reaped; and with the sluggard have frightened 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; still crying, Yet a little sleep, a little slumber. Ecclesiastes 11:4. Proverbs 26:13, 14. Proverbs 6:10.

We have lost our first love, and where is now the blessedness we sometimes spake of? Revelation 2:4. Galatians 4:15.

Our goodness hath been as the morning cloud and the early dew which passeth away. Hosea 6:4.

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 God. Hebrews 3:12.

1. The sinfulness of sin.

O THAT sin may appear sin to us, may appear in its own colours, and that by the commandment we may see it to be exceeding sinful; because it is the transgression of the law. Romans 7:13. 1 John 3:4.

By every wilful sin we have in effect said, We will not have this man to reign over us; And who is the Lord, that we should obey his voice? And thus have we reproached the Lord, and cast his law behind our backs. Luke 19:14. Exodus 5:2. Numbers 15:30. Nehemiah 9:26.

2. The foolishness of sin.

O God, thou knowest our foolishness, and our sins are not hid from thee: We were foolish in being disobedient; and our lusts are foolish and hurtful. Psalm 69:5. Titus 3:3. 1 Timothy 6:9.

Foolishness was bound up in our hearts when we were children; for though vain man would be wise, he is born like the wild ass’s colt. Proverbs 22:15. Job 11:12.

Our way hath been our folly, and in many instances we have done foolishly, very foolishly. Psalm 49:13. 2 Samuel 24:10.

So foolish have we been and ignorant, and even as beasts before God. Psalm 73:22.

3. The unprofitableness of sin.

We have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it profited us not. Job 33:27.

What fruit have we now in those things whereof we have cause to be ashamed; seeing the end of those things is death? And what are we profited, if we should gain the whole world, and lose our own souls? Romans 6:21. Matthew 16:26.

4. The deceitfulness of sin.

Sin hath deceived us, and by it slain us; for our hearts have been hardened through the deceitfulness of sin; and we have been drawn away of our own lust, and enticed. Romans 7:11. Hebrews 3:13. James 1:14.

It hath promised us liberty, but has made us the servants of corruption; hath promised that we shall not surely die, and that we shall be as gods; but it has flattered us, and spread a net for our feet. 2 Peter 2:19. Genesis 3:4, 5. Proverbs 29:5.

The pride of our heart particularly has deceived us. Obadiah 3.

5. The offence which by sin we have given to the Holy God.

By breaking the law we have dishonoured God, and have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger most bitterly. And many a thing that we have done hath displeased the Lord. Romans 2:23. Isaiah 1:4. Hosea 12:14. 2 Samuel 11 (v. 27).

God has been broken by our whorish heart, and our eyes that have gone a whoring after our idols. Ezekiel 6:9.

We have tempted him, and proved him, and grieved him in the wilderness; have rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit, and pressed him with our iniquities, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. Psalm 95:9, 10, 8. Isaiah 63:10. Amos 2:13.

We have grieved the holy Spirit of God, by whom we are sealed to the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30.

6. The damage which by sin we have done to our own souls, and their great interests.

By our iniquities we have sold ourselves, and in sinning against thee have wronged our own souls. Isaiah 50:1. Proverbs 8:36.

Our sins have separated between us and God, and have kept good things from us; and by them our minds and consciences have been defiled. Isaiah 59:2. Jeremiah 5:25. Titus 1:15.

Our own wickedness hath corrected us, and our backslidings have reproved us, and we cannot but know and see, that it is an evil thing, and bitter, that we have forsaken the Lord our God, and that his fear hath not been in us. Jeremiah 2:19.

O what fools are they that make a mock at sin! Proverbs 14:9.

WE bewail before thee all our sins, and all our transgressions in all our sins. Leviticus 16:21.

1. The more knowledge we have of good and evil, the greater is our sin.

We have known our Master’s will, but have not done it, and therefore deserve to be beaten with many stripes. Luke 12:47.

We have known the way of the Lord, and the judgments of our God, and yet have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. Jeremiah 5:4, 5.

We have known the judgment of God, that they which do such things are worthy of death, and yet have done them, and have had pleasure in them that do them. Romans 1:32.

We have taught others, and yet have not taught ourselves; and while we profess to know God, we have in works denied him. Romans 2:21. Titus 1:16.

2. The greater profession we have made of religion, the greater hath been our sin.

We call ourselves of the holy city, and stay ourselves upon the God of Israel, and make mention of his name, but not in truth and righteousness. For we have dishonoured that worthy name by which we are called, and given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. Isaiah 48:2, 1. James 2:7, 23. 2 Samuel 12:14.

We have named the name of Christ, and yet have not departed from iniquity. 2 Timothy 2:19.

3. The more mercies we have received from God, the greater hath been our sin.

Thou hast nourished and brought us up as children, but we have rebelled against thee. Isaiah 1:2.

We have ill requited thee, O Lord, as foolish people and unwise: Though thou art our Father that hast made us, and bought us, and established us, yet our spot has not been the spot of thy children. Deuteronomy 32:6, 5.

We have not rendered again according to the benefit done unto us. 2 Chronicles 32:25.

4. The fairer warning we have had from the word of God, and from our own consciences, concerning our danger of sin, and danger by sin, the greater is the sin if we go on in it.

We have been often reproved, and yet have hardened our neck; and have gone on frowardly in the way of our heart. Proverbs 29:1. Isaiah 57:17.

Thou hast sent to us, saying, O do not this abominable thing which I hate; but we have not hearkened, nor inclined our ear. Jeremiah 44:4, 5.

The word of God hath been to us, precept upon precept, and line upon line; and though we have beheld our natural faces in the glass of it, yet we have gone away, and straitway forgot what manner of men we were. Isaiah 28:13. James 1:23, 24.

5. The greater afflictions we have been under for sin, the greater is the sin if we go on in it.

Thou hast stricken us, but we have not grieved, we have refused to receive correction, and have made our faces harder than a rock; and the rod hath not driven the foolishness out of our hearts. Jeremiah 5:3. Proverbs 22:15.

Thou hast chastened us with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men, yet we have not turned to him that smiteth us, nor have we sought the Lord of hosts. 2 Samuel 7:14. Isaiah 9:13.

When some have been overthrown as Sodom and Gomorrah were, we have been as brands plucked out of the fire, yet have we not returned unto thee, O Lord. And when thy hand has been lifted up, we have not seen it. Amos 4:11. Isaiah 26:11.

6. The more vows and promises we have made of better obedience, the greater has our sin been.

We have not performed the words of the covenant which we made before thee, but as treacherous dealers we have dealt treacherously. Jeremiah 34:18. Isaiah 24:16.

Did we not say we would not transgress, we would not offend any more? We did, and yet we have returned with the dog to his vomit; have returned to folly after God hath spoken peace. Jeremiah 2:20. Job 34:31. 2 Peter 2:22. Psalm 85:8.

AND now, O our God, what shall we say after this, for we have forsaken thy commandments? We have sinned, what shall we do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? Ezra 9:10. Job 7:20.

We know that the law curseth every one that continues not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them; that the wages of every sin is death; and that for these things sake cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Galatians 3:10. Romans 6:23. Ephesians 5:6.

And we are all guilty before God; the scripture hath concluded us all under sin; and therefore thou mightest justly be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us; so that there should be no remnant, nor escaping. Romans 3:19. Galatians 3:22. Ezra 9:14.

If thou shouldest lay righteousness to the line and judgment to the plummet, thou mightest justly separate us unto all evil, according to all the curses of the covenant, and blot out our names from under heaven. Isaiah 28:17. Deuteronomy 29:21, 20.

Thou mightest justly swear in thy wrath, that we should never enter into thy rest; mightest justly set us naked and bare, and take away our corn in the season thereof, and our wine in the season thereof, and put into our hands the cup of trembling, and make us drink even the dregs of that cup. Psalm 95 (v. 11). Hosea 2:3, 9. Isaiah 51:22.

Thou art just in whatever thou art pleased to lay upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly: Nay, thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities have deserved. Nehemiah 9:33. Ezra 9:13.

Thou therefore shalt be justified when thou speakest, and clear when thou judgest; and we will accept of the punishment of our iniquity, and humble ourselves under thy mighty hand, and say the Lord is righteous. Psalm 51:4. Leviticus 26:43. 1 Peter 5:6. 2 Chronicles 12:6.

Wherefore should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? No, we will bear the indignation of the Lord, because we have sinned against him. Lamentations 3:39. Micah 7:9.

O THE riches of the patience and forbearance of God! how long-suffering is he to us ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Romans 2:4. 2 Peter 3:9.

Thou hast not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us after our iniquities; but thou waitest to be gracious to us. Psalm 103:10. Isaiah 30:18.

Sentence against our evil works has not been executed speedily; but thou hast given us space to repent, and make our peace with thee; and callest even backsliding children to return to thee, and hast promised to heal their backslidings; And therefore, behold we come unto thee, for thou art THE LORD OUR GOD. Ecclesiastes 8:11. Revelation 2:21. Jeremiah 3:22, 23.

Surely the long-suffering of our Lord, is salvation; and if the Lord had been pleased to kill us, he would not as at this time have shewed us such things as these. 2 Peter 3:15. Judges 13:23.

And O that this goodness of God might lead us to repentance! for though we have trespassed against our God, yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. Romans 2:4. Ezra 10:2.

Thou hast said it, and hast confirmed it with an oath, that thou hast no pleasure in the death of sinners, but rather that they should turn and live: Therefore will we rent our hearts and not our garments, and turn to the Lord our God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, who knows if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him. Ezekiel 33:11. Joel 2:13, 14.

LORD, we repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; to which thou hast exalted thy Son Christ Jesus to give repentance and remission of sins. Matthew 3:2. Acts 5:31.

We have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now our eye sees thee; wherefore we abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes. Therefore will we be like the doves of the valleys, every one mourning for his iniquities. Job 42:5, 6. Ezekiel 7:16.

O that our heads were waters, and our eyes fountains of tears, that we might weep day and night for our transgressions, and might in such a manner sow in those tears, as that at last we may reap in joy; may now go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, and may in due time come again with rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with us. Jeremiah 9:1. Psalm 126:5, 6.

Our iniquities are gone over our heads as a heavy burden, they are too heavy for us; but weary and heavy laden under this burden we come to Christ, who has promised that in him we shall find rest for our souls. Psalm 38:4. Matthew 11:28, 29.

O that knowing every man the plague of his own heart, we may look unto him whom we have pierced, and may mourn, and be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for a first-born. That we may sorrow after a godly sort, with that sorrow which worketh repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of; and that we may remember and be confounded, and never open our mouth any more, because of our shame when thou art pacified towards us. 1 Kings 8:38. Zechariah 12:10. 2 Corinthians 7:10. Ezekiel 16:63.

And, O that we may bring forth fruits meet for repentance! and may never return again to folly! for what have we to do any more with idols? Sin shall not have dominion over us, for we are not under the law, but under grace. Matthew 3:8. Psalm 85:8. Hosea 14:8. Romans 6:14.

We have gone astray like lost sheep; seek thy servants, for we do not forget thy commandments. Psalm 119 (v. 176).