for the times of grace; fo that if any riper fouls came forward to the birth, there wanted fpirit to bring them forth; but send out thy fpirit,

Lord, and they fhall be created; and from the death of fin, be raised to the life of holi.. nefs; send out thy fpirit, and renew the face of the earth, and our weeds and thorns fhall be turned into a paradise, thro' Jesus Christ.

4. Let us adore that bleffed fpirit, who beftoweth his favours as he pleafeth; and the more he hath given, ftill the more he giveth! O holy ghoft, fit and difpofe me thy fervant, first to entertain thee, and then graciously vouchsafe to defcend into my heart; and make me, the more I receive of thee, ftill defire to receive thee more; till I fhall afcend to those fatisfying joys above, where all my faculties fhall be enlarged, where they shall be filled with fulness itself, and overflow with a torrent of pleasure for evermore; where they shall be fatisfied with the plenteousness of thy houfe; and thou shalt give them drink of thy pleafures, as out of the river; for with thee is the well of life, ana in thy light fhall we fee light. Pfal. xxxvi. 8, &c.

5. But, O ungrateful man! was it not enough to receive of our God all we have and are? was it not enough that the fon of God D 2 fhould

fhould come down, and live to teach thee, and die to redeem thee? was not all this enough to make thee love him? and love is all he aimed at, and was all that man needed. I muft confefs to thee, O merciful Lord: I will confefs to thee our deplorable condition. Such was, alas! the corruption of human nature, and fo many and strong the tempta tions round about us, that without this thy laft miraculous favour of fending the holy ghoft to guide and quicken us, we fhould have ftill remained in our old dull state; flow to understand, and flower to obey.

3

A prayer on Thursday morning, for our fanctificas tion, preparatory to a worthy receiving of the holy Sacrament.

!!!

Whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he juftified, them he also glorified. Rom. viii. 30.

and

Lord God and Saviour, who keepest. mercy for thousands, and forgivest the ini quities of all truly penitent and returning finners; I prefent myfelf this morning before thee, acknowledging my manifold fins, in hopes of obtaining thy gracious favour, and of becoming a partaker of the moft holy sacrament. But, O my God, I do not presume

to

to come to that great feaft of thy body and blood, upon the leaft opinion of my own worthiness; for, when I reflect on my finful life, I am even afraid to come, left I should eat and drink my own damnation.

But when I confider thy infinite mercies unto mankind, and thy own words calling all men without exception; and knowing that thy crucified body is not only food to nourish, but phyfick to cure, I, that am but duft and afhes, beg leave to come to thy holy table, and with my imperfect faith to feed upon fome crumbs of the bread of life,

I confefs, O Lord, my wedding-garments are not without feam, but I come to repair them at thy cross; from thy bitter forrows to derive into my foul a godly forrow, working repentance to falvation; from thy broken body, a broken heart; from thy warm blood, flowing from thy wounded fide, zeal and fervency; that I may admire, love, and ferve thee, my God, as I ought to do.

O good God, to whom every thing is poffible, fanctify my corrupt nature, and let thy gracious aids fupply all my defects, and fo help my infirmities, that I may live in thy love and fear, die in thy favour, and be prepared for receiving the great mystery on next SunD 3

day

day, and for the great account I am one day to give, and be received with thy faithful fervants to the joy of thy kingdom thro' Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

Here obferve the directions given on page 8, and more particu larly endeavour to improve your foul by reading a lefon out of the New WHOLE DUTY OF MAN, Sunday 5.. Section I.

The Meditation for Thurfday Evening.

On receiving the most holy facrament.

I am the living bread, which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he fhall live for ever: and the bread that I will give, is my fleth, which I will give for the life of the world. John vi. 51.

I

Will afcend with the bleffed Jefus up to Jerufalem, to eat the pafchal lamb with his difciples, which they made ready in a large upper room ready furnished and prepared: I will intreat him to purge my foul, and to enable me alfo to prepare a large upper room, wherein to entertain him, elevated from this filthy world, above the poor and empty fatisfactions of it.

2. O bleffed Jefus! infpire me with faith, fill me with the love of thee, illuminate me with knowledge, cleanfe me by repentance in thy blood, that I may receive thee in the facrament, the lamb flain from the begin

I.

ning of the world, to the joy of my foul, to the establishment of it in all good, and for a protection against all evil.

3. Let us admire, O my foul, the conftancy and obedience of the bleffed Jefus, who with great defire did defire to eat his passover : tho' he knew that after this feaft his paffion was then nigh at hand, would nevertheless go up to Jerufalem to the fame, as a faithful fon to his father's houfe, as a priest to the fanctuary, and a facrifice to the altar.

4:

Let us endeavour to practife according to his pattern, who, after fupper was ended, did fhew a miracle of humility, washing the feet of his difciples with his own facred hands, to give us the most perfect example of humi→ lity, and to extinguifh our pride: For,

5. By this means I fhall partake of his graces, and be filled with his abundant love: I fhall be washed from error and idle imaginations, my hands from all impure actions, my heart from all vain affections, my fenfes from all finful delights and defires: fo that thou, my foul, being purged by true repentance, I fhall, both body and foul be cleanfed in his blood, and made partaker of all those D 4 glorious

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