A PRAYER TO BEG OF GOD THE GRACE TO MAKE A GOOD CONFESSION.
O MY God! and most liberal Benefactor! how can I present myself before thee, loaded as I am with sin, and above all debased by the crime of ingratitude for thy innumerable mercies ! But thou art my Creator, thou knowest the miseries of my soul; thou seest how often I have abused the greatest graces, how unworthy I am of thy favours; yet notwithstanding thou still desirest not the death of me a wretched sinner, but rather that I be converted and live. If thou didst not ardently love me, thou wouldst not now invite me to return to thee, nor offer me a pardon I have so little deserved. O my good God! since I could not conceive the desire of regaining thy friendship without thy grace, vouchsafe to finish thy own work, and to assist me in making this confession. Teach me to conceive and tremble at the danger in which I have been too often, of eternal separation from thee. O let the misery of those unhappy souls, to whom repentance is now impossible, yet who once had the same advantages I enjoy, awaken me to all the exertions necessary for making a good confession, and do not permit that my negligence or insensibility should frustrate the designs of thy infinite mercy.
PRAYER.
DIVINE Jesus ! whose holy grace has opened my eyes to the miserable and sinful state of my soul; who hast penetrated my heart with sorrow for my offences, it is in thy presence I now most solemnly resolve to begin a new life, and endeavour
