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commit the sin of impurity with any married person; or looked at a virgin so as to lust after her? 10th Commandment.

1. Have you unlawfully coveted any part of your neighbours' property?

¶ Commandments of the Church.

1. Have you neglected to keep the appointed days of fasting and abstinence?

2. Have you neglected to make your Easter communion?

3. Have your confessions been uncandid and Insincere?

4. Have you ever gone to confession or communion without true sorrow for sin, and a firm purpose of amendment ?

5. *Have you refused to contribute to the support of your pastor?

PRAYERS BEFORE CONFESSION.

O MAKER of heaven and earth, my God and Saviour, who out of nothing didst create me to thy own image, and redeemed me by thy precious blood, look down, I humbly beseech thee, with pity and compassion upon me, as thou didst on thy Apostle St. Peter, and Mary Magdalen; and as thou didst forgive the humble publican, and the penitent thief, so most holy Lord, pardon these sins of mine, which I lay at thy feet. Have mercy on me, who have many ways exceedingly offended thee in thought, in word and in deed. Spare me, O Lord, and take compassion of this

* By a reference to the commandments of the church, (sée commandment 5th, page 244, it will be found to be the unquestionable duty of christians, to support the pastors of the church, by making them a just remuneration for their labours. To refuse, therefore, is undoubtedly a violation of this ecclesiastical and divine precept, enforced by St. Paul, (1 Cor. 9, 13.) This obligation is usually discharged under the form of EASTER-OFFERINGS---and custom seems, in some manner, to have regulated them as follows: from a Gentleman or Person of fortune, a Guinea: from an inferior Tradesman, Half a Guinea: from a Servant or Mechanic, Five Shillings.

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sinful soul. For to whom can I fly except to thee my Father and God? Shouldst thou cast me off and despise me, who will protect me ? Though sinful and unworthy, receive me therefore returning to thee as the prodigal. If I am impure, thou canst make me clean; if I am weak, thou canst strengthen me; if I am dead in sin, thou canst raise me to life. Thy mercy surpasses all my iniquities, and thou canst forgive more than human malice is capable of committing.

Consider not therefore, O Lord, the number of my sins, but according to the excess of thy mercy pardon all my transgressions. As thou hast declared, I will not the death of a sinner, but rather that he be converted and live, say to my soul, I am thy salvation.' O God of truth, since thou hast promised never to reject a contrite and humble heart, but to pardon the repenting sinner, prostrate at the feet of thy mercy, with sincere regret for having offended thee, I confess that I hate and detest my sins, not only on account, of the punishment they have deserved, but because they have offended thee whom I ought to have loved above all things.

I now at least renounce my sins entirely, and with the assistance of thy grace, will endeavour to avoid them in future. I renounce those pas sions, habits, and occasions which have led me to sin, and I desire to break with them for ever. I am also desirous of repairing the scandals I may have given, as well as the injuries I may have done to my neighbour, whether in his honor, his person, or his property, and I wish to be reconciled to him. Through the merits of the precious blood and death of Jesus Christ, my God and Saviour, I implore thy pardon for all that is passed; and in that and thy infinite goodness, I place my hopes of obtaining mercy, as well as of. correcting my life, and of serving thee faithfully.

And because thou hast justly ordained that every sinner should do penance, I accept, and with this view submit to all the pains, afflictions and crosses it shall please thee to send me. I offer them to thee together with what shall be enjoined me as satisfaction in the tribunal of confession, as well as all the good thy grace will enable me to do, in the constant desire of satisfying thy justice, by acts worthy of penance; which deriving all their merit from Jesus Christ thy Son, shall be offered to thee by him, and made acceptable through his mediation.

