New Directory for Public Worship (6)

CONFESSION OF SINS

Editor’s comment: The New Directory is very full in detailing public confession. It does so by giving both seed thoughts and examples of prayers under three headings: our sins against God, against our fellow men, and against the Gospel and the Holy Spirit.

I will modernise as far as possible and conform scriptural quotations to the ESV.

Confession of Sins against the Gospel AND the Holy Spirit.

1. O God, who has commanded the light to shine out of darkness, we confess and lament that we have loved the darkness rather than the light :

that we have turned away from the knowledge of the Son of God :

that we have let sin gain dominion over us ;

not walked in the Spirit :

not cared to be saved from ourselves :

followed the judgments of men :

feared their disapproval and not yours :

neglected your grace in our temptations :

not trusted your strength in our weakness.

2. Almighty Father, who has so loved us that you gave your Son over to death for us, we mourn that his death has awakened so little love in our hearts for you:

so little gratitude to Him :

that our sins do not alway bring us to His cross;

We have little desire to be wholly consecrated to His service :

to live humbly working for you.

We can hardly work for Christ without worldly recognition.

3. O Heavenly Father, we mourn over our earthliness

of heart :

that we seek our own success even in your work :

we care too much for pleasure, and too little for Christ :

we fear punishment more than offending Him :

when burdened and distressed, we do not come at once to Him for refuge and rest :

we have been ashamed to confess Him, because of the mocking of men :

when His cause was unpopular :

when it meant earthly loss :

that the love of Christ does not control us,

that our hearts are cold towards Him,

our hearts are so slow to trust Him.

4. O God, who has sent your Spirit to bear witness in our hearts to the truth and love of your Son, and to work in us your holy will, we lament that we have not profited, as we ought to have done, by His gracious ministry :

that we have, by our carnal and worldly desires, crushed the good impulses, and turned aside from the vision of a heavenly life, that have come from your inspiration :

that we have not exercised the gifts of your Spirit,

or made use of the powers of usefulness in the service of our fellow-men you have provided :

that we have often resisted the gracious workings of your Spirit,

that we have hardened our hearts against the good example of your servants, and been deaf to their words of appeal :

that we have grieved your Spirit by our coldness, by our unwillingness to repent and believe in your Son, by our wilful opposition to your truth :

that we have often quenched your Spirit within us, preferring the traditions of men, and the customs of the world to the truth and holiness of your Gospel, holding by the forms of past thought when you wouldst have led us unto a further knowledge of your ways :

that we have not walked in your Spirit but have often trusted to our own wisdom :

have been guided by worldly expediency and the counsels of the sinful nature :

that we have indulged the appetite of the body in opposition to holy impulse.

5. O Lord, who has in your great mercy given us a day of rest in which to meet you,

we mourn that we have often neglected it :

have not made it a time of fellowship with you:

a day for thought and reverence :

an opportunity of rising into your pure life :

for rising above work and anxiety :

above self and our own needs and aims :

for the study of your Holy Word and the lives of your saints [holy servants]:

for the worship of our Father in Heaven :

for the examination of our hearts and lives :

for preparation for Eternity, and your judgment.

6. O God, who is never weary in your loving kindness [steadfast love] to us,

we mourn that we grow weary of your day and your service :

say when will it be done that we may buy and sell :

men make it a day of sloth, or work, or entertainment,

we have in thoughtlessness sacrificed the rest of others :

have forgotten the needs of our servants [those employed by us].

Your claim on their worship.

7. O our Lord and Saviour, who alone is the Bread of Life,

how little do we feed on you :

we come to your table with weak faith and doubting hearts :

prepare ourselves so carelessly for it :

although you so lovingly invite us, we neglect it, absent ourselves without reason:

we sometimes partake carelessly, irreverently :

we make resolutions and immediately forget them :

we come without expecting new grace from you:

we depart without regret that we have missed it.