But who, most loving God, am I, that I should speak to thee thus boldly? I am a sinner, and nursed in sins: a putrid carcass, a fetid vessel, food for worms. Spare me, O Lord; for what a victory will it be, if thou fight with me and overcome me, who in thy sight am less than stubble before the wind? Forgive me all my sins, and lift up the poor out of the dunghill!
Arise, O Lord, and help me; arise, and cast me not off for ever! Let my request, O Lord, come in before thee, and let thy hand be with me to save me. Behold one who, in going down to Jericho, has been captured by robbers, and wounded, and left half dead. Thou loving Samaritan, receive me. I have sinned exceedingly in my life, and have done evil before thee: from the sole of my foot to the top of my head, there is no soundness in me.[1]
Assuredly, hadst thou not aided me by dying on the wood of the Cross, my soul had been worthy to sojourn in hell. Of that so precious purchase I, O loving Jesus, am part: thou hast shed for me thy most precious Blood; do not cast me from thee! I am a sheep that has gone astray; seek it, O good Shepherd, and bring it back to thy fold, that thou mayest be justified in thy words; for thou hast promised me, that in what hour soever a sinner shall cry to thee, he shall be saved. I am sorrowful: I know my iniquities, and my sins are before me.
True it is, I am not worthy to be called thy son, for I have sinned against heaven and before thee. But to my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness. Turn away thy face from my sins, and, according to thy great mercy, blot out my iniquities. Cast me not away from thy face, and deal not with me according to my sins, nor reward me according to my iniquities; but help me, O God my Saviour, and deliver me for the honour of thy Name. Deal bountifully with me, in thy good will, that I may dwell in thy house all the days of my life, and praise thee for ever with them that dwell therein.
PRAYER
To be said for the dying by those present.
O crucified Christ Jesus, in union with the most burning love, which compelled thee, the Life of all that live, to die upon the Cross, we knock at the inmost chamber of thy most bountiful heart, and beseech thee to forgive the soul of thy servant, our brother N., all his sins; supply his omissions by thy most holy conversation and the merit of thy most bitter Passion; and let him experience the most
- ↑ Isa. i. 6.
