...Common Prayer, but it could be said, without material change, by all Christians, everywhere. Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed...holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done things which we ought not to have done; and there is no health...

...Austen's Anglicanism, the general confession exhibits an awareness of sin along with a call to perfection: We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left...have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done. . . . Grant . . . that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober...

...generalized, such as in this prayer from the Book of Common Prayer's form for evening worship: Almighty and most merciful Father, We have erred and strayed...have done, And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. The tone is self-accusing, pessimistic, and takes...

...A General Confession To be said by the whole Congregation after the Ministerall kneeling. Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed...have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable...

...goodness and mercy." After a time of silence, the prayer of confession is spoken in unison: Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed...holy laws, we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and done those things which we ought not to have done.15 Other prayers of confession...

...knobby old fellows are going strong. Hitting the golf course, I commence my morning prayers. "Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed...own hearts, we have offended against Thy holy laws," but I break off, remembering Nick as a long-haired, gap-toothed teenager. He came home once from a...

...the responses almost rapturously. But Joe, aware of his father's silence, kept silent too. Almighty and most merciful father, we have erred and strayed...desires of our own hearts. We have offended against the holy laws. O Lord, have mercy upon us miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, which confess...

...are all familiar with that prayer. It says, "We have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep. We have offended against Thy holy laws. We have left...have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us" A number of people on the Harvard campus wanted...

...pronoun in the Confession, which changes it from an act of individual penitence to a corporate act: 'We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost...too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. . . .' H Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England c.1400-c.1580 (New...

...ourselves. The General Confession of the historic Anglican Prayer Book states what we always find: "We have followed too much the devices and desires...have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us." Then, on the other hand, God the Spirit forms...