None can condemn us, for "it is that God that justifieth."

While we rejoice in being in Christ Jesus, and in our deliverance from the bondage of the law, let us ever remember that the signs of our being "led by the Spirit," are "the fruits of the Spirit," and that those who are the servants of Christ have "crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."

May we all experience for our comfort that Christ is now dwelling in our hearts by faith, that we may be rooted and grounded in love, and have continually set before us the good hope of reward with Him in His glory, where we shall for ever abide in unspeakable joy.

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION.

O Lord, we beseech Thee, mercifully hear our prayers, and spare all those who confess their sins unto Thee; that they, whose consciences by sin are accused, by Thy merciful pardon may be absolved; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

LORD! when we bend before Thy throne,

And our confessions pour,

Teach us to feel the sins we own,

And shun what we deplore:

Our broken spirits pitying see;

True penitence impart;

Then let a healing ray from Thee

Beam hope upon the heart.

When we disclose our wants in prayer,

May we our wills resign;

And not a thought our bosoms share,

That is not wholly Thine.

Let faith each weak petition fill,

And waft it to the skies;

And teach our hearts, 'tis goodness still
That grants it, or denies.

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION.

"I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin."-Psalm xxxii. 5.

In the psalm from which these words are taken, David gives us not merely his individual experience, but he speaks also as the representative of a class of persons to be found in every age of the world's history, and abounding not less in the Christian Church, than in the dispensations which preceded its formation. He gives inspired utterance to the feelings of those who have been convinced of their exceeding sinfulness, and who, having sought pardon in God's appointed way, rejoice in the removal of the burden of their transgressions. The opening words of the psalm are quoted by the great apostle of the Gentiles to shew how "David describeth the blessedness of the man (that is, of any man), unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, ," and surely as the passage which he

(1) Romans iv. 6, 8.