merciful ears, O Lord, be then open to my prayers: O! let not the cruel enemy of fouls affright me with his terrors, but give thy holy angels charge over me; and let the confolations of thy Holy Spirit fortify my mind, and diffipate my fears, and be a reviving cordial to my foul, at that laft and momentous period of my life, when I fhall stand in so much need of thee. Give me an unfeigned repentance of all my fins, great love to thee, and charity to my neighbour, an entire fubmiffion to thy bleffed will, and (if thou feeft fitting) fome foretafte and affurance of my falvation. But if thou, in thy great wisdom, fhall not fee fitting to vouchfafe me fo great a mercy, yet, O gracious Father, let me not fail, in the great day of judgment, to hear that bleffed fentence pronounced unto me, Well done thou good and faithful fervant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Grant this, O moft gracious God, for thy mercy's fake in Jefus Chrift our Lord; in the full extent of whofe words, I defire to be heard for myself, and all mankind, when I call upon thee, faying, Our Father, &c. The I. The Meditation for Tuesday Evening. A N intimate intercourfe with temporal things, and familiarity with the delights and fatisfactions of fenfe, are but too apt to take off our minds from ferious thoughts, and to impair that vigour and refolution which ought to be employed about the one thing needful. On the contrary, frequent communion keeps a lively fense of religion upon our minds, and invigorates them with fresh ftrength and power to perform our duty to God, our neighbour, and ourfelves; without this, O my foul! we can no more I maintain a fpiritual life, than we can our temporal, without eating and drinking; for it is the proper nourishment of the - foul. 2. The frail and finful body can never hope to be free from the perpetual affaults which the world, the flesh, and the devil, conftant enemies to our true happinefs, are ever making upon our virtue and innocence. On the contrary, frequent communion, by mortifying our paffions, by fpiritualizing our affections, is the fovereign remedy againft all their temptations; how then, my foul! can we yield yield to any finful fatisfaction that crucified the Lord of glory, or fix our hearts upon perifhing objects, when God only deferves the whole man, and we in this facrament commemorate the price by which we are purchased from fin and flavery? 3. The great advantage of our Chriftianity confifts in being made members of Chrift's myftical body, by reason of those happy influences we derive from our head; and our happiness depends upon our enjoying this bleffed privilege. This fpiritual union inviolable between Chrift and all faithful Chriftians, is preferved by frequent communion, by a mutual intercourse of goodnefs and compaffion, in pardoning our fins, in ftrengthening our feeble virtues, and in communicating heavenly joys and foretaftes of happinefs and on our fide, my foul! by repeated acts of adoration and thankfulnefs, of love and admiration, of refignation and fubmiffion to his holy will, and of fincere profeffions of conftancy and perfeverance in the fervice of our Creator and Redeemer: 4. Fatal experience convinceth us, that either through furprise, or the strength of temptation, we cannot always ftand. upright; that we do those things we ought not to have done, and leave undone the the things we ought to have done. But, my foul! this holy facrament perfects our repentance, and ratifies and confirms to us the pardon of our fins; repairs thofe breaches, which our follies have made in our fouls, and applies to us in particular that fatisfaction, which our Saviour made upon the cross; and conveys to us the benefits of that all-fufficient facrifice, whereby God is rendered favourable and merciful to all that are fincerely penitent. 5. Afflictions and calamities are often the lot of the best men, in this vale of tears. And where, my foul! fhall we find comfort under thefe difficulties, or trength to contend with them, but from that provifion that is administered at God's table? from thofe fufferings which our Saviour endured for us, and no ways deserved himself? can any one complain of affliction in any kind, that confiders what neceffary correctives they are of our follies? what noble improvements of our virtue and what a teftimony they are of our love and affection to the bleffed Jefus, when borne with patience and fubmiffion; and that withal remembers, that his Lord and Mafter was made perfect through fufferings upon the crofs, which he bore for our fins. We alfo receive fuch comfortable impreffions from this divine divine nourishment as make the troubles of this life lose their sting; and it fupplies us with fuch inward delights, as furpafs all expreffion, and which are only felt by thofe that frequently make the experi ment at the Lord's table. In fine, this is 1 the most proper method to make us tem-ples of the Holy Ghoft, and the most effectual means to fit and prepare us for the eternal enjoyment of God in a future ftate. 6. Again, we must be very great stran gers to ourselves, if we are not acquainted with the impotency and corruption of our nature: we, my foul! muft know but little of our circumftances in this world, if we are not aware of thofe enemies which are continually defigning our ruin: there are few fo happy and so steady in their duty, as not fometimes to deviate from it the ftrength of temptation, and the violence of paffion, too frequently prevail upon the moft perfect. Yet if we, my foul were duly affected with thefe wants we labour under, we fhould certainly apply ourselves to the use of fuch remedies as are proper to relieve us. Nór can any thing be fo effectual as a frequent participation of the Lord's fupper; which will purify our corrupt nature, by applying the merits of Chrift's blood; ftrengthen our weaknefs, by communicating |