I BELIEVE, O my God, that thou wilt reward those that seek thee, and that thou deprivest not those of thy blessings who walk in innocence ; nor despisest the contrite and humble heart of the sinner, that returns to thee, but grantest him mercy. All that thou hast revealed is true; all that thou hast promised is certain. Thou hast revealed to me that thy grace justifies the impious, and that the sinner, who was lost by sin, and cannot by his own strength deliver himself, is converted, and sanctified by means of thy grace' given him, thro' the merits of Jesus Christ. Yes, I believe it, O Lord, and with tears beg of thee to vouchsafe to increase my faith. Thou hasť promised to shew mercy to the sinner that asks it; and assuring us that thou willest not his death, but his conversion and life, thou hast promised to pardon his sins, when he shall return to thee. Confiding in these promises,, I implore thy mercy at this moment, when I throw myself at thy feet.

O MY Lord, and my God, I entirely hope in thee; and the confidence I have in thy exceedingly great goodness supports me, under the terrors of thy justice. As I know thou art merciful, at the same time thou art just,-as thou takest a pleasure to pardon men, in the time of this life,

which is the time of mercy, prostrate in thy presence, I declare, I do not at all trust in my own works, but only in the multitude of thy mercies. I hope thou wilt have pity on me, according to thy great mercy, and for thy most holy name's sake wilt pardon my sins, although the number of them be infinite :-not having spared thy own Son, but having given him for the redemption of my sins. He is my advocate-He has loved meHe has sacrificed himself for me, and for all men. With great confidence then, I hope from thy mercy the pardon which he has merited for me, by shedding his most sacred blood for my redemption.

O SOURCE of justice, most holy God, and author of all sanctity! thou who art sanctity itself! I love thee with my whole heart, and desire to love thee still more and more: and as my sins have been the cause that I have not loved thee enough, and have departed from thee, I detest them, and return now to thee. I love thy sanctity and thy justice, which discover to me, the horror and the ingratitude of sin. I love thy mercy, from which I hope for pardon. I love thee, O my God, because thou hast created me, redeemed me with the blood of Jesus Christ thy Son, and preserved me, even when I offended thee. My ingratitude and my slackness have not wearied nor disgusted thee. Thou hast called me many and different times; thou hast frequently prevented me with thy grace, and at present thou givest me the will to come to thee, and art ready to receive me into the number of thy children, to pardon my sins: and disposing me to receive the crown of justice, thou thyself art willing to be my reward, and my happiness in heaven.

I LOVE thee, O Lord, and for the love of thee with all my heart I detest those sins, by which I have had the unhappiness to depart from thee.

I acknowledge and feel how deplorable and bitter it is to have left thee. I have committed too great evils; I have abandoned thee, who art the source of all true happiness; and have preferred before thee an abominable and deceitful pleasure, from which I received the stroke of death. I accuse and condemn myself in thy presence: I bewail those many sins of which I acknowledge myself guilty I humbly beg pardon for them, thro' the merits of Jesus Christ my Redeemer, and I pray thee to supply all that is wanting to the ardour of the contrition, with which I detest my iniquities. Accept, O God of mercy, the sentiments of my heart: they are known to thee, and thou art thyself the author of my sighs and my tears.

AT present, and for ever, I renounce the devil, his works and his pomps. I detest all sin : and I desire, O my God, to receive thy forgiveness in this sacrament, which thou hast instituted for that effect. I purpose, henceforward to lead a new life, and obey thy commandments through all the remainder of my days. I have sinned

against thee; I refuse not to do penance for the same; accept of it, O Lord, I beseech thee, for the sake of the merits of my Redeemer, to which I desire to unite the little I perform by the assistance of thy grace.

ANIMATE my heart, and my tongue, O Lord, that my confession may be sincere, complete, and perfect. Inflame, also the heart and tongue of this thy minister, at whose feet I am to prostrate myself, to the end, that being full of the spirit of wisdom, and charity, he may fully know the state in which I am, and may teach me all that I ought to do in order to become acceptable to thee.*

*Should some find these prayers insufficient to satisfy their de votion, they may turn to the penitential psalms, page 386,

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