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1 There are certain which trust in Presumption. themselves that they are righteous, and despise others; and yet are they full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.

3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?

Despair.

* Let us not say, as some have said, There is no hope, but we will walk after our own devices; and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

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CONFESSION.

Acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God. Confess thy transgressions unto the Lord, and hide not the iniquity of thy sin.

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Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, We have sinned against thee, O Lord; we have sinned and have done perversely; we have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments which thou commandest; we would not walk in thy ways, neither were we obedient unto thy law.

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I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is

1 Luke xviii. 9. 3 Isa. lviii. 3.

iii. 13. viii. 47.

Matt. xxiii. 28.

2 Prov. xxx. 12.
5 Jer.
Jer. xiv. 20. 1 Kings
7 Psal. li. 2. Job vii. 20.

4 Jer. xviii. 12. 1 John iii. 20.
Psal. xxxii. 5. 6 Hosea xiv. 2.
Neh. i. 7. Isa. xlii, 24.

ever before me. I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men!

1 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

2 Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me, O Lord, from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Thus I prayed unto the Lord God, and made my confession.

3 Cover not thy transgressions as Adam, by hiding thine iniquity in thy bosom.

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He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy.

5 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin.

There are that hold fast deceit, and refuse to return unto the Lord: who when they have committed abomination, are not at all ashamed, neither can they blush. The show of their countenance doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom; they hide it not. Woe unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

'Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's? How should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. How shall I answer him, and choose out my words

11. John i. 8, 9. xxxi. 33.

2 Psal. xix. 12, 13. Dan. ix. 4. 4 Prov. xxviii. 13. 5 Isa. xxx. 1. viii. 5. 12. Isa. iii. 9. 14, 15.

3 Job

6 Jer.

7 Job xxxv. 2. Job ix. 2, 3. Job ix.

to reason with him? Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer; but I would make supplication to my Judge.

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Wherefore let us humble ourselves greatly before God: and give glory to the Lord, and make confession unto him.

and Shame.

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Turn ye to me, saith the Lord, with With Sorrow all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God.

3 Be afflicted, ye sinners, and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

4 Woe unto us that we have sinned: for this our heart is faint.

5 When I remember my sins I am afraid: trembling taketh hold of my flesh; so that I am a burden to myself.

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When ye sorrowed after a godly sort, What carefulness it wrought in you! yea, what clearing of yourselves; yea, what indignation; yea, what fear; yea, what vehement desire; yea, what zeal; yea, what revenge!

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Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

• The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

9 Ye shall remember your ways and all your

2 Joel ii. 12, 13. 5 Job xxi. 6. 8 Psal.

1 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12. 3 James iv. 9. 8, 9.

Job vii. 20. li. 17.

Joshua vii. 19.

6 2 Cor. vii. 11. 9 Ezek. xx. 43.

4 Lam. v. 16, 17.
7 2 Cor. vii. 10.

doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for all your evils that ye have committed.

1 Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, saith the Lord God.

2 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth, even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God. To us, O Lord, belongeth confusion of face, because we have sinned against thee.

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We are ashamed, and blush to lift up our faces to thee, our God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.

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After I was turned I repented; after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.

5 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy

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Surely it is meet to be said unto God, If I have done iniquity, I will do no more.

* I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

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I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.

2 I will wash mine hands in innocency; so will I compass thine altar, O Lord.

AMENDMENT.

Thus saith the Lord; Return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, I will give you an heart to know me, and I will set mine eyes upon you for good.

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Cast away from you all your transgressions, and make you a new heart and a new spirit. For why will ye die? I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God; wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. Frame your doings to turn unto your God. Cease to do evil; learn to do

well.

5 Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For what fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

7 Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your

1 Psal. ci. 3, 4. vii. 5. Jer. xxiv. 7. 6. . Isa. i. 16, 17.

7 James iv. 8.

2 Psal. xxvi. 6.

3 Jer. xviii. 11. Jer. 4 Ezek. xviii. 31, 32. Hosea v. 4. Eph. iv. 22, 23, 24. 6 Rom. vi. 19. 21. 2 Tim. ii. 25, 26.

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