tions, we ask from God not only spiritual and eternal, but also temporal and transient blessings; but in this we deprecate the evils of the body and of the soul, of this life, and of the life to come. As, however, to obtain the object of our prayers, we must pray as we ought, it appears expedient to explain the dispositions, with which this prayer should be offered to God. The pastor, then, will admonish the faithful, that he who comes to offer this petition must, first, acknowledge, and, in the next place, feel compunction for his sins. He must also firmly believe that God is willing to pardon the sinner when thus disposed, lest, possibly, the bitter remembrance and acknowledgment of his sins may lead the sinner to despair of mercy, as was the case with Cain, [1] and Judas, [2] who looked on God as an avenger of crime, and not, also, as a God of clemency and of mercy. In presenting this petition to the throne of God, we should, therefore, be so disposed as that, whilst we acknowledge our sins in the bitterness of our souls, we also fly to him as to a Father, not a Judge, imploring him to deal with us not in his justice but in his mercy.
We shall be easily induced to acknowledge our sins, if we but listen to God himself declaring by the mouth of David, " They are all gone aside; they are become unprofitable together; there is none that doth good, no not one." [3] Solomon speaks to the same effect; " There is no just man upon earth, that doth good and sinneth not;" [4] and to this subject, are also applicable these words of Proverbs; " Who can say, my heart is clean, and I am pure from sin?" [5] St. John also makes use of the same sentiment as an argument against pride: " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us;" [6] and the Prophet Jeremiah, "Thou hast said, I am without sin and am innocent; and therefore, let thy anger be turned away from me. Behold, I will contend with thee in judgment, because thou hast said, I have not sinned." [7] These sentiments Christ our Lord, who spoke by their lips, confirms in this petition, in which he command us to confess our sins; and the Council of Milevis forbids to interpret it otherwise: "Whoever says, that these words of the Lord's Prayer, for give us our debts, are to be said by holy men in humility, and not in truth, let him be anathema." [8] How wicked to pray, and at the same time to lie, not to men but to God; and yet this is the crime of him, who, with his lips, says that he asks to be forgiven, but, in his heart, that he has no debts to be forgiven. [9]
In the acknowledgment of our sins, it is not enough that we call them to mind lightly; we must recount them with bitter regret; the heart must be pierced with compunction; the soul must melt with sorrow. On this subject of compunction, therefore, the pastor will bestow his best attention, in order that his
