¶ A generall Confession to be sayd in the Morning.
A General Confession
A morning prayer of confession, acknowledging sins, seeking mercy, and pledging to live righteously.
Almighty and most merciful Father, we have wandered and strayed from your ways like lost sheep.✦ We have followed our own hearts' desires and plans too much. We have broken your holy laws.1 We have left undone what we ought to have done, and we have done what we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us. But you, O Lord, have mercy on us, miserable offenders.✦2 Spare those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord.34 And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of your holy name.✦5 Amen.
Read the original English
AL mighty and most merciful father, we haue erred and strayed from thy wayes, like lost shepe. We haue followed to mutche the deuises, and desires, of our owne hartes. We haue offended, agaynst thy holye la…es. Wee haue lefte vndone those thynges whyche we ought to haue done: … we haue done those things whiche we ought not to haue done: and ther is no health in vs: but thou, O Lord, haue mercye vpon vs, miserable offendours. Spare thou them, O God, whych confesse theyr faultes. Restore thou them that be …tent, accordyng to thy prompses, declared vnto mankynde, in Christ Ieso our Lord. And graunt, O most mercifull father, for his sake, that we may here … li…e a godly, righteous, and sober lyfe, to the glorye of thy holy name.
Amen.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Isa.53.6 — All of us, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
- ↩Ps.38.3 — Because your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has pressed down on me.
- ↩Titus.2.12 — training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age
Notes
- 1 ↩Source text is damaged mid-word (la…es); reconstructed as 'laws'.
- 2 ↩Early modern 'health' here means spiritual wholeness or salvation, not merely bodily fitness.
- 3 ↩Damaged source '…tent' reconstructed as 'penitent'.
- 4 ↩Corrected 'prompses' to 'promises' and 'Ieso' to 'Jesus'.
- 5 ↩Damaged source 'here … li…e' reconstructed as 'hereafter live'.
John Ponet's Short Catechisme (1553) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit