The deadly viper in its real malignity!

(A Puritan Prayer)

O Lord God,
May holiness be the atmosphere in which
I live. Give me abhorrence of all evil, as
a vile monster that . . .
  defies Your law,
  casts off Your yoke,
  defiles my nature,
  spreads misery.

Teach me to look to Jesus on His cross, so I will know
sin's loathsomeness in Your sight. Show me the shame,
the agony, the bruises of Your adorable Son, that I may
read my boundless guilt in the boundless price. May I . . .
  discern the deadly viper in its real malignity,
  tear it with holy indignation from my bosom,
  resolutely turn from its every snare, and
  refuse to hold polluting dalliance with it.

Blessed Lord Jesus, at Your cross may I be taught . . .
  the awful miseries from which I am saved,
  ponder what the word 'lost' implies,
  see the fires of eternal destruction.
Then may I cling more closely to Your adorable
self, and detest sin as strongly as Your love to
me is strong.