the multitude to cry out at once, away with this man, and releafe unto us Barabbas. What was this but to fay, destroy the innocent, and give us a traitor and a thief? away with the prince of peace and univerfal charity, and leave unto us the author of fedition: put him to death who has raised up the dead before us, and give unto us a known murtherer.

8. But what haft thou done, O thou lamb of God? and how haft thou deserved, thou faviour of the world, to be thus expofed, vilified, and tormented? what is thy crime, and the cause of thy grief? what is it that has laid thee on the altar of the crofs, naked, bleeding,tor tured and dying? the Lord has laid on thee the iniquities of us all: thou art wounded for our tranfgreffions: thou art bruised for our fins: the chaftifement of our peace is upon thee; and by thy ftripes we are healed.

1.

9. Sing then, all you dear-bought nations of the earth, fing hymns of glory to the only Jefus; let every one break forth into finging, who pretends to felicity; fing praises to the God of our falvation; to him, who for us endured fo much fcorn, and patiently received fo many injuries; to him, who for us fweat drops of blood, and drank of the dregs of his father's

150

father's wrath, to the eternal Lord of heaven and earth, who for us was flain by the hands of the wicked; who for us was led away as a fheep to the flaughter; and meek as a lamb, opened not his mouth. vel of

A prayer on Friday morning, acknowledging our own frailty, and imploring God's grace, thro' the merits of the paffion of his fon Jefus Chrift.

Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness: according to the multitude of thy mercies, do away mine offences. Wafh me thoroughly from my wickedness, and cleanse me from my fin. For I acknowledge my faults; and my fin is ever before me. Pfalm li. 1, 2, 3.

O

Moft great and glorious Lord God, just and terrible in thy judgments to all obftinate rebellious finners, but of infinite mercy to fuch as truly repent, and turn unto thee; look down, I befeech thee, with the eyes of mercy upon me, who now present myfelf before thee, acknowledging that I am not worthy to lift up mine eyes to the throne of thy glorious majefty. O Lord, my fins are fo many and fo great, that it is owing to thy infinite goodness and mercy, that I have now an opportunity of humbling myself before thee, and begging mercy for my foul, which, I confess, has greatly finned against thee.

For I ftill fear, I have too great a defire after

after the things of this world; too great a fondness for the profits and pleasures of it. And tho' I am fully perfuaded, that it is my happiness and privilege, as well as my duty to love and ferve thee; yet I am very apt to forget thee, and to grow careless and remifs in that great and important work which thou haft given me to do. My devotion to thee is many times cold and languid; my prayers are full of wanderings, deadness, and diftractions, and the very best of my religious duties are accompanied with fo many failings and imperfections, that I have great cause to humble myself before thee.

F

O Lord, I have no hope but in thy mercy, and the infinite merits and paffions of my dear redeemer and if thou rejecteft me, I am loft and undone for ever. Therefore remember that I am but duft, and turn not thy face from me, nor caft thy fervant away in displeasure; let the interceffions of thy beloved fon prevail in my behalf: and for the fake of his meritorious death and paffion, for all that he has done, and all that he has fuf

fered for me, h have mercy upon me.

✓

O Lord, pardon and forgive, I most earneftly and unfeignedly befeech thee, all the fins and follies of my life paft; efpecially, O

my

my God, lay not to my charge thofe fins [Her may be named particulars] by which I have offended thee, my good and gracious Lord God. O cleanse me from all my fecret and unknown tranfgreffions, and vouchfafe, O merciful fas ther, to be reconciled unto me, who am forry for my fins, and grieved that I have offended thee, my moft gracious Lord and Mafter; for which, and all other thy repeated mercies to me, I owe all the returns of love and duty that can poffibly be paid by a creature to thee his creator.

O Lord! open thou mine eyes, that I may fee the vileness and deformity, as well as dans ger of fin; that I may fly from all appearance of evil, and with an unwearied diligence follow after, and purfue the things that make for my everlasting peace. Grant, that for the time to come, I may live only unto thee, in an awful fear of thy great name, and a conftant regard to thy bleffed will, keeping always a confcience void of offence, both to wards thee, my God, and towards all men that when thou fhalt think fit to take me out of this state of trial and temptation here, I may be received into that bleffed kingdom, where all tears fhall be wip'd from mine eyes, and fin and death fhall be no more. Grant

this, O merciful father, thro' the merits, and for the fake, of the fame thy dear fon, and my bleffed faviour, Jefus Chrift. Amen.

1

£

Here obferve the directions given on page 8, and more particu larly endeavour to improve your foul by reading a leffon out of the c WHOLE DUTY OF MAN, Sunday 4. Section I.

The Meditation for Friday Evening.

Upon the fufferings of Jefus Chrift commemorated in the facrament of the Lord's fupper.

For even hereunto were ye called: because chrift alfo fuffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye fhould follow his steps: who his ownfelf bare our fins in his own body on the that we being dead to fin fhould live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 1 Peter ii. 21, 34.

tree;

1.

NOW

W, my foul, thy deareft Lord is taken down from the cross; let us by the eye of faith and reafon look nearer upon him: O what a man of forrows, what a doleful fpectacle do we behold! how pale, how wan, and extenuated, how mournful and doleful is his face! his eyes are funk, his temples are furrowed with the thorns. O the gaThes and deep wounds of his fhoulders and back, opened all with ftripes! O the wide rendings of his hands and feet! his empty veins, his ftretched-out finews, his rankled flesh, how flaggy with ftripes, how begored with blood! his hair clotted, and his whole

1

21-12

body