I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee.--ISA. xliv. 22.
He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.--MICAH vii. 19.
If my shut eyes should dare their lids to part, I know how they must quail beneath the blaze Of Thy Love's greatness. No; I dare not raise One prayer, to look aloft, lest it should gaze On such forgiveness as would break my heart.
H. S. SUTTON.
O Lord God gracious and merciful, give us, I entreat Thee, a humble trust in Thy mercy, and suffer not our heart to fail us. Though our sins be seven, though our sins be seventy times seven, though our sins be more in number than the hairs of our head, yet give us grace in loving penitence to cast ourselves down into the depth of Thy compassion. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord. Amen.
C. G. ROSSETTI.