ing; and the middle, the grand penitential, is placed in the office of Commination. It may not be improper to observe that the word Amen at the end of each of the sentences in this office is not an imprecation, but an asseveration or assent to the truth of what is said, and is used in the sense of verily,-it is even so, as at the end of the Creed; consequently we may no more refuse to pronounce it in the present instance, and that too with a believing heart, deeply impressed with awe, than in the former. PSALM li. 3. I acknowledge my faults, and my sin is ever before me. SAVIOUR! behold me prostrate laid, Cover'd with shame and sin; No part is there within But owns some deep, some fearful shade. E'en from my very youth, alas ! My footsteps have gone wild; The man is but the child, It is not to the world I seem The guilty thing I am; 'Tis in thy sight myself I deem Unclean, subdued by guilty taint Through the vile body spread; Sick is the whole frail head, Against Thee, Lord, it is I've err'd, Against my better will; How doth remembrance still Make its upbraiding accents heard! F 3 'Tis sweet to be beloved, revered ; This gift is also Thine; Thou dost the heart incline To whom our image is endeared. Yet though the thought our mind will cross, How far beneath in deed The fondly partial meed Of praise we are,-we dread its loss. How much more, then, thy favor, Lord, Should sinners fear to lose! How dread lest thou refuse Those mercies which thy love has stored. Turn thou thy face from my misdeeds, Oh! cast me not away, But let Thy Spirit's ray Console the breast that mournful pleads. Wash me from each transgression foul, Direct this erring heart; Let me from sin depart, And make, O Lord, thy servant whole. I know that Thou canst never hate Whate'er thy hand has made; Withhold not then thy aid, A contrite spirit to create. With more than outward show of grief, Be penitence expressed : Not rending of the vest, Not sadden'd look,-not fasting brief, Not vain pretence of lengthened prayer, All secrets brings to light, O Mediator, Saviour, God! Plead thou our guilty cause; We own we have deserved the rod. Thine, only thine, is holiness, Thine too the Father's love; Thou canst his wrath remove,— Ask thou the boon-he needs must bless. FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT. Morning Lesson, Gen. xix. to v. 30. Epistle, 2 Cor. vi. 1. COLLECT. O LORD, who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights; Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey Thy godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness, to Thy honour and glory, who liveth and reigneth with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. It is easy to conceive that as soon as the practice of a fixed season for penitence was determined upon, the retirement of our Lord, and the forty days' fast in the wilderness became a proper subject for contemplation, and consequently of withdrawing our minds from earthly cares and pleasures, and thereby preparing them for a careful review of the past, with a view to amendment for the future. By our Lords' example we are taught how to meet and to conquer our enemy and his, namely, by arming ourselves, like him, with the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. |